good wednesday morning to you. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. joe is over here. i said it just mentioned -- it's wednesday, nonetheless, i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernen this morning. becky, sadly, out again today. she's a little bit sick, but she's going to hopefully be back, we hope, tomorrow. joe was saying it is autism speaks awareness day. that's what all these pins and ties are about. but straight to our top story this morning, gm's ceo mary barra facing a congressional panel we're going to get to aman jabbers in just a moment. it was interesting to watch just what she had to say yesterday. i'm not sure she -- >> you were able to see the advantage of having a new ceo,

too, right? the advantage of being able to say, well, we're different now. my company is not going to be focused on the cost cutting and its negative effects. what can you really say when someone says that? and the harder you sort of criticize her and pushback, the more people say, well, she wasn't in charge, anyway. so it's a moving target for these congressional guys. . >> do you want to give her a grade? >> i think she did as well as could be expected. >> in terms of apologizing or -- >> i think what people wanted more -- i think they were expecting too much, frankly. >> given all we heard was i'm

not sure who -- >> it's passed off on the -- but why is there no name attached to it? >> there should be some names, it's a big company. >> anybody knows it could be this -- maybe ayman jabbers in washington. >> who we said we're going to get to, but now we're going to get to him. >> does he have a name? >> we have never met another ayman, either. >> every third guy in ireland is named ayman. >> do they do it that way? >> that's how it's done. look, mary barra was on capitol hill yesterday. one of the big questions from the committee members is why can't we get more information from gm inspect this is a problem that dates back to 2001. why is it we're still not getting answers? barra repeatedly cited an internal gm investigation and said until that investigation is finished, she's not going to be

able to provide any answers here. take a listen. >> i am not aware of -- >> you don't know about that? >> i'm getting this information from the chronology that gm provided to ntsa. >> i wasn't a part of that organization at the time. that's why i'm doing the investigation, to understand that. >> when was it that gm informed ntsa? >> i don't know that. >> there a lot of i don't knows there from mary barra on capitol hill. a lot of those members of the committee were unsatisfied by the answers. again, barra citing that internal day investigation after the hearing. she had a press conference and i had a chance to ask her whether or not gm would release that internal investigation and whether the internal investigation would produce a report or a document or any kind. here is her response to the question. >> i will share and be transparent with those items that are appropriate to share. there may be -- everything that is appropriate to share, everything related to consumers

safety, everything related to the customer. >> in written format? >> so mary barra there not committing to releasing a full result of the internet investigation at gm. and also not saying that there's necessarily going to be a written document produced by the internal investigation that she was citing during the hearing, guys. so a lot of people in washington left unsatisfied by that performance yesterday. she's going to be back on capitol hill again today before a senate committee. and you can expect a lot of the same questions for general motors. exactly. it will be the same questions. you know, ntsa, do we have a name sdmp. >> national highway transportation safety administration. . >> do we know the date that they were fully aware of this and the ramifications? and what is their enforcement ability? >> you know, i don't have the date handy, but i can tell you that nhtsa was pointing fingers

at general motors yesterday saying that gm had information that it didn't share with nhtsa, therefore, the implication being that the government was not able to take all the steps that it could take here in order to manage this process. and gm just didn't turn over that information. they were hiding the ball, basically. >> that's the plausible deniability that they need, as well. because i've made the point in sort of a -- i don't want to say cynical, but, you know, if you assume, as so many people do, eamon, that corporations aren't going to do the right thing, they're degreedy, constantly looking to make a profit, trying to take shortcuts, not worrying about -- and a lot of people do assume that on the left. then you've got to assume that they're going to do the wrong thing and it was nhtsa's responsibility then. >> yeah. look, there are a lot of tough things for nhtsa. why did it take over a decade before we saw the recall.

>> why even have it? i'm sure its budget is huge and -- you know. >> the other thing that frustrated a lot of these lawmakers yesterday, and i saw them appearing out with the families of those that have been killed in accidents related to this ignition piece issue. the whole issue is that where you put the key into the ignition and turn the car on, that ignition switch has a problem in which if you bump it or have a heavy dangling key chain, the car could turn off while you're driving it and disable the car bags. that has caused a number of crashes. the victims' families were there and a lot of people were asking, hey, look, this is a piece that costs less than $2 to fix this. why was this never done? where along the lines did

somebody say we're not paying the two bucks to fix this the. she shows up on the hill when she was questioned and struggles in some circumstances to answer some of the questions. did the lawyers get to her os was the performance a week ago when there was nobody asking hard questions and it was a lot easier to sit broadly say you're sorry as -- how much credit does she actually deserve now in retrospect? >> well, look, it makes you wonder what gm's internal calculations are about their exposure here and the potential damage and what the dollar figure number is and whether it's much higher, given that she was so anxious not to provide any new information on capitol

hill. her performance yesterday came out of scandal management 101. there's a school of thought that says you've staerted an internal investigation. you can't provide those questions right now because we're not finished investigating. but at the same time, seeing saying we're not sure it's going to produce a written document at the end of the day. so that was at cross purposes with scandal management where you say ultimately we are going to give you tanss. yesterday she wasn't even saying that. >> thank you for that. also a quick program. we're going to talk to represent diana degette of colorado who had a exchange holding up an ignition switch and she's be on the program at 8:00 eastern

time. we've got a big number coming out on friday, the employment report. the expects expect the adp report to show 200,000 private sector jobs. and it comes ahead of the big number we get friday. that day is it's expected to show nonfarm payrolls rising by 200,000. it was a stronger than expected factory data number yesterday that helped push the s&p 500 to an all-time high of 1885. so 1848 to 1885 is -- is that 37 points? 37 -- is that right? divided by 1850 equals exactly 2%. >> on an annualized basis. >> that would be like 10%, i

think, if you compound it. >> the dow also moved higher. the nasdaq added 69 points. looking at the futures at this hour to see what we can expect this morning. and it's continued. janet yellen getting, you know, sort of emphasizing her dovish -- is it bonifides? yeah. you know, your autism speaks a pulsel. >> yes. >> you don't have the new kind, the new version. >> what is the -- you put a hole in that shirt. i have a magnet.

>> so that you were thinking? >> my autism speaks guy is -- he's okay. >> if i do it here, i like it here. if i like it down here, i can move it down history. this is current technology. >> and the mike is there. you can't see this very well. how long you should put it on my shirt? >> i think it's visible to the viewer and because we're talking about it, we're giving autism speaks airtime, which is awareness. >> we're going to -- >> just unbelievable. >> it's up 30%. >> my hats are off to him.

>> how we told the story -- anyway, it's everybody else. >> meanwhile, let's talk about pimco. 11 straight month of returns. the bond fund is the world's largest, run by bill gross. pimpco says the fund had 239.1 billion in assets at the end of march, compared to 236.5 billion at the end of february. investors have pulled out more than $52 billion since last ma. that's a big number for any fund that doesn't have a quarter trillion dollars in it to start with. those numbers are -- >> life is relative.

that's what investors do and people have to write a check. they're called fas now. he's still a young guy, $250 billion he trusted to him. >> pretty cool. >> have you watched this? do you know what happens yesterday 12347. >> i saw sue. we had the players on. >> whether rapid fire trading firms are saying this before testifying before a house corporation subcommittee. she told the agency the house has a quick number regarding marked integrity and structure issues. a quick comment from wise during that hearing. >> are the markets rigged? >> they are not. >> how can you be so confident? >> this is what we were

referring to on power lurch yesterday. brad kutiama of iex went head to head with bill o'brien of mass global markets. he said one of the whistleblowers was featured in michael lewis's new book -- it's "flash boys." the exchange, one of the largest equity moderators in the u.s. debated whether the equity market is rigged. >> you said it in the book, that's when i knew the markets were rigged. it's disgusting that you're trying to pars your words now. >> you were quoted that way in the book. >> did you believe it or not? because you said it. it's a yes or no question. do you believe it or not? >> i believe the markets are rigged. >> there you go.

>> and i also think you're a part of the rigging. if you want to do this, let's do this. >> i really do. >> so we're going to have it -- we went over this a couple of days ago. it's the term "rigged." and if you want to have a semantics argument, that's fine. if you want to call it rigged based on to legally front run these markets. but it's loaded with all these notions that the people who hate this aren't going to like it. so you're talking about investors -- if you like a -- you say wow, i really like the idea that this company does.

so you pay 1502 in this market. if you're right about it, you probably wouldn't sell it if it went down at 12. you probably wouldn't sell it to take a profit at 20. but do you then use that word to say you're unable to to make any money in the stock market because the big guys are controlling what's going on? that's unfortunate about this because it sells books and it sells commercials. it's simple. we don't need to discuss whether it's true or not or have a semantics argument. people that hate wall street, they're going to use it as evidence that the whole thing is crooked and people are realistic and no one was a better -- >> one is on high frequency trading. do you think the stock market is rigged so the little guy can't

possibly make money? >> no. but i do think professionals have an advantage over little guys. >> but these guys have an advance because they're skimming two cents a trade on millions of shares. they're making money, but they don't have an advantage on whether -- >> there is a great sal fallacy or myth. but the guy at home has the exact same opportunity or -- >> or the exact opportunity? >> both. >> that makes it even more the same. >> but the guy at home was doing it sort of on -- not as a hobby, but after work. but that person has the same opportunity as the person that spends 12 to 14 hours and get paid for it.

>> this is like an -- a part of arbitrage that just got -- that should have been regulated, it got out of control. but to make it blanket, it's not a good time. and michael lewis is laughing all the way to the bank. it doesn't care that it wasn't a good time to throw the whole market under the bus. >> you mentioned on that, i think. >> you know what i mean. and people that have an ax to grind are going to see that as evidence that the whole thing is crooked. and it's -- but you know what? if it's cathartic and cleaning things up, even more. but if you -- buy and hold has been dead a while. but it's probably going to be

better than naming cash. >> there is a big elephant. >> i think also always an opportunity. whether it's all the same field, i don't know. we're going to talk more about this throughout the day. we'll looking at whether markets are rigged. chile's president has declared a state of emergency in the region where a powerful earthquake struck off the country's northern coast. five people were killed. landslides have blocked roads. fires have destroyed several businesses and powers and knocked out the sounds. i think the biggest we've seen on the west coast recently has been in the five era and right now, because it's logarithmic, when you go from a five to six, it's ten times stronger. a seven is ten times stronger than a six and an eight, which this was, an 8.2 ten times stronger -- or a thousand times

stronger, i guess, than a five. and triggered a tsunami that powered the shore line. and it makes probably knot not correlated in any way, but we know so little, you know, seismology and the whole research area, california has been very active recently, chile. it's not the same thing, right? it is not at all related to anything, you would think. >> i don't know. >> nobody knows. >> nobody knows. >> that's one of the fields where we know we don't know anything. other fields, we think we know things and we attribute events to things that are probably really not attributable, either. >> potentially. >> believe me. coming up, an fda approval point inhaled diabetes drug shares of one drugmaker soaring. and what does jeff besos have planned for amazon's video business? we'll find out when we return. "squawk box" coming right back after this short break. this sho. what's in your ear? oooo! a quarter!

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welcome back to "squawk box." let met get you to your national forecast here. strong to the severe storms impacted in the middle of the country. it is a system causing all the issues. moisture coming in from the gulf of mexico. that is going to be in place out there. some of the juice for some of these storms to get going.

that's the fuel for the fire out there. it's a zone that we will be watching from the midwest working your way farther south. having to deal with that, some of these storms can pack a punch with damaging wind hail. yes, even tornados out there. so the red areas we're concerned about today, it's going to expand this area as we work our way through the next few. as we head into tomorrow, we're going to be watching these spots from the mississippi valley, ohio valley getting down into the mississippi valley. and even into the friday, even though we don't have any red shares up on the map, there is going to be the chance for strong storms in these areas here from the ohio valley heading to points s&p. now, heading north of that, we're still not done with winter. winter storm watches in effect for you after hitting 60 this weekend. winter storm watches with snow coming in here for us for tomorrow heading into friday. some decent totals, the areas in the purple, could see 5 to the 8 inches of that snow. so yeah, we've got the wintry side of things and the severe side of things.

andrew, back to you. >> thank you for that. time now for on this morning's executive edge. here is the story for you. amazon expected to give an update on its video business. the e-commerce giant is expected to debut the company's much anticipated tv device. it shows an arm chair and popcorn saying please join us for our video business. the company has denied reports that it will be unveiling a free ad supporting streaming service. shares of amazon, you can see there, take a look. turn that screen around. up $343.50. i'm waiting. do you have -- do you have prime? do you have amazon prime? >> no, we don't -- you know what? i don't know. i've never bought anything on amazon. and you know what? i was looking today about buying some things the before i came down here. >> on amazon? >> yeah.

i don't really want to tell you -- >> do you want to tell us what you're buying? >> i heard -- i heard a joni mitchell song yesterday and her voice is like a bell. it is so crystal clear, i am going to buy three of her cds and listen. because it brings me back to my -- i mean, i was transported. >> transported in time. why don't you buy an 8 track? >> okay. wait a second. >> do you have an iphone? >> is there another way to do this? >> i don't know how to do that. >> and all of these -- i'm moving into the 21st century here. i'm going to use amazon to buy a cd. do you have a problem on with that? can't i put a cd into my car and listenjoany mitchell? >> so i could actually -- can i buy the -- the. >> you could get the song right

now. >> not the song. i want to get the three albums. >> during the break database. >> i want all three albums and how do i play it in my car? >> what kind of -- i know what kind of car you have. you can probably blue tooth it to your radio. >> you see, this is the problem. this is supposedly easier. why can't i just stick my cd into the little slit? >> i'm not even sure they sell cars with cd players in them any more. >> i have one right there that goes right in. i had something else to tell you, about the amazon story that you're missing. whenever i read this, there's another major player that wants to deliver content to me. content is never going away. we're going to be like in the movie where they go up, what was wall-e. we're going to be big fat people strapped in the chair. we're going to have that oculus thing here, all our experiences are going to come in. everybody wants to offer

content. and we provide content, sort of. >> i'm going to put this the -- >> i don't think you can see this. >> that up on my -- >> we will talk more about that and autism speaks. >> do you know what the spreads used to be? it used to be a quarter, used to be an eighth. if you think it's rigged now and you think who really rigged -- you know why the stock market is rigged? >> who? >> the fed is what really rigs the stock market if you want to point fingers, but they're rigging in it in a good way, right? coming up, the next big data point on jobs, perhaps pushing the markets higher. we're going to jump into that discussion in a moment. and firing back, featuring the best selling author michael lewis is still buzzing this morning been we'll have more of this must-see tv in the income half hour. take a look at yesterday's winners and losers.

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good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin. becky is still a little bit under the weather today. and the headlines this morning, we've got the adp report coming out for march. let's look at private sector employment, 8:15 eastern.

economists are looking for 203,000 new private sector jobs. that comes ahead of friday's government employment report, also for march. and that is a big number that you seem -- i don't know, there's been bigger months. there are still weather effects. also out today, february factory orders come at 10:00 eastern. and general motors ceo mary barra is back today to talk about its handling of its ignition switch recall. she was waiting for results of an internal investigation into why the company waited for more than ten years to recall the cars. gm is not the only automaker with recall news. chrysler is recalling near 870,000 suvs in this case for a potential brake problem. corrosion may recall difficulty

in applying the brakes. it applies to jeep grand cherokee and dodge durango on models. april is typically the best month of the year for the dow, but will that be the case this time around? joining us now, ed keion. and we'll talk more about all things economics, including this adp report and friday's numbers with drew mattes, chief u.s. economist at ubs. he's thinking about appearing without his jacket at this point. you're snap. you're liable to do anything at any time. >> that's right. if my microphone wasn't attached to it, i would do it right now. >> oh, no, no, maybe three more appearances with your jacket and then maybe have it on with one arm. >> i can do with the thing with folding it over my shoulder. >> that would be good. here we are and we are back at a

new high. >> you moderated your bullishness a little bit, but you're not surprised we're up 2% for the year now. >> yeah. we're pretty much exactly on pace for that so far as of yesterday's close. i think the economy we take over. i think we'll have greater acceleration in a monthly consensus growth than letss. >> do you rig the market? are you involved in rigging it on a daily basis and making sure that the small guy can't make money? are you part of this? >> no, but i'll tell you, we do monitor our trading costs very, very closely. we estimate what it's going to cost to trade before we trade and take that into account. and we also monitor close to what the actual costs are and what the drift is after we trade. so if somebody was jumping in front of us on a regular basis,

we would see that and that post trade drift would be negative and that's not the case. so the noegsz that -- >> high frequently trading is in the market. >> i think for us and i think for other institutional inves r investors, we make sure their trading is not as low as it can get. >> are you doing that so nobody understands what you're doing? >> most of the way we trade are -- >> or do you just do it straight up? >> we trade mostly through program type trading where we are putting out a portfolio for bid among multiple brokers and then they bid at lowest price.

we are obviously in favor of greater transparency. but we think overall our trading costs have -- we are not the being victimized to large degree by other people. >> if you want to go into the whole sac channel checking and they call back the snc guys first and they find out this test -- you know, whatever, that is one thing. you don't make or break yourself for two cents. no one in the history of the stock market has not made or break the trade on two cents. >> it's a competitive business. technology is always changing. so you have to keep up with it. >> these guys can skim -- but you look at how many transactions costs there are. in society, where people are skimming and making money and taking their -- you know, like the guy on g-2.

you say let me dip my beacon a little bit. >> who is guy to provide liqu liquidi liquidity? i think it's -- >> or because the larger premise of the michael loosis book is trading in large is a problem. the hero of the book, brad, who we had on the program yesterday who created the iex exchange, that exchange is involved in high frequency trading. what does it the front running mean to the extent there's people getting daddy earlier than others and you're able to take advantage of that data. >> we should have a level playing field and greater competition. i think all of that is good things. this is an issue that's been

around for a long number of years. >> i'll defer to the quantitative guy. you're in economics. no one is going to accuse you of knowing anything beforehand. no, i'm just kidding. what do you make of the adp today? >> we're looking for 250 on friday. >> are you really? >> you have a trend and payback for the past couple of bad weather months. perhaps more importantly, wages are going to accelerate again. most of the clients i talk to, the number one thing i'm getting questions on is when does inflation begin to pick up? and the answer for a lot of them could be friday.

>> that wouldn't be good if we did 20 and the wages went up -- >> look, the issue was and has been with the fed communication and she was in charge of communication strategy. the lowest grade was the communication strategy and she was in charge of it. i don't blame her for the six month comment. i think people took that out of context. but i think if they gives a speech and holds up, it's why we're continuing to have overease monetary policy and you're holding up the structurally unemployed and half of them have criminal backgrounds, that's a problem because someone should have vetted that. >> will you come back even though he sort of monopolized --

>> that was my failure. i gave you something else to focus on. i should have come in and talked about the economy the whole time. >> i'll tell you what i would like from you. come in, leave the jacket and the tie, no shirt. >> no shirt. >> like a chippendales type thing. >> because that's what economists are known for is their body. >> something like miami vice. >> how about just the bow tie? huh? huh? >> that's even more chippendale. >> if you do it, i'll do it. >> wow. coming up, we are going to continue the debate over the high frequency face-off. it's still buzzing this morning. more on the fireworks from the flash boys debate. coming up on sidewalk. squawk when we return. ♪

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welcome back to "squawk box." take a look at u.s. equity futures at this hour. we have green arrows. s&p 500 up a little over 1.5 points. the nasdaq would open higher about 6 points. if you missed it yesterday, william o'brien firing back. >> the first thing i say is michael and brad, shame on both of you for falsely accusing thousands of people and possibly scaring millions of investors in an effort to promote a business model. >> we've got more on this fiery debate that stopped traders in their tracks. "squawk box" coming back with

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michael lewis's new book "flash boys" sparking a lot of controversy yesterday on power lunch. the conversation got heated. bob pisani joins us now to help answer the question, is the market rigged?

>> good morning. it started off kind of quiet with lewis saying he thought the markets were rigged. but it turned into a food fight. here is where i started to get testy. >> i think it's really hard to put a word on it. >> you said it in the trying to parse your words thousanow, okay? >> you are quoted that way in the book. >> let's walk through an example. >> do you believe it or not? because you said it. >> let me walk you through an example. >> it's a yes or no question. do you believe it or not? >> i believe the markets are rigged. >> okay. so there you go. >> i also think that you're part of the rigging. if you want to do this, let's do this. >> i really do. >> let's do this. basically o'brien accusing him of using fear tactics about high frequency to promote his exchange, iex. it got very personal for a while. i think o'brien was also frustrated by the fact that "60 minutes" never bothered to go to anybody on the other side and ask what their position was to goldman or the stock exchanges or any high-frequency traders. michael lewis was a little bit of a sideshow through all this. we did ask him about the idea

that the markets were rigged, and did he feel it was too strong a word, and maybe he was trying to discourage people from going into the market. he sidestepped that a little bit. listen to this. >> do you not invest because, you know, do you stay out of the market entirely because you don't want to be scalped a bit? no. you don't. but that doesn't mean the scalping is okay. >> and that's why i think the street was very frustrated. if he would have come out and said the market is broken, all of wall street would have stood up and said yes, we've got problems. we don't like parts of it. i don't either. but when he came out and said the market is rigged, rigged by a lot of people's standards means there's a bunch of people stepping in between trying to penny you, if that's what he means by rigged, then wall street's been rigged since the beginning. i think that's why a lot of people were upset. by the way, guys, i'm going to go over here. this is goldman sachs's post. goldman sachs is reportedly selling its designated market-making unit. we don't have a buyer yet. reportedly it's up for $30 million. they paid $6.5 billion for spear

leaves and kellogg's back in 2000. give you an idea how tough. it's purportedly postponing its ipo, a high-speed trader, and that's reportedly postponed. guys, back to you. >> just what you said, bob. you know, we sit here and parse all these words. it's a semantic argument. if you're going to use the word "rigged," it's a loaded term. there's a lot of people that hate wall street, occupy, whatever you want to say, they're saying it's rigged because you can't make money because all the big guys make all the money. if you want to falsely equate that with 2 cents, which is scalping and probably illegal. you know, call it what it is. just don't use it to add vanvan agenda that's not true. we've been talking with andrew. if you want to say s.a.c. or some entity gets channel checks from what they call, you know,

experts and they find out information way before the public about stocks and they know you're going to report a bad quarter, they know a drug is going to get approved or not approved, that's one thing. but, you know, what did -- bob, when you started down there -- and we started together -- what did the spreads used to be? we would have killed for a 2 cent spread. my god. if we would have done 2 cents, we would have said give me that all day long. >> remember, the market was an eighth. prior to 1997, it was 12.50. >> so now it's rigged at 2 cents instead of a 12. >> it's usually a penny wide these days. the bid offer is a penny wide. >> we know what it is. >> back in 1997, let me give you an example. pull over here, scotty. this is mcdonald's. it's 97.90 here. if it you would have walked into the market to the floor of the stock exchange in 1997 and said i've got 50,000 shares i need to buy of mcdonald's, do you think you would have got it at the last offer? maybe you would have got it at the last offer. more than likely, you would have taken the stock up. and you might have had to have broken that deal, that desire to

buy 50,000 into several offers. that's what happens today. >> bob, we know what michael lewis is trying to do. we know what "60 minutes" is trying to do. the publishing industry is rigged because you're allowed to write hype rbolic comments and sell books. "60 minutes." remember meredith whitney? she comes on our air. they get her to say $100 billion, and they rigged -- so "60 minutes" rigs their guests. >> the difference between today and 1997 is the book doesn't have much on it. today, the last sale, was 100 shares. and if you have significant to buy in mcdonald's or pfizer or anything, you're going to take that book up significantly to move it. and that's what a lot of people, professional brokers, are unhappy with. and that's why these orders are broken into 100-share orders at a time so they don't have a big impact on the market. the bottom line, look at the floor. all those people are gone now. >> here's the question. i wonder actually what brad's view of this is.

it sounds to me like there's two versions of high-frequency trading. there's a good version which brad seems to have subscribed to given that he has an exchange that participates in high-frequency trading. then there's this bad issue which runs up against this issue of front running. that's the issue which i think the book perhaps conflates with the good part. >> guys sitting on the bid and offer providing some kind of liquidity even if it's phantom, there's nothing illegal about that. there may be some bad actors out there. and i'm not sure the s.e.c. has all the tools in he says to detect them. that's what i'm talking about. and i agree with you. there may be instances where people are engaging in abusive or manipulative behavior. by the way, that is a legal term. that's what the s.e.c. law says. you have to be abusive and manipulative. so if, for example, you're putting in millions of bids and offers and then quickly canceling with no other purpose than to try to elicit a business, that may be abusive and manipulative. i want the s.e.c. to have the

tools to be able to detect that. >> you always call me abusive and manipulative, too. so i guess i'm violating a lot of this. >> nice and warm. nice and warm. >> you know, and i love brad. i mean, but, you know, he owns an exchange. he doesn't have a horse in this race. >> he wants to be an exchange. >> and he's brilliant and i like what he did and i commend him for it. you know, he's got a little vested interest here going, too, i think. >> he aspires to be an exchange and i say more power to him. if he attract business. >> i wish i had 10% of his exchange. maybe you can -- >> no broker dealers own that exchange. it's all owned by mutual funds, some hedge funds and a few private individuals. >> see you. coming up, in the next step in the gm recall crisis, we'll talk about that and mary barra and what she's going to face today.

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gm's ceo mary barra faces the heat on capitol heat. >> that happens very often as we buy steel to make the bodies of the vehicles. >> if a part doesn't meet the specification, why in the world would you not refuse it? >> what's the next step for the automaker caught in this major crisis? the market's on data watch. the s&p 500 hitting another record high. will the adp employment report take stocks even higher? amazon expected to make a big announcement later today. is jeff bezos about to make a bold move into the video world? "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ video killed the radio star ♪ video killed the radio star ♪ pictures came and broke your heart ♪ ♪ oh oh good morning and welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. i can listen to anything i want

to for $9.99 a month. >> for $9.99 a month. it's a good deal. >> i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin. becky is out today. i have cds now that i'm using which are much better than the cassettes. >> much better. even more advanced than the 8-tracks. >> this is better than a cd. >> download it right to your iphone right now. >> this world, it's very daunting. the futures this morning continuing to show some gains, up 15 after the s&p set a new all-time high. and we are now up again. remember, we went up a little in the first quarter, but then almost went to flat. we were basically below the december 31st close, but now we're up about 2% on the s&p. there's the ten-year. still below where i said it would be. when tapering started. 2.873. >> brilliant. in the headlines, we're a little over an hour away from the march adp report consensus

forecast for 203,000 new private sector jobs. report's out at 8:15 eastern. steve liesman will be here with the numbers as soon as they come out. and microsoft is expected to unveil more on its new strategies for windows at its build conference in san francisco today. ceo satia nadella is expected to emphasize how he sees windows, what windows will be like in a market that focuses on notebooks and tablets and smartphones. meanwhile, blackberry is not ruining its sales agreement with t-mobile when it expires on april 25th. it means t-mobile will no longer sell blackberry products after that date. if anyone actually tried to buy one. although it will -- i don't know whether they know whether -- maybe a new one's not going to notice. although it will continue to support existing customers. i apologize to you. it's just those blackberrians were so obnoxious. why do they do that?

>> they love the blackberry. >> i know they do. >> they love the keyboard. >> they make you not like them, and it makes you, you know, say things. that doesn't help their cause to be haters, does it? >> this is true. this is true. i don't know. i still love my blackberry. i wish i could go back -- there are some times i wish i had the keyboard. >> i miss brick breaker. i played a little the other day. i've still got it. you don't forget. it's like riding a bike. i think gm is still on blackberry. general motors' chief executive mary barra set to return to capitol hill for a second day of testimony. cnbc's eamon javers joins us. >> reporter: a bit of a rough outing yesterday for mary barra as she faced a house committee on capitol hill. members of the committee really wanted some answers here on just why it took gm so long to issue this recall and why it took ten years to solve the problem of its ignition switches. mary barra, however, citing an internal gm investigation, said

she didn't have a lot of answers to provide. take a listen. >> i am not aware. >> you don't know about that? i'm getting this information from the chronology that gm provided to knnitsa. >> i was not part of the organization at the time. that's why i'm doing the investigation to understand that. >> when is it that gm informed nitsa? >> i don't know that. >> reporter: there's questions about this internal gm investigation. after the hearing, mary barra held a sort of mini-press conference outside the hearing room. i had a chance there to ask her what this investigation was likely to produce, when we might see it, whether gm would turn over any copies of the investigation itself to the public. take a listen to how she responded to that question. >> i will share and be transparent with those items that are appropriate to share. there may be -- everything that's appropriate to share, everything that's related to consumer safety, everything that's related to the customer.

>> reporter: will there be an actual document? >> that has not been determined yet. >> reporter: so gm saying it's got an internal investigation going on, but not committing to necessarily release the results, the full results, of that investigation and not necessarily even saying that that investigation is going to produce any kind of written document at the end of the day. so some questions here about what exactly gm is doing with this investigation. you can expect that members of the senate committee at 10:00 this morning are going to want to get into a little bit more detail on that. so another day on capitol hill for gm's mary barra today, guys. >> okay. we've got an interview coming up here, eamon, i want you to take a listen. joining us with industry reaction, washington bureau chief and automotive reporter for "the detroit news." and an old buddy who has another famo famous, ingrchltacia.

>> whole family. >> a lot of comments about who's better looking. good morning to you both. and i'm going to start with you, david, because we've seen this movie so many times with recalls. you've been doing this a while. do you remember the ford explorer, i guess, and it was weird because the ford explorer, i think you could buy that with firestone 500 tires at one point. so you had, like, a double problem. are there differences here? what makes it interesting to me is that the government owned this company for about three years and didn't do anything. and i would think that nitsa would be, you know, more adept at handling these things. what's the most interesting thing about this recall? >> i think it's the documents that have come out that show that gm, you know, in 2005, did a business assessment and said if we replace the switch, put a better switch to address the problem, it's going to cost us about 90 cents a switch but only save 10 to 15 cents in warranty

costs. you know, the reality is now these companies see all these recalls as now potentially multibillion-dollar hits to their bottom line. i think you'll see a whole new approach to what happened after the toyota problem in 2010. chrysler today just issued a recall for 900,000 vehicles. so i think the companies are going to be very quick to recall things even if it's going to be expensive. >> hey, paul, is there some guy somewhere or a group of guys that were on some committee and they know full well that they said, listen, whatever it was, to recall and, you know, the warranty will only save this much. are they sitting around somewhere going -- is someone going to know it's me? is there one person or a group of people around that know that they made this decision? >> well, there probably is a group of people around that were part of that decision. i don't know who they are. it doesn't seem from yesterday's testimony that mary barra knows who they are either. i think, look, she did about as well as she could have done.

but coming into the hearing, there were lots of unanswered questions. and after the hearing, there were still lots of unanswered questions. you know, her blanket assertion that gm -- the new gm, the post-bankruptcy gm, has a new culture isn't terribly satisfying. where's the proof of that? what have they done to really show that to people? >> paul, you know, last week she came out with her statement. and everybody gave her enormous amount of credit. they said she was sort of following the sort of best practices playbook in terms of apologizing, being forceful about the apology. and people even said she wasn't -- she sort of disregarded the lawyers in doing that. and then she shows up yesterday. and it looks like she's coached by the lawyers. so which is the real mary barra? >> well, i guess we're going to find out. i mean, look. she's under oath yesterday. so that's a whole, you know, different kind of ball game. but i think the real question is, we've gone sort of past the apology stage now. fair enough. that was the right thing to do.

but we need some specific answers. and we they'd them sooner than later. now, i understand, look, getting the correct answers in a decade or more than decade-old situation is going to take a while. but the sooner they can get real specific answers, the better it will be for the company and everybody involved. the other thing i found disappointing about yesterday really, you know, was nitsa's assertion that hey, it's not us. these are the federal highway traffic regulators. to say they had no culpability in this sort of stretches the imagination to be honest with you. >> if you're mary barra, we talked about this on the show before, should announce just a blanket trust fund for the victims right now, try to get ahead of it, or legally does that put you in a position of creating a floor for whatever litigation you think is coming? >> well, don't you think they're already going that direction, given that they hired ken feinberg? you're not hiring him just to look at the numbers. i think they know that they're going to have to do something to compensate the victims,

especially people whose claims are not able to be paid given gm's 2009 bankruptcy restructuring. so -- >> david, you're just raising another question, though. should the money come from the new gm or come from the old gm? >> sure. i mean, there's not a lot of money left in old gm at this point. but -- and i think a lot of wall street analysts think they'll be paying somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion in total and don't forget that given that toyota just paid a $1.2 billion criminal fine four years after its recall problems that gm also faces pretty hefty costs on that front as well. >> okay. we're taking hits on both satellite feeds. so we're going to leave it there. thanks, david and paul. we do have a programming note. we're going to talk to representative diana degette. she had a memorable exchange.

holding up a gm ignition switch. you have a big keychain that says "too big to fail," right, on it? that's a long -- and that could have easily -- do you have one of those big, heavy keychains? >> as you know, i don't have a car. >> you probably have some kind of new technology where you don't even need a key. >> i just walk right in. >> or do you have a -- i'll bet you you've got like an eye thing. >> you don't understand. the butler opens the door. >> right. and he's the one -- >> there's no reason to have a key. >> the door scans his retina. to let you in. >> i assume he has a key. i don't know how it works. you know, the doorman opens the door. the butler opens the next -- i don't get involved in these things with the key. >> you joke about 1%ers as if you're on the outside looking in. that's what i like. you get people to think that you're really not -- you very well might have a butler. >> is there a key for the helicopter? how do they turn that thing on? coming up, how will fresh jobs data on jobs impact the

market? that discussion, we're going to kick it off next. and what is amazon going to do with its video business? is jeff bezos going into tv streaming? financial noise financial noise financial noise

nasdaq up close to eight

points higher. nasdaq opens up by two points higher. the s&p notched another record close yesterday. joining us is craig hodges, co-portfolio manager with the hodges small cap fund. no? yeah, that's craig right there. have you done this before? >> oh, craig. >> see, that's a two-shot. there's you on the right. >> i got it. >> and then here on set is lee partridge? >> yes, sir. >> okay. >> chief investment officer at salient partners. we're all set? okay. >> it's early. it's early. >> you're going to give us some stock advice. anyway. craig, let me start with you. just for a second here. i'm reading that you say that this new quarter has no effect on the companies. and then our investment thesis, buying companies on sale. you know, in light of this 2

cent controversy we're talking about, it sounds like 2 cents wouldn't make or break a trade for you, would it, on whether you make money on a position or whether management is good at -- is the market rigged? >> i believe there's -- rigged -- i don't think rigged is the right word. i think there's a fleecing going on. >> that's a good word. >> of america. and basically, i have more respect for a guy that takes a gun and robs a store, at least there's a risk. >> you do? >> at least there's a risk with him. and it's just a way for them to come take pennies off of everyone's trades on almost a riskless transaction. if they're finding out that i'm getting ready to make a trade and they're only going to let me get a few shares, then i've got to pay more for the remainder, i mean, that's -- you know, the answer to your question directly, is it affecting our performance? it's not, but it's still a very -- it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, i think. >> that shows what a disservice it is to conflate it with rigging. it could have been a great book and a great report from "60

minutes" to expose what is basically a fleecing or skimming or a front running or whatever. and instead, people with, you know, vendetta or with, you know, political ax to grind about wall street use it to say that the entire system's unfair. >> correct. >> that's what's bad, andrew. don't you think, lee? >> it's a double-edged sword, right? we've got more liquidity in the markets than we've ever had before. it's cheaper to trade 100 shares, 50 shares, 25 shares as well as a block of 10,000 shares. and customers are trading more and more the high-frequency trading firms are just providing liquidity. they're making money in doing so. so they are scalping the market, but bid/ask spreads are tighter than they've ever been. it's cheaper for the individual investor to get into the market. >> there's good high-frequency trading that provides the liquidity you're talking about, and then there's potentially this abusive high-frequency trading where people are trying to front-run information.

>> that's right. >> and the other question is do you need to have both to make it work? or can you get the liquidity that you're talking about that's keeping prices down without the -- without the bad part? >> well, one might say that bringing the information to the market quicker is actually creating more efficient markets. so when an investor actually invests, all of the price information reflects what's known to the market. at any point in time. >> it's not necessarily known to the entire market, which is the problem. >> all the information that's available, is it really disseminated publicly to all investors at the same time? are we really dealing with fair information flow as it is? haven't we always had asymmetry information? >> one of the things i was arguing in the 6:00 hour was this idea that we have this truly level playing field, that the fellow who's, you know, at home, who has a day job and who sort of trades as a hobby somehow is the exact same opportunity as the professional.

you take offense to that? >> no, i heard. i'm going to ask him for a single best idea. >> i'll tell you a great question is why has goldman sachs been for it for a while and now of a sudden now they're against it. they've been part of it, and now they're kind of coming out speaking against it. >> sounds familiar. that's right, that's the secretary of state. craig, what's your year-end target for the s&p? >> i don't have a specific year-end target. after a 30% gain last year, we're looking for more of a kind of, you know, 8% to 12% type of return. but at the same time, we still see a lot of opportunities in the market. everyone has been waiting for this 10% correction that's not coming. >> yeah. they always do that. what are your favorite sectors? in 30 seconds. >> energy's one of our favorites. you know, small transports like railcar, the rails itself, copper wire, you know, some companies like that. some cement and steel names are -- we look good. and we like the airlines for a couple years.

and they still look cheap. they're still very underowned. american's one of our largest holdings. we think they could earn close to $7 a year out. and stocks 35. or 37. >> take a look that the. lee, what's your year-end -- do you have a target for the s&p? >> it's not necessarily a year end, but we think before year end the s&p's going to get above 2,000. >> which is not that much. what is that total, 5%? specific areas? >> we like energy infrastructure, emerging markets, getting oud t inting o s&p. >> even with tapering. >> there's a shift right now with the central banks in china and indonesia, hong kong are all becoming more dovish right at the same time where we're kind of waffling and deciding what direction we're going to take. >> pomost people say -- you can get a whole group of people who say the fed has rigged the

markets. it just depends -- you know, this is not going to end. >> the true insiders. >> the true insiders, exactly. they know exactly what they're going to do all the time. talk about inside information. anyway, thank you, lee and thanks, craig. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> confident enough to not wear a tie. he doesn't need us. >> we should say we're wearing blue ties today. plus it's autism speaks awareness today. >> it's autism awareness today. but autism speaks is the leading -- and robert wright, our great former ceo and suzanne, founders of this. in ten years, it's like one of the leading, i think, philanthropic organizations in the world. in ten years, something like that. >> we're going to talk more about that. and also the debate over whether the markets are rigged. that boiled over during "power lunch" yesterday. nyc traders stopped in their tracks as the panel debated.

global markets even went after michael lewis. >> it's great to see bill instantly throw at brad the idea he's doing all this to promote a business model. >> he said that and he also said shame on you. how do you react to that? >> i'll say it again. >> i think he's outrageous. i think he's part of the problem. >> the debate continues. the fire burns with former s.e.c. richard breeden. he's going to weigh in at 8:30 eastern. more "squawk" in just a moment. yes! not just a start up. an upstart. gotta get going. gotta be good. good? good. growth is the goal. how do we do that? i talked to ups. they'll help us out. new technology. smart advice. we focus on the business and they take care of the logistics. ups? good going. we get good. that's great. great. great. great. great. great. great. great. great. (all) great! i love logistics.

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check out the shares of drugmaker mankind. the fda's panel of outside advisers recommending approval of the company's inhale diabetes drug. also said the experimental treatment could help some patients, especially those that are wary of the needles typically used with traditional insulin therapy. the panel says afreza did not appear as beneficial for adults with type 1 diabetes, but it was clearly safe and effective for those with the more common type 2. they voted 13-1 to recommend

approval and unanimously backed it with those with type 2, adding longer-term studies will be needed for side effects. the stock did trade higher on the news. because typically the full fda will do what the panel recommends. >> that is the case. coming, we're going to talk about amazon. is it about to make another bold move? we explore that next. and today is autism awareness today. pulitzer prize-winning author ron susskind is going to tell us about his family's 20-year struggle with autism. how he's used his son's love of disney movies to communicate with him. this is one of these remarkable stories. i beg you, keep watching this because i can't get over it. i read the book and it's amazing. we're back in a moment. aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪

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purchases actually rose during the week, but the overall figure was dragged down by a decline in refinancing activity. also at least five people are dead after an 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern chile. the quake triggered a tsunami that pounded the shoreline with huge waves. the government there ordering an evacuation of the northern coast and declaring the area a disaster zone. also wells fargo, they've struck a ten-year agreement to issue a service -- excuse me, to service credit card retailer dillard's. the agreement would begin during the fourth quarter. the bank has been focusing on increasing the size of its credit card business over the past few years. also the other big story of the morning, amazon holding a news conference later today on the future of its video business. could amazon be launching a tv screaming box to compete with products like apple tv and roku? that's the question. cnbc's jon fortt is here with that story. >> good morning. they'd better be launching that because that's what everybody is expecting. they've got their vp who's head

of kindle coming out to host this thing. hardware, streaming, it kind of makes sense. take a look at the landscape. there are an estimated around 25 million amazon prime subscribers. a lot of these people are subscribing, of course, to get two-day delivery. other perks, not necessarily just video. that's kind of the adressable market for amazon. i think it's no coincidence that this is launching just two weeks ahead of the price hike for existing members. this might entice people to stick around if there are a few extra things they can do with prime and the video service. netflix has 44 million subscribers. it's the big dog. and of course, the people who sign up for netflix sign up for streaming nowadays. xbox live has 50 million subscribers. a combination of people who want to do online gaming and people who are getting video benefit there. and apple tv has moved around 30 million units since that first came out in 2007. but of course, they've gone through several different iterations of that. it's not as if that's 30 million

separate people. but itunes, in general, has a whole lot of content. that is sort of the play, the competition that amazon's up against. and this is really an ecosystem play for them. they're trying to get people to consume more within amazon because if they consume more, if they make that commitment to be loyal, they're likely to purchase more. so we'll have to see how this lines up versus the others conveniencewise as far as how they roll this out. >> jon, thank you. stay here where you are. let's bring in victor anthony, the media analyst at topeka capital markets. here's my question. i would imagine that a lot of amazon prime subscribers already have things like apple tv. they already have other devices where they're getting streaming something, whether it's netflix or what have you. are you going to have two or three of these boxes in your home because all of them are going to ultimately be incompatible with each other? >> that's a good question. i do not think so. i think you'll just have one box. i think amazon --

>> does ammazonmazon's box win? >> they believe that they have a platform which is the website that millions of people go onto every single day, and they can actually push that product onto consumers. and they've been successful doing that in the past with other devices, kindle devices, namely. so i think they feel that they're at a disadvantage in the living room, and they feel that they should have a presence. >> what's your anxiety if you have some that whatever product they do come out with, they are going to sell at a loss? this happened with kindle. people had questions about that, at least for some period of time. there's been other things, kindle fires and other things where they've either done them for virtually no margin or legitimately a loss. >> it's all about selling content. and that's what amazon is. they're all about selling product. and so they will sell the device at break even which is what they're doing with the kindle. but they'll make money off of it in totality because you get

people to consume a lot more content, a lot more media content. so i think the strategy will be the same with whatever product they launch today. >> my worry with all of this is there's almost this race toward the bottom. bezos told me at the end of last year, as you said, he doesn't want to lose money on this stuff. it's all about driving media. but these companies have to pay for this content up front. i'm sure this exclusive on 24, which we have now for kindle and amazon services, that didn't come cheap. they've got to get the uptick in users later. and you know, can google, with chromecast, can amazon with this, can they all win? netflix, too? or does somebody have to lose, and how long will it take before we have that shakeout? >> 100 million homes in the u.s. in particular, you expand it outside the u.s., you get significantly more households. so i think everyone could potentially win. i don't think it's a zero-sum game at all. amazon's strategist is a little different. >> does amazon have a huge prime business outside the u.s.?

>> i think they have 25 million roughly in the u.s. about 10 million outside. >> i'm a prime subscriber. i don't think i've ever used their streaming service in my life. >> they do a poor job marketing the service, i think. >> it's hard to use. i've got access to it, of course, through pcs, through apps, whatnot, also on my tivo. but if i've got options, netflix is a lot easier to access than amazon prime. >> i agree. >> but this goes back to the issue, it's annoying to me that i have a time warner cable box. i have a tivo box as it happens, and i have an apple tv box. so i'm use itunes, i'm using netflix, on demand on time warner cable, i have the tivo thing layered on top of that. and now you're telling me the only real way to get the amazon thing to work properly is i'm going to have to get their box. >> you have multiple different ways to access that. >> i don't even know how to get to. >> i have a samsung tv that accesses amazon prime and it works perfectly for me.

maybe you should give it a try. there's going to be multiple different ways to access the content. amazon does not want to be left out. >> will apple, when apple comes out with a tv, the brilliance of apple is simplifying this whole process so i have one box and it does it all. but given the competition apple has with an amazon, would they ever allow that content on their box? >> it's possible. >> so far thus far, they have not, right? >> they have not. >> they probably would not. if you look at the way they've managed itunes, there's a toll there if you want to sell content through itunes, you've got to pay apple along the way. >> there's a kindle app that i use on my iphone and my ipad. there are other apple -- there -- i believe you can watch amazon video -- >> you can purchase a book through that, you have to sort of go to the web, buy it and then load it in. that would be a nightmare to try to do on the tv. i want to buy a movie, but i've got to go to the computer and then come back to the tv. people won't do it. >> joe, in the last hour, tried to buy a cd from amazon. >> cd, okay. >> if you can help him with that.

>> are you going to make fun of me, too? my car has a little -- why does my car still have a place to put the cd? >> i'm going to try to bridge that. that's a good point. you don't replace your car every 18 months, most people don't. you don't replace your tv every 18 months either. and that's why this is a difficult space for these companies to crack. apple is used to selling these. we upgrade these -- once you bolt that flat screen tv into your wall, you've got it in your entertainment center, you don't want to constantly be going in there pulling cables. so they've got to figure out a way to get people on the technology train with tv without having to deal with the hassle of upgrades all the time. and this is the effort to do that. >> the unemployment rate, whatever it is now, 7 -- and why isn't there someone that can come in and go into my samsung tv and show me amazon and hook it up for me and do all this? where -- >> you can't figure it out, you think -- >> where are the service people that will bring me into your world? where are they? >> i'm serious. >> geek squad. >> geek squad takes way too

long. it's way in the future when you have to get them. but there should be people -- i could start a company that would just go and teach people how to use technology. people like me. why isn't there one? >> well, i do believe samsung has customer service. >> they do? >> yeah, they do have customer service to help you through the process. it's fairly simple. you just have to take 15, 20 minutes to go through the setup process. >> have you ever sat down with your dad or your mother-in-law and tried to train them on the new technology? >> i'm the family technical support service at my house. >> so i am. >> you might have to come over. but it's in new jersey. but you come here. >> i come here. >> my mom figures it out herself. my dad and my mother-in-law, they -- and my father-in-law, they call me. >> it was like a real moment for me because i was going to order the cd on amazon and have it sent by ordering something on the computer. >> and i downloaded it for him on the phone. by the way, victor, thank you, jon, thank you. a quick programming note, which you probably don't even know, "squawk box" has a spotify

channel almost, if you will. >> the playlist. >> if you found "squawk" spotify, our play list. >> what are you guys playing? >> all the music you hear on the show. >> that's an eclectic mix. >> that is true. we cover all the different bases. gentlemen, thank you both. penny pritzker talks jobs and trade. it's a first on cnbc interview. and then an emotional day for gmc's mary barra in washington. she's going to do it again later today. this time in front of a senate panel. we're going to discuss gm, the recall, and much more at the top of the hour.

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welcome back. investors are bracing for the all-important jobs report on friday. moneytime, washington embarking on its own mission to spur job growth. joining us is penny pritzker. secretary pritzkepritzker, goodg to you. >> good morning. >> let's talk about jobs. let's talk about what you folks are doing about jobs. i wanted to start with this. there was a piece -- and i don't know if you had an opportunity to read it -- earlier this week by paul krugman, of all people, who said that jobs and the,

quote, job skills gap that we talk about all the time is a myth. he says it's a fallacy that there is a skills gap in this country. and i wanted to get your view on that. >> well, what we do know is there are 4 million open jobs in this country. and we have many, many, many millions of people looking for jobs. so i think there is a need to address to make sure that our work force has the skills that they need for the jobs that do exist. in fact, i was in south carolina this week -- or this past week at a plant that's working with the university, clemson university, the local technical colleges and the local businesses to help workers get the skills they need. and what you see is is that kind of effort is extremely useful and valued not just by the worker but also by the businesses. >> but in terms of training, how much can be done on an immediate basis, and how much is this going to be a generational issue? >> oh, there's a lot that can be done in a very short period.

there are plenty of training opportunities that are 12 weeks, 20 weeks, 25 weeks that can give someone the skills or help them reskill so that they are able to take jobs that are available. for example, i worked -- i created something in partnership with the city of chicago called skills for chicagoland's future where we work with the long-term unemployed. we were training folks for jobs that absolutely existed in companies that were welcoming the long-term unemployed and getting those folks back to work in a period of less than six months. >> secretary, who should pay for all of this? i was in chicago last week. we saw rahm emanuel and a number of other people talking about rebuilding and reinventing america. one of the conversations repeatedly came out, you know, in the old days -- i don't know what the old days were -- companies had training programs. companies took at least some responsibility. it wasn't just the government. how do you see that balance?

>> i think first of all, partnership should be the operative word. businesses need to lead in terms of the content of training and what they need. they're the ones who can say here's what i need in the work force today and in the future. and i think it needs to be a partnership between all parties. >> how much do you worry about technology? >> well, i think technology is a great opportunity. we're very committed to promoting innovation and technology throughout the economy. i think it's somewhere around 50% of job -- gdp growth is through technology growth. >> taking away what might be discovered as low-wage jobs. >> oh, technology, though, is an opportunity for americans to ultimately have very high-value jobs. and so that's why skills training in combination with technology is really important. >> madam secretary, one thing we could do -- and i don't know whether you talked to the

president -- what happened to the trade deals? why are they stalled? it's the president's own party now that seems to be in the way. is there any attempt to get these things back on track? wouldn't that help? >> well, in fact, i was talking with the president about this yesterday. we're very committed in this administration to getting our trade deals done. our u.s. trade representative, ambassador froman is out finishing the tpp sk. and i think at the appropriate time both tpa and tpp will be brought forward both in the senate and the house. >> harry reid doesn't support -- i mean, you've got the leader of your party in the senate has come out against it, right? >> i think what -- i think what needs to happen is, and the interest and what i've heard on the hill is a real interest in making sure that they understand what's in these bills and in these trade agreements. and so therefore there's a desire to see, let's get the negotiations further along and

complete so that we can take them up at the appropriate time. but i don't think there's a lack of commitment at all to this. >> okay. >> secretary, we're going to leave the conversation there. we appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you so much. >> great to see you. you bet. >> good to see you. >> thank you, madam secretary. so i don't understand what he's saying, krugman. i mean, i -- did he use that saying that there's not -- just to imply that the nasty business owners and the republicans just aren't hiring people because they want to keep them down, basically? >> yes. that's pretty much part of the argument. but he does cite -- he cites a stud from from m.i.t. -- >> de facto, there's a skills gap. you know there's companies that would please, come and hire us. and we they'd engineers. we need visas. we need immigration. >> his argument is if there really was such a skills gap, you'd see higher pay for some of those jobs. >> there still is. they're offering great -- phil lebeau has been in a factory talking about $80,000 a year

they will pay. >> and he argues for better or worse than companies have talked about the skills gap over and over again. and yet in truth, the idea that there are remaining jobs out there has always been the case. he says it's the lowest it's ever been. just what it is. this next story's amazing. coming up today, autism awareness day. up next, we're going to talk to pulitzer prize-winning journalist ron suskind about his done's struggle with autism and how disney characters helped him connect. >> if you do nothing else today, watch this.

today is autism awareness day. our next guest is well known for his pulitzer-prize winning book on the economy. but his new book is called "life: animated." it's a very personal story about his family's struggle with his son's autism and how he used his son's love of disney movies to communicate with him. ronn suskind is with us. there's something about disney movies. >> no doubt about it. there's a lot of disney kids out there. >> since autism speaks became, you know, so visible, we've made great strides in understanding a lot of things about how complex

these individuals really are, but off camera, you were talking about terms i had never heard. so the very specific interest these kids have, it's not the -- it gets deeper and deeper and more developed. there's actually a method to the madness. >> yeah, it's interesting. over 20 years -- our son is just now 23 -- we've gone through the whole gamut. one of every 42 boys are on the autism spectrum. that's 2.5% of the male population of the united states. that's astonishing. at the same time, we learned. at the beginning, disney movies. he lost all speech just before he was 3. it's called regressive autism. it comes later. then he just watched the movies. seems like that was the only thing that gave him comfort. eventually, we watched the movies with him. at about 6 1/2, he starts to

speak, clearly using the dialogue. there was a moment where his brother gets emotional on his ninth birthday. he says, walter doesn't want to grow up, like peter pan. we go, huh? off we go. at that point, my wife and i, who's a journalist-type too, we became animated characters. we just played roles. you know, there's 50 animated movies since "snow white." there's a lot to work with. off we'd go. >> the thing behind it is totally logical. my son will, at times, say something that sounds so profound and we, oh, that's from -- usually the more profound it is -- but it fits perfectly with the situation but heard it in a movie. >> what's interesting is these affinities, so-called, have been most things folks have wanted to reduce over these last 20 years saying, no -- >> try not to talk about it.

move on, let's keep in the moment, let's talk about other things. >> you and i are allowed to have our passions, but they're not because they're viewed as to the exclusion of much else. i don't think that's actually true. i think the science is now catching up with that. a lot of researchers are calling me in the last three weeks -- "new york times" excerpt was in three weeks ago about the book. they're saying, maybe we need to reverse the telescope. it could be trains, could be maps, disney movies. if you looked at the whole spectrum population, and now you have almost 2 million people in the united states, you could probably map out about 12 major affinities. what i think we're finding in our 20-year improvisational research experiment, my wife and i, is that each of these affinities has its own dna. it's got a code. what's that william blake line, the world and a grain of sand? each one of them carries the dna of everything. if you can get in there and look at it. and with our son, once he let us

in, it was amazing how complex it was. eventually, together, we built a vehicle that he now drives. he's at a school in cape cod. >> he's a president. >> 12 kids just like him. now it's 35 kids. >> it's hard to find anything positive in 1 out of 42 except that there's a lot of potential friends between these people because there's so many. that's something that every parent worries about. >> look, joe, it's part of the miracle of this modern age. people can find each other. >> even a girlfriend. >> he's got a girlfriend, yeah. he uses some of the movies to help. at one point he was talking to one of his therapists and says, you know, aladdin and jasmine. aladdin gave her a choice, gave her space. i need to think about that. a lot of people could use that advice. >> by the way, you've won all sorts of awards for books.

i've read them all. this is my favorite. it'll make you cry and make you think about a lot of things about life. but my question for you about owen is, he sees a lot of the world through disney, but as he's gotten older, does he -- has he moved beyond disney? >> he has. disney is still the foundation. we still -- he's got powerful ideas through disney, but he's moved to a lot of live action. you know, he reads now. he searches the landscape for things of interest. it's interesting. he said something to me the other day now that he's kind of globally famous as an autistic guy. he said, you know, in fact, i think it made me stronger. i think that shows a kind of awareness that a lot of autistic folks are having. you know, they're not in the broken toy department. yeah, they have challenges, and the enormous effort to support them by society is crucial, but they're also saying, look, i've got a lot to offer. >> and you guys are working on a documentary. >> yeah, probably out next year. >> saw some clips online.

if you have a second -- >> yeah, there's a great viral video of owen doing those voices. >> pretty amazing. >> ron, thank you. >> autism awareness day. big day. >> certainly is. thank you very much. coming up at the top of the hour, a closer look at gm. you probably know xerox as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospitals using electronic health records for more than 30 million patients? or that our software helps over 20 million smartphone users remotely configure e-mail every month? or how about processing nearly $5 billion in electronic toll payments a year? in fact, today's xerox is working in surprising ways to help companies simplify the way work gets done and life gets lived. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

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gm in crisis. and congress is looking for answers. >> it's going to be a switch that -- >> is it going to be a newly redesigned switch? >> we'll get a take on mary barra's testimony. >> is the market rigged? that question sparking a heated debate at the new york stock exchange. >> i believe the markets are rigged. and i think you're a part of the rigging. >> former s.e.c. chairman richard breeden weighs in. plus, more of the debate around the trading floor. plus, a luxury real estate agent turned reality star. one of the main players on br o bravo's "million-dollar listing"

joins us on "squawk box" right now. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. we're counting down to the adp private payroll report. we're going to get that at 8:15 eastern time. economists expect the report to show 203,000 new private-sector jobs. this snapshot comes ahead of the number that comes out on friday again. it's like it comes every month, it seems like. the government employment report, which could show nonfarm payrolls rising by 200,000. that is the approximate estimate at this point. >> okay. let's tell you about a couple headlines this morning. chile's president has declared a state of emergency where a powerful earthquake struck off the coast. five people were killed there. landslides have blocked roads. fires have destroyed several businesses. power has now been knocked out to thousands.

the quake registered an 8.2 and triggered a tsunami that has pounded the shoreline. an 8.2 is very, very high on the richter scale. also, more bad press for pimco. investors pulling $3.1 billion out of the flagship fund in march. it marks the 11th straight month of net redemptions for their total return fund. the bond fund, which is the world's biggest, is run by bill gross. morningstar says investors have pulled out more than $52 billion since last may. as joe was mentioning, they still have $250 billion or more. >> the bad news is that people pulled $3.1 billion out of the fund. good news is that represented just over 1%. >> right. so just to context yulize the

story. also, the obama administration celebrating yesterday as the number of obamacare enrollment came in. the 7-million benchmark. >> last night the first open enrollment period under this law came to an end. and despite several lost weeks out of the gate because of problems with the website, 7.1 million americans have now signed up for private insurance plans through these marketplaces. 7.1. >> the new health care program overcame early technology failures that prevented people from signing up online. the white house numbers did not include information about enroll lees, including the ages of applicants. the first group represents a higher rate of older and of course costlier members than had been hoped. that could mean higher insurance premiums for people in many parts of the country. so time for the administration to celebrate, but we will see how much they'll be celebrating because there's still an open

question. >> let's watch those 12 democratic senators that have been embracing obamacare so openly. there's 12 of them that have been running from it. now that 7 have signed up, let's see how quickly they come around and say, wow, we love it. we'll see. there's 12 of them. let's watch them. gmc's mary barra tackling tough questions from congress yesterday. she'll be back on the hill today to face the senate. eamon javers joins us now with more. i bet you it's like the same thing. it's going to be -- we're going to hear the same questions and get the same answers, but each one of these politicians, when they get the cameras on them, it looks like it's the first time the question has been ever been asked. they love this, don't they? >> and a lot of times you see the politicians asking the same question that has already been asked half an hour earlier because they get the chance to ask it. >> but they do it like the fedex guy. but i said it like this.

they do a little different hand motion. >> yeah, one of the members of congress yesterday actually asked the head of nitsa what nitsa stands for. if you're going a hearing on traffic safety, you ought to know what they're all about. you get these questions because a lot of the members are new to the issue. we'll see at 10:00 whether gm adjusts its strategy. yesterday she was on able to provide a lot of information about an internal investigation at gm. i have two sound bites that give you a sense of what she was saying, starting with what gm has done and what she's pledging it will do in the future on this whole issue of these ignition switches that potentially shut down the cars while they're driving. take a listen to mary barra yesterday. >> when we have answers, we will be fully transparent with you, with our regulators, and with our customers. while i cannot turn back the clock, as soon as i learned about the problem, we acted

without hesitation. we told the world we had a problem that needed to be fixed. we did so because whatever mistakes were made in the past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now or in the future. >> and then of course so much of this is really about mary barra herself. a new leader at general motors. a female leader at the top of that company. so much focus on how she responded to those questions. she also talked a little bit about what her own role in all of this is going to be. >> more than a decade ago, gm embarked on a small-car program. sitting here today, i cannot tell you why it took so long for a safety defect to be announced for this program. but i can tell you we will find out. this is an extraordinary situation. it involves vehicles we no longer make, but it came to light on my watch, so i'm responsible for resolving it. >> so guys, she's taking responsibility there for solving this problem. we'll see at 10:00 this morning

in front of the senate whether she's able to provide any more of these answers or whether gm is going to stick to its strategy from yesterday of citing that internal investigation and saying, hey, until that's done, we can't provide anymore information to you. >> all right. eamon, stick around. jo czech this out. >> gm is intending to replace all the switches for those cars beginning on april 7. is that right? >> we will begin shipping new parts -- >> are you going to put a completely redesigned switch or put the old switches from 2006 into those cars? >> it's going to be a switch that meets the -- >> is it going to be newly redesigned or the old switch from 2006? >> it's the old design that meets the performance that's required. >> she joins us now to shed more light on the testimony. representative, good morning. >> good morning. >> thanks for joining us.

i'm trying to figure out what the end game really should be here and what we should try to do. do we need to find either the individual or the group of individuals that we know signed off on letting this continue without a recall and bring them to justice, or do we need to change the culture of gm? do we need to change the culture of all of corporate america? what are we trying to accomplish? >> the main thing we're concerned about is how could gm have put switches in over 2.5 million cars that were defective that the engineers knew were defective from the beginning. we know of over 30 accidents. we know of at least 12 deaths. there are probably more than that. what we're really concerned about is this just seemed to go on year after year with all the regular flags going up, but gm

or the regulators didn't capture it. was it willful? were they consciously not reporting this, or was there just some massive lack of communication within the company? >> you figure the first ones they put in, they had to figure out they were defective. then i guess as the cases trickle in, they were in denial probably for a while as to whether it's a pervasive problem. >> well, let me just say, the first ones they put in, their engineer tested them, and they said they did not meet the minimum standards of specification. so they knew when they were putting them in those first cars that were made up until 2006 that they were well below the standards. then they re-engineered the ignition switch in 2006. even under the new re-engineered

switch, all those cars fell short of those standards. it wasn't like one of them came off the line wrong and oops. they knew all along these were substandard. >> congresswoman, were you satisfied with mary's testimony? did you feel that she was forthcoming enough, and how do you consider when during a hearing like that the legal considerations for somebody who's on the other side of the table who has lawyers in their ear saying, don't say too much? >> well, i understand that ms. barra just took over the company in december. and i'm pleased with her response that says she's going to get to the bottom of it, that the buck stops here. i think all of that is good. what i was concerned about yesterday was when i was trying to ask her some basic questions about what happened here, about the chronology of events, she stone walled me with every question. the reason that frustrated me was because i had gotten the

chronology from documents that gm provided to the committee. so it was her own documents that she refused to acknowledge. i just hope that the investigation going forward has a different tone than that stonewalling we got yesterday. >> and i always -- i do come back to, okay, so there's going to be these individuals. they probably exist somewhere. somebody made the decision. somebody was in charge of something that said, okay, let's keep putting them in. we find them, punish them. does it really change the corporate culture of gm? you know, if you think -- if you're a person that thinks corporations are repeatedly going to try to cost cut to maximize profits, then the only thing you can really do is you need to just -- you got to have regulators that have teeth and that are on top of the situation and you're focusing on the wrong entity. you got to go to the regulators and find out why they didn't know it was happening. >> the first thing is that we need to have corporations who

understand that a 57-set part should not be an impediment to making the car safe. >> we're going to be watching today. we have the adp. it's a hard number we have to get. sorry to end it here and cut you off. hopefully we'll talk again. >> thank you. >> coming up, as joe just said, we're just minutes away from the adp private payroll. find out if the winter chill is affecting hiring. we're back in a moment. moment. i just want to say, i combined home and auto with state farm, saved 760 bucks. love this guy. okay, does it bother anybody else that the mime is talking? frrreeeeaky! [ male announcer ] bundle home and auto and you could save 760 bucks. alright, mama, let's get going. [ yawns ] naptime is calling my name. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm.

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breaking news. the adp private payroll's data is seconds away. andrew has the numbers. >> i have the numbers. and the adp coming in a bit below forecast. the u.s. economy added 191,000 new private-sector jobs last month. economists had been looking for 203,000. however, february's jobs gain was revised significantly higher. that's the good news. it's now at 178,000 from the originally reported 139,000. total private -- that's 191,000, revised. going through the whole list there. february revised up 39,000. goods up 28,000. goods and services, that is. nonfarm payroll is 200,000.

>> so dumb the way we did that. where i toss to you to read it. >> yeah -- >> so dumb. it's silly. >> we're going to go to mark, though, who's not dumb. >> makes you wonder, doesn't it? that's how we can mistake wednesday for tuesday. >> where's steve? what happened to steve? >> he's sick. you're stuck with me, my friend. >> we could have tossed to you to give the numbers in london, no less. >> headline from your perspecti perspective? >> a good number. you know, i think all along the slowdown has been related to weather and the weather effects are fading. we're getting the better economic data. we're getting back to trends. as we've been talking for quite some time, job growth is 200,000. i think we're back to trending. i think this spring we'll get better numbers. >> the nonfarm payroll's estimates on friday, 200,000. what's your number going to be? you want to tell us now?

>> yeah, unfortunately, i won't be with you on friday. i'm here touring around europe. i take the 191 at face value, subtract 5k, loss of government jobs. so 185. i think we'll get 185 for the month of march. >> was there any down sector? you said the government was down slightly. anything else, though? i'm looking through the rest of the numbers. there's a plus sign on just about everything. >> no. yeah, no, everything is broad based. it's across every industry. so really, no weakness anywhere. and across company size class. big companies, they've been doing well all along. small companies, it feels good. it's not only the number itself, but it's the fact that it's broad based across lots of different industries and size classes. i think we're in pretty good shape. it just feels really good going into the spring months. >> all right. mark, we're going to bring in your buddy rick santelli on this

for more reaction to the adp data. let's bring in rick santelli. that was pretty good, i guess. 203, 196. that's close enough. this isn't government work, rick, but it's adp work. it's close, right? >> yeah, no. close to expectations. actually, maybe a smidge light. once again, i don't think it's an issue of being able to generate kind of middle of the road job growth. i think it's a question of the sustainability of the numbers and the long-term outlook of what the economy needs to additionally create to really make a difference overall. you can just look at the interest rate spectrum, preopening equities. there aren't any giant surprises here. of course, we'll have to see how friday's number reacts. but it also does underscore the relationship between the jobs market and janet yellen and slack. i know that she has a dual mandate, but it doesn't make

sense to me, the structural issues of unemployment and the fact that ben bernanke and janet yellen still stick to a program of trying to indirectly affect jobs. there doesn't seem to be a good correlation there. >> well, eventually, you know, if wages go up and if we get down in the sixes, what we need to figure out is when she actually gets, you know, not as accommodative, where she actually -- you know, she gave us a head fake that maybe she was getting there already a couple weeks ago. the day will come when she needs to go up on the short term, you know? >> yeah, i don't know. listen, there's a whole army of people that are going to being looking at her head fakes. the reality is, you know, i look at her now getting involved in anecdotal stories. with millions of people out of work, i could probably find somebody that, you know, has three arms, four antennas, one-foot tall, nine-feet tall.

anecdotal stories in the biggest central bank on the planet. i still get kind of, you know, just thinking about it. this is not the type of central bank i want. maybe it's the kind of central bank in a u.n. world, but it's not my cup of tea. >> mark? >> joe, can i make a point? yeah, if we stay at 200k for a month and say we stay there and don't accelerate, i expect that. let's say we stay at 200k for a month. in a stable labor force participation rate -- so labor force participation doesn't continue to climb, stays where it does -- we'll be back to full employment. a point below where we are today in about 2 1/2 to 3 years. so by the end of 2016, maybe early 2017, the economy will be back at full employment, even with the stocks where we are today. >> wow, nine years. only nine years. >> well, i mean, think about all the jobs we lost in one year in

2009 and what happened to unemployment. it went from 5% to 10% in a matter of 18, 24 months. so in that context, and given what happened, you know, certainly we'd love to do better. but we're getting there. >> yeah, unless you put the participation rate where it was in '09 when you lost the jobs. but of course we don't really want to do that. it's all settled, right? it's all settled that it's working and it's settled. no more arguments. >> well, that's because of the stimulus that mark was on. remember the $800 billion? i wish we had that back, mark. >> you were a big push on that, weren't you, mark? >> well, on the labor force participation, i mean, it's come down, yes. and a chunk of that is discouraged workers. i do expect them to come in over the next couple three years. but the preponderance of it is retirement.

the boomers are retiring. we lose 40,000 people from the work force every single week because of the boomers. by the way, rick, this is going to be a phenomena for the next 15 years. here's an intrepid forecast for you. the biggest problem we're going to have five years from now isn't unemployment or underemployment. it's a lack of labor. that's our key problem. in large part because of the retirement. >> i'm not even going to ask you about that huge success story we saw yesterday with the 7 million signups for obamacare. i'm in the even going to ask you about that. >> well, you know what, joe, you really do, thank you, my buttons have been on the reset, waiting to be pushed for weeks. listen, i blame media. whether it's press, tv, whatever it is. i don't care how many people visit any website. i want to know how many people have lost, how many people have gained, the intersection, how many people have paid. you know, an analytical quantitative approach. but that's not what we get.

you know, 7 million, it's settled. climate change, it's settled. it's all settled, right, joe? >> yeah, settled it's not going to be repealed. >> i'll tell you, when anybody tells you -- let's rephrase. when we can't get three intelligent people on the stock exchange to understand how hft really plays out, what chance do we have to tackle things like mother nature? where's the hubris in any of this? holy cow. >> i like that the lead author of the ipcc report said, well, if the government's told us to say something different, we would have, but at this point, this is what -- it was predetermined. this is what they want us to say to get people more active in trying to stop this, so we're willing to say it. but we change it if the government's told us to say something else. the lead author actually said that. >> what do you think people would think about gm? if mary barra took --

>> not for lois lerner. >> right. enough said. >> thanks, rick. >> thanks, joe. love you. coming up, one of the stars is of bravo's hit show "million dollar listing." he'll tell us why living space in manhattan is at the highest prooig price per square foot in the last 20 years. back in a moment. back in a mome.

coming up, andrew is going to tell us about a real estate reality star. >> i am. >> go ahead. i'm tossing to you again so you can do the -- i think this is -- >> that's the way we should do it? we're going to talk about it with fredrik eklund. he's on bravo's "million dollar listing." what do you have, joe? >> they cut it out, but there will be more. that's what happens when you mess with them. mess with them.

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[ female announcer ] watch live tv anywhere. the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. welcome back to "squawk box." take a look at some stocks on the move. monsanto beating estimates by 8 cents. revenue beating consensus as well. they did give a yearly forecast slightly short of forecast. joe, do you want to take the next one? >> drug maker mankind stay r saying its stock got a huge boost after an fda panel recommended approval of its inhaled diabetes drug, andrew. >> we're also watching shares of

myriad genetics. we'll see medicare reimbursement cuts for its treatments. >> however, the final number -- we're going to start going in between stories. we can do it! those cuts are not as large as the company originally anticipated. first we alternated stories. then we were able to go into the details about a specific stock and alternate it. >> how about we alternate michael lewis' new book -- >> "flash boys" -- >> sparking controversy. i think the producers aren't happy with us. the conversation got heated. bob posani joins us now with more of that heated discussion. bob? >> it was quite a food fight. started out quietly. michael lewis reiterating to us he felt the markets were rigged. we tried to get him to define it. but it really got testy.

take a look. >> -- in my exchange as a sign of corruption. his backing is a sign of virtue. >> there's a difference. >> why is there a difference? the backing of me is bad and the backing of you is good. how is it different? >> because there are financial -- they invested -- the investors in our exchange don't trade on our exchange. that's part of the problem, right? >> this builds of owned by people who traded here for 200 years. >> is he always like this on the show? it's insane. >> what you say is insane. >> you think o'brien is a little mad? and it didn't get any more pleasant. look. >> do we have computerized trading on our market? absolutely. i think the term high-frequency trading should be eliminated. >> you use it 20 times in the book. >> it's not his book. >> you're quoted. >> computerized trading and computerized scalping. people can trade with computers. they will until the end of time.

people use computers to scalp. they've always looked to game the markets. you cannot scalp trades. you cannot scalp orders on iex. >> so there's little knocks on all this. a deal that's been in the works for a while, come on over here with me. this is goldman sachs' designated post here. they are reportedly selling this whole unit for roughly $30 million. still don't have an exact buyer yet. when they bought this, it was several billion dollars in 2000. that gives you an idea of the value of market making and how it's come down as we went to computerized trading. it's hurt the profitability of the industry. back to you. >> thank you, bob. appreciate it. >> potty mouth. >> i heard that. used a phrase not allowed in my household. let's continue this debate over

high-frequency trading. here's what mary joe white said about is yesterday. >> are the markets rigged? >> they are not. >> how can you be so confident? >> sorry, we have a hearing. >> former s.e.c. chairman richard breeden joins us now. he's also the former chairman of h&r block. where do you come down on this, sir? >> markets aren't rigged. doesn't mean they're risk free. doesn't mean you can't get hurt. >> high-frequency trading, good or bad? >> i think there's lots of areas in the world. when i was chairman, i issued a lot of the original permits to allow computerized trading. i think speed and technology are good things in the marketplace. >> what about this issue of both skr scalping on one side and front running? >> they're real issues. they're real issues that people need to pay attention to. look, you can go -- you go to disney land, they'll sell you a

pass that for an extra cost puts you at the front of the line. ski resorts will do the same thing. there's nothing inherently wrong where if speed is more important to you, you pay a higher price. but the difference potentially is when you go to disney land or a ski resort that offers you a higher price to get to the front of the line, that's available to everyone. part of the job of the regulatory system it to make sure people have an equal access. >> but there's equal access and there's a sense that the market is fair, that everybody is getting the same information at the same time. that if i trade on e-trade or ameritrade, that my order is going in at the same time as your order and you can't see that i'm about to make my order and basically buy and resell me the stock at a higher price. that undermines the credibility in the marketplace, no? >> absolutely. whether it is happening or people just think it's

happening, that certainly undermines credibility in the market. and it may undermine the ability of confidence of people to trade. >> i've argued there's sort of two versions of high-frequency trading. there might be a good part that helps liquidity and there might be a bad part that could be considered the scalping piece or front running piece. my question is, do you need to have the scalping piece to make the liquidity work? >> no, i don't think you do. and there should always be rules. >> why has the s.e.c. not done anything about this thus far? >> because dodd-frank said you should do nothing but implement 300 or 400 rules that are sp speci speci specified. i think mary joe white and her colleagues at the commission under the importance of this issue. she indicated in confirmation hearings that high-frequency trading was one of the three biggest issues she saw that needed to be addressed. so i think they're the right

people to address some very serious issues. >> you even know. you know. it's just so simple. the front-running aspect of high-frequency trading, we need to make sure that doesn't happen. but this is going to be our malaysian jetliner like to cnn. we can make this, with michael lewis and "60 minutes" and what's his face, this will be our -- we're going to try to make this our missing malaysian jetliner. that's the thing. that's what cable networks do. but the answer is simple, is it not? you should not be able to go in knowing that there's a block of stock that's going to be bought by an institution. you should not be able to see that block, buy it first, and then be able to benefit. >> and front running has always -- >> so get rid of that. is the market rigged? can individuals not make any money? all these conclusions that we draw from that simple thing,

which michael lewis enables, it gives us stuff to talk about. >> when i was chairman, we had all these people doing insider trading. the argument was everybody's doing it. this is the way of business. it was a crime, and we took a lot of those people out of the market. >> the fbi is apparently investigating others. the question becomes then, are we going to see indictments that relate to this? is it the fault -- >> it's not illegal right now. >> but if somebody decides it's illegal, all the sudden it becomes illegal. that's what's going to be interesting to me. is it the fault of the high-frequency trader? is it the fault of the exchanges? >> i like your -- selling the bad actors the ability to do this. you might be on to something there. >> when i was chairman 25 years ago, the new york stock exchange put on a full-court press trying to get us to abandon accounting

and disclosure rules to protect investors in order they could get more listings and the exchange would make more money. would have been the worst thing you could do. so they've had a conflict between their profit interests and the interests of investors for a long time. the s.e.c. is supposed to police that. i think given a chance, they will. one other point i want to make that's really important in all this is that when we talk about the broader market, we can't lose sight of the fact there's trading issues, and there are rules about trading. then there's investment. you know, if i bought tesla three or four years ago or if i bought qualcomm, i'm a happy guy, even if somebody else made a penny more before i bought it. and i'm still happy. we can't lose sight of what's good for real investors, not just what rules ought to apply. >> you should save the word rigged for when -- i hate to keep talking about s.a.c.

capital, but if you have guys out finding out from doctors that a drug trial is not going well and you know before anyone else and you're able to short the stock, that i would use rigged for. this doesn't rise -- >> penny stock manipulations. >> quick to call jordan belfort a wall street player when he was nothing more than a criminal. and we make a movie out of it. i want george clooney to play me in the movie after i rip off old people and get to go to oscar parties and have starlets asking me for an autograph because of you. >> because of me. >> richard, thank you for joining us this morning. coming up, bravo's tv version of real estate. you know this guy? he's amazing. >> fredrik eklund will join us. >> he's one of the stars is of "million dollar listing new york." in one week of the upcoming season, he sold $100 million in luxury real estate.

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we're back. new york city real estate is on fire with new developments jumping 55% year to date. our next guest is one of the big apple's top luxury brokers who's capitalizing on this hot market, having closed $400 million just this quarter. joining us now, fredrik eklund. am i pronouncing it right?

>> that's right. >> star of bravo's hit show "million dollar listing new york." i tried to get him to do the karate kid thing you do. he does this thing on the show. >> remember britt? >> who? >> britt eklund. related? >> i remember her. she's beautiful. >> first time i ever saw nudity. >> really? so what the heck is going on? who is buying these apartments? >> well, i think it's a perfect storm. everyone is buying right now. for a couple years during the crisis, we had -- everyone was waiting on the sidelines. people have been jumping in for a long time now. we have the internationals. we have the locals. money is inexpensive. >> so let's talk about the million-dollar plus apartments. what percent -- and what do we say now, the average apartment in new york city is $1.7 million? >> yeah, it was up 30% from last

year. in one year, 30% jump. that's big, it's major. >> so the percentage of consumers for these apartments are foreigners, locals, where? how do you break it down? >> we used to have wall street, right. all that money. we still have that. bonuses were good this year. i feel i have a lot of tech too. no one really talks about that. we have a lot of west coast -- these newly created millionaires and billionaires buying. >> there's a lot of new inventory on the market because there's stuff that's finally been built. >> i don't think it's enough. we monitor this really well. there was a concern there was too much new development coming. we have such a low inventory. less than 5,000 apartments in manhattan. we have usually up to 12,000. there's really not enough. there's 285 buildings we know of that's going to come into the market the next year. around 8,000 units. it's not enough. that's being rolled out over a year. >> what's the most expensive apartment you've ever sold?

you can say it aloud. it's okay. >> no, i mean, i sell -- >> he's translating from kroener. >> i sell a lot of volume. i did 400 million last quarter. every day i sell maybe three apartments. i do a lot of new development. most expensive, i don't know. is it important? >> i'm just curious. $20 million, $30 million? >> it's more than that. i have a listing now i'm negotiating for $40 million. a penthouse. >> who are the type of buyers? where do you find the buyer for that? >> well, the beautiful thing is -- >> they find you? >> yeah. and i think the show has really helped double my business. it was very risky to sign on to do something like this. the format is the dramatic, to say the least. but, yes. >> you won't cross the rivers. >> what does that mean? >> you won't sell in northern new jersey. will you sell in west chester? >> well, i sell in brooklyn. i have a new building coming there. i don't sell in jersey, no.

>> will you ever sell in queens? people say queens may be the new brooklyn. >> maybe. maybe. >> he's less than enthusiastic about that idea. >> i'm very busy. i'm very committed. >> we're right on a train line. we have a beautiful train station. >> no, it's beautiful. >> you just sold a parking spot for $700,000. is that right? >> that's correct. ten by ten piece of concrete. i think it was a record. >> i hope it was clean at least. there weren't any oil stains on the concrete, right? >> what's the cheapest apartment you take on right now? if somebody's watching and they have a property to sell. >> you guys are all about money. you're making it difficult for me. >> it's always about money. >> i'm curious. this is real estate. it is about money. that's the business. >> he's satisfying a need for people. he's a giver. come on. >> i take on everything. >> take on everything? >> what does that mean? >> no, i mean, it's very difficult to find an apartment in manhattan, especially condominium with amenities below

$1 million. if there was one, yes, i would love to sell it. >> all right. >> it doesn't exist, apparently. >> he owns you. >> what do you mean he owns me? >> it just seems like he's going to answer what he wants and stop when he doesn't want to answer other things. i'm learning from this. i'm going to do this with you once in a while. i like it. fredrik. >> yes? >> you have a lot of self-esteem. my like it. >> thank you. >> no, he's done very well. it's amazing what he's done. are you the number one in the whole country? >> no, because it's very difficult to measure that. >> this is good. >> my team was number one last year. but i don't know in the whole country, no. >> one final question. people always talk about digital technology and how digital technology would somehow kill the real estate agent. do you think that's actually true? >> well, it certainly makes it easier to do a search yourself, but i think that you still have a need for someone to negotiate

for you. i do this for a living, and i negotiate a lot. it's always good to not be emotionally attached to what you're buying. >> okay. last, final, final. what is the fredrik premium? if i hire you over somebody else, how much more are you going to get me than the other guy will? >> i would say 20%. >> that's pretty good. i'll take 20%. >> he's a reality star. they're totally different. it's a totally different zooit geist. you're not here to help us. you're here to be a -- >> he's selling. >> exactly. >> thank you for being here. >> thank you, guys. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> you can have us on your show whenever. >> i would love to have you on. >> you have to sell your place. >> he won't sell it. >> no, i won't get the fredrik premium. anyway, jim cramer with reaction to the adp report. what investors should be watching at the opening bell. aflac.

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let's get down to the new york stock exchange. jim, if you don't count the fed, is the market rigged? i mean, certainly if i count the fed i can say it's rigged, but

otherwise would you say -- otherwise would you say it's rigged? >> i think moment to moment it is. it's very interesting because mr. breeden said it's like the disney line. we'll know. the disney line we kind of know it. this is not something we would necessarily want. i know the exchanges, i was talking to some of the people here, i mean, obviously the exchanges are now run for profit. new york stock exchange wasn't run for profit. it was mutual. they have to make a living. but the idea that we all kind of knew it is absolutely wrong. some of us definitely knew it, just like some of us knew that certain information is given ahead to traders, but the fact that michael lewis' book made a splash it's so obvious no one knew about the disney line, that, therefore, the analogy just doesn't hold up. doesn't hold water. >> jim, if someone watches cnbc and, you know, i don't know how often we're going to have, you know, once in a lifetime financial crises, buffett doesn't thing another one is going to -- let's say it's rare. they watch cnbc, they watch jim

cramer, they watch "mad money," they make some, you know , - --e a half a brain and make investments and hold them for a while, you can do okay in the stock market? >> that's what i've been saying on the show, "mad money." no one wants anyone scalping but we're not trying to make -- we're trying to make big money. we're not trying to make pennies. if you are going to be a trader and trade 50 times a day they will eat into your profits. but, joe, we're trying to find google at 800 and have it go to $1,500. it really doesn't matter if someone takes a mili-cent. we don't want to get lost in the weeds here. our viewers are trying to make long-term, good money. >> right. >> the idea they should be day trading, do you know what, they're not going to win. >> there's no ron barrons or peter lynchs that put all their money in cash or treasury bills and got a multiple of their money back in 15 or 20 years, is there? >> the stock market masters are not trying to win on a

second-to-second basis so i why don't we listen to them and try to glean some of their ideas. >> all right, jim, thank you. we'll see you in a few minutes. later the gm ceo is back on the hill today. it's the senate's turn to question mary barra about gm's recall crisis. that's coming up in the 10:00 hour. "squawk box" is coming back in just a minute. just a minute. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that?

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recently we've been seeing a big rotation out of momentum stocks and into some value names, so this morning in our "what's working" series we'll look at three value stocks, dow instruments and cedar fair, and, michael, now you take over. >> that's unfair. >> it's not that hard. >> vogelsang. >> do it with siyllables. let's go over the three as quickly as we can. >> yeah, sure. well, the big thing here is that these three are all relatively slow-growing kind of companies. they're not tesla or amazon or netflix but they all have one thing in common and that is

management that treats shareholders really, really well. so, you know, cedar fair is an interesting company. they are basically in the amusement park business. they have 12 or 13 different musical parks around the country and in canada. this was a story that got blown up big back in 2009, 2010. they eliminated their dividend. this is an mlp, by the way, so it's a different kind of mlp than your typical energy mlps and they basically said we'll continue to increase our dividend. the business is healing and recovered nicely. and they are basically looking to return both through debt repayment, share repurchases and dividend increases, capital back to shareholders. it's the capital allocation story that's really, really strong here. >> excellent. that was -- was that all three? >> no. that was cedar fair, joe. that was only one. texas instruments we like it a lot, relatively slow growing. they've turned over their business now about two/thirds

analog, chips, base cliff, things that are relatively stable in price, relatively consistent in how they're working. they're returning lots of free cash flow to shareholders. >> all right, great. dow, ti, and cedar fair. we're going to "squawk on the street" now but we appreciate your time today, mike. thank you. >> thanks a lot. make sure you join us tomorrow. "squawk on the street" begins right now. note's ♪ good wednesday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber at the new york stock exchange. looking for some followthrough after a pretty nice start to the month of april yesterday. futures relatively indecisive ahead of tomorrow's ecb meeting. the jobs number here on friday. watch the ten-year adp was roughly in line at 191. mortgage apps down and the europe is led by the dax. the markets still looking to om higher desp