Imus in the morning hang on to your wallet, try to keep your mind from numbing up. Davos is in full swing. Good morning, everyone. Yes, the annual gab fest is underway, the worlds great mind meeting in the alps, grappling with the issues that you and i just cant understand. But i know exactly what they will come up with, a 14 trillion dollar plan to make a greener planet, thats already been proposed. They will move on to taxing the rich some more and then defending the welfare state. In short, president obamas inaugural address will be echoed over there. He gave davos the blueprint and the high and mighty will adopt a collectivist mentality, but we will not. No elitism here, Varney Company is about to begin. [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. Splitsecond stats. [ indistinct shouting ] its so close to the options floor. [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ]. Youll bust your brain box. All onhinkorswim from td ameritrade. [ slap ] [ male announcer ] your Favorite Foods fighting you . Fight back fast with tums. Calciumrich tums starts working so fast youll forget you h heartburn. Tum tum tum tum tums watch out, big financial revelation coming, we dont focus much on earnings here, but apple, thats no ordinary company. If you have a mutual fund or an index fund you own a little bit of apple. It it has, by the way become what im calling a door stopper. The stock Price Holding right there around 500 a share. Now, today its expected to report its first drop in profit in a decade. It will make a lot of money, yes, but not as much as the year before and its slowest Profit Growth since 2009. Look at it now, its actually moving up a little bit. Four bucks higher, maybe. Come that opening bell. Now that weve taken care of the big business story of the morning, listen to this, japans finance minister says that the countrys oldest people should just quote, hurry up and die. Thats what he said, saying that would relieve pressure on the state to pay the medical bills of the elderly. Hes perfectly seriously. Heaven forbid if youre forced to live on if you want to die. Would i wake up feeling increasingly bad treatment was paid for by the government. The problem wont be solved unless you let them hurry up and die. Hes apologized, and japan has the most extreme demographics in Human History. And almost a quarter of japans people are 60 and over, that aging population, a serious drain on the companys economy. Frequent Varney Company guest summed up japans predicament in an interesting way, listen to this. You can see anecdotally they sell more adult diaper products than infant. Stuart is that true . Yes, it is. Stuart wow, indeed. Thats the dire situation in japan. Contrast that with the United States. Our proportion of old people far, far lower than japan, and lower than europe, too. A big part of that is because of immigran immigrants. Now this, the former head of the head of the city Teachers Union, that was years ago, she is, however, randy weingarten, now the head of the federation of teachers which is a part of the aflcio and joins us in the next hour, and topic number one, the sixfigure payout. We follow microsoft on this program, i own some of that stuff and we talked to an executive who had the ear of bill gates, he says microsoft chief Steve Ballmer has to go. Also coming up, big news i should say from two names you know, google and ibm, were following both of them at the opening bell. May, everybody, cheer up, were closing in on a record high for the Dow Jones Industrial average. Look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. Copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. Plus, it reduces copd flareups. Spiriva is the only oncedaily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. 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Tdd 18003452550 open an account with a 50,000 deposit, and get 6 months commissionfree trades. Tdd 18003452550 call 18006530240 tdd 18003452550 and a trading specialist tdd 18003452550 will help you get started today. We are at 13,712 on the Dow Jones Industrial average. Thats roughly 400 points from the alltime record high. Stocks have been going up recently. The opening bell has just finished chiming, and the opening trend is ever so slightly higher. So figure this, everybody. The dow industrials within 400 points of their all time record high. Thats how we kick things off this wednesday morning. Ive got two big names that are going to get things going for us today. First off, big profit at ibm made 5. 8 billion dollars in 13 weeks, thats a lot of money, thanks to software, yes, software at ibm. All right, nicole, it opened where . Ibm is looking good this morning, coming out almost at 4 . 203. 64. And a couple of things, cloud computing, business analytic software. Stuart ibm is a dow stock and the dow is up. 50 points at opening bell. Move on to google, more people clicking on the ads apparently good news for google. How far up is it, tell me . Up 5 for google. Lets take a look at google. Certainly looking good. They had a rebound of the Online Advertising prices. They said total advertising revenue improved 19 in the Fourth Quarter and that was good news. Right now, sitting at 737. 66 looking good and the Company Strength right there for google. Congratulations, nicole, brought us two blockbuster from the getgo, we like that, excellent stuff. Now lets check on apple. Where did that open . Weve been talking for weeks about apple losing its cool. The report later on this afternoon. Slower Profit Growth is expected and dont know whats going to happen is expected. Other things youre socialing with apple, none the lus its opened higher, 510 a share. We like to use the term doorstopper stock on the show, no stock fits that better than microsoft. I should know that, i own a piece of it. Look at the chart over the past ten years, yeah, not a good chart if youre a stock owner of that company. Joining the company from seattle now, former microsoft senior vicepresident , in his new book, he talks about why Steve Ballmer should step down as chief. He joins us now, welcome to the program. And right from the getgo you want Steve Ballmer to go. I want to know what you think was his biggest mistake in the year that hes been the chief . You know, i would say he needs to go. I say maybe has to go. And that, you know. Stuart and thats killing somebody gently, come on. Yeah, this is not my decision at the end its microsoft board will decide that. Stuart whats he done wrong . But i really think that the Company Needs some kind of a leader which appears to the new mobile facebook generation. His numbers, when you look at it, but he is not really very popular with the youngsters, could i say that. Stuart not very popular with the youngsters. You were within microsoft, you were the senior vicepresident. You had the ear of bill gates. You know how people feel within the company and you say that ballmer didnt have the support and popularity amongst younger people. Are you therefore saying that Microsofts Windows 8 and its application on the phone, the lumia phone, not been a success . You know, thats the very important thing to observe. Steve ballmer has to make this windows 8 product popular and what were seeing so far, it isnt going as well as it could be. Do you think it could go a lot better if a young are person were in charge, and more in touch with the young, younger people . I think so. And i believe that the whole issue here is really, they have a great idea. They have unified the interface, from the phone to the tablet to the pc and dont have to relearn. And apple cannot do that and i think its very compelling and if this could be pulled off, i think that Steve Ballmer doesnt have to go. Stuart now, you were the senior vicepresident within microsoft. I presume that you got a lot of microsoft stock when you left and youre Still Holding it. Do you think the stock would go up significantly if ballmer walked away and a younger person became in charge of the mobile stuff . It may be a little bit over an increase in the stock price, but in the end it always comes down to performance as we both know. And by the way, i own no stock in microsoft. I sold they will ten years ago and never touched them again. Stuart then, you, sir, are a very smart guy. I was the guy who bought them ten years ago and nothings happened since. Joachim kempin, we appreciate it, sir. Thank you. Stuart how do we feel about ourselves, about our future . Not that good. A new gallup poll shows only 39 of you and us are positive about the state of the country. This is the lowest reading on optimism since jimmy carter was in office. Joining us now, who else, but Kirsten Powers from the daily beast. Feeling positive today. Stuart im wildly positive. And you listened to the president s speech you and i both want to restore prosperity and optimism to the United States and to do that, i think you and i agree weve got to have Economic Growth, weve got to have it. Do you think that the president s policies as enunciated in that speech are going to give us 4 or 5 growth, do you think so . Well, my crystal ball wasnt working totally perfectly this morning so i cant predict the future for you, but, look, i dont think he was that specific in that speech about what hes going to do. I know a lot of people feel he laid out this very wildly progressive liberal agenda. I didnt really see that. As you know, im still one of the few thats holding out hope that is going to take on entitlements and deal with some of our longterm issues. However. Stuart oh. Didnt send a lot of signals in that speech to do that. Stuart he didnt. His signals why all about were going to tax people some more, were going to tax the rich some more, were not going to cut spending significantly. I didnt hear the taxing as much as i didnt hear anything about cutting spending and i think that i certainly heard the tax thing from senator schumer. He left no doubts. We want more revenue. This is an opportunity to bring in more revenue. Yes. Stuart so taxes are going to go up, spending is really not going to be cut. I just dont see that. And the president is totally, he totally ignored the debt. Ive got to tell you, kirsten, that is not a recipe for firm, strong Economic Growth. Well, he did ignore the debt. I would say that i dont think inaugural speeches are usually a time to sort of ruminate about the problems in the country. George bush didnt talk about how he didnt find wmds in his second inaugural address nor would anybody expect him to. And there there is concern with t the democrats and on the right. And how that is in the shortterm, you asked what kind of growth are we going to have . I dont know that does effect us in the shortterm. The economy could turn around and it could turn around at that rate. That would be wonderful. I think 5 is probably more than what most people are expecting. Stuart i dont think look, one week from today were going to get the big picture reading on Economic Growth and i am told relybly it will be down to 1 growth. 1 and small change maybe. Thats going in the wrong direction. And the thought of higher taxes may drag us down some more. Well, i dont know about i mean, i dont know about the tax issue, but i think that obviously 1 growth, 1 growth is not acceptable. But i also dont think if we dont hit 5 , i think that 5 seems overly optimistic considering where we started, you know, what were coming out of. I think its going be to be a long recovery. And i just want to finish it up because you know, you and i have sparred for a long time now about where you stand within the democrats. I suspect that the president came out more to the left than youre comfortable with, am i right . No. I actually, its funny, i felt like it was a very mainstream speech. Now, if he you know, if in fact hes not going to do anything to tackle longterm entitlement spending and i think defense cuts as well, in the speech i think most of the things he raised were general issues the average american supports the only way he kind of got outside of that was gay rights, but i support gay rights. Stuart fair enough. Were a financial program, thats very true. And Kirsten Powers, we will spar again another day. Have a good day. Stuart back to nicole, mcdonalds barely makes a profit thanks to the value menu. I choose from the value menu. Nicole were not surprised to hear it. They did see profit on the rise, but again, not a great quarter for them and you could see up just 1 10 of a percent, not a good move. Stuart a parfait and a senior coffee to go, a buck 50, not bad. And theyre going to test a tofu burrito at some locations at chipotle. Some people think thats yummy, im for the old school burrito, for the people who are vegetarians, vegans, maybe theyll love it and help chipotle to contain costs because meat costs have been cutting into the revenue and i wont yuck your yum for all of those who love tofu maybe hit chipotle. Stuart look at this, the dow is up 52 points im sorry, 13,764. And the pipeline, environmentally friendly, a new route. This is the story, could the president reverse and say yes to the pipeline . Well see. Time is money, 30 seconds, here are three people in the news today. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton just took responsibility for the attack of the on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi, this is her long awaited congressional testimony concerning the attack that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other americans. Israel policy ended today in a stunning deadlock and time for Benjamin Netanyahu to rally a coalition to keep his job. British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron promised a decisive referendum within five years. On the european union. Is there a chance the british people want to get out, yes, there is, but cant express it for five years. Send your emails to varney foxbusiness. Com. Seven early movers, here we go. Starting strong, two stocks that charles featured back in november, how to make money with charles. Here we go, Energy Efficient lighting maker gave an upbeat outlook, if you listened to charles in november you would have bought it then, its now 40 bucks, up 6 today. More than expected robotic Surgery Company known as intuitive surgical. Another charles recommendation that one, 563, its up 45 today. Disappointing profits what i call the democratic luxury company, cogent is down a lot. And disappointing forecast from the chip maker, amd. Forecast not so hot 2 a share for that one of the software maker, ea, the stocks flat. Better than expected for the rail operator csx and that stock is flat. A big name you know, better than expected profits, ethan allen and thats up just a little bit, but the dow is up 55. A doctor at the center of a huge disability fraud scheme helping patients fake injuries. How do you catch someone like that . The man who investigates these cases and exposes the fraud. Listen to how he does it. And so every couple of days somebody will move the car and well take a heavy garbage can and put it in front of the car in the morning and see if they come out to move the can to move the car. Youve got it on videotape. Back pain, theres no back pain if youre moving a garbage can. Absolutely. announcer scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. 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