after a tacking attack on the studio that u.s. officials say north korea ordered. wow. thursday, december 18th, 2014, and "squawk box" begins read now. good morning, everyone. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andrew is on vacation this week. u.s. equity futures this morning, check this out. they are on fire after a strong day for the markets yesterday. right now, the dow futures are indicated up by 216 points above fair value. s&p futures are up a whooping almost 29 points. the nasdaq up by 60 points. at the same time, europe is on a steady climb in the early trading there. if you watch what's happening, you're going to see the indexes across the board are looking pretty strong.

the dax in germany, up 2%. the cac up by 2.5%. the ftse up by over 1%. greece is the lone decliner here, but they have their own issues. u.s. equities are coming off their best day of the year yesterday. the vix dropping 18% just on yesterday alone. that so-called fear gauge, it's the biggest drop of 2014 for us. among the catalysts and bulls charged with the fed decision to sound much more dovish than anyone expected. also, falling oil prices. in fact, things stabilized a bit yesterday. oil moved higher yesterday and that did help out some of the energy sector stocks in particular. let's listen in to janet yellen talking about the central bank's pledge to be patient on rates. >> the number of committee participants have indicated that in their view conditions could be appropriate by the middle of next year. but there is no preset time and there are a range of views as to when the appropriate conditions

will likely fall in place. so that is something we will be watching closely as the year unfolds. >> she also argued that the recent decline in oil prices is likely to be a net positive for the economy. we'll have more of the markets on the fed in just a moment. but among the other stories on our radar, u.s. officials say that the north korean government ordered that hacking attack on sony pictures. the latest development, the breach leading to the studio, to cancel next week's fed release of "the interview." that comedy depicts an assassination attempt on kim jong un and paints him in an unflatering light. a number of stars tweeting their displeasure over this decision. ben stiller writes, it's hard to believe this is the response to the freedom of expression here in america. steve carell writes, it's a bad day for expression in america. president putin is giving his annual address, blaming external

factors for problems but it does not seem to be enough for investors. the ruble right now, only 60. that doesn't seem bad after it touched 79 just a few days ago. however, if you look at the last month or so ago, that is putting pressure on russian consumers. a historic issue between the united states and cuba. washington ready to do business with the country for the first time in 50 years, but reaction is mixed across the country and in cuba. >> it's disgraceful for a president who claims to treasure human rights and human freedom. >> most of my colleagues feel that we are long past due. 50 years. 50 years. >> our cuban american people of all places to go to havanna, to go to cuba. >> very, very disappointed. i don't want more communityist system in cuba. >> and nbc's mark potter will

join us from havanna in just about 20 minutes. >> there is santa claus. he's alive and kicking. we'll see. we almost got there, but we didn't get there. we are now only up 200. put us at 17.5. we have a week, right? >> yeah, that's right. >> what else did you just say that i was thinking about? >> sony pictures. >> free speech. so the u.s. government is not telling them. and it's an international story here. it's a japanese company and it's from the threat of, you know, someone shouldn't die from seeing a movie. >> they've polled the response because theaters didn't want to show it. theaters said, forget it, we're not going to show it. >> and i don't know if it's a free speech issue. >> i don't know if you were going to get people who show up for it or -- >> i like the idea that, you know, you can't stifle creativity, but you're talking about kind of a crazy idea.

my life would be okay if i don't see that freedom of expression. >> what's stunning is it's a -- that the rest of the world doesn't -- >> but the actors get very high minded, like they're -- what they're involved in is something that is central for society and the freedom of them being allowed to express it. it's like if i didn't see the third showing of the museum come to life, my life won't be any less rich. >> the internet was supposed to be this thing that freed all people. this is what the uprising was all about. what's now happening is the very same tool is being used against democracy. and it's a total tearan government that wants to shut it

down. >> they don't abide by our constitution over there. i could say right now whatever i want about -- >> it could make you anointed. >> exactly. >> but this is such an amazing wake up call to not ohm people who live here, but the corporations. look, beyond alert. >> what if they get ready mad and take all my money out of jp -- it's actually not at jpmorgan. i put that in. becky mentioned the futures are up big, so the chart is worth another look. here we go. let's take a quick look at 215.28 indicated on the s&p to open. 60 on the nasdaq. oil became less of a source for someone. it seemed almost like a deckal bounce to some extent yesterday. although oil did stabilize at around 56.56 and change. now $58. and we're in that weird world where higher oil prices are good for financial assets.

>> energy stocks were up 4%. they led the way yesterday. >> the ten-year, did the yield go up here, as well? that's another thing i was going to mention about janet yellen. she said we're data dependent. we've known that all along. i think everybody has a considerable amount of time. then when it didn't, it was off the to the races. quick look at the dollar, do we still have the ruble down? i like that. oh, yeah, we do. the pound is back. and we got room for the ruble at 61. i was trying to figure out how to spell ruble. >> isn't there a british spelling, ou? >> yes. >> finally, taking a look at gold, expressed in -- oh, no, it's in dorlts. it's at 1210, up $15 today. so are the markets now primed

for a santa rally? i sort of saw santa on a spread mill and he's fat. >> hairdo to keep up? >> yeah, hard to keep up. joining us now is michael tyler, chief investment officer at eastern bank wealth management. two first names. we've in the past had trouble with things like that. and here on -- he isn't? he's not? oh, he's not here yet. maybe he might have gotten our memo. and here on set, jim o'sullivan, that's a good one, chief u.s. economist at high frequency economics. am i wrong? it's data dependent, right? we're going to do it, if this thing is warrant. we're not going to do it if it doesn't. >> that's not new. they did change their language a little bit yesterday, for sure. considerable time is still in, but it's in the context of comparing it with the new language, which is patient. but it is all mantics.

basically, they have a game plan. they're going to be tightening in 2015 if the economic body proceeds. >> was it changed? a week 23456 ago, there was a telegraph through "the wall street journal" that the fed was going to be moving faster. did they get that wrong or did the fell pull back? >> a temple tantrum. >> no, i don't think "the wall street journal" was suggesting that they were going to move faster. they did have a story that they were going to change from considerable time to patience and they did yesterday. those words are still in there. >> but they didn't change from. did we misread john's story? when we saw john's story, we thought, this is it, they are starting the process towards raising rates. >> and they are. they're getting closer to moving, but there was no suggestion that they were going to move yesterday. or at the next meeting. >> wait, does this mean that they are morals likely to move

by june of next year? >> they're getting closer to moving in june of next year. >> you still think -- >> yes, their game plan right now would appear something like that. they have a projection their funds rate will be over 1% by the end of the year. unless they're going to do it all in q4, they have to gstarte around june or so. >> right now, we're at conditions that warrant. we should be at a half or a percent. inflation is going down. i'm talking about just the state of the economy and historically what kind of interest rates we would have. this kind of jobless rate and this kind of -- you know, it just makes no sense. i don't see why we have to wait to see where economic conditions are six months from now. right now, warrant at least 50 days. >> you can make that argument by most conventional metrics. they should have started tightening, but they're being ultra cautious, for sure. rightly or wrongly, they have a game plan right now which is that they'll probably start tightening around mid year if

their economic projections go along with the plan. >> okay. we're going to let michael and -- michael tyler, what's your middle name, michael? >> aaron. >> michael aaron tyler. so you've got three of them, basically. it could be tyler aaron michael, could be michael tyler aaron, it could be any of those, right? >> well, if you want to be confused, sure. >> i don't want to be. it just happens to be the case. anyway, have you been listening? were you able to hear this discussion? is it good for the markets at this point? >> oh, yeah. >> we don't know whether good news is bad news or bad news is good news. >> no, good news is good news. and what the fed said, they did keep this considerable time language, but one of the subtleties is that they pinned it to the end of the bond buying program, meaning considerable time from two months ago. so we're actually closer than people may have expected to the fed's hike. and i think markets are correct

in reasoning that means the economy is tracking along quite well and is quite strong here. so if you've got a strong dollar and no inflation, there's no reason for the fed to act right now. certainly with the swiss bank cutting rates even further and the ecb pushing rates down, the fed has no investive to move too quickly. but at the same time, i think they're cognizant they have to move sooner or later or the economy can get overheated. that suggests an april to june time frame. >> there are some external things that are different than any time before, like, you know, spanish and italian yields are still below ours. you've got oil which gives them cover. and i guess they figure if low interest rates or zero interest rates do anything at all to help the economy, the economy is not where we want it to be in terms of 4%, 5%. so if there's any hope at all and there's no negative consequences, why not leave it where it is. is that sort of where they are?

>> i think so. they don't want to be accused of causing the next recession. so they're going to be, i think, more reluctant to move and to wait it out. right now that seems to be the right strategy. >> they also seem to feel 700 dow points. i don't know whether they do. maybe it's in my own head. but they actually seem to go, uh-oh, oh, no. it looks like the markets -- we've worked so hard to get it up to 18,000. now it's come down a little pit that's not true, is it? they're not watching -- she was watching -- >> i'm sure they're aware. >> what's that? >> i'm sure they're aware of what markets are doing in response to what they say. but at the same time, when the economy was in the tank, they needed to push stock market and bond market prices higher as a way of stimulating the economy. that's not true any more. so i think they should be less worried about market reaction than they were in the past. and i think the market's reaction yesterday and today is telling them that they have permission to go ahead with the

mid year hike. >> do either one of you gentlemen think the whole oil story is demand, not supply, or is it supply? >> i think it's primarily supply. >> 80%? >> it's hard to put a number on it. i wouldn't argue with that. >> we have michael? >> i agree. i mean, you know, china is slowing, but it's still positive. we're still positive. europe is the oil place that's really weak in terms of oil demand. but our supply is really strong right now. right now, the saudis are simply waiting us out and seeing how low the price can go until market sources intervene and u.s. operators say, you know, prices are too low, i'm going to slow down my construction and my drilling. >> that's what you finally come to, you can use technicals and say, wow, everybody is bullish, nobody is worried. and you've got cash and it's like you're looking around like, i have cash. where -- >> yeah. >> where does it go? >> all of a sudden, everybody else is starting to make money again. but there's nowhere else. and unless the markets go down,

there's no reason to be sitting in cash. that's the only time cash is good. so i don't know, with no alternatives, it can go up, even though everyone is bullish, can't it? >> it's not just -- it's not just that there's no alternative. it's that the market is not expensive. >> you can buy -- well, you can buy some emerging market debt. >> you can buy a lot of things, but look at 1998. a lot of people are comparing the current situation to them because of what happened in russia at the time. the market then was at 27 times. today it's at 16 times. it's a huge difference. >> okay. michael, right? michael and -- you go with michael today? >> yes. >> next time it could be -- we could think it's a totally different person. jim, that you can for being on, as well. >> plus his initials are m.a.t., which is a fourth name. >> yes, that's a fourth name. you can call me ray, you can call me -- oh, i have to read this. coming up, a live report from havanna.

did you see one of the nightly news guys got down there in time for the nightly news. >> yeah. >> because it's so much more important to be there to deliver the news. all right. i wonder if he was picked up at the airport in like a '55 chevy. and then the morning after, a historic change in u.s. cuban relations. how many people ordered the cars immediately? and then at 6:30 eastern, we're going to head to moscow. the latest on vladimir putin's speech. he's been talking for about two hours. he shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. we're going to bring you that entire speech. and later, why private aviation is ready for wheels up. yep, a packed show ahead. you know who is going to be here? >> kenny. >> rickie fowler, here, in studio. we'll be back.

mitt romney says sony pictures release "the interview" free online globally. ask viewers for a $5 contribution to fight ebola. john harwood, this is an amazing story on so many levels. not just for what politicians or what hollywood is saying, but this is really a cyber terrorism

attack on the united states we lost. >> the idea that a movie of that kind could all of a sudden become a significant u.s. foreign policy issue is mind benning, but it has. it is an attack on a major american company that requires a u.s. response of some kind. and we're going to see once the american government officially announces its belief that north korea is behind the attack what that response is going to be. is it going to be some sort of sanction? we have a sanction regime in place against the north koreans. hasn't been very successful in deterring the nuclear program. but there will be a response. we just don't know whether it's something that we're going to be able to see, whether they're going to talk about it or whether it will be something pro-vert, but the it's government has to do something.

>> we know they probably got help from outside places. is someone willing to say where that help came from? >> no. but, you know, there is still speculation that somebody inside the company contributed to the hack and cooperated with the north koreans. so there's a lot to be unraveled about what exactly what's happened and i'm sure the u.s. government knows a lot more than we know at the moment because they've been monitoring this as well as sony has. >> and hollywood finally on board with north korea being part of the evil empire, you think, at this point or the evil -- what did bush -- >> feels pretty evil to sony right now. >> to try to -- >> takes a time for hollywood to -- >> access. >> to push away from communism. >> i think amy pascal is ready to sign on to the axis of evil. >> axis of evil, that was it. >> iran. >> was it iraq back then?

maybe it was syria. you start messing with an actual movie. john, my point is, should we all feel violated that our freedom of speech has been transforme t? should we feel sort of harmed that it affected our ability to consume whatever information we want? >> no. i mean, i'm with you on that. personally, i don't see this exactly as a freedom of speech issue. they made a movie, right? we know what the subject of the movie is. it's a little strange because, honestly, it sounds like a tasteless movie to begin with. and the idea of making a movie about the assassination of a living human being -- and actually, a living human being is kind of an ugly concept, to

be honest. it doesn't sound very funny at all. but because of the fact that it is an attack on an american company, that is what sort of elevates this to however uncomfortable it is to a different kind of a status. a and, you know, you can say anything you want. the question is, what is the commercial decision that sony pictures made that all of those theaters owners made not to release it out of, you know, fear of being attacked or some other commercial concern? that is -- it's not the u.s. government imprisoning somebody or anyone imprisoning anyone because of what they have to say. it's a complicating cross cutting kind of issue. >> and john, we don't have time to talk about tivo with you. i don't know all the different

angles there. i would like your take, but we can't. we have to go to more -- >> you smoke cuban cigars? >> i do not like smoking anything any more. i mean, i can't -- i had trug trouble not inhaling cigars and you don't want to inhale a cigar, do you? and i don't need another problem, you know? not that i have any, but i'm not going to conjure up a bad habit. >> i'll let you go on, joe, but for a lame duck president, this is a guy still making some change happen. >> the post -- that's not a real picture, is it, john? is that photo shopped? look at that. >> i think the post -- >> anyway, now to cuba and yesterday's historic announcement, mark potter joins us from havanna and i'll know more about after we talk to mark how to feel. for $100, you can get one cigar or something you can get a lot of cigars for $100. and, in fact, you could bring a lot of them back, but rules

changes, you couldn't any more. now it seems like things are going the to change again. so your friend, not you, may be in luck. >> is there a palpable feel in the air down there, mark? >> absolutely. the announcements in washington and havanna talking about diplomatic normalization yesterday were greeted here, celebrated here as wonderful news. there's no controversy here on this issue as there is in the united states. the cuban people for a long time, and we have talked to them for years, have wanted better relations to the united states. they think that's the way to end the embargo. they call it the blockade. they think it will help them in their lives economically and perhaps even politically. they've wanted this for a long time and they see this as a big deal. they're celebrating the release of those three cuban prisoners who came here. they're known as the cuban five. they are heros in this country. their faces are on billboards.

last night, the three released were seen on national tv hugging the cuban president. other cubans here are learning about what the u.s. is supposedly -- what the u.s. president is proposing by talking to people who can get on the interpret, seeing things on television, and they are thrilled with the prospect of loosens u.s. travel restrictions, more business to business visits, easier financing. they think that's going to bring more money, more jobs, more opportunities to this island, which is suffering economically. the only problem that many people here have is the fear that this may not happen given the up and down nature of american politics, the up and down nature of u.s. cuban relations. but there are others who are more positive and say this, they believe, is the very best chance they've had in decades to see actual dramatic change here. >> yeah.

i -- the opportunities for the travel and leisure business, i think, boggles the mind. automakers just watching the vo that we were just running, gm and ford have to be licking their chops. >> you have to have the money to be able to buy them. >> you do. can you imagine the development? it's a beautiful -- >> overnight. >> it's like delayed 50 or 60 years, what they wanted to do for cuba. it's even longer, i think. >> there's a month back yesterday on twitter, though. something like hundreds and hundreds of people saying don't let mcdonald's and the rest of the companies come in and ruin it, though. >> yeah, okay. anyway, mark potter, thank you. >> michelle was telling us yesterday that there's no toilet paper there. >> yeah, no toilet paper. yeah, that's a problem. as we mentioned, president obama has laid out a rough plan for renewed diplomacy between the united states and cuba. but will congress step in and fight the white house on certain measures?

listen to what marco rubio said on cnbc. >> the cuban government in exchange for all of these concessions that the white house has now made has said nothing or done nothing to advance democracy, no freedom of the press, no freedom of organization, there will be no election, no democratic opening, nothing. zero. all they've done here today is make it easier for the castro regime and their system of government to now become permanent forever on the island of cuba. this president has to be the worst negotiator we've ever had. joining us now, an expert on trade and sanctions, and someone who knows the cuban story well, jason is partner and attorney at pobleta and margo. thank you for joining us. >> good morning. >> obviously, there are some mixed emotions about this, people on views with both sides. what are your thoughts? >> putting aside the trnz

unfold, cuba has pretty much position dollars itself to receive a bailout from the american taxpayer and the obama administration for some reason that boggles the logic thinks we're in a position to do that. cuba is in no position to absorb reforms of any type. look at what castro said during his three or four-minute speech. we need to kind of refocus this debate. it's cut and dry. i think buyer beware right now with cuba. >> what do you think is potentially unlawful? >> there are certainly financial transactions, like the credit card transactions, the banks, the opening up of certain types of u.s. foreign subsidiaries engaging in certain transactions in cuba.

things that right now congress has a say in and the obama administration can't do what he did to try and ram this through beyond the congress. senator rubio is correct. it's extremely bipartisan. it always has been bipartisan. and what the groups who have been advocating eating sanctions away for decades, as long as i've been following this issue, they've not been able to muster the votes for it. so they follow the opportunity now, you see the russian ruble or the russian economy tanking. they say their economic lifelines falling apart. what do they turn to next? to uncle sam, the american taxpayer. they use allen gross as their negotiating chip and that's unfortunate. the obama administration couldn't see beyond that. >> jason, russia asked cuba for aid given the oil -- probably not. any chance anyone that had private property down there long

ago has any claim on land or anything? would that ever work, jason? >> i'm glad you raised that issue. that is about a $7 billion plus set of u.s. certified claims. that was the original purpose why these sanctions were put in place, by the way. it had nothing to do with regime change. that's one of the talismans that are currently out there. there's $7 billion of certified claims that under current law have to be resolved. we heard nothing about that yesterday. by the way, how is cuba going to pay for any of this? not china. cuba doesn't have a manufacturing base. there is a lot of complex little and political issues that have to be addressed. yesterday, i didn't see the white house come one one inch near any of it. >> you think this is going to play out in congress? you think there will be fights that are potentially successful? >> yeah. i'm already hearing from folks

on both the senate and the house who are -- will be in positions of leadership in the incoming congress. there will be legislation introduced. there will be spending measures addressed and the processes, in fact fact, that they're, going to tk tackle somele of this has yet tw be worked out. but yes, ior do think there wil be a back and forth at the whit' house, it's powerful and let's e hope the power of the purse the try to use.ulti ultimately, there is a bad dealh for the american taxpayer.e the obama administration needs k to take ae closer look at the an trading with the enemyg act, t trade reformtr act, maybe talk t the states thatat live along thf gulf coast that may not want to see this open up so fast.>> do >> do we write it down on the sc scorecard, the capital is zero e between north korea and this adi administration? >> i am very i confused as to wi

though think about cuba. but >> but did the communists win o two fronts? on >> on the north korea front, i'm not sure -- >> they're not changing down there. well, castro is not. >> i wonder how strong that regime is. coming up, we're going to check in on moscow where another -- >> communityism any more? >> vladimir putin is still -- and why investors aren't yursus about hi friends. we'll going to check in with jerry sort one day after his name, the new ceor(0w" hudson banks. there he is. >> congratulations. >> nice walk up there. there you go.

welcome back to "squawk box." futures up almost 300 yesterday indicated up almost 200 today. the dow 25 on the s&p and over 52 on the nasdaq. and we have been monitoring vladimir putin's comments in moscow this morning, which spark more volatility in the currency markets specifically and the relationship between the dollar and the ruble. putin blaming external factors for the country's ongoing problems. he's trying to reassure the markets that russia would overcome its presidential difficulties and return to economic growth by 2017 by the latest. needs more of russia's oil. >> well, even putin is saying it may take until 2017 to return to any economic growth.[lññ >> yes. >> a long lead time.

>> any external factors involved -- other countries stopping him from seize iing independent countries and that is an external problem when someone says you, you know, can't take over another country. it's not hit fault, i don't think. anyway, jerry is here with a new job. >> he does. >> i don't know how many yachts you can water ski behind. you haven't made enough money, gordon? weren't you happy, weren't you relaxed? you came in and you just had -- now you've got problems again. you've got -- you have things to worry about. >> looking at sales reports every morning. i have a passion for what i do. i think we all do. and, you know, if you don't work, what do you do? any dad worked until he was in his 80s. >> anyway -- >> hudson bay, the parent company of sax fifth avenue and lord & taylor.

that'sificive january 6th, 2015. he joins us right now on the set to talk about that, talk about what he's sigh in the holiday season. congratulations, first of all. >> thank you. >> this isáógñ a big job. these are high end retailers. there's been a very good run on some of these things. they've been talking recently about changing their strategy and trying to get motor for the real estate value in the company. what are your thoughts about it? >> i'm very excited, first of all. i believe i'll be working with richard7.v baker. high energy put us together. something good has to happen. when i've come here in the past, i've talked about three dominant things in retailing. first luxury retailing. second, it is important to the internet, omni channel retailing. we're going to keep growing that and growing that and to do that you need brands like sax fifth avenue, like lord & taylor, it's the perfect template to do what

we've talked about. we have like the nordstrom rack, and their digital growth. >> i've been to some of the boxes. you're bringing in a younger clientele with that. it is expanding rapidly. there are some hazards along the way. do you worry about denigrating the saks fifth avenue brand? >> no. along the lines of what you said, as an entry vehicle for consumers into the saks brand. there are very few customers who only shot shop at one store. this gives you a opportunity based on)[m what you're buying. if you're going to a fancy event, go to saks fifth avenue. if you're going out for the weekend with the kids, go to saks off fifth. >> when you start talking about the retail proposition, that makes me think of eddie lambert

and what happened with sears. >> i don't think there's any chance it will be anything like that. i know eddie. i like eddie. i think it's a smart man. but when you look at the retail properties, he started with sears, k-mart. they simply don't have the brand or the developed position. >> i was in that building on monday, the main one. that's the most valuable retail space on the planet. i think it might be -- >> well, it's right across from rockefeller center. so it's worth a lot. >> how much do you think? >> the value is up 3.7 billion. >> that's amazing for retail. macy's is hot on your heels. they're doing some amazing things, too, with their retail. >> it is fifth avenue. and having to operate on fifth avenue, you wouldn't believe what the rents are. it's a lot better to own something there than it is to be renting smp something somewhere else. it's interesting because the way they've done it is through that omni channel paradigm. sales in their stories have been

flattish, even down. the growth has come principally to the growth of the online model where you merge the bricks & mortar in the store. use that phrase omni channel. it's a secret greek society. but, you know, i like just all channel retail because the consumer of any age is using the internet for everything. grandmothers are on the internet constantly now. so people like to choose how they shop, where they're going to view the product, where are they going the buy it. >> part of what terry lundgren has done at macy's that's been so committeesful is change it to just macy anticipates and bloomingdales. when he first started doing that, i thought it was a little bit like look at this, some crazy type of magic game. but it has worked. >> jerry doesn't look like he wants to talk about macy's at all. >> no, but what i wonder is would you stick with the saks name and kooip take that brand and push out some of the other brands along the way? >> i don't think so.

earlier in my career when i was at target, i over-shaw marshall fields. that was a great brand. when they changed that name, i would not have wanted to be in chicago. >> that is truly a crown jewel of that facility. and you walk in there, and it's called saks fifth avenue. that's the fifth avenue store. and you walk in and you know you're in saks. i don't know how you update, but you see the people with the perfume and the entire -- it's almost like a religious experience. >> it's a great store in america. i haven't even started working there yet. >> they've done a fantastic job. and i know that we continue to have you on a lot when you were out of work. and i know that -- i know that you were a member of that. now that you're a big time ceo again and specifically through "squawk box" when you decide to have something to say and you're here right now. and we appreciate that. >> i'm always happy to be here. love you guys.

before we leave, jerry, what do you think about the holiday season this year? >> that was originally why i was scheduled to be on here, to talk about that. we have exactly seven days until christmas. and i think about those days like the world series of retailers. saturday will be the biggest day of the year. and we call it super saturday at retailing. everyone is both excited and nervous about the next seven days. they're going to be used. things are a little better. they're not fantastic isn't it amazing in a business where you don't really know how you're doing and it's just seven days before christmas. >> you were back in the saddle, you can get a car. anyway, coming up -- >> i take the jersey transit. >> coming up on "squawk box," we will take flight for the a snapshot of the private aviation industry that jerry apparently knows nothing about, wink, wink. then in the next hour,

carlos gutierrez on communications. i still can't figure out where he stands on this. >> i'm very interesting to hear it. he hasn't given us his thoughts. but he was 6 when his father was thrown into jail there. and then at 7:30 eastern, special guest larry summers will share his analysis of the global economy. so stay with us. the holiday season is here,

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okay. landing on the squawk set next, tech strong ceo scott earnest and wheels up founder kenny dichter, the state of the private aviation industry when "squawk box" comes right back.

the sta . private aviation is making its foray into ride sharing. it's one way the private jets can go mainstream. slowly but surely happening. teaming up with aviation set to increase its fleet to 40 aircraft by year end. the idea of financing that just scares me, but kenny's got it under control. let's hear more from the

president. and the owner of wheels up. thank you. we're following the saga of wheels up. different in this sense that -- and it makes perfect sense to me. you use the king airs, right? because how much of private aviation is two hours or less? >> well, i've got to say upwards of 80%. >> you don't need a jet. >> no. the king air 350-i has been unbelievable. it's been everything that scott and the team have specked out for us to be. and the thing resonating is $39.50 per hour once you join wheels up. to fly on the king air 350-i. as far as you being nervous, joe, tom brady gave me great business advice. he said stay calm in the pocket. we're approaching a thousand members. we'll be over a thousand by year end. you know, the partnership with

textron aviation, we're in our second inning. >> have you seen the jets quarterback many the pocket? >> no, i've not. >> there are times you need to be nervous. >> he's running and trying to find the pocket. >> yes. it is exciting and that is -- that's probably 50% of what you could do previously. >> it's roughly half of what it cost when i was working with marquee as far as hourly. you know, with textron aviation -- >> that's what i'm going to talk to scott about. it's like you guys had a business plan that seemed to match up. because you have added to textron aviation, you added the king air. and you already have the -- my favorite jet because i don't need anything bigger. but the citation which flies

higher and faster than the global expresses. >> yeah. the new ten-plus is the fastest in existence right now. >> so you can finance some of those to kenny as well. so it's like one stop shopping for wheels up, right? this is a way for you to market is lot of aircraft and have a supplier to democratize the industry. is that how it works? >> yeah. what we're seeing, flight activity has been up month over month. we've seen a complete increase and starting to see a good trend with all the flight activity. >> have you noticed that oil prices have come down? >> i'll tell you, from our standpoint, when you're operating a king air, two-thirds of the cost are in fuel. >> does that mean you can lower prices more and bring more people in or does it mean you can make better margins on what you're selling? >> it's all about operating

cost. they already made the purchase. so they have the opportunity to reduce their operating cost 20% to 30%. >> can you really do uber? >> yes. >> what's it called? >> we have wheels app. we're in beta right now. >> i love that. wheels app. >> we're going live, 30, 60 days from now to our members. it's really member to membebf it allows our members to arrange shared flights. we've been doing it offline 10 or 15 years since i got into this industry. the idea other members can geo-locate each other and the aircraft. and then push a button and there's an itinerary that's shared. that's going to change the industry. >> that's exciting. we're going to have your golf spokesperson, rickie fowler coming on later. scott, thank you. appreciate it and good luck. wheels app. i like that. i think that advertising slogan

is available. wheels app! >> and i'll say we're going to be known as a technology company. when we come back, we have the driving forces behind the global market rally. triple digits, dow up 188 points. s&p futures up 24. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ my baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. ♪ ♪ my baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. ♪ ♪ look here, daddy, i'm never coming back... ♪ discover the new spirit of cadillac and the best offers of the season. lease this 2015 standard collection ats for around $329 a month.

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the fed's signaling patience and the market's response. what the dovish interest rate timeline means for stocks now and when the first rate hike could come. larry summers weighs in. a monumental shift in cuban policy. >> these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked. it's time for a new policy. >> what the thaw will mean for u.s. businesses.

and rickie fowler flying high. he's on set to teach me a bit about putting and to talk about a new partnership in how to make golf more attractive to millennials as the second hour of "squawk box" begins now. ♪ welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. this is cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andr andrew's on vacation this week. u.s. equities are cooking this morning. dow futures up triple digits. the nasdaq up 54 points above fair value. it's all coming after the commitment to lower interest rates. take a look at what's been happening in the energy sector. exxonmobil up 1.6%. chevron up almost 1%.

goes on and on like that. energy stocks led the entire market. they were up by about 4%. and take a look at the price of west texas oil this morning. you'll see it is up again another 2.25%. but after the steady drum beat down over the last several nñ sessions. this has been seen as a real relief at least to some of oil related stocks. among our top stories at this hour and at the 6:00 hour as well, victory for the hackers. sony cancels the christmas release of "the interview" that movie we talked about after a hacking attack on the studio. julia boorstin will join us in a minute with more. this is could still come out, what a bunch of publicity it's gotten. >> at one point they were talking about releasing it on demand and on video.

how do you find a partner who pant wants to work with that? if you're a cable company do you put it on? or does that open you up to be a target too? >> is this is writeoff for sony? do they pay the actors? >> yeah. >> in terms of diplomacy, finance, travel, telecom and export restrictions. reaction, though, as you have seen is mixed among politicians and cuban communities across the country.

about three hours. not even winded. he blames what he calls external factors for his country's economic factors. like other countries not letting him just annex free nations. they're stopping him and these are external problems. he said the russian economy would rebound but offered no solutions for the crisis. meanwhile -- he doesn't watch. he doesn't speak english, right? i don't want to make him mad either. >> well, i'm going to push my

seat a lit tle away from yours. >> i've got leisman. they're buddies. the ruble is at 61. and if you bought the ruble two days ago, you've made like 35% or something. >> it was 79 just two days ago. >> vladimir the lesser. when you think about what is coming away from it. >> anything to say about kim jong-un right now? >> you think about what happened to the former soviet block under putin, he's lost control of more than 80% of the gdp of the former soviet block is now under nato's control. >> we had a guest yesterday that suggested that essentially that was a mistake for the europeans to go ahead and try. >> i've got that. but putin lost ukraine.

this is much more interesting where you're headed. >> what happened yesterday we looked at and thought this was more dovish than we expected. stock markets took off. >> i don't know why it took off, becky, but for all intents and purposes the federal reserve got us out of one box and stepped right into another. let's go back. we waited anxiously for the fed to remove the considerable timeline which gave flexibility to raise interest rates. so they ae placed it with the word patience. and yellen said patience means this. >> the statement that the committee can be patient should be interpreted as meaning that it is unlikely to begin the normalization process. for at least the next couple of meetings. now, that doesn't talk about any predetermined time at which

normalization will begin. >> okay. welcome to the second half of the game where we speculate when the word patience can be removed so the fed can raise rates. they think rates will rise in july. just to cap up other comments. i think the fed upgraded the u.s. labor market. remains confident despite lower oil prices of hitting its inflation target and of course they did what we showed you they would do which is they reduced their outline year rate forecast. but for all the focus, i think the real bottom line is this. few fed forecasters took in all that stuff yesterday and changed their outlook for the first rate hike. most of the commentary i'm reading, my own thinking sees a mid-2015 hike. >> that means june or july. >> yeah.

we'll have all this drama beginning in april. we'll play a part in it. does the word patience come out now? >> why'd they bother doing anything. >> and i really side with him on this in that you just put another calendar sort of thing in there. >> i like what you said. they stepped out of one box and into another. that is the perfect description. steve, thank you. >> thanks. for more on all this and how it could play out in the markets, we're joined by a chief strategist at td ameritrade. we're looking at the markets up substantially. they were up yesterday on this news. why the continuation today? what's the follow through? >> well, i think it's a combination of a few things. you talked about oil. steve just talked about the fed. we did have the cuba news which is positive news. but you were talking before about it's a long-term play. it gay us a bit of a boost. i think one of the factors that's being forgotten is it's a

quadruple witching hour. both have unwinding positions over the past week. to go with what steve was saying about the fed, though, i really think the people who analyze every single word of every single statement are kind of like, oh, this means this, this means that. at the end of the day it means nothing changes. truly nothing does -- >> let's forget about digging through it. let's talk about what we're expecting now between now and the end of the year. is the santa claus rally going to materialize? we thought maybe santa claus came early this year. what do you think? >> i think it definitely can. and the fact we did close over 2,000 yesterday on the s&p 500 cash and we closed under 20 on the vix, we would expect palin has continued overnight to continue higher. we'll see if we can get over this 2050 mark. volatility should come out considerably today in terms of what we see in the vix. the one thing that is kind of holding me back a little bit from saying this is definite is

the fact that the bonds haven't really sold off that much overnight. yeah, they're down a bit, but not nearly as much as you would see in terms of raise rising after the statements yesterday and with what we've seen in the ramally back the last day and a half and the market overall. so i think for today, becky, the sort of intra-day volatility is going to continue. i think we may be a bit all over the place because of the fact we are going to have a lot of unwinding. that also being said, i think there are some funds we're feeling good we sold off because maybe they hadn't caught up to the s&p 500. i think what you saw yesterday afternoon was a bit of a short squeeze as many of these funds were still involved in the market. particularly in the energy sector that have done so well. >> it could be a fun ride for the rest of the day. >> it should be a fun -- yeah. >> thank you. we'll talk to you soon. >> always a pleasure. thanks. hackers as you know by now won their battle with sony. the studio canceled the release

of the controversial film "the interview." julia boorstin joins us with more. good morning, julia. >> good morning to you. not only pulling from theaters, it won't en be releasing it on dvd and hollywood is reeling. judd apatow tweeting, i think it's disgraceful the theaters aren't showing "the interview." jimmy kimmel tweeting in response, i agree wholeheartedly. validates terrorist actions and sets a terrifying precedent. steve carell said sad day for creative expression. this comes as his movie tentatively titled pyongyang about north korea has been canceled by fox and new regency. it will cost sony an estimated $90 million to cancel. with an estimated $45 million in global marketing costs. and even if sony cancels some last-minute ads, likely to see

shifting those over to the other holiday release. now, that cost is on top of all the other costs of the hack including rebuilding the network and two class action lawsuits. those could top $100 million in costs. joe? >> okay. thank you, julia. yeah. i empathize with the actors -- >> but would they put their entire net worth behind the film? we do guarantee the right to freedom of expression. here. >> the thing that's frightening about it is the recognition that we don't see eye to eye with the rest of the world, our values don't come in the same. and now every country, every nation is connect through the internet. and that this tool could be used. >> yeah. but one of the things we always say whenever there's a threat that that allows the threaters to -- >> gives them more power.

>> gives them what they want. >> it's like george bush said after 9/11, go out and shop. get back out there. don't let them -- >> or when biden said, whoa, that guy with the shoe bomb i would never fly ever again and my daughter better not. remember? i love joe. okay, i hear you, dave. take it easy. coming up, the changing relationship with cuba. carlos gutierrez is next on what it will mean for businesses in the u.s. then at 7:30 eastern we'll get larry summers to take on keeping fed rates low. the volkswagen golf was just named

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the u.s. and cuba renewing diplomatic relations opening the door to a new era of trade, travel between the two countries. carlos gutierrez emigrated with his family to the u.s. in 1960 the year after fidel castro came to power. he's currently co-chair at the albright stonebridge group. great to have you on. >> thank you. >> and we've been trying to talk about this all morning. i am not cuban and i don't know how to feel. i've made the point it seems like older generations have vivid memories of what happened.

younger generations just seem more pragmatic and ready to move forward. is there any way to reconcile those two viewpoints and get an idea of what this means to most people? >> well, you know, i would say younger generations have a lot of broad interests. they have one interest to see cuba be free. you know, the thing about the announcement yesterday is you step back, it really is only a prisoner exchange. and this is a huge victory for cuba, because they've started with five spies we had in jail. two were released. and those three spies have been known as the three heroes. they've had a seven-year campaign in cuba bring our heroes back. so yesterday the celebrations in havana were because they got

their heroes back. i'm glad alan gross is back with us, but this is a huge political win for them. alan gross should not have been in jail. the diplomatic relations, we're going to have to see the execution. this is not the first time that we've gotten close to an agreement with cuba and in the end they made it blow up. so we just don't know. >> what was the motivation within the obama administration? do you -- >> well, look. i think president obama wants to make cuba his china. he wants to be the president who opens up cuba. what you have to realize is that the ideology in cuba is anti-americanism. so he is dealing with a regime that exists because they are the anti-americans and they're going to protect cubans from the american empire.

so the idea that they're going to turn over control to u.s. companies and they're going to open things up, i am very skeptical. and i think we have to be very careful. the president should be extremely careful. you know, you should look back at history and see how many u.s. presidents have been burnt by cuba. for the short-term in panama with the summit of the americas, castro is the man of the hour. president obama may have a nice meeting because the latin-americans won't feel all the pressure about cuba. but let's see how this thing is going six months, one year from now. this could backfire in a very big way. and i would not, you know -- i would not urge businesses to go down and start plunking down money or thinking they can plunk down money. >> we had a guest earlier in the show who suggested that some of this may be illegal that congress may actually jump in

and act to change things. do you think that's the case? >> you know, the helms-burton act which is really the embargo is codified into law. so the embargo cannot be lifted without a vote. when you get into whether you can open an embassy, how far you can go on commercial ties, there are going to be things there that may overlap at the embargo. so this is another thing that could derail this. now, the cubans know this.  w, the cubans know this. derailed in a matter of months, a matter of weeks, in a year. but in the meantime, they got what they were looking for. they got their heroes back. they got recognition. they have been accepted into the latin-american hemispheric community. they have been accepted by the u.s. so they're sitting pretty. they've also got some economic

relief since vernz way la is not able to give them all the relief they had before. so for them it's a -- you know, it's a victory. >> when the president -- we had a sound bite where he said, you know, it's been 50 years and it hasn't worked. i kind of thought, you know, where are we getting at this point? it's been the same story for 50 years. >> yeah. >> and it almost made sense to me. but i'm open to hearing from both sides to be able to what have we accomplished in 50 years? >> well, it's a good question, joe. i'll tell you a couple of things. one is we -- you know, we never know what would have happened. nobody gets credit for what doesn't happen. but what the em bar khouw has done, it has denied the castros resources. we have to remember that during the cuban missile crisis, he

sent a telegram to khrushchev saying we shouldbc+z do a preee strike on the u.s. this is someone who when he's had more resources, his military has gottengd bigger, but the cun people have never seen a better life. the reason why we have never been able to do this in the past and i tell you a lot of presidents have tried. president carter, president clinton, president ford, secretary of state kissinger. is that in the end the cubans have blown it up. they are the anti-empire. why would they want to make a deal with the empire unless it's a tactical use for them? so, you know, i've always said the reason the em bar khobargo been lifted is because the castros didn't want it lifted and they made us regret every time we get close to them. the thing is, will they make

president obama regret this? will they make him look bad? will they make him feel burnt the way other presidents have? nobody has the answer to that, but i'll tell you, joe, history would suggest that that's the pattern to look for. >> okay. history will tell us that. we appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you. >> thank you. and we are going to talk to the current secretary about cuba at 8:30 a.m. eastern and probably get a different viewpoint from the current commerce secretary. when we come back this morning, though, astounding retail numbers from the united kingdom. the details behind the biggest move there in a decade. and then larry summers. stick around. "squawk box" will be right back. . and... exhale... aflac!

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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. record black friday sales gave britain its strongest retail boom in ten years. the november retail sales number for the uk released this morning showed an increase of 1.6%. sales were up 6.4% year over year. coming up, former treasury secretary larry summers on the fed's patience on interest rates. the impact of the drop in crude prices. and the change in cuba policy. as we head to break, take a look now at u.s. equity futures continue to be up about 200 on the dow, 26 on the s&p, and over 55 point ossen the nasdaq. you used to sleep like a champ.

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welcome back to "squawk box." we are watching a nice rebound today, an extension of yesterday's big snapbacks from the worst week in three years last week. we're indicated up triple digit.

twice a hundred. 200 points on the dow but it'll get us back to 17,500 and change. we were just under the jeremy siegel number by the end of this year if the santa claus rally continues. has there been any sightings of him from the north pole? >> not from norad yet. >> in the movie where he says are you serious, clark? europe, probably rightly so is still responding to what happened here yesterday. and you can see france leading the way up there almost 300 points. oil rebounded yesterday after getting down below 55 for awhile. it's now all the way back to 58.33 which seems like nosebleed territory now. if it hits 60, i'm going to have to take a stand. that's too darn expensive. >> it's funny. watch stocks go up with oil prices as energy stocks get a

little relief. >> still a price that looks good. 75 for the next two years, would we take that? >> a lot of companies would sign up for that and certainly american consumers. >> i think we should just hope for 60. >> you want 40. >> i do want ten. >> let me tell you about a couple stocks on the move today. rite aid posting better than expecting quarterly results. convenience store operator pantry is being bought by a canadian convenience store operator for about $1.7 billion when you include debt. the deal had been reported but still that stock looks like it's up about 23%. all right. michigan looking for a new football coach. the school has reportedly offered 49ers coach john harbaugh a deal for 8 million -- jim harbaugh? >> yeah. >> just glad i get to read all this %3zstuff. for $6 million a year for six years.

that would top harbaugh's current contract in san francisco. i thought we were going to get him here. >> i know what they were thinking. john harwood. >> i thought he was the ceo at textron. coming up, larry summers will be up next. we're going to talk about cuba, the fed, and the economy. and then later, a live report from havana on the social and economic impact of our changing relationship with cuba.

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welcome back, everybody. joining us right now is larly summers. he is professor at harvard university. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> glad to be with you, becky. >> i have so many things i want to ask you about. why don't we start with the fed. steve leisman said they got themselves out of one box but them themselves in another box with this new language they've added in. what do you think? >> well, look. we'll have to see. i think they're making their judgments as the data comes in.

we've got a situation where we have an economy that appears to be gathering strength. that's happened before, but on the other hand inflation expectations appear to be dissipating. and rather than increasing. so it's a pair dox of the phillips curb. they should watch the data carefully. they should maintain an awareness of the fact of if they were able to make a mistake and allow inflation to set in or the economy were going to weaken again, we don't have room for a traditional monetary ease. and that's a reason for prudence and caution with respect to tightening monetary conditions. but at the same time the fed has

to do its fundamental job of preserving price stability. and so it's a balancing act and it's appropriately a balancing act that they're going to have to watch as they move forward. >> the economic numbers have been incredibly strong recently. especially with the jobs report. when we got the last jobs report was under 300,000 added. i wonder if you still think secular stagnation looks like it could pop back up. >> sure. certainly not -- certainly right now the economy does look strong. but secular stagnation is a broad economic concept with applicability to the global economy. and europe is looking like the new japan. japan is struggling relative to what people expected six or nine months ago. so there's very real risk of weakness in the industrialized world. and with respect to the united

states, yes, it does look like we're pulling out of the liquidity trap. but think about this. on average, every five years the -- more than every five years the fed has had to cut rates by more than 300 basis points to get the eco6og=m back up on its feet. it sure looks like it's going to be quite a while before we have that much room. and we don't know what lies ahead. we don't know what shocks there will be. so if by secular stagnation you mean as i did the risk of a demand problem with constraint coming from the zero interest rate, the liquidity trap, that's not looking like it's the imminent issue at this precise moment. but does that look like something that could continue to be a prospect? i'm afraid that does remain as a concern from that perspective in

the united states and from a much more imminent perspective in japan. >> you sound like you agree with the fed that you think caution is the right policy at this point. the fed took another stance, though, and looked at oil prices and looked through them yesterday. figured this is not a huge concern, that this is largely good for the economy to have these lower oil prices. would you agree with that? >> yes. i think in total when you're a net importer of oil which the united states still is substantially. then when the price of something when you're mostly a buyer, that's good in aggregate. it's not good for everybody, but it's good in aggregate. so i think we are a richer country because of this. the american families will spend some of those, that new purchasing power. that will provide some further boost to the economy.

so i've been a little bit surprised by the pattern in which oil prices have seemed to have been associated with declines in the stock market. even declines in the stock market outside of the energy sector because i think on balance when oil prices decline, that's likely to be beneficial for our economy. >> what do you think happened? do you think this is a supply picture or a demand picture, larry? >> they're probably elements of both, but i think it's got more to do with the supply side and expectations of the supply side. here's why. look at oil and at other commodities. this all has to do with what's happening with global demand. then you expect oil and other commodities to be moving in sync. but here you have a situation where the oil move is

disproportionate to the other moves in commodities. that suggests it's factors that are more local to the oil market. much of that has to do with the prospect of growing u.s. supply andjbéh the sense that there ma some political repair in places where supply has been inhibited. and so you've got growing supply and you certainly -- given the global picture i referred to earlier don't have a global demand situation without stripping what's happening. >> mr. secretary, i'm going to ask you a larry question. so larry, how you doing? thanks for joining us today. >> i'm doing great, joe. >> you saw the cromnibus. you have had experience. i think u yo would have been great if you were put in the

position they prevented you from getting. what do you think about this elizabeth warren wing of the party and where it takes the democratic party at this point? just this complete anti-anyone that had anything ever to do with a finance company or a wall street company? you know, can't serve in any capacity in the administration. you were kind of the -- got the end of some of that as well. where's the democratic party headed? >> well, i'm just going to say this, joe. i do think that omnibus bill is the wrong place for those issues. whatever the merits, i do believe that sticking them in an omnibus to add at the last hour along with increased campaign is not the way to -- and it's not -- you can't say it's some kind of radical idea to be

very -- >> okay. then as a president you could have -- would you have told the president to veto it? >> you know, i -- when i've advised presidents, it's been my view that experts on the politics of the congress tend to not know all that much about economics. and i certainly know that i know that much about the politics of the congress. so i would have told them what i just told you that i thought it was a problematic process. but on the question of whether it should be vetoed, i would have deferred to people who had had a better sense than i of the political dynamics. but, look, i do think that people should be judged on their views rather than on where they worked. i think of a number of people

who've established -- who have when we look back extremely large as regulators. people like arthur levitt who spent his career on wall street. and then was a real crusader. at the s.e.c. it was a very long time ago. but paul volcker was at the chase manhattan bank before he became president of the new york fed on his way to becoming chairman of the fed. so i think if you look back, you'll find that many of the strong supporters of regulation are people who have seen up close what it is that is being regulated. and so i am troubled by this tendency to use litmus tests

based on background for making decisions. >> i don't want to cut you off. a quick answer, i really want your opinion in terms of where the democratic party, what the smartest thing in your view is to do. should the democratic party become more populist than president obama has already taken it? ie, the elizabeth warren path? just hillary clinton move in that direction or does the country given this last election want us to move maybe to be a less populist country? what do you think? >> joe, my last column made the point that democrats are pointing out correctly many areas of market failure that republicans are pointing out with some valid i did some areas of public sector failure. i don't think you can reduce it to one direction. is inequality a concern?

yes. is tearing down one segment of the population for the benefit of the other the right answer? my view, absolutely not. so i think we've got to get beyond the tug of war theory of politics. and try to -- >> you try to be pragmatic and suggest things like you do with infrastructure. it just always gets down and dirty. it just goes to the lowest common denominator. it always does. it's getting worst with twitter. it's getting worse with the instantaneous internet. i don't know how to bring it back and be more high minded, but it's not going to be easy. >> i think that's where we need to go if we want to change what is really a very troubling situation where most parents don't expect their kids to live better lives than they did. we do have to rise above the tug of war. >> and they don't want them going into football or politics.

washington -- >> i can tell you they're both contact sports. >> we'll end it on that. >> with a fair amount of head battery. >> exactly. >> thank you, secretary summers. >> good to be with us. up next, he's one of the best young golfers. i love rickie fowler. he's waiting in the wings. i've had putting issues for years. i at least will be able to pull the club back. . he'll join us after the break. stamps.com is the best. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore.

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private aviation company wheels up is teeing off the new year with a fresh face pro golfer rickie fowler as its newest ambassador. with us on cnbc to talk golf, ride sharing at high altitude, and more is rickie fowler here on set. also founder of wheels up. and rickie, you're expressing yourself basically with your socks today. you do not look like rickie fowler looks like on the golf course. it's all channelled into the socks, is that it? >> i felt like i needed a little bit of color. other than that, i felt like dressing the part today and looking good on the show. >> is this a heavy weight on your shoulders to be the golfing -- he gets a lot of golfers. wheels up, you're the main guy. are you ready for that responsibility? >> i'mbjñu oready. last year was a big step for me

on the golf side of things. and i'm looking forward to working alongside kenny and enjoying some time in the air. obviously spend a lot of time in the air and the quickest we can get to places and get home, the better. >> and get there and not feel like you've just been waiting in a security line and missing connections and all that stuff. and there's some places you're going to where you can't get there from here. and you need private aviation, right? >> exactly. we play a light schedule being 25 tournaments. you talk about traveling, getting to tournaments in between weeks getting home. any time where you can cut that down to where you're not like you said waiting in security lines, you can show up hop on the plane and be at your destination. >> kenny, there's a lot of great charismatic young players. but watching rickie -- >> you know, joe, you've got to buy a stock at the right time and you've got to hold it.

>> he's a proven entity. >> he's a buy and hold. >> and in match play, the way he putts. you're never short, are you? you're ready to come back from five feet to go past the hole. >> i trooi to back it down a little bit. >> but you have no fear when you're pulling the putter back. i don't even want to talk to you about what i think about with putting. i'm not even going to plan any of these -- you know, i can get down to a 5 iron i can yip. started just with the putting. let's not talk about that. so kenny, how does this work in terms of -- you put it on the b bag, wheels up on the bag. >> rickie's on the bag. he's doing advertising with us that we'll feature in publications like "the wall

street journal." when i was pitching him on it, i said you have to try out the king air out. that we're selling it at $39.50 per hour after joining the club, keep your prize money. fly wheels up. and rickie's got a lot of prize money coming so it should stay with him. and the value of the king air 350-i is the driver in this deal. >> i turn this place into the golf channel or espn, i can't help it. we've got a three-hour show. remember there were a lot of guys that ran into tiger during their career and ended up never really winning the majors that they may have won if there was no tiger woods. are you facing the same thing with rory? >> well, he obviously gave me two showings of that this summer. and he's been playing well. he's obviously had a great start to his career. >> you'd have won both of those. >> it would have been close. finished tied for second

overseas at the open championship. and then ended up finishing third behind phil at the pga. so, you know, i felt i had a really good chance at the pga. that was the one that hurt me the most. but it also gave me a little kick in the butt to get ready for the 2015 season. >> can i ask you about oklahoma state? you know boone pickens is a friend of the show. what is your relationship with boone? >> it's been awesome to basically call boone a friend. over the time i spent at school with him being there for the cowboy program and then when i go book and spend time with him at football games. >> you ever talk oil prices with him? >> not much. usually just enjoy the football game. and have a good time. that's, you know, something i may dive into in the next few years and learn a little bit more about what he's done, but he's a very interesting man. you know, like i said, very

happy to call him a friend. >> is there anything wrong with golf right now that you can fix? or is this just the way it's -- it's five hours, people have kids, you know, it is what it is. i don't know whether it can get jump started bay charismatic guy it is what it is. >> yeah, it is what it is. golf is golf. i actually did a initiative this summer with the usga and american express that was a play )upáh#ar as talking to people about going out and playing nine holes and it takes two hours versus going out and a full round of golf, you know, you run into people on the course and it can take north of five hours. getting things down where you can go on your lunch break and stuff like that. squeezing two hours in is easier. >> it's december. what is the first most important tournament coming up next year? you go over there or -- >> my first event of this season, i'm starting overseas in abu dhabi. >> it's cool it's that international now. >> it is.

i'm looking forward to playing there. first time in the middle east. first really big event obviously being the masters. >> goes back to the ride sharing, you know, rickie was one of my big inspirations when we created the wheels app. rickie's been ride sharing for as long as i've known him. he can tell you how that goes. >> we can't. we have a hard break. i want to go over there and show you what we finally settled on. i can at least get it started sort of towards the hole. anyway, rickie fowler, kenny, thank you. we appreciate it. when we come back, we'll talk about the health of the american worker. ♪

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a global market rally. post-fed optimism have bulls hoping maybe there's time for santa to make it to wall street. you serious, clark? >> the head of jpmorgan's bank over a trillion dollars nor high end clients. we'll find out where she's putting money to work right now. and a policy shift they are united states. >> today the united states wants

to be a partner in helping the lives of ordinary cubans. >> but not all in washington are happy. >> this president has to be the worst negotiator we've ever had. >> penny pritzker talks to us. and richard trumka on the devalued american worker as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. this is cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andrew is off this week. it is official. sony scraps "the interview" after the hackers threatened to blow up movie theaters if it was released next week. movie theater chains announcing they would not show the film given the circumstances. ] the north korean government ordered that

hacking on sony pictures. the big story this morning is the global market rally. take a look at what's been happening this morning. we have been up by triple digits all morning long. in fact, you're sitting just below 200 point gain for the dow. s&p futures up by 26. the nasdaq by 55. europe has been following what's been happening here yesterday. dax up 2%. cac in france up by 2.7%. and the ftse up 1.3%. part of this has been the stabilization of oil prices after a huge decline. up about $1.21. that's a 2% increase after yesterday's gains for wti. right now sitting at $57.68 a barrel. the fed saying to be patient when it comes to raising rates. >> a number of committee participants have indicated that in their view conditions could be appropriate by the middle of next year, but there is no

preset time and there are a range of views as to when the appropriate conditions will likely fall in place. so that's something we will be watching closely as the year unfolds. >> all right. you do your hit, steve. but i would say they've been patient. six years at zero or whatever it is. that's pretty patient. that is pretty patient. >> very patient. you know, joe, i want to ask the question here. why is the word patient worth almost 200 points? >> i think the market was ready for anything. >> anything? i made a list of a couple reasons. first thing it does in the first two meetings of next year because of what she said. coming more down towards the market. the market's got to come up to get the fed. she was upbeat on it.

here's what yellen said about the effect of oil prices. >> the decline we've seen in oil prices is likely to be on net a positive. it's something that's certainly good for families, for households. it's putting more money in their pockets having to spend less on gas and energy. so in that sense it's like a tax cut that boosts their spending power. >> now, as i suggested in the last hour, all intents and purposes the fed has gotten out of one box and stepped right into another. removed considerable timeline and inserted the word patience. & for the word patience to be removed. here's the calendar math. in april if you think rates will rise in july. march and june, becky, both have press conferences so they can

remove it and raise rates in june for a press conference. >> to explain what they're doing. >> it doesn't have to be a conference. >> here's my biggest problem with it. it's not that they'll have patience. it's the idea you're going to say it's not going to happen at the next couple of meetings. you are not data dependent then. you are saying we are so far from seeing any data that would sway us that it won't be the next several meetings. >> call charlie foster. he said i don't want to be in the calendar based business. i was surprised that yellen so definitively came out. i thought they were really going to do it yesterday. get rid of considerable time and simply base it on data dependence. i think they're afraid to sort of just completely cut the umbilical cord and let the market go out on its own or say we're going to figure it out based on the data that's out there. so that word comes out. i think you put forward the volatility. >> plenty of market jubilation after the statement in the news

r(t&háhp &hc% the s&p had its best day since october of 2013. could this be the start of the year end rally which some of us or some people felt we had in 7% november. but then we pulled back. let's find out. here with us now, monica vincenzo. she is head of u.s. equity strategy. you look around. all right. we got nowhere else to go. we have no inflation. we have oil prices coming down. valuations aren't out of control. and interest rates are going to stay near zero. why not just be unabashedly bullish? >> we are bullish. i think the message here needs to be we're constructive in u.s. equities but you've got to be more selective. when rates start to rise, you'll see different stocks start to rise. we want to make sure clients are shifting their portfolios to be ready for that. i think it will be a different market the next couple years. >> in the real world, what type

of interest:g< te would become head wind. 1% seems like you're raising rates. but what's the real rate that would cause you to reconsider? >> it's funny. when you look back at historical data and periods of rising rates, you see equities falter. i don't think until you get to a 4% or 5% level do you really start to worry about equities. at this point i think we've got a couple years at least. >> that's what makes me wonder about the fed sometimes. when it does appear that they're responding to a break in the market with the taper tantrum or whenever they do it, they should know they can get up to four or five safely and they may have a little bit of a pullback but they can normalize -- i think they're hesitant in normalizing rates can harm us. >> i think it's despite the fact it's a great rally people don't

feel that great about it. people are very nervous once you do see rates move, you're going to see a spike in volatility. we're still constructive to your point valuation as a stronger consumer. it's all lining up to be a good equity market. although we don't know, you know, whether happens other places whether that finally affects us here. that's the worry, i guess. >> it is a worry. that's probably the reason we talk to clients and people looking at small caps. more u.s. centric stories because there is still concern about what's happening in russia and how europe shakes out over the next year. >> when you talk to -- and i'm not saying you talk to individual clients, but what do you hear when going back to 2009 when there was fear of going into stocks again. slowly the market keeps going up and people are sipping. where are we now? are people embracing stocks or are they still heading for the exits? >> people are just skittish.

they don't really know what to make of it. it is good. the tone varies by geography. in the u.s. people feel the recovery is getting better. in europe and asia, their markets make them more nervous so they view the u.s. as much more of a safe haven. >> would you favor stocks that aren't quite as multinational? would it be more domestic? >> i do think you look at the u.s. sitting at the stronger dollar and obviously with what's going on in europe and the middle east, it makes you more casual on multinationals. i would also say the valuation argument is going to be made. you want look at sectors. we think earnings growth will occur next year. teches, financials, even health care has had a great rally. but if you can pick good stories, there's still something. >> neither one is flashing a caution sign yet? >> not broadly. financials is one example. here's a sector where people are

so negative and again moving into a rate cycle. very good for small banks in the a lot of leverage to rising rates yet people are so skittish. we have great valuation as a relative standpoint. i like that combination. >> buy those in apple and tesla. >> no comment there. >> and alibaba. >> love the consumer story. >> all right. monica, thank you. >> thank you. coming up, the value of the american worker nap is a term that afl president richard trumka uses. we're going to ask him about that, immigration reform, and much more. and then we have breaking news on jobs at the bottom of the hour with the claims number. the first word also from the u.s. commerce secretary on america's historic shift in relations with cuba from penny

pritzker. and former s.e.c. chairman michael powell. we're going to talk havana and hacking and everything else. we'll be right back. and the 45 highway mpg tdi clean diesel. and last but not least, the high performance gti. looks like we're gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend's 2015 "cars" of the year.

welcome back, everybody. janet yellen feeling good about the direction of the job growth in america, but the head of the nation's largest union is m the rebound, wages aren't rising as fast as they should be. joining us right now is richard trumka. he is the president of the afl-cio. and thank you for being here today. >> thanks for having me on. i really appreciate it. >> your concerns about the american worker today? >> yeah. i travel all over this country and i met with workers everywhere. and i saw their desire for strong, bold, comprehensive economic change. an economic fact of the last couple of decades is that productivity's continued to go up, but wages have stayed flat. so we're going to have an economic summit in january to try to get a unified effort to raise wages for workers in the country. >> richard, we've spoken with a

lot of business leaders recently. in fact, we were just in washington talking to the business round table and they have a series of complaints. their complaints are about why they think america is less competitive starts with the tax structure and then education and a strong tech. what do you think the concern is or why do you think there are fewer of these middle jobs that used to exist from the '50s and on? >> first of all, i think too many employers treat workers as costs to be cut rather than assets to be invested in. they talk about education but they don't provide it to workers. they talk about training but they don't keep up with training. we give more adult education and training than anybody else in the country other than the military. while we think we need more education, more training, they need to partner with us so we can target that training to get the skills necessary that they

need. because training people that doesn't result in the job at the end is sort of a futile effort. >> i'm thinking back of exxonmobil's ceo and at&t's ceo. they have gone into education and set up+ universities to try to make sure they are getting specifically trained engineers to fit into jobs that they're having trouble finding workers for. you're saying they should be working with you instead? >> they should be working with us and working with workers. if you try to give a fair wage, you'll get as many engineers as you need. same with skilled workers. a plumber, bricklayer, electrician. you conditionan't find them at minimum wage. but we provide skilled trained workers to them that are the highest quality in the country. >> richard, i think about all

the different reasons and it is a big problem because, you know, we've seen what a strong middle class can do after world war ii and the way it works. it's good for everyone. then i think about some of the stuff you're usually on the administration side. take obama care for example. it seems like temporary workers are favored by that structure to some extent and we missed some full-time jobs. i know the afl-cio has had other problems with obamacare. do you see any of the issues we have are self-inflicted by government that just made some of the wrong moves and had unintended consequences? >> well, i think what you have right now is a congress on the republican side that's obstructionist and they won't let us get things done or solve problems that the country really needs. >> so nothing that -- and the

other thing, our companies now are in a global market place. and what helps companies do better globally seems like it would filter down eventually to have been more jobs and moreq!h workers. so anything that the administration does, if they complain about taxes or complain about regulations that are causing them to be less competitive globally, you know, that's not congress' fault. that's the administration's fault, isn't it? >> i think it's both their fault because they have an obligation to change that. but, look. that's a straw man. you have countries like germany that we compete with. they have strong regulations. but they treat their workers a whole lot different and they compete on the world economy. they give health care to all of their citizens. we tried to figure out the health care problem in this country. we spend too much on health care and get too late in results. other countries are figuring it out. if we could get congress and the

administration together to actually think about the best interest of the country, we could figure out any problem. we could make workers more skilled. we can compete with anybody the the world. so the company has to look at us and workers as a sets to be invested in. >> here's one other thought. that is the president's executive action on immigration. good or bad for the afl-cio? >> it's a good thing. you have an immigration system that's totally broken. employers are using that broken system to drive down wages for everybody out there. because those workers that have no rights and every time they try to stand up to get better health and safety on the job or get a raise, they get deported. they get kicked out of the work place. that's used to drive down wages for everybody. when we fix the immigration system, wages will begin to rise

for everybody. it'll be good for the country. so that's a step in the right direction. >> all right, richard. i want to thank you for joining us today. we appreciate your time and we look forward to seeing how this progresses. >> thanks for having me on and i do too. for the sake of the country i hope that we can fix a bunch of begin to work together to face that global economy that we talked about. >> we do too. when we return this morning, penny pritzker on renewing relations with cuba after 50 years. and internet companies could be the big winners. cuba in the dark ages when it comes to all things digital. michael powell will join us. "squawk box" will be right back. ♪

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maybe not everyone is ready for santa claus to come this year. check out this video of a bear attacking santa claus. yeah, you want to find out who's going to get coal in his stocking this year. a photographer set up the camera in hopes of recording a mountain lion. but a bear took on santa instead. he can expect to get a lump of coal. >> is there food in santa?

>> well, the idea they set it up with the hopes of something attacking it, i'm thinking there's4mnóy something in there. >> they're kind of cute, bears. >> but better he attack santa. >> and it's the season for eggnog. i've never tried it. >> oh, i love it. fruitcake, not so much. >> anyway, students at park christian school in moorhead, maryla minnesota, doing an eggnog chugging contest. the winner did it in 23 seconds. doesn't it have alcohol normally? >> you mix it. not when it comes like that. coming up, claims data. and then u.s. commerce secretary will talk u.s./cuba relations and the state of the economy. as we head to break, let's see where the futures are settling

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moving towards diplomatic relations that were severed 50 years ago. it started with the homecoming of american citizen alan gross who was imprisoned in cuba the last five years nbc's mark potter has reaction to the deal. mark, good to see you again. >> nice to see you. and those agents you are talking about, the three who were released yesterday by the u.s., they were celebrated here last night. they were on cuban television being embraced by the cuban president. and two ere os released earlier are known as the cuban five. they are seen as national heroes. they are reviled in miami by the cuban exile community, but there's an entirely different view of them here. there's also a much different view of what happened yesterday here than in miami.

there's no controversy here. the people that we've talked to say they're ecstatic, they're thrill bid the announcement that came out of washington and havana yesterday talking about diplomatic openings and potentially economic openings. the cuban people have long told us over the years they want better relations with the u.s. they see that as a way to potentially end the embargo here to improve their lives economically and politically. they see the talk of openings for travel -- making it easier to travel, to bring business in here. all that is great for this country which has suffered economically. but there are some people here who are worried about whether this is actually going to happen. they've seen a lot of up and downs in u.s./cuban relations. they're worried if it will hold. and others are positive saying this is the best chance we've had in decades to maybe see some

dramatic change. >> mark, thank you. i was just saying for you your whole life this is a hard time of year to be called mr. potter, isn't it? >> yeah. >> or potter or anything. right? i mean, he was the worst. >> or you think of harry potter instead. mark, thank you. let's get to rick santelli. >> every tsa agent in the world asks me that. >> jobless claims move down from a slightly revisedwo÷ 295,000, subtract six. you arrive at the new number 289,000. of course anything sub-300 just kind of, you know, it isn't going to make a huge difference to the market. if you saw 350, it would make a difference. i guess if you see 225, it may make a difference. but the notion that six years after the fed tightening -- excuse me. fed going to zero, that jobless

claims after all we've been through wouldn't be at this level almost is illogical. it's good news no matter how you slice it. but how it translates into other areas is the issue. interest rates at 2.17. the big settlement of the year that has the most animal spirit associated with it was in october. that's where i think we'll be at the end of the year. we still have the philly fed to come out. when we look at the foreign exchange markets, it seems though the dollar and the equity markets really did hang onto some gains post-statement. we can argue about allgdb the or issue there is, but we want to pay close attention to some of the issues with regard to energy. it certainly looks as though you're looking at a crude oil market that's a bit different. on a closing basis, 55.50 is my

number. >> what's the most important number you watch right now? is it the bond market? oil prices? what's the driving factor over the last several days? >> central banks. i think that's pretty evident based on where we were at 2:00 eastern yesterday and where we were in stocks. there's no fundamental i know that can get that kind of horsepower. >> just so you know, unlike the way the fed has acted for the past five or six years, from here on out they're going to be patient now about raising rates. so they're not going to rush into anything here which was a -- compared to what we've seen recently, that's a shock. one real quick question, rick. and i'm now hearing from people about what the possible consequences could be of this if it's not inflation. you think the emerging markets would be as expanded as they are right now without being pushed

out the risk curve by qe? and i just wonder where else -- if not in oil, where else would there be excess speculation? >> in oil we got lucky if you look at it as a whole pie 80% of the pie is a good thing in my opinion. about 20% is because there was so much liquidity there and maybe extra funds moved into tha energy arena because it was one of the few proper businesses that investors looked at when they were in a hunt for yield. they invested in a lot. they weren't maybe as good. but i do think if you're looking at emerging markets, that's an easy one. imagine, you know, my dad used to make these little boats out of the napkins when we used to go out to eat when the kids were little. imagine those e mermerging mark place them in the pacific ocean on a windy day. i think that's what large central banks do to the emerging markets.

hints that something is going to happen and they have to deal with it. and when you have the misdirected capital, misallocated capital because some capitals relatively cheap even to to many it isn't, these things are going to happen. they become kind of collateral damage and the malinvestment that goes on we'll find out. >> at this point it's manageable. maybe the benefits outweigh -- >> joe, do you like times square? i love times square. when i go to new york, i always try to stay there. i love that new big screen. but i just have such a hard time equating how cool that is, how everybody around the globe wants to see it, but yet when i contemplate what their electric bill is and their outlook on climate and carbon, it's hard to reconcile that. any thoughts there on the final seconds i used up? >> if becky goes to times square, she's in an ebola suit.

a full suit. you're wearing one of those sleeper woody allen suits. >> i'm not afraid of that. but i am afraid of the elmo characters there. thank you, rick. the 50-year cold war with cuba could be coming to an end. the obama administration announcing americans can now travel to the island and use credit cards there. and cuban financial firms can open accounts with u.s. banks. it will also be easier for american companies to export products to cuba. penny pritzker is the united states commerce secretary. she joins us to talk about this shift in policy. thank you very much for being here today. >> thank you for having me. it's an exciting day. >> we hear this has been 18 months in the works. i just wonder why the president chose now, what he thinks the next move is going to be, and what this means for cuba and the united states. >> well, the reason now is because we were able to get the release of alan gross and the

other folks. and that paves the way for it to come to conclusion. without fundamentally dealing with the museumtarian issue, the president was not willing to make a deal. but the reason to be excited today is really what does this mean? this is an opportunity for openness and engagement with the cuban people. what the president has recognized is isolation has not worked. and so, you know, we're going to engage in areas like telecommunications. there's a real opportunity and what's exciting is the cuban government is supportive of this which is greater úñaccess, for example, for the cuban people to the internet. i don't know if you're aware. but only 5% of the cuban population has access to the internet. and only 2 million of the 11.4 million people in cuba have a cell phone. so first of all, there's going to be absolutely greater connectivity. in terms of travel, we've got 12 groups that will be able to have

greater access in terms of travel. obviously families first, but then religious groups, researchers, academics, journalists, government. so there'll be greater travel. and the agricultural sector is another area where there's significant opportunity. so this is very exciting and i'm really looking forward to participating in opening the relations more with cuba. >> secretary pritzker, we have heard from a lot of people this morning including former commerce secretary carlos gutierrez. the former commerce secretary his family was forced to flee when he was 6. obviously this is something that resonates with him. he explained from his perspective that he doesn't think this is a good deal. he says from the beginning this was a setup for a hostage negotiation. he said this was a political

prisoner transfer. he then goes on to say that every other president who has tried to do something along these lines has failed and he doesn't believe the cuban government this time around will be different. what do you say to someone like carlos gutierrez who has a strong history and feeling with it? >> well, i disagree with the secretary. and i think that openness and engagement has shown across the world to create greater opportunity and greater potential for engagement. and so i think -- and i also think we have to recognize the time we're in. there's a real generational change. you've seen the response in cuba. you've been reporting on the response in cuba. it's very positive. people want this engagement. i talked to a number of business leaders yesterday who are very excited. even if their sector is not implicated right now because the

embargo is still in place. we can't forget that. and our government is not letting up in terms of our issues of human rights. but the president is emphasizing the policy hasn't worked, isolation hasn't worked. now we have to engage. and one of the ways i will engage is the president asked me to lead a diplomacy mission in 2015 to cuba. perhaps maybe either you or -- becky, you or joe might join me on that. but it will be an -- >> that would be wonderful. we'd love to do that. >> that would be terrific. >> madam secretary, i don't know whether time heals all wounds, but what would you say? are there people that still have claims to land and that feel, you know, private property is such an important right in a society that works properly, i think, that i know it's been a long time, but at this point do

we hope most of those people are no longer with us or doesn't it seem like the communist mwe're sighing it works there. >> i think we have so much more to learn and so much more to come. i don't think we should prejudge anything at this point. i think what we should be excited about is the more people, the more government to people engagement that we have. i think the more opportunity will arise. the more that these issues will unfold and we'll know how to deal with them. and so this is just the first step. >> secretary pritzker, you're right. what we've been doing for 50 years has not worked. how will we know a year from now that things are working? what will be the signs to show us this is the right move? >> first of all, if we've got greater connectivity. the cuban people are terrific

entrepreneurs. will there be greater entrepreneurship going on? many want to open restaurants but they can't get access to agricultural products. this will -- this executive action by the president will make it easier to purchase agricultural products. i also think our trade with cuba right now i think is in the order of about $350 million. i suspect you'll begin to see trade increase as well. so there'll be many signs and many things that we can track as this unfolds in front of us. >> okay. secretary pritzker, thank you very much for joining us today. and we look forward to seeing you again soon. still to come, former s.e.c. chair michael powell on everything from cyber attacks to telecom companies maybe goingáy into cuba. and of course net neutrality. we'll talk about that. as we head to a break, check this out. drones are not only made for the air. the navy is testing an underwater drone that looks like

a shark. you could wreak havoc with that thing. it's used to collect data on tides and currents. using the principles of biomimicry. >> did they have to make it look like a shark? what about a dolphin? >> with the designing of machines and mimic plants and animals. "squawk box" will be right back. location. location. (shouting) location. here's the location that matters the most. here. or here. or here. it's wherever this is. to get customers to come here and stay here, you're going to need an app that connects to all your systems. so they can bank, shop, do what they need to do, and you gotta do it fast. before the competition does. it's tough out here; you better be on the right cloud. today there's a new way to work. and it's made with ibm.

from telecom giants to the world's biggest media names, every company is now worried about cyber security. the story obviously front and center right now after an attack on sony. the breach leading the studio to cancel next week's planned release of "the interview." joining us now is michael powell, the former chairman of the s.e.c. full disclosure ntc represents the parent companies of nbc. let's start with hacking. what scares me, michael, okay they're mad about this movie. what if they really didn't like us and decided to shut down our power grid? how did they get in that easily? or what if they take all of our money out of jpmorgan? how should we view this? >> i think the society is coming

to the realization that our dependence on the technology has been the underlying achilles heel. this illustrates more than anything that we really have to dramatically accelerate our ability to protect our citizens and our increasing reliance on this infrastructure. >> shifting gears quickly because i don't know -- we cannot get an answer on what to do here in this context. i want to talk to you about net neutrality quickly, because, you know, you are a political animal. president clinton appointed you and then president bush elevated you. i hope i can get a decent answer from you on what's happening here in terms of the current gentleman mr. wheeler who seems to not be that comfortable with the pressure exerted on him by president obama in terms of using these antiquated or

archaic rules for net neutrality. does he have the independence to objectively do what he thinks is right? can the president tell him what decision to make on this? how's it going to play out? >> i think it's a legal technical matter. the s.e.c. is an independent agency. it is not part of the administration. theoretically it's supposed to exercise its own independent judgments in matters like this. i have never in my career seen a president suggest expressly the desired outcome he wants. that puts the leadership of the commission in an untenable position. i think certainly they are free to make a different is choice an the wishes of the president, but that comes with enormous political baggage and difficulty. i think it's quite unfortunate that the process now has been politicized to such a dramatic

degree. >> and, you know, you're with the ncta now so i understand this and we'll take that with a grain of salt. but i'm just trying to understand what it does mean for investment and for jobs and everything else. we've had randall stevenson say we're on pause here. then i just saw all of the equipment makers and suppliers building out -- they're trying to quantify how it would affect, you know, their position in terms of jobs and everything else. i just don't understand how net neutrality if it helps a couple of start-ups, it really seems like it hurts a lot of established companies in a much greater way than it helps the start-up that needs to be able to have ease of entry. >> i think that's right. the best way to evaluate it from my perspective is to look at europe. who decided the internet should be lightly regulated and they decided to produce something that looks like title two which is being proposed today. the today the united states is

well over two times more investment per household than they have in europe. the recent new minister for digital economy expects grave concerns about going too far with net neutrality and its impact on investment and many europe regulators are calling for the liberalization of that market in order to, quote, mimic the american model. yet we're running the risk of slipping back towards the experience they had which resulted in much lower investment, much lower innovation, and much lower growth in the internet. i don't think that's good for the united states at all. >> i just wonder is it really possible that we end up doing everything the president wants and making these utilities, is that an actual possibility? given i think the strength of the companies on the other side of it in terms of political clout and everything else. it almost seemed to me like the president wanted to appease certain parts of his base and never really thought it was going to happen anyway. because it's just -- it's

outlandish almost. to think that you would put in rules that are that antiquated. >> i think it's quite stunning. i mean, seven months ago, no one in this town would have imagined that we would arrive at this point. i definitely think it has political elements associated with it. it's really unfortunate. government should have an obligation to demonstrate with some force a real need for this kind of intervention in the market. there's never been any significant problem with an open internet. companies have continued to provide the internet we are talking about. they have never made any suggestion they want to raise fast lanes. we are regulating against a problem that's hypothetical more than real. we'll do it in the most onerous way possible. that's unfortunate. >> mr. chairman, thank you. appreciate your time. good to see you. up next, markets look to open sharply higher as oil edges

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york stock exchange. jim cramer joins us now. jim, is 20-1 upside volume, how many points is that good for in the next week, do you think? >> i don't like when the market opens up big. they usually give you a chance. yesterday between 2:45 and 3:05 oil futures kept flirting with being negative which would have knocked down whatever yellen was doing. i'm aware at certain points sellers come in whether it be natural sellers, the oils so strapped you need the cash flow or just sellers who say this is enough of a rally oil. i think people have to sit back. if you didn't buy yesterday or the day before, no reason to come in up at these levels. you'll get a better chance. >> if all you knew was there is nowhere else to put your money, the fed is not going to raise

rates, economy is getting better and there is no inflation, what does that mean the dow is worth? is it worth 18,000 or worth 25,000? >> i think when you watch putin this morning, and he's just not backing down at all. you realize there are a lot of people who are not going to relent and think petrobas or russia or just a big country that we are not thinking about could take us down. what happens is, you get euphoric. it makes sense because it's what you describe. the best of all possible worlds. you have hedge funds that say all this stuff is going to blow up and blow out. they will color everybody's thinking. we'll start thinking this is about russia again. which is a real problem. got to solve russia. >> all right. >> got to solve it. it's bad. >> if it seems perfect then that's when you've got to worry, i guess. >> i think up big you're not factors russia. he didn't back down at all in his press conference. it was very disappointing.

>> he can talk for three hours, huh? we could do that, couldn't we, jim? together we could. >> no commercial breaks. it's extraordinary. i guess he killed the commercial breaks. >> al roker went 34 hours. thanks, jim. see you in a couple of minutes. >> buzzer beaters are always exciting. three games, three times in one game? >> a check on where the futures stand with over 30 minutes before opening bell rings. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops,

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when was the last time you saw three buzzer-beaters in one basketball game? check this out. memphis at san antonio. clock winding down in the first half. ginobli. memphis inbounds the ball. gasol fires up the long-distance three to send the game in overtime. grizzlies led 11-109. tim duncan's long jump ser shakes, rattles and rolls down

forcing a third overtime. unbelievable. grizzlies eventually won the marathon 117-116 in triple overtime. >> take a quick look at the futures today. we've got big upside potential here. dow futures up 230 points. watch "squawk on the street." see you back here tomorrow. good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer, david faber at the new york stock exchange. after the best day of the year for stocks. it is day two. stocks looking to open much higher after that dovish fed statement. lowest jobless claims in about six weeks. dow's going to open up more than 200 points. oil's rebound within sight of $58 this morning. the ten-year yield has climbed