howard shulz, chairman and ceo of starbuck, chairman of the board of which mike ullman sits, ullman is a member of the board, and is topic du jour for bill ackman, pushing him out. >>> and the dow snapping a six-week winning streak. bob, what happened today? >> first off, high drama there. i was riveted. people were watching it down here, maria. look at the dow. we had a similar pattern to yesterday where we dropped immediately right at the open, and then tried to make a recovery in the middle of the day. the difference here, the dow didn't get into positive territory. just sort of quietly petered out towards the end of the day. let me show you where we are in the stock market. a couple of comes. first, the japan and u.s. seem stretched. most traders don't want to make conclusions based on the thin volume that we've seen. but for the moment, it looks a little stretched. big story in the week, china is improving. economic data better across the board. europe in the sweet spot. it's cheaper, it's bottomed out, an it's been outperforming. how about what's going on with home building stock

and it's not -- it's not about mike ullman for me. it's about financial engineering -- for their own benefit, and as a result of that, fracture the goodwill, shareholder value, and the lives of hard-working people. this is a tragic situation, and i just felt i couldn't sit by and watch it when i know mike ullman is a world-class ceo and a fantastic leader. >> yeah. you make a good point, howard. particularly, you know this sort of timeline and story line well. you also left starbucks, came back to starbucks, and then

ullman came back in, but you're right.rly aligned at least with ackman's beliefs, though i'm not sure they necessarily think that this board room battle that you've been reporting on is a good thing for the company at all. what's interesting here, scott, you don't have the opportunity for shareholders to have their voice heard in any sort of a vote, and so you are seeing ackman, both in the board and as the largest shareholder and now perry, and when you add it all up between ackman and perry, you get to a pretty sizable outstanding shares of the company. >> david, this will be one that keeps on delivering, too. you know there's going to be more to this drama, right, after you had this big board room brawl develop yesterday late in the afternoon and really continue today with -- with a bit of a back and forth and then, you know, according to a source close to jc penney, as i reported earlier, they say, you know, according to a source that the facts laid out in the ackman letters are incorrect, so now you have a whole bunch

, the board agreed to replace meek ullman at that point.on't remember back to exactly what the state of j.c. penney's business was. i can venture to guess when ackman took his stake, the business wasn't going all that great under the last years of mike ullman. >> in the auto industry the housing industry, we are going through a tremendous financial collapse at that time. >> jeff, let's just take one step back. our sources this morning, beyond this press release, are suggesting that we're going to be hearing through an ak what deal was reached with ackman and i don't want to presuppose what we're going to hear but i will, which is that this is going to give both sides enormous amount of freedom, including ackman, potentially now to share his shares. >> he can sell his shares, he crashes his own. >> understood. if he begins to sell his shares or potentially, by the way the company decides to buy back some of his shares, which could also happen, what does that ultimately mean for how this company is going to be viewed? >> i think it's far more

we will also be joined by owen ullman.

government to allow chemical arms inspectors access to the site of the recent attack in story mark ullman us but i'm a little early he's been closely following the conflict he says there were no indications whatsoever that a sad was behind this assault the syrian government would have to be not only very brutal but very stupid to have done this in a period when the u.n. and chemical weapons inspectors are just down the road in damascus secondly you would have seen if they had done this if they had launched a very large scale for surely they would have sent in special troops under the cover of the chaos caused by such an act occupy the area in order precisely to prevent kind of films and pictures of merging politically sent around the world by the opposition this after all this american trial by the opposition so far the problem arises with the demands of syrian government permit experts to visit to see syrian government doesn't control the scene of the crime if it was crimes were committed it's up to the rebels if we see no attempt to press for rebels to cooperate so in fact it seems to b

ackman's effort immediately remove interim ceo mike ullman would apparently be put on hold. >> we talked about this story. i don't get this part. >> i've been thinking about this. i've been thinking about the deal, if i was on the board, i would try to reach with ackman. which is i would say to ackman, here's the deal, we will put this other person on the board -- >> ackman is director, they're saying here is someone that ackman wants on the board? >> or someone in the retail business. >> somebody with experience. >> right. >> that he would be happy with. we say, fine, we'll put this fellow on the board. however, you have to sign on the dotted line that you will not speak ever to the public, do anything outside of the bounds of the role not just of what you think a board member is, but i would write rules and if you are to -- if you were to contractually somehow get kicked off the board. that's the structure of whatever transaction here i would be setting up with that. i don't know if it is possible. but i was thinking this -- last night, what i would do if i was a boardmember.

, who was brought in to replace ullman, backed out.d him as interim ceo but the process that was supposed to start if april just began. in the letter, ackman says the reoriginal predecessor has agreed to return as chairman under certain conditions. he called questrom said he would need to not come back into a hostile situation. we know allen was approached in april but didn't want to come back at that point. in fact he endorsed mike ullman as strong choice to help stabilize the financial situation. and many believe ullman did stabilize at least the near term liquidity risk and did the right thing with coupons and private label brand. but hasn't been enough to truly bring the needle forward. there is a request for comments about what is going on there and comment and reaction to what happened with this ackman letter. >> pretty unbelievable. in such a short pooheriod of ti to have some much uncertainty in the corner office there. no wonder the stock performed so poorly. >> and no new names. is there nobody new that could come in? and all

we have no idea how long they intended ullman to say. now it would be less, because he came in in april. >> so it seems like in reading the acman letter, acman, correct me if i'm wrong, frustrated, ticked off that the board is acting slowly for the search for a full-time ceo, so it seems like he is proactively then got out and got questrom, who said yes, i'll be chairman, but you have to hire the ceo that i want, which some think may be himself. >> he was approached when the whole shift happened sudden at that point he was not ready to rejoin. he now, as you said has conditionally accepted chairman, as long as he gets to work with a ceo that he, quote, has positive kem industry with. he wants to do what's best for the retailer. he wants to try to save it, it appears. >> do you think that the reason the stock is up is the market is hoping that ceo broadband questrom himself? >> no, i think the market is hoping it would be ken hicks. >> ceo of footlocker. >> and you've said the obvious choice is ken. why is it the obvious choice? >> ken wa

there's a ton more that has to be done, ullman said that, he admitted it. but also said that back to school season was strong. and he indicated the company had ample liquidity. that's all you really needed to know. something it was in doubt a couple of months ago and i think the turn, it is at hand. the only thing lacking here, an apology from hedge fund activist bill ackman who directly questioned ullman's ability, even as the guy was giving it all she got and actually succeeded. i believe the stock closed at 14.01 because ackman wants out. that gain was fourth best for the session. ackman and ron johnson, they did almost wreck the company. >> the house of pain. >> something that would've wiped out about more than 100,000 jobs. bill, here's your hat, what's your hurry? and don't let the revolving door hit you on the way out. finally, there's home depot. i didn't save the best for last because home depot didn't rally because it didn't make as much as it should have and while the forecast was raised, it wasn't raised enough to please everyone. i say give me

and questrom supported ullman going back as the ceo and part of this is ackman kind of knocking ullman, which now you have everybody from the board of jcpenney to howard -- >> howard schultz. >> starbucks defending ullman. >> i don't want to trample on bill ackman. i don't know the guy. >> i think it is a hazy story. >> it seems like two -- i mean, let me know what you think, it seems like, a, ackman maybe jumped the gun in his letter suggesting that questrom all but agreed to come back. >> but questrom had talks with him. they started out about four or five months ago. >> but conditionally agreed to return was the verbatim. >> that's stronger than what questrom told me. >> what he told you. >> and he was on the air, on cnbc. >> and isn't -- andrew, last point, isn't ackman also making an end to round around the board? >> that's a hostile situation at that point and questrom laid that out as a condition he would not return under. >> i don't understand how you can be a board -- this goes back to either you want to be a board member -- >> an insider or outsider. >> if you want to be outs

howard schultz calling in to maria on friday to defend ullman.s what he had to say. >> mike ullman came back really to try to save the company, and what's so perverse here is that he is trying to save the company that bill ackman has basically done severe damage to. and for ackman to do what he's done the last 24 hours is not only irresponsible, but it's destructive behavior. and if i was sitting on that board, i would be asking for bill ackman's removal. >> all right. so let's talk about it. is bill ackman the problem or the solution for jcpenney? we have with us jason rotman. he says ackman is good for jcpenney and its shareholders. former m&a banker and killing wall street author sanjay says howard schultz is right, ackman is at fault for bringing jcpenney to this point. also with us, cnbc contributor, jeff sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of executive programs. you're against ackman, as well, right, jeff? >> absolutely. count me in the negative vote. sorry, jason. >> that's okay. jason, defend bill ackman. why is he good for jcpenney? >> the

he should go, and i think that ullman is deserves thanks.es a thank you. >> and i think that he deserves to keep the job. >> well, mike ullman didn't need this headache. he was -- just having a good time, and then suddenly, he comes to save it, why? because 100,000 employees and he feels bad for them to come in to save it and he is the goat of the game? look, it is true to run over the bus and it is a jackie gleason situation, and it is like, in other words, no honeymoon. >> and when we come back, what a morning already. we will talk to model s. making headlines for tesla. and we will tell you why apple needs to learn from tebow when it comes to tell, i have and couple of interesting points of apple. we will talk to the ceo about the company's new top box and h how to keep the company relevant. we will have a lot more "squawk on the street" from the nyse coming up in a moment. at fidelu the most free research reports, customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed 1-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly

credit ullman for that. ullman is the not doing what act man wants. it might be better that way.schultz, friend of ullman he sides over the weekend, if i was sitting on that board, jcpenney i would ask for bill ackman's removal val. cue homer simpson. doh. liz: ashley was in a jcpenney in connecticut. >> that is impressive. ashley: it was playing '70s muse sack. testimony everything felt steal and stuffy. go to macy's much brighter. better layout. it was huge contrast between the two. liz: haven't gotten at least music right. >> here's the deal. everyone has a jcpenney store, right? liz: right. >> what they were doing before tried to recreate themselves with ron johnson. they tried discounts. my first suit was jcpenney suit. i paid 90 bucks before the price of oil drove up polyester prices. that was years ago. what will jcpenney sell that you can't get at macy's and wal-mart? people like ackman think the company can be turn around. liz: joe fresh? adam, thank you very much. ashley: s&p futures are closing. let's head back to lincoln ellis in the pits of the cme to find out what t

ullman also said the current home products may be too upscale, which was a key concern of many in theeginning of this revamp. so the retailer is changing the allocation of soft and hard good home products. now, jcpenney continues to rebuild its inventory of private label brands, most of which johnson had gotten rid of. the retailer also bringing back its tiered loyalty program. the key objectives going forward are to regain loyalty, trusted brands, and customer service, though remember, that store traffic remains a concern. we know many of the other retailers that consumer sentiment in general is a little bit troubling. maria? >> all right, thank you so much. >>> big, big moves out of jcpenney, as well as a number of other activist investors on other stocks. is this a good thing that activist investors are sort of being more aggressive lately? >> i'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but when you look at jcpenney, you know, it had a significant move today to the upside of 6%. but let's not forget it's basically still a 52-week low. close to -- it's trading at $14, i think 52-week

remember mike ullman's first quarter back. might by a tikrit the earnings to the lagging effect, same stores going forward. >> it didn't you have quest rom when i was -- questrom out within i was out too? >> he was on up for grabs as a potential chairman for the company. now that ackman is out. i think that might be harder. it sound like he was orchestrating that situation at the time. >> allen questrom is really one, yes. i mean it. >> throw away, turn, fill time. that cheapens it. >> david is one of my favorites. >> is he really? >> i'll give you five reasons. >> i'll give you five. up next, marcus lemonis, host of the cnbc's "the profit." . this evening's new episode, it's a cool one at 10:00 and checking the futures, quickly, home depot was good, j.c. penney is good, too in terms of the stock action. maybe we'll get a bounce today. . it's time. >> you have to understand if you try to change the brand of our company, somebody goes off and does a different thing. >> we made rules. >> if i made decision, no one says you can't

mike ullman was never expected to be the guy.m title put on him in the first place. maybe ullman himself thought he was going to be there longer. but clearly wall street almost by the day, if not week, month, had been voting that something needs to happen here, that maybe this new strategy and some of the new innovations, whether it be home or joe fresh or whatever else, that the company was trying, just simply wasn't working. >> well, whenever you're on our air, i think people are like, okay, what's he got. we'll talk to you soon. >> all right, carl, thanks. >> scott wapner covering jcpenney. let's bring in mark cohen, professor of marketing at columbia university. and ken, a senior partner with booze and company. it's great to have you both. what a story. mark, let's begin with you. you know when you're riding a bicycle and you go too far to the left and then to the right, eventually you're probably going to crash. how does this all stabilize? >> well, look, it's fair to say and i don't mean to make light of the last 24 hours t

jcpenney reaffirming its overwhelming support for mike ullman and chairman thomas engibous.ectively without the noise, noise he created during his two years on the board. not all of it positive certainly, particularly airing his frustration was the slow search for a permanent ceo to replace mike ullman. ackman still has an 18% stake in jcpenney and because he's privy to inside information at this point, he isn't able to exit that position right now. ackman told andrew ross sorkin if he wanted to sell, he could have done so during one of the quarterly windows though with his average purchase price of $25, selling now would result in a rather huge loss. many analysts believe ackman's resignation removes some leadership uncertainty but doesn't so. the issue of poor sales and low traffic in the stores. at the end of the day, the company will live or die based on consumers buying or not buying and that's where investors want the energy focused. ullman has stabilized the financials keeping the ship afloat. moving it forward is another issue. when jcpenney reports earnings a week f

they're looking for a new ceo to replace ullman. he wasn't going to stay forward maybe there is a difference of opinion to how long mike ullman should stay in the job. however, wall street has been clearly voting that something has to change, whether it's the ceo or board members. but wall street has voted almost by the day. the stock's at a 12 1/2-year low, and maybe even more significant. in the short term, in a credibility standpoint, the fact that ally questrum is considering coming back. he is by all accounts, a retail legend. and nobody says anything negative. he has the street cred, running a number of the largest bick box retailer, yes, he's been out of the mix for a while. he himself saying only an old guy, and no, you're seasoned. that's key for wall street, that they need to see somebody with that kind of credibility. >> the short list of really great retailers is pretty doggone short. but beyond that, it's very hard to find those guys who have that magic? >> i'm sure there are guys. >> and women. >> and gals, as i always

ullman is still in place. do you think this is the right mix? >> well i think mike was the right guy to stablize the business. they told us he was interim when he came in. we didn't know if interim meant six months or two years. we knew there would be a new person following. he has done a great job stablizing it. he recapitalized business. they're looking for next full-time, long-term ceo. there is no rush. there is a lot of stabilization to be done. i think mike should stay there he should get the work done. should do a methodical search and bring in a great new retailer. >> holiday season back half of the year do you think it will bode well for jcpenney? >> i actually do and bode well for discretionary retail. people are way too negative in the back half of the year. they're looking in the rear view mirror in the last two quarters, that they will not buy apparel or accessories again. they will only go to home depot. that will not be the case. penney's will participate because they have product and promotions. the customer will come back. it ma

just like jolly has done at best buy, ullman has to do the same thing and ironically, you know, thisapple who came in, really, one of his first moves was to eliminate the customer insight function within jcpenney and took a flyer on his own and went off with variety of strategies that of course turned upside down for him. you have to, a, define who his customer is. liz: was a stunning move for a guy who was genius at apple stores. i was in apple stores and engaging and kind and on me but not in a negative way or just annoying. they wean like that at all. let's quickly wrap this up by saying does jcpenney ever recover? can they? >> it is going to be very difficult for them. it certainly will take a lot long their the one year jolly just celebrated today. it will have to take place slowly and i think the street is going to have to make sure that it has patience with what ullman is bringing into the stores. but it's going to have to be really important that he does not go ditch to ditch on this that he doesn't try to go back to satisfy that existing customer that they have, that i think

ullman has only been around for four months so to suggest that the situation should have been turned around in four months, that he could have righted the ship in that amount of time, you know, i just don't think it is reasonable. yes, the plan is to look forward and look for a new ceo. the problem is when you play this out in the media like this, a ceo that's running a company that has a great track record who could help this company is hesitant to come in with all of this animosity, so i think that's -- that's one of the key issues. >> all right. stacey, thank you very much, stacey widlitz joining us from london. scott, we'll be watching this all weekend. that letter is something else. >> not the last thing that's going to happen. >> thank you. >> sue, down to you. >> yeah, that story keeps on giving, doesn't it? all right. another big story today is blackberry. right now the shares are up 7.5% because there are reports the company could go private. seema mody is following the story for us and is at the nasdaq today. hi, seema? >> that's right. blackberry on the move. the company's

last thursday, ackman urged the board to quickly replace jcp's interim ceo, mike ullman. ackman is also saying the retailer is "flying blind." ackman manages the pershing square capital hedge fund, which owns nearly 18% of jc penney. jcp stock closed friday at its lowest price in a decade: $12.87. blackberry's board may be changing its tone about going private. reuters reports the wireless company is "warming up" to selling to a private buyer. the report sparked a more-than-7% rally in the stock. analysts warn it could be difficult to find a buyer for the troubled company. the launch of its blackberry 10 operating system didn't go as well as hoped. the company reportedly is looking into other options, such as licensing blackberry 10 software or finding a partner. president obama is vacationing this week in martha's vinyard, but before taking off friday, he held a news conference and talked a bit about the process of finding the next federal reserve chairman. mr. obama says he has a range of outstanding candidates, and confirmed that janet yellen and larry summers are both

mike ullman trying to bring it back, as dan was pointing out, an effort to salvage the balance sheetore than anything else, just stabilize a sinking ship in this case, but it is still sinking, and that's the reality and trying to bail it out isn't going to work. they have to change the structure of the business. won't make money this year or next year which means the balance sheet will get that much worse. whether or not you believe the citc business, whether they are losing their funding, that's not issue. they have to turn around quickly. >> from a trading perspective it won't take a whole heck of a lot to get this stock back up to the low teens, if there is any good news, the sentiment is bad and this sets up for a dangerous short for people who want to enter it here. >> mike obviously is bearish. he's selling a call spread. let's crack open the "playbook" and see how this works. bear strategy, purchase a higher strike call on the same expiration. want it to change by the short strike by expiration. above that level you will lose money the losses are capped at strike of the call t

it was tracey ullman show at the time that you brooks was james l. brooks was was running had these little one minute animated bumpers that matt green in created and they decided to do a spinoff series and i think there was a guy originally who had done the voice of mo the bartender that i thought they weren't happy with his performance but i found out not that long ago that they just he was just kind of an a rude guy didn't like him and what a mistake that guy made by being rude to those folks and being fired off of that show sorely on they had casting from oh the bartender came in i was in a play at the time i was playing a drug dealer i was doing a very bad al pacino impression is that character was kind of talking like this kind of like al from dog day afternoon or you know and i did that poise and they said well we need to be gruff and gravelly and so i made out that you know kind of gruff and gravelly and download a bottle and they came out and then that was it and they had me do that then each week i did a different voice and by the second yea

to take mike ullman out after less than that seems odd to say the least.. some people will find that somewhat peculiar. >> yet shares spiking almost 5% on that report. you have to wonder, are investors just to desperate for change. but, carl, as you have said, this has been perhaps as much of a distraction as anything. >> yeah. obviously there have been a lot of questions about ullman's tenure so far even though it hasn't been that long. for instance, returning to couponing, returning to sales. why has that not resulted in the immediate turns in comps which are getting easier over time? but obviously ackman is very impatient. he has a lot of fires burning right now and probably feels that perhaps, i'm guessing, this is his low hanging fruit. >> we know a 13-year low. the fact that as poorly as the company was doing when they decided to bring ron johnson in, unfortunately all that's happened is jcpenney has not managed to increase their share of the u.s. consumer wallet which we've been talking about all morning how much pressure consumers are under. you ha

should ullman stay at the helm? >> i think he is really in a transition mode.has always been he would be a transitional ceo and they would be looking for a permanent ceo. i think there are a number of talented individuals out there. one of them that comes to mind is another company that i follow, bon-ton and brendan hoffman. but i'm not sure bon-ton is willing to let him go, given the turn around that he has in process with. so far it is going well. david: mary, based on what you said about ron johnson i think you will reject this notion. however i'm going to ask it anyway. what do you think might have happened if ron johnson had been given more time? do you think there is any way, shape or form his gameplan could have worked or was it absolutely doomed to failure? >> well i really, it is easy to look back, to say yes, it was doomed to fail. think there were some good ideas there. but what you have to do with any good idea you have to test it. you just don't go out there and say, okay i will transform the entire storm base under this new strategy. then, second

liz, and, you know, you have to remember when a new ceo does eventually come into to replace ullman,ithout having ackman in the picture, it could be a good thing to attract candidates; right? >> liz: yeah, he was a believer, took a stake, the largest shareholder in jcpenney, and what's the stock done? you see it on the screen. it's gone down. what did it do today after being kicked off the board? it's gone down. this is a very tough battle to fight, but it's a fascinating one, folks. we've seen turn arounds work if done properly. this could be one of the most difficult ever seen in apparel. closing bell ringing in 49 minutes. retail sales, let's continue that theme. they are actually growing. this is just the time jcpenney could be capitalizing on a stronger consumer. according to the latest retail sales numbers out today, yeah, it's a recovery. which retailers should you be buying that would best stand to benefit? we got an all-star panel. one side saying go on the cheaper side with the lower end retailers, and the other saying, high end all the way. you get to decide when you hear

now he's angry, campaigning against mike ullman, johnson's replacement, this time with howard schultzthe founder of starbucks, he doesn't have a dog in this hunt, unless you consider decency a dog. i have no idea what the investors are thinking, let's say you think he's going to struggle here, you want to profit from it, perhaps you wait until investors had enough. you can shoot against ackman like those who shot against me. remember, my opponents ultimately got hurt by the rising tide, if you go to battle, you need to hedge your positions or get crushed by a move higher like my adversaries did. all i know, investors are showering ackman with money because of his terrific long-term record, here's hedge fund managers should be doing. first the short against ackman's position needs to be protected by it, buying another second rate retailer. i picked sears holdings. way, back-to-season is good, a nice hedge there, a few weeks ago, we learned that ackman is taking on short air products, imagine you buy a company up less for the year right against it. ing aman has to position canadian paci

. >> well, ullman is not doing a bad job. they have the housewares business under control and they had a core business and the balance sheet is good and the apparel is not that good in the sense for anybody, but i just think that you are giving away the stock here. >> well, a couple of weeks ago on the earnings you said that, bill ackman, you said it on the show to apologize to mike ullman -- >> did he issue that apology? >> well, this is a white flag of sorts? >> well, it is. and does he go the buy herbalife at 80? >> well, i would have loved carl to come in and take down the whole block. well, that would have been poetic. >> but, david, because you are familiar with the queens and jack lew's queens. >> and not just queens. >> and is this a situation where carl icahn would say that he is at the schoolyard and he got beat up and does he go to his mom? did he go to his mom? >> yes, to the mom, and carl said, i will take care of that. >> and remember when you beat somebody up and their mom called your mom? >> oh, that is -- >>

we've heard a lot of talk about the hinden berg-ullman, i don't pay attention when you get one of those, or two of those. give me five or six or three or four in a couple of days, anybody who doesn't pay heed i think is foolish. that was enough this morning. i actually told people, i'm nervous in the news letter, perhaps it's not a bad time to follow puts. i wish i had followed my own advice. >> bob, are you with us on the telephone? all right. bob will be joining us momentarily, get his take on this move downward, you know, we were talking earlier with rob about this, dennis, in terms of how much further we could see this market decline. what would be your expectation in terms of the right metrics to lock at to indicate whether or not there is a lot more selling to come? >> well, if you start breaking down through 50 and 100-day moving averages, if you start to do that, there will be a lot more damage implied. it's a long way down to the 200-day moving average. i don't think that will happen. it's a long way down to major trend lines. it's probably the summer doldrums. it is probably n

ullman has only been in for four months here. he's reassured vendors, you know, the fact that ackman has walked out of the board is a positive for shareholders because you cannot have a board member who is a loose cannon going into the media and saying sales have bottomed when they have not, which he did last year, or basically airing the dirty laundry and making accusations, particularly at a time when this company is looking for a ceo. what ceo in their right mind would want to come into that situation. >> when you sit, stacey and look at jc penney and its stores and its business, do you see this as a viable company? >> you know what? they are in a lot of trouble and that's a question mark. they are burning, you know, maybe over 2 billion of cash so far this year, so the question is at what point do vendors get nervous? yes, they have cash to get through this year but maybe vendors in nine months say, you know what, the department store space is a scary place right now. everybody is delaying orders into q4 and jc penney, we jus

he was trying not only to get the ceo mike ullman out but also the chairman of jcpenney.en in the news a lot. jcpenney shares are down a lot. if you look at a one-year chart, this stock is down 45%, david. david: once again, they have announced their sale. they haven't actually dumped them on the market yet, right? >> announced today, yeah. the underwritten offering of more than 39 million shares. david: the announcement has been made. they're going to do it. the shares have not been dumped yet. it might have overall effect on the shares diluting the stock. nice to see you, lauren simonetti. s&p futures are closing in 10 seconds. let's head down to sandy smith and tim mulholland on the floor. sandy i have not seen you since you had the baby. you look magnificent. >> thank you, david. i appreciate that. great to be back. david: latest on the cme as we hear the closing bell. why was there a late-day turnaround in the market? was not a turn around but definitely a pull downwards. >> i think there is a lot of ongoing talk down here about the economic news that we keep getting

. >> a few months ago, mark ullman took it on. nobody can turn it around in two months.round, this is a miss like we've never seen before. >> this is incredible. how about an apology? >> how about selling your stock and moving on? >> do you know what he looks like? he looks like ghandi versusing aman. this is ghandi, ii, he is back bigger than ever. >> essentially, this is what the hyper move is about. we only got a few clues over elan musk, he basically says, when he unvams it, what you are looking at is the cross between the concorde, an air gun and air hockey table. >> icahn put out a press release, i will quote from it. we encourage investor, the media and others interested in our company to review the information that mr. icahn posts on twitter in addition to the information that we disclose using our investors' relation website. can i tell you from sources i think we're talking a matter of days. >> lots to discuss here karen. i know carl told you initially, he would post his next idea on twitter, it's funny to say he will release in days on twitter. okay. we're rea

to remove him from the ranks and the "new york post" reporting that the board is backing ceo mike ullman guess that is no real surprise if you read the board's statement last week. >> i am still short. i won't be surprised if this is ackman's way of setting up his exit from the company. i don't know if that will be good or bad. >> i think he already said if he agrees to terms he will dig in. >> he won't get out. >> i know he said he may consider selling his thing. then i think it was also they do what they need to do, maybe he would consider going -- putting more in. that's according to reports. >> i am coming to a conclusion the only way the company will have positive sales growth is if they're starting from zero and then i am not sure. >> what do you make of the involvement from richard perry now and will other value investors get -- >> 25%. >> that's what they're doing. perry is defending a position. >> between ackman and perry you have 25%. >> imagine you're a consumer. you are reading an article about the woman that bought something she thought was on sale and had a price of $24. sh

the board saying it is happy with the progress under mike ullman and is angry at alaska ackman the lettere presented. and sandra and pianalto is retiring. some market watchers blame the dow's losses at least in part on her comments and now she announces her retirement. stock specific action, shares of priceline.com getting close to $1,000 a share after reporting earnings of $9.70 a share, better than analyst estimates thanks to an increase in bookings and uptick of demand from europe. and the sec wants jpmorgan to admit wrong doing in the london whale case. a lot of types these end with a settlement when the company pay as fine but doesn't admit guilt. now the sec reportedly looking for more admissions in these type of cases. what do you think of that? >> i think the sec really wants to prove its manhood is what i think. but i wanted to ask you, mr. ackman, who is in some sense the fight of his life on her herballife is picking a funlg fight with jp penny. i don't see why. >> this has been a common trend in the past year or two. more of these investors being vocal about their opinion on a

he wrote a letter thursday reported on cnbc calling for jcpenney to speed up the search to replace ullmano be a jcpenney director. the stock up nearly 5% today. >>> s.e.c. prosecutors asked a federal judge to approve a deal allowing the hedge fund to maintain business operations restricted ability to move assets. on thursday, ministry law judge put a hold on the s.e.c.'s case against sac founder steven cohen. the s.e.c. accuses cohen of failing to properly supervise his employees. blackberry is more open to the idea of going private. reuters says the ceo thorsten heins and the board are coming around to the ability of more breathing room to fix problems. nothing is imminent. blackberry hasn't started any sales process. the reports say the company could ultimately find it hard to come up with the buyer and the money to go private. blackberry shares down more than 22% this year. >>> u.s. international trade commission set to decide whether to ban some samsung phones from entering the american market. the latest battle follows a decision by president obama to overturn a trade ban on older ap

we will also be joined by owen ullman. >> we'll continue into the afternoon. you're looking at film from august of 1963 as demonstration and marchers gathered on the mall here in washington d.c. this was the headline from the washington post, a mammoth rally of 200,000 jamming the mall in a solemn orderly plea for equality. that's our line for those of you over the age of 50. for those of you under the age of 50. 585-3880. 202 is the area code here in washington d.c. we'll get your call on march. >> your calls and comments in a moment. lots get to the other stories this morning that is latest development from syria and headlines from overseas. the guardian newspaper the attack on syria just days away as the house of commons recalled for a vote and the picture of the british prime minster as he departs yesterday as the parliament resuming session tomorrow breaking from their august recess. from the marine herald, -- miami herald, a stage is set. u.s. and allies act as syria's intelligence mount. as u.s. officials said privately that a flood of previously undisc

big bang theory" to show them not all genius are tiny and wimpy people and wall street writes mike ullmaner on gossip girl would be nice. do you have one or two. >> walking dead popped up a couple times. i like the one suggesting balmer on the prophet at cnbc. >> snarky and classy. we continue to hang onto gains here on slow volume. let's get to headquarters. wapner is back. let's get to the halftime. >> thanks so much. welcome to the halftime show. four hours to go until the close right there the wall is where we stand on the street as karl said, volumes light and so are the gains. we'll take it. 28 points for the dow. here is what we're following on the half. double dip, housing guru diana olick on what the backup in yields means to recovery and whether it is in jeopardy. inside the blue box, tiffany shares up 45% year-to-date and a buy with earnings looming and one stock, two traders in a halftime throwdown. first, our top story, it is all about the markets and how even in the face of

publicly released a letter urging the company to quickly replace mike ullman.ying they would like to see a change if questrom and mr. hicks were available to move quickly to do that. i find this fascinating in a lot of ways. but don't want to forget the underlying story, jcpenney, is it beyond saving? >> the declining sales are extraordinary. 29 minus 30, you can't recover from that. i think these guys know it. ford auto knew it. >> they still have a lot of stock, which they're not happy about. >> they can't be. so everybody questrom was he taking the job through cnbc. allen, call me, ways on vacation. give me a call. maybe you want -- what kind of executive chairman. just give me a buzz. i'm right here. this is incredible how this is playing out on tv. do you really want to take the ceo job knowing that ackman hates the rest of the board? it's a situation. where is that french fella, that guy, that french fella that ran hewlett-packard. >> hewlett-packard? he wasn't french. >> what was he? >> he was german. >> his name is long since forgotten. >> yes, it is. >

now, jcpenney, the embattled mike ullman, i know you have the jcpenney hour in fr 2:00 to 3:00, theyay back is school is good. this is a market where execution is everything. urban outfitters had an amazing quarter, amazing quarter. case by case. >> and courtney reagan had a great piece on who is doing it right, who is winning in the market, companies are innovating and bringing out original products, controlling their inventory better. hey, listen. god forbid, maybe target is just not executing as well as them. >> given about 90% of the products are probably the same as home depot, shopco is where i go in the midwest? >> may not be as good as they used to be. >> meyer? >> customer management, one of the things that mr. hanes cited was on the urban outfitters call, tremendous. mark behind the scene, people are doing better customer relations management. that's what domino's attributed to its strength. domino's is up huge. >> the tweets. >> they did get back to me. >> you called them out on national television. >> ce oero sales was luke warm. >> 6'8". >> bigger than you. we came back