good thursday morning and welcome to worldwide exchange. >> here are your headlines from around the world. >> the wait is almost, almost over. u.s. futures are flirting with a flat line ahead of the federal reserve rate decision which could mark the first rate hike in almost a decade. >> france's altice buys cablevision in a $17.7 billion deal that creates the 4th largest u.s. cable operator sending shares in both firms sharply higher. >> $1 billion on the line for general motors as the auto maker looks to settle a criminal case over the ignition switch

scandal. >> after a three hour marathon debate carly fiorina breaks away from the pack as she goes head to head with republican rival donald trump calling him out on his comments over her looks. >> i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. coming up on the show, a powerful earthquake shakes chile. we watch for after shocks as 1 million people are forced to flee their homes. >> why did the firm take such a big gamble on shale? >> oracle sinks on disappointing sales and currency head winds but are there any bright spots?

>> let's check in on u.s. futures and what they're indicating and the s&p 500. declines being priced in of close to 2 points down. the dow jones industrial flat and the nasdaq we're looking at indications for a higher start of around 4 points or so and really everyone is hanging around waiting on the sidelines to see what janet yellen and the federal reserve will be doing. let's check in on the u.s. yield curve because we did have some movement when it comes to the yield curve on the short end and also the long end of the curve. highly sensitive of course. we do have the yields boost up to their highest since april 2011 so we're looking at a 4.5 year high for the two year treasury yields. 10 year note also moving up as well. we had the 10 year note telling

us up even inching closer now to 2.3%. and also a boost up 33%. we have the bond king joining us later on. he likes u.s. treasury bonds now better than a month ago. he tells reuters that this is because yield versus moved higher in recent weeks. he'll be on fast money halftime report today in a exclusive cnbc interview which comes your way, 12:30 p.m. eastern time. let's take a closer look at this fed rate decision. will they or won't they? heading into that vote later on today there's a dovish slant around the fomc table. >> the only hawk is jeffrey lacquer. stanley fisher, dennis lockhart

and jon williams as well. in the dovish camp, janet yellen, william dudly and charles evans. cnbc has been speaking to the federal reserve presidents and their views on monetary policy. >> my preference is that we don't have the most telegraphed decisions as in 2004. data dependence is what we should be doing. >> from my perspective at this moment the decision to begin the normalization process at the september fomc meeting less compelling than a few weeks ago. >> i have been talking about the normalization of rates for sometime. this week's events complicate the picture but i think it's too soon to say it fundamentally changes that picture.

>> the economy is returning to normal. we're not sure we're there yet. >> we're ahead of the fed decision. xetra dax just a touch higher but a little bit of weakness elsewhere. big deal in the cable space with altice and friends buying cablevision. asian markets were in rally mode ahead of the fed. nikkei up, shanghai down. all eyes on the fed and that also applies to commodities. we're seeing wti and brent crude pulling back from yesterday's very elevated levels. 4945 for brent crude. yesterday we saw the 6% spike in crude on the back of the eia data showing the largest draw

down since february 13. >> let's move on and talk more about the fed raising rate nous would be a mistake. that's the warning from deutsche bank which sees equities corrections by 5 to 8% when they start hiking. they prefer european to u.s. stocks when normalization continues. particularly banks, utilities and insurance. let's talk more. >> thank you for joining us. we had volatility in equity markets recently and we're approaching the fed decision. are those two factors linked? >> well, absolutely. i think the fed has to be thinking about what's happened in the equity markets recently and starting to think really about this global slow down that we're seeing in terms of economic growth and the concern

is the slow down and decline in the u.s. economy. our basic view is the fed is heading into this decision very cautiously. >> but should they be taking note of global volatility in equity markets or should they ignore that? >> no, i think the volatility abroad outside of the united states is what's happening in places like china and other emerging markets and the fed is paying close attention to that as well. our basic view is the fed is coming into this decision thinking about the possibility here of taking at least another month to correct data points before they consider raising rates. >> they're going to hike rates at some point this year. possibly in december. looking at the president and the old cycles stocks usually fall about 7% when they make that

move in the two months following. is that going to happen this time around? >> well, i wouldn't be surprised. when we look at -- certainly the u.s. bank stock, we have had obviously a massive run here with a relatively modest pull back more recently so it's not outside of the realm of possibilities to see a -- some kind of minor correction over the past couple of months. we focus on the fun in the financial service sector and banks in particular which are levered to rising interest rates. it will be interesting to see how that sector performs. and that's going to be positive for that space but for the broader u.s. equity market there's more down side risk than upside potential at this point. >> it isn't possible to gauge the market reaction because it's been nine years since we've seen

the last hike. >> many traders haven't even traded an environment with a tightening cycle. do you think everyone is staying on the sidelines? >> there is a little bit more complexity relating to even small increases in the fed funds rate so one of the things we think about here is this issue of are we going to see a small increase and then nothing? the bigger question in my mind isn't whether or not we're going to get an increase this year. the bigger question is what are we going to see in the first half of next year? a lot of folks are thinking one and done. that's not going to be significant enough to really move the market in a big way. certainly not higher. >> thank you for your time.

chief investment officer at blue stones financials institutions fund. >> cnbc will bring you the decision and the press conference live at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. >> a massive earthquake struck chlie. at least five people are dead and tsunami waves caused flooding in some towns. it was felt in argentina on the other side of the continent. tsunami advisories are issued for hawaii and southern and central california meaning dangerous currencies could pose a threat for anyone at or near the water. >> next, still to come, selling high. we'll give you all the details of the blockbuster cablevision sale right after this short break. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in.

cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances.

i was going to the library to do my homework. it was a little bit of a walk to get to the bus stop. i had to wait in line to use the computer.

took a lot of juggling to keep it all together. what's possible when you have high-speed internet at home? the library never closes. it makes it so much better to do homework when you're at home. internet essentials from comcast. helping to bridge the digital divide. european cable tv group altice making another big push. they agreed to buy up cablevision for $17.7 billion and this deal includes a lot of debt. this move has also long been rumored. altice is controlled by the french telecoms mobile. he'll pay $34.90 a piece which

is a 22% premium to the closing price on wednesday. this deal will create a number four u.s. cable provider and take a look at the share price. cablevision up 19%. altice also gaining. not as much as we saw an hour ago but altice they have been aggressive in going out to increase their market share in the u.s. and also paying $23. >> that was a huge deal last year and what was so specific about that deal is that it was the biggest junk offering ever. so they pulled that off without a hitch at all but you have to wonder to what extent they could repeat that given that rates are rising. i had a discussion with the ceo two or three weeks ago and i asked him about leverage going forward. some of the rating agencies are becoming more concerned about

the leverage. he said it's not a problem for us at all. so really interesting to see that renewed deal. >> absolutely. i think so much consolidation in u.s. cable and fix line but across the telecom space with the mobile in europe and lots of mooted deals and some of them involve content makers and television companies and it's all about getting bigger in that space now. >> lost no carter communications in trying to buy up the rest of time warner cable. they have a lot of money at stake, don they? >> they do, indeed. it's not the only merger story today. let's have a look at some of the other big m&a news. australian regulators have thrown shales acquisition of bg group in doubt. the watchdog has concerns that the deal that would be the energy sector's biggest takeover in more than a decade could harm consumers by limiting the supply of gas to the domestic market and increasing prices.

as a result it's delays a final at the situation on the bid until november. shell is hoping to complete the deal by the first quarter of next year. >> the u.s. justice department won't challenge expedia's purchase of orbitz. the agency says the deal won't harm competition and there's no evidence it will result in new charges being imposed on consumers. it will leave them in control of most of the third party travel websites in the umt .s. >> apple bought mapsense. it was founded by a former engineer at one of silicon valley's most valuable private companies. it will allow them to get a huge amount of information created by smartphones, connected cars and other web enabled devices. it has been used to map credit card fraud and even building

dimensions. let's have a look at price action in apple so far in german trade today up one quarter of a percent. >> as we head into break, here are your headlines this morning. u.s. futures are mixed as the clock ticks down to a fed decision. former hp ceo carly fiorina seizes the spotlight in the second republican debate and altice swoops in on cablevision in a $17.7 billion deal.

>> the top 11 republican presidential candidates squared off in their second debate at the ronald reagan library. the gop hopefuls discussing a range of topics as well as campaign funding and special interests. jeb bush hitting back at donald trump over claims his policies are influenced by donors. >> the one guy that had some special interests that i know of that tried to get me to change my views on something that was generous and gave me money was donald trump. he wanted casino gambling in florida. >> yes you did. you wanted it and you didn't get it. i was opposed to casino gambling, before, during and after. >> i promise, if i wanted it, i

would have gotten it. >> not even possible. >> i know my people. >> trump and former hp ceo carly fiorina were involved in the most talked about moment of the night when fiorina was asked to respond to comments the media mogul made about her face. >> it's interesting to me mr. trump said that he heard mr. bush very clearly and what mr. bush said. i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. [ applause ] >> i think she's got a beautiful face and i think she's a beautiful woman. >> but there's one light hearted moment of unity when bush referencing trump's previous comments that he lacked energy revealed his preferred secret service code name. >> ever ready, it's very high

energy, donald. >> okay. let's talk about the gop debate and joining us now we have former white house deputy press secretary live from washington d.c. hi. former director of the republican national committee joining us from boston. so your boy picking up the energy last night. you're a bush supporter but the night a lot of people agree belonged to carly fiorina. >> it really did. everyone knew she was going to have the opportunity to response to trump's comments about her in the rolling stone article and really she nailed it. she had a good performance all the way around in what was not just a very big debate in term of the number of candidates but a very long debate. nearly a 3 hour debate and

that's difficult for a lot of candidates to stay on top of their rhetoric and the opportunities that will come to them over that period. she did well in a range of topics and you'll see that reflected after the debate. >> what about the trump show? people expect the antics and entertainment and his poll numbers boosted up after the first republican debate. what about this time around. >> i think we'll see them plateau or decrease a little bit. we saw candidates laying gloves on trump for the first time. we've seen them take shots at trump but it's been the same kind of name calling he revels in. we also saw jeb bush be aggressive on him and other candidates be aggressive on him and when asked about specific policy proposals we saw that trump didn't have a lot of answers. not only does the emperor not

have any clothes but he doesn't have any answers either. >> we briefly touched on trump, fiorina and bush. outside of those three, who did the best for you after that? >> i thought rubio. he could have used a lot more camera time and more attention from the moderators but i thought he made the most of the opportunities that he had. he continues to be fairly detailed in his responses. trump's answer to a lot of questions was to say i'll hire great people and that will take care of it. the other candidates and rubio in particular did a good job of speaking very detailed and with passion about actual issues. i thought rubio did really well. carson continues to do his thing which is to be very calm and measured in his responses. they seem to like that from him. >> doug, question for you but

essentially for both of you. also for tony. to what extent will hillary clinton be more worried about the debate yesterday? first she said she's not going to watch it and then she live tweeted during it. what is she going to be worried about here? >> she was against the debate before she was for the debate. if i'm hillary clinton and i'm in her campaign what i'm nervous about is seeing republican candidates really connect on issues whether it's carly fiorina, marco rubio, jeb bush, what they did well was not only go on the attack against trump but they connected on the issues and connected with specifics. that's something lacking thus far as we get in the post labor day period it tends to be when voters focus more on issues and that's what some of the candidates addressed well last night and if i'm the hilary campaign that's part of what makes me nervous. >> tony. >> yeah, se has some time before she has to really worry about it but she feels like she should be

focussing on her issues right now but she has a lot of self-inflicted wounds she's dealing with. the e-mail issue continues to plague her and the rise of bernie sanders. so she has bigger concerns than the republican debate but she is missing the opportunity to respond to some of the republican attacks. >> doug, tony, one more question for you. >> i'd say very quickly that one -- >> go ahead, you can finish your thought. >> one thing that hillary clinton does have going for her is republican versus spent so much time fighting with each other, so much time on the donald trump side show that, in fact, our candidates who would normally go after hillary clinton nonstop in a debate like this are really going after each other instead of focussing their attacks where they belong which is on hillary clinton and the obama administration. something that carly fiorina and marco rubio did well last night. >> all right. the republican nomination, who is it going to be? fiorina with a strong hand. is she going to somehow become the obama this year?

>> i think we need some candidates actually to drop out of this race before we see any people really come through. candidates like huckabee. it's hard to see whether walker can stay in the race much longer. we need to get the numbers smaller, first. >> doug, quickly. >> yeah, we're so far out. the iowa caucus is six months away. it doesn't tell us who the nominee is but scott walker has to figure out a course correction or his problem is one that's exitential. >> thank you for your time. it's only going to get more interesting from here.

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across america have benefitted. internet essentials is going to transform the lives of families. i see myself as maybe an entrepreneur. internet essentials from comcast. helping to bridge the digital divide. welcome to worldwide exchange. i'm susan lee. >> i'm wilfred frost. here are your headlines from around the world. >> the wait is almost over. u.s. futures are flirting with the flat line ahead of the rate decision which could mark the first hike in almost a decade. >> altice buys cablevision in a $17.7 billion deal that creates the fourth largest u.s. cable operator sending shares sharply higher. >> $1 billion on the line for gm as the auto maker looks to

settle a criminal case over the ignition switch scandal. >> after a three hour marathon debate carly fiorina breaks away from the pack as she goes head to head over republican prooifl donald trump calling him out on his comments on her looks. >> women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. >> good thursday morning. thank you for joining us on the program today. let's check in on how markets are fairing ahead of what -- that's happening later on today? >> lunch? no, dinner. >> other things. >> something like that. >> yeah. okay. let's check in on u.s. futures a head of the fed rate decision of cour course. we did see two days of gains. we're looking at declines here of three points or so for the

s&p, dow jones industrials pricing in delines of sclines o points. that tells us pretty much that ser everyone is waiting and watching. let's check in on the yield curve. serge wat everyone is watching for the federal reserve. we did have a shift out on the yield curve on the short and long part of the curve yesterday. the two year notes up to 80 basis points. yields as highest as april 2011 and they're most sensitive to what the federal reserve might be doing. ten year yield also boosted up to 2.25 and even the 30 year yields we went above 300 basis points. let's also check in on commodities because we had this interesting move in oil pricing last night as well.

brent also falling at similar levels and we're not really going anywhere. 11.18 an ounce and silver on a bit of a rally as of late. >> i don't think there's anything that hasn't been discussed about today's fed meeting but something has been underappreciated and that's the level we have been seeing. there was none at the last meeting but maybe lacquer has been very hawkish. or maybe it will be evans. which ever way the vote goes. >> exactly. there will be certainly criticism within it and as everyone has rightfully pointed out the focus will come down to the press conference and the sentiment that we get out of that for how they're all feeling at the moment. regardless of what the decision is. i'm now thinking, you know, we've got employment growth. we've got wage growth. we've got gdp growth and a bit

of inflation and i just think all of that considered, given that the real volatility we saw in global markets was now a good few weeks behind us i think we'll see a little bit of a hike today. >> what do you make of the cpi number yesterday? that was the first decline in seven months. you can't ignore that can you? >> sure. all in all we can't pick out any one short-term. >> the trends have been strong. >> you're in the minority. 21% probability of a hike today. we also heard from lloyd, would he do it? he said if it was me i wouldn't do it. stlel to unleash another round of quantitative easing. you say it's in the minority and it probably is but look at the bond markets. we've seen yields tick up there on the short end so i think people are warming up to it. three weeks ago september was

suddenly off the table. >> there's a probability of a rate hike at the end of this year so a lot of people are probably pricing that into december right now rather than september and tomorrow and very thin trading. fair point. >> let's talk about how it could impact banking stocks. compelling value at current prices. that's the verdict of our next guest. his call comes ahead of a potential fed rate rise which is predicted to have a big effect on financial. joining us live is banking analyst at drexel hamilton. a positive or negative effect because on the one hand you've got a better interest margin. on the other hand, potential losses on the bond book. >> well for most of the large banks an increase in the fed funds rate would be positive. bank of america is certainly the most positively leveraged to slightly higher rates but jp

morgan and city would benefit. there would be some impact on the bond portfolios but in terms of net interest income certainly having the fed funds rate higher would be a clear benefit. >> but david, it's not positive for those banks immediately, is it? i get that a rising rate environment over the medium term with growth and everything else that should come with it, i can see how that's positive, particularly for the retail part of their banks but for the short-term couldn't this cause volatility? wouldn't they be concerned about that? >> dpen, tagain, the benefit is than whatever impact there is in terms of portfolio volatility. >> it's clear that they would benefit from a rise in rates but they would certainly benefit from a rise and the other thing is the greatest benefit come with the first 1 or 2 rate hikes. >> you mentioned bank of

america, the large banks that you think will benefit from a rate hike. what are your other preferences? particularly in the small players. are they set to benefit from a rate hike too? >> certainly cit group would benefit from higher rates. regions would benefit but the biggest beneficiaries would be bank of america, citigroup and jp morgan. >> let's say they hike interest rates and mortgage rates go up as well. do you think the demand might be impacting the bottom line for some lenders? >> obviously i don't think a 25 point basis move and however that translated into mortgage rates would have much of an impact on the demand for mortgages. one of the things that, just a different point i would make is i think the market is prepared for this. financial stocks are up 4% over the last five trading days. you pointed out that the two

year treasury yield is now up to 81 basis points so i think that the stock and the bond markets actually have been pricing in a fed move today even if the fed funds futures markets haven't been as positive in terms of a rate rise. >> with rising rates there's also higher concern about nonperforming loans and this ties in with what we're seeing in the energy space. this is going to exacerbate the picture for many of the energy names. which of the banks is most exposed? wells fargo has a big energy loan book. >> well, actually, all of the large banks are very diversif d diversified. they all have some component of energy loans and they have been reserving for energy credits that are on the edge. but energy exposure overall is well less than 10% in most of the large banks it's more in the 3 to 5% range.

>> all right. dav david. >> i don't think that's going to be a big impact. >> point noted. thank you so much for that. >> do stay with cnbc throughout the day. we'll bring it to you live and the following press conference with janet yellen. the best place to be here live on cnbc. >> let's take a look at some of today's top corporate stories. u.s. prosecutors are set to announce a settlement with general motors. resolving a criminal investigation as to whether the auto maker hid the deadly problems associated with faulty ignition switches. last year they recalled 2.6 million cars globally to repair switches linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries. repo reports say they'll pay a fine as part of a agreement. they're lower by around .5%.

>> in other news oracles first quarter revenues fell further than expected missing forecasts in the third straight quarter. results were heard by the strong dollar and continued to decline in sales of software licenses. revenue could fall this quarter. like it's rivals the company has been shifted into the cloud but analysts say the cloud operations aren't growing quickly enough to offset declines in software business. frankfurt is off by .3%. >> still to come, a transatlantic cable hook up as altice reaches across the bond to buy u.s. provider cablevision in what's already been a busy year of deals for the sectors. >> plus rumble in the reagan library as the dust settles after the second gop debate. we'll go to the scorecards and determine who came out on top. this is a great place to work. not because they have yoga meetings and a juice bar.

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geo political worries and maybe thin market conditions. >> yeah, indeed. i think, you know, if we look at that story on syria definitely had a big effect yesterday. a big, big bounce. i think it's very hard to call a bottom because there's so many demand and supply dynamic. it has been a perfect storm for them recently and the aspects that aren't related to financial market conditions. not the fundamental demand supply that has to be priced in at the moment. even if we talk more about the iron ores of this world. they're down 62% year to date. some of these have gone a little bit too far and once we flush out that fed decision and it's like by the fact i wonder if some of thelda have a bit of a bounce. maybe not oil so much but the others. >> the dollar will be rising. that means more pressure on oil

prices. so if we see a tightening cycle by the fed can't be good news for oil. >> no, that's a good point but that difference between the rumor and the fact, of course the strong dollar is slightly priced in china had a big impact as well particularly on iron ore and copper and it's a good indicator of how the marks have been effected. >> the company will carry out a debt cutting plan that will see it's key lenders take control. buying up samsung about four years ago for more than $7 billion. >> another mega deal in the cable and telecom sector has been signed, sealed and delivered and altice tries to buy cablevision. >> landon has all the details for us. >> good morning, striking a deal

today to acquire cablevision for a mix of cash and stock worth $17.7 billion including debt. they'll pay just under $35 a share. a 22% premium to cablevision's closing price on wednesday. altice managed to convince the owners that the family took part with the company even though they long said they wouldn't sale it will be financed with new and existing cash on cablevision and 3 billion in cash to altice. they have also agreed to buy up to a third of cablevision to help pay for the deal. cablevision was founded in 1973 by charles dolan. it's the number five u.s. cable provider with customers in new york, new jersey, and connecticut. the company generated 6.5 billion in revenue last year. the family will continue to own

amc networks and new york's madison square garden. they do have a high penetration rate in the region and faces competition from verizon's fios service. the ceo says the time is right if you nor ownership of cablevision and it's considerable assets. we believe they'll be truly worthy successors. altice which has been expanding in recent months will also become the owner of news 12 networks and newsday newspaper. it made it's first push into the market earlier this year bying southern link which operates in the south for $9 billion. at&t became the top paid provider in july when it closed it's purchase of directv. comcast, the parent of cnbc w k walked away due to concerns by

regulato regulators. >> back to you. >> thank you so much. let's get to the big cable broadcast last night. the republican presidential debate. the top 11 candidates squaring off in their second round at the ronald reagan library in california. the front runner donald trump taking center stage sparring with each and every candidate and flaunting his lead in the polls. but there was one light hearted moment of unity at least with jeb bush referencing trump's previous comments that he lacked energy and bush revealing his preferred secret service code name. >> ever ready. it's very high energy, donald. >> and you're going to love this one. while the republicans fought on cnn over on nbc hillary clinton was attempting to soften her image. appearing on the tonight show with jimmy fallon. the former secretary of state

suffered as her e-mail scandal rolls on as they dip however her campaign got a boost when she took a call on set from donald trump that had some advice for the former first lady. >> i'm confident americans will see i can deliver for them and they can count on me for them and their families. >> see, you sound like a robot, does not compute. you want to win, here's what you got to do, first, yell. i yell all the time. in fact, this phone isn't even plugged in, i'm just yelling. and you're hearing me, okay? next pick three things that everyone loves and say you hate them. watch. pup pis stupid. rainbows, total losers, all fo l

liage, tree puberty. are you writing all of this down. >> hold on. let me grab my pen. okay donald i got it. >> very well done by both of them. you have to wonder to what extent it's going to boost her poll ratings. >> i like that a lot. the real winner of last night was jimmy fallon. >> he was. >> clinton was probably having a better time than the rest of the republican candidates. as we head into a break, here's the headlines for you this morning. u.s. futures are mixed as the clock ticks down to a fed decision. former hp ceo seizing the spotlight in the second republican debate and altice swoops in on cablevision in a $17.7 billion deal.

>> it was a reasonable session in asian trade ahead of the fed decision today. japan in particular performed nicely up 1.4% although the likes of the shanghai composite did lose a little bit of steam. let's look at european markets because you would have no idea the fed meeting was coming judging by the performance so far this week in europe. strong again yesterday and this follows gains last week as well. we have just run out of steam a little bit today as you can see. mixed performance. germany just up. the ftse 100 just down. >> let's check in on u.s. futures and we're not pricing in much. the implied open for the s&p 500. maybe we're down three points or so coming off three straight sessions of gains. the dow jones industrial is looking at losses of four points

while the nasdaq is pricing in the implied open higher by 1.5 points or so. let's check in on the u.s. close. we're looking at two straight sessions of advances as we head into this federal reserve decision later on today. the dow jones industrials adding .8%. the s&p 500 saw 9 out of the 10 sector groups advances so we're up by similar margins as the dow and the nasdaq seeing gains of .5%. let's check in on the yield curve because we saw a shift out on the short and long end of the yield curve. i'm not sure what that's telling us as we're also looking at an advance in equities. the 30 year notes up over 3%. the two year yields i should point out very sensitive to what the monetary policy will be in the future. bouncing up to its highest in 4.5 years. okay. so jeff says he liked u.s. treasury bonds now more than he did about a month ago. he told reuters that this is

because yields moved higher in recent weeks. he'll be on fast money halftime report in an exclusive interview. >> let's have a look at the doves verses the hawks heading into today's decision. there's a dovish slant. the only out right hawk is jeffrey laquer. in the dovish camp of course sits janet yellen. in the weeks and months leading up to today cnbc is speaking to the fed presidents about their views on monetary policy. >> my preference is that we don't have it like we did in 2004. i do believe that the data dependence is what we should be doing. >> from my perspective at this moment the decision to begin the normalization process at the september fomc meeting seems less compelling to me than a few

weeks ago. >> i have been talking about the normalization of rates for sometime. this week's events complicate the picture but it's too soon to see the picture. and i think it's prepared to take that. >> the economy is returning to normal. we're not certain we're there yet. >> there is only one place to watch that all important decision. it's here on cnbc. 2:00 p.m. eastern time t. decision, the press conference, and all the reaction and analysis. stay with us throughout the day. but for worldwide exchange itself that's all we have time for. thanks for watching. >> u.s. squawk box coming your way next.

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>> overnight, it's official, europe's altice is buying cablevision for nearly 18 billion including debt and the gloves come off. republican presidential hopefuls squaring off at the reagan library last night. part policy, part personal attacks. no shortage of memorable moments. we'll have the highlights for you this thursday, september 17th, 2015 as squawk box begins right now.

>> good morning, everyone. welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we'll be talking market expectations as investors countdown to the big fed decision that could raise rates for the first time in nine years and we'll find out today. the nasdaq is slightly positive. everything from serious policy de