tom lee is here and so is steve leisman who is also a deadhead.> the ones you ski in. >> after you smoke a bowl on the way up. >> i don't know about that. if i were doing it it would have been legal. because it's legal in colorado. >> it is legal. tom, you are still really bullish. i saw in your notes. >> that's right. >> and i don't think 8% to 10% -- i don't call that really bullish. you think we'll be better than the high single digits this year? >> i think double digits sounds right from here into the end of the year. i think the opportunity is really finding some sectors. i think this is the year you really see sectors pull away. whether it's tech or consumer, i think some of these groups are going to make much bigger than that. i feel it's good for investors. >> no kidding. >> 8% to 10% is not bullish when the risk-free one-year rate is .5%. that's pretty bullish. >> really bullish. >> okay. i'm saying relative to the risk-free one-year rate, i'll take it if i can get that. >> you can't. sorry. >> i agree. i think relative is a good word. wh

so half the show is in texas today, but steve leisman is 250 miles from here, in dallas sitting downk president, richard fisher that interview is moments away. plus, the final trades are crossing for yet another wild day in the oil pits. we're going to have the subtle price coming for you when "power lunch" returns. stick around. know that chasing performance can mean lower returns and fewer choices in retirement. know that proper allocation could help increase returns so you can enjoy that second home sooner. know the right financial planning can help you save for college and retirement. know where you stand with pnc total insight. a new investing and banking experience with personalized guidance and online tools. visit a branch, call or go online today. >>> hi everybody, this is your cnbc news update this hour. the white house is cautiously welcoming announcement of the a cease fire agreement in eastern ukraine, but demanded that russia withdrawal troops and military hardware. the russian response? what troops? the war against isis turns into a war of words. house democratic leader

i'm andrew ross sorkin with becky quick and steve leisman.r his song "happy." we've got a little more grammy buzz coming up later this morning. >>> in our headlines this morning, here's something we haven't seen in about nine months. higher gasoline prices. the latest lundberg survey shows it was up 13 cents over the last two weeks. average of $2.20 a gallon. imports tumbled almost 20% in january from a year ago in china. they were looking for a drop but maybe something more like 2.5%. and greek prime minister is vowing to dismantle the austerity program and is ruling out any abandonment of the bailout program. he would also like to see reparations made for his country from world war ii. >> that's helpful stuff right there. i sat down with u.s. treasury secretary jack lew before he left for this week's g20 meeting in istanbul. i asked him about concern over greece's potential exit. here's what he had to say. >> i think what has to happen is there needs to be a conversation where greece and all of the parties it's engaged with looks for practi

for more on the data let's join steve leisman from dallas. and yet when you take out gasoline, sales were up. what do you make of all that? >> well you know we've been looking for where consumers are putting their money. i've got this 9.3% decline in gasoline station sales. i've got electric and appliance stores up 0.3%. building materials up 0.6%. that's a good sign there happening in housing. department store sales down. january obviously is a weird month. i don't have the core number. if you have that core number, that's the number that would feed into gdp. that's the one i'd be looking for. but obviously the bigger decline is going to be consequential for the first quarter gdp and what economists will look for is that number that feeds directly into the growth number for the first quarter and obviously business inventories later today. the claims number i'm not too worried about. because that's been up and down inside this range of 275 to 300. that bump up is not going to be consequential amid what is widely regarded to be a strong jobs ma

. >>> it is jobs friday and in honor of that steve leisman is here and he joins us with a very special good to be here becky. charles plosser, philadelphia federal reserve president, thanks for joining us. >> great to be here as always. >> and i guess you'll be back but not at philadelphia fed president because you're leaving on march 1st. >> that's correct. >> we'll be sorry to see you go. in the meantime we have questions for you. the main question when does the word -- and i need to stipulate before i say this. you never wanted the word "patience" in this thing. you voted against it. but still i have to ask you when is your guest for when the word "patience" leaves the statement? when should it leave the statement? >> it never should have been in in the first place in my perspective. but it's just another example of people thinking in terms of calendar dates or meetings or time. which it's really all about the economy. so the committee will have to figure out how it's going to transition away from patient into something else. and that's going to be the next order. >> why go from con

steve leisman, lindsey piesa. and stevelarry bossidy. lot of commentary it could come out under 2%. i like the internals of this growth number. the spending number at 4.2% final sales of domestic buyers revised up to 3.2% from 2.8%. the business investment number not as strong as it should be but stronger than the initial print. it was originally 1.9%. plus one of the big reasons for the decline or the restatement is that they revised down inventory. now they're 88 billion. that sets us up a little better. they were initially reported very strong. so a little less inventory to work off. you still have federal government spending following 7. 7.5% rate. and the other thing that's out there is this strange thing that happens. there's a dissidents and on the way here so you don't get the benefit of the import price change until this quarter or the next quarter. >> it takes that long? >> it takes six weeks and there's hedging and forward and people buy forwards. so you don't get the impact of lower oil prices in the gdp, help on the import s

steve leisman joins us with a look at what's to come. >> good morning.r first appearance before the newly republican controlled banking committee and its new chairman richard shelby who directly opposed yellen's nomination last year. >> in light of dr. yellen's weak touch as a bank regulator and her strong inclination to print more and more money, i firmly oppose her nomination. >> shelby also opposed yellen's 2010 nomination to be vice chair. now the question is how much senate banking under republicans pushes to reform the dodd-frank reform bill and taking measures in the house that would force the fed to adhere to rules in making monetary policy and bills to audit. shelby will be a guest tomorrow on "squawk box." yellen also can expect a tough time from the left especially from massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren who excoriating the chair over the fed's failure to comment on living wills. that's a mandatory blueprint for how a bank can be broken up in a crisis. >> what we need to do is to give them a road map for where we see obstacles t

. >>> steve leisman is here. you've been looking through those numbers as well.t the trade deficit? >> what? it's a big number. important number. not only did economists think it was going to come in under 40 but the government had assumed a $40 billion trade deficit. look. the important story right here is how jack welsh was yesterday. let's review where he sid the fed would be insane to raise rates because of the dollar. what we see this morning in the trade numbers is exactly the channel by which the stronger dollar affects the u.s. economy. lower exports, higher imports. now, the higher imports is potentially a good thing in we have consumers with more money in their pockets for gasoline more money because of more jobs that are out there. so you have this increase in imports. and because there's more to spend. >> we thought we were going to get a big break on this because of the lower oil prices. that being a huge part of what we import too. >> exactly. but what's happening is we had other imports that took the place of others. we'll have to go back and do so

. >> focusing on the fed this morning, steve leisman is joining us on set with a special guest you broughtss. >> for two hours. jim bullard. i think you were the first one to do one of these which is to sit with us for a couple hours and comment on everything. jim, let's start with the news from yesterday and to a lot of people it was the charges of political bias that were levied against the fed chair. is fed chair janet yellen in your opinion too politically biased towards the democrats? >> no. i think she's a very balanced and careful thinker on monetary policy. she does a great job in trying to forge consensus around the committee which is the key role of the chairman. she also represents us internationally. does a great job there. so i really don't see these charges being well founded. >> one of the charges was the meetings with the treasury secretary jack lew. >> wait a minute. now, on that every chairman has met with the treasury secretary all the time. greenspan did it. bernanke did it. i'm sure when janet came into office they said you have to meet with the treasury secretary. >>