Following one of the worst months for investors in about a year. Stocks staged a steep sell off with the dow dropping 150 points, the nasdaq 19 and the s p 11. Gold rallied 2 dollars and oil slid 74cents. The keystone xl pipeline would have little impact on the enviornment according to analysis by the state department. Environmental lists are disapointed. More studies are still to come. And the head of Consumer Protection bureau Richard Cordray will make an appearance on jeopardy wednesday. Lets find out if Tim Mulholland of chinaamerica capital thinks a selling spree will continue. Good monday morning to you. People are talking about corrections in the market, maybe up to 15 . What do you think . We havent had a 10 correction in over 2 years. In fact, january was our first down month that we had since august. I think given that were not even 3 1 2 down i dont know if id go that far yet i think most people view this as healthy right now and thats because theyre looking at earnings and economic growth. And i think they look fairly optimistic about that Going Forward. On the topic of earnings, a number of companies are coming out and talking about share buybacks. Is that a positive signal . For short term it is but for long term i think its awful. They didnt even have share buybacks until the 1980s. It was never even heard of. What youre looking at are companies that for earnings per sharewhich you have to be careful looking at thatit reduces the share count. So basically companies can grow their earnings per share without necessarily growing their top lines which is what we have been seeing. I think more importantly it takes away from future growth. So for the long term i dont think its that helpful plus they are buying high and selling low in their buyback activity. Nevertheless, it should be a boost for earnings per share. I think the real key Going Forward is going to be the employment report this week and the Economic OutlookGoing Forward. I think thats really what the balance of the quarter and maybe even the year rests on. Tim, thanks for bringing all of that to us this morning. My pleasure. Janet yellen will officially be sworn in today as the first female chair of the Federal Reserve bank. She takes over as the central bank faces the challenge of winding down its massive bondbuying program while also determining when it could be necessary to raise interest rates. She has followed and agreed with a number of the policies of ben bernanke, so basically were not going to see any change in the near term. In terms of fed policy. She will probablym continue the gradual taper as the economy recovers. Which does make sense, but every Federal Reserve chair ultimately puts their own stamp on the fed. Yellen will first Face Congress as head of the fed next week when she testifies before a house panel. Diane moca joins now with an Economic Indicator to watch today. Traders await data from the Manufacturing Sector this morning. The ism will reveal a broader look at the industry. Fridays chicago pmi data, a preview of the national number, remained strong, despite a slight dip. This could bode well for the national number. The signal is demand is pretty strong here for the purchasers in chicago. Sales forecasts are strong. I am hearing that purchasers have gotten orders that will take them six months out. So it looks like well have a busy first half of the year. That was Alyce Andres Franz of mni. The chicago pmi dipped slightly to 59. 6 from 60. 8 in december. Any number above 50 indicates expansion. Walmart however, is sending a worrisome signal about consumer spending. The retail giant is ratcheting down expectations for earings growth in part because of the harsh winter and the cut to food stamps. International markets are also proving challenging. Walmart closed 50 Underperforming Stores in china and brazil in the past year. The stock is down 4 percent in the last 6 months. Ceos from large corporations are working with president obama to get outofwork americans back on the job. At the white house friday ceos from boeing , walmart and mcdonalds were among those who signed a pledge to develop initiatives for recruiting and hiring applicants whove been out of work for an extended period. Federal job skills training is also part of the program. While congress decides whether or not its going to extend Unemployment Insurance for these americans. We are going to go ahead and act. We know what works and we are going to see what we can do without additional legislation to put a dent in long term unemployment. The president also signed an order directing federal agencies to end a process that screens out the longterm unemployed. On capitol hill. The white house is hopeful congress will approve a deal to raise the debt ceiling however, the gop want conditions tied increasing the limit. Movement on immigration could come out congress. The House Republican leadership is selling more of its members on the benefits of legislation, however a path to citizenship remains a sticking point. This economy is looking bright for venture capitalists. Especially in sunny california. According to a survey of vc firms there. But some say the highest confidence level in six years. Could be blindingly bright if its not tempered with some caution. The exit environment is very strong. The ipo window was blown open for the last year or so. That had been missing for a very long time in vc. Such ipos include facebook. Twitter. Linkedin. And groupon. Which are all Holding Steady despite some having a rocky start and thats giving the market a green light to keep speeding ahead in the ipo fast lane. John malloy of blue run ventures says his firm is poised to take advantage of the momentum for startups in the mobile sector and technology. Hes one of 32 venture capitalists surveyed to determine the Silicon Valley vc Confidence Index. Which just registered 3. 9 out of 5 points. Approaching values it hasnt reached since a university of San Francisco professor began collecting the ratings and comments 10 years ago. Vcs have been able to take more firms to public offering, to exit, which makes more funding available for the next round of innovators. Bob ackerman of Allegis Capital is also funding those innovators. Especially in the cyber security. Cloud computing. And big data arenas. But hes not in any hurry to cash in on all the liquidity in the market. If history teaches us anything, its taking a Company Public prematurely is not a good idea. Companies need to be ready and profitable. Ackerman says valuations may be getting ahead of business fundamentals in the social space. Which can sometimes be guided by flavor of the day expectations rather than growth of demand. As in cyber security. You begin to see trends that indicate there may be bubbles building. When youre in a bubble, you never know it. You have to be concerned it ends. You look for irrational exuberance. I havent seen evidence of that. Analysts say the losers in the field will be those who miss a big opportunity. Because they are not willing to take the risks. 2014 should be stronger than 2013 was, and the end result is it can handle a lot of ipos. The vc Confidence Index measures the entrepreneurial environment over the next 6 18 months. Facebook turns 10 tomorrow. Mark zuckerberg started up the social media site in harvard dorm room. The past decade has included plenty of hoodies, on rare occasions a shirt and tie, more than a billion facebook users, a botched ipo and today stock that is trading near all time highs. Leaving Mark Zuckerberg now worth 33 billion dollars. What a decade reports say microsoft has made its pick for a new ceo. Bloomberg says satya nadella, a current microsoft executive, could be tapped for the role. Ceo Steve Ballmer announced his retirement in august. The company may also be getting ready to replace chairman bill gates. Sources tell bloomberg this will not diminish his role in microsoft. Mitsubishi motors reportedly is planning a new Management Structure that could include the departure of its longtime president. Sources tell reuters the automaker will appoint a managing director to replace osamu masuko. Masuko has led the company for 9 years. The report says he could become chairman, focusing on building relationships with other car companies. A focus on new, more affordable luxury cars could have younger buyers heading to showrooms. A growing segment of the auto sector is high end cars, with a more affordable price tag. Jack nerad of Kelley Blue Book says typically. Luxury cars attract buyers 50 and older, but that is changing. The age range is down. And for our group of luxury cars, luxury cars under 40,000 dollars, a lot of people who either buy these or lease these are much younger than that. Automakers have looked for ways to lure in younger consumers, as fewer millenials buy cars. A biofuel stock is capturing attention on wall street. Shares of solazyme raced up 32 friday on word the Biofuel Company has started operations at 2 plants in iowa and products are being sold in the u. S and brazil. The Renewable Oil products are made from algea and replace fossil petroleum. One analysts believes the company may produce more biofuel than predicted. Detroit has offered a twotiered structure. Benefitting retirees over bankers. To help the city resolve roughly 18 billion dollars in longterm debt obligations. Balancesheet projections reveal that the citys two municipal funds, which provide pensions to more than 20,000 people, could recover 40percent of the money the city owes. Unsecured bondholders would receive just 20 of what they are due. All sides are still in mediation. The center for Disease Control is investigating an illness on board a princess cruise ship owned by carnival. The trip was cut short friday after 3 passengers showed flu like symptoms, and 165 passengers reported ill to the medical center. However officials said they cut the trip short due to due to fog, not illness. It follows an outbreak on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that made more than 600 passengers ill. Americans are skipping out on sochi. Attendance of u. S. Citizens at the winter games in russia is expected to be the lowest turnout in decades. Its due to the high cost. A week long stay in sochi could set you back between 7 and 14 thousand dollars. A lack of hotels in the area is sending room rates up to one thousand dollars per night. Sales are slowing for a couple of iconic american toys. Mattel reports over the Christmas HolidayQuarter Sales of its barbie brand plunged 13 and hot wheels by 8 . American girl stores however had a 3 upswing. Americans have a large appetite for chipotle stock. Shares gained 58 dollars friday. Hitting an alltime high after the mexican food chain dished up a sales increase of 9. 3 . A hot topic for the restaurant is whether it will hike prices this year. As it deals with higher costs for avocados and other ingredients. Still to come twitter gets ready to tell all in its first ever Earnings Report. Plus. Why Small Businesses are facing a hiring dilemma. Bill moller explains a little later. And a grave outlook for orange groves. Why your morning oj could become more expensive after this break this is a room where an army vet put his life back together, where a family lived when they were displaced by a flood. But its more than a room. Its a room at volunteers of america, and the pathway to stronger communities. Because when lives are improved, communities are, too. To help strengthen your community, visit volunteersofamerica. Org. Florida orange crops are in crisis. A bacterial disease called greening is slowly killing floridas orange trees. Its so harsh the usda is revising Crop Estimates to the lowest amount in nearly 24 years. Jackie keenan takes us on a tour for a first hand look at the devastation greening has inflicted on one familys groves. This is andrew shaffi. His familys citrus groves are in riverview florida near tampa. They farm nearly 700 acres and theyre one of the many small to medium sized operations that are feeling the effects of the Citrus Greening disease. My family has been in the citrus business since 1980. Its estimated that at least 75 of floridas groves have been infected with the bacterial disease greening, in which there is no cure. 50 of the shafii familys groves have greening. This is clasic greening the arteries of the orange tree were blocked by the bacteria so the nutrients never made it to this orangeto get it to where it needed to be. We were averaging 450 boxes to the acre. Now were averaging. 200 boxes to the acre. Our income has drastically decreased, and this year has been the worst. Were spending in the ballpark of 1215oo per acre, which we feel is an aggressive approach. For a small Family Business and we arent seeing the benefits to the point where were making a profit. The costs of managing a grove once averaged 500 per acre. Now the state of florida recommends growers spend 2,000 per acre to treat and prevent greening. 2,000 per acre per year, and you have a thousand acres, and youre putting that kind of money into it thats 2 milion dollars per year its crazy money, its crazy moeny. Were hanging off the cliff right now and were getting ready to fall, so we probably cant do this much longer. These trees the limbs used to be hanging on the ground with valencias, these arent supposed to be ripening up until march and you can see theyre already starting to ripen, which is not a good sign. Thats the greening and these trees all have it. And this is the start of it. Theyll gradually start to decline. Next year will be worse, the year after that will be worse, you learn how to grow oranges and theyre telling us to try to grow peasches, and try to grow pomegranites, and try to grow blueberries, and trying to start over and learn something brand new, i tell the other growers, and ive been telling them for years, that its like an airplane thats in trouble, and the oxygen masks have been deployed and this airplane is going down. And its the truth. That was Jackie Keenan reporting. The newly passed farm bill has allocated 125 Million Dollars for research to combat Citrus Greening. Coming up. Social Network Names take center stage in chart talk. And after the break, why the Small Business sector is divided on whether the economy is ramping up or slowing down. Bill moller steps in, next. A lot of analysts economists are expecting 2014 to be a year of growth and gain. But theres little evidence of that in the first month of the new year. Just look at the findings of the just released Small Business scorecard which is produced each month by surepayroll the online payroll company. Michael alter is ceo. So michael, wheres the growth . Unfortunately were not really seeing it. I think everybody was really excited as we moved into the new year. We had some strong optimism coming into the new year but in the end what we have seen is more of the same. We saw a slight decline in hiring0. 1 down. We saw a slight decline in the average paycheck0. 2 down. We saw optimism hovering in that 6570 range. What about what companies are expecting to do in terms of hiring and taking advantage of opportunities for growth . What we are looking at right now in 2014 is a little bit of a glass half empty, Glass Half Full side among Small Business owners. Half of them are planning to hire and half of them are not. Half of them have the money to withstand a downturn or a negative step in their business or the money to grow and hire and half of them dont. So i think if we get through this year with some positive external factors i think you could see some growth. If we have a couple of shocks to the negative, i think youre gonna see us go the other way. Optimism usually is a higher number that we typically see. What does that look like in terms of the year ahead . So optimism right now is 65 . Which means two thirds of Small Business owners are positive about the future. Thats better than where we have been in the depths of the recession when we were in the 40s but its certainly not at the 80 plus percent you would see strong growth at. What this means to me is that we are going to continue to see that bumping along at the bottom right now unless that optimism number picks back up higher. Michael alter with surepayroll. Well see you again next month. Thanks for having me. Thanks for that update bill. Twitter turns in its first Earnings Report this week. A trader checks the charts next. Andrew keenepresident of keene on the market dot com does some social media buzz with us this morning. Good morning andrew. Good morning angie. Lets start with twitter. This is the first time were gonna hear an Earnings Report from the company and the stock has been moving higher ahead of earnings. It should be really interesting. If you look at the options marketim assuming about a 1225 move in twitter. I actually bought it on friday at 63. I did it as a day trade. It got as high as 65. It looks very strong into earnings. With Facebook News and facebook popping, i think twitter looks strong. I think twitter can go highereven up to 80. 80 . How soon . If they have a strong earnings it can get up to probably 70 or 75. If you look at it technically on all the chartsand were gonna talk about linkedin here in a secondfacebook, twitter, and linkedin. Facebook and twiiter look very strong and unfortunately linkedin looks a little bit weak technically speaking. Linked in has been though one of the strongest ipos in the social media sector. So whats your expectation . If you look at linkedin, its implying about a 10 move here. Over the last 8 quarters linkedin has actually rallied 6 of the last 8 quarters. So on earnings it has been really strong. If you actually break down the chart it looks pretty weak. As the s p went to new all time highs, linkedin wasnt trading in at all time highs. It got up to about 240 and found sellers. On the daily chart you see lower lows and lower highs. Its a very bearish term. Also, on the weekly chart you see lower lows and lower highs. So it looks like linkedin is actually setting up to the downside. I do not want to play it into earnings. The chart looks weak but it rallies on earningsis kind of 50 50. I could see it getting down to that 200 if you see a capitulation bottom day and buyers come in around 200 ill look to get long but into earnings its a no touch for me. Thank you andrew. Thank you. Theres more coming tomorrow on the show on what to do if you are worried about the recent market action. Join us tuesday for words of wisdom from professional money managers. From all of us at first business, have a great start to your week paid advertisement for cold plasma subd by perricone md. How old does your neck make you look . Would you like to take years off your appearance and help remove some of the signs of aging on your neck for a look that is firmer, tighter, and more youthful . Well, now you can. Introducing dr. Perricones cold plasma subd. Subd is specifically formulated for the area called the submandibular. Often neglected, the skin in this area has unique needs, and cold plasma subd helps tackle the most common signs of aging on the chin, jawline, neck, and