hello. you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. your headlines today from around the globe, the markets seeing red. u.s. equities dropped on the first trading of the year for the first time since 2008. stocks in europe are holding near the flat line. between the german and spanish ten-year yield, spain's unemployment dropped more than 2% in december. and time for new leadership, india's prime minister says he will not seek another term in general elections following his

party's big defeat in recent state polls. plus, it's a virtual winter wonderland in the northeastern u.s. major storm dumping up to two feet of snow in some areas causing a travel nightmare for drivers and airlines. >> announcer: you're watching cnbc world news, bringing you business news from around the globe. >> a warm welcome to "worldwide exchange." it's january 3rd. advancers outpacing decliners. trending around the flat line, just above it as you can see. the ftse 100 today is flat, just down three points. nationwide saying we've seen the biggest monthly jump in over four years last month, a 1.4%

surge in house prices in december means the average price of a home was 8.2% higher in 2013 than in 2012. the xetra dax is up 0.11%. the cac 40 up 0.25% and the ftse mib up 0.5%. next, up 9% on the stock today. sales up 11.9% from the november to december period, significantly ahead of the guidance that the retailer gave in december. the firm upped its forecast range to 684 to 700 million pounds. telecom italian is up 4 had%. remy cointreau is down 2.28%. the ceo has resigned.

the group said he was stepping down for personal reasons. and fiat chrysler, the stock after yesterday's jump is down 1% today. it's looking to list in new york, it comes after the italian carmaker gained full control of chrysler yesterday or announced it would be doing so. let's recap what happened with the u.s. equity markets. the worst day in two months for the dow. down 0.8%. the s&p 500, the nasdaq having their worst day in three weeks. volumes were fairly light, off 0.8% and 0.9% respectively. asian equity markets in response to that have been all down today. shanghai composite down 1.2 appears. hang seng off 2.25%. s&p/asx 200 off 0.3 % and the kospi is off 1%, as well.

ten-year treasury yields, 2.97%. look at this spread, below 200 basis points for the first time since december 2007. and on the on currency market, a little bit of short covering from the levels that we've seen. so euro/dollar, back down to 1.3636. and sterling here just down at 1.5442. got a lot of data coming out in 25 minutes out of the uk. construction pmis and a lot of mortgage approvals and lending data, as well. and we'll take a look at where we are with commodities, as well. all spiking higher off the low. spot gold up to 1231. brent up to 108.53. we've got inventory data up, as well. now, the new year, of course, comes with new resolutions.

it's tradition. but can you make money? what most people want to change in 2014. cnbc's dominick chu has been taking a look at what he calls resolution trades. >> tis the season for new year's resolutions. can the idea of new year's resolutions turn into investing ideas? first, physical fitness, eat better, exercise more. on the diet front, there's weight watchers international. during the last three years, the company posted healthy gains. it's a different story for the gym rats. talent sports international which owns new york, boston sports club among others post healthy gains in january and those gains gather more steam as the year progressed. second, getting your finances and investments in order. take a look at shares of the

world's biggest brokerage, morgan stanley. it's posted strong gains on average over the last three januarys, but that's about it. shares were relatively flat for the rest of the year. different story for personal software company ip tuit which posted modest gains for the month, but got stronger each year. third, for education stocks like devry and language learning company rosetta stone, the numbers were mixed. the bottom line here is take a moment before just buying a stock because the company play aes role in your new year's resolution. >> dominick is joining us for the first part of the show today andrew goldburg from jt morgan fun. happy new year. >> you, too. >> nice to see you.

>> any investment resolutions? >> yeah, there's a couple. there's a couple that we've been talking about. one important one i think is to rebalance the stock market in the u.s., up 30% last year. markets up around the world, particularly in the developed world significantly. and then back over the last 12 months, you've seen one of the biggest gaps between stock performance and bond performance in a while. so as much as it pains me to say, it is important to go and make that rebalance and actually pair -- >> out of equity and into fixed income. >> you've got to do some of that. if you're overallocated to fixed incomes, don't forget, there was a lot of bond buying going on in the last few years and if you go the other way. but if your equity allocation is swelled too much, you do have to do the responsible thing and pear it back. our research shows that's the way to get ahead over the long run. >> when you say long run, what do you mean by long run? >> if you look over a five, four or ten-year cycle or somewhere in between, even though one given year you'll do better in

equities, let's say, the reality is if you rebalance over a five or ten-year period you'll do better. >> but hasn't the last decade been the fixed income decade? >> it's been a great year for fixed income. one thing investors need to understand is you're not going to get a decade like that again from fixed income mathematically. while you have to make that rebalance, you have to think carefully about where in fixed income you're going to go. also, i think using equities to some sten as a substitute where possible for income. you can't think of it as yields any more. you have to think of it smartly as income. >> this is a harder year, isn't it now? >> yeah, much harder. >> last year, we didn't know and no one expected the moves that we had. but if you are just going to roll the dice and, you know, bought index, you're as happy as larry. >> yeah. the reality is i would by much more comfortable telling you about investing in 2014 if we didn't get a return in 2013.

so i tell will be a tougher year. will earnings be growing versus the excitement over some bad things which didn't happen which is what i think the markets were responding to last year. >> if you put money in the u.s., you've done absolutely fine. do you need more global exposure? >> you do. and that's true not just in the u.s., in the uk, people are very bias in the developed world. and, you know, people have to understand their portfolio -- you have to think of your portfolio as a jet setter. it's really tough in spain. if you live in spain, you have to think of your portfolio everything else, as well. that's important. >> andrew, good to have you on. now, more better returns --

i'm sorry, you're quite a good looking guy. the university of wisconsin found attractive chief executives receive higher pay and boost stock performance when they appear on tv. for a full round, check out cnbc.com. it's statistically proch, you do better if you're better looking. plus, we want to know who do you think is the most attractive ceo? get in touch with us, e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com, tweet @cnbcwex or direct to me @rosswestgate. a number of on discussions among the production panel today. now, for the northeast and midwest is getting slammed by a major winter storm. forecasters say areas just north of boston have been hit with two feet of snow and new york city is expected to get around 8 inches. temperatures are expected to drop to minus 10 degrees

fahrenheit which is around minus 23 celsius. more snow is predicted in some areas. at least 4,300 flights have been canceled today. up to 2,500 were canceled on thursday. britain is bracing itself for some extreme weather. and in northern ireland, police have warned some resident toes be prepared to evacuate their homes. also on today's show, the u.s. auto industry has moved into higher gear in 2013. it had its best sales numbers since 2007. what's going to happen this year? we'll discuss at 11:45 cet. india's prime minister has revealed he won't seek another term and will retire after this year's national elections. we'll get the latest from mumbai after the break. and the festive season may be winding down, but the sales are still in full swing. at 10:40, we'll find out which gadgets flew off the shelves literally this christmas.

plus, car manufacturing in the uk hit a six-year high in 2013. experts predict growth will continue into this. at 11:20, we find out why all that and plenty more. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order.

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remy cointreau's ceo has resigned for personal reasons after just three months. the chairman of the board will assume the responsibility ones of the chief executive office while mr. flanz is set to remain in the company as share director. publicis ceo gave us a recap on the year before giving us a taste of what's in store for this one. >> we started this year the

forecast was 4.5% for the industry. the latest forecast grows to 3.5%, which is 100 business points below what we were expecting. when it comes to publicis, the nine first month has been excellent and we are in line ahead of our objectives. the last quarter, the fourth one, is always a quarter of uncertainty. they are pushing through january and february some of the launches the. >> how do you see the advertising markets in 2014? do you think that the olympic games or the fifa world cup will boost the markets? >> there is three elements which

may drive the market up. the first one is the forecast for gdp and gdp growth is expected to be better than the one we experienced in 2013. the second one is fifa world cup and the third one is winter olympic games. winter olympic games is never a big deal, but the fifa world cup is something which is driving a lot of sponsorship, a lot of activity. so we expect that next year will be about 5% for the industry. if you convert the media expenditure into agency revenue, it is above 3%.

we expect that can be probably ahead of the market. we have some very good wins. we have a new business plan which is very good. so we expect next year, which will be better than 2013. how do you see the macroeconomic environment next year? >> u.s. seems to present a very good profile. there are some issues regarding the bric market where it seems it is slower than what we are used to. there are still some issues regarding brazil as well as india. so it's something which is quite complicated and europe is not yet taking off and we don't expect europe to reach the average of the industry or the

gtp growth. so we have a contracted picture. africa but not the big market that has been doing extremely well. as well as the gulf countries. pimco suffered its biggest annual loss since 1994 according to data from morning star. total return loss of almost 2%, compared to gains of over 10% the previous year. andrew, if you want income, you say you want to look to income, not yield. explain that. >> historically when people find that income in their portfolio, it's from traditional sources such as conservative fixed income, government bonds and things of that nature. >> first of all, within fixed income, i think it's important

to spot and this is tough for people because you have to move down on the risk spectrum as you age and move down the requirement. but the reality is you can't. you have to start broadening your horizon, not just corporate bonds, but it's high yield corporate bonds, maybe even emerging markets, convertible bonds. but then moving into equities, certain equity that's behavior or feel more -- >> you mentioned sort of high yield and emerging market debt. they look very richly valued. and you can't -- my 6% or 7% group, how much risk am i take for that? >> if he end of the day when you look at high yields, it is a riskier investment than government bonds unless interest rates rise. one of the things we look at closely is the likely impact of rising interest rates on different types of bonds you hold. and the reality is you have more cushion, more protection because of that bigger yield in a high

yield bond when interest rates go up. generally speaking, that's good for companies. so i think first it's important for people to diversify within their fixed income portfolio. but then when it comes to income to start broadening, keep it in perspective, a 3% bond isn't the end of the world, is it? >> not yet. not yet. fair enough. let's return to india. the prime minister has announced he won't seek another term as leader and retire after national elections due to take place later this year. the two-term leader held a rare press conference earlier where he told fortis he would hand the baton over to a new prime minister who he hopes will be chosen by the current coalition. joining us is the executive editor in mumbai. hi, letta. >> hi.

if you are looking for the key take aways for how the business community understood the prime minister's speech, the stock markets didn't react much at all. the dollar got slightly more expensive and bond was up by one basis points. the markets regarded the speech largely as a nonevent. in terms of take aways, the fact that the prime minister is not throwing his hat in the ring for the next term is not very significant from all trends that have been extrapolated from the elections that just got over the current coalition, not even expected to return, not by a long shot. so that is offering his hat in the ring, not very significant. but nothing was announced just yet so the market is actually relieved.

>> thanks very much indeed for that. rob ford, who previously missed his smoking crack has run for re-election. his campaign election, ford more years. he says it's up to the voters to decide on his track record and his personal problems. still to come, we've got uk construction pmi plus data. we'll get full reaction from the guests who say investors should now prepare themselves for british economic to disappoint. we'll find out why.

and the headlines from around the globe, equities seeing a little bit of red. u.s. stocks drop on the first trading day of the year for the first time in 2014. europe is trying to hold the flat line. spanish ten-year yields is at its lowest level in nearly three years. spain reveals unemployment dropped more than 2% in december. india's prime minister says he will not seek another term following his party's big defeat in recent state polls. and it's a virtual winter wonderland in the northeastern

u.s., a major winter storm dumping up to two feet of snow, causing a major problem for travelers and airlines. quite a bit of data coming out in the uk in just a few moments. construction pmi, money supply data, as well, and mortgage approval date data. also heard from a number of retailers. could be floated on the stock market by the end of the year according to a new report. ceo john king revealed his hopes for a 2014 listing, even as the firm remain necessary exclusive talks regarding a potential takeover by its french gallery. valuation s follow record results. it was a very merry christmas for next, the retailer raising its profit forecast and launching a special dividend. this after fourth quarter sales were up almost 12% for 2013, significantly ahead of on

expectations. the stock today up nearly 10%. a big reaction. and nationwide houses were out earlier, showing the biggest monthly jump in over four years for british house prices. up 8.4%. for the year in december from december 2012. 1.4% surge in house prices in december alone. joining us for more, david owen, chief european economist at jeffrey's international. andrew goldberg is still with us, as well. we'll get data out in few moments. how much is the house prices contributing to a stronger consumer consumption pattern? >> at this point, not really a lot. one has to remember the housing transactions as consumer durables remain depressed. they are picking up. but this trend is now more positive. one has been underpinning the consumer is about real

households versus incomes beginning to accelerate. >> how is that happening? >> employment games. it's an interesting dynamic. you've seen strong sector employment gains. the public sector highlighting the public sector employment didn't continue declining into the first quarter of last year. what the abr was expecting. so the labor market tight nts in terms of the employment data has helped the consumer. obviously, wages remain pretty weak, indeed. so we're coming off a very low base. but recovery in the uk -- >> can you see any point where wages will start to rise? at the end of the day, that's the one thing the bank would respond to. >> they want to see wage inflation picking up and wage inflation at this point is incredibly weak. we're going into this crucial dynamic pay round on. but one would expect this year wage inflation to rise and for the battle to be placed from employment gains to -- >> and is the squeeze therefore

household incomes going to ease this year? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> the sterling/pound, is that going to help? >> and inflation data in the uk, as across the european piece is coming below expectations. this is from a very low base and the housing market recovery is still recovery built around very low transactions. so it's not the case that the uk is booming and the housing market is booming. it's just recovering and the recovery is building. >> we have the latest data out of the uk, as well. let's bring you it. no consumer lending up 1 is.5 billion in november versus 1.6 billion in october. mortgage lending, 0.9 billion versus october's jump of 1.2 billion. mortgage approvals, 70,000 versus 68,000. that's ticking up. investor highest mortgage approval since january 2008 on. >> the trend is all positive. so, you know, this is all very helpful. from the bank of england's

perspective, it's not highlighting the economy which is overheated. so they're not going to have to respond to anything like this. >> lending to nonfinancial firms, it says here, minus 4.7 billion versus october's minus 1 .1 billion. uk lenders and nonfinancial firms posting the sharpest drop since records began in may 2011. i'm not quite sure what's behind that. >> again, january going into -- you know, you've got the gains, seasonal pattern, so i don't know. >> that's a strange job. and construction pmi edging down from six-year highs. the fastest month of growth in more than six years. we were at an exceptional level. construction pmi, 62.1 for december. for november's reading, 62.6. all in all, what kind of growth do you think we're going to have? how does this feed into the growth you've been forecasting for this year? >> we've been forecasting growth

for 2013 around 1.5% to 2% on average this year, which to be fair is below the bank's forecast. the bank is looking for gdp of almost 3% this year on average. if anything, i think we'll be nudging up our gdp forecast for this year. >> the uk growth risk to the upside, the thing that's interesting to me about the housing conversation is it's certainly been getting better, but off such a low base, i find it incredible that there's so much talk of a housing bubble in the uk. i just -- if you strip out london, it just seems so far fetched to call what you're seeing in the housing market above all. >> this is for people looking at house prices relative to average income. >> that may be true, but even that gap out is, in our view, not significant. it's certainly not representative of a housing bubble. and, in fact, if you look at prices relative to income, you've got a long way to go to get back to where you were in 2007 and 2008. >> yeah. we're looking for house price gains on average this year.

and slowly next year, probably to around 7.5. we think the bank will respond with macro potential measures to maybe restrict the loan value ratio. >> but that would be consistent with the view that they want to get the recovery broadening out, they don't want to raise the bank rates too early. so you use the micropolicies to actually head off one potential risk, which is the housing market. >> interesting about the -- when you say this is -- it's good that everybody is concerned that there might be a house onning bubble, right? that's a good thing. >> now, we might see people worrying about, you know, at the beginning of last year, this wall of worry. asset prices do very well against a wall of worry, don't they? >> they sure do. once you remove all the concern, that's what you call a market drop. given that there are concerns, i think there's probably still room to inch higher. >> all right. that's the uk. let's remind you of where we stand today. the retailers are doing fairly

well. let's remind you where we stand with the broader picture here in europe today. the ftse 100 is fairly flat. we are up by the xetra dax 0.3%. the ftse 100 up 0.08% and the ftse mib up 0.8%. in the bond markets, the ten their year yields, 2.98%. gilt, we'll bring those to you in just a second. but sterling is fairly stead why you after that run of data. and on the currency markets, we'll put that back up for you. we're taking it off to rechange it. there you go. sterling/dollar, 11.6443, relatively unchanged, as well. meanwhile, the major rating agencies are kicking off the new year with a slew of sovereign credit reviews, setting out specific data for the first time as mandated by new eu laws. moody's gets the ball rolling. a week later, s&p will look at the country.

on the same day that moody's then also reviews ireland and fitch moves on the netherlands. january 24th is another big day to watch moody's review in the uk and france. finally, on february 14th, moody's picks up its view of italy. at the same time, spain closed out the year with a record drop in unemployment for the month of october. the jobless count fell 2.4% from the previous month and that means there are now 4.7 million people searching for work. as a result, we did see the spread between spanish and german yields on the ten-year narrow to below 200 basis points. that's for the first time since mid 2011. the ibex up about 0.3%. what's interesting here, guys, david, andy, as far as the markets are concerned, the eurozone market finished a long time ago, right? >> yeah. which it hasn't really opinion. >> that's the point that i was

going to -- football markets have assumed that, but there's still -- and they have assumed convergence. it seems to me we've had as much economic convergence as we've always had. we've seen capital resuming slower around the system and from countries going back outside to the eurozone. we have yesterday yet to see a proper recovery. inflation is very much the theme and now probably below 1%. we know all this. but the markets can take some view that, you know, yield spreads can come in further. but it's interesting, yield spreads have not fallen decisively. they've just come in. if the bund yield starts rising, obviously it's emerging going intooth second quarter. >> but here we are with treasury yields up to 3% and spreads have

narrowed. >> you get treasury yields backing up in effect. and you get this spread of over 200, italy and spain over bonds. and that may cause further problems. inflation in both country sess now almost zero. obviously, particularly with italy, you've got debt consideration stake on board. they need inflation. to be entirely safe. so i think mario draghi knows you have to do more. >> what? >> we've argued quantitative easing for ages. maybe decisively strengthen against -- >> there's not a problem with bond yields. >> the idea is simply to pump money back into the system, sort of enable -- >> money into the bank, wouldn't they? >> well, the banks are shrinking. and also with the eurozone is the banking is about three times eurozone gdp.

in the case of the u.s., it's one times u.s. gdp. mario draghi has been much more difficult with the banking sector and going through this banking asset quantity review, as well. things could easily start tripping up again. but at the moment, the trend is very favorable. >> the other thing is going back to this, yields are fine. government bond yields are fine. they're low. but if you actually look at the cost for a company to borrow money, europe, spain and italy is too high. from a bank. >> that's right. from a bank. now, that's important. you've got to have that credit flowing to small and medium sized enterprise. one thing about the ecb, i don't know enough about the legalities and the practicality of doing this, but the argument for quantitative easing is the right argument. what they could do is go out and actually buy small and medium sized securityized loans which would infuse capital and drive tefkive rates lower to the point

where credit might actually flow. i think all that can't happen, really, until after the asset quality review and the stress test, which is where there's going to be some opportunity for volatility and that's why they really, really narrow spreads freak me out a little bit heading into 2014. >> what is the investment risk versus investment opportunity? >> well, the investment opportunity is like -- and this goes back to the fixed income conversation from before, actually start to move away from government bonds into some of the spread sectors. i think it's the government bonds that are going to -- i think they're probably mispriced a little bit. >> okay. david, good to see you. thanks very much. and nice to see you. andrew sticks around. now, if you have any comments about what we've discussed, e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com. we have the first big m&a deal on the books. fireeye sess buying mandian, a computer forensic company best

known for unveiling the secret chinese military unit that's behind a number of cyber attacks on u.s. company. fireeye will come in above previous forecasts. shares up 23% in after hours. up 13% in frankfurt. don't forget, u.s. "squawk box" will be speaking with the mandiant ceo, kevin mandia candidate at 6:50 eastern. david dewalt, as well. snapchat is promising to beef up security after hackers breached accounts this week. the find friends feature. snapchat admits it knew about the security loopholes since august, but brushed off the warnings. and facebook is facing a class action lawsuit over claims it monitories users private

messages without their consent. the suit cite aes report from a swiss security firm which suggests facebook scans web links shaerd by private messages. facebook says the suit is without merit and the company will defend itself vigorously. facebook up 0.3% in frankfurt. the season may be winding down, but the sales are still in full swing. josh lipton has been finding out about the top damages this christmas. >> as always, americans wait until the last minute to get their shopping gifts for christmas. we're only learning just now what they were buying. this year's top gift at brick and mortar retailers was the apple ipad mini, the 16 gigabyte version. apple's ipad accounted for four of the top 15 electronics sold. why the popularity? one reason could be a lot of major retailers offered apple's

ipads with big discounts in the form of gift cards. microsoft xbox one and sony ps4 did well. there had been some speculation that the xbox one might not sell as well because of its higher price point, but gamers clearly weren't discouraged. we also constantly hear predicts about the demise of tv, but americans still love their big screens just as long as they can still stream music and movies. the third best seller, vizio's 60 inch tv. he says this is one of the best holiday seasons for tv sales in years with unit volume up about 10%. maybe the biggest surprise, beats by dr. dre coming in at number six with its premium headphones. baker of mpd says headphones remain hot.

it's the fourth largest category in terms of revenue that he tracks. so tablets, game consoles, tvs and headphones dominating this season. it looks like americans never want to leave their living room. >> if you've got all that, why would you? still to come, new recruits entering the industry. we'll examine how the jobs outlook is changing the financial services sector. across the country has brought me to the lovely city of boston. cheers. and seeing as it's such a historic city, i'm sure they'll appreciate that geico's been saving people money for over 75 years. oh... dear, i've dropped my tea into the boston harbor. huhh... i guess this party's over. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more

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this is to show you where we stand with commodities sales. we're looking at what's going on with potential supply sheetes and we've got stock inventory data, as well today. gold has jumped off its lows, slightly lower. jackie deangelis has been looking at the prospects after a pretty poor 2014. >> stocks may have soared in 2013, but some of the commodities have gotten extremely crushed traders coping with did you happen double digit losses in terms of gold, wheat, so the question of 2014, are these beaten down commodities a

buy? in terms of gold, gold log ago nearly 30% loss this past year, its worst decline in 32 years. but traders are tentative on bouillon, citing the likelihood of a strong dollar and lack of inflation as reasons gold could likely putter in 2014. near term, we could see prices as low as 1100 later in the year. look for gold to remain range bound trading on the technicals. meantime, corn getting crushed to the tune of 42% on the year. the recent proposals to scale back biofuels mandate could cause corn to flip further. morrow bust coffee supplies out of brazil, sending prices to their biggest two-year plunge. but traders think coffee may be nearing a bottom and they like knit 2014. they think demand out of brazil

could take the coffee trade higher. . >> that was jackie. also will cocoa be the most bullish corner for 2014? one analyst says cocoa looks to take first place this year on the back of a supply squeeze. for more on how you might have to pay more for your chocolate cravings, head to our website. andrew, resources, the worst sector in europe last year, down 14%. that's why the uk as a market underperformed, as well. what happens this year? clearly last year we had a lot of activity, clearly not the economic growth. is that going to change? >> yes. there's a little bit of an opportunity here for a contrarian trade and a bit of a bounceback. from a bigger picture, when you look at the commodities or resources spaces, it's generally been priced at the beginning of 2013 for a certain -- in china.

that wasn't the outcome we got from china and india. emerging markets came under significant pressure. in many instances, people weren't expecting that. that situation stabilized. so they should do better this year. other thing i took away from that report is a lot of what's going on here is on the supply side. if supply stabilizes and improves, then prices fall and that's the way that it works. so we'll have to see how 2014 plays out. that's why commodities are difficult to predict whether the corn crop will be good this year or not and whether there's going to be a drought. >> certainly on the stocks. >> yes. and frankly, even the pressure metals are -- look, that's tricky. >> the important thing is, the one commodity, the one that did nothing last year, we're having these big losses in gains, oil was absolutely steady. and probably won't -- it's hard to see what changes this year. >> exactly. so you've got modest economic

growth, a more synchronous global expansion, but oil is pretty much appropriately priced and there's some counter veiling forces. the global economy is picking up, but at the same time -- >> supply fears. >> there's always supply fears and at the same time, i think the geopolitical risk has been diminished with iran working with the developed -- or the western world on a new deal. so there are counterveiling forces. you may get another flattish yooel year for oil prices. >> that's fine, right? we'll take it. >> right now, the global economy can deal with oil prices where they are at 00, 108. >> right now, bank bashing is putting off talented recruits for the industry. but the changes in regulation are impacting who is entering the industry. >> in the past, financial

services, large volume increases of highly skilled graduates, possibly middle management and opening bonds and the sort of m&a and consolidation drove a lot of improvement. we've seen emphasis on risk, management, compliance, the whole regulatory regime has driven the recruitment into the areas of capital ebb, adequacy, tracking the risks of trading, racking up trading losses. so they're using technology and they're using highly skilled technology software developers to try and get to grips with this new environment. we're not seeing the volume in financial services, but we've goot seen pick up. >> the interesting thing i'm interested in is whether your executives are deciding with so much more regulation coming down on public entities and banks and, you know, caps on bonuses, are they think they don't want to think about leaving but do they want to go to private

enterprise or outside of the scope of regulators? >> not in my experience. in my experience, there would be a tendency for senior executives, they're in industry for a while and, therefore, they're more likely to want to stay in it. but i actually see no evidence of executives wishing to get out of that sort of regulation. >> okay. that's kind of interesting. why do you think that is? i would have perceived, you know, if you were feeling a bit under pressure, the year to plan how much you could earn, you might think i could do more on a different -- >> yes, i think that question of plans to limit how much i can earn is not a fair comment. >> it's a perception. >> it is a perception, but i don't know that it's a terribly real perception. i think the answer is if you right sensible business and you

write enough of it, you're going to be very well rewarded for doing it. the people who -- if you've earned it, you'll get it. if you haven't earned it, that's where your assignments will reduce. >> meanwhile, clearly between the executives and elsewhere. but even between those sectors where you have high skill requirements and general employment where there's a lot of part-time temporary workers. is that going to get worse? is the skill set going to get worse on one level and more temporary jobs on the bottom? >> unfortunately that's what we're seeing in the u.s. in particular. so those skills that are in demand, particularly in software developments, cutting edge, mobile, commerce, i'm thinking particularly in seattle, the whole technology around seattle so they can barely -- those sorts of areas extend huge

demand and enormous skill shortage made worse by governments around the world trying to tackle and get to grips with the public's backlash against the perceived immigration threat. so in the u.s., the president there has limited the visas applicable to technology in immigrati immigration, which has affected silicone valley right up through to seattle where, of course, companies like amazon are headquartered. also microsoft is headquartered and many, many spin-offs from those companies. so we're seeing that sort of gap growth. >> and you mentioned immigration. a huge immigration debate going on in the uk, as well. what is the economic benefit of cost of immigration? you've looked at this. >> there is, obviously, plenty of space evidence to say that immigration by large improved and increased the operative of the country. you only have to look at silicone valley, as i said. many of the companies, google and apple, many of the founders,

leadership there have been immigrants or immigration you offspring from immigrants. im graiz gragz brinimmigration benefits. it's not a cost issue, in our experience. it's really the ability and hunger for work, the attitude that immigrants have. they're desperate to work. they want to earn good money, we see this in eastern europe, and they're prepared to do what it takes to fund those jobs and be successful in them. >> let's get some final thoughts from andrew. just looking at the employment picture here, because policy in the states and here in the uk is focused on employment. what happens this year in terms of policy and how that drives financial environments? >> one thing that i've been trying to -- a message i try to convey to clients is central

banks have a sense and have exhausted their resources. if central banks could have created jobs, they would have done it four or five years ago. now it's up to the private sector economy to achieve that self-sustainable rate of growth. and i think you're there in the u.s. you're probably there in the uk. you've got a ways to go before you get there in europe. there's still a fiscal head whipped. it's less drop next year than before when it comes to the labor markets and business in general. but net-net, i don't think that it's going to be policy that's the driver of employment. it's got to be the private sector economy that picks up the baton from, i think, the very loose monetary -- you know, the very accommodative policy from the central bank. >> how comfortable are we going to be with -- i mean, if tapering picks up, the pace of it picks up? >> the fed tapering is

predicated on economic improvement. i think the fed has won that battle in convincing the markets and i think the markets have made peace with the idea that the fed will only do what the economy can digest. and i actually really do believe that. i think that the fed -- it took a while, but the fed wrestled with the markets on the messaging there and finally got it right. >> they spent a long time with the messaging. >> i spent a long time trying to decipher it. >> thank you very much. more of you over the course of 2014, andrew goldburg from jpmorgan funds. still to come, 2013 was a pretty wild ride and volatile for the u.s. dollar. find out why our next guest thinks this will be the year we timely see gains broaden significantly.

hello. you're watching cnbc's "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the headlines from around the globe, equities seeing red. u.s. stocks dropped on the first trading day of the year for the first time since 2008. stocks in europe trying to hold the flat line. spreads between german and spanish ten-year yields are at their lowest in nearly three years as spanish unemployment dropped nearly 2% in december. and new leadership, india's prime minister says he's not seeking another term following his party's secrecy in recent

state polls. plus, it's a virtual winter wonderland in the northeastern u.s. a major storm dumping up to two feet of snow, causing a travel nightmare for drivers and airlines. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bricking you business news from around the globe. >> very good morning. if you've just joined us in north america, welcome to the start of your trading day. u.s. stocks down since 2008. the dow having its worst day in months. the worst in three weeks along with the s&p. very light volumes, though. and the s&p is about two points above fair value. european equities, meanwhile, during the session have tried to put a little bit of green on today. the ftse cnbc global 300 is

fairly flat. the ftse yesterday was down by tend of the session. it is up a little bit this morning. retailers doing somewhat better, next particularly doing fairly well. so the ftse 100 is up 0.11%. the xetra dax is up 0.25% and the cac 40 is up 0.45%, as well. the ftse mib is up, too. asian markets, shanghai composite down 1.25%. hang seng down 2.25%. the s&p/asx 200 down 0.3% and the kospi is down, as well. keeping our eye on ten-year treasuries, 2.97%. we saw them come back from the two 1/2 year highs over 3%. the spanish unemployment dipping down 2.2% in december. and that was a bigger than expected fall. and gilt yields still just over

3% today. we saw a pick up in mortgage approvals. we also saw house price data from the nationwide suggesting house prices up nearly 9% year on year from 20 -- in 2013 after a big jump in december, as well. check in on commodity prices and foreign exchange, as well. sterling fairly unmoved at 1.6460. we saw short covering for dollar/yen to come down below 105.40. u.s./euro/dollar, 1.3648 back down from that nearly 1.39 level we hit last week or so. and on commodities, a bounce back for gold after its fall last year, up 1232. brent firmer, 108.20. nymex 95.49. some concerns about what may go on in libya. we've got u.s. inventory coming out today, as well, which will be something of a focus.

so u.s. equities are safe. closing down with their first loss of the year since 2008. but which stocks are entering 2014 on a high note? sheila has been taking a look. >> we specifically looked for stocks entering 2014 with the big bang, at least when it comes to valuation. first up is mondelez. the company has been producing solid north american results. but whether it's really worth the bang for the buck, it all depends on what activists investors like nelson peltz will do with their stake in the company. second up is chipotle mexican group. the company has a big forward pe multiple, about 50 times. also had an incredible stock run in 2013. but analysts tell me, look, the company has been producing solid

results. since 2005, the restaurant chain has posted average sales growth and traffic numbers keep increasing. whether it's worth that buck in 2014, analysts tell me it's all about execution because this stuff is priced for perfection. last up is constellation, trading again at a premium compared to its peers. so is it really worth the premium? analysts tell me the reason the stock is trading higher is because of its recent acquisition of corona. again, all about execution and what the company will do with its newly minted acquisition. in fact, isi group says if they plan on this well, this could be a $100 stock. back to you. >> all right. ben bernanke scheduled to deliver what could be his swan song today.

he's going to speak in philadelphia at 2:30 p.m. eastern. it's his second term as fed chairman ends january 31st. the u.s. senate is set to vote monday evening on janet yellen's nomination, signaling yellen has enough support to win confirmation. joining us on his thoughts about what happens with the dollar, ian fannert. good to see you. we have seen gains for the dollar towards the end of the year. does that broaden out this year? >> yes, i think it will be one of the major themes for this coming year. it's a broadening of the dollar strength. we saw some dollar strength coming through the path of last year, but that was very much focused against dollar/yen. we saw dollar/yen rallying strongly in the first half, maybe flattening off towards the end of the year. but i think in 2014 we're starting to see that or we should start to see that dollar

strength broadening out, particularly against most of the other g-10 currencies. in fact, we expect the dollar to be the strongest of the g-10 currencies for this year. and one of the major themes, which i think is going to be driving that actually goes way beyond the fed and the fed tapering and fed policy. and i think it's going to be the broader growth picture, the global growth differentials as well as the changing growth dynamics within the u.s. i think that will provide the dollar with more sustained and broader base support in 2014 is. >> is it going to be growth or is it going to be -- is it going to be yields? or is the growth going to reflect in higher u.s. yields and that will be the driver? >> well, to a certain extent, that is going to be the transmission mechanism. but i think also the fact of the changing growth dynamics within the u.s. is going to play a very important part. we believe that the growth in

u.s. is actually going to be driven to a larger extent by the supply side of the economy. so growth will be more domestically or yen tated. this is likely to keep investment in the u.s., rather than seeing the normal -- dollar coming under pressure when we see growth coming up, normally a pick up in growth leads to an increase in risk appetite and we see investors looking for higher returns overseas. but i think in the current environment where growth in many parts of the world outside the u.s. is still going to be struggling, the u.s. will look quite attractive on the growth perspective. and that is likely to keep a lot of the investment more u.s. oriented and could start to attract further investment into the u.s. from overseas. >> what does that mean for cross rates? euro/dollar, we hit 1.39 last week. cable, we hit 1.6590. that's the highest since august 2011. euro/dollar is at a 26-month high, as well, ian. what happens on those two cross

rates? >> as far as the euro is concerned, we are speccing the euro to come under further pressure given the very weak growth picture we're expecting within the eurozone. we're expecting the eurozone to be the weakest of the g-10 economies. so that should keep the euro under pressure. so euro/dollar, head back down into the 1.24 area for this year. now, for sterling, i think it's going to be a slightly more mixed picture, given that improving growth picture we see in the uk. it's likely to be sustained in this coming year. that could well see sterling holding up quite well on many of the crosses and we would, in fact, be looking for euro/sterling to come under pressure. but against the stronger dollar, i think sterling will continue to struggle. so i think we need to be prepared for cable to come under a little bit of pressure during the course of this year. but to a lesser extent than we are likely to see on

euro/dollar. >> briefly, dollar/yen, what's the target? >> up to the 109 area. we're expecting the trend to be maintained, but at a slower pace than we've seen in the past year. so the general trend in dollar/yen is still very much up. but we're looking for that momentum to slow somewhat the move higher, may get off to a slightly slow start i think at the beginning of the year, but later on as confidence is regained in the japanese reform process, we'll be looking for -- to extend up towards 109. >> ian, thanks for that. good to see you. happy new year. plenty more over the course of 2014. now, if you're in the northeastern u.s., you know exactly what's going on. getting slammed by a major winter storm. areas just north of boston have been hit by nearly two feet of snow. joining us from the city's nbc richard lui. richard, just how bad is it? >> well, it is bad, my friend. you talk about that close to two

feet, the national weather service saying 8 to 23 inches just within the area of boston. that's up to 4:00 a.m. local time. in terms of the winds that we are experiencing within the last 12 hours, that's the atlantic ocean we're facing right now. this is probably the worst we have seen. 20, 30-mile-per-hour gufrts. i've got a thermometer on my lapel here. it is well below zero. we're talking about 10 celsius probably negative at the moment. we're seeing a lot of these trucks out. they have not been putting out ice because it is so cold. what's great about this snow is it's light champagne powder. this is the stuff you normally ski on. for that reason, like even our cameraman has not put a shield on top of the camera because it is such dry snow. one in three americans are affected by this. over on 3,000 flights were canceled yesterday. we expect 1200 to 1500 canceled today and over 10,000 flight delays so far.

that's the big deal that's affecting the entire country right now. back to you. >> richard, thanks very much indeed for that. i hope you're staying warm. now, the northeastern, as we say, has been getting a huge amount of weather. still to come some of the other stories we're looking at today, want better returns? hire a good looking ceo. this is according to a study by the university of wisconsin would found attractive ceos receive higher pay and boost stock performance when they appear on tv. apparently, yes, it's all true. for a full rundown of that report, check out cnbc.com. we also want to know who do you think is the most attractive ceo? oh, yes. who is the most attractive ceo? get in touch with us. e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com, tweet @cnbcwex or direct to me @rosswestgate. thoughts on that, please. we'll return a little bit more in just a few moments. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place on chestnut street

the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪

the first big m&a deal is in the books. mandiant bought by fireeye. mandiant is best known for unveiling the secret chinese military unit that's believed to be behind a series of hacker attacks on u.s. companies.

fireeye announced fourth quarter revenue would come in above previous forecasts, shares up 23% in after hours. later on u.s. "squawk box," they'll be speaking with kevin mandia and dave dewalt at 6:50 eastern. dewalt is also the former ceo of mcafee and sold that firm to intel. so he's pretty good at this sort of thing. snapchat, meanwhile, is promising to beef up security after hackers posted phone numbers and user names of 4.6 million accounts this week. the hack resulted from above of the app's find friends feature, which let's people find friends user names by entering known phone numbers. snapchat admits it knew about the security loophole since august, but brushed off the warnings. and facebook is facing a class action lawsuit over claims it monitors users private messages without their consent to sell the data to advertisers. the suit cites a report from a swiss security firm that

suggests facebook scans web links shared in private messa messages. the suit is without merit according to facebook and says the firm will vigorously defend itself. facebook's stock up around 0.5%. and a recap of the headlines, as well today, stocks in europe trying to bounce after wall street falls deeply into the red on the first day of trading for the year. spanish unemployment falls, hoping the spreads between german and peripheral levels not seen around 2 1/2 years. and a major storm dumped up to two feet of snow is in the northeastern u.s. causing a travel nightmare for drivers and airlines. those are the headlines. here is a recap of some of the other stories trengd on cnbc.com. could currency wars make a comeback? rhetoric from japan's neighbors has resurfaced with chinese and south korean officials

expressing concerns about the weekend. also, will cocoa be the most bullish commodity in 2014? it was the second best performer last year. one analyst says cocoa could be set to take first place this year on the back of supply squeeze. you can get more on what you might expect by heading to the website. and still to come, with major automakers set to report the best u.s. sales year since the recession, find out how britain's very own car industry is also enjoying a revival. as we do that, we'll show you where we stand with stocks in europe today. more weight to the upside. advancers currently outpacing declinesers by a ratio of on 7 to 3. and ah, so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar.

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amazon started in a garage. hewlett packard, and disney both started in garages. mattel started in a garage. ♪ the ramones started in a garage.

my point? you never know what kind of greatness can come out of an american garage. introducing the 2014 motor trend car of the year. the all new cadillac cts. ain't garages great? u.s. futures are trying to tick higher after losses we got yesterday. the dow down 0.8%. similar performance for the s&p 500. right now, fair value is called up 30 points. implied open, the s&p 2 and about 1.5 for the nasdaq. yesterday was the first down day for stocks in the first trading day of the year since 2008.

we have some automobile sales up from gu angshu. 1411,000 units for december. that's up 41%, which is interesting because u.s. auto sales likely had their best year on rod record since prerecession 2007. this is according to a reuters forecast. at the same time, car manufacturing in britain hit a six-year high in 2013 and now experts are predicting production in sales growth will continue this year. the uk has far jous paced countries in u.s. registration as demand recovery and contracting schemes attracted more car buyers. cnbc has been taking a closer look at the car dealership industry. >> it's not too long ago that the uk car industry was one bad crash after another. british leland, the mg scandal,

and ford and land rover. not any more. today, this is an industry with wheels. in fact, the car business is one of the biggest drivers of the uk recovery. here is a -- that seats 2 1 consecutive months of growth, with british buyers driving 2.11 million cars this year, up 10%, and straight up the fast lane. as chief executive of britain's biggest car dealer, pendragon, peverton is right in the front seat. >> what it's saying about the british economy is that consumers are feeling much more positive and that's reflected in the sale of new cars, particularly to retail customers. people are buying them for themselves. so i think that's the main signal i would read into what's going on at the moment. >> and how does that compare between new cars and used cars? >> the new car market has been

growing for the last couple of years. the used car market has been pretty stable. and i think the thing that's driving the new car market is finance and -- cheap finance from the car manufacturers. >> so do you think there's a lot of potential in the uk for manufacturers these days? >> there's no question. it's in a -- it's a good place for them at the moment. there are very few markets in europe where there's any prospective growth. it's a big market and it's all right. >> on the way to the racetrack, britain has become a global hub for car manufacturing across the spectrum. 1.6 million cars and 2.5 million engines are made here every year. with 100 brands including tvr, morgan, and lotus. eight formula one teams and seven big commercial carmakers, like nissan, mini, and jaguar land rover. it employed 700,000 people account for 59 billion in sales and makes up 10% of all british

exports. business is selling so many cars to the likes of china that one of its biggest ports, south hampton, is running out of space to handle them. how does the uk market compare to the uk market? clearly, european car sales were at a 17-year low last year while the uk was up. >> i think across europe, there are different markets and different things going on. so i think where we are with all of a sudden european markets are very quiet. but even the long established and very reliable markets like germany are struggling a little bit. so the uk is a market that's open for business and the car manufacturers are taking advantage of that. >> and how do people have it in terms of buying cars chained and how have they changed on this kind of recent recovery that we've had? >> well, post -- it's interesting. on a downturn, the premium car

market slows fastest and it recovers fastest. what you're seeing and did see is the previous car market contracted very aggressively. that's followed by the volume car market. when the market -- when optimism returns, premium car buyers were the first to be optimistic. and you could say, well, why is it that they're going up that direction? and our assessment of that would be the decisionmakers and business leaders are primarily driving the premium products. they're a little bit ahead of the game. when the bad news comes in and pulls back, the society of motor manufacturers and traders, which is the uk body that speaks for the car manufacturers, you're looking at slight growth. i think we're going to see more than that. the car manufacturers are going to make hay while the sun shines in the uk, they're going to push into the market, provide finance. visibility for 2014 is quite good. >> whether this is down to british craftsmanship, the 2008

scrappage scheme that saved carmakers from the recession or the spending power of consumers who are the engine of uk's economic recovery, it's still hard to tell. whatever, even if it's taken 35 years to get here, here is an industry that is beginning to show it's got a fair bit of power under the bonnet. >> okay. helia with that report on the british car industry. we'll take a short break. still to come, a monstrous deal and commonplace nonsense talk. find out why our next guest thinks jane aus tun could have just as easily applied for the latest fomc press conference as george in england.

this is "worldwide exchange." here is a recap of the headlines. today from around the globe, equities seeing red. u.s. stocks drop on the first trading day of the year for the first time since 2008. but stocks in europe are edging higher. the spread between german and spanish ten-year yields tightens to the lowest level in nearly three years. spain unemployment dropped more than 2% in december. and it's a virtual winter wonderland in the northeastern u.s. a major storm dumping up to two feet of snow, causing a travel

nightmare for drivers and airlines. and new year, new deal. m&a is under way with cyber security firm's fireeye buying mandiant for under $1 million in cash and stock. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. and a warm welcome to you to the second trading day of january. if you've just joined us in north america after the fall in u.s. stocks yesterday, the worst opening day for around five years, since 2008. futures are pointing a slightly higher bounce this morning. we're currently some, what, 32 points above fair value for the dow. the nasdaq at the moment is around 2 and the bid points for at all fair value. the dow having its worst day in two months yesterday. the ftse cnbc global 300 is

fairly flat. we have lows sses in asia, gainn europe this morning. slim gains, though. the ftse 100 is up 0.1%. we had fairly good housing data, moving approval higher. the xetra dax up 0.1%. the ftse mib is doing quite well off about 1% this morning. we've been asking analysts today about their investment strategy for the coming year. investec told us investors will need to tread lightly over the course of the next 12 months. >> i think the best buy for 2014 is to remember that 2013 was an easy year. it was an easy year -- >> i thought they were climbing the wall of worry in 2013. >> but it was an easy call to be active with worries. the major concern for 2013 was how many people got it wrong. i think people aren't going to make that mistake again. coming into 2014, people are above on equities. they're cautious on bonds.

yet we always know that the market makes a fool in items of opinions. >> meanwhile, ben bernanke is scheduled to deliver what could be his swan song as fed chairman today. he'll address the annual meeting of the american economics association and allied social science association in philadelphia at 2:30 eastern. person unanimo person unanimo bernanke's second term ends on january 31st. last month, lawmakers voted to move forward for janet yellen's nomination as his replacement. steven, very good morning to you. happy new year to you. >> good morning. and happy new year to you. >> right. so, look, thank goodness we can start the year without talking about, you know, whether they're going to taper or not. so that was the good news at the end of last year. why does the -- why does the fed and its policies resemble a jane

austin novel? >> oh, goodness. i happened to be reading "sense and sensibility" and it turned out that many of the comments that she gave in the book on issues that existed in the early 19th century were appropriate to what we were -- some of the issues under discussion. entitlement reform, the importance of wealth, and it could be a very interesting comment on how being rich makes you kind of more attractive as a person. it's very much in line with some of the policies that the that the fed has been following and advocating. >> yeah. the market reaction to tapering. i love the quote you took there. the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant, how far the mind may be considered and certainty itself. >> well, that was the comment that actually grabbed my attention because it seemed to apt in light of the market reaction for tapering that i

wouldn't resist putting it forward. >> finish it at once, let there be an end to it as once. we finally fixed that. i suppose the thing is now, steven, what happens to the dollar? are we going to see broad gains against other g-10 currencies? >> i think within g-10, yes, that the ultimately, you know, certainly against the yen, likely against the euro. against currencies like aussie and canada, which have specific weaknesses that, you know, are playing doubts related to their own economies and the dependance on commodities, i think we're going to see dollar/strength. maybe less with respect to emerging economies. but i think with respect to g-10, the dollar is well positioned. sterling may do better than the dollar, though. >> yes. the interesting thing is, here now, where we've spent so many years where growth has meant the dollar has weakened. we now are going to see the

dollar becoming a growth -- we keep talking about it this time every year. is growth going to mean the u.s. dollar does better because growth is going to come from the united states? >> i think that's part of it. and certainly the u.s. economy is looking much better than it did, say, a year ago or two years ago. the other aspect is in the past, say, in 2011, 2012 when we saw glimmerings of growth, it was always on the back of the fed policy change, additional stimulus. this is the first time we're seeing expectations of growth while yields are going up, so it's both the growth, top line growth and carry that's actually helping the u.s. or will help the dollar against other g-10 currencies. >> yeah. now, you also use this other quote about justifying qe. money is the best recipe for happiness. so we're going to have less qe over the course of the year, are we going to be less happy? >> well, i think, you know, i

think that actually characterizes fed policy over the last couple of years. hopefully that the -- you know, the economy will be resilient enough in the sense that the strength of the economy is causing the backing up of rates rather than the rates kind of backing up independently and leading to a slowdown in the economy. so i think that -- i think it actually should be a good year. i mean, we're already seeing signs that the housing market is improving, consumer demand is improving. buying intentions for homes is that they're highest in many years in the united states. so it does look better now than it has. >> okay. steven, stay there. we'll come out with a few more jane austin quotes. meanwhile, if you're in the northeast, you know exactly what's going on. it's got slammed by a major winter storm. forecasters say areas just north of boston have been hit by nearly two feet of snow. new york city is expected to get around 8 inches. temperatures are expected to

drop to minus 10 degrees fahrenheit and that's around minus 23 if you're working it out in celsius. the weather channel's mike seidel sent us this report. >> ross, good morning here from boston, massachusetts. it is currently 1 is degrees, a windchill about 22 degrees below zero and the snow coming down horizontal with winds below about 30, 35 miles per hour here. as you would expect, the airport is nonoperational at this point. in new york state, they actually closed down parts of major thoroughfares, the long island expressway. another area, new york thruway, up state and the iconic parkway, which is interstate 4 taking you into connecticut. so these are major road traveling thoroughfares. no question, when you shut them down, that affects business and everybody else out there. massachusetts is going to try and leave the roads open. salt is useless at this point

with temperatures as cold as they are. we're going to try to get things back up and running at the airport. the airport is not closed, but operations have ceased until about noon time today and that's probably a good idea. boston city schools are closed. they asked all nonessential government employees to not come to work today, as you would imagine. it is dangerously cold out here with these windchills and it will be cold through sunday. perhaps historic cold for parts of the central u.s. early next week. ross, back to you. >> all right, mike seidel with the latest from boston. still to come, a major deal in the cyber security sector and blackberry trims another high profile executive from its ranks. but unlike other members of management, this person has a grammy award winning in front of her name. details, straight after. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place at 315 chestnut street. the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the dusty basement at 1406 35th street.

it is the story of the old dining room table at 25th and hoffman avenue. the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ...and the second floor above the strip mall at roble and el camino. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. ♪ so different and so new where those with endless vision and an equal amount of audaciousness believed they had the power to do more. time and time again. ♪ and then, it happened at dell, we're honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. stories that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- # 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

[ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors...

[ shirley ] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ the first big m&a deal of 2014 is in the books as a pair of cyber security firms have shaken hands on a tech tie-up. bertha has more for us from cnbc's hq in the states. hi, bertha. >> hi, ross. security these days is front and center. and fireeye has said it's bought mannedant for $1 billion in cash and stock. the deal closing on monday, but was announced on thursday. both companies have relatively

new technologies to help thwart cyber attacks. analysts expect strong growth for both fireeyes cloud based systems for detecting malware. mandiant rose to fame last february when it as was said to uncover attacks from the chinese military. fireeye up 20% on the news. today in frankfurt, shares up 13.5% at this hour. mandiant's ceo kevin mandia and fireeye's dave dewalt will be on "squawk box" today at 6:50 eastern time. i would imagine they won't have to slog through the snow to get. meanwhile, snapchat is beefing up security after hackers posted numbers and user

names of 6.4 million accounts. the hack resulted for the abuse of find friends feature. snapchat admits it knew about the security loophole since last august, but had brushed off the warnings. for a lot of parents, this is an upsetting one because snapchat is so popular with youngsters. meantime, facebook is facing a class action lawsuit over clams it monitored users private messages to sell data to advertisers. the suit cites reports suggesting facebook scans links in private messages. facebook says the suit is without merit. and alicia keys with her hit entitled "how come you don't call me." the pop star is parting ways with blackberry at the end of january. keys was hired just a year ago as global creative director when the company launched its long delayed blackberry 10 devices,

but sales flopped, triggering billions in losses and the departure of heinz who had brought keys on. you know the story. in her role, keys contributed to a projects, encouraging fans to submit photos that later appeared in music videos tied to her concert tour. apparently there was a bit of a flap that one picture she posted to twitter appeared to have actually come from an iphone, which is not good when you're a global ambassador. >> no. that is the sort of thing that doesn't really work when you are being paid presumably a sizable chunk of change there. now, bertha, she's a good looking person, alicia keys, as are you, of course. >> oh, she's beautiful. >> yes. but if you want better returns, apparently, this has been scientifically studied, bertha, you need to hire a good looking ceo. two economists at the university of on wisconsin have found attractive chief executives receive higher pair and, yes,

believe it or not, they boost stock performance when they appear on tv like cnbc. so for a full report, check out cnbc.com. we've been asking everybody who do they think the most attractive ceo is? colleen twieeted her corporate heart throb is the linkedin ceo jeff weiner. bertha, got any thoughts? >> brian rupp, a no-brainer. he's handsome, he's smart. of course we measure him on his performance. but he's handsome and smart. jeff immelt, a very good looking man. performed very well as the ceo. of course we measure them in their performance. but, you know, this is not surprising. there are always all these studies that better looking people get paid more, in essence because they have more social graces, they're used to charming people. in terms of elections here in the u.s., usually the taller person is the one who wins the

presidency, often the better looking person which has, until now, been a man. but maybe one of these days we'll get a tall, good looking woman as a president here. >> doesn't have to be tall. although i was going for tyra banks. she runs banks enterprises. there you go. >> oh, okay. she's definitely very attractive. >> she -- there you go. there you go. she is. bertha, look, if you set up your own business, no problems. don't worry. you're there. >> oh, thanks. marissa mayer is very attractive, as well. so there you go. maybe they proved the theory. >> yeah. good. we need to have a drink with this conversation, so it's too early in the morning to continue it, so we'll leave it there. >> bloody mary. i don't know. >> with a large piece of what not in the -- what do you call that? celery. there you go. >> celery. >> and plenty of spice. sounds good. >> the part that you ignore.

now, a recap of the headlines today. stocks in europe bounce a bit after wall street falls deeply into the red on the first day of trading for the yurp. spanish unemployment falls, helping the spread between german and peripheral yields to the lowest levels not seen in years since 20111. and the major snowstorm drops up to two feet of snow in parts of the northeast u.s. u.s. auto sales have had their best year on record since prerecession 2007. this according to a reuters forecast received december sales due later today, up 4% over last year, helped by a lot of year-end discounting. look, two days -- with two days into january, and phil has joined us for both days. phil lebeau on the phone from chicago. we are blessed already this year, phil. a very good morning to you. >> good morning to you. i was up already because it's snowed so much here, a nice

shoveling routine before i even head into the office. >> no better way to start the day, i'm sure. >> and, phil, you need a four-wheel-drive, as well. such a good year last year for u.s. auto sales. what's going to happen this year? what are the forecasters saying? >> i think most people expect sales to be up anywhere from the range of 3% to 5%. that's fairly conservative. but i think if the industry were to see sales jump from 15.6 million, which is where they'll likely end this year or end 2013 and go up to maybe 16.1 for 2014, i think everybody would say, that's about right. that's a solid pace that they can live with. and i think that would show the kind of growth that executives can look at and say, you know what inspect this is sustainable. this is not a spike. this is not a fall off. this is sustainable and it will be something that we can maintain pricing with.

>> we had this discounting help in december sales. we presumably get another falloff in january, right? >> a normal falloff, but january is always one of those tricky months where you have a slower month in terms of overall sales. people like to equate slower sales in january with payback or incentives, bringing people into the showroom in december. i think that sometimes is overstated. i think january is going to be fairly routine from everybody that i've been able to gather from talking with dealers. >> okay. thanks for that, phil. by the way, does alan mulally go to microsoft this year, do you think? >> hard to say. i think the doubt that we're hearing in the reports from people who are close to the microsoft board raises a lot of questions that at some point you have to wonder if alan mulally sits there and says, you know what snm i'm not going to wait around much longer. i have a company to run here.

and if he was interested in going to microsoft, i think at some point there might be a bit of impatience there. >> thanks for that. good luck with the snow, as well. still to come, after a banner year in 2013, u.s. equities kick off 2014 on a down note. but will one day set a trend or not? steven englander will also rejoin us in a few moments.

the dow at the moment is some 22 points above fair value. the nasdaq is some 3 points above fair value and the s&p 500 is nearly 2 points above fair value. steven england is still with us in new york and ben lichtenstein is joining us from

tradersaudio.com. ben, how much has the new year set a trend or not? >> well, if you look back to 2008, then it sets a huge trend to the downside. but if you look at this market, its behavior, i don't put too much weight associated with yesterday's downside day. while we were coming off the upper level streams, you have to point out and keep it in perspective in terms of we're coming off the recent record highs, if you will, a strong rally after the fed announcement last week and for the most part, there's a very nice balanced that formed from the middle of december into mid november and the beginning of december, middle of december, if you will, from about 1800 to about 1838, which is the upper extreme. 1800 would be that first sort of flag to fly, if you will, in terms of some real weakness. but other than that, we're in a bit of a balance, we're in a bit

of a chopped type trade. >> do you see volatility picking up at all? >> actually, a little bit yesterday, yes. but for the most part, we're still in holiday type session. the holiday session, christmas, the year-end activity came on the coat tails of the rollover. so we watched the december contract in the s&p expire. we're now trading the march of the front month. things were quiet, already headed into that. combined with the holiday-type activity. and in addition to that as your last guest was just talking about, we've been blanketed with snow over the last few days, plus cold. so for the most part, we have really yet to get out of that holiday mode. yes, volume, volatility and participation was heightened yesterday. this could have been a by-product, if you will, of the downside activity, but certainly we're seeing limited participation in terms of levels that we would like to see in terms of the new year. >> and, steven, you're sitting there being patient. what is going to be key for you

in the currency space? >> well, i think it's going to be the fed's ability to anchor expectations of policy rates. and i think we begin to see their success today with a bunch of speakers, including bernanke, but more importantly, people are perceived as relatively hawkish, including plosser and stein. the key may be tapering is kind of a done deal that there's absolutely no intention of raising policy rates soon. there are segments of the markets that think they'll raise sooner than forward guidance suggests. but if they can pin down those rate expectations, i think it will be an on year. >> steven england, thank you for joining us. and ben, happy new year to you, as well. ben lichtenstein joining us from traders aud dwroe.com. >> thank you very much. >> that's about it for today's edition of "worldwide exchange." coming up next, "squawk box" and the countdown to the opening stateside. otherwise, we hope you have a profitable day.

we'll be back again on monday. have a good weekend. bye for now. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd. ♪ [ male announcer ] the parking lot helps by letting us know who's coming. the carts keep everyone on the right track. the power tools introduce themselves. all the bits and bulbs keep themselves stocked. and the doors even handle the checkout so we can work on that thing that's stuck in the thing. [ female announcer ] today, cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everyone goes home happy.

good morning. among our top stories, snow and plunging temperatures hitting millions in the northeast. plus, a rough start to the year for the markets. but do declines on the first trading day really spell trouble for the days ahead? we're serm going certainly goin watch it closely. and a new study says investment companies with good looking ceos. we're going to have that story in today's executive edge segment. they like giving us, like, minefields to maneuver around. it's friday, january 3rd, 2014 and "squawk box" begins right

now. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. yes, we are all here this morning. there is a major snowstorm shutting down roads, canceling flights, closing work for thousands in the u.s. out there. some areas are expecting a foot or more. but the problem isn't just the snow. it's windy, it's really, really cold. be careful, don't go out if you don't have to. we are going to have a live report from the weather channel in just a minute. if you're home, snuggle up. we'll tell you about what's happening on wall street today. the s&p beginning the new year with its worst performance in three weeks. this is the worst performance for the year. it was the only trading day of the year. the dow was