freeport. >> thanks for coming over today. that does for us today. we have enjoyed seeing you this week. we'll make sure wu seee'll see you tomorrow. >> we'll be back tomorrow. full force for two days. >> two days. >> and it will be a good couple of days. join us. right us it is time for "squawk on the street." good morning, welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm david faber along with jim cramer. we are live from the new york stock exchange. carl has the day off. a look at futures. we are set up for a slightly higher open after a rare down day, at least rare in recent sessions, for the dow and the nasdaq. crude oil always a key, at least these days. where has it been hovering around? $48 level. up rather nicely on the day. and the ten-year note yield, of course i was away when they got

rid of "patient," so to speak. great. now we're at 1.9 again. let's get to our road map. it starts with the markets, futures as you saw pointing to a slightly higher open helped by consumer prices that rose for the first time since october. plus chesapeake energy blaming weak commodities for its decision to cut cap x this year. of course it's not alone. carl icahn boosted his stake in the company to 11%, that was just out yesterday. tragedy in europe up to 150 people are believed dead after a germanwings airliner crashes in southern france. want to get to another story that we. >> reporter: have just been breaking. mary thompson has. ruth porat of morgan stanley. >> that's right. ruth porat is leaving that firm and she will become the cfo of google google.

wall street veteran moving to silicon valley. she's been with morgan stanley for 28 years. among the roles including ceo or cfo, she has been the lead tech banking, she led the company's banking franchise and also of course to serve the company to deal with changing regulatory environment as cfo. she's starting at google on may 26th. of course, replacing patrick pichet at google. ruth porat a key executive, key figure at morgan stanley for the last five to seven years as cfo and before that uninvestment banking area. she will be the cfo of do. >> thanks very much. interesting, of course particularly in light of continued conversation going on about the lack of female representation in silicon valley. >> very good point. >> we should point out, google's cfo will be leaving. he was the, i call him the climb

every mountain cfo, wrote that long letter "sound of music" kind of thing. climb every mountain follow his dream. >> i thought that he was very good on the call it was genuine, his departure. porat, these are people who are known as being tough on the numbers, ruth porat tough on numbers. i know you have a relationship with her. i come back and i say, you know what? google said they were going to have discipline. on the conference call there was a moment where google said we care about the stock price. kind of like oh thank you. but that -- i mean it was an odd moment. >> right. >> guys contrary to public opinion we actually care. but this shows you, really ruth porat is exacting tough, and you won't be able to write checks to guys who say we have to put a man on uranus now. that's out. that whole pluto thing, gone. >> pluto's not even a planet.

>> right. that's what she's going to use to kill that initiative. >> your point is well taken. the fact is it's not an unimportant role at these companies, just to make sure the spending that takes place, the attention to wall street main that she will have is simply a result of having been a part of for her entire career. so it may be viewed positively. >> it will be viewed positively. >> not that the current occupant has not been seen as one who has been fairly disciplined. >> he's terrific. >> remember there was a time when people used to say about google adults are not in charge and that changed although spending habits on different efforts yet to yield results from a wall street perspective continue there you don't bring in porat in order to check off a lot of things. you bring in porat to say we need to communicate the story better we need to be tougher.

google is getting part of a religion. my charitable trust own temperatures i'm thrilled ruth is one of the best cfos i've come to respect on wall street. >> you view this as a positive step. >> he was terrific on the call. but ruth porat is a seasoned terrific cfo who has been through hell and back with morgan stanley. >> she wasn't in the cfo role during the -- she was in financial -- she was in financial services. >> i happen to respect her judgment, respect her work. i think that we all on wall street, you know anyone who has followed that company, has said ruth porat, i want to hear what she has to say i sure what she does there. it will be good. it will be good. >> it will be good. all right. >> little facetious on google but mostly because of the conference calm they said we have to cut out with the google glasses. they mentioned google glasses as

something, look, it didn't work. started thinking what won't work. now they're going forward and thinking porat will be a fantastic -- helping to allocate capital. >> she also was co-head of technology investment banking. in light of this lawsuit going on that i think goes to the jury soon. >> absolutely right. you know it is time -- i mean look, i feel like who am i to say silicon valley should have more women? but i think a dad with two daughters, it's like hey, come on focus on this stuff. >> let's get a focus on the marks here as well. consumer prices rebounded in february they were up .2%, as gasoline prices increased for the first time since june. prices rose by the same amount if you strip out food and energy. overseas manufacturing activity in china dipped to 11-month low as new orders shrank. separately, business activity in the eurozone accelerated faster than some people thought

although i will give it to you, talking green shoots a long time ago. uk no inflation. >> china, like this europe like this. >> right. which is what? >> this is china. >> that's europe. >> this is breitling replaced by apple april 10th. >> that's their growth rate. >> in other words, china's -- >> deceleration of the growth rate is happening. pmi was disappointing. how about like this? >> all right. can you do the kama sutra? can you do that? don't look at me like that. this is how you look at me all the time. >> i know. >> what does it mean for the market which has had a nice run, certainly since i was last year a little over a week ago. >> this rally, the most recent spurt, business the euro being stronger than we think. you know the trade has been euro

going lower, dollar going higher. so now the hedge funds are flummoxed. trying to figure out what happens next? i think they wanted the euro lower, they being central bank. but business is really great. it's going to be hard to done watch the ten-year in germany, watch the ten-year in spain. i think that it takes greece off of the table as being the major issue. and i see they're trying to make nice, greeks and germans. interesting nazi talk by the way. >> excuse knee. >> third reich. literally. >> where? >> in the greek parliament. >> yes. >> about reparations for the nazis. there are -- you know it's not like germany doesn't take this stuff seriously. germans have been -- you know look you know what they have given reparations to people in israel. i'm not saying they're going to take that off the table in greece. >> at least speaking in terms of we're dealing with oil below 50. >> right. >> dealing with extremely strong

dollar. >> right. >> certainly not just -- we've talked often about brazil the real, what could be problems there, not just euro. >> if the dollar's not red hot, people have a chance to hedge, companies can catch their breath and we can solve the greece thing because, you know if you have a stronger germany and a stronger italy, stronger spain, you can say greece is an outlier and all of these things are positive versus china, where if you're in the iron ore business or copper business maybe we talk about freeport later, you're like wow, we don't have the horses. >> yeah. one point i wanted to get your response on, you know buybacks are an important component of the underlying -- >> totally. did you see the numbers? almost a trillion. >> blackout periods that come towards the end of the quarter, beginning of a new quarter when companies are going to be reporting earnings. we're entering into one fairly soon. someone pointed out there is

volatility around those area because the blackout period you don't have companies buying back their stock. >> very much. that's a great point. you often see like a company like goldman which has sometimes in the buyback and after they report they can't buy back stock. >> it's before as well. >> i just think it's something to keep in mind because there are moments where it seems like there's no bid underneath and a lot is that the company's aren't there. some of the buybacks like time warner's buyback, cbs' buyback, they're just there. disney's buyback, they live. the buybacks live. >> they live? they do live. they live. all right. let's move on now to obviously disturbing news. a pang planessenger plane crashing in the french alps 150 people feared dead. >> david, yes, indeed it's a sad day here in europe.

144 passengers and 6 crew feared dead after a germanwings flight crashed in the southeast of france. the plane took off 4:55 eastern time from barcelona en route to dusseldorf in germany, crashing near the italian boarder in france at 6:20 a.m. eastern time. 150 souls on board all presumed dead according to president hollande. we have heard from him and the ceo expressing deepest sympathies. lif tan 15 the parent company to german wings. the plane was an airbus a 320. it's believed that the plane is 24 years old and has been with luf luf lufthansa since 1991. confirmation from president hollande that all are presumed dead. thus far, access on the ground has been limited, given that the

plane is around 2 kilometers up in the alps some 6,000 feet. therefore, so far, just presumption all of the lives were sadly lost but no confirmation of that fact yet. we'll bring you more as and when we get it. >> okay. >> be careful on the age of planes. not as relevant. these planes are -- they have long lives. i mean it was an old plane, i know from boeing and airbus we should not -- it's not necessarily dispositive. >> right. >> you won't -- >> if you maintain them they will last a very long time. >> if you're with boeing one of the things you're conscious of these things are amazing. don't necessarily just say, you know, it's a 1990s plane. i don't know the details but i don't want people to presume, because it's an old plane. >> we'll be following this story throughout the morning. carl icahn ups his stake in chesapeake. also ahead, live interview

with penny pritzker on trade deals attracting investment and keeping the u.s. competitive. another look at futures before we hit our first break on "squawk on the street." we are set up for maybe a mixed to flat open. >> right. >> we're back after this. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets

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we're on to energy here at skauk on the "squawk on the street." chesapeake. carl icahn raised the stake from 10% to 11%. shares of whiting petroleum more interesting story, down sharply. the oil producer announced plans to sell 35 million shares of common stock to reduce its debt load, which is $5.6 billion. it's a common theme in energy right now. >> oh man. >> companies levered, we saw freeport cut the dividend as well. let's start with whiting, because i think you and i, at least have been aware of the first the stories that it was for sale stock went up sharply. and now, they hit the market with 35 million shares. jim, let me share one comment. i talked to a couple of guys approached by jpmorgan, which is selling the stock on behalf of whiting. they said any bid's a good bid. give us your bid. any bid's a good bid. >> one of mine bid 29 i'm not

going to get hurt on it. whiting, which will open sharply lower. >> i think what people have to recognize is that they bought a company, okay bought a second-rate company, they bought kodiak. kodiak had been for sale they pulled it back. in order to become the largest produce flr the bakken not all oil is equal. bakken is the most expensive to produce, and there's real problems getting it out of the bakken. they basically paid $3.8 billion. i don't know what the company's worth. it's $6 billion last night. wow. >> yeah but diluting themselves to make sure they have a future which -- >> that's been -- >> you can live to fight another day, you do. >> they did it to be opportunistic. not everybody -- some of the companies are taking advantage of this and being opportunistic. canada did a big deal that was

survive ability. but, yes, this is the way of the future. sole of the companies are raising money to buy the companies that can't get a bid. >> right. of course, the case of whiting, you had it shoot up on takeover rumors, you followed this closely -- >> well this is embarrassing. this is a company they are pricing this thing. the other ones they're not in the hole like this. this smacks of desperation. >> yeah. the stock could be down 19%. we'll give you details when the deal gets done whether it's 29 or 30 we'll see. stock trading around or bid ask around 39. >> a buzz kill for the group. >> chesapeake it contributed to atypical year last year a bad year for him. he ups his stake. he's nothing if not, you know -- >> chesapeake has, i was dealing with my folks at rbn talking about the mark west pipeline. i went to see chesapeake's pods in the utica shale.

and they have a ready place to put their natural gas but natural gas pricing -- >> pods? >> well that's where they put the drilling -- the rigs. pods. >> right. >> it's a pad. here's the thing you need to know about chesapeake. >> yes. >> they made a big bet utica would have oil. when i was with aubrey we realized natural gasp the problem with natural gas is it's even worse for pricing than oil. so when you -- but chesapeake's sold assets. >> yes. >> at good prices and i think chesapeake's got viability. this is one of those if i were chesapeake i would say, carl how would you like to buy 25% of the company? >> he's been there for quite some time. aubrey mcclendon is no longer there and he's got issues at american energy. raised billions of capital and the bonds are trading poorly. >> the marcellus is producing,

you know i don't know 12 times it was producing a few years ago. there's just so much natural gasp natural gas we have -- oil when you hear no place to put it, dent believe. we're importing 7 million a day. if there's no place to put it why would we need to import any? >> freeport which we have discuss in the past may have picked the wrong tile to go into oil and glassas. >> last time in they cut -- that's a reference to airplane. >> yes. >> the last time they cut was 2008. they cut their dividend from $2 down to zero suspended it in 2008. the tostock was at nine. they caught the bottom. an opportunist will say copper was yesterday. i warn you not to be opportunistic as you might like.

the balance sheet is not as good. they have since bought an oil company, which seems to be a high price. >> play not have been the best timing. >> kodiak and freeport all of the kazcasualtyies because they got excited when they thought i'll would grow to the sky. >> not kodiak. >> whiting bought kodiak. and freeport did a lot of pieing at the top. at the top. >> yeah. all right. we've got a "mad dash" coming up with my partner over there we head to the opening bell. another look at futures. we had been looking as though we'd have an up open no longer. more "squawk on the street" after this.

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all right. six minutes until the opening bell. "mad dash" on a tuesday. i've got to remember my first day of the week but not yours. >> i'm going mr. amazon. you did an amazing documentary that included a lot about the web services. they're going around town piper says he likes the delivery experiment in miami and baltimore. but what i think is important, going around, people are trying to assess how much amazon web services might be losing because that would indicate how much the merchandising department is making. david, amazon services can they turn that off, turn that on one day make that a profitable enterprise? >> it grows incredibly fast. >> yes. >> we don't know specifics because it's included although this may change in the other line. >> that's the key thing. >> so there's not a great deal of transparency as there often is not with amazon in terms of

some units. we are left to guess. >> it's an opaque company. the analysts are really want to go out and say this is a great opportunity to buy this. cfo's out on tour. you know what? i've felt this is a momentum stock. the momentum's stalled, i think it's going to pick up. >> you do? >> yes. >> next? >> now, thinking of anti-momentum, son, u.s. not sonus in my house which allows kids to blast plymy ears this makes cable set top box components, it was held earlier, and when it's held it's like wow, you know you read the release. the release says don't worry about it. if you're -- >> don't worry about it? >> don't worry about it. >> don't worry about what? we've lost a third of the market cap today? >> you took the words out of my mouth. don't worry about that. this is historically been a tough business. broad com's in the business.

cisco, which my charitable trust owns. cable set top box is knower to russly difficult and they're in it. >> what might i ask is the problem? do we know. >> it's shortfall in orders apparently. we don't really know. it's not as much information as we would like about who the customer is. that's what i'm going to spend a lot of time digging today, because i'd like to know. >> right. >> because the stock's down badly. yes, i do notice that. >> right. that's not a three for two split. >> that's something to worry about. >> right. visa went down a lot but that was a four for one split. >> right. >> not related to the business. >> no. here you've got, yes, yeah a third. >> i shouldn't be laughing. >> no you're not having a good day. more on that, following facebook which we didn't get to. >> holy cow. how could we not get to? >> whiting, shares are held. >> it's not borat. no that's sasha.

it's porat. >> we're back after this.

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seconds, actually. we came in real tight here. tuesday not sure what else to say here. what i always ask you at this time. >> i come back to the mineral stocks are weak. there's an interesting note today. want to know what the stock of the day is? >> yes. >> it's kimberly clark. wells recommends hold to buy. but cuts numbers, david. now you know a number cut is not synonymous. this is a relative call versus other stocks. watch that it can go up on a number cut that tells you what people want, the economy's weaker. and i know the cpi, we should be covering it that's an odd number the cpi today, because people some people think we want inflation. you know we don't want inflation, we don't want -- >> of course. when you strip out, oil down year-over-year, 19%. by the way, let me tell you who did the honors here.

lattice strategy and over at the nasdaq ireland south by southwest winner editing platform trakax. >> that's a mouthful. >> real-time exchange at hq. more red on the board. >> look, when you come in you got these stories themselves that aren't that all positive i mean i can make -- cowan says maybe the airline numbers won't be that strong. airlines have been a leader. we have number cuts at wells. the xcf differs cut. and, david, whiting is 12% of this s&p is related to oil and gas, and that is just -- whiting's coloring all of the thinking. this sons is covering a lot of tech though that's related to set top, which is a competitive business that can bring down a lot of stocks. >> when it comes to energy though, there's a point to be made here which is and they should know i won't name their

name, but you take the big delusion at a steep discount cut your dividend but to my point earlier, you live to fight another day. >> right. >> you know it is equivalent to what the financial companies face in the crisis or leading up to the financial crisis. many of them should have sold equity. >> yes. >> lehman brothers should have sold as much as it possibly could have. >> but they were buying back stocks and felt like idiots to be able to sell stocks. you're so right, these companies are more survival oriented. >> we don't know when they could have survived. maybe. >> they needed to sell equity. >> these guys were in the process of cleaning up balance sheets. whiting will sell lower than it closed yesterday. they may be here in a year or two as a result. >> if you're new to white, maybe you wasn't to get into n. today. >> 30 bucks. whiting's going to be at 30. that's where they're selling the stock $30. what i'm hearing at least.

>> people go back to is they're going back to growth. i see they come back to netflix, positive notes about netflix today. >> yes. >> it's like barclays says netflix, we like it. cantor says streaming services clear winner. but when you get netflix that can kind of move -- that can be a beacon for growth stock investing which is bring back money to biotech, for instance. so we're going to rotate back into that group which has been weaker. we'll by stocks like monster beverage. >> right. to the research you noted from barclays and cantor they talk about netflix, as the must-have of the whole group. >> interesting, must have. >> we have more and more unbundled packages. >> what do you think? >> makes sense. given the price point and what they are offer and their investment willingness to invest in content, you can see how if you have 15 channels you might want netflix to be one of them. don't you agree? >> the question to me is sports.

if you're a sports fan, you're going to take the price up so high regardless. >> right. >> even with only broadband, you're still going pay $50 for broadband, netflix, do you want hbo? that will cost another 15. >> you think the bundle is a bargen. i wonder what extent we're going to start to see when you look at what people are going to want what's available to them in the bundle how much of it will -- how much will trade off. not that i don't believe unbundling is a trend here to stay and it will pick up speed, i do. but i'm curious to see what the overall price comparisons will be. >> you're right. think about the stations watching the ncaa games on dialing around. >> tbs. >> tbs. i need tbs for like four saturdays of my life but i've got to pay for it. >> right. >> right? that's the problem. i want -- i went bob iger shifts the college bowls, the big --

the champion he puts it on espn, i don't have a choice. >> nfl will do a digital game. interesting. >> i felt that google should bid for that contract. everyone was frightened that they would. google would say, listen we want the whole nfl. but, yes, i think you're right. maybe there is a -- the a la carte's not as cheap as we think. >> but we'll -- >> great point. you want netflix. >> right. >> netflix will be a winner although they are investing a great deal. >> great point. i kept thinking that maybe you get it like 40 50 bucks a month. but when you layer on. >> you've got to pay for broadband. but people take that out of the equation paying for broadband anyway. >> cable's got this pricing umbrella. say cable offered a break, half of the channels. that could hurt their profitability. it's a great story. it's young versus old. younger people -- i got the new apple 6, i'm watching it like it's hike high resolution really

cool. >> right. >> watching espn. >> the cost of sports is continues to be the key variable. >> yes. >> we mentions google. it is up on the announcement of ruth porat, cf of of morgan stanley moving to become the cfo of the company. >> yeah. there are people who know -- >> she becomes one of highest profeel will in silicon valley. >> right. >> we know her for her long tenure on wall street ran the financial institutions group at morgan stanley, also was cohead of technology. mary meeker also came originally. another person i love. >> she was on the sell side at morgan stanley but then went into venture capital. >> class of '79 stanford. she's a seasoned hand very smart from -- >> porat. >> yes. >> going back out to california. >> yes. you know that's her roots. >> that stock is responding positively. of course the current cfo as we pointed out, wrote that long good-bye e-mail telling us that

he was going to be climbing mountains. >> i loved his good-bye. it played me think -- i'm a reflective person, as you know and it made me think for 35 40 secondizes i should do what they're saying backpacking. >> the key question with porat, can she shift sentiment on the stock regarding capital allocation? >> i think she can. >> that's the question. >> i think she can. >> can she, will they let her? >> why would you hire her if you wasn't to? why would you hire anthony noto at twitter. these are not f-troop people. >> facebook that stock also up this morning. >> did you read that article? >> $240 billion market value. alibaba, quite some time where alibaba's market cap exceeded that of facebook. facebook has clearly surpassed that. story in the "new york times" saying they're taking -- they will host the content, in other words, they will partner with

the like of new york sometimes. >> that's great if you have a totally advertising model which is getting crushed here. as we know on mobile the ads are getting crushed, getting cpms incredibly low. little money for advertising. i thought it was interesting they made aention the new york times. this would gaff the "times" model. i wouz shockas shocked to see "new york times" considering facebook. it would be disastrous for their bottom line. you can't make it up in advertising because the advertising market, which is run by google in terms of the carpet bombing that they do we know programmatics, programmatic code for you're not going to make any money, we are. that's what programmatic means. it's a "shark tank." >> it's a good show, "shark tank." well produced. bob pisani. >> a mixes open, financials, escapeles, industrials, to the

downside. strength in certain pockets in energy and technology stocks. the euro's stronger earlier. that's a problem normally for us. it's weakened in the last hour. most of europe is on the positive side. germany's been up all morning. remember, we're 1% or 2% from historic highs in germany and multiyear highs in france. want to talk about dividend cuts. you mentioned freeport. but it's rare for a company to cut its dividend. freeport, big copper and gold company cut from 31 and change to 5 cents a quarter on the dividend yield. they talk about additional capital costs reductions. i don't want to focus on freeport. it's rare to cut a dividend. it's only happened three times this year in the s&p 500. freeport's done it. but encodid it before and diamond offshore made a significant cut. other than that that's it this year. a few last year. i remember consol energy also cut but not often. in fact i went back ten years, i

didn't know myself how many times this happened but only 240 dividend cuts. that's not much dealing with 500 companies over 10 years. over 3,000 dividend increases in last 10 years of the 240 dividend cuts half of them have been in financials and almost all of that has occurred since 2008 since the financial crisis. as you know the banks are restoring the dividends. so it's very clear where those dividend cuts occurred and doesn't happen very often. let's move on here. i want to talk about biggest dividend payers that are out there. i know everybody says apple's the biggest dividend payer. but that hasn't been true for a while. exxon the biggest dividend payer. the buybacks reduces the amount they're paying out. exxon, apple, microsoft. exxon increased its differ every year since april 2007 every april since 2007. they have increased their dividend every year for 32 years. but what they've done in april for the last seven years.

everybody's watching april now for exxon to see whether they increase the dividend. remember they're paying i think 69 cents a quarter now. yield is 3. 2%. everybody expects them to go to 70 cents. a big event to see if they can maintain ta dividend. that's why a lot of people are buying that freeport cutting dividend on lower commodity prices. copper has been strong the last several days because of the dollar's weak. it's ironic they're talking about that. there you see the weakness. want to let you know a big ipo next week. we'll talk about that tomorrow. nothing going on in ipos. but go daddy next week generating a lot of interest. that's a kkr deal a company you know well. >> yes, indeed. thank you very much bob pisani. let's head to the bond pits. rick santelli joins us from the cm cme group in chicago. >> this isn't much different than we've seen in a lot of mornings. the euro currency up powerfully 5 of the 6 last sessions.

it's given up a bit of ground. as you look at intraday of tens you can see we're dipping below 1.90, open the chart up. we'll do several charts starting in february. look at the pattern there. and of course there's two levels below traders will watch. 186 from the flash crash in october of last year. current yield low for the year around 163 to 165. keep that date. look at the pattern of continue year rates minus bund rates. look how similar it is. that is not lost on traders. keep the same day look at euro versus dollar doesn't quite look the same but the mirror image does. look at dollar index, it looks very similar as does the or several charts. what traders are look at is high correlations with regard to movement because of what's go on with the ecb and maybe delayed fed. last chart is dax, somewhat similar, less developed. of course new home sales yet. at the moment 1.10 the stopper

for euro and it backed away. pay attention to that level as well. back to you. >> thank you, rick santelli. french authorities said they expect no survivors after a german plane carrying at least 142 passengers and 6 crew members crashed in southern france. joining us washington nbc's tom costello, who will give us more details. >> the flight left barcelona early in spain and departed for dusseldorf germany, but at about 10:47 a.m. the plane ran into trouble, that is when pilots transcoded out an emergency on their transpotter. transmitted 7700 the emergency signal for a mechanical problem in flight. it then saw the plane descend in a rather orderly fashion from 38,000 feet down to 5,000 feet and then it appears disappeared. we believe the plane may have crashed into a mountain at that point in southern alps. at this point, a remote area

the rescue teams on the scene do not believe there arefully survivors. the queekey's to find the black boxes, cockpit voice and flight data recorders which should tell investigators what was happening between the pilots what were they saying what problem were they dealing with and in addition what was happening mechanically to the plane, to the engines, what were the flaps like, what was the seings what was the head the speed, all of that will be on that flight data recorder. but this may be a while because it is in such a remote area. this is the first time that this germanwings airline, which is a budget airline, owned by lufthansa, the first time it has been involved in a fatal crash. the first fatal crash for lufthansa since 1993. the first fatal crash involvinging aa commercial airliner in france since the concord crash in 2000. more questions than answers but when you have 90% to 95% of

crashes occurring on take-off or landing, it's extraordinarily rare to have an event in flight like this which leads to several scenarios which might include the crew or all of the passengers incapacitated by a cabin pressure event, about a smoke event, by a fire event. we simply don't know and probably won't know until we end up getting that flight data recorder and the cockpit voice reporter. a lot of people in shock and mourning in the early stage of this investigation. back to you. >> thank you, tom costello from nbc. an analyst whose new price target on apple calls for market cap close to $1 trillion. we'll be right back.

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after the underwriting discount taking in $1 billion. also, by the way, separately they did $1 billion agragregate principal of 1.25 convertible senior notes in 2010. whiting raises a good amount of money, at significant delusion to shareholders, 30 bucks. i was hearing it would be. >> wells fargo, it's all very good wells fargo, they're saying they announced debt equity deal logical moves, shores up balance sheet, good to do before it closes the window. last line says what we believe that whiting scale, asset quality within one of u.s.' preeminent group plays means the company will remain on the short list of potential takeout targets. >> unclear why they would -- why anybody would buy and/or move to sell after they have just sold -- >> right. wouldn't you strike -- >> -- a billion worth of stock. >> these guys have a hold on it. i would say that you do not own

this for the takeout now. you point it because you think oil can go back you own it because the bakken if you think the bakken stuff is very good it's like lighter fluid. >> right. >> i -- by the way, whiting, before they bought kodiak was one of my favorites. i didn't like the kodiak buy because it was expensive. people didn't know oil was going to crash. >> that's the whiting post. we say offering there, it's done. so they priced it at $30 a share, that's where it got done. as i said jpmorgan calling, saying any bid's a good bid, we'll take it. talking about a stock that was 39. >> this is the first one of the deals other than goodrich where it smacks of desperation. >> you can keep an eye on it. it is as you saw, the post behind us they haven't opened the stock as yet. >> i'm not negative on the market as the market indicates here. i think there's potential leadership. i'm seeing nasdaq names come forward. the problem is when you have all of the stocks sloshing around it has to find a home first

because it's kind of debilitating to people saying wait a second we can't all guy google although i like porat. >> you like porat. >> very much. >> the stock's up almost 2%. more red than green thus far. >> sons has that problem with set top boxes. >> not that big a part of cisco. >> no. i mentioned john chambers could tell you it's not, john would say, jim, come clean, we do have this business. i think the world of john. i think he's -- cisco, my charitable trust, the stock goes higher. >> higher. got it. where's your apple watch? >> i don't have an apple watch. >> waiting for the breitling. when is that coming to me? "stop trading" with jim.

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entree to "stop trading." come on. >> i kind of jumped the gun. >> only thing i'm here for. time now for cramer and "stop trading." >> i think people are going like mccormack -- allen wilson is an amacing guy. it's a baltimore company. people from baltimore and philadelphia have chips on their shoulder, like we're great and you're not. mccormick, plotting along. people say why don't generics hurt? they make those, too it's imim impossible to cook without mc mccormick it doesn't work. >> you need your surprises. >> variety is the spice of life. we all need mccormick you see mccormick. mccormick is worldwide. mccormick is a great company. once again, people doubting it thought they -- they wrote it off, they don't have the growth. wilson delivers. mccormick goes higher and that could help the consumer package

group. i think the biotechs can bounce back, google's a leader. and netflix is responding to the pied piper saying is it going to be in new a la carte menu when we used to go out we had no money, never order allahla la cart. maybe the a la carte's not as cheap as we think. i'm from philadelphia. we want price fixed. don't order like the lobster. never order the soda until the food comes because otherwise you'll have two. >> you'll fill up. >> that's the legacy of the depression. speaking. >> what do you have on "mad" tonight? >> yesterday, the amn, this is susan ringing the bell knows more about the man power of health care and michael small, go go a company, you're familiar, if you tried

in-flight, wi-fi. i know that there's some dispute which is the best. we want to hear what go go has to say. >> see you later. i'll be in new jersey. >> that was fun. what do you -- >> don't even -- i was just -- got to go. we better go. coming up, breaking news on new home sales top of the hour. live interview with commerce secretary penny pritzker. we'll be right back. at mfs, we believe in the power of active management. our teams collaborate around the world, which leads to better decisions for our clients. put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without collaboration. hello. i am here to offer sophisticated investing strategies. my technology can help you choose the right portfolio. monitor it.

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good morning. welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm simon hobbs with sara eisen and david faber. carl is off on assignment today. marks relatively flat. we've got breaking news at this hour. new home sales out. let's go to chicago. rick santelli with the numbers. rick? >> well, we had a hit, we had a miss. the hit, new home sales for february, up close to 8%. really jumping over expectations coming out at 539,000 units seasonally annualized and adjusted. that's up 7.8, to be exact. the miss the march read on richmond fed, minus 8. we haven't had a minus number in exactly one year, mar of of last

year minus 5. of course that fits in on the housing number. this is a powerful number because you have to go back quite a ways to find a stronger number. i'm looking like april of '08, april of '80, have not had a number as strong as 559,000. housing isn't correcting and healing as fast as we want. but this number is a step in the right direction. sara, back to you. >> all right. rick you, know that means. we've got to go do diana olick for more color on the strong numbers. >> yes strong to say the least. we had a revision to january's numbers, from 481,000 to 500,000. so really great overall. supply 4.7, that's very low, we were at 5.4 month supply. that's the crux of the problem today, so few existing homes for sale realtors are begging them to build more. supply dropped dramatically to a 4.7 month supply.

prices went up again. they went up over about 4% from 268,000 a year ago in february to 275,500. builders tell you they're building higher of-end stuff, seeing higher demand. we need to see people sell existing homes move up to pricier homes to get first-time buyers in get inventory available. it's a great sales number. love to see a better housing starts number. back to you. >> a lot of people in europe very shaken today. let me take you live to cologne in germany, where the germanwings news conference the low cost subsidiary of lufthansa is it to start a news conference. lufthansa confirmed the crash of flight 9525. carrying 144 passengers and 6 crew members. we will bring you any additional news from that news conference as we work our way through.

phil lebeau joins us from chicago. what are you able to tell us? >> right now they're trying to see how quickly they can get to the crash area which is in a remote part of the friend. alps at about 6500 feet. it's in a remote area that is act sell ibl only by helicopter not by foot. let me show you on a map where this plane went down. it was en route from barcelona to dusseldorf when the plane crashed. in this area, there are reports that there are some helicopters that have gone up have seen some debris, but it is in a crevasse with a steep terrain area. so it's going to take some time for rescue and search crews to get to that area to get some more information. let's talk about this plane. the a-320 had 150 people on board, 144 passengers, 7 crew members. it crashed at 10:47 a.m. 52 minutes into flight. we do know that the pilots were able to sent out an emergency alert shortly before the plane went down but it was in a rapid

descent, not a free-fall but rapid descent. the germanwings a-320 that we're talking about here flight number 4u9525 built in 1991. i've had people saying is that an old plane in? in airline terms it's above average in terms of middle aged planes but it's within the range of planes that can be flown for commercial services. and again, when taking a look at what happened here take a look at map, the pilots did send out an emergency alert. in the span of less than ten minutes the plane descended 30,000 feet. talking 35,400 feet per minute. the pilots wanted to get to the ground as quickly as possible but we don't know what may have prompted this. was it a mechanical issue? was there some type of incident on board the plane? at this point, we have to wait to see when we get flight data recorders. that's when we'll have a better

sense of what exactly happened. as we've been talking about all morning, it's highly unusual for a plane, at cruising altitude to have an incident that causes it to crash. most crashes, about 90%, 95% happen at take-off and at landing. when something happens in the middle of the flight like this it tends to be mechanical and severe in nature and that's obviously what receiveseen here hopefully we'll get more information when they find the flight data recorders to know what happen on board the a320. >> terrifying. 30,000 feet in 10 minutes? >> yeah. >> terrifying. joining us on the phone, the former ntbs chairman jim hall. welcome. this is a real work horse for business and leisure travelers. there are, i believe, 6,000 a320s in service, another 5,000 on order 0 from the airline industry. what would you say to people watching now?

>> well the aviation industry responds -- is organized to respond, unfortunately, to events like this. hopefully we will find out through the recorders what occurred whether this is operational or mechanical or some sort of potential criminal activity. you can't rule anything out at this point. >> yes. our colleague tom costello at nbc in d.c. is reporting that a digital code was sent out, 7700. which would toned suggestend to suggest it was a mechanical problem. i'm not sure if you're able to spread any light on that detail. the descent of the craft was extremely rapid. if you -- this is not your area i assume ntsb won't be on the ground here but what would the priorities be now? >> well the first priority of course, is going to be to get to

the crash site, even though there has been indication that there are no survivors. it's important to verify that fact on the ground and hopefully that can be done very soon. also the recorders will be the very first item that the rescue crews will be looking for once they verify that there are no survivors of the aircraft. and reading out those recorders, hopefully will provide information although we still are lacking one of the items that i would have recommended in 1999 as chairman of the nstb, cameras in the cockpit. >> i assume they're going to be looking for the black box, figure out the conversation between the pilot and the co-pilot. obviously, we're speculating at this point jim, but how does an aircraft lose that kind of

attitude so quickly? what are the possibilities of what could have happened? >> well you know there could have been any number of things from some sort of mechanical problem or even an operational failure, as we saw in the air france accident off the coast of brazil. so it's -- you know the rapid descend certainly indicates they had a problem, i guess there's information that is constantly being communicated mechanically from this plane to the ground. so there may be more information that lufthansa has that will be revealed in this press conference in the near future. >> mr. hall let me take you back to the point that you made that you when you were at ntsb pressuring for there to be cameras in the cockpits. when we lost of course, the

malaysian flight in asia there was a similar discussion about whether aircraft should really be streaming data on a continual basis basis somewhere, where we can see it instantaneously and form a better opinion in realtime. why is the airline industry not bending to those requests? >> well the international civil aviation organization is looking at deployable recorders which is another item i've recommended, as well as realtime transmission. but the realtime information is really more for the location of the aircraft. it cannot transmit enough data to provide, you know an exact picture of what happened. you know as you know how many aircraft are in the sky at any one particular time the amount of data to be transmitted, i don't think we are there yet,

with being able to be sure that can be done in a secure manner. >> we seem to be doing it with the apple watch but let's leave that to one side sir. clearly, no flights have been grounded at the moment. why is that? is that simply a cost benefit analysis there were too many flights in the air now? >> well no. i think it is a practical analysis that aviation is extremely safe. if there were to be another aviation incident in the immediate future then you might want to ground the aircraft as we saw on 9/11. but you know one aircraft accident as regrettable as it is, is unfortunately very -- is fortunately very rare in our day and time. >> it's good to talk to you, sir, thank you for joining us at short notice. jim hall former ntsb chairman.

>> let's talk about these markets now. a turnaround here early in the trading session. u.s. stocks are actually higher now. the dow's up by three after better economic date it we got consumer prices earlier, rising for the first time since october, and the new home sales just out with a nice positive surprise. most we've seen in years. let's bring in michelle meyer and bill stone, chief investment strategy at pnc asset management. new home sales numbers encouraging want does it say about the health of the housing mark and sort of the bumps that we have seen lately? is it because of the bad weather? >> the dow is very noisy. there's conflicting signals out of the recent indicators. new home sales today strong for february. housing starts out earlier in the month were weak particularly for single family building. and it looked like the weather really held back single family starts. i think it probably suggests that the fact that new home sales looked healthier, demand is improving and we will get the

rebound in the spring months in terms of construction. so i think you do want to take this as a positive read on the housing market. the improvement in the labor market, i think, matters a great deal for housing. people have jobs feel more confident they will have their jobs in the future as well. >> is it enough bill to keep equity markets propelled, already sitting near record highs. a data-dependent fed. how is the data looking for you? do you have a clear sense of it? >> well i think as we were talking about here well the first quarter so far in the u.s. anyway has been soft. so that's been difficult. i think maybe the better news all these the housing number today was good and helpful we think it turned around. we're looking for over 3% gdp growth here in the u.s. but obviously you've got to see the real data. i think the other big part of the story is that we're seeing some improvement out of europe. we got the pmis out of europe overnight and because of the

size of the economy and finally finding maybe some legs underneath it there's some you know, less i guess, nervousness around the -- some of the earnings picture here in the u.s. >> that's an important point, the stronger european economy should help our earning. is it enough to blunt some of the impact of the strong dollar which people have been very worried about? >> you know i don't know it may help the dollar side. i think you're seeing it in the sense that the dollar's selling off a bit. the bigger issue on the headline number's energy which obviously we'll ven actually europe will help out with in the sense they have demand for energy but takes a lot of time. if you set aside the energy and just kind of look at things i'll say controllable by in the shorter term by the economies yes, i think that should help stabilize that picture and perhaps improve it. >> michelle there's been so much fed speak in the last 24 hours, williams bullard on the

tape stanley fischer, vice chairman, it seems like they're sending the same signal and that is, yes, we're looking at raising interest rates this year but don't be too scared it's going to be gradual, it's going to be a steady increase in rates. is that the message? >> i think they're trying to emphasize this idea they are going to be normalizing policy. they're not starting aggressive hiking cycle. they're not hiking to cool an overheated economy but normalizing from the extraordinary accommodation that we had when we were still fighting a deep recession. so, yeah that is the right message. of course, it's data dependent. we need to see that rebound in growth into the second quarter. we need to see consistent job growth and signs that inflation is trending higher. >> what's the message you're taking away, bill, as an equity market investor from the federal reserve? does it impact your decisions here when it comes to stocks? >> you know it certainly, at least in the short run, obviously the markets are taking

away that the fed is going to keep rates lower longer. i think the market's more thinking september. we actually think it may be as quick as july for us. but you know you see interest rate sensitive stocks rallying in particular last week. but i think i take away the same story which is the fed's raising rates or going to eventually raise rates because the economy's getting stronger though that may cause volatility in the markets in the u.s. the longer story or the intermediate term story is a positive one and it's supportive. >> utilities, consumer staples and information technology stocks higher again today. thanks for the conversation. it's a flat market with the dow up three and the s&p 500 up half a point. final arguments in the gender discrimination trial of ellen powell in san francisco. our own scott cohn is at the courthouse with more. a lot of people watching this decision. >> reporter: that's right. not just because of ellen powell

but because this case hasek posed what was a dirty little secret in silicon valley it is very much a boy's club. the question is whether allen powell is the proper poster woman to tell the story. no question she's got the credential credentials, 45, princeton undergrad, harvard business, harvard law, joined as a junior partner at venture capital firm and claims that she was prevented from going further because of the pervasive gender bias at the firm. the allegations, gender discrimination that she was denied promotions denied opportunities for compensation because of her sex and denied the ability to serve on corporate boards that she might otherwise have been able to do. the company retaliated after she broke off a consensual affair with a senior partner and further after she filed this lawsuit in 2012. also that kleiner perkins reveal

prevailed to prevent bias. the judge ruled she can try to collect punitive damages. in addition to $16 million in actual damages, she says she suffered this verdict, if it goes her way could go into the hundreds of millions. kleiner perkins presented a different picture of ellen powell, someone notoriously difficult to get along with not promoted but a lot of men were not promoted at the same time and they trotted out experts that said this firm relatively speaking good for women. in the four-week trial of who's who in silicon valley the legendary senior partner john door was on the stand. mary meeker queen of the internet, said it is a good place for women although she was well established in the business before she became a seen why partner. and so today the order of business instructions to jury that will get under way a short time from now, closing arguments from both sides, more jury instructions and the jury will get this case likely some time

this afternoon. no matter what they decide guys, this has already had implications for silicon valley in the way things are done in what has been a boys club. >> we'll watch for the ver. scott cohen on an important trial in san francisco. coming up, mississippicrosoft morgan stanley loses its cfo and google gains. can the run in pharma and health stocks continue. sara's interview with secretary of commerce penny pritzker. that's straight ahead.

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your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ the dow's up tip points. over to dom chu. >> home builder stocks are up more than that that on the heel of the better than expected new home sales number for february which sits at seven-year high. share of k.b. home lennar you name them all upside standouts in the market. also trades to watch as we head into sara afternoon session. back over to you. >> yep, after we saw the build in new home sales, highest since february 2080. one of the most powerful women on wall street to become one of the most powerful women in silicon valley. ruth porat stepping down to be cfo of google. mary thompson has more. you've spoken with her a number of times. >> that's right. leaving a firm that she's called home 28 year one where porat served as investment banking,

covering tech and financial firms and part of the senior management team. in a memo ceo james gorman wrote with a heavy heart we see her goal. ruth's work has been instrumental in putting morgan stanley on our front foot again. named cfo january 2010. when she joins google the tech giant will be getting an executive who not only has deep experience running a balance sheet but navigating corridors of washington, d.c. as morgan stanley's cfo she guided the firm through a changing regulatory landscape. during the financial crisis she led the team advising the treasury on handling fannie mae and freddie mac. advised new york fed on its efforts to save aig. president obama considered her for deputy secretary though porat withdrew her name. seen as a possible successor to gorman and a mentor to many

especially women at the firm weep did have a chance to speak with her at morgan's executive women's conference which porat spearheaded. >> i wanted to focus on something that brought together women from the investing and the corporate side and the theme of the conference has been getting the edge. >> porat will be succeeded the morgan stanley by jonathan pruzan, co-head of the firm's global financial institutions group. he'll take that role at the end of april. >> it's david. you know it's funny, you think porat and out toman, i don't want to say a huge echo does but at least two people who could have taken over for gorman at some point, though he's still a young man, have left the firm in the last year or so. >> no, i think you point out something that a number of people have been talking about, that being said as you said, mr. gorman, i believe, is 55 56, it isn't expected he's going anywhere soon. given what he's done with the

company, i don't think anyone's anxious to see him leave. as you said two very key people athat the firm left recently and that raises questions about what's happening within that firm but morgan stanley will tell you they have a very deep bench. >> where does this leave women in position of power on wall street? >> well you do have morgan stanley -- excuse me jpmorgan of course, you have the cfo there, she's a woman, her name escape me -- >> marion lake. >> thank you. i apologize for that. mary erdos who runswell management firm at jpmorgan. so there are women in very high powered positions on wall street but again, porat held one of these positions for a long time. she joins a group in silicon valley, you try to think of women in the top tier of the executive groups. of course you have katz the cf

om o of google. >> oracle. >> co--ceo. >> and sam berg. >> not many. >> the trial puts it in perspective scott cohen was covering today. >> coming up check on high flying pharma stocks exclusive interview with penny pritzker the commerce secretary. we'll be right back on squawk on the street. f "no regrets" ♪ plays throughout ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

biotech getting all of the attention. big pharma stocks on a roll this year. take a look at spdr pharmaceutical etf, up 20%. if you look at health care sector, it's done better. a rally of almost 30% over the last 12 months.

joining us now, cnbc contributor and partner at claremont partners, barbara ryan. >> good morning. >> a lot of people -- i'm loving the way these stocks have performed but there will be people who are concerned they've missed out. >> absolutely. i mean these stocks whether it's biotech, pharma health care have had enormous runs but we have too look at a number of things that are really driving. one is the level of innovation. this morning merck announce they'd halted a trial early for a a drug as it beat out the first drug in that market bristol-myers. this is great stuff. you know biogen last week with some really compelling although early and small number of patients data and alzheimer's, a graveyard for development. almost every year hcv drugs that cure 98% of patients in 12 weeks combined with the fact we see tremendous consolidation.

>> this is a one-offstructural charng the change? >> big pharma they have to buy and see whether the huge prices that's profitable. is it a one-off change to position for in. >> i think that the reality is that this iseshas been go on since the beginning of time weep tend to go through cycles where there's tremendous productivity in r and d and other periods they drill dry holes if you will. people looked at gilead's purchase at $11 billion several years ago, as being crazy, and now of course you know they'll probably have $11 billion in sales from one single drug. so you know beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. >> what do we buy? what should people look at now in. >> you've got companies like

actavis the mark is high on prospects. >> that's not innovation, is it? it's due to the role of strategy they seem to be pursuing? and the fact they're inverted as well, which done hurt. >> you bring up a great point. don't forget they're going to spend close to $2 billion in r&d, allergan's a company driven by innovation by botox but your points well taken. the market is going to be -- is going to continue in this environment to be willing to pay a lot, a big premium for growth. companies like pfizer which are finally innovating in their own right, and also continue to deliver shareholder value, they just bought hispe rflt a. >> pfizer's innovating? >> they just introduced a drug for breast cancer, a

revolutionary immunooncology drug. in addition to financially innovating. >> yes, to lead the charge there. >> and i think biotech companies, like his sparian that have had great data come through. all of the companies this year that have done secondaries and done straight up radius health another one. development stage companies that have phase iii assets that have yet to be partnered, driving a lot of value. >> good to see you. >> great to see you. >> thank you for your time. barbara ryan from claremont partners. >> spiky today, david. you should go on vacation more often. wow. coming up an update on the plane crash in europe and then an interview with a commerce secretary, penny pritzker. we'll be right back.

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the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. good morning. i'm sue herera. here's your cnbc update. search teams struggling to get to the remote region in the french alps where a jet carrying 150 people crashed today. a website that tracks passenger jetted revealed the flight path of the a320 jet en route from barcelona, spain to dusseldorf germany. no survivors are expected. we'll have more throughout the program. afghanistan's president

visit arlington national cemetery this morning paying his respects at tomb of the unknowns. he was accompanied by vice president biden and defense secretary ashton carter. ghani is scheduled to meet with president obama later today. india's economic growth will top china's as growth in china is expected to slow. an jellgelina jolie has written an on-ed. in 2013 she announced she had a preventive double mastectomy. there that is your cnbc news update at this hour. back to you. america is open for business and foreign investment the message president obama delivered yesterday to more than 1200 investors and executives. >> i want to talk about why mesh

america's not the only the right place for you to invest but why america's the safest strongest, smartest, place for you to invest than we've been in a very long time. >> however, new government data found that such investment actually fell 60% last year and given the dollar surge, some are worried about new money coming in. joining us now exclusive from the select usa investment summit u.s. secretary of commerce, penny pritzker. good to see you, mrs. secretary. >> great to be with you. >> so there is some concern that the strong dollar makes it more expensive for foreigners to invest here. i know david ruben stein said that was a hot topic of conversation at this summit. do you see that as a barrier to investment? >> you know what i see at the summit is the fact that america's open for business. we have over 1,000 foreign firm that here with us that are interested in doing business. we have 500 economic development officers from around all 50

states and 6 territories. and what's happening here at our summit is a lot of business. and that's what i'm hearing about. while the strong dollar may be something that is being talked about, most of these companies are looking at investing in the united states for a very long time. they know the dollar fluctuates up and down. they want to be here because they see the strongest consumer market in the world. they see the largest market in the world. they see a place that respects rule of law and intellectual property protection. they know we invest in r&d, we have some of the great -- 16 of the 25 greatest universities in the world. this is a place they want to be. and most important, they see the productivity and the ingenuity and creativity of our workforce. i have been talking to ceos for the last 48 hours and what they're interested in is being here. >> what type of questions do you field from them? we also have among the highest corporate tax rates and we also

are struggling to get trade deals done and have a sort of gridlocky partisan environment in washington. is that the kind of concerns and questions you're getting? >> no. the two issues that i really am getting are how do i get started? so what we did is we put on a select usa boot camp on sunday for 300 companies interested in how do i begin investing in the united states. the other issue i hear about is visas. we have been working the state department has been working at both our embassies and consulates to be able to get processed visas more quickly. the president and president she agreed to extend the visas with china to continue years, which is improving our visa. and then yesterday, the -- there was an announcement that we're clarifying how one gets an l1b visa for foreign firms that want to send a technical expert to work with the company, how

will they be able to get the person in the country more easily. we're doing things to make it easier for firms, both american firms to do business abroad and export, but foreign firms to do business here. you know why? we know that those firms create good jobs. >> yeah. you know one of the sources of strnt that you strength is the energy revolution in the country. now that oil prices have plunged 50 plus percent, do you see that as harmful to a large part of our economy that was growing, robust, hiring and that was spending? >> well what i'm seeing is first of all, lower oil prices is good for the consumer it puts more money in the consumer's pocket. second manufacturing firms are seeing a boon because of their cost of energy has declined. so you know there's, yes, a little bit less investment in oil productivity or production,

but they're seeing a lot of counter veiling positives and frankly the u.s. is still the number one energy producer in the world. so net-net the united states is in a good position. and low cost and abundant energy is actually attracting more firms to wanting to invest in the united states. >> i'm curious also with your take on jobs because it's been a while since we've spoken. the unemployment rate has fallen down to 5.5% more jobs are being created since before the financial crisis and the recession. but why haven't wages picked up? >> what do you see as the problem here? >> i think what's happening is you're seeing job creation grow and you're seeing -- wages really depends on what sector you're talking about. if you look in data oriented jobs or technology areas, there's enormous growth in wages. and so there's -- it depends on really which sector. i also think, as unemployment continues to fall, as we have

more and more businesses growing here in america, more and more businesses wanting to invest here in america, i think you will see wages grow. >> already. the case for america, madam secretary, always good to talk to you. thanks for joining us from the select usa conference. secretary penny pritzker. >> thank you. coming up on "squawk alley," an analyst who has used price targets on apple call for a market cap close to $1 trillion. we'll be right back. at mfs, we believe in the power of active management. our teams collaborate around the world, which leads to better decisions for our clients. put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without collaboration.

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the s&p 500 is little changed but take a look at consumer staples moving higher. in the lead dom chu back at hq with more on my favorite sector. >> yes, it is your favorite sector, consumer products in focus. staple stocks the top performing s&p. keurig green mountain pepsico led by shares of spice and seasonings maker mick core mick the best performer in the s&p 500 consumer staples sector on the heels of reporting better than expected earnings and sales. shares up by 5%. simon, you could say they're spicing up the morning trade. back over to you. thanks dom. french authorities expect no survivors after a german plane carrying at least 142 passengers and 6 crew members crashed today in southern france. we have a team effort on this. one of them cnbc's willford

frost join us from london. >> thank you for that. yes, we've heard more details in the last half hour press conference from the ceo of germanwings the aircraft carrier. he confirmed to us that the flight took off from barcelona 5:01 eastern time, it was en route to dusseldorf and reached its regular cruising high of 38,000 feet by 5:45 a.m. and then took eight minutes to decline to 6,000 feet. it had that decline because of character via radar not with the cockpit than decline is still unexexplained unexexplained. we lost coloradontact 5:45 and crashed thereafter into the alps in southeast of france. it's still at an altitude around 6,000 feet. that is why at the moment the passengers are not confirms to have been dead but sadly thought to have passed away. there were 150 souls on board,

so we have learned more about the aircraft. it's an a320 with lufthansa since 1991 the ceo has no issue with age of the aircraft the captain had over ten years of flight experience including more than 6,000 hours flight experience on an a320. that is the latest. the search operation continues, helicopters spotted wreckage but haven't reached the wreckage on the ground. back to you. >> thank you. we'll be right back.

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get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. . welcome back to "squawk on the street." rick santelli here. new home sales were pretty good today. i'm going to welcome my guest, a housing guy, thanks mark hanson for taking the time today. >> you're welcome. >> all right. so when i comb through the data here's what jumped out at me. about prices and financing, financing for 30-yaer fixed is close to 3.75. the historic low at 3.31. financing isn't the issue. prices, though they were down

when you look at the sequential down close to 5% year over year a very small increase of 2.6 with looking at it through those prisms what do you see in explaining today's new home sales number? >> low rates, plunge in rates, always spurs demand it staelgs demand from the future. we've seen that for the past five or six years. in today's headline number we're -- i've talked to you about this now for years, rick it's called the laws of low numbers, aggressive rounding and season al lal adjustments. does anybody really believe that northeast sales jumped 87% year over year in february while midwest dropped 4%? it's not like everybody in the northeast goes out house shopping when they're snowed in. we have a situation where you take all four regions round them up or down to the nearest thousand, sometimes 12 sprinkle seasonal adjustments on top and come out with wild 10% up or down changes. say the trend is higher which

the trend is slightly higher running 4le85,000 -- >> we need to keep it in context but they are improving. continue. >> we're trending slightly higher we're still 40%, 50% below 30-yaer averages and consensus estimates for the nirvana world we had one or two years ago we were going to go into were supposed to be 650 to 700,000 this year. demand is weak. we've had a demand less house price recovery, not a demand recovery in housing. what's it going to take to get that demand up? lower rates. much lower rates. exotic loans coming back. income going through the roof. or house prices dropping. my contention is house prices have to come in because of the historical demand price divergence we've seen in this marketplace. we just simply --

>> i agree on all your list except for one. mortgage rates have to come a lot lower, once again, i really don't think that the issue is people can't afford a 3.75 new mortage. new home sales only about 17% of the entire housing market. give me what grade you think we're going tonish up the rest of the year for housing in general. >> this month in february we'll look really good compared to what the rest of the year will look like. especially if rates tick higher. remember, the southern region today made up 59% of all new home sales and responsible for 70% of the year over year gains in the southern region has serious headwinds with currency in oil. and, you know, this number has to be taken with a grain of salt. >> mark hanson thank you. thank you for showing up today and sara eisen, it's now in your court. >> thank you, rick santelli. we're going to change the topic to space. a virtual monopoly on space

exploration challenged by elon musk's spacex. jane wells has more with a look inside the united launch facility in alabama. >> as we've learned again today defying gravity is risky business. nothing defying gravity than the core booster of a delta rocket built by united launch alliance owned by boeing and lockheed martin. first time they've let anyone in here live. they've never been busier and never faced more fierce competition. >> this is a liquid oxygen tank for a delta 4 booster. >> ula builds the delta rockets here in a massive space but they're about to announce a new rocket one that would be powered by an american engine possibly by jeff bezos' blue origin. the new rocket is a direct challenge to elon musk's spacex which will start competing against ula for military launches claiming they can could it for less lowering costs here is critical. >> how much faster would you say it is now to put one of these together than when you started? >> when i started?

30 to 40% faster and we're expecting to get that same amount here in the next few years. >> now, ula has a perfect record of 94 launches. spacex has a shorter record much shorter, but perfect too and the presidents of both companies sparred before congress last week. >> i don't know how to build a $44 $400 million rocket the more difficult question how am i less expensive than ula, i don't understand how ula is as expensive as they are. >> from our perspective when launching national security missions some of which are mull it ty billion dollar one-of-a-kind assets upon which lives depend reliability matters. >> here is u rl's challenge. a new engine may not be ready until 2022. that is a gap which spacex may be able to exploit. we will ask ula's ceo tori bruno

in a live interview on power lunch. they want the public to name the new rocket eagle, freedom or galaxy 1 which abbreviates to go. back to you. >> all right. very cool shot. thanks very much jane wells, with the latest in the race for space. meantime internet stocks including amazon twitter and facebook are moving up this morning. top analyst mark mahaney will be on "squawk alley" live in just a few minutes. these days, the most important person in your business could be a software developer. so, how's the app coming? we've got to make something great. how's the app coming? we've got to do it fast. let's do this on bluemix. you can build apps with analytics, big data, even ibm watson. that could give us the edge. let's do this on bluemix. it can provide code for you. we could be first to market. because being best is priority one. being first is priority one. there's a new way to work and it's made with ibm.

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good morning. 8:00 a.m. at google headquarters in mountainview, california 11:00 a.m. on wall street and "squawk alley" is live. ♪ ♪ ♪ good tuesday morning. we've got a full house on "squawk alley" here at post nine. joining us is dennis berman