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 to just below 22.

we'll get philly fed in about an hour. futures up sharply, a day after stocks post their best day of the year. investors liking what they heard from janet yellen. putin's comments helping the russian stock market today. >> oracle up after reporting earnings that beat wall street estimates. larry ellison promising to be the u.s. number one in cloud. >> u.s. blaming north korea for the sony attacks. >> yesterday the dow and s&p did score their best one-day gains of the year after the fed stated it would be, "patient before hiking interest rates and maintained its pledge to keep them low for a considerable time." energy stocks rising on the premarket a day after that 4% jump in the sector. that was the best day for energy in three years. then there's chatter about the seasonals. those who track the so-called santa claus rally say it tends to begin about today. >> i've got to tell you.

you have a confluence of terrific earnings news last night and this morning. oracle, jabil, rite aid good. you got a small deal pantry. i have a theme for convenience stores. did you have yellen saying the right thing. more important, there is a reporter from the "journal" who people felt has been the go-to guy. i felt he had written a piece which said they were going to be very hawkish and they were the opposite. it was a classic misdirection play by yellen. almost like she was russell wilson the way she just played the defense. finally, giving us a breather in oil. not having it go down a lot is allowing us to say maybe the ruble is not going to fall apart. maybe we are not going to have a series of bankruptcies. these are all positive. i think that's a sucker's play. let it come in. i'm a seller rather than a buy.

>> over these last few weeks we've been doing the, my sister, my daughter thing when it comes to the good and the bad of oil. >> that is a chinatown reference, not actually your sister/daughter. >> yes. thank you. today we are back to now. i don't know which it would be. we are back to oil good for the u.s. economy. we are all in the clear and don't worry about russia and don't worry about transition from the high-yield market or people can't get bond yields done. but we are going to have a huge tax cut every day and the party's on. >> summers on squawk saying his surprise was dynamic meant broader stock declines. that did not make sense to him. >> and to many for good reason. >> we are all used to the hedge fund think which is petrobras

goes under. i think if you can avert that catastrophe you start thinking about how great it was for darden and how good it will be for fedex. you'll start thinking, this is money in the pocket which is how rite aid made the numbers. they were spectacular numbers. you need a breather. if oil stays here, maybe catastrophe averted and we start to think about earnings, which are good. >> what do you make of people who say i'm tired of central banks? you're telling me the best day of the year comes on a day when it's a central bank? ecb about to broaden its purchases? japan literally doubling down. yellen staying dovish. that drives stocks right now? >> those people should sell everything. they should go maybe join, become theologians or become

professors. we are in the business of making money. a lot of people moralize. they've been moralizing now for a considerable time. had they stopped moralizing, they could have been so rich they could have run for president against the fed. no, they moralized while people prophetized. we have a show called "the prophet." the moralizer, i totally agree with them. it's really bad, but i'm not running for president. while they are moralizing, you could have made a lot of money. >> to their point, you sent asset prices up around the world as a result of easy money. you created over $4 trillion balance sheet at the fed. >> they could sell all the bonds they wanted. i've been calling for that on "mad money." i thought she would say that. ring the register. the federal reserve, get ready for more fire power. >> coernversely, when we do sta

raising rates, maybe not till the summer, do you sell everything? >> david, here it's concept. >> or buy, buy, buy? >> do you understand the concept of boat drinks? >> no. >> we can all have boat drinks before that happens. >> like the jimmy buffet song. >> yes. you can sell. you have every right to sell. it is going to be, unless they got rid of their bonds which i wish they had done which would have been great and moral. you're stuck with the prospect, as horrible as that is if you are a hedge fund manager of higher prices. if you're in the s&p 500, it's a shame. you're making so much money. next year this is being facetious, when you go to the bank, they are not going to say -- that central bank. okay, let's go have boat drinks. >> got it. >> you've got to balance all that with vladimir putin.

the russian president defiant today at his year-end news conference. major challenges facing his country, the economy and currency. jeff is in moscow with details. >> reporter: hi, carl. the best thing you can say about this is vladimir putin didn't come out to do anything that would destabilize this rebound rally. what he actually said was he pretty much signs off on what the central bank here has done. that's this big hike in interest rates up to 17%. a more aggressive posture taking on the speculators in the market on the ruble. if there was any disappointment p, i guess in the fx market, it was he said there was no rush to spend their $400 billion worth of government reserves fighting the speculators. that pushed the ruble down a little bit in the middle of the day. i think we traded to a dead halt right now. the speech was regarded as

broadly positive for russian assets. we saw the russian stock market bounce. it wasn't just what he said on the economy, which he thinks will grow in 27. he talked about ukraine. while it was the same old putin in terms of who he thinks is to blame for the threat to russia's sovereignty, he did throw out the odd olive branch and talked about how russia wanted to be part of the negotiations for a settlement over ukraine. he also said he was going to have a conversation with the ukrainian president within the next two days. that was taken as a more conciliatory tone. it does feel as though mr. putin came out fighting, but actually pulled some of the punches during this three-hour press conference. let me send it back to you. >> geoff, thank you for that. geoff cutmore in moscow.

he did say he would take into consideration the idea being more accurate with the opposition. hard to tell what that means. >> look, i think this guy teased us. i know there is a propensity to talk about what the central banks do. this guy worries me. he looks like a regular guy. he talks like a regular politician. the guy is just a terrible dictator who is capable of doing anything. even though he looks good and they had a terrific commercial before it began telling you to watch him as kind of a hollywood thing. this guy is one of the reasons why you can't get too bullish. until he actually does something concrete, and i'm not just saying resign, but this guy is a menace. i think if he did blink we would get 10% rally. he didn't blink. >> what's blinking? >> blinking is saying, listen, i'm satisfied that if nato doesn't move on my borders and we get a defined zone, not a

corridor to crimea, being a reference to what hitler wanted from the brits and what he wanted from his enemy, so to speak. if you got an actual conciliatory deal, i think we could say good. we take that off the table and have to deal with petrobas. >> didn't happen. he said the west is the aggressor. he feels the support of his own people. sanctions are 1/3 of the problem. the economy would recover. maybe in two years and he said q-1 perhaps. >> go back to 120 in a week. it's absurd. he has plenty of problems to deal with. >> i don't want his problems to be our problems. a lot of ceos come on and say it's not a problem, it's not an issue. i'm saying he is slowing down world growth. you need europe to come back on and he is not doing anything i regard as being civilized or

than saying he would make a few phone calls. he's important. as important as the central bank to the upside? no europe is a problem. europe is the worst part of the world's economy. it's 770 million. we've got to get them moving. germany doesn't want to move. there's talk. big hat no cattle from everybody over there. we are trying to pressure europe to be even tougher against russia. i care about gdp. that's not just goodrich petroleum. that's so small i don't have to care about it. >> that's down to about the level of our gdp expected next year. >> isn't that true. i'm taking down gdp. >> let me get the quote on that. >> 4.75. >> volume the past six years. >> 13 million people in cuba. 770 million people in europe. europe is a real issue. days like today we forget it. i watched putin with the translation.

he is talking about the siberian tiger and making a lot of noises that sounded very much like our old buddy friend brezhnev. they are smaller, they have a population problem because their population is back to where it was in 1934. >> life expectancy is not strong. they have $400 billion in reserves. that's about the only positive on the positive side. 60% of their economy is oil and natural gas. >> need oil higher. >> very true. when we come back, hackers cause sony to pull its christmas release of the controversial comedy "the interview." harsh reaction in hollywood and beyond. cuba in the spotlight. stick around to hear what of all people cigar aficionado magazine thinks of that. >> they'll unveil the cigar of the year. futures look to be dramatically higher at the opening a day after that fed statement and the

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futures strong. not only was yesterday the best day of the year for the dow and s&p but third biggest volume day of 2014. shares of oracle rising premarket. quarterly revenue beating

forecasts. cloud-related sales jumped 45%. chairman larry ellison was upbeat about the company's cloud prospects. >> we think we can become number one in the cloud. we think we will be number one in the cloud and will be number one in the cloud very quickly. >> cloud revenue still 5.5% of the total. he says we are watching up with crm and catching up quickly. >> i never heard allison this combative. there were eight mentions of sales force.com and how sales force.com has been slowing and they are accelerating. it was a good quarter. i almost feel like they are going back to the told strategy of toto. they are turning off the oxygen to the other players in the cloud. ellison and mark benioff were old friends. this was not a friendship conference call. this was a declaration of war. yesterday could be a day that could live in infamy for mark

benioff. >> really? >> i couldn't believe how -- this was an out and out attack on sales force. >> do you think he was paying attention? he was listening? do you think he cares? >> no. i don't know. i know he didn't listen. >> first full quarter for katz and heard. >> this was a very important quarter. i totally understand why the stock is up. analysts are very neutral. this was an oracle that made me feel finally, my charitible trust missed this. this is the adobe quarter. you had to jump ahead when it became all cloud. there are a lot of things built on oracle's conference call. my hats off to all the team there. i've been critical of them. they put up. they didn't shut up, they put up. ellison was hilarious on the

call. he's a competitor in every aspect of his life. i like this ellison. >> yes. meanwhile sony pictures canceling the christmas day release of "the interview" and says it has no further release plans for the film. comedy involves a plot to assassinate north korea's leader. top theater chains announced they wouldn't play the comedy after the violence threats against them. we expect the government to say they are 99% sure it was the north koreans. a lot of chatter in hollywood about a dangerous precedent here. >> i come back to the breadth and scope of the intrusion itself being a wake-up call for so many corporations. we've been sitting here longer than most talking about cyber espionage the last 2 1/2 years. this is incredible really. when you think about what happened. elevating to these physical threats, which is also scary. i'm not sure how you take those.

what sony has gone through in terms of what was stolen from that company is truly extraordinary. how long they were in the network. whether it happened quickly or they were sitting there waiting for some time is not clear. if this is not the wake-up call to every corporation out there you've got to figure this stuff out. >> what more can we do? sanctions from top to bottom against that country. they have no assets any of us would ever target. >> at what point does japan say to the united states, let's go in there. i know they have nukes. let's choke them. this was extraordinary. we opened doors to cuba. i think the president has to be thinking this is it. this was the line in the sand. we can't have this any more. >> they did snatch japanese people off the beaches of japan.

they come and walk on and take them away. they are still trying to get them back. >> this is a rogue nation. i say no more because i think this is a nation that our country has been subject to tremendous extortion. we always give them the food they want in the end because they threaten us. no president's been willing to take them on. >> the fact they are sophisticated enough to penetrate these corporation, this corporation in this way, i think, is also -- north korea, they can't feed their people but clearly they have some agility when it comes to cyber crime. >> are they really just going to blow up? look every one of us took the threat seriously. >> here is what michael moore said, dear sony hackers, now that you run hollywood, i'd like less romantic comedies, fewer michael bay movies and no more transformers." that's the mindset that the creative decisions are in the hands of a country around the world. >> we could have the lives of others. make that into a comedy.

>> great movie. you've got to defend seth rogen's first amendment. >> i want more e-mails. >> you'll get more. >> all this stuff was cached. they've got it. they've been there for a while. >> what do you think the ceo is having a good day? >> cramer's mad dash and count down to the opening bell. look at the premarket. the last time the dow has two consecutive days of 200 point gains, six years ago.

we've got about six minutes to the opening trade. looks like we'll have a strong open if you're positive in your sentiment and investing on the stock market. let's move from looking at that open to what we are going to get in the mad dash here. >> the most positive story you will see today is rite aid. rite aid had a couple of miscues where they said it was a timing issue in a generic drug reimbursement. they've been telling you over and over again have patience with us. it was just quarter to quarter. sure enough, they reported 10 cents. i was looking for 5 cents. 5.4% same store sales fantastic. is this cvs? no. is it the turnaround? over and over again you've got to be in it. i took heat here. the management stands up and this goes back to its high. >> what were the highs? >> 8.0, 9.0.

hideous is dunkin' donuts. the company runs on starbucks. i was looking for $2.15. they are saying $1.88 to $1.91. comps, 1-3 instead of 2-4. this is a major reset. this stock bounced back and bounced back. i'm calling that into question. i know they have a big expansion toward the west. that's always drawn people. >> the lack of outlets. >> something's happened here. >> what is it? what is it? take a guess for me. >> well, something's happening here. what it is ain't exactly clear. there is a guy buying coffee over there, but not here. >> you are not going to answer the question. is it starbucks? >> no. it's not starbucks. >> i still go to the guy with the cart outside. >> it's not the cart.

that's the problem. they are not giving us to know what's wrong. unlike darden which gave us a lot to know what's right. takeout. takeout. we are going takeout olive garden this weekend. we don't have to wait in line. you don't have to play the faber card when you get to that host. >> here is a table in the back by the bathroom. opening bell about four minutes away. ♪ the mercedes-benz winter event is back, with the perfect vehicle that's just right for you, no matter which list you're on.

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you're watching cnbc "squawk on the street" live from the financial capital of the world. opening bell set to ring in about 45 seconds. what an amazing cross current of events investors have to work with today. the fed, ruble, putin, cuba, oracle. there's something for everyone today. >> let's go back to the cuba thing. cuba was one of these wrinkles where people have been saying latin america, a lot of countries are going communist or socialist. suddenly you take the country

that had been really the keystone of communism. you take it away. remember where chavez went to when he got sick. it's a bit of a game changer. i know it's symbolic. >> it's still very early in the process. >> yes, it is. i think it's a great story. a feel-good story. united states will come to terms with you even if you're political politically through. >> there is best friends animal society with a lot of rescued pets. a group that focuses on ending the killing of dogs and cats at america's shelters. private bancorp. >> we have a rescue dog. dumb as a post. nice. really. >> all that matters is he loves you she loves you. >> he is an idiot. >> we've got a nice yield curve

on a much different note. >> i think the banks, they are really the back bone of any rally. oil you can get this bounce. you need to see the banks come back into action. wells fargo, jpmorgan go back up above $60. mastercard and visa. they've got russian exposure. if they can lead us, it's a real rally. >> earlier this week we had numbers from jeffries. there were numbers that were not good. a lot of markdowns. that seemed to concern some people. there you're thinking morgan stanley, maybe goldman, jpmorgan. the net interest margin rules the day.

>> every time you get excited about this group, someone says what about the numbers? the numbers aren't so hard. they need the u.s. to catch fire. they need a residential construction. nonresidential construction. they don't have it. the group is well behind the market. when people see it, they are thinking maybe 2015 with better numbers. i do not want this market led by chevron. >> funny you say that. chevron is the best performing component along with ge, which had a 2% gain. nice little move. >> that is. it was down yesterday. was down 12%. >> was up, we had him on, jeffrey immelt the ceo. then it moved up. >> this is an s&p rally, not a particular rally about individual stocks other than oracle, accenture and rite aid and kraft. i'm not sure what is going on

there. >> the current ceo told the board he would retire december 27th. the last day of the company's fiscal year. their chairman john cahill will take over as ceo. kraft separated. it's been a while now. >> i find that shocking. >> he's been ceo since the company spun off. >> is 59 old? >> no young. exceedingly young. >> i'm hoping people recognize that's maybe too early for him to retire. maybe there is something else other than maybe he is tired and old like saul? remember saul is tired and old in "homeland?" >> united technologies' press release which included no quotes and nothing. this has all the usual quotes

from mr. vernon and everybody saying did he a good job. from cahill. he's 57. >> kraft has to buy hain or white way. if you go to general mills quarter which they reset down. >> how about conagra today? tough to be down on a tape like this. >> i regard velveeta, easter island they did tests there was cockroaches and those cheeses you can still eat. they are the least natural organic. the only place it works is at gino's with the cheese wiz. those who go to pats, you are not my friend. you go to gino's. tell jeff i sent you. >> not too many -- even some of the airlines have crossed into the green.

>> this is too aggressive a rally. it's just a big s&p rally. i would caution people you don't buy an up move like this. you buy a big down move like tuesday. don't chase. >> there is a name you followed often on "mad money," lng. i don't think it's open yet. it's going to be up sharply. they signed a new 20-year contract for corpus christi train number three. >> he came on "mad money" and said oil is going to $60. same day harold hamm took his hedges off in the $80s. he said this is about countries and utilities needing a long-term supply of natural gas. the only other guy who can do

this is dominion. i believe in suki. i believe in what he is doing. nobody else other than dominion will get the financing. these customers, by the way, are ironclad customers. if you look at them. these are whole countries that have to have a long term natural gas. these are stable countries. >> these transmission vehicles are called trains. we should explain to people we are not talking about locomotives. >> they are just giant facilities. >> that thing is incredible to look at. >> the largest construction site in america. suki is very much of a visionary. he's also hilarious. he pays himself well. everyone gets him on that. did he come on "mad money" at $8 and said i'm taking everything in stock. everything. then of course stock goes to $70 and people are saying he took so much stock. no. >> what was your take on new york state after six years of

study? >> fine. there are so many jobs in the southern tier. we've seen the high water mark of fracking. if you go to high unemployment in the southern tier of new york, you would say they wanted to frack. this is environmental issues. i don't want to be on the other side of my kids who think everything fossil fuel is criminal. i thought this was a bad move for the state of new york and jobs. they accumulated a lot of land when running chesapeake. >> this is the marcellus which runs under new york and ohio. >> the lawsuits are just beginning. >> if you go to the southern tier, it feels like you are in colorado, not texas because there are donkeys everywhere. that's the up and down. they needed the jobs. they are just not going to get it. >> i wanted to mention shares of

sprint are up this morning. >> really? >> they revised our price target from $4 which it did hit to $2. the company still has the highest multiple in the group to ebitda. may be very successful on its price cutting promotions, but will still be needing to have significant capex. won't necessarily be making any more money. >> what was the price target? >> $2. >> is that worse than the cliffs? >> the worst activist success story ever? >> nice people. >> that's not the worst. jc penney was the worst. this is close. >> rite aid was a $1 stock last year, it's almost $7. >> the redesign is fantastic. i love my pharmacy there. that place is fabulous.

there is a piece out today. wells fargo comes out. it has a series of -- everyone involved in smaller oils, you must read this. it is saying this is your last chance to get out. i'm sorry. it's these really small ones. they are talking about oasis, pen virginia. this is a devastating piece about how these companies spent way too much money. the reason i say devastating, 2015 earnings per share down 17%. they are looking for some of these companies. i apologize to coriso, one of my faves. >> procter and gamble crossing into the green now. we are up 208 points. >> i like proctor.

>> with all of this, with today's gains and yesterday's gains, all three averages have now cut their losses for december pretty much in half. >> this is on the backs of the hedge funds that tried to break oil feeling the companies were selling in the futures. you knock oil down. oil can go lower. hedge funds were so poorly positioned. obviously expecting from hills and rath saying they would take considerable language out. they put the word "patience" in. yellen looked around the world. she didn't say -- the statement didn't say we are afraid of putin or petrobas. they cited uncertainty. it was a misdirection play by yellen that was brilliant. >> will be interesting to see hedge fund performance for the year, certainly fourth quarter. it's not just the equity markets. there are many, many fixed income focused hedge funds that

suffered, as well. >> hyg which you have to watch. >> all sorts of things. forest oil was getting bought. they had to refinance $850 million worth of bonds. guys were owning the bonds. they changed the provisions of the convertibles. voting stock only 49.9. they get crushed. hedge funds have been taking it in all sorts of ways. not that i'm going to cry. >> s&p funds doing quite well. they don't have to make a lot of decisions. >> no, they don't. >> there are individual stocks i like. hedge funds have uniquely played, to me, every one of these big moves wrong. they thought rates would go higher. that was the consensus. they were pro oil thinking oil would go up. they were on the wrong side. there were new ideas. >> next year we go the opposite

way of what everybody tells us. >> delivering down performance. dvd. . bob is on the floor. >> you should see what's going on in the oil names as oil found stability in the high $50s. right across the board, there is your broadest one, xle is the broad ownership. s&p energy sector. below that xop is the exploration and production part of the business. you can own splices of the energy industry through etfs. oih is oil services. you see these moves up today. xop was up 7% or 8% yesterday. we had 10%, 11% moves in just nine, ten trading hours over a two-day period. material, techs, financials and industrials leading the market. futures shot through the roof around 3:00 a.m. what happened then?

germany opened. take a look at the dax. moved up amazingly in the morning here. it's 2.5%. europe started pouring money into the u.s. at the open. that's why the s&p futures moved up dramatically around 3:00 in the morning. allocation trade going on here. this morning as i was coming in guys were messaging me saying look at these bond yields moving up. happened after 8:30 in the morning. we got weekly claims numbers. allocation trade going on out of bonds into stocks. worldwide rally. look what is going on in the middle east. dubai up 13%. it was up overnight. dropped 30% in the last month. techs stronger. we are led up by nasdaq today.

we've got great numbers from oracle as well as from jabil circuits. jabil, great global electronics company. their numbers were good. '15 guidance was good. they make the greenpoint for the less expensive i phones. they are about 25% of their revenues come from china. that business doing very well for them. that stock up about 4%. diversified global company in electronics to keep an eye on. >> finally, new york stock exchange, we noted in the "wall street journal" today been around a while. they are proposing to cut trading fees in an attempt to bring more business down here. they want to reduce trading in dark pools, their biggest competitors. in exchange they want these dark pools to provide price improvement. not match the best bid and offering. there have been a lot of attempts to improve bids on exchanges. we only have about 20% of the volume for the entire new york stock exchange universe in an

attempt to bring more business back to the exchanges, including the nasdaq. we'll see if that happens. a lot of people were opposed to this idea. it's worth considering. back to you. >> thank you very much. ten-year back to 2.2. back to rick santelli. >> a lot of volatility yesterday. we could talk about what numbers move markets. if we are talk what fundamental gets a lot of volatility in a short period of time? it's central banks. yesterday the fed. look at a chart starting on december 1st for two years. we'll start at the low end of the curve. yes, we had a lot of volatility in 2s, we had a higher yield close on december 5th. if you take out that 65 variant you would be looking at april 2011. look at 5s december chart. higher at 1.68 on the 5th considering the yield curve implications, open it up to september this year. you can see there is a lot more

action there. the comps, if you're looking at the long end, you can start comping way back. not so much with respect to bouncing or higher yields. ten-year, let's go short term first. look at the two-day. the two day cover from yesterday's low yield to today from 2.04% to 2.21%. not many numbers do that in a short period of time. same for boons. they move from around 66 basis points to 63. one of their bigger moves. jgbs, two day. shows japan is definitely something to put off to the side. it's unique in so many ways. many of the ways are not optimistic for what may lie down the road. foreign exchange, same thing. euro versus dollar two-day chart? from over 1.25 down to under 1.23 two days of dollar/yen? central banks and options

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take a look at the markets this morning. if the dow closes up 200 points today, just the tenth time in its history it has posted back-to-back 200 plus point gains. we know it's early as jim's been warning you all morning. you tend not to like an open like this. >> no. it's too high. >> oil is higher. although well off the highs of the morning. jackie deangelis at the nymex. >> we are higher both sides of the atlantic. paring back here. wti dipping under 57. 57.18 thou. you may have an equity rally on

your hands. i wouldn't say you have a rally in the oil pits here. as a matter of fact, traders are saying this kind of action isn't unexpected when you've seen prices come down so far, so fast. those out there saying energy might have stabilized or potentially bottomed, it may be too soon to make that statement yet, especially when traders are saying they think sentiment long term is to the down side. the supply dynamics, they haven't changed. that is a big issue. i want to point out the uae oil minister is saying current prices aren't going to last long. is this strategic posturing? i'll leave that to you to discuss it. gas prices, $2.48 today under $2.50, a big deal. back to you. >> thank you. when we come back, stop trading with jim.

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people want to be negative, accenture makes you positive. >> oracle, just a couple of bucks from its tech bubble high. >> larry ellison. >> talking september 2000. >> i've been on the other side of ellison. he runs you right over. >> just having a follow through from that netflix announcement yesterday. we talked about that this morning but not on air. ch chemira up 10%. >> what is on "mad" tonight? >> quintiles. testing for ebola. and hampton creek is made of different seeds. they did a gigantic financing. this will join white wave and hain. next big food company you want

to pay attention to. their mayo does not produce salmonella if left out in the sun. unilever has a lawsuit against them. they said you cannot use the word mayo unless it's egg-based. unilever is also i can't believe it's not butter. so there is a little two-face in this. >> see you tonight. thank you. >> "mad money" 6:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll get philly fed leading economic indicators at the top of the hour. dow close to session highs up 236. they're still after me. get to the terminal across town. are all the green lights you? no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on. quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable.

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good morning. welcome back to "squawk on the street" i'm carl quintanilla with simon hobbs, david faber at the new york stock exchange. sara eisen is off today. day two of risk on as we said. dow's up 250 points. 500 points in two days. that's the biggest two-day point gain in about three years. first time we had 200 plus point days back-to-back in six years. that's if this holds. all 30 dow components are in the green. check out oil off the highs of the morning. tried to get back to 58.

currently 56.63. rick santelli had data. jobless claims the lowest since early november. right now philly fed. >> we are looking for december read on philly. last month at 40.8 was the best level since december of '93. what is going to happen from that 40 level? about half of that. 24.5. this is the issue. when you see something that seems to be an anomaly with data points, especially 46-year old data points. i believe philly started in '68, it's important not to put too much into that. 24.5, lessn't 26 we were looking for. you don't have to go back far to find a lower number. the number before the 40.8 was october. that was 20.7. that 40.8 is unrevised. leading iing indicators up 1.47.

interest rates hovering around 2.20 after getting close tuesday to the 2% level. yesterday flirting with around 2.11 right before fed time. back to you. >> thank you very much. let's bring in steve liesman. >> the philly fed is a good number. the 40 number, nobody embraced as being the right indicator. that would have talked about factories in this country are running double overtime. 25 is a good number. i'm looking for details here. 0.6% is what we were looking at for the market.

claims came in as expected, down 6,000. continuing claims declining. originally wrote the question needs to be ask why is patience worth 200 points? now i need to ask why it's worth 400, 500 points? why did stocks cheer the fed yesterday? what made the word "patient" mean so much in terms of stock? none is satisfactory. when yellen says there are two meetings to go while the word "patient" means we are not going to raise rates, it eliminates the risk of an early rate hike. the fed in their economic projections reduced the rate outlook. yellen was upbeat on the oil price drop down playing the issue of potential leverage. she is not too concerned about global weakness and/or russia. here is whattant yellen said about effects of oil prices. >> the decline we have seen in oil prices is likely to be on

net a positive. it's certainly good for families, for households. it's putting more money in their pockets. having to spend lesson gas and energy. in that sense, it's like a tax cut that boosts their spending power. >> for all the intents and purposes, the fed yesterday got out of one box and stepped into another. it removed the considerable timeline which inserts the word patience. yellen said that means two meetings. now we wait for the word "patient" to be removed. if it stays in january, march and april would be off the table for a rate hike. if it stays through march, take april and june off the table. if "patient" comes out in march, it could happen any time. that's the new math. >> stay with us, steve, if you would. let's note markets gained or s&p gained 3.5% in one trading

session. let's bring in bill stone. there is a lot of adrenalin here. >> yes. i think it's maybe the bounceback from maybe a little bit, is it not enough adrenalin on the way down? i think a little bit too much of a correction down on the oil news. >> let's pick up this point steve makes about the word patience. the danger is if the data comes through and this may be what she means suggesting they should be hiking rates but they don't for whatever reason. therefore, an expensive stock market goes into bubble territory much like we had in the wake of 1999. >> i'd say, not that i'm in a belief we are anywhere near a bubble right now, certainly given relative to interest rates, but if you look at say any of the rules the fed uses, they would already be hiking if you were looking at a more automated rule. i think you're right on that side. >> steve, what do you think?

>> i think what's interesting for all the bluff and bluster, i didn't change my view and a lot of economists i follow didn't change their view on the outlook for the fed. i need to remind you of what our fed survey said. they made a shallower slope for the fed. they stuck with their july 2015 rate hike. i don't think it's as much rocket science as people hopefully not myself try to make you believe. yellen said a lot of folks out there at the fomc have a mid 2015 lift-off. not a whole lot of change. it made me think people think there is more risk to oil or a rate hike. yellen removed that risk. these things are not things you have to worry about. i think what was said earlier was right what bill said. you're retracing where you were

before. this is a snap back from concern about risk that happened the prior couple of weeks. >> i would question whether patience flies in the face of data dependent. let's not forget we had a very good employment report recently. almost 1/3 of a million jobs created in a single month. we have a massive fall in energy prices, which it would appear is a one-way bet for this economy. it's a massive tax cut and further boost this economy. >> i think that's true. you have to know there are risks coming from outside of the u.s. she says she is not necessarily, it's not the big worry right now. but there irenes to think why do they wait longer? we think july is the time, as well. when they raise rates they don't want to have to go back quickly.

they want to wait longer than you expect. >> that is a point you made several times in private. that fear that they actually exit too soon. the problem is they still have not shifted out their time horizons. they should be planning for where this economy is in 18 months time. not data-dependent whether the dollar might move or whether russia might move. that's the problem i think a lot of us have. this fall in oil prices to the extent it reduces inflation will fall out of the figures in one year's time. the underlying rate could be very strong. >> i don't disagree with you, but try to put yourself in the shoes of the policy maker. what do you know about the future? and the best thing you know about the future is what's happening today and what happened yesterday. it's like yogi berra said, forecasting is really hard, especially when it comes to the future, something like that. they are trying to put it in the pot and say as best we can tell,

we think the economy will be ready for a rate hike in june or july 2015. what bill said is right if they are going to make a mistake because of the lessons of 1937, because of the lessons of japan, they are going to err on the dovish side. they don't want to go back and have to say oops again after they made the strides they did on qe-3. >> one last word. what area of the stock market will do best? people say you've got a bet on main street here. >> i do think that is good. we think the financials were overweight. loan growth has come back. that is a bet on main street in terms of some sort of consumer appetite coming back. more lending coming back. that's a play on a better u.s. economy. >> good to see you both. bill stone from pnc and our own steve liesman. >> 10% move in rite aid today.

rite aid shares, the nation's third largest drug store chain, that move is higher after the company raised its full year earnings forecast. higher sales of prescription drugs boosted third quarter results. twice this year it cut its forecast, now up a 10% move on the day. >> the u.s. embarking on the most massive overhaul of its relations with cuba. live on the ground in havana with the latest. how will all this affect the airlines? the former ceo of american airlines bob crandall to weigh in.

president obama announcing he is re-establishing diplomatic relations with cuba in over 50 years. michelle caruso-cabrera is live in havana. if ever there is a story in your wheel house, this is it. >> this will be the third time in three years we have come to cuba, cnbc. we are surprised by it. let me give you the initial experience here. we landed only a couple of hours

ago. historically getting a journalist visa into cuba has been incredibly difficult. for about ten years, i tried at one point. they never said no, but never said yes. a year ago we were invited as financial journalists to come in and look around. that was still an incredibly, extraordinarily difficult and bureaucratic process. yesterday morning this announcement came. we were told get on a plane, arrive. your names will be on a list at the airport. no visa process required within the united states. that is a dramatic change. clearly, the cuban government is trying to make overtures to the international press, that is for sure. that will be criticized, as well, by critics of this whole new policy saying, see, the cuban government is trying to trick journalists into thinking things changed. they are not necessarily going to change. that's what we hope to find out over the next couple of days while here. regardless of what you think about the changes that have been

happening in cuba for the last several years, and believe me they are happening, it's extraordinary to watch. this is the least penetrated broadband company in the western hemisphere below that of haiti and sudan. sudan is not in the western hemisphere, but to make a point. fewer than 5 million cell phones. only 2 million the end of last year. there's a lot to be done here. that's one of the changes announced by the obama administration. more export of telecom equipment to try to increase the amount of broadband and internet use here where very few people have access to it because it costs $4.50 per hour when the average cuban only makes $19 per hour. per month, excuse me. we just arrived. we hope to bring you live coverage throughout the day about the changes announced by the obama administration mean. hurdles are for cuba reentering

the global capital markets. let me know if you have any questions. >> there are a lot of car collectors who would be desperate to get there and get their hands on the models moving behind you. recent survey suggested half the people through travel agents would like to go to cuba. people watching now, ordinary americans who can't get a special visa, do we have any time frame when they might be able to travel? >> right now almost any american can travel to cuba right now. it's estimate d half a million americans traveled in 2013. it is a very arduous process. you have to go through a company or arts institution that does people-to-people licensees or through your church. there are bureaucratic hurdles expressly for this. what we were told in the last 24 hours is that process is going to be made easier.

there will be a thing called a general license. we as a journalist travel under a general license. we don't have to go to treasury and saying we are going. as long as we can say we are coming here to do work, we don't have to do anything special. they are going to try to make that possible for much broader categories of individuals. full-on travel without any restrictions will take a lifting of the embargo. that takes an act of congress. who knows? >> that is a live shot, if i've ever seen one. we'll come back to you a lot today. michelle caruso cabrera in havana. >> the president's historic move could mean a lot of big changes for industry. joining us former american airlines chairman and ceo bob crandall joins us. good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm good. what would you have done for some of these routes back in the day? >> the fact of the matter we've been cued up, airlines have been

cued up to provide service to cuba for years and years. first we hear it's going to happen then it isn't going to happen. obviously, there have been flights to cuba for the last several years, but they are limited for the same reasons michelle was just describing. what is needed is an act of congress. the airline industry, there are lots of companies that are cued up to provide frequent service to cuba. i expect there will be an air bridge, a lot of different companies. >> not to lead into your american bias, by that your aal bias. is it a no-brainer they are best set up to capitalize on this given miami? >> american has a great

advantage thankfully because of their very big operation in miami. they had lots of points in the caribbean. i think many carriers, in the event cook decides to act and simply allow people to go without any kind of licensing arrangement, there will be a lot of carriers that want to provide that service. >> just explain to us to pick up on the point michelle was making. let's not be naive. there are many flights that go to havana, charter flights. american has a charter service maybe through american eagle, jetblue has been having charter flights. delta. why is the charter flight allowed, but not the scheduled flights? >> simon, i simply do not know. i think it has to do with this licensing process. there have been, as i say,

people have been flying into cuba, including american, for many years. i believe that it's been done by charters which are grouped under these licenses arrangements of one kind or another to free up the flow of travel. congress has got to lift the embargo that exists today. >> many people around the world will fear there will be a number of tourists the cruise operators will dump onto cuba. dunkin' donuts will move in, mcdonald's and basically it becomes or resembles more south florida. by that, i mean more orlando than south beach. >> i tell you what. south beach and miami haven't been hurting for tourists. i don't think the fact there will be more people going to cuba is going to discourage people from around the world

from wanting to see cuba. cuba has obviously very attractive assets of many kinds. climactic assets. very good beaches. i think will in due course be an active center of business in the caribbean. >> i won't ask you whether you think fuel prices are going to stay this low. assuming they stay in this range, biggest medium, long-term effects? >> the biggest medium, long-term effects are going to be that the airline industry which for many years has been characterized as a business where if you want to be a millionaire start with a billion. it will now become a nice profitable business. it should remain so in the future. not only because of fuel prices but the fact the government has permitted consolidation which mitigated the extreme competition that characterized the industry for many years.

so i think you've now got an industry which has completely changed the business model of that industry has been modified by consolidation. i think it will be satisfactorily profitable for many years to come. >> unbelievable. obviously, the stocks reflect that over the past year. hope to see you soon. thanks for coming to the phone. >> thank you, carl. my pleasure. up next, markets clearly in big rally mode this morning. the s&p has gained 3.5% in one session and 1 1/2 hours. arthur cashin will join us next to break down where this takes us. ayour fidelity green line and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need

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just take it already! ♪ all three indices up over 1%. art cashin joins us here at post nine. good to see you. it's about this time yesterday you said the words, the seasonals are screaming. that turned out to be true. we didn't know what yellen was

going to say. >> we didn't. the seasonal pattern does fit in from the 15th on. it's usually pretty much a lock you start to get things better. we moved pretty far, pretty fast here. i would think you won't see action like this every day. i think we might consolidate a little bit. viewers want to keep an eye on oil. it looks like it's stabilizing and reaching a tradeable bottom. if it begins to weaken again, it may just worry people enough that they will pare back some of their profits across the broad equity market. >> this morning bulls needed to rally through 2028, 2031. they've done that. does that move the danger of a broad reversal? >> i think so. what happened was, yesterday's rally was terrific. it came up short of a down trend line it picked up going back to the recent highs. if we hadn't pierced through it,

you might be forming, not to get too far inside baseball technically, what they call a mega phone top which the swings widen as you move down. that's been moved out. >> what was your take on the fed's move? >> i thought it was remarkable. they were not at all hawkish. i think she left the door open. i would still bet there is probably a 50% chance they don't hike rates this year at all. >> you mean 2015? >> right. >> that is an echo of what you said yesterday. >> wouldn't that be extremely dangerous? >> depends how markets develop. let's see if the u.s. economy continues to expand. see if the employment picture continues to expand.

we might see slowing. this will take -- >> we equally might see an acceleration. >> in that case, they will do it. i'm betting on the slowing side. >> we don't always s ask you about things like this sony hack. your thoughts on north korea's ability to alter a big tactical decision by a major company? >> i think it was a foolish premise for the movie to begin with. it does prove how powerful these cyber hackers are. we may see a good deal more of that going on from others maybe away from north korea. a very powerful message. it proves that 9/11 reshaped the way we think. the very idea of a threat that people would be attacked in theaters prevents the release of the movie. >> don't they call that terrorism? >> it is terrorism.

>> and it's winning. >> unfortunately. >> art, thanks so much. see you soon. ahead on the program, can we call it a win for the hackers? sony pulling its christmas release of "the interview." what implications this move has for security overall for this country. talk to a former homeland security official that dealt with cyber security in particular. (vo) watching. waiting. for that moment, where right place meets right time.

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm jackie deangelis from the nymex. natural gas inventories, withdrawal of 64 billion cubic feet was on the high side of estimates. prices $3.75 before the report. last year this time we saw withdrawal of 256 billion cubic feet. a lot steeper. remember last year was a lot colder. we had a polar vortex on our hands. cold temperature is not materializing the way people thought they would by this point of the year. demand is picking up slowly. these prices are depressed. down 14% in the last month alone for nat gas. unless it gets colder from here, we probably won't see these prices above $4 any time soon. mother nature could be cruel around christmas time. back to you. >> we know that too well. thank you so much. it's about an hour into trading. oracle is the biggest gainer on the s&p up 8%. the company posting better than expected quarterly results led

by strength in its cloud business. conagra the biggest loser down 4% on a quarterly miss. hurt by weaker demand for branded foods. average rate on the 30-year fix fell last week to a new low for 2014 at 3.8%. sony pictures pulling the plug of its planned christmas release of "the interview" movie after all top five theater chains announced they would not show the film because of terrorist threats. officials are now telling nbc news north korea is behind the sony cyber attack. some in hollywood are none too impressed. "saw seth roguen at jfk. never seen anything like this. hollywood has done neville chamberlain proud today." "today the u.s. succumbed to an unprecedent add tack on our cherished bedrock principle, that of free speech." joining us is former assistant

homeland secretary for infrastructure protection. good morning, sir. >> good morning. how are you? >> i am concerned this appears to be a terrorist threat to which people have succumbed. what is your view? >> i think you have to parse it out. clearly the cyber attack is not just a criminal act but one would call it if the united states chooses to go this route a state-sponsored act. that will invoke a certain set of protocols for government response. as it relates to the related threat, the 9/11 style threat, that can't be ignored. the implications of those two coming together are interesting. >> what should the response be of this society? is it enough corporations which are obviously concerned or lawyers are concerned about liability pull the plugs or do we get leadership at the national level? do we get somebody who says this

is not the way we live our lives and this is what we are going to do together? >> i think the latter. the u.s. can't and we won't ever have to take a position where we going to cower to these things. that's a national response. that is part of our psyche. we don't want to be intimidated or give the terrorists what they are asking for at this point. >> forgive me for interrupting, but aren't we doing exactly what the terrorists want? they are not showing the film, not releasing it. not going to put it on digital down loads. >> that is a sony decision. that is a private sector decision. i don't think the government is necessarily directing that. that is a private decision between sony and theaters and other distributeors. you're right. that is not the response i like to see. if i were in that position necessarily advise that's the right approach. this is a form of extortion. if you separate the 9/11

implication for a moment and you look at it for what it could be, it's a form of extortion. companies deal with extortion all the time. there are certain what is you deal with extortion and backing down is not necessarily one of those ways. sony has legal liabilities they concern themselves with. they may have reacted too quickly on this. not being inside sony and knowing what they are dealing with, it's a different story. they are clearly under the microscope. sony wants this story to go away as quickly as they can. anything they are going to do to prolong it doesn't help their shoulders. they have a responsibility to shareholders to general public perception. they have a problem, obviously. this is a difficult issue for them to solve. there are national security implications. this makes it an interesting problem. you have a private company which has been attacked. the attack on that company has a national security implication. this is what i think is interesting about this particular incident overall. we experienced this in the past.

historically when we had terrorist attacks, bombings of airline offices, those had national security implications themselves. the challenge on this is this threat is more ubiquitous than a threat staged taking over an airliner or bombing. cyber world touches everything. i think that is the bone-chilling effect. >> why would we take -- obviously their hacking capabilities are formidable. why the sony and nsa must know something that would lead them to believe there are capabilities of disrupting a movie screening are equally formidable. how can we make that leap? >> this is an interesting conversation, right? let me take it down a little bit of a path here that might open up a can of worms. in the post snowden era, we are still trying to find this balance between where the government should be playing

closely with the private sector and where are the bounds of privacy people are willing to give up to allow the government to do its job? s i think this is a fallout. i think one would argue that the conundrum we find ourselves in is partly caused by the snowden issue. nsa has tremendous capabilities to do the things designed to do to prevent terrorist attacks and attacks like this. you've got to question if they've been hobbled because of the snowden issues and revelations, closure of the types of tactics and lack of public appetite for the private sector and government to work closely together that. could have an impact preventing these types of situations. >> i'm not totally aware the nsa has been reined in to a large extent. people might think they've given up enough civil liberties to them they would be capable of acting in this instance and protecting people effectively being threatened as they go to a movie theater over christmas.

leaving that to one side, i just want to pick up the point presumably north korea, and i'd like your input on this, has been able to hire these people externally. the commentary they were working out of a hotel in thailand. are these roaming around that anybody can hire? could they target airlines as you mention or power utilities or other areas of the community you might consider are more strategic? >> without a doubt. that's an excellent point. this is about a movie. fortunately, it's not innocuous. nobody has been hurt physically. those same tactics and those same hackers could be deployed and they are up for sale. you can buy them in terms of their skill sets that could be used to target utilities or other types of critical infrastructure that could have a physical impact. i thing that's the other point that is critical here. historically, we thought about

cyber attacks being privacy-oriented. disclosures of information about personal data. with ducksnet and other attacks, it's been demonstrated cyber attacks can result in physical outcomes. as a consequence, those types of techniques and that skillset, which can be bought in the marketplace, can be used against our physical infrastructure to cause either physical damage or in some cases death and injuries. >> isn't their existence a clear and present threat to this country? shouldn't the response be to knock them out or presumably bring them in and employ them as agents to this country? >> yeah. i would suspect that's being discussed. these scenarios, this is not a new phenomenon in terms of looking at this in terms of what the u.s. response would be. national security apparatus is looking at these events. the thing you have to worry about is attribution. knowing who has done what, you

might find an individual responsible for it. assigning who is directing that individual to do something is more difficult. in some cases, even if you don't find the individual, attribution for an attack may be difficult to assign. the last thing you want to do is direct offensive resources or active defense style resources against an adversary which themselves has been victimized because they've been spoofed. in other words, you've got the wrong actor. attribution is critical here. >> it's been great to have your input. thank you for your time. >> thank you. taking a sharp right turn. the u.s. post office expecting to deliver 475 million packages. how are they keeping up with that volume? morgan brennan is live at a post office in new jersey with that story. >> reporter: here at the south hackensack post office, most

carriers have gone out on delivery routes with tens of thousands of packages. the postal service expects to deliver upwards of 26 million packages today. that's 12% more than its busiest day in 2013. last year when an estimated 2 million ups and fedex packages didn't make their christmas deadline, the usps did not have the same issue. a big reason for that, a sunday delivery partnership with amazon. this year with all the surging volumes, they have expanded that strategy. the usps has been delivering parcels on sundays in major metro markets since mid november. to help move along amazon as well as priority mail packages. we got a first hand look in the newark, new jersey area last sunday. 3,000 packages, half the regular day's volume went out with carriers. >> it's a job for me but it means something to me. i like customer servicing.

i like to see people smile. everyone loves to get packages. i feel like an elf. i enjoy this job. >> reporter: the usps is delivering on christmas. to handle the surge in volume so it's already on track to be more than the 14% increase that it projected at the beginning of this season. it's also renting u-haul trucks to keep up with capacity. even though the usps is a public agency, taxpayer money isn't used to fund all of these operating expenses. that's what makes this so important. this is a high growth business for the postal service and one now in the past two years offsetting the decline we have seen in revenues for first class mail. back to you. >> one week from today. thanks, morgan brennan. this year's number one cigar is live here at the nyse. we can't tell you what it is yet. the executive editor of "cigar

aficionado will be live to unveil that and talk about the business of cuba. twhat do i do?. you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it. now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable.

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day two of the big federally and information technology. tech is clear lit top gaining sector. more with dom chou at hq. >> it's been a long time since we've spoken about anything besides energy and utilities. technology overall, the best performing sector in the s&p 500 today leading the way higher. oracle, this on better than expected results for its second quarter earnings report. first solar shares and accenture after raising its revenue forecast. sales force.com among leading

gainers. good day in technology. it's important because technology is the single largest sector in the s&p 500. >> let's get over to the cnb group with rick santelli. >> good morning. it's like to welcome bradley belt. i'm going to say a few things quickly. whether it was 80s 80s when you had the s&l price sis with government promoting mortgages but insuring deposits. 1990s, promoting homeownership with government-sponsored enterprises and explicit guaranteed. present day student loans with forgiveness. central banks with risk on. now insuring pensions where premiums are set by congress to an area defined benefit plans that probably don't make sense. you're caught up.

bradley, comment on the last point i made. >> well, you are right. whenever you have federal taxpayers backstopping risk taking, it's a potential disaster. you need to do carefully with appropriate checks and balances in place. you haven't always had the appropriate checks and balances in place with the pbgc since inception. actually, explicitly, the pbgc in contrast to bank deposits are not backed by the federal taxpayers. there is a widespread belief at the end of the day if there is a bailout necessary, taxpayers will be called upon. >> kind of right back to the gses. i worked in the '80s, worked in the '90s, covered the mortgage activity. implicit is definitely stamped on that one, as well. they all turned onto explicit guarantees. we can't say for sure. how bad is the financial

condition of that private entity trying to ensure those pensions? >> as you may be aware, earlier this month, the pbgc released its annual report. unfortunately, its long-term fiscal deficit increased substantially to the tune of $62 billion. that is a good news/bad news story. good news is the single employer program most people are familiar with, general motors and general electric, that program, the finances improved. deficit went down $20 billion. in the so-called multiemployer program. taft-hartley plans, the number ballooned by $42 billion. that's where the real problem is. congress actually this last week in the so-called bill took measured steps to try to address the multi-employer program. it's only a first step. at least they are doing something to respond to that. >> that's why i really wanted you today.

not only because what you mentioned in the bill, that $1.1 trillion. you can call it any name you want. i call it darn big. after the fed. we do have issues with taxpayers and risk. we are going to bring you back to see if there are any changes to bring you back when congress takes up the calling. thank you for taking the time. >> always a pleasure rick. >> simon, carl back to you. >> thank you rick. next we're unveiling this number one cigar according to cigar afi aficiona aficionado. the executive editor is here. and how cuban cigars could change the industry. the volkswagen golf was just named

motor trend's 2015 car of the year. so was the 100% electric e-golf, 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.

thank you. ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14.

no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. >> cigar lovers, listen up. now no longer have to hide the cubans anymore. they are among the gudas goods allowed under new rules announced yesterday. and cigar aficionado gets ready to reveal its top cigar of the year. david, welcome. >> thank you. >> we got number three and number two.

you'll tell me how to pronounce these. three is from nicaragunicaragua >> just came out this summer. >> from the dominican republic. e perks. >> and the number one is. >> we have here. the milano figueroa. you can look at the cigar. it has a taver on both the head and foosmt an old fashion shape.

>> what does it taste like. >> a leathery, coffee. a sophisticated cigar for a sophisticated palate. the name is for milanio oliva. >> warm relations to cuba. and i believe the indication is people will be able to bring back a hundred dollars of cuba cigars. >> it was a very busy day yesterday getting news ready for the website. preparing on the news. and there has been talk about bringing cigars back. the rules as we know it are you can bring back $100 worth of cuban cigars if you go on a direct trip there and back.

you are not allowed to bring them back from england or france. >> if you have a cruise ship, that's $3 million worth of cigars every day. >> people already buy a lot of cuban cigars, even though the united states has -- >> this is additional. this is waves of people going turn up on the shores of the cuba relatively shortly. >> when you think of cuba you can't help think about cigars. and they are interrelated and the many who make cigars nowadays come from cubaen ancestry. >> washington post. probably the biggest news cuba has experienced since the embargo was enacted in the first

place. >> they are different. they are made only with cuban tobacco. and even though the seeds have been spread all over the world. only seeds grown in cuba with those conditions taste just like that. much like wine. that doesn't mean that cuban cigars are always the best. this year the best cigar is from nicarag nicaragua. >> there will be an increased interest with this news. again the embargo is not over. they aren't all of a sudden legal in the united states. but there is a crack. >> this is going to take years. david thanks for bringing this in. >> three minutes to "squawk alley." let's find out what's on deck. >> a good show for you of course. sony pulling the interview. and more on that and the implications. and oracle results.

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