the responsibility for safety on the drilling rig is with transocean.their equipment, their people, their systems, their safety processes. >> when bp's chief executive officer tony hayward says that this is transocean's accident, what do you say? >> i get sick. this kind of division in the industry is a killer. the industry is comprised of many organizations. and they all share the responsibility for successful operations. and to start placing, we'll call it these barriers, and pointing fingers at each other is totally destructive. >> but who is responsible? >> bp. >> all told, about 5 million barrels of oil spewed into the water, the largest off-shore spill in history. bp established a $20 billion fund to pay claims related to the spill. there are plenty of accusations to go around that bp pressed for speed, halliburton's cement plugs failed, and transocean damaged the blowout preventer. bit through all of these red flags, they pressed ahead. it was, after all, the deepwater horizon, the world record holder, celebrated as among the safest in the fleet.

. >> a good example is one of my texas companies that's been in the news lately, transocean. >> transocean owned the drilling rig involved in the giant bp oil spill. they moved to zug. >> i'm not sure they even moved that much. they have about 1,300 employees still in the houston area. they have 12 or 13 in switzerland. >> and yet they claim that they're headquartered over there. >> they claim they're swiss, and they claim they're swiss for tax purposes, and by doing that, by renouncing their american citizenship, they've saved about $2 billion in taxes. >> so here we are in zug. we went to find their operations here. and we came to see your international headquarters. >> um, at the moment, my boss is not here, so... >> she said her boss wasn't there and we should call someone halfway around the world. in houston? >> yeah. >> not here? >> no. >> but this is the headquarters. >> i know. >> and is the ceo here? >> no. >> i mean, normally here? >> no. >> another texas company that moved here is weatherford, a $10 billion oil field services firm. it still has 2,800 workers in houston, but acco

it's 28 cents shy of an all-time record. 178 chevron and transocean employees are being detained in brazil as authorities rew prepared to file criminal charges regarding an oil spill. >>> according to new study, mobile technology is boosting the public's appetite for information. with 27% using tablets or smartphones to get their news. >>> finally is batman in brazil? apparently. a retired cop has donned the black rubber suit to help kids in sao paolo learn the difference between good and evil and they're having some fun while doing it apparently. >>> well, the flyers light the lamp before the buzzer, a new number one in golf, and down to the sweet 16? march madness continues for the jayhawks as kansas dunks purdue. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> add the record code heads high into the midwest we're getting thunderstorms. 's going to continue. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, if you love nonstop do or die college basketball, this was your big weekend. her

maybe not transocean. i would go with ensc oro.have a younger fleet. >> grasso, got something for dan dicker? >> yeah. dan, if you take out iran and i'm going to say what happens if we see positive headlines coming out of iran? i know that no one has forecasted for that. you would agree there's probably $15 taken out of the price of oil if that happens. would you not? >> at least. i think, look, these are the kind of moves you get like the end of hostilities in libya last year. you see a drop of at least $15. there is a lot of speculative and geopolitical risk in the market. >> have a good weekend, dan. talk to you soon. >> i will lift a guinness to you. >> and i to you. patty is look at the chicago bridge and tunnel -- [ laughter ] >> somebody wants to get home. >> oh, that's good. >> i love that. >> and nat gas. >> they don't do bridges or tunnels. chicago bridge and iron, the people who bring you the engineering and construction behind things like liquid natural gas growing over 16%. it's fairly inexpensive. this is one you can

offshore driller transocean rose more than 4 percent as at least 3 analysts raised their price targets on the company. turning to natural gas, there's a deal in the making. atlas resource partners has inked an agreement to buy the natgas reserves from carrizo oil & gas. the reserves are located in the texas barnett shale, and the deal is worth just under $200 million. atlas resource partners jumped nearly 32 percent to 28.30. while carizzo rose a modest 1 percent. there was also heavy buying again today in the beleaguered coal sector. consol energy and peabody energy each climbed about 5 percent. ---ots--- meanwhile, analysts at lazard capital urged clients to plant cash in fertilzer stocks as farmers gear up for spring planting. shares of mosaic and potash corp of saskatchewan jumped more than 4 percent. packaging firm rock-tenn was under pressure today, after management warned second quarter earnings would come in below analysts forecasts. maintenance issues at a canadian containerboard mill and pricing pressures on exports are expected to hurt profits. the company predicts earnings

that's 28 cents shy of an all-time record. 17 chevron and transocean employees are being detained in brazil as authorities are prepared to file criminal charges related to an offshore oil spill that began last fall. >>> according to a new study, mobile technology is boosting the public's appetite for information. with some 27% of americans now using their tab les or smartphones to get news. >>> and finally, is batman in brazil? it appears so. a retired cop has donned the iconic crime fighter's black rubber suit to help kids learn the difference between good and evil. >>> in health news this morning, there is a warning about a potentially dangerous stunt. the latest one has gone viral and it involves trying to swallow a spoon full of cinnamon. it is a bad idea and parents and health professionals are sounding the alarm. more now from nbc's chris clackum. >> reporter: it's become an internet sensation, watching youtube video of mostly teenagers trying to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon. >> it's funny to watch. >> you spit it all over your sink. >> reporter: a double dog dare that's gone

just a short time ago, the government of brazil filed criminal charges against 17 chevron and transocean executives as well as charges against the company itself. one executive, george buck, could face more than 30 years in a brazilian prison. at least 110,000 gallons of oil seeped through tracks on the ocean floor near a chevron well last november. a chevron spokesperson said, quote, not even one sardine died in that spill. >>> in washington, the senate is discussing the jobs act as we speak. it would radically change the way small investors could give start-ups money. in a matter of speaking, it would give mom-and-pop investors an opportunity to get on the ground floor of a hot new start-up, make big profits when the company ipos. but critics point out it's an undoing of many of the financial protections and oversights. >>> the jobless rate falling to a new four-year low as far as first-time jobless claims go. san francisco's exact target opening the opening bell this morning. dow industrials down 70 points. back to you. >> scott, thank you very much. >>> what goes down must come up? a

prosecutors filed criminal charges against 17 chevron and transocean executives accusing them of environmentalrimes. at least 110,000 gallons of oil seeped through cracks in an underwater chevron well last november. the well has since been sealed. those named in the suit call the charges outrageous. >>> well, oil in the u.s. is a very hot topic on that campaign trail as president obama continues his two-day tour to promote his energy plan. for more on that, and the rest of your news before the morning bell, we turn to jackie deangelos. good morning, jackie. >> good morning to you. president obama will continue to defend his energy policies today deep in the heart of the oil sector. he's speaking in cushing, oklahoma. he's speaking about plans to expedite permits to build the controversial leg of the pipeline. meantime, futures are lower after a mixed session on wall street on wednesday. there's some fresh concerns about the global economy today as data's showing manufacturing activity is slowing in parts of europe and china. asian markets were mixed overnight, europe is in the red, as well, an

began in england, france, belgium, with legal merchantmen shipping their goods in traditional transoceanic merchant ships, carrying them to a port nearer to the united states. saint george bermuda, nassau, bahamas, and havana, north coast of cuba. there the cargos would be transferred from the big, fat merchant ships into sleek, narrow, specially designed blockade runners. many modeled after the clyde river steamers. so-called, so-called, clyde steamers. low, fast, side wheeled or propeller-driven vessels painted gray to blend with the sea at night. once under way from one of these interim ports, they become subject to capture from the moment they left british or spanish waters. every speck on the horizon was a potential foe. they maneuvered from discovery. they also tried to time their voyages so they appeared just over the horizon offshore at dusk, so they could make that run into the final port at night. thomas taylor, served as a super cargo or owner's agent on board the english built steel hulled blockade runner, which i think i showed you earlier, and have a picture here. this is the

. >>> in brazil executives from san ramon based chevron and drilling company transocean are being toldto turn in their passports because criminal charges are pending against them in connection with a big oil spill. last november about 3,000- barrels of oil leaked from an offshore oil field. chevron says it shut down operations at the field this weekend. prosecutors say they plan to file charges in connection with the crimes against the 17 executives early next week. >>> in other news of the world tonight from north korea, yang says it intends to launch a satellite this coming april despite protests. the launch will allow north korea to test the latest version of a missile with a range that may be able to deliver a war head as far as hawaii. just weeks ago, yang agreed to suspend long range missile tests and made over concessions in exchange for food ate -- food aid from the united states. >>> a group accused the teacher of christian profittizing. the t áf yemen has seen an -- yemen has seen an increase of al-qaida based attacks. >>> they are in mourning tonight in the south pacific nat

the executives are with bay area based chevron, and a swift company transocean.rosecutors say 110,000 gallons of oil seeped from cracks. >>> at the united nations, russia and china changed position to join the rest of the security counsel and approve backing a peace plan for syria. the u.s., britain, and france also accused iran of smuggling weapons to the syrian government. >>> in northwest china, a fierce sand storm is forcing schools to close, and in some places making driving impossible. officials say the winds are severe, and visibility has dropped to about 100 yards in some places. forecasters predict the sand storm will continue for the next knew days. >>> trading on wall street ended mix. the dow jones industrial average was off 45 points, but tech stocks rallied, sending the nasdaq 1 point higher. hewlett-packard sales were down. mixed news today from the housing sector. the national association of reeler toes said home sales slowed, but it was still the best seen in five years. >>> how they explain the desire to protect and serve. >> and unsettled skies

bp does still face lawsuits from transocean, halliburton and the u.s.overnment which could run into the tens of billions. the inside story of bp as well as european for reuters joins us now. the stock is up today. presumably people are saying it's less than we thought it was going to be, right? >> less than some people thought, yes. >> will it help them in terms of their negotiations now with the u.s. government? can you draw that straight line? >> it's a bit of a dotted line but you can certainly draw a line there. what's really interesting in the settlement over the weekend was very much looking at the area of, you know, how much extra has bp provisioned. it was made on the basis that there would be no gross negligence so gross negligence means two things. first of all, the chance you might have punitive damages levied against you but also then it plays into the government talks and it would allow the government maximum fine to go from $5 billion up to $20 billion. so the fact that there doesn't seem to be a large revision in the deal that was agreed

the executives are with bay area based chevron, and a swift company transocean.y 110,000 gallons of oil seeped from cracks. >>> at the united nations, russia and china changed position to join the rest of the security counsel and approve backing a peace plan for syria. the u.s., britain, and france also accused iran of smuggling weapons to the syrian government. >>> in northwest china, a fierce sand storm is forcing schools to close, and in some places making driving impossible. officials say the winds are severe, and visibility has dropped to about 100 yards in some places. forecasters predict the sand storm will continue for the next knew days. >>> trading on wall street ended mix. the dow jones industrial average was off 45 points, but tech stocks rallied, sending the nasdaq 1 point higher. hewlett-packard sales were down. mixed news today from the housing sector. the national association of reeler toes said home sales slowed, but it was still the best seen in five years. >>> how they explain the desire to protect and serve. >> and unsettled skies tonight in t

should i sell or hold transocean? >> i want you to sell it. i think that this stock has a very big run to the bottom. i don't care for it. let's go to jim in vermont. >> caller: hey, jimmy, how are you doing? from the champlain islands. >> oh, man, i'm so jealous. how have you been? >> caller: beautiful day today. >> yes. nice weather. >> caller: yes, it was. i was wondering, jim, what do you think about microsoft 20 years from now? buy? sell? or hold? >> well, 20 years from now, holy cow, that's after the phillies have just won their sixth world series. i can only say 20 years from now. i think the stock is cheap. 20 years from now, that's too big a call for me. >>> let's go to walter in massachusetts. >> caller: a big booyah, cramer, from milford, massachusetts. >> i've been there, what's up? >> caller: thanks for all the good work you do. kmi. >> all right. i thought i'd never say this. but i took profits and rang the register last week. a travel trust decided that we were pressing our luck and we decided to rotate into e.t.p. that's right.

. >>> an american is among 17 chevron and transocean oil executives who are barred from leaving brazilconsidering criminal charges against the executives following last november's spill off the coast of rio de janeiro. >>> and police in canada shut down a st. patrick's day party in london, ontario, after it got very rowdy. witnesses say partiers set fires, turned over cars and threw bottles at police officers last night. several people were arrested. the police chief said he has never seen so much violence and vandalism. >>> and this will be a pretty significant week for the army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 afghan civilians. robert bales is expected to meet with his legal defense team for first time and he may be formally charged in the deaths of those men, women and children in kandahar, afghanistan. sergeant bales is in military prison in solitary confinement. >>> one of bales' friends says he can't believe it. robert durham says he's known bales all his life. he says he saw bales grow up and form a special bond with his son. he talked to our susan candiotti about the moment

the one that has run the most is transocean, people are excited that they are getting close to settlinghe mccondo latedation and they have rigs that can move up, but our stock has priced in the upside already. >> got it, scott, thank you so much for joining us. >>> herbie is back, and he's got a big update on herbal life, herb? >> mandy, last week i knocked herbal life for claiming it does a bunch of r&d but not disclosing the amount it spends on that r&d, then a few days later, without fanfare the company updated the r&d section of its website to show the amount it spends on r&d and other stuff. here's the way the site used to look with a comment that since 2003 they've increased their r&d spending dramatically. here's how it looks now. with the disclosure that they spent about $25 million on the combined scientific areas of r&d, technical operations, scientific affairs, quality control, product safety and compliance. now, i asked the company how much was spent just on r&d, they responded if i wanted to learn more about their science, i should go out to their headquarters out in utah,

like northern oil and gas, bakers hughes in the big oil service group and drillers out there like transocean, all of them are to the week side. this group, this whole energy group, mandy, is now diverging from the rest of the s&p. it's about 12% of the s&p 500. this has been going on for days now. it's starting to affect the orr all retu overall returns. >> thank you very much, bob. >>> it's been pretty smooth sailing so far this year. but are we headed for resistance? john kozar joining us for the technical side of things. he made a really spot on prediction last year calling for a bottom back in early august. let's hope you're correct this time, john. great to have you on the show. >> thank you. >> please tell me we haven't seen the best levels so far this year. >> this year i think we probably are going to see better levels. but i think it may be more of a later part of the year, perhaps q4 story. >> why is that? what are the charts telling you that makes you say that, john? >> the charts look almost the opposite to us as they did back in august where you're seeing really a very low vix,

settlement doesn't cover is claims by government agencies or claims between bp, the operator of the rig, transocean, or other companies including those that built and installed the device that was supposed to prevent blowouts but didn't. they are suing and blaming each other. those cases will continue. so far, the lawyers say, they have examined more than 72 million pages of documents and taken testimony from 300 witnesses and the trials haven't begun yet. cbs news, new york. >>> now to politics where the question of contraceptive insurance coverage has ramped up the intensity of the debate in the election campaign and the ever provocative rush limbaugh is right in the middle of things. nancy cortes is live in washington. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. the president is now in the middle of things as well. it appears neither side is about to let the issue of contraception go. >> contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school. >> reporter: it was sandra fluke's testimony in favor of contraception coverage that prompted radio host rush limbaugh to lash out

mexico, whether it be off the coast of indonesia, whether it be gulf of mexico in general requires transocean, requires ensco. if you made your bed with natural gas, as baker use did. as halliburton did. you can't make your numbers. natural gas, the drilling around the country is being shut down. the recount lowest in ten years, just came out on friday, the answer is you've got to switch your percentage if you're a big oil company to drilling more oil. and the two ways you can do it is to drill more oil and stop drilling natural gas. >> they got caught flat footed in terms of the mix of the business. any company that went gas here, we saw coal companies get gas. we saw integrated oil get gas here. that's one of the worst bets in the past that's happened in the past five years. >> they need surface ports to be ado adopted. they need help, they need this transition, they need as you mention, natural gas station, without it there's going to be a glut of natural gas that's going to last a very long time. >> here with bob on what's moving this morning. >> let's start off with bernanke, we heard fr

reimbursement for services to international calllp earls who were ineligible for the service1 chevron and transoceanÑi lackluster guidan has some worried. find out if the stock is still worth a buy. plus theier mans are increasing the productione1 hereçó in tig united states, volkswagen, adding more jobs andñr the stat of the u.s.Ñi auto industry. and then the doughnut maker krispy kreme eating glaze today. taking a hitfá after thee1 comp reported fourth quarter resultq the ceo will be here talking earnings, future growth and lululemon looking like a downward dog today. >> is it downward facing dog? >> you would know. you need strategy and make it a winner in a long run. we'll have the trade and much ( hour k on the street." >> we start offqwith news out of the enur president obama said to speak in oklahoma addressing the keystone pipeline and the support of 9ñ we have the latest from john harmon. what should we expect here? >> reporter: we expectxd for th president to both reiterate his own energy priorities and try to blunt republican attacks on his policy. remember, thexd keystone pipeli has twox

. >> interesting on transoceans.hevron stuff. >> this is the teflon drilling company. because whether it be macondo, latin america, people still love it. huge secondary. >> cowen likes accentra. >> you get ahead of these reports in a sloppy take it doesn't make you money. >> we didn't get to williams. >> an acquisition where the stock is going higher. i like that situation. >> we actually just got to williams. what's on "mad money" tonight? >> i have cliffs. cliffs natural. we've got to find out for heaven's sake whether things are as bad as china indicates. and western resources. similar to what we saw with williams. ask them whether that business is going to continue to be as strong as it is. >> six in 60. "mad money" tonight. good insight into bhp comments. >>> tiffany's underperforming the s&p 500 this year. but they posted very solid numbers. the stock is up today. we're going to get much more on that coming up. more "squawk on the street" straight ahead. ♪ why do you whisper, green grass? ♪ ♪ why tell the trees

. >> transocean. >> a lot of people upgrading. i prefer ensco. technology revolution.echnology. i want to sell. >> pretty big move today. >> it has. big secondary down here. >> yep. buffalo wild wings downgraded. >> this is heresy. we are in march madness. a lot of people say sell march madness. i'm still a buyer. >> chipotle. price target increase at piper jaffray, 4.25. >> they're saying this is because of london expansion. there are only two in london. >> red hat. >> rbc says billings are good. morgan stanley has last word. red hat down badly today. >> in terms of the s&p. >> what can i tell you? >> you did it all. you always do it in about 60 seconds. unbelievable. >> it's kind of theme. six in 60. >> i picked up on that. >> i got to tell you, david, there's a lot of cross-currents in the brokers here. deutsche bank downgraded morgan stanley today. i thought this was significant. >> let's go to rick santelli. get consumer sentiment. we'll come back and talk more about the brokers. >> we are waiting for the preliminary march reit. 74.3. this is a disappointment. you