coach hitting an all-time high and ralph lauren as well. is there more room to run for these stocks? and the financial rally continues. bank of america pushing above eight. but are the gains getting too hot to handle? the traders take their positions on two highly anticipated earnings reports at the close, groupon and cicso. welcome to the "fast money halftime report." let's start the trade. blackrock ceo larry fink says investors should be 100% in equities. let's find out if the traders agree with that bullish sentiment. what percent of your portfolio right now, b.k., do you have in stocks? >> very little. the only thing i have, as i mentioned on monday is i have the s&p calls, upside calls. but everything else i took profits on. i don't necessarily disagree with mr. fink. but since we've been up 15%, 20% off the lows, this is not the place to start buying hand over fist. you can buy stocks on a pullback and maybe this is going to be the only pullback we get. but you have to be very cautious here. >> a week ago you said basically just that

apple, ralph lauren, coach all making highs today. this is people just sticking to what's working, i guess, in a lot of ways. it's not an overly bullish sign for the breadth of the market. but if you have other things not working so well, maybe it's just like a flight to quality in some ways. >> i think apple unlike the other two names is actually kind of a value stock. i think what a lot of people might be hoping is an opportunity to buy it lower. when they didn't get that opportunity, then there wasn't anybody coming in selling. in the other valuation, i'm concerned. we have some potential bad news on the horizon. when i look at those names. ralph lauren is -- the valuation always seems a bit high. >> i don't know if these are growth companies or consumer companies. >> can't be both? >> they can. but is apple a growth company? the pe would say no. the only thing that grows with apple is the balance in your statement. but apple doesn't trade at a humongous. which had a fantastic day. and not all the social media names are doing well

big lots, jcpenney, or ralph lauren? now, the payoff.n. >>> welcome back to "closing bell." i'm seema mody. the nasdaq up .3%. chip stocks continue to provide strength to the nasdaq. a lot of these companies are seeing a recovery in demand and optimistic on seeing increase in corporate i.p. spending in 2012. take a look at the chart, a very clear spread. some of the movers in the semiconductor space, look at invidia, ending a patent dispute going back to 2008. the market always likes resolutions. bill? >> seema, thank you very much. we're heading to the close. about 19 minutes left here. time for a quick smarcheck on t nasdaq. a fresh 11-year high, on course for its sixth gain in the last seven sessions. up 9 points right now at 2913. it was down 11 at the day's lows around noontime eastern time today. volatility index has popped up, up 3% today. we're at 18 and change. unless it gets back to 20, you're not exactly seeing a yellow flag being waved. the last time it was above 20 was around january the 18th. maria, say hi to my friend warr

because of a great company viewed as its sister play, ralph lauren. it's too early to have north face the key division blow away the numbers. and vf has a big european business. so does ralph lauren. i'm more concerned about vf. stock hs a huge run. this is a new one, because people know i like this company. but i'd rather take profits ahead of the quarter. perhaps here. really gets hammered and we like it anyway, maybe we come back to it. friday brings us two food stocks that i'm on the fence about. campbell's soup and heinz. i keep thinking about irwin simon, the excellent ceo of hain celestial, what he told us, which is that anything in a can is now perceived to be unhealthy, or at least passe. and is campbell's ever in a can. heinz? here you have currency risk, commodity risk, and european risk. the one thing you don't have with heinz, though, is that it has 57 varieties. same age as me now. anyway, it's not cheap. i need to see this 3.7% yielder trade down to where it yields more than 4% before i get interested. finally next week we've got an ipo

. >> ralph lauren.alph lauren. >> are we perhaps underappreciating the robustness of this robustness? >> yes, we are. i think one of the things that you constantly have to keep in front of you is, when you're seeing these numbers, these are genuine surprises. when you listen to the conference calls, people are almost -- they're in disbelief. we have a lot of analysts continually downgrading stocks because of valuation. the companies blow away the numbers. it's extraordinary how strong the consumer is. extraordinary. not talked about enough. >> you think it's going to continue. >> yes, i do. >> you do? >> other than the bonuses at the -- at the goldman sachses and the morgan stanleys of the world, midwest, fabulous story today. we saw a terrific story about how oil and gas is powering this economy. i do believe that in the midwest, autos, oil and gas, chemicals, there are jobs. there's business being created. i think it's a undertold story because it's not on the coasts where we tend to concentrate way t

>>ic and along comes ralph lauren with flat earnings and it's had a radical revision in guidance andthanks to the decline in cost. double whammy of increase in guidance and the best boosted forecast. bottom line, you want to catch the next priceline and you're jumping for joy? look for companies that have changed their molds quickly and had tremendous success doing so een as they still remain chronically underrated or bet against simply because there's so much skepticism surrounding the company. those are the spots where they're cut and to the point where they're simply jealous and the people who jailed it. hopefully you can nail the next one, too. sharon in one of the happiest states in the country, north dakota. sharon! >> caller: hi, jim. i was wondering what your thoughts were on whirlpool considering the lower durable goods number? >> the lower durable goods number is distorted by different considerations. i think whirlpool has moved too much, up 80% from the bottom, but i think whirlpool can go much higher, why? because no one believes and it can sell at $76. out of a fair valu

priceline, ralph lauren, rakespace, value quick and barnes group. >> bem itchs does not make toilets. >> pressure sensitive packaging. >> the winning streak making money for the knicks. >> the lin-effect. >> pressure sensitive packaging. ! whee! whee! wheeeeeeeee! ah heads up. wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. >>> let's talk knicks break out star jeremy lin, how can investors profit from lin-sanity, lin-mania. >> until today, $225 for msg since he started, which is amazing, this is crazy his steer i don't. msg they have the dispute with time-warner ratings up 70%, is this going to get time warner to get to the table? i think that is one of the questions it's down about 1% today, but this is something that i haven't seen in a long time. went to moedell's came with the jerseys, guy was standing there asked for 21 larges. 21 larges and bought them, and so these things are flying like crazy. five games in people are investing in him. >> how many did buy? >> one on the corporate card because i use

. >> ralph lauren is everywhere. calvin klein is everywhere. estee lauder is everywhere. donna karan is everywhere. tommy hilfiger is everywhere. people come in and say, do you have louis vuitton. macy's sells louis vuitton, so does madison avenue. i want to be where the customer wants us and needs us. >> martha has a huge presence on the web as well. some of the best-selling apps on itunes not to mention social media. and basically with about 250 million twitter followers, i think, martha stewart, inc., pretty much a good thing, at least for investors for the last 12 months. before that, the stock had had some trouble. but it seems to be rebounding. >> did she talk to you at all about the dust-up involving jcpenney and macy's? >> she says macy's has renewed their arrangement for the next five years and she made the point that she thinks retail is changing. and as a result of that, jcpenney is going to the store -- in the store concept. macy's will continue their relationship with martha because she feels that people pick stores -- maybe you know this after the supermarke

outfits from ralph lauren. you can -- your clothing becomes a costume and you become a role player in some sort of fantasy. and of course we see this in politics, you know, in spades where politics is a movie. and we're now, you know, in a campaign season where what we're really watching is not so much political debate, though it's called that, as we are watching a movie in which candidates are contending to be our protagonist-in-chief, as i would put it. >> protagonist-in-chief -- >> yes. >> meaning? >> meaning that they, themselves, see the country as a kind of movie and they want to be the hero of the movie because they understand that's what the american people really are looking for. they want a clint eastwood, they want a john wayne. they want an arnold schwarzenegger to be the head of state. >> but we wanted heroes in the white house before there were movies. george washington, hero -- andrew jackson, hero -- ulysses s. grant, hero. that was some-- that seems to be something inherent in human nature, not

. >> you like ralph lauren. >> dennis he' only as good as the next blazer. that's it for forbes on fox. ♪ and i will always love you. >> how was she remembered? >> greatest voice of all time. >> you are talking about whitney here. and i would be like. ♪ i want to dance with somebody. >> and she was the most beautiful women i had seen. she was incredible. >> thank you for giving your talent and beautiful voices i ever heard in my life. >> a final farewell to muc legend whitney houston. good morning, i am john scott. >>> and i am uma. this is special coverage of the funeral for whitney houston. >> a look at new hope baptist church. endless stream of friends and family to say goodbye. they were remembered she will celebrate her life. >> a near perfect voice brought tears and joy to people around the world. >> kelly wright is live at new hope baptist church. and for the membership of new hope baptist church who watched whitney houston grow up. it is a day of home going and celebrating their life and legacy and her gift to the world as being one of the greatest m

i think ralph lauren will do just fine.nd with cotton costs down year over year huge, the surprise will be terrific guidance in the future. upside, not down side. after the close wednesday cisco reports. last quarter was terrific. lots of shared take. a sense that cisco might finally be at the beginning of a sustained run. plus now we have the possibility of telecom companies spending more money on equipment post the at&t aborted bid for t-mobile. you think we can get a good quarter and better chatter. there will be some weakness about europe, but i think we all expect that, don't we? whole foods also counts on wednesday. last night we spoke to three different executives at three different companies related to whole foods. we talked to hain celestial. we heard from jack har tung the cfo of chipotle who made it abundantly clear that people want food with integrity. and we heard from david pyott, the ceo of allergan, that there's been no slowdown in trying to look better than you should. you know what? that's really why peopl

shares of ralph lauren getting a boost.ter earnings of $1.28 a share. 12 cents better than the street was expecting. ralph lauren is raising full-year sales and profit outlook. >>> the united arab emirates says it will pump more crude to asia. the goal trying to help the region's top buyers cut their dependence on oil sanctions that hit iran. andrew? >> nice to see ralph lauren do so well. the pants without the belt that joe always gives me a hard time about. those are ralph lauren suits. >>> coming up, the dow at the highest level since 2008. "squawk" is coming right back. >>> still to come this week on "squawk box," tomorrow, pepsi chairman and ceo will break out the company's earnings and we have a one-year roundtable with three "squawk" market masters. and friday, "squawk box" is live from pebble beach, california. with larry summers, at&t ceo randall stevenson and legendary actor, bill murray. >> it looks like -- it's in the hole! take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and a

also top of the list, ralph lauren reports tomorrow.ntuit, the tax software company, out of nowhere suddenly hitting the list. and cirrus logic, people chatting about who will be the next to take their chips. that is it right now, among many others. >>> coming up next on the show, why this house may say everything you need to know about america's technology boom. we're going to talk about it with former hedge fund manager and silicon valley insider andy kessler. >> and why he is singing the praises of facebook. >>> plus, it seems the only place investors think they can find safety is blue-chips and if that is the case, guys, isn't it time for the big names to hike their dividends? >>> you can't hold the breadman down. check out panera bread hitting a new all-time high. the company opened its 1,500th cafe today. it's also opened its very first shop here in manhattan. panera reports after the bell today. coming up on the closing bell, panera's been on a tear but is it too hot now? is the stock too expensive? >>> maybe forget about a tech

several companies, including ralph lauren and supermarket chain whole foods are reporting strong earnings. analysts say it's another am tao sign that wealthy shoppers are continuing to spend. >>> and mcdonald's says the new chicken mcbites helped sales jump nearly 7% last month. the world's biggest hamburger chain also says customers spent more on breakfast items and beverages. that's your money watch. for more, go to cbsmoneywatch.com. in new york, i'm alexis christoforous. >>> maryland-based romance novelist, noria roberts is once again opening up her wallet for daniel college. this time, she's donating to the school. roberts donated a similar grant last year. >>> well, coming up on wjz, eyewitness news at 4:00, spare the rod and spoil the child? a new study may change the way you feel about spanking your children. >>> making travel easier. the test program to get through airport security faster is expanding. >>> a winter weather advisory is in effect. your fute commute and getting to evening activities is affected. meteorologist bernadette woods is updating your first warning weather f

so they play catch-up to a ralph lauren and grow into the valuation.igher. >> be sure to catch "fast" tomorrow because we've got more with michael kors. we'll give an exclusive behind the scenes look of his spring collection. and i asked him what his number one tips would be for the traders here on this desk. >> you're kidding? >> i'm serious. that's tomorrow. >> he wants you to wear pink. >> i got to watch. >> first move when we come back. stay tuned. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes.

ralph lauren pulling back. those are all superior. stick to best in breed. jackie in new york. jackie. >> caller: boo-yah, jim. this is jackie in brooklyn heights. first-time caller. >> brooklyn heights. i used to live there! >> caller: really? >> yeah. what's up? >> caller: we would like your opinion on regeneron pharmaceuticals. >> a lot of talk that there's new inflammation problem with this drug. until we get that clarified we will let the stock come down. a monster win here. we don't want to jeopardize it. greg in connecticut. >> caller: hey, jim. how is it going? >> real good. how about you? >> caller: good. love the show. >> thank you. >> caller: calling about dag. >> @jimcramer on twitter all over me. how can you not like zag? i don't like zag because to me it is a commodity. there are a gazillion of them. what's the issue? i don't like the company. i don't think it is doing that well. if it is doing well i still want to you sell it. in the end they that's a commodity business. daryl in wisconsin. >> caller: a huge, huge fan. i love you and santelli. >> he is the best.

while apparel maker ralph lauren came in with stronger than expected profits, like other high end retailershey continue to see strong space despite a tax impact that had a little bit of impact coming in ahead of expectations. again, markets are lower, barbara. back to you. >> we will continue to watch wall street. thanks so much. >>> >>> thinks feel-good song "keep your head up" is a hit. andy grammar is on his first headlining tour performing at venues from coast to coast. tonight he's in our area and he joins us right now live in the studio to talk about his new success and his music. good morning, andy. >> good morning. how are you? >> great. good to have you here with us? >> it is great to be here. >> you are going to be performing tonight. we want to get a taste of it in just a moment. what's it like to have this kind of success with your first single? >> i know. it is so much fun. actually i performed on the street for three years. i have a single hit and able to go across the country has been a dream. maze. >> where did you grow up? >> in new york actually. i moved and live in lay da

you know, you can say ralph lauren for another reason, for the fact that he invent the lifestyle look. nobody had thought of a fashion designer being part of a whole aura and a whole world. so i would say-- and i without put planac for the shoes. there are a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. they're not all the same. >> rose: you were on the forefront, on the edge, in the sense of promoting the idea around the world of the empowerment of women. >> yes. >> rose: just tell me what it means to you. >> well, i was-- i think that the idea of empowering women came from my mother. my mother during the war was a prisoner of war. she was in the concentration camp at age 20. she came back-- she came-- she survived. she was 49 pounds. and she wasn't supposed to have survived. she did survive. she gained weight. she married my farther. she wasn't supposed to have a child, and i was born. so to some degree the day i was born i had already won, and i was a miracle. so i think that my mother, the biggest lesson she dave me gave me is fear is not an option. she would never allow me to be

is very important, and we like big brands that can benefit from having their own websites like ralph lauren and under armour. >> why do you note in your note best buy and bed bath & beyond at risk. i get the best buy. >> we didn't necessarily lump the two together as being in totally similar businesses. what we're seeing with both of them is that amazon is getting bigger and bigger in those categories. particularly as consumers want to buy those products online. i think when you look at best buy, the risk is obvious, and consumers have been moving online for a long time. 40% of consumers that we surveyed have bought some sort of consumer electronics online. it's smaller for home furnishing but both of them are growing pretty quickly. and i think particularly for bed, bath and beyond when you look at the penetration of amazon within home funishings online, consumers expect that to double over the next six months. so both categories have a lot of exposure to amazon, and both are at risk. >> do you really think, and i want to get the traders involved in just a moment, that someone's going to g

also talk about ralph lauren. they beat expectations on their earnings. and cerner up big. one more winner, one of my favorites, buffalo wild wings up almost 15%. on the flip side, we have panera bread, profits beat but revenue didn't. western union, same story line, same result. they are down 8%. sue, back to you. >> brian, thank you very much. breaking news now, $24 billion worth of 10-year notes up for auction. rick santelli is tracking the action at the cme. how was the demand? what's the grade? >> let's go over metric and then get to the final grade. keep in mind those $24 billion fresh tens, these aren't reopenings. the next two auctions will be. the yield at 2.02. the low trade i saw on the yield driven when issued market was right around 199.5. but the wi was trading around 203. we went through in a good direction. that's very good. look at 10 auction average bid-to-cover this time 3.05, a little light, 44%. the indirect 10 auction average this is a 38.9 on the pricing side on that yield, that's good. so i'm going to give this a b plus. it was a little deficient on

trading day, including cisco, time warner and ralph lauren.with us to talk about the trading day on wall street coming up after the break. >>> okay. nearly three hours into the trade dag in europe. ahead of the u.s. open, ftse 100 up .the 2%. 0.6% for the xetra dax. the best gains of the day, the ftse mib up 1.5%. we have some spreads now we know the german ecb. how are you looking with the futures? >> well would beer looking up rite now at the moment, ross. so positive momentum you're seeing is trickling here. looks like the dow could be higher by 26 points. the nasdaq higher by almost 5 and the s&p 500 higher by almost 2. this is after an up date yesterday with fairly uneventful muted trade. there is no economic data in the u.s. today, so we are going on be taking a break from that. but san francisco fed president john williams speaks about the economic recovery at 10:40 a.m. eastern time. meantime, drugstore chain cvs caremark reports results after the opening bell. we're looking for results from moody's, sprint nextel and time warner. afte

high-end clothing company ralph lauren and whole foods rose 32%.ue to spend. >>> time now 8:44. let's bring you up to date on some of the other top stories. a woman and her 12-year-old son in the hospital this morning. their home in san francisco exploded. now police are investigating the possibility of a drug lab in that house. the woman's fiancee says their medical marijuana -- they are medical marijuana patients, growing their own medical marijuana. >>> rick santorum shook the republican race for president with a three-state sweep yesterday. these are live pictures. this is rick santorum hosting a forum with ministers in mckinney, texas. again, this is live. santorum won yesterday's caucuses in minute and colorado. he also won the nonbinding primary in minnesota -- in missouri. >>> in 15 minutes from right now, san francisco sheriff mirakarimi is due back in family court. tara moriarty join us live from san francisco. with details. tara? >> reporter: we just watched the sheriff walk in a couple of minutes ago and his wife is also expected to be

ralph lauren was a fantastic call. kors is the favorite of saks and the outlet stores love kors.e which had 35% comp. this is a remarkable growth story. >> north america comp 38%. just a blowout number. my question is this, even though the beat was so massive this quarter for q4 they see ten to 12, estimates 11. does the traj stop here? >> basil is looking bad. these guys underpromised, overdelivered and it still works in this market. >> you're making interesting comparisons against coach this morning. >> conch rs even though it's been public for a matter of weeks has one-third the market cap of coach, a company that has four times the revenue and obviously a lot more history doing this as a public offering. >> and i'm sure frank will notice the disparity because of coach's tremendous expansion in china. >> we're talking about the forward pe in terms of multiples. forward pe for kors is 65. for coach is in the low 20s. so there's quite a disparity in terms of the valuation of kors. it seems like a momentum stock. it's number two in mark share in handbags behind coach. the more lo

with regard to china, we have americans manufacturing entrepreneurs, like ralph lauren or calvin kleinchina sends us millions of apparel goods every year. with friends like that, china does not need enemies. thank you very much. host: take care. thank you for calling in. the top u.s. exports to china in 2010. here they are. from the u.s. to china. power generation equipment agricultural products, aircraft and spacecraft and an optics and medical equipment at about $5 billion. back to the gallup poll. how old do you view u.s.-china relations? u.s. adults over all 71% say they are very important somewhat important. opinion leaders, very important , somewhat important, 85%. craig, springfield missouri independent mind. caller: their cultural history is very china centric. they are very pragmatic. as long as we are good business partners meaning they can make a profit from us, they will be good business partners. when we fail to be good business partners, they will say so long america. that's how they have survived. host: this is from matthew, who tweets in this comment. this comment -- no

ralph lauren upgraded from buy to hold at argus. >> i'm more focused on vf corp. not delivering.corp. going up which therefore means that perhaps people think vf was just being cautious in their guidance. >> smucker results. >> the run is over there. they got the big gain from the buy of the division from proctor. that's about it. >> cvs out with earnings last night. >> i think tv is better than mobile advertising. i think those people who rode on tv are making a big mistake -- >> finally, pulte group. >> these stocks have had a remarkable ride. profit taking seems in order sfl for more on the stocks go to sots.cnbc.com. >> tonight on mad. >> bombardier. the other one beside boeing and airbus. gold companies have been doing quite badly. the one that's been able to find gold is gold corp., gg. a good story even though bar rack doesn't. >>> "mad money" 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> coming up, breaking news on a potential market mover. philly fed survey. also zillow ceo spencer rascoff.  [ male announcer ] we know you don't wait until the end of the quarter to think about y