i want you to go over your portfolio. if you don't own one of those i talk about all the time, today was day one. there's always a bull market somewhere. i promise to try to find it just for you right here at "mad money." i'm jim cramer and i will see you tomorrow. hole hello. you're watching "worldwide exchange." the headlines today from around the globe. more warning signs from china. industrial production and retail data coming in weaker than expected for january and february. a mystery over flight 370 continues as u.s. intelligence believes the plane flew for hours longer. malaysian authorities are set to hold their latest press conference shortly. german chancellor angela merkel warns of massive

political and economical damage if russia fails to change course on ukraine. and in an exclusive interview with cnbc, the ceo says italy is -- >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. >> hello and welcome to today's edition of "worldwide exchange." good morning to viewers in the united states. we're going to kick off with the latest on malaysian flight 370. authorities set to hold their latest press conference will bring you that when it happens. this is the search for the missing malaysian airlines flight. it's been given another twist as u.s. regulators say the plane could have stayed in the air for up to four hours after it reached its last confirmed location. the latest revelation in the "wall street journal" suggests

someone deliberately turned off the plane's transponder and hijacked the plane. the new evidence is based on five hours of data that was downloaded and sent back to rolls-royce. meanwhile, china says the large objects discovered off the tip of vietnam from seattle images are not linked to the missing aircraft. the search is continuing. we'll have that press conference as soon as it comes up. meanwhile, getting you up to speed with where we stand on global markets, kick off with u.s. futures. yesterday, fairley flat session for u.s. markets. down down 11 points. right now, we are some 27 points above fair value for the dow. the nasdaq is currently 10.5 points above fair value and the s&p 500 is just 2.5 points above fair value. the ftse cnbc global 300 this morning is just a smidgen higher, up around 0.2%. the ftse yesterday was down some 64 points.

today, it's flat. contrasting results today for the retail sector, very, very poor results. home retail is not doing too bad. the ftse 1 00 is flat, xetra dax up 0.3%, cac 40 up 0.1%. wm morrison stock is down 7% today. it says underlying 2014 profit will be more than half the level after losing sales to other discount retailers. sainsbury down 6%. tesco off 3.2%. but best of news, home retail jumping on the open, still trading near the top of the stoxx 600 after the home based says it full year profit will beat expectation owes the back of a very strong fourth quarter. although it is cautioning that it has to set money aside to pay customers back for payment production insurance.

on the currency market, keep our attention on euro/dollar this morning. 1.3951 is where we stand. we are at a fresh 2 1/2 year peak. mario draghi is coming out and saying conditions do not require a shift in policy. dollar/yen, 102.49 this morning. we've been at a one-week low and we're pretty much on that at the moment. the aussie/dollar firmer, 0.9063. big jump in the kiwi, .8566 is where we currently stand. sentiment from the qa in the central bank in new zealand. that's where we stand right now here in european trade. what about the session today in asia? no better person than sixuan to recap it for us. >> thank you, ross. the zu zealand market gained 0.3% today. new zealand is seen as taking

the lead in developed economies in tightening monetary policy as it tries to crawl inflation pressures in its outperforming economy. and in the region, australia saw its biggest rise in the week with the asx 200 ending high onner 0.5%. the aussie/dollar moved up after employment numbers climbed more than double the forecast. the release of the preferred shares power program, chinese banks were on the rise today, pulling up the mainland markets as the shanghai composite ended higher by 1%. but the index in hong kong, not able to hold on to its gains ending down by 0.7%. and over in japan, the nikkei 225 lost just a modest 0.1% in the very same volume that is at a multi month low. in south korea, the bok stood fast with its current policy for the tenth straight month as expected. but some hours are expecting a rate hike in its next meeting

and the kospi ended higher by just a touch. and that is a look at the asian markets. back to you, ross. >> thanks for that, sixuan. chinese data as we've been saying this morning showing industrial output missing expectations. january to february retail sales are up 11.8% year on year. that missed expectations by nearly 2% combined. january and february industrial output was up 8.6% year on year, following a 9.7% gain in december. and this all happens as china's national people's congress is due to close today. the premier announced enhanced regulatory measures to control debt following a company's first default last week. speaking at a press conference, the government would strengthen oversize of shadow banking and set targets. a reasonable 7.5% gdp increase in 2014. director at new edge in singapore, joining us for more. frazier, good to see you.

these are staged managed pieces, of course, but how significant is it that they're putting their attention on smog and also on the type of growth that they want? >> well, i think that's important because the smog is obviously our primary concern for the chinese man in the streets across the country. this isn't just a beijing problem, it's a national problem. of course, it paints china as a whole in a very bad light. i noticed today china is a nice stock to pay hardship because of the smog. so the smog is ultimately a by-product of ultimately an unbalanced economic model. so it's hardly surprising they're looking for better quality growth, more sustainability growth. that's ultimately the problem. they haven't priced environment into the china price over the past 20 years. >> yeah. look, we've got to -- what is the big question for you on china? because clearly, there have been -- you know, they've been working around the margin where

growth rates are going to be. what is the key for you? >> well, i think we have to get away from this of reading too much into monthly data. ultimately, the new normal in china is a couple of good months, a couple of bad months. obviously, we've seen very poor data this week. there is no rope that we're not going to see some good months going forward. this is ultimately the new normal for china. i'm certainly not worried about a collapse coming for china. even the bond default this past week isn't that worrying in itself. china still has a lot of ways to control the economy, to control the financial system. so a great collapse of the chinese financial system i don't actually think is coming. but we're -- china is trending down and it's no longer the dynamic other than exciting places it once was. and the big question is, how does china adapt to that? no longer is china this double

digit growth monster out there. it's much more sober and a growing economy, nowhere near as exciting as it once was. >> that's a key point, of course. what happens if we do get the reforms kicking in s, that they have prommed? >> that's a good question. of course, this is very much, you know, its belief is so important here. do you believe that those seven wise men can pull everything off? it certainly sounds very easy in the stage managed events. they'll focus more on quality of growth, etcetera, and gdp won't be the only factor. i think even if they bring forward or are able to implement a lot of these reforms, that only takes the edge off the structural problems in china. following workforce, you have a higher input cost, you clearly are going to spend a lot of money cleaning up china. and so china's tightening a lot of demographic of macro issues as it changes and structurally

changes. so even if the reforms come through, i don't think they're going to be seeing 10% growth in china again. the reforms are needed just to maintain the 7, 7.5% growth. >> thanks so much for that. fraser howie in singapore. let's get more from eunice, as well, in beijing. we heard from fraser. what's your own analysis? >> well, ross, today we were at the premier's press conference. and the chinese premier had definitely indicated and acknowledged the challenging environment that the chinese leadership is now working in. what was interesting was that he had said that the biggest challenge that the leadership faced last year to him in his point of view was the downward pressure on the economy. and he said that this year they could even become more complex. this is what he had to say to us earlier today at the press conference. >> many investors believe that

china's growth rate this year could be slower and lower than the official rate of 7.5%. what is the slowest rate of growth that you would find acceptable without stimulating the economy? >> translator: there is no denying that we may encounter a more complex situation this year. we set the gdp growth target for this year at about 7.5%. this about shows that there is a level of flexibility here. you asked me what is the lowest possible gdp growth that we can live with. well, this gdp growth needs to ensure fairley employment and increases people's incomes. we are not preoccupied with a gdp growth. we want gdp growth that brings real benefits to our people, helps raise the efficiency of our economic development and improves the energy conservation and environmental protection.

>> the premier reaffirmed previous comments by the leadership that financial sector reform was the priority in terms of the reforms. he also made one interesting -- another interesting comment about related to that and that is that he said that the government, of course, they wouldn't want to see defaults, but that they thought that some individual defaults were unavoidable. ross. >> yeah. and we'll see how we steer through that particular -- eunice, for now, thanks so much, indeed. as far as the agenda in the states today, weekly jobless claims are out at 8:30 eastern, forecast to rise by 7,000 to a total of 230,000. also today, we get february retail sales expected to rise 0.2%. and the retail control number, which excludes sales of autos, gasoline and building material factors into gdp is expected to rise 0.3%. february import prices are out at 8:30 and at 10:00, we get

business inventories, just a few earnings on tap today, which include dollar general, aeropostale and seaworld. the new york fire department is concerned that six people are dead in the gas explosion in harlem that leveled two apartment buildings on wednesday. more than 60 people were injured. some are still missing. authorities have yet to pinpoint a cause, but investigators will likely look at a more than 100-year-old cast iron pipeline. if it's determined that the pipeline was to blame, it ranks among the deadliest such incidents isn't 2011 when five people were killed in allentown in pennsylvania. gm now says the first sign of ignition switch problem that left last month's global recall came in 2001 when it was developing the 2003 saturn. the safety defect has been linked to 31 accidents and a dozen deaths over the last

decade. documents released by u.s. regulators dpm says it recently discovered a record of the 2001 incident such as the cases were found in 2003 and '4. gm redesigned the ignition switch on newer vehicles, but didn't replace the older ones saying it would cost too much to fix. a trio of president obama's fed nominees head to their confirmation hearing. what will they bring to the table? new details on this in a few minutes.

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the headlines today, china wraps up its annual policy meeting for economic weakness. authorities are now suggesting the missing malaysian plane may have flown much further than first thought. and gm admits it knew about faulty ignition switches as far back as 2001. germany's central bank is likely to butt heads with the ecb today when it releases its annual report. the previous edition was pretty critical of the european central bank, saying its job is only to ensure price stability. our very own geoff cutmore is

back. what do you think they might change today on their tune, or will they? >> yeah, well, it's interesting, isn't it? we've had this very steady recovery in eurozone economic data. and at least some who have been concerned that the central bank in frankfurt hasn't been more accommodative can at least point to that and say, well, we are seeing some pick up in growth activity. there's still plenty in the market who feel the ecb should be doing more, whether that is some kind of directed asset purchase program or some negative deposit rate to ease monetary conditions even further and send the message to the eurozone consumers that interest rates will continue to be incredibly accommodative. now, that policy doesn't always sit well with the germans, not the bundes bank and not the government, who in the form of

schubel a couple of days ago said interest rates are too low for the german economy. what we're looking for here, ross, in about 40 minutes time when we get the release in these annual minutes, if you like, is to find out thou the bundes bank feels about current monetary conditions in the eurozone, are they appropriate, and are they still concerned that the ecb might be encouraged to be, i guess, in their terms more reckless with monetary policy. so we'll be looking for that. in the last meeting, mr. draghi and others started talking about the output gap. this is a finessing of forward guidance, if you like. i suppose the aim is to encourage markets to weaken the euro and persuade them even if we get a pick up in inflation, even if we get a further pick up in growth, interest rates remain longer. lower for longer.

it will be interesting again to see in the report here whether there is any reference to that or any acknowledgement that actually even as growth picks up and inflation picks up maybe a couple of years down the road whether interest rates continue to remain low. so we will bring you that full report as we get it. all of that to come in the next couple of hours. back to you. >> we look forward to that. now thanks very much. a trio as president obama's nominees go before the senate banking committee for confirmation hearings. this was postponed from two weeks ago because of a snowstorm in washington. along with its dual mandate price stability of maximum

employment. the new york fed reportedly examined whether a key foreign exchange benchmark could be subject manipulation back in 2012. but took no public action. "the wall street journal" says the fed looks at the wm reuters fix which covers several rates including the euro, pound, swiss franc and yen. and high winds in washington knocked out power in several areas, wednesday night, including at the u.s. capitol. this is a time lapsed video of the lights being restored. wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour were reported throughout the region and it took around 30 minutes for repairs to be made at the capitol building. still to come, italian shares of generale took profit in the fourth quarter after a string of disposals. but what's the outlet down the road? we have an exclusive interview with the ceo coming up. ing up.

fairley flat session for u.s. stocks closed yesterday. this morning, the s&p 500 called up 4 points. the dow is currently indicated higher by 30 and the nasdaq up snapping a five-day losing session yesterday, currently called up 11.

generale says it will double its profit after a net profit in the fourth quarter, but those numbers did miss forecasts. julia caught up exclusively with the ceo of generali earlier and asked hem how he sees business currently. >> in the words of the economic conditions of the last year, the recession has hit badly. european countries have been equally hit. and it's -- there is no easy solution for that, right? we don't have an easy recipe for it. i think things are getting better, first of all, so the economies are starting to move up. >> citigroup, meanwhile, has cut the annual bonus of the ceo of its mexican unit, banomex. citi cites problems with anti-money laundering controls. it's the subject of a federal

criminal probe over money laundering for citi to disclose earlier this month. and a new report suggests wall street banks will shift around half of their support staff from pricey cities such as new york and london over the next decade. consulting firm johnson and associates says today around half of workers handle back off workers in locations. big banks have been more aggressive in shifting staff in recent years due to profit pressures. malaysian authorities are set to hold their latest press conference with details of missing flight 370. what brings the latest details, it comes, of course, after reports suggested the american press that the plane flew on for a few hours after losing contact. we'll see whether they say anything about that. also still to come, the u.s. says it's releasing 5 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves. what's behind that decision? we'll have the details. ♪

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woke to "worldwide exchange." more warning signs from china. industrial production and retail data comes in better than

expected for january and february. the mystery over flight 370 continues as a new report says u.s. intelligence believes the plane flew for hours more than thought. the authorities are about to hold their latest press conference. german chancellor angela merkel warnings of massive political and economic damage if russia fails to change course on ukraine. and new documents show gm discovered the safety defect that prompted last month's massive global recall. much earlier than it first reported. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. good morning. if you've just joined us in north america, welcome to the start of your global trading day. just to remind you, malaysian authorities are set to hold their latest press conference with details on the latest

missing flight 370. this comes after reports, of course, that u.s. intelligence believes the plane flew on for four more hours after an issue was detected off the radar screen. that press conference is about to get under way any moment now. meanwhile, a pretty flat session yesterday. the nasdaq up for the first session in five. not by much. this morning, we are called a little higher. the s&p around 4 points above fair value. the nasdaq about 14 points above fair value and the about 41 points above fair value for the dow jones. the ftse cnbc global 300 is about 0.25% higher. this morning, it's just up three points, a big difference of performance today from the grocer sector, dragged down by a really big profit warning for morrisons. but others like home retailer did fairley well. xetra dax is up 0.4% this

morning. the cac 40 is up 0.3% and the ftse mib is up 0.8%. a fresh 2 1/2 year high this morning on comments from mario draghi that conditions don't require a shift in policy. so this particular stage, what are investors to do? here is a recap of some of the stories we've had today on the channel. >> the 80 looks way too low. i do believe for example it could trade a lot weaker than the current. >> okay. >> there is an element of a short-term market. the problem i think is the big four. big four growth on traditionals that markets find themselves in. it's between the rock and a hard place. when you have all that, the

upscale shoppers say why do i need to go to tesco, why do i need to go elsewhere? >> we have some form companies spending more, capital expenditure. so we are focusing on risk on stance on the sectors that can benefit from capital expenditures, like i.t., like industrials. and in addition to that, financials which generally benefit from a general upstik. >> of course, meanwhile, the u.s. and eu are both close to imposing sanctions in russia's involvement in the ukrainian pry sis. it's very diplomatic solution is sound after meeting the interim ukrainian prime minister in washington. the president warns the scheduled referendum is due to take place in crimea over the weekend is not legitimate. >> we completely reject a

referendum batched together in a few weeks if russian military personnel basically taking over crimea. we reject its legitimacy. it is contrary to international law. it is contrary to the ukrainian constitution. >> meanwhile, german chancellor angela merkel joined in the political rhetoric. massive political and economic damage if it fail toes change course on the ukraine. cnbc's jim ma said da is back with us in moscow today. jim, that's the message from the president and from the german leader. i wonder whether moscow will listen that much. what do you think? >> hi, ross. well, in the past, it certainly hasn't. vladimir putin never really taking sanctions ear justicely when talked about by the eu. but i have to tell you, what is new this time and what might

give president putin pause is that speed and unanymorety with which the 28-member eu has approved sanctions against still unname russian and ukrainian people and entities that they judge to be violating ukraine's territorial integrity. these sanctions include visa bans and asset freezes. they're very much in line with u.s. sanctions announced last week by president obama. now, eu officials are saying that the targeted list of names will be published on monday if there's no diplomatic progress and the crimea vote goes ahead which, of course, they will. >> jim, i'm sorry to interrupt you, excuse me. we've got the malaysian authorities giving the latest press conference on the flight. sorry for interrupting. let's listen in. >> it is suggested that there was a possibility that an aircraft had passed over the strait of -- we have a duty to investigate any possibility.

on the price to follow up every lead and on that basis, we expect an aircraft to search the area. however, our need has always been in the south china sea. we are working very closely with the ntsb on the issue of the possibility term air back based on the information given by the malaysian authorities, the usb model that there were reasonable ground for authorities to conduct search on the western side. it is appropriate to conduct a search we will not ordinarily

believe the raw data from the military. but in this case, including the u.s. and china to help with the search effort. reports suggesting that are not through. they have issued a statement to that effect. this situation is unprecedented.

they are completely sigh lend over the open ocean. we are in the middle of a multi national search involving many countries, more than 80 shifts in aircraft. this is the crisis situation. it is a very complex operation. and it has not always been easy. we are devoting all our energy to the task at hand and i want to be very clear, our focus has been on finding the aircraft. we have not done anything that suggests -- this search effort. we have not been able to review information for the required analysis and confirmation of other agencies to release that before t ready, the effort to add anguish to the relatives. malaysia has nothing to hide. we expect no expense and no

effort from that have contacted our neighboring countries and all international offers to help. since the incident began. much has been made about the extension of the search areas. they shared down the search. that is simply not true. in fact, we are invented by the search. let me be clear, for a situation like this, vanished. it is our duty to follow every lead and trust me when i say we will not give up. yes? [ inaudible question ].

>> as that rate -- [ indiscernible ]. [ indiscernible ].

>> just listening into the press conference. authorities, they say they basically say they have nothing to hide and that reports that the missing planes flew for hours are inaccurate. those are reports in the u.s. suggesting that was the suggestion from the u.s. military. and they say we would not ordinarily release raw military data and report the crews homes were searching are untrue. more to come on that. new data for gm's woes over its massive retails we'll have the details right after this. . opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities.

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♪ and it is headlines today, china wraps up its national people's forum. and malaysia mh-370 is reported to have flown further than first thaurt. and gm knew about ignition issues as far back as 2001.

malaysian authorities just hold ago press conference for flight 370. they say they're still focused on the south china sea. the legislate daed data transmission was 30 minutes after takeoff. they have come out a short while ago and suggestions that the plane flew for hours or that those reports are inaccurate. general motors says issues that prompted last month's massive recall surfaced even earlier than previously thought. there were questions about why it took the automaker so long to respond. bert bertha coombs is at cnbc hq with more. i thought this might get better for them, but it's not. >> it's not looking like it at all. general motors now says that the first sign of the ignition switch problem that led to that recall of about 1.6 million vehicles came back in 2001 when it was developing the saturn

ion. that's three years earlier than previously disclosed. in documents released by u.s. safety regulators wednesday, gm says it only recently discovered a record of that 2001 incident, however. it found the ignition switch in the 2003 ion could turn off easily, but a design change resolved the problem. in 2003, an internal probe said a service technician saw a car stall after the ignition switched off while driving. a heavy key ring was determined as the cause. the technician replaced it and the probe was closed. in its original timeline of evens, gm said it learned in 2004 if the driver bumped the ignition switch in an ion 5 chevy cobalt it could shut off the engine. in 2012, there were two issues related. in all, there were eight impact crashes involving the ion where air bags did not deploy

resulting in four deaths. in fact, safety regulators, pardon me, received more than 70 complaints of the ion shutting down while driving since 20303. so the problem has been linked to doesz of deaths over the past decade. gm issued its first recall of more than 600,000 chevy cobalts in year on february 7th. two weeks later, it expanded that recall by nearly 750,000 vehicles to include the ion and several other compact models. in its filing, gm says engineers for the ignition switch as far back as 2004, but the company decided not to adopt it as it would have taken too long and have cost too much. the ignition switch was redesigned for newer models. now, gm's updated filing comes amid mounting pressure from lawmakers in washington and regulators about why it took so long to respond and recall those affected cars. on wednesday, neither mccastle said she would hold hearings on a panel that overseas consumer product safety.

that comes after a house committee launched a problem on monday and called for hearings leading up to the recall. reports say the justice department is conduct a criminal probe of gm's disclosures to regulators about those faulty switches. checking gm shares this morning, they are off by about 0.4%. the interesting thing, ross, is because of gm's restructuring, and because this began before restructuring for a lot of drivers who may have suffered, they really aren't going to have much resource because what was left of the old gm really doesn't have that much money and the new gm is not going to be liable for that. that was part of the restruct e restructuring. it's a very interesting situation. if they knew about this before they filed for bankruptcy and did nothing and yet now it leaves people with very little legal recourse. >> yeah. it's -- how this all comes out. thanks for that, bertha.

have a good day. we have more news coming out now from malaysia. this time malaysia airlines ceo says the last data transmission from the plane was around 30 minutes after takeoff. and he says that boeing and rolls-royce did not receive any further data from the missing plane. remember, this after reports in the u.s. papers saying rolls-royce were getting data that suggests the plane flew on for hours. the malaysian ceo saying that is not the case. and the u.s. government is announcing wednesday that it released 500 million barrels of oil from the reserve. the department of energy says this is a test sale to evaluate how the system works. as required by law and has been under discussion for several months. the white house says the release is not related to the crisis in ukraine. the last time the administration released oil was in 201 1 during the unrest in libya. but the last time a test sale was conducted was way back in

1 1990. brooklyn is with us from pnb paribas. a very good morning to you. it may be coincidental, this test of release from the spr. but i mean, does it remind everybody that at the end of the day, you know, the u.s. has -- is going to become a major energy exporter and that might be perceived by or felt by russia? >> well, certainly, the timing is a bit conspicuous. if this was anticipated as the government had suggested that they had planned this for months now, the markets would never respond as they did. but now i think it's sending quite a strong signal to russia that the u.s. can manipulate oil prices and that has, of course, pretty dent mental impact to the russian economy.

>> yeah. do you think this sale, this test sale shows that washington might be reconsidering the export ban? >> you know, it's a little too early to tell that. you know, right now, i think the u.s. is kind of, you know, testing its options, looking at this, looking at visa options in terms of penalizing russia for its action in crimea. >> there's a number of options, including what kind of oil it should hold. stay there and we'll come back to you. we'll talk more about the u.s. economy, as well. this is after u.s. retail sales are out later this morning. will we see a rebound after the frosty start to the year? we'll talk about it.

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urman equities are flat to higher this morning. the ftse 100 not going anywhere. xetra dak up 0.2%. slightly less for the cac 40. ftse mib is up 0.75%. 2013 revenue, 76 billion of the tax profit coming up 5.34 billion and the earnings for bmw per share 8.10 euros per share. the market likes the news. it sent the stock higher on it. up 1.66%. and the 2013 margin 9.4%. u.s. futures meanwhile suggesting a small tick higher at the open after a fairley flat session wednesday. the dow currently called up around 34 points. the nasdaq is some 11.5 points above fair value and the s&p 500 is just under 4 points above fair value.

as far as the agenda today, we've got weakening claims due out at 8:30. they're forecast to rise by 7,000 to a total of 230,000. also at 8:30, we get february retail sales which should rise by 0.2%. brooklyn is still with us in new york. what do you read into this number? we're still trying to get all the wash through from the weather, of course. >> that's exactly right. you know, it's a really interesting time for retail sales right now because we basically have a consumer that's quite constrained. it's not getting much of a wage increase. we still have a whole lot of labor market flack in the economy and they're not able to sit down with their boss and ask for a wage increase. and thus they're not willing to borrow from their futures. they're not leveraging back up. so that poses a bit of a challenge for retail sales and the ability for retailers to attract that consume wher they're not willing to spend right now. it's a tough time for retail

sales generally and on top of that, you have this winter effect. which who knows how much that's playing into account. it's distorting a lot of numbers in terms of building materials. you know, people buying generators, boosting retail sales on that front. it's limiting retails sales on the auto front and how that plays out will be really interesting over the next couple of months. >> yeah. the thing with autos is a question of whether we just have delayed purchases and whether, therefore, there's pent up demand. what do you think? >> i think there is some of that. you know, certainly when people are searching for a car, it's a big ticket item. you know, they plan it well in advance. they -- you know, in the winter weather, their car breaks down more. they get in more accidents and they need to replace these cars. so there is certainly a bunch of pent up demand that comes from that. you know, during this time, you know, there isn't a whole lot of substitution. when it's cold out, you don't go buy a horse instead of a car.

you wait to buy that car and you wait for the right opportunity. >> thanks for that. we have to go. thank you so much. much.

is. gm reveals that the ignition problems dated back to 2001. now the company says use a lighter key ring. the missing malaysian airlines jet may have been flying longer than officially thought. we'll have a live report. and ukraine's prime minister will address the united nations today after paying a visit to the white house. it's thursday, march 13th, 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. andrew is off today. our top stories, general motors says that ignition problems with the switches, they dated back to 2001. that is three years earlier than previously disclosed. the automaker says that the problem was seen in preproduction of the saturn ion model. a technician reported observing an ion stall while the car was being driven and the owners had several keys on its key ring in addition to what was driving the car. now gm is urging drivers to avoid weighing down their key rings with anything more than the key and the remote key fob that locks and unlocks the doors. gm is offering $500 towards a new gm vehicle to more than an owners of compact cars. but the owners have