all the fabulous people who come on here every single night. everyone makes this show possib possible. i am thrilled and thank you. bull market somewhere. right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer and i'll see you tomorrow! good morning and welcome to "worldwide exchange." the headlines from around the world this morning, in the u.s. equity markets reach multiyear highs, the nasdaq registering its highest close since november of 2000 while the dow breaks through 2007 levels. the imf commits to a bailout while investors are expect ed t give strong support to today's spanish debt auction. in asia one of beijing's rising stars, gets the boot sending political shock waves across china.

good morning. you're watching "worldwide exchange" with christine tan, beccy meehan. a look at u.s. futures and how we're poised for trade on wall street this morning. it does look like we're going to open higher. the dow would see a 21-point gain and the nasdaq higher by six is and the s&p 500 higher by two. this, of course, after stocks finished yesterday mixed after tuesday's big rally. we saw the dow closing at that high level since 2007, that was december 31st 2007. the nasdaq closing at its highest since november of 2000. the dow up for six consecutive days. we saw the leader in american express, ibm, boeing. they took us higher. i do want to note on the s&p 500 it was i.t. and financials that took us higher in that session. of course eight sectors, the worst there. mann time shares got a boost from the results of the fed's

annual banking stress test which saw 15 of the u.s. largest lenders pass with flying colors. year to date the index is up about 8%. the nasdaq is also scaling new heights. the index ended at the highest level since november 2000. year to date the index is up more than 16%. and joining us now for the next hour to discuss the markets a little bit more is allison dean, a senior adviser. and, of course, a cnbc contributor as well. and it looks like we are getting allison set up right there. look, guys, it's live tv. this is what happens. allison, great to have you with us. thank you so much for coming in. let's talk about the markets. while we are seeing more of an improving picture in the united states and we saw a big rally on tuesday but some sideways movement yesterday, still seeing these markets hit new levels and hit new targets and records. what's your take on what's happening?

>> i think people are feeling more comfortable with the markets today. so many areas of uncertainty the past year, year and a half, and people became very concerned about europe. people were very concerned about asia and china having a hard landing and not being able to manage a softer landing. and now it looks as europe is starting to sort of get their act together or at least it's less of a risk and less of a potential issue. china seems to have maneuvered a soft landing and economic trends seem to be getting better incrementally day by day. we take fear out of the market helping multiples at the same time corporations continue to do well. good profits and less risk. >> i agree with you on all of those issues and it seems sentiment is improving slightly. at the same time i go back to this question pretty much every day recently, the fact it still comes down here domestically to gdp growth. right now we're looking at first quarter around 2%, how are we going to hit the targets we want to hit? >> gdp will improve but slowly. first gdp will go from 2, 2.5 to

3. we are going through a long-term cycle of deleveraging in this country but corporate profits, 40% of them, come from outside the united states. you still have a lot of global demand and growth particularly in the development markets, not so much in europe but europe is not looking as bad as we original forecast it. i think it's a combination of incremental improvement in the u.s. but healthy growth and demand overseas for multinational corporations. >> all right. so let's talk about europe for a second. obviously a little bit of optimism after greece did secure its bailout and we're seeing some progress being made there. at the same time investors are focusing on spain and portugal as the next shoe to drop. are you worried about that? >> my sense is while they are concerned they're not nearly as dire as the greece situation. i think you are seeing right now that the european community seems to be coming together more, being more focused on things they might have to to do and more willing to pump forms of liquidity into the market which has been the concern in the past. >> okay.

we had the ltro obviously going to stem the system there the same way quantitative easing helped us out here in the united states but that is a short term plan. so when ltro isn't the saving grace anymore, then what is? >> well, my sense is sometimes the short-term plans become medium term. first you might see them as medium term but also is it buys these countries time to work through some of their problems, see what policies will work. so even a shorter medium term at least buys time to try to come through with maybe more structural changes. >> all right, great. thank you so much for that. allison will stay with us to give us more insight on the markets and stay tuned, of course, to are "worldwide exchange" because we have one guest who is coming up that's warning investors holding u.s. tr treasuries is akin to 0 financial suicide. we're going to have that in about 20 minutes' time. stay with us. also, still to come on the show, focus on spain today as the country is due to issue three to six year worth debt. will demand hold up despite the

country's struggles with brussels over its deficit targets analysis. carfirmation. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

good morning and welcome back to good morning and welcome back to "worldwide exchange." it's time for your global markets report. let's start here in the united states and take a look at those futures again and see how we're setting up for trade on wall

street. if the markets were to open now the dow higher by 23 points, the nasdaq by five and the s&p 500 by just about two. of course this after a mixed session yesterday, beccy, and that big rally we saw on tuesday. just want to highlight again the dow closed at its highest level since december 31st of 2007. the nasdaq closing at its highest since november of 2000. so still making some stride here in terms of the u.s. equity markets. how is it looking? >> let's take a check. this is the picture as it's shaping up across the region. the stoxx 600 is balanced between the gainers and the losers as we can see from the wall behind me and as you can also see if you look at the interday charts which shows almost entirely flat, in fact, right now. if we take a check on the individual markets across this region, we can see where the differences appear. the markets here in the uk have been trading lower today. the ftse is down by five points or so right now, so still below that 6,000 level. yesterday we pushed up on the interday basis a little bit closer to those levels but 5,940

is where we stand. gains are coming through, though, particularly in germany. the dax up by 21 points or so, 0.3%. the seventh straight day of gains now for the german market. the cac is coming up in the seven days, the ftse mib is managing to add about 58 points on a percentage basis. so many of these key european indexes are managing to trade a little bit higher. so that's what's happening in the equity markets but it's also the government bond markets where we're seeing lots of attention today partly because we have some key debt auctions coming up and also yesterday we did have an auction in italy. let me tell but that one first, yesterday we saw the yields on the three-year italian government debt coming down to 2.76%. a month ago when they had a similar auction looking at 3.41%. remember, italy is considered a peripheral european country, yields are very high and they have fallen quite some distance

in the past few weeks and that auction yesterday underlying that trend we have seen. now in germany, very low levels, of course, on the yield on the ten-year debt, 1.98 is the current level. in the uk 2.4%. now i should add to that that we had fitch coming out overnight saying that while they are reaffirming that aaa rating for the uk, they have downgraded the outlook on the uk to neglect it tiff saying there's a 50/50 chance the u can k could be downgraded in the next couple of years and that the government here really has to keep its fiscal house in order to maintain that aaa rating so as we come up with the budget, of course, the next few days we'll be looking at how committed george osborne is to that. in spain, ten year is at 5.17%. now we do have a key auction today in spain. we'll get results of that auction for you later in the show. 3.5 billion why are owes short

to medium term debt being auctioned off there. in france an auction coming up, too. 2.96%. a quick check on the currency market, where the euro rate is right now. euro dollar at 130.53. euro/swiss is at 1.2112. and sterling/dollar trading at 1.5641. in the oil markets, brent yesterday took a little bit of a dip and is continuing in that direction today having had a strong runup over the past few weeks. brent is trading at 1.2493. particularly trading higher since the dping of 2012. christine. well, here in asia a mixed picture after yesterday's gains. up for the third straight session, the softer yen helping to give a lift to the exporters in this particular market.

the topix is up 0.8%. the hang high market property continues to be a big concern after wen jiabao continued to curb on a property sector dragging. this particular sector down 0.7%. property was weak in hong kong but in the end this market managed to end modestly high. mostly on earnings. 10 cent holdings, china's biggest internet company, copping in with 43% jump in q4 earnings and reporting earnings better than expected. so that there. elsewhere taiwan and kospi taking a breather after yesterday's stellar gains. over in australia, this particular market down 0.2%. more on china jitters and the sensex pretty interesting because we had the renminbi keeping rates steady. a lot of people were expecting a cut from the central bank. that went down with the market. people were a little bit disappointed in the banks dragging the market lower. on that note, that's your global

market wrap. the s.e.c. is cracking down on the trading of pre-ipo stocks. they charged investment funds felix investment and eb financial with misleading investors. the filing alleges that the fund managers raised over $70 million by overcharging for secondary market shares of companies such as twitter and facebook. christine? jackie, well, america's free trade pact with south korea is in effect today. the agreement instantly erases 80% of south korea's duties on u.s. manufactured dwoodz and two-thirds of its duties on u.s. products. it hails it as the most significant free trade pact in 20 years but over 1,500 south korean protesters don't see it that way. they fear an investor dispute

clause in the deal would erode domestic controls over its industries. elsewhere in one of the most publicized political shake-ups in china's modern history, beijing is moving as secretary. tracey chang has more on who he is and what makes this so interesting for investors. it's dominating all the headlines on the internet today. china is buzzing on the story. according to the news, a north korea educated vice premier and is a member of china's ruling bureau will replace the party chief whose political demise reflect a power struggle inside china's single party ruling government as beijing tries hard to end a political scandal that ignited a frenzy in china's enormous internet community. and in february the deputy mayor and also police chief reportedly sought refuge at u.s. consulate

where he was once a strong candidate for the standing committee that represents the strongest power and authority in china. and also today a huge blow to the greater region with market chair taking a huge tumble. it is on the high crow blogging website. so far over a million tweets and counting. >> i wonder who is counting. a million tweets. thank you very much for that. very interesting story. on the economic front, still on china, though, focusing on the foreign direct investment in the country falling in february, this is the fourth straight monthly drop as european countries trim spending in the mainland. market players hope the fresh data will spur easing action from the pboc especially after china posted its largest trade deficit in at least a decade for february earlier this week. let's talk more about china now. our guest today is the head of china economic research.

thank you very much for being with us. despite a slowdown in fdi you still think china growth could surprise us to the upside this year and coming in around 9%. why so bullish? >> if you look at the external environment the u.s. is experiencing economic growth. the european debt crisis has more or less stabilized. this means that we as a solid external demand the chinese export should hold up quite well. meanwhile, china is undergoing an upward political business cycle together with stimulative f fiscal policy and monetary policy we think that china's growth could surprise us on the upside. >> when you say stimulative monetary policy does that mean you are expecting more easing from the pboc and, if so, when? >> this looks like, if if you

look at the recent data it has been disappointing suggesting that the banks are burden ed by very high loan to deposit ratio requirement so going forward the major banks requirement will be lowered together with expected reserve requirement ratio cuts and monetary policy should ease further. we think that another cut could be possible after the national people's congress. >> we have also data that show china is pouring more money into overseas market. what role do you see chinese investors as europe and the u.s. struggles with growth? >> well, chinese investment could be quite important for both u.s. and europe now. if china can invest more in

european and the u.s. infrastructure, that will create a lot of jobs in those important regions. in turn, their demand for china exports could help uphold chinese growth as well. meanwhile, we also see rising wages in china. chinese labor intensive manufacturing firms are also moving to low cost countries. >> when i look at china's trade deficit for the month of february, it is still pretty large. what does it say about the f 0 orex policy? does it have any implications there? >> we look at january and february trade deficits together. january surplus with large february deficit, the overall trade deficit is not alarming, is only about $4 billion u.s. dollars. as i mentioned as long as external demand holds up chinese

exports should do reasonably well this year. so we are not overly worried about china's exports. >> all right, thank you very much. we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much for your insight. beccy? we are going to for a quick break. can the uk hold on to its cherished aaa rating?

welcome back to wo"worldwid exchange." spain expected to receive healthy demands and auction of three to six year debt. liquidity should underpin demand as the kcountry continues to struggle with brussels over its deficit targets. france also due to hold a slew of auctions between two and five years. results at 10:50 and 11:50 cet. the uk also due to auction 30-year bonds later today. this comes as britain to aaa negative. greater than one in two chance britain may lose its status over the next two years. comes ahead of the uk budget. joining us now michael gallagher, director of research.

so does it matter if the uk's outlook has been downgraded? >> i think the negative outlook from fitch and moody's is actually sort of important because it does increase the risks over the next year that the uk could actually see a down grade. i think to be honest the government in the budget are not going to give ratings agency a reason to downgrade, a reason why the uk could be downgraded is if we slip in recession and lo longer term government debt to gdp looks worse than is currently projected. so that will be the real sort of catalyst and trigger point. at the moment the odds are probably 30% that the uk will be downgraded. >> what determines at this stage whether or not the uk slips into recession? it feels to me we're teetering this situation where the government could stick with austerity, stick with plan "a" and it could work out and companies start hiring or it can all go horribly wrong.

>> the critical issue is actually sort of external. if there's domestically generated slowdown then the bank of england will have further quantitative easing and provide an offset there and could get quite inventive and purchase of assets as well as gilts. the critical issue is whether or not the eurozone avoids a crisis going forward for the next three months, the eurozone picture looks a lot better than it has done anytime between sort of july and december of last year. but there's still a number of hurdles to be crossed. >> and speaking of hurdles, japan has a couple of hurdles, fiscal change has fitch and moody warning the down grade. does it really matter because much of the debt is held by domestic institutional investors. >> i think the question in terms of jjbs that we see is if we do see a change of japanese

investor at institutes that that actually could sort of prompt a rise in yields. however, the experience over the last 15 years since we've had this secular up trend in terms of government debt to gdp ratio is that there's a difference of opinion on the part of the japanese investors that they are willing to sort of accept these low yield levels and that's partly due to the significant surpluses of liquidity that exist in the japanese economy which is not only the health of the bank of japan but also surplus savings amongst japanese investors. >> michael, do you think if they down grade -- if fitch does down grade gilts it will affect prices very much? we saw a trend in the united states. while there was a lot of attention around it, it didn't affect prices very much. >> i think it would have a modest impact, the uk is not the u.s. it's not reserved currency. if you look at the down grade of france, then we did see sort of a modest impact. i think given how important the

aaa rating has been to this conservative government, it would actually be a negative. the bigger picture, the critical moment is rising treasury yields. >> michael, thanks for coming along. i appreciate your time today. michael joining us there. meantime, coming up on the show, beccy, president obama discusses options to bring down the costs of energy including tapping emergency reserves.

welcome to welcome to the show. here in the united states equity markets reach multiyear highs. the nasdaq registering its highest close since november of 2000. in europe the imf prepares to put euros to the bailout. investors are expected to give strong support to the spanish debt auction. and in asia one of beijing's rising stars reportedly gets the boot sending political shock waves across china. nice to have you here on "worldwide exchange." it is 5:30 in the morning on the u.s. east coast. if you are just joining us, let's check on the futures and

see how the markets are likely to open on wall street. it looks like the dow would be higher by nearly 24 points. the s&p is 500 higher by two. this, of course, after a mixed session yesterday, beccy. we saw the stress test results having a bit of an impact in terms of dominating the headlines yesterday and the discussion but not really driving the sentiment of the market. we saw some streng in the tech and financials. the utilities were the laggards. and i do want to mention the fact that some of the safe havens, the treasuries and the gold sector underperforming yesterday here in the united states. how did things look in europe? >> gains for some of the markets on this side of the atlantic, jackie. we are seeing small declines in the ftse 100 is registering unchanged at the moment, seven days of gains for the likes of the dax and also for the cac. each of those indexes closed at fresh 2012 closing highs. it looks like it could have a fresh high once again today if we stick with these levels.

0.2% higher for the cac. the ftse mib 0.7 and 0.25 for the smi as well. jackie? meantime, president obama has discussed tapping emergency oil reserves to stem rising prices with uk prime minister david cameron on his visit to washington according to reuters sources. obama is under fire for rising gasoline prices in an election year and may be looking to gather international support to tackle fuel costs. a white house official said no agreement had been reached between the two leaders. meantime, joining us now to talk more about that and some strategy is the founder and cio and still with us our guest host allison dean. mark, let's start with you. good morning and thank you for joining us today. let's talk about the high gas prices that we're seeing here in the united states in correlation to the crude prices. a lot 0 of geopolitical risk on the table but, of course, you do

have obama talking about tapping the strategic reserves, that saudi arabia came out and said we have reserves to back up any supply shortfalls so how big is the issue here? >> i think it's a big issue. it's clearly going to slow consumers in the united states. it's a negleative for obama in e election. so it is a big deal. and even though saudi arabia increased production, we still have geopolitical risk with iraq. so price also stay high. >> okay. so you think it's definitely a concern. i want to shift gathers for a moment and talk a little bit about what we can did see in the markets yesterday. it looks like a little more risk appetite coming back on the table with the rotation out in the treasury market out of some of the safer haven asset classes like gold, for example. do you expect that trend to continue as well? >> we do. we do.

the fact that the u.s. banks are in pretty good shape, actually really good shape, comparatively, hens that the u.s. economy is going to do well. we've seen growth -- growth in the u.s. so, yeah, we think the risk appetite will slowly start to increase as we go through time. >> europe as well. i know that you believe european stock valuations are cheap compared to the u.s. valuations and rate europe as a buy in terms of the equities at least. i guess that means you are pretty confident that the recent worries are behind us or at least enough behind us that companies here can continue to grow. explain that to us. >> well, many of the european companies that i'm talking about are really the multinational companies that operate not just in europe but they operate all

over the world. so europe has some major, major corporations that fit that mold. i'm not sure that europe is really solved the problem. they've papered over their problems with a lot of money. greece is off the table for a year. but i'm not sure that greece is ever going to solve their problems, at least with what europe has taken. i think the european collapse, if you will, is off the table for a year but -- or at least a year -- so our take is the stocks, the european globals are still good buys. >> okay, mark. this is christine. you say that's a good buy but for gold you say don't buy gold even though price have is fallen by about 4%. i would have thought that with inflation so high in asia that would have been quite supportive of gold prices.

>> it generally is but i think gold has run so far and gold is really anti-risk investment and now that people are starting to take more risk, i think gold is going to be not doing well. >> mark, this is allison. you mentioned you thought oil prices would stay at this level and since a lot of economic can growth is still driven by consumer demand which is starting to pick up, do you think at these prices it could stall some of the consumer spending we're starting to see pick up and, therefore, slow down the economy? or that these levels were find if it gets any higher it could get worse? >> i think it's a strain on the u.s. economy. i think the rates would have to go up higher to really cause the economy to roll over. we've had a very warm winter

which has saved consumers a lot on heating bills. so i think there's a little bit of a tradeoff there but i think if gas prices were to continue to go up, if we were starting to look -- right now gas prices in the u.s. are about $3.60 a fwal. if they were to go to $4, $5 a gallon the u.s. would have real problems. >> all right, mark, last question. i want to ask you and get your take on the dollar. seeing a little bit of strength against the euro and yen as well, where do you expect the dollar to go from here? >> we think in the intermediate term the dollar will do well. obviously the united states has not solved its problems either, but i think -- i think at the moment it looks as the u.s. dollar, vis-a-vis the euro, is probably in better shape -- we seem to have a better handle on the problems in the intermediate term so we think the dollar is probably going to appreciate for

the intermediate term. for the long term it's hard to say. but for the next year, we think the dollar is probably in pretty good shape. >> all right, thank you so much for that. founder and cio. allison dean, senior adviser and a cnbc contributor. formula one season kicks off this weekend with the australian grand prix, but can the sport finally get a foothold in the lucrative united states market this year? we're joined after the break by a racing legend mario andretti. choose control.

introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz

to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. formula formula one racing kicks off this weekend. the 12 teams and 24 drivers will be heading state side to austin, texas, tore the u.s. grand prix. joining us now to talk about that is mario andretti, hall of fame formula one indycar and nascar driver and team owner and founder of the andretti racing experience. mario, thank you so much for joining us this morning. it's an honor to have you on the program. i want to start with the shift over to come back to the united states taking a little bit of a hiatus for the f1 but it's

coming back with austin on the docket and also another race scheduled in new jersey just in our backyard. tell me about the move back to the u.s. and what you think it will do for f1. >> i think formula one needed to be in the united states on solid ground. the u.s. needs a formula one race. the fact a venue in austin is constructed now shows some stability and the fact that you have another event planned for 2013 here in new jersey, right with the backdrop of manhattan is going to provide the u.s. with two grand prixs which is for the first time really in a long time and this is going to be awesome. it's going to be great. >> now speaking of austin, is that track going to be ready in

ti time? >> things look quite good actually. there were some doubts just a few months back. i think there were some hurdles to be dealt with. things look pretty good. i got some late information myself and infrastructure has gone up so it looks good. >> fantastic. and also what the u.s. needs besides the f1 coming back are formula one drivers. do you see anybody coming out emerging as a star? >> well, we have some youngsters coming up through the ranks and, again, i think the fact you will have your grand prix will encourage even some sponsors to get behind some of the young lads and create that opportunity. but i think that would be a real bonus for the u.s. to have some formula one drivers represent themselves. it's been a long time since we've had that actually. so, i mean, potential winners.

>> absolutely. >> not just participants. >> here in the uk where formula is very popular indeed, there are still problems with the image. i opened the paper today as i was looking ahead to this interview and saw a story about how in australia the public attention has been very negative towards ecker son and lots of concern about his daughter and her reality tv show and the excessive consumption around f1 and how very expensive it is for cities to hold these kinds of events. do you think formula one is keeping up with the times? >> i think it's keeping up with the times and from the standis point of bernie ecclestone obviously he's in an enviable position with regards to formula one because there's so much demand. there's much more demand for formula one that can can't really supply. you have governments investing

in circuits all over the world. you have circuits in india, south k south korea, of course, as i say, so many venues going up and the private sector sometimes has a tough time competing with that. australia is one of them. the fact that france hasn't had a grand prix for three years now which is quite unusual but, again, when it comes to bernie ecclestone, he takes advantage of his position which is quite strong and you can't blame him. it's all about supply/demand. >> absolutely right. >> mr. andretti, hi. this is christine here in asia. i'm glad you mentioned india, south korea and australia because they're all here in asia pacific. the sport has become so popular. will that divert attention away from europe? >> well, that's a good question

actually but you should never really get away from what the classics are, the real foundation of formula one has been which is europe. the expansion to, as you say, asia. you have china, malaysia, and of course there are other countries that are hosting their first event. expansion is nothing wrong. i just hope again that mr. ecclestone keeps an eye on the strong tradition formula one is which is basically europe. >> you speak that have tradition because obviously you are a race car driving legend with so many years experience. how has it been to watch formula one grow and transition over the years? how is it to sit back and reflect and see those changes take place? >> i think it's from my sta

standpoint obviously whenever you see progress in the business you love, it's part of your life, these are all positives and, again, yes, i've seen this. i've seen the growth over the years. formula one has always been very prominent because it's on a world stage but in the last 10 or 15 years it's gone to the next dimension which is great. >> phenomenal. >> could you talk a little bit about the difference between formula one and nascar and do you think there's room for both of them in the united states? >> there's room for both of them. you're talking about apples and pizzas really, even though it's all motor racing. you have fans that like both.

then you have fans that prefer one over the other. so, again, there's definitely a place for both. the difference formula one is like the fighters and nascar are like the bombers. >> there you go. that's a fantastic analogy. >> i'll hear about that one. >> we will leave it there. thank you so much for joining thus morning. great to have you with us, of course, mario andretti, hall of fame formula one, nascar driver and founder of the andretti racing experience. >> we have results of the spanish debt auction. the spanish government has sold 3 billion euros in government debt. the range was 2.5 billion to 3.5 billion. and the yields across the board have fallen, too. let's get to it. the 2015 debt at a bid to cover ratio up from 4.1, up to 5%. previously it was almost 3%, so dropping there. the bid to cover ratio also

rising for the 2016 bond 4.1% versus 4.2%. the yield there dropping as well. the yield 2016 bond coming in the past few minutes is 3.7% versus 3.75% previously. and the longest dated bond today 2018 bond, the bid to cover ratio coming in at 2.9 and the yield on that 4.19%. so yields down across all of those spanish government bond auctions selling is at 3 billion euros. jackie? and speaking of those yields going lower, we'll look ahead at the trading day on wall street. key economic indicators out today including weekly jobless claims. stay tuned and we'll give you those details next.

welcome back to the show. shares of madison square garden fell on news of the welcome back to the show. shares of madison square garden fell on news of the resignation of knicks head coach d'antoni. he was at the end of a four-year contract and the decision was reportedly mutual. mike woodson is has been named interim coach and led the team to a 121-79 win over the portland trail blazers last night. stock closed down more than 1%. meantime shares in apple soared for the sixth straight day closing near ly 4% higher after morgan stanley raised its share price target to $720 from $515 previously. apple is due out to release the latest version of its ipad tomorrow with analysts predicting that it will sell over 65 million tablets this year. and it's good to be a retiring ceo. ceo of johnson&johnson stands to gain pension benefits at $144 million. he has been the ceo for nearly

ten years can begin collecting on the benefits once he steps down next month. weldon will be succeeded by the vice chairman. and let's take a look at the u.s. futures and see is how our markets are likely to open on wall street. the dow would be higher by just about 29 points. the nasdaq higher by 7.5% and so not really seeing quite a change there in the futures this morning. of course we saw a mixed session yesterday, still digesting the results of bank stress tests and seeing a little bit of risk on the table and a little bit of a shift out of some of the safe haven entities like treasuries and gold. let's get you an update on what's on the calendar for the u.s. trading day today. weekly jobless claims data out at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. at the same time we'll be getting ppi figures for february and the empire manufacturing index for march. at 10:00 a.m. eastern time the philadelphia fed releases its survey for march and in the afternoon the federal reserve is releasing details of its balance sheet and money supply so keep an eye on those.

also, the imf meeting happening during which the fund will discuss contribution to the second bailout package for greece plus comments from treasury secretary geithner who is speaking at the economic club of new york at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. so a lot on the calendar today and, of course, still with us is allison deans. we'll talk about it more in terms of what we're expecting here. a lot of different economic data points to be watching for but i think all eyes on the weekly jobless numbers as well as we look for that unemployment picture to improve. your thoughts? >> my sense is we will see incremental improvement which is more people starting to go back into the labor market and, as you know when you saw the unemployment numbers go out, more people have become hope ifful re-entering the jobs market. my sense is if you're going to see this incremental improving nothing dramatic. more consumers feeling better about the job market, more individuals going back into the labor force means better

spending and increased confidence. >> do you expect to see more risk on seeing some asset class rotation happening? do you expect that to at this point in the short term? obviously people moving out of the treasuries and taking on risk with equities. >> yes. i think people have been worried about equities, about all the risk in the market and as those risks and the fears start to go away people have been extremely conservative since 2008 and there's been a tremendous amount of money in cash and short-term bonds. i see that shifting and people starting to look for greater returns and taking more risk because the overall risk to the market seemed to have didminishd somewhat. >> overall we saw that stellar day on tuesday. we had a rally but still we've been trading sideways and making incremental moves up. a couple of key notes to look at when we're looking at the indices, the dow above 13,000, well above it. the nasdaq just above the 3,000 level and s&p 500 right now 1394. do you think we'll breach 1400? >> i do think we are. the multipleses are still low. trading at 13 times earnings.

we're looking at profit growth of 6% to 8% easily and historical multiples are 15 to 16 times. so markets are still very attractively valued and the macro trends are very positive. i do see it breaking through. there will be psychological short-term barriers. people get worried when the market moves ahead too much and a lot that have is the legacy of the bubble burst iing, the bubb in 2000 and then 2008. so people now have the reverse psychology, they want to lock in gains as soon as they see them. >> hopefully that slow and steady approach maybe will be better for the markets. allison, thank you so much. allison dean, senior adviser and a cnbc contributor. and that wraps it up for "worldwide exchange." from christine, beccy and myself, have a great day in the markets and of course "squawk box" is up next.

good morning. a wall street -- we're calling it a firestorm. i have another name. one day after a goldman sachs banker resigns in the papers of "the new york times" other financial leaders are speaking out. it's thursday, march 15th, 2012. it's the ides of march and my son's birthday. "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ it started with a whisper and that was when i kissed her ♪ ♪ and then she i could hear the sea change ♪ good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and steve liesman. andrew ross sorkin is still on ca