out your holiday skardz and are looking for inspiration, jamie dimon's family might have an idea for you. it's gone viral. a nice shot inside a really nice place, we'll show you the greeting as "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning, everybody. i'm becky quick with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. let's get right to today's agenda. on the economic front, the story we've been talking about for weeks -- actually, make that months at this point. the fed is going to be making a policy@announcement at 2:00 eastern time. now, some economists expect the fed to announce plans to curtail bond purchases. but most think that the central bank will wait until early 2014. we have complete coverage of the announcement on cnbc this afternoon. also on the economic calendar today, we have housing starts and building permits. at 8:30 eastern time, we'll get housing starts for september, october and november.

because of all the issues we had after the government shutdown. we get the unusual dump of data. that's been something we've been waiting to see because the housing market is one the fed watches closely. there are a few corporate reports of note today, as well. before the bell, we get quarterly results from fedex, general mills and menards. this afternoon, we have oracle to report, too. this morning, you're going to see right now dow futures are up by about 358 points above fair value. s&p futures are up by 6. i don't know what that tells one if they think the fed is not going to taper. but, again, a gain of about 58 points and, andrew, i'll send it over to you. >> thank you, becky. we have some corporate stories for you this morning. amc entertainment holdings priced their ipo at $18 a share. that was at the lower end of the initial range.

the second largest theater group in the united states will begin trading this morning on the on new york stock exchange. also in mergers and acquisitions news, julia boorstin reporting the silver lake capital and hollywood talent agency william morris are expected to announce a deal today to buy im fw for $2.3 billion. silver lake owns 31% of william morris. that deal giving the agency access to new clients and notably, a big presence in the sports business. i img's clients include peyton manning, justin timberlake, taylor swift. there you have it. anyway, back on wall street, jpmorgan suing the fdic. the bank says the agency owes it more than $1 million in compensation for not assuming legal claims arising from its acquisition of washington mutual's assets after its 2008 implosi implosion.

of course, when jpmorgan did that $13 billion settlement with the government, one of the big issues is whether they would go after the fdic. this is not exactly that, but an offshoot of that. anyway, mr. kernen. >> they have to pay for the christmas card that you got, right? that billion, would it help defray the cost of the holiday card. >> it might. >> he really is worried that people are going to think he leaked the card because he got one. >> i had nothing to do with it. you're right in the middle of this whole story. >> i'm not in the middle of any story. >> no, you're not. it went viral. a lot of people got the cards. your access will remain open to jamie. don't sweat it. the market is embracing the taper. embrace the taper. a gain of 58 points, it's okay? >> let's just hope no one shows the fed and anyone on the fed -- and i wore this today, you see this? because how many more times can i wear it? >> helicopter ben.

yeah. >> how many more times can i wear it? anyway, i hope these guys are in radio silence, radio silence, because if they read "the wall street journal," they're not going to taper. so this could do it. they could be -- yesterday they were ready, but the slightest thing happens, like last time, the yield went up five basis points. today, it's low inflation. test the world central banks. >> i saw that. >> so now, if they read that, it will be like why don't we stay easy? >> i saw a comment from who was it? tony cresczenca. >> say it like you would say it. >> no, i can't. he said it would be odd for them to move because twice in one year to have a miscommunication. when the market is not expecting a taper necessarily this time. at least the economists -- even if you look at the survey yesterday from the -- the survey of economyists were not expecting it. but they were -- he said it's

less than 50%. >> i would say it it's above 50 right now. >> in the market participants. >> i just think it feels like 70%. >> do you think they're going to taper? >> today? >> yeah. don't you think today is the day? >> no, i don't. >> people have come around to the viewpoint at least in the last week until this. it says deflation is still a threat and deflation can be worse than anything. >> so you're thinking it happens? >> well, now i don't know. >> becky is saying it -- >> i had been pretty sure it would happen either december or january. >> no. >> i'll take december. >> thinking it's happening today. why are you? >> i'm going to have to take january just to make it interesting. >> you're still worried about the christmas card. you're taking vajanuary? >> yes. >> then we won't know whether the yield -- i'm locked in at 2.88%. >> no, 2.83%. >> no, it was 2.87%. >> then why did you say 2.88%?

>> trying to get more basis. we round it up, it was 2.86%. >> 2.87%. i wrote it down. >> i cannot believe you said 2.83%. that could be all the difference. and i decided what the winner gets. >> you can't decide what the winner gets after the bet has been made. >> the next day that it happens, every single thing that that person, the winner says, you have to say he's right and agree with him and is just nod. >> unless it's a she. >> right. okay. i will say that everything -- i'm used to that. it will just be like i'm at home. >> like being at home. >> and you do, too, if you lose. but you never lose. >> you're going to come up with the craziest stuff. >> i'll just say my normal stuff, which you two think is crazy. anyway, the snae senate is set to approve the budget deal today. >> i'll go along with that. >> good because you constantly are pushing back against me. >> and you have to do it while

you're going like this, you are right, and bow. >> all this drama, there was no drama. i think easily they got eight extra guys or something. the mesh is expected to make it through the senate. but not serve a happy camper. >> happy camper. >> employer groups oppose the pension fees that are part of the deal. employers that i can tell you a scary story, i had a little accident in my sleeping bag. anyway, employers still offers traditional pension plan res in line for hefty insurance premiums. the chamber of commerce and the national association of manufacturers support the deal, but they warn that the fees 4r6 a negative impact saying it's another reason for the system. where i went, it was called ft. scott.

i only went for two weeks. third period for two weeks and the second one it was fifth period for two weeks. i don't know, i had some kind of stomach problem and i was sleeping and the middle of the night -- i'm scarred for life. >> happy camper. >> in my sleeping bag, yeah. >> really? >> how old were you? >> i was about 10 or 11. >> aww. >> opened up and rans down. anyway -- >> did you cry? >> you can see it didn't affect me. it was only 47 years ago. >> did you cry? >> no, i don't think i cried. i think other people were crying that were around. anyway, boeing says it's narrowing its lists of sites but narrowing its -- >> and then i went back and became a counselor. well, in the medical department. aerospace giant is signaling its determination to consider locations of outside of washington state where it now builds similar planes. machinist workers there reject that offer last month. the company received proposals for 54 sites from 22 different

states. it wants to cut the list down to a few top picks this week. adm is reportedly planning to move its headquarters to chicago from decatur, illinois. an announcement is expected today to be able to recruit a little bit better. >> this is a big deal, because they were thinking of leaving the state. >> leaving the state entirely. they must have got some deals. i had a relative that lived in decatur. you prefer chicago. there's nothing wrong with decatur, but chicago is a little more rush street and -- >> did you feel bad for decatur? >> yeah, i feel bad for de-kaylor a little bit. >> feel bad for a lot of small towns. >> where it's not even warm. anyway, even though the company was unable to secure the special tax incentives that it sought, the chicago trib reports now they want to shift 65 to 50 executives to chicago down now from 100 jobs in its bid to win approval for special payroll tax

incentives worth about $30 million only over a 20-year period. >> but the governor said he was not going to assign any more special deals for this stuff, but he wants to see them deal -- he said he wasn't going to cut any more special deals until they dealt with the pension underfunding issue. >> the question is could decatur have given them a deal or was there a deal to be had? >> i don't know. let's talk about the treasury department. it issued a warning on bitcoin. digital linked to the digital currency that they may have to rely on regulations as money transmitters. the government letters have had a chilling affect on bitcoin businesses. it suggests the firms are intimidated for noncompliance and may effectively be put out of business.

it got hit hard yesterday. the price of the digital currency has -- >> has dropped or has risen. >> plummeted by 50% since the record highs of late november. selling accelerated after reports that the peoples bank of china had ordered third party payment providers to stop using this virtual currency. the price fell to below $600 today. yesterday, it hit 659 and people were tweeting about it saying, oh, my gosh, wow, it's all the way down at $460. a cline of 3% and yesterday was a really bad day for it, too. >> so do we believe it's going to zero? that's the real question. >> i don't know if it's going to zero, but the idea that it was going to be on this -- lifts right up. >> i had some friends who actually came and saw the winkelvoss twins in december and ran out and buy bit coins. >> based on what they said? >> yes, because they believed this was the next coming -- they saw the winkelvoss on our air.

>> and he they decided to do it based on that? >> yes. >> no, they deserve to -- >> no. they saw it on our air. >> but if they're making large investments in bitcoin based on a couple of schmos that come on our air and talk about it -- >> we asked the questions. >> no, i mean i can't imagine that they would -- >> they've probably -- >> i really want to talk to mark -- >> what was his basis on the company, do we know? >> you wrote something. >> he has a -- >> it just became public. >> we have a bit of other news. in holiday central, we are now one week away from christmas and

that means a final shopping rush for many people. so more than 900 participating retailers are calling today free shipping day, offering the price cut with no minimum order with delivery by christmas eve apparently guaranteed. also today, a lot of buzz about jamie dimon's holiday card, featuring his wife and daughters on the back of a card writing all you need is love. multiple news reporting the all smiles card is more upbeat than last year's card. i don't belie i don't remember what last year's card was. >> people loved that it was professionally done, obviously, a very well appointed living space, which is a shock that jamie dimon would have a nice place. it has a tennis theme to it. i think it's nice. he looks great and relaxed. good. yes. >> it's a cool card. >> it is.

>> and real quickly, mark andriessen, invested $25 million for coin base. so it's not actually a bitcoin. it's a direct investment so the fluctuations may not have that big of a deal. >> and the question is whether that company can do other things besides bitcoin. because i believe digital currency there will away market, but not necessarily the -- >> two people have winning tickets this morning. >> i have to check my tickets. >> think of if you had $10 trillion. what would you do? would you quit working? what if you had 10 trillion? what if you had 100 trillion? you don't need to -- >> stop. >> one out of 280 -- >> i know, but i -- think about this.

>> let's say if you just picked six. 1, 1, 1, 1, 11, 1. >> it has as goods of odds as anything. >> essentially, the people that do win, i round them down to zero as nonexistent. >> you know why i do it? >> no, i don't. >> because i get to fantasize about -- >> back to you, in a jim carrey way. i saw people say -- there was a person who was doing her report from where the last year's winner was. and someone said, wow, it's not going to be you. is it? she bought it somewhere else. i wonder why so many things can be put over on us about other things. >> i don't think i'm going to win, but it's fun. >> if we find out if you won on the air today -- >> am i out of here? >> i won't let this go on.

think if you had $10 trillion, what would you do with it? >> you know what has been much more fun? it's when the entire staff has band together, we each put five bucks in and we all think about how you are going to sit here by yourself the next morning. >> 636 million, the mega jackpot, one ticket was sold in california and another ticket sold in florida. the odds of winning were one in 259 million. it's probably 100 million times greater that you get killed by a falling coconut if you leave by the -- >> if i won, i would buy you a lottery ticket every time there's a big prize. >> the winning numbers were 8, 20, 14, 79 and 7. >> should we we pete them again? >> i can repeat them for everyone at home. you don't have them.

8 -- attention -- >> what happens if a squawk viewer right now does? come on. >> the chances of that are like 1 in 258 million that it's a squawk viewer. and attention ron burgundy fans, anchorman 2 hits theaters today. the movie follows it's 2004 predecessor. i've never seen more hype about anything going all the way to dodge car commercials and -- >> one prediction, is this movie going to be a huge blockbuster or a massive failure? because it's a binary situation. >> is it, really? >> i think so. >> i don't think it's going to be a bomb. >> i have a problem with you calling it a film, number one. i'd prefer movie. i'll let you know when you can call one of these -- i don't think you can call -- >> martin corsczey, that's a film. >> oh, martin.

someone said it's his opis for cocaine. >> i can't wait for it. >> anyone can start a bucket shop, believe me. if you're willing to just call people and steal their money. >> you are critical of the underlying people involved in it. >> but number one, i was in that business and i saw people like that when i started the business in boston. you can see it in their eyes. they're sociopaths, they don't care about these people. and number two, we talked about it on "squawk box" all the time. they did these reserve -- i think they were doing these shells where they did the reverse mergers and were able to go public with these companies. and it was obvious. and i don't see glorifying that as -- i think you like leo. not that there's anything wrong with that. >> i like a good movie. right now, it's time for the

global markets report. ross westgate is standing by in london. or should we say ross burgundy this morning. >> oh, that's night. he looks a lot more dashing than i did, doesn't he? >> he looks a little too good for ron burgundy. >> he doesn't have a monitor. do you have a monitor? >> oh, yeah. >> did you see yourself? >> yeah. >> you saw that. >> it's a classy world. >> why is where is your get up, joe? >> i've got one. i don't know if we got it on -- i don't know if we saved it. did we? it was tweeted out and everything. >> we want to have a different conversation come january 1st, 2nd. >> do you have lotteries over there? >> we do. we do.

>> of course they do. >> we haven't had that much. we've had euro millions is probably the biggest one. it's a continent wide lottery which gets up to -- i don't know what the biggest winner on that is, up to about 90 million pounds, 150 u.s. but lotteries are tax free here. >> that makes a difference. >> because the other thing we have to do every time is talk about how much you get. then you can think about what you would do with that much money. >> and every winner gets screwed, by the way, in the end. >> that's one way of on putting it, i guess. >> you can see these horror stories. the curse of winning the lottery is not a great thing. >> i paid you $180 to read arthur's book and he tweeted it out yesterday, hope that you don't win. his point is, it's earned success. people that inherent money aren't all that happy. did you get that part of the book?

>> i did. >> and was that earned success in this case? >> i don't think it was because i don't think you read the book. anyway, because you haven't learned any of the other stuff about entrepreneurialship and following your individual path. are you talking to me or andrew? thanks, joe. see if you can get that up while we do this. we are up on the upside. around about 6 to 3 -- sorry, 7 to 2 on the dow jones stocks 600 at the moment. and some good economic data out today, ay, as well. start off in the uk, the ftse up 19 points. the unemployment rate ticking down to 7.4%. it was 7.6% in october and november. remember, the bank of england has a 7% threshold for when they

start thinking about should they be changing rates. so getting there an awful lot quicker and the biggest drop in unemployment total, 99,000 people since 2000, so the biggest drop for 13 years. the xetra dax is up, we had an important ifo result out as well.well, up to 9.05 in october from -- sorry, from 109.3 in november. and it seems to be a fairly broad based recovery, as well. the cac 40 is up 0.6%. the ftse mib is up about 1% at the moment. break that down into sectors. all the sectors are up. even the weaker sectors, the oil and gas not doing too badly. retail is the weaker sector at the moment. there has been some concern in the uk that it's going to be a fairly soft christmas. discount retailers taking away from the largest super market group and we had a company called debit the store coming out today and a report suggesting that they are negotiating tougher terms which

suggests all is not as well as it might be in these crucial few weeks ahead of christmas. autos, technology, banks have got the best of it right now. that's where we stand. with this very classy hit from london. back to you. >> stay classy world people are saying. did we find mine? we can put ross and me side by side. i think we did. not yet? >> i don't think we found it yet. but maybe after the break. >> we can -- >> something to look forward to. something to come back for. >> always like to see ron burgundy. >> but ross won't be here next week. coming up, we're going to talk about the fine art of tough love. peace offerings five steps to achieving excellence at the office. plus, why its author says ceos have a lot to learn from her public school music teacher. we have that after the break. but first, reynolds wolf joining us from the weather channel. >> good morning, guys. much of the northeast has been

in the deep freeze, but we've got changes coming. we're going to see this rov lift out and a nice ridge developing, to bring in some warmer and some dryer air later this week. now, in terms of your delays, unfortunately, those aren't going be going if you're going to the pacific northwest. got plenty of it in seattle. however, chicago, boston, atlanta, pretty nice, all things considered. so you have that going for you. on the road in new orleans, things are pretty good, pretty dry there. and in boston, roads icy in a few spots. be careful. more coming up on "squawk box." sit tight, guys. see new a few.

a new piece in the harvard business review online takes readers step by step through the fine art of tough love. joanne litman is the author of the piece and the coauthor of strings attached. joanne, thank you for coming in today. >> thank you for having me. >> the book has been very well received. you've written a harvard business piece online to take a look at runs through how you can take some of the steps that you learned and let ceos and executives pick up on some of these steps. tell us about mr. k, who was -- sure, so the book strings attached is interesting. the book is about a public school music teacher who changed the lives of thousands of students. >> including you. >> including me.

he was my childhood music teacher. he taught me the viola. it's a guy i lost touch with for many years, but when he passed away, i realized he was the guy that made all the difference. in fact, wie went back for his memorial service, which was a concert, i felt conpeld to go back. i walk into this memorial service, which was going to be a concert of alums and i walk in and i see 40 years worth of students have flown in, former students, flown in from around the country with their old instruments in tow, including me. some had grown up to be musicians, but most of them were like me. we put together a symphony orchestra the size of the phil harmonic. you realize the difference that one person can make in your life. and so the book tells the story of him. in the larger sense, it's the story of all of us because we all have someone like that who has changed our lives. was been a really interesting

kind of reaction to the book has been he's a very tough love, really kind of brutally difficult teacher. also very inspiring, but very tough. and we don't whitewash his message in the book. so we expected a lot of pushback from people saying, you can't do that, that's abusive, that's terrible. and instead, what we're getting a lot of is, amen, hallelujah, like bring it on. and especially from in business quarters. we're hearing it from parents, we're hearing it from teachers, i think we've really dipped into a moment in the culture where we're backing away from this sort of trophies for everyone mentality, this idea that you can't -- you know, that you have to praise people all the time. you have to praise kids. and the question is how do you translate that into the workplace? >> yeah. mr. k didn't dole out praise easily. he was pretty tough. >> absolutely not.

that that was one of his tenants. >> my question, mr. k., was he good for everybody, though? >> that's a great question. it's one of the things we tried to explore in "strings attached." and there is no teaching method that can work for everything -- >> because i had an eighth grade teacher who reminds me of mr. k. i like to think i was one of his favorites and i will love him forever. but i know a lot of people in my class who will not love him forever at all. >> right. and i think there's a fine line, and i think what mr. k. had and for the motor part, the students really feared and were intimidated by him. but the thing is, there's a couple things here. one is i think the bottom line here and the really important thing and this is true in the classroom and it's also true in the workplace. which is the bottom line is he set really high expectations, he was tough on us not because he thought we wouldn't get it. but because he was so absolutely

certain that we would. and what it was was confidence. it really was confidence in our ability to do better. which is a very different thing, i think, than just kind of being hard on someone for the sake of being a bully. it wasn't being bullying. >> you have five principals and we'll put them up on the screen. i want to put them up again. first is banish empty praise, the second is set expectations high. the third is articulate clear goals and goal points along the way. the fourth is failure isn't defeat and the fifth is say thank you. how do you take that and put that into the workplace setting? >> look at the first one, banish empty praise. so the idea is in mr. k.'s case, his highest praise for us was not bad. and if you got a not bad, i can tell you you went dancing down the street. you were so happy. and you'd go home and work twice as hard. but if you looked in the business literature, so one of the people i spoke to in researching the book was kay

anders ericsson who you guys know many of your viewers are going to know as the guy behind the psychologist who created this concept of you need 10,000 hours to create your expertise. there were two other elements. everybody knows 10,000 hours. there's two other elements. one is the lib rat practice, which means don't phone it in, like push yourself. the other, which i find really interesting, is -- and he said -- i just want to read this. he said real experts deliberately pick unsent mental coaches who challenge them and drive them to higher levels of performance. and i think that describes mr. k. and it describes sort of the great mentors in the workplace, as well. >> you've got to be out of your comfort zone, not something that makes you easy and comfortable with. >> and you want the person who is honest with you, who gives you honest feedback. >> that is pretty different than surrounding yourself with the yes men, which some bose can be accused of doing. they don't want to hear the bad news. >> absolutely. and then if you're the boss, the idea is -- and it can be really

hard when you're the manager to be honest. it's very easy to say, good job, good job, good job, and suddenly somebody is surprised when they, you know, don't get that raise or that promotion. so, yeah. >> the fifth point, we're running out of time, but i want to make up the point. you say the fifth important thing to do is always say thank you and that comes from his history of being an im front grant. he knew how to be grateful. >> and i think that's so important. that prevents him from becoming, as you're talking about, the teacher that people fear but don't get anything out of. this is a guy that grew up in world war ii, he has a tragic story, grew up in the ukraine before world war ii, comes to the united states, has a terrible tragedy and horrors in his own life, including a daughter who goes missing and a wife who is an inva lid. and really, truly tragic. yet he's a guy who never lost his gratitude for this country, for the opportunities that he had in this country.

it's something that he passed to you say. and to go with the tough love, you want to make sure you have the gratitude and the appreciation for people who come through and did the job well. that's what he did for us. >> thank you for coming in today. you've given us something to think about. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> is that the name right there? >> it's cowritten with melanie kopinsky, his daughter. >> do you still have a viola? >> i have. >> how often do you play? >> like never. i listen. i'm a wonderful audience member. >> you still have it? >> i still have it and i still say i'm going to play it again one day. not in public. >> but you were pretty good? >> i was actually quite good. i went all the way up. i studied with a jewuliard teacr

and i studied at yale with a yale music professor, yeah. >> did you play an instrument? >> i still do, yeah. i still do in our promo thing. >> what do you play? >> i play a guitar. >> we'll do a duet, viola and guitar. >> we are so lazy. we have to go so badly. coming up, experts weigh in about the direction of the ten-year note. think of them as oddsmakers on the true geek in all of us. first as we head to break, as promised, this is what i looked look. you see, they had the hair for me. >> the hair is kind of what pushes you over the top. >> he looks like james bond or something. i look like ross burgundy, unfortunately. joe burgundy. my mantra? family first.

but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron.

the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting and increase in psa. ask your doctor about axiron.

this morning's top market story, the fed decision. i think this time -- there's been fed decisions in the past, but we've never been in this position before where we've had, you know, qe3, people predicted it, but here we are and do we actually start cutting back? and i saw someone say is it tightening? absolutely it's tightening. other people say no, no, no. but when you're going 85 miles per hour, and you slow down to 75, you feel it. you feel it. >> but the balance sheet is $4 trillion now. >> it is. joining us now, robin harding, u.s. economic editor at the financial times and peter booklar, chief market analyst at the lindsay group. peter, do you do it today?

>> i think if it's based on the data, yes. but they're worried about the institutional transition, they can wait. >> i could argue that he wanted to get one under his belt. don't you think he may want to start it? >> i think he may want to, but it may be up to yellen because she may say give me a clean slate. on the other hand, they've been holding hands throughout this prospect. it may be an easy transition. >> do you think they've been holding hands? >> i think they have been at meetings. the risk of deflation continues. i'm just worried, one of these guys on the way to the meeting might look over at a news stand and see that and change their minds. they are pretty data dependent, aren't they? >> they are. inflation, the one bit of data, but it's the only one. i think they've got to think about inflation two years from now, not inflation today. so i doubt it's an absolute barrier to tapering today.

>> if it does happen, i'm on -- i think -- i don't necessarily -- i think the ten year has it priced in. what do you say? >> absolutely. the ten-year yield of 185 is exactly where it was. the bond market is ready for it. stock market, i'm not so sure, but the bond market is ready for it if it were to happen today. >> what if it doesn't happen today? >> then the markets will just assume. i think in the statement if they don't do anything today, we'll get the market ready for january or on march. so unfortunately if they don't, we won't have this same discussion through the beginning of next year because we are going to get that initial taper. the market should then start asking the question is what happens after? is this a one and done and they take a step back to see what happens or is this the beginning of the end? because, remember, a while back, bernanke said qe would be done when we got to a 7% unemployment rate. they haven't even started where it's close to 7. >> i can't imagine them not doing it today. you don't think they're going to do it today, robin, or you do? >> based on the reporting i did

before they went into -- a week ago, i thought it was 50/50. but given all the news we've had in the last week, which almost all points towards a taper, i think the odds are higher than that now. it's still uncertain, though, just because the cost of waiting until january is so low. imagine sitting there thinking, we want to taper today, all the data says do it, but why not wait until january? it doesn't hurt. >> is there a point where the market says, we're upset with you for not doing it sooner? before the market was saying we're not ready for this. is there a point that if they don't do it in december, they don't do it in january, that hey, if you don't do it by that point, the market starts to get upset with you. >> i think it's december or january now. is the market going to get upset? i think the market likes it. as long as the market believes the fed knows what it's doing and is sending the signals, they'll be fine. >> mark farber says if they don't do it, we're in the roach

motel. they have to start. when we come back, ukrainian president is under pressure under a bailout. we'll find out why the global markets are taking note, right after this. ♪

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protesters in ukraine remaining in the square in the capital yap still of kiev after signing a $15 billion bailout deal with russia. michelle caruso cabrera is here with more on the story. >> two big headlines. we've been wondering would

ukraine choose west over east? this certainly looks like they have chosen russia for a big signing sayre mother in moscow. slight nuance detail, no agreement on whether they'll join this customs union that russia wants them to join. so there's still, in theory, the potential that they could join a european customs union. but we've all gotten the signal. the second headline is -- and it's gotten less coverage, but i think it's important for our viewers, is that this $15 billion that russia has come up with comes from one of their sovereign wealth funds, $88 billion, it's their national welfare fund. it is supposed to be what they put aside for a rainey day for pensions because they, like nearly everybody else in the world have a lot of unfunded liabilities and this was supposed to be this rainey day fund, it was supposed to be invested in safe instrumentes. however, they have now taken

their people's future money and invested in ukrainian bonds over the next several years. we're showing some of the data points that are important here. so we're looking at the -- this would be the price on the ukrainian two year. you can see it rose in value dramatically. the yield has come down on their long-term debt. the qe is really far away. here is the yield on the one, the ten-year yield for ukraine. you can see it declined with 7.5%. >> you've talked to the sovereign wealth fund guy. >> there's three. i talked to one of them. >> when you see moves like this, how do you possibly go out and tell international investors that this is safe, particularly if you're saying you have to be selling this stuff for? >> you hit the nail on the head, becky. absolutely right. it's good to be king, right? putin says, you, state owned company, this is what you're going to do. this is the price you're going

to charge. how does an investor ever do anything with that, right? >> bad place to be. >> bad place to be, yes. i hear the music rolling. see you later. coming up, retailers are counting on major online sales today. we'll talk winners and loser when we return. i don't just make things for a living i take pride in them. so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis was also on display, i'd had it. i finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist. this time, he prescribed humira-adalimumab.

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christmas. jan is cofounder of online analytics company. good morning. >> good morning. thank you. >> let's talk about what's going on online. that seems to be where all retail action is this year. excuse me. when you look at the ultimate winners and losers in all this, we talk about the multichannel effort that people like macy's are going through. who is the true winner besides amazon since they seem to always win? >> certainly amazon and ebay again is the pure play online retailers that look to be having a strong season. channel retailers are under pressure with the shorter holiday shopping season, six days shorter than last year. they opened stores early. that seemed to backfire on them. the traffic they they brought in thanksgiving day didn't convert to sales anywhere near what the traffic would have done black friday. they started off you the season

down 2 to 3%. that continued the following week. while at the same time, online sales were up 20% plus. >> is that an indictment of the multichannel strategy at large across the board? >> i think the strategy of opening on thanksgiving day has backfired on them. they moved the traffic forward. people didn't go into the stores on thanksgiving day anywhere near the same expectations of spending they would have had black friday. once in the stores thanksgiving day, they didn't go back black friday. sales dropped. i think the retailers are going to do well this year, the ones that really figured out how to sell online. >> wait a second. in terms of the strategy backfiring, do you think the retailers are not going to open thanksgiving day next year? that's though the the impression i guess. the impression i think they want to be there early to win the market share. even if it doesn't translate to

sales, i don't see that going bad. >> one of the key reasons they did open thanksgiving day was the season was shorter. six days shorter. they wanted to get an early start. i think they're going to have to rethink how they did that because you know if you open thanksgiving day and sales are down 2 to 3% the next ten days it puts tremendous pressure on the back end of the season. i think we're going to see heavy discounting still through christmas. the open question is what does that do to margins? >> are you able to track returns and whether returns come online only or actually happen in store and what the costs ultimately are for that? >> that's a good question. we did a study for ups where we look at entire shipping process. one level of dissatisfaction the consumers had was with returns. i think retail is beginning to figure out in apparel if you can

offer free returns you can boost online sales. if you have a physical store to have the ability for the consumer to return that product in the store, turns out to be a real positive. >> so there are things that the multichannel retailers can do that maybe the online guys cannot do. they need to do something to prevent the sales erosion they're getting as the channel shifts. >> one last question just to point out. actually we've got to run. i apologize. happy holidays. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you very much. coming up, the amc entertainment ceo planning to go public today. why big coin is under pressure this morning. we'll talk about that when "squawk box" return ars. s. (vo) you are a business pro. seeker of the sublime. you can separate runway ridiculousness...

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. decision day. will bernanke flip the switch? guest host of the american enterprise sininstitute. predictions on the fed's next move. amc entertainment wants to see a block buster this week. yes for ron burgundy and the news team but also the ip onco.s how the theater is changing the experienc experience. "squawk box" begins right now.

>> good morning everybody. welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc. i'm becky quick with joe kernen and andrew ross. we've been watching the figures. the market seems to be taking everything in stride. right now looks like the futures are up 50 points for the fair value for the dow. embracing the taper. bracing. s&p 500 up 4 point, nasdaq up 5.5. ten year note one people are watching closely especially us. ten year yielding 2.854%. question is if they taper today, will the ten year go up or down? that's what we have a bet riding on. >> it's monday right? >> friday. we're not here monday. >> going to stretch your time. in our headlines the justice department is reportedly preparing to file city fraud charges against the merrill lynch unit.

the issue is what they're calling the fraud sale of mortgage securities ahead of the final crisis. jp morgan is suing fdic for not assuming legal claims a rising from the mutual assets after the 2008 imploegs. blackberry hired an executive as head of the gloeble enterprise business. john sims joins next month. he served as the president of the mobile services business prior. we are watching bit coin. the digital currency plummeted after record highs last month. the people's bank of chie and a half has orred third party pavement providers to stop using the the virtual currency. price fell below 600 today. >> 400 and change a bit ago. >> talk about volatility. >> that's why it will never work

as a currency. >> right. an hour ago it was below 400. >> it was 1200 last month. >> with this volatility, how could it ever be a currency? is amazon going to accept this. >> you saw branson try to be hip and current. he sold it immediately right? he was selling tickets not to the moon but to space. the deal was you paid in bit coin. he effectively hedged the transition by turning it to dollars. silver lake capital and hollywood talent agency expected to announce a deal to buy sports and need i can't agency img $2.38 million. the deal will give the agency access to new you clients and big presence in the sports business. clients include peyton manning,

justice timberlake. it's a big deal for our friend manuel who's going to become -- talk about the big agency always william morris versus -- this changes the business. >> this is a legendary company. i've been here 22 years. mark mccormick bought time on cnbc to have a show on. he was not a broadcaster. he would -- his cameras were legendary. he started with arnie palmer. another legend had it for a long time. >> you knew teddy. this sold from the forceman of state. this is the last piece. >> my original agent was at img. my friend sandy. it wasn't a real -- it didn't go well when i switched. now he's working for the guy i

switched. >> now you're back. running all of hollywood and sports all at the same time. >> right. >> they bid $1.9 billion. there was a lot of negotiating over the weekend as to who was going to get this and whether arnie was overpaying -- very interesting story. got to change the world of talent management. >> consolidating -- who will the other agency be? >> william morris and img. >> basically the big three. okay. >> all right at least two people are much, much richer this morning after buying winning lottery tickets to the $636 million mega millions jackpot. >> not you?

>> i don't think so. one ticket was sold in california and the other in georgia. yeah, so if you didn't buy it there, scratch yourself off you the list already. it's possible winners in other states will be announced. the odds of winning were about 1 in 259 million. the winning numbers were 8, 20, 14, 17, 39, 7. >> those are my numbers. i didn't do it. i listened to joe. had i done it, those would have been my numbers. >> it's going to come through will there and land on your head and kill only you. people wrote in to me and said i don't want something 259 to 1 happening to me. whatever that may be. i don't either. if you're going to have something that happens 1 in 259 million times you don't want that. it's going to be horrible. i don't know what.

>> don't walk outside. you've got a better chance to be hit by a falling coconut. million times better chance of that. i sound like i don't want to be engaged in these conversations with the lottery. it makes me look like -- >> crotchy. >> is that a word? >> i don't know. if not it should be. a more important conversation with the fed today. they're set to wrap up a two day meeting with a policy announcement and conference this afternoon. gentleman, welcome to both of you. thank you for being here today. john, i'm thrilled to have the chance to talk to you about the economy. because as the head of ip you know what's happening at this point. something like 95% of all products in the united states are shipped in brown corrugated boxes. you make the boxes.

you know what's happening. >> true. >> what's the economy look like from where you sit? >> it feels like 2% gdp growth. i'd have to say november was better than we thought. the start of the holiday season which is november to december has been a little better. it feels like 2% growth. >> has it felt like a steady 2% are weighing times? >> 7% is drifting by the consumer spending. the consumers one month feel good and one month feel anxious. i saw something consumers are discontent about the current conditions and worried about the future. i don't think you're going to see the spending it's going to take to get the economy going and create jobs. >> ceos feel nervous about things and don't want to invest. i guess if consumers show up some times and not other times

it's hard. >> it's about psychology. this is not about confidence. we'll respond to demand. we don't need encouragement to hire people. we respond with packaging. people don't bite unless they need it. if they need it, they want. >> a fair outlook we've heard similar stories to. if fed is listening to stories like this getting feedback from ceos they talk to, how do they make a decision on what to do? >> they do that. when i worked at fed a long time ago, greenspan started the survey, having staff call up ceos and contacts and tell them what's going on. i think the economy looks better over the last couple of months. i think john mentioned they had a positive surprise. that's really clearly everywhere in the the data even if you look at the michigan survey that skyrocketed going into christmas. that should be a good sign. fed has been cautious about

tapering. it's quite possible today the taper everybody expects doesn't happen. they want to see one more good month of data before they go there. >> is one more month enough? is this the loop consumers don't feel good, feds don't feel good. how do you break the cycle? is the fed the one to do it? >> the bigger risk is economy heats up enough. we've got reserve temperatures didn't turn into the helicopter drop of money that created inflation. as soon as banks become optimistic, reserves turn to money. there's members of the fed that are worry had the could get out of control if they don't act soon. little bit of taper is probably the right answer. i still think 50/50 if it happens today. >> we don't see rise in inflation at all. feels like 1 to 2% inflation. i'm not pessimist. if it grow, it solves problems.

it makes the economic pie bigger. we're not having the debate about how to carve up the existing pie. >> what's holding it back now keeping it from being 3% grower? >> i think it's the consumer. i think we've got to figure out how to get more income into their pockets. they keep more of what they make or wage growth. that's not going to happen until the economy gets better. >> read the review, get more minimum wage. >> we're going to have both the unions to make it easier as if not easy enough. >> the question i have is that so we just decide had the inflation is really low f. they want to stay, they can easy willy stay and not taper. the bigger question is, is qe 3 helping consumer confidence? i include ceos because they consume things or hurting consumer confidence? we have people making the point here the looming exit from qe is

holding people back. qe is counter productive. >> consumer confidence started to go up. >> ceos are the ones we worry about as well. are they worried how this plays out? are they afraid to make long term commitments because they don't know how qe goes when they exit? >> that's not our issue. >> but you want them to exit? >> we want them to exit gradually and not miss the curve. not miss the mark and catch up. i'm optimistic. i think our feds will get it right. >> you don't look optimistic at 2%. why? >> international papers have all time earning record this is year, best results in 115 years. we depend on customers.

>> you said the average consumer doesn't like and is worried about the future. >> that only leaves the past right? isn't that the only thing? >> i think our best days are ahead of us. for the country. look at positive bipartisan leadership in washington will go a long way. consumers watch cnbc or pick up the newspaper and look at things going wrong in the economy, that's going to cause them to be uncertain. housing prices are starting to rebound. equisear equisearty markets are back. this shows how resilient the economy is. >> this is good for the paper company paper over problems right? >> we're going to talk more about the specific story at ip in just a i little bit. john is our guest host with us for the morning, so is kevin. we have more to get to. earnings trickling in. general mills 83 points per

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welcome back to "squawk box" the walking dead television series are suing amc net work over profit from the cable show. >> there's a lot. it's a very highly watched show. frank developed the series and developed to amc in 2010. he was forced off the show prior to the second season. he argues that the company has deprived him of tens of millions of in forecast through improper and abuse dealing. i guess amc pays itself a

licensing fee. >> there's question what the actual profit is. this is the back end profit deal all over again. what you're showing profit. amc is trying to suggest they're not making a profit which is basically impossible. >> mob city is which, hbo? >> i've seen the ads for it. >> not amc i guess? >> let me look that up you. >> there are different show runners. i think they got the same again for -- >> is it tnt. mob city is on tnt. >> that's this guy. yeah. i think that's developing. the show on now is good. didn't you think the first half of the season was great? >> do you think the creator should get paid a lot more money? how do you feel? >> i don't think the creator is

that involved with where we are. they're getting everything from the comic books. >> the problem is probably in the way the contracts are written. you need to find some way to find the gross number not before and after things. you can do all kinds of things with accounting. the problem is problem the way the contract is written. >> she's been gone since second, third and half of the fourth. i'm not on his side. >> you don't want to give him anything? >> i don't want to give him anything. he's just fine. >> i like where it's gone. i don't think he should get cut out. first season was good too. >> that's kirkman. >> first season was good too. >> first was good but had to be good because that's when everything was -- yeah. >> coming up, a big day for loc hollywood. anchorman 2 going public. we've got the cool club chairs.

i love those. don't miss our very own anchorman cameo. >> news going 24 hours around the clock? a channel that's never off in other words? >> yeah. just 24 hours. >> no offense but you are stupid. change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.

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welcome back to "squawk box" theater group amc entertainment holding pricing ipo $18 a share, at lower end of the initial range. part of the money will be used to pay down debt and also improve the seats of the movie theaters. i have my new favorite seats michelle. michelle is here to tell us about the ipo and seats. >> why is the chief international correspondent doing a story on the seats of amc theaters? this is the second largest owned in the united states. i spent time with them during the direct series we did. that's why i'm doing it. they're going public to improve seats. movie going experience used to be exclusively about the movie, which you want to see and where. that's true burt the experience is extremely important or

getting more important. the experience hasn't changed since stadium seating was introduced in the 80s. i think it's about to change all over again. amc theaters going through major transformatio transformations. folding seats of childhood replaced with push button recline. >> it's like first class flight to europe or asia. >> because seats bigger, there are fewer in the theater. >> what we deliver to guests is a significantly better seating experience. >> if there are fewer seats then you must be bringing in less money right? >> not the case. in every single case, the attendance goes up from 50 to 150%. it does that inside three months of remodel. it does it with essentially no marketing. all word of mouth. >> it's far better to have a full house of fire seats than

half empty house of more seats. >> absolutely. >> 10 million dollar to retro fit a theater. >> these are amazing. the question of maintaining seats which are basically like airplane seats. do they break. they're electronic. to go to lazy boy and go all the way back. people could spill on them. they're made out of leather. they've got to get them cleaned. people are lying down. little bit of a different situation. >> that's also assigned seating often. >> you get to pick your seat. >> you don't have to sit through previews if you don't want. show up late et cetera. these are new. these are depending on what state is theater is in. i think it's still so new they don't know what it's going to turn out to be.

>> those have big potential in the time square theater. you know what i'm saying. >> they need to get them cleaned. >> they're going to do double lazy boys. or not. >> pee wee. >> exactly. you went there. >> they have to do this. i like watching movies at home on my couch. i can get faster downloads of movies on demand. >> exact yly. >> i'm a big fan of assigned seating. i did that at a theater here that doesn't have nice seats. >> interestingly adults are biggbig fans of assigned seating but adults are not. it's like are they going to show up et cetera. if you're buying a seat, you buy a row of four for your family.

a teen buys independently. how do they get to sit together? it's $19. they've experienced higher pricing. they've been asked whether or not in california. they pushed it to $25 and sold out. coming up, quarterly results from fedex. we' we'll have the numbers and instant analysis and hope friday insight from the shipping giant on the holiday season. card board box tell you a lot about spending. unique read on the economy curtesy of international paper ceo john.

in our headlines this morning justice department preparing to file civil charges against city group and merrill lynch over flawed mortgage crisis. two are much richer after

guying mega millions jackpot tickets. one ticket sold in california, another in georgia. we hear that other states may be hearing from as well. becky still has a shot at this thing. joe has news. >> fedex results $1.57. the number they're showing initially which would not live up to the $1.64 expectation. we'll see if that's a clean number. interestingly it was exactly half a billion, net was. $11.4 billion revenue. right in line with expectations $11.43 billion. the company says that the ground segment revenue 3.5 billion, express segment revenue $6.84 billion and average daily package volume up 8% which that's a good number there. >> let me tell you comments from chairman, president and ceo.

he sounds positive about this. they posted solid second quarter earnings improved fedex express as well as the the profit improvement plan introduced a year ago. they says that continues to gain momentum. he says the power of broad portfolio continues to drive growth and i'm confident we're on our way to achieving the goals we've set. so if you have questions based on what you see today, he's confident they will. >> they missed in the current quarter. stock is down but it's the all time stock is 140. it closed yesterday 139.09. >> the outlook is four year earnings of share growth 8 to 14% above last year's adjusted results. previous growth range 7 to 13 remain silent. they raised it slightly. the outlook reflects share repurchases made today but not benefit of additional share repurchases. they expect to continue those

share repurchases. the timing will at the company's discretion. >> it's volatile. in the past they've taken issue when we say it's below expectations. they say we didn't give expectations. it's what the street was anticipated. 134 to 145. i hate saying that expression but i mean by the end of the day. today. >> the market outlook for fuel prices continued -- it assumes the market outlook for fuel prices and moderate economic growth. they're not looking for great growth. john, talk about the 2% world. that's maybe what they're basing outlooks on. >> all right. we'll continue to look at these and get more comments if we can. let's get perspective on all this from our guest hosts. a company that makes all those

boxes shipped by fedex. ceo of ip. we've already talked about that indicator. there's another. i do trucks on i-75 going to cincinnati. that's another one. these are totally -- you will see -- they're totally elastic. you can gauge it when demand is there and not. you gave us our 2% thing. one of the things i thought was you interesting you said you wonder act additional expansion into china at this point because of competition and are they just not good partners? do they not play fair. you say russia is a good place. they are fair there? >> china is growing but there's excess capacity in everything. >> other foreign countries there? >> chinese, south koreans, u.s.

it's the most competitive market. it's tough to produce and sell in china. in russia we're producing there and selling in china. it's a commodity they can't make. we've got a great cost structure. we have a cost competitive fiber, cost competitive power. in our business, energy, water, fiber and people that are the cost structure. and good logistics into china. the closest producer of what we make to northern china in the world. >> that's why a lot of investments have been in russia? >> they have been. the role model of foreign director investment with the partner in russia and manufacture. >> do you get nervous when you see things like what we talked about with michelle earlier.

she was here with the story how putin is tell thing it has to sell gas to ukraine at a set price. does that make you nervous when you see these moves with the administration? >> i don't know the oil and gas sector in russia. they don't want to be involved in our sector. they want us to be inforvestingd rebuilding in the base in this economy they're dependent on. >> which is more pure capitalist? >> china. >> they're doing it their way for sure. the fact that you've got everybody in china, it's the biggest market in the world. everybody feels they have to be there. >> let me ask kevin from the american air institute. who's more capitalist, china, russia or u.s. under this administration? >> did i scare you with that?

u.s. by a hair. more than china? >> china is a capitalist place. there's still a question. john thinks he's on top of this. putin decides he really likes the international paper asset, then at some point there's not -- >> let me ask a different way. who's more statist in term temperatures of thinking you can get the ten smartest guys to control all economic activity? >> here, china -- are we tied yet? not even close. you're from the aei. i'm worse than you in terms of -- >> you're not going to make the case president barack obama is worse than putin. that's going too far. >> okay. i'll let you say that. basically but you have seen a drift towards state run -- >> in that direction. >> they're not baby steps right now. would you say that? >> do i have to get a real aie

guy to say something? what's wrong? >> it's completely different. after the budget deal you're feeling like who are you paul ryan and patty murray? you do have one socialist at the aei don't you? >> who is that? >> a token socialist at the aei. coming up, it's time to make -- okay. i need to say it. i could get in trouble. he's not as much a statist as putin or sheem, the new guy in china. time to make the doughnuts. dunkin doughnuts brand consumer just on ceo expanding the dunkin brand and keeping people moving. grab your coffee and keep it locked to "squawk box" we'll be coming back.

sign up and get morning squawk delivered in your inbox every weekday. "squawk box" on cnbc. profit from it. we're aig. and we're here. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space.

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take a look at figures everybody. in in meantime market is not worried. dow up 41 points above fair value, s&p 500 up by 3. dunkin brands expanding into the uk opening the first store this week. here to talk about the company's plans in 2014. the chairman and ceo of dunkin brands. he brought doughnuts. we appreciate that. >> you love doughnuts. >> you do know my -- yes. >> i said before how many i've seen you eat. >> i only like the glazed. you brought a lot of fancy holiday doughnut this is year. do holiday sell better than doughnuts throughout the year? >> we sell extremely well all

year. we try and spice it up. obviously at holiday time you come out joy, beautiful colors and we do that. >> we keep talking about consumers. and also whether the consumer cares about tapering and all stuff we talk about on the show. from your vantage point, the folks walking in to buy the doughnut and coffee every morning, what's happening? >> i've been thinking about it a lot. watching tv since 3:00 this morning getting back from the uk opening the store. consumers are in a reasonable place. one thing is we're not extending unemployment benefits to long term unemployed. that's where they like to come in for affordable traits. >> that is impact on a businesslike yours. >> it's something we're concerned about. we've always done very well when consumer is under pressure.

that's something that concerns me. the other thing that's concern as good that i'm delighted we got the budget discussions out of the way. the long term debt ceiling we cannot go through another debate over that. people need certainties. coming back to tapering, i'd rather here certainty either way. >> do you pay minimum wage? >> we pay above minimum wage. we have a clear policy. we focus on statement minimum wage. we try to pay above it. our franchise is very focused on getting the best people they can. we pay above minimum wage. i'm not saying no one pays minimum wage because we can't control everything franchises do. they try to be sensible. we want the best labor. they try to reduce turnover. we do a nice job of doing that. >> we've heard if minimum wage is raised, franchises will go

back to you saying they want you to start charging less for other things. >> we had a discussion last week. that never came up becky. we're in a fortunate situation. we don't have problems getting money from banks. i haven't had that four years. we've had a record number of signings in terms of new stores. the economic model is stellar. it's our relationships with our franchises that's important. we talk about issues, agree on things like minimum wage last week. we're focused on getting the best people. that counts at the end of the day. >> how many you got in california now? >> how many more. >> we'll have a lot more in two years. in california it's sold out in terms of franchise agreements.

and i'm excited. >> i'm giving you the big kudos when i say what does the ceo do? hey, why don't we open stores in california? that's a good idea. that's not bad nigel. that's why you get paid the big bucks. why were you not in california before this? >> we didn't do hit until you told me. that seems like a good place to do it. is it because it's hot? >> the big secret. we always talk about california. the big change thousand is talking 1,000 scores in texas. >> you're not in texas? >> we're in texas but it was a difficult market in '09. >> why? >> we had problems before my time. we cured problems, did a great relationship with jerry jones down in dallas. >> what about memphis now? >> yeah. >> what is tmerging of krispy

kreme. >> we don't see them as a competitor. >> starbuckss is a competitor and mcdonald's. >> mcdonald's is our biggest competitor. they're in ice cream, breakfast sandwich, trying to get in could have feoffment they're talking about the beverage opportunity which by the way is still opportunity for us. if they see it, we see it as well. >> where does starbucks lie in that? >> they've had a spectacular year. we're fortunate. we have the best competitors out there to make us better. >> is the whole category growing? >> coffee is growing. >> what growth rate do you see for the category? >> it will continue 4 to 5% a year. breakfast sandwiches is a natural compliment to beverages that keeps going. it's interesting. i said this on cnbc europe yesterday. doughnuts seem to be in

resurgen resurgence. >> i love carbs. >> people like you . >> what does this do in terms of all other dunkin doughnuts in terms of cost structure. >> we've all got wi-fi. we had a roll out last year. >> but there's some stores that seem much more inviting to hang out and then there are others that sort of stick to the old traditional model? is that a transition across the board that's going to happen? >> we did well in the morning, wanted more in the afternoon. i'm focused on the evening now. it's interesting. my local store in massachusetts, i was comparing our store with starbucks. how many were in there with laptops in the evening. it was equal. >> what do you have evening?

i know breakfast and lunch. evening is bakery sandwiches which if you want to snack before a ball game or going to the theater, we've got great sandwiches. some people still have doughnuts in the evening. a lot of people come in for a cup of coffee, cappuccino. >> canadians love the hockey guy. they're loyal to him right? >> what's his name? tim whortons. >> seven closed in may. >> in boston, do you have more dunkin doughnuts? who's winning in boston? >> there's no tim whorton. >> they're nice to him in buffalo. >> is their coffee hotter? it's the hockey thing. >> it's the canadian influence. >> as i said before, we're

surrounded by great come p competitors. the more you have the better you have. >> what about cupcake makers? >> i think it's an interesting business, but i don't think we're getting in hit. >> is there a cupcake craze? >> there is a craze. >> you have red velvet munch kins. i know about that. >> what about the croissants? >> the crow nut. >> it's patented. got to be careful. i did test one that we've worked on in the lab. it is spectacular. andrew, i'll send you one special. >> will you? please do. thank you for being here. >> are you considering switching from foam to paper? >> in certain jurisdictions we

already have. we're excited about some of the new developments of recycled water bottles. we have to talk business. >> if bloomberg prevailed would you have sold that in new york, the beverage with sugar in it? we would have had to have the sugar dispensed after you get yoit yourself. >> san francisco will find something they don't like about what you're doing. if this gets more prevalent. >> happy holidays. >> same to you. we have numbers on the street after this. as we head to break, a "squawk box" memory. our special show we produced from fedex hanger 26 in memphis, almost three years ago today.

>> like clock work. almost like a fedex delivery had to be there in timeover night. we pulled it together. fed speaks for itself. it was awesome. ere does the unis get most of its energy? is it africa? the middle east? canada? or the u.s.? the answer is... the u.s. ♪ most of america's energy comes from right here at home. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. the ocean gets warmer. take the energy quiz. the peruvian anchovy harvest suffers. it raises the price of fishmeal, cattle feed and beef. bny mellon turns insights like these into powerful investment strategies. for a university endowment. it funds a marine biologist...

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welcome back everybody. fedex as we told you out with the quarterly results. they fell shy of expectations. joining us now, scott, an

analyst going to talk his thoughts on this too. numbers were below the street on this. the numbers you get from the chairman and ceo are positive. he thinks they're going to hit long time numbers. what do you think. >> it's relative in the quarter. the guidance of the full year was increased by 6 cents on the low end and high end looking previously 7 to 13% growth for the year. now up to 8 to 14. it's good. about two-thirds of that is going to come from stock buy backs which is what they increased two months ago. a big announcement they'd be buying back a lot of stock. two parts of that is organic. folks are looking at the cyber week e commerce pushed into

decemb second. it could come through strong in the fiscal third quarter in february. >> that's a good point. thanksgiving being later, cyber monday being later this year. cyber monday was in december this year. maybe that's the biggest difference they saw? >> we'll look for commentary on that in the call. stocks down this morning. would you buy stock here? >> not a lot of color in the press release about the progress on cost savings thus far. over the next couple of years looking for profitability of $1.6 billion. that's powerful. you've seen that in stock appreciation this year. there's momentum. with the guidance increased by people interested. if we see further weakness on the quarter which could be tiemg

-- be timing as i mentioned it would be nice. >> what about fedex? >> we think gdp will drive growth for both going forward. the improving global economy and trade we're looking for also boosts both names. >> quickly, one word answers on this. if you pick one stock, which is it of the two? >> to be honest, i'm going with ups. they're both great. buy them both. the evaluation gap between the two is narrowed. we still like ups. when we return, we'll talk about the fed and a lot more. my mantra? family first.

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it's decision day. will bernanke and company taper? how will markets react? breaking news. housing stocks and the sector of firm footing. >> a wink, a flash. it's google's way to take pictures. creepy but cool. that story is ahead. is bit coin in trouble? losing half value since hitting record highs last month, and why china may have the last laugh. the final hour of "squawk box" continues now. >> why can't the news be fun?

>> yea. ♪ don't stop believing welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. first in business worldle wide i'm joe kernen with becky quick and andrew ross sor kin. you like frosty or faraci? american institute director of economic policy kinder gentler director of policy, kevin has et here as well. who's your boss over there? >> author brooks. >> i'm going to talk to him. he was on last week. >> you haven't called him rhino. i don't know if the argument fits anymore. we'll see. in corporate news this morning a number of quarterly

reports on stocks on the move. shares getting a boost. beating the streets by 11%. general mills 3 cents below expected. revenue fell short. stock down 2.7%. then you have fedex who's quarterly earnings also fell short of what the street was expecting for the quarter. the shipper is raising its profit growth target for the year by a percentage point. i think they went from 7 to 13% to 8 to 14%. part is because they've been buying back so many shares. they were positive about what they were seeing. an analyst just told us numbers getting push into the next quarter, fiscal third quarter, could be because we mad the late thanksgiving and cyber monday came in december this year. we'll wait and here more on the conference call where they can give you detail about what's happening. numbers this terms of shipments, fedex ground average daily

volume grew by 8% in the second quarter. john you said that matches with what you've seen at ip. >> online retail is our strongest. it's strong double digits. >> they say part of that is market share gains. you've been seeing online retail in general. >> customers in that space are all growing. mortgage applications fell 5.5% in the last week to the lowest level in more than 12 years. the drop follows the slight increase in rates. new mortgages are about to get priceyier. the catalyst, changes fannie mae and freddie mac play in the nancht giant said their regulator is making them charge higher fees on loans that don't have high credit scores. that's the big issue. in washington uz noo. the consumer financial

protection bureau is calling for banks to disclose to universities with students. the watchdog found questionable practices a rising from relationships between schools and banks. examples include a university personnel receiving month and gifts from lendsers and loaning stock companies offering services to the students. a new ap survey says the income gap is holding back the economy. riches would be more even by dispersed. what will with hear after today's fed meeting? joining us now white house council of economic advisors chairman jason furmin. i think you've been on a lot. i think only maybe once since you got the big job. great to have you on today. thank you. >> great to be here.

>> we've got this guy's resume. he's like mr. ivy league. any way, jason, i don't know if we talked to you directly. i have talking points. the one thing that always strikes me. number one what we want to do is growing jobs and economy. 3.5% growth, 5% unemployment. all things we're arguing act kind of go away. none go away if we grow it 2% it seems like. i don't know if i see the emphasis on growing jobs and the economy. things get distracted into other areas. what are we trying to do? it says simplify the tax code. streamline regulations. that doesn't seem like things the white house is emphasizes at this point. >> you read my point, making my life easier here. we've seen growth pick up, solid

job growth, unemployment rate come steadedly down. there's a lot more to do. budget agreement is an important step to give us certainty, relieve sequester, relief fiscal drag. the most immediate thing is extend unemployment insurance benefits. that's good for the economy. the purchasing power. once we get beyond that, infrastructure, education, reforming the fax cotax code. >> we see a huge amount of emphasis on income equality with the motion of splitting up what we already have a little better. not about growing it for everyone. when is the last time we talked corporate tax reform? last time that was priority or territorial system? >> let me tell you when the

president talked about corporate tax reform. on the speech on inequality. he gave a major speech and said one of the most important things we need to do is raise incomes for everyone. in that speech he talked about lower tax rates for businesses. message is growth and making sure growth is shared. on your program you referred to a survey you by the economistist ap did. those two are fully compatible. >> this is kevin has et here. how you doing? >> how you doing. >> the inequality and minimum wage plooens the pli wage is starting already. people are doing poorly. we haven't increased incentive to locate people in the u.s. you emphasize minimum wage. if you were a professor at nyu

you wouldn't give someone an a that said i'm going to expand the economy. that's where you are going. let's put it this way. where does hit stop? do you have measure of what redistribution is doing? where you say okay, now it's enough. is that where you're taking us to a 70% rate? >> we have the same rate we had under president clinton in the 1990s. >> that's not true. >> in terms of where we want to go next, kevin, our test is what it does for middle class. look at typical family's income. it's lower than 1997. that's decades of trends of slow growth of typical family's income. that has to be a concern for you. ellen greens span was talking about inequality a threat seven years ago. >> their incomes are low because focussing on inequality and

redistributing doesn't cut the rate. increasing the minimum wage or increasing redistribution through obamacare is not going to make incomes go up right? >> when you're president of the united states you have to do more than one thing at a time. this president put business tax on the agenda. president bush was in eight year, cut tax trillions of. president bush never imposed the lowering the tax rate. president barack obama wants to make sure people share in growth with things like minimum wage this. do all of the above when it comes to our plan. if people aren't sharing in the growth, you're not going to have the growth you and i would both like to have. >> coming back to the comment you made. i agree the economy from our

perspective, 70% of our revenues from north america. i argue it's far from strong. you used the word strong. how do we get the consumer back in the market? it's their demand to create the jobs to supply? >> that's the right question. we've been through the year process of deleveraging. if you look at interest payments, they're at low levels. that's one of the best signs consumers are poised to spend more to have a stronger year in 2014. remember, the growth we've seen this past year was despite a fiscal contraption. payroll tax went away, sequester hit. that was a big head wind for the economy. the economy went through it. the private components have been growing at 3.7% rate lately. that's a better guide to next

year now that the head winds are past us. >> just looking at all these things. they're said in a way, a lot of talking points from the white house, where jason, it sounds good but i don't see a lot of it happening. everybody agrees if we could do public private partnerships in a lot of areas that that would be something both sides would probably agree on in a bipartisan way. i know your history. would you grant me the notion that maybe private sector solutions haven't been emphasized as much in the first four years and beginning here that you would have liked? could we do more in terms of not all answers lying in the public sector but lying in the private sector? >> the growth we've had in our economy is because of the private sector. the private sector is driving this recovery.

what we want to do is headacmak we can further that. we have trade agreements comprehensive with europe. that's expanding the scale of market, letting businesses do what they do really well. when they do that, they're going to create jobs, going to raise wages. absolutely. >> about the only thing you've done to the private sector, their number one concern now for the first time ever is high regulation. half goes through you the individual tax income code. you increase the rate on small business. when i think about what you've done on the private sector, i'm having a hard time on things you've done possible. >> president barack obama proposed 100% exposing, proposed

bonus depreciation. we have cut taxes on businesses to spur investment. businesses need more than tax cuts. they need sound regulations, type of regulations we had and way they were enforced are one of the things that contributed to the final crisis in 2007 and 2008. that wasn't good for the private sector. those are important for business decisions too. >> i think the private sector needs demand. the example i use is the biggest expansion in last five years was $100 million to serve the market in europe and asia. we're not adding capacity now. all things you talked about, regulation, taxes, certainly are good. we need demand. >> you're preaching to the choir there. >> before we let you go, separate yourself from the white house. what should the federal reserve

do today? >> you know when i have fully separated myself from the white house, i'll be happy to come back on your show and answer your question. >> i see hope with you. i do. you're in all these meetings. i want you to be our private sector representative. >> the president is your private sector representative. he's representing businesses quite well. >> jason, don't separate yourself. what do you think is your view of tapering at large? i must have a view on this. >> i love that topic. when i sit in a room by myself, i do all sorts of commentary on the fed. when i go on your tv, i'm not going to do it. doesn't help economic policy. >> did they do it right? >> i'll talk about the 19 th century. >> we'll all be in your next book. all right jason, thanks for the

time you gave you this morning. appreciate it. >> thank you. what a wink can do for google glass. you'll be surprised what the tech giant did for the monthly software update. later t state of housing. we're going to get data to tell us if the sector is on firm footing or not. "squawk box" returns after this. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we're here to help tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 turn inspiration into action. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 we have intuitive platforms tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you discover what's trending. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and seasoned market experts to help sharpen your instincts. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so you can take charge tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 of your trading.

welcome back to "squawk box" everybody. in our headline, 2013 is going out with a wink for google glass users. the most recent software update adds several popular features including the wink gesture. go wink, wink, wink and take a shot. once every time you do it. maybe you have is to be -- you can't blink until you want to take the picture? >> i don't know. that's good question. >> instead of interesting a pin, google glass users do a secret hand shake. that's how you get into it. seems like you could copy that. would you wear them? no. >> i'd be creeped out by someone wearing them if they're blinking

around me. you'd think they were faare tak pictures. that's weird. a warning to social media addicts. a tourist in australia was so distracted browsing facebook she fell off the pier. she was walking along the bay at night when she became of distracted by her facebook feed she plummeted off the pier into the chilly water. a witness called for help. rescuers found her in the water about 65 feet from the pier making the situation more dangerous she couldn't swim. she was rescued with her phone still in her hand. all is well. >> the moral of the story is that mark zukerburg wins again.

>> do the smile again when answering the question. >> i'm a happen by person joe. >> you're positive in asking the question. that was a hard question you asked. you were friendly and smiling when you did it. >> jason ducked. he didn't tell us when we know we've redistributed enough. they want to do it forever. >> both sides are willing to say certain things. they come prepared with what they want to say. i'm going to work on. that did you notice that method to his madness? >> jason couldn't see me. a smile had no effect. >> a story for all our loyal watchers. exec t executives are turning to courses to learn how to use social media. companies will fall behind because top bosses don't have a firm grasp of digital technology and social media.

the landscape helps leaders make better decisions on what to invest in, where to invest, and how to talk about it. where are they going to have these? >> i should start teaching this stuff. >> i need to go back and learn how to use windows. >> that's not one of my objectives. >> he's still in the paper based world. >> you're resisting this tooth and nail the whole way. >> i've got my electronic equipment. i still print all the time. >> i do too. coming up the guest host john faraci on washington's affection business. then housing data to give us an indication on the state of the economy. check out the futures as we head to break. "squawk box" will be right back. o way we're going to let them die.

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today investors waiting for the most important fed decision of the year. the move to taper. cnbc covers every angle with market leaders and team coverage in a special report beginning at 1:50 eastern. hear the decision in real time at 2:00. will there be a throw back on buying? at 2:30 we're live at chairman bernanke's final decision making press conference. today on cnbc. still to come this morning we have breaking economic news. housing starts and building permits. we're going to bring you lots of numbers. we've got three months worth. we'll talk housing, economy and much more. dow up and s&p 500 up also. "squawk box" will be right back. t move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars...

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welcome back to "squawk box" everybody. in our head line this is morning check out shares of valassis. 34.4 a share, $1.8 billion. the wall street journal reports

private equity firms has backed out of the deal to bight light squared. that comes after federalle regulators build the company to clear tout wireless net work. we've been keeping our eyes on fedex share this is morning. it came in $1.57 a share, below what the street anticipated for the quarter. take a look at stock. it has come back a long way. almost down $5 at one point. only down 87 cents. the chairman and ceo made positive comments about what they're seeing. they're looking to 8 to 14% versus 7 to 13 we were guiding before this. part is because the company has been buying back shares. they're taking a look at what's been happening with the calendar. an analyst says don't get concerned about numbers from the second fiscal quart their ended november 30 rt.

you have a butch later thanksgiving this year. the calendar shift where you're looking at thanksgiving and black friday falling later in november and actually december for cyber monday which is a big shipping day for a lot of things too. that will all come out in the third fiscal quarter for fedex. look at the third year and see where the holiday falls one way or another. fedex shares again down by 88 cents, 138.49. you're going to see futures now. they are up by 37 points above fair value for dow. s&p 500 also indicated higher. this is coming despite the expectations for at least a good possibility that the fed is going to taper today. when we get that decision from them coming up later this morning. street seems to be taking this with a grain of salt and not getting too worried ahead of

that number. we're seconds from housing starts and building permits. been getting a lot of numbers. september, october and november because of the government shutdown. we'll get the housing permits number and something the feds will watch. rick is standing by in chicago. steve leaseman is in studio somewhere. rick, the numbers. >> all right. starts top $1 million. that's over a 20% jump on a month over month basis. we also have a million going wild. permits are over a million as well as. 1 million 7,000. that's 3% plus. that's down from 1 million 39. it's not bad news. it's better in the past. if i look at 889,000 our last

look on starts the million looks pretty good. 1 million 91,000. have to go back quite a ways on starts to get to that number. that really is very good news. last time we were over a million was marge. this number bests it by a little bit. i found it fascinating that our weekly mortgage information showed the deterioration it did. if there's one area to get a rifle shot to subjective honest, forward guidance on a normal xized rate may look over time, housing is going to be touched. even that many experts say it's not going to be so bad. bad, good, going to have a difference. i'll do this and tell exchange. pricing on activity and doing taper different than pricing in the economics that it brings along. back to you.

>> stock markets in. reaction to numbers. steve leaseman. are you down there. are you going to ask question today? >> he's in d.c. >> i'm going to ask questions. >> you are? today's big decision. also john chief economists. you got your computer down there steve to analyze? >> it works better down here than up. >> do you want to -- do you have anything to say about numbers you just heard? >> it's a good number. it's interesting. we had a dip in housing. looks like we're on the increase. the number i've been looking for is there. the november 21% increase in si single family homes. the increase in home starts has been less spectacular. the the idea it's driven by single family homes creates more confidence. rick raised the interesting point about what's going on with mortgage applications and what's

happening with housing starts. yesterday that big housing number that we had as well. the big blowout. it feels like -- by the way on the way to the farm, looks like we're going to do somewhere around 3% growth in the second half. the 3.6 average with the tracking at 2.2. i don't know if john riting had a lower number for fourth quarter. doesn't look like the huge dip everyone was expecting is coming to pass given the numbers we have now. >> first the state's question. we have a higher number. we're looking at 2.5 to 3% for fourth quarter growth. after the retail sales numbers last week, very strong, it looks like consumer spend as good going to grow 3 to 3.5% inflation in adjusted terms. consumer spend as good rising quite quickly. housing is up here. stronger manufacturing numbers,

job growth 200,000 a month. unemployment rate has fallen to 7%. what does the fed have to see? steve should ask what does the fed have to see in order to start easing at a slow eer rate? >> when i think about the argument against tapering, it's on the front page of the journal. we've been talking about it this week. it's inflation. when i look at data and the equivalent of housing, i don't see that. >> the median price increase hag the owner's rent. the shelter component is 42% of the course cpi. more than 30% of the overall cpi. that's rising. 2.4% year over year, rising 2.9%

over three months. that gives a bedrock of price increases all be it by the increases by the labor market. it's measuring rent people pay themselves on the house they own. that makes it unlikely we're going to see anything like deflation. remember the fed talked about the 18 month outlook for inflation not what the rate has been over the last year. if they don't go today -- and i think the fed will go today. if they don't because they're worried about the 1.2 year over year cpi number, i think they'll be disappointed. there are likes in monetary policy. >> the other argument has been the market is not ready for it. the fed does not want to surprise the markets here. i don't know quite what to do with that. i feel the fed gave us three tests. fiscal uncertainty, the rise in

interest rates, and confidence in the outlook. as i've reported several times, those tests have been met. >> who's saying they're not ready? if the market was ready completely a month and a half ago -- what does that mean? who you talking about? >> when i look at my examples. my producer made me a list. morgan stanley no, ups no. john ryding and others are a go on this. >> where's rick? >> the most important call of all. >> i tell you here's the way i look at it. take an driver and his stopping for driving is he never got a ticket. look at how the program works, cost benefit analysis. we could keep doing something that really isn't working

because something that doesn't matter that may not be correlated to it accurately isn't flashing red. i agree with mr. grant yesterday. when inflation is going to be an issue when everything looks rosie. you know why most people -- put me in the camp even though i did always call it commodity volatility. none of us thought five years after the crisis the economy would still have the the head winds it does? can i point out at 75 bernanke would be violating the speed limit on most roads in e many. bringing it from 75 to 85 is still fast. >> that's the nominal speed limit. there are a lot of 65 areas you don't get stopped at 80. >> there are roads in the country that don't have speed

limits at all. you're mostly in the new york area. you don't get above 65? >> i drive in wyoming. most roads in e many, 75 would get you a ticket. >> so ryding you say 80% they do it today. >> i'm more around 60%. that's an argument. why does the fed care about surprising the market? back in september they said weapon didn't say we were going in september. ten year yields are back where they were going into the september meeting. the difference is this time the short end has got the message. taper doesn't mean a tight inning is coming in a few weeks time. short rates are down low and not pricing at the early tight inning move. the economic data are much better than any of us expected

over the last few months if that's true, what is the fed afraid of? >> this circular argument gets old. stock analysts get tingle in their leg about the economy. we always come back to the same point. steve always brings it up. they don't have confidence, want to look at this or that. if things are so great john ryding why is the fed not moving to no purchases? give us signals as the realities of our economy are. >> i'm with you. steve has to ask that of bernanke and janet yellen in march. >> i'm not afraid of anything. i find the deflation argument not only unlikely -- if lower inflation is coming from oil prices that's a plus to the u.s. economy. >> what i think they would argue though and i think there's

validity to this idea which is that the right interest rate to be set for this economy given the slack in the economy would be one that is negative. providing the negativeness of that interest rate -- i know you're shaking your head. >> not anymore steve. >> that's socialism 101. these guys tell you the right interest rate. not a bunch of guys and not an m.i t. model. >> if he doesn't do it today, he's going to look like the biggest chicken. it will be like what? you have no guts. >> what i'm excited about is i have my music career to fall back on other than being a fed observer. >> we'll play you singing that -- >> i've got better stuff joe. >> if you've got to fall back on that, you better -- >> are you back in new york to take a victory lap tomorrow? >> he's good.

>> everyone should go see him tomorrow night. >> the mud cruncher. >> still blues band tomorrow fight. >> it's a different band. he's got so many going. >> okay gentleman. thank you. coming up, the executive changes at boeing. plus the celebration dance from controversial toronto mayor rob ford. why he's cutting a rug. better he's culling a cutting a rug than anything else. there he is. more after the break. [ bagpipes and drums playing over ] [ music transitions to rock ] make it happen with the all-new fidelity active trader pro. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity.

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boeing announcing some executive changes most noteworthy the aerospace giant announcing the two top executives, conner and mulenburg. this mulenburg character is taking role of president and coo. >> did they have that before? >> i don't think they did. >> they're moving him to chicago leadership. >> this means that's the guy -- if he doesn't screw up, could be the next big guy.

>> and also conner running the office. i'm looking at it. these are all young people. if you look at ages and their experiences, these are young people that spent their whole careers essentially there. dennis is 49, 28 years experience. chadwick is 53 with over 30 years experience. >> there's a huge prize at the end of the tunnel, an opportunity to guest host kwa "squawk box." >> they're all young. they've got a lot of experience, each one of them. >> do you want to see a stock that's been a horse for you so worried about the plane? you know what i mean? the batteries. did you see the stock? >> i saw the stock. >> look at that. does the batteries -- just like

any other introduction. >> i'm not a shareholder. i'm a passenger. >> a nervous passer. >> fires and airplanes are two things you never -- you think you're going up in space with branson. i've got to see that. >> one day. >> on the thousandth flight without a casualty. toronto's well known mayor. what is he so well known for? was it coke or meth? do we know? >> i thought it was crack. >> in this case, drug crack. >> oh. okay. his name is rob ford. any way, he danced along with other council members to help toronto promote live music events. here he is. >> this is too funny. >> the question is what was

going on before the dancing began. they learned austin council meetings end with live music. two local musicians played. other council members appeared to want to dance with him. they're getting into it. ford has a he smoked crack during a drunken stuper. admitted to driving and drinking at the same time. because he hasn't been convicted of a crime, the council isn't able to remove him from office. he's mayor. he can dance and smoke crack and drink and drive. it's all good. this is horrible. >> the only thing chris farley we miss him. now that he can't play this guy

on snl is the tragedy of the country. >> maybe when he's done eating doughnuts -- >> give him time. phillip is on the line. let's go to him. >> what's interesting about this is the fact at some point we're going to talk to about jim mcnurney and when he leaves the corporation. he's been ceo for a significant period of time. i've talked with a few people. they said look, this isn't exactly saying mulenburg is the new a parent as president and co onch coo. it's giving options for the future. we'll now move up to the corporate vice chair role. >> chief operating officer. that sounds pretty good though.

>> can you put odds on who is in favor there? >> i wouldn't at this time. only because i think truly there is not an air apparent. it's not as though -- usually you talk to companies and they say wink wink, this is the guy. look at boeing, it's not as clear. there are truly a number of different options. clearly dennis is one of the options. >> how old is he? >> i don't know his exact age. he's not an old man. he's relatively young. >> it's not 65 anymore. i wouldn't think it's 65 at boeing. >> he's not close to 65. >> that's not necessarily when they do it any way. he is 64. >> oh he is 64? that's older than i thought. there's no indication he has to leave. there's no indication he's interested in leaving.

at some point over two to three years i expect that conversation will take place. >> you and i know 65 is the new -- pick a number -- 45 right? >> coming up, jim cramer's take on fedex earnings and outlook. and then check out tomorrow's squawk lineup. we're going to talk about the debt ceiling fight and more. and erskine bowles and senator judd gregg, now all he is is a contributor? >> mickey drexler. mickey is going to be on the show tomorrow at 7:30. i'm going to wear my ludlow suit.

>> and tom friedman, new york city columnist, manny chirico and stewart miller. >> huge show. look at that. americans take care of business.

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jim cramer joins us, new york stock exchange. are you looking at this ford stuff? i don't see why it's down a little. if there was ever a stock that went to terminal pricing three, four years ago. it's gone down and never gone back up. >> in january of 2011, comments about north america not being as strong. >> is that it? >> yeah. ford has been stalled here and maybe this is why because i think that people expected that north america would be like incredibly strong and we're not getting that. but overall vehicle sales very good. i don't want to jump to any conclusions that are negative. honestly we all thought ford was going to be nothing but blowout. north american pretext profit below last year. that's not what we're looking for. >> 9.5 to 10. >> below 2013, that's not what's supposed to happen. it's not supposed to happen.

>> 8.5 billion better than 2012. in venezuela they say government actions have adversely affected the business and overall results on the region. they're now looking for it to be about break even to profitable. i don't know how big the venezuelan business is. >> i just think that north america, we're looking for an explosion in earnings and big sales. look, the stock has been stalled. maybe that's why the stock has been stalled. that plus al mulally may be going to seattle for microsoft. i thought 2014 they could immediately say was going to be bigger than 2013 and they're just not saying that for north america. >> all right. i'm at the point where the dude is in caracas, the terrorist -- >> in "homeland"? >> but people may not be caught up yet. >> it's only the third episode. >> it gets better. >> he's in that building. >> it gets better. it's slow in the beginning.

>> you got a problem with me saying he's in venezuela? i can't even say that? thanks, jim. >> coming up on "squawk on the street," we have gerry lopez on the ipo. more "squawk box" when we come right back. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. at bny mellon, our business is investments. we're open to it.

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welcome back to "squawk box." we're going to get back to our guest host john faraci. i wanted to ask you this. it's a personality question about yellen and our good friend mr. bernanke. what is the differences and do you think it's possible that bernanke tries to put yellen in a box for later? >> i think it's possible. bernanke focusses on consensus, doesn't like to argue. i think janet loves to argue. she does so in a good natured way. my guess is in the end she's going to tolerate dissent whereas bernanke wouldn't. >> does that make her more likely to hold off? >> i think it might make her more likely to hold off if you read her speeches, especially since we don't have 2.5%

inflation right now. >> does it matter to you, taper or not today? >> i don't think so. i think what more matters is what's going on in washington with congress and getting the budget deficit solved and we've got some bipartisan stuff going on finally. >> guys, thank you very much. we appreciate it. make sure you join us tomorrow. right now it's time for "squawk on the street" ♪ i'm winning, i'm winning, i'm winning ♪ >> some lucky people singing that song, at least two winning mega million lottery tickets, one in california, the other in georgia. you tweeted pictures of your last night. >> i had 20 bucks in that. that was one of the worst returns i've ever gotten. >> futures are steady on this fed day. plenty to watch in the meantime,