alan mulally?>> i think he knows it. i mean, no question that if he hadn't come in, the company was going to go out of business. but it's kind of funny because, you know, i think that one of the fundamental points i try to make in this book, and it's a bit of a paradox, is that ford wasn't saved just because a guy rode into town on a white horse. a lot of the things that mulally would do to save ford, to turn it around were plans other people had already come up with that they were trying to implement. but on the other hand, if he hadn't ridden into town on a white horse, ford wouldn't have been saved because those plans never would have come to fruition in the time ford had left. at one point when i was interviewing people for this book, i was talking with derek cusack, and, you know, he really had this whole kind of strategy for globalizing product development in place before mulally came on the scene. he just couldn't get anyone to really take him seriously and listen to this plan. but they had

mulally followed ford into his own office. he pointed to mulally's own office. they were separated by a waiting room. i'll be right here when you need me, ford said. the company senior executives were crammed into ford's private conference system. the overseas were listening in on speakerphone. they walked in and the room fell silence. ford explained he was resigning and introducing mulally as the new chief executive. as he talked all eyes were on mulally. he did his best to smile back, despite the growing intensity of their stairs. he never felt so scrutinized. he thought about shouting boo. and then telling them the serious looking executives. don't worry, it's going to be okay. he restrained himself. mark field eyed mulally's outfit. he's here to meet the press and he's wearing a sports quote. this is going to be different. field's first impression was that mulally was corn any. he was not the only one that felt that way. the farm boy demeanor surprised everyone the room. he got the news and googled him before heading to the conference room. he was hoping som

the ceo alan mulally joins us with a first on cnbc interview to talk about those results. welcome. as i said, to "the fast money halftime report" coming to you from the big board at the new york stock exchange. stocks rising despite slowing 0 growth. it seems that earnings are the main focus ever since apple reported its blow-out quarter. what's the best way to position yourself in this 2% growth world? i thought it was really interesting you have 70% or so of companies that have had better than expected earnings. since apple reported stocks are up about 2%. the market wasn't paying that much attention to those better earnings until the apple numbers came out. now it seems to be catching up a little bit. >> and the outperformers are continuing to be exactly what they were, outperformers. you look at the amazon quarter and apple l, both of those coming this week, and both of them traded up more than double what the straddle had predicted as far as how much movement. and in the case of apple, that was a $34 straddle. granted we did have some pullback after that, but that's a phenomen

for more on ford and alan mulally visit us at nbr.com. you'll find an interview with "american icon" author, bryce hoffman, on how the automaker made a major turnaround in the midst of the financial crisis. it's in the "features" section of our homepage. >> tom: just as ford's results were better than expected, so have those of many other firms. what's sometimes called "confession season" for corporate america has taken wall street by surprise. suzanne pratt has a closer look at what's behind the brightening profit picture. >> reporter: what do tech innovator apple, aluminum giant alcoa and internet whiz amazon have in common? no, it's not the "a"-thing. it's the "e"-thing. "e" as in earnings, and we're talking better than expected earnings in the first quarter. sure, the bar was set very low this quarter for corporate america. but, profit growth is no longer in danger of slowing dramatically. in fact with more than half of s&p 500 names reporting, profit growth is up on average 7.2%. that's more than double what analysts we're expecting

alan mulally and ask how much europe is hurting its profits. and we're a couple of weeks into earnings season, and so far, the results have not been as bad as expected. >> susie: when it comes to teaching your kids about money, you don't have to have a ph.d. in economics and a financial planning degree. alisa weinstein explains. she's author of "earn it, learn it," which was just named children's book of the year by the institute for financial literacy. >> i don't like to cook, i like to eat. but i don't like to cook. my daughter, however, loves to cook. so every so often, we'll cook. she doesn't care that i'm no expert chef. what she loves is to watch me follow a recipe and give it a go. teaching about money's the same thing. parents don't have to be financial experts. we don't have to spend weeks prepping in the library, attending all these seminars, making up all these crazy charts. we just need to give it a go. you know enough to get the ball rolling, even with a financial blunder or two, or 12, under your belt. start with the basics. "here

we want to know on the every time half time report alan mulally will give us his views.at an option trade on broadcom. >> sure. apple, obviously their largest customer, may be one of the last ways to take a play on their earnings. some of the comps haven't performed so well on the earnings number. this is a stock that typically moves 6.4% on earnings, only implying 5. one situation where we'll take the lower bet and buying options. specifically the one where i'm looking at is the 38, 48 call spreads. sell the 40s against it for 30 cents. it's a net debit of 45%, less than 25% difference between the strikes gives us a good favorable risk reward relationship. if you want to make an upside bet on a stock that's already up 25% on the year. >> b.k.s, been active in the broadcom space? >> yes and also texan, a name that joe tear nova has been on. a name like text an, buying back stock, good dividend, like them all over and taiwan semi, like that one too, as well. >> all right. more "fast money" coming up next. guys. come here, come here. [ telephone ringing ] i'm calling my ol

actors nick offerman and his wife, megan mulally are the latest celebrities to lend their voices to theor marriage equality. in this ad the comedic couple states their support for same-sex marriage while also poking a little bit of fun at themselves. >> you know, the night megan and i got married she actually thought she was marrying cedric the entertainer. >> i sure did. >> but that's how the law works. any random man and woman can casually show up at a 24-hour wedding chapel in vegas, exchange i dos. >> and boom, they're married. >> so why can't gay and lesbian couples who've literally spent their entire adult lives together have the same opportunity? >> all right. so joining me now is nbc's "park and recreations" star nick offerman. nick, it's great to have you here. obviously, megan realized you're not cedric the entertainer. >> she eventually figured that out, yes. >> and things are going well, right? in spite of all that. >> yeah, we cleared that first hurdle. >> this is a great campaign. why did you and megan want to get into this and be a part of it? >> i guess in the entertainm

i talked with ceo alan mulally this weekend and asked how much further he sees his company going in 2012t's amazing, ali, is that around the world that the customer requirements for quality fuel efficiency, safety, and really smart design, like my ford, have really coalesced. and the customers want all of those best in class, no matter what the size vehicle it is, whether it's a fiesta or up to an f-150. the neat thing about the ford promise is, when you walk into the ford showroom, you'll get the vehicle that works for you, whether it's a car, utility, or truck, and you'll get it more affordab affordably, because we use our global resources to deliver that for you. >> and on many of these levels, you've delivered. your car sales were up in the united states. retail sales were up. some fleet sales were lower, because you've got some capacity constraints. so i'm worried that you've got a bit of an issue in the u.s., probably a short-term issue where all those cuts that you had to make in 2008-2009 are stomg you from selling as many cars as you possibly can. >> well, that is exactly right.

and those regular viewers will realize that phil being where he is means that we will have allen mulallymoney at the halftime report. that's at 12:00, noon. >> natural gas making a nice move this morning. let's send it over to sharon. >> david, it's worth paying attention to this june contract, the new front month contract for natural gas because we are up nearly 2% here. and there was a big kind of debate going on among traders whether this new contract would do the same as the may contract and stay around $2 as we've been trading for some time. a lot of folks thinking that we would see natural gas under pressure with so much supply staying around $1.75 or so. that has not happened. in fact, we've seen a nice rally in this june contract and quite a bit of volume. we are still looking at some traders talking about a $2 to $2.30 range for the june con tract and we'll continue to watch the volatility here. this is where a lot of traders have been playing and they're planning on natural gas being above $2 for the next month or so. >> interesting to see that move. significant one. starbuck s

he just thinks mulally makes too much money. >> if you look at the auto task force, every constituencyering unhappy back then. dealers feel they got the shortnd of the stick, unions feel they got the short end of the stick, equity holders, bond holders. >> unions doesn't feel like they got the short end. that's bs. coming up, ford is -- they know. 1277 is indicated higher. it is trump tuesday. got a question for the donald? >> sure. >> his thoughts on jobs and the election at 7:30. we'll be right back. >> time now for the aflac trivia question, which rolling stone did jerry hall marry? isn't major medical enough? huh! no! who's gonna help cover the holes in their plans? aflac! quack! like medical bills they don't pay for? aflac! or help pay the mortgage? quack! or child care? quack! aflaaac! and everyday expenses? huh?! blurlbrlblrlbr!!! [ thlurp! ] aflac! [ male announcer ] help your family stay afloat at aflac.com. plegh! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we're hitting new highs. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the spx is on my radar. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and i'm on top of it all with charles schwab. tdd# 1-80