ook to see where people place. >> what surprised you the most? >> obviously, the fact lady gaga gisele some of the big names slipped out of the ranks. more interesting is who climbed in. ruth pratt who starts at google today. >> go check out the issue of "forbes." "squawk on the street" starts right now. good tuesday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." hope you had a great memorial day weekend. i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber. charter buying time warner cable. futures in the red as the dollar strengthens this morning. s&p kay shiller oil prices out.

vice chair fisher on the tape again today. charter communications buying time warner cable in a deal valued more than $78 billion. we'll talk to the ceo tom rutledge first on cnbc. >> general motors the deal that never was and criminal charges that reportedly still could be. >> twitter reportedly engaged in talks to acquire flip board at a $1 billion valuation. >> first up charter communications striking a deal to buy time warner cable for $195.71 a share in cash and stock will be more than that with charter stock going up. it does consist of more than $100 a share. you can get $115. rest will come in shares of charter. $78 billion. roughly $56 billion when you don't include debt. it comes after nbc's parent company comcast was forced to walk away last month from its $45 billion deal to buy time

warner cable worth about $160 at the time given regulatory impediments of great significance. stay tuned for a live interrue with tom rutledge. he will be the chairman and ceo of what would become should it actually close, and we expect it probably will the second largest so-called cable company in the country. this comes after comcast failed to be able to close its deal for a 14-month waiting period. charter, as i reported it would, move swiftly to get to the finish line. this time it didn't really -- it wasn't cute. it didn't move up in increments of 35 cents. it went whole-heartedly to buy time warner cable. time warner cable itself very much advantaged by the sudden presence of this french company

altice that had interest in buying it as well. whether or not that would have gone to the finish line, it certainly helped them negotiate a better transaction. you get over $195 a share. with charter shares up closer to $200 right now. no collar on charter shares. charter paying over nine times ebitda. it's a huge multiple. their shareholders are in favor of it. this will be leefrd at about 4 1/2 times which is not crazy although it is high. they are talking about a run rate of $800 million a year in synergies and cost synergies. that may be low. we are talking about the combination of bright house,

mostly for stock, time warner cable and charter. it will have 19.4 million customers, second to comcast at 22 million above that of at&t. video customers about 17.3 million. comcast, to put in perspective 22.4. the second largest player when it comes to broadband, which is the market and is the reason this deal is happening. is the reason frankly, we've seen so much talk and effort beginning two years ago when charter made its first attempt to do a friendly deal with tame warner cable. >> we work for comcast. it's almost as if -- is it possible the government didn't want comcast to be as powerful? i'm not hearing -- you hear lip service they might block it or are going to look at it. it's almost like we need a bunch of cable companies. we can't have one real big one.

it's almost as if they said whatever rules you thought, they're no good. rules are we are going to have a couple of powerful cable companies. it almost went to comcast's disadvantage. i'm not arguing it should have got approval. it doesn't matter what the other guy, as long as it's powerful. who is standing up to what? >> speaking of the people who run these companies? they agree. they are not sure where the rules of the road are. what's the limit on broadband? >> suspension for tom brady, but you beat your wife up? >> 19.4 million homes as of now. >> the content business what makes the difference? >> that may have been.

comcast is not a dumb pipe company. >> it's not a sure regulatory approval. the statement from wheeler, basic saying we review every merger on its merits. we'll see how the american consumer will benefit if we reach a deal. he did reach out recently. we'll find out when we talk to tom rutledge. give some sense i'm not against consolidation, just against comcast doing it. >> the government doesn't like to have banks be that powerful. during the great recession, we let a lot of banks be powerful. there is no real empowerment on the government to favor consolidation. >> i want to get to a couple of things involving altice. this french telecommunications company last week announced it was buying suddenly. they saw the opportunity there. they were -- it's not as though they entered the u.s. market.

originally thinking we are going to enter the u.s. market but when that became a possibility, altice took a look. people familiar with the situation indicate that the chairman of the company was in town last week. he was meeting with time warner cable. i share this because i think it's as much a reflection of the current environment as anything else. they discussed, though they did not make a final bid. they discussed a bid in which they would have offered between $150 and $160 a share in cash. there were banks willing to finance up to $160 a share in cash from altice and offering bridge equity. altice would have had to sell more equity to pay down the debt to finance some of that cash. let's call it 150, 160 cash. they did not come in at the end

of the day with a bid. they are not coming back. all people out there, i know maybe altice. that's not happening. he decided not to bet the whole ranch on this. it goes back to charter's willingness to pay a high price and not screw around here. >> every day we heard time warner cable was in play. i remember commenting on friday. is there any price it won't pay? come in on monday big deal you said, yeah that's probably going to happen. when you are shooting fish in a barrel i don't like it. i remember the original charter communications. how that was cobbled together. now i hear bridge equity? >> that's for altice. >> i'm just saying having been around and seen this movie before, french company, $33

billion or more market value. >> what is this vivendi, too? >> willing to lever up to 6 1/2 times? the banks were willing to do that to $160 a share in cash? gives me pause on the top. >> we are talking blow-up here. a little scary. >> that's going to be the highest you hear before someone in the federal reserve says we've got to be careful. this is what yellen should be talking about. talk about this rather than bloomberg, rather than puma. >> valuations are quite high. >> what i care business the borrowing of money. i don't care about equity that goes too high. people lose money and borrow money, that's cool. >> this goes back to the broader. they benefited from the incredibly low rates. his name is drahi, but he is

relying on draghi. >> absolutely. >> not to mention enterprise value is three times market cap. >> i have a hard time with it. there seem to be no price. this thing all started from elevated levels to begin with. nine times? what happens if we go over the top? >> broadband is the key product. that's why you are covering yourself. >> they like level three because it's broadband. >> you need the broadband connection if you are a provider these days k. not necessarily just video. >> how about people don't use anything? >> i don't think that's likely to happen. what seems to be the next iteration, we provide you broadband in your home we should provide it wherever you are. it's time to buy a wireless company.

>> we should mention liberty buying another $5 billion worth of time warner and charter stock to keep its ownership level fairly high. haven't got answers from liberty where they are getting the money they don't have that lying around. >> doesn't matter what price you pay for broadband or netflix or the gaming stocks. doesn't matter for anything it's done. everything else matters. >> shareholders want to see it operate with significant operational leverage. they feel mr. rutledge can operate it well. free cash flow producing business. >> tell me what goes wrong. >> i don't know. >> if you cut the cord what goes wrong? >> $160 a share and free cash flow. >> what's the level it doesn't work? how about if there is a price war in your cable bill? >> do you have reason to doubt malone's ability to see around the corners we are at? >> no. he's a winner. he's like the yankees when they

used to win all the time. >> he's usually pretty good. >> some guys can't lose. >> by the way -- >> meanwhile this is not closing probably a year. we'll have plenty of time to discuss it. time warner cable did a great job. >> let's talk about losers. >> all right. >> how about twitter. is that one? i'm reading prompter here. jim thinks twitter is a loser. >> they'll pay anything and people hate it. >> talks they reportedly held to acquire flip board. gm in the spotlight. a lot of forensic journalism with the fiat/gm news. later this hour first on cnbc interview with tom rutledge about his company's deal to buy time warner cable. >> winner. >> we are in the red as we start a holiday-shortened week.

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zfrm znjs zfrm. a couple of stories involving gm. they were approached with a merger. federal prosecutors likely to bring criminal charges against gm over the ignition switch defect with links to over 100 deaths. they need to discuss key issues including the size of a potential fine what do you make of the fiat news? >> fiat shaking up the whole industry. i think he's a seller a buy. he wants to do a deal. let's play. best operator. >> the numbers have looked good. >> what a winner with the strong dollar. he's got the opposite of what our american company has. it's been a great performer.

i think he wants to merge with anybody. he wants to have fun. he's enjoying himself. >> right. there was a time during the financial crisis -- i didn't do the story originally. gm and chrysler were talking about a deal back then. for whatever reason i had other things going on. i waited till somebody else broke it. it wasn't going to happen. secondly, it was a sign of desperation on both their parts. this time it's not that. that time it was two drunks who could barely hope each other up. instead they both went bankrupt. >> i like fiat. they are doing so well. they've taken a point of share. they are making a lot of money. they are doing a spin-off of the high end car. i look at them and think, this guy is revolutionizing the industry. it's not tesla in terms of overevaluation. it's a good stock.

>> gm could be facing significant criminal penalties. >> company or individuals? individuals. >> yeah but the company overall. the company overall, they are talking maybe more than toyota paid in terms of fines. >> right. my charitable trust owns gm. i hate it. just been stuck in it. >> you've been beating yourself up for the better part of six months. >> it was going up friday. i thought maybe it goes to $37, dump it. maybe there were hedge funds, you've got to start buying back stock. who knows? the problem is latin america. china. europe. those are important markets. it's a lot of problems. it's three of a kind there. three bad. >> twitter reportedly been engaged in talks to acquire flip board in a deal that would value the news app more than $1

billion. discussions pushed by ceo anthony noto and taking place since the beginning of the year but are currently stalled. is this what you would have them do? >> if it helps them montitize. twitter is constantly in motion doing something. it's shakespeare. full of sound and fury signifying nothing. >> that trip into the low $50s ended quickly. >> they are going to use stock. this is not a cable company. today should be a cable company. >> i suppose. >> you are the man i turn to when i want to learn about some of these things i'm not a flip board user. >> you list it as your own

vertical which is why twitter would be ideal for it. they keep saying no bang for the buck but keep trying. >> you haven't ordered domino's? >> through facebook. domino's facebook app is fabulous. you just happen to like the pizza. >> we'll get cramer's mad dash and count down to the opening bell in a moment. last look at the premarket ahead of the bell. more "squawk on the street."

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now that's music. >> little class to start off a tuesday morning. mad dash. rhymes with clash. not with disney. >> no. disney is interesting. this beautiful weather. why do i mention that? "tomorrowland" came out this weekend and bombed. normally you say what happens to disney? this is what i like analysts to do. they raise the price target today. that means you can get a chance to get in because people will say "tomorrowland." another bomb. it's the john carter this and that. >> you don't think it's going to go down?

>> no. wells fargo is saying use the opportunity. they don't mention "tomorrowland." they talk about high growth and good margins. a lot of people on twitter said we can't sell disney because of "tomorrowland." wrong. maybe you get a chance to buy it. i haven't seen "tomorrowland." it was so beautiful out. go to the movies? >> the next pixar offering is coming out. that will be massive at the box office. >> you had the rangers, great nba. it was a tough weekend to go against. >> true. >> tough. stay inside. >> what about phillies? >> chase utley is back. >> and ryan howard. >> just you're a better team. party city. david, the preponderance of rollouts today they love it. doesn't this just seem like the kind of stock you want to have right now? people are saying when these companies come public remember

the old days when a venture capital put out a company, you would be worried? credit suisse likes it. >> there was a deleveraging ipo for a while. >> now they are back. >> and doing well. i thought dollar general was an inconsistent player. one of the greatest. i thought hca was inconsistent. those two shining star examples. people are thinking partity -- and burlington. >> there's plenty. >> i think that's because of bernanke. these are refinance plays. we've got a lot more to

cover. >> malone. >> i can tell you how liberty will finance this stuff $5 billion putting into nuco. opening bell a few minutes away and that live interview with tom rutledge.

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"squawk on the street" live from the financial capital of the world. opening bell in about 60 seconds on this tuesday after a long memorial day weekend. m&a, the name of the game today with this charter/time warner deal. we'll get a few s&p company with earnings. costco. >> this is an interesting moment. it's a highly valued stock that will impact service, tableau, the web. david broke an amazing story about sales force. that is another company involved. red hat. anything cloud is now talked about as takeover.

>> sales force couldn't be taken over because he wanted so much money. >> good for him. the company is doing incredibly well. >> s&p coming off three weeks of gains. something we've not had since february. although it's very very slight gains. there's the opening bell. s&p at the bottom of your screen. at the big board bancolombia. stan fisher over the weekend, a lot of headlines saying we are getting all too worked up about this first rate hike. he says the word lift-off makes you think of rockets. >> he must be tired watching our network. he once told me he likes "mad money" because i don't talk about rate hikes. i talk about companies. >> it can tend to be the same conversation many times. >> he wants to change the dialogue. >> not on "mad money." >> that's why we don't spend

that much time on this show either. >> stanley fischer is a brilliant guy. i thought his statements made a ton of sense which is like will you chill? chill about it. stop talking about it. >> what we have talked a lot about is the influence on what the impact of incredibly cheap money has broadly speaking across the board in a million different ways showing itself simply through -- charter is borrowing a lot of money to do their deal. the possibility we are not -- altice is not interested. the ability of a french company nobody ever heard of a weak ago to borrow countless billions at incredibly low rates from u.s. banks. this is showing itself. you do start to wonder whether we get to a point where it gets scary again. i'm hearing bridge equity. i thought i would never hear those again. they're bank. the banks will give you more money, we'll bridge to you selling equity. that can get a little scary. >> cablevision, which was the

best performing s&p stock last week up 22%, up another 3% today. questions further consolidation. >> the expectation altice -- you're not just buying sudden link. cablevision has moved up an enormous amount. it would be quite an expensive deal. of course they face the fios overbuilt. there is competition william cablevision because fios competes in a lot of their market. >> i'm sorry if i interrupted you. i'm reading on twitter -- now i feel bad. excuse me. >> it's never a bother to me. we tend to get very excited. >> i'm not interrupting you. i may not talk for the rest of the show. >> i don't think that's something that could happen. i don't want that to happen. >> a couple of upgrades. lb and dollar general are getting added to the list.

>> l b's done nothing of late. that really had great numbers. it's an ennui of retailers. the reversal last week was amazing. the stock was getting hit hard. port strike port strike. this port strike by the way, look i flew over san francisco bay. it did seem like it was rush hour it. was like coming back from the hamptons. >> dg has less import exposure than dollar tree. >> we'll work through that issue. i do tell you that i believe the companies now. we don't make a lot of stuff for 50 cents they sell on the dollar in this country. dollar tree has good bargains and a great candy aisle. >> related to this morning's deal i did mention liberty.

liberty broadband is going to be investing $5 billion in the new company being created here. buying $700 million in charter, in new charter stockading up to $5 billion. those hedge funds are jana sorbon. liberty will put together the war chest they need to buy the stock they committed to buy so liberty can remain a significant investor.

>> the rich get richer. >> that is a cynical view. >> i can't defend it or i might be talking over you. >> please. we would like space between everybody's sentence. >> why are you listening to twitter? >> twitter pays me a fortune to tweet. not. >> and to periscope, too. >> 9% below the all-time high. >> come on don't be so negative. i think when you have a ceo come

on a tv show and basically say there's a bit of a price war going on, that's not bullish. by the way, the rails, my source rbn, warrant buffet has that hammer lock but there are pipelines coming all over the place. we are overpipeline. >> we are? >> yes. you can send it to the north -- there is great refinery capacity in canada if they start getting that refinery capacity to philadelphia i'm telling you, there will be a price war to send oil out of the balkan. can you imagine? >> are we going to have that conversation about exporting oil? >> i think we almost have to. >> it's flat in terms of production. when you have flat production it was presumed it was just going to grow forever. that's why they put up rail and pipe. now it looks like they are not going to grow forever. keep track of the overrail of

the nation. i think the rails are cheap. ksu blew up. that was bad. csx has done okay. there was a company initiating coal stocks today. and the coal -- even the chinese are getting rid of coal. when the chinese are getting rid of coal what does that say about coal? >> not good. >> no. >> you don't want to be in that business. >> no. we saw premarket weakness. the dow is down almost 100 points. mary thompson is on the floor. >> just off the lows of the day. dow down 101 points. we are looking at broad base weakness in the s&p 500 index which is lower today. we are seeing an uptick in the vix. just over 10% after dropping below 12 last week. deals and data are in focus today. as we look at the big cable deal. we've been talking about that all morning. taking a look how cable stocks are responding to the news charter communications will be buying time warner.

we are keeping watch on data. we have fed vice chairman stanley fischer speaking at 12:30 today. he said look at data not the date when it comes to the federal reserve raising interest rates. a couple things investors are watching. they are pricing the price of oil up the tenth week last week. oil stocks were lower in the premarket. also the data he is talking, things like housing prices. we did have data coming out on kay shiller comb prices continue to climb. especially in the western regions with san francisco and dr horton. that should not say danaher. also we are watching the transports. you just heard carl mentioned it earlier. continued weakness there. it's extending the weakness we

saw last week. transports down 0.2% despite the weakness we are seeing in oil prices. i do want to mention one company that came out with earnings. mixed results there from autozone. profits better than expected. sales weaker than expected. stock up 0.4%. we are entering kind of what you call a neutral zone. a lot of the companies, earnings reports are out there. so the markets will increasingly be focused on whatever happens overseas. specifically the greek debt drama. also any data that comes out. that is something to watch. remember last week was low volume week. i'm not sure week would be different. dow is up 93 points. back to you. >> let's get to the bond pits. interesting numbers out of durables. rick santelli at the cnb. >> we definitely lowered the bar on what become good number. you can tell at the eyes in the market. this wasn't a bad number. is it a great number?

absolutely not. it's a great number in the context of how soft it has been. we see that right around 8:30 after when the number came out we did get a pop close to unchanged. hovering at 2.20. it's crawling around the top of the range. let's look at top of the ranges. rates are acting stubborn. they are not coming down. they are using less than aggressive numbers to firm up a bit. they are not blowing the doors off testing the high yield close going back to december 2.29. bund similar pattern to ours. lower yield and a lot of dynamics. southern economies, whether it's spain or italy, their formation is similar but more aggressive in terms of moving the top of the range and getting into hot territory. new high yield, close we haven't seen in a while.

it's all about foreign exchange. the movements will show up in the forwards interest rate differentials. this is the way the game is now played. dollar index is hot. it is responding to the data as good as can be interpreted. of course janet yellen and company are data dependent. we'll talk about that later on. today open the dollar index up to april 1st. you can see it is a bit aggressive. looks like it wants to break out more we need to monitor the euro and the pound. that's where some of the horsepower is coming from today. back to you. >> thank you very much. >> news of the day, charter announcing its deal to acquire time warner cable. also acquiring wright house which will create a power house. tom rutledge is ceo of charter communications. he will be ceo and chairman of the combined company. nice to have you this morning.

thanks for taking the time. >> i want to start on regulatory. 15 16 months we were talking about the deal. he was confident they would receive regulatory approval. that confidence was misplaced. why is the combination of charter, time warner cable and bright house one regulators would approve if they wouldn't approach comcast/time warner? >> this is a very different deal. this is smaller than comcast cable today, let alone comcast nbc universal. it's a significantly different business. this is a significantly different transaction. from a regulatory perspective, charter won't be vertically

integrated. we work well with other programmers and people think that -- and it's true -- that we'll be open-minded in terms of the way the marketplace develops. while i think comcast is for a variety of reasons, we'll be a smaller company committed to growth and expansion of our physical networks and i think that as a place for development and creativity in the industry we'll be a source of good for the country and a source of good to our employees and source of good to shareholders. i think it's a very different transaction. >> it's been reported mr. wheeler may have approached you or you and time warner cable management giving a sense that he was not against consolidation. can you give us any sense as to what you did here for mr. wheeler on this overarching

issue of consolidation? frankly, tom many people i've spoken to in your position in other companies are not sure where the lines are when it comes to what the fcc and doj are willing to allow. >> i don't want to talk about any conversations i had with the chairman, but if you look at the public statements of the fcc, what the fcc is seeking is being developed by this transaction. it's not just about doing no harm. it's about bringing better services to the country and to customers and expanding the footprint over time which those services are delivered. i think the competitive environment will be enhanced. if you look at the ecosystem, who we are playing with in terms of other competitors, they are very large. we'll still be a relatively small company compared to the phone companies, compared to comcast, compared to the wireless companies.

i think this is good for us. it's i good for the country. i think it's consistent with what the regulators have said publically that they are looking for in these kinds of transactions. >> right. you'll have 19.4 million wire line internet customers. comcast has 22 million, at&t at 16 million. broadband is the key market? >> yes. it has become so. it's interesting we as historic cable operators express our business in terms of video and still call our customer relationships in terms of video, but you are right. obviously, there are new over the top providers like netflix and hulu now hbo, which was a traditional cable provider moving into a different space into broadband. and it's become an essential part of a lot of consumers'

lives. doing that well and fairly and efficiently is a public interest. yeah. the nature of what our business is has changed and the way people look at it has changed. >> tom, when you were negotiating to try to buy time warner cable some time ago, i reported the price was around or actually it was public $132 a share is where you get based on where charter stock price was then. now you are paying more than that based on where your stock price is. more importantly, on their numbers, 9.3 times ebitda. that is quite a multiple. i've been covering cable for a long time. you are paying a very high multiple here. why is it worth it? >> we think we can make the company a lot more efficient. through time and growth in a network environment, a lot of value is created.

yes, the multiple is high but so is the up side and so is the growth potential, so is the ultimate cross potential of this business. our leverage will decrease rapidly and margins will decrease, not because we are going to take a lot of operating cost out of the business but we are going to take excess transactions out of the business. >> what does that mean? >> it means when we sell better products, the life of our subscribers increases. for the same amount of revenue, you get less activity because your subscribers last longer meaning there is less churn, less connects and disconnects in a business. those physical transactions come out of the business and reduce the cost of the business. it doesn't reduce your labor costs. you could pay your people more in this kind of environment than you do in the past because they

are more productive the way you do your business. great products great service translates into higher margins. higher pay, more quality work translates into less service calls which translates into higher margins. we have the ability to build a great company with great people that actually makes more money by providing better service to consumers. as we -- that's really the kind of, the greatest business situation that can exist. >> your investors are at least right now applauding that responsibility. you are talking about 800 million run rate in cost synergies. i assume there will be some lay-offs some overlap that will be eliminated between these companies? >> there is a little bit of overlap, but the vast majority of people in the company sies will

not only keep their jobs and be successful, but they'll actually have better career opportunities. our view is we need high quality people if you look at time warner and bright house, the physical assets that we'll be picking up in this deal have 800,000 miles, approximately, of physical network out on the excretes and highways and byways of america. we need people to service those that don't exist at charter. the people coming out of time warner and bright house will do the work supervise the work and manage the work will continue to be employed by the new company. not only that, they'll have additional opportunities because we are going to grow this business. as we grow this business we'll create additional opportunities for the employees of the companies. in addition, we believe quality, as i said earlier, translates

into less cost. one of the things that's been done in the industry is people have outsourced jobs. they've taken call centers to other countries, india, philippines, et cetera. we are bringing those jobs back to america. already in just the last several years of charter when i've been here, we brought 7,000 jobs back to the country out of a total work force where we started at 18,000 people when i koim to the company. we now have 25,000. time warner has 55,000 people. if you look at the same ratios of in sourcing available, we could create new jobs. that comes from our commitment to quality, training and employee development. the net of all this is while there will be some dislocation in some places there will be more jobs tomorrow than there are today. the other place jobs exist, by the way, people use contractors

in our business. we believe that the bulk of our employees should be our employees, the training we put into employee development and the quality you can generate from that in terms of customer experience is worth it. so we want our people to be high paid high quality people who provide excellent service. we think that is a better business model going forward. >> i hear you making a good case to your employee base and future employee base potentially good case to regulators who will be reviewing this on the public service side. when it comes to that or what new services? over the top is what we talk about here all the time. do you see a day where charter will be offering a nationwide over the top service similar to what we may be expecting from our own parent company at some point? >> i think that's possible yes. one of the things we developed is a new cloud base user interface platform. what that allows us to do is

integrate cloud base services into what have been traditionally cable services. for instance it's technically possible to use channel lineups or programming availability information and integrate them all together. let's say you want to watch a show like "mad men" which just had its last episode. different parties, amazon some of those, apple may own some amc has some all of that product can be integrated into our new user interface that will allow customers to seamlessly move between over the top and cable on every device they own. we think that's a game changer. we think it makes all kinds of packaging available to consumers that wouldn't otherwise exist. ultimately consumers now are demanding products that are tailored to them. as opposed to what programmers

and cable operators warrant to present. we embrace that and believe people should be able to pick and choose. people do tend to buy everything if it's priced properly. the whole key is choice. that choice is developing. >> and of course we expect to see more competition. tom rutledge thanks for your time this morning. appreciate it. >> thank you. great to be here. thank you for having me. >> tom rutledge ceo of charter, will be the chairman and ceo of this combination. it could take time before we see it closing. >> great combination. stock goes higher. >> certainly making a strong case, he was, on public service side of this as you might expect he would. >> jobs back. >> people like to hear that. bringing back as many as 20,000 jobs. >> government is going to like that.

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time for cramer and stop trading. >> autozone. it's one of the most consistent buy backers of stock. usually you wait till the end of the day and the company comes in and start buying. i don't want to wait. autozone has been one of the great performers. this whole group except for pep boys. >> unbelievable. >> what's on "mad" tonight? >> alliance data. nordstrom selling part of its credit card division to td. alliance data is who your card really is. they've got great data. by the way, this credit card business never stops. it's almost like the cable business. in terms of monopoly. they don't like to say that. there are only a couple of

players. pti. >> we'll see you nooichlt we'll get breaking news on consumer confidence. dow down 128.

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." we've got breaking news. rick santelli is in chicago. >> yeah. litany of it. the may read on richmond fed came out as one. we were looking for zero. last month was minus 3. we had two negatives in a row. if this would have been the third negative it would have been the first time of 20 negatives in a row starting since '07. consumer confidence, also for the month of may, read 95.4 with a revision from 95.2 down to 94.3 last month. this is the weakest since last month, 95.4. nothing spectacular either way. keep this in mind. our january read the first one of the year was 103 and change. that was the highest since august of 2007. now for the biggie. april read on new home sales

came out at 517,000. seasonably adjusted annualized pace. that is nothing spectacular either but keep in mind 543,000 was the high water mark for the year. you can see that fits in. 514,000 was where we started out in january. about 10 years ago today, it was over 1.39 million. diana, let's see what your thoughts are on new home sales and the revision. >> your comparison is perfect when you look at over a million sales during the peak. i want to focus on price. up 8.3% year over year. builders continuing to use that pricing power when existing home prices are going up as well. they are focusing on the high end of the market. that's what they are building and catering to. we saw supply fall to a 4.8 month supply.

we've been talking about supply endlessly. it was not a spectacular sales number. not terrible not spectacular. a lot of revisions. these numbers are very you know, they move around a lot. these are based on signed contracts in april, not closings. it's a little more current than some of the existing closing numbers. again, i've got to focus on the price, 8.3%. not a good sign when you are looking at supplies this low. the dow down triple digits. for a whishlgs every component was in the red. tell comes leading the way. what should investors be focusing on today? joining us post nine is tom lee, global advisors founder. good to see you again. >> great to see you guys. >> is this a strong dollar dynamic at work today? >> probably a post labor day strong dollar greece worry.

market's been great. it's may. have you remained constructive going into the summer? >> yes. we are ignoring things that are positive. housing data has been encouraging. i think there is a lot of pent-up demand. labor data is good. i'm i surprised consumer confidence is where it is. >> we've seen equity market rally to a record high recently. it's a lack of oomph. are you worried about the lack of conviction we are seeing as the market makes new highs? we are breaking out to new highs and everyone is terrified. usually people are bullish.

the sign of a top would be everyone being universally bullish at the top saying nothing could go wrong. it's like the road runner. we go off the cliff. >> carl mentioned the strong dollar about to hit an eight-year high. at a one-month high against the euro. you have to stay away from the big multinationals the dow components? >> it's a challenge. it's a very tough situation. they've got to choose between market share and profits. for tech i think tech is priced in dollars. i think tech is a beneficiary of basically tight labor markets. you are okay buying tech here. >> given the volume of share buybacks by corporations which i assume is massive, you might have hoped the market made more headway than it had. what gains do you see by the end of the year? s paint the picture as you see it. >> what i think is happening

that no one noticed yet, stocks are reacting positively to inflation. for instance, stocks that are up this year are racing cap x. i think the incentive for buying back stock is diminishing. there is proof enough needs to replace infrastructure and capex. i think market can rise 10% from here. >> who wins there? who leads? >> i think it's housing related. it's financials. i think tech but i think health care remains one of these all season groups. you want to own health care throughout this. >> you posted a chart with home builders. have the builders broken out before starts? >> it sounds backwards, but i look at builders as a force as predicting housing starts break out. they hit an eight-year high. a few months ago we said this

means housing starts should break out to eight-year highs. that would be 1 million, 3.4 million. we still have room. >> even in the face of higher rates, quote/unquote? >> yes. it was only seven years ago we thought a mythical mortgage rate would be 4%. rates could rise and we are still at that mythical 4% level. >> energy and materials getting beaten up hard today. oil down on the strong dollar. are you not convinced that oil has bottomed and energy stocks look cheap? >> energy is confusing because a lot of people have money on both sides. there's tons of private equity money raised and capital raised. you are seeing a lot of quick decisions. i think energy is a buy here. it's not a high conviction easy to go to sleep group. >> tech up ten weeks in a row. something our records don't show back to '83.

amazing run. >> happy birthday tom. >> oh yeah. thank you. >> not at all. >> it was a nice weekend, birthday plus memorial day. can't remember last time that happened so it was nice. >> it is official. this morning charter communications announcing its intent to acquire time warner cable. it was signed saturday night but announced tuesday morning, being a long weekend. $195 a share is roughly the price. $100 a share in cash. the remainder in charter shares. you will have an option to receive more in cash. as much as $115 a share. interestingly, charter communication shares which had started the session up are now down a bit. that is keeping it right at that $195.7 a share. it's a huge number representing roughly over nine times the company's 2015 ebitda. that is a very high multiple for cable. approaches numbers we rarely have seen.

the company itself will be levered at about 4.5 times ebitda. that is not as much as some might have anticipated, but it does have an enormous amount of debt. perhaps that is something some investors in charter are working through right here. $800 million in cost synergies. some believe it will be more than that. that $159 price, in part they reached it because there was con conceivably competition from altice. that was contemplating a bit might have been $210 a share for time warner cable, being comprised as much as $160 a share in cash. altice did not make that bid. it talked to time warner cable about it. its chairman decided it was not worth making that kind of a bid, risking perhaps so much of his company, so much equity that would have needed to have been offered. and charter communications walks

away with the prize it wanted as many as two years ago when it first began this fight, only to find itself after months shut out when it agreed to a deal to be acquired by comcast. regulators made it clear they were not going to allow that deal. we find ourselves at this deal. will regulators allow you, tom rutledge, the ceo of charter, to do this deal? here is what he had to say. >> if you look at public statements of the fcc, what the cff fcc is finding in this transaction transaction. it's bringing better service to the country and customers and expanding the footprint which those services are delivered. i think the competitive environment is enhanced by us doing this. if you look at the ecosystem of who we are playing with in terms

of other competitors, they're very large. we'll still be a relatively small company compared to the large phone companies, compared to comcast, compared to the wireless companies. i think this is good for us. it's good for the country. i think it's consistent with what the regulators have said publically that they are looking for in these kinds of transactions. >> mr. rutledge making that point and coming back yet again, time and again during our interview to the public interest, the public good that perhaps will be created by this combination. certainly no shortage of people who simply wonder where the lines are in terms of broadband penetration, in terms of so many other things, and whether or not there will be conditions attached to this deal or what will happen on the regulatory front. as for the price being paid, $1

$195. i asked tom rutledge whether he is happy to pay such a high price and how he justifies it. >> we think we can make the company a lot more efficient and that through time and growth in a network environment, that a lot of value is created. yes, the mutt imis high relatively speaking today, but so is the up side and so is the growth potential. so is the ultimate cost potential of this business. >> when they first started they wanted to pay $132 a share. >> time and again he came back to that quality of service. he said we'll take the 55,000 staff and maybe add 20,000 staff he said to you. >> bring back from abaerd. he talks about how they would bring them back to the u.s.

>> onto crease the service is powerful for regulators and time warner customers. >> what does it mean for our cable bills? >> i don't think they are going to go down? >> will they go up? s. >> that's the question. competition, you still don't have it. >> the regional banks outperforming the rest of financials this year more than 2%. do regionals have an advantage in the banking industry? the ceo of fifth third will join us when "squawk on the street" comes back.

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dow is down new home sales better than expected. consumer confidence coming in light. what does it real economy look like and can we bank on a rebound? kevin kabat of fifth third bank joins us in our cnbc exclusive. good to see you again. what do you see after a rough first quarter? can we expect a rebound in the second quarter in the second half? >> we are seeing a bit of a sluggish economy. it does continue to chug along.

it continues to make slight improvements. so there are some pros and cons relative to what's happening in the economy. housing was a good story from that standpoint. we haven't seen quite the rebound or consumer coming back which is the challenge. >> where are we in the housing recovery? we've gotten mixed signals there. >> we did see it pick up significantly as we reported in our first quarter results. after the january time period we saw it rise february and march, and continue from its activity into the second quarter. so far, looks okay. >> i know you've been expecting and hoping and praying for higher interest rates because of your margins, but do you think the economy can handle it if the federal reserve does begin to raise rates later this year? >> i do think the economy can handle it.

a zero rate connotes an emergency and we are not in an emergency. net interest margins has been a big problem not just for you but regional banks. what does that look like going forward? >> i think a rising rate lifts all boats. it does begin to help us relative to our margins and our spread. we would look forward to that. >> one other issue in the news senator shelby is trying to rewrite dodd frank. there is a question about how big banks should be to be considered systemically important. gets this designation, goes

through stress tests. he wants to raise that bar to $500 billion. it's currently at $50 billion. you are in the middle there at $139 billion assets under management. what is the correct level that should be at? >> i think legislators are how it was chosen. i think the measure they are going through evaluating where a bank becomes systemically significant is an important consideration and important deliberation. hope they come to something more reasonable. i don't know what the right number is but 50 doesn't seem right. >> he is pushing for 500. some democrats talking about $200 billion. i want to get your thoughts on hiring. you at fifth third have new initiatives, targeting millennials and trying to boost job growth. what are you doing about it?

>> what we try to do is help unemployed mortgage customers. we looked at a number of the studies. graduates today, less than half of them have jobs. you combine that with the student debt they have it really is a challenging time for students particularly the millennials. what we've done is launched a new campaign in conjunction with next job where we will actually develop 1,000 job-capable opportunities for helping our students students, the students find jobs and get employment. we think it's helpful to them and a very big need. >> certainly necessary. kevin, always good to see you. thanks for your thoughts from the heartland. kevin kabat, ceo of fifth third. new york city taxi medicine

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this was the scene in mexico city monday as hundreds of taxi drivers blocked main roads protecting against uber. uber offered free rides to years throughout the day. the conflict is familiar in new york, as well where taxi limo drivers say their businesses have been hit hard by uber and lift. kate rogers has more. >> they have taken the hit.

vice president of allstate private car and limo and run as fleet of about 500 cars in the tri-state area. he says they lost about 15% of their drivers and business in the last year but have since recouped nearly half of that. what transpired was a huge advertisement on the uber side. going out to various drivers. and having varying initiatives for large payments to join their fleet and everything else. so that hurt us in the sense drivers who are now going to uber and working for them. >> medallion values have fallen as well. medallions have been sold for an average of about $800,000 in the first quarter of the year. that's a nearly 20% fall from 2011 when they sold for $1 million a piece. in the public market the drama

is hitting medallion financial which is a public company that finances loans to medallion owners. they've taken a hit 20% the past year. this is a micro cap stock that trades in thin margin. the company says 90% earnings come from outside the taxi industry. deutsche says allstate is attempting to adapt to the new market with an app of their own called i ride which hopes will continue to attract those looking for the ease and convenience of tech-driven ride hailing. >> we are focused how to get our own year scores up on uber. thank you, kate rogers. straight ahead, wall street sheriff ben lawsky is stepping down next month and will join us live to tell us why, what's next and what he is working on.

good morning, i'm sue herera. an iranian security court holding the first hearing for an iranian american reporter for "the washington post." jason rezaian has been detained more than ten months of charges of espionage. he faces up to 10-20 years in prison. >> dozens of vehicles in the houston area are stranded in high water and transit services

canceled. the storms knocked out power in parts of that city. taco bell and pizza hut are getting rid of artificial colors and flavors. the latest food companies to distance themselves from ingredients consumers might find unappetizing. both companies are owned by yum! brands. sticking with the food theme. olive garden coming up with new ways to use its bread sticks. toasted bread will be sliced and used as an appetizer. they are owned by darden restaurants and in a competitive space. let's get back to "squawk." during his tenure at the new york department of financial services, ben lawsky saw over $7 trillion in assets. under his supervision, the department levied nearly $6 billion in monterey penalties

against financial firms. he announced he is stepping down next month. joining us superintendent of financial services the sheriff of wall street, ben lawsky. i'm sure many bank ceos are happy to see you go. why now? >> the time was right. i've been in government service about 20 years. put it this way, at a certain point i have a 7-year-old daughter who said, daddy, isn't it time to give someone else a turn at being superintendent? it rang true for me. i loved the job. done it four years. we built a great team. i think whoever sits in the corner office the work of dfs will continue and continue to be a powerful and important agency. >> before we get onto your next move. your tenure has been marked by we mentioned the fines. some critics would say though that you leapfrogged some of the federal agencies like the s.e.c. and federal reserve, thinking back to the standard charter case. that you threatened to revoke

banking license for some of the foreign banks in the united states what do you say to those critics? why was it so important for to you do this job? you were the first in the position? >> i think back in 2012 we did make aggressive moves there. the feeling was the way the system was moving and had developed in terms of regulation, that in order to change things for the better when it came to money laundering especially terrorist financing, we needed to turn the table over for a little while and get things working a little differently. since that time i can say we cooperated quite well with all the other agencies. i think it's important. most of the time you want different agencies and different federal, state, et cetera international, cooperating so you don't have a pile on. i don't think that means you cooperate just for the sake of cooperating.

if there are instances where cooperation leads to a regulatory race to the bottom where everyone is just racing to have the lightest touch possible regulation i think we saw it in the run-up to the financial crisis, that was the opposite of what our system needed. >> the "journal" wrote an article recently which they suggested you hadn't got a plum job in one of the big wall street firms because you so alienated them when they had big financial clients. do you wish personally you had been less confrontational? >> so that's not true first of all. let's set that aside. >> but you are setting out as an independent. other people left the s.e.c. get million dollar salaries plus. >> you are saying you had offers. >> yes. at the same time i wanted to, for my own reasons, i wanted to be my own boss. i wanted to do something entrepreneurial and run my own business. >> do you wish you had been less controversial, less confrontational?

>> that is a fair question. my view is and maybe it's in my own head. i don't know we've been that confrontational and controversial. people tend to hear about those instances because it makes a lot of news. the vast majority of work has been collaborative. >> didn't you threaten to remove pnb paribas' banking license in new york. >> actually no. we didn't threaten to remove their license. we had a long series of negotiations with the federal regulators and group of prosecutors about settling that matter. in stand chart we had a discussion whether the conduct of that case rose to the level of should we consider taking the license away. to be fair we never had to do that again. i think it was implicit whenever we were working on matters that that was a potential remedy we could seek. at the same time and i've been on this show and said it that's

a nuclear weapon. generally a good idea to keep a nuclear weapon in your pocket as a regulator. you blow up a bank and talking about tens of thousands of people out of work. that is something we did not consider doing except in the most extreme cases. at the same time, i won't shy away it from we were at times willing to say to a bank what you have done is awful. there is going to be a real price to pay for that. it shouldn't just be and i think i know your question it shouldn't just be large financial fines. if i look back the one thing i wish we had done earlier in my tenure was shift to a focus on individual accountability. large fines will only get you so far. especially because a lot of that is being handled by shareholders. >> exactly. >> if you hold individuals accountable, that's why you'll start seeing changes. >> why was it so hard to make an individual accountable? >> it wasn't. after a year when we started to

think about our work more and more we said this is something if we want to have change we want to go home at the end of our workday and say we are making this system better we think about how you hold individuals accountable. we tried to do that. in every of case since then our team asks are there individuals at this institution who have engaged in wrong doing that are still there? the answer almost inevitably is yes because, by the way, the banks don't act unless there are individuals inside the bank acting and they should be held accountable. we don't have criminal authority we have civil authority. when people are overseas, there is only so much we can do. we pushed hard to have an individual impact the last few years. >> you are not done yet and still working on bitcoin. why is that so important to get this legislation through? >> the regulation on the bit license is important, i think. i believe if virtual currencies are to ultimately become more

ubiquitous and more important to our system there will be guard rails around it. will they be modern and geared toward the system we talk about or try to apply old money transition rules written in the civil war era? our view is if we can get the regulation right protect consumers, put in the anti-money laundering controls we need make sure these firms aren't going to collapse but at the same time not be so harsh we stifle innovation and new technologies we develop, we could get to a place where you are going to see the companies trying to do it right succeeding. >> are you going to accept bitcoin at your new firm? >> i don't know. we are a long way from that. maybe in new york where it will be well regulated. >> will you ever come back to government? >> i don't know. i'm thinking about the next five to ten years. my focus is definitely on the firm we are creating.

i'm excited about it. >> congratulations, ben lawsky. i know we'll hear from you further because we are expecting that new bitcoin. ben lawsky superintendent of financial services in new york. senator bernie sanders questioning the morality of the u.s. economy. we'll hear what he had to say in a sitdown with john harwood. can it make a dentist appointment when my teeth are ready? ♪ ♪ can it tell the doctor how long you have to wear this thing? ♪ ♪ can it tell the flight attendant to please not wake me this time? ♪ ♪ the answer is yes, it can. so, the question your customers are really asking is can your business deliver?

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stocks trading at session

lose. dow down 165. technology not helping. dom chu at hq. >> always important the biggest sector, the tech sector. the lowest performing the worst performing sector in the s&p. led lower by names like autodesk, hp juniper networks and first solar which is down over 6%. analysts at rbc capital downgraded the solar panel maker stock to prior sector perform making. they slashed price target to $34 a share. it was $54. they cited flat revenue growth this year and next and some of that larger exposure to utility scale projects. first solar not helping in today's trade. >> big move. senator bernie sanders is set to kick off his 2016 presidential bid in vermont today. john sat down with him. >> bernie sanders concedes hillary clinton is the major

favorite in this race. he is going to press her among democratic liberals arguing our finance-driven economy needs big changes and she may be too close to big money to change it. >> looks like we've taken over this place a little bit. >> a little bit good. to see you. >> people in wall street people in business some have likened the progressive/democratic crusade to hitler's germany hunting down the jews. what do you think when you hear stuff like that? >> sick. i think these people are so greedy, they are so out of touch with reality, they think they own the world. the idea that anybody like me are challenging them. maybe, just maybe there is something wrong when 99% of all income goes to the top 1%.

what a disgusting remark. if you've seen a massive transfer of wealth we've got to transfer that back. i think the highest marginal tax rate was 92. >> when you think 90%, you don't think that's too high? >> no. hillary clinton and bill clinton in the last 16 months have made $30 million making speeches. what does that kind of money do to a politician's perspectives? >> theatrically you can be a multibillionaire and be concerned about the issues of working people. theoretically, that's true. when you hustle money like that you don't sit in restaurants like this. you sit in restaurants where you spend hundreds of dollars on dinner. that's the world you are accustomed to and the world view you adopt. i'm not going to condemn bill and hillary clinton because they made a lot of money. that type of wealth has the potential to isolate you from

the reality of the world. >> we'll see whether bernie sanders keeps up that tough rhetoric at his opening rally this afternoon in burlington vermont, where he spent time as mayor. you can see the entire speak easy interview on cnbc.com. >> they are fun to watch. john harwood in washington. let's go to chicago to rick santelli. >> good morning, sara. i would like to welcome my housing guy mark hanson. >> thanks for having me. >> we had a lot of data in reverse chronological order. new home sales. we had starts and permits last week. case-shiller today. i walk away with one notion that prices are moving higher. your thoughts? >> yeah. that's what happens when rates drop by historical amounts six months higher.

this housing market is being led around by the nose by large swings in interest rates. a year ago, housing was reeling from that surge in rates, which is why year over year comps right now are real easy. that's why 517,000 new home sales this morning looks really good, when in the grand scheme of things it's depression level house sales. especially considering we've been in zurich for five years and through all these stimulus programs. when is demand going to come back to the builders outside of certain select regions in the united states of america? in this morning's numbers, we had 517. like always due to the laws of low numbers, there was a rounding incongruity in the midwest showing it up 37% month over month when other regions were flat. i expect revisions down next month when it comes out. with respect to prices today, the average price of new home sales has been down five months

in a row. sequentially down five months in a row. >> let me stop through. the stats are the stats. down sequentially five months in a row. how is case-shiller to the index we received this morning showing something different? where's the bias there? >> we are looking at data over last year by and large, which was hit by about 1% surge in rates which took out 10% affordability immediately. housing responds immediately to this high volatility in rates. it indicates we are up against the high bounds in house prices. that buyer is thrust into the market or taken out within a month or two. either housing's in -- >> we are still down over 1 million new homes going back to their peak at least the recent peak that was july 2005. let's take a step macrostep

backwards in our last 30 seconds. when i look at a $200,000 house and i see the 30 year interest rate swings we had, they are not that big. they amount to $50 a month on an average $200,000 mortgage with 30 years. when you talk about the prices historically and the numbers historically, the only conclusion i can reach when i put all this together is if housing didn't do gangbusters now, how is it going to do gangbusters with rate normalization? >> if rates go up 30-year fixed at 5% 6% which would be nose bleed relative to today, house demand will have to double or triple or it's going -- we'll be down at that $300,000 level again. margins are getting squeezed. you saw what builders did last quarter. wall street thought builder stocks were depressed last year, rates were down. it's just not turning out that way. builders are having a tough time out there.

>> i always remember existing home sales, the biggest swath in the market. thank you. when we come back, one of "shark tank's" most successful investors weighs in on new reports amazon may be entering the world with hand made and its own marketplace.

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selling pressure is accelerating on the newly listed etsy. with news that the online retail giant amazon may be preparing its own rival market place for artisan goods. joining us now on cnbc shark tank investor barbara corcoran and the co-founders of grace and lace, a business born on itsy. melissa and her husband, rick who turned her hand-sewing and knitting into a multimillion-dollar business. your best investment ever barbara in. >> they started with $800,000 in sales on etsy and now have $18 million. my favorite. >> what's happened to the business?

>> we got a great partner in barbara. >> stop the crap. >> my wife is unbelievable. this girl is so creative,is phenomenal and she comes out with products that people not only want, they love. they knock down the doors. >> melissa, talk to me about etsy and the birth of the business. online and digital is a way that a small business can expand rapidly. people watch you on the television, they can google it. >> we call grace and lace our accidental company. i didn't start out to start a business, i started out making my own hand-made stuff that i wanted to put a site that i could sell. etsy allows you to have that platform and to be able to sell and it went viral from there. >> the commissions are 20 cents to be listed 3.5% commission. amazon takes a bigger cut. 15%, we'll see what they do if they launch the site. what would your reaction be to the site? what are the dynamics of running a business i guess if the exposure is good enough,is worth it? >> it's all about the exposure it's about the numbers, eyeballs

on the business if it means more eyeballs on the business it's a crazy thing. and we could keep scaling the way we are. >> they built their business on et ceteray. and now they're asking this woman to leave etsy because they don't believe she's create creating all the designs herself. but she is. >> a bigger brother might be a place to go to? >> we grew so fast. in three years i went from making these out of my homes. to making hundreds of thousands of boot socks and clothing eye tells, we had to go to mass production in order to meet the demand. >> barbara. i'm curious, what's special about them. you get a ton of pitches and i'm sure you get a ton of ahome-made apparel pitches. >> obviously she had the talent by the simple boot socks she wore on the set of shark tank. my husband who never orders

anything. he is ordering these sexy cover-ups. so anyone who could turn my husband's head is a good investment. >> everyone wants to know the entrepreneurs, the lesson for doing well in the pitch at shark tank. >> the lesson in this one is these people are great at social media they get people to fall in love with them on social media you don't need a big box store to have a multimillion-dollar business, they proved that and have been teaching my other entrepreneurs. >> what's next in the business? >> divorce. >> no the sky's the limit. as long as i can keep designing and creating and doing the things i love. the horizon is what we have. >> rick and melissa hinnans and barbara corcoran. >> let's send it to kayla tausche for more. >> it's tun of the top ten u.s. mergers of all-time. we'll talk about what the implications of the merger between charter and time warner cable will be on the cable market. plus johnny ive, chief

design officer at apple. and the where will they be putting their money next we'll talk to one of the co-founders of the dicaprio-backed fund. coming up. and integrity, confidence inspiration and passion. pitching wedge. thanks phil. and always having the courage to take your best shot. see the best of the best at the kpmg women's pga championship.

seven out of ten power outages in the us are caused by weather. but utilities can now predict where the power will go out, within a few city blocks. working with ibm they're combining micro weather forecasts with detailed data from local sensors. to predict where outages are likely to occur. and send crews exactly where they're needed, when they're needed. ibm analytics from the internet of things is making energy smarter every day.

the declines are accelerating for the major stock market indices. the lows of session, dow down 180, one percent. all dow member notice red. the s&p 500 almost down 1%. and the nasdaq down more than 1%. materials, energy, technology are the kind of companies, getting hit. you do have a strong dollar and you have weak oil and commodity pricings. >> oil is down $1.25. it's the end of may, the weather is warm and you're coming down from record highs. that's the way to really frame it you're right up there at the top as things stand at the moment. albeit with profit-taking. >> let's hand it over to carl with the backdrop. red across the screens for "squawk alley." >> good morning it is 8:00 a.m. at google headquarters in mountain view, california. 11:00 a.m. on wall street, "squawk alley" is live. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ welcome to "squawk alley" for a tuesday, jon fortt out today, but kayla tausche sheer on post 9 on a market day that's looking a little more interesting. dow is down almost 180 points. as the dollar has an eight-year high against the yen. euro has fallen below 109 for the first time in a month. the tech sector one of the biggest laggards this morning. down about 1.66%. leading the way for solar, hp