scott cohn has more. >> reporter: china's economy may become the world's largest this year passing theunited states earlier than most expected. according to a new report by 2011 china's economy was already 87% the size of the u.s., leading some experts to predict china will top the u.s. as the world's biggest economy by tend of 2014. dan greenhouse says we should not be surprised. >> with the number of people in china, there are about 1.3 or 4 billion people, compared to 310 million in the united states. they should have a much larger economy. >> even though china's economy may soon outstrip is that of the united states, the average worker makes much less than the average american worker who makes 12 times the number they make. >> china has been coming on quite strong for sometime, the world businesses are aware of that. i don't think even if we pass the particular benchmark that is a tipping point. that can't mean the u.s. will maintain its full strength. >> and investors should remember that economic growth doesn't always translate into stock market returns. >> even though they're gr

scott cohn filling in. >> thank you f. mandy. >>

scott cohn filling in. >> thank you f. mandy. >>> wow, mary thompson at the new york stock exchange, a little gain before the holiday? >> i know. we like to see that. light volume, no surprise there, because the markets already closed, and some concerns about the ukrainian -- so volume is a little light. the s&p is on track for a record day today, a record close, about three points from the all-time record high. the transports also are trading in record territory today. let's look at some of the dow leaders today. the dow is up 55 points. visa is up on the news that it and its rival mastercard will continue to do business, despite very steep deposits that russia is asking for them to do business. but investors like the news. followed by disney and caterpillar, also united healthcare gives a lift to the blue chip average. again on what would be a record-setting day, consumer discretionaries helped by those home builders. and also some good retail news from a few of the fashion's retailers. we want to close out with two comp

scott cohn joins us now with more. be just the tip of the iceberg. >> certainly raises the stakes. the allegations spelled out in frightening detail in this 31-count, 56-page grand jury indictment accusing five operatives from a chinese military unit stole dozens if not thousands of u.s. trade secrets. the very existence of the unit made public last year from the u.s. security firm whose founder joined us last hour on "power lunch." >> the way we were able to catch the chinese actors even mentioned in this indictment is, in fact, they made operational security mistakes. they made blunders that allowed us to pierce anonymity in cyber space right back to where they were doing the intrusions from. >> from this non-script government building in shanghai where hundreds, possibility of thousands of military personnel were engaged in the hacking effort, according to the report. alleged targets, names you know including alcoa which confirms an attack but lost no material information, westinghouse and u.s. steel, allegheny tech

portfolio manager, scott cohn has the very latest at headquarters. >> michael steinberg just sentencedprison for his role in the insider trading, remember convicted in december on five criminal counts. this is considerably less sentence than the government wanted. the government wanted six and a half years. steinberg's attorneys had argued for two years, but they're almost certain to appeal, and possibly join the appeal of former -- of fellow convicted inside traders todd newman and anthony chiason, who said the government should have known the tipsters were benefitting from the inside information. the government says that's nonsense. but that is likely to be the subject of a lengthy appeal here. but again, michael steinberg, the eighth s.a.c. capital official to be convicted in this case, only the second to go to trial, sentenced to three and a half years in prison. the other to go to trial, matthew martoma, is to be sentenced next month. >> all right, thank you very much. we were talking about banking with mike santoli, murph. >> i agree with you, mike, but from a trading standpoint,

. >> scott cohn, thanks.eneca rejecting what pfizer calls its final offer to buy the drug maker. that after pfizer sweetened its bid to $110 billion. is a hostile takeover on the table? >> the reason you see it not really trade then and astrazeneca rejects and the stock trades down is this is a uk bid. in the uk when a bidder says this is the final offer that's, it that's their final offer. you cannot come back for six months. here, however, you're free to lie and say whatever you want and final bid or really, we're not coming back and then come back whenever you want. so there they try to be really straightforward about it. i think it's great for shareholders because you know exactly where you stand. >> but also the biddee too. you can't -- you have to be very careful for your shareholders you that don't lose a good deal and that you don't step out of the way. because otherwise it's all a game of poker. >> yes. that brinksmanship. but pfizer put up a mealeymouthed bid. >> mealy-mouthed. >> didn't close it on

scott cohn is in california with the latest. >> if you don't know the product by number.it's made by hyfong foods. the news we can tell you they are planning to stay and are looking to expand possibly to texas. what was the pitch and the response. >> we spoke about the texas miracle. we have lower regulations and fair legal system so we're not frivolously sued. >> to comes to texas means having a business that can grow and grow well. full time 80 jobs. not a huge business, a little bit of a publicity stunt going on here. >> in the beginning people believed that's what it was. during the growing season this factory is full and overall you're looking at 3,000 jobs during certain parts of the growing season. >> is personal speaks to the competition with the states where texas does pretty well. here in this situation you've got a city council that is saying we'll shut this plant down. one of the most desired products stops because in four complaints. that doesn't happen in texas. we don't have a regulatory structure that would allow two or three people from a community to shu

scott cohn has the latest on what's going on?f ways it's a question of how free the free market is. air bnb is an online marketplace that lets traveler book a room, apartment, whole house, for a night, a week or month and the site is listed by represent theers who want to make a little extra munch the company has listings in 34,000 cities, including new york, where the state's attorney general, eric schneiderman said it's just an end run around the laws of subletting apartment, hotel regulations and this week a supreme court judge blocked schneiderman's demand for all of their posts in new york state ruling the subpoena was too broad. airbnb which is based in san francisco -- >> are a substantial number of air bnb hosts may be violating the law, kelly, since they operate across the country. regulators in every state are going to be watching this one close. >> that's for sure. scott, thank you. i want to bring in a key player, it's the editorial director of skiff, commissioned the report that the attorney general used in his repor

that means that scott cohn is up next and he's up to his neck as well in numbers. are claims by all 50 states. does everyone campaign for this? >> everyone does campaign. it doesn't do any good. it's all numbers. i am up to my neck in numbers. it's very busy. we are almost done crunching all the numbers. i'm supposed to have all the data in today. we'll see how that goes. if the current trend hold holds will be interesting. the starting point every year is the claims the states make. lately it's been hard to escape the claims of new york which has been running a national ad campaign reportedly costing $15 million about how business friendly the state has become. >> why is our arizona based company relocating manufacturing to upstate new york? i tell people, it's for the climate. the conditions in new york state are great for business. >> new york does not have a great track record, though, in our top states rankings. this is last year's numbers. 35th place overall, second most expensive place in the country to do business. 14th ranked in the economy. 42 for infrast