it is 5:00 a.m. here at cnbc global headquarters. here is your "five@5." the fed fuel rally. the market is said to do something for the first time since 2017. futures are higher again. today, two major market moving events could put the rally at risk. we layout what's on the line. just tin time for christmas mastercard is out with the spending poll data and how much easing is helping consumers. and citi ceo makes a move to boost the bottom line of the bank. later in the show, ukraine

struggles for financial support as the war with russia continues. it is friday, december 15th, 2023. you are watching "worldwide exchange" here on cnbc. good morning. welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm frank holland. happy friday. let's start the day as we kickoff with the check on the u.s. stock futures with the major indices rising six-day win streaks. s&p and nasdaq up .25%. the dow would open up almost 140 points higher. the dow notched a second record close in a row yesterday. the major averages are up on the week and on pace for seven straight weeks of gains. s&p with the longest win streak

since 2017. on the bond market with the two-year yield at 4.36. we have to look at the ten-year yield at 3.91. yields declines since then. oil is coming off the strongest day in a month. up a .25% for wti. brent crude up .25% as well. that's the morning money set up. let's see how europe is shaping up as its trading day gets under way with joumanna bercetche from the london newsroom. happy friday. good morning. happy friday, frank. let's start with the price action overnight which is positive except for the shanghai composite which is down .60%. the blue chip is not looking good there. hang seng is up 2.4%.

we saw a bounce in the real estate sector on news that shanghai brought down some home prices. we are seeing a rebound in chip makers and on the back of the weakness in the yen. it has been positive for the japan index. we have the bank of japan meeting on december 19th. here in europe, the picture is slightly more mixed. the ftse 100 is the one that is mainlyi lagging down .10%. the market digested the meeting from the ecb yesterday. we had better than pictured uk pmi coming through beating consensus. not the case with the european indices. eurozone flash pmi disappointed

again. seventhi straight month of declines. flash number of 47 against 46. that being said, we are still seeing a positive reaction. the dax is up .20%. frank, dax touched 17,000 yesterday. another all-time record high for the index. the cac 40 is .60% firmer today. these markets digesting the ecb yesterday. i mentioned the bank of england with the hawkish pause. ecb is hawkish. they paused as well. they indicated they are not ready to talk about rate cuts. a different position there than the one the fed took the prior day. >> not every central bank on the same page. joumanna bercetche live in the london newsroom. thank you. we turn our attention back to the u.s. markets and six straight days of gains. back-to-back record highs for the dow means optimism about the rate cut forecast is powering the rally.

traders are bracing for what could be the final liquidity event before the end of the year. options contracts are tied to $5 trillion in stocks and etf and indexes all set to expire. we have the quarterly and annual rebalancing of the s&p and nasdaq after the close. the impact of both could lead to a volatile session where billions of shares are changing hands. let's talk about this with robert teeter at silvercrest asset management and lindsey bell. chief strategist at 248 ventures and cnbc contributor. she also went to pitt. lindsey, what do you think about the triple witching day? $5 trillion of expiring options. how will this impact the day ahead? >> i think will add more volatility. i think over time these are less and less impactful to the

market. a little more volatility could be more opportunity for investors on the morning. >> robert, same question. concerned about this big liquidity event and rebalancing happening after the bell. >> not really any concern in the short term. investors are catching up to the news out of the fed and inflation front. the bad news side is we pulled some of next year's anticipated gain noos this setting up ttage this year. >> we seem to see a broadening of the market. generally pretty interest rate sensitive sectors. >> absolutely. i think the broadening out is great. that will continue. i think the small caps have more room to run. on the large cap side, look at the rally since october. we are come a long way in a short period of time and a

anticipating rate cuts. on the large cap side, you need to be earnings sensitive. i agree. small caps have more room to run. >> lindsey, what about you? we saw earnings estimates which have been volatile for q4. what do you look at as we go forward? do you believe the rally will broaden out or do you focus on who what has been working in. >> a little bit of both, frank. the fed gave the green light to broaden out the investment thesis. what we heard from the fed provided clarity on rates going forward. it gave investors what they he w were looking for. i think we saw that with the jobless claims and retail sales data. people are excited putting money

to work. a lot of kacash has been sittin on the sideline. you are starting to see the lagging sectors begin to pick up which is a good healthy trend in the market. >> lindsey, as you see investors are broadening out, i think some things may have changed with fixed income. before, fixed income was competing with dividend stocks. has your view of fixed income changed as we see rates continue to fall? >> i mean, there are still opportunities in the fixed income space. those rate sensitive sectors are becoming more interesting now. with rates falling, they are competition again. i'm looking at the dividend aristocrats. those have been the secure play. over the long run, out perform the s&p 500. i believe investing in quality in 2024 is a theme that does

stick. dividend aristocrats is the place to put your toe in. they have had a big pop in the last couple weeks as the fed move was anticipated. >> they have more room to run? >> i do think they have room to run. >> robert, talk about what has been working all year is the magnificent seven and a.i. play. i know you are paying attention to earnings, but do you believe we could see another rally for these names? we had a note yesterday that apple would outperform next year again. >> i think there is room to go there. in the slow growth world, you pay for growth. they created organic growth and great balance sheets. i do think the broadening out will play out in a meaningful way. we have to be more selective. look for the areas benefitting from cap ex spending.

i think that is where the excitement will come in earnings next year from companies able to post higher margins. >> people have been talking about margin expansion or dividend increases. i want to come back to magnificent seven for a second. is this a rising tide to lift all of the companies or will investors start to take a closer look at the a.i. story and automation story? >> i think it will be more a case of the laggards catching up. >> lindsey, before we get out of here, i want to get a sense as we look at data with a lot of volatility coming up and triple witching and rebalancing of the s&p 500 and nasdaq 100, where do you put money to work today? >> like i said, it is all about quality. i like some of the things that the other guest talked about with margin expansion and cap ex spending. i like the healthcare sector. it has been a laggard this year. it is one of four sectors down

on the year. it is reliable. the valuations looka reasonable at this point in time. that is another area i would considering tiptoeing into at this point. >> robert, same question to you. you said you are looking at small caps. any other areas you are looking at here with the holiday season with the read on the consumer in the next two weeks? >> beyond large caps and small caps, companies will do well with cap ex. the consumer sector will do well. we are still adding jobs and income and consumers will continue to spend through the new year. >> when you say the consumer sector, what kind of names? >> i think where you have direct benefits to people being put to work and having income. places like retail and you have to be selective. i agree with lindsey on the quality point. places that are growing with incomes. >> robert teeter and lindsey

bell. time to take a closer look. great to see you both. have a great friday. >> thanks, frank. time for the check of the morning's top corporate stories with silvana henao. silvana. frank, good morning. let's start off with gm. it plans to layoff 1,300 workers michigan next year as a number of vehicles will end production. including the chevy volt. the layoffs are set to take effect on january 1st. gm says it the will retool the fa the sl sthe facilities to bur trucks. investors led by blackstone won the bidding for the largest exchange for the $33 billion loan portfolio once owned by signature bank which is auctioned off by the s.e.c.

the deal includes more than 2,600 mortgage loans backed by retail and market rate apartments. citigroup winding down the operation in the $4 trillion municipal bond market and what is called the most dramatic move to squeeze better returns from the bank. the exit will impact 100 staffers with many likely to leave the bank by early next year. the bank says the economics of the activities are no longer viable given our ability to increase returns. >> you see a lot of changes in recent weeks. silvana, see you later on. thank you. we have more to come on "worldwide exchange," including the one word that investors have to know today. first, rocket lab takes off in the challenge to industry

rival spacex. and mortgage rates doing little to hurt the second largest home builder in the u.s. the big money movers coming up. later, we follow the cross country trip of one iconic toy from factory floor to a retailer near you. a very busy urho when "worldwide exchange" returns. stay with us.

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welcome back to "worldwide

exchange." time for the "money movers. lennar shares under pressure after fourth quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates. the second largest home builder in the country, it said it delivered 19% more homes than a year ago. investors may take a close look at the company margin on home sales which fell to 24.2% from 24.8%. shares of costco are popping after topping earnings for the recent quarter and declaring a dividend of $15 a share. the company says moderating inflation helped boost demand outside of grocery. we are watching shares of rocket lab. las l blasting off since the september failure. the company's rocket taking offoff at 5:00 p.m. in new zealand. as consumers close in on

crunch time for christmas shopping, it is time to take a closer look at how the hottest holiday items get from the factory floor to the retailer near you. with supply chains normalizing and inflation cooling this year, we have eunice yoon and jane wells and courtney reagan with a look at the care bear. >> reporter: the u.s. fights inflation, china struggles with deflation. that struggles to pricing at the factories. during the global disruption, the cost of the care bear was up 25%. today, it is back to where it was before the pandemic. slower growth has reined in material price and wages. with u.s. orders harder to come by, factories compete with cut prices. logistics are also in check. no more tight covid controls and

shipping containers are plentiful at the chinese ports. products which had been held up for months on the factory floor in 2021 are now shipped out to america almost immediately. >> reporter: nowhere is the difference in the supply chain more visible than long beach. there were 65 ships anchored offshore waiting ten days. now, i don't see anything and ships are going right in. the u.n. says global trade is down 5% and shipping container costs are down 90%. >> 50% of the truck gates go unused every day. that means we have capacity. >> reporter: in november, container volume was up 19%, but overall down because of the container tensions shifted the story. >> reporter: there were not enough as consumers loaded up, but today, there is too much supply and not enough demand. spot rates have dropped 40% since 2021. with all this available freight,

it is now cheaper to ship this care bear from the port to the where warehouse and final destination. >> reporter: the journey for the care bear to the toy store here is back to normal taking about a month. two years ago, it was twice as long. transportation costs were a quarter of the bear's cost. now it is down to 5%. >> we are seeing less pressure on the manufacturing cost and transportation cost. more pressure on other areas of the supply chain. also our customers are looking for more value. we are squeeze d. >> reporter: there was a transportation fee two years ago, but now those are gone. if you look at toy deflation and discounting and consumer desire for lower priced toys, this bear retails for $15 in most stores. that is down $17 to $20 two

years ago. coming up on "worldwide exchange," the mastercard spending pulse data. more "worldwide exchange" after this. what did i do to get here? (tense music) right. work. you worked hard and it's time for a bank that'll work hard for you. everbank performance savings is built to put your money to work with some of the highest rates in the country . going, got you where you want to be. we're the partners for your next move. everbank. advantage, you. as an independent financial advisor, i stand by these promises. as a fiduciary, i promise to be the financial steward that you and your family need. i promise to put your long-term financial well-being above any short term transaction. everyone has a big picture. my job is to help you invest in yours. [announcer] charles schwab is proud

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in the labor market, jobless claims falling to the lowest since mid-october. november cpi is flat year over year, but recovering since april of 2021. this morning, data from mastercard echoing the optimism. a 7.5% increase in online sales in it november. joining me now with the take away from the mastercard spending pulse and a first on cnbc interview is the senior adviser at mastercard. >> good morning. >> new data from mastercard. spending pulse for november. how should investors view the spending from november which was a decline from october where it was 8%? >> i think what you see with the online sales that it is healthy. this is an online and omni chan channel season. the holiday forecast is in tact.

if you look at the holiday, the forecast was overall sales at 3.7%. we are seeing halfway through the season is online sales right on track to the forecast and overall sales on track to the forecast. the individual categories about on track. you see restaurants in the 7%. apparel in the 3% range. this is a value related season. the season started early. it is promotional and in line with the promotions sdp. >> steve, the 7% increase in restaurant spending over apparel spending. is this revenge spending? is that continuing or is this a shift of consumer behavior? >> i think in the restaurants, it is a couple of things. part is the inflation rate in restaurants. you are seeing more inflation in

food service than you see in a number of other categories coupled with the desire to get out and have experiences. you are still reverting to the norm a bit whether it was travel or experiences and categories like that. restaurants experiences are continuing to perform well. the inflation rate is starting to come down. the growth rate sl slower. the sales are healthy. it says the consumer is still spending. go around to new york city. it is very hard to get in restaurants. >> absolutely here in the new york city area. i know what you mean. things are packed than normal. i want to go back to the apparel number. during the pandemic, we saw electio luxury spending. people want higher ticket items. is it all just about the same rising about 3%? >> what you are seeing right now

is a slowing in the growth of luxury. luxury was a winner during the early stages of the pandemic. it is reverting to the norm. it is a slower dprgrowth than w you were seeing early on. overall apparel is healthy at 2.7%. i think the story that we have to look at right now is what will the margins look like. it is clear sales are coming in. it will be a rush. we have two big saturdays to go. we are more than halfway through the season. it will end up very close to the mastercard forecast of 3.7% in that range. the real issue is how promotional is it at the end? a little bit of wait and see. the consumer is out there. two very big weekends to go. so far, promotions have been constrained. it is still promotional. what happens in the next couple weeks --

>> two big saturdays to go. steve says we're on track for the forecast of 3.7% increase in holiday spending this year. steve, thank you for the mastercard spending pulse. coming up on "worldwide exchange," blackstone takes a page from taylor swift and the annual holiday video to some cringeworthy reactions. if you haven't already, check out "worldwide exchange" on your favorite pcaodst apps. more "wex" coming up after this. ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently. it still does. what can you do with spy? ♪ if your business needs a new application then developers will have to write code.

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it is 5:30 a.m. in the new york city area. here is what's on deck, the dow coming off back-to-back records and longest win streak in years. and we will track the market reaction in the reversal in leadership. the sector seeing fresh light. and a mixed picture with chu china's economic recovery. the fresh data from the second largest economy seems to indicate an uneven rebound. it is friday, december 15th, 2023. you are watching "worldwide exchange" here on cnbc. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm frank holland. happy friday.

we start with the futures. the dow would open up 150 points at the open. as we always say, it is early. this action after another winning day for wall street. the dow notched a second record close in a row. the major averages are on pace for acsaccept seven straight we of gains. we are checking the bond market. the two-year note at 4.37. look at the ten-year note at 3.91. 30 basis points lower than when it opened on the day of the fed decision. we see the decline in yeields since then. you see the crude oil check here with highs over .50% for wti. brent crude is $77 a barrel

which is up .50%. let's the morning money set up. we will dig a bit deeper into the markets and the signals of the bull market. mega cap tech account for most of the gains, but a reversal of leadership may be under way. one leader is utilities which is up 2.5% since monday after pressure for most of the year. communication services is the laggard down .25% compared to 50% year to date gain. let's discuss this with anthony and matthew. anthony, let's kick it off with you. what has been driving the action in utilities this week? is it a rate story with interest rates decline and utilities go up? >> clearly, frank, it is an interest rate story.

we went into the year with the rates rising. banner year in 2022, we lagged in the s&p this year 30% before the fed decision. we underperformed. the fed comes out on wednesday and announces three cuts and it is off to the races. santa claus came early. average yields for our stock is 3.6%. you mentioned the ten-year yield dipping below 4%. that is an attractive yield. >> a lot of people don't want utilities in their stocking, anthony. i want to ask about your research. utilities are a regional play. you like the utilities in california and michigan. why these specific regions? >> location will matter for utilities. if you think about it, rates are based on the state regulator. we have 50 regulators and a

washington, d.c. regulator. it will preserve that earnings growth. we like the california regulators out there. they are supportive of utility. we have pg&e. we have michigan with those regulators offered balanced decisions. we want to see the names growing between 6% to #8%. on the flip side, one came out with a decision of average across the lead is 9.5%. illinois gave out decision to sub 9%. you look to see regulators with attractive return for investors, but give balanced decisions on the investment plan. >> you don't hear about uti utilities as a regional story. they are regulated by different state agencies. what is one of the best in class names with the utilities?

you are saying this is a dividend play. >> this is clearly a dividend play. this is aside to the utilities. this is the financing vehicle for the large cap. nextera energy. what they were doing is financing growth for nee. it offered an a tttractive yiel. it is offering 12%. we are seeing the yield gets cut in 2025. investors can clip that coupon of 12% and at a 50% cut, they are still looking at a 6% yield with the ten-year yield below 4%. if you are looking for yield, nep offers an attractive return. >> before we let you go, shares are down 60% for the year. you say the dividend, if it is

cut in half, the dividend makes up for the lack of price action there? >> again, that stock in nep did well as rates were coming down. nep is a yield play whereas they have cost-to-capital declines, it offers attractive for nee. the dividend is stable for so long and stock prices came down in nep means we are forecasting a cut in 2025. that why it is a fat yield right now. with the cut, as you know, frank, double coupons don't last forever. you still have an attractive look at 5.5% yield. >> anthony, thank you very much. we want to turn to communication services with matthew harrigan. thank you for being here. >> good morning, frank. >> we have a broad group.

alphabet is down% fo 2% for the group. comcast is rising 6%. why is the overall group ddo dodow dodow down .25% for the week? >> we really have a difficult time to general aize. t-mobile is down well. of course, you have the issues with the hollywood strike and the activity gravitating toward streaming away from linear. everyone, including nbc universal, including peacock is trying to balance that out. >> you are mentioning the streaming space.

warner bros. discovery is on the rise. is that because of the offerings? >> that is a stock we have a buy on. the free cash flow yield is in double digits. they have an outstanding christmas movie slate. i think "aquaman" will do better than the negative talk around. max and hbo and the studios are looking like it is normalizing to have one of the better performances on the sustainable basis. >> you are coming with stock picks and movie picks. one thing i want to ask about in the communication services group is the broadband players that

you are talking about. is broadband tied to the a.i. story? why don't we see more action in the sector related to the enthusiasm of a.i.? >> it is frustrating for the group. if you look at networks and fiber and 5g, it is integral to the global growth. you have the free rider effect with the ecommerce and now with a.i. not much of the economic benefit is attaching to large telecom companies although it is vital in maintaining the infrastructure. it is not an easy workaround on that. they are decent stocks. it clearly isn't taking off like a.i. to say the least. >> i know you were not planning on getting this granular. any reason why match group is doing so well? match group is rallying this

week. >> we have a great analyst following that group. i'm take a ping a passes on tha. >> matthew, thank you. good to see you. >> thank you. coming up on "worldwide exchange," all aboard the solar coaster. the bullish bet by one firm on the beaten up clean energy play. spotify is testing a.i. generated play lifts. it can detect a crunch, but it is unclear if it will launch to the public. you can type in a custom prompt and get suggestions with positive upbeat songs. fill the sound with background cafe music. a number of chains offering cupcakes for national cupcake day. wall street is going cra-cra

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." time for the morning call sheet. the buy rating for box is citing expectations for a bgradual return to double digit growth. jeffreys initiating aing a rating on sunrun. in times of uncertainty, it sees a better look with you exposure to utility scale. shares of runrun up over 3%. key bank calling walmart the top pick. potential defliation cast a problem for 2024. it will support shares. shares of walmart up right is

briefing." eu fails to agree on a funding package to ukraine as the prime minister of hungary says it will come back next year. this as they are opening the negotiations for ukraine to enter the bloc. and in china, the industrial output as the fastest in two years. it is still falling short of analyst estimates. the iae looking at global coal use at a record high this next year. china expecting to account for half of the expansion over the next three years. a market flash for you with

chinese tech stocks. alibaba and jd.com rising. alibaba up 1.5%. jd.com up 5%. the rise this morning following fresh stimulus from beijing. the people's bank of china announcing $113 billion in one-year loans. the record cash injection into the banking system in the bid to boost the struggling property market. the etfs impacted are invesco up over 1%. similar for crane shares. china internet and k-web and the ishares. coming up here on "worldwide exchange," the one word every investor needs to know today and stocks are set to close out a record setting week. the under the radar names our next guest says she is finding fresh opportunity in 2024. if you haven't already,

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." time for the "wex wrap-up." lennar under pressure despite beating estimates. the home builder delivering 19% more homes from a year ago. rtx naming christopher calio as the new ceo. calio will succeed greg hayes next may. he will take on the tasks the

aircrafts recalled. costco shares popping after the expectations in the recent quarter and the dividend of $15 a share. it is delivering a beat with the strong demand outside of grosses r grocery items. commercial real estate is the threat to the financial system next year. it has been beat unen down hard from work from home trends. and rocket labs resumes operations after the company lost the electronic rocket in september. citigroup is winding down operations in the $4 trillion municipal bond market in the most dramatic moves by the ceo to squeeze better returns from the bank. the exit will impact 100 staffers with many likely to leave the bank next year.

here is what to watch today ahead of the open. the empire state manufacturing and industrial production f figures and results from darden restaurants. we have the quarterly re-balance of the nasdaq 100 and s&p 500. it is triple witching friday with the options tied to $5 trillion in stocks and indexes all set to expire. ahead of that, let's get a check of the markets and what has been a solid week for stocks with the continued records for the dow. futures on the dow off the highs from earlier. we will open up 30 points higher. s&p and nasdaq in the green. for more, let's bring in tiffany mcghee. tiffany, good morning. great to have you here. >> good morning, frank. >> we're seeing a big rally in the markets over the last few weeks. the dow closing at record highs. give us a sense of how you see the market. what is your wex word of the

day? >> my word of the day is standout. with the back drop and all of the elements you are discussing, we think there are standout opportunities that investors can look at right now ahead of 2024. areas like tech and some auto insurance carriers. >> we mentioned it is triple witching day and re-balancing for the s&p and nasdaq 100. how are you looking at volatility today? is there anything you are telling your clients to position for liquidity and volatility? >> listen, we are long-term investors. every time i'm on the show, i talk about that. volatility is our friend if you are a long-term investor. for those long-term investors, there are opportunities to buy. the message with volatility is

staying in the market and not try to time the market. >> i want to get to your picks in a minute. the rally fueled by the fed this week. does that change how you look at investments with yields declining? >> it doesn't change the way i look at investments. i think the setup right now in addition to the fed means we have solid growth. frank, can you hear me? >> yeah. >> i'm sorry. i heard a click. when we think about what's going on economically, inflation is moderating and unemployment is low. consumers are still spending. we think that this is a setup. i think this time of year, we call it a gift. these are opportunities to buy. >> who doesn't like to get a

gift? i want to go to your picks. one is evercore. this is an insurance play. we don't talk a lot about insurance. why would you invest in evercore? >> when we think what we are buying, we are looking for companies with solid growth and reasonable valuation. a proven profitability metric. pe and those things and strong balance sheets. think about everquote and we are looking at an opportunity in tech. this is the way to play the auto insurance carrier. 80% of everquote revenue comes from auto insurance. online marketplace. we expect the auto insurance to recover next year. so, these auto carriers are

acquisak which acquisition. >> your other pick is visio. theses are connected? >> they offer tv experiences at a decent price. they're shares traded lower this year because of that challenging tv market. they are expected to have ad growth which is expected to continue 20%. >> i own a few in my day. a lot of people are cutting the cord. tiffany, have a great friday. >> thank you. one more thing before we let you go to "squawk box." we are in the green. the dow off the highs from earlier this morning. we have to leave it there. the dow up 130 points. as always, it's early. s&p and nasdaq in the green. "squawk box" is coming up next. have a great day.

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good morning. the bulls are on the loose, including this bull that got loose in newark, new jersey after another record setting day. is there anything to stop the markets from marching higher? citi c,eo making a bold mov shutting down the muni business. ukraine getting a big membership boost, but a big no on aid. now the senate is working overtime. we will hear from one senator about the progress on capitol

hill or lack of it. it is friday, december 15th, 2023 and "squawk box" begins right now. good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site. i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin. joe is out today. we are ready for it. this has been a long week. >> it has been a great week. >> it has been six days in a row of gains at this point. not just this week, but back to friday of last week and thursday of last week. let's see where things stand. if you want to check out u.s. equities, you will see the continued bull run at this point in the futures. dow futures indicated up 128 points. s&p up 13.