takeaways -- froth and rotation. that's what you need to know. i'm jim cramer. i will see you monday! hello, you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. headlines from around the world, china's finance minister says his country must make extreme efforts on economic restructuring to maintain growth. this is pmi data falling to an eighth-month low. >> how to make real reform to take away risk to burst some bubble and the cause this could impact. >> surprises to the upside.

the highest level in nearly three years although german numbers are weaker than expected. and wheels down. president obama arrives in the netherlands with emergency g-7 talks in ukraine set to shadow a nuclear summit. this as nato's top commander warns about military build-up on the ukrainian border. plus, hours after shooting down a syrian war plane, the turkish prime minister vows to crush his political enemies rallying crowds cheer as he also steps up the bid to block twitter. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. >> very good morning to you, particularly if you are just joining us in the united states. welcome, it's a global trading week here on cnbc. we saw last week the dow was up 1.5%. the nasdaq up .70%. futures concerned, we are taking

higher. the dow jones industrial is higher as the nasdaq futures are 9 points above value. we saw ftse down a little bit last week. this morning we've been reacting really to the various pmis we've had coming out. china pmis down for eight months after manufacturing was 48.1. and a mixed set of data out of europe. up side surprise from france, not matched by germany. the ftse global 300 is reacting to the data and volatility. it is fairly flat at the moment. the ftse last week was down around half of 1%. this morning it is just down .10%. off a 30% law is the dax, and the ftse is down .32% as well.

if i can read that right, the french and german data currently equaling each other out. we start to see the flattening in the u.s. curve. the five yield, 1.2% versus 1.5% before janet yellen came out and said we may see rate raises. as far as currency markets are currented, u.s. dollar index traveling around a three-week peak. the fed is volatile posting the french pmi number up to 1.3798 with the numbers fairly steady. dollar/yen at 102.53. the hsbc number is trading below

1.65. we'll bring you up to speed with reaction to china data with li sixuan. >> thank you for that, ross. asian markets were broadly higher today as the weak china factory survey actually raised expectations of more stimulus from beijing in order to avert a sharp downturn. and the shanghai composite gained 1% and the hang seng index hit a one-week high ending up almost 2%. over in japan the nikkei had the month of biggest gainers in asia thanks to bargain hunting and short covering. the nikkei ended up 1.58%. south korea's kospi gained .60% and australian shares also reversed early losses to end higher by just a modest .20%. and let me show you some top gainers in japan after the three-day long weekend. sharp gained 6% today and nintendo up 5% despite

forecasting a net loss. and as for panasonic, the nikkei reported last friday that the group's operating profit will likely jump 80% for the fiscal year ending march 31st beating forecasts and shares rallied to 6% today. in china securities authority announced rules for preferred shares pilot program after friday's market close. and it's widely expected that banks won't be among the first in the trial. so mainland banking shares were broadly higher today while investors are also awaiting earnings from the sector later this week, so we'll be watching that closely. and that's a look at the asian markets. back to you, ross. thank you, li sixuan. manufacturers slowed to a low in march hoping to reboot economists. eunice has been speaking to the finance minister about the challenges facing the country as

the economy slows. maybe we can listen in to that interview. do we have that interview? not sure we can. anyway, let's recap what we had out in terms of chinese data. the china hsbc pmi down five months in a row to eight-month low, 48.1 output and the orders both dragging lower as well. this is just after the manufacturing pmis. joining us is chris williamson, chief economist to talk more about the chinese data. we don't have eunice, so we'll tap into a that in a few minutes. chris, what's your analysis of what it means? >> it looks like domestic demand is weakening because of the uptick in new orders, so trade is looking like it's firming, but it's the home market continuing to weaken. now, i think that's one reason why people in some way are cheered by this because that's something the chinese authorities can revive. they can do some more stimulus,

whatever that may open tail to boost if they feel there's 7.5% growth target in jeopardy, which indeed this does suggest when you track pmis against gdp growth. we are tracking this growth below 7.5%. as long as 7% year on-year first quarter. quite a disappointing number. >> what policy measures might they launch to stabilize growth? >> well, i think they will be small tweaks. and what we have seen is rhetoric around bringing forward spending on infrastructure projects, getting construction going, just to lift growth later in the year for some home-based sort of building initiatives. i think that's about all we're going to see. i don't think there's going to be any great stimulus by any means. it will be small gestures that just ensure that is the home market continues to grow. >> and last week china was said to speed up investment construction plans to make sure they expand at a stable rate,

but this is -- is this domestic demand self-ening further? >> we do try to adjust for that as best we can with the numbers. we did single out easing trend, but this is further confirmation of it. earning it significantly greater concern that we already saw. it's just this is a trend that is very much apparent now and the government will do something about, is specially if it worsens in april. >> on that note, eunice, what is the finance minister telling you about what he thinks the plans should be? >> the plans for stimulus, i'm guessing that you're talking about, basically, i think,

there's been a lot of speculation right now we would be seeing a stimulus in the market, but i don't think based on the comments he was saying or that anybody would want is on aggressive stimulus. so when i'm speaking to him, he said that this leadership has -- doesn't want to repeat the mistakes they have seen in the past, and he said instead the government wanted to focus on sustainability as well as reform. this is what he had to say. >> i think seven to 8% growth rate is in line with the chinese economic potential and in line with our real capacity. and we must do extreme efforts in economic restructuring to make a small investment in the environment sector and to make more investment in the infrastructure building in the

remote area and the poor area. >> reporter: there's ban lot of speculation how there could be targeted spending and we would see some policies stabilize growth, but then overall another acknowledgment of how the leadership doesn't want to see the credit tabs turned on because they are aware of the unintended consequences that that has. ross? >> eunice, good stuff. catch you later, plenty more to come from eunice and that interview. meanwhile in europe, we had better than expected data from france lifting the economy leaping back to expansion. the german data took some of the positive move out of the euro because it was a little bit slower than we might have thought, still expanding. euro/dollar 1.87. we did get up to 1.3827. and the first reading of the comp sit number this morning slow to a little bit less than expected. the flash numbers at 53.2 versus

expectations of 53.3. chris, to what the french number, first of all, turning to growth, pmis are less than that. >> yeah, this was the reading we have been hoping for months ago, really. it's taking a while, but france is joining in the eurozone recovery now. germany, yes, the number dipped. we had some indications that there was concern about effects on ukraine. we also saw the northern eurozone countries as well in the flash readings. so i think there's some element of uncertainty creeping in now that may have brought that down, but interestingly in the service sector in germany there's a strong rebound. so germany is looking all right, really. the best quarter since early 2011. france, this number brings up to the best readings since early 2011. and the rest of the region, likewise, it dipped slightly by the first quarter. >> the prices components.

>> so this is going to be relieved with the activity moving in the right direction, but the price indices are continuing to fall, and it is not just in the peripheral countries like spain and italy, in germany as well. you're seeing downward pressure on prices there, and that's going to be a concern. the big question is, is that simply firms being more aggressive and trying to win market share and doing what we would like them to do in terms of competitiveness and driving down the unit labor cost and so forth, or is there more of a deeper malaise creeping in? i think that the way it should be put on the form, that it's companies being more aggressive and -- >> that means the margins are being squeezed. >> the margins are being squeezed and this is specially flew france. this is achieved bay big market squeeze it looks, but the winning market share and the economic news improves with consumer sentiment picking up. >> then it may feature into a slightly weaker up nation for

there being a lot of pressure, we'll see. >> it may well be, yes. further and weak cpis. >> thank you for joining us, chris williams. president obama is attending an emergency g7 meeting in ukraine. we'll have the latest, right after this.

a recap of the headlines this morning, a measure of chinese business activity falls to an eighth-month low while the german pmi numbers also disappoint. nato warns on russian military presence as u.s. president obama arrives in europe. and turkish prime minister is shooting down a seer yap fighter jet claimed to have violated its air space. pths barack obama has touched down in the netherlands to attend nuclear talks, but the crisis in ukraine is set to dominate with a last-minute g7 meetinging with organized on the sidelines of the summit. anet ta is in the hague for us and joining us for more. annetta, what may come out of this? -- >> actually, president obama was

saying in an interview with dutch television that if russia would escalate the situation further, they have to impose more sanctions at a higher cost to the country. so i would say the rhetorics are getting tenser and tester. and also, we are hearing from a u.s. military official that they are saying that the military groups at the eastern border or before the eastern border of the ukraine actually are extremely active. and they are huge and could very well go through the eastern part of the ukraine to another part of moldova, which probably not a lot of people have heard about before, which is actually also a vital interest of russia. so what could happen here during that evening, g7 meeting, which is taking place in the hague between 6:30 and 7:30 local

time, is that we are hearing more about sanctions from the united states on russia, more talking about so-called level three sanctions, which could be harsh economic sanctions on russia, but most likely germany will be one of those forces which perhaps weighs down a little bit, because germany has said not to be very interested in harsh economic sanctions for now. with that, ross, back to you. >> thank you for that. just a reminder, the president is due to hold an address at the summit in the hague. we'll bring that to you when it happens. also still to come on the show, more bad news for gm. the justice department is reportedly reporting whether the firm hid the ignition switch problems. more details on that, coming up. as we go to break, a remind they are a the european equities just over an hour and 20 minutes into the trading weighted to the downside.

take a look at u.s. futures after the gapes we saw last week, the dow up 1.5%, the s&p up 1.4%. we are seeing the s&p up by two points. the nasdaq is up by 4.5 points.

as for the agenda this week, today we get march flash manufacturing pmi out at 9:00 eastern. on tuesday, look for the case stiller home price index. and new home sale prices. on wednesday, durable goods. thursday, the final estimate of the fourth quarter gdp and pending home sales. consumer sentiment is out on friday. some of the stories we are watching, the u.s. secretary jack lieu scheduled to undergo outpatient surgery for a benign enlarged prostate. the procedure is going to include a brief hospital stay. the 58-year-old does not have prostate cancer. he's expected to remain at home in new york this week and then return to work in washington. the cftc stepped up its probe of more than a million energy metals transactions.

they sent wells notices that could send out enforcement action as they examine a variety of deals that include so-called exchange of futures or esx. these are two-step transactions used by banks and hedge funds made in the liquid markets with few counter parties and where one could dramatically move prices. and jpmorgan's executive banker is retiring. but there's no explanation why. this comes in the ongoing probe of the bank's hiring practices. the u.s. prosecutors want to know whether the hiring helped them to win new business from china. and a top nato official warned russia is amassing military significant forces on the border with ukraine which he described as very sizable and

very, very ready. general phillip breedlove in charge of u.s. and nato forces in europe says the troops could be easily shifted to moldova that has a large ethnic russian population. this comes as our next guest says the weakness in russian bonds reflects the political risk rather than the fundamental performance. the credit analysis at komo bank, good to see you, augustus. first of all, there are russian old old olygarchs. >> we have russian assets, particularly on top bond side, but this is more so than the fundamental risk. it is time for investors to

start slowly reentering the sector. >> a lot depends, though, on what happens with ukraine. and that's almost impossible of a call to make here. but there's risk. >> if you look at the fundamental picture, we don't see concerns. aside from the ukrainian situation, if it deescalated, there's a possibility that russia goes back to the 2008 crisis. fundamentally, russia is in a debt position that's very low. the same picture for the sectors. we don't see a repeat of the 2008 crisis, as i said, because back then russia was coaching out of a long period of credit boom. there was a lot of margin calls, which is not the case today. and also in the first quarter of 2009, the price has collapsed to $40 a barrel, which accelerates the risks on the russian economy. having said that, clearly the russian economy is awakening, but aside the political risk, we don't really anticipate any further downside.

>> what if there's more caps of flight out of russia? and then a reluctance also overseas with putting money in? >> a lot of people have been focusing on that, but at the same time it may come as a surprise that in the first half you may see more up flows from russian olygarchs. >> eye, maybe the lower prices benefit them. the turkey officials shot down a plane saying the aircraft violated their air space. the pilot ejected before the plane crashed. the prime minister announced the downing of the jet to flag waving supporters on saturday and took a tougher stance against his political reporters in elections. at the same time, the country's president has said the nationwide ban on twitter in place since thursday will be

oversued. the president said the ban was an unpleasant situation for a developing country like turkey. as we go through this, what's happened to turkish credit? >> political risks are dominating the performance of turkey's credits. obviously, this week is going to be quite critical heading into the political elections, which will show with a clear indication of the strengths and the possibilities of running for president. nerls, we do an 'tis plait political uncertainty that will weigh negatively on turk irk credits. fundamentally, this story is not as bad for turkish banks. they have buffers to withstand the pressures. >> has the central bank regained confident with international investors on the move that rates have a long way to go. >> this is a benefit we have seen in moderation, moderating improvement in the performance

of bopds. add the end, there's call for monetary tightening with risks escalating further to make us sad about the risk performance. and we may start to take negative actions, which is going to force investors to get out of turkish credits because they have the breach of the investment great ratings. >> thank you for joining us from the bank. just to remind you, the president will hold an address. we'll bring you that when it happens. and the sectors are repairing to open for another week of trading since the best week since mid-february. will they end in tears or not? the next guest says yes, but when. that's in a few moments.

this is "worldwide exchange." china's finance miner is says this country must make extreme efforts to maintain growth. this is pmi data falling to and eighth-month low. the tables turn, french manufacturing data surprises to theup side hitting the best level in three years. the german figures a little more disappointing. and wheels down, president obama arrives in the netherlands with emergency g7 talks on

ukraine set to overshadow the nuclear summit. this is nato's leading commander warning that russia's military build-up is happening on the you yan kran border. ukrainian border. and what did they know and when did they know it? u.s. authorities are probing whether gm hid information on faulty ignition switches when it filed for bankruptcy nearly five years ago. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. good morning to you. if you are just joining us in north america, the latest press comments on missing malaysian flight mh 370 is getting underway in kuala lumpur. they are saying the latest on this is two orange objects seen but not confirmed and may well be plane debris. we will try to see if we can get

the latest on that. two objects seen but not confirmed. could be plane debris. this is after a chinese aircraft spotted the suspicious floating debris in the south indian ocean flying back to refuel, although china's foreign ministry is cautioning the siting may not be related to the missing jetliner. australia says the u.s. navy plane sent to investigate couldn't find anything. meanwhile, weather in the area is deteriorating with heavy winds and high seas. we'll keep our eyes and ears out for anything coming out of that press conference. meanwhile, u.s. equities were up, the dow is up 1.5%. the nasdaq up .70%. the futures are indicating we may continue the friend first thing this morning to, not by much. the dow is 40 points above fair value. the nasdaq is 3.5 above fair value and the s&p 500 is 2

points above fair value. u.s. equities are down and weaker than we were half an a hour ago. the ftse 100 is down .40%. the french pmi today was a surprise back into expansion territory. 51.6. february, the final reading, this is after the manufacturing data is shrinking at a fast pace. export orders did pick up for the first time in four months, but drops in output and new orders weighed on the index. slow growth concerns are giving rise to new stimulus hopes. and that sent the country's currency higher. in fact, it hit the biggest interday gain in more than a year. and our own eunice is speaking exclusively to china's finance minister about the problems

facing the country's slow growth and the willingness to defaults. >> we must balance the weight. we need to make real reform to take away risk to burst some bubble and to cause a seismic impact. >> meanwhile, several business economists see the fed raising interest rates as early as this year. wall street said it is set on 2015. the national association for business economics, a third of members expect a hike this year. more than half anticipate the increase in 2015 with 40% of those believing it will occur in the first half of the year. the principal of the focompany there in cincinnati, matt, thank you for joining us. when janet yellen suggests rates go up six months after qe, it is

hard to imagine why we get a rate rise this year unless they speed up the pace of tapering. >> i agree with you, ross. i don't expect her to increase interest rates by the end of this year. i think she's on line with what many communications of what we are than dee and other fed governors have previously expressed to a mid-2002 possible hike. i think when you look at the weather that's been very bad here in the united states, and some of the economic activity that's been okay but not great, i don't think you're going to see the economic growth that warrants a rate or increase in rates. the only way i see this happening is if bond vigilante increases and i don't expect that any time soon. i expect 2015 to be on line with what they said before. >> the yield curve flattened a bit. to your notes, 34 basis points. the five-year yield up to 1.72.

what impact might this have for equity investors? >> i think when you look at the potential rise and rates with all equities, you want to go with company that is have the ability to grow the earnings, have pricing power regardless of the interest rate environment. i think when you look at companies, and particularly the technology sector, ross, i'm very upbeat on, i think these people have great margins, have the ability to, we feel, also increase their dividends, and they have products that people want and need. and we're particular weather upbeat on qualcomm, apple and microsoft. i think it's something when you look at the potential rise in rates, i do want to remind people that many money debts at the end of last year predicted a rise in rates, and we have seen interest rates, particularly in the ten-year fall, roughly fall 25 to 30 basis points. so i think we're seeing a modest, narrow band of interest rate moves, but i think we're going to be pretty much on par with where we are right now.

>> so what are investors to do, you talk about we should take some profits from some low-quality non-dividend stocks, what would you do with the profits if that's the case? >> sure, sure. i think when you look at evaluations, we have a phrase at our shop, that quality evaluations, fundamentals and dividends don't matter until that's all that matters. when you look at the non-dividend stocks in the s&p 500, there's only 29 names, they are trailing versus the dividend paying stocks at 16.80. that gives us cause for concern. i like quality names, i like dividend names and people that can grow earnings regardless of the interest rate environment. and i just look at where we see names, where investors have been rewarded going into speculative risk-oriented named. i just don't see that being

sustainable for the future at a time. i would take the chips off the table, go to quality names and something that has not outperformed as much. when you look at the volatility that is likely to increase and not decrease with what's going on geopolitically or what's happening with earnings, it helps earners to be more cautious versus aggressive in this space. it does not hurt to own a stock in anticipation of what's to come. evaluations are quite compelling and i expect more volatility and dividends with a great way to hide the volatility environment. >> thank you for joining us, matt mccormick joining us. thank you. we've got more comments coming out of that latest malaysian press conference and flight 370. they are saying there are no sightings at the moment from the northern corridor. french satellites are also being used to help in search and rescue. and police have questioned over

100 people as well. we'll keep our eyes on that. meanwhile, the other stories were following to date. the justice department is reportedly probing whether gm hid the faulty technician switches at the center of the massive recall when it filed for bankruptcy back in 2009. "the new york times" says authorities are also examining whether gm understates the problem to regulators. they handed over documents to federal investors in new york. the paper says the probe is being run by prosecutors and fbi agents who worked on the forecast that ended in a 1.2 billion settlement last week. gm's stock in frankfurt is up a third of a percent. no timetable has been to reopen the ship channel after gallons of oil spilled into the ocean this weekend. a barge carrying gallons and gallons of crude collided with another ship spilling a fifth of

its cargo. this is one of the biggest waterways. the u.s. coast guard is expected to get more help today to try to contain the spill and protect local wildlife. and the president is set to give and address in the netherlands fairly shortly. if that happens, we'll bring it to you. also coming up, why one large investment in coca-cola says the company's new compensation plans could take the fizz out of the soft drink's giant stock. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus

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geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. recap of the headlines, today a measure of china's business activity falls to a four-month low as german pmi numbers disappoint. and nato announces that president obama arrives in europe. >> and the turkey prime minister shoots down a syrian jet claiming it violated its air space. we have more flashes coming out surrounding the malaysian flight a370. they are not coming from the press conference but from the australian prime minister, mr. abbott, which suggests that the australian air force has spotted a new bunch of debris in the indian ocean. the first object is gray or

green, it's a circular object, and there's an australian navy ship proceeding to that scene. those are the latest comments not from the press conference but from the office of the australian prime minister. more to come on that, i'm sure. meanwhile, coca-cola is coming under fire from a major investor for its new executive compensation plan. bertha coombs is at hq with more details. hi, bertha, good to see you. >> good to see you, ross. happy monday. this is the year of the activist investor. value investor david winters, the founder and ceo of wintergreen advisers, sent a letter to coca-cola's board and shareholders criticizing the company's 2014 pay proposal. a recent sec filing says wintergreen owned 2.5 million shares of coke at the end of last year and in building his position over the past few quarters. in his letter winters says coke's plan would award executives with a mix of 60%

options and 40% stock. resulting in the issuance of 340 million shares. at the current price, the shares would be worth about $13 billion. winters says if the proposal is approved in combination with previous pay plans, it will dilute shareholders by an estimated 14%. in his letter he says, in effect, the board is asking shareholders for approval to transfer approximately $13 billion from all of our pockets to the company's management over the next four years. while he still supports coke and its brands amid slowing growth in profit, he says the equity plan would harm coke as an investment. wintergreen is also a large investor in berkshire hataway to own 9% stake in coke. in a separate letter to warren buffett, winters hits on a topic he's frequently brought up, excessive pay and the cost it imposes on long-term

shareholders. buffett says we believe coke is serving a poor precedent where regard to corporate pay. checking shares in europe this hour, they are fractionally higher. it's going to be a very active season this year for the shareholder meetings, i have a feeling, rose. >> oh, yeah. just ramping up the pressure. thank you for that. have a good day. great to see you. now president obama set to hold an address in the netherlands fairly shortly ahead of attending the nuclear summit. the g7 sector holds talks later and down the sidelines of the summit to talk about the situation in ukraine. when the president's address starts, we'll bring you that. also still to come, after weak talk about when the fed starts to raise rates, we'll get

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oh, it's not a big deal at all. come on in. [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ all right. we are waiting for president obama to begin his press conference. in the hague, there he is. in amsterdam ahead of his meeting in the hague a little bit later. we'll bring you that in a few moments, as soon as he starts speaking. as we wait for the president to begin speaking, a reminder of what's on the agenda. the mr manufacturing pmi out at 9:00 a.m. eastern. on tuesday, the case-shiller new home sales. on wednesday, february durable goods. on thursday, the final fourth quarter estimate gdp and pending

home sales. and march consumer sentiment are out on friday. that's enough to get your teeth into. ahead of all that and the first trading session of the week, u.s. futures indicate we might get another pop a little bit higher. this after last week when the dow was up 1.5%. the s&p up 1.4%. how is it all going to turn out? scott bauer, senior marketing strategist, a flat anything of the yield curve going on, what happens this week? >> you know, much of the same. i think borrowing anything noteworthy out of russia and ukraine, volatility will remain where it's at. we won't go back down to the levels we saw in the last six months or so. we'll see volatility right here, but it looks like the markets still want to go higher. the s&ps are only 15 to 18 points off the top, and with the earnings season pretty much

coming to a close right now, now we can focus primarily on economic news here at home, which realistically has been pretty good. so i do see a continuing to the upside here. again, that's barring any sort of international storm that we may see coming out of russia or with the president right now at the hague. >> we started to see this flattening with the curve last week as well. how much more do you think is left in that move? >> i do think there's a little bit more. one of your previous guests just a few minutes ago was talking about how all the economists and all the critics were looking for rates to go up this year. and we've seen rates go down about 25 basis points or so. so we have seen that flattening in the yield curve, the 5 is up to 175 or so. and i think that's going to continue again, i mean, the market withstood what yellen said last week with rates going up, maybe six months after the

tapering, so we're still at least a year out, if not 18 months out before we really see those rates going up. and i do think that this flattening of the yield curve will continue, probably another ten basis points or so. >> yeah. as far as the sort of data this week, we are going to get manufacturing pmis this week, durable goods on wednesday, final estimates of fourth quarter gdp as well. what do you pick out? you said the data is helping us get higher. >> i really want to focus in on gdp. it's going to be interesting because as everybody knows, the weather here is all anyone talks about. it's been an awful winter. it's really affected the bottom line. >> i have to interrupt you there because the president is speaking. excuse me, we'll just go to the president in the netherlands. thank you. >> this is my first visit to amsterdam. and to the hague and to the netherlands. and i am so pleased that i've had a chance already to meet

some wonderful students. i want to thank the mayor and the curator for their hospitality as well. i'm proud to be here with some of the dutch masters who i studied in school and to see just the extraordinary traditions of this great country. i would be remiss if i did not mention that i'm proud of both of our teams at the olympics, so in addition to painting, you really know how to speed skate. as the prime minister said, we just had an excellent opportunity to experience the museum and to see those documents, including the treaty of friendship that john adams negotiated more than 200 years ago. this was a reminder of the historic ties between our countries. and this is, of all the press conferences i've done, this is easily the most impressive backdrop i've had to a press conference. of course, we're here for the

third nuclear securities summit. and i want to thank his majesty, king alexander, as well as the people of the netherlands for all the preparations that go into bringing together so many heads of state. this is just one more example of dutch leadership, not just on nuclear security, but on many global challenges. as you know, the netherlands is one of our closest allies and our cooperation underscores a larger point. our nato allies are our closest partners on the world stage. europe is the cornerstone of america's engagement with the world. and today we focused on several priorities in europe and beyond. first, we obviously spent a considerable amount of time on the situation in ukraine. europe and america are united in our support of the ukrainian government and the ukrainian people. we are united in opposing a cost

on russia for its actions so far. the prime minister routtan said this would bring growing sanctions to the russian economy. and i'll meet with my fellow g7 leaders later today to coordinate closely with the netherlands and the european partners going forward. second, i thanked the prime minister for the netherlands' strong commitment to contributions to nato. dutch forces have served with distinction in afghanistan and joined us in confronting piracy off the horn of africa. through nato, the netherlands contributed to the employment of patriot air batteries in turkey and making important investments in they to defense capabilities. dutch forces are also making critical contributions to the international stabilization in mali. so across the board --

>> that's it for today's show. "squawk box" is coming up next.

good morning. welcome to "squak box." president obama arrives in europe as g7 leaders hold crisis talks on ukraine. apple is reportedly in talks with our parent comcast about streaming tv service. and the shockers got shocked. kentucky upsets wichita state to advance to the sweet 16. it's monday, march 24, 2014. "squak box" begins right now. >> good morning, everybody. welcome to" squawk box" on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe

kernan and andrew sorkin. president obama arrived in the netherlands earlier today. the emergency g7 meeting will be held on the side line of the nuclear summit in the make. and the leaders will weigh their options on how to deal with russian president vladimir putin including more sanctions. in the meantime, a ukrainian naval base was seized by the russian troops. on sunday the top nato commander said russia built up a sizable force with the border of ukraine, and moscow has its sights on another ex-soviet republic, moldova. further weakness in china activity, the latest hsbc purchasing index showed the third straight month of contraction. we'll see how this is all playing out in the markets. the futures this morning, at least at this point, are