please join the obesity action coalition to acknowledge obesity as a disease visit obesity action dot org to sign an open letter pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about weight loss and treatment options. together we can make a choice to end obesity now. a public service from the obesity action coalition. hedge funds on the run. officials from florida claim wall streeters are heading south to set up shop. kelly smallridge, ceo of palm beach county's business development board...joins us via skype. good morning.. is paying taxes the impetus behind the move? > >yes it certainly has created a tremendous amount of interest in states like new york, connecticut, and new jersey specifically continue to increase their business taxes. ceo's of hedge funds and private equity firms are calling palm beach county in record numbers. > > federal tax rates are the same in florida as they are in new york or anyplace else, but there is no state income tax in florida. are hedge fund owners actually revealing how much money they save by moving to your state? >

a public service from the obesity action coalition. at one time or another, everybody gets a case of the banking blues. joining us via skype today, jenna wortham of "the new york times" with a report on how some customers who are fed up with their banks may have found a cure. happy to have you with us. it's an idea that started with a software engineer from australia. how did it work exactly? > > "simple" is actually an app that you download your phone, and you access via the web. and you do all your banking through that. so instead of going to bank of america or chase or into one of those brick and mortar stores, you do all of your banking through the app and online. > i love what the founder said: "banks make money by keeping customers confused. they have no incentives to make the experience better." so is he gaining because of the confusion that's out there? > > yes. i think his hope is that he can provide a much more simple experience to customers, and in doing that, in taking away some of the fees that people encounter with their

a public service from the obesity action coalition. in the latest round of ups and downs on mortgage rates, rates are inching up. the 30-year fixed rose to 3.42% this week, up from 3.38% last week. the 15-year fixed is 2.71%, up from 2.66%. both rates, however, remain near recent record lows. those low rates hold the key to the rebound in the housing market. kye sisson takes us out west, where homes are becoming a california dream. life in the luxurious community of pelican hill on the newport coast in southern california comes easy for most of the residents here, and that sense of ease has spread along to the realtors as they sell these luxury homes faster than they have in years. sales of homes priced at one million dollars or more jumped 51% nationwide in november compared with a year earlier, according to the national association of relators - a trend experts say continued through december. cristi ulrich is a realtor with the smith group in newport beach and says she can't keep up with the demand. "we don't have any surplus of home

a public service from the obesity action coalition. dan deming of stutland equities joins us now for chart talk. good morning dan. > > good morning angie. > we are taking a look this morning at the volatility index - the vix. it is a measure of anxiety in the market over the next 30 days. but the vix has been very low, basically saying there is not a lot of fear in this market. what does that tell you as a trader? you trade the vix all day long. > > i do angie. right now we are seeing in the vix complex, you are seeing the vix level very low. it is at historic levels, basically going back pre-2006, to those types of levels. so, we are seeing a very low cash symbol. but the thing we are keeping a very close eye on in the vix markets is the futures-the spread between the futures and cash. and you're seeing february future trading at about a two-month premium to cash. so you are seeing some vol buying going on down here. we have also seen some repositioning in the vix as far as options orders coming in. we are seeing some vol buyers of li

please join the obesity action coalition to acknowledge obesity as a disease visit obesity action dot org to sign an open letter pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about weight loss and treatment options. together we can make a choice to end obesity now. a public service from the obesity action coalition. . >>> welcome back to the ktvu channel 2 morning news, time now is 6:55, a live look at the big bored, dow jones industrial average is up 26 points. >>> a home invasion robbery, they are facing charges of false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and armed robbery. police say they robbed an elderly couple and then stole their two cars and escaped. the three men are suspects in several other recent crimes. one suspect is 18-year-old james palmerson. he made headlines years ago as a 14-year-old runaway. palmer and his 13-year-old girlfriend stole his grandparents car. this photo shows the two of them while they were on the run and they were found in a denver suburb three days later, they were cold and hungry but safe. >>>