apple tunes into innovation with a multi billion dollar buy. in today's cover story... google gets the motor running on its first ever self driving car. plus... what small and large companies stand to gain from the "age of the app." and... will a megastar cast a spell on audiences as a disney classic comes to life. 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 thursday, may 29th. in today's first look: apple rocks out a deal! the iphone maker is buying beats electronics, in its biggest acquition ever. dr dre co- founded the company. he could become the world's richest rapper. alibaba ipo update...

the names of 28 people who will control the company will be discolsed in a filing. the e- commerce company out of china will likely become one of the largest tech ipo-s to date.. and, not so fast! one day after reaching a record close tuesday, the s&p trades to a new high wednesday. but then pulls back to end the session down 2 points. the dow also in the red trading 43 points lower, the nasdaq lost 12 points. gold contiues to melt down. this time by $7 and oil drop $1.15. trader todd horowitz of average joe options joins us for a look at the trading day. good morning to you, i have to start with that treasury topple... what is the word from the trading floor, todd? > > good morning, angie. well i'll tell you what we're seeing it depends on who you talk to... if you talk to the bulls, all you're seeing is an arbitrage selling for indebted high prices and buying american debt. if you're a bear, you're saying that something's got to give, the bonds, the interest rates are going to low, bond

futures are going too high... the bottom line, angie, is nothing's going on, there is no buying, it's very quiet and were seeing some flow of funds into the bond market right now. > > still it's a big deal that we're sitting this low. what about gold? gold also selling off todd. > > you know i tell you when you see weakness in the dow i think everybody's kind of gauging what mario draghi might say next week. and i think they're trying to position themselves ahead of what he's done because you know super mario-- he always has some special surprise in mind for the street when he comes on. > > stocks are on a roll. how long will it last? are you ready to short the market? > > well as you know i've been short pretty much all the time, but i'm actually flat right now waiting for an opportunity, but one thing i learned in all my years here is you can never short a market that is dull and it doesn't get any duller than it is right now.

> > have a good trading day and don't get too bored down there. > > thank you. and the beats go on... cash rich apple confirms it's buying beats electronics. the tech giant no doubt is striving for a fresh edge to itunes and other i- products. apple ceo tim cook says : the deal grabs beats popular headphones and streaming music service. the report of the deal leaked early with dr. dre pre-maturely claiming victory as the next billionaire-- which some say may have hampered negotaitons. beats is owned by rapper dr. dre and music mogul jimmy iovine. apple will pay $3 billion for beats. slightly less than the $3.2 billion orginally reported by the financial times. still it makes dre, one rich and happy rapper as he and lovine go to work for apple. m&a action is picking up as more companies have plenty of cash to spend- chuck coppola joins us me with more. hello chuck.. angie, corporations are seeing green! as the s&p hits new highs, corporate cash balance sheets are on the rise. usa today reports nine s&p 500 companies had cash piles that grew by 10% in the first quarter. among those on the list: adt, gilead sciences, intuit, marriott international, paychex , altria, citrix systems, intuitive surgical and facebook. these companies could become magnets for investors seeking stocks "perhaps' ready to issue dividends.

mc-changes are happening under the golden arches... business behind the counter is showing signs of picking up after the burger chain reported flat sales in april following 5 consecutive months of declines. now, mcdonald's ceo don thompson tells investors...plans are in the works to return $18 to $ 20 billion to shareholders. through stock repurchases and dividends in a time frame that spans between this year and 2016. it is a postive for shareholders that the company is committed to return money to shareholders as well as refranchising which i think will have a postive impact on longer term margins. thompson also says he views the federal minimum wage of $10.10 per hour as positive, if there are ways to absorb rising costs including health care. the state of michigan just increased wages to $9.25.per hour.

today, "zale" shareholders decide whether the retailer should get hitched to its' main rival signet jewelers. combined, it would create a $6 billion business that would include zales, jared and kay stores... a simple majority by shareholders would seal the deal. last year struggling zale corp. reported its first profit in 5 years. valeant is plumping up its offer to buy botox maker allergan. valeant is now offering to pay $58.30 per share along with stock for each allergan share. "that" values allergan at $50 billion. valeant's previous bid was $48.30. allergan is reviewing the proposal. at the same time, swiss food giant nestle is expanding its skin care line by offering $1.4 billion for the rights to sell some of valeant pharmaceuticals products including restylane. koch industries says it will expand its chemical business by buying petrologistics for 2.1 billion dollars. the cash deal

represents an 8.3% premium for petrologistics' stock and will take the company private. koch industries gains control of a plant that converts shale gas into propylene, a petrochemical used to make plastic. petrologistics shares shot up 10% wednesday. a well known proxy advisory service is recommends a shake up of target's board of directors. instutional shareholder services suggests that seven of the retailers 10 directors should be shown the door following the massive cyber security breach of shoppers credit and debit cards. target had no immediate response-- but has acknowledged the need for improvements to its system. target's annual meeting is june 11th. in today's cover story, google's going places and it's taking a self-driving car to get there. this week, the tech giant took the wraps off its entry into the tech race to save us all from bad drivers and the tedium of bumper-to-bumper commute traffic. google's been experimenting with self-driving cars for the last four years.

they've utilized sensors mounted on top of exisitng vehicles to identify other cars, bicyclists or pedestrians. but this week, google rolled out its own car-- a two-seater-- without a steering wheel-- without gas and brake pedels. "this is the first google one- off car. it looks like pinnochio before he grew his nose." but its no exaggeration that google hopes to have a hundred prototypes on the road, a year from now. "google wants to get in this space because gen-yers want driver-less cars." "it scares the hell out of me. someone could hack my car and i'd crash. i'm not too keen on the idea." the push for self-driving cars can be found in the tedium of rush hour traffic. googles' top- speed is only 25-miles per hour but that's not bad when it's bumper to-bumper. proponents say another reason behind self- driving cars--fewer chances for human error. "there's the potential for huge safety benefits. if drunk people are going home in self- driving cars, you could reduce the 35,000 dui deaths a year."

automakers such as volvo have been testing cars in gothenburg, sweden, that can transition from human- driven to self-driven. audi is another, automaker. and detroit is developing versions as well. but google's automotive selfie is electric and has added appeal. "the fuel efficiency factor is something a lot of people will be looking at." automakers mercedes-benz, bmw, lexus are also developing self- driving sometimes called "fully autonomous" cars. volvo is pledging to offer them for sale by 2017. the national highway traffic safety administration--nhtsa is currently developing safety requirements. in a rare move, amazon is welcoming customers to buy books from it's competition. in an online post, amazon says it failed to find a solution to a conflict with publisher hachette, and says its not

optimistic that the conflict will be resolved soon. hachette titles from popular authors including jk rowling have been delayed or out of stock at amazon as hatchette resists lowering prices on its books. as interest rates rise, bank profits tumble. u.s. banks posted 37.2 billion dollars in earnings in the first quarter of 2014. that's a 7.6% drop from a year ago. the fdic released the data yesterday and blamed higher mortgage interest rates a full percentage point above record lows for discouraging consumers to refinance. income from that particular sector fell almost 54% -- down by $3.1 billion. mortgage rates are now on the decline... toll brothers is having no problem selling new houses.. in our earnings watch this morning... toll brothers reports strong demand for high end homes more than doubled profits in the second quarter and says luxury houses are likely to sell well the rest of they year. shares closed up 2%. micheal kors says its the perfect fit for the jet set. the american clothes designer's

profits increased more than 50% analsyts are concerned about the company's margins going forward. that stock added on $1.27 and investors kicked dsw to the curb. the discount shoe seller missed on earnings and lowered its forcast. the stock fell 27% on the jobs front... more employers are offering workers "a home base." job search website "flex jobs" reports telecommute job offers have surged 118% in the last year. ken matos, a director of research for the non profit "families and work institute" says it has given baby-boomers some flexibility in the workforce. "its not just for young people. it's also something for older people who are engaged in elder care, who may want to dial down their career a little bit, as the phase into retirement. or perhaps relocate after a lifetime of working in one

location." the better business bureau advises consumers to be wary of work from home scams... which typically guarantee great pay for little to no experience. the number of millionaires that china's economy is creating has slowed considerably. last year the asian nation added 100,000 new millionaire's. a 3.9% jump, but down from double-digit creation in years past according to nbc news. the decline is viewed as a sign that china's economic slowdown is now reaching top earners. forbes is out with its annual list of the world's most powerful women. for the fourth year in a row german chancellor angela merkel landed in the top spot. federal reserve chair janet yellen ranked second in her first time on the list. philanthropist melinda gates, brazilian president dilma rousseff and imf head christine

lagarde round out the top five. boeing gets approval for longer dreamliner flights. the faa's updated ruling allows 787 flights to be as far as 5 1/2 hours away from the nearest leanding strip -- earlier provisions dictated the jet couldn't be flown more than three hours away from the nearest airport. it will allow the dreamliner to fly more routes. this ruling comes before the ntsb has finished its investigation into the dreamliner's lithium ion batteries. cheerios is joining the high- protein bandwagon. general mills wants to win consumers back who migrated away from cereal and towards higher-protein breakfast options, such as eggs and yogurt--to name a few. so its come up with "cherrios protein." the cereal maker says a single serving with milk will provide 11 grams of protein. still to come: the retail stock that's unraveling before traders eyes... and... angelina jolie returns to her bad girl roots as a disney villain. plus... connecting with consumers... why mastering the social media scene is not enough anymore. that's next with bill moller!

i'm going to pass chemistry, and i'll take it from there. i'm going to do what makes me happy. i'm going to work hard. be independent. live large. make the most of every opportunity. i knew i wanted to go to college. but figuring out how to pay for it? i didn't have a clue. the u.s. department of education has over $100 billion. and that's a lot of money. to help students pay for college. and the free application? you mean the fafsa. i did it online. it was easy. i'm never giving up on my goals. i will make a difference. i'm going to find out how to pay for college. i'm going to college.gov.

there were stragglers, but today it seems every corporation, every mom & pop shop has gotten into the social media scene. but there's another place they also need to be players - mobile apps. this is brought out in the book, "billion dollar apps: how to find & implement a winning mobile strategy." written by innovation award and edison award winner and a guy who started his first business when he was 14, alex bratton. so business apps...they're simple and incredibly effective. > > they're amazingly powerful. we're seeing these things really reinvent industries. they're taking processes and letting people do their jobs twice as fast and letting them get home to their families instead of being out there paving roads the way they've had to in the past. > > well how come i'm not hearing more about this because apparently it's not universally understood? > > that's one of the biggest

frustrations. it's really being driven by the technical folks out there today. we're building lots of apps on the business side of the world but they're not making a difference. we keep building the wrong apps and that's the whole reason i reached out to write this book is to put a process together to help people think through what are the right apps and how do i figure that out and how how do i move forward? > > you talked about it's useful in agriculture... it's useful in any kind of a business. give me some examples. > > again on the road paving side, as an example, so folks are out there paving the road today, they at the end of the day someone's got to pull out a laptop and enter paperwork for two hours on that lap top. instead we can put a tablet in that person's hands, they can edit that data during the day and get home to see their family. industrial processes like that: a huge fit. also out there for people selling cars. working with organizations that are reinventing industries around selling vehicles so that

a sales person, they've got and ipad in their hands and they can do a whole process from appraise your vehicle to sign the paperwork. > > a company says ok i buy into this, i want to build an app. is that the poin?t do have to build it yourself? or is there and off the shelf variety? > > off the shelf stuff really hasn't arrived to solve the typical business problems because all those business processes are very different across companies. step one is understanding what are the business problems that i'm trying to address as a company, what's going to help me grow faster and then find a way to apply custom built applications to those problems. > > can these apps be expensive? > > they absolutely can be expensive. now that's something where we're seeing organizations invest millions of dollars in building it, but they're seeing returns in the billions of dollars doing that. > > alex and bratton-- the app man. thanks very much! > > thank you. coming up....a company known for apps-- what traders think about the stock ahead of its big developers conference. and after the break.... why wall street is paying extra close attention to the silver screen this summer. stay with us!

wall street is keeping a close eye on movies screens across the nation. our film critic eric childress joins me now for movies and money. let's get down to the numbers this morning. how are film studios doing? > > studios are continuing to fight the big budget so that they keep putting on themselves so we have to measure their success with what the gross is based on you know how much these movies cost. the theater owners on the other hand are reaping the benefits because they are getting their percentage and not have to worry about these big budgets. so if you look at this year compared to last year, there are 12 films that have reached the 100 million milestone already and last year we only had 8. this year there have been four films that have had $90 million openings or better. last year, the whole year they only had four. > > so we're really on track for something big here eric. > > we could very well be. i said a couple weeks ago that i thought the grosses on the summer this year were going to be down-- that there were a lot of sequels and remakes and the

interest was going to die out very quickly, and we've seen that so far this month but i still think that there are a lot of films that are going to gross a lot of money but they are going to be spread out a lot more. > > last weekend at the box office there was a number one franchise: x-men coming in at $110 million. take a look at that-- a lot of money. > > speaking of big budgets... reported being the second highest budget in fox's history behind avatar and we talked last week how 500 million is sort of that elusive number that this franchise now in its seventh film has failed to achievem, but they started this week with $300 million worldwide for the x-men: days of future past, and i think they're actually going to hit the $500 million mark which is what they need to start seeing numbers in the black on this one. > > also at the box office over the weekend godzilla coming in with 38 million, blended at 17.7 million not good news for adam sandler... > > no finally... > > not a fan? neighbors at 17.1 million and the amazing spider-man 2 at $10 million. so now we're taking a look at this weekend-- big budget film once again coming from disney, it's maleficent, angelina jolie has her name on this one.

> > we just had big news this week that frozen has become the fifth highest grossing film worldwide for disney. over $1.2 billion at the box office so maleficent is in a way sort of their follow-up, aimed at young girls, it's a fantasy, it's not animated but this is a film that i think because of that-- there hasn't been a movie for young girls in a while since frozen as a matter of fact... so i think this film is going to open number one this weekend in the low 50s. > > also up this weekend... a million ways to die in the west. you had a chance to screen this film, what do you think? > > it's probably my biggest disappointment of the summer so far. i was a big fan of ted, seth macfarlane's debut feature and that became the most original r rated comedy of all time with $580 million at the box office. this film i think is going to open well, but i think it's going to start sliding off very quickly as they realize it's just not in the vicinity quality wise of ted, laugh-wise as ted... and 22 jump street comes out in a couple of weeks so the r rated fans will go over to that movie and it's probably going to boast a small profit for universal, but not ted numbers. > > thanks for coming on the

show. > >thank you. still to come... retail reality is abercrombie and fitch heading for breakdown? listen for clues next in chart talk. and why one trader is waiting until later next week before making move on apple.

abercrombie & fitch is capturing the attention of traders. joe kinahan of td ameritrade joins us this morning. good morning joe. > > good morning angie. > > i know a lot of traders like to play the game with this stock, do you see a potential for a break out or a breakdown? > > well yesterday afternoon before the close we saw the stock break down. we also saw in the options market quite a few people buying these 32 and 1/2 puts with the stock trading above 35, there's a lot of indications that there could be some trouble here. they got downgraded yesterday afternoon also. so this is a stock you're going to want to keep your eye on today before the opening for earnings and throughout the day there should be some opportunities. > > right this company has to say a lot of positives to really get that stock going again. > > what about apple? we now

have this big deal with beats plus the world wide developers' conference is on monday and the stock just keeps heading higher. > > you know it often does before the developers' conference. expectations get set very high. so we've seen the same pattern. the thing that's thrown in here that's a little different now is the 7- for-1 stock split coming up that has some people excited about it also-- the thought being that many more mainstream america can actually afford to buy the stock now because it's not at such a lofty level. so i think that could also be one of the reasons we see some support for apple stock right here. the thing to watch is for after the developers' conference because that's the time in the past apples had a little bit of trouble holding up. > > thank you for your insights, joe. > > always a pleasure, angela. thanks. that's it for now-- coming up tomorrow in traders unplugged... the hot topic of ceo pay. get it straight from the trading floor whether executive pay matters to your investment strategy. from all of us at first business... have a great thursday.

today on "living well with montel"... >> something was terribly, terribly wrong. >> announcer: when the fraudulent bills started showing up, it was bad. >> i had not applied for any of these things. >> announc: what happened next was worse. >> t woman told , "the credit cards have been activated from your home phone." >> announcer: 30 years ago, she was a hardworking single mom fresh from college, so why couldn't she open a line of credit? >> finding out that i was $112,000 in debt was devastating. >> announcer: three decades later, it happened again. it's identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in america. it's not just a fraudulent