♪ >> hive from new york where business never sleeps, this is squawk box. >> good morning, everybody. welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. i'm becky quick with joe kernen. andrew is enjoying the week off. we warned you to be ware of april fools' jokes but not everybody got the message. tesla poked fun at apple tweeting a new model w. some traders missed the joke. shares of tesla jumped at the end of yesterday's session. the stock gave back most of that move. we'll have the story in just a little bit but first up to speed on today's market picture. right now there's red arrows again. dow futures down by 35 points. nasdaq down by about 7. >> here are the big stories we're watching today. secretary of state john kerry extending his stay in

switzerland after the iran nuclear talks stretched through the night in a marathon session. officials say discussions are now focused on whether the u.s. and eu would agree to ease sanctions apart from those of the u.n. in political news indiana lawmakers expected to announce a deal today to alter the religious freedom law. the legislators want to ensure the rules don't discriminate against gays and lesbians. we'll have a live report in about 20 minutes. on the economic front, three reports of note weekly jobless claims international trade and factory orders. >> in corporate news micron warning of lower revenue. the chip maker is willing to hold inventories longer in light of weaker customer demand for electronics that uses technology. the wall street journal meanwhile reports that the european union is preparing to file antitrust charges against google in the next few weeks. just works too well.

the paper says the eu could fine the company up to 10% of its annual revenues and in other news on that company, on google a chinese internet regulator slamming a decision by google to no longer recognize it's certificates of trust. that move could deter chrome browser users from accessing sights that are approved by china. >> this is interesting because u.s. regulators were looking closely at them for awhile too. they managed to put off u.s. regulators but sometimes the europeans will come in with a heavy fist. >> isn't it weird, the different view of competition and free markets and many times in europe if other companies are put at a disadvantage they look at the employment issues rather than the consumer -- they look at other company -- it would be nice if everyone could survive and employees could survive but, you know, it seems like less a

view of competition and survival of the fittest but in free markets it's other good intentions that probably lead to bad -- >> to bad outcomes. >> drop the hammer on microsoft, right? company ended up paying a couple of billion euros a decade ago. >> shake down money really a monopoly is created. >> you're just there and better than anybody else. >> i know nothing about how to work this stuff and suddenly i'm not on google. i'm on bing or some other -- it's like where is google. i don't bing anything. if you bing anything it sounds dirty. you know what i'm saying. i should bing that.

>> you didn't believe it up for debate. we know what you're saying. >> by the way, no jacket on today. >> no i would give you a high five. a big hug. >> oh yeah. every time someone talks about real estate i asked about elevators now. >> i would expect nothingless. >> that $199 million house they're not sure that had an elevator. >> it's just not the same anymore. >> does that thing even work. that's condemned isn't it? >> let's check on the markets this morning as we showed you the futures are under a little bit of pressure. you'll see that the dow is down by about 40 points below fair value. s&p futures are down by close to 6 points coming after a down day for the markets. dow was down by 80 points yesterday. the nasdaq was down by about 9 points below fair value.

take a look at what's happening in the early trade in europe at this point. right now you'll see that things have barely budged. cac and ftse is slightly positive and joe as you mentioned, we're still watching. >> still under 800, right? >> it is. the nikkei closed up by 1.5%. the hang sang and shanghai were both higher as well and take a look at oil prices. right now wti is back close to $50. it's down about 40 cents this morning sitting at 49.69 and the bond market it looks like right now the ten year all the way down at 1.845%. keep getting pressured. you can see that in the currency market the dollar is down against both the euro and the yen. the euro is trading at 108.25. dollar yen at 11957 and gold prices down by about $5 but still above $1,200. $1,203 an ounce. >> they have to love that.

>> they're talking about raising rates. they know what's going to happen. >> yeah but they have time. >> yeah. >> and, you know corporations and trade should not do april fools jokes. >> no. >> especially with the area and those people for one thing, no one ever went broke underestimating what is going to happen at times. people are going to take whatever you say. just believe me i know. believe me i know. but if tesla, anything that even could be disconstrued as a new model those people with the stock -- >> what happens the people that actually traded on that. the people that bought in. >> it's not funny. no. >> the algorithms that traded on that. >> yeah. >> but if you lost money on that trade can you go back after them? is there liability for that? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> i know it's just a joke but somebody lost money on it. >> they did. >> let's talk to market which is are likely to be in wait and see mode ahead of tomorrow's jobs report. i think that's why the ten year

is where it is because of the adp number yesterday and the series of numbers that we had that have us questioning how strong things are. joining us is peter, the chief market analyst at the lindsey group and his appearances are directly proportional as it starts to look like he might be right about things. the market seems stalled at this point. is there is a tantrum based on as we head into june you wonder what these guy dos if the market doesn't continue to have this indigestion. why did it go down yesterday? figure that out once again? it has to do with this quandry we're in right now. slow economy but the fed should be compelled to raise. >> right. over the last couple of years we had a so-so economy. but the market stayed up because of the easy fed investors making decisions based on what the fed did rather than what the fundamentals were. now we're in a situation where the economy is still around the

2, 2.5 but the earnings situation changed. investors go one day the fed is easy i'm going to buy stocks but the next day say the earnings situation is changing earnings growth is slowing. i'm going to focus more on the earnings situation. that's why we're churning here. it's back to where it was last june. the s&p 500 is back to where it was last november. so we're just churning here in this range until we get a sense of what the fed is going to do and the change in the earnings outlet. it's pretty much stalled out. we have to see if that's temporary or not. >> that's a big group. >> hi everybody. what i did wonder yesterday is we had some expectations when we got the lousy jobs report the adp numbers that were weaker than expected some people thought maybe the market will see this as good news because it gives the fed cover. the good news is they didn't see it that way. they traded lower on bad

economic news. >> there's only so many times we can celebrate immediatet. there's three major supports over the last couple of years. qe zero rates and great earnings story. qe is over and earnings story has changed and are we going to continue to rely on the interest rates. we're hoping the economy will rebound as it did last year but what if it doesn't and what if we're stalled out here? what is the fed going to do. we should rebound many q-2. i'm expecting it. >> markets barely off the highs. >> exactly. because we're going back and forth between relying on the pedestrian to backstop us and the other hand ending with earnings growth slowing. >> if you don't have multiple expansion, sometimes it happens but a lot of times if you're at 18 you might stay at 18 and if earnings aren't going up 6 or 7% you would get the 6 or 7 in the market but i don't know if the market looks and says over i'm

backing out this. it would have been this. i don't know if the market backs out. well that's just the oil sector that's weak because of that. they look right at what the earnings are and you put 18 on flat earnings from a year ago. why would you go up if you're going to put the same multiple on earnings that don't rise. >> paying 17 or 18 times earnings. what happened if people say earnings growth is zero. why do i want to pay 17 or 18 times? all of a sudden you paid 14 times let's just say, $118 earnings that's season s&p of 16.50. that's less than 1800 so the multiple that people want to pay is going to be an important driver of stocks this year and why should i pay 17 or 18 times earnings for a different earnings story and qe. >> this is pretty much what sam zell told you guys yesterday, right? >> between the economy and the stock market. >> i love him but i said it's been at least a year he's been

singing this tune. it might have been longer than that. he's a real estate guy. >> he's been singing this tune for awhile. >> i know. >> he did say that. >> i have been worried of the bubble blowing that the fed has done and then when that goes away that's a support. so i have been more focused on overseas markets that i think have better value. i think the u.s. market is expensive but it can stay expensive for a period of time. >> you think there's a day of reckoning -- did the fed do damage with what it did? or is it just that when it goes away we won't have the positive effect of it? is there something we get from this? >> i think they have done damage to the whole free market economy and the cost of money is the most important price. >> maybe that's why we have only been growing at 2% for the five or six years but is there something looming where there's been a bubble formed by a, you know capital going where it shouldn't have gone? >> well the bubble predom

nanltlynanlt inatley is in the bubble. it fell 50%. actually fell more than house prices fell. so just collateral damage the stock market would obviously get effected if the bond markets bubble sort of deflates. >> so the economy would be growing more than 2 or 2.5% or whatever it is today if the fed had gotten out earlier? >> i think it would have created more -- >> do you believe that? >> yeah, there are people that do. they both believe -- i don't know both sides argue counterfactuals. >> a corporation is not more interested in buying back stock. they're more interested in growing the economy. >> exactly. instead of doing m and a or buy backs or financial engineering you invest in plant equipment and people in the long-term and

it says zero interest rates. >> that's going to be a question for the ages. >> with interest rates so low it seems like it would be smart. if you have an opportunity to invest in a factor our actual assets that you can buy. >> chicken and egg thing. only do that if there's demand. >> savings rate is at 5.8%. it's a multiyear high. are people saving more because they're not getting interest income and they know they have to save more. there's about $8 trillion of savings out there that if the feds funds rate was 1% that's an extra $80 billion in people's pockets. >> right. >> they would be earning -- yeah, all of these things. thank you. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. >> mcdonald's announcing it will raise the minimum wage for u.s. workers joining other companies including target t.j. maxx and the gap. critics say that most of the workers won't benefit because

franchisees make their own wage decisions. kate rogers joining us with more on this. good morning. >> good morning to you becky. that's right. roughly 90,000 mcdonald's workers around the country are going to be getting a raise that the fast food giant announced yesterday will be hiking wages in it's corporate owned stores by more than 10%. here's how it works. come july they'll be paying is over the local legal minimum wage and by 2016 the average hourly raise will be higher than $10 an hour. that's significant but the catch with the mcdonald's wage hike it only applies to corporate owned stores and not to franchise location which is account for more than 90% of their 14,000 stores across the country. they'll still set their own wages. the new president and ceo defended the move yesterday in the chicago tribune saying this is an initial step for our u.s. business. i understand that some may believe it doesn't two far

enough. we remain committed to reviewing the total employment experience we offer our peel. mcdonald's faced mounting criticism over working conditions and what some are calling wage violations. they have been the target of the fast food strikes that swept the nation since 2012. those strikes will resume on april 15th and in select cities today in response to mcdonald's move. >> kate thank you. we have that to look forward to. coming up can apple be preparing for another big buy back? the opinion from the streets, next. then new data on the best and worst performing hedge funds this year. we'll name winners and the losers and then later mike jackson drives by to talk car sales. it was a good day to have him on. we have been doing a lot with the auto show. i like cars. cars are cool. i hope it's never against the law to drive a car where you have to always just ride in one. >> auto pilot.

>> you wouldn't like that. stay tuned. squawk box will be right back. >> here's your travellers check. after factoring in hotel, karenal and food costs the most expensive city for business travellers is caracas venezuela. that's according to a recent report from expert market. so how much will one day in venezuela's capital cost? find out, next. 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.

>> back now with today's traveller's check. how much will one day in venezuela cost for a business traveller? $611 according to expert market. >> all right. now that we know that welcome back to squawk box. landmarks are lighting up today for world autism awareness day and we're wearing -- i put it up here, that was just too much i think. but -- there it is. okay. i have a pocket and i have a magnet on mine. i tried it on this tie too but that didn't look as good. you didn't have a magnet. so that has tape. >> i have it. >> this is amazing, the

awareness, it's the only time that the un i mean globally bob and susan have been able to really raise awareness. >> we watched it on the network later this morning. >> bob was our old boss and we knew susan well but we knew them for a long time and watch this grow into an incredible organization. great research and great people involved with it doing a lot of good work. still to this day i don't think people understand, for example, new jersey, i think it's one out of 50 boys are on the spectrum in some way and you don't know whether it's increasing or whether diagnosis is just getting better or exactly what is happening but it's literally an epidemic and it effects them. i don't know if there's anything

more identifiable than this. >> we'll be in blue. blue goes good with that because wow that is orange and then the blue. you did and it does. >> all right. after a backlash from companies and others indiana lawmakers are expected to announce a deal today to alter that state's controversial religious freedom law. jay grey joins us this morning from indianapolis. good morning. >> goorkd morning guys. lawmakers worked into the night rewriting portions of the legislation and trying to come up with a compromise before this weekend weekend. time is running out for lawmakers trying to rewrite the law before easter break on friday and the final four that tips off this weekend. >> we have to bring this to a close in a positive way reassuring everyone that indiana does not discriminate. >> we are arkansas. >> the clock is ticking in

arkansas as well where wednesday governor hutchinson refused to sign a similar measure urging lawmakers to rework parts of the bill to assure business owners can't deny services to gays and lesbians by citing religious believes. >> my decision is clear. i have asked them to remedy it and change the current law and recall it and change the language on it. >> opponents say it's a start. >> to me it's a huge glimmer of hope that things might start to change here. >> but others want the governor to go one step further. >> he needs to veto it out right. there's nothing else to say about that. >> though clearly many still have something to say about the issue. >> to each his own. >> i think that governor hutchinson should veto it. >> and the on going debate. >> the debate could continue as

well. nevada lawmakers expected to move on a religious freedom measure there. back to you. >> thank you. again jay grey from nbc news. it's been a hopping issue. and very rapid ramp up. >> it's been bizarre to watch. i don't know if you want to weigh in on this at this point. >> it's how rapidly things have changed. >> what got me was the -- there is almost like like surprise from pence. there's nothing to see here. what are you talking -- yeah there's a big burden in court to prove that you are allowed to discriminate. it would take a long time and it would be hard to prove but it totally opens up the door for discrimination and the thing that gets me is religion is great. live your life the way you want. don't sin. but don't sin in judgment of other people. if you think someone -- couldn't

you essentially say i'm not serving christian. i'm muslim. couldn't you do something like that if you wanted to. >> that's the thing about this nation is no matter your believes or your background this has been a massive melting pot and we all get along together and we all coexist and respect each other. >> but as we said a million times, look you believe in conventional marriage that's great. then don't marry someone of the same sex but you don't need to look around watching to see other people sinning and somehow decide that you're in a position to judge them. >> or your idea. >> your idea of sinning but watching it play out. you're just thinking do i buy or sell apple at these levels for your fast money show or whatever. >> you're thinking i'm going to get in trouble with something. >> no not at all. >> but what was bizarre was watching these guys go -- that's the thing. there should be zero tolerance for any type of discrimination and it's as plain as the egg on their face that this opens the door to some discrimination.

>> people are often critical of the media in instances like this but without the power of the media and corporate america speaking out publicly and saying this is ridiculous, you know it and we know it i don't know that this would have happened as fast as it did in terms of getting these people to come back and say we'll make changes to the law. ge apple, walmart, others speaking out as well as the media pressure has made a difference. >> i think the corporate pressure has probably been more important because when you start thinking about the idea of losing jobs and losing economic expansion in your state or having companies pull out of your state as a result that gets people's attention. >> no doubt. you can have the final four in indianapolis this weekend. the sports landscape helped move this debate as well by having a

major sporting event in a state where the epicenter of this was. a state that hosted the super bowl and number of other major events as well and thinking about it's future as a host for those sorts of events. >> just to talk about what this actually is the right and the republican party is still locked in a battle with who they want to represent and you know where i stand on most fiscal issues but you go in and there's a lot of these candidates towing the line right now. they don't want to alienate the religious right. >> bush has even come out. >> but he's tempered his comments on this but they thought this might be a way of panderring a little bit to the religious right but pretending nothing is really happening to you know -- but you wonder why -- >> speaking in code. >> it is. speaking in code. and you look at what happened in the last election. there were single issue voters gay and lesbian voters that may have wanted to vote for a free market private sector and

couldn't. >> come into the 21st century. >> despite the fact that the laws or bills are going to be amended before they're actual laws this issue isn't going to go away. as you get closer to the real election cycle and you start talking about debates and things where people are going to have to speak on their real opinions on real issues you'll continue to hear it. >> there are big blow hards on the right and you will watch, they may -- i've seen them so i'm not going to mention any names, but the only time that i get on this show is when i become a poster child for the liberal left. never when i'm on the other side do you ever hear anything. but i'll be on every day for being a communist. you're just in shock. you don't know what to say. you want to buy, sell or hold

on apple. >> but as cook pointed out you follow the dollars. it makes good business cents to serve everybody. you want to bring dollars in the door so you can buy back stock. so the reality is that's how business runs. >> you don't have to make a moral decision. you can go back to where the money is. >> in my defense, he brought that up. i think a lot of businesses realized that. some of the big beer companies had a commercial with two guys and they said hey we have to serve everybody. that's how you make money in this country. >> when i saw ge i don't want to take the cynical view that oh they had to say this because they want to make sure that they appeal to everyone with the products. they do it because it's the right thing to do. >> but everything is the almighty dollar. >> no but scott's right corporations pushed this

situation and brought it to the forefront so quickly. >> it was a big ground well everywhere. >> but the economic pressures having corporations say we're not going to do business there that changes the whole story. that's probably not something that would happen that rapidly. >> sure well pence playing the media like i said without the media raising the issue to the level that it got and helping push forth this conversation, i don't think anything would have happened as quickly as it did. >> what? >> my son said something. >> i don't know where any of this is coming from. but i guess if you think there's something going on here. >> dan why don't you talk about why we brought you in. dan is a principle at hudson square research and we're watching buy back season. there's a black out period right now where corporations are not going to talk about buy backs. this could be a good time for investors to jump in because while you have the silence

period you're not going to know whether companies will do it stocks may trade down. one of the ones we're watching is apple because it is the biggest buy back in terms of dollars. $57 billion in term of all the companies out there. do you think apple is going to continue it's corporate buy backs and it's dividends at this point? do you expect any change in policy? they'll bring it up a little bit. they spent $57 billion total. so there's no company on an absolute level that spends that much but at the end of the day, tech is about growth. if they were just doing the buy backs and weren't growing earnings then the stock wouldn't be up. >> only yielding 1.5%. this is not a major yield. >> it's like should i buy the stock in you buy apple stock because you think for the next

5, 10 20 years they're going to continue doing innovating and growing top line and bottom line like they have the last 15 or 20 and all the signs are there that they are doing that. last quarter, they grew revenues 32% year over year. this is not a tiny little company. revenues are $75 billion. revenues up 19 billion year on year. that's up in one quarter. facebook, which everyone loves, all right? trades at whatever, 50 times earnings has grew. their entire revenue was 12 billion last year. so apple's growth in one quarter is 50% higher than facebook in one year. they were killing it. if they weren't doing that the buy backs wouldn't matter. they the stock wouldn't be up 30% if we didn't have that growth. obviously we're watching what's going to happen with the watch in a couple of weeks. earnings will couple out a few

days after the watch is launched. that's also what i call it playing checkers versus chess with apple. the quarterback the big iphone quarter they had will be down. guidance was the june quarter and probably won't be as good as people want because the watch will be constrained at some level. >> would you tell people to wait and buy the stock then? >> on the checkers level with apple it's hard to say if you don't own it today buy new shares of apple but i think if you own it you continue to own it. if there's a pull back in the market action you know there's an opportunity. this is a long-term growth story that does everything right so far. >> there's a pull pack in the market and this stock has a potential of being one of the primary sources of funds within the pull back. >> i'm watching very closely

because you've been on and you're unequivocal that it has the potential to go to 1.5 trillion some day i guess. >> the law of large numbers i think takes over. >> but we'll see. >> it was at 780. it's about 730 billion. we'll see. >> 23. >> you're bullish. i don't know. there's a lot of things that have to go right. do you think you can do numbers like that quarter after quarter. >> no. that's my point is that the december quarter there will be a slow down. if you want to trade around it on the fast money show you'll probably have a bit of a slow down. the companies become more and more weighted. not just to the iphones but to when the iphone launches so you have these quarters right around that so june september will be slow and then we'll have the 6s which won't be as big in terms

of the 6 and everyone will ring their hands and say this about whether they're done but reality is this is a great company. you say whatever $700 billion, they are at 14.6 times earnings. the market is almost 18 times earnings. so it's still a discount to the market. so the reality is that the market does pull back you'll see more of that at the really high multiple names, the twitters and the facebooks of the world. >> you've got to assume they're going to be the innovator. you have to think that forever they will be the market leader because i -- the world has changed and everybody is going to keep up gadgradeing their phones and they're going to cost 3 or 400 dhrs so $400 but there's a lot of people taking aim.

every other time any tech company got over $600 billion it attracts so much competition. maybe it will be apple and worth $3 trillion i don't know. >> you have to absolutely you know, keep your eye on the ball in tech but what we're seeing today is apple continuing to lead and innovate and margins are better. >> kids are dying for the watches. they'll be a huge success. >> i think they'll be a bigger success than people think. >> they probably will. >> bigger than what the skeptics think but won't be as big as uber bulls. i'm bullish on apple but i take myself out of the uber bull category. >> what's your number? >> that's checkers for the weekend who cares? i think for the calendar year end up around 15 million units which is significantly less than the ipad did. but we'll see. >> all right. what's the high end?

wasn't there someone that said a billion or something? >> the high end is 60. the consensus is 22. >> 22. >> which is more than the ipad did. the ipad was like 19 million in it's first calendar year. >> thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it. good to see you. >> coming up chipotle has been a topper forming fast casual chain but one new york start up is trying to beat it at its own game with a little help from social media. they join us to explain. maybe feed us a little bit straight ahead. but first as we head to break, a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers.

in new york state, we're reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started...

only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that partner companies with universities, and venture capital funding for high growth industries. see how new york can grow your business and create jobs. visit ny.gov/business playing for the usual phil? always stacy. at kpmg we've always believed leadership is about vision and integrity, confidence inspiration and passion. pitching wedge. thanks phil. and always having the courage to take your best shot. kpmg. continuing our commitment to the next generation of women leaders. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use,

you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any symptoms of an allergic reaction stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com

welcome back. we need your help this morning. we want to know what story you're buzzing about today. is there something you read the rest of our viewers need to hear? use the #keep squawking or post it on our book page. that's coming up at 7:50 eastern time. >> coming up a new york start up looking to take chipotle by storm. they gin us on set next and then later the big auto show is in

town and it's stopping by our studio. among our guests auto nations ceo mike jackson. the president of audi of america, his tale just finished a cross country trip in a self-driving car. stay tuned. squawk will be right back. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops

tdd# 1-800-345-2550 even on the go. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open a schwab account, and you could earn tdd# 1-800-345-2550 300 commission-free online trades. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so if you get a trade idea schwab can help you take it on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we're getting a lot of questions tdd# 1-800-345-2550 about organic food stocks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] sharpen your instincts tdd# 1-800-345-2550 with in-depth analysis by schwab experts. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and if you want to run your idea tdd# 1-800-345-2550 by a schwab trading specialist, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 our expertise is just a tap away. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 what's on your mind lisa? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i'd like to talk about a trade idea. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's hear it. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] see how schwab can help tdd# 1-800-345-2550 light a way forward. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so you can make your move, wherever you are tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and start working on your next big idea. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ ♪ tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open a schwab account and you could earn tdd# 1-800-345-2550 300 commission-free online trades. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 call 1-877-670-3357. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or visit schwab.com/trading. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 schwab trading services. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 your go-to for trading know-how. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ ♪

welcome back. it's given rise to competitors. new york city dos toros is a bisby two brothers balancing growth and staying true to their original recipe. they're about to open the 7th new york city location. first and foremost thanks for

the chips and the guac and the salsa. >> welcome. >> you guys are exploding here in new york. it feels that way. it's been five about years we have been open now. we're putting the foot on the gas. >> how do you get people to come to your place other than the obvious. >> chipotle is the elephant in the room in mexican fast casual. they're a great company. they have grown the whole segment and awareness of what this cuisine is and with sourcing too, it's fantastic. we rye to follow that same direction with our sustain blt sustainability but we're not inspired by chipotle. we grew up in the bay area. >> grew up eating mission style food. >> our burritos are more legit. >> what does that mean anyway? what's differ? >> our flavors are warmer.

we steam our cheese right on to the tortilla which is an important difference. our rice is the most difficult recipe. we make a beautiful mexican fluffed out red rice. i think it's their easiest recipe. so it's the little details that makes our burritos warmer and tastier. >> what's a typical meal cost? >> about $10. >> we actually subsidize our guacamole. >> i recommend that too. >> to be mainstream and hugely in the u.s. do you serve what americans think mexican food is or do you serve authentic mexican food? >> it gets you into trouble because the burrito is not authentic to mexico. >> i don't think the dorito at at taco bell is either.

what do you think? do you just have offshoots that are inspired by mexican food or try to go for the real. >> mexican food is incredibly region mall. where we grew up really the burrito is king. where you move down in the southwest it's more about kind of plates and -- >> i true what we grew up with. it's california. but we're not trying to reinvent that meal. >> i think it's different in cities versus other parts of the country too. >> you don't do tacos as much as burritos. >> we do. >> you do them well. >> encihladas. >> burritos tacos quesadillas.

no double decker tacos. >> you had a couple of lines already. base player for third eye blind. huge song. three or four mega hits right? >> jumper. >> jumper. and don't -- >> graduate. >> yeah. >> amazing. so how do you -- >> how do you get from there to here. >> i don't know how that happened. >> were you singing back up or just playing bass. >> i was just happy to be there. i got the great gig as the touring guy. >> are they still together? >> they are. doing great. >> they have a different bass player. >> they do. >> was this always the real passion? music first? this? was this always in the back. >> going from being a mediocre musician to being an amateur musician. we were loving burritos before playing music and we do this now. we talked about this ten years

before we started it. we're so passionate about this food. >> we weren't the only ones with this idea. a lot of our friends would come in and say you stole my idea. let me get a chicken burrito. >> what's the plan? how big do you guys get. >> funding is important. the most important thing is the team. do we have the right team and right places to get to where we'd like to be? we want to have controlled expansion. aggressive but controls and as long as we have great people in the right places we can do that i think. food is all operations. it's just hard to make food in a great way and then give great service day after day. we have the best team in the business and we think we can grow organically. in and out is like a hero chain of ours. cut classic. they have grown large. >> there can't be too many

mexican food restaurants for me. starbucks is good -- shoot for like one on every corner. seriously and i said the worst mexican food is great. i wasn't saying this was the worst but literally i'll eat any. >> this is is great. >> avocados win every time. >> yes. >> coming up -- thanks, guys. all right. from third point to person square we have a roundup of how the world's best-known hedge funds ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach.

to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. you can't predict the market. but at t. rowe price we've helped guide our clients through good times and bad. our experienced investment professionals are one reason over 85% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper averages. so in a variety of markets we can help you feel confident. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information risks, fees and expenses

to read and consider carefully before investing. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. in new york state, we're reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping,

biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started... only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that partner companies with universities, and venture capital funding for high growth industries. see how new york can grow your business and create jobs. visit ny.gov/business

. all right. welcome back. having some chips and guac of course. feel free to dig in. >> maybe after. >> your score card with the best and worst performing hedge funds. >> thank you very much. it's been a mixed quarter so far with final results still trickling in. point72 headed by steve cohen and a new it ration of the infamous s.a.c. capital is one of the out-performers. on assets of $11 billion. that of course comes a year

after s.a.c. returned its money and became private after a series of insider trading cases and settlement. dan loeb who runs the larger hedge fund as of last year is now on solid if not wow territory with returns of 3.3% in his offshore fund as of quarter end. and lee ainslie and bill ackman with returns of roughly 6% and 5% respectively as of late march appear poised to do even better. as do a handful of commodity funds. which called the downturn in oil last year and was headed for double digits returns. had less of a good quarter, a 22% set back in the chip maker micron technology where he bet big about a year and a half ago. helped send him 1.8% into the quarter. mike had an earnings beat

yesterday. if things turn around it could prove to be a better march for him. meanwhile, we'll see how everyone else is doing. it seems to be a quarter of divergence but stock picking seems to be a key issue for the first time in awhile. >> to your point, the environment is improving for these kind of investors. >> right. i would agree. i think you're seeing, like i said, a real divergence in stock performance. it's not just a unilateral bull run we're dealing with. in fact, people have talked to me about how one successful wave is fading to contrarian trading over short-term periods in the market when you're dealing with names. maybe even the spy, for example, that are volatile but in a certain range. so stock picking, fading -- >> short sellers, they have life again. >> yes, they absolutely do. >> thanks kate. good to see you. when we come back this morning, a mixed march for

automakers. gm fell short. we will talk to autonation ceo mike jackson about sales at his dealerships. check out on the cars on the lot right outside. stick around. "squawk" will be right back.

jobs countdown is on but the economy is sending mixed signals. we'll get another piece of the puz wlzle with the challenger on the layoffs. "squawk box" goes behind the wheel. and audi is bringing us the keys. and there's no midas touch for activist investors. we will gut check the track records of some of the biggest

activist funds. the biggest hour of "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ live from the beating heart of business, new york city, this is "squawk box." >> welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. this is cnbc first in business worldwide. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and scott wapner. andrew is off this week after a down day yesterday we we're continuing that trend this morning. s&p futures off by 4.5 and the nasdaq down by just over 5 points. among our top stories today, another day, another extension for nuclear talks with iran. diplomats say prospects for an agreement were finally balanced between success and collapse. greece has sent an updated list of reforms to lenders in an effort to secure financial aid and avoid default. the country is weeks away from running out of cash. lenders from the eurozone and imf have frozen support payments

until the country implements reforms. and trouble brewing for google. the european union is preparing to file against the giant in the next few weeks. the paper says google could face a fine of more than $6 billion. >> whose anchor. >> could be anybody. >> jump in folks. >> we're just a day away from the march jobs report and signals in the economy are mixed. steve leisman joins us now with more. these signals are mixed, i'm told. >> they're a little mixed. >> i just read that. >> they're not as mixed as that would have -- >> really? >> look i'll read this thing. >> adp was lousy yesterday. >> the tone has been very weak. not uniformly. there have been a few bright spots. one of those came yesterday with new vehicle sales topping 17 million for the first time since november. almost certainly mike jackson

arranged for that to happen on the day he was going to visit "squawk box." oregon otherwise he might not have come. had something to do with the recent growth slowdown consumer sentiment in march. those are the exceptions. here's the list of the rough patch we've been through. most of the fed manufacturing service in march have been lousy. personal spending was down. becky mentioned adp, capital spending. those were all weak. this does not seem to be a repeat of the lousy first quarter from last year with the strong snapback. there's more going on here with the impact of the strong dollar hurting exports. the negative part of the oil price decline showing nup the economy and having to wait for the positive part which economists says comes later. at 1.3% we haven't gone negative on gdp tracking. some economists already at zero. we still don't have the march data yet. so there's a ways to go.

>> what's your gut tell you? >> i think this is not a repeat. last quarter -- last year first quarter, we still really haven't explained. mostly weather didn't make a whole lot of sense. i think the first quarter we talked about a couple weeks ago is almost always a weak quarter. you had two shocks to the economy. the strong dollar and lower oil prices. and even if the shock is beneficial, it takes time for an economy to adjust. i think we're a little bit unbalanced here but i think ultimately by the time the summer comes around things will straighten out. >> but steve, to say every first quarter is weak -- >> it's a problem. >> it's inexplicable. >> drew madison followed up and did additional work on the stuff i did. he found that since 1988 the first quarter has been the weakest quarter of the year. >> but you can't blame it on bad weather year over year. >> what it looks to be is the way the government counts

capital spending by business. they don't seem to have that. but that's one thing. it's all the other data that's out, that was lousy. >> how do you account for the fact that consumer sentiment is good. the reads have been pretty good but it hasn't spilled through to retail sales which have underperformed expectations? >> first of all, there's more spending than in goods. >> and auto sales. >> and you had a little pickup in auto sales. i think people are not ready to spend this new money in their pocket. we know there's new money in their pocket because we know there's more jobs out there and we know oil prices are lower. and people you cannot sit here and say i know what the right savings rate is for you. >> you said a shock to the economy, we had oil prices as a shock to the economy. people might be shocked that oil prices were cut in half but it's not in a negative way -- not to oil companies and the

earnings impact. >> two factories and one sells oil and one sells sweaters. >> okay. >> oil price declines and he gets less revenue so the consumer has more money to buy sweaters. but the sweater guy doesn't have more capacity yet. he hasn't increased his capacity to make sweaters and to sell them. >> the refiners do better. >> that's right. but ultimately you have a negative in the oil patch. you see that in the survey. i think you're going to see some other data about jobs that show losses in the oil patch. but you don't have the hiring yet. it takes time to adjust. it's a shock and a shock is a neutral comment in the sense it can be positive or negative. >> here's what makes no sense. you go from zero in the first quarter to plus five in the second quarter. >> it's crazy, mike. it's tough to run a business. >> okay. >> that's so gross. you're sick. >> you're mike jackson. i've got to introduce you. this does say joe.

mixed results for high auto sales. gm and ford both dipped. same story for asian automakers. honda and nissan fell. and mike jackson is ceo of autonation. you're going to give us your results? >> we are. >> right now? >> and first, steve, i want to say i'm not here because the industry sold 17 million. i was here in '08 when the industry was down to 10 million. i'm here in good times and bad times. i always show up. >> he is. he is consistent. because he pushes gas taxes both when oil's at $100 or at $40. either way you do. >> dl you go. >> are you going to do that again today? i don't want you to. i like you. >> i heard you one day when i wasn't on the show almost my very words came out of your mouth. >> i would never do it when you were on the show. >> no. that's asking too much. but i watch. autonation sales were excellent.

30,000 units. that's plus 5% if you adjust it for the number of selling days. becky, that you talked about yesterday, it's plus 12%. and our premium luxury business was extraordinary. the truck business is great. if you say let's move for the first quarter, we're plus ten. it was a good month for the industry. the selling rate was versus 16.5 last year. so a significant increase. but all the headline is aels were flat because of the number of selling days. >> you said luxury and trucks were strong for you. that's what we saw for the industry as a whole. >> if you look for the industry all the increase is in trucks. and this is still with the number one selling vehicle of the last five years in

changeover. we have enough now that i can tell you the customer acceptance of the f-150 is off the charts. they come in and they go out. and it's very interesting what their number one factor is they like about this new truck. by taking out the weight it's significantly improved the driving dynamics of the truck. did that just whistle by my head? >> yeah. >> with the lighter weight and change the suspension setting that up. it's actually enjoyable to drive. >> what do you give up? that sounds like a positive that nobody expected. >> you actually -- you give up the fact that you have a major production disruption. because the plants first started closing last august and we will not be at full production with both plants until april, may. we will not have full availability until this summer.

so it was a massive changeover in production technique. but what you got for it was better driving dynamics, with improved fuel economy, improved tow capacity improved weight to take on. >> is there a wait to get these vehicles? >> yeah. we have far more demand than supply. >> how long do you have to wait? >> well for a specific truck for the number of people -- if you're flexible on what you'll take, we'll have something now. >> sure. but if i want a specific model. >> it's going to be a couple months. >> you talk about what you're hearing from business. >> it was not. fleet business was good in the first quarter for the industry. you know it's a big part of the economy. it's a big insight to what business is doing and what the consumer thinks. and i'm here to tell you, you know it's -- >> was march a turnaround?

>> the industry is plus six for the first quarter. let's forget all the ups and downs. it's plus six. which is exactly what we forecasted last july because plus six takes you over to 17 million and here we are with the first month at 17.1. >> how do fleet sales? >> no. it's a small part of the business. as for the industry fleet sales are about 25% of the new vehicle volume. who would you go for for the fleet snael. >> the automakers ae then pass it through dealers. they're the ones basically negotiating the deal which includes price and who has the residual risk. >> if there was a way -- >> we do a little bit. >> okay. anything. >> knowing that is the story of

the year is jeep. jeep is absolutely on fire. >> because of the oil prices too? >> no question it's a help. but it was on fire before gas lien gasoline prices dropped. >> that's a jeep? the green one. the back of it. >> they have decided to take the jeep global. and jeep is viewed around the world as an approachable likable, capable vehicle. and his ambition is to sell 2 million of these around the world. >> i drive a jeep and i don't like the back of that car. >> that's is road jeep. >> they love those little cars in europe, right? if it hits your jeep you think it hit a bug. >> what's wrong with selling that to europeans? >> this doesn't sell here though? >> it's built in italy. it's also sold here. price point is around $20,000. >> oh, so it's like a mini jeep.

look at the back though. it looks like a crossover from the back. that's built on a car chassis, not a truck chassis, right? >> so the point is it's very capable, four wheel drive. jeep is going global. and i expect within the five-year window they'll be selling 2 million jeeps around the world. >> hummer can't go global. >> i have a commander. >> yeah. she's got a commander. out of my way. >> a big jeep. and it got me here this winter. i needed that. >> did you have winter here? i've been down in florida. it's been 75 for six months. >> fortunately mike's with us all day. >> can you parallel park that beast? >> yeah. >> don't start. >> i'm just trying to get you going. >> don't start. >> what? >> tell people about tomorrow. >> what? >> coming into work. what's the matter with you?

you're not going to leave me here alone, are you? >> no. we're doing the jobs report. and we're testing the new "squawk" start period. the pilot program of a 7:00 a.m. start. see if that works. >> oh, goodness. i'll be here at 6:00 when i come back. not tomorrow. mike is with us for the rest of the program. we've got more to talk about. when we come back the track record for activist does not stand up to the high according to jeff sonnenfeld. then at 7:30 eastern -- who sings that song? >> third eye blind. >> let 'em. we will great breaking news with the challenger jobs report. plus audi is driving up to the "squawk" set. stick around. "squawk box" will be right back.

welcome back to "squawk box." we are watching shares of lumber liquidaters. after a 60 minutes report on the safety of its flooring the stock dropped. sales were hurt by those allegations. march sales were down 12.8% compared to a year ago. how about, first quarter were up 5.6%. that was above wall street forecasts. we're certainly going to be watching though shares as you

get closer to the trading day and see how the same store sales numbers and these comps really move shares. >> okay. scott, thank you. our next guest just penned a fiery piece in "the wall street journal" putting activist investors under the microscope and questioning whether they have the midas touch. joining us is jeff sonnenfeld from the yale school of management. he's also a cnbc contributor. jeff, it's great to see you this morning. >> thanks, becky. good to be up with you this morning. >> you ran some numbers. what did you find? >> what we find is despite a lot of the bravado, the energy that's kicked up is that the performance is not that consistent. in fact, people will often do much better putting their money, you know in a vanguard account or something. if you think of the select activist funds and how they did, say, in 2013. they came in at roughly 16% whereas you put in an s&p 500,

it was twice that at 32% returns. we put that kind of returns in taking a look at just last year they're up about 4.9%. whereas s&p is up 3.7%. they're coming in well below where, you know you would have thought they would have come in with the enthusiasm the bravado, the energy the excitement and create a lot of big media attention with these wild campaigns and giant releases everywhere. and the blogosphere is filled with this energy. what do they come back with other than tell us to cut costs, cut workers. they should be held to the same accountability that the target firms are under. in fact, frankly, you would do much better investing in many of their target firms than you would be investing in their companies themselves. >> you know that is an excellent point. on the whole, i agree with you, but you're also looking at years for some of these numbers where you saw just the major stock

average indices up pretty sharply. and it can be difficult to compare over a year or two when you have very strong overall years for the market. if you look at longer track records, then what do you find? >> well you find that they are varied. and for all the attention that we have at carl icahn who is an impressive investor. he's done much better than i would ever do. he's down 7.2% last year. we hear of course the great picks he's had in netflix and in apple even though apple didn't do fully what he wanted it to. you were talking in the last hour about apple's buyback that was only a fraction of what icahn wanted it. he i think he called ate drop in a leaky bucket. along when others didn't back him. nonetheless some of those investments turned out okay. but do we ever hear of all of these bankruptcies?

they're setbacks. and what's a problem, i think, on this is state pension fund managers and others that are pressed for higher returns, when they talk about this equity market you're talking about, they think maybe what we need to do is jump on board with these guys. often these underresourced folks are jumping on board not realizing they're not getting the returns the press would lead you to believe because no one is holding them accountable. they're not looking back at how they're doing. >> is there a difference between a good activist investor and a bad activist investor? >> there are some good ones, some bad ones, and some who act a little wild and then come back under control again. there are things that you know that some activists have done that are fantastic. i mean obviously from at least my perspective, i think carl

icahn brought accountability to chesapeake energy where you had questionable dealings from the leadership on their assets. and every time you sort of needed a gas field, it seemed that somebody in power had already bought that. >> jeff i want to interrupt you. because you went after nelson peltz and tried strong in this piece. they have just released a statement which i want to read on the air live and want to get your reaction to it if i may. this is their statement just crossing. mr. sonnenfeld has twisted and cherry picked the data to have an inaccurate picture of trian's performance we have $12 billion in assets under management. our flagship fund has generated a 137% return net of fees since inception in 2005. out pacing the s&p 500 by 2900 bips. and if you look at our core

positions, we have outperformed the s&p 500 by an average of 764 bips annually. that outperformance increases so 879 for companies on which nelson peltz serves on the board. >> you know i think good for them. let's just look at the numbers. last year scott, you know and it's good to see you with your jacket off loaded frd bear here. but chime came in at 8.8% return. the s&p was 13.7. i mean that's just the facts. you want to go back to 2012? they go -- >> but the point is i think nelson is saying you can cherry pick any year that you want but over a longer period of time, the numbers and the performance of the peltzs of the world and the icahns of the world certainly speak for themselves. don't they? >> they're varied. i think there's some like relational investors, third

point. sand ridge, they do on excellent job and they work constructively with management. they brought critical accountability. sometimes we see a lot of flambuoance. they're underperforming at family dollar, at mondoleze. they were on the board two years and drove it into bankruptcy. a company with heritage going back to 1802. really critical, successful valuable space. you look at five out of the eleven companies in their portfolio are underperforming the s&p. that's got to be out there. now, talk about selective use of data. that go after dupont or a company like that they'll pick 20 different data points at

random times. >> i think they would say and, look i don't want to be the one speaking for nelson peltz or ed gardner or somebody else -- >> it seems you are, yeah. >> somebody has to. >> i don't think they need advocates. they do a great job for themselves. they're very effective. >> they are. but they may say that the recent dupont has done well has little to do with what ellen coleman has done but more the fact you've been in an up market and performance should be and could be even better for shareholders. >> you know when they take into brupgs they say isn't this awful. other people going into bankruptcy at the same time they look to an unrelated company like general motors and they don't look at the fact that ford at the same time didn't go into bankruptcy because they didn't have the debt structure gm did which is what they stand for.

which was way too over leveraged a business. you put $100 into dupont when ellen became ceo, that would be worth $240 today. if you put it into s&p 500, it would be worth about $200. and if you put it into triian it would be worth $190. they're underperforming their own target companies. you can wring your hands different ways. you can stamp and yell. you can threaten. i mean these tv slapdowns, like mark cuban yesterday was fan it's a pick. that's drama on tv that's making a statement that matters. when we came to the defense in exactly this hour yesterday in this crazy s.e.c. stuff going after her. but whatever it is that's drama where it makes the difference. where ceos are courageous and speak out. when it's just these slapdowns and scott, you've been the best

at getting ackman to throw food back at icahn. and we love watching it midday. and especially food fight makes sense at lunchtime. but when it's ceos racing around the country, it has a hugely effect -- >> why are all of these companies agreeing to do the spinoffs and settling with the activists if it doesn't make sense? because one after another has fallen into line especially this year. >> some of them say dan loeb at third point, has come up with a couple of candidates steve miller being one who's a tough nosed turnaround guy that has joined the board. andrew livers and dan loeb wisely realized this guy is a fantastic net add to the board. and pepsi, you know, looking at dupont, they put on two tough guys. which are people that nelson peltz himself wanted for board representation positions and

they turned him down. they just put them on the board. but peltz is having this personalized campaign because he himself has to be on the board. i believe they even offered dupont wanted his son-in-law or cio gardner to join the board. no. it's got to be nelson himself. how can you hold a huge company like this a great global icon one of the top two or three integrated chemical companies in the world hostage because one guy has to be on the board. he's not happy with the two people he's pursued himself as representatives and to have his own ceo of son-in-law or whoever he is on the board. it's got to be him? no. when companies have a detente and they work it out, i think what they did, dan loeb of third point coming on at yahoo!. marissa marissa marissa meyer would tell you they weren't going to retire

stake in that company. it was a successful exchange for all. >> jeff. >> you look at home depot and hp. a fantastic relationship they had. very constructive roles. >> can i just real quickly. i think a couple of years ago, maybe two years ago corporation ceos were really looking at this with trepidation and fear about where the activists were going to go next. how do they feel right now? is it a position where thee feel overwhelmed or they'll win the upper hand based on some performance numbers? >> companies like state street and apple and pepsico and dow and dell these are some of -- if i didn't mention already apple -- these are such strong performing companies. this is a huge chain. if we were having this discussion 20 years ago, 25 years ago, we'd have many of the same people. they were called sharks raiders, lbo activists and things at that time. and a lot of their practices are

hard to do today. but many of these people are the same people recast. some of them are younger and have different style. the ones we're talking about, they're the exact same people who put on the cloak of good governance and use the language of shareholders activists and now they're restyled. they create a lot of fear as they're going after great performing companies. why do you come to terms with them? for the same time -- >> would ebay have split off paypal without carl icahn? would they have split off paypal in the time frame did it in which carl icahn came a into the situation? would dell shareholders have gotten a few pennies more without the activist coming in and shaking up a bit? >> that buyback at dell is fantastic for the -- in the shalds. they did very well. it came in very close, exactly where dell's offer was.

carl icahn's had to do with whether or not certain votes could be counted. and he came up with no credible offer. where was his money? you know he couldn't top that offer. that would have been great. but, no we don't see in dell or many of these situations -- dell is a great example. here's this company that is operating all around the world. a $50 billion company being held hostage to this situation. look how well dell is doing now. >> all i know is i spoke to shareholders at that time who were very happy to have the activist shaking the trees because they wanted more money. they wanted more money and they were in the investment for a long time. >> as we're targeting strong performing companies, this is a big change in what activists used to do. some today are going after troubled enterprises. that's where they should put their efforts. lee grong said they stopped converting because --

>> we've got to go. we've got to go. we've got to hit the pause button here. stop button. thank you. >> thanks. >> wildman, two bit green mailer a ena pirate that's what these guys are. coming up the challenger jobs report. stick around. eeep breath in. . . and . . . exhale. . . aflac! and a gentle wavelike motion... ahhh- ahhhhhh. liberate your spine... ahhh-ahhhhhh......aflac! and reach, toes blossoming... not that great at yoga. yeah, but when i slipped a disk he paid my claim in just one day. ahh! so he had your back? yep. in just one day, we approve and pay. one day pay, only from aflac. [duck snoring] e financial noise

financial noise financial noise financial noise ♪ help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of the country's largest petrochemical operations. when emerson takes up the challenge it's never been done before simply becomes consider it solved. emerson.

(trader vo) watching. waiting. for that moment, when right place meets right time. and when i find it, i go for it. (announcer vo) at scottrade, we share your passion for trading. that's why we give you the edge, with innovative charting and trading features, plus powerful mobile apps. and now, get up to a two-thousand-dollar cash bonus when you roll over your 401k or ira accounts. details at scottrade.com/retire.

welcome back. we're just one day away from the march jobs report. a new survey out this morning shows job cuts are at their lowest level monthly since december. john challenger ceo of challenger gray joins us to break down the numbers. great to talk to you. >> good morning. >> give us the details. >> well we saw 36,594 job cuts

in the month. that was down 27.6% from last month. but it was up 6.4% from march a year ago. so what we're seeing is slightly higher cuts this year. january and february are higher months. now as we start to move into the spring/summer, we'll probably see the cuts draw back. >> higher cuts yes, but more concentrated as well. correct? we're looking at the -- as we're speaking here we're looking at the planned sector cuts. and you see more in the energy patch than in anywhere else. and that would be no surprise. >> well no question. 2015 has been dominated by the oil industry. of the 140,000 job kutss in the first quarter, about 47,000 were oil related. particularly in the energy industry over 37,000. we're even seeing job cuts in west virginia in the coal mines.

>> what do you expect tomorrow? >> well the labor market is very healthy, continuing to be healthy. we are seeing some changes. the kinds of job cuts right now outside the energy industry that are more situational. the most iconic job cut of the month was target retailer hit with a data breach. just competing in a new market. felt like it was too top heavy. needed to be more nimble. we're not seeing job cuts come now from companies. they're just doing poorly. although it's interesting to think that the energy sector with the pressure pushing prices down may be what leads to job cuts over the next few years as we move closer to the end of the cycle. >> john we'll talk to you soon. thanks for speaking with us this morning. >> thank you. coming up audi will join us just outside the "squawk" set with an electric offering for the new york autoshow. plus baseball bloopers.

♪ sfx: engine sounds introducing the new can-am spyder f3. with a cruising riding position and the most advanced vehicle stability system in the industry... ...you'll ride with a feeling of complete freedom and confidence. visit your can-am spyder dealer and test drive one today. the new spyder f3. riding has evolved. 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. 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.

welcome back. take a look at u.s. equity futures. the second day of the second

quarter, well not looking that great. but not too bad. yesterday was a down day in a month that has been the best in the dow since 1950. but right now implied open down 23 for the dow. check out this. spring means baseball. you've got to love some bloopers. one eager fan took a spill reaching for that foul ball yesterday. yeah, he fell over. onto the field. there's the bow. a nice bow for the fans at the stadium in ft. myers, florida. he was escorted unfortunately, out of the stadium though. >> why? it didn't look like he meant to. >> i don't think he was running on the field. >> maybe he interfered with the ball in play. >> poor guy. when we come back this morning, the new york auto show is underway and audi is bringing the action straight to us. the electric version on dismay outside of our "squawk" studio. we will talk to the president of audi of america.

at book club 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.

all right. i hope you appreciate this. we've been standing on every square inch.

this is the best shot you sure? this is it? we finally got it. the new york auto show underway and one of the show stoppers this year this electric car right behind us. it's audi's version of the a-3 etron. joining us is president of audi of america. this is cool. i had to figure this out. it's a plug-in hybrid. so it's not like one of the teslas. this will run on a lithium battery, but it also has a regular fuel tank. >> exactly right. has a combustion engine. if you want to get people into electric cars the biggest is range act so it gets rid of all the range anxiety. >> we know that's definitely something because elon musk is always talking about it. that must be what they hear. you can drive it for 600 miles.

>> really? we talked about tesla a lot. >> loves the car. >> loves the car. >> it has nothing to do really with saving money on gas. people are spending -- how much is a tesla? >> average transaction $110,000. >> this price point is where people can actually buy the thing, right? >> that's what we wanted to do. price point around $40,000 opposed to being an add to the fleet vehicle. primary car. it's packaged for every day and drives like an audi. >> do you think that there is a big market for this right now mike? >> the plug-in market is definitely where electrics are going to make the most advances. you have to answer this range anxiety issue. telling you where a charger is isn't going to change. i think plug-in hybrids are the

way that electrification will take place. >> tesla gets -- tesla would not exist without government subsidies. and they come from the federal government. >> we're a well scaled well capitalized company. so we know exactly how to make these things and make money with them. >> so that's what you need to worry about with new models like this. you need to be global and supply whatever the demand is and need to have a footprint around the world. audi is one of the second largest. >> i have seen the -- you know, once in awhile i'll get a loner. i drive a porsche. is it an a-6 or a-7 i'll get.

phenomenal cars. almost as fast as my car. but kias are great also. >> i have an rs-7 in the mountains. >> what is this with kilowatt that i saw in the note? how does that work? of course the big thing we like and why we're excited, if you look at what battery costs in the future the density is getting better and better. and if you project for it in three to four years, the cost of the battery is going to start to become equal with the cost of an engine. that's what you're going to see. the biggest case is going to be -- that's what's coming. >> you should see how you charge this. it's really cool. >> we've got to do this fast. that is cool. >> put this right in there. >> pull that off and it charges there. >> regardless of where the station is, level of detail

this is what audi does. >> really slick. >> all right. good. anyway, thanks. i'm going to toss it back to scott and becky. can you -- am i on the shot through? if they take your shot can you still see me? >> yeah. wave in the background. hi, guys. good job. oh wait joe, jump higher. then they can see you. >> watch me do this burpee. >> no. no. jump a little higher. you're almost there. a little higher. a little higher. >> really. you think you put a quarter in me and i'll keep jumping? >> yes, monkey. thank you, guys. we'll see you back in a minute. when we come back we asked you to tweet about the stories you're buzzing about this morning. it's our new segment called keep squawking. 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.

welcome back, everybody. earlier we asked you to send us the stories that have you buzzing this morning. and now it is time for us to share some of those stories. ivan tweeted us he is buzzing about a new york post story

about a wall street trader making $2.4 million thanks to a tweet. he paid $110,000 for the right to buy about 300,000 shares in al terra at $36 a share. within less than 30 minutes the shares soared on a tweet from a reporter saying the company was in talks to get bought by intel. >> do i need to have -- do we need to have the najarians look at a little -- >> options actions here. >> unusual activity which we do every day on the show where they literally look at things like this. >> you think something got out on something like this. >> it is possible -- >> it is possible for it to be a fluke. >> for someone to buy options. 35 cents. what was the strike price? and how much time was that? i didn't hear the -- >> we didn't say. >> we didn't say what options. we did it in such layman terms i didn't know what the strike

price was. but for 35 cents -- >> i'll have them look at it and see. they do that every day. >> i need more info. but people buy call options on tech companies. but that worked pretty well obviously. >> yeah. not all of these instances, obviously, are, you know -- >> there may be nothing insidious about what happened. it would be interesting. i'd like to see him check out that today with the najarians. we'll watch. >> buying options, long options. i mean, it's a lot. you can invest your -- you get to invest your money until it's gone. it is fun. you just -- >> unless it goes. >> you keep investing until it's gone. if you're going to buy calls and puts, eventually you're -- >> risky business. >> yeah. >> which i guess is a good point to say this guy could have really hit it big because you can lose it really big too. >> when i was -- i will confess. if you have a gambling problem -- >> true squawk confessions. >> yeah. when i was a stockbroker we would play the oexs.

and we would do things that was not normal to do that. there are a lot of things that used to happen when they would expire where people could close them just up above -- >> when was that? '62? '65? >> it was hard because there wasn't electricity. you had to write it down and give it to a guy on a pony. this fan reached out to us on our facebook page. he's buzzing about godaddy this morning. the company went public yesterday. shares jumping more than 30% in the stock's first trading session. and i'm just hoping you know that they raise enough money to make more of those ads for the super bowl. >> what ads? >> yeah you haven't seen any of them? >> i haven't. >> the ones can danica where -- >> she was there yesterday at the stock exchange. >> she's nice. we had her on. >> company has no profits. they lost like $100 million. they've been in business for awhile. >> really still don't. >> what's crazy is i know all of

these commercials but i don't know what godaddy does. >> i don't either. >> i know they're a web hosting. >> they do about 25% of all web hosting. somebody said that last night and i said that means they don't do 75%. >> i think that's probably the only technology company i don't understand. >> you're right. other than that you're good. >> all the other ones -- >> but you sure know their name and commercials. >> yeah. don't ask me about that. anyway when we come back we have a lot more to talk about. mcdonald's raising wages for 90,000 of its hourly workers. we will ask an analyst if the franchisees are likely to follow suit and what it could mean for the stock. and later, an autonomous car making the cross-country trip from san francisco to new york. what? someone was driving it i hope. it hope it wasn't driving itself from san francisco to new york. the car is here and we're going to talk to the chief technology officer from the company that built it.

that klooks like somebody is driving that car. just because i'm away from my desk doesn't mean i'm not working. comcast business understands that. their wifi isn't just fast near the router. it's fast in the break room. fast in the conference room. fast in tom's office. fast in other tom's office. fast in the foyer [pronounced foy-yer] or is it foyer [pronounced foy-yay]? fast in the hallway. i feel like i've been here before. switch now and get the fastest wifi everywhere. comcast business. built for business. well, sir. after some serious consideration i'd like to put in my 15-year notice. you're quitting!? technically retiring, sir. with a little help from my state farm agent i plan to retire in 15 years. wow! you're totally blindsiding me here. who's gonna manage your accounts? this is a devastating blow i was not prepared for. well, i'm gonna finish packing my things. 15 years will really sneak up on you. jennifer with do your exit interview and adam made you a cake. red velvet. oh, thank you. i made this. take charge of your retirement.

talk to a state farm agent today.

the final day of the trading week. larry cantor shares his

investment playbook ahead of tomorrow's jobs number and why he says investors shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. plus a self-driving car making its way across the country and stopping at our studio. >> what are you doing? >> delphi's officer joins us to talk about the possibility of autonomous cars on america's roads. and america's pastime is looking for a makeover from the place to play to connecting with fans. how the game is trying to keep up with technology step up to the plate. "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ live from the most powerful city in the world, new york, this is "squawk box." >> welcome back to "squawk box." it's okay. the dude would like it.

welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and scott wapner. andrew is off this week. here are the numbers this morning. terrible session again yesterday. maybe it's earnings. maybe it's -- because it's april 2nd isn't it? earnings start a week from today. or tomorrow. >> yep. >> maybe alcoa might even be on monday or tuesday. you're out. >> i'll be back in time. >> for the biggest flood. >> that's right. >> becky, while you're here would you mind doing the headlines? >> not at all, joe. >> you're out after -- you've got one hour and then you're gone. >> got to go to on the money. i'm going to disney and

universal. >> last time you said i'm going to universal. smart. you might stop by the magic kingdom. you have a 3-year-old. it's okay. >> he can't ride a lot of the rides. >> we're going to universal. >> anyway the european union is reportedly preparing to file antitrust charges against google in the next few weeks. the eu could fine the company up to 10% of its annual revenue. carmax revenue above street forecasts. and we are watching shares of transocean that said it would dispose of two of its oil rigs. that would result in a charge of $110 million for the company's first quarter. we have got a full day of data starting with a pulse check of the labor market with weekly job let claims. if you're keeping score, they're expected to be flat at 285,000. investors will also be keeping an eye on this number and ahead

of tomorrow's big jobs report. sometimes they don't do it when the markets are closed. but we'll be here tomorrow from 7:00 to 9:00. the markets would be closed for good friday but we will be open for business between 7:00 and 9:00 tomorrow. eastern time. leisman will be here. factory orders come out later this morning. this tracks the dollar value of new orders for durable and non-durable goods. orders are forecast to drop again after falling for a sixth straight month in january. mcdonald's announcing it's going to raise the average pay for roughly 90,000 workers to about $10 an hour. the move however, does not apply to employees at franchisee franchisee-owned restaurants. that makes up almost 90% of mcdonald's here in the u.s. joining us this morning with more on this piper jaffray's nicole. we've decided how to fix

mcdonald's last time you were on, nicole. what was it? fresh and fast? that's what we want. stick with the menu. go fresh and fast. mike jackson who, believe me has more money -- we don't need to go into that. ate at mcdonald's yesterday. you got yourself some chicken. >> chicken selects they've reintroduced. they're better than the old ones. they're fantastic. >> so it's possible to save this. will this help pr-wise, nicole? >> it will. we did talk about fresh and fast. if you even wanted to make sure the fast part, going to the store level and empowering the employees making them happier with the minimum wage. what happens at the store level is equally important in terms of recovery as what happens at the corporate level in terms of menu and marketing. >> we also -- didn't we speak before they decided to go with the breakfast all day long? and also they're rolling out some stuff in germany too. where you go to a kiosk and it's

served at a table. that's new since you were on. what do you think of those moves? >> i think those are marginally moving in the right direction. it's a big global brand, as we talked about. they should protect the moat. i think offering them all day again is good on the margin. but we're still waiting on the sidelines to see what this new management team can produce in terms of results. >> you know, nicole just thinking in the bigger picture, i don't know if philosophically what you think about this but i've seen people make the point that millennials along with social media at this point are kind of dictating a very fast move in public attitudes about things. the indiana law comes to mind. the arkansas law. we know that they're going to be back in full force protesting for $15 an hour at fast food. is that going to take on a life

of its own and eventually be something that could pr-wise, hurt fast food chains? will they have to en masse to satisfy some of this? are we moving this way where we're going to pay workers for really more than a lot of chains can afford at this point? >> well i'm not sure it's an affordability issue. if you think about mcdonald's making this change certainly everyone else is going to be pressured to follow suit. but that being said there's a lot of pricing mechanisms if you think about mcdonald's specifically. there's patented statistical pricing mechanisms that have helped them historically cover food and labor inflation. so knowing that it's on the horizon doesn't necessarily mean performance can't still prevail for many qsr operators. >> $15 an hour what would you pay the shift manager? how would you promote someone if everyone started at 15 and then how do you reward your best

employees? i mean i don't just -- if this were to take on a life of its own, that's what i'm saying seems like it could be a problem. >> you know it depends on if we're going to get a step function in that direction. but you're right. that being said the way you would, you know work that up the system is things are talking about paid time off and training retention tools. bonus structures. things of that nature. i mean all of that can shift and will shift like you said if the hourly wage continues to increase. all of that goes all the way with it all the way up the chain. >> i know. we were just talking about it earlier today. i think the protests are going to start again. and the local news will be there, media will be there. they'll get testimonials from people that have six kids and -- i mean it's going to have an effect eventually. nicole, thank you. we appreciate it. >> thank you. jobs data will be the focus for investors over the next couple of days. market watchers will be parsing the numbers and try to figure

when the fed may or may not tighten and what it mean ifs for the markets. here with us larry cantor. why have you pushed it back? >> well i think part of this is what's happening with the dollar which is doing some of the fed's work for it. the other thing is with the big decline in oil prices, inflation has moved down. there's less urgency for the fed. now the fed has come out and said when we do hike we'll be very gradual. it looks like june in early. it's still possible but i think it's early. >> you think we're going to experience what we did a year ago where we had a rough start to the year largely due to weather. then a strong snapback or is this time different? >> i don't know if it's different, but i think right now one of the big changes is what the ecb is doing. if you think about it this has been a fantastic market environment. everything's gone up. i mean bond prices keep going

up even though yields are already low. and the stock market's held up pretty well given all the gains we've had the last couple of years. the fed ended qe in october, but the ecb came out with a monster program that was twice as big as anybody thought. i think this is going to still be a very good environment. what i would say is the u.s. market may be getting a bit tired and looks a little more expensive when already this year we've seen europe and japan outperform the market. we think there's more to go on that. >> so you would have more expose sure right now to europe and elsewhere than the u.s. >> that's right. i mean both the u.s. and europe are benefitting from the low inflation, low oil prices. but as we know the dollar has gone up the euro's gone down. there's still more to go there. that's a help for europe. they have less fiscal policy tightening, credit starting to improve there. and the qe program has just started. so i think you'll continue to

see maybe some better opportunities there. it doesn't mean we're negative on the u.s. market. i think it'll do okay. >> but fundamentally the fed being at zero is like a crisis. and the u.s. economy is many things but it's not in crisis. >> i agree with that. >> so you may argue is it june is it september? a gradual rate increase is coming and the u.s. economy can handle that. and there's many benefits to that as well. a normalization of interest rates out of this crisis mind-set. >> i totally agree with that. i think the fed agrees with it also. they're very nervous about upsetting the markets. if you think about all the fed meetings we've had over the last six or seven years, where there's been a question what they're going to do, it's always paid to be on the dovish side. did again last meeting. and so they're going to be extremely close. you may argue they end up being too cautious. but we no longer need zero rates. the other thing i think they want to get off the zero bound. they're going to need rate cuts

and they can't cut rates. >> what kind of year do you think they're going to have at the end of the year? >> i'd say the s&p probably goes up in single digits. >> that's what i think. and i wouldn't rule out a correction either. we haven't seen a correction in a couple years now. >> if you think that the economy is going to be strong enough to withstand a fed rate hike -- >> yes, i do. >> then why don't you think that the market will be able to withstand that as well knowing that the economy supports what the fed has just done? >> what i would say is you've got to go with the earnings here. when you look at past periods when there have been fed rate hikes, in almost every one, the market's done well. and it's been higher a year later. but at that time earnings are usually growing in double digits. we're looking for single digits earnings growth. the two things that are hitting earnings are one, the drop in energy which you were just talking about. and the second is the rise in

the dollar. and instead of getting double digit earnings growth you're getting single digit. where you really haven't seen the earnings growth yet on the back of what's becoming an economic recovery in europe. and so i'd say go with the earnings. i think same with japan. you've got faster earnings growth. >> and most likely we won't have a normal rate cycle increase. most likely they stretch this thing out and most likely it's not 400 basis points over a rate increase. it's something less. >> it's very slow. and i think this could end up being much like the end of qe. everybody was worried. bond yields would shoot up. in fact, bonds really laid. i think the first fed rate hike you'll get some turbulence for a little while. then i think it'll be past this. for that exact reason. no ebb's going to be pricing in hundreds of basis points quickly. >> great to see you today. >> you too. when we come back this morning, is there a bubble brewing on the car market?

and later, delphi driving a car 3500 miles across the country all by itself. a little frightening, but we're going to talk about it. it's making its way to our studio right now. we will talk self-driving cars technology and how long before we see them clogging the road. "squawk box" will be right back. sn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars. at mfs, we believe in the power of active management. our teams collaborate around the world, which leads to better de put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without

collaboration. e financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise

welcome back everybody. could a recent jump in sub prime autoloans mean a bubble is brewing? with us is the president of the auto finance group. one of the largest providers of auto financing in the united states. tim, thanks for being here today. >> thank you becky. >> how does the loan business overall look in the auto market? >> it's good. it's been growing year over year as the auto sales have been growing. terms of access and liquidity, there's a ton of liquidity. banks are willing to lend. and it's been an important segment from the perspective of the dealers need access to financing. consumers need that access. and i think there's been ample access out there for the consumers to buy vehicles. >> almost everybody is making

their payments. >> there's a lot of tail winds right now. low gas prices low interest rates, those are all things that lift the asset quality. so yes delinquencies are low. >> what are the delinquencies now versus the average over the last 20 years or so? >> i'd say we're sitting -- came off the bottom. 2010 was probably the low point of delinquencyies. we've come back to an average -- let's say 30-day delinquencies are 20% to 30%. lost rates in the industry hover around 1%. >> if the mortgage industry credit card industry and student loan industry had people pay like people pay their car loans, we'd have a different issue in america.

having said that we're in a place where we complained for years that people with low credit scores couldn't get access. but now you have people starting to worry about the other side of things. this is coming in part because the department of justice and the end of the year you guys announced you'd received a subpoena from them. i don't know if you can talk about that. >> in terms of i was looking at stats the other day, if you look at the high water mark in the auto space, it was probably 25% of the industry. and, you know then 2010 it dropped down to probably around 18%. i'd say around 20% in the market right now. >> maybe 25%. 20% to 25%, let's say. the reason there are alarm bells going off is because in the quarter -- the second quarter of 2014 lenders originated $28.6 billion in auto loans.

that was nearly twice as much as in 2010. you said that was the pendulum swinging in the other direction. as a result we've also seen some moves recently. wells fargo which is another huge auto lender recently said it was going to be pulling back on lending and imposing a cap. that has people wondering if you're going to do the same thing. >> i think all of us have a mix in our business model we're trying to get to. we've been averaging around 9% in the subprime space right now. we have some room in our own business model to do more. again, it's 9% on originations $40 billion a year. >> i know this is an issue. when i talked to people in the industry, they have told me this is not a prb o. this is not something -- what do you make of those starting to say is this a bubble. what would be bubbleicious to you thinking we've gone too far? >> sure. i guess we are all concerned about a bubble.

so we invest in our technology and our tools and underwriting and our policies to try to make sure we don't have a bubble. we all own these assets so if there is a bubble we bear the brunt of those losses in our businesses. >> how many do you own? >> put them on our books. typically we're holding those assets all the way through. those consumers that we're making a bet on that they're going to repay the loan. our underwriting is about trying to repay the loan. >> there are really two issues in the debate. one is the bubble issue. i agree with tim. there's no sign of a bubble. over the last ten years, $3.5 trillion worth of auto loans were originated and the outstanding balance only went up by $100 billion. think about that. i see no signs of a bubble. there are on extreme subprime

some practices that probably should be taking a look at. >> such as? >> and there are some bad apples out there that are taking advantage of the situation. and i think it's all right that regulators take a look. >> what would you qualify as bad actions? >> you know i think these buy here, pay here where you literally have to go in and make your payment on the loan where you got the vehicle and they can cut it off electronically if you don't make your payment and the interest rates are, you know high 20s percent. >> that's actually taking place over 30%? >> if you go way -- it's a tiny part of the business. >> right now. but you have bad apples. do you get enough bad apples to have a bushel of trouble? >> no. there's not a bushel of trouble out there. but you can get anecdotal stories in all of these you

read. where you look and say you put the two together it's a problem. there's no bubble but it's appropriate. regulators look at some of the behavior. >> so let's go back to how consumers are fairing right now. as you mentioned, there are a lot of tail winds and things that are kind of helping out. how quickly do you notice things like the unemployment rate we've watched drop so rapidly in terms of lower gas prices. how quickly do those types of things show up and the consumer who is were coming in and asking for loans from you. >> sure. one of the things we look for, do they have a job. as the unemployment rate in fact that is probably the number one if you had to have one stat to watch, that's probably the one stat to watch relative to the asset quality on the autoloan space. >> that's great. tim, we want to thank you very much for joining us here today. we appreciate it and hope to see you again soon.

coming up the last read on the jobs sector before tomorrow's big government report. jobless claims data is just ahead in about seven minutes. and then forbes says the san diego padres franchise ranks 19th overall and it's now worth 45% more than it was last year. padres padres ceo tells us how he's hitting it out of the park in just a bit. "squawk box" will be right bab. [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops. so open an account with schwab. and when a market move affects, say a cloud computing stock you're holding, we can help you decide what to do. with tools that help you see how market activity is affecting your positions. so when the time comes to decide whether to scale in or scale out... you can make

your move wherever you are. and start working on your next big idea. ♪ ♪ there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision

or any symptoms of an allergic reaction stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com

. welcome back. looking to shed some pounds before the summer bathing suit season? try the david cameron diet. the british prime minister says he dropped 13 pounds in the last three months by giving up biscuits and peanuts. cameron said back in january he planned to cut out carbs. prime minister also goes jogging every other day. coming up jobless claims data plus delphi's drive towards self-driving cars. we have one parked outside and we're going to hear about its journey from san francisco in just a bit. financial noise financial noise

financial noise these days, the most important person in your business could be a software developer. so, how's the app coming? we've got to make something great. how's the app coming? we've got to do it fast. let's do this on bluemix. you can build apps with analytics, big data, even ibm watson. that could give us the edge. let's do this on bluemix. it can provide code for you. we could be first to market. because being best is priority one. being first is priority one. there's a new way to work and it's made with ibm. in new york state, we're reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started... only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that partner companies with universities,

and venture capital funding for high growth industries. see how new york can grow your business and create jobs. visit ny.gov/business

welcome back everybody. we are just a few seconds away from jobless claims. we've been watching the market today. after all of the down moves yesterday, the trend seems to be continuing this morning. you'll see the futures at this point the dow is down about 14 points above fair value. the nasdaq has turned positive. it is up by 3.5 points. rick santelli is standing by at the cme in chicago.

steve leisman is in the studio with us. rick we're watching these numbers closely because it seems like every data point at this point is an inflection point b and one the market is waiting to see what the fed thinks about. >> every other job seems to be soft. the conspiracy theorists are running wild. here we go. trade balance, of course it's a trade deficit, but the deficit is much smaller than expected. we were looking for something over 40. we ended up with 35.4 billion. although last month's ramped up to close to a billion. but that still isn't bad. boy, 35. that's really a good number. i don't think we've been there since about november of last year. so we want to pay attention to that. on the claims side, also a bit of a surprise. 268,000. so that's down 20,000 from a 288. and, you know, it looks to me as i look in the rearview mirror i didn't see a lot of holidays or

issues that should potentially affect this number. and once again, you know it's not a negative to see the claims so low. and it seems to go along with the type of jobs created, the number of jobs. but in the end, all these metrics seem to be on the spongy side. but trade deficit, that's a good one. that's really a good one. we're hovering right around 186. i call it the october 15th support in yields. pay close attention. back to you. >> all right rick. have a great weekend. see you later. >> you too. >> right now let's get more reaction from jim iuorio. jim, rick said it. a lot of these numbers are pretty soft. we don't know what we're getting. but where do you think we're headed and how does that play out in what traders are trying to make of it all? >> i think a month ago the fed wanted to tighten but things have changed significantly. the data is softer. the one thing we were hanging our hat on was that labor data

was good. 24 hours ago that changed with the bad adp number. this claims number is fine. it doesn't do anything to add to the case that the labor market is deteriorating. but it does make tomorrow -- this is a huge inflection point. every week it seems we're at an inflection point. we are. the fed made mention a few weeks ago about how the strong dollar might be a -- came out bad mostly because of the strength of the dollar. we expected the dollar strength to help the consumer and that kind of counterbalance each other. what we've seen is the consumer seems to be saving the money and not spending it. it usually does take six months after significant decline in the price of energy for the consumers to change their behavior. perhaps we should give them a few more months considering what they've been through over the past ten years. right now the data is not that good. i don't think the stock market has any worry. i think it's just an arrange. if the data's bad and the fed doesn't tighten, stock market could be buoyant because they think more free money.

>> what if it's just a situation where the weather was weak and it was taking a bit of time for low gas prices to build consumer confidence to the point they'd really spend some of that instead of saveing it. we could see that change relatively quickly if that's the case. >> i actually still think it will. i think it's a combination of what you said. in february it was just awful. or maybe that you know to see a little bit of building up of balance sheets on the consumer with the initial windfall of money probably is a healthy thing. i think two months down the road, three months down the road if we don't see consumer spending jumping up. i always bring up restaurants. people are spending money in restaurants. that's interesting and good. i'm hoping that's the first domino that starts revitalization of the consumer. >> and which way would you pla i this? this market's been walking kind of flatlining for the entire year to date so far. what would you do? >> i stay uncomfortably long.

i've seen no reason to panic yet. we are at the downside of i think a significant range in the s&p. the futures settled below 230 which is only a few shorthand ls from here. if they settled there and felt comfortable there, we could be in a corrective phase. but we're doing that right now and people get a little nervous when that happens. i don't think it's time to panic yet. >> okay. jim, thanks so much. great seeing you. >> thank you. good seeing you. >> right now let's get to scott wapner. he is outside the studio with a special guest. >> thanks so much. look mom, no hands. delphi completing the first-ever cross-country trip from san francisco to new york in an autonomous vehicle. in fact, the vehicle is just behind us right now. the modified audi sq-5 finished makes its jury knew just in time for the auto show takes place in new york city. joining us is jeff owens, chief

technology officer at delphi. it's good to see you. >> thanks scott. >> were you along fwr the ride? >> i got to get in a couple of sections and experience it myself. >> how long did it take? >> about eight days. 15 states. engineers had a great time. wanted to make sure we were taking all the data we needed to improve the products going forward. >> how big do you think this market could really be? >> it's going to be awhile before it's fully autonomous. but a lot of the safety is on the road today. it's going to be one of the fastest growing in all of automotive. on a lot of the vehicles this morning you have on the rotunda. >> you think people really want this? you think really consumers want to get into a vehicle and have absolutely no control over it? >> i think there's some. there's a desire for mobility. there's a desire for more safety. we tend to think of this as an opportunity to improve our active safety equipment that will provide help when you need help. >> you say it's going to take

awhile. what's your best guess? >> i think to get the driver out of the driver's seat you're 10 or 15 years away at least. the regulatory framework, but the active safety request i want to give the driver that extra help to pay attention when they're not, it's already on the road today. that's going to b the big opportunity. >> i was going to ask you about some of the hurdles you have to get over in government regulatory. it's certainly going to be a big one. >> it is. there's a lot to do. you need an ecosystem for a fully autonomous car to work in. but the active safety equipment is already on the road today having a big impact in reducing accidents. it will help reduce fatalities. >> when you drive one of these, it's not even accurate to say when you drive one. when you don't drive one of these autonomous vehicles and happen to be in the car, you have to go the speed limit. is that right? >> yeah. the states are still working through how they will allow the vehicles on the road. one thing is sure, they want you

to drive the spliteed limit. >> maybe a few miles per hour is not going to give aproblem. >> i'll tell you, we were the only car on the road doing the speed limit. >> i'm sure you were. that's a statement in and of itself. thanks so much for spending time with us. good luck at the auto show. >> thanks scott. >> guys back inside to you. >> all right. we'll see you back in a minute. when we come back what is wrong with baseball? america's favorite pastime trying to break the vortex of the good old days and catch up with technology. we'll talking about the business of baseball and the changes coming this summer. >> got the right song. >> you like that? >> i do. >> check out the futures. both the dow and sppz&p are weaker this morning. looks like the nasdaq is indicated slightly high perp.

73% of americans try... ...to cook healthy meals. yet up to 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more... ...add one a day 50+. complete with key nutrients we may need. plus it supports physical energy with b vitamins. one a day 50+

yeah. no i'm just -- i'm almost -- i got 20 minutes i just used that thing and i'm getting addicted i think. baseball season is about to begin. you can get -- affrin. you can get addicted. i just need 20 minutes without sneezing. about to begin baseball season and this year major league is trying to spice up the game. the ceo of the san diego padres joins us now. he's on the competition committee which analyzes ways of improving the game on the field including the pace of the game

umpiring and the use of instant video replay. pitchers go to the bag a lot. do they not? guys getting in and out of the box. what's the answer for speed? >> well i think that's part of the pace of game. there are two issues here. pace of game and length of game. the length of a game is nearly 30 minutes longer today than it was 25 years ago. so within the game i think there are poirntsnts of dead spots and interruption. there's been a lot of interruption on focusing on those areas and the pace of game. i think that's a great example. keeping hitters in the box is another example. the length between innings, length of time between innings is something that's a primary focus of this as well. that will have a clock on it as well this year for the 2015 season for the first time ever. >> hey, mike. it's mike jackson. good to see you again. >> hey mike. >> so this clock it's going to be like in basketball where the

pitcher has ten seconds to throw that thing or it's an automatic ball is that what we're going to have? >> i think that's what we'll eventually have. for this year we're focusing on 2:25 between. and the pitcher has to be ready to go with 30 seconds left on that clock. the batter will be in the box with 20 seconds remaining on that clock. that will shave minutes off of the game time as well. the pitch clock was experimented with last fall in the arizona fall league. with 20 seconds between pitches. so there are great opportunities, i think, to increase the rhythm of the game the pace of the game which ultimately will lead i think, to fan enhancement and a faster game. >> still a pretty healthy sport locally, isn't it, in terms of tv and attendance? >> well absolutely.

we're -- there are great opportunities to expand the footprint of the game. we're starting with a solid foundation of 74 million fans. if you factor in the minor league nearly 100 million fans attended baseball games. and television ratings at the local level are outstanding. if you were to look at all of them across the board they would perform favorably to all sports. and the avant-garde approach of baseball advanced media and i think really gearing baseball on a digital sense to the millennials in the way that millennials consume and digest information is for the future. >> i know hockey was written off a couple of years ago. nbc got involved and it's just -- it's unbelievable right now with the 75 inch screen in high def and everything else. i can feel the checks through

the screens sometimes. why do people say san diego had like a world series win during the off-season? what happened? i don't even follow the reds that closely anymore. what'd you guy dos in the off-season? >> well we had an unprecedented off-season for the padres. this is a franchise that in 46 seasons of the national league is only qualified for the post season five times and made the world series twice in 1984 1998. under the guidance of new ownership that took control in august of 2013 -- or 2012 rather this was a transformative off-season. we added matt kemp james shields, justin upton to name few. and really positions us well to compete in the national league west, a very competitive league this year. you know our ticket sales as an example for a six-week period

right after january 1st were up 600% year over year. so san diego is a very rich baseball town. a lot of baseball played here in southern california. a great following for the padres. but it's great to see it come back with a roar and a lot of excitement and participation here. >> like a blessing and a curse yourself out in san diego. like who doesn't want to go to a game in san diego. but then there might be other things to do. if you're a white sox fan, you know tigers. i'm going to the tigers game. at san diego, there's quite a few alternatives, i would think. it's a blessing and a curse. >> torrey pines. >> torrey pines. might stop up there too. la jolla. >> we're fortunate to have a great downtown ballpark. petco park which positions us well not just the game but the activities around the game really plays well into san diego's lifestyle. even while the team was going through tough years, we drew

around the mark. we're optimistic we can have that creep towards 2.5 or 3 million mark. >> i'm going to watch you this year. because i'm sick of the giants. i don't like what they did to the reds a couple years ago. they were up 2-0, remember that? then they lost three straight. i love dodger stadium. >> mike watch out. whoever joe likes has a curse. >> you know what? i take it back. i'm going to hope for the giants. good to see you, mike. thank you. >> thanks for having me. when we come back we headdowntown to talk markets with jim cramer. and a programming note markets may be closed tomorrow for good friday. "squawk box" is open for business though. we'll bring you the jobs report. analysis from everyone, what to expect on monday morning when you get ready for the opening bell following this holiday weekend. a special edition of "squawk box" jobs friday edition tomorrow. 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll be back in a moment.

e financial noise

financial noise financial noise financial noise

welcome back. couple of headlines we're watching this morning. jerry brown taking action to reduce water use as the state battles a devastates multi-year

drought. it's the first mand story statewide reduction in california's history. the goal is to cut water use by 25%. restrictions will effect golf courses and homeowners. farmers, however, will be exempt. farmers, however, will be exempt. apartment rent are rising nationwide. the vacancy rate dropping in the fourth quarter to 4.1%. down a tenth from the previous quarter. new york remains the most expensive market with effective rents of $3,200 per month. san francisco kept the number two spot. u.s. regulator charged kraft foods and mondelez global with manipulating wheat market. the cftc alleges kraft and mondelez sxutexecute a strategy to buy six-month supply it never intended to receive with the intent to lower prices. the companies gained more than $5.4 million on that move. fancy. fancy. let's get down to the new york stock exchange with jim cramer. i was watching "nightly," did

you know a pound of broccoli takes 300 gallons of water to produce? >> no. >> statistics on last night that blew me away how much water takes just for an average amount of produce. serious issue out there, jim. hopefully -- >> totally. how about the fact there's actual wheat in things that kraft makes? >> yeah. >> natural, right? that's natural organic, use wheat. >> who would have thought? >> it's not artificial wheat. >> no. who would have thought -- a piece in "the journal" about an apple, not apple computer but gmo apple that you know the gmo gets a bad wrap. >> i like fresh. pro-fresh, if it's fresh i like it. >> you missed the dos toros guac. not that you don't know a thing about mexican food. >> careful. >> i'm hosting late tonight, i think. i may host tonight. >> jim -- >> i have better guac.

you should see our yelp ratings on guac, unsane. >> you get up at 4:00. >> tomorrow i'll be doing work yeah. it's unfortunate but i'll be doing things. look it's a workday. you guys are doing it. >> yep. >> i'll write some stuff for the street some stuff for cnbc mostly preparing for mornde ing foring for monday because i've got a big show. >> call in after 8:30. we all need to pitch. if you reachable? you got a pager? >> i'll be looking at the number. absolutely. >> good. >> he's playing hurt jimmy. you know you never know. >> he's got the cold? get better this weekend, play golf at the club. >> maybe so. probably not. >> could be a nice day. feel better. >> take it easy today. when we return we'll talk economy and the consumer with autonation ceo mike jackson. before we go we want to get a fond farewell to our technical

directoring keith falcone work with us for eight years. he didn't die. good-bye keith. he's waving back. he's fine. he's got a big, new job. >> could we get a better picture? >> keith looks like banged up from the night before. >> some producers like to say he's our professional button pusher. but he's more than that. i get top lines from him with the most up appropriate stuff. if i ever said it accidentally on air. from funny pictures, on-air saves making us look great, a big part of the show. he will be missed in the control room. there he is again, ladies. message me. i can put you in touch with him. good luck keith, on your endeavors. "squawk box" will be right back.

hello. i am technology that is changing investing forever. i am a fully automated investment advisory service. i can help you choose the right portfolio. monitor it. and even rebalance it. i've been called innovative. revolutionary. and just plain smart. i'd blush at the compliment if i could. but i can't. so. i won't. say hello at intelligent.schwab.com

host mike jackson. he brought all of the lovely cars to share with us. one of the things we haven't talked about yet is we know that the fed is probably going to raise rates this year. we know that that is a big impact for people who are buying thing like houses and cars. what will it mean for people buying a car if the fed raises

interest rates? will it have an impact? >> i think the industrial can continue to run right around 17 million for several years. because all of the fed's doing is normalizing rates from extraordinarily low rates. 100 basis points typical customer, will mean additional $15 a month on their payment. >> okay. >> the industry ran from 2000 to 20006 selling around 17 million units a year with interest rates 300 basis points higher on the typical loan than today. >> where would rate have to get before you throughout it really impacted sales. >> if they start raising 400, 500, 600 basis points. if inflation rears its head and the federal reserve say we're going to raise rates until the economy slows down housing and car sales will slow down it still remains a cyclical business. industrial can handle normalized rates. if the fed wants to shut it down and go above normal it will

impact the business. and i'll be here on your show saying those exact words. >> saving more than $15 in gas costs -- >> $15 a month for 100 basis points. >> unless a gas tax -- >> we've got along so well today. >> don't touch him! you're sick. nobody wants to stand by joe. mike, when you look at just what happened for the first day, it's april 2nd, one day of sales in the second quarter. what was that one day like? >> now officially into the spring market even though it doesn't feel like it here this morning in new york. >> no. >> and -- >> i love this new warmer world. >> first indications are, excellent. off and running in the spring market. >> you feel like the stock market accurately reflects how you feel where we are in the economy? >> i don't see the multiple on the stock exchange as being anything extraordinary as a multiple of earnings. i don't think the market's

overpriced but that's just my opinion. >> you're not a guy who worries much, but if there's one thing you were watching as a potential headwind, what would it be? >> i consider myself the chief risk officer of the enterprise. >> you always are as a ceo. >> right. and i have to say, and i am a big worryier we're in a goldly locks period where the industry had extraordinary exciting new products. i just start with the new york auto show. pace offen know vation amazing. low interest rates, low gas prices growing jobs. >> a year from now, two years from now. >> that's the problem i'll take. i think we're looking at a good run. mike, thank you, again, for joining us today and spending the morning with us. it has been a pleasure. always love seeing you. thanks for bringing the toys. >> have a super vacation. >> big number tomorrow. >> universal. >> jobs report. >> big number. >> i'll watch it from universal. >> big number. watch tomorrow.

next week you're out. >> i am. >> andrew's back. >> he is. >> we've got that going for us. >> scott, great having you. >> see you next week. >> monday and tuesday. >> boys club next week monday and tuesday. >> see you soon. time for "squawk on the street." ♪ ♪ good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer david faber at the new york stock exchange. last trading day of the week as we head into a long holiday weekend. and futures suggest investors might keep their cards close to the vest ahead of the jobs number tomorrow. claims were very nice beat. oil, down about 2%. a bit higher than the session lows. watch the ten-year around 1.87 almost a two-month low. road map begins with the markets and a jobs report on deck. doubts about u.s. growth weighing on stocks but claims come i