hello. you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the first quarter draws to close in asia with the nikkei clocking in a 9% loss. european equities could be wrapping up slim games while major indices are in red the first three months of the year. could francois hollande be out after wrapping up big-time elections? and declaring victory in a regional vote and fourth quarter growth figures ahead of forecasts. plus u.s. stock markets are

rigged. michael lewis says high frequency trade is using an unfair advantage which is extracting billions of dollars from investors. welcome to the first "worldwide exchange" of the week. europe has now moved into summertime, so we have now regained five of the differential with the united states, but things have changed as far as asia viewers are concerned. an hour into trade today, here in europe, you can see advances currently outpace decliners by a ratio of 7-2 on the dow jones 600. the ftse last week was up .90%. down on the quarter 2%. we are up another half a percent. the dax is up a quarter percent. the ftse is up a half percent as

well. let's show you turkey throughout the morning after the regional party victory in local polls. and the bist 100 is up .33% this morning. here's where we have come as far as the first quarter is concerned. we are getting toward the last trading session today. the ftse is down 1.5% so far for the quarter and year to date as well. the dax is up .61%. the cac is up 2.81%. and the ftse that is up 14% as well. as far as the beyond market is concerned, treasury is 2.72%. we are working our way forward the employment report on friday. and on the currency markets, we

are under a little bit of pressure today. it's benefited from the safehaven trade but there are hopes of more chinese stimulus. we are looking out for the official pmi data tomorrow. as that happens, the yen is below 1.03. 1.02 was the low on friday. euro/dollar, big focus coming up in an hour with the latest print of up nation for the eurozone. we saw weaker than expected german hicp on friday down .9%. there's consensus that the print for up nation in the euro done will be .6%. if it comes in low, we will ratchet up the pressure on the ecb, but we heard comments over the weekend saying we don't have a deflationary threat but others beg to differ with them. that's where we stand at the moment with currency. and we have closed the quarter out in asia. look at that, the nikkei

currently off 9% for the first quarter. we'll get more on the session today, sri is with us in singapore. hi, sri. >> ross, very good morning to you. i do want to talk about what's happening tomorrow, tuesday. a new day, but more importantly a new quarter of the second. and this is going to be absolutely critical for the chinese markets because we get the official china manufacturing pmi and we get the final read from the hsbc. to all intensive purposes, it does look as though it will be another sub par number, so perhaps that's what the shanghai composite is trying to frontrun and price in. and this is going to be important from the policy perspective as well. with we do sea a softer pmi tomorrow, then that will probably seal the deal on near term stimulus from the chinese government from beijing. so i'll leave you with that in mind. that's probably one of the reasons why the greater chinese markets have had a reasonably good day with the exception of

the chinese shanghai composite. elsewhere, i want to talk about the nikkei. you were talking about the quarterly performance down by 9%. they had a reasonably good day up 1% despite the fact that we did see a slide in factory output. and that raises questions about the broader resill yeps of the japanese economy in the first quarter and heading into tomorrow. that's going to be critical for the japanese markets from their perspective because that is when the sales tax hike comes into being. the big question is whether the broader japanese economy is ready for it. if it isn't, that may mean some intervention by the bank of japan in the form of the further expansion of the asset purchase program. we kouncould see that in the se half of this year. elsewhere, i want to talk about the kospi broadly flat. we had geopolitical tensions

with firing from pyongyang and there was some from the south as well, but the markets seem to be taking this in stride, 1,985. a lot of risk events for these markets to take into consideration both scheduled and unscheduled as well, ross, back to you now. >> we have other news out as well. china sees nearly $15 billion worth of assets from the family associates of zu yongkang. what are the implications of this? >> i think the implications are quite positive. it shows the world and it shows the broader chinese population that the central government, beijing is getting tough on corruption. and it's not just saying this. it's putting its words into actions. this is a big scout for the chinese who have taken this to

the inner circle. it calls into question whether the leadership are really purging some of those closest to it and what it means for future policy decisions, et cetera, but it also tells the outside world and the up population in no uncertain term this case are coming to terms and cracking down on corruption and the action they are taking is significant and does have teeth, ross, that's the way i see it, anyway. >> i think you are probably right, sri. good to have you on the show. sri there in singapore. it wouldn't be the first time by a long stretch. now, north and south korea have been exchanging near the maritime border. pyongyang warned of intentions of conducting a firing drill. but the f-15s and marines from the south started scrambling to fire back. plenty of elections to ponder including in france where

french president hollande will be delivering a tv address today. his ruling socialist party suffered heavy losses in local elections as the country's 2013 deficits reported a 4.3% gdp which missed government targets. stefan has more in paris, what were the results of these elections? how well did the national front do? >> ross, there are two newspapers here, this is the front page of the left wing paper, la punition, the punishment for president hollande. and this one is making the headlines on this election, bleu is the color of the national party that got 47% of the votes compared to 47% for the left wing and 8.7% for the extreme right party national.

in the end, it managed to get control of 12 cities. it is not that much for the scale of the country, but the best political result for the extreme right party. now what does it mean for francois hollande? hollande said he will listen to the message from the french people, therefore we are expecting a government reshuffle that should take place as early as today. according to some sources of the senate, hollande is going to make a speech on television lighter today. it's not confirmed at this stage yet, but we can reasonably think that francois is going to make a statement and could replace the prime minister and the minister for the economy and the foreign minister of the economy and the prime minister. there is intense speculation about who could be the next prime minister. according to plenty of newspapers, the current interior minister could become the next

prime minister. he's more centerist and would be a relevant response to the outcome of this election. it's also in the newspaper this morning. the former wife of francois hollande could join the government with the justice minute industry. and there was a lot of speculation over the last week as francois hollande made a lot of concessions. he met with the former trade of the world commission, but right before the meeting he rejected the speculation basically saying he was not ready to join the government. but for francois hollande, it's a good thing he starts consulting all these people, even if they are not going to enter the government. in terms of the economy policy, ross, we are not expecting any deep changes. francois hollande is still committed to massive spending cuts over the next three years. the target is 50 billion euros. even more now since we have this morning the very bad result

deficit. it was above the target of the government. over to you. >> stefan, thank you. stay there. we'll also bring in dr. mary. a bad night for francois hollande, how bad? >> it was predictedly bad. the results were a reflection of the long-term series of bad nights for francois hollande. i think that's why the results are so serious. it's not unusual, in fact, it's common for a current government to lose the local elections. it's a midterm election where people punish the government. the reason it's so serious is because it's the reflection of a keeping malaise, that the french are unhappy with the administration and has broken records on unpopularity and is prepared to take action on the basis of the results. >> the action he's going to do, reshuffling the prime minister, that doesn't address the core

issue, which is presumably the economy. >> i think that's right. it is like resorting dictators on the titanic. it won't fix the major reason why the french are so unhappy with the government. >> industrial decline, up employment on the rise, those are big structural problems. manuel vows stefan said is the man who may become prime minister, should she take the job or not? >> i think he's the right person to ask. he's centerist, as your colleague said, he's got a much higher popularity level that the president. although that might put francois hollande off, because it can be difficult with a prime minister more popular than you. it makes the prime minister undismissable. if i were hollande, i would not take it. he's probably eyeing up the presidency for 2022. if he takes on the helm now, that could tarnish his credibility and destroy his career. so i wouldn't be surprised if he

turns it down. >> that sounds like smart advice if he's listening to you. stefan. >> reporter: hey, mary, do you think this could help france restore its confidence, restore i it at a european level? >> i don't think it will make a difference. francois has to send a message that he received the message, but the only thing to make a difference is to bring down the unemployment levels. >> where does this leave the front national, the national front? they have made big gains and we have the end to the european party and we have the may elections coming up. what sort of support do you think they are going to get? >> i think they are going to stroll going into the european elections. i think they are going to do well, but if you ask them they say this is a result of their tactic of what they call effectively detoxification of their brand, trying to make

themselves more mainstream, but it is less the case of people voting for the national and people voting against the main stream parties, both of which have been ridden with scandals the last few years and tarnished by the economic crisis. >> does that explain the very low turnout? >> yes, i think the whole national and the turnout are symptoms of the main stream politics in france. >> is the e going to get the shot? are investors going to get a shot from the level of the eu vote come the may european elections, do you think? >> i don't think it's going to be an enormous shot, because everyone can see it coming. i do think it's going to change the composition of the french presence within the european parliament but perhaps not quite as much as people expect. the key difference, of course, is that european elections elected proportionately compared to municipal elections like we just had, so we will see 77% for the europe. >> good to see you. thank you for joining us, associate professor at the queen

university of london. stefan, catch you later. always great to see the eiffel tower as well. turkey east prime minister claimed victory in his elections. two polls showed the akp party won 46% of the vote with 80% of the ballots counted. the election comes amidst allegations of corruption amongst government officials. at the same time, turkish adp came in above expectations. the economy expanded by 4.4% in the last three months of the year. that's better that the 4% that economists had predicted. michael lewis, the author of such books as "money ball" and "the big shot" says u.s. equity markets are rigged in favor of high-speed trading firms. lewis' new book "flash boys wall street revolt" coming out today.

the methods and technology that make high-speed trading illegal and restrictions are regulated, but appearing on cbs' "60 minutes" he says that's used to profit others. >> if it's so complicated that you can't question it. >> this is all being done by computers. >> it's too fast to be done by humans. humans have been completely removed. >> earlier the new york attorney general eric snyderman said he believes the high-speed trading firms gives an unfair advantage. he's began to meet with nasdaq and other exchanges to discuss possible reforms. so is this just a clever promotional tool or are equities really being distorted by apple computers? join us and e-mail us at worldwide@cnbc.com or twe tweet @cnbcwex.

we also have news coming out concern i concerning capital hikes. they say a top investor sold shares of the bank at 23 euros per share. and the stock itself, of course, has been putting pressure on it trading at 27 euros a share. let's take a short break. still to come, john kerry's urged russia to pull back troops from ukraine's borders, but are they going to listen? we'll have the latest on the crisis, next. ♪

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i'm taking off, but, uh, don't worry. i'm gonna leave the tv on for you. and if anything happens, don't forget about the new xfinity my account app. you can troubleshoot technical issues here.

if you make an appointment, you can check out the status here. you can pay the bill, too. but don't worry about that right now. okay. how do i look? ♪ thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. you're watching "worldwide exchange." >> credit suisse said british lenders are rbs and barclays. the libyan invest authority has been saying millions of dollars of bribes have gone to

islam, the former son of gadhafi. the claim is made in a $1.5 billion lawsuit filed guest the french bank in high court. the stocks are trading down over the last seven days. two men carrying a briefcase stuffed with $3 trillion worth of bond certificates have been caught trying to bluff their way into the cop fed rat bank. the smartly dressed pair convinced guards that cardinals were expecting them. they were allegedly planning to use the fake certificates to open a line of credit. foreign investors say the bench market has seen four straight sessions over the past month as the biggest economy heads to the polls in april. clearly they hope the main opposition party will be voted in and usher in new reforms to stimulate the economy.

joining us with his thoughts, the ceo of the bombay come exchange. thank you for joining us. good to see you. can you remember a more important election in recent times? >> no, the last 23 years we have part of liberal action. '91 was when things started moving and they liberalized the economy. but this is one of the first, i would say, hot ligated elections. >> this is the first time in a while that they are two very different ideologies and economic programs laid out. >> absolutely. the way i look at it is for 23 years india had congress government, congress-led government, manipulated governments and also non-congress manipulated government. the one thing is very clear that there's going to be steadfast on the part of liberal action. so it's about being center right

or center left. and this time it looks like center right is going down, but effectively it would remain more or less -- >> there's a lot of hope placed on the fact that bjp may win this and that that reform program implemented as you say, there's the infrastructure clearing to be business friendly. too much hope being placed on this? >> i would say so, but at the same time the hope is justifiable in the sense that the last three to four years, too many projects were coming up. and now the congress government itself, which is in power now, has started actually dealing with so many infrastructure project that is everyone expects the new projects to start. and actually the economy to start booming, so effectively it's more about that process rather than a new government coming in, but at the same time if a new government would come

in it would probably be much better. >> if that were the case, which economy would benefit the most, do you think? >> i think infrastructure is going to be doing very well given the current process, airports, roads and so on and so forth, that is one clear area that's going to be looking up. and, of course, the i.t.s really doing well, farmwise doing well, the demand from abroad, the consumers will be doing really well. >> clearly six months ago there's a big outflow of money out of india. that's been stabilized. what do you think about the hot money flows versus the -- you must see this, hot money flow versus long-term investment. >> in fact, if you look at six months pack, india was looking

bad in terms of its current deficit. and that's why we have more money going out. in fact, india effectively had a deficit of around $40 to $50 billion and that was financed by the money coming in, but then it starts coming in. when going out, you need to worry about financing that framework, and gold was about $60 billion of exports, $5 billion a month. and that saved a human amount of foreign exchange. we actually appreciated a huge amount over the last few months because the current deficit looks to be in control. >> while we wait for a new government and restructure reforms, what's the bombay stock exchange up to? what are you guys going to do to

make things better for your clients and get more volume? >> basically the way we look at it is the main job of the exchange is to ensure the economy, which is pretty high at 35%, goes into the productive channel that is in the companies going into the gold and silver and real estate, which was the case over the last eight to ten years. so we have basically liberalizes ourselves in terms of involving medium sector companies to come in to list on the sme board that has been set up. and we have our own 54 companies with almost a billion dollar evaluation that has been picked up on, and slowly you can see that building up. at the same time, the large board companies are now sort of doing really well. so for us, i think we are in the right place. and in terms of the distribution of the ipos and the debt issues and so on and so forth, we have been doing this the last few years over market share. >> can i get your view on this, i'm sure you read the michael

lewis story about high frequency trading and the criticism of it. it's all legal with exchanges providing proprouty lines to allow you to trade quicker. what do you think the criticisms are? >> in '94 when india automated exchanges, you can always say the flaw is real and the interest may not be in the markets. and now after how many years someone is finally discussing it. the regulators are always trying to hardness the good part of the technologies and they do stall the bad part that comes in. so they allow newer technologies to work properly. at the same time, they have various regulations put in place including certifications and so on and so forth that anything

that comes into the market has been registered and so on and so forth. so we think that they have something to offer to the market, and we need to hardness the good part of it and take away the bad part of it. and in several years, it will become part of life and nobody will talk about it. >> good to see you, thank you so much for joining us. the ceo of the bombay stock exchange. now we've had some news, more on the news out of italy. the nps foundation has been selling at 6.5% stake at bmps at .28 cents a share. the stock is up 11% on the news. we'll have more on that coming up. and, of course, we'll get into the japanese data out today as well. see you in a few moments. really?

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you're watching "worldwide exchange." bringing you business news from around the globe. and the headlines from around the globe, the first quarter draws to close in asia. the nikkei clocking up a near 9% loss. the european equities are looking to wrap up slim games

and major indices in the red for the first three months. could francois hollande be ready to reshuffle his parliament after he loses out in local elections? and bank of america shares are at 6.5% stake. and the latest bmps share jumps this morning. european equities, meanwhile, are flat. the ftse 100 is up a third of percent. we have come back down from earlier today. as far as bull markets are concerned, we'll keep our eyes

on t on the ten-year bull market for 1.56%. and gild is at 2.74%. and on the currency markets, the yep has sort of lost part of the safehaven status with the dollar up to 1.03. a lot of thought and focus on the china official pmi data tomorrow. if that comes in below 50 for the first time in 17 months, it will get interesting out of china with the yep weakening. euro/dollar, we'll be at a two-and-a-half year high at 1.3967. the european market is up 1.7 billion pounds, more signs of strength of the u.k. housing market and the rebound in the economy as well. sterling steady at 1.6631.

turn our attention to russia and ukraine. john kerry urged ukraine to pull back troops from its borders. in a meeting with lavrov over the weekend, kerry said any progress would depend on russian troop movement. in a press conference, he said the presence of russian forces is creating a climate of fear and intimidation. >> great conversation this evening with prime minister lavrov. i made clear that the united states still considers the russian actions to be legal and illegitimate. and russians' actions over the past several weeks have placed it at odds with the rule of law and the international community. and we still believe on the wrong side of history. >> meanwhile, lavrov argued that ukraine can't function a as unified state and should be a loose federation of regions that choose their own economic model and religion. lavrov said he and kerry

discussed the possible of a ukrainian federal state. >> translator: we expressed different views about the crisis but agreed to search for points of common ground to find a diplomatic situation of the ground in the interest of the ukrainian people. >> joining us to discuss more is joseph dunn, executive director and head of market at bcs financial group. joseph, thank you for joining us. are things clear for you? >> well, it's a bit better. we understand where all the parties are stationed in terms of their opinion on the situation. the russians have made it very clear in terms of the foreign minister lavrov and putin that they have no intentions of moving to the east of the ukraine. the europeans made it more than clear they have no intentions to escalate sanctions. the only wild card is perhaps the u.s. where the to into ma administration has somewhat made clear there's no intention of increasing sanctions but you also have to look at the senate that has a life of their own.

nothing dramatic will happen before the may elections in the ukraine, so we'll get some kind of chompy consolidation on the political front until then. it doesn't mean the markets can't move before that, but the issues at hand have to do with stochbty of ukraine. it's hard to see there's a concrete agreement. >> what's the final deal here? part of the key is when we get the elections done, whether russia, i guess, recognizes the legitimacy of the ukrainian government, which they don't at the moment. >> true. that's part of the equation. the russians made it clear, even yesterday again, what their demands are. part of it has to do with the military and political neutrality of the ukraine. some of it has to do with the structure of the political ukraine future in terms of the federation as you mentioned. again, we'll see who wins the elections and see how much appetite. this is clearly going to be on the ballot. but before that i don't see that come to fruition to the final agreement. but again, it just is a catalyst, that data is the

catalyst for all things to come together. >> do you think it is likely for you to say the pro quo is you accept crimea's government, we'll accept the ukrainian government. >> it's definitely part of it. look, we are going into international geopolitics. international eventually, not that we should really as investors dive too much into it, has to do with the ruling party. there's no written rule -- >> there's a principal self-determination and we don't know the veracity of the crimes. absolutely. there was the 21st of february agreement that was not upheld and the budapest memorandum from '94 was not upheld. there will be an agreement eventually that will get either close or close after the election on the 25th of may. but in terms of the investment opportunity, that doesn't mean you should give up before that. >> it also comes down to, do we

think the economy is going to be badly dammed or not? are you going to look at this from the investment opportunities from the bottom up? >> russia looks mispriced from both points of view from the bottom up and top down. russia is like most emerging markets and we saw this in turkey today and will see this in india and south africa and other countries are very heavily exposed to political risk and political headline risk. but that can open up opportunities for you. >> right? >> russia is pointed out at this point but don't see anything the early different in russia. every emerging market has their own misery and russia has their own flavor of that. since the global economy in 1998, they have increased 25 president. if you look at the russian equity market, they are still down 50%. so there's a bit of discrepancy about what the market is giving

to russia and what the current economic indicators are as a benchmark. it doesn't mean that you're going to see kind of a doubling of the russian market as a whole. if the russian market as a hole saw the damages because of political risk, but you can find good opportunities in russia. >> joseph, good to see you. nice to see you again. he's the head of the markets at bcs australian group. the prime minister said there's no time limit on the search for the mitsdsing malaysian airlines jet. the plane has now been missing three weeks. asian authorities have been coming under criticism from relatives of passengers. katy tur has more from kuala lumpur. $dozens of chinese members flew to malaysia on sunday and made their presence known immediately. holding their own news

conference. touching banners and chanting, we want the evidence. we want our relatives. demanding answers, the malaysian government says they just don't have. we want them to apologize for giving out confusing information in the past week, which caused the delay and the search and rescue effort said one man. >> the first thing we want to do is get our family back. >> reporter: 23 days since mh-370 went missing and many of those whose loved ones are now lost refuse to accept the malaysian goth's version of events. doubting the plain is even in the intd an ocean. six days ago malaysia's prime minister said it was beyond a reasonable doubt the plane was lost and no one on board survived. but on saturday these words from the malaysian transportation minister. >> hope against hope. please, we hope to continue to find survivors. >> reporter: confusion only fueling their suspicion that the

malaysian government either mishandled the search or is not being entirely forthcoming. we'll keep our eyes on that. now we have news out from the financial conduct authority. it's hiked its annual funding requirement by 3.3% to 446.4 million pounds. and you may think it's rather ill-timed, mainly, because on friday they made and exextraordinary blunder of announcing a full-scale investigation into 30 million accounts and nearly $40 million was wiped off the british industry. although it is not that far predominantly reaching, but the fsa has received calls over the weekend to resign. he says these have been quoted by saying we'll have larger complex groups and are costliest to regulate. at the same time, the prime

minister is looking into how to reduce funds with ben ch mark marksers. this business plan includes series of new views into the conduct of wholesale banking and investment management firms as well. and we'll look at issues surrounding conflicts of interest, but perhaps rather ill-timed during a blunder on friday as they are asking for more money. now north and south korea have been exchanging fire. close to a disputed maritime border. pyongyang warned of its intentions to conduct a firing drill, but when shells landed in south korean waters, they got the f-15s and marines from the south and fired back. >> china sees nearly $15 billion worth of assets from the family and associated of zsu yongkang.

bonds, car, paintings and gold are all part of the seizure. the operation has been going on for four months. more than 300 of his relatives, political allies and staff have been either been taken into custody or questioned. and the world's biggest commerce site is investing in bricks and mortar. alibaba just put down $27 million in a chinese department store operator. the idea is to bring benefits of online shopping to those who would rather do their purr chagsing in different. alibaba is expanding to new areas to list later this year. still to come, the second of the economics era is ready to be take up out of the quarter after the prime minister's stimulus pl

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i have more approval data out of the u.k. i did talk about net mortgage lending up 1.7 billion in february versus january, but the

february mortgage approval is up. the actual number of individual approvals was a bit lower than general. 70,290 versus 76,053. and they were forecast 75,000. so there's something of a fall and it's the first time that we've seen a decline in mortgage approvals since february last year. that's the first decline we have seen in a year. and that has meant sterling has weakened a little bit against the dollar to 1.6625. and the february lows to businesses are contracted by .8 billi billion. now michael lewis, the author of such books as "money ball" and "the big shot" says u.s. stock markets are rigged in favor of high-speed trading firms. his new book "flash boys" comes out today. the methods that makes this

technology are illegal and he says they are strictly regulated, but appearing on cbs' "60 minutes" he says the firms are using speed advantage to profit at the expense of others. >> if it's so complicated you can't understand it then you can't question it. >> this is all being done by computers? >> all being done by computers. it is too fast for humans. humans have been completely removed from this process. >> and eric snyderman said he thinks this gives firms an unfair value. and they are discussing possible reforms. so what we are asking today is this is just a promotional talk with my girl having a new book out. and of the small investors being affected, you can join the conversation here on worldwide exchange by e-mailing us, tweet us or direct your questions to

us. the gm recall says the automaker discussed two separate fixes for faulty ignition switches but canceled both without taking any action. the house subcommittee is holding a hearing on the recall on tuesday. the gmc mary barrett will testify. the memo says gm engineers met in 2005 following reports that ignition switches were moving out of position causing cars to stall. they advised against changes because they would take too long and cost too much. the recall of 1.6 million cars is linked to 13 deaths in which air bags didn't deploy. and it's back to court for apple and samsung as jury selection begins in the latest round of the company's patent fight. apple is accused samsung of up fringing on five patents on newer devices including the galaxy s3. samsung apple stole some of its

ideas to put on the iphone 5. this comes two years after apple was found infringing on their ideas having to pay. and caterpillar is set to defend u.s. tax practices this week. they are hauling the company on tuesday to shrink the matter today. and the issue is caterpillar's restructuring in the 1990s to reduce u.s. taxes, particularly on sales to foreign customers. the company said its effective tax rate is relatively high at 29% despite those strategies. and japan's industrial production fell unexpectedly from this morning. here's more from us from micki.

>> the administration of the company shrugged this off as a temporary drop following the surge production in january as well as up usually heavy snow that forced many automakers to suspend operations for several days. but the disappointing figurings heightened kemp ahead of the p consumer tax hike up to 8%. this has forced others to do last-minute buying stocking up on accessories. some stations will stay open until midnight to accommodate the long lines of people waiting to buy train passes. and the focus is now on how big the rebound will be from that is all last-minute buying. however, a survey along large manufacturers show expectancy

could be far less severe than the last tax hike 17 years ago when the outlook plunged 2.6%. the government has moved ahead on public spending and we'll be keeping a close eye on the economic impact in the coming months. back to you, ross. >> let me get this right, normally as you say ahead of the sales tax, people go out to buy things because they are cheaper. so you're saying a new roll that's sold out? >> yes, it was completely gone from the shelves. also pet food, that kind of necessity, stalking up. >> there you go. that's what happens when you put up with sales taxes. i hope things were not so desperate for this, but the wider economic advance, the

chief strategist at real economics. p.k., thank you for joining us. a big deal for japan, the sales tax hike. the last time we had this in 1997 it squashed many of the failed rallies during the sort of two lost economic data we've had. what is this one going to do? >> well, it's not going to do much good. it's a rather large hike and the impact will be negative on the japanese economy. it would have been a lot better to have phased it in over a longer period. they, of course, are planning to hike it further in october 2015 by another 2%age point. this will have a pretty large negative impact on the japanese economy. which of course has been recovering over the past 15 months reasonably well. with economics do its work, but

the size of this increase is pretty severe. and i think the impact would be negative wall the boj having to do a great deal to try to go back. >> production was up at the beginning of the year, corporate profits and expectations are rising. these are all things you would expect to see if these policies are taking root, but when will we know for sure? >> well, economics is working, there's no question that it is. we have seen the headline inflation number continue normally gdp is growing. and with normal gdp growing,ment this will consider a reduction to the deficit, which is really the main goal of this whole

exercise. so i think economics and the height in the consumption tax comes too soon after the start of economics. and given that it is such a large hike and the offsetting measures are only helping to eliminate a degree, i think the impact on the company will be on the negative. at least in the current quarter coming u coming. and we'll take further aggressive measures over the yen in the next two to three months. >> the concern will be, as you say, as real wages are not really going up to cope with a rising inflation. that alone the sales tax hike. so all of that is a crimper. she's not on the consumer as opposed to the idea of the

deflation in their spopg. at the moment, it looks like real wages will be crimped, are they? >> yes, indeed. we have seen phenomenal numbers here. of course, if you get a 3% increase in the consumption, that should result in a bigger spike in inflation. over the course of the next three to four months, corporate corporate. and we'll look at raising wages to offset the impact of high inflation. so unless we get a very responsible the negative impact of this consumption tax was pretty severe. i thought over the next two to

three months. joining us in singapore, here's a reminder of what is on the agenda tomorrow. the sales tax is coming out. and we have company trading out, i can also call some movement in the aussie, dollar and yen. we'll take a short break. still to come, the what to expect in the second quarter. impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds

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with investment information, risks, fees and expenses could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.s everybody knows that. well, did you know bad news doesn't always travel fast? (clears throat) hi mister tompkins. todd? you're fired. well, gotta run. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the headlines from around the globe. the nikkei with a 9% loss and european equities wrapping up slim games with major indices in the red. could francois hollande be gearing up to shuffle his cabinet? he lost out big time in local elections. and shares are soaring. the firm's biggest firm is at 56.5% stay. and are the u.s. financial markets rigged? they are using an unfair

advantage to extract billions of dollars of investors one man says. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange." bringing you business news from around the globe. >> all right. we have the latest up nation data out of the eurozone. it's been estimated at .5% the annual rate at .5%. the con census was .6. .7% in february. the euro has fallen to 1.3721. you can see where it is at the moment. on friday, it was 137, but this print of .5% comes after we saw german hicb on friday coming up.9, better than expected at 1%. and it wraps up the pressure on the deflation in europe.

and some of this is blamed on energy prices and the fact that easter is in april rather than in march. so inflation rate with a target of 2% does suggest you're a little bit behind the curve. and that's what investors are looking for as we head to the meeting on thursday. there's plenty more explaining to be done here, but the inflation talk is coming up. first, we'll show you where to stand with markets throughout the day. it's a trading day outside. you can see we are waiting to the upside, not quite at the session high. decliners out to advances or decliners in place by a ratio of

7 to 3. we hit the session a half hour ago or so. the ftse was up .9% of 1%. right now as far as u.s. futures are concerned, we indicated up 60 points for the dow. the dow lost a half percent last year. it was done before back in 2012 where we saw the stock exchange. we are up .2% of 1% and the european equities and the ftse were down .90%. the future equities are looking to be up, the ftse moves

up .70%. i see the treasury yields continuing to rise as we head to the unemployment report on friday and we have manufacturing and non-manufacturing out of the states this week. are we going to start seeing a thaw in the data? are we out of all the cold weather affecting us? now off to the bond markets. thank you. treasury yields, 2.4% is where we stand right now. at the end of last week, five-year yields continue to climb as well. 1.56% is where we stand at the moment. on the currency markets, checking in on the euro, 1.4732 is where we stand right now.

a high that hit at the beginning of march, the yen is continuing to do better, 103. the yen has benefited from this safehaven trade. your thoughts are going to get chinese. stimulus tomorrow. tomorrow we'll have the pmi number. this will reopen force china's stimulus saying the tradehaven is down 4.5% with the nikkei down 9%. you hike up the sales in the cop assumption tax tomorrow, we'll look at the impact of that. let's get more on all of that with sri joining us from singapore with his thoughts. >> hello, ross. it was broadly a positive day for the asian markets as we wrap up the first quarter, but here's the thing.

shanghai composite was down. yes. it's sectioned low but still the performer. the data tomorrow, pmi numbers. in all likelihood it will drop further beyond that level of a policy response, that's what the markets seem to know. some of them seem to be positioning for some stimulus. broadly, the hang seng markets were a big factor for the nikkei today and that's why it managed to generate 132 .3 gain. as you know, the dollar was stronger against the japanese yen and the factory output

number that slid. and that really raises the big question of how resilient the economy is. as we head toward tomorrow and the sales tax hike that comes into effect on thursday. a big question a lot of people are degree with in an answer is whether the japanese government needs more stimulation of the sales tax hikes. that's one of the bigger ones. the other story we are monitoring closely today was the gm politics on the korean peninsula. the south responded in kind and thought that pyongyang was trying to test their missile system. so a little bit in the market with them conceiving to take

this in strid. that's how we started the week. >> thank you, good to see you. sri, we'll catch you later. now on the agenda in the united states, fed chair janet yellen is in chicago to give the keynote address to the redevelopment conference. easy for me to say, co-sponsored by the san francisco fed and the fdic before 10:00 a.m. and the march pm ireport at 10:00. one company to note vod, egg producer cowman foods. some of the other stories we are following, a new report from investigators probing the gm recall that we are there, they canceled both without taking any action.

the subcommittee is holding a hearing on tuesday saying that mary brower will testify. the memo says gm engineers met in 2005 following the report that ignition switches were moving out of his position but the advice against judges is it would take too long. president obama's embattled health care law hits a milestone today as open enrollment for the first year of college is, sign-ups are being done by young er members. and the morning star says

pemco is set to end the first quarter trading with 87% of its peers. the fund, which has around 236,000 billion in assets has to be up. investors pulled 5.1 billion from t from the fund in january. the author of the "big shot" michael lewis says he'll help to talk about it. stay tuned.

you're watching "worldwide exchange." >> and the headlines, u.s. equities look to snap their winning streak when the first quarter ends today. general motors' ceo mary bara gets set to testify about the faulty ignition switches. and the to bobamacare deadline s today. it's march 31st, the end of the quarter and the month. many are looking to break the fourth quarter winning streak.

the nasdaq is ending the quarter in the red. the s&p just managed to squeeze out narrow gapes. the nasdaq down half a person with the s&p up half a percent. joining us with his thoughts, the chief market technician . good to see you. on just the other side of the flatline for the year, what are technicals telling you about what's more likely, particularly for the s&p at the moment. if we hold current levels, is it going to go next or not? >> yeah, we shall -- it's interesting because this is an exquisite standoff between bulls and bears. here we are, q1 is done with a lot of volatility but unchanged. so i think the great question and just what you're asking me is is this identify period. the pause that refreshes after a big year in 2,077 consolidating

the games getting set up for the next, or is this foreshadow iin. this foreshadows a problem ahead and we base this on individual securities. there are many martini names no longer in uptrends that they shouldn't have rolled over. that's the real message of the market here. >> yeah, do you think, forever, i mean, the fact is that we're flat. is it just going up or down? >> maybe that's it. the stock market is where it belongs after a big exhaustive advance that we saw in the proceeding here, but it's simply resting work and catching up with its overbought condition. but what's interesting about

marcus is they never stay student loans. the next step is presumably for the boles to be up and those of us on the car side, we think it is. then we'll give you thoughts in a minute on the other stories. the u.s. stork markets are rigged in favor of high-speed training form. no incidents. and the technology are saying this after appearing on "60 minutes." >> if it's so complicated you can't understand it, then you can't question it. >> this is all being done by computers? >> it is too fast to be done by humans. humans have been replaced from

the stock exchange with this negative reaction. people say the flaw is where the lick et weties are. and nobody around the high phenomenon situation adds in april. we have been under this claim to hardness the here. he's become meeting with the nyc and other exchanges to discuss possible reform ed. this is as far as what i can say is they came out to say high-five speed lines are taking an advantage because they get the information quicker and there is a solution to that, which is allowing the information to arrive at the

exchanges at the same time. >> sure. it really depends, of course, on who you are in the market. i think that's the most important thing about investigating is knowing who you are in the market. in fact, for the major endowments near religious securi security. the dangerous stock is irrelevant to how think perform. there are tremendous outperformers all take handle views. you are not wanting them to see players who also prosper and deliver alpha. we think of course the political land scape and don't think it really matters, if you will, it is still up for a fringe element who are doing it. >> the point is if you're a long-term buyer and in periods of highs. there's a question how much that hurts you. >> i mean, very little, if you

think about the long-term arc of the investment and finding a great winner. whether it's an individual security that's up ten-fold because they invented the new mouse trap. it's irrelevant who was trading around the fringe to a major long-term holder. okay? caught up for now? good to see you. is this a clever promotional tool or are equities being distortded. it's a slightly separate thing. get in touch with us at natal natalie's e-mail. still to come, we have more than 150 towns with conservative control. we'll see if the troubled pat

past can affect economic reform.

the head of the u.s. open later today. the u.s. futures indicate we'll get a tick high. right now the s&p is higher by six points with the dow up by 53. the nasdaq is higher by 15. the nasdaq down 2.8% last week

with the worst monthly performance since october 2012. the s&p still up around half a percent for the quarter. it's one of those indices in positive territory for the year. euro/dollar is volatile this morning and currently higher on the session, 23 minutes ago we saw the annual up nation rate dip down to half a percent in february. will it wrap up the pressure on the weekend. they suggest we are not facing a dis-inflation trend. it depends when you strip the energy prices from april to march. we'll see if those things are enough to cap for it. french president hollande

will deliver a tv address as expectation says he could reshuffle his cabinet after his ruling socialist party suffered heavy losses in local elections. the country's 2013 deficit is also reported that 4.3% of gdp which was missing government targets. stefan is joining us from paris counting the costs for mr. hollande's government. at the end of the day, he could rejig his cabinet and bring in a new prime minister, but is that rearranging the debt chairs on the underperforming economy? >> indeed. hollande will probably reshuffle the government. that would be the political response to the large defeat to the socialist party over the weekend. nobody was really expecting the socialist party to win the local elections, but this is a much wider than expected defeat for the political party of hollande. we are expecting an announcement

later today at this stage to see if hollande will speak on television. the current interior minister is likely to become the next prime minister has arrived at the palace at 10:00 this morning and is due to have lunch with the current prime minister, which seems to be an indication of what's coming next for the french government. we're going to discuss the implications of the likely government reshuffle with the head of the economy research management. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> do you think that the government reshuffle will be enough to change the economic policy? >> well, i think they need to make a movement to people to say, well, we have heard your message and we want to change. because the main issue of this election is to say, okay, you've changed economy policy, but for us as an employee, as a company,

we don't see the effect of the economic policy. so the impact of the reshuffling will be to change the communication and say, well, we have to do things differently just to improve the situation, improve the way we do economic policy and the way we communicate this policy. >> but you think that instead of changing the policy, the government needs to go faster? >> i think it's -- there are two things, it has to go faster. the point for the economic policy is to let the french companies able to catch the global cycle. and the french economy is lagging compared to germany or to the u.s. and we have to be able to catch this cycle. that's one point. so we have to go very quickly. and that's the first point, so we are looking to personize the economic policy. 30 years ago we had this kind of

freeform. and now we speak about the low reforms. and we don't know who presides the reform currently. we don't know if it is francois hollande or someone else, so we have the further image or picture of the economic policy due to this issue. >> very quickly, do you think it's important to change the policy because we have seen recently some improvements, small improvements in the french economic situation with the pmi. >> we have to continue at this rate because the point is to improve the company situation to be able to calculate the business cycle, to have minutes, and that's why it is important. in this case we have to do it this way. >> thank you, very much. ross, i'm sending it back to you in london. >> stephane, thank you for that. we just had comments from the

imf europe head saying there's more room for further policies by the ecb. we just had the up nation print come in at half a percent. we have been talking about growth in europe to be modest and low up nation makes tackling debt more difficult with the downward pressure on inflation properly he's worried about low up nation. how wide are the ecb? we'll find out on thursday with the latest monthly meeting. and still to come, biotech stocks are under current pressure, but is the pain going to continue? we'll dig into that. ♪

[ male announcer ] this man has an accomplished research and analytical group at his disposal. ♪ but even more impressive is how he puts it to work for his clients. ♪ morning. morning. thanks for meeting so early. oh, it's not a big deal at all. come on in. [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪

you're watching "world wild exchange." i'm ross westgate. the nikkei is tucking in with a 9% loss. the european equities could have slim gains and the major indices have the s&p in red. inflation in the eurozone falls half a percent in march but the lowest level in more than four years. the imf says there's more room for further easing from the ecb. could francois hollande be ready to reshuffle his cabinet after he loses in local elections? and u.s. equities are rigged. michael lewis says high

frequency traders are using an unfair advantage to extract billions of dollars from investors. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange." bringing you business news from around the globe. and if you just joined us, welcome to your global trading week here on cnbc. u.s. equities suggest a tick higher at the start of this week. it's also the last trading day of the quarter as well march 31st. the dow last week was just up a tenth of 1%. right now, we can see it higher around 51 points. the s&p at the moment is higher by over six points after being down half a percent last week. the nasdaq down 2.8% last week. it's on track as well for its worst monthly performance since october of 2012.

right now, it's cooled up after the ftse 100 is up 14. the tax is up 4. the cac has got flat. checking in on the euro dollar, it did dip down to the low 147 range and post that inflation. then you have risen 167 for speculation on whether the ecb will cave in to action to do something. you just heard the comments out. the consensus is they won't do anything but you never know. it's been a rough few days for the nasdaq dragged down by big tech names. seema moody has been looking into this. >> the nasdaq has been down 3.5%

over the last week. and tesla is trading well below the 52-week highs. in fact, down double digits over the past one month in terms of what caused the sell-off in momentum, brian marshall at isi telling me when it comes to tech, there's a shift in sentiment from growth to value on that note with old school tech names gaping ground. not the sexiest names, but hp, intel, oracle, the ciscos over the world are up over the past one month. experts say the rotation into value-oriented tech names could be a trend to watch out of this basket of old tech names, cisco has the highest percentage of buy ratings. that data according to fact set. but it is not the best text this year. shares of hewlett-packard this year outperforming its peels rather than the index. back to you.

the nasdaq is is down a little bit, but there was serious scrutiny for slapping high prices on drugs. joining with us his view, jason colbert at maxim group. pretty big falls there towards the end of the week, jason. is it justified? >> i don't think so. you know, remember that we had 56% outperformance last year, so there was a little bit of a normal healthy corruption. part of what triggered the sell-off was concerned over pricing around gilead. but when we do the math, we saw economic value in there. it really is a good value for the price and the government doesn't regulate. >> we have seen approval rates

from the fda going up from a few years ago. how much is that up from last year? >> from y2k to 2010 we saw several drugs being approved every year. in the last few years, we have seen that line climb to 32 drugs. we are seeing higher drugs with we have a higher evaluation and a pair dime shift with a reevaluation of the sector. and i think when i combine this with mna activity as well as changes in the laws like the jobs. >> is the pipeline of new drugs good enough to justify the mna,

the ipos, the pricing? >> yeah, that's a really good question. we see really a broad range of new drugs coming. everything from self to hepatitis c. i mentioned gilead sobaldi, now they can deliver a rate at 90% and see that higher with one pill once a day for a short period like eight weeks. so that ushers in a new treatment modality and in incology, in particular, we are seeing active drugs to fight cancer. these the checkpoints inhibitors. so we are entering a new parenting group of madison where you see better understanding of biologist combined with medicine and drug discovery. it's really ushering in a relative exposure to biotech

technology. >> thank you for joining us this morning, jason, from maxim group. we just had a bit of news out in the u.k. babkok has a bit of cash coming their way. and some of the other stories this morning, it is back to court this morning to be selected for apple and samsung in the latest patent fight. apple is accusing sam sung for infringing on new devices including the galaxy s3. samsung says apple stole its ideas for the iphone 5. this comes less than two years aft after. sampson is appealing and it could be done elsewhere.

following friday's 5.1 magnitude earthquake, the epicenter was around 20 miles east of downtown l.a. it was felt in at least seven southern california counties. the city of fullerton has suffered the most let tagged or uninhabitable until inspected. up next, gm under fire. a new congressional report could add to the woes surrounding the company's massive global recall. this is the latest for this week.

you're watching "worldwide exchange." >> a recap of the headlines, u.s. equities will snap their quarter winning streak when the quarter ends today. and mary barra is going to testify about the faulty ignition switches. and open enrollment for the first year of obamacare ends today with the original target of 7 million people in sight. the investigation into general motors' recall of more than 2 million vehicles and there's a new phase this week as

the company's actions will be examined by the u.s. congress. cnbc's hampton pearson is in washington with the latest. hampton, how tough is it going to be? >> quite tough it could be for gm's mary barra on capitol hill this week testifying at two hearings into the company's recall of faulty ignition switches. the house energy and commerce committee gets the first crack on today. in a mel row released by the panel on sunday, lawmakers say it provided a national administration day containing, quote, unsettling information. it looks into the timeline of actions taken by gm from the 1990s to last friday when they recalled several vehicles. switches in the chevy cobalt and others were bumped into accessory mode while the cars

were moving which could stall the engine and disable power steering, brakes and air bags leading to dozens of crashes and 13 deaths. now that memo says gm knew about the issue as early did. delphi told investigators last week that gm have improve d sine 2005. gm engineers discussed separate action but didn't take action because they believed they would take too long and cost too much. now we also have a company under fire to order a recall. regulators received hundreds of complaints over the past decade and in 2005 they ordered an investigation where the girl died in the chevy cobalt when the air bags didn't fly.

and back in 2007 he proposed a deeper look at the issue saying there was a pattern of so-called non-reported deployment. but gm said it didn't see a trend. the conclusion that they also came to that later in the year and decided a more formal investigation. i ram sakting as david friedman who will also testify at this week's eatings. hearings. prior to 2009, that was part of its exit from bankruptcy. product claims were separated from the new gm liabilities, but lawyers could try to get that shield removed if it's shown gm executives knowingly misled the bankruptcy court about the ignition switches. complicated timeline and trails. there are multiple trails for congressional investigators, ross, but that's when it's the best time to bowl down and what

did they know and what did they fail to do it. >> hampton, thank you for that detailed as well. president obama's health care law hits a milestone today with open enrollment for the first coverage ending today. the administration could hit the original target of getting very 7 million people to enroll in insurance. there are last-minutes vital to the program. the congressional budget office estimates around 14 million people will receive health coverage through obama care or the expansion of medicaid. the fed will review the stress test procedures after an annual health check. a number of the 30 pounds were affected but the chinese didn't need changes in which banks passed the chest and there were no signs as to how the error

happened and they could tweak this as a result. the morning star says pimco's total return fund managed by bill gross is set to end the first quarter trailing 87% of its piers. the fund which has around $236 billion in assets has a return of $1.2% this year. the average return on funds is just over. to post it in a negative 1.9% last year. the biggest loss since 1994 and investors pulled over $5 billion from the record january in 2015. moscow is going to make crimea a special economic zone with tax breaks to attract investors. those are the latest plans from russia. they are going to make it a special economic zone with tax

breaks. we'll get more on that. meanwhile, greece's parliament narrowly agreed with international lenders to pass a bill before the formal meeting of the bank in athens on tuesday and wednesday. we'll have coverage from athens tomorrow. jules will be there. that's why she's not here with me today. still to come, gold outperformed u.s. equities over the first quarter, so will the yellow metal shine over the next few months? we'll have a look when we come back.

huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know bad news doesn't always travel fast? (clears throat) hi mister tompkins. todd? you're fired. well, gotta run. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. [ male announcer ] when fixed income experts... ♪ ...work with equity experts... ♪ ...who work with regional experts... ♪ ...who work with portfolio management experts,

that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration. mfs. sometimes they just drop in. always obvious. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. the u.s. market opens a little later and the european equities are mixed and higher. the ftse is up .20%, it was

up .90% last week. it's been around .20% for the quarter e. we did have more numbers out today that fell for the first time in a year. europe is talking about inflation this morning, half a percent is in the eurozone. that was the march estimate. the cac went back down to the flat levels ahead of the imf in europe to come out to say there's room for the ecb to do more. they are meeting on thursday. they have been downplaying expectations of doing more. they are coming out to say there's no deflation in europe. i'm sure this is based on the weakness in energy prices. there are some who say easter is in march, and that's why easter would normally raise prices. euro dollar hit the best at $1.3788. you would think it would have weakened and it did. so maybe it won't do much on thursday in response.

meanwhile, on the agenda in the united states, fed chairman janet yellen is addressing the international agency community redevelopment conference co-sponsored by the chicago and san francisco fed as well as tell fdic and occ. and that's shortly before 10:00 a.m. eastern. we also get the earnings from the egg produce r cal-maine foods. and a senate subcommittee is hauling the company in on tuesday to explain strategies it used to shrink its corporate tax bill. the panel which is also grill executives from hp will release the quarter results today. at issue is caterpillar's restructuring in the 1990s to reduce taxes, particularly on sales of parts. the effective tax rate is

relatively high at 29%. and the futures, we are going to move higher at the opening today with the s&p over six points value. and the nasdaq is 16 points above fair value. at the same time, gold is up 7%. gold is below 1300 this morning. and down six-week lows currently. the managing director of the management is joining us for more, mike. nice to see you. gold has had a good run, but it's at a six-week low. so is it over? >> i think one thing it's going to do is stay down at the bottom of the range. and the reason i mention that is it just seems as though there's been a lot better bid in the market for metals.

gold made a run early and decided to get back to the lows. we are near 11.90 as part of a support level for a while. >> yeah. look, much of what happens with the dollar. i was wondering what your forecasts are. >> reporter: well, my forecast is that at least starting with the daughter or the better anticipation for places like yellen today to make the dollar a little strong earl as it continuously that is given up all its ground during the last fed reign. and that's maybe one of the things to keep an eye on today, how that will continue and i'm looking for a stronger dollar in the second quarter. >> across the commodity space

here, michael, 63%. >> yes, and that was not because of liquidity either. coffee has been in great demand with clear problems south of the border, at let's for us now when it comes to growth and harvest up. mainstream has been a little luc lucky. >> i remember you talking about lumber. actually, lumber's come down. i'm looking at the second quarter, so what happens in the second quart her? >> i continue to look for some of the same reasons, again, for the next month at least. i think commodities are going to do well and it's not necessarily based on just up nation. we are starting to see a lot lower expectations on global demand for a lot of the very

go good. and that's why we are starting to notice in the energy space and metal space and now the softs, well, a lot of upside bowl channels that have been depressed for the last six weeks. >> mike, good to see you. i won't mention the results. >> thank you, ross. >> you have to go online to see what happens this weekend. michael, good to see you. thank you for joining us from chicago. he's a big spurs fan. they lost four in a wheel. he's in dachbt port. futures are coming up. in a few moments, the team is back for "squawk box." and europe has changed the clock, and now we are back to a five-hour time difference between the u.s. and europe. things are all right.

good morning. welcome to "squawk box." it is already time for the big jobs report this friday. gm's ceo mary barra prepares to face congressional leaders looking for answers in the automakers recall crisis. and another wild march madness weekend. the kentucky wildcats, those twins, unbelievable, going to the final four along with florida, uconn and wisconsin. i didn't like that call at the end of the arizona game. it's monday, march 31st, 2014. "squawk box" begins right now.

good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box." i'm becky quick along with andrew sorkin. we have one more day left for trading of march 2014. so far the dow is down 1.5%. the nasdaq is down a half percent for the quarter. and the s&p 500 is up by .80%. all three averages are on track for the worst quarterly performance since the final quarter of 2012. if you take a look at the u.s. equity futures this morning as we look at the last trading day of the quarter and the month, you can see right now that the dow futures are indicated up by 60 points above fair value. right now the s&p futures will be up by 7.5. and the nasdaq is up by 17.5. starting tomorrow there's economic reports every day leading up to friday's big jobs report, including the unemployment data on wednesday. right now the estimates for