141 points. >> the question is why do you embrace it? also, more reaction and fall out after the merger between comcast, our parent, and time warner. if that deal will be approved, it has to get past the objections of minnesota senator al franken, and he will be here to tell us why he wants the government to stop comcast from buying another large cable operator. >> forget all the flight delays and the cancellations due to the weather. it may only get worse even when there's not a cloud in the sky. why? well, there's a shortage of pilots here in the united states right now, and that could mean that you'll be paying a lot more to fly. we have a pilot here to tell us why it's happening right now and it could make you angry because it is really avoidable. >> people wondering why we're at a 25-year high cancellation for flights. now let's take a look at the markets. the dow is up 142 points at this hour. that's a little less than 1%. 16,170 is the level there. take a look at the nasdaq. even though the point gain isn't that impressive we are sitting at a 13 1/2 year high. they're adding 9 points to 4,250. the s&p 500 to 1,841 which puts it within 7 points of its all-time closing high that was set in the middle of january. >> crazy. let's bring in our panel. does that music sound russian to you? >> vaguely. >> bring in our panel today. kyle harrington, scott cavanaugh from first foundation, rich peterson from s&p capital iq, heather hughes from center america funds and our own rick santelli. heather, i can't decide which is worse. being caught in a market that just keeps going down or missing out on a market that just keeps going higher? >> yes, you're right. from the sidelines right now we have all this negative data, right? the weather, the snowstorm, we're getting pounded and people are staying home. yet the markets still continue to go higher. we have earnings, they're not really stellar right now. 65% a beat on the expectations side. yet the markets continue higher. so things are looking okay right now. you know, in terms of equity, mutual fund flows, $3.34 billion this week marking again the eighth consecutive week of equity -- net equity mutual fund flows. >> but there are still a lot of individual investors who have avoided this stock market either waiting for a pullback or being skeptical of the rise we've seen so far. >> you're right. a lot of investors, they've been cognizant of this bull market over the past five years. if you have been waiting on the sidelines, you have missed 175% return in the markets, and they've flocked to the safety of bonds and now they're re-evaluating. even with the market surging 30% last year and they're saying, maybe we should take a look and reallocate even in february. we know that trend was big in january, as always. >> kyle scott, who wants to talk about the u.s. dollar and the changing behavior we've seen where if you go back to the end of last year, we had yields moving up, stocks moving up, the dollar was strengthening. it's not the case right now. the dollar is a little weaker, that's why gold and some of the other things are getting a bid. how important is that? who wants to grab this one? >> i'll be glad to take it. >> go for it, scott. >> the ten-year has moved back down. it's very important to look at the dollar. from my perspective, that's basically where the markets have rebounded the way that they have. at the same time you have seen the ten-year go back down. i sent rick santelli an e-mail about that very scenario about the steepness of the yield curve. from my perspective, i think everything is being driven off the dollar right now. >> can i follow up on that, scott, real quick? here is my question. if that's the case, are these gains nominal? are they of lower quality, in other words, than if they were happening when the dollar was strengthening at the same time? >> speaking to heather's points, corporate profits have been okay so far in the first quarter. i am still concerned. i would look at it and say i think we're more in the latter innings than we are in the early innings in terms of a bull run in terms of markets and we're still favoring large cap value. >> rick, what did you think of scott's e-mail about the steepening of the yield curve? how did you respond? >> i thought it was very fascinating because, boy, the last couple years that kept you in the right trade. but for this year, it's mostly been the other way, it's mostly been flattening. as far as currencies, whether you look at this chart, this is the nikkei versus the dow, divergen divergence. see, i think our weather is giving investors a very good reason to stay long. i just don't know if it's an accurate reason. investors obviously think the weather has had a big impact, but over the next month if data doesn't wear that out, i have a feeling we'll get back on track and as far as foreign exchange, let me see, the pound is at the best level against the greenback since november of '09. the euro briefly traded over 137 today which is the highest level since the first trading day of the year. the dollar index right now, virtually is unchanged from where it closed the end of last year which was virtually unchanged from where it closed 2012. so i think the only foreign exchange trade you're supposed to pay attention to right now is the cross trade with any currency and the yen. >> rick, that's why i bring it up. curious what you make of this. we've gone from this point of whatever happened in japan, our markets seemed to do the same thing, to a divergence that rishg is poi rick is pointing out. people who might have put on bets thinking we would go the same way japan has over the last week or so certainly hasn't been the case. >> no one sends me any e-mails, but i would like to tell you that i think that in the end the u.s. equity markets is where you have to be, but investors need to think long term. so we can draw parallels to the japanese marketplace or china, but i think that volatility will continue in these markets. i think we have to put on our seat belt. we have to look at earnings, we have to look quhawhat's going o the u.s. and i think you have to think longer term because right now rick and i do agree on this, that this is a stock pickers' market. i think you need to be with a trusted adviser to help you navigate through this storm because i do not -- >> i'll give you a voice mail. i'll give you a voice mail right now. >> oh, boy. >> if the nikkei does any serious trading under 14,000, i'll tell you whether or not i really do think that you would see most of the major equity markets like in the u.s. go to the southward direction. >> they've got a bunch of data coming over the weekend. >> i would actually agree with kyle on that point, that it is a stock picker's market right now. >> rich peterson is always sending us e-mail about earnings and statistics on this market. what about this revival now -- i was tweeting earlier that wall street has returned to 2013. i mean, the levitation is back again. what do you make of this, rich? >> in the earnings olympics, the s&p 500 have been delivering the gold. the fact is we're going to see 7.8% earnings growth for fourth quarter. probably when all companies report it will be over 8%. the best quarterly earnings from over two years. the fact is a pull back in the first quarter or last month, the first quarter numbers have been edging lower, but at the end of the day we're going to see strong earnings for 2014, over 8.2%. seeing gains in the consumer and you talk about the weather. more important, look at the calendar. this year we've having a late easter. april 20th. the fact companies -- consumers will be out buying things, changing wardrobes as the weather hopefully gets warmer. i think at the end of the day, valuations are reasonable. we're maybe 15 times forward pe. the prices we're seeing are -- a lot of m and a activity with comcast. a lot going on. and cash on the balance sheet. >> there's $1.3 trillion in the s&p making up 11% of assets. so as the markets and the macro data do improve, it may persuade management and ceos to rethink a little. >> what's so funny is it's not the cash really that seems to be driving activity here. it's the fact they can borrow, they can issue dividends. the amount -- >> buy back stocks. >> the am of companies where we're seeing arbitrage in terms of the financial side of things, the stock swaps, it's almost like the cash becomes irrelevant to some of the activity we're seeing. >> heather, what do you think it will take to bring that retail investor back to this market? >> confidence. aside from jobs we need confidence. consumer spending is the backbone of the u.s. economy. that's most important. we have some clarity in washington on the debt ceiling. maybe some clarity on monetary policy. that looks promising but we need confidence to propel the markets higher and persuade the ceo and management of companies to reinvest their cash positions. >> and warmer weather. >> clear avoidance. >> warmer weather. >> please, please, let there be warmer weather. >> i had to shovel myself out this morning. i got stuck in the driveway. >> you're not alone. >> in heels, yes. >> in heels. i'm impressed. >> e-mail us a picture, would you? >> no, keith is doing to get -- kyle is going to get the e-mail. >> yes, i want my e-mail on valentine's day. >> you got it. >> yes, sir. >> thank you, everybody. have a great valentine's day. >> thank you. >> see you later. >> you, too. even as we have been watching the broader markets, under armour is under fire because speed skating suits they've made that some think is why the u.s. team is disappointing are now becoming more of an issue. the speed skating federation seeking the option to switch them to an older version of under armour suits. that move has put the stock under pressure. it's down 2%. >> dom chu is back at hq with the latest. >> it's not a pr good thing for under armour. dow jones is reporting the speed skating federation is looking at those options. whether or not it can switch its suit midolympic games. this after those complaints from skaters about under armour's high-tech suits. the u.s. olympic skaters are split, 50/50 on whether the new high-tech suits are a problem or perhaps are good for the skaters. we're watching the scarce of under armour down 2%. those shares have been down much of today on this developing story. a ruling on the new suit switch is expected within hours. so when that's headlines do cross, of course, we'll bring you up to speed on those details. kelly, bill, right now certainly not a good amount of pr or under arm you'r armour. >> the skaters didn't train in those suits? didn't they have a sense ahead of time? i don't understand this. it sounds like a scapegoat at this point. >> they trained in other suits. that's what they were saying before. they maybe set their marks, their time marks earlier in the season and beyond with older versions of the suit. that's the reason why the controversy is here. >> all right. we're going to try to talk about it more next hour as well. dom, thanks very much. we'll watch that one into the close. we have about 50 minutes left to go. here the dow is up about 136 points and the nasdaq at 13 1/2 year highs. >> we're taking the big show and chili burgers coming. this incredible run of severe winter weather remarkably has not hurt red robin. when we come back, we'll talk to the gourmet burger chain's chief executive officer on this hot off the grill earnings report which is helping out stock. also netflix hitting a new high but is it built on a, yes, "house of cards." >> she did it. i didn't think she'd read that. >> we have a stack brawl on netflix coming up. >> also comcast's bid for time warper cable has one former nbc employee upset but he happens to be now a u.s. senator. al franken will join us on why this deal should be killed. that's coming up. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say. around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. sometimes they just drop in. always obvious. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. well, add yyesterday's big may be over but more snow is on the way this weekend. boston, get this, could have blizzard conditions by this time tomorrow. our senior economics reporter steve liesman is tracking the storm. >> everybody complains about the weather but no one does anything about it. well, economists are. they're taking down their forecasts. we just got word that citigroup had been looking for 1.5% to 2% in this quarter. they brought to down to 1%. part of that is a winter weather wake-up call we got in the form of the january industrial production report. this comes before all the snow. we were looking for up 0.3%, we got down 0.3%. manufacturing, they said there's all weather in this thing. mining down nearly 1%. just what you would expect to see if there was a weather effect, utility output up 4.1%. some economists reporting people spending more on utilities. macroeconomic adviser says unusually cold temperatures in november, december, and january will subtract 0.4 percentage points from q1 gdp growth. and then vehicle sales, both december and january have been down. now, we're talking to phil lebeau in the last hour here and he told me that the vehicle production schedules have not been cut, at least not yet. they think they're going to make it up in the quarter. if they don't there may be a bit of an overhang on the lots out there. we're watching all these different sectors and the different impacts from the weather. >> yeah. and autos have been such an important one. thank you so much. >> sure. >> and forget the cold weather for now. we have a restaurant stock that's been red hot. check out red robin more than doubling in the past year. today red robin putting up decent earnings results beating estimates by 3 cents a share. let's get to it with the ceo steve carly. before we talk recipines and earnings, what impact, if any, has the weather had. >> certainly the weather has had some impact but typically people stay cooped up for a day or two and then we get a cabin fever rebound and they come back into the restaurants because they're tired of staying home. >> steve, it was interesting in your quarter to see the results are bolstered by even though there was a little bit of a dip in traffic, much higher pricing. what was driving that for you and is that sustainable this year? >> we've been working on this for a long time, and while we did get a big bump in mix from a pricing standpoint, it was all about consumers making choices. we've got a $3, $5, $7, and $9 appetizer menu and a wide range of value. we have reds tavern double starting at $6.99 with bottomless fries. we have our signature gourmet burgers around 10 bucks and then our finest burger at $13.49. guests are working through the menu -- >> $13.49 is that what you said? $13.49 for a burger? >> for the smoke and pepper finest burger. it's a half pound black angus fire grilled progruduct at $13.. we launched it right before christmas and we've been pleased with guest response. >> why burgers? burgers are hot, they're back again. when you look past the fast food element with burger king and mcdonald's, the guys making premium burgers like you and five guys and in and out, they're doing very well right now. what is it about the consumer that they want their burger again? >> there's nothing more quintessential american than burgers and fries. we have been the gourmet burger experts in more than 40 years. we are the first guys to put bacon and egg on a cheese berger. >> that's one of the things you have been criticized for which is basically saying to heck with healthier eating habits. go straight for the comfort foods. is that driving your traffic? >> we appreciate the intull jens of our products and we let guests choose. you can have bottomless fries, you can also have bottomless broccoli and coleslaw. we have a great selection of salads and soups and for the kids we have vegetables, apple slices, and a number of healthy choices that they can pick. >> your burger works. are you going after -- which is a fast food sort of mechanism here, are you going after mcdonald's? do you consider them your competition in the burger works area? >> well, the burger works concept is designed to be a fast casual kind of service system. so we're targeting more closely the five guys, the shake shack kinds of concepts. >> smashburger, that kind of thing. >> and we have one advantage, red robin has been around for 40 years and we think we have some brand equity and great signature products people will recognize 3450ed immediately. >> how many employees do you have and what impact has obamacare had on your business? >> we have about 24,000 team members in the united states and we're in better position than many of our competitors because we have been offering a full suite of health care benefits to any part-time employee or team member that has worked 30 hours for a number of years and thousands of our team members have taken us up on that already. that cost is already built in. >> for some people who want to get access to health care plans that if you offer health benefits at all so some of the part-time workers, correct, that prevents them from getting subsidies. isn't there some sort of provision? isn't that why target dropped their health care or one of the other big retail chains for part-time workers because they didn't want to hurt the others? >> i can't comment on what target is doing and i can tell you the obamacare rules are very complicated. we're focusing on red robin and making sure we're taking care of our team members and not putting them in a disadvantaged position. >> steve, good to see you. thanks. >> appreciate it. >> thanks, bill. >> looking forward to that bottomless salad. >> i want the bottomless broccoli. >> there you go. >> that sounds great. it's a great idea. heading to the close. 40 minutes left in the trading session. if you're just joining us, rally day. the dow up 130 points right now and that's off the highs of the session. we were up more than 140 a little while ago, and the nasdaq is at another 13 1/2 year high right now. meanwhile, netflix at it again. season two of "house of cards" hits the streaming service as the stock continues to break records. still, some observers doubt it can go full tilt in the high stakes game of television programming. that's coming up. and the dell ceiling deree deal. how much of this rally is because washington is acting more like adults? 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[ male announcer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more interesting it gets. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer. for $299 a month for 27 months. in a we believe outshining the competition tomorrow quires challenging your business inside and out today. at cognizant, we help forward-looking companies run better and run different - to give your customers every reason to keep looking for you. so if you're ready to see opportunities and see them through, we say: let's get to work. because the future belongs to those who challenge the present. welcome back. so a year after "house of cards" transformed netflix stock, season two is debuting tonight. but the high stakes of the series pilot may only be rivaled by those competing with netflix in the streaming game. julia boorstin joins us for a breakdown. >> there's no question netflix's success with "house are cards" have inspired competitors to step up their game. amazon announced the streaming of its second group of prime time pilots, doubled from last year as the number of subscribers have estimated to have doubled as well. hulu is introducing four new original shows and microsoft xbox live first original, a stephen spielberg produced show based on halo is expected to launch in the next few months. so far netflix rivals haven't gotten close to "house of cards" success which kicked off number of original hits including "orange is the new black" helping the company had new u.s. subscribers. netflix won't reveal viewer numbers just saying there has been an increase in people catching up on season one of "house of cards." the cap says it plans to double investment in original content this year though originals would still represent less than 10% of itsoverall content expenses. reviews of the second season of "house of cards" with been even more positive than the first and buzz is huge. house of cards is trending nationwide on twitter. even president obama tweeted, tomorrow "house of cards," no spoilers please. we will have to see how the second season impacts subscri subscribers when netflix reports its earnings next quarter. >> thank you very much. the question is, is "house of cards" enough reason to add netflix to your portfolio. james rameli says yes and he says there's more to come but brad lamendors thinks the valuation is just too high. >> why are you long? >> we look at netflix and we take away all of the fundamentals and look just at price action. you know, it's a very easy argument to make that the valuations are stretched here and it's a good short candidate. but the valuations have been stretched for a long time and they can stay stretched for a long time. this stock can have a lot more upside. as an active trader, momentum is my number one indicator. if you look at the price action, we see it hasn't traded in bearish territory over the past 12 months. things did get a little shaky before their recent quarterly earnings report. we saw them blow that number out of the water. it's too dangerous to short netflix here. >> brad, take the other side of the traide. >> it's a very poor earnings quality name. nobody is left short the stock. the 200 day moving average is at $300. it's trading very, very rich even on a technical basis as our guest just mentioned. when you buckle down and look at the company, half of the entire company is basically selling dvds. that business is going to go away, and they're basically betting all of their cash flow on this international expansion plan. they've spent over $700 million in two years and they're still losing -- they still have a negative cash flow number of i think $17 million a year, and they make about $5 million a year for a $25 billion company. amazon is coming hard. yahoo! with youtube is going to be coming hard. there's just a lot of competition out there. even tweeter has mentioned they want to get into this case. >> twitter. >> twitter. >> what about those points? >> jim? >> i'm sorry, yeah. right. all of those arguments could have been made all through the story with netflix and yet the stock keeps going higher. they really just can't keep this down. the momentum is far too strong. >> but you know how it ends for momentum stocks, not well. all it takes is one slightly poor report. if god forbid there had been a bad review of "house of cards," that's all it would take to bring this house of cards down, isn't it? >> i don't think so. there are lots of people looking to buy netflix. this comcast/time warner deal will bring about good thing for netflix. that deal is going to be putting caps on how much companies like comcast can charge companies like netflix for streaming services through them. and i really think that that's going to be a very big, very big positive for netflix. we talk about what is going to bring the next leg higher here, and i think that could easily be the news that does that. >> where do you think it's headed, jim? >> if we take a look at the options markets here in march, they're implying around a $35 move up or down which gives me an upside price target by march expiration just south of $470. now, i want to play this one with a little bit more short-term view just because the valuation is so high. there is some risk there. so get long but be safe about it. >> brad, i'm guessing you take the under on that? >> yeah, of course. i think that its stock is worth less than $200 a share and that's being generous. >> but what about to jim's point and he's not alone in this, that maybe netflix is in play now that comcast is going after time warner cable and there might be osh companies like net flix that have both the content and the distribution model that would be more attractive in this environment right now? >> look, i personally don't think netflix is as rich in content as everyone continues to say. my partner has been a netflix user for three years. he just switched to apple tv because he enjoys it a lot more and it's more convenient. the content is not as significant as everyone is saying, and apple and amazon i might add have an install base already with inside of their businesses that they can compete against netflix. amazon is a category killer. >> i'm just being reminded that netflix is very different from apple tv because netflix is on apple tv. so we're talking about sort of apples and oranges here to mix a metaphor. don't you think? >> the fact is that netflix, to be able to move in parallel like what you're saying on the apple tv, they're having to pay so much for their content, it's really not profitable. >> all right. we've got to go at this pointed but thank you for a good debate on this. see you later. heading toward the close. 30 minutes left in the trading session. the dow up 133 points. sending a valentine to all shareholders. skroop have y >> have you seen "house of cards?" >> i have seen two episodes. >> will you be among those streaming this weekend? >> probably not. you? >> no. >> we're in the minority here. up next, the debt ceiling and this rally. are the two connected? later, i'll also be talking with "meet the press" moderator david gregory about the impact on the republican party which could be a game changer. we'll be right back. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. stocks still extending gains this afternoon with all three indices on the rise right now. >> so which companies and stocks have been making the biggest moves? mary thompson is joining us now with some answers. >> you know, one of the standout sectors today has been energy as we take a look at the dow leading the markets higher on a percentage and point basis, outperforming the rest of the indices today. take a look at the dow movers because we see strengthening in health care, but as i mentioned, the energy complex strong. exxonmobil's market cap ex se exceeding those of google. exxonmobil's market cap exceeding that of google. the s&p 500 is on track for the second straight week of gains. the nasdaq up for seven straight sessions. it's the best week since july. even though volume has been a little light. that's the only thing of concern or the one mark that you could find on today's rally. we do want to point out, of course, one of the reasons we saw such a disruption in the markets in the earlier part of this month was the weakness in the emerging markets. take a look at where they're trading today. three-week high for that emerging markets etf. i want to point out the hotels, strong session for this group today. better than expected results for hyatt and marriott raising its dividend and increasing the stock buyback program. that helped erase the weaker than expected forecast that was given earlier this week. the dow up 135 points. back to you. >> thanks very much. this week congress passed the first, quote, clean debt ceiling deal since 2009. agreeing to allocate more funds to meet past obligations with no strings attached. stocks soared tuesday and the rally has kept going through today. >> let's talk about it. grover norquist, founder of americans for tax reform, still isn't happy with that deal. also with us is joe lavorgna, the chief u.s. economist at deutsche bank. he says this rally is more evidence that the republicans did exactly the right thing. good to see you both. welcome back to you both. grover, i know you're disappo t disappointed, but are you surprised given the political climate in washington that john boehner would allow a clean bill to be passed or voted on at least? >> well, one might have hoped that we'd get some spending restraint in the package. the president said he'd shut the government down and default before he'd allowed spending restraint. on the other hand, what the president and the democrats were asking for were spending increases attached to the debt ceiling. they wanted to hold the debt ceiling hostage for spending increases. we stopped that. we avoided that. i think it's wise for the stock market to react well to defeating the president's and the democrats' effort to attach unemployment spending to the bill. >> is this reaction about those defeats or reaction about the fact that we've removed the shutdown from the time frame? >> it's more of the latter, kelly, that at least we don't have to worry -- >> the debt ceiling that is. >> exactly. this isn't really an issue. the market really got conditioned back in early december when patty murray and paul ryan had the broad contours of the budget deal. that pretty much got people thinking the debt ceiling wouldn't be an issue. a few weeks ago when we were worried about the emerging markets, the debt ceiling was hanging over people but i would argue only a little bit. we heard some market friendly comment from chairman yellen. that's probably the story this week, that the fed will remain very easy for a long time. >> grover, with all due respect, you're spinning this pretty good, my friend. you have to be very disappointed. there could have been moments when they could -- the republicans could have attached some spending on obamacare. there could have been a myriad of items that could have been attached to that bill that you would have favored in this case and you're giving it the other side where there were other things that you feel the democrats would have wanted that, frankly, i don't think they were worried about in this case. they just wanted a clean bill, let's move on and get on to the rest of the business. >> but here is the challenge. i agree with you, i would have loved to have seen a delay in obamacare implementation attached to the debt ceiling or attached to anything. however, the republicans have a 14-vote margin right now in the house of representatives. 13 republicans have never voted for a debt ceiling ever. and there are 20 who say they won't vote for one, period. so it's a fiction that some people thought the republicans will attach something to the debt ceiling and get 218 votes for it and it can pass the senate and the president will sign it. they didn't have the votes to get anything to 218 clean or attached to a good spending restraint bill. i would like to see a spending restraint measure attached to the debt ceiling because i think the president at the end of the day would have to sign it as he did in 2011. the only decent thing that's happened to the economy in the last five years was the spending restraint of the sequester. >> grover, just curious because if the gop wants to retake the white house in 2016, doesn't the party have to put forward a candidate that everyone can rally around, that shows whatever the view is of the gop moving forward, and these distractions right now, i don't know if you can call them that, they seem to reveal almost fundamental splits within the party where the only people willing to vote, for example, for raising the debt ceiling include retirees and people who went on to leave congress. so do you feel as though your very presence is actually hintering thint hindering the party from moving forward? >> the house and senate candidates have a different job than the presidential candidate. the republicans have five, six governors, all of whom have tremendous records of accomplishment at the state level, all of whom have done much better with their economies than obama's done with his or than liberal democrat governors have done with their states. look at wisconsin and how well it's done. louisiana, florida, texas, i mean, you have got some real progress at the state level with republican governors. the democratic governors are tanking their state economies and obama has not done as well with his as the republican-led states. so we have governors that have a track record of accomplishment, lower taxes, less regulation, tort reform, spending restraint, union abuse reduction. so i think the republicans are in great shape. the democrats are going to run a relative of a former president. >> but deficits are coming down and, joe, to the point about spending, when are we going to get some spending reductions, meaningful spending reductions? we can't keep raising the debt ceiling forever, can we? >> well, we have, bill, and we have over time. so the answer is yes. i wrote a piece today looking at government spending coming out of this recession four years ago. it's been the weakest period of spending we've had and the sequester added to that. in fact, if we look at government spending as a share of gdp, it's never been lower in the post-war period. when we talk spending, we have to be kale. what we really are talking are entitlement spending, not discretionary purchases. discretionary purchases continue to get crimped and even though i expect them to rise this year on the back of a better economy, stronger revenues, the story really, and this is longer term, is entitlements. that's where it is. >> joe, we have to go, but do you consider yourself a fiscal conservative? >> i do. i think most people -- >> so is it consistent, joe -- tell us from your point of view, is the debt ceiling something that is -- you're saying you're a fiscal conservative but you're okay with raising the debt ceiling -- >> the debt ceiling is a silly thing. congress agrees to appropriations every year and then they vote on the debt ceiling. it's pure politics. it's a way for people to differentiate themselves on the budget they effectively just passed. to me the whole process is a bit an knack row nis tick. >> i would love to continue the conversation. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> see you later. >> because that represents the split to some extent. >> you're right. >> people with the same principles but completely different views. >> reducing spending and raising the debt ceiling, you can reconcile both of those at some point. up 123, losing some altitude right now but still a pretty healthy rally. and coming up, a brewing controversy in sochi as team u.s.'s poor performance in olympic speed skating is being blamed on these suits made by under armour. the olympic team is requesting to switch suits. after the bell, it's him, al franken, senator al franken, the minnesota democrat is firmly against the comcast/time warner cable deal. he'll be here to tell us why. plus, we'll find out what, if anything, he would want to see to support the deal. stay tuned for that coming up. 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(vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. okay. about eight minutes left here, and we are coming back a little bit, but still a healthy gain for the dow. not only just today but this week as well. the industrial average up 117 points and the nasdaq and the s&p with fractional gains right now. joining me is larry mcdonald. we have a group of brides wandering around the floor of the new york stock exchange. they'll be bringing the closing bell today, part of the xo group. they among other things own that website the knot that helps brides and grooms get their act together before the wedding. at any rate, there they are walking the floor today. yesterday it was the swimsuit models today you get brides. they worked quickly. what do you make of this rally since the bottom that was hit a week ago monday. what's going on here? >> we've overshot. equities i think are outperforming asia credit and that worries me because going into this thing, unlike three weeks ago, asia credit was underperforming equities. >> you're among those who are keeping an eye on the emerging markets. i mean, there are those who feel that that was one of the reasons that the market faltered at the beginning of the year, but you're not yet ready to buy the emerging markets, are you? >> well, i was on cnbc on "fast money." we put a buy call on the emerging markets a week ago monday. >> you did? >> yeah. but in the intermediate term you want to start to lighten up. we're up 7% in a short period of time. long term the emerging markets are fine, but in the intermediate term long asia credit doesn't -- i want to see asia credit, all of our indicators in asia, corporations, cds on standard and charter or cds on hsbc, i want to see it come back to where it was a month ago. that's going to get me more comfortable. >> what about the u.s. markets? what are you doing here? >> right now i'd be lightening up. i was on the show a week ago. i said now is the time to get long the market. we got long in the hole. i was on with you guys. i'd be lining up here short term. long term we're okay but intermediate term i think we're going to run back into some trouble because of what's been happening in asia. >> do you think think is a bull trap? >> short term there could be. there's a decent chance we could get back down to the lows in the next three weeks. >> gold is up to $1,300. would you buy gold? >> we're lightening up our gold positions we bought in december. but for the next six months we love gold. >> good to see you, larry. we'll come back with the closing countdown, see how we do at the end of the closing bell. if you think air travel is a mess right now, the worst may still yet be to come. a pilot shortage has hit the industry here in the united states. what it could mean for air travel stocks and your plans to fly to friendly skies. that's coming up. and we will go live to sochi, russia, for the latest on a growing controversy involving under armour's speed skating outfits. the stock is under pressure as the u.s. team tries to replace those uniforms that some think are hurting their medals chances. that's coming up. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. ♪ where you think you're gonna go ♪ ♪ when your time's all gone? [ male announcer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more interesting it gets. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer. we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪ or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading. company profile. a research tool on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. about two minutes left. going back to january 31, we go back a couple weeks here, we have -- you know, this is the dow obviously, and in that time a gain of 1.89%. we were down 7% at the bottom a week ago monday to that time, and since that time we've gained enough that we're only down 2% for the dow for this year. so it's been a pretty good comeback, but also coming back, and this troubled some of the bulls on wall street, is the price of gold, which in the same time period is up 6%, and we're back above $1,300 an ounce on that. warren myers, i mean, last time you and i spoke, you were talking about this market going back to highs again. we're almost there right now, but now what? >> well, i think we still have a little upward momentum to maybe reach some new highs. technically and a lot of people i have been reading talk about a sell-off, not a correction, but a sell-off, which we got. once we hit a couple levels on the s&p, 1778 basically, we turned around. they said that was the point where we would take off from there. would j . >> what changed? the pull back we had, profit taking, tax selling, the emerging markets and then it turns on a dime and we're heading higher again. >> you still have the fed underneath supporting this market ultimately. if things get terribly bad they will step in and do something so you have a floor in the marketplace. i think that floor prevented us from getting to the correction. >> does the rise in gold bother you? >> no, i think it's slightly positive in the short term. if that xhom i had goes up, i think the equity market will go with it to a point. i think both of those going up is a strong sign. >> have a good weekend. don't forget, the markets are closed for president's day on monday so kelly and i will see you again on tuesday. hope you can join us then. in the meantime, here is our number two "the closing bell" with kelly evans and company. >> welcome to "the closing bell," hour two. i'm kelly evans. and a surprisingly strong week for stocks as we wrap up here. the major averages are posting their best weekly gains of the year. granted, it's been a short and so far tough year to this point. here is how we're finishing up the day on wall street. the dow adding 126 points, just off the highs we saw a little earlier. the nasdaq adding three but that's the one where we're seeing 13-year highs and we'll talk about that. the s&p 500 up 8 points right into 1,838. you have to hand it to art cashin. he was pointing out earlier that's where the minor resistant levels were. can we clear those? what happens next week? let's bring in our badge. joining me is kevin o'leary, morgan brennan, michael santoli from yahoo! finance and robert frank. great to have you here with us. michael santoli, what do you do with these markets and to the point of the s&p at 1838, what's the catalyst for the next big move? >> i said if this was a 2013 pullback, then it's over. you had sharp, she willow puall backs. people got way more scared than 5% down would suggest and i think it's so far telling you similar pattern is there. in terms of the momentum for the next move up, i don't honestly know. i think the action used up a fair amount of the energy. since february 3rd, s&p up say 5.5%. the emerging markets etf up 6%. as soon as the emerging markets calmed down, we didn't have that spillage risk, it came down. >> 1838, just so people know, we are 10 points off the all-time closing high for the s&p 500 we hit mid-january. as stomach churning as it's been for the last couple weeks, you wake up today and we're back to these stories and this narrative and these markets again at all-time highs or close. >> that's right. who needs the cyclone at coney island? you can just ride the stock market right now. three things that have been major narratives, the first, yellen giving her testimony before congress. she basically confirmed the suspicion that the street had about what she would have to say about the taper. another big story, the weather. i have been covering that all week and even though we've had a lot of mixed data here today and this week in general, i think a lot of investors looking at the weather and saying, you know, fundamentals are still good here. i'm still going to hang on. i'm going to invest now that we've come off a little bit in the last couple weeks. >> kevin, what do you think about fundamentals? how do you read the tea leaves? >> now that we have some stability in global markets, emerging markets which have become almost 47% of s&p sales are stabilized, could it be possible that by the end of this year we might get price earning expansion for the first time in a long while? that's the upside that investors like me are starting to think about. a guaranteed 2% cash, cash and dividends, it looks like i'm going to get 6% in earnings growth. now give me some pe expansion and i would love you. >> because we got a little bit of that last year, and if you want to talk about what happened at the end of '13 and the start of 2014, it was expansion of the multiple and contraction of the multiple. you think we're headed back into expansion. >> i do. we had lots of concerns, but, frankly, the market is selling at a discount. it really is. you were happy at 23. now you're happy at 18. maybe we go to 19. maybe to 20. that would be a fantastic year. double digit gains one more time with feeling. i don't want to get too excited, but that's possible. >> robert frank, what are you thinking? what are you hearing from people who are in this market? >> look, you know, i think people are still very mistrustful of this market. i think a correction is a terrible thing to waste. i think it would have been better to go longer and deeper. still think there's a lot of expensive stuff in this market, and i still think there's a very big and rather unexplainable disconnect between the stock market and the real economy, and you look at what's happening with weather, you look at what's happening with jobs, you look at the uncertainty overseas and still with china, there's not a lot to be excited about and to grow this market, and yet it just keeps on going, and it seems like we're still playing by last year's rules. >> so you bring up a very interesting point. i would love to get everyone's view on this. talking about the weak macro, strong markets thing, that's kind of the qe trade. look at what the dollar is doing today. it's a little weaker. if you wanted, steve grasso, who i am going to bring into the conversation here as well, steve, if you wanted to, you could kind of say that the market is behaving in a way that's more like what we used to say in the bad old days of 2010, 2011 than in the gold days of 2013. >> the problem is you've seen gold rally, bonds do okay, crude right at that par level, $100 level. so guys can't make up their mind what they want to buy -- i'm sorry, what they want to sell right now because they've gotten hurt with every sale they've made. mr. wonderful brings up a great point right there. every purchase on the dip has been a great purchase. the problem is we've seen emerging markets get slammed. they're on their way back a little bit, but those things still exist. taper still exists. >> and, steve, by the way, there's some chatter about the fact that u.s. markets haven't fallen anywhere close to their 200-day moving average. in other words, we're still trading so high above that level and we have for so long now, does that worry you? should it worry you? >> well, i was hunting for that 200-day moving average. we spoke about it i would guess last week. >> yeah. >> so i thought that tested the s&p cash should have taken place around that 1710 level. it didn't take place. we had buyers long before then. but i still think we're headed there. i still think we're going to get a test of that level. >> we almost -- for all of the talk about how there isn't the retail guy involved in these markets or there's not -- that do dodd/frank has changed some of the liquidity story, there seems to be a natural buy side pressure every time we have these corrections. >> just to jump back in with it, if we don't get new highs, the market needs new highs. the market always sets up to hurt the most amount of people at any given point. so right now what would hurt the most amount of people? if we trade back down to that 200-day moving average you mentioned earlier. so if we see another new high in the s&p cash above 1850, look out. >> okay. quick remark there? >> i was going to say we had not disproven the idea we're in for a churn for a while to give back some excesses at the end of the 2013. >> and want to bring in gordon as well, a trader on the floor of the exchange from rosenblat securities. are you in the steve grasso camp that you don't like this until we get towards a fundamental test -- >> i'm never in the steve grasso camp. you can ask his mom about that. >> i won't. i will leave that between the two of you guys. >> hang on a second. >> talk to me, is it volume, is it positioning -- >> the mindset is back. i think you've got it right, kelly, before when you talked about we're trading the way we traded towards the end of 2013. you know, it's getting a little bit different in the sense that gold and some of the other indicators are a little bit at different levels than they were. one of the things you have to notice is the volatility is down. you know, it spiked a little bit, but again it's still very low which is telling you this thing is cruising along on a pretty steady keel. the other thing that's interested is we're going into a three-day weekend. so if there were people that were looking to take some risk off the table, this would have been the time to do it, in front of three days and nobody was. they were buying them into the bell solid all day. >> you had europe with better numbers. if our numbers are on the uptake, which i think we're in that goldilocks type environment with our numbers, because if you see retail sales, they could kitchen sink it. you could blame a lot of this on the weather and the market ratchets back up again. >> this is where leading indicators will become important. things like jobless claims, things like consumer confidence like the reports we got this morning, the kinds ever things that point to whether activity is weakening or not and joe lavorgna's favorite, the tax receipt indicator. as long as those are holding up -- >> you named something you can't blame on the weather. >> right. >> and it's very few that you can't blame on the weather. so i think you're going to see that be a huge, huge variable for a lot of these companies. >> okay. i just wanted to bring up again the weak dollar. i don't want to harp on this but just ask if this rally is of a lower quality, is it different somehow because the dollar is not rallying along with it? >> you don't have to worry about weak dollar or gold going up because i can argue both cases that that's good for corporate earnings. that's all i care about. think about this, weak dollar, better exports, more cash flow to me for dividend distribution, stock buybacks. gold goes up, give me a little bit of inflation so i get pricing power in stuff i sell out of corporations, more cash for me. both of those make sense to me. they don't worry me. >> how worried should i be there's not a scenario where this doesn't turn out well. there's got to be something that goes the wrong way. there's got to be some scenario in which this all doesn't point towards more gains ahead. >> yes, a meteorite could hit new york tonight. that's a possibility. >> that's the only thing that would take this market down? >> it will take it down, trust me. >> meteorite. all right. >> if you have the ten-year back to 3% and you had a stress test emerging markets again for that kind of level of yield, i do think that could be another gut check. it's not that easy, but right now it seems like the market is refusing a lot of excuses to go down. >> that's a great point. we'll leave it there. gordon and steve, thank you so much for joining us. reminder everybody that olympic curling is coming up here at 5:00 p.m. on cnbc. get your second screen ready because steve and the "fast money" freestyle are live on fast money.cnbc.com and that also begins right at 5:00 p.m. the sochi olympic games have been largely controversy-free since they started, at least until today. now there are some blaming team usa's poor performance in olympic speed skating on these suits made be underare armour. senator al franken says there's no way he's backing the comcast/time warner cable deal. the senator states his case. keep it right here. that's coming up and you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. let me talk to you about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? 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[ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way! i have no financial experience at all. that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. find a certified financial planner professional who's thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan.org. cfp -- work with the highest standard. bulldog: what what? bulldog: mattress discounters presidents day sale ends presidents day? but mattress discounters has the largest selection of memory foam mattresses under one roof! comforpedic, icomfort, optimum... even a queen-size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497. and wow! four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection. better hurry, mattress discounters presidents day sale ends presidents day. ♪ mattress discounters welcome back. so under armour under fire for their olympic speed skating suits. the u.s. team is now seeking permission to switch to older suits after failing to reach the medal podium in events in the sochi games. they're blaming the suits for slowing them down. shares of under armour slower. joining me is brian nagel and our very own michelle caruso-cabrera from sochi. michelle, want to start with you. what's playing out in sochi because we have only seen the news here on the wires, of course. >> we're waiting for a decision from the international skating union about whether or not the speed skaters on team usa can revert back to the suits they wore during the world cup. we understand this happened late in the evening here today where the body asked if they could switch the suits. this all comes because the team says speed skaters have put in disastrous performances. shani davis was thought a medal contender, he came in eighth. ditto for the women who came in seventh and eighth. a lot of skaters complaining they're not coming in as fast as they used to and they have these new suits that only debuted at the olympics. there's a vent in the back that they're blaming as a cause for drag that was put in to keep them cool. but it's slowing them down. at least some of them think so. now, speed skating actually put out a statement and said there is no evidence that it's slowing them down, and under armour put down a statement saying that actually some of them had some great, great times when it comes to heats and different preparatory activities. >> so, brian, so this sounds like something that amounts to either a design flaw, an execution flaw, or perhaps a situation in which the athletes hadn't been prepared? had they been testing these suits before the games? >> i really -- i look at under armour as a very powerful and up and coming consumer company, and while this has clearly made a lot of headlines today, i think at the end of the day, there really won't be much of a lasting impact on either the company's consumer business or its share price. >> here is what's interesting though, lululemon, not that it's exactly the same kind of situation, but they have a design flaw. it reveals broader stumbles in the company and is more of a selling point than a buying point. why would this be different? >> lulu, which is a company i don't cover, i think that was more of a hit to the consumer business. here as i'm watching these headlines today with all the fanfare around the olympics, i think at the end of the day it's just going to remind consumers that under armour is a very powerful athletic brand that designs products for some of the most elite athletes in world. >> i understand in some cases there's no such thing as bad publicity and people who would have had no idea who made the suits know that under armour makes themselves now. do you want that kind of flaw associated with a premiere atletic brand. >> at the end of the day i think it will bring more attention to under armour as a powerful athletic brand. >> michelle, do you have any idea if these suits were or weren't tested beforehand? why is it that this seems to have come as such a surprise? >> well, they were unveiled pretty late. they were kept under deep, deep secrecy because they were considered to be so advanced. i believe they were revealed maybe in late december, and it's unclear whether or not they actually practiced in them very much before arriving. this is definitely the first time they've been used in competition, but, again, under armour says in a statement that leading up to the actual competition, the times came in fine and that's what they suggest in their statement. so it's hard to know. >> and lastly, real quick, michelle, do you have any idea how unusual it is for a team to have to petition to change their uniform it's like this? >> uniforms have definitely been controversial. remember the neoprene swimsuit was banned in 2008 because it was supposedly giving everyone so much of an advantage that world records were being repeatedly broken because they thought the athletes essentially had some kind of steroid boost via the suit they were wearing. >> i think they better get that team designing the next round of speed skating suits. it sounds like to boil it down you're saying this is an opportunity to get exposure to the shares potentially. >> i think so. one of my concerns is under armour trade at a high multiple. that's one of the reasons i'm not recommending the stock but i think this issue will pass pretty quickly from a stock perspective. >> thanks very much. >> thank you. another controversy, now there are too few pilots, too many regulations, not enough pay, and up next wait until you hear what the perfect storm that could give your wallet a bad case of airsickness could mean next time you book a flight. we'll be right back. yeah, we can make room. yeah. 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whatever your goal, it can change more than your business. it can change the future. that's why, at barclays, our ambition is to always realize yours. welcome back. ironically the friendly skies may be getting less friendly to american pilots. long hours, endless regulations, and low pay are some of the reasons why pilots are putting down their wings and it's causing a shortage in the u.s. what does it mean for you? here to break it down, phil lebeau, and denny kelly a former pilot. great to see you both. >> thank you. >> phil, first to you, we talked about the 25-year high in terms of flight cancellations. how much is the pilot shortage playing into this? >> i'm not sure the pilot shortage plays into the latest round of cancellations. look, most of this is weather-related, but there is a broader issue here, and that speaks to the fact that you have a number of the regional airlines who are servicing the large main line airlines who are complaining about a lack of pilots out there to hire, and that combined with the fact that they are finding the pilots who they bring in are not really willing to go with the pay that goes along with being a regional airline pilot and more training that is required. you put that altogether, you have got airlines like republic saying we're going to pull back in terms of the number of flights we're going to put out there in terms of servicing the large main line carriers. >> mr. kelly, what can you tell us about what it's like being a pilot? >> well, you know, it's a great job, and it pays well when you have a little seniority and you get to fly the good trips and have good time off, has good benefits, but to get there, you have got to start out at the very low end of the pay scale, and the working conditions are terrible, and where it used to be that everybody wanted to be a pilot, now you don't see that. i mean, you have guys who like airplanes but they can go over to the faa and work as an air-traffic controller and make $120,000 a year within five years. so it's a little different today than it was, and it's going to be a real problem in the future. >> and that's why i want to bring in the panel on this actually. an issue perhaps people are just getting much more aware of morgan because this year in particular the tighter restrictions have made it much more apparent how deep a problem this potentially is. >> that's one of the things that really jumps out to me and maybe you can answer it is this idea of going from 250 hours of training to 1500 hours of training which is a 500% increa increase. how did we get to 1500 hours of training, that seems really steep especially for the salary to start. >> if i may interject, the 1500-hour rule has already been changed a little bit. if you go to certain schools, like embree riddle and you get your ratings there, you don't have to have 1500 hours to quali qualify. if you're a military pilot, you don't have to have the 1500 hours. the 1500-hour rule is really for people that are not in the military and don't go to an approved school. it's tough getting 1500 hours, it takes a lot of time and a lot of money. >> i was going to say where we're really going to notice this, the smaller routes that are serviced by the regional carriers. if you or i are flying between newark are a chicago, we'll never notice the pilot shortage. >> you're not going to notice it today, you're absolutely correct, but three, four, five years from now you are going to notice it because the pilot shortages are going to hit the big carriers. it already started. the aircraft manufacturers say there's going to be a need for 40,000 to 50,000 pilots -- >> wow. >> in the next 15 years. where are they going to get them? >> higher wages at some point should start to attract people. >> to that point, exactly. it takes about $100,000 to get this schooling and the skill set to become a pilot eligible for a $21,000 salary. you're eating ramen noodles for years until you can pay that back. >> and living eight to a room in some cases in some of these regional airports. >> denny, how does that square? eventually customers are just going to have to pay more. isn't that where this ends up given how much it costs? >> it doesn't square and that's the problem. what these regional carriers and the big carriers in the future are going to find, they're not going to be able to pay these guys $15,000 to $18,000, a year, $20,000 a year to come out and fly and build up their experience. guys aren't going to do it. >> i have a solution to this problem and you're a pilot. i'm going to increase the workforce by 25% by taking the maximum age to 70 years old. as long as you can see and you have a decent health record. in every case where i have a 70-year-old guy flying the plane or woman, i want a 35 in the other seat. does that work? i now solved the problem overnight. thank you. >> "shark tank." >> that really doesn't work? >> why not? are you going to have a heart attack it you're 70? >> from 65 to 70, the rate of failures just for the physical exams would be astronomical and the guy sitting in the right seat is not going to be 35, he's going to be 25. >> how about 68? >> how about keeping it where it is at 65 and putting in some training programs at some of these universities sponsored by the airlines that give these kids some good experience in high performance airplanes? to me what good does it do to have a kid that has 1500 hours in a piper cherokee and he goes from there to the right seat of a 737? that's ridiculous. >> phil, i just want to ask -- >> one more thing to keep in mind, this shortage is going to be exes a per ated by the fact that china is just exploding when it comes to commercial aircraft flights, and as a result, china is recruiting actively here in the u.s., in europe -- >> absolutely. >> they are sucking in all of the pilots, and if you're a pilot, you may not be crazy about living in china, but if you're paid a lot more to go fly there compared to a regional in the u.s., you'll go. >> we got to go -- >> you're absolutely right. the chinese and the other foreign carriers are paying more money and in this day and age you don't have to live in china. you can live in san francisco and commute to beijing and fly one trip a month and which would you rather do? sit for 15 years in a right seat or 10 years in a right seat of a 737 before we check out as captain or go to china and in two years you're the captain on 777. making three times the money. >> and for the american carriers, can you even pass those costs along to consumers when we have already seen pricing increase so much. we have to leave it there. this has been fascinating. i want to thank you both for joining us on that one. makes you think twice when you're getting on the plane the next time. while this week's debt deal prove to be a watershed event. david gregory joins us on the aftermath of the debt ceiling vote and what it means for washington dealmaking. later al franken in his "saturday night live" days insisted he was good enough, smart enough, and people liked him. now as a u.s. senator he doesn't think the comcast/time warner deal is good or smart and he doesn't like it at all. he's here to tell us why. we'll be right back. change in after-market trading. ♪ all the tech stocks with a market cap... of at least 50 billion... are up on the day. 12 low-volume stocks... breaking into 52-week highs. six upcoming earnings plays... that recently gapped up. [ male announcer ] now the world is your trading floor. get real-time market scanning wherever you are with the mobile trader app. from td ameritrade. bulldog: mattress discounters bulldog: presidents day sale ends presidents day? get a queen-size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497! and get four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection. ♪ mattress discounters welcome back. the three-day weekend for those of us in the u.s., most of us anyway, is almost here and our weeb site is hotter than after. allen, what is driving traffic today? >> it's been a crazy week, right? with weather and the markets and everything. our finance editor jeff cox took a deep dive into the market. he's trying to make sense of it at the end of the week. we have it up right here. there's no making sense of the stock market. he gets into all the contradictory signals. people must be just as confused because that's getting about 30 readers a minute right now. second on our list, hey, we got new banking pot rules, right? people are very interested in that as a new growing business and the new federal government rules on how banks -- >> i thought you were say potholes. no, the rules. >> no pot rules, although we have a lot of potholes lately, too. finally our last one, di arn an olick story. she takes a look at some of the big hits people will face. it's scaring a few people and la lot of scared people are reading this story. >> want to know how it affects them. allen, thanks very much. have a great weekend. >> you, too. >> happy valentine's day. congress approving an increase in the debt limit through march of next year ahead of the deadline in the recent past, republicans have let the vote come down to the wire. this is the first time a so-called clean debt ceiling measure has been approved since 2009. beltway bystanders suggest november's midterm congressional elections may have figured into the vote. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press." he's been following this story in washington a somewhat thankless task and he joins me with what this could mean for the gop. great to see you again. what are people say being this? >> well, that this was a republican retreat. i think there was a feeling on both ends of the republican leadership and even the rank and file who are more conservative that they didn't want to fight over the debt ceiling, in the end they didn't want a default. they've seen the damage that the shutdown has done to the party. they wanted to fight a different day on a different topic. what they were able to do, what the speaker was able to engineer, is to allow for his caucus of republicans to vote against a debt ceiling while allowing the democrats to make sure that it passed. that wasn't the case in the senate where you heard about ted cruz doing his thing where he put a lot of pressure on lawmakers like the leader of the republicans, mitch mcconnell, who is facing a tough primary battle, to take a tough vote to end the debate and put himself on the record in effect as voting for the debt ceiling hike. that goes forward. more than anything, they're able to avoid the downside of a protacted battle on this. >> that leaves a lot of people wondering, is this a sign of strength for the gop, a sign of weakness. how do you read this and how punished will those who voted to hike the ceiling be in november and where does it leave the prospect for further legislation passing come next time around in 2015, an emboldened gop with perhaps the majority of the senate. >> that's a different matter, and then they might be able to extract some concessions on that. the problem is that the history of the debt ceiling is such that fooling around with it and any kind of brinksmanship around it has been seen as a real problem. it helps that the deficit has come down, but we know the debt is going back up. at the moment you don't see much room for them to negotiate over some kind of grand bargain around the biggest drivers of the debt, but i think for now at a time when the republican leadership feels the need for the republican party to be seen as more of a party of ideas and not just of opposition, that speaker boehner has driven the idea hard that they don't want to be behind a default. >> and that's an interesting point. what do you think the message, david, is going to be into the midterms or is this all about kind of trying to gather the firepower now perhaps in congress and then waiting for closer to the presidential elections in 2016? >> i think the midterms is really about health care from the republican point of view. i think in a lot of these districts they want to go in there and they want to fight on health care. they want to make the argument about bigger government and the expanded rolling of government, and that's really what they want to do. they don't want to have to deal with the residual negative attention about a fight over the debt ceiling. they want to fight on the terrain they think is best for them and that's the health care rollout. >> last question, why do you think a ted cruz and we had ro gro grover norquist on earlier, why do they keep pushing this if it's perceived as a negative. >> the prospect of default is what's so negative. the debt ceiling itself is not a popular idea in the fact that it keeps getting raised. if you're a conservative, especially on more of the activist wing, they want to keep the pressure up on reducing the size and scope of government, dealing with a debt, and not awarding the expansion of government by constantly raising the debt ceiling. if you're a ted cruz on the more conservative end of conservative politics right now, raging against that debt ceiling is very, very good politics and would propel him in 2016 should he decide to run for president. there will be a real constituency for that point of view. >> and speaking of 2016, who is coming up on the program this weekend? >> well, we're going to talk to mitt romney about the olympics, cost overruns, and the prospect of the games back in the united states, but also talk about the future of the party. and we're talking a lot about the politics of weather. and a big week for weather. that includes the climate change debate and what the administration wants to do about that this year and in the years ahead and just how difficult that debate has been on both sides trying to understand what's happening in the world and in our climate. >> david, by the way, do you believe mitt romney when he categorically denies he's going to run in 2016. >> i take him at his word for now. i think he has a lot of family considerings there. i think his wife ann was particularly stung by that process last go-around. i don't see him feeling he has a natural constituency if you look at where the party is going. but, you know, ronald reagan ran a third time as well if you look at his history before he became president. so, you know, it's certainly something we'll bring up with him. >> never rule it out at this point. david, thanks so much. great to see you, and be sure to tune into "meet the press" this sunday. check your local listings for the show times. mitt romney will be coming up. senator al franken coming up on this program. he'll explain why he thinks consumers could lose out on comcast's deal to buy time warner. because when it comes to feeling safe behind the wheel, going the distance and saving at the pump you want it all. get our multi-point inspection with a a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation, brake inspection and more for $29.95 or less. get a complete vehicle checkup. only at your ford dealer. anbe a name and not a number?tor scottrade. ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions, i can talk to someone who knows exactly how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. that's why i'm with scottrade. announcer: ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates. 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(vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. media mega deal indeed. senator al franken opposing the planned purchase of time warner cable by comcast. the democratic senator from minnesota joins us from the russell rotunda on capitol hill to state his case. senator, it's great to see you. what's your main concern here? >> well, i have concerns. i haven't come out definitely opposed to this, but here are my concerns. my concerns is that consumers will end up paying higher cable bills. i mean, we have comcast is the biggest cable provider in the country. time warner is the second biggest. we have too much concentration, not enough competition as it is. i think this is going in the wrong direction. i am -- i wrote a letter to the regulatory agency stating my concerns, that consumers are going to be paying higher cable bills. they're going to get even worse service, and that they're going to have less choice. >> i talked to one guy here on wall street about this who works on deals, and he said, look, from his point of view, he thinks a bigger company would give the cable provider more bargaining power against some of the networks, arguably giving them more leverage with programmers, allowing them to keep costs down and save consumers money. so he says some of the networks are the ones driving up the cost to the consumer right now and this would help them fight back. what do you make of that? >> well, what are one of those networks? nbc. >> right, right. >> right? and that's you, i guess. >> it is us. >> that's not just nbc and cnbc, but it's msnbc and it's bravo and it's telemundo, and i was against the comcast/nbc universal deal because this is not just horizontal integration, it's vertical, too. so now you have an even bigger chunk of the cable world controlled by one company, and at the same time universal has these dozens of cable channels that nbc owned, and including you and including the olympics, and, of course, every other cable provider is going to want the olympics. so comcast can charge pretty much whatever it wants for the olympics. >> apologize just real quick. this is an important point because this is the model and it's not just comcast, right? if you look at what some of the other directv for example, which carries the nfl sunday ticket or some nfl-specifically programming, even if you look at some of the content and delivery distribution systems like a netflix, they do both. so there are a lot of players in this space, all of whom are pursuing the same kind of model, and by the way, comcast and time warner don't really have much geographical overlap and they're giving up 3 million subscribers to stay below 30% of the market. >> well, i think your last point actually underscores my point. here is the number one and the number two cable providers in the country, and they don't -- their argument is we don't compete with each other? that's supposed to make us feel good? there's not enough competition. so here is the number one and number two, and we don't compete in any geographical space. we have monopoly, so our monopoly is just going to get bigger. so i don't think that argument holds water. >> i think what they would say is that in any given market, there's not just the option of these cable providers, there are the satellite guys, there are the newer entrants to the space who are potentially going to come from the likes of google fire, there are municipalities who have their own networks. there is choice so this wouldn't affect the choice in that particular location. >> you know what you didn't say is internet. and comcast is the number one internet provider, too. and time warner is very big in that space, too. so you're talking about concentration of media, and concentration of media is -- has in the past meant bad things for consumers. >> certainly. >> higher cable bills, less choice, worse service, and i want the regulatory agencies to look at this. >> what, senator, would make you come around to this deal, if anything? >> well, i want to hear more about these arguments that i'm hearing and that you're spouting. remember, you are from cnbc, which is part -- >> i think you worked for nbc once, too, sir. >> i was, and don't you think it speaks well of me that even though i worked for nbc for a long time -- >> it does. >> -- i saw the conflict here of comcast buying nbc and having this horizontal and vertical integration? >> right. >> i want to hear more about that, and we're going to have -- >> so do we. >> and we're going to hear -- have a hearing in the antitrust subcommittee of the judiciary committee on which i sit. i also want to look at comcast's history of not abiding by conditions that were imposed on them by the fc c. now, let's talk about cnbc. you compete with bloomberg. there was a thing called neighborhooding. you know what i'm talking about. >> i do. right, exactly. during the deal when comcast bought nbc universal, there was this agreement about how to display channels on your cable provider, and whether or not they were moving, say a bloomberg tv around because of that. >> yeah, and when we're talking about financial news, cnbc is a big player in that, and guess what? comcast owns cnbc and didn't want bloomberg to be neighborhood -- in the same neighborhood, so they put bloomberg in the nose bleed section and the fcc had to keep forcing them to do what they said they were going to do. so we have -- they fought it, comcast fought it all the way. so we have this previous record of them not living by the agreements they made with the fcc, and i think that brings a very big question to whether or not you trust this company which said, okay, i understand your problems with us buying nbc, but we'll -- you know, okay, you have these conditions, and then you don't abide by them? you don't put bloomberg next to cnbc because you don't want your viewers bleeding from cnbc to bloomberg? you understand what i mean. >> i do, sir. and, look, we really appreciate you coming on to talk about it. we knew you weren't a fan of the deal and we're going to see what happens now as the fcc and a lot of others grapple with what exactly it means. we hope you will come back as this plays out. >> thank you. >> senator al franken. some of the world's biggest investors unveiling their latest stock holdings after the bell. we're talking about some 2,400 players with $12 trillion in assets some are saying. we'll get you details on that right after this. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com . . . . . . . . welcome back. it's whale watching day. that means hedge funds are releasing their fourth quarter 13-f forms, s.e.c. filings that disclose a hedge fund's long stock positions. dominic chu joins us with a roundup of the major players. >> if you imagine $100 million or more in total assets in america, you have to file one of these long reports every quarter. so here is a couple of the big ones we want to highlight now. warren buffett is out with his. berkshire hathaway and their list of holdings. they have gotten rid of their stake in dish network. eliminated all 36.5 million shares of dish network. eliminated all 345,000 odd shares of glaxosmithkline, those are all out. big reductions for conocophillips. they have reduced their share amounts by 18% to about 11.1 million shares. also reducing their stake in sun corps energy by some 28% to about 13 million shares from a prior 18. they've also boosted slightly by about 1 million shares their stake in exxonmobil. also third point, the activist hedge fund run by dan loeb, they have a new stake in t-mobile u.s. shares. 7.6 million shares there. also new smaller stabs in apple and abbott labs as well. notably so at third point, they cut their yahoo! position by half to around 8 million shares. so between berkshire and third point, those are two of the bigger names we have. we're still combing through a lot of other filings that are dropping right now and we'll bring you more details, but for now those are some big ones. also remember, gm, a hot stock for action among some of the hedge fund managers as well. we'll bring you more details as they become available to you. >> dom, thanks very much. love sifting through those. wall street also loves curling. u.s. national curling champ dean ja mel brings us some pointers next. we're bringing curling into the exchange. well, did you know that old macdonald was a really bad speller? 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[ male announcer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more interesting it gets. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer. welcome back. it's almost double screen time. you can catch the latest olympic curling action from sochi right here on cnbc next. you don't want to miss a second of that. and on your other device, be sure to live stream "fast money" freestyle on fastmoney.cnbc.com. >> we have got probably the most accurate analyst on tesla on the show tonight. he downgraded the stock last fall just before it hit its high and then upgraded the stock in january before its run to 200. we have him on to tell us where the stock is going. ben callow joins us on "fast money" freestyle tonight. >> look forward to it. hey, guys. thanks very much. that's coming up in a couple minutes. first though, it's one of the most talked about sports this winter olympics, and now curling sweeping its way onto the floor of the new york stock exchange. yes, actually. joining me now is the 2012 u.s. national curling champion, dean gemmell. it's great to have you here. >> great to be here. >> what involvement do you have the olympics? >> i was in the trails but unfortunately i'm not in sochi but i'm here so you get me. >> that's exciting for us. this has been an education for a lot of people in curling. you brought a stone with you? >> i brought a stone. a lot of people are watching it on cnbc fascinated by it. that's the stone there. it's granite -- >> and it's pretty heavy. >> if you want to try to pick it up -- >> morgan -- >> she said she had special sox on. >> i have my curling socks on so i'm prepared. >> they weigh 40 to 44 pounds. >> throw yaur back out. >> it's not a straent game because you don't have to lift it over your head. it's all from your legs. >> why are they so heavy? >> they slide down a sheet of ice that's about 150 -- >> robert. i want to see kevin o'leary do that. >> i have to know something. why are they screaming at the stone after they let go? >> they're not screaming at the stone, kevin. >> it weighs a ton. >> they're screaming at each other. you're communicating how hard you have thrown it, where the line is. that's actual communication. it would be perfect for a guy like you. you could yell all day at your colleagues. >> i think it's funny because once you let go, you can't change the direction. >> you can. the sweeping can take the rock 12 to 15 feet further. it also reduces the amount of curl. so you can manage the curl. now, if it's thrown too hard, you can't do anything. you will see no sweeping, that means it's too hard. if it's wide and it needs to curl more, that's when you won't sweep as well. so that's what all the yelling is about. it serves a real purpose like yelling does. >> what is the one skill you really need to have to be good at this? >> well, curling, to deliver the curling stone, you're delivering on shoes like this. you have one foot that's slippery. the mechanics of it are a bit like learning a golf swing. that's where the skill comes in. strength when you sweep. you will see some guys in the olympics as big as anybody, can curl like you do. >> that's why they call it curling, right? >> i understand the stone all comes from the same quarry and i can buy the island that quarry is in for $1.5 million? >> i think it's $1.2 million down. >> you can negotiate it down. >> i always wondered where did the came come from? was there a practical thing that used to be grown from. >> it was invented in scotland. western canada is where it was perfected. >> perfect. >> wow. so now we've entered or almost finished with week one. we have week two coming up. what should we know about the teams involved? handicap this for us? >> on the women's side it looks like a race between canada is really playing well, probably great britain, eve muirhead. sweden is playing really well and china has -- >> who is the tiger woods of curling? >> he's right here with us. >> kevin martin is doing the analysis for cnbc -- >> is he like the god of curling. >> he's probably one of the top three players of all time. >> how about playing now? >> real chinese nationals or do they rent their players? >> they have about 200, 300 curlers. that he don't develop the whole game. >> we have to go on that note. we'll look up the prospects for- ♪ ♪ u.s. men defeated germany. they don't have a monopoly on controversy. john shuster's team led. during the hal

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