at. 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 iran.

the deadline is this week. and the ten-year personal spending was below expectations and the savings rate up yet again. our road map a trio of multi-billion-dollar pharma deals. we're going to break them all down for you. >> tim cook penning an op-ed against indiana's religious freedom law. while the ceo of angie's list explains his halting of expansion in the state. >> ford reviving the iconic lincoln continental, and we will start to ceo mark fields live in just a few moments. stock futures up after a chinese central stock bank owner said he saw more room. about $12.8 billion in cash. and then of course the personal income rose .4% but spending was up a weaker than expected .1. you were talking about these deals with joe back at hq. a bunch of deals this morning.

>> i think what's worth watching is how much the acquirer is going to go up. you have a deal like horizon had them on "mad money" because of their tax status. it's a terrific deal. an orphan drug. they tend not to go into orphan drugs, but that's what they're doing. you'll see united health go up because there's a scarcity of pharmacy benefit managers. these are percolating. but it is -- the futures were down rather markedly until china came in. i find all of these chinese stories to be a lot of just all talk, no action. but the deals themselves, the market loves them. >> china, as you said kind of turned the market. milen should be down today. selling 35 shares of milen from their deal to invert themselves. which they successfully did. so that's going to be down.

but this catamaran deal is huge. the merger of two pbms. but suddenly you have three big guys now, cvs and express and unh in the form of their optum rx unit which a lot of people expect eventually will be spun off from the company. scaling it up to spin it off eventually. we shall see about that. but, you know paying a decent price, although the stock has been here before. >> i've been recommending rite aid since it was at 3 and they bought a pharmacy benefit manager. cvs attributes a lot of their success to being pharmacy benefit manager. it's just a remarkable business and i think that anyone who's in it has a leg up on everybody else. i keep thinking that walgreens, who i know got rid of their

pharmacy benefit manager, but we have new management there. i thought that walgreens was going to go for catamaran. >> it comes on the heels of those reports about intel and altera. we're watching xilinx, too. >> intel was jumping wildly. i was e-mailing david on friday saying i want to go out with this on friday but i don't think we have any data. >> unfortunately, i wasn't able to give you much insight, i'm still not. other than what we saw friday reported by dow jones. but jim the stock was up 28% on friday. intel would seem to be one of the only potential buyers for this company. i'm curious as to your thoughts on value here though. >> i know they're partners. ever since they've been partners, the stock has been quite weak. i think that intel, it may not even matter how much they pay in

order to be able to get them away from personal computers. so, i mean i think the market is going to afford them a lot of room because the ceo struggled mightily to get that company beyond personal companies. it's been linked as it's been microsoft. so this gets them more into the internet of things. and the internet of things is loved by people. >> if we can fix the dollar for their cause, that would be another help, one big reason of the revenue warning a couple of weeks ago. >> yes, and i think that intel is a very challenged company that does have a lot of cash and i think that he's done a great deal. but this would be very bullish for intel. >> we do have other news about the ftc having a meeting with the tobacco companies. of course, still trying to get together. don't forget antitrust.

it won't fit in most significantly to this pbm deal. baker used haliburton. time warner cable, our parent comcast, the tobacco deal. still out there. you will be dealing with antitrust and be hearing about it when it comes to mna. but this morning, we're seeing headlines with the deals.&a. but this morning, we're seeing headlines with the deals. >> i think it's extraordinary to see this. they fancy themselves, just so you know as a -- in my view a mini activist. this deal seals that. >> some news on apple today. ceo tim cook taking aim at indiana's religious freedom law, and similar legislation in other states saying they're setting a dangerous trend. he's among the critics saying the law gives businesses a

license to discriminate against gays. in an op-ed, cook writes america's business community recognized a long time ago that discrimination in all its forms is bad for business. that's why on behalf of apple, i'm standing up to oppose this wave of legislation wherever it emerges. later this morning, we'll talk with max levchin who is also speaking out on the new indiana law. governor pence on the morning shows, his argument that these laws are about what he calls government overreach, but it's creeping into the corporate sector. >> starting with mark beniov tweeting, look we're not going to do business. they bought exact target e.t. which i think has been a winning acquisition, which is based in indiana, and when they were talking about this deal it was a major win to keep the people in indiana, not to move out to the new headquarters of sales force. so when they started the ball

rolling, you've got eli lilly weighing in tim cook -- >> stopping from yelp. >> yes, this was very significant. because you had a lot of people who theoretically could be doing interstate commerce in indiana. i'm waiting for -- this is another shoe to drop. this is a new forum of corporate activism. a lot of people were saying doesn't this hurt apple? no, it will not hurt apple. but apple could hurt indiana. >> right. in this case it is the actual corporation being active. for a long time it seemed as though there was a reticence on the part of most chief executive executives to speak at all. it is interesting that the willingness on the part of a number of these companies to step into these issues. >> people do not understand mark beniov. he's a very important figure in silicon valley. and he is not going to rest

until this thing is somehow reversed. now, obviously, we're getting a lot of talk from the governor saying maybe we ought to redefine it or something. but tim cook being involved mark beniov being involved, the government might be on the wrong side of history here. >> the ceo of angie's list was asked as well. >> this was an agreement that there were benefits for us to stay here. we were able to make commitments about hiring associated with those. if the atmosphere is such that we can't draw the talent that they can't be comfortable, then i can't commit the company. >> starbucks wades into the race debate. now we have apple. is this any of their business?

>> i think because they have such a representation, i think this is something new. those that have read the tim cook legislation laws are dangerous. read through it. these are ceos making a stand. and it is highly unusual, and yet it might be the way. starbucks isn't going away. don't forget they're in partnership with larry cramer at "usa today." they got the debate going. these are as controversial as you get. this is not our strength. >> schultz has shown no hesitation from weighing into larger issues period. different perhaps than any other ceo out there at a lot of companies. this does seem to have a business application if you will. the ceo of angel's list clearly made some commitment to hiring and now he's questioning whether he can do it. >> in the case of apple and

starbucks, you're talking about companies that have so much tail wind, they can afford to do something like this if perhaps they lose some business on the margin? >> i think that this is basically a shot. anyone else -- by the way, when you go on twitter, when you talk about it people hate you. i think that he's showing, look we're not going to do business -- you know cordon off the state, maybe teach others a lesson. people come right back and say president clinton said this was fine. they were always going to be some justification for doing this. i felt his pro-discrimination religious freedom laws was very cogent, but you can argue who is he? >> he's going to alienate some customers. >> absolutely. absolutely. but, you know sometimes -- see, this is a new thing. i think that's the way to put

it. he was saying we waded into gun control. we waded into same-sex marriage. >> they've waded into a lot of things. >> and it has not hurt their business one bit. so those who think you know what, i'm going to sell the stock because of this. be careful. that's a really bad call. it's been a bad call to do. when we come back, mark fields on the return of the lincoln continental. what it means for the auto maker's growth strategy. auto sales are this week. janney this morning saying mcdonald's is going to test breakfast all day. we'll talk about that. and the pre-market looks pretty good here. triple digit gain at the open. a lot-"squawk on the street" live from the post nine when we return. hello. i am a fully automated investment advisory service. i can help you choose investments.

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premarket looking pretty good. a few analyst upgrades. yellen sounded pretty dovish. we'll see where this leads us today. >> okay this is kind of -- what's interesting about what you just said is once the fed put themselves on hold we had a remarkable rally, and then we gave back a lot last week. i think what you mentioned about the quarter perhaps not being an up quarter, we came in with so much optimism. and the earnings have really hurt us. a lot of that's the strong dollar. but the earnings have been -- overall, and i tend to be more of an optimist. but they've been disappointing.

i think that the averages are really reflecting that. it's been a true market. >> we've not had a negative quarter in nine quarters. right now we're up .1% for the quarter. but we keep bouncing off this hundred-day moving average which is around 2040-ish. we know what happened in february. do you think fundamentally there is a floor here somewhere? >> i think when we start seeing the quarters i think we're beginning to say you know what a lot of this was discounted. the answer is yes. david, you can comment on it, but to me the m&a market really never impacted. craft does a deal and not a lot of tail winds. ipos, they're almost nonexistent this quarter. this was a dud quarter in a lot of ways. >> yeah, it's funny, you're right. ipos have been much quieter. there continues to be a significant pace. it's what we talked about at the top of the show of course. and that will continue. but to the extend that that has a broader impact it's not clear

that it will. it can lend to confidence as we often say, broadly speaking. and to a sense that there is an exit multiple available, which is important. and deals do beget deals. but when it comes to a craft, not necessarily a domino thing playing out. >> it was almost like craft did its deal so that industry is done. the semiconductors have had a lot of deals. these deals are very important from the point of view of just having so many players. and now they're going to be dropping. apple had such a big run. nobody seemed to care about that. this was the quarter -- they gave a quarter, nobody showed. it's really kind of amazing. i expected much more in terms of translation. we're in a weird market. jp morgan gets on the cover, they're using a $6 number. next thing you know, stock

explodes. people are looking for something to buy. >> yeah. and that's why we have you here jim. we'll get mark fields from ford and of course, the mad dash in just a minute. the real question that needs to be asked is "what is it that we can do that is impactful?" what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, that's what i'd like to do. opinions. there's no shortage in this world. who do you trust? whose analysis is accurate? how do you make sense of it all? a simple unbiased stock score consolidated from the opinions of independent analysts... is that too much to ask? nope. equity summary score

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it was once the quintessential american car driven by elvis presley, clark gable, two u.s. presidents jon hamm in "mad men." ford motors set to announce that the lincoln continental will ride gun. we're honored to be joined now by ford motor company president and new jersey's own ceo mark fields. mark this seems like it's positioned to be right from the beginning a car that china will

love, not necessarily that united states is going to be the flagship parent to sell it. is that true? >> well we developed this car for both markets. the segments are large in both countries. actually, right now, china is the largest full-sized sedan segment. so we listened to them we listened to customers here in the u.s. and the interesting thing, jim, is there's a lot more commonalities between the customers in the two different countries than differences. the biggest difference though, is chinese consumers when they buy this full-sized luxury sedan, they usually chauffeured in it. we spent a lot of time on the back seat amenities on this can september. >> that brings to me the next point. when you do go in a black car in the united states, still many of them are ford cars. could this be the uber car? could this be the limousine in america the way that lincoln always used to be during the heyday? >> well, you know back in the heyday lincoln continental

defined sedans in the '50s and '60s. and that's exactly what we want to do with this new continental concept. for us, it signals what we call quiet luxury which is about elegance. it's around a serene and relaxing interior place you can chill. what we want is to be an extremely successful vehicle in that segment and in terms of who's going to buy it we'll -- we want to come with our best foot forward, because continental has always -- it's a meaningful name and it's always signified the best in lincoln sedans. >> it's carl. you're quoted this morning as saying we don't want to be a feeder brand for other luxury brands. who are you taking aim at with this? is it an audi story, bmw, mercedes what? >> i think when you look at what we've done with the ford brand over the past seven or eight years, we have grown the brand, added customers to our stable of

products and been pleased. for example, in the u.s. and even in china they've responded to the ford brand. what we want to make sure is when those customers, if and when they want to move up to a luxury car, that we're there for them with lincoln. >> when i look at what ford is doing, i have to wonder this strong dollar, i'm seeing cars being built in mexico by germans, by japanese, and i'm thinking, is this going to be an american car and how can you keep up with the luxury of these companies that are building them in mexico for $5 and hour and you've got higher costs in this country. >> keep in mind, jim, we do produce cars in mexico as well, as well as a good number of engines. but clearly with the strong dollar, it has an impact to our business, where we're not going to whine about it we're going to deal with it. no matter where the vehicles are made or where our competitors make our vehicles we want to make sure that our vehicles have

great appeal to our customers. you've got to come with your a game around design around fuel efficiency safety, and smart technology and that's what we're going to keep focusing on. because what customers care about is those things. where it's made it means we have to continue to work on our costs wherever we are around the world so that we're as efficient as possible. >> we're watching some video, which makes it look like maybe the back of the car can be my office, get everything done. maybe i have my apple linked in. maybe i'm able to do a lot of work in the back. is this the office connected car that you and i have talked about so much? >> well this is a vehicle where you actually can get a lot of work done in the back seat or just sit and chill. this concept that we're showing is very interesting. the vehicle itself has 30-way power seats that actually contour to your body. in the rear seat of the vehicle, the back seat can recline. there's some other things in there, like if you're sitting in

the sunroof and the heat's coming down all you have to do is tap on the glass the smart glass, it will automatically become opaque and reduce the temperature up to 18 degrees. i mean it's a place where whether you're sitting in the front seat or back seat we want this to be a serene and relaxing environment for folks, instead of one that's overpowering for them. >> mark we're going to get auto sales midweek here. we know that january was the best for the industry in nine years, but february was weak. a lot of people tried to argue that was weather. why would you go shop for a car in the middle of the blizzard? are we going to get some payback in march? >> well, we'll have to see. keep in mind that in march, there's one less selling day than last year. so that will impact the industry. from our perspective, we expect the retail sales to do well. our fleet sales will be down because we're in the middle of our f-150 launch and edge launch as well as a few others.

>> give us a sense of gas mileage. by the way, let's just get a sense with gasoline at $2 you've got some big cars that must be selling. that expedition is still gigantic. i know it uses a little more gasoline than the rest of your line. >> what we're seeing with the low gas price, we don't necessarily see -- we never saw a correlation in the past of people rushing out and buying cars just because gas prices are low. we don't see that affecting the industry. we are seeing the types of vehicles that consumers are buying change. folks are migrating from small anded my and mid size cars to small and mid size suvs. but even with that change customers still want great fuel economy. that's why our approach is to make sure whatever segment we're in, and you know we have a full family of vehicles you want to make sure they have the right fuel efficiency. customers don't want to remember the days back in '07, '08 when

gas was 4 dollars, $4.50 a gallon and they had to park their vehicles. >> was there any thought of the doors open where you had a "mad men" look there. it would have been a cool thing to do no? >> we think we have a pretty compelling product even without those. going back to the original continental, which edsell ford shepherded. the suicide doors we had in the '60s, that was just for one version of the vehicle. when you look at this vehicle, it's got an elegance it's got a presence to it. and again, we're trying to carve out a different space for lincoln around this elegance and around this effortless power. >> when you think about where america is are we going back to cars? we think about mercedes, we think about the lexus sedan, and yes, the beamer. is this the shift that you guys need to get out of that 11, 12

segment, maybe get in the top five? >> well clearly, jim, as you look at the lincoln brand, we're one of the smallest if not the smallest. we want to use that to our advantage. the whole ownership experience we want our engineers and our marketing and sales folks, we want them thinking about experiences. how does technology enable that? when you see some of the technology we're introducing in this concept as well as what will come into other lincolns over time, i think you'll see a very differentiated approach and use our size to an advantage. >> all right, well thank you very much, mark fields. the president and ceo of ford motor. good to talk to you, sir. >> all right, thanks, jim. >> we've got about a minute and a half to the opening bell. let's get to a very quick abbreviated mad dash. where are we going to go? >> i think there's a big story in terms of a guy who's been able to look through the abyss

of 2015 and come out on the other side and it is loved. gary friedman restoration hardware. goldman sachs goes hold the buy. i've got to tell you, it is soothing. it's set to music. and gary is basically saying listen, if you don't like our stock, you would demand that we have a good quarter, sayonara. remember, he did do that convert for zero. i think this is amazing that gold man says bye, bye, bye. >> it's leveraged to e-commerce and a turn in housing, which they were hoping for at least. >> right. i kind of disagree with the e-commerce action. one thing is certain, is gary doesn't like the web.

on the web, he says the same thing, which is everybody looks like they've got a grand presentation. he wasn't happy with the new york store. >> the purchase of rugs and lights. >> temples of higher furniture learning is what i think. >> pretty nice here at the open. a lot of green. down here at the big board, reality shares celebrating the recent launch of its dividend eif. a therapy company celebrating its recent ipo. >> there were so many m&a deals that you feel like i've got to be careful not to be too short. it is, this jp morgan piece that

came back you know i like bank leadership. all that said the funk of this quarter tends to indicate that at a certain point during the day, we will give up some and you get a better level to be able to buy things. it's been such a bummer quarter, frankly. it really has. last week was a terrible week. you see a lot of companies whose stocks look like they're rolling over. because these deals matter. >> year to date, u.s. m&a is 33 billion. health care 88. health care has four of the top ten of the year so far. >> i just think that health care is where there's just way too many companies. and i think that the inversion -- the inversion thing has really put many companies at a disadvantage in our country. and i'm not here to talk about tax policy. i do think activist is what's

happened in terms of where big money wants to go. >> well, we've made this point. in some auctions that have taken place, the only buyers were those that were already inverted. inverted. for example, salix. they were all inverted. in pharma in particular, you have those companies that managed to get their tax rate lowered forever, in a sense, and even more importantly have access to their overseas cash and use it in a more effective way perhaps, and bring it back if they want in some ways. and that gives them an advantage that conceivably they will have forever. >> this is the deal that wouldn't die. no deal on the table. doesn't seem to matter. it just doesn't stop. so if you're short biotech, i think biotech had this crescendo

selloff. they will look to be the stocks that you have to show that you own if you are a big portfolio manager and you're looking to have your first quarter holdings coming down. stocks up 8%. they are going to be splitting their sports teams from their media network. this was anticipated. this all started when failer was in the stock. not an activist, but he was starting to make some noise. starting to make some threats. they actually moved ahead with it, even though it's a controlled company. hard to imagine exactly what might have gone on there in terms of an activist actually

getting nasty. didn't need to. they go down that road. there's msg. the rangers are great, by the way, so you've got to give them that. >> who would win? >> i don't think it's any question who would win. my old kentucky home. >> it's just a company. nothing to do with you. >> my team. the knicks. i don't care about msg as a company. one way or the other. >> you have to draw the line. that's a very hard team. like 76ers. very hard team to draw a line.

>> you mentioned oracle. >> these are all very -- look nike, you look at this. these are dow stocks that are driving things. this is oracle embracing the cloud and they're getting credit for it. i have to tell you that i think oracle is a very inexpensive stock. they've made it so it's become a company that people feel comfortable owning. as opposed to hewlett-packard and ibm. >> i do. >> what? >> although i went to see watson. >> could you beat watson in jeopardy? >> no, i could not. watson has moved well beyond jeopardy. >> what is he on? >> family feud. >> oncology and diagnostics and a lot of different applications

in health care. >> is the price right for watson? >> dreamworks is up almost 8%. the movie "home," the animated picture over the weekend, surprise hit. $54 million. it wins the weekend. rihanna and jim parsons. >> stock's been a horrendous stock. maybe this is the beginning. maybe we're seeing the beginning. but i still prefer disney on any weakness. >> we should guest best buy on the record, consolidating and closing some stores in canada. >> in terms of stocks that are exciting, we should circle back to facebook. we haven't talked about that lately. i came back and said -- david, don't listen. you'll be mad at me. i think facebook got a bargain on what's app. >> we mentioned the janney report on mcdonald's.

janney believes they're going to start testing all day breakfast. they believe there are two cravable items on the menu french fries and breakfast. >> i just wish they had fewer items. they have to win back the franchisees. >> you're not worried about kitchen complexity, as they call it? >> this is an easy for them to make. boy, are you ever right about the fries. the mcmuffin, the fries, and the bathrooms. any improvement in any of those three, it's just a win win, win. >> we're book to 2077. s&p has not had two consecutive up days since when? since february 17th.

>> jeez. we could have that. >> this could be the day. what we needed to see were the transports. the transports have not confirmed jack. every time we rally, people say hey, take profits. >> i don't know jack very well. >> jack. >> tesla is down. apparently they did recognize there was a short fall in china. there are some questions about where tesla is with china. the answer is they're nowhere. so i would just say tesla is now so oversold any good news could be a spring for that. the china figures that have come out show the lincoln is going to do better than tesla. i'm waiting for a story which says don't worry about tesla. and we haven't had that story

yet. watson did beat ken jennings. >> yes, i know. i said he's well beyond that now. watson doesn't play jeopardy anymore. >> why doesn't he learn to give us earnings per share? >> eventually watson is going to be powering all three of us. >> can watch and give us a better earnings profile? >> i'm not sure that's something watson is capable of doing. >> that's what we want out of watson. >> i think watson should give us a little earnings. >> let's get to bob pisani on the floor, watching what's moving. >> nice start to the whole week here. we had most of the major sectors on the upside. the dow, if you'll notice, is notably outperforming the indices because of united

health. we've got several deals today. so united health spenting $12.8 billion to buy catamaran, a pharmacy benefit manager, if you put up united health you see the move that that's doing, and that's helping the dow. we're now up 219 points in the dow jones industrial average. there's some other deals that are out there as well. we've got some follow-through on the semiconductors. there's the xle. micron and free scale are on the upside. china has had a huge move because they're dropping all sorts of hints that stimulus is coming. over the weekend, the country needed to be vigilant on inflation and deflation rather a slower economic growth. they said they have room to act.

dropping all sorts of hints that stimulus is coming. another 2.6%. that's a seven-yier higher. the highest level since march 2008 for the shanghai index. europe's up about 1% right now. there were a lot of economic confidence indexes that were out. they did well. the italian business confidence index, for example was at the highest level since march of 2008 as well. so about 1% move over there. here, the leadership, well we're back. it's an interesting mix, so biotech, which has been the leader all quarter, up. energy, which has been one of the losers down about 2%. that's up. emerging markets have not done well but recently have stabilized. that's the third one. the bank index, that's done fair. that's probably up about 2%. i'd say that's a slight outperformance on the s&p. there's your leadership. i'm still worried about what i've been calling about. a profit recession going on. so we noted last week that

numbers are down and in negative territory for the first quarter and is second quarter for the s&p 500. this is the s&p 500. but heading in a negative direction for the third quarter as well. they almost never come down this far. wooir up that could go negative in the next couple weeks, so keep an eye on that. i don't even know the last time we had three negative quarters. i'll check on that for you. you guys were talking about the quarter. this has been a lousy quarter for ipos. i mean just terrible. go daddy is going to be coming, it's scheduled to price tuesday night for trading here at the new york stock exchange. it will be a nice one. as for how well we've done on the quarter for secondaries, this is what i've got. 31.

that's got to be the lowest in a long time. i'll get you the prior quarter numbers. but the real action has been secondaries. tremendous number of secondaries, even though they don't get the publicity. that's where all the money is right now. bernanke started a blork he said i occasionally observed it's only 2% action. he promises he'll keep the talk to a minimum, but says he'll blog when the spirit moves him. hope he blogs a little more often. ever try to wonder how he felt about the fomc? maybe he'll criticize the fomc. wouldn't that be something? >> brookings.edu/benbernanke. he's actually speaking right now. let's get to rick santelli at the cme group in chicago this morning. hey, rick. >> good morning, carl.

that's interesting. may be on raising. i have trillions of reasons it's sitting on the books that argue with that notion on the easing side. speaking of which, we are seeing rates ease back relatively quickly, but not necessarily covering a lot of real estate. never closed above it though. if you look at fives to 30s, which is maybe the most popular yield curve trade, it looks pretty much kind of like a very healthy person's heart beat. not a lot of extraneous moves. not a lot of big emotional moves. it's really eased back in the last six weeks or so.

if we move to the foreign exchange side, which is the whole interest rate differential equation and central banks know that the best. look at the euro versus the dollar on a month-to-date chart and remember just like the bonds, last week we're flirting on the high ticks with the 110 handle. if we look at the dollar/yen since the beginning of november we saw a market that is a lot more sideways and a lot less volatility than in european currencies, but you want to continue to watch 120. this is a significant pivot. now that china's weighed in maybe the japanese will try to push the currency down a bit, letting the dollar float back above that level. ? you look at the dollar wan since the beginning of october 2012 and look at the extremes, there's been a pretty decent

move. we're going to have to continue to monitor that as the exporters of the world try to gain each other into a bigger marketplace. david, carl, back to you. >> all right, rick thanks so much. rick santelli keeping a close eye on oil today as those negotiations with iran continue. down about three cents today. what traders are watching certainly right now, geopolitics are ruling the roost here. they are watching yemen. they're a little bit less worried about it. they were less worried as we went into the weekend, but all eyes on talks with iran as well. the deadline is looming here. traders think that we might not get a deal necessarily, but at least get the fundamentals, or framework where a deal can actually be reached. and of course longer term that means iranian supply comes back on to the market. that is bearish for crude. meantime, we're looking at a dollar index today. strengthening over 98.

that's bearish as well. and then we're back to the fundamentals. traders pointing back to inventories, expecting them to build in the second quarter of this year. and also expecting the see record stocks according to the iea. so that's something to keep an eye on. of course all that was out the window last week. meantime, we want to watch this week closely as well. we have a lot of data coming out. it's a short week. you're going to expect to see traders this weekend as we head back. >> when we come back paypal's co-founder sounds off about the new indiana law that has a number of business leaders and others in an uproar. in the meantime we are up 262 points on the dow, and more than 21 on the s&p. we're back in a moment.

robust rally under way.

only one component in the red, that's intel. >> the acquirers are setting the pace. barclays upgraded analog devices, adi. the stock is flying on this upgrade. it's almost as if people say, you know what apple had a really good quarter. huge amount of s&p money coming in. out of nowhere. almost as if it's been pent up. people waiting for something. but this is just too broad a base rally for me to think it's individual stock. >> it's not the new quarter yet. so you'd expect perhaps the opposite. >> i am kind of blown away by the amount of money coming into this marngt today. this is very -- market today. coming in and being put to work immediately. but that's what's happening. it's s&p galore. let's not outthink it. >> i just think there's so much

buying in. got to. >> we will get stop trading with jim in a moment with the dow up 258. don't go away. schwab can help. with a trading specialist just a tap away. what's on your mind lisa? i'd like to talk about a trade idea. let's hear it. [ male announcer ] see how schwab can help light a way forward. so you can make your move wherever you are. and start working on your next big idea. ♪ ♪

it's time for cramer and

"stop trading." >> watch perrigo. i know mr. papa was on earlier on "squawk." when he was on last on "mad money," he talked about the idea that chinese supplements had taken a lot of share. its settlement this morning with gnc and the state attorney general of new york i think when you read through the lines, a lot of that is listen, we're not going to buy chinese supplements anymore. if that's the case perrigo is going to soar because if everybody falls in line and they have to buy american supplements, you're going to see the end of the chinese incursion. if there was a chinese flag, by the way, on the side of your supplements, just like it wouldn't buy the dog food you wouldn't buy the supplements. >> they have a lot of issues in their food chain. >> they sure do. plant-based food is a great way to be able to supplant the milk they have that's very expensive. but china, we don't want their supplements is kind of the poor

view. and perrigo has been a loser against the chinese. suddenly with this decision, don't be surprised if they're the winner as the other drugstores fall in line. some of them do use chinese supplements and you can't tell but you don't want them. >> jim, let's get to what's on "mad" tonight. quickly. >> people think that organic farming is too expensive. i've got a venture call tappist ali partovi. he's going to talk about farmland. be careful. organic and natural, it may be cheaper than agribusiness. >> we'll see you tonight, jim. "mad money," 6:00 p.m. eastern time. a palace of restoration. >> got it. >> a temple. >> a temple of higher furniture learning. when we come back paypal's co-founder. best day for the dow since february 3rd. in small business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay 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.

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good monday morning. welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla at post nine of the new york stock exchange. simon is off today. best day for the dow in almost

two months. a rally here. s&p going for two in a row for the first time in several weeks. and the quarter end in just two sessions. >> let's get to the road map for the hour. stocks up sharply this morning. but which sectors could lead the market higher for the rest of the year? we'll talk about that. plus, as oil follows the market higher today, we're taking a look at which big oil names you should be watching. and max levchin sounding off about indiana's controversial new law. he'll be joining us live in just about half an hour. >> let's get to diana in washington. >> reporter: pending home sales up 3.1% in february month to month to the highest level since june of 2013 up 12% year over year. slight downward revision in january, but not much. you're seeing it right here. what snow right? people were out signing

contracts. and surprisingly the midwest was the primary driver of the gains. the realtors are saying though that it's low mortgage rates, it's an improving economy, and it's sky high rents that are getting people out to buy regionally. in the northeast, pending home sales month to month, down 2.3%. in the midwest, up 11.6%. in the west up 6.6% monthly, up 18% year over year and across all regions, pending home sales were up year over year. so we've had a lot of complaints about the weather, but it does appear that home buyers were out in february signing contracts to buy existing homes. >> a good sign for the housing market. dow up 270. two days left for the quarter. looks like we might end on a bullish note here. and with that joining us at post nine, the bull of wall street, tom lee. does feel like we are beginning to go out with a bang. you think this is a rebound from last week potentially some good

signs from china, comments from the central bank governor there? >> that's right. i mean you know we -- i'd say it feels like we've been stuck in a range, but we're ending on a good note. i do think there's a good setup into the rest of the year. >> why? >> well, i think things that we're seeing like consumers savings rate hitting all-time highs at a time when gasoline is low, i don't interpret that to mean there is -- people aren't beginning to spend the savings. i think it's rocket fuel for the second half. >> only you would look at it like that. the spending data was weak. retail sales numbers have been soft. and what we've been getting out of retailers hasn't been that encouraging. >> that's right. but what's interesting is we wrote a piece on this a couple weeks ago. the last 30 years, the correlation between gasoline spent and apparel spending for 80% of households is essentially negative one, meaning if gasoline drops 50% in the last 30 years, it was always a commensurate increase in

entertainment and apparel spending. so i think it's just a matter of time. people think it's temporary, but i think we're going to see some big gains. i think the housing data was encouraging. >> another pushback comes interestingly enough from ben bernanke who started a blog today on brookings institution and joined twitter. he tackled the subject of low interest rates, especially pushing back against those that said the federal reserve is keeping interest rates artificially low. he says hey, it's the state of the economy, not the fed, that is the ultimate determinant, which helps explain why real interest rates are low throughout the industrialized world, not just in the united states. it's a pretty pessimistic view of the economy. >> it is. i think that explains why rates are low. if we get investment spending to pick up and i think that's really a big story, and that's housing and capital spending

inflation will pick up and interest rates will rise. >> do you have hopes for cap ex? some people are starting to chatter that the labor market is looking better. >> yeah. it's an iffy story. energy is a big part of that. 10% of cap ex. that's going to be weak. but especially when you look at the underlying industries or what we call diffusion is probably telling us the best story in almost seven or eight years. >> what about labor markets? weren't we expected to see more in the economy given how many jobs we've added in the last seven months? two million in a very short amount of time. >> longer. >> i think that's a good news story, because what we have is labor markets strengthening. we have presumably income to follow. and eventually consumer expectations are stronger. and that's really what gets us the animal spirit. i think we need to continue to have good jobs. i think it's going to help fuel

rising confidence. >> tom you always do your stats end of the quarter. you kind of track institutions that are lagging. give us an update on where we stand given we start a new quarter in a couple of days. >> the good news is 2015 is turning out to be a very good year for active management. especially value managers. it's really the best start in a decade. >> the mirror image of last year. >> yes. it's following something that we thought would happen. which is in the last three years, the sector dispersion or the difference between good and bad sectors was really narrow. we thought it was going to widen this year which it did. we thought that was going to be a tail wind for manager performance, which it's turned out to be. >> finally, your take on earnings. some of the strategists have blamed the recent selloff that we've seen around uncertainty on earnings. low oil prices strong dollar. that's going to weigh on the outlook. how do you see it? >> i think that's right. we haven't had a lot of visibility into earnings because

we've seen a lot of cuts related to energy. but yet no one's talked about margin, surprise. i think that's going to be a big positive. second is the level of earnings is not great, but it's mainly due to energy. if it stays here, it's great for margins and i think that's what we should watch for. >> so we're setting up for a bullish quarter. a bullish second half. what kind of returns are you looking for? >> i still think we're going to double digit gain, so 23 25 is i think where we can end the year. >> the dow now up 267. something else that can have a positive impact on the broader market is m&a. we got a good amount of it. three multi-billion-dollar pharma deals, for example, which may be having a positive impact on the overall market. let's get to them. the largest of them united health care. is buying a name that many

people may not have been that familiar with, but it's a large deal. over 12 billion. this will essentially create three large players in pbms. you're going to end up with cvs, which is already out there. there are shareholders of unh who believe that eventually the scale that they are taking will lead them to spin this business off. although no word of that. simply the benefits they see in the deal itself. all cash 61.50 a share. teva, israeli-based. both the buyers that i'll mention are both teva and horizon. a fairly significant premium. teva shares are also up. one side note is milen. there's been this constant rumor out there, i didn't believe it and a lot of others apparently at least gave it some credence

that teva would be interested in milen. there's pressure on milen because teva is doing this deal and because of that. finally, hyperion gets bought out. this is the smallest of the group and a little over a billion dollars expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. when we come back oil bouncing back recently, but still down sharply for the year. what should you be doing with all those big oil stocks? we'll talk about that. before the break, a look at the markets. dow is steady, tight range, but a nice pop at the open of 262. we'll be right back. your mom's got your back. your friends have your back. your dog's definitely got your back. but who's got your back when you need legal help? we do.

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breaking news coming in from the s.e.c. robert frank has more at hq. >> lynn tilton the ceo and founder of patriarch founders and one of the richest self-made women in america has been charged with fraud by the s.e.c. alleging that tilton and patriarch have reached their fiduciary duties. this has to do with the clos that she uses to finance her

companies. the disclosures that were made to investors in those. we met with lynn tilton. she says this is going to fight this. this is a fight of good versus evil. she said that everything she needed to disclose was disclosed to investors. let's take a listen to what she's told us. >> my number one priority is protecting my peoples and my company so i can maximize value for the funds. my people need to know i'm standing in front of them. my people need to know that i'm fighting for them but i also want to live in a country where i can fight for truth without assuming that because it's the government that i'm guilty without the battle. so as someone that has always fought for truth and protected her integrity and intent and have prevailed, i expect to do that. all these sophisticated investors knew the strategy of

buying deeply distressed companies, and then working towards the restructure and the revival. and any time you're dealing with something high-risk, not everything makes it. but as was my experience from the previous funds, which were highly successful, it's always that group of winners. that group of great turnaround stories that actually are the drivers of the repayment of the notes. >> obviously, guys, lynn tilton one of the highest profile female executives and self-made billionaires in america. she is vowing to fight these charges by the s.e.c. charging her with fraud. she's not going to settle this right now. so it looks like this is going to drag out for some time. guys, back over to you. >> yeah it's great that you actually got to talk to her about that as well. robert frank thank you very much for that breaking news. now, let's send it over to dom for a quick market flash. >> a rally here on wall street.

shares of gnc you can see here are up. nutritional supplements is agreeing to quality control procedures that exceed those required by federal law. that new agreement will be formally announced by new york state attorney general eric schneiderman in about an hour from now. as a result shares up by nearly 7% in the early trade. back over to you. >> all right thanks so much. oil prices falling as the looming deadline approaches for talks on iran's nuclear program. while supply disruptions due to saudi air strikes in yemen look increasingly unlikely. what will it take to get oil marks back on track? joining us is fadel gheit. good to talk to you again. we have a lot going on all around the world and it's buffetting prices anew. what's the stronger dynamic, yemen or iran? >> well basically yemen because it will impact supply. the iranian situation is not

going to impact supply in the near-term. longer term however, i think the nuclear talk could open the door for lifting the sanction and improving the relation with the company, which means there will be more capital flowing into the uranium energy resource areas, which will increase oil supply. and that is negative longer-term. but near term, i do believe the market is worried about bombing of yemen. >> are you counting on something getting done by midnight on tuesday? >> i assume so because after all this late hour meetings, i do believe that they are close to something. otherwise they would have thrown their arms in the air and said there's no deal. but it's most likely that they will have a deal. the question is how strong of a deal and how verifiable is the deal. and how long it's going to take before we normalize a relationship with this country.

>> "washington post" tries to make the case that it is low oil prices and the threat makes the sanctions have more bite. do you agree? >> absolutely absolutely. the iranian situation and the russian situation, economic sanctions has dealt them a very severe blow. and russia, because of collapse of the ruble, that even makes it worse. but definitely the economic sanction has been very effective, and the crash in oil prices made it even more so. >> question on some of the companies that you cover. looks like the s&p energy group is in the lead right now with all of the components trading higher, despite the fact that we're seeing lower oil prices. what's the disconnect now between where the companies are trading and whether they're a bye versus the price of oil? >> well a couple of things. most of the investors in the market abn all-time high. you cannot see more compelling

value than the energy space. down by almost 35%. a lot of people are thinking that oil prices have bottom and have shared this view. and the question is how high will oil prices go and when. and i do believe we're going to see a recovery, but i don't believe we're going to see $80 oil any time soon. >> yeah when does it start to get topee once again? is that a six handle? is it a seven handle? over the next say three to six months. >> well not going to see seven. would be lucky to see the six handle. wtmi is going to be depressed as long as we don't have outlooks for it to leave the country, and lift the oil export ban, could really push oil prices much higher wti. and basically bringing the price

in line which is now a dollar higher than wti. >> are you ruling out another trip down to the low 40 snz. >> i've been in this business long enough, i don't low anything out. but volatility will continue because speculation is becoming part of the equation. 25% of oil prices going up or down would be pure speculation. >> maybe another way to ask that is a lot of the bears seem to focus on u.s. energy inventors and stockpiles just keep growing. >> i think it's overblow. when people say that oil prices could go down it's like can you dare or can you top that. people are trying to give more sensation into the oil market, as if we need more. i mean we have enough volatility. we do not need any more push for it. but i do believe the upside potential in oil prices is at least double the downside. so if we assume oil prices go down by 10%, i do believe that there is at least 20% upside from here. >> certainly the next 48 hours

is going to be pretty interesting. thanks again. talk to you soon. >> thank you. bye-bye. when we come back find out which sectors could lead the market higher in the next few months, and how you can make a profit. we'll talk about earnings and industries. and later, paypal co-founder max levchin joins us live. his thoughts on indiana's controversial law. what it means for business. we're back on "squawk on the street" after a quick break.

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stocks are in broad rally mode this morning. a rebound for the dow. up 260 point smss. s&p 500 up almost a full percent, and then the nasdaq up about three quarters of a percent. with two days left to go for the quarter, new report from s&p capital iq saying cyclicals, that includes consumer discretionary, financials and industrials, they are poised to post double digit earnings growth in 2013 and are

well-positioned to lead this stock market higher. joining us now, the author of the report, lindsay bell. that would be a good thing for the economy if we get a rally led by financials consumer stocks and industrials. >> that's exactly what you want to see in a continuing upward momentum in the s&p 500. so we're going to get double digit earnings growth from those three sectors as it currently stands. that being said we need the economy to continue to improve to make sure that happens. >> a lot of people would look at that call and say wait a second the economic datas have been pretty disappointing. if you take out jobs and maybe some of the other indicators, consumer, some of the housing reports. >> absolutely. it's strong. >> it's been a little bit disappointing. the first quarter, we saw the weather had a lot to do with that. don't forget there was the west port -- the closures out there. 10% surge in the dollar. 8% surge in dollar 10% decline in oil. this is all that corporations will have to contend with in the

first quarter. we need to see that improve in the second quarter and as we continue throughout the year. that's what investors are banking on. >> a lot of people looking at the savings. the highest since 2012. either consumers being cautious or they're saving to spend it later in the year in q2 and q3. what do you think is the truth? >> i think a lot of people are banking on that they're going to spend it later in the year. there is that oil subsidy from the declining oil prices that i just mentioned. consumers haven't really spent that. i think the weather also impacts consumer spending as well. you don't want to get out there. all these snowstorms that we've had across the country they're not shopping right now. hopefully we start to see that spending come into play in the second half of the year and tightening of the job market wage growth. that's all really good things to come. >> you're looking for strength out of the financials i noticed for this quarter. is that due to the fact that we've had more volatility in the markets or is it some underlying strength you're seeing in lending in the economy? >> part of it's by the big

banks, who are seeing less litigation charges. they're letting go of some of their provisions. so they have those one-time benefits unfortunately. but i do think that low interest rates are going to help the consumer get back in there, get some small businesses. you're seeing the small businesses really benefit. >> i would think they would love the volatility. consumer discretionary, you're looking for 12% earnings growth on consumer names. is that just because last year was just so easy to beat because of the frigid weather, or also is this underlying strength you're seeing? >> it's a little bit of both. certainly it helps when you have easier comparisons, but when you see wages starting to go up for the second month in a row that we saw this morning, that bodes well. so you know, hopefully we're banking on the consumer to help the economy a little bit here. >> how ugly are energy earnings going to be? >> well for the first quarter, we're seeing negative 63% growth. and that's contributing almost

entirely to the negative 3% growth in the s&p 500 for the quarter. for the full year negative 57%. and as i think you all know we're looking for pretty anemic growth for the s&p 500, in 2015 of .4%. >> is that priced in? >> i think that is priced in. i really think the first half of the year everyone's expecting negative growth for the entire first half. they're banking on growth in that second half and i think they're going to be less tolerant if we continue to get unstable economic data. we've got the uncertainty from the fed, which also doesn't help the situation. we just -- there's still a lot of uncertainty in the market right now. >> all right, lindsay, thanks very much for joining us. as we look ahead to earnings season and as we look at this broad market rally with the dow up 245. when we come back paypal's co-founder max levchin joining many other tech ceos voicing his outrage against indiana's controversial new law. he's going to join us live right after the break.

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welcome back. the fallout from indiana's religious freedom law continues this morning. apple's ceo tim cook writes an op-ed in "the washington post" warning that these laws in his words are very dangerous. that was after sales force mark

benioff, and paypal co-founder max levchin spoke out on the issue. max joins us to talk more about it. good to see you again. good morning. >> good to be here thank you. >> you call this a fundamental step backwards. are there any risks in taking the stance you're taking on behalf of the company? >> i don't think so. i think the vast majority of people in this country and the state of indiana agree with these views. >> you said, i have an obligation to ensure that their workplace is safe and welcoming for everyone. what exactly is affirm or paypal going to do about this? >> i certainly can't speak on behalf of paypal since it's an entirely independent at this point of anything i can do but i very much encourage paypal's new ceo and other ceos in silicon valley to evaluate their relationship with the state of indiana if local bills and laws

say it's okay to discriminate. you have to make sure you're protecting your employees and keeping them safe and comfortable. >> did the governor's comments over the weekend about how this is a pushback against government overreach do anything to alter your opinion? >> not particularly. i think the best thing indiana can do and all the other governors and states where these laws are being proposed is to speak very clearly and just clarify the discrimination is not okay. and if that's clearly put throughout, i think a lot of people will feel differently. but if you dither or don't quite say it out loud these kind of lays clearly state that discrimination is welcomed back and that's not okay. >> they say they're working on clarification, but unclear whether he's going to support. i think he said it was not on his agenda making indiana residents protected legal class, gay and lesbian etc. so my question is do you think people should go even farther in

terms of boycotting the state? for instance the ncaa tournament, final four in indianapolis this weekend? you think it should be boycotted? >> i wasn't even aware that it was in indiana, to be completely honest. but i'm not a huge fan. but i think every person that has their moral fibers pointing the right way should ask themselves what does this mean for them. it's a big, important issue. discrimination is something that we've had in the past in this country, jim crow laws and things like that. let's not forget about this and treat it very seriously and decide what we need to do about it. certainly let's speak up about it as much as possible. >> any response from your employee so far? >> i think i've gotten more hey, thanks for standing up and doing the right thing notes from my ploy base from every company that i'm involved in than any other topic i've spoken about. we try to lend to people that are misjudged by the fico

system, and we think of ourselves as people who stand on the right side of the social justice issues and this was certainly no exception. people were very appreciative that i stood up for this. >> we mentioned benioff in the intro. we mentioned stoppleman. i assume you've read tim cook's op-ed. are you guys talking to each other? >> well, we're definitely talking to each other all the time. i have to give full credit to mark. he's the one who tweeted "is anybody paying attention to indiana." there's a lot of news going on around the world, and it's easy to not notice what's going on in our own home. as soon as he saw this i actually read about the bill being passed and wrote a note to my employees saying look you should speak up if you feel strongly. i'm going to try to encourage my ceo colleagues. so i think at this point, it's a little bit of a meme that's going on. people are outraged and trying to say how they feel but it was certainly not a coordinated

response other than people just speaking their mind and heart. >> max i'm curious, speaking of speaking out your reaction to the ellen pao trial, the fact that the jury went against her in everything, and what the broader impact is going to be on your world? >> it's one of these issues where i'm not sure there's a huge victory for anyone on either side. it's just an awful thing to watch, to be completely honest. i haven't thought too carefully through what it meant. i don't know if it impacts my world immediately. i think at my companies, we take care of our employees, we welcome their diversity, we try to hire and open opportunities for everyone involved so i don't feel like we need to change anything at all independent of the verdict. but the fact that it came to a courtroom is sad to see.

>> back to indiana for a moment. a lot of the opposition has come from the community that you're a part of. looking at the golden gate bridge behind you. is your expectation it will spread beyond, for lack of a better term, silicon valley or high-tech, and what do you think ultimately happens here max? >> i very much hope so. i think tim cook said it extremely well in his op-ed. discrimination is bad for business and this is not exactly a secret. we did away with all those terrible segregation laws because it's just both moral and smart to welcome and be welcome to all possible customers. i think as people like benioff and tim cook lead the way, more businesses in america will evaluate their relationship with indiana and ask the question, how should we feel about this state that doesn't seem to oppose discrimination strongly, and the right to discriminate

law. so i hope it picks up and i ultimately hope these laws get overturned and most importantly, i hope other governors or other legislative bodies that are considering such bills do not proceed and do the right thing. >> we will see. obviously a couple dozen states considering these types of laws. max, we hope to have you back as the debate continues. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> max levchin of affirmed. let's get to sue herera who's got a cnbc news update for us. >> here's what's happening at this hour. german prosecutors say the co-pilot of the germanwings passenger plane that crashed in the french alps had received treatment for suicidal tendencies. they said he had received psycho therapy for several years before becoming a pilot. negotiations over iran's nuclear program are entering a critical phase ahead of tomorrow's self-imposed deadline. iran is said to be considering demands for further cuts to its uranium program, but it's

pushing back on how long it must limit technology it could use to make weapons. the s.e.c. announcing fraud charges against lynn tilton and her patriarch partners firm saying she breached her fiduciary duties and frauding clients. tilton telling cnbc she will fight those charges. in an ongoing story we're continuing to monitor, there is a report of a shooting at the gate of the nsa's ft. meade facility. a guard reportedly engaged in an altercation with two men disguised as females who were hoping to enter that facility. a spokesman said two people are being treated for injuries at one of those gates. we'll continue to monitor that situation. that's our cnbc news update this hour. back to you. >> thank you very much, sue herera herera. coming up, kara swisher will weigh in on the indiana law and its effect on the tech business. plus you've got to hear her thoughts on the verdict on the ellen pao trial. that's all ahead on "squawk

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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. welcome back to "squawk on the street." the best performing stock in the s&p 500 today is analog devices the maker of computer components like integrated circuits is being helped at barclays. also raised the price target to 70 bucks a share. it was 55. they cite among other things the

belief that adi's components will feature prominently in future apple iphone and ipad products. those shares up by around 8% in early trading on heavier than average volume. back over to you. >> thanks very much. buying stocks buying bonds. let's get to the cme group. rick santelli with the santelli exchange. good morning, rick. >> good morning, sarah. good morning ira harris. thanks for taking the time. where do we begin? late friday late hit, janet yellen, and i didn't think anything was going to ring my bell. but something rang my bell. this one quote. cash is not a convenience store of value. boy, i have so many ways to attack that as being problematic. your thoughts? >> well, i mean look if you ask me -- >> the big macro view. >> a store value. >> pretty much. do you know many people that live between california and new york that could pay in anything other than dollars?

so what's wrong with the central bank's primary objective to be the stability of what goes inside this after you work 40 hours? >> well, she's telling you that the fed's goal or that's the way i read it the fed's goal is to maintain a negative real yield. >> so you don't hold cash. so you don't work hard and saveize penalized. >> in germany, they'll be screaming about this because as rates are low there and growth is high, rates are so negative in germany that savers are going to be punished. >> let's talk about music. let's talk about how we do not need another trumpet in the horn section of central banking. ben bernanke doing a blog now. okay? and one of the things i saw was that monetary policy 98% talk 2% action. maybe on normalization. how did they get a $4.5 trillion balance sheet without a lot of talk? >> a lot of action. i'm not sure the blog will be good to explain certain things.

i read the blog. >> you think he's going to kick the tires? >> absolutely not. he can if you want to get an education like today, he give us an education. so for all those who we're not familiar with excelling in economics, it was a very interesting read. but you're not going to hear any criticism on the fed. >> another thing that has been coming up to the forefront is the notion that you brought up at the top. stability should be a key objective with central banks. but yet we've had stability with the downward trajectory to prices. there is no velocity. your thoughts. you've referenced that there's many ways to look at deflationary issues. can you tell us? >> good deflation, two good columns over the last couple days. very good talking about the

different types of deflation, or prices going down. but the real issue is -- and this is what yellen says with that. and everybody else. because this is the fair. the fair solve the bad deflation deflation, which is you get the liquidation of assets that leads to all the turmoil in the system, and they will go to any extreme to prevent that. that's what that comment that she made the other day said. >> so basically, the biggest holders of assets are the ones at most risk in a debt-ridden global economy like we have. >> sure, because they're going to protect the debtors. >> so what about the people that have saved that are left out in left field, the orphans, that would like to buy some of these whatever the price is we can't be fair to that asset class or that group of people? >> well look. the fed has already told us twice. yellen told us and brnk toldernanke told us. bernanke said it in his blog, basically stop crying. >> let me stop you there. i've said that, too. we don't know with the global

economy being so weak if rates wouldn't be down here anyway. but we will never know because there's no way to evaluate where we are versus where we should be. >> they won't let it happen until you get the inflation that everybody's so afraid of on the other side of the coin. that's it. >> but in a counterintuitive counterfactual world. >> that's right, and again, we'll come back to the value. why do equity markets around the world keep going up? they are deemed to be a far better value than holding currency. that's where we're at. that's what exists in this world. it used to be that gold was at historic value. gold is somewhat and it's held here, and people say it will be $800 $700. but gold holds in here because people still around the world are very afraid. >> and the rate keeps going up because a lot of people have a lot of questions, even though they might not have a lot of big investments. >> but don't forget, they're afraid of that savings rate going up. >> they want consumption of more debt. that's what makes the central world go around right? >> in all deference to the bank

they've had no help from the physical side. so when chuck schumer made that famous comment, keep going because you're the only game in town, it's time for congress to get their act together and actually provide some type of real policy. >> maybe if they do their homework, we'll get to better teachers. thanks ira. >> thanks so much guys. stocks are in rally mode. we'll talk to art cashen live at post nine when "squawk on the street" comes right back. 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 for things like cash or travel. how's the fro-yo? just peachy...literally. ink from chase. so you can. before i had the shooting, burning, pins-and-needles of diabetic nerve pain, these feet...

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all three major equity indices up sharply this morning. is this just a bounceback from last week or is there real new buying in here? >> i think it's some new buying. last week, the week after the march exploration has a natural downward bias to it. that lived up to that in spades. this week, somewhat better. you're going into april. april's the best month of the year. and although the beginning, april fool's day has a spotty record. we'll see where that goes.

but i think you've got buying here. the head of the people's bank of china saying what he did had markets all around the world. >> saying to do more if they need to. >> that has gotten everything moving up. we were somewhat oversold coming in. so that's boosted -- we're getting pretty close to the near term resistance which is 2083 2087 in the s&p. >> just below that. >> oil's been all over the lot today, which is somewhat frustrating. but the end of march usually can go out like a lamb. and it looks like it's noisy, but happy lamb so far. >> what about the nasdaq? we hit the high since back to 2000 few weeks ago. didn't get to a record high. and then all the bubble talk came and the nasdaq fell out of bed. biotech got slammed. does that worry you?

is that the beginning of the end? >> i'm not sure. you asked me at the time and i tell you we don't do those because you obviously get to wear them one or two days every thousand days. so it doesn't all work out. i think you're going to have to watch the bioteches. they look like they're getting ready for a bounceback mode. that i have done this before. we've seen this a couple months ago. in fact, last march, i believe, they had a little bit of a down session. so the key here is to hold onto these gains to consolidate them and see if you can grow them a little bit and see where the central bankers leave you. >> speaking of which, some people are attributing the bullish action today to yellen's dovish tone. we're still addicted to what the fed speak is? >> yes, i think so to some degree. i think fisher will not be quite as dovish as yellen was.

there's a little bit of an at the table debate going on in the fed. fisher seems to think we have to raise rates this year. yellen is more like i'm willing to if the data tells me i can. >> the dollar is back to its strengthening ways. and yet equities are rallying on the back of that. do you think that's priced in, the idea that the strong dollars's just going to hurt earnings and you don't have to worry about it anymore? >> well, i'm concerned about earnings. i think this is going to be a very difficult earning season we're going into. record profit margins here. look like they're going to revert to mean. that's going to make earnings even tougher to come. the dollar is going up not so much because they think the fed's going to act, but the bank of china is going the other way. there are rumors they might even cut the reserve requirement.

>> meantime we haven't put two days together on the s&p in 28 days. that's only happened twice since world war ii. >> absolutely. i think it is -- even in the last 20 years, i don't know that it's happened once. so it could be a sign that we are getting near to an inflection point. but that single piece of data alone isn't enough. you're going to need some corroborating evidence from the rest of the market. >> which would be what? >> a variety of things. you have a deterioration going on in breadth of the market. you also have the number of stocks selling below their ten-day and 50-day moving averages is increasing. so there are some signs of deterioration. tough to see on a day like this. but those are things you want to watch. >> we're going to get a jobs report on friday. what's the bias going into that? it's going to be a little strange with the markets closed. >> it is going to be strange.

the bond market is going to be open. the currency market, your favorite market will certainly respond. >> doesn't sleep. >> the feeling generally on the floor is that as we go into april, there will be the concern that good is bad. in essence, if the number is too positive it could lead people to think that maybe a june rate increase is back on the table. i personally don't believe that way. so i think you may see some people going into the number kind offsetting up short, assuming that if the number's big, the market's going to take a hit. >> we'll see what happens. art cashen from ubs. let's take a look at what's coming up next for us. >> we have a full show for you today. we'll be heading out to indianapolis for a look at the religious freedom law that's drawn strong condemnation. also, ellen pao lost her case on

all accounts. and the markets i mean the dow is up about 1.5. s&p up about 1%. all that and more coming up on "squawk alley." do you have something for pain? i have bayer aspirin. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my back. i mean bayer back & body. it works great for pain. bayer back & body provides effective relief for your tough pain. better? yeah...thanks for the tip!

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." shares of drug company mylin among the worst performers today. they're going to conduct a secondary offering of stock. abbott's going to sell nearly a third of its stake in mylo thrksn. sarah, those shares trying to stage a rebound. back over to you. >> thanks very much. speaking of a green day, let's take a look at the major averages. took a leg higher here in the last few moments. the s&p 500 up over 1% and the nasdaq up .8%. energy is the best performing sector this despite the fact that there's some pressure on the price of oil. certainly a bullish setup for the week into the end of the quarter. over to you. >> good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. here on wall

street. also 11:00 a.m. in indianapolis indiana and "squawk alley" is live. ♪ welcome to "squawk alley" for a monday. joining us this morning, john steinberg. john, good morning to you. john fort kayla here at post nine. pretty nice action as the dow's up 265 points. stocks rallying pretty much since the open. some analyst