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tv   Squawk on the Street  CNBC  March 4, 2016 9:00am-11:01am EST

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who knows how it reacts to this. i think the political backdrop, at some point the political d p backdrop in this country, and what's happening, sooner or late their might seep into the equity markets. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> i'll see you on monday. we have a big show on monday. join us monday. "squawk on the street" is next. ♪ good friday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with sara eisen, simon hobbs and david faber. 242,000 is the jobs number for february. that's above expectations. revisions were up and wages stubbornly down. we'll talk about the market's
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reaction and what it means for rates. europe putting together some green arrows. 10-year 1.86 a one-month high. and in a few moments, meg whitman from hewlett-packard and the company's strong results. 242,000 is above expectations of about 200,000. wages weak. an annualized rate of 2.2. we were looking for 2.5. revisions added 30,000. wages, once again, the crux of this conversation. it's becoming a real puzzle, while everything else, labor force, reacts the way you want, wages do not. >> there's something for everyone in here. something for the bulls in the jobs growth and something for the bears in that wages are not growing along with jobs. manufacturing lost 16,000 jobs
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as we continue to wonder whether the manufacturing recession in this country has bottomed. that's not a good sign. obviously, carl, that 4.9% unemployment rate and the higher than expected job growth is good. that's why people are calling it a goldilocks number. the dollar strength ed on the report, treasuries sold off. the interpretation is solid number, maybe it means a higher probability that the fed could go. >> as far as many people were concerned would have to have a lot to softer position in the economy for them not to raise. that's what the economists would say. the fed's break even is 80,000 to 100,000 jobs. the three-month average is at 228,000. we had 30,000 revised up for the two previous months. overall the job growth, the wage growth was weak, you still have a bump of 12 cent rise in january which skews the figures. and bear in mind the beige book,
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if you believe in that snapshot of the economy was coming through suggesting there were difficulties in some states, but not all, in fightingfighting, f example, low-skilled labor. >> that fed meeting in a couple weeks. adp earlier in the week was strong, but the ism employment index at 49.7. not a clear-cut signal what jobs will do. making up for population, people coming in, pretty easy. as low as 75. >> the other good number in here, the u6 rate, which people look at as a broader measure of unemployment ticked down to 9.7. a lot of strategists say that's important for the fed. overall, if you look at this picture of the report, the stronger headlines will dominate the disappointing the breakdown, the wages and manufacturing.
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>> the main part of the economy, the services sector is looking robust. yesterday we had the survey data, not as bad as many people feared. you could argue wages are a leading indicator. if the wage book says you are having trouble hiring, that would feed down through raising wages. costco raising wages yesterday due to the state of the unemployment market. >> first we have the ecb and the boj to deal with next week. you have this idea that diverging monetary policy has been hurting the u.s. economy in the form of a stronger dollar. costco mentioned stronger dollar. the reason we're seeing this pain in manufacturing and industrials is the strong dollar. whether the federal reserve
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thinks that or not. they don't seem afraid, but it has had an impact on the economy. if the ecb moves further into negative territory -- >> but it won't, will it? >> it will do something. >> it needs divergent monetary policy. the ecb is less likely to cut further into economy. if you're concerned about negative interest rates, the impact on the banks and what is going on in the bond market, this is a normalizing signal which we should welcome over the medium term. >> all right. >> silence. tumble weed. >> speaking of the strong dollar, that has had an impact on hewlett-packard enterprises. shares xceeded estimates on the top and bottom line.
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ceo meg whitman, who was the republican candidate for governor of california in 2010, i would remind everybody, joins me now. we will talk about your statements from sunday, ms. whitman. first to the quarter itself. as i said, the first report since the split. does this quarter in a way justify. many things you spoke about the virtues of splitting, including the focus of it no longer being a part of the larger organization? >> i think the strength of the quarter does underlie the premise of the split, which is two different businesses with more focus from senior leaders, more focus on customers. it's the first proof point that there was the right thing do for hp inc. and hewlett-packard enterprise. we feel like we're firing on all cylinders. >> when you say the value of focus, it's something we spoke
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briefly about yesterday what does that mean? does that translate into what? when it comes down to selling more servers, more services. >> let me give you a personal example. i went from running six different businesses to focusing on three businesses. i spend the same amount of time with customers, it's just all talking about hewlett-packard enterprises services and software. people feel lick they get more attention. the senior leadership treatment doing everything they can so to support this. when the market is moving this fast, i've never seen technology move this fast in my entire career, that able to be fast, nimble, agile, to make decisions much more quickly in the heat of the battle in the market is a big plus for a smaller, more agile company. >> how should we go about measuring the ability or the agility you're talking about?
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in the enterprise upitself, in looking at what is the growth engine for your company? >> that's certainly part of it enterprising group, which is our cloud business, is actually the growth engine of the company. look for a robust product road map over the next 12 months. we have incredible products coming down the pike. look for enterprise services to stabilize revenue and increase margin as they bring more strategic enterprise services to bear. this quarter, our apps business grew nicely. that's a much more profitable part of our enterprise services business. software is continuing to make real progress, if you adjust for m&a, it grew 1% in constant currency. they're in the middle of a big transition. you'll see that. you'll see changes in how we work with the channel. we're just more focused, i think more energized as a company. it's great fun to be here.
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>> great fun? really? was it not great fun over the last few years? >> well, it was fun. but it was a fair amount of heavy lifting. we faced a number of difficulties going back to the fall of 2011. i feel like i turned the corner in both companies. >> you take any opportunity to take shots at dell and emc, they are and were a come ppetitor fop inc. you are seeing signs you're making inroads in terms of the same customer base and taking share? >> absolutely. in the last quarter we had about 107 deals that we actually took from dell emc, whether they were partner deals or customers. we're capitalizing on the fact there's a lot of integration challenges and a lot of changes going on at dell emc. i think we got another good year
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and a half two years to capitalize on that. these two companies have taken entirely different strategies. we chose to get smaller in the context of that rapidly evolving market. they chose to get bigger. we chose to de-lever the company. we are investing in leaning in to new technology, they're doubling down on old technology. a big shareholder of this company is a private equity company. so we're investing in r & d. two different strategies, i like our strategy. >> doubling down on technology, i'm sure they were dispute that. >> i'm not sure they would. doubling down on older storage products, service projects, then they have to get cost out of that company so they can pare
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down the debt. >> there is a belief that you also will need to pursue m&a. you have as much as 13 billion of finance receivables and leases on your balance sheet, which could be an asset that you sell to a bank or securityize. do you need to pursue an m&a opportunity as it relates to your cloud strategy? >> we have a balanced approach to our capital allocation strategy. it's a returns based strategy. we're doing this to add value to shareholders. the first thing is we did buy back a lot of shares in q1. as these stock prices, this is one of the best returns we can get for shareholders. we also invested in r & d,
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organic, we have a lot of products coming down the fike. we're reaping the dbenefits of having increased r & d. and we will do m&a. we bought aruba. we're all in for doing those kinds of acquisitions, and we have made smaller acquisitions in the telco space. i have to say, what i learned at this company is that a dollar invested in organic innovation is about the best dollar i can invest. lower total coast costs of owne simplicity of operating our storage product as opposed to
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competitors who have different arc tech sures because they acquired those products overtime. in the near-term, while acquisitions, you can buy growth, you end up with a bit of a frankenstein on the back end if you don't change around the architecture. >> you said you will devote 100% of your free cash flow to capital returns, largely in the form of buybacks. why is now a good time to be buying back the stock? >> because the stock price is so low. i thought there was some question about how the two companies would do. from a return space perspective, that's the right thing do for shareholders. it doesn't mean we won't do an acquisition or two, but right now, this year, buying -- using up about 100% of our free cash flow to buy back shares is the right thing do. and we'll have some cash coming in from the sale of half of our chinese business to xinhua
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university, and use the vast majority of that to buy back sales. >> meg, i mentioned in the outset, you ran for governor in 2010. you also chose on sunday to be one of the few corporate leaders out there to come out strongly against donald trump. you did it specifically in response to governor christie's endorsement of trump. you had been a co-finance chair of chris christie's campaign. you said his endorsement is an astonishing display of political opportunism. you went on to say donald trump is unfit to be president. he is a dangerous demagogue who plays to our worst fears. what if there's someone out there who says i won't do business with hewlett-packard if
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its coe doesn't with who i like. we needed to stand up, many people are standing up against who i think would be a dangerous president. i do think trump is a dangerous demagogue. look at comments about women, muslims, disabled people. reporters. basically anyone who doesn't agree with him he attacks them viciously. since your audience is a business audience, let's look at his plans for the economy. his 35% plan to put on a 35% tariff or goods imported into the united states from mexico or china we sink this company into recession. >> why do you think that? >> it would penalize global companies who are trying to be competitive globally. many of these companies have many workers still in america. and it would hurt those
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companies. think about his tax plan and his refusal to reform the entitlements program that would increase the national deficit and the national debt, which is not good for american families and workers. taking alone his economic policies, i think they're dangerous, along with the statements he's made. >> his, i think, contention will be i will keep more jobs here as a result of keeping more capital here and the fact that we'll make more foreign products expensive. you cut a lot of jobs over the last few years, meg. you had to do it at hp to make it competitive. many would say you're part of the problem in terms of not rewarding the american worker. >> no, i think he's just wrong on that. we have to create companies in the united states that are c
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are competitive globally. we cannot be in a trade war. if he were to increase tariffs by 35%. what does that do? makes goods coming into the united states more pricey for american consumers. if businesses are buying those goods, it's more expensive for business. i don't think he fully grasps the law of unintended consequences. there are no silver bullets or quick fixes to our problems in the united states. it will take someone who is thoughtful, who has experience, the temperament to lead this country in a way that can united the people of this country to be great again. i know there's a person or who out there who could do this. i just don't believe it's donald trump. >> you mentioned his tag line, to be great again. i wonder when you go overseas visiting with clients, as you know you do. you referenced you're doing more
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of it now. is there concern on their part? is there ginned up concern, or should they pull back in some way should he be nominated or president? >> there's concern out there. i've been in europe twice since the beginning of the year for a week each. virtually every expecutive from europe, almost every first question is what is going on over there? are you really going to nominate donald trump. >> what do you say to them when you ask them that? >> i say it's incredibly surprising the faction he's gotten. my belief is that if the american people could understand his record, understand what he stands for, who he is, understand the reality of his business success, which is not strong, actually we will not nominate donald trump. to your point there is tremendous concern over there in
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all parts of europe about what will happen because they rely on american leadership. they rely on someone who can be present on the national stage in a way that represents the best of america. >> i can combine your results and this conversation. you had a good quarter in china. you had strength there. on the call you said that could change at any minute. i have no idea if that has something to do with mr. trump or something else. on both fronts, do you think there will be an impact on china. >> it's hard to know. we remain confident we'll close our deal there. our business is very strong. china is very volatile, in my view, so i don't think you could know what's happening next. i don't think that's a related to a trump presidency.
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>> trump could be a nominee for the republican party. you ran for governor of california. if he's the nominee, are you going to vote for hillary clinton? >> so, i won't be supporting donald trump. but my focus right now is how can we get the message out to the american people about who donald trump it, his real record in business, what implications of his policies would be. just, you know, underscore is this the kind of temperament that we wanted in a leader. >> you're a part of that party that would seem to me to almost be halved off from whatever part of the party will be supporting mr. trump, a sizable part. if he is nominated, do you feel like you have to find a new home or create a new home? >> let's take one step at a time here. let's see what happens in the next round of primaries here. let's see whether a lot of the conversation going on now will make a difference.
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just yesterday, 65 or 70 former national security advisers signed a letter saying they think trump would be dangerous for the world. that may have a significant impact on folks. let's see where this goes. we'll make decisions down the road later. >> you won't say you'll vote for hillary clinton? >> i haven't made that decision yet. let's -- >> but you might. >> let's see what happens. i won't be voting for donald trump, put it that way. >> all right. meg whitman, didn't expect to us have this much of that kind of a conversation. appreciate your willingness to come on. when we come back, full coverage of that jobs number. we'll talk to goldman's cheech economist, jan hatzius with an exclusive interview. also ahead -- >> he hit my hands. nobody hit my hands. look at those hands.
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are they small hands? and he referred to my hands, if they're small, something else must be small. i guarantee you there's no problem. >> a lot more reaction to last night's contentious and sometimes bizarre debate all morning on cnbc. another look at the pro market. the dow is trying for its first four-day win since october. and the third weekly gain. that's the first of the year. sales event is on. with extraordinary offers on the exhilarating is... the thrilling gs... and the powerful rc coupe. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection. steve, other than making i'm here atme move stuff,rade trader offices. what are you working on? let me show you. okay. our thinkorswim trading platform aggregates all the options data you need in one place and lets you visualize that information for any options series. okay, cool. hang on a second. you can even see the anticipated
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we are heading for a third week of gains on wall street. futures are indicating a higher start. a strong jobs report, more than 200,000 jobs created in february, beating the estimates, 4.9% unemployment rate. lower wage growth. we'll talk to the labor secretary of the united states and hit the opening bell when we come back.
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you're watching cnbc's "squawk on the street." the opening bell in just under two minutes. the markets respond primarily to the jobs number, which was above expectations. 242,000, estimate around 200. no wage growth will add some color to the conversation. also responding to the gop debate last night where once again competitiveness, wages,
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tariffs, all currencies all part of the conversation layered in some of the optics of the size of candidates hands, yoga and cupcakes. >> yeah. beyond the size, which you have to love the "new york post" story today. my favorite part is when donald trump talked about currency de-valuations, he said mexico, china and japan doing unbelievable currency de-valuations. he has a point that the dollar has strengthened against other currencies like china, japan, and mexico, though what they're doing the u.s. has done before in terms of quantitative easing. so he has a point and it resonates with the trump voters and trump fans. the dollar today initially strengthened, now weakened. >> brazil is in focus.
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as the former president has been detained by authorities. china this week, the national peoples congress, they'll roll out economic targets for the year. talk potentially about fiscal stimulus. and we'll keep our eye on s&p 2,000, which is not far away. there's the opening bell. a look at the s&p at the bottom of the screen. at the big boert, man nshgboardd at the nasdaq, izea. staples on the docket. 26 cents, misses by a couple cents after a week where there was varied reaction. that was a disappointment by staples. the big thing here is the results of the office depot/office max merger. that will determine the catalyst for staples. if that merger is not --
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>> staples odp merger. >> if the merger is not -- >> it's staples and odp getting together. >> right. but staples has not had any good outcome since that merger was released for eight straight quarters. >> the old one, right. the key is they're going to court against the u.s. government which is challenging their ability to merge. that will be the key consideration, no doubt, for staples and for office depot. i think we're talking may, possibly? >> 2 1/2 months she said in the note. >> when we will get to court there. should be very interesting. doesn't look like a settle. but you never know. >> in the meantime, disappointing results on the top and bottom. the other stock we're watching, chipotle. there was a survey, a lot of team talking about it, shows consumers are more willing to eat there ever since the november e. coli outbreak. the note says it appears sentiment bottomed in january.
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they looked at 800 adults since that november 15th period. the stock has been down about 18% since then. but it's been rising this year. investors may be out front in that. it's up about 9%. >> the big news this morning, the better than expected employment report, which makes it more likely they'll raise interest rates. bank of america moving higher. it's rebounding. the banks have been a major feature over recent times. the higher interest rates, higher interest margin would be good for them. yesterday jamie morgan being relatively upbeat about the real economy. only about 15% to 20% of the economy is actually quoted on the stock market. he was effectively pointing to the rest of that as doing relatively well. h & r block is a top loser today. the top loser in the s&p 500. it's been downgraded to market perform from outperform. the target there is cut to $32
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from $40. h & r block is the biggest loser. we ought to mention the chinese controlled amc entertainment is buying carmike cinemas. carmike is surging. for $750 million in cash and the assumption of carmike's debt. it would create the largest theater chain in the united states and push amc further into the economy, led by china's richest man. they eventually bought legendary entertainment. the guy at the helm of this is fascinating. he will join us on "squawk on the street" later, adam aron. he sold starwood to marriott. and sold amc to the chinese. he will join us in about an hour.
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if cramer would here, he would probably want to talk broadcom. results better than expected on the avago business. that's one reason that the nasdaq is out of correction on an intraday basis. having lagged the other indices. the other big performer this week is the russell 2,000. up almost 4% for the week. that's a good sign for the u.s. economy. also the transports will be worth watching. they, too, outperformed in yesterday's secondssion. a lot of people were look at the doom and the gloom, now that weir getting the better economic data, the u.s. jobs report is the headline number in there, we'll see how that does. >> david, hp the top gainer, up 11%. hp enterprise. >> in the wake of better than expected numbers.
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41 cents on the bottom line. that's above the 40 cent estimate. the revenue better than expected. you heard meg whitman talk about the prospects for the company. her assertion that their ability to focus is creating value already. they will be buying back a lot of stock. i thought that was interesting. their decision that they believe the stock is cheap even here. they will be voting 100% of their free cash flow to that, and the $2 billion in provides from that deal that will conclude in china. it was expected to conclude earlier with xinhua university, but now expected for a may sale. it was still a down revenue number, when -- excuse me. it was a down revenue number, but when you adjust for currency it was up. they had three consecutive
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quarters of up revenues at this company. they do face an easier back half of the year, as you know, the dollar will have been strong against the euro in particular and other currencies in the second half of this year for over a year. they do see a 3% impact still from currency, most of that taking place in the first half of 2016. >> the best part is when they railed on trump. you're right, there have not been many ceos that have done that. >> there haven't. they're always worried about alienating their customers. she is not in the consumer business, she was when hp inc. was selling printers, but it's still a rarity to see somebody running a company come out against a candidate. >> that would cut to the heart of a major international tech manufacturer that trump would put on a 30%, 35% tax.
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if trump were here, he would say you were supporting christie. >> utx getting thrown into the conversation yesterday, referring to carrier air conditioners, and a 35% potential tariff. utx unchanged on the day. the jobs numbers the main story. labor department says 242,000 jobs were added in february. unemployment rate holds steady. joining us from the white house is secretary tom pereperez. how are you? >> tom is better. >> we're looking for why wages are so sticky. some saying retail, hospitality, lower paying jobs. what's your answer? >> last month's wage growth noub was the seco number was the second highest wage growth number on record. while we would have loved to
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have continue that, that was a remarkable number. we didn't expect to beat it, so you see a bit of a correction here. when you look at the numbers, over half the job creation was in three very well paying sectors, education and health, construction and business professional services. over the last year, business professional services, educatio drivers. i would have loved to have had last month's number, that was probably an unrealistic expectation. we're continuing to fight for investments in skills that help people raise their wage. we continue to fight for the minimum wage increases. immigration reform, all this makes wages go up. the infrastructure bill, you're seeing good movement in construction. those are good, middle class jobs. as i look forward, i see an
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economy that continues to be resilient. the labor force participation is not something you can overstate. we're at the highest rate we've been at in over a year. people are bullish about job searches, getting into the market and getting jobs. that's good for america. not only that you see consumer confidence evidenced in car sales. home sales, people going out to restaurants. people don't go to restaurants if they don't have that disposable income. so you see all these bellwethers of consumer confidence. you have the eyore caucus that says everything is bad, but what we see is that american businesses are resilient, american workers are resilient and we're continuing to move in the right direction with undeniable unfinished business but a lot to do.
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>> what would you say to some of the big manufacturing and industrial firms that are not feeling the recovery that you just described? 16,000 jobs lost in february in manufacturing? >> sure. manufacturing continues to confront the duel headwinds of the strong dollar and the global economic downturn. when you look at manufacturering over the last six years, it's been going well. at the moment, with those two global headwinds, that's an undeniable challenge. we continue to monitor that. we're continuing to work with manufacturers to make sure folks have the skills to compete for the jobs that can continue to be grown in that sector. that is certainly something that is undeniable at the moment. when luyou look at the totalityf what's going on around the world, this american economy is
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incredibly resilient. what we see with 242,000 jobs, this is the best two-year stretch since the late '90s. we've now hit, again, 72 months of private sector job growth. six years in a row. yesterday we released the first-time claims for unemployment. again, 52 weeks in a row under 300,000. that's the longest streak since 1973. first time claims for unemployment and the jobs numbers are good well weathers of how the economy is doing. when you look at that, it shows really solid foundation. >> gop front-runner is once again talking about erecting a barrier to trade, tariffs, punishments against companies that move jobs overseas. what's the labor department's response to that. >> i think we ought to be building the expended tables of
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opportunity an inclusion rather than bigger walls. that's why we've been investing in skills. the president has been invested in building a trade regime that's fair and inclusive so we can continue to increase exports. you look at states like washington, the most trade-dependent state in the economy. they' their economic growth is very good because they've been able to figure out how to build an economy that's an export-dependent economy that builds good rawages. that's why we need to continue to help our manufacturers, we need to continue to build an economy that will create these good, middle class jobs like we've seen in washington state and other states that are trade dependent and doing well. >> mr. secretary, donald trump is speaking now in warren, michigan. the frustration you're seeing among voters, this wave of
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anti-establishment we've been seeing among voters for both parties, do you aattributes to the lack of progress on wage growth during the obama presidency? it has been the missing ingredient from the progress you've made in the labor market. >> i think it's important for people to understand where we were, where we've come and where we need to go. this president inherited the worst mess of our lifetime. 2 million jobs lost in the mont months before he got there. now six years straight of job growth all under leader mcconnell who said my number one goal is to make him a one-term president. you referenced michigan. if certain republicans had their way, the auto industry would be in the tank. the president's investment in the auto industry has paid dividends. when luke at where we are now versus where we were, we have
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made tremendous progress. we have to make sure that the pro prosperity we're seeing is shared prosperity. the irony of certain candidates is that they go after low wages, but then they say we don't need an increase in the minimum wage, or we should not have a minimum wage. >> right. >> we shouldn't have immigration we form. we shouldn't have investments in job training that can help people get the skills of tomorrow. >> right. >> there's a ranked hypocrisy to be blunt among those folks who say what are you doing about wages, when what they want do is create a gilded age, not a golden age. >> the problem, labor secretary, we're looking at donald trump at a live event here in a situation where he may not only win the gop nomination, he could be the next president of the united states. the way in which you're arguing to say the economy is resilient doesn't bear up to the fact that
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people win medals for winning, not for trying. there's a huge amount of anger on both sides of the political spectrum. my question to you would be, if eight years of your administration produces a trump victory, would you take some responsibility for that for having failed in the areas in which he was able to promise more? >> i totally reject the premise of your question. the american people are smart. they understand where we were, where we have come and where we will go. this is not a nation that simply wants to build walls. this is a nation that wants to break down barriers, make sure people are ladders of opportunity, make sure that everybody regardless of religion, where you came from have an opportunity to succeed. i have a lot of faith in the understanding of the american people about where we have been, where we are, and where we need
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go and who has been standing in the way of progress. >> mr. secretary, thank you for your time. always good to have you on jobs day. labor secretary tom perez joining us. s&p 1990 right now let's get to dom chu. >> it's stable right now. we talked about a little volatility early on in the session. we are seeing relatively stable markets right now. perhaps that's something the bulls and bears may want to rest on for a bit. let's look at the action on the equity side of things. if you look at the futures picture, that dip you're seeing in the first third of your screen that happened after the jobs number came out. we saw a bit of a relief rally, as things stabilized, now at the lows of the session so far on the future side about that. just about a 27-point drop at this point. we had seen a bit of a move against in some of these
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interest rate sensitive sectors. if you look at energy right now, it's taking a decided turn to the down side. financials holding steady, nat, maybe some people like to take a bit of a bullish stance on that. telecom utilities, those are taking more of a hit. that's because of the outlook for interest rates. if you look at the yields we've been watching all morning, the two--year yield, the ten-year note. relatively range bound, interest rate sensitive sectors will be a focus today as will the commodity trade. let's look at gold and crude, moving in inverse directions. crude oil down lower. gold up, i would point out that the move in gold prices has made
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a 20% move higher versus the guess lows. i guess some people would say gold is in a bull target now. let's head over to chicago and the bond pits with rick santelli. >> simon, i know you're not probably a huge football fan, especially in the years, in the early '90s. after listening to the labor secretary talk about the best numbers since the '90s, it is the buffalo bill dynamic. four times they were to the big show. job growth is terrific, it's a key ingredient, i don't know that bragging about being in the super bowl four times, that's the crux of the matter. we have a locomotive economy. there's as going to be aspects of it. even if it's winding down, it will go on and on and on. it's the biggest, the best, the strongest, the most diversified.
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you can't ignore the engine lights flashing? how many people have had the engine warning light on and driven for days, weeks, months. two-year chart of tens. lots of volatility around the right levels. let's look on that two-year. if you look at a chart starting around the beginning of december of last year, you'll see on the left side there's one spike there, it was at 88. that's resistance. as you look at the other charts i have, whether it's 160s and the 10s, or 190s in the tens, you have your resistance. dollar/yen, look at it year to date. trump wasn't right. the dollar is going up instead of down. he's right in principle. fluke at the chart beginning in early 2012. the japanese do want to de-value their currency, but in this upside down world they're seeing
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it cut as they try the devaluation. >> rick santelli in chicago. thanks. when we come back, an exclusive interview with hillary clinton at 4:00 on "closing bell." ♪ every auto insurance policy has a number. but not every insurance company understands the life behind it. ♪ those who have served our nation have earned the very best service in return. ♪ usaa. we know what it means to serve. get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life.
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less than a half hour into the trading session, and stocks pretty much unchanged. all industry groups in the s&p 500 are lower. financials were higher as of a few moments ago. utilities getting slammed. the dow down 18 points after the u.s. created 242,000 jobs in the month of february. much more on that jobs report when "squawk on the street" comes right back.
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so your business can get back to business. sounds like my ride's ready. don't get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. >> this campaign for the last year, donald trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks. he's done so to people sitting on the stage today. he's done so about people who are disabled. if there's anyone whoever deserved to be attacked that way, it's donald trump. >> i don't think the people of america are interested in a bunch of bickering school children. they're interested in solutions, not slogans. it's easier to say make things better. the question is do you understand the principles that made america great in the first place? >> later this morning we will
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talk about the debate last night and jan hatzius will give us his take on the jobs number today and what that means for the u.s. economy. when "squawk on the street" continues. there's a lot of places you never want to see "$7.95." [ beep ] but you'll be glad to see it here. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. if only the signs were as obvious when you trade. fidelity's active trader pro can help you find smarter entry and exit points and can help protect your potential profits. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be.
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- omg. you are so funny. in the time it took me to type that, if i were driving 55 miles an hour, i'd have driven the length of a football field blindly. not funny at all. don't text and drive. the more you know.
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good friday morning, welcome back to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with sara eisen, simon hobbs and david faber. stocks going for their fourth day in a row. haven't done that since the fall. some weakness at the hope despite the stronger jobs number. oil is on track for its third weekly gain. that would be the first since may of last year. we'll see if that gets done. >> let's get to the road map. the jobs numbers as we've been talking about coming in better than expected. we'll talk to goldman sachs chief economist, jan hatzius. and a fiery republican debate last night. we'll get the highlights and talk to a long-time gop consultant. and hp enterprise's meg whitman speaking out about the future of the company and why she will not be voting for donald trump. later on, amc entertainment
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buying carmike cinemas, a deal that will make the theater company the largest owned in the u.s. first up, that heated debate last night in detroit between the gop presidential hopefuls. eamon javers is in d.c. with details. >> reporter: put this in context here. a lot of talk this morning about this debate, but remember back in previous cycles when al gore sighed in a debate that was seen as rude and unacceptable behavior. we saw that moment in 2008 when barack obama said to hillary clinton that you're like be enough, hillary. we went way, way, way beyond is that last night. >> i have to say that, he hit my hands. i've never heard of this. look at those hands. are they small hands? and, he referred to my hands, if they're small, something else
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must be small. i guarantee there's no problem. >> reporter: donald trump taking sides in the debate over whether size matters, what doesn't matter to donald trump is, though, according to donald trump is some allegations from u.s. intelligence and military veterans that u.s. members of the military officers and the intelligence corps would not accept illegal orders from donald trump as president of the united states to step up torture and go after wives and families of terror suspects. here's what trump had to say on that one. >> former michael hayden and other experts have said when you ask the u.s. military to carry out some of your campaign promises, specifically targeting terrorist families and the use of interrogation methods more extreme than waterboarding, the military will refuse because they've been trained to refuse illegal orders. what would you do as commander
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in chief if the u.s. military refused to carry out those orders. >> they won't refuse me, believe me. >> some big political prizes on march 15th. we'll have to see how all this plays out. after mitt romney's scathing critique of donald trump both yesterday and on television this morning, and of course the continued attacks on the debate stage last night, is there really a path to stopping a trump nomination? or should republicans rally and prepare for the coming general election fight? joining us now at post nine, former reagan bush adviser and long-term political consult tan, ed rodgers. good morning. >> good morning. >> what did you think of the debate last night? >> i was discouraged by it, it was a bunch of noise highlighted by what will be a classic line. donald trump talking about his anatomy, engaging in the debate as eamon says whether size matters. we're talking about president of the united states here. that's where the debate went last night.
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>> the problem is that the best that the establishment appears to have mustered was mitt romney. as the "washington post" wrote no matter the merits of its particulars, the romney intervention is a microcosm of the entirest for the party leaders insiders to get rid of trump, too little too late and it will probably produce the exact opposite of the intended effect. a lot of people are saying that. romney may have boosted trump's ratings. >> good for romney to step up to the plate. he's not a perfect manager. he looks like the establishment. he stepped up, he made a case, it's out there for other surrogates to pick up, a net plus but not perfect. >> what i don't understand is
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why the establishment doesn't like donald trump. is it because they don't think he can win? or they don't like the man? yesterday they were vicious with him. then to a man and boy on the stage they turn around and said but i will support him as the nominee. >> yeah. a lot of republicans haven't reconciled that in their brain yet, me included, but the establishment has become anyone who is not donald trump. you're talking about mainstream long-term republicans who subscribe to a mainstream republican point of view that trump does not. even though he may have adopted some talking points recently to satiate some republicans. >> right. >> but donald trump is not a republican. >> the reason i'm asking you is that it seems to me that a lot of people are trying to unthrone tr tru trump, if that's where he's headed, because they don't think he will run against hillary. the idea is that he will deport 10 million, 11 million people.
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something interested happened last night. twice he made the chase for changing policy. once within his immigration position suggesting there should be more visas for highly skilled people in the country. if he can change, he could on one hand win the gop nomination and then do a u-turn on migration further down the line and presumably win the presidency as well. it is an argument. >> this could be change, this could be confusion and uncertainty and insincerity as well. trump's commitment to any particular issue or cause -- i also saw him in the debate double down on the notion that he will, as commander in chief, give our soldiers illegal orders. illegal orders to kill, bomb and maim. >> what i'm saying is he could still win if he drops policies. nobody accuses him of flip-flopping. they're like, well, okay go for
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it. he has broken the rules. he can make the rules up as he goes along. >> clearly. he's broken the rules. he's gotten about a third of the vote. two-thirds of the voters thus far have taken their support someplace else. there's a long way to go. the momentum is with him. the trajectory is with him, the road to defeat him is narrow and getting bumpier, but possible. i don't concede that it's trump. it's likely to be trump. >> that path does it play out through ohio and florida or is it more of a convention thing? >> i think ohio and florida will set the trajectory on that. if trump doesn't win either florida or ohio, it's likely it will go to the convention. then it's a matter if he goes into the convention with 48% of the delegates, he'll win.
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if he goes in with 43% of the delegates it will be hand to hand combat on the convention floor in cleveland. >> how did the republican establishment get so far out of touch and out of sync with voters? >> i'm so befuddled by the trump rise i can't even describe it in hindsight except nobody thought he was going to win. no one -- not one sole that i'm aware of anticipated this. and nobody did the things necessary to derail him. >> his wife said you know if you run for this, you will win. he said, yes, i do. is that just testosterone? >> every candidate thinks that. it's not unusual for every candidate to believe in their own mind, i can do it. you have to believe that. >> he created his own reality. he created his own reality as he moves through these people. >> it's kind of frightening, but it's true. >> is he, though, reaching out to a different sector that has
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not voted before and conceivably is part of the republican voter base but is not -- >> his demographics are all republicans for sure. there's no question. he's bringing new people to the process. another conflict for rank and file republicans is that it speaks for itself, he's bringing in new participants. that's a good thing. if you're a senator in a red state, up for election, you need 100% of his people. if he hasn't disassociated himself from his contaminants and clownish behavior, you're alienating a more suburban voter that the candidate needs. >> thank you for your time. ed rogers joining us here on the gop nomination. john harwood will have an exclusive interview with the democratic presidential candidate, hillary clinton this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. eastern.
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when we come back, the u.s. added 242,000 jobs in the month of february. seeing its biggest year on year job increase since march of '07. more on the market's reaction to that number in a moment.
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still the market flat overall. steve liesman has more on those pretty big numbers. >> yeah. it's a jobs report, simon, that's full of significance for fed policy, for investors, and even the elections. here's some of the key takeaways. one, you have to think about a diminished chance of recession. this number along with some of those better numberses we had. june rate hike for many economists back on the table. a big story here, americans returning to the labor force. that last point is a huge takeaway. americans are getting back to work with a surge in the number of those counting themselves as part of the labor force. the work force up five straight months, 2 million additional workers in the work force compared to a year ago. that's the biggest year over year increase since march of 20 2007. janet yellen said there is slack in the labor market as these people come back into the work force, they have found work,
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that's why the unemployment rate sun changed at 4.9%. at bmo they are saying neither global headwinds, financial turbulence nor political uncertainty has dim med america business enthusiasm for hiring. january revisions, up 30,000. unemployment rate 4.9%. labor force participateration, 42.9. average hourly wages gave back some gains to some extent. average work week did fall, why did it fall? don't 0.2 hours. a rebound in education and health services, up 86,000. retail remains strong. i thought we would be buying our stuff from robots. leisure/hospitality up strong. and mining down 19,000, manufacturing down 16,000.
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the key fed takeaway very easy, they think march is off the table but june remains a possibility. >> that's the fed takeaway. what is the election takeaway? it would appear there's something for the republicans and democrats in a jobs report like this. >> i think that's right. the whole trump phenomenon is based on the angry voter, and that voter is angry for economic reasons, more jobs would tend to diminish that phenomenon. the idea of people coming back into the work force. it's happened the last five months. there's a lot of volatility in the non. people were so discouraged they weren't looking for work. now they've come back. there is that long-term chart. 2 million, up from where it was a year ago. like i said, we haven't had a big surge like that since before the recession. >> the white house needs to start talking about it.
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steve, thank you. for more on the jobs report, let's bring in lloyd mccarthy and the director of global asset allocation at fidelity. everybody wanted to see a goldilocks number that made the economy look good but not too good. is that what we got? >> pretty much. payroll is a surprise to the upside, wages to the down side. i don't think it changes anything. as steve said, march is off the table. i would be surprised if june actually gets into play unless the markets start pricing that in. i think all in all there's something for everyone in this number. but it doesn't change the dial for the fed over the next three months or so. >> it does make you wonder with such a strong number, 4.9% unemployment, 242,000 jobs added, why the growth is not trickling into the rest of the
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economy. why the labor market is so healthy when so many other parts of the the economy is not. >> the u.s. economy is dominated by two things. it's a consumer-driven economy and over 85% of those consumers make their living in a primarily domestic based services sector. so the consumer sector is doing well, the services sector is doing well. the part struggling is in goods production, mining and manufacturing, that's the one small piece of the u.s. economy that suffering from the same malaise that a lot of overseas economies do. the other thing we have going for us, construction is going well. overall u.s. economy is in pretty good shape. where it's not in good shape, it's in dire straits. that's the biggest problem we have. >> is that's what is behind this recent rally? we are looking at our third week of gains for the s&p 500, flat right now, but importantly holding. have we seen the bottom?
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is it that realization about the economy? >> the s&p did a retest of 1812, the lows for the range. that was a successful retest. when we broke out to the upside. my sense is that a very large trading range of let's say 1800 to 2100 is pretty firmly established here. i think the lows are probably pretty solid. we saw some nice divergences and other technical things that i would like to see. i think the markets are towards the middle of the trading range. we could go higher, maybe to the top end. we still have the fundamental issues, we have a bifurcated economy, decent strength, weakness abroad. we have this policy divergence between the fed and the rest of the world. that feeds into china and its ethics reserves, the yuan. those things have not gone away. but with the fed on hold, it has allowed the dollar to come down. that allowed financial
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conditions to ease. that has allowed credit to come in, we've had a good rally across the board for all kinds of risk assets, including energy spreads, oil prices, emerging equities and the s&p up 9%, not dissimilar to last october. i think the market has priced in the worst case scenario a few weeks ago. now we're back to a more moderate scenario. but i think we stay in the range for a while. >> ward, i'd love to debt your temperature on oil. we got credit suisse today saying we could see 50 by may. we have another saying the lows are probably in. the capex cuts are better late than never. and we know stocks will pivot on what energy does. do you think the lows are in? >> i do think the lows are in. i don't know how bullish i would be given the status of inventories. in general that the lows for not just oil but a number of
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commodities are in. that means that an inflation trade will be back on the table as this year progresses. that's why coming into this year i thought the fed will probably raise rates in june. and i think the pieces are falling in place and the fed will race rates in june. this coming meeting i think will be rather bland, but i think in april they'll set us up for a rate hike in june, the same way they set us up for liftoff in december at the october meeting of last year. >> let me ask you finally about a report out from jpmorgan overnight called growing in slow motion. where they actually suggest that the potential gdp growth rate of the economy is down to 1.4%. partly because productivity, lack of investment in i.t. and that would have, in terms of the speed limit of the economy, they say, whatever taxes you can raise and so on, real implications, where are you on that argument, which is not new but coming more acute? >> yeah. i think that's correct.
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we have a global problem where there's too much debt, too little growth. and you can't inflate and grow and de-value your way out of it if every other company has the same issue. if the u.s. and every other developed region, populations are either declining or growth is slowing. the age rate is coming down. >> potential gdp growth is a sum of productivity growth and labor force growth. both of those are slow. for the last couple of years, you add those up together, you're at 1.5%, 2% tops. that's a low speed limb. this is why if the economy exceeds that, you quickly can get to inflationary issues and the fed has to respond much sooner than it otherwise might have. we have a low speed limit across the world and that's an issue and probably the reason why we're growing at 2%. >> guys, we'll leave it there. thank you for joining us on this jobs day.
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>> thank you. when we come back, goldman sachs chief economist jan hatzius is here at post nine with his exclusive reaction to the jobs number. 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.
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shares of hewlett-packard enterprises up 16% after the company reported earnings after the bell that were a bit better than the analysts who followed the company expected it to be. the revenue number coming in a bit above at 12.72 billion. earnings per share at 41 cents per share. the key is that enterprise services margins are tracking towards as much as 7% to 9% target. that is seen as a positive. the enterprise group showed real life in terms of growth.
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on a constant currency basis, revenue did grow 4%, but when you add in the stronger dollar, it did not grow. but many people seem to be saying, okay, we'll look at those numbers on a constant currency basis, that is the third consecutive quarter they would have top line growth in that way. and the decision to devote 100% of cash flow to capital returns, larmly in the form of stock buyback seems to be supporting the stock here. they will be getting an additional 2 billion in capital after a deal with xinhua china later in the spring. meg whitman joined us earlier this morning. we talked in part business and politics because it was less than a week ago that ms. whitman, a one-time candidate -- republican candidate for the governorship of california aim out strongly against the candidacy of donald trump to be the president of the united states. i asked her why, given how few other business leaders certainly
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have inserted themselves into this debate, why she chose to do. >> we needed to stand up, many people are standing up against who i think would be a dangerous president. i do think donald trump is a dishonest demagogue. look at comments about women, muslims, disabled people. reporters. it's just repugnant. basically anyone who doesn't agree with him he attacks them viciously. >> hewlett-packard enterprises is an international company, a lot of sales, of course, are derived from overseas. it would conceivably be a victim should mr. trump become president and install a 35% tariff on over seas products. this is whitman's response to that plan. his plan to put on a 35% tariff or goods imported into the united states from mexico or china we sink this company into recession.
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it would penalize global companies who are trying to be competitive globally. many of these companies have many workers still in america. and it would hurt those companies. >> of course hewlett-packard enterprises and hewlett-packard overall, the company that ms. whitman ran for many years has shed a lot of u.s. jobs over the last years, in part to make itself competitive. it will have a work force of some 320,000 when she took the helm. i continued to discuss the future of the republican party and her plans within it. and asked her, whether, in fact, mr. trump is the nominee, whether she would vote for the most likely democratic nominee in the race, hillary clinton. >> you know what? i won't be voting for donald trump, put it that way. >> couldn't quite get her to say what she might do. >> she was a romney supporter in his campaign. his comments yesterday echoing
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some of her comments and going beyond what she had to say. straight ahead, amc entertainment controlled by the chinese, announcing a deal that will make it the largest movie theater operator in the country. amc's ceo adam aron who effectively sold starwoods to marriott for $12 billion will join us on his latest deal next. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management.
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built for business. good morning, i'm sue herera, here is your cnbc news update. north korea releasing photos of lead every kim jong-un observing what it said was the test firing of a new multiple launch rocket system. the country reporting kim ordered his military to be ready to order nuclear strikes at any time. turkey says kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb near a police station kill two police officers and injuring four more. security forces are battling militants linked to the kurdistan workers party. u.s. regulators are investigating complaints that the brakes can ford on the f150 pickup. the probe covers models from 2013 and 2014.
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the medical examiner says bobbi christina's face was immersed in water and had drugs in her system which caused pneumonia and eventually her death. that's the cnbc news update at this hour. back down to you. back to today's all-important jobs number, 242,000 jobs added in february. the unemployment rate stays at 4.9. joining us this morning is jan hatzius who is back at post nine. jan, good to have you back. >> nice to be here. >> all the signals about the wages, made us think we might get continued elevation. why didn't it happen? >> there was some calendar effect in there. typically when you have a larger number of working days, that means that there could be a
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distortion from a calendar perspective because team are paid on a monthly basis and see those numbers divided by a larger number. it's not than usual. that said, i don't think you can explain all of it. it was a setback. when i look back over the last year or so, i still see an acceleration in wage growth. nothing massive. but somewhat encouraging. >> let's talk how does it relate to the fed? do the dots make more sense now? >> i think the dots to us make more sense than they do to the market. i think they will come down. i don't think they will go in march. nobody expects that. they will need to take one out. i still think we will get back to hikes at the june meeting. and the market is not priced for that. >> are you suggesting because it's a leap year and we had a 29th of february that that's disported the wage figures and pushed them down? >> not just the leap year, in
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general when you have more working days, you often get these kinds of effects. leap year can be one reason for that. it doesn't have to be the leap year by itself. >> coming back to the bigger question, which is what the fed will do, the market is not where you are, and in the past you have been right, the market wrong. how do we close the gap in perceptions? what will happen going forward as to why the fed would hike? two hikes this year? >> three. >> still three? >> june, september, december. >> what is the gap? what are people not understanding? >> part of it is that there's more concern about a weaker economy and a bigger slowdown in growth, i think, than is reasonable for our perspective. and i think some of it is probably also that the fed needs to explain if they do agree with this view.
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they're planning to do more. >> why are they dampening down the rhetoric? are they painting themselves into another corner? i would say it's mixed. different people have said different things. i think the rhetoric has been more dovish. there was probably more of an effect from the tightening and financial conditions that we saw in january and february. my expectation would be as markets have stabilized and the data have continued to be good, that the rhetoric is also going to change. >> we talked about oil. i know you did a piece on it this week. iron ore, copper. can we put some of these long-term commodity prices to bed? >> i think the reasons for why commodity prices have fallen are in play. a lot of that is a supply story. what i don't agree with is the idea that the commodity price signals are unambiguously negative for growth.
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earlier, especially in january and february, what happened in the commodity markets was directly translated into weakness in the economy. especially given that a lot of this reflects supply, i don't think that's quite as simple. >> now you're sounding like buffett, where the negative extern extern externalities hurt, and then the positives pop up later. >> declines in oil price force me are not a negative for u.s. growth. they're probably roughly neutral. it may be that kind of timing issue that you mentioned. >> just back to the fed, is it going to be increasingly difficult for janet yellen to explain why they would not raise interest rates in march given we've seen core inflation move up and continued health and improvement in the labor market? >> i think it will be a little harder. i think she will lean on the volatility and financial conditions and the weaker news from the global economy.
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i do think there's going to be an active discussion. you could make the case that we're basically where they said we would going to be at the december meeting. nevertheless the plan on rates seems to have changed. >> is it harder for her to articulate and for them to understand given that we're going into potentially another easing cycle from europe, still from china, potentially from japan, and what we felt from the dollar has been painful. >> yes, i think that's one of the arguments. potentially stronger currency might be an argument to go slower. though if europe and japan are more proactive in supporting their economies and supporting demand and markets, you could say there's an off-setting effect that gets the fed potentially doing more. i think it's somewhat ambiguous. i don't think it's -- it's not an open and shut argument. in general, foreign easing is
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not necessarily something that should preclude tightening in the u.s. >> jan, thanks for shedding light on this once again. jan hatzius from goldman sachs. >> it's rare you see two sides of a deal rising, but sure enough the chinese controlled amc entertainment and carmike are surging on news of their billion dollar deal. we're delighted to well coming adam aron, amc entertainment's president and ceo. welcome back. >> good morning to you all. >> you have wasted no time at all. you're barely in the their ccha months and you make this deal. what do you get. >> we put together the second and fourth largest movie chains in the united states. when you put us together we become the largest, the leading theatrical exhibiter in the
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world. we move quickly, but this is a very good day for amc. we're looking forward to combining these two companies into one. >> we'll talk about what it means more broadly for your chinese owner who clearly has very big ambitions. as far as customers are concerned, 600 theaters in 45 u.s. states. i see that carmike specializes in digital and 3-d cinema. how more broadly through the group will the movie experience change? you're pegging some hope on this. >> actually amc is also extraordinarily big in digital and 3-d cinema. and when you put these two circuits together, it's interesting because they're so complimentary. amc primarily serves larger audiences, carmike is national, much stronger in the south and southeast. we are putting two separate
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circuits together to create much more of a national footprint for amc. >> you see, there are many people who will say, hey, the movie business or the theater business has stumbled. what does china's richest man, your employer, see here that other people don't? >> well, it is true that the wander group, with who we are close with at ashgmc, owns 75% amc, we are traded on the new york stock exchange and it's a joint venture between china and the united states. but in three of the past four years hollywood has had record box offices. "star wars" which opened in december is the biggest grossing movie of all time. "deadpool" which opened in february is the highest grossing
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movie to open ever in february. it's still in theaters. we got a little film called "spotlight" that we're in love with, because we're 50% opener, it's in theaters. so we're expecting a reasonably robust box office in the u.s. if you look ahead to 2017 and 2018, the movie slates coming out in '17 and '18 are going to be gangbusters. we would think our carmike acquisition should close by the end of 2016. so amc will be perfectly positioned to have guests buying tickets annually, 3.7 billion, $3.8 billion worth of revenue. we are well positioned for '17
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and '18. >> mr. aron, last june you disclosed along with regal that the government was looking into anti-competitive practices with film clearance and keeping out smaller competitors. do you believe that investigation has to conclude before you're allowed to buy carmike? >> i certainly wouldn't use the word collusion. you're describing an industry practice that goes back decades, across all studios, across all theater chains. amc is happy in a clearance environment, we're happy in a nonclearance environment. the justice department would like to rewrite the rules. we think we would thrive no matter how the rules changed. to your specific question, i think the antitrust review with carmike and amc is separate from
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the clearance discussion which is also underway. >> you're a dealmaker, you're from apollo, you sold, i think, this business to the chinese originally before you skipped to starwood to sell it to marriott. >> go ahead, sorry. >> you carry on. was at apollo, i was focused on apollo's cruise industry, not involved in amc, but i do believe in industry consolidation in fragmented industries. i also believe that management teams should work for their shareholders. in the case of starwood we helped create the biggest hotel company in the world. with the combination of starwood and marriott. in that case as ceo, i was the seller. in this case, 3 1/2 months later, we are also putting together the largest movie theater chain in the world.
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happily i'm the buyer in this case. whether you're seller or buyer, you do what's right for your shareholders. there are great synergies in the creation of shareholder value by putting companies together. >> you know, we dearly wanted to talk to you when you were at starwood and you took over from fritz van pashen who was left under a cloud. there was a long time you were trying to sell starwood. the stock kept falling. one of the reasons the stock kept falling is because you were leaving all options open, that you might want to buy another company. wow, this is arguably a company without direction. could you give us color on the period you spent there and what the ultimate choice in direction was? did you go in knowing you had to sell to a bigger competitor and that it would take you time and you tried and failed? >> in the case of starwood hotel
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there's were some issues on our plate, growth was somewhat anemic. i'm happy to report by the end of 2015 starwood posted record growth numbers, the high of the number of new hotel openings in history. the highest number of new hotel signings in history. we launched two new brands, reinvigorated the sheraton brand. there were a lot of things we did that was great news for starwood. we also said at the time we would look at any and all options. what we concluded was the smartest thing to do for starwood shareholders, was to help in the creation of the large largest hotel company in the world in a transaction with marriott which i thought was superb for starwood holders. now fast forward to amc, we are creating something special here at amc. in this case, we're the buyer.
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we've got lots of pro-consumer initiatives here as we take things that amc does very well and project them on to a larger network. like reclining chairs, dine-in theaters. and also something we like a lot, big movie screen houses, the growth of imax in a larger amc. >> don't be a stranger, come back soon. adam aron joining us from amc as he does another deal. still ahead on the program, the battle over the supreme court. republicans vowing to block any nomination that the president makes. but is that really the best strategy for the gop? jim stewart, pulitzer prize winner from the "new york times" says no. he'll join us next.
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>> congratulations to our nail the number winner. you came closest to our nonfarm payroll number. 242,000 with your getting 241,000. this is greg's third time winning nail the number and he gets this great bag. nice to see jim. >> i got the bag right here. not a bad guess considering it was so outside the consensus of 195. let's show you what's happening with the markets because the early losses have been reversed and now stocks are headed higher. look at the dow right now up 45 points and we're getting awfully
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close. 17,000. here we are again after sharp losses at the beginning of the year. especially january. we're now at 16986.50. but we're being held higher. we are seeing strength in certain groups. interestingly utilities went from the worst to the first in materials of the gainers right now. energy, financials also doing well and those were some of the biggest losers in the beginning of the year. >> the top gainer today is caterpillar up 2% and then apple. apple actually for the week is up almost 6% trading at $102.64. a lot of commentary. when it goes above $100 it slips back. but not in this instance. >> and caterpillar up 10%. the commodity stabilization story continues. gold is marching higher no matter what. risk on, risk off, bad move, good move. gold continues higher with all the negative interest rates and
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oil is higher again. when we come back twitter's head of news will be joining squawk ally live with the top moments of last night's republican debate. we'll be right back. here at the td ameritrade trader group, they work all the time. sup jj, working hard? working 24/7 on mobile trader, rated #1 trading app on the app store. it lets you trade stocks, options, futures... even advanced orders. and it offers more charts than a lot of other competitors do on desktop. you work so late. i guess you don't see your family very much? i see them all the time. did you finish your derivatives pricing model, honey? td ameritrade.
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correspondent in afghanistan. >> i think journalist are the most interesting people in the world. >> was that it? >> i guess that's it. >> she's right. >> the stars of the film also talked about netflix. we do want to play that as well. >> it's been a great platform for us. you can get it in a fast and efficient way and it's going to be interesting to see if that becomes the only model or not. >> places like netflix and all of those, amazon, they're doing like ten hour independent films. i think it's wonderful and i think actors really want to be there now. >> on the disruption of the
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industry, netflix has been an interesting stock. it lost a lot of steam so far this year after being the best performer last year. sarah had a very special poster on her own show at 5:00 a.m. this morning. maybe we can find it. >> do we have it? >> in the mean tile spotlight is still worth a watch. >> sonnet flix lost steam. of all the fang stocks facebook has been the out performer this year. most of the others have not caught up with the broader market rally which is now up 10% from the lows in february. >> that's interesting because one of the pieces of news over the last few days is that facebook has actually been one of the more prominent positions in the top 20 equity holdings of the hedge funds so it took awhile for it to get there which might explain why you have this
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performance. obviously it's aged and matured to the extent that people believe it's more than just a poll. >> and the better earnings that we saw at the end of last year. >> first a mixed reaction to the jobs report. 424,000 jobs added in the month of february. the dow is now up 43 points. not huge but closer to the 17,000 level as we just mentioned. s&p 500 up a quarter of a percent. the 4th day in a row of gains. another strong week for stocks. the 3rd day in a row. >> the bigger point is are now, what are we? three weeks since jamie dimon is buying his own stock. you're up a good 10% from there and that is also supported by as we have today this stronger data or let's say not disappointing data which has removed that talk over the fear of recession as far as many people are
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concerned. it's still not great growth. the jobs figure is good. >> let's just show you the reaction to the jobs figure plus commodities which are strong today and currencies. the dollar is getting hit pretty hard. initially it popped on the better number. now it's actually weakening against some of the major currencies and interestingly this political narrative simon, the highlight of the debate last night, donald trump on currencies. >> will you promise and how soon will you move your clothing collection, the clothes made in china and mexico. >> they devalue their currencies i will do that and i have been doing it more and more but they devalue their currencies, in particular china. mexico is doing a big number also. japan it's unbelievable what they're doing. they devalue their currencies and make it impossible for clothing makers in this country to do clothing in this country. >> fact check some of those currencies are down. whether they're doing it on purpose or not.
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>> fact check. >> we can't fact check some of the other claims he made. >> let's leave that there. let's hand it over to squawk alley. >> guys, thank you very much. good morning. it is 8:00 a.m. at netflix headquaters in california. it's 11:00 a.m. on wall street and squawk alley is live. ♪ ♪

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