"squawk box" begins right now. good morning and welcome to "squawk box." i'm becky along with joe. andrew is joining some time off. we're listening to taylor swift because she was the win every last night. she took home a number of titles including artist of the year best lyrics for "blank space." we've been watching the futures and they're pointing to a positive open. a gain of 122 points where you look where it would be expected to open this morning. s&p futures look like they're indicated up by close to 13 points. and the nasdaq up by 40. probably good news after the lousy week last week for equity markets. there are two trading days left in the first quarter. at this point here is how things

stand. the s&p and dow both down more than 2% in march. as for the full quarter, the dow is down 0.6%. it is a short but busy week. the always important jobs report is due on friday morning and even though the markets will be closed we'll be here on "squawk box," at least joe will bringing you the numbers for the jobs report. we'll also be getting personal income and spending at 8:30 a.m. eastern time today and spending home sales at 10:00. >> united health right out of the gate at 6:00 is announcing that it is acquiring catamaran ct rx for $61.50 a share in cash. and that is not i don't know what that quote you're seeing right there is because this is going to move sharply higher i

think, united health probably can write a check that won't bounce on the deal is to be net earnings by 30 cents a share for united health by next year. by 2016. let's see, the company is also making some other comments and a firm 6.25 a share for 2015. the croweo of a catamaran will become the new ceo for pharmacy benefit manager. >> it's defining with united health group's free standing pharmacy group service. >> yeah. it is a pbm deal. we mentioned the 30 cents. it's just out of the gate. i haven't looked at the expected deal to close in the fourth quarter. united health shares are

indicated 116 to 128. i haven't seen any trades there. >> we have seen the pharmacy benefit management getting bigger and bigger and excerting their will over the drug companies in the situation. in the release it said that 2015 catamaran expects to fulfill more than 400 million prescriptions combined with the 600 million annual. it will combined the data to be a competitive force in the industry. we've seen express scripts kind of putting their pressure on the drug companies to say what they will and won't pay for. it seems like it's an industry where you have to be big to enforce your will on some of the drug companies. >> i don't even know catamaran. >> i've never heard of them. >> but we are seeing more and more clout from the companies and we're seeing cost pressures everywhere in health care. so take a look at that. i was just proud i remembered

united health care was -- here are the big -- >> go fast on a monday morning. here we go! other big stories we're watching. the nuclear talks with iran are going down to the wire. now new york times the lead story iran is reportedly refusing to shift nuclear fuel outside the country supposed to go to russia. that could be a sticking point. negotiators must agree to an outline by tomorrow midnight. iran one of the negotiators talking to reporters saying no way. the united states is saying there's other ways of sequestering it or something. but they have until june to fill in the details. there's still a lot of -- i don't know very questionable what finally happens here in terms of what the senate does here. netanyahu saying the deal is even worse than the one he was talking about. so we'll see. oil prices are lower this morning in part on potential on the potential for an iran deal. more on that story in a minute.

in other global news, the clock is ticking on the talks in greece between altogetherthens and the lenders are continuing the country's deputy finance minister said greece has not given up on the goal. meantime at home a bullish view of the u.s. this morning. a new survey of forecasters going point to the economy gaining strength this emperoryear as well as next. it tops 3%. and we have more from steve leaseman. and the guy -- he's the head guy -- did you know that? >> i didn't know that. >> and john will be us. he's a chief economist at wells fargo. he'll be with us in about 20 minutes. i was looking for the -- maybe it will be here the big lead story that i saw -- >> which was? >> which was -- seriously? >> the big lead story you're

talking about? >> lifestyle lift chapter 11. you've seen that one, right? >> where -- >> yes! >> no they use -- >> i don't know i've seen the commercial. >> they tried to -- they tried to -- i shouldn't be laughing because -- will >> why do you -- >> because i'm looking for a rut yutble company. it's plastic surgery for the masses. about 50 or so. and they do a lift. >> yeah. and for people that, unfortunately, need these things. none of us here do. but we have an -- bob got one. if i wanted one because i'm on tv. i'm perfectly entitled if i see fit, but, no -- >> an elective surgery. >> right. >> i don't like cutting my nails. i get nervous. i get scared. i don't like haircuts.

>> needles. >> i don't like needles. they did it with local anesthesia. that's how they pioneered a facelift with local anesthesia. give me the max. anyway, that's on the front page of the journal but then it's on page b 9. somehow we missed it. anyway. >> i skimmed over that one. let me tell -- >> you're young. so you'll be young forever. don't worry about it! let me tell you about corporate news that caught our attention fidelity is reportedly putting pressure on dupont to reach a settlement calling the dispute a proxy fight. it's the sixth larger shareholder. yahoo! and microsoft are extenldsing their search talks for 30 days. renegotiating a search deal put together by former executives. and the new york auto show kicks off this week. ford is bringing back the lincoln continental. it dates back to the '30s and once the pinnacle of luxury.

ford stopped making it in 2002. >> we all -- my parents would -- >> do you remember the doors, the back doors that opened like -- >> i do. my grandpa grandparents had one. >> really, you come from some -- >> no. >> this was a big -- >> that was -- >> in the '60s, you know, her say her say-- mercedes i guess some people wanted those. >> ford is looking to push it in china. the iran nuclear talks, saudi arabia attacking yemen and nigeria elections big events potential to have a significant impact on the energy markets today. rpc capital markets is here. ynt believe what the list of issues that i rattled off. we're talking about oil trading

below $50. >> right! it's the expectations. iranian officials saying we can put a million extra barrels on the market. everyone believes them. there's no sense there's a long path to getting a nuclear resolution. i think the market is getting ahead of itself believing an iran deal is done. >> what do you think -- you look at the iran deal being done. i'm talking about the tensions in the middle east. what is happening with yemen. with all of these things and oil below $50. >> what is amazing we were -- yemen is one of four middle eastern states involved in active fighting. saudi arabia amassing 150,000 troops on the border with yemen. it's the mother of all proxy wars with iran. you have nigeria announcing the election results. highly polarizing election there. we think geopolitical risk could be coming into the markets. everyone is focussed on the iran story now and the expectations you get the iranian barrels back in the near term. >> what would happen, i mean, it seems to me there's so much more unrest in the middle east than

we've seen in quite awhile. there's so much higher tension. >> yeah. >> how much does that actually play? what kind of premium. >> i think there's almost no premium now. what would you put on it? >> i think what you have to look for is there physical supply disruption. right now the story is about oversupply in the market because of north america. if you want to find out where you can lose physical barrels quickly that's where nigeria is important. we have lost sometimes 850,000 barrels. one of the most volatile states over the weekend river state. that's important because you can literally lose barrels quickly in the oil market. attention is not there now. it's on iran. >> it's also on as you mentioned the north american production. there's a huge school of thought that said we could be looking at peek peak production. we could look at more coming in filling up the capacity we have for any of the supply to be stored. what happens at that point? are you in that camp some people

said we could see $30 or below? >> what is an interesting question we're going to becoming out of refinery maintenance soon. the interesting question if you fill all the storage and you do push prices to $20 or $30 as some are saying is that what causes production finally to stop in the united states. is that what you need to slow the north american story down. >> it's not happening at $45 a barrel? >> you have the uncompleted wells. there's a school of thought you have a frank log once prices go up in the 0u6d and $70 they'll be bringing the production on. you need tow move significantly lower to significantly slow this. >> it's been part of my question. the idea that technology is allowing us to find more oil. i think it's allowing us to turn the spigot on and off more quickly. you may not see the highs and lows we've seen in the past. do you believe that we could look at a more moderated price? >> i think if we had no

geopolitical risk in the oil market then you could be talking about a moderated price. but, you know, the middle east still remains such an important production zone. when you have stories about the saudis, you know, putting new troops around oil facilities that kuwaitties bolstering oil securities. if you have one significant event in one of the countries, in iraq for example, that would push prices higher. we're not entirely free from the dependence on middle eastern oil for the market. >> thank you very much for coming on. >> thank you. and we probably heard by now news all weekend a backlash against indiana governor mike pence and his state's new religion use freedom law. he's defendsing the move. >> this is where the debate has gone with misinformation and -- >> it's just a question sir. yes or no? >> well, there's been shameless rhetoric about my state and about this law and about its intention all over the internet. people are trying to make it about one particular issue and now you're doing that as well.

>> some of the nation's biggest companies have been speaking out opposing the law. eli lily threatening to pull business from indiana. the latest well known ceo to talk apple tim cook. he writes in part that in his words america's business community recognized a long time the discrimination in all forms is bad for business. he goes on to say on behalf of apple, i'm standing up to im imoppose the new waive of legislation. i'm writing that hopes in many more will join the movement from north carolina to nevada. and these bills under consideration truly will hurt jobs, growth and the economic vibrancy of the parts of the country where 21st century economy was once welcomed with open arms. and john harwood joins us from d.c. this morning. i don't know the specifics, john because there are existing laws in a number of states that they say are similar, but then i

saw that supposedly there are parts of the indiana law that are different and go i guess in the detractors words that go even further. do you know the details on the specifics? i don't know how to parse the differences, joe on the laws in 19 other states and indiana. but i know that at this particular moment to press this has gotten mike pence in a buzz saw. reshows the reaction of the multinational and national firms angie's list, apple. the limits of what red state governors can do on issues they may think are unremarkable. mike pence yesterday on steph no lis's show say there other states that have one. bill clinton signed a law that contained provisions similar to this.

that all may be true but in 2015, he's in a position given how fast public opinion has shifted on these issues and where they sort of political center of gravity has gone it's put him in a real bind. >> yeah. and i didn't realize what you said about the president or bill clinton. but you're right. it's moved the favorability for same sex marriage is in 60 or so? >> yeah. the fastest changing social issue in the recorded history of polling. it you're mike pence, you're a conservative republican you've come up politically in a world where the views that he's expressing and the desire to stand up for those who feel aggrieved by the expansion of support for same-sex marriage.

it's sort of like a almost a routine kind of step to say, yeah, i stand with you and we can't -- the government can't force you to violate your conception of practicing your religion. but he has been overtaken by an accelerating shift in public opinion that we just haven't seen before. and i think that's the reason why i would say in arizona, jan brewer resisted a law of the kind that mike pence has signed. an jan brewer is also a republican. >> john, i don't understand the specifics enough to get it. i understand where people say because of the law you could somehow choose to not serve people in your establishment to not do business with them because you disagree with their way of life. whether it's because you choose not to i don't know provide a cake for same-sex marriage. i get that and understand clearly that is discrimination we've been trying to prevent for years. mike pence said it's one small

aspect of the law that was not intended to be there. what is the intexntion of the law? >> what mike pence and proponents of the law are doing is saying we're standing against government comepelling you to do something you think violates your religion. i think the government compulsion in this case has to do with government authorizing same-sex marriage. so that by the fact of government authorizing same sex marriage that is a government step that in the view of the propoebts points of the law would force a retailer in the circumstances you mentioned, becky, to serve a customer who is participating in something they think is offensive to their religion. i think that's the theory behind the law. >> but, i mean, that's like saying if a by racial couple walked in and you didn't feel like serving them you could say no. >> exactly. >> basic premise is something

that has been learn. >> that's why tim cook is speaking out. >> i don't know if that's religious grounds. >> i'm sure you could find somebody. >> that's a weird religion. >> i think it's something simpler. i may be a lapse catholic but can you -- you imagine knowing people eat meat on friday and say you're not getting flowers here, pal. i saw you walk out of burger king but then i bet you didn't get the fish sandwich. it's absurd. >> you are illustrating how uphill the fight is for mike pence and the proponents of the law. >> because that's what i never really understood. what i can't understand in this day and age you know what people do or why would that affect me what they do. that's what i don't understand. it's like i can practice my religion exactly how i want to and -- >> but you can't make everybody else practice it that way.

>> right. because it would be a slippery slope. what if you have weird religion you founded, you know, take your pick. >> this is a bit of the conundrum facing the republican party. >> right. >> while the national opinion on this issue of same-sex marriage is rapidly moving you still have a critical mass of the republican presidential field standing up against that. ted cruz when he announced last week saying no we support traditional marriage. and that's because that's a very popular position with the people who vote in republican presidential primaries. do you accommodate yourself to the broader public opinion or appeal to those in the republican base? if you're a republican presidential candidate, most are choosing to appeal to the base now. so is mike pence himself is considered a potential presidential candidate. >> right. >> we had eric can ton-- cantor on.

i said no one is asking you to marry a man. what difference is it to you? that's what i don't get. but, i mean, i think that's pretty common. anyway i hear the music. >> you're not going to congratulate me on duke? >> yeah that was pretty good. i watched it. they looked strong. they look strong. i -- i don't know i wish i picked all the top teams. i got some bad advise. >> the final four with michigan state. >> michigan state, i'll tell you, what i have come to realize is that all of these teams have a lot of talent. somehow a coach can bring out something. great coaches can bring out maximum performance from a lot of guys who are all good. >> it is a great coach.

he. >> he is! look how far louisville went. congratulations, john. i say that with great love and affection and -- >> appreciate it -- >> -- and honesty. when we come back ben bernanke defends the fed. why interest rates are solo low. first, a look back at this date in history. ♪ i am never getting married. never. psssssh. guaranteed. you picked a beautiful ring. thank you. we're never having kids. mmm-mmm. breathe. i love it here. we are never moving to the suburbs. we are never getting one of those (minivan). we are never having another kid. i'm pregnant. i am never letting go. for all the nevers in life state farm is there.

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steve leaseman is here. he joins us on set. ben bernanke becoming a blogger today. this is news. >> yeah. he's basically been speaking at private affairs for lots of money. well into six figures. and now he's sort of said i left the fed and the capable hands of janet yellen. i can comment on, you know, a current economic issues. >> but does he do that and get into fed policy? >> he does a little bit. except he does it in a way that is not all that controversial except for one thing that we can talk about. let me say what he said. he's penning this blog at the brooklyn's institution and he's defending low interest rates the way it is. here are some of the things he

said. he said low interest rates are not a short term aberration and he points out something that has been going down for a long time. he complains about what he calls confused criticism of the federal reserve. basically saying that the fed is setting rates commence rate with the market and is trying to affect real rates and real rates are determined essentially by the market. one area where we gets into a little bit of controversy. he point outs the major central banks in the past prematurely raise rates. he doesn't say anything in the current fed. but being on the cusp of the interest rates. you wonder if there's a tweak saying the maybe the fed ought to be careful. >> we brought this up a million times. rates where they wouldn't be just left at their own devices. given the global interest rate picture are they really held artificially low by central bankers or does the global growth picture warrant where

rates are. >> he's pointing everybody to real interest rates. >> i wish he wouldn't write a blog. it's like former presidents need to shut up too. >> we appreciate -- >> we do. >> first of all, the guy is one of -- monetary policy experts in the world. don't we want the benefit -- >> with the blog and he sounds defensive. >> he's out there talking to private groups. why shouldn't the broader public have the benefit? >> you see the car commercial where the october again their wants the blog and the car has wi-fi. >> right. >> and that reminds me of the same thing. you're too old to blog. you know? it reminded me of her. i wonder if he goes whoa! have you seen that? >> i have. >> the march madness -- >> yeah. one of the 50 i've seen every commercial to man because i'm

watching live sports. i'm stuck. they have a captive audience. >> how is your bracket doing? >> the brackets are dead to me. >> dead to you? >> yeah. you know -- >> i'm doing well though. >> she pressed a button that picked the highest seeds. which i was told not to do. i'm planning next year. >> and matt and sandy -- >> i'm going start watching not just when the individual scc and acc tournaments. i'm going to watch the whole thing. >> that's the problem. you know too much. >> i'm going to be able to gauge the talent of each team and how they play together. all 64. >> or push the button and pick the top seed. and be in fifth place. >> i think i'm seventh. >> stay with us. the result of a new nabe outlook survey for 2015. who are you? you're, like in charge of this thing, right? how do they pick the guy that

runs nabe. how did you get that? did you bribe someone? >> i get elected. yeah you get elected. you get much like the process. you get elected. very simple and straightforward. >> did you leadership forobby for it? like schumer? who else was in the running. >> this is is more like the 19th century presidential elections. you don't run for the presidency. you allow yourself given your history to appeal to people and then they vote for you. >> second place gets to serve twice. you didn't campaign for it? >> it is a lot of work, no doubt about it. you're still over 3 %. that gets me. and we've had people. we've actually had some ceos of big companies like utx they call themselves utc, i think, talk about 3 % plus. i thought the numbers that have

been coming in aennd we've seen lately it's hard to believe we've going hit 3% but the members believe it. >> i would refer again i'm sure steve has a comment. it's important distinguish between the nominal numbers like retail sales and durable goods orders from the real consumer spending. what you saw in the latest gdp report but what you're seeing within i think, developing in 2015 is that it's real consumer spending that is kicked up a notch or two and that is really supporting the economic growth going forward. along with some improvement in residential investment. not just housing starts but improvements in the home. and then finally the government spending continues to improve as well. especially state and local government. i don't see a lot of this as a leading indicator. i saw that the members downgraded their price targets on oil. they have seen i don't know they looked at something and saw that

maybe their forecast for oil like 120 or something wasn't going to happen this time. they came down on oil. how old is that? it's six months old. >> yeah. i mean clearly one the biggest surprises i think to the economic profession in general it has been the oil shock of the surprise that oil has broken down as much as it had. i think there was a surprise in the financial markets and the economy as well. i think, also another element that is really important here joe, is the dollar strength is a little bit stronger than what had been expected in the past. i think the result for investors. steve can weigh in. probably what some fed tightening or raising the interest rates whenever september or june or whenever you'll have a flatter yield curve. and then i think also with respect to oil and the dollar you're probably going to have a little bit less profit growth than expected earlier. for investors it's that flatter yield curve and a little bit less profit. >> steve loves, loves, loves

surveys. he does like how many do you do? the all american the -- >> yeah. >> the fed survey. >> you love surveys! >> it's better to talk with actual information than the other alternative. >> i'm going try that sometime. >> i don't mean that you. >> that's okay. >> but, john i think one of the issues around the table here has been a kind of mathematical question which is given the first quarter softness, how do we get to the 3 % growth and then you kind of go on and ask, well, if we're not going to do 3% this year and we didn't do it last year like you told us and the year before are we talking about an economy that is stuck in this low mid is the high for economic growth and we cannot ever have that break out year from a gdp standpoint that everybody has been waiting for. >>well i would say, steve, that is the fundamental question long-term not only with respect

to entitlements, the pace of growth of the economy, job creation overall. you know, for us for me personally yeah i think 3% is probably too aggressive in terms of the long-term trend growth of the u.s. economy. i think 2 and a half is probably what it is. and that's based upon as you know the fundamentals which is the productivity growth. and both of those together, to me at least, suggests 2.5 is probably the long-term trend. 3% is too aggressive. >> that's your forecast. and, steve -- >> inflationary expectations are brought down. >> these guys tend to be -- >> there's an elephant -- >> that's what you're saying -- >> they notice an elephant in the room. there's an elephant in the room. >> which of your oil -- >> you love your surveys. >> were predicting $50 oil. all they do is incorporate basic elements -- i'm not saying analysts are any better than

economists. >> no. they're tied. >> they lowered the dollar and the oil and -- >> thanks john. congratulations, too. >> you got it. thank you. thank you, sir. when we come back this morning the table is set for the final four. nbc sports will join us to talk about the dance right after this. e financial noise financial noise

financial noise financial noise

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welcome back to "squawk box." some great basketball this weekend. final four is set. nbc sports joins us in the chair this morning. you know -- the first thing he said this morning because we walked in at the same time. what is the -- >> let me -- i never heard the expression before. i know villanova. >> you don't know ville thatanova stinks and no one told you. what did you say? >> four number one seeds never make the final four. four final four -- >> you said something about the

chalk. >> she did the chalk and she's in fifth place and you have kentucky. >> joe always wants a straw mat. he wants -- >> thank you. and i'm not going to be -- >> it's not just you. >> you share it with nate. silver. the wall street journal wrote a piece don't pick kentucky because everybody does. >> that's journalism. you have to say, you know, whatever is -- >> opposite next year. next year i'm going watch from the beginning. >> that's what you're supposed to do! make an informed decision based on the knowledge of the team. >> sometimes it's hard to watch early on and watch -- >> you only have to watch the last couple of weeks. you can watch the last ten days. >> i watched all the tournaments. this is a dream final four. we have forage dare coaches. we have one hall of famer in coach kay, 12 final fours tieing john wooden all-time record.

three other future hall of famers. tom, john, and bob. that is 25 final four combined and the four coaches most all time. the stars of college basketball are the coaches. that's why this is kind of your mount rushmore if you will. it's a dream matchup. and you have the two biggest stars on the court. >> you're looking at girl telling her. >> she knows who he plays for. >> you don't need to be that nice to him. >> god knows you're not. >> right. >> the other thing that got me is watching coach kay and how emotional he got. i didn't, you know it seems like soon or later you get to used to winning. >> it's a tough year for him. he dismissed a player for the first time in history at duke. they thought the duke team is going to unraveling and fall

apart. he took the youngest team ever at duke all the way to the final four. i think it was tieing john wooden for the most all time all time final fours everyone's hero if you're involved in the game of basketball. i think that meant a lot to him. the emotions overcame him. it's going to be fantastic to see him against tom. 8-1 all time. and you talk about the coaches. the coaches are pivotal tournament every year. that's why you don't pick ville villanova villanova. >> and the other thing that got me. my daughter had michigan state. i didn't know why i didn't take her bracket. watching louisville was up by 9 at the half weren't they? >> and louisville is 94-0 with more than a six-point lead. >> and the guys talked about izzo and what he said. they said you've got do not leave your energy level somewhere else during the game. get it to where it needs to be.

you saw what happened they came out of the gate and took the game. >> the game went further. they clamped further down. they clamped down defensively. every minute that got later their defense got better. that's why they got a shot. >> i felt bad for him. there was pivotal missed free throws. but look, you know not only are they going have to play defense, you talked about this indiana bill. it will become a huge final four issue. indianapolis hosting the final four. charles barkley called for it to be moved. which is ludicrous. >> doesn't it go through 2017. >> you can't move final four. this will become a issue for indiana. they have to explain the bill better than the governor did yesterday. >> even the governor said while he's defending it, he thinks it could certainly be tweaked or something along those words. >> he just signed it. >> right. >> but part of the -- >> it doesn't get passed without

him. >> you have to carve out an exemption against gays especially if you're hosting a national event to the volume of the final four. >> all right. >> but, i like duke, kentucky. i still think kentucky is the best team in the tournament. my heart says duke at their best they're better than kentucky. >> michigan state then? >> it will be a close game but i don't think michigan state can score enough. duke's problem is wisconsin's problem. duke had no bench. wisconsin had five. >> duke sucks i'll take the devils all the way. >> i dulds. >> and hopefully it comes through. >> next year you're going to do your homework? >> yeah. >> you're going watch basketball. >> i'm not going to ask you anything. >> monday morning deal two tieups to talk about first as we head to break. check out the futures. "squawk box" is coming right back. stay tuned.

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if you're waking up this morning we have two deals to tell you about. united health is acquiring catamaran for $6.51. about $12.8 billion. catamaran will be combined with optimum rx. they say by doing this they are going to have a much bigger base. they'll have something like where were the numbers? opt numb rx has about -- prescriptions. we've seen them excerting their force as they've gotten bigger and bigger trying to cap the

drug price finance looks like game where so you to have size compete. it looks like it's happening here. the catamaran shares up by about 20% this morning. another deal hitting the tape this morning hyperion is being brought for $46 a share in cash about $1.1 billion. when we come back this morning a warning for smartphone users. that's basically all of us. why your personal data might be at risk. a scary story and we'll have more when "squawk box" comes right back.

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. welcome back, everybody. most smartphone users think they practice good mobile security to keep their data safe. but a new report out this morning says incomplete security measures can put your personal information at risk. john herring is founder and executive chairman of lookout. john thanks for being here today. >> thanks for having me. >> for people who haven't seen you before you come through this by way of formerly being a hacker in another life. knowing the tricks of the trade out there, you're teaching people how to protect themselves from those tricks. we think we're safe right now. but what did your survey find. >> we conducted a mobile privacy setting. we called the privacy iq study. we found users are generally aware of privacy, but there's a huge delta between being aware and taking action. and in fact most people are actually exposing their information in ways that are

very compromising to their personal privacy. >> i think i'm safe with this stuff. i never use free wi-fi networks. i don't trust them. i don't download too many applications. but what am i doing wrong? >> you're better than most. we found about 76% of people do use open networks such as ones at a coffee shop or public location. and things that will be compromise compromising. >> what could you potentially be doing? you think you're at starbucks using a free network. what are you opening up to? >> you might be broadcasting your credentials, passwords. things can be out in the open for those to take. we recommend that people use a vpn, but that's not an action people are taking these days. >> here's my weakness that i assume is the weak spot that we have in our kind of mode around us. we have kids. and while i will never use a free wi-fi thing, i'm not sure they are quite as careful when

they're downloading stuff. when they're going into free wi-fi areas. that means i'm just as vulnerable. >> in our study we found that millennials are the most privacy aware and take the least action. somewhat ironically they're the most aware but the least likely to take steps to look at their privacy. application security is a big part of that. >> what can you do? what can you find out about somebody if you are trying to nefariously trying to scope whatever information you could get off of a phone? >> we found about 33% of users are donewn loading mobile apps without a look at permissions. location is a big one. if there's one doing something with location data, you might see everywhere you been physically. it could be someone using that information to kind of compromise your privacy, if you will. >> a lot of the apps don't worry. i allow waze to tell me my location if i need it.

google maps. and the mississippiy disney experience if you want to know where you are in the park. >> that's where judgment comes in. google is a great company to try o protect you. waze and google maps you might trust. an application provider you may not have heard of before you may not want to use. use judgment as to if you feel you trust that brand or trust that company with your personal information. >> am i safe to think if it's a big company, they're not going to be misusing my data? sometimes i read the privacy things and i'm offended by what it does in what they will and won't do but they also have me because i want to use this. >> i don't think it's safe to assume just because a company is big that they're good one for privacy. but they're likely to be under the scrutiny of the public. we're seeing previous becoming something that companies have to adhere to great privacy policy

policies. >> has the sony incident changed how they're coming up to better practices in some situations? >> i think the game has changed for the first time in history we're looking at incidents like this where, you know executives are actually losing their jobs because of security issues. we live in a byod world. you know people who go to world with their personal device use their personal device in that environment. so we're seeing a blend between personal and professional all come together. >> here's my smartphone. can you look at it and tell me if i've done anything you would say this is crazy? i know i'm not giving much time. >> what i recommend is if you go through your settings and look at your location service settings. one of the simplest things you can do is log into their device go into the general settings go into location and actually change your privacy. and you can actually look at location services for example. >> should i turn it off. >> and on system services we can see do you want to share your frequent locations? i can look and i won't say what

here but you see this physically shows the locations of everywhere you've been recently. >> so i can clear the history. >> you can clear the history. then then decide to turn that off if you wanted to. >> what will i not get as a result of that? >> mapping won't work as well for the default map. but if you're a google maps user you're totally fine. so what this does is changes the ability of the operating system to advertise against you. >> i'm in general, where am i going? >> go into system settings. then go into -- >> system settings. i don't see. >> here. let me have john hold it. >> then you go into privacy. >> i guess we didn't tell you how much we charge for you to be on cnbc. going to be a lot more than you charge. >> and then frequent locations. we've got yours too. check this out. >> where am i? oh my gosh. >> thank you for coming in today. >> thank you for having me.

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iran nuclear talks coming down to the wire. but negotiations have reportedly hit a snag. james wolsy will tell us what's at stake for the entire middle east. controversy bubbling over in indiana. apple's tim cook is the latest ceo to speak out against so-called religious freedom laws calling them dangerous. will the backlash have the state back tracking? and clear your minds. a pioneer of mind body medicine dee pack depak chopra is our guest. "squawk box" starts now. live from the beating heart of business new york city, this

is "squawk box." >> welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. this is cnbc first in business worldwide. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andrew is off this week. our guest host is harold ford jr. in the meantime it does look to be a good day on wall street at least based on what we're expecting at the open. dow futures up by almost triple digits. right now looks like it would open up 95 points above fair value. nasdaq up by just over 30. and there are just two trading days left in the first quarter. so far this year the dow is down .6% but the other indexes are higher. the nasdaq up more than 3% in fact. another deal in biotech,

biopharmaceutical just hitting the tape. auspex is being bought by teva. that is a total of $3.2 billion. auspex went public last year. it closed at $70.91. so it's going to be a big gainer today. it specializes in treatments for people with movement disorders and other rare diseases. and the headline from teva says that teva reinforces its leadership position and central nervous system treatment and diseases. and so i guess they've got treatments for huntingtons and turrets and other disorders. you can see that teva is trading

higher today. that's not a real quote you see on auspex. it's up $23 at least on the bid. and the other one we alluded to united health is acquiring catamaran for $61.50 in cash or $12.8 billion. and hyperion therapy puteutics. in negotiations over iran's nuclear program entering a critical phase. differences still remain a day away from the deadline. michelle caruso-cabrera is here with more. >> as that deadline approaches the state department officials are pushing back against a report in "the new york times" that iran has reneged on a previously agreed to negotiating point which had them sending

uranium to be reprocessed into a form of fuel that would make it more difficult to use in a weapon. officials saying there are other options for ensuring the inability to produce a weapon. top diplomats are meeting in switzerland about iran's nuclear program. they're trying to bridge the remaining gaps and hammer out the deal that would be the basis for a final deal to be reached by the end of june. secretary of state john kerry and his iranian counterpart mohammed jahvid zarif are looking at what would curb the activities in exchange for sanctions relief. michelle, they are pushing back against "the new york times" report that iran has reneged on this idea. they're pushing back saying that's incorrect or saying we could find other ways -- >> both. so throughout this process, it

has come to be understood as fact based on this reporting that iran had agreed to this deal with russia as part of the underlying. when you read now the details today from the various officials involved in the negotiations, they say that was actually never, you know, put pen to paper right in the negotiating room. that was never, you know one of the final things. one. two, even if they don't agree to that, there are other ways to ensure. as long as we do that, you know inspections et cetera there's ways to ensure it's not going to be turned into weapons grade fuel. >> it's like tap dancing in a big way. >> yes. it's a big negotiation that we've been at for more than a year. remember it's originally only going to be six months back in 2013. we're in 2015. >> it's highly politically charged. we've heard we're giving away the store from people that don't like the deal. and then we're bending backwards

for everything iran wants. we're finding a way just because we want it so badly -- someone wants it so badly to say there's other ways to do it. looks like more accommodation, doesn't it? >> it does. when you talk to european business leaders, it's kind of done. right? i mean, the reason the sanctions against iran worked so well is that every other country went along with them. you talk to french business people and italian business people, and they assume within a year they're going in. >> so if these talks fall apart, forget it. you're not going to have the same coalition? >> i don't get that sense at all. that's absolutely the sense i get from people that they've been given the message that this is over. that they're going to be able to start doing business there. >> so that leaves us in the position of taking whatever deal we could get. >> right. i mean -- you know the administration would argue in the first place, look. they were so close already. let's come to some kind of agreement. because the situation before was they were getting closer and closer and closer.

they were the breakout period. their ability to produce a weapon was getting shorter and shorter and shorter so try to get something done now. >> in fairness, i think we tried to let them work through this. there's no doubt this can't be worked out. because the belief was this stuff could be shipped to russia and we would be ensured it would not be developed into a bomb or not have the potential to do that. but let them work through this. the iranians were closer to having a weapon anyway. the deal will allow -- the most important is two parts of the monitoring and the sunset. some want the sunset to be 15 years. if we can only get ten and find ways in which to mitigate the danger, i think that's a win. but these things have to be worked out. if this piece on centrifuge, you're going to have huge problems here in congress trying to get this approved as well. >> all right.

michelle, stick around. joining us now is former director of the central intelligence agency and the chairman of the foundation of defense of democracies. we talked about it earlier that depending on where you sit, you can have widely varying perceptions of what's going on. i'm looking at one website today that says netanyahu is saying this is an even worse deal dangerous for all humanity. iran is maneuvering to take over the entire middle east. and you in recent interviews have said that you used the analogy that iran is like germany in 1934 or 1936. >> yes. i think they are. i think if you look at the four capitals of neighboring countries now, damascus baghdad, lebanon, and beirut they are expanding their empire

throughout this part of the world. they're doing it on a highly ideological basis. they never stopped chanting death to issrael and the united states. they are an imperial power and trying to become more of an imperial power. they already have a reasonably long range ballistic missiles. i think if they add nuclear weapons to that it will be less than a year or so before they have a nuclear weapon. then they can threaten a great deal including by detonating in orbit they could threaten us. that could take our electric grid. >> i remember the election before 2008 and there was a time when candidate senator obama talked about that i think we should even talk to iran and

maybe negotiate with iran. and at the time it seemed like a really -- kind of an outlined statement to make. it's only six years later and, i mean we're fully engaged in negotiations here. i don't know if it's whether we're getting help with isis or what. but did they moderate their activity in the past six years to the extent they dropped off our radar as a member of the axis of evil? why suddenly the new friendship in. >> well i think the president wants a good relationship with iran. we're certainly not sticking to our guns. app year or so ago we caved on some of the key issues which the big one was to let iran continue to enrich uranium. we were going to try. we were trying to stop them from enriching uranium.

and that's terrible. because let's say you enrich only to the level of 20% which you need for some medical purposes. that you're only 20% of the way you have for a bomb. that's not true. you're about 80% to 90% along the way of having what you need for a bomb. so there is really -- given irans aggressiveness and the fa fanticism. >> the position of the foreign policy position of the united states was that iran should have zero nuclear capability. we gave that away right away. was there ever a possibility we were going to be able to achieve by iran even for the supposedly peaceful means? do we have to give them some of

that at all? or could we really have stuck to our guns on that? >> it would take a political change in tehran. i was the chief negotiator and ambassador to the conventional forces in the late 80s and early 90s. it looked in the late '80s as if there would never be progress on putting a clamp on all soviet military. but just as we started the negotiations, the berlin wall went down. the political situation even inside the soviet union even before further changes occurred had had -- nonetheless renounced. we were able because of political change inside the soviet union to get a very good agreement. it would take something like that in iran. it would take the greens coming

to power or something better than we've got. this group is absolutely committed to lying to infidels. they will not hesitate to lie about everything they're doing. >> do you think a nuclear armed iran is a liability. >> we're making it more inevitable. if we stop the talks, clamp further sanctions, introduce far more competition than exists today into the oil business so we could slow them down. but if we accommodate them as we have so far we're going to see if we could argue about them whether these were enrichment steps they took before 2015 or after 2015. that's not going to slow them down. >> but as michelle just pointed

out, the idea of being able to put up that embargo and making sure other nations aren't going along with it all resides on the idea the other nations will go along with it. it doesn't sound like the europeans nearly as on board for something like that. >> we could take the lead in introducing a situation where very minor modifications to engines and cars cars could drive on alcohols as well as on gras lean. and for a $95 change. and that means like wood residues lots of things can go into making ethanol. i think there is a way to do this in which we introduce competition and let the competition drive the price of oil down. not rely entirely on sanctions which would require other countries approval.

>> thank you. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> congressman ford will be with us -- people still call you that? they do, don't you? >> you don't. >> you don't care what i call you. >> harold. >> harold is good. >> yeah. >> good to see you on a real morning show by the way. >> thank you, sir. when we come back this morning, indiana in a state of controversy. apple's tim cook the latest to speak out against recommendation freedom laws. and thousands of jetblue passengers are stranded at the airport. find out why flights are delayed this morning. "squawk box" will be right back. focused. i was determined to create new york city's first self-serve frozen yogurt franchise. and now you have 42 locations. the more i put into my business the more i get out of it. like 5x your rewards when you make select business purchases with your ink plus card from chase. and with ink, i choose how to redeem my points

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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. attention travelers today. jetblue is dealing with the leftover effects of a systemwide computer outage. it's snarling the check-in process at several airports delaying thousands of passengers. boston tampa, orlando were being issued. handwritten boarding passes. the system outage has been fixed but still causing delays trying to get through the backlog. we'll talk more about the indiana law backlash against indiana governor mike pence and his state's new religious freedom law. but he continues to defend the move. >> this is where this debate has

gone. with misinformation and -- >> it's just a question sir. yes or no. >> well there's been shameless rhetoric about my state and about this law and about its intention all over the internet. people are trying to make it one particular issue. and now you're doing that as well. >> some of the biggest companies have been threat tong pull business from indiana. the latest well-known ceo to talk apple's tim cook. he writes in part that america's business community reck niced a long tienl allege that discrimination in all its forms is bad for business. and also eli lilly and angie's list and charles barkley. let's get to our guest harold ford. i'm not an expert people said this law's got other stuff in it different than what the other 19 states have.

because i don't think right now. have there been big problems with it? >> i don't know what governor pence, the problem he was trying to solve. it'd be different if he could point to one or two significant challenges that the law was attempting to fix. and then -- >> other than maybe the same-sex marriage. it almost seems -- the timing is a little weird. >> you saw some of the challenges to the affordable care act around religious objections. i don't know governor pence's motivations. but you see how the market has responded. you would think the governor as well as the legislature there think about the economic footing and situation, the state would want to step back and say maybe we should reassess this to address the one or two problems that are percolating across the state. >> what i'm trying to get at here, there's 19 where these other states are not -- they're not in the crosshairs of any ceos or any companies, nobody's

talking about it. were the laws passed in the other states before we got to 60% favorability for same-sex marriage so that it sort of -- people weren't as animated back then? or is this law actually more draconian, if you will than -- >> more sweeping. >> is it? do we know? or is it just the timing? >> i'm thinking all of the above, what you said. the reality is he's now dealing with this. and here's a guy -- just look at him for a moment who was talked about seriously in the last several months as a presidential contender. this has to be damaging. if indeed he's serious about that. at the same time if he loves the hoosier state so much which i saw him repeat several times on george's show yesterday, this cannot be helpful to attracting commerce and economic development initiatives to your state. so i'd imagine if i were a member of the state legislature there, i'd be urging the governor let's revisit this. and if there are 19 other states with similar laws let's be able to compare apples for apples and oranges for oranges what we're

trying to get accomplished. >> it sounds like he's already kind of paving the way for that. saying the law may need some tweaks changes along the way. it sounds like he's preparing for that. >> i served with him in congress. i didn't know him to be a hostile guy or have these kind of views. but i'm hopeful he's smart enough to come back and say we've got to revisit this. >> and i see what you're saying. for a presidential candidate. but in this case takes this law and then saying he obviously must be anti-same-sex marriage you have to take a couple of leaps there for pence. there's candidates running on the republican party that just in their speeches i am in favor of the way marriage has always been. so you don't even have to connect the dots. there are candidates running on that. >> but this law -- i'm in an interracial marriage.

can you walk into a place of business and say our religion shouldn't serve kids from an interracial marriage or people engaged in them? >> or from different religions. if you want to go -- >> if you're muslim and walk into a place -- so those are the questions that have been raised. if i was the chair of the judiciary committee there. i would say we need to fix this problem. >> it is too broad. and there's states that -- or there's laws of the state as long as the laws of the state aren't being -- if it's a law, then you don't violate it. but if you decide in your religion you believe this or that, it's not against the state law. >> freedom of religion should allow you to practice your religion as you see fit. when we come back this morning, tom brady is all business on the field. so what does the four-time super bowl champ do for fun? how about taking a flying leap.

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welcome back. getting stuck on a roller coast ser not the way you want to spend your weekend. remember what i told you? >> oh no! >> remember what i told you, that's my biggest fear or a ski left or a gondola or something. riders on coney island's legendary cyclone got caught on opening day and riders had to walk down after a mechanical issue stopped the 88-year-old -- see, right there. that's the operative term for me with this one. the 88-year-old roller coaster. uh-huh. >> the oldest wooden roller coaster in the country, i think. >> that would be my first clue. the 88-year-old roller coaster. that doesn't look like townfun to me right there. >> they look fine. although she looks like you are kind of saying. like whoa. >> there have been people that

were on one of them that was upside down. i don't know if that happened last week but the people that came down they were like beat red because of all the blood that -- that's dangerous. >> one happened last week. yeah. >> i don't like that. >> you know i'm leaving for orlando, i'm going to be on some of these things by the end of the week. >> there's a couple of scary ones down there. >> yeah there are. when we come back this morning, tom brady's flying leap off the field. plus our next guest has advised presidents, world leaders, and written more than 80 biks. now deepak chopra is giving some of his wisdom. clear your mind and get ready. "squawk box" will be right back. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms? i sure hope so. with healthcare costs,

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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone.

a big morning. united health is buying catamaran for $12.8 billion or $61.50 a share. ireland's horizon pharma is buying hyperion for $46 a share. and teva is buying auspex for $101 a share or $3.2 billion. all three of these are cash deals. we are just about an hour away from the first of a number of key economic reports due this week. when we get the latest on personal income and spending. later this week of course we'll get the adp report and the government employer reports for february. and a study is predicting a 3.1% economic growth this year. that number if we hit it, would be the best in a decade. dreamworks animation, the big winner at the box office. "home" taking in $54 million this weekend beating out the will ferrell/kevin hart comedy "get hard." that movie only taking in $34

million. it's about, i think, toughening up for prison. >> yeah. also, check this out. what do you do after winning a fourth super bowl if you were tom brady you? you jump off a cliff. this is brady taking a leap in costa rica. it was about a 40-foot drop. he posted on facebook with the caption never doing that again. air brady was the pound symbol he sent out with that. of course he is getting plenty of feedback from worried patriot fans who would rather he not be doing this. >> like bob kraft was like hey, tom. >> enough. no more. our next guest is a true pioneer in the field of mind body medicine. he has written over 80 books. "time" magazine has heralded him as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.

joining us right now is deepak chopra. he's author of the new book out this morning "the 13th disciple." thank you for being here today. >> thanks. and by the way, brady is a changer. >> what do you think about him jumping like this? >> i think he can afford to do that. >> i think woody johnson arranged for that entire trip down there. >> take a nice trip. >> on me. yeah. check out this place. >> how long has he been doing that? >> year and a half. >> with you? >> through us yes. >> that's great. let's talk about the book. "the 13th books and non-fiction books that have jumped to the top of the charts. it's unusual for someone who is a non-fiction author to write a fiction book. >> i have ten novels. four of which did jump to the charts also.is book is about the six prevailing attitudes towards the mystery of our existence.

atheism, atheism, agnosticism, and enlightened awareness. and it's done through the eyes of the divine feminine. you know we've kind of the divine feminine which is present in all religious traditions. that which focuses on beauty intuition, affection, tenderness, love compassion, joy. all of that. >> what inspired you to write this? >> i had been thinking of writing a book on the subject far long time. i went to a catholic school by the way, run by irish christian missionaries. sop i was very influenced by the rituals. i knew there was a deeper meaning to the phrase the way of the truth, the light. the light is the light of awareness. the truth is our non-local self which i explain in the book. and the self-awareness. >> in writing this book who are

you really trying to reach? >> i'm reaching my audience which is a lot of women and they're all over -- my demographic is mostly women over 35. they're looking for a new spirituality. but i think young men are also understanding that the way of predation is no longer tenable. we've become predators and survival of the fittest has to be replaced by survival of the wisest. so it's time for women to take over. >> you mention what you were just talking about, the six -- what did you call them? >> the six attitudes of our existence. >> where would you put yourself? on your journey. >> on the final two stages yes. >> i've been been out, this is already taking place. they don't -- >> we're deep into it.

>> do you feel like they need to be put in charge? >> they're getting in charge. >> they're in charge. >> look at the next presidential candidate. >> it's already happened. and we're happy about it. >> accepting. >> joe asked you when you walked in if you had meditated for two hours because i know this is something you do every morning. it's early dpp you do that? >> yes. i get up a little before 4:00, meditate for two hours and then go to a yoga class wish i skipped this morning because i'm here. >> tell us about meditation. why do you think more people need to do this? >> i think stress is the number one epidemic of our civilization. it's related to things like insomnia, anxiety, fear. but cardiovascular inflammation in the body heart disease, autoimmune diseases many types of cancer are connected directly or indirectly to inflammation in the body. so meditation is very effective to start tackling this problem,

this epidemic of stress. but then beyond that it's a way of getting in touch with your spiritual self. >> i don't have any problem with meditation. i don't do it myself. i think it's great for people who do. but how is it different from prayer? >> prayer is you telling god what to do and meditation is you listening. >> not necessarily. a lot of times you pray for god to show you the way. >> yeah. that's close tore meditation than if you surrender to the idea of thy will be done, then it's closer to meditation. by the way we have a program going on. you can find it on chopra center meditation.com. it's a free 21-day online meditation. and we've actually reached 3.6 million people with that. so anyone watching us now should -- >> what does ut teach you along the way? >> self-reflection, self-awareness taking a theme -- this particular theme

right now is on success. but we've had themes on relationships, on intuition, on creativity, on health and well being, et cetera. >> the meditation that you talk about, is it transdental meditation? is it different? >> there are elements of it close to that but also just awareness of your body your breath your mental space your sensations images feelings thoughts. and also reflection. what do i want? do i have a purpose? what am i grateful for? >> how did you get on this path to begin with? >> i was a very busy internist. i was seeing the correlation through my interest many brain chemistry. but i was also myself smoking a pack of cigarettes a day,

stressed out. i had 30 patients in the hospital, 10 in the icu. i wasn't taking care of myself. so i realized i couldn't help my patient ifs i didn't take care of myself. >> for someone who is let's say a busy executive running around someone with a hairy life can they do it if they can't commit fully with two hours a day? >> yeah. 15 minutes. -- who manages a hedge fund. his entire staff meditates. so i know many others that we teach actually and it makes them much more productive because they're centered and not distracted. most of your news is very melodramatic. you know things change by the minute and that can cause a lot of stress to people. >> so do i need a word?

do i need to say the word? >> you may or may not. i mean you could choose any word you want including your own name if you wanted. you could keep saying joe. >> so -- and for 15 minutes just feel each breath feel -- >> actually that's the simplest way to start. sit down quietly and just observe your breath. if you get distracted come back to observing your breath. >> try to clear any thoughts? >> don't try to clear your mind. because trying to clear your mind is a thought. >> just focus on the breath. >> take it easy. mind is distracted that's part of the story. come back to your breath. feel your body. and once in awhile ask a question. how would you like this day to go? i introduce four intentions every day. joyful energetic body loving compassionate heart, reflective mind, and lightness of being. >> it makes a lot of sense. thank you so much for joining

us. congratulations on the new book. >> thank you. >> it's called "the 13th disciple." >> thank you for having me in. >> do you ever do this harold? >> i don't. i pray every morning and go to church every sunday but perhaps i do need to do this. >> 15 minutes, i think i might be able to -- i mean during the show i can do that. >> a lot of people do take a ten-minute break during the day. >> andrew gets back next week. coming up they're not on a -- they're not a household name, but they make half the stuff in your medicine cabinet. the stock off theceo of perrigo joins us when "squawk box" returns.

generic over the counter drug maker perrigo set to make a huge deal for omega pharmaceuticals. perrigo shares hitting all-time highs recently. you may not have heard about perrigo, but you probably have some of their products in your medicine cabinet. they make a host of generic cough, cold, and pain medications you see at basically every major retailer in america.

joseph papa is the ceo of perrigo. you probably also remember elan because perrigo acquired elan. that's how you ended up. dublin. and you still get royalties from an ms drug i think elan along with biogen -- >> right. >> thanks for being here. >> pleasuring to here. >> what is perrigo at that point? who do we think of you as like a maker of generic drugs? >> the answer is both. we would be a top five global player when it comes to over the counter products. so we'll have the scope and the magnitude, critical mass to do that. we're still going to be about store brand private labels. we have a great approach here on the store brand side in a sense that we provide the same active ingredient as national brand but price it to consumers for 30%,

40% savings. we're going to do both as a result of this omega transaction today. >> omega was also a foreign entity, right? >> belgian, correct. >> 3.8 billion in euros. today that will close. what did omega have to bring into your fold? >> we'll go from perrigo to omega was in eight countries. now we'll be in 39 countries. it was for us to do a european expansion and make us a top five global over the counter company. we also think we could bring -- perrigo today in the u.s. has about 3,000 products. we can bring many of those to the european platform. gives us a continue to have significant revenue for the future. >> how much of the business is generic drugs? >> for us it's only about 20% of our business. much of what we do though is

the store brand over the counter which we put at a separate category. in total it will be about 70% over the counter. 20% generic precipitation drugs. and 10%, a couple other things. >> we didn't -- i mean this is not a story about inversions or corporate tax rates, but it was advantageous for perrigo to move to ireland. because if there's money that's left over that would have gone towards what some people think is a globally high tax rate you can use it for other things that you might be able to do something worthwhile with. that was part of the deal wasn't it? >> perrigo as a company has been growing. we grow about mid-revenue growth for the past five or six years. it's always been about half our growth organic. half of it has come through m&a. having a lower tax rate helps. but i will say that what was really important for us with

elan is it gave us the gateway to get to europe so we could have european expansion. clearly today's announcement on the omega closing will be a natural opportunity for us. >> there was another announcement today that teva is buying auspex. when we talked about inversion, when we talked about why there was a need for corporate -- reform of corporate taxes, we talked about inversions as being one where companies would end up domiciled at other places. we also talked about how it would make assets more valuable to overseas players. teva has a lower tax base. i just wonder if this makes targets here more valuable to other organizations outside of this country. >> we clearly believe that the corporate tax code has to be revised here in the united states. i mean that's something long-term we will get done. but i do think you're absolutely correct in terms of a foreign company comes to the u.s.,

buying u.s. companies. >> paying lower taxes automatically. >> that is an issue occurring. i think for us at the perrigo company, what we've tried to do is to be competitive, certainly that's one of the things we had to think about as we thought about our future. >> harold how does that play out in congress? >> you know i thought the issue would have caused congress to have acted sooner. i would have thought the beginning of the year there might have been incentive on both sides. democrats generically not liking inversions, republicans a lot of ways believing this could be a catalyst for broader reform. but they've been unable to negotiate it all. i would have thought they would have asked give me minimum wage increase give me protection. it's likely we won't get it before summer. >> even if you do it with that legislation and close the loopholes that allow inversions you don't take care of the idea that these american assets are more valuable to foreign corporations who can then coming

in and buy it. >> so there are a number of factors. but i would have thought the catalyst would have been all of the political hysteria that grip the deals that happened right before the election last year. but a lot of it subsided. as one question i have for the ceos obviously you must believe there's going to be growth intermediate long-term in europe for you to be making this enormous jump. >> no question. the over the counter space is important. it is an efficient way to deliver health care. if you have a need for -- you have allergies, for example. you know you have allergies every spring. the ability to go just to your local cvs, target, palwalmart, costco, you'll get products at a lower cost to society. we believe that space is so important. that's why we made this move. >> harold it's unfortunate. just curing the inversion with

some -- curing the symptom the way they did it instead of making it a place where capital should be attracted. we should want capital to come here. >> i would agree. >> we shouldn't be forcing it to leave with these cosmetic changes. will hillary -- see, i'm worried. and i worry about you. i know you're going to have to -- whoever your party puts up, you're going to have to support. i know that. and she's going to be pulled left by elizabeth warren. she'll probably say i'm doing nothing on corporate tax reform and you'll go with it. >> i've been on this show and others and publicly written how -- >> you've been on other shows besides this show? >> it's hard to believe. but i'm a supporter of tax reform. i think it's one of the ways to raise wages. >> you going to stick to that when she gets moved left? >> i promise you. >>, if any you talk to her you'll say don't do that. >> i promise you. i did it publicly when democrats were talking that way before. >> before you leave, let's pin down something stronger on this.

he's got juice, he does in his party. but want to make sure you use it productively. you're here for another hour. when we come back this morning, another deal in health care topping the industry. and the secret lives of the super rich with robert frank. he found the most expensive listings in america. $195 million for this home in beverly hills. we'll peek inside later on "squawk box."

let's take a look at some stocks to watch this morning. united health buying pharmacy benefits manager catamaran for $61.50 a share or $12.8 billion. nike, the dow component. boom. again. i got united health and nike. upgraded to out perform from neutral. they call the stock reasonably valued for one of the highest quality large cap growth companies that's in the consumer discretionary sector. and oracle was upgraded to out-perform from sector perform at rbc. the firm points to a more confident view on the company's cloud-based growth future. when we come back protests in indiana. a controversial decision over religious freedom has some residents and corporations crying foul. even apple's tim cook is

speaking out. and the iran nuclear talks coming down to the wire. but the devil, of course is in the details. can both sides iron out a deal by tuesday's deadline? we'll have more on that when "squawk box" returns. ♪ ♪ ♪ (under loud music) this is the place. ♪ ♪ ♪ their beard salve is made from ♪ ♪ ♪ sustainable tea tree oil and kale... you, my friend, recognize when a trend has reached critical mass. yes, when others focus on one thing you see what's coming next. you see opportunity. that's what a type e does.

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march madness going down to the wire. >> put back. oh what a beautiful shot! >> the major indices down for the month although we could have a positive first quarter. should investors worry about more wild swings heading into earnings season? plus indiana under fire. protesters politicians, and ceos speaking out against the state's religious freedom law. apple's tim cook calling this law dangerous. and secret lives of the super rich. 20% down in a super jumbo mortgage could get you into this $195 million megahome. we'll get a peek inside. "squawk box" begins right now. live from the most powerful city in the world, new york, this is "squawk box."

>> welcome back everybody. this is "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andrew is off this week. our guest host today is harold ford jr. he's now managing director at morgan stanley. >> good morning. >> morning. great to have you here. we have a lot to talk about. after a rough week last week it looks like the futures this morning are indicated higher. in fact, the dow futures are up by triple digits. right now up by about 118 points above fair value. s&p futures up by 10. the nasdaq up by 29. if you check out what's been happening in european stocks you'll see right now the cac is up by .9%. >> are you sure? you read to joe. you do that when the camera's pointed at you because you're a pro. u.s./iran nuclear talks going down to the wire. iran reportedly is now reneging or refusing to ship fuel outside of the country.

supposed to go to russia. could be a big sticking point. others say we're going to do this deal no matter what happens. oil prices down this morning on part on potential for an iranian deal. more on that story in about 15 minutes and a bullish view of the u.s. economy this morning. we had the head of nabe on and the economist put the median forecast for gdp growth in 2015 at 3.1%. but he said that's probably not right. >> never mind. >> it was bizarre. meanwhile, jetblue has fixed a widespread computer outage. but it's snarling the check-in process delaying thousands of passengers. this says joe. >> i think we go back to our own at this point. it's not opposite day. >> i can feel it. i feel it. three deals in the news this

morning. all cash transactions. united health is buying pharmacy benefits manager catamaran for $650 a share or 12.8 billion drs. and hyperion is being bought by ireland's pharma. i guess you could ask the same question. >> it does. if you're looking at the companies, they're more valuable with a foreign corporation who could take the same sales and lower taxes. >> and another we're talking about in this teva acquired california-based auspex for $101 a share or $3.2 billion. >> when you start looking at deals, the foreign company is always going to be able to pay more for a deal than the u.s. company would be able to because they can pay lower taxes on it. that's why we need a fix when it comes to corporate tax rates. >> i would agree. also a state law in indiana causing a national outcry from the business community that

governor michael pence can't silence. mary thompson joins us with more from indianapolis. good morning. >> good morning to you becky. this law is seen as providing legal cover for businesses that want to discriminate against members of the gay and transgender communities. governor pence says it's about empowering people but certainly state and national businesses don't see it that way. in an op-ed published in "the washington post," apple' ceo tim cook wrote that america first learned long ago that any discrimination is bad for business. he writes, from north carolina to nevada these bills under consideration will truly hurt jobs growth and economic vibrancy in parts of the country where a 21st century economy was once welcomed with open arms. many proclaim they serve everyone. florist amy watts sees the fact

that the signs have to be hung. >> i'm here to sell flowers and make people happy. >> eli lilly denouncing the law as it fears it would make it difficult to retain employees. other businesses also concerned how it will impact the $4 billion a year convention business. pence said he is hoping to clarify the intent of his law and is working with state legislators. but democrats and republicans will be making statements later today and we'll bring that to you. >> thanks. let's get back to our guest host harold ford jr. we've talked about it already. and we i'm not sure how we decide what the eventual outcome is but you figure the implications will get the attention. >> becky said it earlier.

it sounds as if leaders in the legislature there particularly democrats coming saying how do we think about redoing this. when i was in congress, we didn't agree on everything, but we take him as the word he didn't believe the law would be interpreted this way. he should come back and correct it immediately. if he doesn't, the state should suffer the consequences that tim cook and others have forecast. >> mary said it in plain english too. it's seen as a way that businesses can discriminate against gay people or transgendered people. >> here's the situation. indiana's new law, it tries to -- it says that the government cannot intrude on a person's religious liberty unless it can prove a compelling interest in imposing that burden and do so in the least restrictive way. this is open to interpretation. what people are pointing to is

you could look at a situation and say this could come from it. with the law, things are always gray. this is not a clear cut saying here's what will and won't happen. this is an interpretation of that law. i think that's why it's different than the other 19 states -- the laws in 19 other states. >> two gay people walk into a counter and order a meal would that owner -- >> that's up to the interpretation of the state. >> that law would allow it you think? >> that allows a defense of the restaurant owner. >> i don't know how a court would rule on that. >> aren't there antidiscrimination laws already? >> i'm not sure if there are specific. i know some of the other states that have these laws have absolute antidiscrimination laws. >> according to one of the shows governor pence was on yesterday, sexual orientation is not covered under state law as a

protected class of civil rights. but i think there are others who argue that this law could be interpreted more broadly to allow discrimination against people who may have a different set of religious beliefs than you who may interact with people who you don't interact with. so i think it's a cause for concern. so hopefully they come back and fix it. but the question -- what were they trying to fix? where fs the problem? ordinarily you offer public policy answers because there's a question or set of problems. i don't know what the problem was in indiana where this kind of proposal was needed. >> whatever this situation was, this may have taken a much broader stance against a smaller more defined -- >> like a hobby lobby thing. i don't know. >> right. but if indeed he thought this would be targeted around gays and lesbians why would you go forward with it? hopefully it gets fixed. final four is there saturday and monday.

>> that's right. we've been watching closely. harold's going to be with us for the rest of the show. we'll talk to him about other issues on the table. up next the other controversial story that spans the globe. nuclear talks with iran. and later, the secret lives of the super rich exposed. how about going inside a $195 million home? check out this super listing in the next half hour of "squawk box." stick around. we'll be right back. you can call me shallow... but, i have a wandering eye. i mean, come on. national gives me the control to choose any car in the aisle i want. i could choose you... or i could choose her if i like her more. and i do. oh, the silent treatment. real mature. so you wanna get out of here? go national. go like a pro. [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops. so open an account with schwab. and when a market move affects, say a cloud

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welcome back to "squawk box." futures right now indicated up about 123 points. we've been adding to our gains this morning. 123 on the dow. almost 11 on the s&p 500. nasdaq indicated to open sharply higher up 31 points. making headlines not even running a country can keep your identity safe the uk's guardian reports personal details of leaders including barack obama, vladimir putin, and angela merkel and david cameron all disclosed by an employee. the official sent the information to the organizers of the asian cup soccer tournament.

the info included birth dates, passport numbers, and visa details of all the leaders. that's unbelievable. funny. >> wow. all right. moving on to another story that's been occupying your attention this morning iran denies it's trying to build a nuclear weapon. the international community is attempting to look at the possibility. a global and intelligence and advisory firm riva thanks for being here today. >> thank you. good morning. >> we are just a day away from a deadline for these talks. it sounds like there are still plenty of details that need to be worked out. what do you think happens? >> well wbl some signs of progress where rooirn has went from maintaining 10,000 centrifuges now down to 6,000. on the other hand, signs of regression where iran is now saying that it's not okay with

shipping its uranium outside of the country. that was a process to be handled by russia. in the end it would be surprising if you didn't see something like this happen in the final hours of the negotiation you can expect at least one party to throw a wrench into the talks. looks like the whole thing is falling a i part. usually it's to deflect attention and make another concession seem more reasonable in the end. but we are into the details. i think one way or another come down the. >> we've talked back and forth for weeks at this point about whether we should be in this situation. whether we're giving away too much in this deal. but our international correspondent was here earlier and said if we wanted to go back to saxes that got the iranians to the table to begin with we might not have support from the international community. so we may have no other choice

than to do some sort of a deal. what do you think our options are at this point? >> well in fact i think the u.s. administration is in some ways counting on that leniency from the europeans to actually allow this deal to go through. as we know, the sanctions are codified in u.s. legislation. that's not going to be removed any time soon. but through the u.s. executive power, you can choose not to enforce the sanctions currently on the table. so that will allow some easing. but iran is certainly looking to the europeans to ease up on sanctions as well as i think the u.s. administration. so that's one part of it. there's also the u.n. sanctions and that's really the core of the negotiation right now is to lift those related to weapons proliferation and sanctions on individuals. but you're going to see this negotiation is going to occur in phases. 2016 is when the u.s. legislation on iran sanctions rests. to basically make it inevitable

that we have something between iran and the united states and allow the politics to play out over time. >> do you think this will help us prevent iran from becoming nuclear empowered? >> well naturally any deal is going to have tremendous oversight. and i think that's one of the core parts of this negotiation. and really this is the new reality for the region. i mean you see a saudi-backed coalition bombing yemen right now. certainly the saudis still have a close relationship with the united states. but they see they need to take matters into their own hands. at the same time you see turkey in a more and more open confrontation with iranians. that's a natural rivalry that has to play out. you see the united states essentially taking a back seat providing support where it needs to but maintaining a working relationship with multiple strategies. and finally you're starting to actually see that happen on the ground. >> this is harold ford good

morning. if the negotiations do not produce the kind of confidence on both sides that the iranians will not, indeed be able to develop a weapon and there's a belief that they can develop a weapon, there's been some talks that both the sue dees and turks would create the weapon. how does that impact the balance of power in the region? >> certainly, there is a lot of speculation this could drive a nuclear race. but there's still a lot that goes into pip when we're talking about a nuclear program. there's another level when it comes to a nuclear device. while we do have to watch for that, that's still a very long and complicated process and a very big investment. certainly it's a possibility one that the united states that's a reality that it may have to reckon with in his region but still on the ground. you see a number of proxy battles playing out mons all these different players.

when the united states has arguably much bigger problems to deal with with the russia crisis still out in the open the future of the eurozone in question, and other questions on the table, the u.s. cannot afford to be the first responder to every fire that breaks out in the middle east. and so having and maintaining a hostile relationship to iran is not conducive to that strategy and basically maintaining the ability for the united states to respond to other crises elsewhere. >> although we had james wolsy on the show earlier this morning and he pointed out he's been doing this for a long time. in the past you could never count on these people to deal honestly with you. that they're okay with lying to us because they consider us the infidels. if that puts you at the negotiating table where you are relying on some level of trust, how useful is an agreement like that? >> well that's where the details on oversight become very critical. obviously there will have to be

a rigorous inspection regime as part of this negotiation. or else there is no deal. and if iran chooses to not come ply with that of course there will be consequences. i'm sure that is also part of the agreement. i think for iran's political purposes, it doesn't want to necessarily publicize those details on the level of oversight. that's something that they want to save face on at home. and so really we have to expect that sort of rigorous inspection to be part of it. >> but if that rigorous inspection is not enumerated don't you feel there will be the backlash in congress. a balance between the bash backlash in congratulations. you've got democrats and republicans including the leaders of the foreign affairs committee in the senate who have come together to try to address this issue. >> absolutely. and the backlash in congress is expected. and i think is one of the biggest things to watch here.

but we also see efforts to engage with a number of nuclear experts who can be counted on and who are studying the terms of the deal. that's where the u.s. administration will say don't take my word for it let's see what the experts have to say. is this a robust deal or not? >> i hear your concerns about the united states not being the first responder to every problem around the globe at every time but the policy that we're setting out right now, the path that we've taken does put us as odds with israel who has for a long time been our closest ally in the region. are you concerned about setting some sort of a precedent and not having the same partners we've had in the region in the past? >> if we look at the conflicts in the middle east right now. obviously you see two key players. one is saudi arabia and its long-time rivalry with the iranians. and then you see of course turkey which has been coming out

of its shell slowly but surely. so if the emphasis in the region is on conflicts associated with these powers the u.s. can't exactly afford a policy that only takes israel's interests into account. of course the relationship is an important one and one that will be maintained and israel cannot necessarily forego the operation of having an external -- but the u.s. is basically looking beyond israel how to manage the region and managing the region entails working with partners like iran like saudi arabia, like turkey. the players that will have to shoulder more of the burden in this region. and that involves a lot of conflict overall. but ultimately it's not the u.s. that's at the center of that conflict. >> thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. when we come back comedy central may have a replacement for jon stewart. we have that story next.

get this though. he's worth a reported half a billion dollars. now rap superstar jay z is taking on big competition with a new business venture and he's getting help from his friends. that's next. 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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all right. media news this morning, "the new york times" is reporting that comedy central has chosen comedian trevor noah to replace jon stewart on "the daily show." the official announcement is expected today. stewart's going to be stepping down later this year but no date has been announced. yes, trevor noah is not worth half a billion dollars, but this next guy is. >> jay z is taking over for jon stewart? >> that's what i thought. i mushed the reads together. i messed up. >> no you didn't. >> so the comedian's not worth a half billion. >> no. >> jay z's not taking over. >> no. but jay z is worth half a billion dollars. >> our viewers are so confused at this point. >> join the party. >> rap and music mogul jay z apparently did not get the jon stewart job, but he is taking his game to the next level. he's relaunching high fidelity music streaming service tidal. there will be two subscription

options. $19.99 a month and $9.99. kanye west jack white, rihanna, and many other a-list artists are supporting jay z's new business. taylor swift which has had a very public feud with spotify is letting her music go on tidal. >> wow. so take that. >> so someone told me mp3 stuff is crappy sound. is it bad? do you know how that works? >> i don't. no. >> i don't know. i have issues sometimes with like sirius satellite. i think it's not great quality. >> yeah. >> interference. but it's not just that it sounds tinny to me. but i don't know. >> i don't know either. >> i think you have to get two audio files to compare. >> i would dry anything high fidelity. but i don't know if i could tell -- >> the difference. >> necessarily. yeah. when we come back this morning, the data point of the day, personal income and spending. then citi's chief u.s. equity

strategist tells us why to invest on. right now take a look at equity futures. dow up 126 points above fair value. s&p up by 10, nasdaq up by 30. they were asking me what you're doing now, janice. blogging. your blog is just pictures of you in the mirror. it's called a fashion blog todd. well, i've been helping people save money with progressive's discounts. flo, can you get janice a job? [ laughs ] you should've stuck to softball! i was so much better at softball than janice, dad. where's your wife, todd? vacation. discounts like homeowners' multi-policy -- i got a discount on this ham. i've got the meat sweats. this is good ham, diane. paperless discounts -- give it a rest, flo. all: yeah, flo, give it a rest. barbara just bought a bike. she wrote a tweet about it. you can't learn much from that. but take data from millions of tweets combine that with your company's supply chain and sales data. apply ibm analytics and expertise, and all of a sudden, you can learn which bikes to build what to make them from,

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february personal income and spending a out. rick santelli is sanding by in chicago. take away. >> survey says up .4% on income. that's better than we were expecting. now let's look at the spending side. a little less than we were looking for. up .1%. january on the income side was upgraded by .1% to make it the same. up .3% to now .4%. stands at two months in a row. and unrevised on spending. if we look at personal consumption deflator up month over month. year over year up .3%. pretty much as expected. don't see any surprises here. you know the income side to many is the most important issue maybe to the fed and central bankers. spending is the most important issue. they like debt. interest rates, they're hovering just below 2% most likely

continuing to be in a range. maybe the biggest dynamic is how well global equities are doing this morning from the dax and the cac to pre-opening. dow up 127. of course if you're looking at t-3 or t-4 for settlements of stocks, maybe some of those issues have passed. but all in all we continue to pretty much look at the foreign exchange markets which are ongoing stories. and of course today the euro is down, a dollar up and equities up. maybe some of the speculators are going to have a bit of a rough morning. back to you. >> all right, rick. thank you. we'll talk to you again tomorrow. when we come back robert frank goes house hunting. and he found the most expensive listing in america. come inside the $195 million listing in beverly hills. >> trevor noah's house, isn't

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welcome back to "squawk box." the new york auto show kicks off this week. among the headlines, ford is bringing back the lincoln continental. the brand days back to the 1930s and was once the pinnacle of luxury. ford stopped making it in 2002. ford is looking to push the continental in china where customers seem to like lincoln's history.

i guess that's what it looks like. there's no town cars now. i wish they'd bring down the town car. a lot of people didn't know what to drive after that. and then in other auto news, volvo will invest $500 million in its first u.s. assembly plant. announcing plans today. and volvo's in advanced talks with several states. they will announce a decision in a couple weeks. rolls back the moves we seemed to build in mexico recently. good for us. spring housing season is underway. robert frank joins us right now with a listing that may be just a little bit out of your price range. >> out of all of our price range. it is the most expensive listing in all of america. price tag $195 million. it's a 25 acre estate and vineyard in beverly hills. we got a tour with the builder. check it out. there are 22 more bathrooms, plus a total of 12 bedrooms.

yes, this is one enormous bedroom. there's also a stand-alone guest house. and a 15,000-battle wine cellar. even more impressive is this. a 12 acre vineyard that produces up to 500 cases of its own private label wine. >> i think this is a probably the only wine-making estate in beverly hills. >> there's even a 15,000 square foot entertainment complex. to get inside guests walk across a glass foot bridge lined by olive trees. there are about a hundred of these trees on the ground. all hand picked from northern california for $10,000 a piece. do these trees actually produce olives? >> no. these have been sprayed not to produce olives. >> that way it doesn't mess up the grounds. >> yes. >> past the grove of olive trees is the two-story party complex. there's a 50-seat movie theater downstairs.

upstairs, a party space that includes a $150,000 revolving dance floor. and as you guessed, that is jeff green's house. here's the irony here. he became a billionaire by shorting the housing market going into -- >> he's putting his house on the market. >> we talked a lot about his bet right now. and he's betting a lot of real estate in florida. that's where e the growth is. so you know this is the ultimate high-end home but he's doing a lot in florida. we caught up with him at his own place in palm beach which is you know at least $100 million property in palm beach that's just crazy nice. so you see both of his houses there in this one episode tomorrow night. >> wow. >> do both houses have elevators? did that house in beverly hills have an elevator? >> i don't know about the one in palm beach, but the one in beverly hills does. just the trees in the yard more

than a million dollars just worth of trees. >> do you get a mortgage for $195 million home? >> joe mentioned that. i figured it out, if you put 20% down, $39 million, and you got a 30-year. $730,000 a month would be your mortgage payment. but that's actually -- so you could rent this place now. he rents it out for a half million dollars a month. >> losing money if you've got the 20% down. >> so there's actually some saudi royals who rent the place for a half million dollars a month. it's cheaper to rent it than buy it if you take a mortgage. >> how much is a million dollars -- how much can you write off? >> absolutely nothing. >> you know jeff. jeff is a democratic senator and a big democratic donor. interesting guy. >> all right. but you don't know if there's an elevator in the palm beach

house. and trevor noah does not own this house. >> i thought a half million dollars, why would you work there? >> he could own this house, apparently. >> yeah, just. >> all right. >> jay z could own it. >> right. >> thanks, robert. >> thanks guys. by the way, don't forget to tune in tomorrow night for "secret lives of the super rich." >> is that this week the jobs report? >> yeah. friday. >> and you're not here? >> nope. >> it's good friday. >> sorkin's not here. i will be here. i will be here. just me. the market's waiting on the jobs report. let's find out what our next guest is watching. are you around? could you -- >> no. i'll be in palm beach looking at the house. >> tobias is chief equity strategist at citigroup. so many times we will ask you

for your market thoughts which may or may not be related to your thoughts about the economy which is always weird. especially in this day and age where a lot of times people just care about the fed and if the economy's bad enough for the fed to say in then they buy the market which is bizarre. where are you right now in terms of -- let's start we the market. >> we think the market is in the earnings phase. one of the earnings results coming up, people will be watching that for guidance. less so of the backward data. they will care if companies miss big time. the market's kind of got low expectations. it's the outlooks. i don't think a lot of companies will have great guidance yet because it's the visibility of the benefits of lower energy prices. more second half weighted. that's one aspect. the second is the fed. when are they going to do it? it's almost by the news, let's get it done already. and in the meantime we churn.

i know it's a terrible way to put it but the market doesn't have a great direction to it. >> if there are negative surprises in the earnings purely related to forex, will there be enough? it's the same money, isn't it? >> we've done a lot of looks at this. those stocks actually go up when the dollar strengthens even though they're the most exposed to the foreign exchange transaction. so the market seems to not really put lots of value on the fx issue. and we know that energy is going to be a hell of a drag. current bottom up consensus shows about 6% decline. you have a 63% decline in energy. that's accounting for all of that decline for the broad index. then you've got kind of understood lying strength. you were talking about the

underlying economic benefits. >> is there underlying strength? how strong? the economists and nabe said the average was 3.1% for the year. >> citi is at 3.3%. >> are you really? >> our forecast is 3.3. it's so geeky math it's so terrible. but a lot of people cut back their forecasts when they saw the fourth quarter numbers was because the starting point of the fourth quarter was lower. and so people who had 3.5% went to 3.2% 3.3%. a lot of that was your starting point. that's why i call it geeky math. no other way to describe it. it wasn't like a real change in the economic outlook. it was more about your starting base. >> do you believe over 3%? >> i do. i'll tell you why. it's not just i believe forecasts. forecasts are -- i don't know. i walked out this morning, there were flurries outside my door and it's spring. so i don't believe forecasts

either. >> that's the global warming. >> so i think the best way to think about it is you've got hiring intentions. both surveys showing very strong power intentions. that's 19,000 or so companies planning to do something they've always done over the last 30 to 40 years. as opposed to any contractor you hired. on the other side of that if you look at the capital spending intentions, can look at -- we look at 670 companies. if you pull out of energy everybody is talking about a 5% increase in cap-x. what are companies saying they're going to do? >> that's interesting. we talk about energy being 25% of the cap-x spending. >> so 25% of s&p 500 but it's less than 7% of u.s.

if there are companies spending money in ayenigeria, that's not a u.s. aspect but it shows up in the numbers. i think people miss that. >> is there any way to consolidate what's spent in e u.s.? >> companies don't disclose it. that's why we have to look at the companies to get a feel for what they're doing. we're further along rather than other country around the world. they may do that in a slightly longer term perspective. >> with biotech and tech which, you know, it's in the paper today about how quickly that selloff has been. is this a time you buy because they'll lead again? >> we're more comfortable in the software aspects. we're less comfortable in the biotech space. the valuations and revisions started to roll over. and if we do get these rate

hikes, what you typically have is stocks that will get hurt because of the discounting factor starts to compound. compound is a wonderful thing that works for you. it can be dangerous when it works against you. >> okay. and will waging rise finally? >> we believe so. one of the things we watch carefully is the number of people that are unemployed looking to get jobs and then the number of jobs that are open we kind of mush the two together. i actually call this one in our presentation our geeky cool chart opposed to real cool would be me and scarlett johansson at the oscars. the geeky cool stuff would be if you look at the -- that ratio. when you have six people for every one job, you have no pressure. we're down to about two to one at this point. high degree of correlation to higher wage increases. so we're starting to see it. some of the bigger companies are talking about it. but it's much deeper in the

economy. >> tobias thank you. >> you're welcome. >> you won't be around friday. >> no. but i'll e-mail you, joe. >> programming note. the markets may be closed on good friday. >> squawk joe will be here. >> yes, i will be here. i don't know if i was in indiana, i might use the religious thing and say i can't come in. do you think i can -- can i come in on good friday? >> you can. >> i don't know if this is going to hold up. i'm going to be here for the jobs report starting at 7:00 a.m. 7:00? that's okay. 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. eastern time. where are you going to be? >> i'm going to be here. >> you think about coming in and hanging out? >> if you invite me i'll come in. >> you would? >> it's not like you're going to be alone. >> i know. we should do a conference. i should get a millennial person to come in that can bring other millennials on board. >> that's a good idea. >> unless if you really --

>> why don't you just auction the seat? sell it to the highest bidder? >> you don't have a religious objection against that do you? >> someone wrote in what about the first amendment? isn't a lot of religious freedom guaranteed in the amendment? do we need more? do you know? >> yeah religious freedom is guaranteed in the first amendment. >> aren't you a lawyer? >> it is guaranteed in the first amendment which begs the question of why they thought to highlight the fact that people could discriminate against certain groups of people. when we come back this morning, the world according to jim. jim cramer will tell us what's on his radar after this. and check out a few of the guests coming up this week including kevin warsh, david steiner, sam zell and mike jackson. stick around. more "squawk box" in just a moment.

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you can buy groceries on its sites, and you can also store your photos. now amazon wants to be your home services middle man. the company is expanding an initiative known as home services. it helps connect customers with a variety of professionals from electricians to yoga

instructors, and service providers will compete for top rankings through price ratings and other factors, and amazon gets a cut between 10% and 20% of every service that's arranged through its site. gnc is reaching a settlement agreement with new york attorney general, the new york attorney general. as part of that deal the company will strengthen its supplement quality controls. the attorney general's office accused gnc and three other retailers of selling supplements contaminated with unlisted ingredients that could post health risks. let's get down to the new york stock exchange. jim cramer joins us this morning. i know you've been kicking around this settlement deal. what do you think it means? >> i know they've been saying look, we've really been hurt by chinese supplements. without identifying necessarily that these are chinese supplements that are going to be let'sysay, banned they make

their supplements in the united states. there's no chinese. he came on "mad money" and said look, if we can get the chinese to not ship it's going to be huge for perigot. you have to see whether the other guys will fall in line. we do know this is perrigo's biggest disappointment for the quarter. i was saying wow, he might have this in his back pocket. because there's no way that people -- if they knew they were buying chinese supplements would continue to do so. >> all right. that's a great point. thank you for flushing that out for us. jim, you know we've seen several deals this morning. a couple of them have kind of gotten us thinking because when you have an israeli company buying a california-based company, and then you have an irish company -- ireland's horizon pharma buying therapeutics, it starts you thinking about the inversions and all the issues that come from just corporate tax laws being uneven in different companies. we worried about the inversions and figure we can fix the

loophole on that but what you can't do is make it less valuable for a foreign company to come in and buy a u.s. company, have the very same products that they are selling and paying lower taxes on. >> great point becky. it's like how great it was for activist to buy allergen. i know this is a little bit of a change of strategy for horizon. i've had horizon on. i think what this is is it puts them much more in the developmental business. you'll see milen down a lot. tevo also moving into a proprietary business. these are strange deals, because they do seem to be motivated by tax, which is why i know you guys spent a lot of time on it. perrigo is another one of these. anybody that is grandfathered in is coming off of companies and knows they can make much more

money. >> we can't change this unless you actually have legislation in the united states. you can't change what it means for foreign companies to come by us. >> no, not at all. these are done deals. >> you can change the loopholes for inversions but these deals, where american companies look more attractive to companies overseas we can't change that unless we actually address the differences in corporate tax rates. >> right. and otherwise, it's just not a level playing field. activist i think by q4 will be in good enough shape that they can make another acquisition. obviously this horizon is just so bullish for them. you've really got to be very careful if you're an american company. because you're just going to get beat. that's what will happen. you'll get beat. i'm surprised you're not down there in washington saying you've got to give us tax reform. going to get beat endlessly. >> thank you so much. we will see you in just a few minutes. >> the lifestyle lift like i was telling you, they owe money to allergen. >> botox? >> they must choose a lot of that with the focus on lifestyle

left. it's the end of a great american story. maybe not the end. chapter 11. coming up going to be a dynasty decision. harold ford jr. sounds off on hillary clinton and jeb bush and other contenders. harold might have a little bit different view since your father was a senator, was he not? >> he was my predecessor in congress. >> oh, in congress. that's right. >> there can be dynasties that are good dynasties, like the ford dynasty. >> i feel strongly that people ought to be able to succeed their parents. and tomorrow, don't miss the president of the ncaa. we'll talk basketball and the controversy over the new law in indiana, and paying athletes all that stuff. as the final four prepares to tip off in annapolis.

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start investing with as little as fifty dollars. let's get back to harold ford. we're going to talk ncaa stuff tomorrow with emmert. you like kentucky i know right? >> i'm a big fan of calipari. i think the guy is underrated. he's taken three different teams to the final four. three totally different teams. i love coach k, but you can't deny what this guy's accomplished. but you're having mark emmert on -- >> an athlete should be -- jay bilas's piece. >> i thought it was fantastic. each of the point i think the

ncaa has raised about why athletes should not be compensated, i thought he obliterated each of those points and laid out a path to do the right thing, which is providing some kind of cost of living. he even advocated paying these kids to go to different universities. i don't quite understand that fully. but i do think president emmert has a set of questions to answer. how is it in a free market system a lot of them don't get a good education. how do you claim that this is fair? i think the fiction is going to explode at some point and the ncaa is going to have to do more by these kids and their families for them generating millions of dollars. >> if you look at all the great teams that we've watched, the guys that finally hit pay dirt in the nba, it's a small number right? >> very small number. >> less than 50% of them. >> if not smaller than that. these kids are generating huge amounts of money and tv revenue. and the scholarship alone doesn't cover all of it that they should be receiving. >> all right. >> i like hillary.

>> you have to say that. thank you, harold. great having you. >> thanks for having me. i'll come back friday. >> you just missed the millennial cutoff. >> you just missed our time cutoff. >> make sure you join us tomorrow. "squawk on the street" is next. good monday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber at the new york stock exchange. two days left in q1. the s&p is trying to avoid its first negative quarter since 2012. we have a boat load of health care mna this morning. oil is coming back a little bit on hopes perhaps of a nuclear deal with