trouble in mayuh has some traders staying away.. in today's cover story...the tough job market for veterans. plus...thinking of taking off? travel tips for the holiday weekend. and... in traders unplugged--patent problems between google and apple are ending. what's the better buy? first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas good morning! i'm angela miles. it's friday, may 23rd. in today's first look: gone fishin'! trading pits are thinning out as traders take off for the weekend. on very low volume yesterday, the dow improved by 10 points, the nasdaq 22 and the s&p 4.gold rose $7 dollars and oil dropped a quarter. gm warns wall street the recent step up in recalls that could last until mid- summer. the car company is in

the midst of a new review of its safety standards. and, hewlett packard could cut an additional16,000 jobs-- the tech company is already slated to slice 34,000. hpq also reported an earnings forecast that fell shy of analst views. and our trader talk on this friday morning, james ramelli of keene of the market.com joins us and james... it's going to be an interesting trade today-- the market is closed on mondays. so what will be your trade of the day? > > my trade of the day might be no trade. this has been a very interesting week for the stock market. we've seen some really bullish price action but that action has been on very little volume. we've had one of our lowest volume days of the entire year this week, and while the market continues to head higher, i don't necessarily trust it at these levels. what we're seeing is very light volume in the options markets as well which tells me one of two

things: either options traders have already gone on vacation or they don't believe in this rally. either way i think that the market is going to be very choppy going through the rest of today. we don't have any economic data to speak of except for new home sales. outside of that's it's going to be a really quiet catalyst-free day. > > what about the lowdown on the vix? these are levels we have not seen in a while. > > right absolutely. we're seeing the vix trading at multi-year lows here and i really think that it could be showing a sign of complacency-- i don't want to say that just yet. the one great thing about the vix being this low is that if i'm a trader who's low on the market and nervous about the upcoming months i can go buy protection very cheaply. > > might be a good plan. thank you, james. chuck coppola steps in now with a report on our heros and hiring... good morning, chuck... good morning! in today's cover story, a quarter of a million military personnel are discharged and try to enter the civilian job market, each year.

and though more vets are being hired and the unemployment rate for veterans is falling, it's still higher than for non- veterans. there's no lack of effort to promote business to hire veterans. for the past three years, the u.s. chamber of commerce has sponsored 720 job fairs focussed on hiring military personnel looking to transition toward civilian work. the chamber's tracked 23-thousand vets who've been hired. but it suspects the number could be higher---vets who may have been hired several weeks or months after a job fair, for example. hersheys is one of the participating corporations, which also created a veterans business resource group to help veterans make the transition. "we're looking for veterans to help with supply chains across our company." the walmart foundation pledged its seconde 20-million dollars of support for veteran programs. last memorial day, walmart announced a commitment to hire a hundred thousand veterans over the next five years. a year later, its hired more than 42-thousand. "are most veterans wanting to take something at minimum wage? no. but, is it a place to

start? yes." both borggren and profit say they there are opportunities to climb corporate ladders. however, borggren recalled an often-told complaint-- that military experience, transferable-- particularly in law enforecement and logistics for transportation-- it is often experience that not accredited. "the fact that military training doesn't count is a problem. it doesn't help get a certificate or class credit in a systemic way." but the number of people discharged each year from military service may rise into the millions soon as the military cuts troop levels to

meet financial limits placed as a result of sequestration. despite protests over employee pay, mcdonald's shareholders overwhelmingly approved the pay package for the restaurant chain's ceo.. don thompson took home $9.5 million last year. nearly 94% of of stockholders supported the compensation. one group holding 2.7 million shares representing a pension fund of public school teachers-- disappointed protesters by supporting the current wage scale for mcdonald's employees.. "if you work at mcdonald's or as a teacher or a nurse, everyone deserves to be able to raise their family and not have to struggle in poverty." the mcdonald ceo said at the shareholder meeting yesterday, that mcdonald's provides job opportunities that lead to real careers and hired 50,000 last year and will do the same number this year. mcdoanld's also issed a statement calling the protests "a staged event in which organizers bussed in people from other areas. a miniscule number of mcdonald's employees have participated in

these events" an activist investor claims darden restaurant group is selling its red lobster chain far too cheaply and starts a battle for the board. starboard value owns a 6% stake of darden and has nominated a slate of 12 directors for election to its board. such an election would wipe out darden's current board. stoking starboard's fire is darden not calling for a shareholders meeting before announcing on friday that it had sold the red lobster chain for $2.1 billion. the ntsb orders more tests for boeing's 787 dreamliner. regulators want more thorough testing of the lithium-ion batteries on board the dreamliner. the board also recommends developing new tests for battery quality. requiring boeing and manufacturers to conduct the tests. a review of the methods used to okay usage of the original batteries. plus, create a panel qualified to advise the faa on the new technologies. there are 143

boeing 787 dreamliners currently in use worldwide. toyota is recalling about a half million cars for tire, brake and airbag issues... sienna minivans have spare tires mounted under the vehicle that might fall off. the brakes on lexus gs 250 and 350 sedans can suddenly active without warning and without brake lights. toyota is also re-programing airbag software on highlander and highlander hybrid crossover suvs. chinese online retailer-- jd.com is off to a robust start on the american stock market. the ipo gained 10% in its debut on the nasdaq. the $1.8 billion offering is one of the largest of the year... but anticipation is growing on wall street for the ipo of alibaba. a chiinese e-commerce company that opens for trade later this year. next week will be a quiet one for the ipo market-- with no stocks expected to debut.. fear of a severe stock market sell-off has some investors choosing bonds or cash... a survey from the investment company institute shows average investors-- pulled more than 8 billion from u.s. long-

term equity mutual funds in may. "in general i would say that clients remain skeptical of the equity market and have an abundance of cash. i think investors should be invested rather than waiting for a correction that may not occur." brian rehling, who is a fixed income coordinator at wells fargo calls the recent move out of the stock market by investors "modest". he believes they will put money back into equities as the economy strenghtens. aside from damage to the environment from severe weather -- economic costs are climbing from the epic drought and wild fires burning in the west. a new study by the university of california places the tab at $1.7 billion to central california alone. in better weather news -- 20- 14's hurricane season "should" be within reason. the

prediction from noaa is people living along the gulf and east coasts should brace for 8 to 13 tropical storms. 3 to 6 of those storms could become hurricanes. the numbers are considered near to below average. in 2012, hurricane sandy was one of the largest gobal disasters costing $65 billion. a popular gas station name will soon disappear on the east coast.. marathon petroleum is buying the hess chain for $2.8 billion dollars. the hess gas stations and convenience stores will be re-named speedway. it means marathon's operations expand from 9 states to 23. states... and unilever is selling it's ragu and bertolli sauces to japan's mizkan group for $2 billion. ragu is the top selling pasta sauce in the u.s. the final flight of airtran airways is scheduled for december 28th. the low-cost airline was originally known as valujet-. but the names was

changed following a merger and a notorious 1996 crash in the everglades. southwest airlines bought airtran in 2011 for $1.4 billion dollars. some airtran jets will join the southwest fleet-- others will be sold to delta. best buy reported an earnings shocker. that leads off this morning's earnings watch.. the electronics retailer topped wall street's expectation.. but warned sales will be light in the second and third quarters... and yet the stock closed 3 percent higher thrusday. sears revealed a $402 million dollar loss. revenues also drifted down with less month coming as more stores close. that stock rallied 4% and, dollar tree bagged a 3.6% rise in profit. however, the deep discount store's sales guidance for the year fell below estmates. still, shares edged up 6%. a simple office chair is becoming probematic for office depot. the retailer is recalling 1.4 million office depot gibson leather task chairs. the adjustable seat can break from the base. complaints

about the chairs include head, neck, back and hip injuries from falls. the sku number is: 105479 along with the registeration numbers on your screen. still to come: on this travel friday--tips on where you still might find the best hotel deals for the memorial day weekend... there are not many left... in traders unplugged find out: is it better to bulk up on costco or sam's club. and, later in chart talk... stocks that are made in america. later in chart talk... stocks that are made in america.

crowded roads and skies are expected this memorial holiday. jeanenne tornatore joins us this morning for the travel outlook from orbitz. good morning jeanenne, and what will be the top destinations? > > well, according to orbitz' bookings, the number one booked memorial day weekend destination is las vegas-- followed by cancun, punta cana, new york and chicago round out the top 5. > > it was a tough winter for much of the nation. with so people traveling, are there any last minute deals left? > > well it's going to be tough because we're right on the weekend. a lot of these destinations are close to capacity and they have so many events going on and it's driving a lot of people here. i'm actually coming to you from virginia beach, virginia which is not just a big drive destination for the east coast, it's a world-renowned destination. so people fly here from chicago, from all over. right now we're seeing the average hotel rates here are just under $200 a night. > > along with orlando, you say other top destinations are san diego san francisco, london and honolulu. aaa is predicting a record number of travelers,

what are you seeing in bookings? > > 88 percent of consumers said that they're planning on taking a summer vacation. that's up 11% compared to last summer and going into this holiday weekend, friday of memorial day weekend actually is tracking as our busiest travel day of the entire summer. > > will travel boom mean airline and hotel owners will have dollar signs in their eyes? > > we are seeing that air fare and hotel rates are both up. air fares for summer are up about 6% and hotel rates about 12%. same goes for car rentals those are up as well. so i think there's a strong demand. it's definitely signaling that people are going to be paying a little bit more this summer. > > thank you jeanenne and safe travels. > > thank you. coming up... a trip to the trading pits! for tips on how to make money on falling bond yields around the globe. and, later on in the show.. it's usa all the way! all american stock plays are still to come in chart talk!

the gloves are off and joining us from the floor of c m e group alan knuckman and scott shellady here to go a few rounds of traders unplugged. let's take a jab at these fellas... topic number one: global yield sign, global debt yields are on the race to the bottom what does that mean for investors? alan: there's only one question i ask is, where's the money? where is money going to go? obviously it's not a great investment if you're getting onepercent. scott: what it means for investors as long as we've got the center banks that have something to do with the true value there is no real value, and you have to trade relative value because the central banks and their global compression... alan: answer the question! scott: the central banks and their global compression have compressed volatility and volumes so it's a very dangerous world out there and because we don't know what true value is, i would stay away from the equity market and i would be in bonds. alan: wow. angie: on to no. 2... widget wars... google and apple make

peace over longstanding patent battles who won the war and which is the investment play? alan: i think apple's going to win. i targeted 690 a long time ago, you know me, i'm bullish, and then that's making new highs plus they split got a lot of good reasons there, but looking at gorilla glass... that's the angle. 40% more... the death of gorilla glass is greatly exaggerated. they're not going to mess with it for the iphone 6. i think upside in g l w. scott: he's only going with apple because it was what his wife told him to do. it's all about google. google is the innovator... apple has lost its innovation edge-- hence the purchase of beat phones so... alan: beat phones! beats! scott: beat box what ever-- see nobody cares anymore. alan: its a music play. scott: google just bounced off its 200 day moving average, it's nice uptrend stick with google. angie: no. 3... clubhouse or roughhouse its sam's club vs. costco. which has the best odds for future fortunes? alan: i want the use the word living wage but i can't use that to make my decision. i actually think wal-mart has more upside if you look at it technically speaking it looks like about a 20% potential move walmart on a break out up to

90-- whereas only 10 percent costco. scott: that's funny coming from you. i wouldn't have thought you would keep everything at home in the u.s. and not support the chinese. anyway, sticking with my liberal friend i'm going to go against them. i'm going with costco. i'm a costco member. i have a costco card. i think between those two stores and i've been in both, sam walton is a beta theta pi member of my fraternity as well... i'm sticking with costco because it's a better store, it's got better clientele and it's got a longer future. wal-mart competes with sam's club end of story. alan: because costco is also one of the major pizza producers in the country. did you know that? scott: take a look at me-- i don't like pizza. alan: i was going to say that. angie: the bonus round question today is about american tickers... which one is a phony? a) usa, b) flag, or c) hotdog? alan: hotdog, you can't have that many letters... scott: yeah can you? angie: good job. you're very patriotic. thanks for being on the show. first business continues right after this.

tim biggam joins us for chart talk on this friday. good morning, tim and for investors looking for a value play, what are some good old u.s.a. stocks? > > yeah absolutely look at names like coca-cola certainly a warren buffet favorite. this stock is kind of languish, underperforming the s&p over the past couple of years. it's got a nice dividend yield on it

approaching 3%. also some solid growth, certainly not that spectacular growth that a lot of people are paying too much for, but a name like coca-cola is about as all-american as you can get both on the yield front and on a solid growth front as well. > > what about another consumer discretionary stock, tim? > > another name would be procter & gamble. the stock has come down as well here. it certainly makes a multitude of household names everyone's familiar with, again combines some pretty steady growth here which i think will probably be rewarded over the next year or so along with the solid dividend yield. so i kind of like that sector of the market that has that 2 1/2 to 3% yield, along with solid if not spectacular growth and a way to kinda hunker down here in america. > > would you buy u.s. auto makers? > > well gm is one that eventually will probably be one to pick up, but certainly with the trials and tribulations, no

pun intended on the trial part that they're experiencing there, i would probably stay away from the auto sector. ford as well you do have some pretty onerous debt there so i like the autos at lower levels, certainly not at these levels here. > > it's been a big week for retail earnings. are any on your buy list? > > yeah i think over all, i would look at stocks like home depot that came out and upped their guidance that certainly with this summer coming outdoors sort of remodeling as well. i like that again and that stock has underperformed down about 5% of the year with a market up. so home depot and lowes combined-- i like that sector going forward. > > thank you, tim and have a good holiday. > > you too. thank you, angie. the market will be closed on memorial day. but first business will right here as always. and as we take off for the weekend. a salute to our veterans. and to the men and women serving today. from all of us at first business.. thank you! us at first business.. thank you!

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