Transcripts For CNBC Closing Bell 20150401

Plummet plummeted. And the dollar turned around. Weak data out of the u. S. Earlier this morning. All kinds of moving pieces. One stock bucking the trend behind us at the New York Stock Exchange, go daddy. The stock prices last night above the expected range and traded for the first time today with a symbol gddy. The investors liking it as much as their racy commercials. Should investors go for go daddy even at these levels . You had a rather eventful morning. They took over the New York Stock Exchange. There was a huge crowd. You even had Danica Patrick doing pushups on the floor. Picture that. Doing pushups on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. At the same time we were talking to the ceo. I will bring you some of those comments. Well check out the post. It has managed to hold its gains, 30 gain. Walmart inserting itself into a political controversy asking the governor of arkansas to veto a religious freedom bill. The governor sending the bill back to be rewritten. Well get to that a little later. Lets talk about the markets and show you how were doing. As sara said the dow is down roughly 200 points on the low. Off that low right now down 104. The s p down 11 negative for the year. The nasdaq is down 38 points at 4,862. Nasdaq 5,000 is a distant sgroo long long gone. Memory there. Keith fitzgerald the author of money morning. Com, youre the author of that . Well theres a lot of authors but they tell me im in charge. Well see if i believe it. Jack bouroudjian from index Financial Partners who is doing pushups himself today, Nathan Bachrach from simply money and Rick Santelli. I want to start with you because of all the moving parts and pieces. Sharply lower stocks sharply higher bond prices and oil prices. Whats going on here to begin the Second Quarter do you think . You know i think it all kind of fits together well. I think the equities are disappointing, and that makes the treasuries a bit more alluring. You see bund yields made a new intraday low yield. 15 basis points. 1. 86 , you remember where that came from. Thats your october 15th low that we bounced off of aggressively or sold off of aggressively so thats important technically. When i look at whats going on with regard to the relative value trade in europe it has slowed down a little bit and i think maybe thats part of the reason were not seeing yields move a bit lower and i think the most important issue of all is i know jobs the numbers, the headline numbers have looked good for a while, but most of the other data doesnt. So i think it makes perfect sense. Even the jobs number didnt look too good on adp this morning. From chicago to Cincinnati Ohio Nathan Bachrach are you worried about some of the signals were getting with the u. S. Economic data . Are you chalking it up to bad weather . Im going to chalk it all up to weather, sar remarks but im going to chalk it up to whether or not you think this is playing out in 2015 like 2014 did, whether you think a strengthening dollar is starting to have an affect on exports for american manufacturers, which i think it does. Whether or not you think the consumers who has a happy accident taking place in their savings and checking accounts which is more savings, will come to the rescue of the economy. I dont think they are. I think the consumer is very happy to watch. And then you take a little bit of cold that actually took place here in the midwest we found that it was rather cold. He put all that together i think were doing fine. Its a question of whether or not business is going to be able to understand that a rate hike is not going to kill them and, yes, Rick Santelli, that the increasing Health Insurance premiums are also not going to slow them down. You put if thats true why do we spend so many months and months listening to fed officials hem and haw about doing it . If its no big deal pull the needle out, see if the patient starts talking or dying. Why not do it . We cant have it both ways. You cant tell me how great things are and tenhen tell me they cant raise rates a quarter of a point. I think business has lost their game. They dont know how to dribble anymore. The consumer theyre making a boat load of money being somewhat lazy. Thanks janet yellen. Thanks, ben. Its actually the stock market. What it is is it speaks to what we got out of bill gross today but they get to buy their stocks and do a lot of things now youre really hitting on things guys. Go ahead, keith. Now youre really hitting on it. I think this market technically is ready for a pause. I think this is absolutely normal. Its a sign of things to come. The volatility, the hesitation are signs of digestion and theyre all classic signs that the market is trying to come to terms with news. However you want to define it whether its the midwest, the value trade, whether its corporate earnings those are all things that have to be taken into account. For the average investors with an eye on quality stocks and Quality Companies, its a nonevent. You want to take a step back. The markets are acting the way they normally would. We got some disappointing Economic Data yields went down surprise, surprise. You got the situation the negotiations continuing, dragging on between the u. S. And iran and oil prices are going up in anticipation theyre not going to get a deal anytime soon. The markets are acting normal if you want to put it that way, right . Youre absolutely right, bill. In fact, i think anybody that would expect the market to rally in this situation is probably, you know, scratching their heads and shouldnt be in the markets. I said it last week this is a very rough time for stocks. There are a lot of headwinds. One of which is the fact that were in a quiet period and companies cant buy back their own stock anymore and theyve really been the ones holding up in the market in a lot of cases but the reality is this. The market like keith said is over extended. Its due to come off a little bit. We dont know when its going to come off and how fast it will come off but 5 to 10 is probably in the norm and, again, we are getting to that normalization, but rick i have a real point of contention here when youre talking about pulling the pin and seeing if the patient either lives or dies. Failure is not an option. It never was. Thats one of the reasons ben bernanke did what he did let him finish. Failure is not an option and that is exactly why that she is doing the work of ben bernanke, continuing that work and you nou what . God bless her. Shes saving this economy. Rick . Sounds like warren buffett. The u. S. Economy needs help from its central bank to the extent weve seen it the last six years, okay lets put chiquita on the boat and call ourselves a banana republic, seriously. Dont forget the stamp. Wait a second. First of all, we are not in a vacuum. We cant do things by ourselves. Weve got the rest of the world in what is a global i know thats the problem, jack. People cant do much for themselves. Its not i hate the what should an investor be doing right about now . The average investor should be doing what theyre always doing, guys. The average investor should be looking for Quality Companies no pete i think its an important point keith is making here. Theres a lot of noise around this fed decision june or september. Everyone is talking about volatility but if you are a longterm investor its important, keith, right, to stay focused on the fundamentals. Absolutely. But the one thing that investors the risk here is we all nathan go ahead. Here is what an investor is learning. If theyre all in the u. S. And they started that way in january, theyre looking at the First Quarter going what happened . Nothing happened. If you had a hedge position if you were international, if you had some europe you had some emerging markets you are off in asia and you went long on your bonds, you gained a couple 2 3 this year and youre looking at your 401 k balance and going, well, interesting. Asset allocation is working this year. It didnt last year. Last year all you had to do was go u. S. And youre fine. This year it will take a little allocation and little brains about where the money is going and who is winning and who is losing. Right now american manufacturers are not doing as well. Europe is doing great. Nathan oil is down 11 if the First Quarter. Will you add to oil positions here or do you think they could go lower . Im not adding to oil. Im tell you where im adding to oil position is everybodys checking and savings account. Were seeing a happy accident right now, bill and that is that savings are just piling up in checkings and savings account. We have a savings rate we havent seen this much savings since 2012. Unless bankers come up with a way to convince people to start pulling equity out of their house again, and i hope they dont, well see savings continue to rise and what business is going to have to do is come up with a reason why the consumer should spend more. Theyre not spending the savings theyre getting at the pump but they will spent a raise if and when they get it. Jack question for you. Since you are expecting some type of near term correction here, do you put any stock in the idea that april is traditionally the best month for stocks with an average gain for the dow over the last few years of 1. 9 . Were talking about on the first day of april here heading into tax season and other fundamentals at work . This market has been so counterintuitive over the course of the last fi years and i think right now we have to be a little counterintuitive with our thinking. This is going to be, i believe, an april to sell and a may to buy. Its going to be one of those situation where is we see that correction come in april and then it will give investors a real opportunity and what were looking at right now with the strong dollar is equivalent to the polar vortex last year. This is a spring that is wound up and when it unleashes, you will see a second half of earnings and Revenue Growth that is going to surprise a lot of people. All right. Gentlemen, thank you. Youre looking at four guys right there id love to have dinner with together some time. It would be fun to get thrown out of a restaurant somewhere, guys. I dont know where that would be. Who would get a word in edgewise . Exactly. Heading to the close, we have 50 minutes left in the trading session and were heading back to the lows of the session. The dow is down 120 points right now as we begin the Second Quarter for 2015. Well not lower in this down market is go daddy, going gangbusters on its first day of trading at the New York Stock Exchange but can you still buy it after this 31 surge . The pros debate whether the Web Hosting Company is a mustown portfolio stock. And the latest progress on the Nuclear Talks with iran. Plus wall streets top analyst will tell us how it could affect oil and gas prices down the road. Stay tuned. More closing bell after this. Hosting company is a mustown [ female announcer ] who are we . We are the thinkers. The job jugglers. The up allnighters. And the ones who turn ideas into action. Weve made our passions our lifes 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 were here to help start yours. You can call me shallow. But, i have a wandering eye. I mean, come on. National gives me the control to choose any car in the aisle i want. I could choose you. Or i could choose her if i like her more. And i do. Oh, the silent treatment. Real mature. So you wanna get out of here . Go national. Go like a pro. The selling continues to begin the Second Quarter. The dow down 108 points right now, so its negative for the year. S p down 12 points. Thats negative for the year. The nasdaq, not the case down 39, but it started the day with a gain of 4 for the year so far. Of the ten seconders in the s p 500 index, two are positive today, sara eisen. One is energy and the reason for that we actually saw crude closing above 50 a barrel. Wti soaring today. Some believe its trading on speculation of how likely a deal is with iran on the nukes. Eamon javers has the latest developments on those talks, which, unfortunately, are dragging on. Its pins and needles time as the Obama Administration waits for word from negotiators on whether theres a deal or no deal on the iran nuclear program. The state department saying that secretary of state john kerry is going to stay in switzerland for another day through thursday in hopes of wrapping up talks, and meanwhile back here in washington at the white house, spokesman josh earnest said that the United States is prepared to throw in the towel on these negotiations. Take a listen. If we are in a situation where we sense that the talks have stalled, then yes, the United States and the International Community is prepared to walk away. That said the talks are still ongoing and they said that they are optimistic they might be able to get to a deal. No information on what would be in that deal. Earnest deflecting reporters questions of what the specifics might be and saying any deal will have to be judged as a whole when its announced if its announced. A lot of questions in washington and in switzerland. Eamon, thank you very much. Keep us updated. So whichever way this deal goes what is the impact on oil prices . Joining us now, brenda schaefer,ed a schaefer, adjunct professor at washington university. Brenda, with your policy expertise, given what eamon just said about the comments and the rhetoric out of the administration, do you expect this 11th hour deal to get done . Well a deal is really important to the administration. This is really a legacy issue for the Obama Administration. There was cuba, theres going to be iran. So at some point there will be a deal, but we might have something thats sort of a half deal. In an announcement that a deal was reached but we dont know all the details. This is something that seems to be a number of that obstacles in the different stances between iran and the United States. We might be sort of stuck with a deal but not knowing all the details and somewhat negotiations continuing. But, chad, it would appear the markets rally today, the market betting were not going to get a deal at least in the near term here . Certainly they did that. Now, the war premium is back on. Its sunni versus shiite. Its the saudis versus iran and whats happening in yem sentenceen is a rejection of how opec is dealing with iran. The bet is theres not going to be a deal made and if you look at how brent and wti traded today, people are viewing that as something thats going to create waves into the future and prices will at least sustain themselves at the current levels. We also have Inventory Data out of the u. S. Came in a little bit lower than many were expecting. Still, another record high. Brenda on this energy situation, make the link for us between whats happening in yemen and what chad was just talking about, a potential proxy war between iran and saudi arabia, major oil producers, and the iranian potential deal here with the western powers. Well, you know, oil prices we think they have a lot of mystique, they go up and they go down and why it happens, but its really about supply and demand. Its actually that simple. So, yes, Inventory Data that pushes up the prices a bit. In the middle east and the geopolitical level, we have two conflicting things. On the one hand anticipation of some type of agreement in the market so that brings prices down and the other hand whats happening with saudi arabia and yemen, this is huge. This is much bigger than maybe we might be noticing because yemen is important not because its a major oil exporter. Its only about 100,000 barrels a day but its location. If theres any spillover or if forces connected that are fighting in yemen want to really fight back their way to do it would be to attack saudi arabia. So any sort of incident that would happen in saudi arabia would have a very would send Oil Prices Sky High at least in the short term. So we have two sort of conflicting forces Geopolitical Forces working on the oil price. Yemen is not a big producer but iran obviously is and if they get a deal they expect to be able to bring a Million Barrels a day back onto the market. That would push prices down, wouldnt it . Right. First, a lot of iranian ianian oil is already in the market but its somehow sold through third parties. That oil would come out and be legally sold, and so actually in some markets this would be a slight increase in the price because its sold at a discount in the gray transactions. But, yes i think really thats probably one of the really things thats in the conflict between the negotiating sides right now is actually the return of iranian oil to the market. Thats what they want immediately. Pull it out of the inventories, out of the storage. And the United States doesnt want to do that so quickly because putting these sanctions in place, this was not an overnight deal. This was two years of serious, serious activity. Once the spout is open its not going to be easy to close it again. So what iran probably wants is the oil released. The Banking System released but not have a final, final deal. The United States probably wants a detailed deal before oil is rereleased to the market. So given all these changing dynamics in the marketplace, chad, when it comes to supply including whats happening here in the u. S. How do you expect the price of oil to trade wti and brent in the near term here . Well youre going to see what america is made of when it comes to washington ingenuity. Theres a chance now for america to take the lead in managing supply and demand. Weve gone to almost a 10 Million Barrels a day. We need to be a net exporter of it, and washington needs to be focused not only on the Environmental Impact of fracking which is important, but on changing the way we do business in the oil space. What youre going to see is fits and starts. You will see the war premium on people looking at the intermittent supply and demand of u. S. Supply and ultimately u. S. Needs to be prepared that we now have a country thats got five or six different distinct oil pricing regions that if you go out to the well head right now you have to manage that based on supply and its got to be somehow articulated globally that the u. S. Is in business for themselves and were in business to support other oil supplies. So ultimately i dont think youre going to see a Million Barrels come on from iran. I think youre going to see a status quo in the near term for what the traders are able to manipulate in the market but America Needs to change the way its thinking about its next ten years in the business. All right. Yes. We got a lot going on there. Thank you both for joining us today. Keeping us updated on the talks with iran as well. Here we go. Less than 40 minutes to go before the closing bell. We have losses across the board. First day of april, first day of the Second Quarter. The dow is down 106 points at this hour. S p 500 down 12 or 0. 6 and the nasdaq which had been outperforming all year is lagging behind in todays session. Go daddy though making a huge splash on its first day of trading. Im begging you to somebody come up with a video of Danica Patrick doing the weve got it. We aired it on squawk on the street. We will show you a debate on whether the Web Hosting Company will leave investors flush with cash or high and dry. Bull bear debate on go daddy when we come back. Ffer sophisticated investing strategies. My technology can help you choose the right portfolio. Monitor it. And automatically rebalance it. All without charging advisory fees, account service fees or commissions. That may be hard to compute. But im a computer. So trust me. It computes. Say hello at intelligent. Schwab. Com anyone have occasional constipation diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yes one Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these occasional digestive issues. With 3 types of good bacteria. Live the regular life. Phillips let me talk to you about retirement. A 401 k is the most sound way to go. Lets talk asset allocation. Sure. You seem knowledgeable professional. Im actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] woman [laughs] no way that really is you . If theyre not a cfp pro you just dont know. Cfp work with the highest standard. In new york state, were reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. From pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. Whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started. Only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that Partner Companies with universities, and Venture Capital funding for high Growth Industries. See how new york can grow your business and create jobs. Visit ny. Gov business welcome back. We have some breaking news on mcdonalds. Sue herera is here to tell us about it. Mcdonalds according to dow jones is joining a growing list of large corporations who are increasing pay for their workers. Mcdonalds corporation apparently plans to raise pay by more than 10 and add benefits like paid vacation for workers at its u. S. Restaurants in an effort to basically rejuvenate its franchisees and also joins the list of target walmart, tjx and gap. Here are some of the details according to dow jones. The increase will apply to 90,000 workers at all levels of experience and rank. It will lift the average hourly rate for its u. S. Restaurant employees to 9. 90 on july 1st. And more than 10 by the end of 2016. It will also enable workers after one year of employment to accrue up to five days of paid time off annually. As we mentioned, this is a growing list with target walmart, tjx, and gap making a similar move. Bill, back to you. Sue, thank you very much. As we saw there, mcdonalds down 1. 3 in todays trading. Lets get to dominic chu who has some of the movers. Experian therapeutics climbing higher. Those shares you can see up by 11 . Then theres a specialty steelmaker Carpenter Technology cutting 10 of its workforce in a reorganization, it says thats about 200 jobs being lost. The Company Wants to reduce costs amid weak oil and gas prices. It also offered a forecast that didnt meet some analyst estimates. Delta, american and united kr three Major Airlines all down big today after Deutsche Bank downgraded the airlines to a hold rating pointing to weaker than expected international sales. And then shares of go daddy. Com soaring more than 30 in their debut. The Web Hosting Company raising 460 million after offering 23 million shares 20 bucks a piece, and sara and bill you have been following from down there all day. The shares are up by 31 on the days trade. Not an easy day to go public. Thank you dominic chu with down arrows across the board. Were in front of the booth where they opened. Glen, did you open it this morning . I did. Glen the specialist that matched the buyers and sellers it was a lot more crowded. They had all the employees, the ceo, blake irving was here as well. The question were asking is after this 30 shop should you be looking at shares to put in your portfolio . Our bull is james remelli and jason is the bear. James, i think its the first time weve had you on that youve been a bull on one of these stocks. 31 gain you think theres more juice left here, huh . Absolutely. I middle eastern, we were expecting between 17 and 19. Opened up ripped higher a massive amount on its debut and the market is telling you they like this. Go daddy has a whole new suite of products theyre offering to existing and new customers. Their Revenue Growth has been red hot. Theyre an older, more established company, and i think theres a lot more upside left in go daddy. Jason, i took a look at the s1 filing that they put out before they go public. There were long list of risk factors for investing. The thing im not excited about at all which is why go daddy gets a red light from me is actually first of all, theyre losing money. So lets not forget that. They lost 200 million in 2013, they lost a little less i think it was 143 million last year. Why would anybody invest in a company thats losing hundreds of millions of dollars per year number one. Number two on a more fundamental standpoint which is almost more important, go daddy, in my opinion, has zero motor of safety. Theres countless companies that are trying to compete with go daddy, and go daddy is going to suffer from that and not only that, theyre not even making money. So its a bad investment i think. James, none of that makes your palms sweat . Right, so i mean looking at the company as unprofitable that doesnt really worry me that much. From thirn through early 2014 we saw yelp stock go from 20 to 100 while they were losing money the entire way. Im not really that concerned about that. In terms of competition, we are seeing amazon and google move into the space and that should be a concern for investors. However, this is not a small startup that google is trying to push out of the space. Go daddy has been around for a while and they have a huge core customer base. They have over 13 million customers in 40 countries around the world, and theyre managing over 60 million domains. Aside from that theyre offering a whole new suite of products to their customers. Jason, quickly, now that we have seen this 30 pop, we know the bearish case. How overvalued do you think it is . Well, i think, listen this first day, whatever, up 30 is simply a case of the market trying to chase some type of performance opportunity. Its really a classic first day euphoria. I think it will come back down to about the 18 to 20 range and probably just consolidate from there. I dont think its something you want to touch right now. James quickly, price target from you the upside . I dont have a specific upside price target. I generally like to wait a couple weeks before i Start Playing an ipo until they list the options. Im an options guy. I want to take these using equity option. James ramelli, jason rotman, good to see you both. Back to sue herera with our cbs news news cnbc news update. A state Department Spokeswoman says secretary of state john kerry will remain at the iran Nuclear Talks in switzerland until at least thursday morning. Progress has been made but the two sides have yet to reach a political understanding. A french official said the French Foreign minister will return to switzerland to join those talks. Californias governor jerry brown has ordered a mandatory 25 reduction in water usage for cities and towns. This as the state enters the fourth year of a recordbreaking drought. California is reporting its lowest snow pack levels on record. Walmart looking at how it sources its products in an effort to reduce prices. The head of the u. S. Division said the company had launched several projects aimed at reestablishing price gaps over its rivals. And police in toronto are investigating the cause of a sinkhole that appeared to swallow up about half a car. The jaguar got stuck in the sinkhole after it appeared in the corner of a parking lot. Luckily the driver was able to escape without injuries. That is the definition of a bad day. Thats your update. Back to you, sara. I hate those images. Sue herera thank you very much. Here we go less than 30 minutes to go before the closing bell and were seeing declines across the board. Dow is down 115 now. S p 500 also in the red. Financials and telecom are the groups seeing green. Nasdaq is lagging behind all three. Up next a new survey of wall street pros. 85 feel the s p 500 will be higher next year at this time. Is that too bullish . We have somebody from bank rate that conducted the survey and two financial pros in the survey and answered questions. Well get their views when sara and i come back after this. What if a Small Company became big buiness overnight . Like, really big. Then expanded. Or their new product tanked. Or not. What if they embrace new technology instead . Imagine a companys future with the future of trading. Company profile, a Research Tool on thinkorswim. From td ameritrade. Were coming off the lows of the session as we head toward the close. The dow with 24 minutes left in the trading session down 74 points. We were down 129 or something as the low of the day. Just in the last few minutes. S p down 8, nasdaq down 28 points. Yeah. It was down a little bit lower earlier. A new survey by bank rate is creating some buzz today. It asks wall street professionals for their market predictions and in this survey a whopping 85 surveyed believe the s p 500 will be highary year from now averaging out at about a 6 gain in that time. Were joined exclusively with the man behind the survey bank rate. Coms Washington Bureau chief mark hammerick and two participants, tom lieddden and kim forrest. I think we should start with you mark, does 85 of people being bullish on the market raise ni red flags in terms of a consensus or group think of bullishness . The beauty or the dang ser in the eyes of the beholder. Thats one of the great things about working with my colleagues to concoct this survey is to portray the palette of colors out there from each of the investment advisers. I would note though to the point that youre getting to the optimism is somewhat restrained as bill said at the outset. Its a low single i guess i should say mid to high single digit gain from here for the market and well get into it in a moment but people are really looking abroad for gains in the market not so much to the United States. Let me a couple other for me eye opening numbers. 62 of the respondents see better returns overseas than they do here. 80 , 80 of the respondents think that europe has bottomed out in the markets there. Kim, how did you vote . Well i dont think i voted that i think that europe bottom bottomed out. Theres a lot going on there still. Greece is unresolved. The ecb and their bond buying its only just begun, and, you know, we hope they recover and it was the bottom but its unclear that it really is. I dont know anybody that can accurately call those sort of events. Tom here is an interesting one. 90 of the respondents expect the Federal Reserve to raise Interest Rates in 2015. If you pair that next to the fact that 85 are bullish on the s p 500, i guess nobody is really worried about that. Well youre right, sara and i think the bottom line is its going to be a stock pickers market this year if you look at some of the feedback in the survey. Many are concerned about the dollar. Many are concerned about energy. Many feel that europe will do better. So in our little etf world, theres some specific earnings small cap earnings related etfs, wisdom tree where they can kind of go through and pick those companies that might do better in earnings situations where really if youre involved in Energy Related company or a multinational right now with the rising dollar, youre going to have challenge approximates. And mark i noticed also along the lines of Interest Rates going up that the median response from the folks who took your survey see the 10year at 2. 5 by the end of the year. Plenty of Money Managers have had their heads handed back to them for making that kind of prediction for the last five years. Everybody expected rates to go up and then they go down again. We talk about this too, when we have the Economist Survey which weve been doing for a year, and i guess we have to ask ourselves the question, is janet yellen listening . And i think clearly she is, and i really think the fed has not done anything to dissuade people from having the expectation that there likely are a couple rate hikes in store between now and the end of the year. I think the fed is telling us its okay to believe that. So quickly, kim, the one place there was no consensus, half and half was whether youre going to see better performing value stocks or growth stocks. Which one would give investors better returns. Where did you vote and explain why . We are a value manager. Our mandate is total return and that is definitely on the value side of, you know money management. So, you know, thats where we came from and i think value really serves you well. Why . Because youre picking things that are what you think have some up sorry, upside value to it and youre probably not going to go down all that much because youre buying it when its unloved, out of favor, that sort of thing. So i always think that if you have three to five years ahead of you, value is going to win. All right folks. Thank you. Wish we had more time. This is an interesting survey. Mark, thanks for brounginginging it along. Thank you for your thoughts today. Awfully bullish though. Awfully bullish. Right. And the question is do you invest with them or is that a contrarian indicator . Exactly. You decide. 19 minutes left. The dow now down 95 points. Were seeing a little volatility as we head to the close. The s p down 10. The nasdaq down 33. Health care is getting hit the hardest in terms of the major indices groups. Coming up mark okada of Highland Capital Management. Well be speaking with him a little bit later on closing bell. I love my mileageplus® explorer card. Were saving our united miles. For a trip to hawaii. We love free checked bags. Ive saved 75 in checked bag fees. No foreign transaction fees means real savings. We can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. One of the best things about priority boarding is you can just get on the plane and relax. I put everything on the explorer card. I really want my united miles. Theres a difference when you trade with fidelity. One you wont find anywhere else. Onesecond trade execution. Guaranteed. Did you see it . In one second, he made a trade we looked for the best price and the trade went through. Do the other guys guarantee that . Didnt think so. Open an account and find more of the expertise you need to be a better investor. Financial services giant primerica is getting ready to ring the closing bell. The company celebrating its fifth anniversary. The new ceo Glen Williams is officially taking the top job in the company. So hes here at the New York Stock Exchange and weve got a cnbc exclusive. What a first day. You get to be ceo and you ring the closing bell. Exciting first day. Camera people a big paparazzi. Were proud of our company, proud to celebrate what were accomplishing. Not only our Market Performance but our performance in the marketplace. Were proud of the results for the last five years. Weve been able to impact a lot of lives in the middle market. Theres a fiveyear chart of your stock since you spun off from citi in 2010. The stock is up 275 . Outperforming the s p 500. Is it the underlying Life Insurance business thats booming . Whats behind it . We are in the Life Insurance business but were really a distribution company. The real secret of primerica is our distribution capability. 98,000plus representatives across the u. S. Canada puerto rico and even guam and were in over 1,000 households a day in the middle market sitting down with families talking to them about their financial expectations and goals and delivering to them the right products for the middle market. I believe weve had the organic growth that the market expected, as well as we have a great capital strategy that will continue. With me being the new ceo and a disciplined business. You read my mind because organic growth is one thing and thats done served you well for the last five years but what about that capital strategy. How do you grow the Company Beyond what you can do organically here. Thats our plan to do both. We believe the middle market is continuing to have Growth Opportunities just since weve been public there are 2 million new households just in the middle market in the u. S. Our market continues to expand. But weve already got the game plan in place for the next couple years for the discipline youre free to tell us what that game plan is. Well were buying back a significant amount of stock in the marketplace, about 150 million a year and thats what weve talked about previously and so were going to continue that strategy as far into the future as weve planned it. We think whats worked in the past will continue to work in the future along with the growth in the marketplace. We believe we can continue to do both. You have how many people working on the distribution model . How many people over 98,000 people in the u. S. , canada puerto rico, and ga guam. You ask about the traditional Insurance Business pretty conservative, pretty stayed normid normally. But were seen as a distributor. Would you call yourself a multilevel marketer . We think avon herbalife, that kind of mod snel. I would not. Our Business Model is a combination. We started out as an Insurance Agency and we have added over time great dynamics from other Business Models including the franchising model. Were in the securities business. I would say were a blend of a number of different kind of models. Theyre signaling you have to get up to the balcony. The first thing you tell me on your capital plan is buyback. Is that the best use of capital just to buy back your stock . I know a lot of companies do that these days but what about putting it to use, creating more jobs out there . Were always looking for alternative strategies as well. At the same time we keep our ear to the ground we havent made any commitments and were not close to any alternative strategies but we have an open mind to what else might be out there as well. I know you have to go. Good to see you. Congratulations. New ceo of primerica going to be ringing the closing bell. Thank you very much. Thank you, glenn. And that closing bell is about to ring in about 12 minutes here. We are looking at the major indices still in the red. Certainly off the lows of the session. Cutting our losses here with the dow down 95. S p 500 down half a percent. Nasdaq still lagging the group down 0. 6 . Were wondering whether stocks can climb into the green on the first trading day of the new quarter he said sounding naive. Dont touch that remote. Well find out when we come back. Stay tuned. , sir. After some serious consideration id like to put in my 15year notice. Youre quitting . Technically retiring, sir. With a little help from my state farm agent i plan to retire in 15 years. Wow youre totally blindsiding me here. Whos gonna manage your accounts . This is a devastating blow i was not prepared for. Well, im gonna finish packing my things. 15 years will really sneak up on you. Jennifer with do your exit interview and adam made you a cake. Red velvet. Oh, thank you. I made this. Take charge of your retirement. Talk to a state farm agent today. E financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise your moms got your back. Your friends have your back. Your dogs definitely got your back. But whos got your back when you need legal help . We do. Were legalzoom, and over the last 10 years, weve helped millions of people protect their families and run their businesses. We have the right people onhand to answer your questions backed by a trusted network of attorneys. So visit us today for legal help you can count on. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. At one point, bill all 30 dow stocks were down today. Now, weve come back a little bit and some of them are in the green but still looking at declines into the closing bell. Art cashin was telling me slight sell side bias but its looks like theyre starting to pare off. But the dow is down 90 points. The s p down 9, and nasdaq down 27. Joining us with their thoughts on where we go from here, phil camp relly and tom diggon. Were beginning on a weak moment for the Second Quarter. Traditionally it is weak this time of year seasonally but do you use it as a buying opportunity . You will step back and let the market cool off a little more . The whole Global Equity market is really exciting for us. What a difference a quarter makes. Clients were trying to ditch any global exposure coming into this year. Its like an april fools joke. Italy and german stocks up 22 . Huge gains. But we still like the u. S. Tom, any thoughts here on the broader equity market as we continue to see declines . This is back to back and also were now lower for the year on the dow. Well, i think right now the equity market is not real cheap but theres real opportunities within the market. Certain segments i think people have been overpaying for yields for a while. So areas like utilities, some of the high dividend payers look a little expensive but areas like financials they look really cheap to us right now. As sara is always telling me when the dollar is strong small caps will outperform the large caps. I would never disagree with sara, but at the end of the day large caps for us we think are the better bet just based on this part of the market cycle. Youre not scared of the strong dollar. Unless it rallies by another ferocious 25 . But it is still in rally mode. I was wondering why health care is down so much today. I guess thats been the big winner. I think a little profit taking going on. Were going to yeah, i see that. Were going to a break right now. No breaking news. We wouldnt think of giving you breaking news right now because were heading to the close with about seven minutes left and the dow is down 92 points as we head toward the closing countdown. After the bell when walmart speaks, arkansas governor seems to listen. Its all on top of that states top employer walmart this is going well isnt it . No wonder the governor listens. Is that why he drinked edblinked on the controversial bill. Its getting noisy in here as we head to the closing bell. Look out. Let me talk to you about retirement. A 401 k is the most sound way to go. Lets talk asset allocation. Sure. You seem knowledgeable professional. Would you trust me as your Financial Advisor . I would. I would indeed. Well, lets be clear here. Im actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way i have no Financial Experience at all. That really is you . If theyre not a cfp pro you just dont know. Find a certified Financial Planner professional whos thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan. Org. Cfp work with the highest standard. trader vo i search. I research. I dig. And dig some more. Because, for me, the challenge of the search. Is almost as exciting as the thrill of the find. announcer at scottrade, we share your passion for trading. Thats why we rebuilt scottrade elite from the ground up including a proprietary momentum indicator that makes researching sectors and Industries Even easier. Because at scottrade our passion is to power yours. The pursuit of healthier. It begins from the second were born. After all, healthier doesnt happen all by itself. It needs to be earned. Every day. Using wellness to keep away illness. And believing that a single life can be made better by millions of others. Healthier takes somebody who can power modern health care. By connecting every single part of it. For as the world keeps on searching for healthier. Were here to make healthier happen. Optum. Healthier is here. About three minutes left in the trading session. So to begin the Second Quarter, here is how we did in some three key asset classes. Lets use the dow as the proxy for equities. Oh, im sorry, we have some breaking news first. Breaking news my bad. Now, ironically we do have breaking news. Lets go to eamon javers in washington with that. The wall street journal, the Associated Press and Washington Post are all reporting right now that the u. S. Government has indicted senator bob menendez on charges that the Associated Press say include conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud. All of this stems from a case in which senator menendez allegedly intervened on behalf of a doctor in florida in an ongoing dispute with the United States government. Senator menendez has said he did nothing improper in any of this. I called the department of justice to see what theyre saying about that. Theyre not confirming the story which is now running in three major media organizations. Important story, and well be keeping an eye on that one over the next hour. Now, let me show you how we opened the Second Quarter here. Equities, the dow, selloff from the open this morning. We had weak Economic Data on manufacturing, that adp jobs report didnt help as well and weve been meandering all day. Well below 18,000. As for oil went the other direction as the talks with iran just drag on. We also will the inventory numbers that came in a little lower than expected. Those combined gave us this 4 gain for wti and it did settle at 50 a barrel. Its come off that in electronic trading just a little bit. The other one when you get weak Economic Data you usually see buying in bonds. Thats expected and the yield on the treasury back down to that magic level of 1. 86 , bob pisani, that Rick Santelli also points out that was the low set in october and thats been the benchmark support level for yields. And the bonds are telling us on the short end that were not expecting any dramatic increase on the tenyear. Thats the cheering year hearing for the close. We had the ceo of primerica. A number of Sales Representatives are on the floor today and theyre having a rally as they go into the close. Can i just point out over here go daddy, stock of the day. Look at this opened at 2615. Whats it closing at . 2615. They offered 23 million. How many have traded . 23 million. Were stuck in a trading range. A lot of concerns about earnings and slow growth and unfortunately i think were going to have to put up with it. Thank you, bob. See you a little bit later. Were going out with primerica celebrating five years of trading at the New York Stock Exchange. Wait until you see who is on our panel coming up on the Second Quarter of the closing bell. Noisy bunch here at the New York Stock Exchange. Welcome to the closing bell. Im sara eisen in today for kelly evans. Lets take a look at how we are finishing the first trading day of the Second Quarter and of the month of april. Going out with a decline for the dow, about 77 points. Second day in a row were seeing losses on the major indices. The s p 500 down 0. 4 and the nasdaq lagging pretty much all day ending lower 0. 4 as well. Some of the major groups turning green at the end. Anybody want to buy Life Insurance . We got plenty of reps around here to do that. Thats the cheering. Primerica employees. When companies ring the closing bell they often bring in some of their highprofile employees and they will have a lot of fun and everybody gets a gold badge and all that. This is the first time weve had this kind of a rally going. Something has to rally today, bill. This was the rally for the day. Thats for sure. Lets introduce the panel. That was carol roth. Larry kudlow is also here with us. So is fast money trader guy adami, and cnbc contributor michael farr. Guy, this is a perverse way of looking at it but we had some bad data this morning. Adp missed estimates. Manufacturing came in light. The market sold off on that. Is that a good sign that bad news is bad news again and its not all about the fed . Its not a good sign. Even larry i think would agree with this the Economic Data over the last 6 to 12 months has been at best mixed. I would say slightly negative to mixed, and as weve said a number of times, carol is here and you know, sara the way i feel, the bond market is trying to tell you something. Bill mentioned before that magic level 1. 86 . I dont know if its magic or not, but the bond bears are going to wish for 1. 86 because i still think yields are headed a lot lower. What troubles me are two things the weakness in the transports continues down to 157 or so in thei yt and the magic level in the russ sel 121. Its imperative for the bulls we stay above that level. Matt with you and with carol and larry and michael farr i feel like im at a meeting of the rnc or something here. Whats going on here today . Larry, you remain positive did you say the rfra . Rnc. I forgot that. Well get to that. I would say curb your pessimism. I dont believe any of the numbers coming out from the winter. I dont believe a word of it. Its all the weather. Between snow and dock slowdowns and refinery slowdowns. I dont believe a word of it. I also would say this, i think over the past year the jobs numbers, which have outperformed are a better indication of the economy than gdp. Having said that or i do have sympathy with guys view i am looking at profits. I think profits, the mothers milk of stocks, theyre coming in sloppy. On the other hand, final point, Fourth Quarter profit the gdp profits, which is like irs profits, you dont mess with them domestic nonfinancial up 8 . Thats your core profits view. That was better than expectations, and it tells me to keep hope alive. You know its so funny, i love larry. I love his politics. I love his advocacy for i hear a however coming. However, i have been disagreeing with him on this Economic Data from probably the past year. You buy it dont you . I dont buy it. I dont think that the jobs numbers are good numbers. We have not seen wage growth. The numbers are way below what they should be at this point in a recovery. I dont think that theres really any good news around the consumer i dont think theres anything we can hang our hat on in terms of here is a catalyst for growth in this economy to justify the multiples that were facing right now. The multiple question is up for grabs because thats a hell give me the multiple question. I will. Were above historical averages. I think on jobs yeah were probably 8 million jobs below where we should be. But you ran close to dbl dbl and [ inaudible ] and on wages i want to disagree with you. Hours worked are rising over 3 . So youre talking about labor income growing at 5 in real terms. Theres no inflation and if you look at the personal income report that just came out, real disposable income last three months 7 at an annual rate. What im Say Something theres a lot of consumer fire power as a result of the energy tax cut and the improvement in hours worked. If you just joined us a Political Convention just broke out, and were waiting to see who the nominee is going to be when all is said and done. I accept. I accept. Larry accepts. I accept. Michael farr. Michael farr ironically youre not in d. C. Youre down in palm tree country right now. We start weak here for the Second Quarter. This is a seasonally weak time anyway, and i am going to bet youre going to use this time to buy. Am i right on that . I would love to do some buying. I, of course agree with carol roth. I think she makes a whole lot of sense, and i have been kind of in her camp for a while. I think the Economic Data are nothing to write home about, and i dont think that the consumer does have a whole lot more fire power. Increeksal lymentally yes, but not a whole lot and not enough to move the needle. Im concerned if we get some weakness and as art cashin was telling us yesterday, april is usually a pretty good month. Ooims im always willing to buy on weakness and i think earnings will show something of an earnings recession, disappointing numbers, and i think longterm investors are going to be looking for bernankes 5 and be happy with it. Guy, if you look at what moved in terms of Industries Health care got hit hard. Telecom, Energy Materials actually ended higher. What does that tell you . You had the bounce in the oil market. I guess you can explain the bounce in the oil market. It wasnt as big of a build as we thought we were looking at so the market was poised to rally. You also had comments yesterday, i forget who said it though. Oil is going to close 20 higher on the year. But what really stuck out to me and i will push back on larry on this one, sam zell this morning said the chasm between the real economy and the stock market im paraphrasing, has never been greater greater. Something i have said for a while and something i actually believe. And he was also very worried about the stronger u. S. Dollar and how thats making our companies are you comfortable being in the minority on this panel on this one . I actually love being in the minority on every single question weve discussed so far. Ill just say this you cant devalue your way to prosperity. Strong economies have strong currencies. Our economy is the strongest in the world even though i agree with carol were not growing up to potential. I agree with that but nonetheless on a relative basis were fine and i just want to make this point. Michael farr im sorry, youre wrong. Carol roth, im sorry, youre wrong, with all due humility. Personal income, personal income after inflation, after taxes, is up 6. 9 on an annual rate. I cant beat this crowd. Let me just explain. I was joking earlier. If you just joined us the folks from primerica rang the closing bell today and theyre using the opportunity to have a sales meeting apparently. So theres a lot of roaring going on here. I hope they all get rich. Ill still like to nominate bill grifity for ityfeth for president. Thats not something you want to have happen michael farr. I do think that growth as you look ahead prospectively is still going to face some significant headwinds. I think were going to see growth, but if we raise Interest Rates a little bit and i wrote about this today on cnbc. Com in the oped, as you see Interest Rates go up 1 housing prices go up 5 , and monthly mortgage payments go up 18 . I think that headwind is going to keep us in the slow 2 to 2. 5 gdp growth for a while. I think you will see 5 gains on stocks prospectively. Its not bad. Just not run away bullish. I want to know where youre seeing that growth. Do you think that the consumer is going to stop saving and start spending again . Because certainly im not seeing the level of Business Investment or any other obvious catalysts for growth. Where do you think thats coming from . You know i agree, carol, and im much more in your camp. I think that the consumer has been very cautious in increasing their spending. I cant really figure out how theyve maintained it. Theyve seen some wage growth. Theyve seen some fuel and energy savings. But theyve also seen the savings rate increase. Were well below this historical average north of 8 . Were at 5. 8 but theyre not coming out of the pocket with the cash and the consumer is still lacking in confidence. Okay. Everybody stand down for just a second. Weve got some breaking news because we have earnings coming out right now. This from the technology world. Dom chu, what do you have . Thats right. Bill, we have micron the condition here is reporting earnings of, again, what im seeing is 81 cents per share. That beats the average analyst estimate of 73 cents per share. Revenues also coming in slightly better than expectations 4. 17 billion versus expectations for 4. 15 billion. So a narrow beat there as well. Just going through here and checking out the stock reaction were seeing shares move up to the tune of almost 5 in trading so far. About 826,000 shares have traded so relatively heavy volume sara and bill with the move but up 4. 7 . Beats on both profits and revenues at least right now. The street reaction seems to be positive on this after hours. Im with primerica. Dom chu, thank you very much. Were going to talk a lot more with you. Sara is going to be the adult and keep us on time here. Be sure to stick around and catch guy adami, guy, thank you. Goodbye guy. On fast money. Michael farr thank you. Well check out our oped that you shamelessly plugged on cnbc. Com. Didnt even remember it. He had to look down to read it. I read your oped. Coming up on fast money, they will talk to a top market tactician, lucia maouislouise yamada. The market taking investors on another volatile ride today. Coming up Highland Capital Management cofounder explains why he thinks this bumpy market is only going to get bumpier. First, if earnings really are in trouble, is that market in trouble also. Is that whats causing the selloff . If so, you need to hear this next segment. Stay tuned to closing bell. Welcome back. Earnings season set to kick off next week and in a story thats certainly getting a lot of attention from cnbc pro subscribers, the word seems to be bleak. Obviously larry didnt take part in that. But dominic chu, is it that bleak . Well it is right now, and im interested to hear what larry kudlow has to say about this because the expectations are very low for the First Quarter earnings season coming up because right now according to average analyst estimates by thompson reuters, the average s p 500 Earnings Growth rate is supposed to be a decline of 2. 7 . Thats analyst estimates right now. If you strip away the energy sector, things could get better but we took a look at some of the stocks that might be showing upside Earnings Growth potential, so the folks over at cnbc pro looked at the s p 500, looked at the biggest anticipated Earnings Growth rates, and melded them with average analyst buy ratings. They came up with a whole universe of different types of stocks. Among them standouts like delta on the airlines side, lennar on the Home Building side of things. You move to some of the biotech stocks biogen seeing weakness as of late but a 57 anticipated Earnings Growth. Fed ex on the transportation side weaker shares as well today with the overall transportation index down. 63 Earnings Growth over the same period last year and even semiconductor and Technology Companies an 81 anticipated growth rate. These are some of the highlights here. Cnbc pro subscribers can go to the website and check out the full story and the full list. Its on cnbc. Com pro. There might be bright spots but overall the expectation right now is for again a 2. 7 drop in terms of overall earnings per share for this s p 500 group. Back over to you. Dom, thank you. Larry is champing at the bit but first lets talk about more on the upcoming earnings season with christine short Senior Vice President with estimize. The expectations kept ramping down and down. We were looking for a positive growth rate of 1. 1 . Our numbers include more than just the sell side. We have buy side independent research firms, academics. We have a more representative number and it tends to be a bit higher. We are looking for the s p 500 to grow just over 1 . Im not saying thats a great number. It would be the lowest since the Second Quarter of 2012. I think weve really become accustomed to seeing great earnings season 2013 2014 we had a couple quarters in double digit Earnings Growth so to be hit with something so low where some estimates are negative dont we have to take out energy though . Yes, brings our growth rate up close to 8 . But you cant this is your best moment. What you just said is your best moment here in weeks. I almost blamed it on the weather though. No no. How do you take out energy . If the savings from energy is what is driving the growth elsewhere. You cant just take out energy and put it to the side. You take out energy and put in everything else. The point i made earlier look, i dont disagree with the low number the numbers were seeing. I dont disagree with that. Its going to be a mixed bag. All im saying is domestic nonfinancial, okay thats the core and if you adjust for energy whats really going to happen here . Energy will suffer but a lot of other sectors at some point whether its q2 or q3, are going to really benefit because of the torque from lower energy prices. Are we talking about last quarter . We did see that. There was a net positive benefit. Energy profits fell 18 . This quarter were looking for them to fall 59 . Its getting harder to stave off an overall drop. A strong dollar is not going to help. Even janet yellen mentioned that. I know i know we dont want to see the tradeoff. We dont want to see, well one is going down and that benefits the other one by going up. We want to see both going up. Thats when we know well be in a good place. By the way, energy will adjust pretty rapidly. These fracking companies, which are really high tech companies, are going to adjust very rapidly and lower their costs. Thats going to come back very fast. Youre ignoring my king dollar comment. I know you think we were obsessing too much on the strong dollar but its you are. Going to hurt those exporting companies. Did you see the manufacturing jobs in adp. They went negative today. And the ism exports were soft. Do i believe any of the numbers because of the winter . Im not sure. Let me say this exports in the Fourth Quarter, the dollar had already been up substantially, 4. 5 increase the biggest problem exports has is not the low cost structure from a high dollar and low commodities. Its the rest of the world is in recession. Thats the problem. And thats what some of our domestic. Here try this out. Try this out. Ill do it real fast. If you buy Small Cap Companies and you buy tech companies, theyre mostly domestic oriented companies. Youre going to do very well. Thats all i want to say. Where are you looking for the biggest Earnings Growth . Is it in technology . Tech is number one. Three sectors that are expecting double digit Earnings Growth are tech, consumer discretionary, industrials are up there, health care. You are so good. Those are the biggest winners. The stronger dollar though we only have 18 Companies Report from the s p 500 thus far. Almost every one has mentioned the stronger dollar having a negative impact. Right. However, there are companies that have still beat expectations because theyre able to hedge. So a well managed company or theyre able to take the expectations down so low that yeah our numbers actually arent as low so theyre not as conservative. If you beat ours, i saw micron beat which is huge because they were expecting a bigger hit due to the stronger dollars and weakness in the pc market. I think well managed companies can hedge a bit against stronger dollar. They cant hedge completely to offset but i think they can still eke out a little bit of growth. It will come up. It will be the theme for the entire season. You get three nobel prizes for that presentation. Thank you. Unbelievable. Even pulled sara in. Unbelievable. And she gets to sell insurance for primerica, too. Thank you, christine short and you can read much more on the earnings story and what expectation is that bleak word comes up. Thats at cnbc pro. Our next guest says the big swings weve seen in the market lately, thats here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. Highland Capital Management cofounder mark okata explains why on closing bell. And later well normalize relations with cuba will allow americans to hit a home run by investing in cuban baseball . Something i know carol roth will want to talk about. Well get to that coming up on the closing bell. Stay tuned. Announcer ] your love for trading never stops. So if you get a trade idea about, say organic food stocks schwab can help. With a trading specialist just a tap away. Whats on your mind lisa . Id like to talk about a trade idea. Lets hear it. [ male announcer ] see how schwab can help light a way forward. So you can make your move wherever you are. And start working on your next big idea. Theres nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. So why pause to take a pill . And why stop what youre doing to find a bathroom . With cialis for daily use, you dont have to plan around either. Its the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any symptoms of an allergic reaction stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Why pause the moment . Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. For a free 30tablet trial go to cialis. Com so more red arrows across the board for equities today adding to a volatile week that weve already been having anyway. Our next guest says you can expect it to continue put on your seat belt. Were in for a bumpy ride until the fed decides to rip off the bandaid and raise rates. Were talking to mark okata from Highland Market capital. Good to see you. Great to see you guys. Youve been warning about volatility and bumps for a while. You must be happy to see this. This is what active managers really need to thrive. Absolutely. That was our call for 2015. That was we would see volatility after qe and until we got to this period where, you know, we do have this liftoff, there is just a palpable lack of confidence across all parts of the economy. Its not just investors, its people that are putting money to work in different ways and so we think until that liftoff happens, youre not really going to see a direction that reflects whats going on. When do you think liftoff happens, that first rate increase by the fed, and what do you think the market does with that . Fantastic question. I dont think the Nuclear Winter begins when the liftoff happens. Im in the camp that i wish it already happened. I wish it had happened six months ago. I think the economy could easily deal with it. I think ever since the taper tantrum, we should have started something that the market has been waiting to see what happened. So sooner would be better in my mind. Could it be june . It could be i dont know. Thats the whole point, and thats the point about why we have this volatility because no one really knows, and you look at the dovish comments out of the fed president s and it looks like its going to be longer. Some people talking about september, maybe next year. To me that would be a bad thing for the economy because we get so much money that sits on the sidelines doing nothing. Some people look at the wild swings, the 100plus point moves on the dow and it makes their stomachs turn. Why do you like it . Were active managers. Volatility says its a bad time to be an investor and a great time to be a trader. If youre a trader long short managers have been looking for periods like this for a long time. And so weve got things in health care. We talk about health care we like. We like the insurers the medical device manufacturers. We dont like small and biotech. We think thats way overdone. What do you think about energy . Energy is another great space. Were down in texas. Theres a lot to do in the energy space. Im not one who sits here and wants to call the recovery in oil prices because its very complicated. Theres a lot going on. I think were going to have a continued added to the supply of oil, but talk about mlps, right . You look at reits and mlps trading together in the search for yield and then all of a sudden energy happens and oil is down 50 , mlps have widened dramatically. Master limited partnership for those who dont know. You can get high quality midstream players with good cash flows. Maybe you dont get growth but you can make 4 or 5 and its a nice call on an Energy Recovery at some point but who knows when that happens. We saw stats throughout the First Quarter that suggested that the average investor the small investor was generally taking money out of equities and putting them into bonds. Yeah. What did you think of that . Well i think the bond market is also going to be a place thats going to be a great place for traders as opposed to investors, too. Weve got a lot of differing players in this space. Youve got qe thats over. Banks really have grown their Balance Sheets with their bond exposure, and its kind of done because the stress tests are over. And weve got negative rates in europe and that certainly should be positive for our bond market but what if its not. What if its a period where maybe its okay to have negative yields and they cant come over here and then weve got a real problem. Weve got raising rates in that environment. That volatility i think is hard wired into the bond market too. Are you investing in bonds right now, treasuries . There is one area where we really love to be an investor and thats in the credit markets. I thought you were going to say bank debt. Thats your baby right . Weve been doing that for 20 years. Youre talking about 4 5 your secure, your floating rate. You dont have a lot of Interest Rate risk and volatility risk. I think thats a good source of good yield. There is a need for good yield. Mlp is a part of it. Bank loans are a great place to take advantage of good yield. Were really excited about that. Where do you come down on this question of valuations on the overall equity markets and the gap, if there is any, between where stocks are trading and where theyre valued and what the economy is doing . Well i think valuation is certainly high. Is it crazy . No. But its very high in a lot of different places. So were in this place where i think its going to be a struggle for the equity market really to keep moving higher from here especially if youre taking earnings down for the next two or three quarters as you were just talking about. So i think its going to be tough for the beta moves in equity and bonds to do anything so thats why we love this trading aspect. Its great to be a trader get long and strategies like this. Mark, its good to see you. Thank you for your thoughts. Mark okada Highland Capital Management. The primerica people are getting pretty comfy at the New York Stock Exchange. Its a half an hour after the closing bell and theyre still cheering. Lets get to our news update with sue herera. Here is whats happening. Escalating battle with the s. E. C. Lynn tilton sued that agency to stop it from pursuing a case charging her with defrauding her investors. She explained why earlier on power lunch. After 5 1 2 years of investigation, you know, unleashed subpoena power and onesided testimony, not to give me a chance to have the means and the time to defend myself seems unfair. Senator Robert Menendez democrat from new jersey has been indicted on federal corruption charges, including bribery and wire fraud. Hes been charged with using his office to improperly benefit a florida eye doctor and a political donor. Mcdonalds plans to raise salaries by more than 10 and add benefits like paid vacation for workers at u. S. Restaurants it operates. Starting july 1st, the company will pay at least a dollar more per hour above the local legal minimum page at the 1500 restaurants it owns. That comes to 90,000 workers. And the worlds oldest person has died. She passed away only weeks after celebrating her 117th birthday. She died peacefully at Heart Failure at a nursing home where she had been living. That is the cnbc news update at this hour. 117 years old. And you actually recently reported on her birthday. I remember it. Absolutely. I was sitting here. I think it was her son who is 90something who was standing next to her. Its pretty amazing. Great stuff. Thank you. Thank you. I hate this story. I got to say ill show it up front. I hate this story. Dom chu we have a market flash regarding tesla. Theres a reason why you hate it and theres a reason why its so hated by a lot of people on wall street and even on main street america right now because just about ten minutes before the end of trading there was a headline that ran on multiple news outlets with regard to tesla allegedly introducing a model w product. Now, of course we know this is april fools day and this was teslas attempt at an april fools joke. You can see right there on the tesla blog that its announcing the tesla model w which you can see is a replica of big ben and parliament on a watch which it says is its new product line. This is obviously an april fools joke but here is where it gets a little strange. Because this did in some way cause a small flurry of trading just before the closing bell. We saw a spike in volume at around 3 52 p. M. And the stock did move. Its 187 stock. But it moved about 1 1. 50 on some of the headlines. Its a terrible story. Its april fools day but we wanted to point it out that this was an april fools joke. And we did not report that here on cnbc. We did not. We got the joke but clearly some other folks didnt and it caused a move in the stock. I like a good practical joke but when youre talking about peoples money, when you have pr or whatever its going to be thats going to cause people to trade on information that is not true, you know especially when its for april fools joke thats just not cool. I think they should have figured it out, dom, when elon musk didnt tweet it. He tweets the news lately. Again, the broader thing is how much does the electronic trading factor into this. When you have an algorithm or a headline scanner that sees Something Like this and automatically does something it brings up the human versus computer debate all over again. An interesting story not because of anything else but it was an april fools joke that didnt really work out all that well. Always on the lookout for the fake press releases. Not cool. Not cool. Thanks, dom. See you later. Arkansas now the latest state to consider passing a religious freedom law that some say could discriminate against homosexuals. Now walmart based in arkansas, of course, is speaking out and it appears arkansass governor got the message loud and clear. Larry kudlow cant wait to talk about this one next. Business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay focused. I was determined to create new york citys first selfserve frozen yogurt franchise. And now you have 42 locations. The more i put into my business the more i get out of it. Like 5x your rewards when you make select business purchases with your ink plus card from chase. And with ink, i choose how to redeem my points for things like cash or travel. Hows the froyo . Just peachy. Literally. Ink from chase. So you can. Well when walmart speaks or in this case its ceo people listen, and especially if youre in arkansas you better really pay attention. S you a probably know walmarts ceo said he wanted arkansass governor to veto that religion freedom bill similar to the controversial bill that became a law in indiana. It appears the governor was listening sort of. Mary thompson explains. You know the state is in a bit of a Holding Pattern after the governor asked state lawmakers to recall the bill and make changes. Hutchinsons decision was a surprise as i said he would sign the original bill. In a press conference he showed his finely tuned political antenna saying religious freedom bills like arkansas are divisive. He also pointed out that his son had asked him to veto the bill. Well, so, too, had the state and the countrys largest employer private employer. Walmarts ceo Doug Mcmillen said the law would undermine the spirit of the state or the states spirit of inclusion and then after hutchinson asked for the changes, walmart tweeted out a statement commending the decision saying we clearly support the importance of religious freedom and ern courage the legislation to make sure any legislation does not encourage discrimination. This is seen as giving businesses legal cover to discriminate against gays. Well see what they come up with. The story is not over yet. Thank you, mary. This discuss now raises the question of big business role in these kind of issues. Lets bring in Jeff Sonnenfeld to get his reaction. Hell join our panel. Are you surprised ceos would get involved in a political issue like this the tim cooks and Doug Mcmillens and others who came out publicly and encouraged those states to do away with these laws . No. I celebrate it. There was a period of time where, bill you and i and larry if he admits it are old enough to remember we have seen this in earlier decades but theyve been dormant for a long while. Today is my birthday no april fools joke and i was happy to hear about a 117yearold woman you had celebrated earlier on the show. You look back in history on this if were old enough to remember, it the business round table in the early 1970s broke away from other business groups to speak out on social issues. Irving shapiro of dupont, tom watson of ibm. They were looking at race relations, issues of social justice, Environmental Issues and thats why they split from the Business Community but we had a period of dormancy for quite some time and now theyre finding their voice again. Jack welch told me in the early 80s he went to a business round table meeting and took out an order pad to do business and everybody looked at him like he was darth vader for wanting to do business and he said those dogooders, thats what is wrong with the company. We went through a period of retreating from that. I think theres a happy medium back. These are strong companies. We want to get larrys thoughts on this. And carol, too. Let me be very clear, i dont want any sexual discrimination. Yont any gay discrimination. I spoke to the log cabin republicans dinner last year and ive been a crusader for nondiscrimination of employment. By the way, none of the civil rights acts have a gay exception. Gays could be prosecuted. What about the role that ceos are playing in all this now . They usually want to stay a million miles away from hot potato political issues for business reasons right . Its become more fashionable now. I think jeff is right. Im fine with that. I dont care about that. What i theres a little hypocrisy here if i may with respect to walmart. There are 19 states that have these laws so theyre going to close down in 19 states . I just want to ask that. That fellow from sales force, he says hes not going to go to indiana so hes in illinois. Hes in florida. They have these laws. Can i add to the hypocrisy . Weve had a federal law for over 20 years, barack obama voted for the illinois law when he was a state senator. So there is some hypocrisy going on. And im going to pile on the hypocrisy. Here is what i dont understand is that youve got somebody like tim cook who is coming out against this yet hes doing business in countries that actually kill people for being gay. So if youre going to get involved in the issue, go forward and make this go after the big issues. Im going to slap both hands in this particular debate. I think its a nonissue here in the u. S. But theres a bigger social issue on a worldwide basis. So i think its hypocritical to be microfocused and not macrofocused. The problem with indiana i havent read the arkansas law yet. The problem with the indiana law is it didnt specify that there would be no sexual discrimination. Thats a fairly simple thing to correct and thats really all they have to do. But you cant walk away from religious freedom either. There has to be some kind of judicial balance. Well we can debate this law all we want but beyond the criticism here is there any real risk for big business, for ceos of this caliber getting involved in these kind of issues . Sometimes we have seen people like tom moynahan when he was running Dominos Pizza taking positions that maybe some viewers would be more upset about as he was a pro life advocate and the great folks running chikfila has gotten themselves into some controversy by taking positions. But nonetheless its a cross cutting issue. To not divide the population over something where generational you can see the popular winds are behind the ceo on this. They are not out in front. It is remarkable that these ceos are not hiding behind trade associations. Theyre not waiting for a plebiscite from the shareholders to give them a vote of encouragement or even the board that this is the corporate position. Theyre acting like corporate states people and i support them. The foreign cross weres act which i know you dont love was a u. S. Creation by a u. S. Company. It was tom phillips who got out there as ceo of raytheon with Charlie Adams and said we need an even Playing Field for how to compete around the world. That was a defense contractor. Ibm when they went into the south, you were talking about different practices around the country. Ibm when they went to south africa or gm in south africa they said were going to go by universal standards and similarly with u. P. S. Going into parts of the south. Last point i want to make real quick. The federal government and the states should have a nondiscrimination law for employment. Nonsexual discrimination for employment. Thats something the country needs. There you you areare. Jeffrey, happy 30th birthday. The cftc says its filing a civil complaint in u. S. Court against Kraft Foods Group and mon delay global. Theyre saying they were involved in manipulation of wheat futures and cashing wheat prices. The cftc says it goes back to an incident back if 2011 when the two companies developed and executed a strategy to buy what the cftc said was 90 million of december 2011 wheat futures amounting to a sixmonth supply of wheat. According to cftc those two Companies Never intended to take delivery of that wheat. Instead, what they were trying to do, the allegation says, is move the spread 2we7b the december 2011 wheat and march 2012 wheat. The spread did move. They say they profited by 5. 4 million and thec ftc saying that was improper. Well talk to both companies and get their side as soon as we can. Were not seeing a whole lot of reaction eamon javers. Thank you very much. Looking at the after hour trades. Kraft has been a big winner since the deal announced with heinz last week. If Small Businesses are the key to growing our economy, kate rogers has some good news for us. Plus spring is in the air somewhere and you know because opening day of baseball is just a few days away it starts monday i think, and could opening day happen in cuba in the near future . Thats the big hope as a result of the shift in u. S. cuban relations. Well have that story when we continue on the closing bell. You cant afford. Thats why i recommend fast reliable comcast Business Internet. They know what businesses need. And theres a nomistake guarantee. If you dont like it, you have thirty days to call and get your money back. With comcast Business Internet you literally cant mook a mistick. I meant to say that. Switch today and get the no mistake guarantee. Comcast business. Built for business. As we know it was not a great First Quarter for stocks. It turns out it was for Small Businesses. Kate rogers joins us to explain. Good afternoon. Hi, sara. Todays ad p jobs data from march might have missed expectations from a report from sageworks finds private companies in the u. S. Closed out the First Quarter of the year with a bang in terms of sales. According to sageworks private companies are growing sales at a rate of 9. 2 over the past 12 months. That is the highest level since 2012. And 85 of these companies are Small Businesses. This comes as both sales and revenue have remained steady providing a solid launch pad into the new year. Construction companies which had struggled coming out of the recession, theyre now leading the pack according to the report growing sales by nearly 14 in the year. In fact more than half of the top 15 Growth Industries are tied to construction in some way including freight trucking residential building construction, and direct selling establishments. Also of note the company says private retail businesses, theyre making a comeback too, growing sales at a rate of 7. 2 . Thats up from 5. 5 last year. But it does remain to be seen if this will translate into greater optimism and job growth of course, on main street. Back over to you. Certainly saw a little bit of it, kate in the adp report this morning. Small business was the biggest contributor. As always. All right. Thanks, kate. Kate rogers. Cuba has long been known for three exports, sugar, cigars and baseball players. Not necessarily in that order by the way. Before the u. S. Placed an embargo against cuba in 1960 cubas top Baseball Team played against american teams. Well, now it could go one better. How about a Major League Team in cuba . Up next why the shift in relations with cuba could make the basketball business the next big thing for the island nation. Dont miss it on closing bell. The real question that needs to be asked is what is it that we can do that is impactful . What the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. It used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. Whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, thats what id like to do. In new york state, were reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. From pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. Whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started. Only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that Partner Companies with universities, and Venture Capital funding for high Growth Industries. See how new york can grow your business and create jobs. Visit ny. Gov business president obamas decision to normalize relations with cuba has led to high investor interest. Hundreds of investors are at the cuban summit. All happening today at the Nasdaq Market site. Thats where we find michelle carusocabrera. She joins us with one of the potential investors after we saw her ring the opening bell this morning. Im here with guillermo santocruz. He is here with ing. You look for content in latin america. You package it up and sell it again, right . Thats correct. Cuba seems like a natural place for that. Tell us how you guys are thinking about it at this early stage. Well, obviously cuba has a long history in sports. Theyre powerhouses in many sports. Baseball we know about it but also volleyball track field. All sorts of things. Each of those sports has a value in the International Market. Just Like Premier League from england has a value in the u. S. Same thing for the sports that are played in cuba. So all that will be sorted in some way. Needs to be coordinated. People in our industry will look at how do you monetize and how do you take advantage of those in the proper way and in the proper context. Youre not with mlb. But do you think there is a possibility . Like could there ever be an opening of Major League Baseball in cuba . In the world that we live in today, anything can happen in the world of sports. Cuba dropped out of the world of sports in 1960 and its rejoining this International Market where anything is possible. We have the nfl in europe. Weve had nfl in mexico. We have Major League Baseball in puerto rico. Weve had all sorts of things. So to say it could be an opening day in cuba might be a bit premature. Certainly were going to have spring training next year, so thats going to happen. That will open the door to other things. Other steps will be taken. And an opening day in cuba could be a possibility. Sports infrastructure in cuba any good . Needs a lot of help. Certainly from the television side. We all know how television pays for the sports that we all watch. A lot needs to be done. There are currency issues so if youre hosting an event in cuba what are you going to get paid in . How are you going to bring that money out . Right. Lots of hurdles. How much are they going to charge for a ticket . Not a whole lot. Your going to be looking at a lot of good will enterprises, shall we say. A lot of people saying okay, what can we do . Guillermo, thank you so much. Well see, guys if one day there is mlb. I can only imagine the quality of the food that they would serve at those baseball games. And the music. Thanks michelle, see you later. William Randolph Hurst was a Relentless Media baron of the 20th century. But his great grandson seems to have a different approach. Well have that story when we come back. Monitor it. And automatically rebalance it. All without charging advisory fees, account service fees or commissions. That may be hard to compute. But im a computer. So trust me. It computes. Say hello at intelligent. Schwab. Com sometimes, the apple does fall far from the tree. Yes, it does. And while steve hursts greatgrandfather media titan william Randolph Hurst may have been known for his hard as nails business persona, one hurst heir is making a name for himself with caring and compassion. Jane wells joins us from california to explain. Jane . Hey, guys. One of the most Amazing Things about hurst castle is that its surrounded by miles and miles of open space. That is the 82,000acre privately owned hurst ranch. Originally Hurst Corporation wanted to put hotels and golf courses there. Not popular. So steve hurst found a better way. He sold the Development Rights for 95 million to a nonprofit the california range land trust, in public and private money promising to keep the ranch always a ranch. I gave away Development Rights that were while valuable, i think its more valuable the way it is. When you do a conservation its a fraction of the cost what it would cost the government to protect it outright but you have a landowner that manages the land and its really a win win. There are eight such range land trusts in eight states. Its aimed at keeping cattle ranches ranches. He looks just like his greatgrandfather. Jane wells thank you so much. Appreciate it very much. Good story. Larry kudlow carol roth thank you for joining us today. And for behaving yourself the last 15 minutes or so. Hard to do i know. Could have done a little fracking on the hearst ranch. That does it for closing bell. Fast money is up next on cnbc. And it starts right now, fast money does. Live from the Nasdaq Market site. Overlooking new york citys times square. Im in tonight for melissa lee. Our traders are dan nathan brian kelly, karen finderman, and guy adami. The stock for micron moving lower. Well tell you what todays report means for the rest of the chip space. And dividends buybacks and stock splits. Apple tends to make big announcements in the month of april. What could happen this time around . Weve got the analyst who just added the stock to his focus list coming up