and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ good morning, everyone. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernin and andrew ross sorkin. check out the u.s. equity futures after three days off, it looks like investors are coming back eagerly. we're going to see green arrows. s&p up 8.5 point. and nasdaq up by 18. marks in hong kong and australia closed for the easter holiday. the nikkei rose by 0.7%. the kospi was flat. a developing story out of pakistan, a suicide bomber killing at least 72 people including many women and

children at a park. a political faction of taliban claiming responsibility. the park was crowded with christians on an easter sunday outing. a spokesman said the attack deliberately targeted the christian community. many muslim among the dead as well. the explosion injured more than 300 people. among today's top stories we had a couple of things. microsoft reportedly in preliminary talks with private equity firms to help finance a bid to buy yahoo!. this is according to several reports. executives from private equity firms approached microsoft to gauge its interests. after it's auctioning off its core business. microsoft has had a partnership with yahoo! for quite some time. take a look at shares right now up marginally. yahoo! shares as well. >> second time around. >> this will be the second time around, you'll call when steve ballmer, they had meeting in airport hangars.

what a mess that was. dell is now selling its i.t. services unit to ntt data corp. part of efforts to raise capital and pay down debt. they have so much debt as part of that deal incurred when it closed in inacquisition of enc. reports also surfacing that avon is nearing a deal with act that visits. it will add a new independent droshgt its board in change, activists will back away from a proxy fight. those shares are down marge annalla marginally. >> easter monday. easter monday. it's a heluva idea, isn't it? >> yeah. >> we've got good friday. >> turn it into a four-day weekend. >> easter monday. who are they -- where are they closed? >> in london.

>> the squared away countries that give this holiday its due. don't get too much detail here. easter monday policy people. easter monday. here we are, working on easter monday. dell, big golf tournament. most successful first year tournament. michael dell was there. see, a beautiful golf course in austin. then the next thing i'm going to talk about here is the economic data. do you know it's april 1st do you know what that means? >> yeah. >> we're finally wrapping up earnings season. correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't it -- >> end of the quarter? >> if you're on the regular calendar. >> so, do earnings start again next week? >> yes. >> whoo-hoo! it's i'm thinking it's kind of

quiet. we have earnings comes and a job report. >> excepect expectations aren't- >> that's all right. we've got personal income and spending. trade deficit, pending home sales figures. that's today. then on tuesday, we have the january case-shiller home price index. they work order on this because it takes them forever to put it together. and march consumer confidence. wednesday, we get the march adp exploit reports. thursday, jobless claims. and friday, it's the march jobs reports as well as the ism manufacturing index. consumer sentiment, construction spending and march auto sales. every week we have fed speak, what we have from williams this morning, san francisco fed president john williams says the u.s. economy is doing quite

well. quite well. he points to stable inflation, strong employment growth. and this was an an interview, an exclusive one with cnbc asia, that's today suggesting that global developments are preventing the u.s. from returning to normalized interest rates. if it's just us, they could. >> we understand that we're in a global economy, global financial system so what happens in brazil, china, what happens in southeast asia and south america has huge impact on terms of employment and inflation goals. we have to take all of that into account. we have to understand how it's what's happening around the world answer the u.s. economy. we also have to be cog that zan distant of the fact when if the acts it understands the economy. >> fourth quarter gdp figures today, that data was released friday but the markets were closed. gdp increasing for the fourth

quarter at 1.4%. strong consumer spend was a key factor. of course, leishman told us last week that the gdp figures are so strong we shouldn't even be paying attention to any of them again, take a look at the u.s. equity futures they are indicated higher with s&p up by 8.5 and the dow futures up by almost4 points. in the oil markets, qatar has said its invited all to attend the april 17th talks in doug ss. take a look at wti, still below $40. a little bit of a rough week last week. right now up 32 cents to 39.79. if you want to check on the ten-year-year-old, it's hanging stubbornly below 2%. 1.914%. if you check out the currency,

the dollar is flat against the euro, 1.1163. up against the yen trading at 113.52, down against the pound, 1.4969. gold prices, we're starting up this week, down by five dollars to $1,216 an ounce. joining us is merriam timur. and also pimco's strategic visor. rich, we're getting towards the end of the first quarter, maybe we're glad to see this go with the volatility? >> oh, absolutely. it certainly ended better than it started in january, so the trend's in the right direction for sure. >> how do you feel about things right now? >> i think the data is beginning to stabilize, as joe mention wed have a data-heavy week. and your interview with williams

hit the mark. i think global developments are a headwind to the u.s. through the dollar and exports. i think that will continue to be a factor through the year. >> you're essentially thinking we don't think the fed will raise rates in april, even though we've heard from all of these more hawkish statements coming out last week? >> yeah, i think april will be a long shot given yellen's press conference. i think they will use april as probably the opportunity to tee up june. >> how about you? joe mentioned it's not just the jobs but earnings, what do you think? >> earnings season will be interesting, it will start basically next week. if you look at what has been driving earnings growth expectations from the wall street community, it's really been the dollar and crude oil prices and both of those have turned meaningfully over the past few months yet earnings

expectations continue to erode week after week. i think we're down to 2 1/2 oil and 5 to 6 energy. if you look at what's happening to oil in the past six weeks or so, you could argue that we'll actually see upside surprises start next week. we'll see. >> it's hard to imagine that we're talking about oil turning significantly. >> it's by 50%. >> so you think the trend is going to continue both in terms of oil prices and stocks? >> i think right now, we've had basically some very large moves in a very short prd of time. and i think we're probably in a holding pattern here. the s&p went from basically the bottom end 1800 to almost the top end of 2182. we've got a s&p move over the past six weeks. and i we're going to consolidate gains here. i think last week is why it got

more choppy in the market. we'll probably see that especially as we wait for earnings season to unfold here. >> mitch, this has been part of the head fake is the head fake that we fell so low or is the head fake that we came back so quickly? >> no, i think the head fake is we got sideswiped about concerns about china. and we've had a fall in oil prices now there's a rebound, now that china doesn't look like it's going to devalue those. i think those are positives. the head fake was earlier in the year. >> there's a story on the front page of the "wall street journal" that points out that the major oil companies aren't replenishing their reserves as quickly as they're using it. exxonmobil, 67% of oil reserves. . all of these companies have cut back substantially on capital expenditure. they don't thing oil is going to rebound. how much of that is a

self-fulfilling prophesy? >> well, most that i talked to indicate that the market will still go through a rebound. perhaps earlier in 2017, a supply and demand global to get back in balance. >> rich things the fed will not raise interest rates in april. we do have a jobs report coming up on friday. which direction do you think we're leaning? >> yeah. i think an april hike is extremely unlikely. if the fed moved, again, it's only a 6% probability, i think that would be a very bold statement. and i don't think the fed is prepared to make any bold statements. they backed off in march just like they did last september. there are some people who speculate that maybe there was some deal during the last g-20 meeting between the fed and the pboc. i think the first meeting that will be, will be june. even then, automatodds are only.

>> if they want to make meeting, janet yellen will have to change her tune. how will it react if she sounds more hawkish at this point? >> yeah, the fed has to be careful because we don't want to go into round three of this tug-of-war that's been in place for the last nine months or so. where the fed starts to talk rate hikes. dollars go up. and pboc with the reserves to manage that whole currency situation. then we're back to a rise in volatility in all markets. i think the fed, it will be good if the fed just kind of stayed quiet for a while. the numbers have come in favor of another hike. >> exactly. which is why you may think she's going to have to toughen her tone a little bit. and the idea that the fed can't even talk about potentially raising rates down the road without worrying about what it does to markets in china seems a little insane?

>> that's the way the world is right now. economically, the transition channel between what happens to china and the u.s. is much smaller nan whthan what it is i financial market. and the dollar is really the key indicator, it really is. it drives everything else. if the fed starts talking about a june hike and things don't unravel in the currency markets then maybe it will get a green light and that will be reflected. if come may, the odds are well above 50 and the dollar still is well behaved, they've got a green light. it's too early to tell. >> rich, is this a much more complicated dance. data, we were looking at unemployment rate, inflation numbers. now, we're looking at 8,000 other factors and worrying about the language that yellen's going to use and if that will put pressure on the pboc. >> well, exactly. and i think she will use her speeches and the april statement to, i think, lay the ground work to a hike in june.

i think they want a hike. the key operative concept, becky, is going to be they want to be very gradual. i think your other guest is right, if they go too aggressively, they do get a big move in the dollar. i think they're resigned to some sort of the dollar. i don't think that will deter them from hiking a couple times this year. >> i thank you both for being here with a startup this monday morning. thank you. coming up, senator bernie sanders not just sweeping, his numbers are 80%. i always knew about washington state because it's right above -- it's like san francisco and the whole state. >> seattle has been more progressive than san francisco. it's that $18 minimum wage. >> washington state, alaska and hawaii over the weekend.

trump and cruz still trading barbs over the weekend. ben white will join us after the break. the first stock index ♪ (musiwas createdoughout) over 100 years ago as a benchmark for average. yet many people still build portfolios with strategies that just track the benchmarks. but investing isn't about achieving average. it's about achieving goals. and invesco believes doing that today requires the art and expertise of high-conviction investing. translation? it's time to bench the benchmarks. who don't have access thto basic banking,on people t that is changing. at temenos, with the microsoft cloud, we can enable a banker to travel to the most remote locations

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better than your birthday suit. we'll get to that. an acc sunday in college basketball. last night, all four teams in yesterday's games are from the same conference. in the east region, top seed north carolina taking on notre dame. the tar heels go on a run in the second half with nifty defense turning into instant offense. carolina pulls away and beating the fighting irish 88-74. that will advance the school to the 19th final four. that's the most in acc history. in the midwest region, top seed virginia taking on the number ten seed. first time number ten has made it to the final. the orange were down 16 in the first half before staging a major comeback led by freshman malachi richardson. 23 points. syracuse topping the cavaliers 68-62 to make it to their sixth final four and fifth for coach

jim boeheim. ville nobody virginia will face oklahoma. and the first game on saturday. while syracuse and north carolina meet for the third time this season in the second game. john, we'll lead into you, we will talk politics. as a big duke fan, i know you were watching most of these games over the weekend. i was -- love him or hate jimmy boeheim in syracuse, they were 9-9 in the conference. they finished tenth in that conference. only 4% had that team going to the final four. they were down. did you see they changed the complete strategy and just made it pressing for two or three minutes. and virginia fell apart. it was like a cheap deck of cards. whatever it's called. house of cards. it's amazing the way a coach can make a difference. that's why some of these teams, don't matter what they do. it doesn't matter if you're in

the final four if you have a great coach. >> joe, it was a stunning victory. i don't think anybody expected that that to happen. especially halfway through the game. they've got a tough road against north carolina. my expectation is that income m north carolina is going to maybing that win. it gets tough. no duke. a lost america is really upset about that. >> we are so deluded. we're so deluded in so many ways. >> isn't he? >> this is just basketball we're talking about. i wasn't even talking about basketball. >> just put your finger on it, joe. that's it. >> i went with my heart xavier, i knew i wouldn't go that far. but they could be here, they could. except for those two shots. >> well, wisconsin who ended the run for xavier, they got overcome by a notre dame team

that was incredibly tough but just didn't have enough -- didn't have enough over the weekend. >> you said in the second half. it was actually half of the second half was over for syracuse. they were still down 16. nine minutes left and they were down. and that's pretty unbelievable. anyway, john, i don't know where you want to start. those numbers that are in front of you. sort of op-ed pieces about how republicans got three states and 80%. and we're talking -- those numbers are the envy of anyone. it's incredible. but hillary's got all the superdelegates. >> yeah, she's also got a 250-delegate lead among the pledged delegates. >> and she's got more votes. >> the democrats award there, done make up big gaps. bernie sanders is somehow triggering a collapse in hillary clinton that causes those superdelegates to flood to him. but there's no sign that's happening.

hillary clinton is at the end of the day comfort food for those democratic superdelegates. >> she's got massive momentum going in. >> got momentum. >> with the socialist that she's -- it's weird that a 73-year-old socialist -- >> you're not going to be able to convince superdelegates that the 74-year-old socialist is the better democratic candidate. by the way, there are a lot of republicans wishing they had a big crop of superdelegates so that they could steer the race in ways they're not able to now. >> oh, yeah. it just points to her not motivating a large part of the democratic base. not motivating it. >> sure. >> people say with, depending on who the gop puts up, that maybe they won't need it. i guess that's sort of the mainstream media viewpoint. >> we're going to the mainstream media in just a second. >> do you disagree with it, joe? i don't know anything anymore.

>> it's harded to -- when you see how wrong the polls have been in so many situation, and how wrong the pundits have been in so many swituations, it's had to break down who it comes down to. >> well, the polls have been wrong. >> we had a big one in michigan. that was significant, nobody expected that. and the pundits didn't anticipate that donald trump was going to have the power that he had. >> the polls did. >> yeah, the polls showed all along that he was doing fairly well. so pick your poison. but i do think when you look at how democrats see the general election race and how republicans, which is what's feeding the never-trump or stop-trump movement, there's a a lot of commonality, which is the idea that donald trump, while he's thriving in his

multi-candidate republican environment, it's going to be a lot tougher in the general. >> are you able to speak even though duke is not in the final four? >> i'm going to summon myself. >> i couldn't get out of bed. >> thank you, john. >> duke not in the final four. >> i don't like syracuse at all. but i was just blown away by that comeback. >> with malachi. threes, boeheim, say what you will about him, he's the sift board for the ncaa coach. he's astounding. >> can we talk about the implications over the weekend? does it matter? >> you mean sanders win? they don't mean that much in terms of delegate count. and the idea that hillary is not able to ever close this deal. there's big states coming up that she'll win big. >> let's talk about two things. one, the l.a. times story on the investigation on hillary.

>> no criminal charges. >> but also suggests that they're going to be doing interviewing. >> that's the end. >> you think that's the end? that's what i want to understand. the other thing i want to understand is this whole trump thing in wanting money. the delegate number and how that's going to play. >> on the e-mail front, i think people who are hoping for clinton indictment or major legal ramification for it -- >> you think it's over? >> it looks like it's over. to wrap up the interviews. negative headlines not the type of cataclysmic event that knocks her out which is not likely to happen. on the trump front, there's a couple of pieces on this -- >> explain with the story, you can do it. >> anyway. the gold number is 1,237 delegates. the republican needs to have that to knock down the nomination outright before cleveland. the way the numbers are going now, it's not clear that trump gets there. he may very well not get there.

he says, doesn't matter if i have most votes and most delegates, i should get it. doesn't work that way. that's not the way the process working. party says you have not gotten over the finish line. we go to multiple ballots in cleveland. he may not be able to get to 1237. the other big story that politico has out today, an important one, once the primaries and caucuses are done, these states actually elect delegates to go to convention. ted cruz is all over the country trying to lock down sympathetic delegates. it goes past the first ballot, they move to him and not donald trump. trump is way behind in that process. if it's a brokered convention, you need delegates on the slate who will move on the slate. >> if it goes brokered, do you think there's a chance of paul ryany. >> i think paul ryan has been raising his profile in multiple ways to make it possible for him. he's going to preside over the

convention. he's there. prom nents figuinent figure the. it's not clear if it's not trump everybody coalesces to trump. maybe they do. maybe we need a different candidate, somebody to unite the party. >> did anybody unite the entire party at this point? >> it would be difficult to do. cruz has the conservative wing, evangelicals. trump, the out sider, the people who think they've gotten a raw deal. i think his profile is big enough or broad enough, if somebody is a white night at the convention he would be the highest on the list. >> you saw the article, the donald trump conversation about what he wants to do to saudi arabia? you saw that? >> to reduce the amount of oil we buy from them.

>> right. did that article hurt or help him? >> i don't think it hurt him because i don't think a lot of his supporters read "the new york times." i think it portrays or lack of understanding in the global economy and how relationships between the countries work and how dependent we are on foreign oil. the broader eelectorate he cares about is make america great again. i want to beat the saudis, japan, china. >> they also, resonates when they say, how many times, you don't hear it around here. backing nato for how long. you don't get anything -- >> populist themes. >> for people around here, but for some people, finally someone is saying this. >> and making the broader argument that a strong nato is in america's interest. particularly with things blowing up in brussels. we need to be more involved not

less. >> policy elites, frankly, to the event you think they're the elites, ceos who come on this show, who watch this show. >> trying to figure out why trade deficits aren't bad. saying in the front it's not a scorecard. >> which it obviously isn't a scorecard, if you have a lot of money and capital and other countries want it and you can get products for it. that's not a bad -- successful wealthy nations run trade and deficits and not detrimental to the country. hard to make case or how you're losing to the chinese. i think it means for trump that it's hard for him to grow. he said at 45, 40, if he's not growing too much, he could lose wisconsin to cruz. if kasich were out 0 of the race, he'd lose wisconsin. if kasich were out out of the raise, he would lose california. i don't think trump is that

powerful getting the 50 to 55%, when's it going to happen? >> there you have it. >> the one and only ben white on a monday morning. thank you, sir, wearing the spring suit. can you wear -- >> i'm not saying i don't like it, i could not pull it off. >> remember when obama wore a tan suit it was like a news event for 48 hours. >> yeah. >> easter with my mom yesterday. >> you wore the same suit two days in a row, is that what you're telling justice. >> i liked it yesterday. i'm not an elite like you, to have a different suit for every day. >> do you have a seersucker suit? >> i do. >> yes. >> okay. what about the tie? that's a very american tie? you are trying to make america great? same tie? >> what about the shirt? >> shirt is the same. >> it's only a couple of hours. >> he got more time wearing that

suit than saying capitalism, communism, whatever you guys say, that's fine. >> are you saying that's bigger news? >> is that the question? >> yeah, with that saying we're just too caught up in the ideas of about capitalism. >> did you read maureen dowd this weekend? said the reason he's not going to be president is because he's too cool for school. he doesn't -- >> tangos. baseball, doesn't rush back. >> that has ruined my day. >> ben, thank you. when we come back, if you can't make it through dinner without checking your phone, you aren't alone. you'll be surprised about which generation is the worst at distracted dining. plus, a super weekend at the box office for the latest

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♪ welcome back to "squawk box." on cnbc first in business worldwide. u.s. equity futures at this hour are diverging from what's happening in europe. europe is sharply lower by 67 points or so. markets in europe as we just alluded to are trading a little

bit lower. meanwhile in europe, hong kong and australia -- is that it, are they closed -- are the -- not all of them, are they? >> no. >> they all have easter monday? are you kidding me? now, i'm really -- now, i'm really -- >> jealous? >> yes. >> to think of how we could start some type of -- >> where else would you want to be but today? is that a rhetorical question? after three days away -- listen, we don't have easter monday here. i'm okay. >> i just think that it's an idea that's timed maybe -- >> i think donald is -- >> easter monday. make america great. make america a little bit greater, a grandfather again. >> yes, he is.

ivanka. >> yes, had a baby boy. >> you see pictures, doesn't look like she just had -- a. >> never has. >> i don't know what i'd look like after. i tried to get an epidural when we had kids. i wanted one under all the stress. i can't do anything, right? they didn't give me one? you? >> no. >> you weren't there -- >> i was there. >> i was illegally taking pictures you weren't allowed to. >> why? >> you're not supposed to. they tell you not, i think for legal reasons. >> i think your wife told you that. >> no, no, the hospital, the doctors, the pictures that you take. you got to be careful about that. >> yeah. >> time now for "executive edge" if you have trouble unplugging

from your devices during meals guess what, you're not alone. you may be surprised at the worst distracted diners. nielsen survey found that baby boomers to be more more distracted. teenagers were more likely to eat meals technology-free, followed by millennials. joe. >> i was just thinking about that. the markets were down -- we were up, and we diverged on friday, actually? >> closed on friday. >> yeah. >> you are one of the baby boomers that was just distracted right now by the computer. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. baby boomer is a nice way of putting it why i was distracted. i figured out, look, it's an 18-year period, i think i'm a 10. so i'm at a later -- >> a later stage. she was talking, you were distracted by technology. >> i'm thinking, we're up to --

i am embarrassed i didn't know about easter monday. now, it makes me angry that they have easter monday off. i was thinking about all of these things. just now, figuring out how to start a type of petition to get good friday, easter monday. >> i truly appreciate good friday. >> i know. i know. superheroes -- are you going to see this? >> no. i have no interest this time. >> i don't either. >> separately, yes. together, no. >> ben affleck cannot be batman. in the "dawn of justice" the movie is storming the box office. the sixth best opening of all time. a new record for the easter weekend. it cost $250 million to make. another $150 million in marketing. and the critics hate it. they just say it --

>> not even the agecting, it's e story line. >> it's a cgi nightmare. i don't think anything actually happened. the animated hit "zootopia" brought in $23 million. and "my big fat greek wedding" they should have had my big fat greek divorce. >> why are they getting married again? >> they're not getting married again. it's their daughter. >> oh, okay. when we come back, border security and focus in europe following the attack in brussels last week. fred cakempe is going to join u next. back in a moment. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected.

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the terror attack in brussels shining light on one of the eu's biggest challenge border security. french government think tank, france strategy estimates the cost of reinstating the border checks to rise to 110 billion euros. if you're still using the uros by 2025, exceeding the estimated trade benefits. of actually using the euro. joining to us talk more about the fate of the eu, fred kempe, he's president of ceo of the atlantic council. good morning, that's staggering. is that something that at this point the odds of doing that are what, do you think, fred? >> well, i don't think it will

be done completely untrep-tempo treaty. but it's already happening. the french have restrictions already 200 border pa o00 borde. two hours after the brussels attack. in all places a town in luxembourg where an agreement was signed in the first place to create free trade, free movement to people among 26 countries. europe has 28 countries. two of emin and non-eu countries and huge free trade and movement of people area. where it won't shut down entirely, but you're going to have some temporary restriction gz and ministers are now trying to extend those from six months to two years. >> and just, you know, if this continues, and i hope it doesn't, but if we believe what we're hearing about, you know,

how widespread the hydra, in parts of europe, you don't need more than one or two of these episode, where something like this is going to be -- it's going to be on everybody's lips. people are going to be saying something need to be done. so it's not totally out of the question. >> no, it's not out of the question, but they could absolutely collapse. if it collapses, you could have an eu collapse with it. you have a free trade zone in the zone of $8 trillion. people estimate 10% to 20% of that could be lost. then you have the slowdown to borders of 5 to $18 million. i think about where fedex or u.p.s. has to go to. and imagine investing in connecticut and putting in a big

manufacturing facility because you want access to the europe market or the u.s. market and finding out that breaks down. so you will little austria, a town of 8 million people. but there's been little investment in austria, because they feel like they could have access to the 8 million people. so there's the investment side. one 1% of all shengen people work across borders. but 1.7 million people finds that could change with one or two terrorist attacks. >> because the long-term viability of the euro, we saw the financial crisis, and we saw the problems in southern europe. and weak currency in germany. and what happened in the uk with interest rates being too low based off of german interest ratings and all the economic

ramifications off the euro. and that's not going to spell the end of it. what could spell the end of the year is the war in syria. but if you have the two together. if i lived there, i'd be saying give me the benefits versus the drawbacks to continuing with this. >> look, as with all things, we're seeing this in u.s. politics, there are arguments of the head and arguments of the heart. and it's a lot harder toic ma the argument it's of the head. the arguments of the head are that europe has deputy its best moment in history after centuries of bloodshed. after 1945, they finally got their act together. and they have the most interesting and largest and common economic interest in the world. it's of huge interest that the eu stayed together and remained functional. then the argument of the heart is let's pull up the draw bridges. but there is a fix. the problem is,pretty

palatable right now. and now if florida, texas and california are letting in people according to their own rules, not federal rules and then there's no database to track them use the united states. there's no cia, no fbi. so you have to create all of these situations or you're actually going to have to kill the goose that's laid the golden egg in europe. >> so, yes or no, quick answer? >> i think it's going to go slow. i think with all things europe, there's going to be a little bit of muddling through. but if european leaders don't step up this time. i think the crisis is serious enough that you can't just muddle through anymore. you as have a russian crisis to the east. you have the immigrant crisis as well. and now you have terrorism on top of that. and the rise of right wing parties. so europe has to either introduce more europe, more common border patrol, common spy agency. common customs controls.

>> protection. >> or you're going to lose it. >> thanks. >> thank you. when we come back, yahoo!'s core internet business is for sale. and microsoft could be a buyer. we'll talk to an analyst, right after this.

welcome back to "squawk." yahoo!'s core internet business is for sale. microsoft reportedly in talks

with private equity firms. bob peck is internet analyst at sun trust. what do you make of the development? >> it makes a lot of sense. three potential buyers. one a strategic. number two, just a p.e. and number three some sort of hybrid. microsoft working with a p.e. >> microsoft has a vested interest in this because they have a deal. >> yes. this would make sense. >> you talk about the cash flows. what are the cash flows and what is that deal exactly? >> it's unclear right now especially as marissa moves more of the search to their own search. around $2 billion of gross revenues. what they're trying to do is make sure they have a strong competitor to google and google doesn't get a monopoly, particularly domestically. >> i saw this idea that yahoo! wants $10 billion for its core operation. >> yeah. >> does that make sense? >> some of the math you can do to get there, if they exit the year in '16 at a run rate and

put a multiple on it. they've talked about $2 billion to $3 billion of i.p. then cash as well. you could make an argument that high. as strategics, with cost cutting they can get and synergies, they would probably pay $6.8 billion. >> microsoft has been on this merry go round before with yahoo! and came very close. will the history play into that? it was a steve ballmer project. >> i think that's sort of under the water. when you think about it from a p.e. point of view it's a large equity check to write here. particularly you need to be a large fund to do that. hence the idea we've talked about of a hybrid. have a strategic come in. from verizon's point of view, which we think they're the leading candidate to do this, that would be interesting. >> with microsoft as well? >> not necessarily with microsoft but maybe with a p.e. shot in verizon. you have all the write-ups and all the stuff not take place on your books. >> we have to run.

do you think yahoo! is dragging its feet? starboard complaining. there is a debate about whether the board is in sync with marissa. >> it's been over 110 days since maynard webb, chairman of the board, said they'd have to engage potential buyers and so far you've seen almost no movement. that leads you to believe you have a proxy contest and by july i think you'll see something forced either way. coming up, at least 70 people killed in pakistan by taliban militants on easter sunday. we'll talk about the attacks there and follow up on what's happening in western europe and belgium with general michael hayden, former director of the cia and the nsa.

great time for a shiny floor wax, no? not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. timing's important. comcast business knows that. that's why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. even late at night, or on the weekend, if that's what you need. because you have enough to worry about. i did not see that coming. don't deal with disruptions. get better internet installed on your schedule. comcast business. built for business.

a deadly weekend in pakistan. suicide bombers targeting christians in lahore, plus a e riot at the site of last week's brussels terror attack. former cia director michael hayden is here to break down the developments. jobs front and center. a deluge of data. super weekend for a dynamic duo of coppmic books. we're going to go inside the numbers as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. live from the beating heart of business, new york city, this is "squawk box."

>> welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. first in business worldwide. i'm joe kernen along with rebecca quick and andrew ross sorkin. futures at this hour are indicated for a positive open in the u.s. after a -- not a horrible session either on thursday as well. i can't remember. it's been so long ago already. a down week after six straight up weeks, right? >> we were on track for that at the end of the week and ended up down by 86 points for the dow by the end of the week. situation in crude. under 40 but up now 20 cents or .5%. the dollar versus the euro and british pound and the yen. as you can see it's mixed this morning. we'll have much more on the markets in just a couple of moments. meanwhile, some geopolitical news, andrew. another day and another horrific

tragedy. let's give you an update. deadly weekend of terror in the middle east. new developments in the attacks in brussels. we begin in pakistan this morning, the death toll rising to more than 70. the blast ripped through the largest city park in lahore where thousands gathered to celebrate easter. pakistani authorities vowing to hunt down the bombers who claimed they specifically targeted christians on easter sunday. a faction of the taliban claimed responsibility for that attack. over in belgium the site of a memorial for victims of last week's attack turned into a violent protest site. officials clashed with anti-islamic demonstrators. water cannons and tear gas were used to push the group away from the memorial cite. ten arrested. fresh raids over the weekend in belgium. four people taken into custody. raids also taking place in italy and the netherlands. dutch police arresting a 32-year-old frenchman at the request of french authorities who suspect him of planning a

terror attack. he was allegedly involved in a plot disrupted by police last week. a lot of action over the weekend. the u.s. intelligence community has been critical of europe's counter-terrorism efforts saying that smaller countries like belgium are overwhelmed, uncoordinated and unwilling to share information. joining us to talk about the intelligence and the war on terror is michael hayden, former nsa and cia director. he is also author of "playing to the edge, american intelligence in the age of terror." general, thank you for being with us today. >> thanks, becky. >> andrew just laid out the additional attacks over the weekend in pakistan. when you look at that, when you look at what had happened in brussels, when you look at the very near attacks in paris, it makes you start to think that the world is certainly a for chaotic place. what should we do about that? >> cvery chaotic and sad. two sets of problems here, becky. with regard to pakistan. that's -- what we are seeing

there is a product of history, and the product of a very unholy deal between the pakistani state and islamic militant-ism and islamic fundamentalism. in essence because pakistan or at least pakistani elites or at least the pakistani military sees itself in constant conflict with and in fear of india, it is allied with these fundamentalist groups which is sees as a strategic tool against india, and now this has become an alliance with the devil and we are seeing the byproducts of this. >> i thought that had changed in the last year since those militants attacked that military school where all those children were. i thought the attitude there had changed drastically. >> the attitude has changed, but you have allowed these groups to survive and to grow for literally decades. now you've got the sharif who i

agree is pushing back and in fact the location of the attack in his home province might be a way of the militants pushing back against the prime minister. but that said, the power of these kinds of groups within pakistani society is the product of pakistani policy over the past several decades. >> general, when we look at belgium, it's hard to get too into recrimination so quickly after an attack, but it does seem like there were plenty of opportunities where the belgian authorities could have and should have done more to prepare for an attack that was widely telegraphed. >> no. and your description earlier a few minutes ago about the state of the intelligence services in at least the small european states was not unkind or inaccurate at all. they have been very ineffective. hamstrung by local lays. they've been shorted on resources, and now they're digging out of a big hole to recover. the british services are good. the french services are good.

the scandinavians are small but quite good. the germans have potential, but they carry a burden of history when it comes to these kinds of things. but for the most part the other services on the continent, in their present form, are not up to this task. >> so what does that mean? is that an argument for nato to get more involved, for more cooperation? how quickly can something be done? >> it is certainly an argument for more cooperation intra-european cooperation, but becky, one of the things we'll immediately see here are the european states, even the big ones, coming to the united states for an intelligence assistance. david ignatius in an article last week put it quite well. he says the europeans are now lining up in front of the american intelligence leviathan expecting american intelligence product. let me be a bit bitter here. these are the same europeans

asking for american intelligence product who six, 12, 18 and 24 months ago, in the wake of the snowden allegations, were complaining about american intelligence collection. >> right. right. mike, is the only -- is brussels the only -- or belgium the only place where you can't disturb anyone after 9:00 at night? >> the belgians were kind of unique in the limits that they put on their services. but you have really got a dynamic here similar to what i was trying to describe in pakistan. this is the product of years, if not decades, of -- very briefly, in the european union, the division of labor between the union governments and the national governments is that questions of commerce and of privacy are held by the brussels bureaucrats. questions of security remain in national capitals. what you have got are the folks in brussels, the euro institutions, imposing these

incredibly high standards with regard to personal privacy, at the expense of what the national governments are still expected to do, which is to keep their citizens alive. >> general, let me actually just -- keying off that, let me go in a different direction. a different question than i was planning on. last time we saw you we had a debate about apple and what should happen there and talking about people's civil liberties and the idea of encryption protecting everybody versus the some, if you will. has your opinion on that changed at all as a result of this? >> no, it has not. when we talked, andrew, i freely admitted that unbreakable encryption can be used by evil people. but on balance, given the totality of threats we face, not just criminality, cyber crime and state espionage, i think unbreakable end-to-end encryption is a good idea.

an additional thought. it's coming whether or not we want it to or not. >> we have been over this. he knows that. it's very interesting. >> general, i'm fascinated by the encryption debate. >> i know you are. >> we've had all sorts of people come on with different opinions. the question i want to ask the general about is a question we asked a number of people last week, which is is it better that we now know that the belgium attacks were connected to what happened in paris or worse? in that, had they not been connected you would have had two separate groups doing it. the fact that there is one group, it's an intelligence failure but maybe, is it -- maybe it means that there is less of these people out there or not really? >> well, i mean, the good news is we seem now to have a better picture of what is, of reality. and andrew, here's what you've got to do now. this was not a one off. it was not an individual cell. this was part of an extensive network. how extensive, we know not yet.

so now we're kind of feeling our way trying to discover the real character and the extent of a broad network inside of europe. i have lived this, andrew. after 9/11 we had the same challenge here in the united states. how big is this al qaeda network? and the very best minds i had at nsa said, boss, follow the people, follow the stuff, follow the money. and if you pursue each of those three things, andrew, over time it begins to look like one of those scenes from "homeland" where carey is trying to figure something out and after a period of time you have all these pictures and lines on her living room wall. >> in pakistan it was the taliban anyway. the one thread that is the same is islamic extremism which, again, is -- you know, we get scolded and warned not to point the broad stroke. but that wasn't isis in

pakistan. still against christians and it's islamic extremism. you have hearts and minds to change all over the globe. >> yeah. and i -- i would agree. we need not paint with broad brushes and bold strokes and bright colors as some of our candidates seem to want to do. but we do need to paint. we cannot ignore that what we have is a struggle within one of the world's great monotheisms and we don't help ourselves by simply saying this has nothing to do with islam. it is not all of islam. it's not all muslims but it does have to do with islam in its current form. >> quickly, how much better is our intelligence and how much safer should we feel as a result? >> we're actually pretty good at this. you guys have paid a lot of money to make our intelligence services very robust. you have very good people. we're distant from the problem. we're further away from mosul and raqqa. demographics are different too.

we don't have the kind of populations that belgium has. we have radicalized individuals. we do not, at least not yet, have radicalized communities, and that is a reflection not just of our security services but of our values. we are an assimilating society, by nature. because of that we're not just a better place, we're a safer place. i fear we put that at risk via some of the rhetoric we have seen in the last couple of weeks. >> i don't know how the rest of -- how does western europe go in and assimilate places that are already like they are? >> that's -- andrew -- >> this is joe. >> a deep hole. i don't know. >> all right. general, thank you. appreciate your time. >> thank you. fresh off the big wins in alaska, hawaii and washington state, vermont senator brernie sanders appeared on "meet the

press" saying his campaign has momentum and a better chance of beating donald trump in a general election. hillary clinton still has a commanding lead but bernie sanders says do not count him out. >> our calculations are that in fact we can win the pledge delegates. and at a time when we have the momentum, we have won five out of the six last contests in landslide fashion, in all of the national polling that i have seen we are beating donald trump by much greater margins than is secretary clinton. >> up next, wisconsin holds its primaries on april 5th and democrats in wyoming vote on april 9th. coming up when we return, a big week for the markets as we get ready for serious economic data, including the jobs report. we'll tell you what you need to watch ahead of the opening bell on wall street. in the meantime, check out the futures at this hour. dow looks like it would open up 62 points higher. back in a moment. ) ♪

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great time for a shiny floor wax, no? not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. timing's important. comcast business knows that. that's why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. even late at night, or on the weekend, if that's what you need. because you have enough to worry about. i did not see that coming. don't deal with disruptions. get better internet installed on your schedule. comcast business. built for business. welcome back to "squawk box" this morning. corporate news for you. microsoft in preliminary talks with private equity firms to

finance a bid to buy yahoo!. this comes as yahoo! is auctioning off its core internet business including search and mail. supposedly yahoo! thinks they could get $10 billion for the core business. mike ryan joins us. good morning. what are we going to key off of? we noted that next week, i guess -- we'll see some earnings next week. the week after that will be right in the middle of earnings season. will that take precedence over this other stuff? >> i think there are a couple things to focus on. we're in a ramp up to earnings season. you'll see early releases and posturing around what corporate profits will look like. we'll focus on the economic release calendar. we have the employment report on friday, which is the most important economic release we get in realtime. people look at that as a sense of how the economy is healing. we'll certainly continue to monitor both the political and

geopolitical developments. obviously the election will still be an issue for the markets to deal with. >> the geopolitical side of things can affect the earnings side, obviously. we have also heard that the united states is, you know, the best house in a bad neighborhood. the economy is doing well, but we also heard we're in a profits recession. >> i think that will be the challenge here. i think, when you chew through the session, you still see most of it related to two head winds. one, the decline in energy prices. you're still having a lagged effect at least for the next two quarters in corporate profits and also strength of the dollar. energy prices have started to recover. we think that continues. secondly we think the dollar begins to level out here. >> it has already begun to. euro was 1.08. the dollar hasn't done anything in a couple of quarters. >> the important thing is, remember, we had over a 25% rise in the dollar. the issue is not about whether the dollar is beginning to

moderate. we're not seeing the kind of head winds from the further rise in the dollar. >> is that a reflection of what the feds will or will not do? if they'll raise that means all bets are off when it comes to the dollar, and also oil? >> that's one input. part of the reason the fed has probably tempered its language and taken a more moderate pace in terms of what they'll do as far as rate hikes down the road is partly because they don't want to jeopardize the health of the democraomestic expansion by dollar rising too quickly. this will not necessarily halt the fed from further actions but temper the pace that they raise rates. >> will your strategists start to look at polls? say it's trump and clinton, just for argument' sake. will they say, let's see, bill clinton was in the middle, pretty good as far as an economic president. maybe she doesn't mean all the stuff she says. she is saying it because of bernie sanders.

trump, he has a good tax plan but in terms of free trade and other, you know, incendiary language, we don't exactly -- he is sort of a wild card. would they prefer clinton? is trump -- would they immediately say be bad for the economy and he would lose thousands of jobs because of china? >> i'll frame it a little differently, joe. traditionally you look in one dimensional elections. democrat versus republican. >> normally you would be pro-republican. >> this time we're looking at democrat-republican but also traditional and non-traditional candidate. hillary is a traditionalist. we know kind of what to expect with regard to hillary's leadership and also the notion that she would likely tack back to the center. i'm not saying trump's policies or politics would be necessarily bad. we don't know what they are yet. the problem is there is so much uncertainty. his push towards tax reform could be a positive for corporate america. the concerns, of course, is that we don't know what a trump

administration would look like. >> right. when i ask you, will she be more like bill or bernie sanders? you think she would be more like her husband. >> i agree with your comment. i think she's been pulling to the left -- >> you don't believe her when she talks about capping drug prices or wall street, that the game is rigged. >> her whole party has been pulled to the left. the question is why is she staying there. >> my health care plan. last week chelsea said the reason obamacare is not working is because it didn't go far enough. we need hillary. hillary-care. >> i think politicians, when running for office, especially in a primary, say lots of things. i think, in terms of what they actually deliver upon when in a leadership position differs. i don't know that there is a politician who has actually delivered on all the things they committed to during a primary or even a general election. we have to be careful not to

over- over-interpret some of hillary clinton's statements or donald trump as well. >> if you saw hillary up double digits, you wouldn't see that necessarily as a continuation of the last eight years? >> i think it would probably be some -- some modified leadership of the past eight years, but i wouldn't say it's simply going to be the third term of the obama administration. i think what you will see, joe, is what she will do is try to find some areas of compromise with republicans because she'll have to work with a split congress no matter what she does. the notion that whether it's a clinton presidency or a trump presidency, they'll be able to impose their will, i don't think that's the case. if hillary wants to be effective in governing she'll have to find a way of reaching across the aisle. >> thank you, mike. coming up, we'll talk about a box office brawl. bad reviews have not been enough to keep away from "batman v superman." details straight ahead on that.

francis townsend, former homeland security advisor here to talk professional terror.

actions speak louder. something we'll show you. through small things. big things. and spur of the moment things. sheraton. ♪

welcome back to "squawk box." superheroes facing off in "batman v superman." the dawn of justice over the weekend. the movie storming the box office with a massive $170 million in domestic ticket sales, the sixth best opening of all time and a new record for an easter weekend despite rather terrible reviews, if i say so myself. >> yeah. strong showing, though. >> amazing. yeah. when we come back, terror in pakistan. more than 70 people killed in an easter sunday bombing. we'll get reaction and talk about the fight against terrorism with ian bremmer and franc frances townsend. after three days off people are ready to come back to business. dow futures indicated up by about 61 points. s&p futures up 6.66. nasdaq up 15. "squawk box" will be right back. ,

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.

great time for a shiny floor wax, no? not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. timing's important. comcast business knows that. that's why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. even late at night, or on the weekend, if that's what you need. because you have enough to worry about. i did not see that coming. don't deal with disruptions. get better internet installed on your schedule. comcast business. built for business.

welcome back, everyone. among the stories front and center, we're about an hour away from the government's latest read on personal income and spending. both expected to post rises of .1%. housing data at 10:00 eastern time. national association of realtors issuing february report on pending hole sales, expected to rise by 1.2%. the death toll in brussels has risen to 35 after several people wounded in the attacks passed away. authorities have charged three more suspects with being part of a terrorist group as they continue their investigation. talking geopolitics. terror in pakistan. 72 people killed in an apparent suicide bombing. european authorities attempt to map the extent of the network responsible for the attacks in brussels and how it relates to paris last year. ian bremmer and frances townsend joins us. great to see both of you.

you said something during the commercial break that i thought was sort of disturbing into that you think by the end of the week we're not going to -- all of this kind of news will not excite us. >> last week. >> and make us as anxious. >> that was his prediction last week. >> that's why i brought it up. >> we're still talking about it. we had four americans die. that matters. of course, we pay more attention to it. but clearly we are getting inured to the level of continual terrorist attack that's occurring across the european continent and how much we feel like we need to do about that. it's a problem for the united states. it's a bigger problem for the europeans and a bigger problem for the turks than the europeans. the saudis. >> when you say we're inured to it, you mean the u.s. or the world? i imagine -- >> less so. i mean the fact is we have huge attacks in places like turkey and iraq and pakistan that make no impact whatsoever. in europe it has a bigger impact because we understand and connect to it more. even there, i think that the level that requires us to really

pay attention and say, this is going to affect us, it's going to affect our presidential campaign, affect our lives and our policies, you know, has actually -- the bar has been getting higher and higher. it's just -- continues to happen. >> do you buy that? >> no, i don't. i think americans find it somewhat shocking that this is happening in european cities, right. this is where wealthy americans go on vacation. this is not what we expect. we do expect -- ian is quite right, we do expect this to happen in lahore. not in paris and brussels. >> again, in a week or a month, we're going to be -- >> i think -- >> it will be the opposite of inur, whatever word that is. >> the sense is that this is a real pervasive problem now, right. that paris wasn't a one-off. we have paris, brussels. you see the continuing arrests. there were 13 raids in brussels over the weekend. i mean, this is not normal. it's not what we think of as being western europe. >> take us inside, if you could -- i asked this last week, i don't think of you.

of somebody else. another former homeland security person i think we're having later. what is going on inside the homeland security department right now, do you think? >> they're trying to understand what exactly did the belgians miss? what should they have picked up that they didn't. when you look at what's happened in the last week, you ask yourself, why aren't those raids, were weren't the leads being followed after the paris attack. it's not like these guys went very far. they stayed in the same neighborhoods. those sorts of lessons homeland security is always looking at. we don't want to make the same mistake. >> do you think there have been changes we don't even know about in the past week in the united states? >> you come through any international airport and the changes start lit reallily before you board a plane. on the plane i boarded, 100% at the gate everybody was physically searched and gone through their bags. you see the additional measures. >> that was in buy jing? >> that's right.

>> in buy jieijing by the secur officials in cooperation with the american officials. they're worried about them targeting aviation. >> the transatlantic relationship, right, is becoming weaker. we don't spend a lot of time talking about our european allies. we're not coordinating much with them and they're not coordinating with themselves. that's part of why we are seeing these incredible failures. there is no surprise. enormous and disenfranchised muslim populations across europe, particularly in belgium and france, a thousand women in germany getting sexually harassed by muslims, including a bunch of refugees in germany on new year's eve. if they -- this has to be the top issue, right, on mind for everyone. yet, even there you have the brexit debate coming up in three months and you have can we figure out what to do, how to coordinate refugees and the answer is not even one iota. as much as we can say we're very worried about it, the policy is just not meeting that level of

ostensible concern. >> i do think that that is quite right when you talk about the political relationship. i think there has been a distancing, a weakening of the relationship. the good news here, if there is good news to be found, is that the law enforcement and intelligence relationships sort of move on despite that, right. so they've remained quite strong. and i think what you'll see is our european intelligence allies relying more on the americans. >> i want to go back to your plane. how good or bad do you think our security is here now? i say this, tom friedman was on last week. he believes, ahead of our u.s. election, he thinks that the terrorists or isis, if you will, would love to attack us here in part to impact the election. >> sure. i mean, look, i go back to -- i remember being in the white house in 2004 when bin laden issued the tape threatening the united states and threatening those who would vote for the re-election of president bush. these guys are not

unsophisticated. when understand the allure and press you get making a threat around the election. the question is do they have the capability. they've seen the flow of foreign fighters. there is about 5,000 in western europe. they say there are only a couple hundred in the united states. you don't need a couple hundred to launch a pretty serious attack. i think that's the focus of homeland security right now. >> how good or barrd is our borr control, given the likes of donald trump who thinks we should shut certain portions of it down. >> it's improved over time. is it perfect, no. we still have the problem of illegal immigration on the southwest border. we're better talking about immigration coming through aviation, ports of entry. it is not flawless. and so, you know, every day people worry about that. and especially when you talk about foreign fighters with bad documents. they just arrested one of these guys who provides false documents in italy over the weekend. when you talk about really good

false documents that's a way to defeat billions of dollars spent on border security. >> your expectation for europe. you talked about brexit. we've talked about it all coming undone. does this in some way bring everybody together? >> i wish the answer was yes. you are seeing everyone has their own national reasons for saying we don't want to agree on these refugees coming over. we don't want to provide money for it. the polish government, a day after the brussels attacks, said what we said we were going to do in terms of resettlement, we're not going to anymore. that plays extremely well in poland where over 75% of the population says we don't want a single additional refugee coming in. >> you have all sorts of multi-national companies that do business in europe. when they call in you in the past week, you tell them what? from a business perspective. >> the geopolitics are driving much more fragmentation, who is a winner and who is a loser. asia has continued to look quite attractive in this environment. the united states does too. the level of what we call tail

risks, things you hope don't happen but possible will are at the highest level in over a quarter century. >> they're supposed to do what? >> therefore, they're supposed to be limiting -- in many cases limiting exposures to europe. the ability to say that europe will be a place where you can do sustainable, long-term growth as a big multi-national corporation is not what you want it to be. >> we have to go. does that make sense? >> yes. i agree with that. i think the current sort of terror attacks only underscore people's concern about how much do i want to invest in western europe right now. i agree. >> an interesting story. we have had people come on, by the way, and take the other side in terms of how to play it in the market. that's a story for another day. ian and frances, thank you. can game stop stay in the game? hit after weaker hardware sales and a lack of block buster game releases. rob lloyd joins us next. "squawk box" will be right back.

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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. we have been watching the futures this morning. after a three-day weekend it looks like we're in the green this morning. dow futures off the highs of the morning but still up 56 points above fair value. s&p futures up 5.a. nasdaq up by 13. in corporate news dell selling its i.t. services unit to ntt data corp. for more than $3 billion. part of dell's effort to try to pay down the debt it will incur when it closes on its acquisition of emc. netflix facing criticism an the "wall street journal" reported its been lowering the quality of video for customers watching on wireless networks for over five years. in a blog post responding netflix says it has limited its video quality for mobile viewers globally capping them at 600-kilo bits per second to try to protect consumers from

exceeding mobile data caps. it says it plans to introduce a knew feature to allow users more control over usage. >> is that a lot? >> no. to me, that sort of -- remember when people used to complain about netflix and they would blame the cable operators. >> saying the cable operators were slowing things down. this is netflix doing the same. >> right here. you. >> i don't think i was complaining about that. >> what's it called? throttling? >> we talked about throttling. >> you don't think you -- >> we can go back and get the tape. there are some companies that were doing a little bit of throttling. >> it's true. >> including? >> at&t. >> anybody else? >> i'm sticking with at&t. >> smart move. all right. >> retail gaming giant gamestop -- >> we're going to get a call from randall in a second. >> i think you're out of line there. gamestop beating the street on earnings but guiding lower for the first quarter. the world's largest video game retailer expecting strength in

its tech brands businesses to offset slowing game sales. rob lloyd is here to break down the quarter. cfo of gamestop. this is something we talk about a lot too, rob. that slowly i think andrew would suggest you change your business model a little bit and you indeed are doing that with these tech brand stores as well. because you're going to actually start closing some of just the traditional gamestop stores over time, i think, right? >> well, that's right. we have closed about 10% of our stores over the last five years. and in recent years we've shifted and have been opening these technology brand stores including the at&t wireless stores. we're over a thousand now. that business is growing very well for us. >> but the lion's share of the latest quarter was still your traditional business. these are pretty good numbers still. are they not? your people are still coming in and buying and renting games and

buying used games. >> that's true. theli the lion's share of the business is the video game business. we saw a decline in the fourth quarter in video game software but a growth in our profits and earnings per share because of those diversified business like technology brands and like our collectibles business. >> do we still need to know what was introduced and what's coming up in terms of exciting software? like what -- you didn't have it this past quarter but you have some coming up? >> in the second quarter we've got some exciting titles. uncharted 4. dark souls 3. mlb. gamestop is entering some new ground in that we'll publish a game called "song of the deep" working with a developer called insomniac. who has done a lot of big console games in the past. we'll be introducing "song of the deep" in june. that game, which normally would

have gone straight to xbox live and playstation plus, will be sold at retail in our stores and digitally. >> the mobile business, like we were just talking about netflix and mobile, that -- that's a bright spot at gamestop. what are people doing on mobile? >> people are playing games on mobile, and we participate in that space as well. our congregate division is one of the top ten publishers of apple games and android games. we had a game that came out in january that was rated number one by apple. >> what was -- you're looking at -- i don't know whether you can see your chart. what do you think the stock is -- what do you think investors are worried about? the transition to the new business model? >> i think investors are more worried about what's happening with the underlying software and the video game space. that's still very important in investors' minds. we hope the message that

investors get as we move into 2016 is that we see growth for the year. we'll grow revenues and eps despite a decline we project for hardware and software for video gaming. we'll get the growth because of the diversified businesses that we now have. hopefully investors are getting the message that gamestop as a company is changing and the dialogue no longer needs to be about what's happening with hardware and software. >> rob, there has been a lot of excitement around virtual reality, vr. >> right. >> i saw some of your earlier comments where you said actually maybe we shouldn't get so excited or too excited too quickly. >> i think it will take a little while for that to develop inside the market. we do expect later on this year that we're going to get the vr units from sony. sony's vr will plug right into your playstation 4. of course, we are the leader at selling playstation 4 and other consoles so we're very excited

about what the sony vr can do within that environment. >> just quickly, so each one of your tech brand stores, i have been told you're shooting for a million in annual revenue at each with 10% operating margins. is that -- is that a legitimate fact? >> that is a goal, yes. >> that's a goal. when is that going to happen? >> well, the stores -- we opened over 200 of the tech brand stores last year. so there's a little bit of a ramp to maturity. we continue to acquire existing at&t resellers as well. in fact, we're now at&t's largest reseller partner. when we acquire stores, they tend to be more mature, but the large volume that we opened last year needs a little time to mature. so we expect that business in the next year or two will hit that maturity point where we are seeing the 10% operating margin. >> so, i guess there are people

that, you know, that use the "b" word, the block buster word. we've talked about it in the past because the core business is declining. is the other part of the business going to ramp up quickly enough to where the short-sellers are proven wrong based on it not being a declining asset? >> we believe that it will. we're on a path to get 50% of our operating earnings from sources other than physical video gaming by the end of 2019. in 2015 that number was about 25% of our earnings. we'll see it go north of 30% of our earnings in 2016. so we think we're well on the way to avoid being that "b" word. >> yeah. because geeks need a place to go, rob and need a place to hang out. i like going in there too. and andrew, you know, we talk about record stores. >> yep. >> you know where i went over the weekend? >> a record store. >> rob, thank you. rob lloyd, cfo of gamestop.

>> thank you. >> went to -- it's always been there. it was really cool. i mean, my kids bought a bunch -- >> vinyl? >> we're doing vinyl. we're doing vinyl. we're doing records. >> a retro. >> it's hot now. >> the place was cool. it's called scotty's. you go in, and it's more records than i have ever seen. but unopened like magical mystery tour. >> how did they come up with unopened ones? they got a lot. $30. >> the vinyl is like crazy now. there's a lot of new vinyl now. >> but it's newly -- it's not an original -- >> you can buy one of the old ones. >> for 30 bucks? doesn't seem like a bad deal. >> i got a used déjà vu, crosby stills and nash. >> did you buy a record player. >> yes. for about under a hundred dollars with its own speakers. we sit around listening to

albums. i saw like led zeppelin 1, the bertha album. i got a little bit nostalgic. i saw king crimson. >> the art off of it. >> the lyrics are there. thick as a brick. i saw that. you can read the whole album cover. >> great art. >> it was fun. going back. i spent lots of money there too. it sounds like crap on this thing. >> scratchy? >> scratchy. but it's more fun than just -- >> you need a better player. >> it's more fun than popping around wherever you go. >> constant mix tape. when we come back, the stage is set for the final four. we'll look at the matchups straight ahead. the futures once again at this hour. looking at green arrows all morning long. dow futures up 49 points. s&p up by 5. nasdaq up 12.5. news. you're down with crestor. alright! now there's a way you can get crestor for $3. adding crestor, along with diet,

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in the east region top seed north carolina took on the fighting irish. and the tar heels go on a run in the second half with some nifty defense. turning into instant offense and then carolina pulls away and beats the fighting irish to advance to the school's 19th final four. that's the most in ncaa history. in the midwest region top seed virginia taking on the 10 seed syracuse. the orange were down 16 in the second half. they were down i think 15 with nine minutes to go. before staging a major comeback led by -- he is a freshman? maliki richardson, who had 23 points and a key three-pointer at one time. they just blew by them with i think it was a 24-4 run. they scored 24 and the cavs only scored four. that's the sixth final four for them. fifth under the coach. field is now set for the championship weekend. villanova will face oklahoma in the first game on saturday, which i definitely want to watch

because buddy hield is peaking. he shot like 70% -- that's exaggerating. but it seemed like every three-pointer he threw up went in. unbelievable. a one-man wrecking crew. syracuse and north carolina meet for the third time this season in the second time. syracuse was 9-9 in their -- in their conference. >> yeah. >> they finished in 10th place in their conference. that's why -- >> what did you say? what was the -- 0.4%? >> 0.4% of the brackets had syracuse going to the final four. no one. >> all three of the number one seeds are gone already, and some of the number two. the most important number 2 seed. >> wouldn't have worked if i hit that bracket either. when we come back, latest developments out of europe on the terror front. europe looks to work closer with the u.s. on possible threats. big week for investors as we get ready for jobs friday. we have to look at new caution

flags in the markets that you should worry about. here are the futures at this hour. dow up by 50. s&p up by 5.5. this is my retirement. retiring retired tires. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade.

ready to run or poised for a

pause. why at least one well-known market watcher fears stocks are due for a 10% drop in the next few months. the warning signs straight ahead. decision 2016. big weekend wins for bernie sanders against hillary clinton. while on the gop side the gloves are coming off. cruz and trump still in a war over their wives as focus shifts to wisconsin today. new this morning. bad reviews not enough to keep fans away from "batman v superman." we'll round up the weekend box office winners as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. live from the most powerful city in the world, new york, this is "squawk box." welcome back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc. first in business worldwide. i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernen and rebecca quick. 90 minutes away from the opening bell on wall street. after a three-day weekend, the dow now up 50 points. it would open that way. nasdaq looks to open up

12.5 points higher. nasdaq 5.5 points higher. we're 30 minutes away from key economic data. personal income and consumer spending. also core pce prices and the trade deficit all on today's agenda. among the top stories today. microsoft reportedly in preliminary talks with private equity firms to help to finance a bid to buy yahoo! according to reports. executives from private equity firms approached microsoft to gauge interest. it comes as yahoo! is auctioning off its core internet business including search and mail. japan's ntt data is buying dell's it services division for $3.1 billion. that will help dell raise cash to finance acquisition of emc. avon making a deal appointing cathy ross to its board. the investors are backing that move. a few other stocks on the

move this morning. gamestop earnings beating the street. current quarter and full-year guidance falls short of what the street was expecting. the company trying to transition itself in a market place seeing an increased amount moving online. joining the s&p 500 index. the stocks added to the index after the close of trading tomorrow. foods posting better than expected profits. results helped by higher than average selling prices. not that stock. acadia pharmaceutical up after fda staff members said the company's parkinson's disease drug was effective in treating psychosis associated with a disease and didn't recommend a black box warning for the drug. that stock up by 15%. stock snapping a five-day winning streak, back near break-even levels for the whole year. >> five-week winning streak.

>> what did i say? >> five-day. >> s&p up nearly 10% from the so-called jamie diamond bottom back in february. dom joins us and is looking at possible warning signs of a pullback. >> if you look at what's happening overall with the markets. we're hitting the reset button. it gives investors an opportunity to look at what's going to happen going forward. do they want to get long or stay on the sidelines. big warning signs out there. here are five that maybe haven a interconnected way of looking at the overall market. the dollar strength. maybe that's going to weigh on corporate earnings. a lot of it will come through next month when we have earnings season kick off all over again. that's having an impact somewhat on commodity prices. oil and gold prices taking a turn for the worse after a nice run at the beginning of the year.

also the ipo market continues to be frigid. not a lot of activity in the prime issuance market for stocks. does that continue? banks under pressure. still among the worst performing sectors in the s&p 500. the second biggest sector out there. so the bank weakness could be a big warning sign for investors as well. transportation stocks. they've rallied about 26% since lows in mid-january. and now they're showing signs of underperformance as well. if you look at those warning signs, it may give investors a moment of pause especially because they now have the chance to either sit on the sidelines or go back into the market. remember, all those losses we have seen, guys, have been back-boarded. >> joining us is jim oy shaughnessy of asset management. and head of u.s. equity and quantitative strategy at bank of america merrill lynch.

let's talk as we come to the end of the first quarter. jim, we saw things go way down and come way back. people are trying to figure out what's the real story. do you believe the momentum or think we came back too quickly? >> i think we've come back in a very legitimate format. i think that, you know, you always have the investor who says they will wait until the market goes down 10% and all of a sudden they de-materialize. >> everybody got nervous. >> they start selling, selling, selling. that's exactly when they should be buying. we think people should take a very long-term perspective in the market. if you have got five years or more, you belong in the stock market. if you don't, you don't. and you know, if you get the opportunity to see stocks, especially ones you like a lot, down 10%, 15%, 20%, step up to the bar and buy them. >> do you think stocks are richly valued at these levels, sabine? >> i think evaluation right now

looks fair. it's not cheap, not expensive. i am worried, i agree, on the long term i think stocks look great. u.s. large cap stocks probably look like the best game in town. in the next couple of quarters what i worry about is we have the fed tightening into a profits recession which normally doesn't happen at the same time and credit spreads telling us something is going on that's not so great in the credit market. which is normally a leading indicator for stocks. it feels like, over the long haul, if you can withstand a little volatility, buy them and hold them. for the near term, we have the fed, credit, a confluence of forces that don't necessarily look that great all happening at the same time. >> that is a concern. i feel like i have heard for the last maybe three years or longer that the fed will be raising any moment so it's not the time to get into stocks. do they actually raise at this point? >> i will tell you that my opinion is as worthless as

anyone else's. the fact is that the fed is marching to a different drummer. and the political machinations at the fed are -- they make moscow look simple. my point of view is you can buy great large cap stocks that are actively buying back their shares, but you can't buy them just because of that. they have to be cheap. so 14% of companies that are buying back shares are in the cheapest 5% of our value composite, which looks at things like price to sales, price to earnings, et cetera. they also have to be economically strong and financially strong. >> how do you measure that? >> we measure that by looking on the balance sheet in terms of how much debt are they taking on, are they issuing rather than -- >> you think this would be a decent time to take on debt with rates so low. >> indeed. but what we don't want to see is a bunch of debt being taken on just to repurchase shares.

we like very, very cheap financially strong companies. and historically those companies returning assets to shareholders through dividends and buy-backs have added about 3.1% between 1964 and 2014. companyi companies issuing shares have taken on. acquisitions, they don't work. expansions, they don't work. if you look at just the numbers, yeah, of course there is always going to be one or two companies you with focus on where it did work. but in aggregate, those that are doing it the most are actually suffering in terms of the returns they're giving their shareholders. >> you have tips for investors. you say avoid overcrowded stocks. >> we were talking in the green room earlier. this year, oddly enough, one of

the best performing quantitative factors is selling stocks that are most held by mutual funds and buying stocks that are least held by mutual funds. >> why? because the mutual funds are getting it wrong or just because, if everybody is already in the stock it can never go higher? >> a little of both. we're also noticing that there is a huge shift, and i think it continues out of active into passive funds. everyone has gotten price sensitive. they don't want to pay fees to underperform. there is a whole argument for buying index funds. the scary fact is that almost 70% of assets are still held in active funds. 30% in passive. so i think this keeps going. and what you want to avoid are stock that is are super crowded. the biggest overweights by the active community. right now active funds don't own the stocks you're talking about, jim. they own the hyper growth, high-multiple stocks. >> as my son always says, he

would much rather pay 100 basis points to buy an s&p with a pe of 12 than five basis points with a pe of 25. i totally understand the being price sensitive. but you have got to take valuation into consideration as well. to your point, a lot of the mutual funds are just piling into names that have done well, right. they're window dressing. >> the momentum, high growth names. they want to show that they held the stocks at the end of the year because they were the best performers. look what happened to fang this year. it's important to be nimble. avoid the crowds. high quality companies. high cash return. dividend growth stories. ownership might be the most important and most under the radar attribute that is working this year. that's driving a significant component of returns. >> jim, you say that you don't want to guess where the fed is headed, but you are telling

people not to buy long-term government bonds at this point. >> i was very early on that, as you might recall. i got the market much better when i published in march a generational buying opportunity, march of 2009. maybe it's just because i am a stock guy and i get stocks better. but the plain fact of the matter is ultimately, ultimately, rates will go up. and i think that we've seen a lot of investor complacency around bonds. people have been holding long bonds. those will get hit the hardest when the fed starts to rise. if you buy bonds buy a shorter-duration fund, five to ten years. ten years would be the maximum that i would be willing to buy. going out on the time curve is really a prescription for disaster. >> 30 years from now you don't think we'll be looking at rates

like this? >> i do not. >> thank you both for coming in today. >> might take 30 years. >> that's true too. >> we have like 12 under our belt already. coming up, a world of worry. terrorist attacks in brussels, a suicide bomber in pakistan. global hot spots and how fighting terror is playing out in the presidential campaign here at home. stay tuned. "squawk box" will be right back. . yet many people still build portfolios with strategies that just track the benchmarks. but investing isn't about achieving average. it's about achieving goals. and invesco believes doing that today requires the art and expertise of high-conviction investing. translation? it's time to bench the benchmarks. xerox personalized employee portals help companies! make benefits simple and accessible... from anywhere.

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death toll has risen to at least 72 in a weekend suicide bombing in pakistan. most of the victims were christian families celebrating easter in a public park. pope francis today called the bombing vile and abominable and said religious minorities in pakistan need to be protected. the fight against terror dominating the political talk shows this weekend. >> nato is obsolete and extremely expensive to the united states. disproportionately so. and we should readjust nato.

it's going to have to be either readjusted to take care of terrorism or we'll have to set up a new -- a new coalition, a new group of countries to handle terrorism. because terrorism is out of control. >> joining us now is congressman greg meeks, democratic member of the foreign affairs committee. and was on the trip to cuba with the president. >> yes. >> we'll talk about that in a second. in terms of the politics of the moment and what's happening both on what trump mentioned, the nato issue, and on terrorism. do you agree with him on that? >> not at all. nato is one of the most important organizations that we have, and you look at the alliances that we have with nato countries and the e.u. it's important that we continue to work closely together now to fight terrorism. it is just the opposite almost of what donald trump is talking about. >> right. you were with the president in cuba. he has been criticized for going to the baseball game right when some of this -- some of the

terrorism activity and headlines had just happened. was there any conversation about him doing that? >> no. the conversation was that the president was in contact with all of his national security advisors and anything that -- he was well briefed, brought up to date. sfo he was briefed an everything that was going on. there was nothing he could do and the historic nature of what was taking place there was tremendously important. i think the president did absolutely the right thing. it was just the political jargon of folks -- >> i always wonder. since you were with him. is there a conversation where somebody says to the other person, i don't know how this will look. should we do it? should we not do it? >> that conversation didn't take place where i was with him in that regards. the president makes his decisions. and they take the authority. the conversation could have happened in a much smaller area.

>> right. >> clearly i think that the president made the right decision. >> the criticism was that cuba at this point is -- means very little on a global scale to anyone and that a legacy issue is one thing, but the here and now was in western europe, and that -- that that -- it was a totally a blind eye to what the country needed. and there were americans killed there. if we're the leader of the free world and something like that happens in belgium, just to keep on business as usual with that same sort of mantra and, you know, i'm not going to change anything based on a terrorist attack because it shows weakness, that was ringing hallow. he got hammered on the optics of that. hammered. >> let me say this. if you talk about -- we have to stop -- the war against terror is real and we have to make sure we do that. given where we are now, if you allow the terrorists to say we can dictate what you do. >> in 51 seconds of a speech, no

one -- maybe he didn't need to come back. but, you know, not sending anyone to paris except for the u.s. ambassador. it seems like there is a pattern that my -- here is what my mindset will be. i'm going to ignore this and not acknowledge it as a major threat regardless -- that's my story and i'm sticking to it. it doesn't seem to be playing very well. >> let me explain this. there are serious concerns about terrorism and this president has serious concerns about terrorism. what took place in paris and brussels recently. what took place in pakistan and on the continent of africa, whether nigeria or kenya. we'll be paralyzed as a nation, we could not do anything. this president has been ste steadfast, going after the key commanders of isil or isis and continuing to work with our allies on a continuing basis. these are independent nations. in fact, many would not want or

did not want the president of the united states to look as though they're coming in to take care of some of their sovereign issues. we're still working on those. as opposed to just optics, what the facts are can be different. and the facts, i believe, were different in this regard, and the president has been and is continuing to do the fight on terrorism. i just thank all of our law enforcement officers, the president and his policies, that we are able to do what we are doing at home here and working with orallies other places to try to share intelligence with them. that's what's substantially important here. >> can you speak to this, which is you have been critical of bernie sanders. bernie sanders won a number of states over the weekend. what do you think that says about the popularity of hillary clinton and her ability to go up against whether it's donald trump or whoever you think the republican candidate is? >> clearly if you look at the number of individuals who voted for hillary clinton overall, she has more votes than anybody. clearly when you look at the states hillary wins those are

diverse states that look like america and they're generally primaries, where there are more americans involved than in the caucuses that favor bernie sanders. that being said, i think that, you know, that both bernie sanders and hillary clinton has a message that helps make america -- keeps america and make america what america is. it brings us together. >> bernie sanders was saying yesterday on "meet the press" that, look, he thinks he'll be air to get there and win with the number of delegates. if it comes down to the super delegates do the democrats face the same crisis that the republican party is? >> no. i think clearly hillary clinton will win with regular delegates. as we move into diverse states like pennsylvania and new york, hillary clinton is clearly well on her way -- in fact, she is further ahead now than barack obama was on her. she clearly understands, and i understand, that bernie sanders will stay in this thing until june. as she did. i was with her at that

particular time with president of the united states. we stayed into june and fought hard. that's what bernie sanders is going to do. he has the money to do it. i wouldn't expect him to do anything else. >> to the extent that bernie sanders has pulled her farther left, if she is the candidate, does she come back closer to the center where she was four or eight years ago now? >> i think that what hillary clinton will do is, you know, and what she has done -- and i think this is what's different than her and bernie, is she will do what is the most appropriate thing to do for the betterment of our country as opposed to one person who just has a, you know, here is where i differ with bernie. he has been a democratic socialist who has been one position. even in the best of times. who has been talked about basically a socialist revolution, which is not going to take place in the united states, i don't believe, because if you look at socialism other places, our economy is much stronger and much better than

theirs. >> i like that -- when you use democratic socialist all the time now as if we have to distinguish with from the republican socialist. there are some. crony capitalist types. >> or libertarians. >> congressman thank you for coming in this morning. >> you bet. when we come back. breaking economic news. personal income and consumer spending, core pce prices and the trade deficit all wrapped up in one big fat docket. stick around. that's when we come back. 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 range of a stock expecting earnings. impressive... what's up, tim. td ameritrade.

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>> get out. >> are you serious? >> what was it? >> i don't know. coming up, breaking economic data minutes away. income and spending. core pca and the trade deficit. as we head to break. look at the u.s. equity futures. up 60. now up 43. s&p up 5. nasdaq up 12.5. ♪ actions. they speak louder. we like that. not just because we're doers. because we're changing. big things. small things. spur of the moment things. changes you'll notice.

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$170 million in northern american ticket sales. we're a few seconds away from some data coming up. personal income and spending data. we've tan looking at the futures this morning. they've been indicated higher. dow futures up by 44. s&p up by 5 and nasdaq 13. rick santelli is standing by. >> thank you, becky. february read on personal income up .2, twice expected. .1 on spending exactly as expected. spending took a revision to up .5 in january to up .1. that's something to pay attention to. on the deflator, month over month. that was down .1. year over year, that was 1%. here is where it gets interesting. personal consumption expenditure. month over month, up .1. we were expecting up .2. but year over year, which was at

1.7 last time, we were expecting 1.8, remains at 1.7. a little light. these are the highest year over year personal consumption expenditures coring back several years. will it make a difference? i'm not sure. it's still within the bands of expectations. many continue to view pricing pressures more on the service side. that's another story. hovering below 190 in yield that hasn't changed much. with much of europe closed we'll look at how the market handicaps this and gets ready for a jam packed week of supply and data. back to you. >> easter monday, rick. it's easter monday. >> absolutely! >> here we are. working. which i don't get. >> working. you know what, there is -- it's not a bad thing. it's not a bad thing. that's the way we'll keep our

gdp hovering barely over europe. >> hertling towards european style in every other respect. you won't get on board with that four-day weekend? good friday, easter monday? you have a problem with that? >> listen, i have a problem trying to replicate what europe has. holidays are different than the other issues but it works pretty well. >> why don't we get the good stuff? no raids between 9:00 and 5:00 p.m. they have great laws over there. steve, are you with me? >> my australian friends said to never schedule a meeting on wednesday because you ruin two weekends. that's an aussie thing. when they take vacations it's six months or a year. they travel the world and go back. my australian journalists friends get a year off as part of being in the union there for journalists. >> awesome. >> my opinion is the rest of the

world knows how to live. it's us who don't. >> i am asking for easter monday. >> i advocated for the day after thanksgiving to be a national holiday. >> your productivity numbers. >> we have great productivity. right now they're kind of down, but in terms of all the productivity we had -- >> you start adding these holidays, what's going to happen? >> we could live like we did in 2000 if we took another week off. we'd have to give up some of where we are right now. i'll calculate the numbers again. if we wanted the same standard of living as ten years ago, we could take another week off. because of all the amazing productivity that's out there. live a little. you don't come around again. take a four -- joe, you can have the rest of the morning off. >> the leisure class. did you hear rick talk about -- >> that revision is big. he is right. to the spending number. the wage and salary number, you know, it's one of those things. minus .1 in february. up 0.6 in certajanuary.

average the two together. the savings rate continues relatively high. 5 in december. 5.3 in january. 5.4 in february. gas prices. they feel more comfortable with it in their pocket or in the bank at zero than they do spending it. becky, you said earlier -- i was listening at 6:00 about the friday number. >> the friday gdp number. i thought i should pay attention then i shouldn't because steve said the number doesn't matter. >> pay attention in a different way. the work that we did showed that you get a much better error rate when you average the four quarters. and guess what the four-quarter average is? >> 2%. >> 2%! >> really? >> 2%. it's 2%! what does that tell you? when we average the four quarters and compare them against the average that's going to be calculated years from now, the error rate goes in half.

it's 0.6. >> that tells me that the market knows better than the numbers are anyway. >> this is the argument i have been having with joe and i'm conceding over time. the data shows that you have to pay attention to the market. the market is not always right. 13 out of the last 17 recessions. here is the way to think about it. using the average error rates we have a potential growth rate, a four-quarter average of between 2.6 and 1.4. maybe that makes you not as comfortable as you would like but a little bit more comfortable than not having any idea at all. it's a pretty good bet for where we are. >> the numbers don't matter that much as an event. >> not to the decimal point. i think the best investors have a zen with that data where they say, okay, that's one input that comes in. i am not selling the house and moving into the bunker today based on this piece of data. i'm going to look at the other data, all the data around it. i am not saying to throw it out. look at it differently and think about long-term averages. >> i took what you said too far

and ran with it? >> you did what we do on tv, right? we exaggerate for a living. >> don't exaggerate. >> we did all the work here. yellen tomorrow hopefully breaks the tie between the five folks who want to do april or sooner. >> last week? >> or give us an idea whether or not things are june. just so you know, the number we're looking for for friday, 211,000. looking for another strong jobs reports with an unchanged unemployment rate at 4.9%. my work is terrible on this. it's been really bad. what it has been -- >> you might be due. >> i was great two months ago. it's been an excellent source of material for you. >> yes. >> i am always happy to provide that. i don't do the number until i get the ism number in this week. >> my work. >> it's better than you. >> i don't pretend to have something called "my work." that's the thing. i am pretending to have work. you have a spreadsheet.

>> this happened, joe, because the government shut down and we didn't have a jobs number. the bosses came to me, steve, can you generate something. i did and it was pretty close two months in a row. i like when you did steal your face, joe. >> my stuff -- >> 314. >> it was closer to -- much closer. >> at least i try. coming up -- thanks, steve. bernie sanders getting a boost from his saturday sweep. on the gop side, the feud between donald trump and ted cruz heating up. we'll look ahead to the next primary with two top strategists next. a number.has 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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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. the futures this morning have been indicating a higher open. right now it looks like we are about 50 points above fair value as we head towards the opening bell. s&p futures 5.5. nasdaq up 14.5. corporate news. uber ceo saying the ride-sharing company earning more than a billion dollars in profit. now talking about competition. >> this is an industry that has been built and designed to outlaw competition. and so, when somebody or an entity comes in and represents competition for the first time in decades, it becomes, you know, some people call it disruptive. it's about change and it's about positive change. when we go to a city, we are telling cities, and cities here

in china, we're like, within the next year we're going to create 20,000 jobs. we're going to take hundreds of thousands of cars off the road, which is going to make pollution in the air much better and save people time. that's just fundamentally good. how can we bring so much good so quickly? it's because we're going into a system that had no competition before we came. >> he answered questions about the unicorn's plans for an ipo. >> we're not in need of public capital, if that makes sense. but there also, of course, is that sort of, i call it the moral obligation with investors who put money in. they need to see liquidity. of course, we have employees as well who put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make uber successful, and they own equity. we have to ultimately find liquidity for all shareholders. but i am going to make sure it

happens as late as possible. >> in the category of potential game-changers here is what he said about the future of driverless cars. >> how much time, how -- how much worse is our lives because we're sa we're sitting there with a steering wheel in our hands stressed out and frustrated in traffic. when you can give people their time back and when you run these cars more efficiently and there is no more traffic, this is magic. we look at that as sort of a moment or an opportunity for what we call optimistic leadership. how do you partner with cities for that transition. and how do you do that in an optimistic way. >> more of that conversation with uber's ceo all day long on cnbc and cnbc.com. one of the great ironies and conundrums is the situation is he is going into different cities saying we're creating new jobs and a decade from now, of course, when the driverless cars -- he is doing a lot of investment.

when it comes to fruition -- >> they'll be involved with that somehow. what are you going to do? >> what will i do with a driverless car? sit up front. >> why don't you do that now? >> i can't. i do better when i drive. i get car sick. i can drive myself because i will -- >> you're driving into new york city -- >> i like driving! >> 4:30 in the morning. >> i like driving. >> what if you get a flat? >> it's happened. >> you need a driver, girl. you need a driver. get with the program. ride in the front seat. >> i like to be in control of my destiny. >> ooh! okay. i don't know where that ooh came from. i guess the control thing. ted cruz and donald trump trading jabs. gearing up for the next big primary. the trump dynasty is expanding. congratulations ivanka. theodore, the eighth grappndchi of the gop frontrunner. let's bring in the president of

a ted cruz super pac called keep the promise. scotty kne scotty knell nell hughes. in the last campaign weren't you a newt gingrich? >> yes. this cycle, the trump-cruz, one-two punch against the establishment -- >> you were a newt guy. i said, whomever runs -- i said back then -- she is -- they should get you on their side. you're not back with newt this time. >> he says he's not with trump. >> he's with trump. >> i know mr. trump well. i sat on one of his boards. he's been very good to me and other women in his presence. >> you're 60 cruz, 40 trump? >> i'm all in. 100% for ted cruz and i am 100% this cycle for beating the establishment. >> you would never trump? #never trump?

>> the hash tag never trump is not an option when you go to the ballot box. when you vote in new york in a couple weeks it won't say kasich, trump, cruz, #never trump. >> we have had a slew of republicans in here. i look at them and try to listen and understand what they're saying and they don't seem to understand that. >> you need a vehicle. and the vehicle, of course, we're the original never trump because we're pro-cruz. >> what they're saying now is, oh, walters, you know, no way a republican is going to get elected so i am just trying to hold onto the senate. >> that's not true. >> they're saying if you back trump you ruin it because the republicans will lose the senate. >> scotty and i won't agree here. they said when ted cruz stood in the well of the senate for 22 hours to try to keep obamacare from final funding all of the saeshenators in washingts we speak. they got there in part saying

they'll repeal obamacare. they said, oh, we'll never win the senate and the house. kiss the house good-bye. they won everything nailed to the ground. >> what she is talking about. the senators and representatives are worried about the same people going to the polls that are going to elect a donald trump or a ted cruz not electing them. maybe the problem was with them and their voting record if they're worried that the people they're elected by and holding them accountable by don't want them in office anymore. maybe instead of being worried about from the top down, i'm sorry, maybe your votes haven't been right that make the people not as motivated for you. >> they're turning out in record numbers. >> the latest mantra from the msn. this will be tough to overcome. >> i can handle it. >> the crossover reagan democrats and people showing up for trump are not enough to trump hispanics and women. >> you look at who we can get. mitt romney.

he would have had 74% of hispanics to win. when we talk a message of unity i'm talking about faith issues, education. our problem in the republican party is, when we start going after other demographics we disenfranchise our base. that is right now who has ted cruz and donald trump at the top is the base who has been awoken, the silent majority we keep talking about. >> you think either one could beat hillary? >> the polls are rough on trump right now beating hillary. he was doing better when he was picking on her in december when he pivoted to a general election stance. >> he might pick on her again. >> might? there is no might in donald trump, okay. >> that was tongue in cheek, yeah. >> mr. trump loves the polls. i talk to him about polls over the years many times. he loves the polls. you have to take a candid look at the recent polls. 29 of the last 30 polls hillary is beating trump. that could change. >> kasich does best.

>> if you can't win in march, you can't win in november. >> you're missing what the polls are not talking about, the independent crossovers. that's what we started the conversation with. if you're mitt, it doesn't count. they're looking at straight republicans and straight democrats. when you go to the rallies of mr. trump of thousands and thousands, i guarantee those are folks who are either libertarian, never voted before, independents. that's where a lot of his base is coming from. >> you know who is most beatable? ladies and gentlemen, she has a problem with men. you have hillary as the nominee, especially against cruz, thaen it is a -- it's her problem. >> especially with white men. >> kelly anne, it was a super pac. a ted cruz super pac. >> anti-trump. i run the largest ted cruz super pac. we would never post a picture like that. i denounced it.

>> it's a public picture. i suppose it's in the public domain. i have no idea how it works because we have spent the last almost a year building up senator cruz. filling in the blanks of his biography, going after senator rubio and gang of eight. done. going after mr. trump on trump care because he has been for single payer. >> well -- >> mostly -- >> what was -- what was the money -- >> the trum pp pac is different from a pro-cruz pack. >> you're looking at carly fiorina. it's coming out. >> the money that went to carly. what was that about? >> i went on the record a year ago about that. that is the same funder -- the same funder who gave money to keep the promise, giving money to carly fiorina but doing it through the pac instead of a private contribution. we thought she added a lot to the conversation. she was the best person to go up against hillary clinton and we still believe that. >> that kind of chess playing is why people do not trust politics and they don't trust the media

covering it. we should say if you believe in carly fiorina donate to her. why will you boost up -- you said it when we started talking about opponents here. why will you boost up an opponent? we can't we sit be honest. >> she's a great voice against hillary clinton from the beginning. >> at that point, you were supporting ted cruz. that's why mr. trump's message is resonating so well. whether you like or don't like his words -- >> a half million dollars is a lot of money to say her voice is important. ted cruz worked hard for that -- >> i feel like we're steering away from this. >> there's other things we could talk about. i know we'll hear from democrats that we didn't have one of them on. we could have had tony fratto

mike was on last week, he brought all that success to jeb. >> their pac spent 10 times that -- >> if trump is the candidate you'll back him? >> yes, i will. >> if cruz is the candidate you'll back cruz. >> i'm optimistic hoping they will join forces. >> that will be at the convention where mr. trump -- >> we're the one leading in the numbers. >> this is the election i've been dreaming of. >> i thought your brother newt was a trump guy. >> is a conservative. conservatives fall on both sides. >> this whole nonsense of elichtibility, how many times have i been on "squawk box" saying who can win? who can win? voters ask who can lead, not who can win. >> we have to win. that's the problem. >> you're like me with these establishment republicans, they're like in another world. it's not the world you want, it's the world you have.

>> that's correct. they need to operate within that and stop saying i just won't vote. i'll vote for hillary. >> we have to go. thank you. >> when we return, more "squawk box," a super sized box office debut for batman versus superman. we'll talk about it in a moment. you're down with crestor. alright! now there's a way you can get crestor for $3. adding crestor, along with diet, lowers bad cholesterol. crestor is not for people with liver disease, or women who are nursing,pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor all medicines you take. call your doctor if you have muscle pain

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julia is here to break down the numbers. good morning. >> good morning. this weekend's box office performance proves that big brands beat bad reviews. "batman vs. superman" grossed $170 millions this weekend in the u.s. that's warner brothers biggest u.s. opening and a new march record. a total of $424 million at the worldwide box office. this despite being panned by critics. the film has just a 29% rating on rotten tomatoes. this is a big win for time warner whose studios spent $250 million to produce the film and even more to market it. guggenheim raising the price target on time warner stock last week on expectations that this film will drive warner brothers to a record breaking year. the studio has a lot more than that riding on it.

"batman vs. superman" is the first of ten dc comics adaptations planned for over the next five years, including a wonderwoman movie coming out in june of 2017. but an analyst writes in a note this morning it still remains to be seen whether this film will successfully kickstart dc's slate of upcoming films. warner brothers would like to turn it into the moneymaking machine that marvel has, but those marvel films have gotten more positive reviews. when we come back, a skydiving easter bunny almost missed the extravaganza. a giant leap that made him miss his mark. cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas for pulmonary hypertension, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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ohhhhhhhhhh... you know what, i'm just gonna email it to you. yeah that's probably safer. ok, cool. look at this, folks. a sky driving easter bunny in western pennsylvania wasn't able to execute the landing. he missed his landing but was able to hop over to a church lawn to help in the easter egg hunt. >> the white house easter hunt roll will be held today on the south lawn of the white house. see, you know who would look

good there today? ben white, wearing that suit. >> he would. a nice tan suit. >> you have one of those. >> i don't own one. >> you do have a brown one. >> you have a seersucker. >> brown. >> didn't you buy a seersucker -- >> you wore the seersucker. >> yes. i could pull that off maybe today. >> wear it tomorrow. for everybody. >> it's ranning o iraining outs. >> join us tomorrow to see andrew in his seersucker. "squawk on the street" is next. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm kelly evans here at post nine along with sara eisen and michael santoli. carl, david and jim are all off today. let's look at futures. the dow jones implied to open higher by about 39 points. the nasdaq up 13 on a week in which we broke the streak