a very warm welcome to this special edition of worldwide exchange. the u.k. votes live from the houses of parliament in london's westminster. the most important decision for a generation. the party leaders are campaigning for their final day as the polls suggest we're pointing to a hung parliament with u.k. and labor tied. >> business leaders are weighing in suggesting labor could knock the u.k. economy off course. the ceo telling cnbc that the

coalition has helped the average british consumer. >> we have seen disposable incomes increase so most families in the u.k. are better off by an average 16 pounds a week and we've seen consumer confidence increase as well. >> he is to release his final as ceo. we speak to him about the numbers and who should win the u.k. election in 15 minutes time. >> bond yields continue to edge higher. european markets on the flat line in early trade following a broad sell off on wall street and in asia. and welcome to the show. so we have less than 24 hours until the polls open in the u.k. it's look too close to call this

morning. >> it is looking too close to call. there's an implicit feeling and i'll say this on the record. the polls are wrong and actually the tourists are going to get in again and form some form of election. maybe that was a majority for a coalition. i was wondering if that was come play senty over a benign outcome too. let's face it. it may mean all kinds of referendum issues. an snp labor coalition could be interesting from a different point of view. when you look at sterling and credit and ftse at 6940 this morning. still nowhere near what we have seen in continental europe and i wonder whether that benign outcome equals complacency. >> it's an interesting point and in terms of the outcome we have the last minute swing going to

the incumbent and the fact that labor's ground campaign meant to be better and the turn out could be better for labour supporters. >> betting markets are pricing in a 90% chance of another hung parliament. help me understand. what would a hung parliament look like? >> it's a very tough question to answer because we just don't know what the outcome will be in terms of the coalition deals. it's looking like the tori's might win the most seats but labour and the rest of the parliament could be united against them. they ruled out any deal with the conservative party and on top of that the fact that most of parliament might be united against them. >> one technical point we don't have what our american viewers have the benefit of. we don't have a constitution. we did have a parliament act which came in in the last parliament. we have a fixed five year

parliament but people are having to go to the cabinet secretary and say what do we do? i think we could have a minority government and i think we're all looking in the dark here. >> we are and let's bring in an expert. the founder and chairman. good morning to you too. lovely to be with you. will david cameron be disappointed with his campaign so far. >> he's run a campaign that's kept him in the game and he'll probably go fast the winning post faster than miliband. >> if i may disagree i'm not sure that's the case. we had him say i'm not going to stand for more than five years and that took the fire out of his belly. to be fair he and mr. miliband

struggled to put fire in his own belly. >> i don't think the public is enthused about this election and that's probably transferred itself to politicians. you only see the national picture. you don't see the marginals in the way too people do. most of the activity takes place in the marginals. that's where all the decision will be taken but there have been no moments in this campaign. it's been flat as a pancake through the end and therefore it's not surprising that the polls that were all wrong as they were in '92. >> why are polls wrong? >> the way they do it. they bring up people in the afternoon and toris are at work and labour are at home. all sort of things telephone polls and internet polls. >> tori at work and labour at home they all talked about this

mythical working man. i don't think they're talking to me about this. this is an election for the working man. so you're saying the workman isn't the workman. the working man is at home. >> no the working man is at work and he votes tori. >> let's move it on. if you're wrong and the conservatives don't win a majority, does david cameron get re replaced very quickly. >> i think so. >> who takes over. >> i haven't the faintest idea. you think our constitution doesn't tell us what to do in a hung parliament. it doesn't tell us what to do when you lose a leader and we'll gou good-byes through go through what we went through last time. >> six months ago both parties were divided. so will the knives be out quickly if they don't get a majority. >> let's talk about the british

economy going forward and on both extremes there's great dangers for the u.k. economy whether it be eu referendum or snp influencing flows and the eun union could be at stake. english votes and it could be the break up of the union. which is the biggest danger do you think? >> i think the biggest danger is believe any of that stuff you just went through. >> you don't think any of it will happen. >> it will happen but it won't have the dramatic effect you're saying it will have. the british economy is a robust economy and works it's way through these things. i sit and listen to people in favor of europe saying we're going to lose 3 million jobs and it's actually tosh. we won't lose any of that. we've never been a full member of the european union and we

should stay only a part time member. >> david cameron and crosby were they wrong to make personal attacks on the labor leader? it lowered expectations for him which he knocked out of the park since. >> milliband performed better than expected. who created that expectation? i don't know if it was them or the general public attitude toward him. >> seema we're coming to you but i disagree because i don't think he's had a particularly good campaign. cameron hasn't had a good one. i see only one politician in great britain who has had a good campaign and she's had a brilliant campaign. >> she has had the best. >> he hasn't been mentioned

much. >> >> thank you so much. of course full coverage coming up on worldwide exchange of the u.k. election as the nation decides who will take 10 downing. thank you so much and head to cnbc.com for more coverage including our special immersive report on why the world is watching the outcome of the closest british election in living memory. coming up on the show we're on set for his last set of quarterly earnings at the group. we'll be asking him about his move to credit suisse and who should win the u.k. election. plus we hear from andrew mackenzie. that's first on cnbc.

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welcome back to worldwide exchange. let's show you what's going on in the markets after the vicious sell off across global markets yesterday. that was in response to the sell off in the bond markets. the stoxx europe 600 is recovering by just a tad. that's largely driven by better than expected earnings reports.

so they're a little disappointing and that is because of its russia exposure but by and large we are regaining some of yesterday's losses. let's have a look at the markets one by one. the xetra dax higher by 0.9%. ahead of the election in 24 hours time. higher by half of 1%. we're not seeing that many election jitters here. cac 40 higher by .5% as well. in the bond markets that's where everything has been happening. we're seeing a continued sell off this morning. the ten year german yield is ticking higher to 0.56%. they have been rising 7 consecutive days now and that's the longest winning streak since june 2013. the yield currently at 2.21%. the ten year yield was back at 2% for the first time since last december and now it's dropped below that. we saw that move happening about

half an hour ago and ten year spanish yield moving to 1.8%. the highest level since december. in the currency markets the dollar is still under a little bit of pressure after that really weak deficit number yesterday. the biggest trade deficit in 6.5 years. we're seeing the dollar some what lower against the japanese yen but only modestly so and the euro dollar is gaining strength throughout the session. we got the final april composite pmi for the euro zone. 53.9 in the month of april. that was better than the slash estimate but slight down tick from the month of march. that was also a tad better than expected. let's look at cable, 15166 down ahead of the election. that's where we have seen volatility into the election. >> thank you we have awaiting

prudential numbers and the ceo will be joining us later in the show. jeff, what are investors expecting this time around. >> so steady as she goes and improvement. we're up three quarters of 1% here so the market has a view. it feels the numbers are going to be good but it's interesting when you look at the share price chart. he is outgoing and has been the man in charge since 2009 and he has delivered a tripling of the share price performance. we've seen a topping out in recent share price performance. what do we have in terms of numbers from prudential? new business profit in asia. strong quarter, up 22% asia has

been phenomenal for this business. it's seen margin of almost well, of 50%. it's been remarkably strong so the market will be happy to see that. funds under management up 8% to 139.5 billion pounds. that's another positive for them given that we earlier in the week had some numbers out and show outflow. first quarter new business profit always key up 22% here from the company. again that looks like a strong number. u.s. new business profit 153 million -- i'm sorry, 28% lower than the previous year. that is interesting. if there are any issues with u.s. new business that would be

interesting because mike wells is taking over prudential. on the face of it early doors on these numbers not too bad. anything you see worth pointing out. >> i think that asia number is particularly interesting. asia continues to drive the group's performance. new business profit up 22%. this is significant obviously because in the end of 2013 pruden tirks prudential is fuelling it's business fuelled by rising demand among the growing middle class which is a big story for emerging markets. how much growth can we continue to see despite the slow down that we're seeing in markets like china. >> everyone talks about the growth opportunities out of asia. i take on that point and i know the margins we're seeing there are very strong but prudential is still an insurance company. we need to talk about the low interest rate environment asset

manager, insurance company, how are they matching their liabilities. >> it's a tough environment for them. >> we're all on election watch here in the u.k. this week. u.k. retail new business profit 34 million pounds. that's 11% lower than the previous number. we're joined around the set. he is of course the outgoing ceo of prudential. thank you for coming and joining us. how would you categorize what you're delivering. >> good morning. it's a pleasure to be here as always always. the numbers are very good. exchange rate is 35% which is one of the larger businesses and it's very very strong and in the other parts of the world we have never had growth targets because

we believe if you're an insurance company you don't want to be on the sales targets because you're almost starting to destroy value so we had a very strong quarter in 14. i want to make a mention of her staff here because we're up 8% here in retail sales and when you compare to other companies coming out it's a really strong performance given the disruption. it's remarkable. >> let me ask you about asia very quickly. obviously that does look a strong performance but is that as good as it gets. are you in that wonderful position where you bow out and wave good-bye and mike comes in and he's never going to see numbers as good as this or margins as good as this. >> i'm sure you don't want me to stay quarter for quarter.

i said i would be here for q-1 and to reassure everyone that q-1 would be good and q-1 is good. i have to leave and the story is a long-term story. we've had 22 quarters of growth averaging 16% in asia. what matters is what platform delivers. what we deliver at the regional level and 22 quarters above 16% is i think unprecedented and the prospects aren't very good. the penetration is still around 1%. that's the thing. we have 13 million customers out of 3.2 or 3.3 billion asians. we have 10% of the population in

the u.k. >> just how difficult is it for you and given the recent rise in yields that we've seen quite drastically is that a really welcome move for your industry? >> it's an issue. when i say 22% increasing profit in asia it would be 28 if interest rates had been what they were a year ago. so it took six points in our profit growth but we've had a strategy for a number of correlating earnings from interest rates. if you take most european companies 60% of our earnings are from interest rate profits basically. spread income. we have taken that down to one fourth of our profits. we make money on risk products so pure insurance products and fee income. that drives directly profits. that's a very important

statistic. assets under management are up 8% but also drives future profits and in asia we are actually the largest on shore asset manager. we have $100 billion of assets under management comparable to most of the large banks and that also generates profits so between the fee income we get we have managed to insulate our bottom line from the yield curve. >> wilf come in. >> i want to bring the focus from the u.k. election. you were one of the signatures on a letter that grabbed headlines. i wanted to ask you directly does a labour government threaten europe's recovery. >> it said in a personal

capacity and i'm here really to talk as we see prudential about our results. i would really like to devote most of the time to that. that being said prudential is 166 years old. soon 167. we have been through many electoral cycles and we believe we're able to manage for benefit of our customers and our shareholders. so we don't particularly focus on the political cycle. >> if i may pick up on that point, if you say setting up prudential as a stateless country and you had a choice of going anywhere maybe switzerland perhaps as well what would you say are the big negatives about doing a business and setting up a business in the u.k. at the moment that you would like the next government to address. >> you find a way to ask me the

same question but i think the u.k. has its geographic location. the time zone when you operate across north america, europe and asia. it's a goodloe kags. location. it has a long history of financial services. a lot of big markets are here. so we are happy to be here. it's been a really good home for 167 years for prudential. europe has a growth challenge decides to adopt a solvency regime discourages insurance companies to provide long-term capital to the economy i cannot understand. there are issues around

regulation but there's the quality of the dialogue. they listen to our argument and you can see it's been adapted several times in a very material way to adock date those concerns. >> you only have a couple of weeks left in your current job and then you're moving to switzerland. i travel quite a bit. >> you speak german. >> i am german. speaking and two numbers stood out. that was 10%. that was the equity ratio at credit suisse and 13.7% at ubs. are you worried? >> tempting as it is i will not comment. i think it would be disrespectful. i'll be happy to accept an

invitation from you when i'm at credit suisse. but now 30% growth is what it's about. it's going to continue to grow and that's the story for prudential and i would be very pleased -- mike is a remarkable leader and, look, you can't pat yourself on the back but i wouldn't be more satisfied with the transition. >> prudential shares up about 150% over the past three years. can we see the stock price continue to depreciate under the reign of mike wells. >> absolutely. this is only the beginning. >> let me ask you a question that rounds it all out here. you've been in the insurance business for sometime. you're now moving into the banking business. both of these industries have

been set by regulatory challenges and have been since the financial crisis. do you think we're any closer to a stage where the politicians and the regulators now feel they're comfortable with either of these industries? as we had this slew of earnings results we had more fines requiring to be paid. we had for concerns about the state of solvency levels and warnings about liquidity as it refers to sovereign bond markets. what's keeping you awake at night? >> we shouldn't understate financial services. taxpayers were angry and understandably so. it had a huge cost for society on the other hand there's the need for long-term investment.

there's a key role to play. at the end of the day things are moving in the right direction. there was a strong reaction and understandably so but as we move away in time the debate has only gotten i think more rational and less emotional and that's what you want. >> has it? if you listen so this election in the u.k. you continue to get mr. miliband talking about how the bankers must be made to pay. hsbc has told us it's still thinking about moving away because of the fact that there's this levey costing it almost a billion pounds a year. that's something shareholders are having to absorb. it's still very emotional. do you think the u.k. is talking itself out of the financial services boom it enjoys?

>> i remember '08, '09 vividly. six of the 10 folds in the share price had been from a company through the second world war, the cold war, and i still feel there's the that but from my experience the dialogue is more rational. i think i chose the worst possible day to talk about long-term issues. i don't think anybody is listening today. the day before an election but that's the price of living in a democracy. if you have a democracy you will have elections and that has a cost and it's something you have to live with and keep going and keep your eyes on the ball.

>> thank you for coming in and seeing us. these are the last numbers from prudential for you and we'll hopefully talk to you soon. >> we'll miss these sessions. >> you will not. you're coming back. you'll just be the man running credit suisse. thank you for coming to see us. >> thank you. >> still coming up on worldwide exchange spinning off it's noncore assets into a new entity. we hear from the ceo first on cnbc. that's coming up next.

>> the most important decision for a generation. a final push and polls suggest that u.k. is heading for a hung parliament with conservatives and labor neck and neck in the polls. >> labour could knock the u.k. economy off course. the coalition has helped the average british consumer. >> we have seen disposable incomes increase so generally speaking most families in the u.k. are better off by 16 pounds a week over the last year and we've seen consumer confidence increase as well. >> thiam delivers his final set of results. continuing to drive performance. >> when i step down in march i would be here for q-1 and to

reassure everyone that q-1 would be good and q-1 is good. we had 22 quarters of growth averaging 16% in asia bond yields continue to edge higher. european markets on the flat line following a sell off on wall street and asia. >> and we have pretty good news for the month of april. services pmi beat expectations rising to 58.9 in march. that's the high since 2014 and beating forecasts. let's look at how sterling dollar is performing. we saw it rising on the back of the data. currently changing hands but just off the session highs but this is quite reassuring given that the construction and

manufacturing data for the month of april, that happened some what disappointing but really no surprise given the run up to the elections. >> a sharp contrast of what we have been seeing. that number coming well below expectations and construction disappointing in the month of april. now a big day, shareholders are set to approve the company's demerger of assets and spin off into a new entity called south 32. the split will leave with four key assets including iron ore, petroleum, copper and more. we started by asking if the rational for a demerger is greater now than six months ago. >> i don't think so. >> the whole point is its agnostic because they're left with two shareholders instead of

one. >> talk to us about the commodity space. iron ore has been challenging over the last couple of months. bhp itself demands plans to defer spending. what do you see going on in the space right now? >> what i see is the evolution. natural evolution of a free market which will give customers what they want. they can be assured they're having the lowest cost of supply to meet demand. there was a huge surging demand from china that resulted in more demand than supply. brought new supply into the market. some of it high cost. demand is now being met by supply and will likely be met in some years to come. prices falling and what happens then is high cost of supply has

to come out of the market and low cost suppliers like us start to moderate our growth plans but in the end customers get what they expect from free markets and they get the security of supply at a sustainable price that is important for them to believe in us and believe in australia. >> okay. the price is around about $60 a ton give or take at the moment. do you see that as fair value or where do you see, i guess, the value of iron ore when it comes to that spot price? >> the value is determined by supply and demand. so right now we helped grow and develop it. the spot market was the more comfortable value. >> standard and pores made some comments the last couple of days. what's your response to what

standard and pores is. >> they said something more positive than that. they put the whole sector on us. we'll maintain your a plus credit rating. this is a superior credit rating relative to anyone else in the sector so they believe in our flexibility even in low prices to with stand, you know t shots -- the shocks to our cash flow and still look after our debt holders and shareholders through the progressive dividend. seeing is believing. i always said track us not trust us. we have more cash flow coming through the product activity delivery. much of which will be accelerated by the demerger but they like to see us delivering it and they will. >> back to the demerger you'll be focussing on a suite of four main commodity classes.

is there going to be one that's the main focus for you? >> not at all but they will have a different approach. for now because of the lack of the maturity of the markets and how we see supply and demand going forward. we're all but ceasing investment in things like iron ore but we'll be focussing on growing and adding new production capacity in copper and oil. >> matt taylor joins us live with some of the other highlights from that bhp interview. matt, over to you. >> well in the buildings behind me shareholders are gathering to vote on that proposed demerger. we're not expecting any opposition to this plan but we're yet to see what the proxy votes reveal. we voeping remarks going on by the senior management of bhp and we'll bring you an update later

on. but next interesting thing will be the valuation. when bhp announced the spin off there was a lot of excitement that they would be a big company. they'll be primarily in australia but also in london and johannesburg as well. that would make it a top 20 company but in the wake of falling commodity prices nickel, a lot are starting to rerate the valuations. some as low as $8 billion off of the $17 billion that was what they thought the valuations would come in at. that's the next point we have to deal with it. it seems as though this approval from shareholders is going to be procedural and won't be any

opposition to this plan to split the company in two as you heard there, they get another share in the new south 32 company but the next challenge will be when it comes to listing and what price the market rates it in. >> thank you very much. we've seen income and consumer confidence increase in the u.k. but is it translating into food sales in stores? more from john rogers after this break. new york state is reinventing how we do business by leading the way on tax cuts. we cut the rates on personal income taxes. we enacted the lowest corporate tax

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welcome back. i want to point your attention to the bond market. an abrupt reversal. the ten year yield at a 7 week high. you have to take a look at the move in the german bund. it hit an all time low of .06% on april 20th. sharp reversal in today's trade. looking at .55%. a new 2015 high for the ten year bund. keep an eye on the bond market and what that means for equities will be interesting. >> you have to wonder whether that's the start of the big trade or whether it's a technical sell off. we'll talk more about it

throughout the show. we want to show you what's going on in the european equity markets. we're flat to slightly higher. bmw's first quarter operating profit rose 20.6% beating forecasts thanks to increased demand for its x 5 suv. plus markets in china and the u.s. meantime shares higher by 3.9% after profit beat forecasts. this on the back of stronger order growth in the u.s. and china and improving picture in europe as well. in france higher by 0.9%. 784 million euros was the number. and another french bank that reported today the shares are under pressure off by two and a third of 1% after weaker than expected first quarter revenues. operating profits were in mind with expectations and stefen

spoke to the bank's ceo and asked him about the macro economic challenges. take a listen. >> overall things are improving. europe as you have seen in the recent forecast of the european commission and we have seen actually an improvement in the production production. the mood is improving. oil price remaining overall low. low interest rate. so it's a good period of time to invest and overall the environment should remain more positive than it was two or three years ago. >> but you don't think the increasing price of oil could be a head wind for the economic recovery in europe. >> no i don't think so at this level and the price has improved a little bit but still there's an excess of offer versus demand. >> switching focus to iran

republican senate leader mitch mcconnell moved to end the debate over the agreement. if the vote to end debate is successful final passage of the bill could follow immediately or drag into next week bob corker told andrea mitchell he believes the bill is important in limited iran's nuclear capabilities. >> there's a lot at stake here and that's why the bill on the floor is so important that the senate and the house have the ability to see this is transparent that iran will be accountable and that we know that this deal is going to keep them from getting a nuclear weapon. >> hadley gamble joins us live. where does this leave us and more importantly where does this leave our gulf allies. what are you hearing on the ground? >> the euro money conference here is in the second day. we're totally packed.

a lot of buzz surrounding the opening in a couple of weeks. that's against the backdrop so serious regional unrest and serious tension particularly for the gulf states. the king coming out and saying the gulf arab leaders need to take a stand and stand firm. secretary john kerry will be here later today and on the table will be iran yemen, syria, iraq. and the bigger question is going to be. it's what that's going to mean for the gulf. they have invited them there the next few days. they'll be talking about these issues but bigger and more importantly are billions of dollars worth of weapons contracts that are going to be moved forward and new weapons contracts we saw him pledging his support for countries. earlier this week we know signed deals and the french have been very active in terms of the

situation and weapons agreements as well. so serious continues for the defense industry but the bigger question becomes is the u.s. making things more complicated in the region. >> absolutely a developing story and one we'll continue to keep an eye on. for now thank you so much. >> today's the last day of campaigning in the u.k.'s general election. after weeks of debate and argument the opinion polls have hardly moved with deadlock between the conservatives and labor party. when voters cast their ballot there's likely to be in clear winner. >> and many argue the two main political parties might as well have dug a hole and hidden that hole and then come out because nothing changed so all of that campaigning for nothing but they have to do their campaigning and both of the political parties have been dealt minor blows to their claims of economic competence. the national institute of economic and social research cut it's 2015 gdp forecast to 2.5%.

a majority talked about concerns of impacts on the rich. >> john rogers gave the coalition government credit for an increase in incomes and consumer confidence. >> we have seen disposable incomes increase. most families are better off by an average 16 pounds a week over the last year and we've seen consumer confidence increase as well. so both are a good thing. what we have yet to see is that hasn't translated through into the food retail sector and part of the reasoning for that is as people become more confident and they have a little bit more money to spend they eat out more and tend to spend that money on items like cars and holidays. so it takes awhile to trickle

back into the food retail sector but normally after 18 months or so we'd expect to see some of the upside come through. >> of course the big question is what will the u.k. general election mean for the economy and business going forward? let's get out to steve and wilf. i would say that historically speaking conservative party good for business. labor not so much but this time around you can't make that type of distinction given the prospect of a coalition. would you agree? >> that's a very interesting point you make. that's the old adage. i just want to rewind the clock six months because six months ago we were going into the campaign ahead of the campaign the one crucial issue that the conservatives should have been able to open up ground would be on the economy. interestingly i'd say more down to campaign failure than anything else. they haven't managed to do that.

i wonder if david cameron will think he shouldn't have committed outright because for them that has delighted their business strength. >> campaign failure or an acting policy failure as well. they promised to wipe out the deficit. now there's only a certain amount of austerity. whether you're greece or italy or the united kingdom that you're going to take. they said we have a tough five years and you're going to wipe out the deficit. we have to have 10% deficit to 5%. they promised to somewhere around 0 and they didn't deliver. now the u.k. population don't want more austerity. >> that's a very interesting point in terms of what voters think because they made a promise on the deficit. they didn't meet the targets but for businesses i reckon they would have welcomed the fact that halfway through the coalition decided look the trading environment around the rest of europe and the world is too challenging so we're not going to stick to austerity. we're going to spend more so i'd

say that's highlighted that they are relatively competent on business although we still have a long way to go. >> we seem to be swapping two terms here. business and economy and treating that as one. what's good for business isn't necessarily good for the broader economy. anyway, we have been talking to various people now they have the ceo of sage and we also have the ceo of prudential. listen to what these gentlemen had to say about the election. >> the timing is perfect. we said five years agatha we'll have an austerity policy and they'll get the economy in good shape when they're ready for the election. it's perfectly poised and one of the big questions in my mind is why are the conservatives not doing better from a polling point of view. >> it's not enough economic activity going on in this country to hang your hat on voting an austerity program which in the next two years is going to dramatically impact the

every day people in this country with services and social services being decimated by this government government. >> politicians will be politicians. i chose the worst possible day to come talk live about long-term issues. i don't think anyone is listening today. the day before an election but that's the price of living in a democracy. >> i just want to pick up a transition from business to markets now as well there's a lot of great research out there and elsewhere. i was looking at a good graph on the telegraph website that plots the performance in the 12 months

after the general election and on very big occasions, 1987 with a resounding third term and 2001, the market fell aggressively in the first full year after the election because of world events as well. we must not look at the u.k. but the market also rallied aggressively on the back of other winds as well. >> i agree with that. particularly when you're looking at a 12 month horizon. there's so many factors coming into play. to me this election is not down to the eu referendum on the tori side. it's all to do with uncertainty after the election. i think it's going to be overdone. if we look at 2010 when we were in a similar situation the ftse all share fell off 2.7% in the five days it took to form a coalition. once it was formed. >> it was five days.

>> that was five days. >> new parliament starts on the 18th and the queen's speech on the 27th. we could have a minority government situation where it's confidence to supply vote by vote, all the strange situations because we have no constitution. >> we could, indeed and the uncertainty will prologue this time. that will lead to greater uncertainty in the markets as well but i don't think that the election out right makes a big change for the long-term future. >> i would actually have to agree with wilf and disagree with steve. you're throwing all of these stats at us. i think what's driving the ftse right now is not the u.k. election. it's not politics. what's driving the ftse is china. it's the mining boom and bust and what's happening with yields. if we continue to see a yield spike, we saw them hitting 2% this morning, this could choke off the rally we have seen in

the u.k. equity markets. not just the ftse 100 but the 250. >> all of you are wrong. we need to look at the pound. watch the pound. >> i like being the contraryian. because that means i'm less complacent and it's my history as an option trader. i always liked a little premium for when you guys and the buyers of the nasdaq at 5,000 and the shanghai composite up 30%. i'm glad to disagree with you, you, you and you. >> the debate continues. >> thank you so much. coming up on worldwide exchange on the other side of the break. stick with us.

u.s. futures pointing higher as bond yields continue to edge higher with the tenure at its highest level in two months. >> shares jump amid reports that microsoft is considering a bid for the cloud computing company. >> look no hands. the green light to test driverless trucks in nevada while the faa says it's lift off for drones to spray crops.

>> the most important decision for a generation leaders make a final push for votes as polls suggest the u.k. is heading for a hung parliament with the conservatives and labor neck and neck in the polls. >> and welcome to the show. stocks and bonds moving lower in yesterday's trade. the tech heavy nasdaq indicating a higher move by around 10 points in premarket trade. what do we see here in europe? the u.k. general election in focus. we're not seeing a lot of volatility ahead of that election. the index up about 22 points. another focus for european markets will be greece's path to reform and stability. of course that's still up in the

air. a key payment due to the imf today and in the meantime talks between athens and it's creditors have intensifyied. in fact the european commissioner said debt issues can only be discussed after we agreed to a reform program. a lot of debate between creditors and athens. so that of course will be in focus. we have the u.k. general election of course but also the reaction to the moves we're seeing in the bond market which i think in some ways is driving what we see in the equity space. >> it's all about the bond markets but the question we need to answer is whether this is a technical sell off and short-term sell off and whether that bull market continues or whether this was it that's the longest winning streak since june 2013.

looking at the levels of the ten year german bund 51 basis points. that's the highest this year. 1.9%. hitting 2% early on this morning but now back below that. also the highest since december of 2014 we got pmi for the month of april. a tad better than forecast. the aussie dollar continues to ride higher. also riding higher because of higher commodity prices. let's have a look then. particularly oil prices as seema mentioned. we're seeing wti at the highest levels since 2015 wti higher by

2.6%. 6880. yesterday data showing u.s. inventories falling for the first time this year and obviously oil prices getting a little boost from the lower dollar. let's check in on markets in asia. sri in asia. sri. >> hi there. pretty grim overall and the volatility and the turmoil that you were talking about primarily in the european bond markets that pred to equities has spread overhere and is souring the mood in the regional equities markets. i wanted to highlight the s&p and i think a shade of disappointment in the market in the aftermath of the reverse bank of aus tratralia's decision to cut interest rates but they seem to be suggesting they're moving toward more neutral bias and more rate cuts may not be a

foregone conclusion down by 1.6% now despite the official media outlets suggesting the bull market in china is still not over yet but some are fearing a deeper correction. all in all quite a grim session out here in asia. it will be very interesting to hear in my opinion what janet yellen and christine legarde have to say when they talk in washington later on today about 9:15 eastern i believe is when they will be speaking and about the outlook for rates. caution will be the watch word as we head toward the all important payroll number.

just how transitory is the spill over going to be is the big question in the minds of investors here. back to you now. >> thank you so much. >> shares spiked on tuesday microsofts move was spurred after sales force was approached by another potential buyer. however, microsoft is not in talks and no deal is imminent. i caught up with the ceo and co-founder of the box and he spoke about why sales force is an attractive target for microsoft. >> i actually think we have already seen a bit of it. so if you look at sap acquiring conquer or areba oracle right

now for customer support, there's been a lot of crowd consolidation already but i think there's not going to be a particular wave of this as much as this is going to be an on going trend in the industry where those that have lots of cash will be able to buy their disrupters if they're willing to sell and there is -- that's something we always see in the tech industry. we saw it from oracle in the 2000s and imb in the 90s and we'll continue to see it be a trend now in 2015. looks like mostly rumor at this point but you can imagine given the size and scale, diversity of sales forces business that it's a very attractive company for any large incumbent technology vendor trying to get into the cloud market aggressively. so there's very few assets or

organizations that you could quickly use to get the scale and sales force someone of those. so that organization, that technology, that customer base is an incredibly attractive asset and that's why you would see a lot of interest in parties. now the question is why would sales force sale and i don't have a lot of insight into that. >> the leader in the cloud computing space. it will be interesting to see if we see further consolidation because this is becoming a crowded market. google microsoft among others. analysts tell me that's leading to pricing pressure which will ultimately lead to the commoditization of the cloud. that in itself is a big headwind for the tech players. >> aaron made a really interesting point. he said why should sales force sale at this point? shouldn't they be waiting to become more profitable because they lost $263 million. once they are more profitable

they could fetch a much higher price. their market valuation now is worth $49 billion. microsoft would say 60 billion but that's a high premium of 13% but they could be waiting out for an even bigger one if they're just a little bit more patient patient. >> but a lot of these rates are taking place right now. maybe these companies say we're going to take advantage of the low rates and what we can get in the debt market and put this deal together before we see a significant rise in rates. that's been one of the key drivers of mna specifically in the technology industry. >> you're right. >> pox box shares at 17.43. >> the opinion polls have hardly moved with a deadlock between the conservatives and the labor party. when voters cast their ballots tomorrow there's likely to be in

clear winner. britain likes to talk about it's special relationship with the u.s. but military cut versus weakened the u.k.'s armed forces. the head of the u.s. army recently said the smaller british force means the pentagon would have to make adjustments to quote, see that we can still work together. >> let's get back out to wilf and steve outside the houses of parliament. is there a sense that the u.k. is becoming more disengaged with what's going on in the rest of the world? >> not really. despite what the pentagon might think about defense spending we're one of the top five in the

world. i can't help thinking it's a bit of a fallacy. you go back into time a little bit less and look at thatcher and reagan looking at the same policies and trying to turn around the economy and then the most recent example of a relationship and this is george w. bush and tony blair and their common ground was iraq. i can't see there's a special relationship. i think we're as much middle as ever. >> i don't think any of the changes about to happen in the u.k. should effect it but just bringing it back to the election i think there's been a great lack of focus on foreign policy and what the different leaders and parties think. >> foreign policy won't win you elections. >> i agree but it's a big issue. if we think what defined the tony blair government which is the long lasting government before the current one it was iraq and afghanistan with it and

with u. crane and the middle east and votes in the last government and syria, the fact that it's had no discussion at all is a bit of a shame. i know the reason why is its the nhs and the economy that wins you votes but it's an important question of what might define their time. >> foreign policy is torturous. and we had russians as well. let's face it the eu hasn't covered itself in glory over the whole ukraine crisis as well. is there a special relationship? maybe the fact that we speak the same language but the americans,

you don't look at the british and say i have a special relationship with you i'm going to invest in the united kingdom. you say i'm going to invest in the economy that's going to make us the most money. those investors don't go i want british investments because they're our best friends. >> i agree with that. there's no doubt about it in terms of when you're making an investment. >> so where's the special relationship? >> there's a long lasting relationship in foreign policy i would say and we have been allies through the key wars. rightly or wrongly but we have been. >> only eventually. the united states only got into the second world war and thank goodness they did but after pearl harbor. they got into the first world war in the latter stages of that as well. i don't think the americans are -- and i understand the isolationism but they don't want to get involved in old european wars. and they never have done it. >> i would just say being the american on the desk from people i speak to in washington steven and wilf their concern is around

britain leaving the eu and if that could disrupt trading relations between the u.k. and the u.s. what are your thoughts on that? if anything it could make it better. i have to say, again, there's so many questions about what would happen if we left europe but i don't think it's specifically to the u.s. i want to come out to the point because i don't think we were having this special relationship chat based on how investors place their money but more recently afghanistan and iraq did highlight the special relationship because it lead to us being united on an allied front. now i don't know if this election will make a change either way to that issue and how strong it is before it but i think voters also here should have had more chance to focus on foreign policy because if we are to head to another war and the

views you have on the middle east and ukraine and russia that could define the government. much more so than if you're going to spend 10% more than the other guy. >> i think possibly it's more important than the military and i see your point there but cameron is very much in favor of a transatlantic trade and investment pact as well. big advocate of it as well. it was his big show piece announcement. mr. obama was behind it but interestingly one of the poll leaders in france is dead against a free trade deal with the united states as well. it's very interesting. actually in that area u.k. is very close to the united states and actually could be distancing itself from perhaps certainly in france and elsewhere in sovereign europe. >> quickly as we head back the only other thing to add to the balance is the fact that we have taken a founding position in the chinese-lead asia investment bank and that does tip the sales in terms of who our closest allies are but we're running out of time so back to the studio.

>> more coming up on the u.k. election with wilfred and steve throughout the show. >> and deal or no deal. will congress have their say on iran's nuclear package. >> after the break u.s. secretary of state john kerry is due to meet gulf state leaders. stay tuned.

and these are the headlines. u.s. futures are pointing toward a higher open after yesterday's decline. u.s. u.k. election campaign in the final day. no party heading for an outright majority. five years to the day since the flash crash a data project that would prevent a repeat is way off schedule. >> all right. u.s. premarket trade suggesting a higher open. the april adp employment report is out at 8:15 a.m. eastern. the survey of private sector hiring could provide a snapshot of the labor market ahead of friday's very important nonfarm payrolls report. we get first quarter productive and labor costs both of which are forecasted to drop. atlanta fed president and kansas city's esther george are speaking today. soda stream and wendy's report

before the opening bell. 21st century fox and activism and tesla are out before the close. christine legarde will discuss the top issues effecting the global economy for the institute of new economic thinking in washington at 9:15 a.m. eastern. meantime the republican senate leader has moved to end the debate over congress's review into iran's international nuclear agreement. if the vote and debate is successful final passage of the bill could follow almost immediately or drag into next week. >> senate foreign relations committee chairman bob corker told andrea mitchell that he believes the bill is important in limiting iran's nuclear capables. listen in. >> question there's a lot at stake here and that's why the bill on the floor is so important that on your behalf and others the senate and the house have the ability to see that this is transparent. that it's enforceable. that iran will be accountable and we know this deal will keep

them from getting a nuclear weapon. >> let's get more on this story with hadley gamble who is live. with the white house now promising more assistance to the gulf it looks like the president is willing to do just about anything to make this nuclear deal a reality even at the risk of making the region more volatile. >> well, seema, certainly for a white house that seemed like it was disengaging from the region a few years ago they're digging themselves deeper and deeper just to get this deal done and i say that because the feeling here, the temperature someone of tension and the king came out yesterday and said the gulf leader versus to stand firm against iran and they're afraid of multiple things. how dangerous it could be for them. also about the economy opening up and oil money flowing, again, into the pockets of government officials in teheran and into the hands of the guard and they're wondering what that's going to mean in terms of further proxy conflicts in the region. they're looking to the u.s. and the west as well in general just

for a show of support. they're going to be meeting with the white house and meeting at camp david as well for a two-day security summit later in this month and the president is expected to talk not just about accelerating these weapons deals for these gulf arab countries, particularly saudi arabia and the uae but also a missile defense system as well so heavy issues here in the region. >> thank you so much. still to come on the show just as the trailer follows the truck, will companies get behind autonomous semis? we deliver the details on the latest venture. that's coming up.

a record for alstom. that was a 60% increase on the previous year. alstom ceo sat down for an exclusive interview with stefen. he began by addressing recent settlements with the u.s. department of justice. >> we had a settlement. we reach a settlement last december with the department of justice concerning old cases and we have settled with a high fine that we expect to pay after it's improved. >> was it the best solution for the company? >> i think that we have been

settling and putting these issues behind us. at the same time we have put in place and this is recognized i trust system processes which guarentees us from any difficulty as we move forward. >> one last question, can you give us an update on the deal with general electric? >> we have over the last six months went through. we have been through a number of union's opinion, approval by the french state and the investment decree and last but not least approval by our shareholders in agm. it was a 99.2% majority. now we are through the regular process. and by regrettable authorities. this is being done because of the magnitude of the project.

we got approval and we are actively working to get the 17 remaining ones and we hope it will come in the coming months. >> and despite reporting a loss shares higher by 1.2%. let's take a look at u.s. futures and how we're fairing on this wednesday. it is wednesday already. midweek full. u.k. general election focus in the u.s. the dow higher in premarket trade. what that means for equities. more on today's trading action coming up after this break.

u.s. futures pointing higher as bond yields continue to edge higher with the u.s. ten year at its highest level in two months. is sales force heading for the biggest sale of all? shares jump amid reports that microsoft is considering a bid of the cloud computing company but the ceo of box telling me he doesn't see why sales force would want to sell. >> look no hands. they're given the green light to test driverless trucks in nevada

while the faa says it's lift off to drone to spray crops. >> leaders make a final push for votes as polls suggest the u.k. is heading for a hung parliament. >> thank you for joining us here. take a look at futures. it's green across the screen as oil prices moved higher and bond yields spiked. the treasury yield break out is bullish for financials and bearish for utilities and that's exactly what we saw in yesterday's trading action. >> what's happening here in europe? we're seeing a strong reversal in bonds. spanish and italian yields hitting highs. this as talks between greece and it's creditors intensify. in terms of equity movement the

u.k. general election in focus. we're not seeing a lot of volatility in the u.k. equity market. holding on to a gain of around 30 points but we should point out that the implied volatility in the pound and currency is moving higher ahead of the vote because of course right now labour party and conservative party neck and neck but let's get back to the story in bonds. check out the u.s. tenure the yield hitting an 8 week high and many say it can move higher if the nonfarm payroll report on friday is better than expected. look at where the yield is now. 2.19% on the ten year treasury. >> it was five years ago today that the dow plummeted nearly 1,000 points before rebounding a few minutes later in what's been called the flash crash. u.s. markets and regulators have been working on a data projtd to prevent a repeat but the wall street journal says that that effort is years behind schedule. bogged down in red tape. planning documents show there's no consensus on how to pay for

the project which may cost 150 to $500 million in the first five p. morgan is in talks to settle probes in foreign exchange trading. the bank made the disclosure in a filing with the sec on tuesday. >> back to markets as we were just telling you drop in bond prices has sent yields sharply higher. last time we saw yields this high in europe is when the european central bank began it's qe rescue plan. what's the call for bonds going forward? the chief investment officer and portfolio manager joins us. pleasure to have you on the show. those with long positions in the bond market are holding their breath. what do you think going forward? if we see evidence of improvement in the labour market when we get the nfp report on friday how big of a move could we see in treasuries? >> we could see a pretty good

sized move. i think people have to put things into context though. we're at very peak levels of bubble and bonds so anything that could happen here would not be much of a surprise. you should step back though and think in terms of where we are and the whole cycle and, you know, we have been keeping good records since the bank of england was created in 1694 and interest rates have never been this low. bond prices have never been this high. so we can certainly see some extended period of volatility but the days of easy money and low interest rates are not over. the economies globally still showing signs of weakness and although i would not own bonds personally i wouldn't write off the bond market quite yet. >> you know one trend that we have been witnessing over the past two weeks martin is stocks and bonds moving lower together. that's not something that we typically see. what do you think is driving

that? is that a combination of investors repricing a fed rate rise and as well as reaction to the lackluster earnings season? >> well to put things in context we live in the era of the all powerful fed. we started 35 years ago. 35 years ago he came on the scene and, you know he single handedly slayed the inflation dragon and then greenspan came in about 25 years ago or so came up with his famous put and all the central bankers, globally now are operating under the greenspan put that the markets have come to look at them as being all powerful and so forth. so to get to your question -- forgive me i lost my train of start. >> just the fact that we're seeing stocks and bonds move

down something. it's not something we see on a regular basis. yeah. >> so coming into -- i'm sorry. so coming into this week stocks were at the upper end of the trading range. but what is seen as bad news is good news for the stock market and so as you rightly say, we saw the move together for the first time but i think that's noise and certainly once we get past this choppy market because we're at the top end of a trading range then the markets will probably continue to stay the primary trend which for stocks is probably higher ooerge though it's an overvalued

market. we'll probably continue to ceelo interest rates. >> you don't want to be owning bonds. what do you want to buy or own for clients? >> i want to own companies not dependent upon easy money policies to prosper. so this would be industrial companies that have had a bull pack in the last couple of years years. tied into the global aircraft industry. donaldson here in the united states which makes air filters. you have to replace your filters if you're an industrial company whether the economy is good or bad. so those companies which my clients and i own, also the big blue chips that everyone thinks are left for dead. things like john deere and ibm

and afleck and companies trading at low multiples of earnings. also strategies that will benefit from an increase in volatility. everyone has that and people believe what's been the past at prologue certainly that is the case in the very short run but volatility is going to come back and there's conservative strategies that will prospect when volatility comes back and investors should look there. also to companies that will increase their value in a way that's independent of the stock market so some of the alternative investors like carlyle group or oak tree or hedge funds that set up reinsurance stocks. >> you have given us a lot to think of. >> sorry about that. thank you for joining us. you have given us a lot to think about and given the move we're seeing in interest rates it's

the dividend paying stocks under pressure as we were saying at the top of the show. utility is the worst performing sector and you have to wonder if rates continue to rise if these are the sectors that will be under pressure and if that leads to a reallocation of capital into the growth sectors like technology. >> let's take a look at today's other top stories. >> electronic arts has been in focus. they blew past forecasts which are becoming a bigger piece of the company's revenues. they also got a boost from the launch of the new battlefield hardline game. ea rose 4% in after hours trade. >> first quarter profit fell less than expected and the company raised it's guidance due to growing sales in china. the results come a quarter after the revenue missed estimates and cut it's outlook. >> coming up the u.s. government may be rethinking

it's policy on commercial drones with regulators expected to unveil new plans today that could greatly expand their use. more on that story coming up. excellent looking below the surface, researching a hunch... and making a decision you are type e*. time for a change of menu. research and invest from any website. with e*trade's browser trading. e*trade. opportunity is everywhere.

u.s. regulators have restricted the use of drones for

commercial purposes but that could be about to change today. >> the head of the faa is expected to announce new initiatives that could announce the use of drones. they would lift the near band on such airport but they include several restrictions such as requiring requiring. it's unclear whether they'll be able to go into effect before the rules next year. the faa allows a unit of boeing and u.s. custom protection to fly beyond boarders. the rules cast down on the chances amazon or google could use drones to deliver packages in the u.s. any time soon. they want to fly in busier air

space which would require them to navigate on their own to avoid obstacles. they're including commercial drone use on a case by case basis. they have given the green light to the drone. it is the first device to be approved that carries a payload that farmers can use to spray crops with fertilizer or pesticides. >> thank you so much for that. just as auto makers have been racing to develop self-driving cars the companies that build semi trucks are also pushing forward. they have been given permission to test drive self-driving trucks. the first time a company has been given permission to do so in the u.s. usually you freak when you hear oh wow, there's no driver in the truck. no driver in the car but actually it's more like an auto pilot an on actual plain. i think there's still going to

be a driver on that truck. he will probably start the engine and then the truck will do whatever it needs to do by itself. so it's more like. >> like cruise control. >> like cruise control. that's how i understand it. so more like auto pilot on an actual plane so there's always a person there in case something goes wrong. >> i hope so. the thought of a driverless heavyweight freight truck 20 feet long and being automated i think is a very scary concept and they said this will increase safety on the roads. i'm not so sure. >> i know what you're eluding here. they're saying that 90% of the road accidents are caused by human errors. so if we replace some of them those accidents would go down a lot but still you have to address the question of liability. >> what happened ifs two driverless cars have an accident. who is responsible? where's the liability there? a lot of questions around driverless cars and the automation taking place in the

sector but investors will be looking at more than just numbers when tesla reports q-1 earnings after the bell. ceo is expected to be quizzed on a number of upcoming product launches for the company. costs also in focus adds tesla expands production. we always like to hear from tesla because elon musk a visionary and very colorful on the conference balls. >> and the upgrade yesterday saying that in the bull case scenario the stock could go to 450. that is a 51% upside from now. they have the battery, technology, advantage and they're seeing plenty of demand for cars. >> the stock is up 15% over the past one month on hopes that earnings will surprise to the upside. shares of sales force spiking on a report that microsoft is

considering a bid for the cloud software provider. the move was spurred after sales force was approached by another potential buyer. however microsoft says it's not in talks and no deal is imminent. last week reports said sales force was working with financial advisors to help field potential takeover offers. taking a look at price action shares up 2.64%. now i caught up with the cofounder and ceo of enterprise cloud company box. he spoke about the potential for consolidation in the cloud space and why sales force is an attractive target for microsoft. >> there's already ibm buying soft layer so there's not going

to be a particular wave of this as much as this is going to be an on going trend in the industry where large incumbents with lots of cash will be able to buy their disrupters if they're willing to sell and there's -- that's something we've always seen in the tech industry. we've seen it from ibm in the 90s and we'll see that via trend in 2015. >> looks like mostly rumor at this point but you can imagine given the size and scale, diversity of sales forces businesses that it's a very attractive number for any large incumbent technology vendor trying to get into the cloud market aggressively. so there's very few assets or organizations that you could quickly use to get the scale and sales force is one of those. that organization, that technology, that customer base is an incredibly attractive asset and that's why you would

certainly see a lot of interested parties. now the question is why would sales force sale and that i don't have a lot of insight into. >> before we go to break, these are your headlines. u.s. futures are pointing toward a higher open after yesterday's broad decline. the u.k. election campaign is in the final day. polls showing no party heading for an outright majority. five years to the day since the flash crash and report says a data project that would prevent a repeat is way off schedule. we'll be back in two.

>> the last day of campaigning in the u.k. general election. the opinion polls have hardly moved with deadlocks. there's likely no clear winner. the snp, the party that wants independence is on course to win

almost every seat in scotland. it could also have the opposition labour party come to power. in the midst of last year's independence president obama voiced his concerns saying he hoped the country would remain, strong, rebust and united. let's get out to wilf and steve outside the house of partment. help us understand what does a stronger voice from scotland in westminster mean for the u.k.? >> it is the big talking point of this election. it's drastically changed the output. we would be looking at many more labour seats in scottland and the question is will they win outright or not? now the snp apart from being a nationalist party and wanting scotland to break away which is one big issue they're also probably the party that is furtherest to the left on the

political spectrum. they are the most antiausterity and therefore their voice in westminster regardless of any potential scottish break away from the u.k. will try and move anybody that they do any deals with further to the left of the political spectrum. >> and there is no u.k. constitution or british constitution and we don't even have to see a former labor snp coalition. that's very unlikely. what we could see if labour got the chance to form a government would be a minority labour government which has a vote by vote basis which means there would be implicit snp support on key issues and that could be something else because they have their own individual

parliamentary elections next year there could be a backlash from the english rather than the scots wanting to pull away. >> how can that be if they're advocating the referendum. >> that's a good point as well. otherwise businesses would have been almost unanimously behind them going into this election campaign but they committed to holding a referendum on europe by the end of 2017 and of course that brings with it great uncertainty although i want to add a caveat because the party will try to renegotiate terms ahead of that and it's likely that going into any referendum we might have on europe that the leader at that time would be campaigning for us to vote against it so i do think it's still a very long way away but

it certainly diluted the strong business message. >> also the americanization of british politics is something i have been paying attention to. it's telling as to how the british are trying to import aspects of american policy. tv debates. we never had that in the past. isn't that right, steve. >> yeah. but we've only ever had one tv debate with the prime minister and that was in 2010 and it was a disaster. mr. blair who is the greatest example of americanization of british politics the new labor was seen as picking up a lot of strands from u.s. politics. he never had a tv debate as well so there's a danger of overplaying that as well. in american politics you still only have two major parties. in britain we have a

europeanization going on. some trends are in the opposite direction even. >> all right. thank you for your coverage over the past two hours. it's been wonderful. >> let's have a quick check on european markets. they're back in the green today after yesterday's vicious sell off triggered by the rise in bond yields. ftse 100 higher by a quarter of 1% and today we're supported by better than expected services pmi and really good earnings. let's have a look at the bond markets and the sell off continuing for the bunds. yield at 52 basis points. u.s. yield at 2.18. >> and of course bonds lower. stocks lower yesterday but right now premarket trade suggesting a higher open at this hour. dow jones up 71 points in premarket trade. see you tomorrow.

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good morning, oil prices rising to the highest levels of the year. and there are deal rumors again. shares of salesforce getting another boost on more talk of a possible bid. this time from microsoft. and going once going twice, sold. the spring art sale has begun in record style with two major works by van gogh and monet. i know how to say those names.

it's may 6th 2015. squawk box begins now. ♪ >> live 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 and andrew ross sorkin. attention scrabble lovers they're adding new words and updates today. among the latest entries is dark web. that's the portion of the internet hidden from search engines and plenty of political words including slacktivism, actions taken to bring about political or social change but requiring only minimal commitment effort or risk. >> dictionary.com is not even a real dictionary. >> it is. that's what i use all the time. >> do you? >> i do. >> also a nod to apple, smart