alone for now. "squawk box" begins right now. live from new york, where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. the stock market hitting 2016 highs as we get ready for the final trading session of the quarter. here's where stocks stand right now. the dow up nearly 1.7%. the s&p is up almost 1%. the nasdaq is up by about 2.8%. check out the u.s. equity futures today. after several days of gains, you can see moderate declines today. the not by much right now, but the dow futures are down close to 20 points below fair value. s&p futures off by four. the nasdaq off by about eight points right now. not much movement overnight in asia. the hang seng and shanghai relatively flat. if we look at the early trading

in european markets right now, you'll see that the dax is down by about 0.6%. so is the ftse in london. the cac looks like the biggest decliner of the three. it is down by about 1. 1%. if you want to take a look at the price of crude oil, yesterday we saw crude oil, what was happening there. now it's down by about 37 cents to 37.95. >> a couple big stories we're watching today. here's what's happening. yahoo! changing its bylaws to allow proxy access for board nominations. here's what it means. investors who have held a stake of at least 3% in yahoo! for a minimum of three years have the power to nominate directors to the board. these investors can nominate up to 20% of its board. starboard value launched a proxy fight last week to overthrow the company's board. also, a very big victory for insurer metlife. a federal judge striking down the government's determination that metlife was too big to fail. the designation of systemically important financial institution carries stricter capital requirements and oversight. metlife had argued to the

counsel it made the determination and used a secretive and flawed process. we're going to talk to the ceo of aig, another company that's received that designation. we had the ceo of metlife on the day he brought the suit. a lot of people skeptical about them bringing the suit, what it would do to their brand. he appears to have won. it will be interesting to see whether it changes the dynamic for other companies. >> or if the obama administration appeals this decision. >> which they may very well do. some statements have expressed their own disappointment. on today's economic agenda, jobless claims coming out. just before 10:00 a.m., we're going to get chicago pmi data for march. and chicago fed president charles evans and new york fed president bill dudley are speaking today. i feel like these guys are speaking a lot these days. >> maybe we should pay more

attention. >> they've been blabbing for years, i think. i'm looking right now, i don't want to know -- my life isn't, you know -- doesn't begin december 31st, january 1st. so the dow is at 17 -- like just under 17,800. >> we're about 3.25%. >> so we had been down. we went down into the beginning of the year. but then we came back a little. we're at 2016 highs. we're not that far though, really. i think it's 18 and change. all right. what you said was, see what you've create td. i thought you meant the

argument. i'm telling you, if someone was born to anchor "squawk alley," when i watch you, i can't miss it. i don't miss a minute of that when you're on there. you're so good. >> thank you. let me say, carl was born to anchor. he does a great job at it. >> anyway, your uber rating. they were talking about an uber rating. i don't know, it was dirty. you said show me yours and i'll show you mine. >> our ratings. >> i got it. i understand. but you were being dirty about it. you are lower than him. is it one to five? a 4.5 sounds pretty good. >> no, 4.5 is pretty low. >> is it really? >> i would manl you would be a one, the way you treat -- >> i did have an excuse, but you're not supposed to claim the children. i've had one throw up. >> but 4.5 raises eyebrows? >> that's like a b-plus. >> do people have ones? what are they like in do people not pick them up?

>> i think if you're a driver and you're under a four, you might actually get kicked off the service. >> okay. >> so you're close. >> that's what i'm saying. >> you remember the seinfeld episode with the guy that parks the car and he never got the odor out of the car. is it all the senses? that could generate a one, theoretically. >> that's why they have an incentive to keep the car clean. >> it's usually not the car that's the problem. they need to keep them -- anyway. stocks to watch this morning. blackrock is reportedly cutting about 400 jobs in its biggest ever round of layoffs. that will represent 3% of the asset manager's global work force. plus, we're watching shares of boeing. you remember yesterday the company acknowledged it plans to cut 4,000 jobs from its commercial airplane business by mid year. now reuters is reporting that the company plans to cut up to

8,000 jobs by the end of the year. that could slash about a billion dollars in annual costs. fast food chain mcdonald's adding more than a thousand restaurants in china. the ceo said that the company is looking for an investment partner in asia to speed up its expansion. the company will also expand its presence in hong kong and south korea as well. and gop front runner donald trump walking back comments he made yesterday about abortion after taking criticism from democrats and his republican opponents. john harwood joins us now with more on this story. >> reporter: andrew, seems like there's a new controversy every five or ten minutes with donald trump. he got a new one yesterday courtesy of our colleague chris matthews at msnbc at a town hall meeting when chris pressed him on what should happen if abortion becomes illegal, as donald trump says he wants it to be. take a listen. >> do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a

principle? >> the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> yeah, there has to be some form. >> ten cents, ten years? >> that i don't know. >> you take positions on everything else. >> i do take positions on everything else. it's a very complicated position. >> reporter: now, very quickly, donald trump walked back that in a written statement saying, no, there wouldn't be punishment for the woman. there would be punishment for the abortion provider, that the woman is a victim in this case. his opponents seized on the moment. his numbers with women are very bad. ted cruz is trying to capitalize on that. there was a new poll out in wisconsin yesterday showing cruz ten points ahead of donald trump in that staut. if they can stop him there, gives him some hope they can slow donald trump down, keep him from getting the 1237 delegates he needs to be nominated on the first ballot. on the other hand, new

quinnipiac poll out this morning showing donald trump ahead by more than 30 points in the state of new york, guys. so not quite sure exactly how this controversy will play and whether donald trump in general is losing altitude. mixed signals out there. >> first time he totally -- he's never actually completely changed like that before. saying, you know, that was -- i misspoke, that was a mistake. a lot of these issues he obviously hasn't through. that was kind of winging it. hypothetically, i mean, it's a ridiculous -- for me, i think it's probably not ever going to be something that you have to actually decide how to put into practice because it's 2000 whatever. i know that's the party line, but i don't know whether that right after roe v. wade ever gets reversed. >> reporter: joe, i think you're raising a good point there --

>> let me finish. if you do get into this crazy hypothetical discussion about how you would enforce it, people haven't even thought that through. you think, wow, okay, if it is against the law, that means someone does have to -- then you have to think through it to realize, no, you probably punish the providers, the doctors or something. he didn't think about that quickly enough. he missed that one. hadn't thought it through. then realized, oh, what did i say? i meant providers. but it's all theoretical crap anyway. i just can't imagine, john. i'm conservative in certain ways, but i can't imagine back roo rooms, state to state where it's legal. >> reporter: i think that's correct. i think the backdrop for this discussion, remember, what does donald trump say about politicia politicians? he says they're all talk and no action. the reality on this issue is that republicans who want to win elections don't really want to win on this issue. at some point, as you were just

suggesting, he's underscoring the theoretical, somewhat imaginary nature of this conversation. now, if you're on the other side of it, if you're a democrat, you say, well, we got a closely divided supreme court. you have a conservative majority that wants to roll back roe v. wade. >> people fired up, definitely. >> ted cruz said exactly what you said, joe, which is he hasn't thought this issue through. he used that as a hammer against him. >> because he's a businessman. he doesn't have all the political answers. >> that's something that will also bring up a division in the party. those who really believe on this issue and those who are conservative republicans fiscally. >> becky, the ones that supposedly really believe that it's wrong, oh, my god, no, we're not going to punish. they're half ass against it. >> this is the first time that donald trump has ever said, no, that's not what i meant. >> reporter: well, he did it before, guys, on china tariffs.

>> they're against it, but they're not against it so much they'd punish them. they're splitting hairs. i don't know. this is a tough thing for us to talk about too. never want to talk about the right to choose, right to life. thanks for bringing it up, john. >> reporter: you're welcome. >> you got nothing else? wisconsin will be interesting. >> reporter: it's potentially big. donald trump has won most of the big state primaries. in fact, all of them. >> the chance of the brokered convention went up. it's like 61%. that has a lot to do with the poll numbers in wisconsin. that's, what, 40 or 50, isn't it? that would close the gap. >> that's winner take all too. >> winner take all. >> reporter: winner take most. >> oh, okay. all right. all right, harwood. thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> i'm afraid to look at twitter. yelled at for something, i'm

sure. the dow riding a four-day winning streak into today's session. industrials are up for the last 11 of 13 days. joining us is julian emanuel from ubs and steve from mizuho. let's start with abortions, guys. let's go back into where we feel safe, can we? earnings season. i've been going back to earnings season all week long. just a lot easier for us. it's in our wheelhouse. will it be average enough for the market to continue to go higher, or will it not be good enough? >> i think what you're going to be looking at in this upcoming earnings season is more the forward projections now that the currency has moved down and has been moving down for most of the quarter. we're going to wind up that seeing reflected in forward earnings numbers and in terms of what people's guidance will be going forward. that's going to continue to help keep the secular rotation going

on. i still think fundamentally the multiple is expensive, but i think that rotation keeps the market on a firm footing going forward. >> primarily because of the currency. >> currency has been better. 1.14, the euro today. did we get to 1.05? we were threatening 1.05 at one point. that's why yellen yesterday, whenever it was, it's kinds of disingenuous to be talking about the dollar. that's an excuse at this point. >> in a lot of ways it is yesterday's story. positively oil, in a certain way, is starting to become a bit of yesterday's story as well. what happened with yellen is much more about actually creating a bit of uncertainty. the tone was so dovish that we're not entirely sure in the near term whether the fed knows something that we don't about either china or about the u.s. economy or perhaps there is sort

of a hedging aspect to her tone given the potential for the brexit vote to go badly in june or, as we've just talked about, the ongoing political uncertainty in the u.s. >> she is basically conceding it's a much more -- even though we're never going to pass another trade deal, she's conceding it's a global market now that the fed is looking at in terms of interest rates. i think they do look at equity movements around the globe. i'm sure china, if it started collapsing, they'd use that as an excuse. >> no question. and that kind of verbiage started in september when the market actually expected the first hike, which subsequently didn't happen until december. but it's an ongoing issue. they use the phrase uncertainty 19 times in the january minutes. the title of the speech the other day had the word uncertainty in it. >> so what's your working plan? two more this year? i'm going with two more this year. >> that's what we're thinking.

>> you're at one? >> one more and done. >> crazy to go above 50 basis points. >> they're not going to want to do it with the election. >> you vls a to realize, the growth numbers aren't that particularly robust. there was no outlook for the second quarter being on a stronger footing. we're just stuck. >> some say it's the jobs numbers that indicate a much stronger economy. the gdp doesn't reflect tech gains. then you have the other people who say it's really 5.9%, it's not a real jobs number, and the gdp is the real number. our head is spinning. if you were in our audience, you wouldn't know whether to look at the gdp and earnings, which look bad, and the jobs number, which looked gangbusters. >> best thing to do is look at what's happening in terms of the core basic economy. that's coming out of the manufacturing side of the economy. that's coming out of the earnings picture. when you look at the two of them, both of them are very

disappointing. the key bhuehind the two of the is even though people say manufacturing is a smaller and smaller component of the economy, which it is, a lot of reason for that is a lot of the jobs that used to be manufacturing jobs have now been moved into service jobs. >> that shouldn't be what we look at anymore, especially with the dollar and oil being the two one-offs. you shouldn't be using manufacturing to judge. >> this is where i disagree. manufacturing feeds back into a lot of ancillary services. when manufacturing takes -- >> slows everything else down. >> so the concept of manufacturing as important is wrong. with the dollar getting weaker, you hope some of that will come off the pressure and you'll get a little better second half environment. but we're basically stuck. that's where we're going to be throughout the balance of the year. >> by the end of the year, we're at new highs, julian? >> we believe so. >> but not 20% higher. >> not likely, no.

however, not too far away. we eked out a gain with the dividend. but the point is, janet yellen has told us there's uncertainty certainly in the near term, and if you look at the rally off the february low and you look at the vix having come from 30 to 13 1/2, the market in the near term is not necessarily priced for additional uncertainty, although the longer term message is that the fed is not going to take the punch bowl away. >> that's why in these flat markets you need stock pickers and active management or hedge fund guys that know what they're doing. like a long valeant or something. you want guys that know. >> people who are hedged. all right. thank you. i always take a shot. >> why? >> i don't know. >> there's a lot of guys.

i know you're talking about one guy. but a lot of guys. >> bigger letters, past performance. no guarantee. they're 50/50. when we come back this morning, amid apple's fight with the government over encryption, the company's stock has climbed out of correction territory. it's up more than 13% just in the last month. also, the company's latest u phone and ipad models will hit stores today. we'll ask an analyst what's driving the stock rebound next.

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it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $59.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. welcome back to "squawk box." apple may be recovering from its bruises. the stock out of correction territory and up over 13% this month. the tech giant's newest products, the ipad pro and the new iphone -- what do you call this? like having a pen. >> stylus? >> thank you. also hitting shelves today around the world after a week of preorders. joining us now is the vice president of enterprise and consumer technology at maxim group. what do you think is driving the stock now after all the fbi stuff and everything else? that has nothing to do with this, obviously. >> i think the fbi stuff is a

positive for the stock because it shows that apple was willing to stand up for the consumers and protect their privacy. so that provides, you know, one more reason for users to say, hey, you know what, i might prefer to have an iphone rather than a galaxy or another android-based operating phone. >> but the move is not related to either these new products or the expectation of whatever you think this iphone 7 is going to be? >> so the expectation of the iphone 7 may have moved up just a little bit because now you have a belief that some people who are very security sensitive might actually opt for -- go for, you know what, i can't believe my stuff is secure on an android-based operating system. it might be more secure with an iphone. so i might be more convinced to go for an iphone. that's one of the elements. but i think the key thing driving the stock is that on iphone success, we've clearly had a down cycle. it's because the iphone 6 was a huge upgrade cycle because of

their new form factor. with iphone 7, you'll get a new form factor, but more importantly, you get this huge install base that's ready to refresh. it will undoubtedly be an up cycle. as such, you no longer will have the fear that, hey, we're in this permanent down cycle for the iphone and therefore margin compression fears will start to fade and you'll start to get that multiple expansion. i think that's a primary thing that's going to be driving the stock going forward, and that's what has been driving the stock. >> these particular products we just mentioned that become available, the smaller phone and the ipad pro, that's driving any of this? >> i seriously doubt it drives much of it. i think there was a little bit of concern it could have been a sell the news event there. everything came in as far as specifications and price points as expected. these rumors that the iphone se and the ipad pro, they've been out there for three months. >> is there a bigger market for this smaller phone? not here but i'm talking about

abroad. isn't that the real expectation, or the hope, for apple? >> it's a bigger market, but it's been embedded in the stock price because it's been an expectation that this form factor would be out there. on top of that, they did have the smaller form factor available for quite some time, but it was in a two-year-old packaging. so they're bringing it up to current packaging, current specifications. >> you mentioned to me during the commercial break before you sat down, you said, i don't have an apple. you have a samsung? >> i have a galaxy s-5. >> i thought you were just glad to see andrew. >> then you just made this argument about security, that you think there are going to be people on android who might actually upgrade to an apple phone because they think it's more secure. is it more secure? >> well, your information might be more secure relative -- at least there's a perception. >> why, because tim cook and apple were fighting the

government? >> because they said we're not going to build a back door for the fbi to access your confidential information. >> even though the fbi has its own key now? >> even though the fbi has its own key. at least apple was saying we're not going to willingly help. >> father enough. we will see where the stock goes. what's your price target for the end of the year? >> $162. moral just slightly below consensus estimates. >> you never changed it? >> no, i actually started off with a perform rating back in april. it was $144 at that point in time. >> when did you raise your price target? >> in october when i raised it to a buy rating. i felt like the -- >> where was it in october? >> it's like a joke, right? they're useless. i don't know what their clients and their firms say when they have a $200 price target. it went from 130 down to 90 and

just held the $200 price target. i don't care what's happening in the real world. i'm sticking with this because the market is wrong and i'm right. they're so stubborn. they missed it entirely. >> on the other side of the argument, why is the trading at 8xpde? >> because you don't know what the e is going to be necessarily. there's going to be a disruptor. a million things happen. you didn't know what the e was on cisco. you didn't know what the e was on all these companies. it's not an annuity that every year apple is guaranteed to sell, you know, 80 trillion iphones. >> and more importantly in the consumer tech world, and especially on the mobile phone space, there's never been a mobile phone company that has been able to maintain net margins. >> you have a galaxy in your pocket, right? so why did you get that instead of the iphone? >> i prefer the flexibility of android operating system.

>> how do you know the whole world doesn't change for that? or what's the chinese phone that's going to sell for $30? >> i would argue that the android operating system is superior to the iphone. >> there you go. >> yet, you continue to get refreshers, despite what i argue has been a superior operating system for multiple years. you've seen the iphone continue to gain share every year except for this iphone 6. >> look how quick technology moves. if you told me ten years ago i'd have a computer i could carry out, i wouldn't have believed you. who knows five years from now. >> right. and five years ago, well, rather ten years ago, did we know that apple was going to release a game-changing technology? no, you did not. but investors -- some investors that did make that leap of faith, they were right. so next question is, why was

that leap of faith right? that's because of the brand value apple has built. >> but they had the brand value in the '90s with the mac and other things. they put in some guy from pepsi. then guy named michael. they had no idea what they were doing until 2000. >> you have your pictures on this now. it goes on your laptop and your u phone. >> you need growth. you don't just need the status quo. >> i live on g-mail and everything else. i'm like living in the google world on the apple phone, and i still feel locked to this. i love it by the way. >> we'll see if you love it in five years. nobody knows. >> you don't know, but the point is -- >> all right. we got to go. thanks. oppenheimer blue isn't a code word. it's the largest diamond ever to be sold at auction. robert frank will tell us how much it's expected to fetch. first, the squawk market master and frequent guest on the show

is passing the torch. sounds like someone died or something. no, he's just passing the torch. we'll tell you who's stepping down next. as we head to break, a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers. sents the yardley's. sfx: leaf blower dad! sorry. spring is on. start your trugreen lawn plan today. trugreen. live life outside.

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worldwide. we've been watching the u.s. equity futures. after plenty of days of gains and the markets hitting new highs for the year yesterday, you can take a look this morning and see it's giving back just a little bit of ground this morning. dow futures down by about 17 points below fair value. s&p futures dow by four. the nasdaq down by six. argentina's senate has approved a deal to end a debt dispute and end a 14-year legal battle. the deal is part of the new president's plan to revitalize the economy by repaying creditors who are holding defaulted debt. argentina has been locked out of the capital markets since 2002 because of that default. investing icon and legend is passing the torch. after 40 years of searching the far reaching of the planet for bargains, mark mobius is handing over the day-to-day management at templeton emerging markets to steven dover. mobius will remain as chairman and continue to jet set and promote emerging markets.

i don't think you've seen the last of that white suit, you know. >> no, no. i bet he keeps talking to us. >> it works for him. you know, with the hair and all, or nonhair. you almost look like you're a follower. do you still do that? >> the white suit thing? >> no, the meditation. >> i do. but i've been doing this thing called head space recently. >> oh, god. why did i bring this up? what the hell is that? >> it's a self-guided meditation that you do for ten minutes. they talk to you while you're doing it. i find it's a little easier. >> self-guided? >> i love tm. i still do it, but only a couple times a week. i'm not as into it as i should be. thank you, guys, for the music. i've started doing this other thing. >> you are so trendy. >> unbelievable. so metro. do you still --

>> what? >> is your favorite position still the downward facing dog? know what i'm saying? >> no, i don't know what you're saying. i'm so bad at yoga. i can't even touch my toes. >> he knows but he won't admit it. >> the one thing i'm not good at is yoga. we're not friends, yoga and i. for the most part. >> do you own a mat? >> we have a yoga mat in our house. we have a roller though. those are good for your muscles. >> i use that on my left calf. it cramps up. >> we'll talk about it during the break. we have other things to do. robert is here. it is now time for the executive edge. we're talking diamonds. actually, this guy has muscles. he probably has his own roller. robert frank is here to tell us why an auction for a blue diamond will fetch millions and could end up on the hand of a woman or a man. explain yourself. >> this is interesting. the largest blue diamond ever sold at auction is about to come up for sale. christie's selling the so-called

oppenheimer blue. it's 14 carats with a rectangular cut. experts say it could top 50 million. that would make it the most expensive blue diamond and the most expensive diamond, period, ever sold at auction. the 12-carat moon diamond was the previous record holder selling for 48.5 last year. blue diamonds are the rarest and most valuable colored diamonds. >> less than 2% of world diamond production turn up into blue diamonds. these are stones that are 90% less than a carat. so to have a rectangular cut, fancy vivid blue diamond of almost 15 carats, this is the mona lisa of blue stones. >> this mona lisa was owned by the owner of oppenheimer. christie's will sell the stone

also, shirley temple's blue diamond ring selling on april 19th for $25 million to $35 million. her dad bought it for her for her 12th birthday, and she wore it throughout her life. also, the 10.1-carat oppenheimer millennium. so we rarely see blue diamonds on the market. now suddenly we have three. so some people say maybe it's getting a little topee. maybe this is the time to sell a blue diamond. >> it looks like sapphire. >> it doesn't. i thought that looking at the pictures. i don't know if we have a picture of me holding it, but it's actually a much softer -- there it is. you can see the size there. but it's a softer, paler blue. it's not that sort of deep, dark navy blue of a sapphire. >> okay. but the -- it's not that big. >> it's not that big, but the reason why blue diamonds are so valuable is because men in the

middle east wear them. suddenly you've got twice the market that you do for a regular diamond, where it's just women that are going to buy the diamond. suddenly men buy them as well. >> so 14-carat blue one sells for more than a 50-carat plain one, right? >> much more. >> what's the biggest -- what would you use 50 carats for? you'd look like an idiot. >> this is better for a ring. >> 14 carats. what do they call kim kardashian and him together? >> kimye. >> kimye has a 14-carat stone. >> but it's white. >> around new york if you go to one of those black tie things, people have 14-carat diamonds around here. not the blue. >> i have not seen the blue. >> they have big stones. >> the diamonds that are gaining value and that are appreciating

and that are the most collectible are all colored diamonds. white diamonds are more of a kmoedty. >> you're so trendy too. >> i can't wait until ge can manufacture diamonds. >> yes. any color they want. >> drive down the entire market. >> purple rainbow diamond. >> sale on qvc. real. i can't wait for that. >> joe, do you know what element makes them blue? chemical guy. >> carbon? >> boron. and they're not fining blue diamonds anymore. >> is boron blue? >> i don't know, but it makes a diamond blue. they're not finding blue diamonds anymore. so the only ones they're selling are coming from estates. >> i thought these were pure carbon. >> but they get a little bit of an element that makes them a color. >> i saw there's a green diamond out there now. >> boron lowers red energy light. that's why it makes it blue. when we come back, mark grant will join us to talk about the mixed signals coming from

the federal reserve. also a programming note. canadian prime minister justin d trudeau will be joining "squawk on the street" for a live interview. that's at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. 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. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers... ...and share promotions on social media? you know it! now i'm seeing dollar signs. you should probably get your eyes checked. good one babe. optometry humor. right now get up to $650 in credits to help you switch to at&t.

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. wherever you are in the world. sheraton.

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get better internet installed on your schedule. comcast business. built for business. welcome back to "squawk box." you're looking at a live shot from reagan national airport just outside of washington, d.c. some airport service workers are on strike this morning. they say they're protesting unlawful termination, threats of retaliation, and intimidation committed by their employer. striking workers include airline

contracted wheelchair attendants, baggage handlers, check point agents. other major airports are expecting strikes and protests as well. how much, by the way, are you supposed to tip the sky cab guy? and are you supposed to use the sky cab guy the a the curb, c b curbside, check-in? >> when we have five or six bags, i definitely use it, and we give him $20. >> not $5 a bag? >> $20 for all of us. >> i don't understand how that's supposed to work because they don't tell you. such a strange business. >> it is. i'm excited about the puppies. people don't know that. >> wait, wait, wait. wait and see. meantime, we should tell you it's the last trading day of the quarter. we're going to hear from chicago fed president charlie evans and new york fed president mark dudley today. you've been telling us for a long time that these yields are going to stay lower for much longer than people had been anticipating. certainly what we heard from

yellen this week seems to back that up. you ready to take a victory lap? >> i'll take one with you any time, becky. yeah, i think interest rates are going to stay low and head lower, as a matter of fact. my don't think the fed is going to do anything for the entire year. there's a slight chance they might do something in june. certainly nothing in april after ms. yellen's recent speech. september, i don't think they're going to do anything because we're too close to the election. i think the ten-year, becky, and here we go, 1.25%. >> 1.25 by year end? is that what you're thinking? >> that's what i think. >> wow. mark, you are always kind of out there on the curve. you've been right plenty of times, so i'll certainly listen. you think the fed is doing the right thing in this position. am i correct in this? i've heard a lot of criticism for the fed, but you seem to think the fed is finally

admitting it's not the only 800-pound gorilla in the room. >> that's right, becky. i think the fed has finally come to grips with reality, if you will, that the united states is no longer standing there separate from everybody else. we have the central bank of japan way into negative interest rates. we have the ecb huge move now going into corporate bonds. also moving into negative interest rates. we had the ten-year german bond yield at 0.2% last time i looked. so the american sovereign debt, or treasury, i think are going much lower, and the fed finally has come to recognize it's a global issue, not just an american issue. i think that was indicated in the recent comments by mrs. yellen. >> if you see the ten year at 1.25%, what do you see happening to stocks? >> i think stocks are going to go down, but i don't think it's

going to be a giant negative correction. i just think that they're not going to perform very well. for the year, the dow is up 1.47%. bank of america's global index, to contrast that, is up 2.3% for the bonds. now at this point, we have about $8 trillion in negative yielding bonds in the world. i think that the oil situation in the united states, that we have the biggest supply of oil in 80 years, becky. then the situation that's deteriorating in china. i just see lower interest rates continuing on the horizon. >> what would you tell people to do with their money? >> yeah, i have, as i think you know, becky, made some positive suggestions that have worked. i can say that, which are buy long munis, buy triple b corporates, get the yield. this is a time in my opinion to

get yield and pay less attention to appreciation. >> mark, it's great to see you. thank you. >> you too, becky. always a pleasure. >> all right. when we return, donald trump won't come on this stupid show. we've been trying to get ratings. we put our heads together, thought about how about some puppies? this show is about to go to the dogs. the ceo of guiding eyes joining us with some of his four-legged friends. such a good boy. oh, you are a good boy. "squawk box," doggy style, returns after this break. sic pl♪ the first stock index was created 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.

such a good boy. guiding eyes, an organization that trains puppies to be seeing eye dogs for the blinds are partnering with ibm watson to analyze and collect data about its dogs to perfect the breeding and training process. i know you've heard about this. because according to guiding eyes each dog costs 50,000 to train. $50,000. but only 36% will actually pass and graduate. everybody has heard all about a dog that didn't pass at guiding eyes. joining us now with more on this partnership a guiding confides president and ceo along with some puppies. i'm holding the great gatsby.

and george. you look animals. >> i love them. >> okay. >> he's licking me. >> how do you hold your dog. that's personal preference. >> this is gala. >> and you have a dog that's so sweet and such a good boy. watson will open up the number of possible candidates to become seeing eye dogs or is there a way to judge beforehand who will graduate and who will not. >> that's our hope. we're work with ibm to analyze and access all the data we have on these puppies. we have thousands of dogs out there, more than half a million records on health and temp temperame temperament. we hope to pull insight from watson to determine which dogs

which make the best guide dogs like gus here. you have three dogs. the characteristics that they have, they want to take responsibility, and work as they are happy. you want to see that they take on the responsibility which is important to help me cross the street but take that responsibility, like a person does it with their work. >> not sweat about it but to be happy. to be in charge. willing to take this on and like it. >> exactly. we're really excited because ibm works with big corporations like ford and marriott and we're a small not for profit but we have a big mission. >> how quickly do you think you can know? >> that's a good question. we have so much data and we're hopeful we'll begin to receive insights about whether george or gala or gatsby will be the best guide dog. only one of these dogs will make

it. it costs $50,000 worth of donations to put a dog through training. >> do you have most success with labs? >> we doshepherds. we have most success with labs. we have about 1,000 active dog guide users throughout the world and we see mostly labradors. >> what about la bbradoodles. >> we're hoping taking this data will help us improve the type of guide dog we're able to breed. >> get a shot of gus. he was just hanging out. >> he's not going anywhere. i'm going to lay down. >> like labs displaced shepherds to some extent for this or not? >> we still use shepherds. they make phenomenal guide dogs. we tend to see more labs.

>> what about bomb sniffing. >> if any one of these dogs is not able to make it as a guide dog, they have other service careers. they might go to a child with autism. they might go for detection work. >> what about with a police officer. >> could if he didn't make it for a guiding eyes dog. >> for special needs kids, elderly people. >> connecting them with a person who really needs it and to make a difference for independence and mobility in their life. >> great gatsby, i like you a lot more than leonardo dicaprio. that one will bite up. >> she's biting mimi crow phone, my earrings. >> we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> another rating.

>> arthur brooks will join us for the rest of the show. he'll talk about politics, jobs and the state of the economy. we're back in a moment.

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donald trump under fire for make being some controversial comments about abortion. >> the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman. >> yes. >> now gop front-runner doing damage control. what's next for the republicans in the race to the white house. american enterprise institute president arthur brooks is today's special guest host. going out like a lion. the markets moving higher in march. the dow now at its highest level of the year.

will april showers wash the gains away. we start with tomorrow's jobs reports. >> and former lehman brothers ceo speaks. >> i don't know anybody who could have been in that seat at the tame wouldn't of fared like i did. >> what she's saying about that moment in time. second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >> announcer: live from the beating heart of business, new york city. 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 becky quick. stocks hitting 2016 highs as we get ready for the final trading day of march and final trading day of the first quarter. here's where stocks stand at the moment. dow up nearly 1.7% for the quarter. the s&p is up almost 1% and the nasdaq is down about 2.8%.

with that said let's check out the futures at this hour looking at a marginally down picture but -- >> we should tell you about a victory for insurer met life. a federal judge struck down government's determination that met life is too big to fail. it carries stricter capital and oversight. a judge agreed with them. at 8:00 a.m. eastern time we'll talk to the ceo of aig another company that received that designation. mcdonald's is adding more than 1,000 restaurants in china. the company is looking for an investment part negative-interest-rate in asia to speed its expansion. the company will expand its presence in hong kong and south korea. chipotle is developing a burger chain. they filed a trademark called better burger.

joe kernen and becky quick. my new thing is i'll start using this. yield the concern. -- feel the kern. arthur is here. they want me to give some kind of intro. i don't know if i like this. okay. let's see. donald trump's continued success has some republicans saying they won't support him come election day. these folks say trump is mortally wounding the gop. american enterprise institute president arthur brooks says not so fast. he joins us to tell us why. the man whose fortune listed as one of the great leaders. he's our guest host. good morning. some people were on that list they were so ridiculous i don't know if i want to claim.

fortune jumps the shark every list they put together. >> suddenly it's a good thing. for the first time this year -- >> the other people -- >> i feel fine trying to stay viable. >> that's quite an introduction, joe. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> you made me feel better because i was reading through so many things. it's not the end of the world for conservatives even if it doesn't go right this election which it's such a quandry at this point if people are right and trump has trouble in the general election they put somebody else it will be tough to get the 30 or 40 who are backing trump. if you run trump, i don't know necessarily -- i wouldn't discounts it completely, but the polls stand right now he's down. 2020 is another year.

maybe that -- maybe conservatives put up someone young and attractive at that point. >> hope springs eternal. the point about the republican party is its a grassroots party fundamentally. crazy things happen at the top. look this is the first time in my adult lifetime where you have a bunch of good republican senators in their 40s that are different than last crop. look at the senate real sleepy no ideas. but you have guys in the mid-40s and they are the future of the party. they will be there for a long time. ben sass has a ph.d. from yale. he's terrific. you have 31 republican governors. republican party is fundamentally sound not with standing what's happening at the top. >> you're an independent. >> yeah. >> you grew up as a flaming liberal in seattle. >> seattle is not exactly a hot bed of conservatives. >> bernie got 80%. they were feeling the bern.

you played french horn. that's all you ever do. but you didn't. you felt a need to educate the nsas on what creates prosperity and what creates a good life. >> yeah. in my late 20s i dropped out of college. kicked out. splitting hairs. by the time i was in my late 20s i started studying economics. i have been traveling a lot. what actually explains why some people aren't poor. there's one solution. it's not the poor the united nations. free enterprise that's spread around the world and pulled 2 billion people out of poverty. i left the music business and became an economist. the republican party has taken its eye completely off the ball of working to pull people up and to push opportunity down. >> republicans should own the grassroots base. >> totally. >> instead you got 90% of america's youth right now

thinking that bernie sanders has the right idea about how to raise up people that aren't participating in the economic miracle. they think that's -- republicans have missed the boat to some extent. >> sure. >> you've been singing this song for the past, as long as i've known you. republicans need to change the message to show indeed that's the most moral way to live. only way to have a happy and successful life. >> you don't talk about how many billionaires capitalism creates. you talk about how many people are lifted up out of poverty and given economic opportunity. right now the story of the last seven years is not one of slow growth. we talk about this all the time. economists like me say 2.5% growth. that's a lie. 5% growth for the to 7% of the economy and 0% growth for the bottom. asymmetry growth is driving 0 populism. bernie sanders his whole thing

is off with their heads. that's effectively the message he gets. that's always going to appeal people that aren't very sophisticated and frankly on college campuses only socialists they've seen are guys that look like he had. these are not gulags in the soviet union. >> when you talk about the asymmetric road what do you about it? >> the key thing you need to say the middle class is not even making three squares. that's wrong in america today. that's not the american ideal. the american ideal is not putting food on table. the american ideal is getting ahead. every generation you count on doing better. that's the reason that the sorkins got on a boat from some god forsaken place. >> i'm not talk about how to talk about it. >> number one, you have to have real plans sign 20 years we don't have this same ridiculous

conversation. have human capital development system. education that brings information higher levels of skill which is what we don't do and real education reform. in the meantime all this good stuff that you guys talk about. why don't we have tax reform that bring companies to the united states, that creates jobs to the united states. instead we're marginalizing entire industries. >> now we're talking about something differently. >> it's not getting done. >> that was a rhetorical question. you know what we need to do. >> one thing that's happening now we're putting up barriers. talking about tariffs and other things. >> an attempt to bring jobs here. it's the method to keep jobs here that's open. >> the one thing you need know is mobility, geographic mobility, moving for opportunities has been falling for the past two decades. >> how do you measure that. >> you look at people moving from state to state.

in the 1960s when i was born it was 20% of the american population moved in any given year. today it's about 10%. >> how much of that is the housing crisis. >> and home ownership. >> people are less mobile. we're stuck in this country because of bad policy and the fact we don't have a culture that's getting people to be successful. learned helple leslessneshelple. >> last time they ran mitt romney, talked about the 47% and wonder why republicans lose at that point. you know what? i had a moment of clarity yesterday reading your stuff because this election is very frustrating, obviously. to a lot of people.

when the establishment republicans say the best that party can hope for is maybe hold the senate and lose everything else, my moment of clarity is that i am going to being a liberal. i decided. why shouldn't i? i have done well. >> news making moment. >> arthur, i've done well. i'll put all my money in tax frees. i won't worry about anybody else. i don't care if anybody else is able to lift themselves up. i don't care if we create jobs or do tax reform. i got mine and i'll worry about a lot of other things. >> a lot of people have come to that conclusion. >> there's nothing else to do. >> suddenly i felt free. >> there's nothing you can do. you have to fight for what's right. >> i'm tired. i got mine why do i care. think how many other people like this. they made their money, go in tax frees they don't care. >> it will take aspirational

leadership. you can pander to people and say the only way we can solve this problem is by protecting you from outside competition. but you know that's not what ronald reagan did. ronald reagan -- i remember hearing if reagan gets elected granny will get thrown out in the snow. he needs me to work and to earn and to succeed. i was a high school kid. i remember that. a lot of americans heard that. >> you don't think that's the message to some degree that donald trump is trying to deliver even if you don't think underneath it. are you ready to say he's not the guy. >> when talk about getting rid of trade and putting up barriers -- >> he represents that's aspirational hope. you don't think that's part of his message. >> that's not what i'm hearing but to each his own. >> thanks arthur. >> i'm sticking around. >> we need you every day but at least we have you for two hours.

>> the dow, s&p and nasdaq on track for their biggest monthly gain. will the momentum keep stocks going into april. we have that discussion next. financial crisis revisited. form he lehman brothers ceo, erin callan speaks next on "squawk box" and what she has to say about her former boss. at... less interesting. transportation can work better. with xerox. thank you for calling. we'll be with you shortly. yeah right... xerox predictive analytics help companies provide a better and faster customer experience. hello mr. kent. can i rebook your flight? i'm here! customer care can work better. with xerox. wait i'm here! mr. kent?

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 box.

former chief financial officer of lehman brothers erin callan was once called one of the most powerful woman on wall street. she resigned in june of 20808 three months before lehman brothers collapsed. she has fled the spotlight until now self-publishing ing ing a m where she details her time at lehman. >> what he said to me was that, he was sorry about how everything had played out and he still felt that i had been the best person for the job and that i had done a great job and felt badly basically that i had been sort of left out there on my own to face the music which really maybe wasn't completely fair in the scheme of things. >> if dick called you and said erin i want to you work with me again, would you? >> absolutely not. that has nothing to do with dick. i just have no interest in that

type of a life at this point. i have a very different life. i'm very happy. and so it has nothing to do with dick. >> you can see more of that interview on cnbc.com. i decided to download the book on kindergartle. well done book. it's an interesting personal journey she went on. there you have it. it really is. i'm not just saying that. it's worth reading. tom lee is here and says the s&p 500 will make new highs by the end of may but the u.s. dollar will weaken further. tom is managing partner at a hedge fund. and our guest host is arthur brooks. tom, let's start out with that prediction on stocks. why are we setting new highs. >> you know, i think part of the story of improving fundamentals because we're about to have

earning season. we'll find companies for the first time in really a few years may start to beat numbers and we raise estimates. >> you think this earnings season will be way better than the street is anticipating. >> part of it is in late january when people were adjusting estimates, oil is 26 now at 40 and the dollar, people were looking for strong dollar and it's actually weak. there's two tail winds to earnings. the other part is investor positioning and short interest is still higher than march of '09. there's a trillion dollars of stocks sold short and nobody has covered short positions. you look at the last three reports short interest has been very stubborn and we're finally getting positive retail investor flow. >> it will wash the shorts out at that point? >> yes. even the technicians will get less bearish and 200 day is flattening out. start rising soon. i think it's possible to have new highs by the end of may. >> when you talk about the weaker dollar, we're already seeing it based on what janet

yellen said this year. do you think it gets weaker from here? >> yes. we've been publishing a series of studies on this. i think central bank divergence is priced into the dollar. what's moving currencys is relative inflation developments and inflation strengthenen. the dollar has further down side into the summer. >> i know you just got back from a tour at boston where you talked to investors and said all investors were nursing wounds just different wounds. what kind of wounds are you talking about? >> it's bean tough year because the first six weeks of this year was the world was ending. nobody could just not do anything. so everyone got defensive into february and then the market turned and it was very difficult for people to get re-risk. either people had a great first half and lost everything in the second half because they were too defensive since february or they lost money through february and they didn't get bullish

enough. so everybody is kind of trying to get even. >> don't those people feel after we've come back so quickly from that death they missed their opportunity to get back in? >> that's the dilemma. i would say there's still half the world believes we're in a recession and should stay defensive. i think earning season will get people to realize the u.s. has been very resilient. the dollar is a tail wind. soil oil is a tail wind. >> is the fed wrong. we have an analyst this morning based on what janet yellen said there were a lot of people worried that the fed knows something they don't. the markets know more than the fed at this point? >> i don't think the fed knows anything but i think the fed believes they may have tightened too much because financial conditions tighten by hundred basis points after 25 basis

points. in a way they are letting the market catch up to their dovishness. >> identify been asking people all over the industry these days how they game the likelihood and the next recession. there will be a next recession. the consensus i'm coming up the chances are one in three we go into technical recession sometime in the next one two years and the rest is two to five. how do you play it out? >> i know markets and investors think in probability terms. they will say there's a one in three chance. recessions are really about leverage cycles and over investment, and excess inflation developments and then, you know, overly tight labor markets. i just don't see that being a story in the next two years. household leverage has fallen, companies have great balance sheets. saving rates are going up. i think until housing gets to close to 2 million i don't think

we can start to think about a business cycle peaking. >> you said countries don't think we're in a recession. 80% of the country is still in recession because they have zero or negative experience of economic growth. what do we have to do in the next two years to turn that perception around. kmichts like me say it's 2.5% real growth. it's the experience of real growth that matters. what do we do to change that experience? >> i think it's all about animal spirits and i do think there's a general feeling, especially in the financial markets we don't have to worry about inflation. the world is positioned for deflation. in a deflationary world people aren't worried about making capital investments. big story is inflation starting to develop. in past cycles it's been led by housing and labor markets. if both are improving the market will reprice from a pricing deflation to inflation.

>> tom, thank you for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> again arthur brooks is our guest host and he'll be sticking around for the rest of the show. coming up, if you're having a bad day -- how can you have a bad day if you have puppies on. not as bad as this guy. we'll have the story behind this wild picture. we'll have that next. at 8:00 a.m., aig ceo peter hancock first on cnbc reaction to a ruling that's lifting the tbtf, too big to fail label from met life. alphabet soup. never get tired o. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade.

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when we come back, bob wright the former chairman and ceo of nbc comes out with some story lines. mark your calendars. national pretzel day is less than a month away. wetzel's pretzels will bring pretzels to new york just in time for the big day. ge.

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.

welcome back, everyone.

among the stories front and center we're an hour away from the government's own economic report. the weekly report on initial jobless claims. that report is expected to show claims coming in at 265,000 for the last week. that would be unchanged from the week before. blackrock is planning to cut 400 jobs according to multiple reports. biggest ever cut for the asset management firm. the company says that it expects to have more employees at the end of the year than it does right now or at least sources close to the company said that. apple isn't the only company to be involved in a phone unlocking controversy. google has been ordered multiple times to help the government unlock mobil phones. aclu found 63 instances dating back 2008 where the government compelled the companies to access data. u.s. companies announced plans to cut payrolls by over 48,000. that's down nearly 22% from

february but up 32% from a year ago. so far this year a third of job cuts have been in oil related industries. check this out. a porsche dealership in amsterdam is in hot war. a brand new porsche fell into a lake after rolling off a ramp. what does that remind everyone of, quickly? yep, risky business. still unclear how exactly this happened. some reports say a mechanics -- >> ferris bueller's day off. >> the damage isn't fatal. $175,000 sports car was quickly pulled out before sustaining any further damage. don't know whether they asked the guy, what do they call them,

sea captain or something, remember when all the fish come out. >> yeah. >> u-boat commander. how is it going. >> pulling out the stuff. stuff is so old. bob wright was our boss when that stuff happened, i think. that was long before cable news was the monster it is today and a generation before the digital universe came of age. my next guest says vision to help create a business network for nbc, bet on a bufrmg of less than household personalities to make it come to life, bob right was a champion of cnbc and used it as a launching pad to build nbc's empire in years to come. he's out with a new book of "wright stuff" from nbc to autism speak. we worked together for so long. you were the longest running to

this day, longest running of cnbc. >> seems like yesterday. >> golden age too, i think. although it's still golden for us and for nbc u we're cooking along. >> in this age news is really going to be hot. it's never not going to be hot. >> it will be current. you can run commercials people have to watch. >> you can pick it up anywhere and on any kind of device. more news start ups that i could ever imagine. people want to capitalize on something on the internet. vice news, how about that? >> you back then cable properties were really expensive and you said boy it would be nice to get into this. you can't start from scratch but did you. i can't believe it worked. >> we did. you were part of it. you certainly were there. at the very beginning. and it was not an easy

proposition. >> so that was an unbelievable career and from that to autism speaks which is tomorrow e-we're all going to wear blue. empire state building will be blue. around the world will be blue. we'll have our buttons on. you founded that. >> it's suzanne's really. last year we had 18,000 building, mostly commercial buildings. she this year has gotten seven of the top largest buildings in the world to agree. we have three before now. now we have seven. we also got a note from the suez canal and we got the pyramid. >> what's the currents state of the thinking. how much money can you fund research with every year now? >> our big commitment is missing which is the whole genome

sequencing process. google is one partner and a consortium from canada. we have 6,000 sequence genomes in the portal, scientific portal that google is managing. >> autistic individuals. >> yes. families. >> all along the the spectrum. >> yeah. and we have over 100 scientist ace round the world to go into this for free. you have to be a legitimate scientist. we have 100 active scientists anywhere in the world. this is totally open. there's no strings attached. if you go in there and discover something it's yours. do anything you want. people that financed you in russia, people that financed you in britain that's yours. we just have to get the disease people to come along.

they were hoping to see people like als and coming in there. the problem is it's very expensive and the these organizations have not raised enough money to do sequencing to give it weight. >> it's expensive just to do the sequencing. >> yes. when we started out it was $225 now it's down to $1350. it's being adopted and we fortunately got some other people to come in here that made it really legitimate, mayo clinic came right in on top. all their cancer patients get genome sequencing and the same is up in boston. that's another example. and the hospitals really aren't into this game. it's too expensive for them. and a lot of institutions are trying to do it. the universities -- we really wish they would not.

we wish they would join this effort because they want to put everything in their silo. >> how many markers have you got identified? >> we have lots of genes but we don't have the clean markers you would like to find, for instance, in cancer. >> any of them you know the actual gene product and what's involved to give us -- are we any closer to having any idea how this happens? >> we have a much larger collection of genes. what we're trying to do with this -- the reason to do this is we're trying to match up a race. if we can get an a team over here and match up their presentations those that don't speak and match that in the corner and then get enough of different types of representations but you have to have the presentations have to be somewhat related or not related. >> find one gene that's actually

involved all along spectrum and find out what gene product is and that will happen in five years. >> hopefully will happen in less than that. but we can't get drugs in there until we can get a lot -- a lot of the hard work has to get done. >> is there thinking that it happens during development and that the brain, the infrastructure is already set up for that and it's not going to be a drug it's going to be something that you have to intervene with? >> yes. that's been out there for some time. pathways is a big issue. >> how about places for adults to live and thrive in society. your hitting in to that? >> yes that's a very tough one. once you get to be 21, 22 depending on what state you're in you lose your benefits as an individual and, you know, 84% of people adults with autism live at home. parents are hoping they out live the child. that's a really a financial

burden that's incredibly difficult to bear. >> bob, before you go. there's a nugget in your book i have to ask you about. >> yes. >> which is this anecdote about this idea that jack welsh passed on apple, had an opportunity to buy apple for practically nothing and decided not to. >> it isn't really, in fairness not jack welsh. apple spindler came to us. we had quarterly meetings. he wanted an opportunity to give his pitch. he came and gave a pitch in 1996 and broke down during the presentation. he was telling us that the stock is killing them. investors are on his back. he can't get this thing rolling. >> steve jobs had been back at that point? >> no. >> this is before. >> if you bought the thing do you think -- >> the consensus fin room is we can't do anything with this. this is way outside of our game. we were not a silicon valley

company or orientation at that point. there were no supporters. we felt terrible we couldn't jump in here. >> to help them? >> they had a lot going -- >> nobody knew. >> then jobs came back in after that. it was $2 billion. >> i heard there was a chance by google at one point. >> well, i don't -- no not specifically. >> not specifically but could have been done. google didn't have any business until 2003. they were free. we had notice. >> one more question about business too. you mentioned vice. you mentioned all these things. we're so good at seeing the future what was coming in broadcast and cable. are companies like vice these internet start ups out there are they compete zwrors the existing structure, are they complimentary. is there enough room for everyone. >> they are competitors but like vice news is going to be on hbo. hbo is looking more like a

network. news sports and entertainment. >> you think vice is real in terms of their numbers? long term business that will be a viable business. >> we have support like hbo it will go a long way. i don't know how viable it will be. we all know a lot of this is going to be a bubble and these things -- you've seen some. look at twitter. you can't have things selling at multiples of hundreds, you know, on a p e-bay isis for a company that's been around. only one that can do that is amazon. nobody else has been able to sustain that sort of thing. >> make sure you say hi to your co-ceo. i'm not going to out completely but if i ever needed something important i would go to suzanne first and she would work it. >> i just tell you, my conclusion is that this is easier to deal with than autism

and we're doing personalized medicine for suzanne. what we found is all they have right is now a series of four or five poisons that they give you, and it's a little -- the treatment is a cross between witch craft on one side and blood letting on the other. it's really primitive. >> you try things and hope they work. >> many hospitals won't let you try them. you have to go to other places to get the protocols. >> we'll think about her. thank you. have a great day tomorrow. global autism speaks. >> autism speaks. it's a new day. only three of them. >> three at the u.n.. one of the good thing that the u.n. does. >> every country had to agree. >> we showed the book again. "post" had an interesting piece. >> it's 40 years of material. >> i know.

you're not shy. >> hopefully it's fun for everyone. every chapter sue economic. it blends in with the others. >> thanks. >> how is your golf? >> that's suffering a bit. >> is it the same? >> yes. the same. suffering. >> we do have some breaking news from dow components general electric. ge capital has filed have its so-called sifi designation removed. the company says the ge capital has substantially reduced its risk profile and exited most of its bank and financing business. the timing coming just day after a judge ruled that met life is not a sifi. >> we'll talk to the ceo of aig in the 8:00 hour about all of this. sifis and more. we return sweet and savory success with a twist. we'll be joined by the ceo of wetzel pretzels.

and justin trudeau will join "squawk on the street" at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. you don't want to miss it. most of the orcas at seaworld were born here. sending them into the wild wouldn't be noble. it could be fatal. when they freed keiko, the killer whale of movie fame, the effort was a failure and he perished. but we also understand that times have changed. today, people are concerned about the world's largest animals like never before. so we too must change. that's why the orcas in our care will be the last generation at seaworld. there will be no more breeding. we're also phasing out orca theatrical shows. they'll continue to receive the highest standard of care available anywhere. and guests can come to see them simply being their majestic selves.

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welcome back to box. new york governor andrew cuomo proposing $15 pay floor for new york city starting in 2019. the plan is already in place in new york city and new york state to raise wages for fast food workers. joining us is the ceo of wetzel pretzels. you have the pepperoni over here. on this employment issue and minimum wage what does do it to your business >> surprisingly, california raised the minimum wage in '14 from $8 to $9. same store sales were up 8% in the next six months. just raised it again from 9 to 10.

same store sales are up. >> is it a coincident? >> no. low-income people got a 10% increase. >> he says the opposite. he finds different thing. do you think it's a different market. >> source an impulse product, you know. these guys have extra money in their pocket today. so they can spend money. california same store sales are up two points more than what i just quoted. it is what's going on in california. >> has it impacted the churn of the employee, the type of employee you've been able to -- >> you probably have more churn unemployment is really low. 4.9% which make it hard. do you have a churn in employees. >> what about the margin? >> the margin is fine. we're doing pretty well. >> the decision to come to new york, by the way, i assume real estate cost has to be very high. >> extremely high.

but we're going into the fulton station which is next the world trade center, one of the iconic locations in the world in the future. so it's exciting. >> you want to try this. >> do you compete against annie's? who do you think is your biggest competitor. or do you feel you compete with all fast food. >> we compete with cinnabon. we're the third of a calories of cinnabon. you don't eat a whole bag. >> how many people are supposed to eat the bag. >> three. two or three. >> average person who buys that bag is oftentimes by themselves. >> with kids. tip cold shopper is mom going around the mall with kids. >> this becomes a meal or no >> a snack. >> how much does this stuff retail for? >> this will retail for about

3.99. >> has the health thing impacted you at all? >> it hasn't. during the atkins craze 17% of americans were on some kind of atkins die eat and our business was hurt. two years later 4% of americans were on atkins diet. >> you made an argument against minimum wage that i thought that's been persuasive. what does this mean to you. >> you'll see different markets of the market affected by minimum wage. it depends on how tight the labor market is and depends on who buys the product. >> could you have been up 14%. >> we've been up 4.5% historically for the last nine years. >> not a vacuum. >> if you increase the minimum wage. >> you can't do it. >> again, there's a lot of stuff playing into it. you go to $15 an hour -- the problem is, the biggest problem with minimum wage it destroys

jobs at the very bottom and we don't create jobs where we would have created it otherwise. >> would you have had an increase in minimum wage federally for seven years. you're at 7.25 the past seven years. it's crazy. >> it's price control. wage and price control. wage control. the market is allowed to dictate where it should be. there will be some type of dislocation. you can make more pay with different types of policies that don't distort the pricing signals and price certain people out of the market. >> as a fast food restaurant, entry level employee if you start at what a supervisor makes, the whole system gets messed up. >> is that the case inside -- >> we're not at 15 yet. >> we're at 10 in california now. but i think it works. you can always argue, i think the minimum wage should be

increased more than every seven years. that's just my opinion. >> if your sales were to slow would you have a different view? >> maybe. our business is great. our business has become better. >> how many states have no minimum wage at all? >> none. >> when you talk to other ceos in your space, usually -- is everybody in agreement? >> i think there are certain categories that are more price sensitive and there are certain people that can't pass on increases and it's very competitive in certain categories and those guys would get hurt. our sbis an business is an impu purchase. >> like these pizza boys are good. you said it came from a franchiseee. >> ray crock had one philosophy and most great ideas come from franchisees. if you look at our products most come from franchiseees. they are closer to the business. they see the customer every day. they come up with great ideas.

>> what's the calories in that thing because i'll eat the entire cup. >> calories aren't bad. you can get pretzel bites for about 300 calories. >> two people share that >> yes. >> head over to cnbc make it today.com. get how to guides, testimonials and success secrets. when we come back, five key members of the u.s. women's national soccer team are suing u.s. soccer over wages. that story is just ahead. senator mark warner of virginia will be checking into our studio with a look at the twist and turns in the run for the white house. box will be right back.

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digital works for banking and financial services. lets talk about how digital works for your business. ♪ no longer too big to fail. met life losing that label but will its competitors having success making the same argument. aig ceo peter hancock talks to us first on cnbc. >> the twists and turns in the race for the white house. virginia senator mark warner breaks down the campaigns as wisconsin is up for grabs. one shining moment for buffalo wild wings. the restaurant chain getting ready for one of its biggest weekends of the year.

ceo sally smith gives us her pre-game analysis. the third hour of "squawk box" begins now. ♪ >> announcer: live from the most powerful city in the world, new york. this is "squawk box". welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm concern along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. we're less than 90 minutes away from the opening bell on wall street. futures right now turn positive up about eight points. checking out the markets right now in europe, down over a point across the board for most of the session. it's gotten better. no longer down 1%. just down less than that. france faring the worst down almost 4%. had puppies. we just had a bunch of pretzels. >> i smell like pretzels and puppies. >> pretzels tasted like

cinnabon. you can do it. you'll live forever. don't worry about it. then we got wings coming in. buffalo wild wings. i don't know if i'll make it through the show. there you go. >> while they are doing this let me tell you about the other top stories. new this morning five key members of the u.s. women's national soccer team are planning to file a federal complaints charge u.s. soccer with wage discrimination. the women's team is the driving economic force for u.s. soccer but their players are paid less than the men's national team. among the players bringing legal action some names you know, those women who have been high flyers, carly lloyd, alex morgan, and hope solo. in corporate news, mcdonald's ceding more than 1,000 restaurants in china. the ceo said that the company is looking for an investment partner in asia to speed up its expansion. the company will add stores in

hong kong and south korea. chipotle is delivering a burger chain. the concept was in works well before the burrito chain was hit by a wave of food borne illnesses in the last year. >> donald trump getting criticism from both sides of the aisle over comments that he made about abortion. during a town hall on msnbc trump said if the u.s. banned abortion some women would seek abortions illegally and there should be some sort of punishment for those women. >> do you believe in punishment for abortion yes or no as a principle. >> the answer is that there has to be some perform of punishment. >> for the woman. >> yes, some form of punishment. >> ten years. >> i don't know. >> you do take positions on everything else. >> it's a very complicated position. >> hasn't thought thagt throut .

>> if you make it illegal -- he gave the wrong answers. it should have been providers. that's what he came back and said. he's improvising. he's the john coltraine of politics. it's a crazy -- like a hypothetical. do you ever think abortion will become illegal? >> i don't. more restrictions. >> but you shouldn't as a conservative you shouldn't concede that because you're taking away the war on women card that will be played between now and november. you'll hear that it's going to be taken away. so as a conservative you should say oh, yeah we're going to take it away. >> it's a divisive issue. people need to recognize 50% of the country is not going agree with that. >> there's no more back room -- >> you have to persuade -- >> no more coat hanger. i'm adopted. i wouldn't be here if there was

abortion in 1956. but i still understand, you know, whatever we decide, genie out of the bottle. can unscramble the egg. >> call a spade a spade. i don't think he has a view on this. he has a view what he thinks the party wants to hear today and might want to hear tomorrow. >> he's the first politician over to do that. >> look, running for president do you think about this? >> hillary clinton is known for having a strongly held belief. anyway. >> okay. >> let's talk business. >> we have a guest here this morning help us make sense of some big news that's making headlines. u.s. district judge strike down met life's former designation as

systematically more. no longer too big to fail. met live plans to divest a huge chunk of their chairs. aig getting a boost initially on that news. just this morning within the past 15 minutes g. capital filing to have its sifi designation removed. peter hancock joins us with his reaction to the ruling and ripple effects on the industry. he's president and ceo of aig. how are you doing >> i'm well. >> so you saw the news. were you surprised at the ruling? >> i think the whole world was somewhat surprised. we've been watching this case closely. it will get appealed. we'll see how it progresses in the higher courts. much of the ruling is sealed. we'll see what emerges when that gets unsealed. >> secretly you have to be happy about this and happy you didn't try do this first. >> i think aig is, obviously, a company that was quite central

in the financial crisis and as a result took early steps to derisk the company. we looked at how regulations were going to change and anticipate with where the pot was going. so we sold almost 50 companie companies,impanies, shrank the balance sheet. >> assuming this gets held up will you apply for the same thing? >> it certainly opens that opportunity but i think it's something we want to reserve judgment to see how the rules ultimately get written and how they get interpreted by the regulators. >> given your name is still aig it would make it that much harder for you >> it's important for people to focus on the substance of what we've done derisk the company as

opposed to history. looking at the fact that we promptly repaid the u.s. government's full assistance and derisked the company and focused on our core insurance business while divesting the businesses that posed the greatest risks to the financial system is something that hopefully will be noticed by anybody making such a decision. >> part of the judge's ruling in this seems to be that the system, she believed was a capricious system for deciding which companies would be significant in this case. is that something you agree with? what do you think of the system as who gets designated a sifi. >> there's an aspect of this that's process and substance. the judge gave opinions on both. and without seeing the details of exactly what happened in met life's process it's hard for notice second guess the judge. so i think i would say that we'll see more as it progresses through the appeals. >> talk about risk, i wrote a

column last week and i had a little parenthetical about aig that just mentioned, talking about hedge funds and how hedge funds have not done very well recently and you guys, aig actually had a lot of exposed to hedge funds and decided recently you would halve that exposure. i got a lot of e-mail about it. i said something to the effect that how aig got into this position of having so much exposure to hedge funds is a column for another day or something like that and i got all sorts of emails. how did that ever happen. how did it happen? >> i think if you look at our business it still has the need to invest the premiums of our policy holders over the long term and we have a balance sheet of over $300 billion that has to be diversified and the vast majority is in investment grade corporate bonds and agencies mortgage bagged securities and

other secure assets. so there's a portion of it that's dedicated to hedge funds, about $11 billion, a lot of money to you and i but in the full portfolio is actually a relatively normal asset allocation to that asset class and has done very well in the last ten years but i think with currents market conditions we think it should be reduced in half and it's just not as capital efficient a way to invest the money as other alternatives. >> just a clarification. general electric, hearing from them now they say in terms of their application for de-designation something they always planned and publicly they would do in the first quarter. it's very different from the met life situation. they decreased their total assets by 52%. they say as a result they think that puts them in a different place. are you someone who would probably follow the lines of ge

capital and ask for a de-regulation or follow the lines of met life and say this is unfair what the government is doing. >> we prefer to work with our regulators. have equally dramatic reductions in risk with ge that we're executed earlier. we have a very strong case that we reduced our leverage and exited businesses that exposed us to liquidity. >> do you think any institution should be designated this way. do you think there's a need for this type of regulation? if you were the regulator. >> we're an industry that has the trust of our policy holders very much at the center of our business model. we make large long term promises to policy holders whether they are individuals trusting us with their retirement savings or whether a large company looking to insure against adverse events. we're are heavily regulated already. every u.s. state, every foreign jurisdiction and in some cases two regulators.

we have almost litterly 200 regulators. how well they work together and coordinate in terms of crisis is important. whether you have an enterprise wide regulator whether it's the fed or a state regulator like texas or pennsylvania or new york, you know, that kind of matters less than its well coordinated and those regulators have at the heart of what they are trying to accomplish the protection of policy holders interest. >> one quick question. economists were sort of mixed at the beginning of dodd-frank being designated sifi would be terrible or good. on the other hand you have this big regulatory hurdle and i applaud your destwierk well with regulators. the second the judgment came down don't we know for sure being a sifi is bad for

business, is that fair to say? >> one day moving in the stock price isn't something i would judge that's got more profound implications. there are pros and continues of regulation. good regulations, well administered are very helpful to free markets and very helpful for consumers. poorly designed regulations, poorly administered are very destructive. i think there are a lot of complexities to dodd-frank which hopefully will get resolved. some were resolved when the collins amendment was put in place that separated the rules for insurance companies from those from banks which are different business models. >> two things. i don't think we had a chance to talk with you. john paulson is on your board as well as carl icahn representative. you still talk to carl? >> we talk to all of our large shareholders. course. >> how has that changed the company? >> it's too early to tell. the date for them joining the

board is may. >> they haven't been in the boardroom yet. >> no. >> no fist pounding on the table. you have an ipo coming on the mortgage business. what kind of multiple can you describe on that business? >> there's a very solid back book of business that is a set of very steady cash flows that are well reserved. and then there's new business floss which will be highly dependent on government policy and the role of fannie, freddie and home own authority. depending on the long term outlook for private mortgage insurance, that could attract a very high multiple on the new business. and the existing business i think is a very stable source of cash flow. the company is well positioned relative to its peer, best capitalized amooning many of them and has the largest market share, about 30%. it's a well positioned company. >> you don't want to put a number interest. >> i would hate to jump the gun

on something like that. >> worth trying. peter always great to see you. we appreciate you coming in. when we return a big sports weekend with the final four tipping off on saturday but it's an even bigger weekend for buffalo wild wings. ceo sally smith will join us and give us her pre-game expectations for the championship weekend. the stock picking up some heat after an upgrade. stock going wild next. [ crash ] and reunited three decades later for a tour that sold out in three minutes. and your cisco hybrid cloud handled millions of ticket orders without breaking a sweat. before all of this, [ crash ] the experts at cdw orchestrated a cisco hybrid cloud solution. scalability by cisco. orchestration by cdw.

>> welcome back. march madness fans are gearing up for the big final for your weekend and so is buffalo wild wings. one of the nation's largest beer and wings chain. some of the shares have lost their sizzle. they are down since the start of football season last year. but they did get an upgrade. sally smith joins us with a business update. she's the president and ceo of buffalo wild wings. sally, great to see you. let's talk about this weekend. what does it mean in terms of

the overall important weekends or overall important events you face. super bowl is number one. where does this land? >> super bowl is our single biggest day. but the march madness tournament throughout the entire twleek time period of course drives fans into buffalo wild wings. last year we sold over 105 million boneless wings. we expect to exceed that number. that compares to 12.5 million for single day of super bowl. this weekend is kind of the culmination of, you know, the 64 teams that get winnowed down to four. >> we talked about southeast troubles the chain has run into. part of the problem is chicken wing prices have cosmopolitaned to decline as well as other wholesale prices have come down. there's a shift in the hoilsd in the last quarter just in terms of how things fell. that didn't help you quite as much. i know you can't talk about

everything but what can you tell us in terms of how things are going? >> sure. as i said march madness is a great time for guests to come in to buffalo wild wings. we do calendar shifts happen. we try to carve that out when we provide guidance to analysts following the stock teen our shareholders. they are aware of that. easter fell during the tournament this year versus in the second quarter last year. we called that out as well. it's just, we'll release our earnings at the end of april and certainly extra games on thursdays during the tournament always more reasons for guests to come in. >> again, i'll come at this a slightly different way. we watch the consumer very carefully. how do you think american consumers are feeling based on how much they are spending? >> we're seeing a lot of promotional activity both in qsr and casual dining. i'm sure that has an overall

effect. i do think that we're looking at low gasoline prices. consumers have become used to those dollars. i think that there's still some anxiety out there about what's happening with the economy and certainly during the holiday period we did call this out in the first quarter or in our fourth quarter earnings call that online shopping i think impacted retail sales and consumer being out doing shopping probably less activity out in restaurants and retail during that fourth quarter in the holiday season. >> people tell me i'm the king. i'm raising minimum wage tomorrow, $15 an hour. do you have to do anything? >> of course, we do. >> what do you do? >> i think that labor is one of the biggest, probably one of the biggest head winds that the

entire restaurant and retail industry face. we would take a look at our labor model what can we automate. how can we get more productivity. at some point you do have to take a look at pricing. i think there's a combination of things from scheduling to automation to pricing. we've anticipated that in our 2016 numbers. >> sally, we just had the ceo of wetzel's pretzels. we have them here on the set. we have the wings over there today. >> good. >> he made the comment that sales have gone up in california. >> had nothing to do with gas prices either, sally. >> he thinks it put more money in people's pockets and they come and bought more pretzels. you don't buy that. >> i didn't say that. i do think that there's an opportunity for that consumer to have more discretionary dollars. as you look at the restaurant industry and i talked about this before, that this is often an

entry level job for a lot of people and it gives them a first job. we train america. but i do think that -- i think the industry will figure out how to deal with rising wage rates as well as tightening labor markets. >> but implicit in what you just said the entry level positions would probably be less and be fewer people are yelling at me for saying -- it would be fewer. >> sure. that's right. i mean you will look at how do you increase productivity. will you go to less service? maybe ordering at the counter. all things that fast casual has adopted very well. and we're seeing increasing. >> people say up is down -- >> keep in mind there was a big minimum wage increase in the late '70s with jimmy carter and that's when we stopped pumping our gas. why? cause and effect. 600,000 minimum wage jobs that were destroyed or not created

and these are the least fortunate members of society and teenagers and people with low education levels no longer work at gas stations. >> that's what will happen at restaurants. >> cbo said bomb care was going to save us. they are the ones that we're going to save trillion dollars. even they said you raise -- a million people get a raise but 500 million lose. >> 82% of whom are not poor. and 500,000 people lose their jobs. >> their minimum wage goes zero. >> sally will be fine because she runs a great company and the company will be okay and she will out how to deal with it. the problem is not what it does to business. the problem is what it does to poor people particularly teenagers. >> i wish you were like a muse. just sitting over there. so whenever we have these discussion all of a sudden your voice would just come on. >> andrew agrees with me.

>> we do. i worry about what he's talking about. >> the question is what do you do about it. >> sally thank you for joining us today. good luck this weekend. we'll certainly be watching. >> thank you, becky. >> we will. that's right. you went to syracuse. >> i taught at syracuse for eight years. they were the greatest university in america. >> they were 9-9. coming up jobless claims. >> he's not happy with his bracket.

♪ coming up next, breaking news on jobs right after the break. weekly jobless claims. also the final data point ahead of tomorrow's big employment report. the countdown is officially on. we're back with the numbers in just a moment. with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and new infrastructure for a new generation attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in rochester, with world-class botox. and in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov

>> welcome back to "squawk box". breaking news, continuing claims we're expecting a number fairly unchanged from last week as 2665. 11,000, 276,000. these are still low levels but of course we'll comp to what has been a bit lower. looking at a 20 year chart of claims. 2.173 on continuing claims and of course we still have chicago pmi to go. the news continues to being the effect of central bankers. ouring stock market may be running out of gas a bit. europe, the dax even popped out. as a matter of fact it's below 10k. we'll continue to monitor yields

that approach levels that we haven't seen since the end of february. window dressing and activities that may occur at the end of the month but at the end of the quarter. back to the gang. >> thank you, rickster. let's get some reaction from steve liesman. >> just checking this out. we're up for the third straight week. one of those things you want to follow the level a bit, this 271. we still have a variety of indicators that job growth is commensurate with this 200,000 plus range. the number came in with that. between adp and claims you're looking at i think the street will be comfortable, at least expecting 200. whether or not they get it is another story. we have this quandary giving a lot of commentary, i'm happy to say about my work. people wondered whether or not that's something asserting itself now. remember we came way down. we started this quarter with, you know, hope springing eternal at least for the winter with a

plus 2% gdp number. we're now floating around 0.9% on the cnbc rapid update. the question is whether that weak first quarter seasonality is asserting itself. guys are saying like is it time to do what we do ritualistically every second quarter which is set to begin tomorrow and start banking on a second quarter rebound. there's quite a bit of talk about that. >> given the entire year has been in the doldrums for eight years even though the central banks have gone crazy is it still the view of those conservatives that this was self-inflicted in this country from regulation, increased regulation and obamacare, or do we now concede that the entire world had trouble getting out of the financial crisis and nothing we couldn't have made it better. >> we could have made it better. >> you don't think we could have

been doing three, do you? >> i don't because -- when i look at the fundamentals of gdp, i look at productivity growth and i look at hours worked those are the two things that's all you need to figure out in gdp figure out growth in the country. productivity has stepped down for reasons that we're debating here. robert gordon sat in your chair not too long ago. the brilliant robert gordon. it's a great road. basically said we reached the tail end of technological innovations. we won't have innovations we had in the past. i'm not going to talk about that. if we can increase efficiency in the economy, we could increase growth and well being. >> biggest thing we've done wrong in the united states, it's not just the cyclical change, that things will be different now. two generations ago we basically stopped training people in

trades. one of the key things we've done wrong in this country. the result is 70% of americans who don't finish college will have dramatically lower productivity rates when we force them no medium skill service industries. this is a huge problem we got in this country where we don't take all different kinds of skills seriously. >> robert gordon talks about this issue of education attainment. reducing our productivity. president obama has pushed this idea which many republicans i know really support of additional funding for community colleges and helping also with trade schools. i talked to republicans in the south who love this idea. >> the community college approach is not exactly right. the trade school, vocational school, vouchers for people at all ages including 55 years old getting skill trades is a good idea. we need to go in this direction to jack up productivity. >> that's not what joe is talking about. joe is talking about things that inhibit the capital investment innovation. the government holding that

back. i'm open to that possibility. >> here's the key thing to keep in mind. we've all read the -- people who are watching who haven't read it we have. 600 years of financial crises. they take 15 to 20 clears to clear. milton friedman can be president of the united states and we'll still have people at the bottom of the income. you can make it better and we haven't through a bunch of unforced regulatory errors. we compound the long end tail of the financial crisis which hurts people making living wages. we made it harder for the home recover. >> it's a counter factual hypothetical. how much quicker or better could it be today? have we implemented everything

you wanted to do? if you believe it takes 15 years to clear anyway. >> i think we can cut 15 year tail for the most, people at the periphery in the american economy seven to eight years and seeing strong recovery. >> start by not running zero -- we run a 0% interest rate to induce banks to lend and have a dodd frank rule that in my opinion has gone way too are in essentially --'m going to get lots of hate mail because i'm the only guy standing up for the banks. they are not communists, joe. >> you said something really, i can't believe. >> what's been happening. >> dodd frank was bad. >> parts of dodd-frank have gone too far. higher capital levels made stones me. some other restrictions, the onus on smaller banks is problematic. joe i maintained this all along. you're getting older and you

don't hear me when i say these things. >> i got my hole in my ear. >> what tax reform do we do >> the one everybody agrees on. corporate tax. they are at 28, we're at 25. why can't we go to 26 and a half. mark warner is coming. he's tried to do it. some of your guys, corker reaches across the aisle he gets his hands slapped. >> my guys. >> your guys. >> why do people who reach across the aisle get hit that's what i want to know. >> the reason is because we have an extreme political polarization because we don't have good executive leadership. >> on either side. not obama and not the republican leadership. >> from a highly polarized environment. >> dems are at 28, republicans are at 25. how we can't do tax reform in this country why can't we do that. trump said the same thing. you can fix social security.

you can fix corporate tax reform in about 30 minutes. >> let's all come together. steve liesman. love this guy. thank you. >> coming up, to save the and plants. "squawk" news maker virginia senator mark warner is our guest. we talk race for the white house. there are two billion people who don't have access to basic banking, t that is changing. at temenos, with the microsoft cloud, we can enable a banker to travel to the most remote locations with nothing but a phone and a tablet. everywhere where there's a phone, you have a bank. now a person is able to start a business, and employ somebody for the first time.

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>> the candidates are gearing up for next week's wisconsin primary. in the latest poll senator ted cruz has surged to a 10-point lead over donald trump with john kasich in third. bernie sanders take slight edge over hillary clinton. joining us now to break down the race ahead to try to explain -- is it harder to defend the republican party or democratic party? >> at this point i kind of scratch my head about the whole process. >> democratic senator of virginia senator mark warner. also still with us our very own steve liesman and popular to talk about what's going on in the gop because it's a circus, obviously. but it also keeps you from talking about a bona fide socialist that is beating hillary clinton in a lot of different states and where the center of the democratic party is now. to you a business guy, a guy who founded a business, a entrepreneur, a capitalist,

assume. >> people are frustrated. neither political party has been putting points on the board. we've seen congress grind to a halt. i think the genius of our system we set up a system of checks and balances where you need have compromise and unfortunately in the last decade plus both parties when in power been running it like a parliamentary system. that would work if that's the type of government we have but that's not what we have in america. >> how many people we got. 300 million. these are our best. this is what we got? i don't want to join a club that will have me as a member. anyone who runs for president is flawed. >> particularly in the republican party over the last couple of weeks, oh, my gosh how much of a circus can it become. back and forth about each other's wives and trump shooting from the hip about nato and now

comments about abortion. >> on your side you have on policy issues talking about things that historically we know don't work. they end up with, you know, you have strong men and people in jail and no civil rights. we've seen the results of socialism in cuba, and venezuela and former soviet union. >> i'm a free enterprise guy. >> don't talk about republicans being crazy. you have a socialist winning the last five out of six states. >> hillary clinton will be the democratic nominee. wisconsin will be tight. she's going to do very well in new york, new jersey. she will be the nominee. when you got this kind whether it's trump or cruz extreme coming out of the -- she will win in the fall. the question will there be enough people of goodwill, of both political parties we'll do very well in the fall with democrats. you'll still have to get a

bipartisan majority. >> is the environment in washington going change? >> it's got to. we can't continue to punt. we got 19 trillion in debt. we have notorious challenges in our economy. we have issues that don't break down republican and democrat. >> marco rubio was willing to compromise. it's a dirty word in the primaries. that's not how the majority of middle america -- >> that's not frankly -- that's why governor kasich has a message that has appeal. not doing that well in the republican party. but that's the place where you get things done. the idea that either side has a mono monopoly or truth is not the case. >> let's talk about one thing that everybody thought, you and i had breakfast a year ago and you thought you might get somewhere on this tax reform thing. we're nowhere on it. we were just talking about the democrats have been in the 28% level and republicans have been

at 25%. why can't something simple like that happen? >> steve, i think there was an ability for us last we're to at least do international, repatriate those dollars. but some of these stories i heard but not speaker ryan this notion that's still operating within the republican house caucus any new money above the baseline would mean that you couldn't bring that money back even if it was going to something like infrastructure is a little bit crazy. unfortunately in the debate that we've talked about where you bring it down to 28, 25, candidly the rest of the world is moving to high teens and we're going still be chasing the rest of the world if we don't get this done. i also worry, those conceptual approach we have where you say hey let's go ahead and lower the rate but then get rid of some of our tax expenditures. we've not seen a willingness to do this. >> you mean loopholes. >> loopholes. >> tax expenditures. whatever you want to call it.

it's smart way to think about it. >> the so-called tax extenders and willy-nilly spent $700 million unpaid for. bring down rates and close the loopholes. >> we talked about dodd-frank. gone too far? seems to be suppressing banking lending out there. is it something that needs to be changed? >> there were a group of us that were trying to say, let's look at community banks, regionals and see where we went too far. i think the framework of dodd-frank makes enormous sense. i was very involved with that effort. were there places where we over shot the goal absolutely. but what has always been the case whether it's financial reform, health care reform, consistently in our country congress never gets it 100% right. you come back and fix it after the fact. unfortunately you have people on both sides some say you can't touch a world. a whole group on the republican side say no we won't reform.

repeal or nothing. candidly that's not where you ought to be. >> senator, you care a lot about work with everybody. you're not a centrist. you're a man of the left. but a capitalist and share these great american values. tell me about the guys on the other side in the senate. the new guys. these guys are terrific. who are the guys you can work with to change the climate in the new senate no matter -- >> i think there are a lot of folks in both parties that to do the right thing. particularly in the republican party. with the tea party take no prisoner extreme, that lots and lots of senators, i won call them out on national tv who said let me get through my primary and then i'll sit down. that extremist view we'll hold you accountable if you work with a democrat we have to lance that boil. >> you have been president for eight years. do you look back on these eight

years honestly and give it a what on a scale of one to ten in terms of trying to bring a country together. >> i've seen where we were when this president took over. >> what your talking about? >> i'm talking about 800,000 jobs being lost. you got to look at the facts >> you're not disappointed at all. you haven't talked to democrats in congress. >> i wish we could have done more. absolutely. look at our economy's recovery versus virtually every other country's industrialation. >> united states is always exceptional. we dons have the structural problems that europe has. we're expected to do better. better than 1.5% too. just looking back as a democrat. we talk about corporate tax reform. it will never get done 2002 president leading away from the bully pulpit. that's not a priority of his. have you seen him bring people together? the iran deal.

>> i voted for that. >> we had to do paris. we got these crazy priorities. >> crazy priorities. nuclear weapons out of the iranians. climate change where science is overwhelming. i once call these crazy priorities. these are priorities that are forward leading. >> i disagree. >> don't you look at it and say -- why do you think -- you think he's a polarizing guy to begin with. >> just me? >> the points is that the other side would never cooperate on the taxes. that was problem. >> i remember when we put together the gang ever six to do simpson-bowles. >> my republican colleague said to me a number of times oh, my gosh if the president supports it we're dead. the president supported our plan. it was late but he supported it. that was a moment when the house didn't support it. >> can i ask a news question.

>> did he support simpson-bowles. >> de. i wish he supported it more. >> the chair of the banking community will let some nominee through. what do you think, are we going to get more nominees of the president through senate banking? >> the banking committee was the one committee that for a long time chairman shelby didn't let anybody through. we have to make sure we have folks on the fed, we have folks in these key positions -- >> we're two short, right? >> yeah, and i'm glad chairman shelby's going to let him through, it's time. >> it would be good if we have more guys like mark warner in the senate if we actually want to get more people talking to each other. >> both sides. >> we've got to get it done. >> we have to go. when we return, jim cramer from the new york stock exchange. back in a minute.

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welcome back, everybody. let's get down to the new york stock exchange. jim cramer joins us. jim, great to see you back. >> thank you. >> you're back just as we're looking at the stock market having hit those new highs for the year yesterday. what do you think of this? what do you think post fed, post janet yellen? >> i think janet yellen gave the cfo as a chance to say, look, in the second half of the year, we may not have to do the constant

currency chatter. the dollar is weak enough that it is year over year going to be a tailwind for some of the currencies, euro and yen. so, it will be very difficult for people to say, listen, we're going to cut numbers because of the dollar. that's not going to happen, which to me may mean that the pe multiple's a little bit smaller than people are worried about. so, i thought it was a green light for the earnings season and for the people who run these conference calls to be able to say, hey, listen, you know what, we're not cutting numbers. and i think that that's what's going to be driving why a lot of the stocks were going up yesterday. >> and why we'll potentially see this continue as we get into full earnings season and hear from more companies. >> if the dollar continues to weaken, yes, becky. there's a lot of number bumping that will have to happen, whether it's packaged goods, technology. if the dollar stays weak, then you're not going to get oil to collapse because it is priced in the dollar. so, there's a lot that's good if the dollar stays weak, and i think that's the seminole story for q-2, because this is finally

maybe the end of when apple has to say, listen, we've got to cut numbers, proctor, we've got to cut numbers, because that's been the overall frame of earnings season for the last 18 months. but year over year, we are actually, the euro is stronger, and i think it all started with draghi and what he did this time last year and how it's working, and europe's stronger than we think and we're a little weaker than we think. >> jim, great to have you back and we'll see you in a few minutes. >> thank you. >> thanks. coming up, we'll have some final thoughts for today, anyway. these are not final thoughts, hopefully. martha brooks. and a programming note -- canadian prime minister justin trudeau. i'm looking at him. he's got nothing on sorkin, nothing you, andrew. you know what i mean? what is all this heartthrob stuff? >> handsome man. handsome man. >> he's going to join "squawk on the street." are you on "squawk alley" again? >> i will be. 11:00 a.m. eastern standard time. >> first justin trudeau, then andrew ross sorkin later today. leadership is about vision and integrity. confidence.

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let's get back now to our guest host this morning, american enterprise institute president arthur brooks. i said, wow, it's nice that you're still optimistic. you say that's the only way to be, but the chances of republicans losing in 2016 you put at what? >> betting markets say it's over 50% at this point, but again, there's so many twists and turns between now and november. that's why it's so exciting.

>> you said as high as 80%. >> it could be. that's what some analysts are saying. >> and you say the phoenix will rise from the ashes in 2020. >> here's the good news, pundits are saying that republicans are done forever. that's nonsense. i mean, the parties don't go away unless there's an existential threat to the country. i mean, this whole idea -- this is not 1850. this is not 1800. i mean, republicans are going to come back and they're going to -- if they lose in 2016 -- >> do they have to change? >> of course. parties always have to change. >> what does it have to look like? >> it has to go from a populist approach that is reacting to the anxieties of people who have been left behind to real solutions that are going to help people and push opportunity down to people at the bottom. >> you said kasich could win, scott walker probably could have won, rubio could have won. a lot of could have won. this is the year republicans really needed to try to make up for the past eight years in terms of damage done and they shot themselves in the foot because of that, and now they're electing the same party that created this? >> look, when you come out of a

horrible financial crisis for the entire bottom part of the economy's being left behind, you're going to have populist currents, and it's going to have strong impacts on the political process. you have to use this as an opportunity. >> you said bush -- who's getting 4%? >> what's that? >> getting 4%, bush. >> that's right. it wasn't the candidacy, wasn't the right time for somebody making that message. >> thank you. good having you here today. >> thank you. >> join us tomorrow for jobs friday. right now it's time for "squawk on the street." hello, world. good morning and welcome to the end of the quarter. i'm brian sullivan with jim cramer, as always, live from the new york stock exchange. carl and david are off. it is national bunsen burner day, after all. where else would they be? here is your roadmap for the day. stock futures not giving us much guidance right now. the dow slightly higher, the nasdaq futures still