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 slightly down.

unless something crazy happens today, this will prove, though, to be a very good month for most of the stock market. the dow, if you're not paying attention, up more than 7% just this month. it is now 1.5% up for the year. we are going to take a closer look at some of the quarter's surprising winners and losers, see if there's names that you own on either of those lists. dow component ge in the news today. ge capital officially filing to have its too big to fail designation removed after shedding a large number of its financial assets. the company does continue to transform. we talked about that yesterday, but we'll get more on what this may mean for the state and the entire financial services industry. and apple's new products hitting stores today, but we're not seeing any lines of fanboys down the street. the new iphone and ipad not getting a lot of buzz, but maybe, just maybe that's a good thing for apple's stock. we're going to dig into that idea as well. let's get now to this market. i mean, i feel like there's a bradbury short story, all summer and a day about people live on

mars and they have one day without rain. i feel like we've lived a whole year in a quarter. >> okay. >> with january, february and this month. it's slow now. what do you see happening? >> i like that theory, and the theory is basically that this market, this quarter had pretty much everything. come in with the economy really slowing, somewhat because the fed raised rates, not acknowledged by most people, but that's a shame, except for janet yellen, who obviously saw the impact. and then we saw pivot february, 10, 11, where bernie sanders wins new hampshire, the media's still making it a horse race thinking that somehow, there's no such thing as superdelegates. that was when the oil passed, we got 25, 26, that was when deutsche bank was rumored to be in trouble, that's when draghi made statements that people didn't think would change things. and that was the bottom. and ever since then, we've been having a really great run, interrupted by one moment where

retail sales were revised down. but frankly, ever since the bottom, people have been franticly trying to get back in and have not had a chance, as the charts show over and over again, whether it be for freeport or whether it be for a lululemon, whether it be for a general electric, which we'll talk about, or whether it will be, like, for stocks we never get any talk, travelers, united health. why don't we talk about companies like that, where people are making fortunes? >> my friend, we have 57 minutes of unscripted tv, we can do whatever you want. >> we ought to because i see stocks in the dow, a verizon, united health, travelers. i mean, hey, these companies are making fortunes, and how? because they just keep doing blocking and tackling. we tend to focus on a couple of companies, but i look at a united health that pulled back from the affordable care, i look at travelers, which has pulled back from writing some insurance that's not that good, u.s. competitive, and i say these are the stars. when you talk about the unsung stars, no one wants to talk about these companies. they just make money.

they buy back stock, they do better-than-expected earnings, and they are gems. >> let's get micro in just a second but let's go quickly to macro. last night on "mad" you said the fed would set us free. we know april is likely off the table, so put the fed aside. let's make a deal, america, we won't say fed for 60 days. what is going to then be the most important thing for the market? is it the stabilization of oil? is it going to be actually, dare i say, earnings? is it going to be mario draghi? >> you know what, i'm actually -- >> or "d," all of the above? >> looking back, a lot of times i like to look back at what was said a year ago and i picked up a good piece by michael semliss ", i own the market." for years, he was saying europe was going to do nothing but go down. he called the bottom and said euro business is going up, corporate rates down, mortgage rates down, euro era banking lending. and he said look, the dollar is probably peaking. year over year, geez, got the

exact top. it was pretty amazing. and i think europe has come back. and i think that when you look at the distribution of our large-cap companies, whether it's a j&j, a facebook, google, alphabet, whether it be an ibm, intel, microsoft -- if you get a turn in the dollar against the euro, then what's going to happen is raising numbers all those numbers i just mentioned, all of them! >> i think if you went to sort of the average investor on the street and said how has the dow done this year? >> well, they stopped looking at it years ago. >> obviously, professionals are not really looking at the dow, but it is sort of the benchmark of the thing. these are incredible -- these are quarter-to-date numbers, okay? so, they're year-to-date numbers as well. verizon up 17%. >> right. >> caterpillar, 12%. walmart, 12%. 3m, 10%. those would be spectacular annual gains and we've had them in 90 days and no one seems to be paying attention -- >> no, you're wrong -- >> except for you. >> they're wrong. every one of those stocks i've been told is a short by people

who don't know much, every one. caterpillar, jim, don't be confused, china's really bad. verizon, don't be confused it doesn't have real growth. every one of those i have heard bad things about, okay? walmart, come on, they preannounce, it's a really bad quarter. all of those stocks overshot to the down side. by the way, oil stocks may have overshot to the down side. look at the oil numbers that have been coming out. there's actually a good piece today about gasoline. you know, people have been using more gasoline. so, i think that when you mention those stocks, i've never heard a long guy say you know what, you've got to buy caterpillar. i've heard people come to me and say, how dare you say something positive about cat? end markets are what matters for cat, end markets and bottom. look at this -- >> we got to a little bit yesterday on investing legends and conventional wisdom. four months ago, everyone said brazil is doomed, they're throwing people in jail, protests in the streets, inflation, economy, all that's happened is brazil is the single

best-performing global market this year. >> she's going to be thrown out. >> but it goes to a point of sometimes when everybody is saying something, the dollar -- >> turned out to be a good stock, though, how crazy is that? >> dollar has gone down. >> look, the emerging market currencies have been the strongest in ages. we don't talk about it. why do people not talk about these things? why do they not talk about the baltic freight being up almost every day, which says europe is stabilized? europe has stabilized. >> i could point to the baltic dry index, if you want to get really wonky. >> that's what i'm doing -- >> the bbi has turned around a little bit. that is a measure, by the way, if you're at home, of the rates in the charter rates for ships that do things like fertilizers and corn and granular items. >> right, right, stuff that -- >> suez max. i promised myself i wouldn't say suez max today. in the penalty box. >> widen the panama canal. it's really great -- >> let's talk about apple -- walt mossberg, i read his view last night of the ipad and iphone. he says they're not spectacular, but i like them. the iphone, they've gone back to

a smaller size, faster, good battery life with the ipad pro, but really, it's not getting a lot of attention. can the market move if apple doesn't lead, or is apple itself? >> apple bottomed the same -- almost the exact same day as the chinese stock market. and i bring that up because i think these smaller factors are for china. the chinese do not want cheap phones. the chinese are very aspirational. and i think that these phones are going to sell well in china, and that's one of the reasons why apple's multiple's expanding here, because china is what turned the company around, that's where the growth is, and these products i think are meant for china. >> if you're an apple investor. you're not a trader. you buy -- you're getting rich carefully, jim. >> there uyou go. >> so, you own it for your kids. is the most important thing to watch, then, not the products but the chinese economy? >> china. well, it tracks the chinese -- the stock tracks the chinese stock market. look, some things shouldn't happen. it shouldn't track the chinese stock market.

i mean, now steve easterbrook last night talking about -- 3:00 they send me an e-mail saying, listen, steve's talking right now to the media, 3:00 a.m. talk to us, for heaven's sake! i made the case to him, call in! if he's going to talk to china at 3:00 a.m., he should be talking to us. another outlet, but he -- >> so, apple, the lesson is watch the chinese stock market and economy, period. >> nike should buy it because they have -- >> let's get to that news. >> starbucks should go through $60 because of china. china is very, very strong for the consumer versus where it was five months ago. >> we're talking dow in china. let's talk about mcdonald's. >> let's do that. >> mcdonald's saying -- mcdonald's is really carl's thing. he knows the company a lot better than i do. >> easterbrook's my guy because he knows how i -- >> 1,000 new stores coming in china. now yum! brands -- >> which, by the way, i say easterbrook, come on, you know that's a real low number. look how many yum! brands has. i love the split! doing such a good job -- >> all i'm saying is it's

naturally a positive. we automatically, oh, more stores, china, it's great. is it great automatically? >> why not? they've got tons of room. they've got tons of room. greg creed is telling you that china is coming back online for the consumer, and i have to tell you, i think that easterbrook's making the right move. that's where the growth is. >> i'll tell you what, mcdonald's has got to be one of the -- >> $93 to $123. >> one of the most surprising stories of the last month. the stock's gone from $93 to $123 -- if you can bring up a one-year chart of mcdonald's. the ceo gets swapped out. i know there's a lot of optimism around the relatively new ceo, breakfast all day, which also, by the way, is expensive for franchisees, the workers don't like it -- >> if you talked to any? >> yes! >> you know they bought in. >> it's expensive, some of the workers -- >> guys are thrilled! >> it's working, but how much longer can it work is my point, breakfast all day shouldn't -- [ everyone talking at once ]

shouldn't add $13 billion market cap to a company. >> why don't you talk to jack in the box and see. they've been eviscerated. jack in the box is like "it" by stephen king. ever read that? "it," it's a good one. stephen king holds up. >> jack in the box, by the way, is the only company i think that will give you a taco on the side of a cheeseburger. >> jack in the box is the only one who lost share to chipotle. >> they own the ka doba chain -- >> they didn't pick up any share. >> so, who is? >> panera did, although they actually denied -- no one -- everyone knows that any restaurant chain can be victimized, so no restaurant chain is ever going to slam another restaurant chain for e. coli -- >> no, my friend, i beg to differ. >> publicly. >> nope. let me give you -- two days -- >> taco -- >> two days ago i walk into my local panera. a big sign, it says "our soups are clean." that's on the door of my local

panera. i go there almost every day. >> that may not have come from ron shaich, the ceo. >> no, i think it's a local franchise. >> that may have been a local issue because i was debating putting that sign up at my restaurant. just kidding. just the luck of the draw for chipotle. and the better burger thing? i'll talk about it -- >> we've got 48 minutes to go. >> also there is so much to talk about, don't freak me out here, man. we barely touched ge! >> we'll touch on ge and talk about the mysterious chipotle thing you just said, but we also must tease this. a live and exclusive interview with canada's new prime minister, justin trudeau. hear what he has to say about the country, about security, about oil slump on his economy -- >> talk about the currency. >> susan lee will do the interview and will probably ask about the currency. that is an exclusive. you don't want to miss that. more "squawk on the street" coming up.

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we are just pounding through the dow components today. let's talk ge. ge's capital unit, what's left of it, has officially filed to have its so-called sipi, or basically, too big to fail designation removed. ge saying it is no longer a significantly important financial institution. after all, it shedded a large number of assets, including yesterday selling its asset

management business for $43 million. this is a day after the government struck down the government's designation of metlife as being too big to fail. your reaction. >> first, i think ge said they were going to do this by the end of the quarter, so let's not think for a moment it's on the heels of metlife. second, they've done a remarkable job! ge's capital receivables decreased, cash is up big. really, the debt they have now is much more oriented towards selling equipment. remember, you have to finance equipment. so you don't want to get out of financing entirely, because when you go buy some of their stuff, you really do need some financing. but the competition of ge capital i think is very safe, a lot of cash, a lot of non-u.s. and the idea that this company is still -- shouldn't be under sipi, a systematically important financial institution and financial stability oversight council's in charge, it's kind of ludicrous, so it is good that if you own -- you've been

looking for this for a long time. not a surprise. but it would be big to get out from under that. and the judge yesterday really slapped the financial stability oversight, saying -- >> big win for metlife. >> no due process. >> let's talk more about this with mary thompson. let's bring mary in here to talk to her about this. >> fabulous. >> i know there are some big interviews this morning. >> hey, brian. i just got off the phone with sherrin asking him about the "d" designation process and asking about his reaction to the ruling on metlife yesterday. he said he was surprised by the ruling, but it really doesn't affect ge because they've taken, as is noted by this "d" designation application, a different approach to trying to get that sifi designation removed from ge capital. now, he said over the course of the last few months, as jim pointed out earlier, this was expected by ge. they had said earlier they were going to apply for the "d" designation process. he says he has had constructive meetings with regulators.

they've met with about ten regulatory agencies. and again, he called the tone of the meetings constructive. he says he wants the regulators to take away from this process how ge capital has fundamentally changed its business model, its funding model. it hasn't only shrunk the business, it's changed the business. he said he would be disappointed if regulators did not decide to remove this sifi designation from ge capital. he said he is unsure as to when that might happen. but again, sharon saying he's surprised by the ruling, but again, it doesn't affect ge. they had long planned to apply for "d" designation. no word yet on timing as to when the regulators might review this and then make a decision as to whether or not ge capital no longer deserves that systematically important financial institution designation. back to you, brian. >> mary, let me ask you -- it's jim -- when you look at what they've done and you look at what they can do, they still don't talk about some of the things that nelson peltz wants to do when they're waiting

for -- big shareholder and friend. do you see this as being a moment where you're going to start hearing about a bigger dividend? i know -- are you going to start hearing about a much bigger buyback? because ge was up huge last year, a big industrial. is there more to go in terms of restructuring and returning of capital? >> well, i would say yes, and ge has said that a number of times as well as they've gone through this process of shrinking ge capital, et cetera, that they do want to return more shares -- or return more capital to shareholders. and remember, in the wake of the financial crisis, of course, ge had to cut its dividend, something that i think has weighed heavily on jeff immelt, who would like to return or increase the dividend going ahead. so, certainly that is a part of his plan. nelson peltz would like them to do that as well, but i think right now they're hoping for a positive reaction from the regulators to what they've done at ge capital to get that "d" designation so they can move ahead with more capital returns to shareholders, which is

already significant, again, in light of what they've done with synchrony and the sales and changes they've made within the businesses. >> mary thompson, thank you very much. jim, the transformation of ge -- people have owned it for generations. i don't think they realize how much the company has changed. i used to refer to it as a hedge fund that made light bulbs. now they are neither, really. not incandescent anymore. what is ge? we talked about it yesterday. >> it's a digitized industrial that has the highest organic growth, very levered to aerospace and health care, power management. the last acquisition i think was perfectly timed. they are a company that you bring in in order to manage your power, which is -- manage your water, manage very big things that they are up against companies that have been playing with weaker currencies. that could be over. that's one of the reasons why ge can go much higher. you know, jeff immelt has done a remarkable job. he was really given the hedge

fund hand. it took a long time to unwind, because they were a big owner of bulgarian -- giant mexican real estate company. >> we've got to go to break. >> why? why is that? >> because we've got to pay the bills, man. >> i'm all over that, like a cheap suit, man -- >> we have a fascinating story coming up about former ge ceo jack welch and a company he could have bought for $2 billion, which is now worth hundreds of billions. there's your tease. we'll do that. we've got jim's "mad dash," futures flat. could be a good end of the month and the quarter. and stay tuned for that, a cnbc exclusive interview with prime minister of canada, justin trudeau in a cnbc exclusive. stick around. 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.

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all right, time for "the mad dash." the snazzy animation suggests. we've talked a lot about stocks that have reason to be optimistic. >> yes. >> micron technology does not appear to be one of those stocks. >> now look, someone's going to say, because people are so desperate to be able to find the new stock -- i mean, when i was in the business, i'd say listen, you know what, it's time to recommend micron. and actually, srt says margins are dropping. my problem is d-ram prices, down 18%. the average selling price of most of their stuff, the flash is down, and i don't have it -- this stock used to be a $5 stock, and then it had one of the greatest runs ever. i don't have a case for it because this is pcs. this is just pcs, okay? >> that's it. because d-ram, the memory jim's talking about, we talk about commodities -- >> flashes and other things, but -- >> micron is a commodity. >> right. we could talk about the new ipad, okay? well, that's not micron, all right? i'm just saying, it's not a communications company.

but you know what, i want to contrast that with this, with this monster broadcom that hit an all-time high yesterday. that's communications, high-end proprietary. this is low-end commodity. and that's what this market is dimini distinguishing, between commodity and proprietary. >> the problem is, though, like you said, traders a few years ago made a boat ton of money on micron -- >> right. >> and maybe some are still holding out hope, especially on the technical side, on the charts. >> well, i'm thinking about going vegetarian. chick-fil-a. it's called moo. >> there's nothing else i can add to this. that's "the mad dash." the opening bell is coming up here. we'll see what happens at the end of the quarter. a lot more to do, including an exclusive with the prime minister of canada -- >> trudeau! trudeau. >> not garry trudeau, great cartoonist, justin trudeau, the prime minister of canada. >> some people confuse me with

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all right, welcome back. you are watching or listening to "squawk on the street" live from -- i'm going to try to do it in that voice -- the financial capital of the world, where the opening bell is set to ring in about one minute's time. the futures not giving us a lot of help. dow futures may be slightly higher, nasdaq slightly lower. still no doubt, jim, that a pretty doggone good quarter, a lot of stocks are well up quarter-to-date. >> big industrials have done really well, some of the technology stocks have come back. the retail stocks bottomed. i don't really have a good case for a lot of retailers, but there is a note this morning from barclays, which i firmly disagree with, where they are basically saying that, you want to buy home depot. i love home depot, but come on, guys. >> you also said you want to buy best buy -- >> best -- look, they want to do the whole housing thesis, and i get that because people are spending a lot on housing, but neutral on costco? come on. costco's made a major comeback -- >> they're highlighting the big-ticket trade. all right, so --

>> exactly right. >> let's go now to the opening bell. good causes here today. here at the big board, hunger solutions new york, dedicated to alleviating hunger in the state. and over at the nasdaq, the lower east side girls club, providing holistic programs and services for girls and young women. both doing good work and ringing a variety of opening bells. there we go, green and red lights a flashing. it's like a japanese cartoon from the '80s, all kinds of flashing lights. we'll wait and see where it settles. >> here we go again. >> dow's not giving us a lot of help. i'm going to be negative right at the open, looking at my charts. you know who can't get out of its own way? american express down 13% this quarter. a lot of problems. >> look, i think that when you have opponents like bonga at mastercard, sharp at visa -- >> who's, by the way, going to get the costco business -- >> and by the way, i was hoping that munster would come out once again today to slam paypal. this time -- he's got a sell on paypal -- says google's not

going to buy. hey, be careful, google's not going to buy. the guy slams paypal every day. one day, he's going to get a head slam right upside -- >> the re/code tech blog organization came out with a story last night, two days -- wherever -- that basically apple pay might start to get integrated into websites, the safari browser, which instead of seeing check out through paypal, you could see apple pay, which means you wouldn't have to be just on your phone. >> which is possible. paypal is taking share, it's growing like a weed. people venmo each other. >> what does venmo mean? >> really? >> i go to hotel and restaurants, i don't know the lingo -- >> if i owe you money, i could venmo you money. >> how much are you offering? >> i don't know. look, i can venmo -- yeah, i can venmo you, if i have to. kayla tausche was going to venmo me for the money i put up for

the holiday party. i said, no, i want a check. >> i need to learn venmo. i just learned rfid. let's talk about a stock down right now, because it's always, let's say an interesting stock to talk about because people are so passionate either side. valia valiant. people yesterday were criticizing the coverage, said hey, this is good news. >> what, that they're asking for a debt waiver? >> yes. no, but there was an argument that what they said, they flushed the what out -- >> i like companies that don't need debt waivers. i like companies that don't have a lot of debt, certainly don't need the waiver. so, i don't want to put a positive spin. i mean, you know what, okay, you know what that's like? the sixers. the philadelphia sixers, they've only won nine games. >> nothing positive about the sixers. >> that means they're going to get first-round pick, but there are no first-round picks in stocks. >> no, they're not. they're the sixers. not going to happen. >> and valeant may think they're going to get a first-round pick.

and the lovers of valeant love it almost as much as they love sun edison. >> why do you have to bring up sun edison and ruin everybody's day? >> sun edison, my friend, carlton english -- >> down 89% this quarter. sunedison's a 55-cent stock. doesn't even meet the market cap requirements we're supposed to use. like the oil companies, they used to be $10 billion -- >> but so many people have lost money following hedge fund managers, rather than doing their own work. a lot of people -- >> talk about oil. it's the one thing i feel like i've got a little bit of knowledge base in, which is this -- i like the turnaround i've seen in some of the oil names, but i will advise people, i will not say don't do names, it's not my job, but note that the best performing oil stocks this quarter, some of them are up 150%, 250%, are the ones that have been the worst over 12 months, their balance sheets are rough, they're heavily shorted. >> right, right. >> i don't think it is a real rally for a lot of these companies. your thoughts. >> i totally agree with you

because their average costs are much higher than what oil's selling for, and they either have hedges that are about to come off or people were shorting them when oil went to $26 because they figured they were all going to break down right then. exxon has it together. chevron, occidental, which my trust owns, has it together. but a lot of these other guys, they're just bouncing. look, eog's a great company, nbl's a great company. we talked about sheffield, we talked about pioneer -- >> pioneer. >> but the problem is, is that oil may not be supportable above $40. the article in the paper today about how there's more driving, true. more gasoline use. but when i check in with the big companies that sell gasoline, whether it be like a crt, you know what i mean, the old -- the guys who were spun off from valero, you're just not getting huge gasoline use. but yeah, i wouldn't want to invest in those companies. >> by the way, we've done interviews with big oil ceos and

people say why don't you interview this guy or this company. i'm trying with all of them. marathon oil is up 30% this month but down big over 12 months. i want people to know i've reached out to marathon oil, and if you're listening, sit down with us. i've reached out with them probably five to ten times in the last 12 months, saying you need to come on cnbc because your investors are scared. and they're like, they keep saying stuff like, it's not our time or -- when is that time? >> your coverage has been unbelievable. you have covered the guys d-- i mean, you've had a lot of guys who have come on and been pretty naked about how poorly they're doing, and they did, and you've gone to see them, and it's been remarkable coverage and i salute you. >> thank you. all the team, all the team. >> whether it be in north dakota -- no, no, i'm talking about -- >> tgt down 2% right now. it's $1.67 -- >> barclays guys. >> downgrading. target. >> target. big winner. >> part of the call out earlier where they like home depot and best buy, but downgrading target.

same call. >> i call it trite. brian cornell delivered a remarkable quarter and had the fastest growing of any of the online, including amazon. and the quarter was remarkable. and this guy comes out and he puts a sell on it, and i think you're going to look back and say, wow, that was just a really bad call. it was a bad call. and guys make bad calls. now, they make loud calls. i mean, i think this guy wants -- this is a statement. this is a statement. when you go from buy to sell it typically means you know something and i've got to tell you, he don't know anything, because there's nothing that's happened to target since reporting, other than good things. >> let's dig into the call more because a lot of people earn the stock. >> i had service corporate international in yesterday. let's dig right into the call. >> barclays downgraded target, like jim said, basically two notches. not only that, they cut the price target from $90 to $70. 70 bucks on, let's call it an $82 stock, is 14.5% below where the stock is now. but they do have upside of 90 bucks --

>> barclays put 15% haircut price targets generally on big stocks like target -- >> but if you want to make a splash and get talked about on "squawk on the street" and big deal, you know, that's what they did. now, i think that brian cornell does not need to defend himself because he had a remarkable quarter, the ceo. and i think that target is a gift. they're giving you a gift. this fellow's giving you a gift. mr. under way is giving you a gift here and i think you should take it. i also think that his analysis of just the usual pile-on of home depot -- and i love home depot -- no value added, but this one they're going to send down because when you go from buy to sell, people feel like they know something, but i'm telling you, the guy doesn't know anything, because i just spent a lot of time with cornell after he reported that quarter, and this is not the retailer to sell. it's just not. >> okay, all right. >> it's not. it's doing well. >> let's go now to an interesting story that i referenced a few minutes ago. bob wright who used to run nbc, was on "squawk box" this

morning. >> yeah. >> and he was -- sorry, i asked a question -- i asked a question whether we had the sound bite. we do. it's interesting. listen to what he had to say about former ceo jack welch and a company that he could have picked up for a couple billion dollars. >> apple, spindler came to us. we had these quarterly meetings with the senior executives, and he wanted an opportunity to get his pitch. and a lot of people would do that. he came and gave a pitch in 1996, and he kind of broke down during the presentation. he was telling us that the stock is killing him, that investors are on his back and he can't get this thing rolling. the consensus in the room was we can't do anything with this. this is way outside of our game. we were not a silicon valley company or an orientation at that point, and there was no supporters at all. but we all felt terrible that we couldn't jump in here.

>> ge could have bought apple. now, you can't assume -- let's say they did it -- that apple would have become the company it is today. so, you can't just say they left a couple hundred billion on the table. >> you have to remember that was the heyday of intel and microsoft, when you go back to look at those evaluations. andy grove, a great man, passed away. >> passed away. probably the best business book ever, by the way. >> fantastic. >> if you're going to read one business book, that's probably it. >> and he also says that a quarter is -- he said a quarter is a good judge of the ceo. so, ceos who say listen, think long-term, didn't read andy grove. but i think we have to go back in time and remember, this was king. pc was king and there was no reason to think apple could topple it. bill gates was, you know, hailed as a genius, not a dancer. and i think that you have to remember that's what apple looked like. that was the cell phone, before cell phone. >> larry ellison of oracle could have bought it for $10 million in the '80s. i believe that's the actual number. i'll look that up. anyway, let's go to bob pisani

with more on what is moving for you this morning, the final day of the quarter. bob. >> it is, and that's what we're going to be talking about. but look at sectors here. this is sort of an indeterminant open. there is not a lot of leadership. telecoms leading early on, materials. tech lagging. but this is either side of positive or negative. not a lot of market leadership at moment here. an extraordinary quarter, extraordinary that we're ending the quarter, at least now, on the up side. look at the major indices, s&p's up 1%, s&p mid cap's up 3.2% and the russell down 2.2% there. so, remember, we were down about 10% in the middle of february at the bottom of this thing, and so, it's rather remarkable we're in positive territory. in terms of sectors, very defensive tone if you really look at it, because telecom and utilities and even consumer staples are the market leadership. on the lagging side, financials, which never got a lot going due to concerns about interest rates, and health care i think is the biggest story of the quarter. and i'm particularly referencing the collapse in biotech. and i don't think collapse is

too big a term. if you look at the ivb, this is the etf for biotech, it's the market cap-weighted etf for biotech, you see this is for the year-to-date, down 23%, 24%? that never recovered. it bottomed around february 11th when the market bottomed, but you see no recovery, no v-shape of anything. and that's got a lot of people talking about it. some of the big names, big seven or eight that are in the s&p 500. many of them like virtex pharma down 37%, regeneron, all of the big names. put that up, you can see they're down really big right now for the year-to-date. these are huge drops, so a lot of people wondering what's happening with biotech. there are several things that have been going on throughout the quarter. i think the most important thing is that we've seen funds reducing their exposure. some of them have used it as a source of funds where they've had redemptions. we've heard about that. momentum investors have generally been leading throughout the quarter. and i think the most important thing is we have seen overall slowing sales and earnings growth. i asked btig to put together an

indication of what was going on with sales growth for some of the big seven or eight biotech firms, and you can see here they are declining. so, 2014, there was 41% sales growth. now we're down to 20%, 2015, 5%. these are for the big seven or eight biotech firms together. and same with the earnings situation. earnings are slowing down a little bit. to a certain extent, you're hitting a natural wall in how you can sell into the markets, how big the markets are in selling firms. regeneron's a good example of a company that had enormous sales growth. look at this, $446 million in 2011 and now you're dealing with $4 billion. that's enormous, but it slows down. the numbers slow down eventually, because you get so big, you hit the law of large numbers. and of course, that's fueled the stock price. remember, regeneron was $30 or $40 ages and ages ago, and it was $40, $50 in 2011? and it went all the way to $500 or so in the beginning of january. since then, you see it's come down. but there's been a straight-up

rocket all the way into the end of 2015 overall. so, we'll talk a little bit more about whether or not you want to buy biotech or whether you should move into smaller cap biotech a little later on in the day. i finally wanted to note for the quarter, the big winner, of course, is a lot of the names that are anywhere in the materials group. but spider gold trust, look, up 16% year-to-date. i understand this is the biggest quarterly rise in 15 years for gold. i'm trying to confirm that. certainly a tremendous quarter for these people who gave up gld, certainly in a big way. >> we'll get back to rick in a second, but almost every gold ceo we talked to in miami said they're pricing in $1,000 an ounce for gold in their budgets. so, if gold stays up at this level, it could be very good news for the gold miners. >> well, gold miners are up north of 30%. look at gdx -- >> really well. >> this is one of those rare quarters where the miners have outperformed gold. hasn't happened in a while. >> no, it has not.

bob, thank you. rick santelli is at the cme in chicago. >> thanks. there are a couple of dates i want to concentrate on. the 22nd of march and month-to-date as we complete the last trading day. look at a two-year from the 22nd. notice how free fallish it looks, obviously, after janet yellen talked earlier in the week. open it up to the 30-year, keep the same date. yes, rates are moving down, but the 30-years are much more stubborn just like 10s or 2s and 3s are moving down in yield, up in price much quicker. let's take a bigger view. if you look at the first of march, so month-to-date, you can see the two-year followed by the 30-year. it really jumps out at you, and this is directly associated with janet yellen's dovish talk and the notion that even though gdp based on atlanta gdp for the first quarter we're finishing up is paltry, you can see where the stocks are and connect the dots on your own. if you really want to see 30s minus 5 showcases the steepening

started on the 22nd of march. now, the lasting impact, of course, to any type of policy always seems to fall to the foreign exchange side of the exchange rate differential. no change here. look at the dollar index from the 22nd, look at it from the 1st, and contemplate the notion that the euro versus the dollar is toying with $1.14, just like i'm toying with the march release of the chicago purchasing survey. 42.8 is the number, and that is definitely not a very good read. i take that back. i take that back. that is not correct. 42.8 is a different number. we're at 53.6. whoo! much better. 53.6 follows 47.6. sequentially strong, better than expectations, but it couldn't surpass the 55.6 we started off 2016 with. but we will be back in about a half hour going through all of the sub indices. brian sullivan, back to you!

>> rick santelli, thank you very much. all right, coming up, canadian prime minister justin trudeau in a live and exclusive interview right here on "squawk on the street." stick around. ♪ today, we're seeing new technologies make healthcare more personal with patient-centric, digital innovations; from self-monitoring devices that can interpret personal data and enable targeted care, to cloud platforms that invite providers to collaborate with the patients they serve. that's why over 90% of the top 25 global pharmaceutical companies are turning to cognizant.

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welcome back. let's talk trading on fitbit. >> yeah, i have been wrong on fitbit. i thought it should have been valued higher. here's a piece that says the valuation is borderline unconscionable. that's a term to use for the stock at $13.30 and going higher. they're really talking about corporate wellness, which is what i got caught up in, thinking this is the way, like under armour's wellness. this is really the big call for it, but you know what, they say there's short spin all over it. i point it out because i think it is rigorous work done by the analysts. but i've been wrong. >> a million of the blaze device -- >> billion would be a lot. >> a million of the blaze devices that ship. what is on "mad money" tonight? >> we have radius and seres

therapeutics, a biotech show tonight. >> now susan lee with the canadian prime minister. >> reporter: hi, brian. yeah, thank you so much. let's get to it, the great honorable prime minister justin trudeau joining us today. good to see you, prime minister. >> excellent to be here. >> reporter: let's talk security and brussels reigniting debates over immigration. canada has taken in 25,000 syrian refugees since december. what do you say to those that say that allowing immigrants from the middle east or north africa makes your country less safe? >> i think, obviously, any time you're accepting a visitor, a tourist, a resident, a refugee into your country, there are security risks. and what we've done is understood that you separate security risks from your immigration policy. you recognize that you need to do everything to keep canadians safe and you make sure you're doing everything you need to on security, but you're not denying

the fact that we are countries that have been made great by immigration over the decades and over the centuries, and drawing people in is part of what is great for our economy and our society. >> reporter: that includes working with your biggest neighbor as well, and recently, you're in d.c. on your official visit and engaging in information-sharing on no-fly lists and other sorts of lists with the u.s. going forward. do you feel confident that you can keep canada safe from terrorist attacks? >> i think part of making sure that we have a good relationship with the united states and, indeed, the world, is ensuring both the security of our borders and the safety of canadians, but also a constructive, positive engagement with the world, and the agreements we've signed around border security, which will both keep people safer and allow for this easier flow of goods and people over the border is good for trade and it's good fob for our countries. >> reporter: but have the events in brussels maybe changed your view on how to maybe protect canada? >> i think we need to make sure

we're constantly vigilant, that we're empowering our communities, and indeed, our police services and intelligence services to do the work necessary to keep citizens safe. but the fact is that fear doesn't make us safer, fear makes us weaker. and making sure that we're both confident and reassuring in how we deal with our citizens and build security into something that is effective without limiting the rights and freedoms that are core to our open societies. >> reporter: so, how do you feel about the rhetoric coming out of the republican race right now that has trump saying he wants to ban all muslims, cruz saying he wants to patrols muslim neighborhoods? >> i think, you know, what makes an open and free society is the defense of the principles and values that lead us to be an open and free society, and i

think that in times of elections there is often polarization around discourse, but i have tremendous faith in the american people and in the american political process. >> reporter: and you've said before that you will work with whomever wins the white house. but this seems to go against all of your ideology. so, how do you find common ground? >> the common ground between our two countries go far beyond any individual relationships or even leaders. we have an extraordinary integrated economy, you know, goods and services and individuals flow back and forth across the border for work, for family reasons all the time. we know we have a great relationship that is, indeed, a model for the world, and we need to continue to work on that, and that will be a priority for whoever occupies the white house, like it is for any canadian prime minister. >> reporter: well, the u.s. and canada are each other's largest trading partner, and that also goes under nafta, the north

american free trade act. how do you feel about the leading contenders on both the republican side and the democratic side, they talk about renegotiation or even canceling nafta? >> there's always little spikes of protectionism around election times, around various rhetoric. i think we have to understand that trade is ultimately good, not just for our countries but for our businesses and for our workers. we know that engaging with the world in a constructive, positive way leads to good jobs and good growth. we just have to make sure that we're constantly, you know, looking for the best -- looking out for the best interests of our people and our economies. >> reporter: but prime minister, surely, you must be preparing yourself to try to -- or having to engage in renegotiations -- >> i don't think that's a real issue. >> reporter: that's not a real issue? >> i mean, i think it's a concern, but i'm not worried that we're going to suddenly reopen nafta or other trade deals. the challenge is, once you reopen it a little bit, they all

tend to unravel, and it's too important for both of our economies to continue to have a strong trading relationship. >> reporter: what about the tpp, the trans-pacific partnership. that was a pivot to the obama administration. there are a lot of contenders against it at this point. how do you feel about tpp going forward? >> trade is good. trade is important, as i said. it leads to growth, it leads to jobs. the challenge is always that whenever there is a new deal, there are going to be people who have concerns, there are people who are solidly behind it. we've committed to engage with canadians, with various sectors and industries to make sure that we're maximizing the benefits for the long term and drawing the right kind of support from -- >> reporter: but when it's going to be a reality is a whole different story at this point. >> you know what, you have to have faith in the fact that we're moving forward in a responsible way to engage with the world in the constructive, productive ways that canadians always have. and i've committed to making a

case for trade in general to canadians, and we're going through the important steps of consulting and getting people on board as we move forward. >> reporter: yeah. speaking of engagement, let's talk about the rest of the world, and china in particular, because there's a slowdown taking place in china. this morning, s&p downgraded their outlook on china long term. you know, chinese money has flowed into canadian borders. every third home in vancouver has been bought out by chinese money. you know, what happens if the money dries up? what happens to the canadian economy? >> we are, as is every country now, connected to the global economy. and how we maximize our engagement by, for example, moving forward with the canada/europe trade deal that we've just signed, how we move forward with greater engagements around the global economy is going to be really important. so, yes, as various areas face

challenges, others create opportunities, and we need to be resilient and diversified in how we engage. and canada, quite frankly, with its diversity, with its geographical strength, with its human resource and nafl natural resources, we're well positioned to grow in the coming years. >> reporter: but prime minister, the canadian economy, of course, has been struggling, last year going through a recession. and this year, some say there's a 35% chance of a double dip. how concerned are you, especially with oil prices down 70%? >> obviously -- well, oil prices are a big factor in i think how the canadian economy has responded, and that's why we've put so much of an emphasis in our recent budget in investment, in growing our economy by creating good, long-term, stable infrastructure, whether it's public transit or green investments, whether we're looking at supporting the middle class through equity or creating growth that's going to work for everyone. that diversity that we have as core to canada needs to be more than just a natural resources but all the different

perspectives and views that we have, and i'm very excited about how canada is positioning itself in the coming years. >> reporter: but i think your government also recognizes that canada needs a helping hand. your recent budget, the first one under your administration, you are forecasting, you are spending more than basically any other administration since the global financial crisis. is that frugal in these times? >> i think it's responsible. one of the big challenges we're facing right now around the world is lower growth rates than we need. and we're positioning ourselves on the investment side of the investment versus austerity debate. we believe that confident, optimistic countries should be investing in their future, and that's exactly what we're doing. we have an extremely good fiscal positioning, the lowest debt-to-gdp ratio of any country in the g-7. we have low interest rates, as everyone does. so, this is a time to be investing in the kinds of solutions and the kinds of growth that we're going to need in the coming years. >> reporter: yeah, and people

are talking about the canadian currency, which is a much-traded currency globally, and it hit a 13-year low this year. you have come up with comments recently talking about the comfortable level of the looney, the canadian dollar. does that mean you prefer a weaker currency for canada? >> it's important that monetary 3 policy be detached from politicians, and that's well enconspired in canada. but there's no question, when the dollar's lower, certain industries do better, when it's higher, others do better. what matters in a modern economy is that we have the resilience to be able to adapt to whatever level the dollar is at. >> reporter: yeah, but to also come out as prime minister and your finance minister to talk down the dollar, that's traditionally not done in canada. >> i don't think i'm talking down the dollar. i'm recognizing the reality and where we need to be responding to challenges and opportunities that come with fluctuating monetary markets. >> reporter: okay. and i also want to talk to you about what's happening, you know, for instance, elsewhere in

the world. and just how do you broaden relationships in the u.s. going forward? just to take it back to politics, because everybody's talking about this, the u.s. chamber events as el. how do you feel when you hear some of the comments, the quotes coming from, say the front-runner for the republican nominati nomination, donald trump? >> i think one of the things that we're seeing, and we've seen it around the world, is a level of frustration by citizens at politicians in the political process, and i think we're seeing various articulations of that on the left and on the right here in the united states. but i also have tremendous confidence in the american people and in their capacity to move forward in a positive way. and i look forward to working with whomever they choose to elect in november. >> reporter: whomever. just final question for you. and this those do with sports, and some would say the national past time in canada, hockey. this is the first time since

1970 that no canadian nhl team has made the playoffs. what are you going to do about that? >> obviously, a difficult challenge, but as we've seen, there are good years and bad years, and you know, my beloved montreal canadiens are going through a bit of a tough year, but i know we're going to bounce back. >> reporter: all right. prime minister, thank you so much for sharing your time and enjoy your trip to washington, d.c. >> appreciate it. >> reporter: very honorable canadian prime minister justin trudeau. back to you, simon. >> okay, thank you very much. susan lee there with the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau. welcome to "squawk on the street" live from post 9 with sara eisen and mike san totolsa. free trade. >> i thought the comments were noteworthy, what he said. elections tend to increase the polarization, he said, around discourse on trade and protectionism, really playing down this idea that they might have to reopen nafta, the north

american free trade agreement, which involves the u.s. and canada, something that candidates like donald trump have threatened to do. he said, "i don't think that's a real issue," reopening nafta and other trade deals. once you reopen it, according to prime minister trudeau, they tend to unravel. >> spoken like a man who's recently won an election and can have some perspective about these things and is trying to govern. yes, he absolutely had nothing but support for the idea of free and open trade and feeling as if it was almost just a default position once we get through the political season. also did say, of course, it's really time to invest as governments. interest rates are low everywhere, and so, therefore, this is the time to try and stoke longer-term growth -- >> he was defending his budget there -- >> without a doubt. >> his spending budget. also, by the way, on the canadian dollar, which susan asked about, being at a 13-year low, said he's not trying to talk it up or down. and it's important that monetary policy be separate from politics, which is also sort of resonates with the u.s. election here right now, with senator ted cruz, for instance, talking

about the destruction of the dollar and other politicians talking about it as well. something to keep in mind. okay, let's get to it. up five points now on the dow. you've actually had made more money this year investing in treasuries than the stock market. treasuries having their best quarter in about four years, lifting the tlt, the ishares' 20-year bond etf up almost 8% for the quarter that we're about to finish. compare that with the s&p 500, which of course, has rallied 14% from last month's lows but is now barely positive for the year. jeff rossenberg is the chief investment strategist for fixed income at blackrock. welcome to the program. >> thanks, simon. great to be here. >> that's one hell of a performance you're sitting on there. >> and that's a reflection of dampening expectations for fed policy, normalization and expectations for rising interest rates, and also a reminder of what bonds should be in an investor's portfolio. a lot of that return came from the negative sentiment that we

had in the markets, all the conversations we've had around china and oil and the high-yield market. that resulted in a big risk-off and bonds benefit in that kind of environment and that's what you're seeing in the returns you highlighted. >> it's there is a simplistic sense of trade that is working, jeff, and therefore, it is attracting a lot of hedge fund managers, arguably hot money that will move quite rapidly, it's always claimed, if they see the tide is turning. does that make this market vulnerable, or do you think there will be further gains? >> well, i think you have to be careful about taking too short of a perspective there, in that thinking about bonds as a trade, as you just described, for certainly some people in the market, that's how it's going to play out. but i think for most people watching the program, we want to think about bonds in a portfolio context. and this isn't about getting in and out of bonds or trying to pick the bottoms or the top. it's about structuring a portfolio and what, again, what we saw here at the beginning of the year is we saw bonds value. this is a very low interest rate

environment. the value of bonds is not really the yield or the income when we're talking about safe treasury bonds, the value is balancist, that you have an offset to the risky stuff in your portfolio that you're allocating for income, for capital appreciation, but when things go wrong, bonds here have demonstrated that they can be that ballist in a portfolio. >> how about within the bond market and trying to allocate within fixed income? what we have seen is high-grade corporate bonds, of course, and government bonds, rally very strongly. people have fwlok edflocked to whereas high-yield bonds have certainly improved over the last couple months but have still lagged the rest of the fixed income market. is there value in high yield or is that a warning sign that risk aversion remains? >> a little bit of both. the market certainly got ahead of itself with regards of the immediacy of the risks we talked about in january and february, the oil prices, collapsing commodities, and high yield is a reflection of that. what we have now is a much

riskier environment. so, when we go into those asset classes, we have to be a little bit more cautious that the best cycle, the best backdrop for defaults is really behind us. we're going into a higher default rate environment. that means we need a bit more caution when we take on higher-risk investments and fixed income, like high yield. that being said, certainly, we did see a tremendous rally and recovery here in global credit markets, part of that because we've had stabilization in oil, part of it from the expansion of the corporate bond purchase program by the ecb. >> okay. >> so, a lot of things changed, jeff, over sort of the last month or so when it comes to stocks, bonds, equities, but for me, the real driver -- and maybe i'm bias because i pay close attention to currencies -- is the dollar stopped strengthening from multiyear highs against emerging markets currencies and against big trading partners like the euro. how much was that a reason for the rebound in oil and stock, and will it continue? >> you know, it's a big factor, sara, as you point out. and it's one of the critical

factors. the fed is trying to normalize interest rates in a world where the rest of the world is still highly accommodative. and the impact of that was this dramatic strengthening of the dollar. that tightens financial market conditions. you know, people don't understand this, but when you denominate your debt in dollars and your cash flows are not, when the value of the dollar goes up, your indebtedness goes up, and that was the pressure on the market. so, certainly the fed pulling back here, the speech by janet yellen is very helpful, you see the weakening in the dollar helps to stabilize the relationship there between commodity prices. so, there's a bit of a window here of opportunity with the fed pulling back and a little bit of dollar weakness lending some risk-on. we wouldn't get too ahead of ourselves on that view because a lot of the underlying imbalances, the excess capacity in the commodities sector, the vulnerability there that we see, the potential of bringing back the story around oil prices is something we have to be cognizant of. >> it's leading to very bizarre situations, of course, where for example, jeff, as you know far

better than i, corporates with now head to europe and raise cash almost at 0%. some corporates are now effectively lending negative interest rates, which seems extraordinary. where is the value here? we were talking yesterday about a lot of money last month that's gone in to emerging markets' stock markets, partly because of the move on the dollar, partly because of janet yellen's guarantees. what happens further down the line there? do they become much more attractive? >> well, certainly, they have become much more attractive because the valuations have changed dramatically. and both the valuations in terms of what we're seeing domestically, locally, but als what we're seeing in terms of the fx. so, to sara's earlier question about the dollar perspective, the price of admission for u.s.-based investors or dollar-based investors to get into emerging markets is generally the currency. so, you can't get really bullish on fixed income in emerging markets when we're talking about local currency emerging markets until you have more stability on

the dollar. the fed here near term pulling back on normalization, that's giving us a little bit of a window of opportunity. but again, we don't want to get too over our skis on that opportunity set, given that we still see some vulnerabilities with regards to commodities and the commodities closures down the line. >> never wise to get over your skis, for sure, jeff. thank you for your time. jeff rosenberg joining us from blackrock. >> thank you. when we come back, the backlash against north carolina's discrimination law continues. now more than 100 ceos and business executives signing a letter calling the law anti-lgbt. one of those ceos is former yahoo! coo and current coo of chegg. he joins us to talk about it when "squawk on the street" comes right back.

executives from more than 100 companies are demanding that north carolina repeal a state law that they say sanctions lgbt discrimination. they say the law is not only bad for workers, but it's bad for business. scott cohn is our relative authority on the state of competitiveness around the united states and he joins us now live from silicon valley. scott, for people watching live in europe and asia, we should point out that north carolina is a major business area. this is where bank of america, of all people, is actually headquartered. >> absolutely, and it's always been a factor in our america's top states for business rankings, simon. this will be our tenth year measuring the competitiveness of all 50 states in those rankings.

there's been a trend lately. we've talked about it. it used to be all about cost. now it's really all about workforce and where companies can go to attract those talented, skilled workers to fill all those positions that they now have open as the economy recovers, and that's the main point of a letter which has now been signed by more than 100 ceos to the republican governor of the state, pat mccrory. we believe that "hb-2" will make it far more challenging for businesses across the state to recruit and retain the nation's best and brightest workers and attract the most talented students from across the nation." now, this law would override, or does now override local antidiscrimination ordinances like the one in charlotte, and it is also in a first now restricting the access by transgender people to public facilities like bathrooms. but governor pat mccrory in a video message released the other day says the law is not discriminatory. >> and to the people and businesses of north carolina, we are a state of inclusiveness,

openness and diversity, and i'm very, very proud of that. >> now, we began considering inclusiveness in our top states for business study last year after a number of companies, dozens of companies, really, spoke out against proposed religious freedom laws, so-called religious freedom laws, in states like indiana and arkansas. it will be part of our 60-plus metrics this year, so only about 2% of the possible points, but it can make a difference. case in point, is north carolina, the lack of statewide protections there, is one reason why north carolina placed last year compared to fifth place the year before. it placed as high as third place back in 2011. but it's not just our numbers. new jersey-based pharmaceutical company bray burn pharmaceutical saying it is re-evaluating plans for a $25 billion expansion in north carolina. and in the state of connecticut, which has statewide antidiscrimination protections, the governor there is using those protections as a tool to

try and woo businesses from north carolina up to connecticut. you'll be hearing a lot more of this in the months ahead. mississippi's senate just passed a religious freedom bill that the governor supports and companies are already expressing concern about that. our tenth annual america's top states for business rankings are due out this summer. sara? >> thank you very much, scott cohn in mountain view, california. let's talk more about this corporate activism. despite the 100-plus businesses calling for repeal, yesterday on this show, during this very hour, north carolina's lieutenant governor also came out and downplayed any potential business impact. have a listen. >> these business leaders that are out crying right now have not even read the bill, and i've talked to many of them who admit they haven't read the bill. the business community in north carolina has loved north carolina for years. it's one of the fastest growing states in america. charlotte's one of the best business communities in america. there is no cost here. listen, this is a big fantasy. it happened in houston when houston had the same ordinances, all these same cast of characters were coming out

saying they were going to pull out of houston, they weren't going to do business -- look, houston's still in business. >> joining us now exclusively at post nine, one of those aforementioned business leaders calling for the repeal, former yahoo! coo and now ceo of chegg. the governor has a point in that for now, these are just signatures that are ceos campaigning against it. nobody's actually threatening -- no one major is threatening to boycott or pull out of the state. >> well, i think what ceos are trying to do is represent their communities and their audiences and their customers. and the fact of the matter is, when a state is legislating discrimination against any group, that shouldn't be okay. and north carolina in particular for tech companies has been historically a big triangle for technology companies. and so, normally, you associate that with more progressive thinking, less discrimination, more employee-based benefits and

those kinds of things. so, the thought that a state would legislate against a particular group and then go one step further and say that the local community can't do what it thinks is right, that they have to listen to the state legislature i think really galvanized ceos, not just in technology but in every group, and it's just not okay. >> so, you were saying in the break, you don't actually have an operation in north carolina. >> right. chegg does not have an operation, but we have thousands and thousands and thousands of students at all those universities. and believe it or not, we do hear from those students. students do see chegg as their voice. they see us as helping them, you know, improve their education and save money and do those things, but they also like us to be a voice for issues that are important to them, and this is an issue that we've heard from from a lots of college campuses in north carolina that are saying, you know, thank you, chegg, for signing this letter, because it doesn't represent who we are. and so, to the degree that we can be a voice of those students ling their government know it's not okay. >> now, aside from signing the

letter and speaking out like this, is there anybody within the sort of state government of north carolina that you can reach out to, that you've actually gotten any reception from? we heard from the lieutenant governor and the administration, but are there other places you can go to see if you can actually change anything? >> at the moment, mark benninghoff has been the leader in all of these things, so i congratulate mark and that group of people that have done it. so, i have not had the opportunity to participate in calling anybody in the government because we don't have a business operation there. we will be sending notification to the governor to let them know how the students in that city feel, but mostly, it's around business leaders to business leaders, because working with governments that are so adamant -- as you saw the lieutenant governor basically said, hey, business leaders, butt out of our business. that's not the kind of reception that you would hope -- >> but it's very dangerous. i mean, transgender is the most difficult of all the issues to deal with because of what we saw the lieutenant governor say, what they can accuse, perhaps incorrectly, about what's going

on there. the question is, if businesses all come forward on a bandwagon and says change, and they go, actually, we're not going to, that's a dangerous precedent, isn't it? what i don't understand is why there's not a greater discussion at the state level. i appreciate that the emotions are very high, but this is bank of america's headquarters. they were very late to actually tweeting out on tuesday night that they would do something about it. there are such resources within the business community. i read bank of america funds both sides of the legislature. you would hope to get in there and change it before the becomes such an issue. >> yeah, look, this is a complicated issue for people. it shouldn't be, but it is a complicated issue for people. and you know, businesses always fear -- one group of customers by supporting another group. normally, they are apprehensive about jumping into these debates for those kinds of reasons. the tech company has determined that since most of our employees and a lot of our constituencies feel this way, we are an advocate on their belief.

so, you would hope that bank of america would do exactly what you just said, and they may end up doing it. i think this is only at the beginning of this discussion, and businesses are only beginning to see if they can flex their power. and so, i think this is going to become a more normal dialogue against discrimination of any kind in any state. it worked very effectively in georgia, for example. and so, you know, at some point, someone's going to call the bluff, and when they call the bluff, we'll see what businesses actually end up doing. >> but on that point, it can backfire. you sort of have to choose your battles. i remember when howard schultz, ceo of starbucks last year wanted to start a conversation about race relations in this country after ferguson and wanted the race together on the coffee. it backfired. how as a ceo do you make that calculation about whether it's going to be good for business or whether you feel you have a moral obligation to weigh in? >> well, i think the good ceos look at the core values of their companies and they say, who do you represent and what do you represent? and you go fight for those things. and so, howard schultz actually succeeded in starting a dialogue

about it. the way he did it may have backfired for the shortterm, but starbucks is doing extraordinarily well. by the way, he did the same thing with guns. so, i have to commend howard schultz for having the courage to go out and do that, and these tech leaders and the local leaders in north carolina. look, you have to be willing to get into the debate and the judgment. you have to be willing to take a short-term hit for your core values. and over time, you generally get rewa rewarded. that's what you have to believe as a ceo and that's what chegg believes. over 50% of all college students use us. their view is antidiscrimination and they are vocal about it. you hear about it whether it's about agengender or race or iss of sexuality. this is an important issue of the millennials coming up and we feel an obligation to represent their voice. >> have you read the bill? >> i have read the parts of the bill that have been summarized. i have not read every piece of the bill because i haven't had the opportunity to. but what i do know is people legislating to say to somebody, you can't do something -- look, america's about giving people

more rights, not taking rights away, and that's the part that's most offensive. >> always good to see you, dan. >> thanks for having me. >> dan rosensweig, ceo of chegg. coming up, apple's smaller, cheaper phone. the iphone se hits stores today. will it be a hit? we're live at an apple store after this. we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, 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 thinking about retiring? do you have the coverage you need? now's the time to get on a path that could be right for you...

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the new ipad pro and iphone se hit stores today. what is demand going to be like for the new products? josh lipton is live at an apple store in palo alto. so, still fairly early in the morning, josh. >> reporter: well, as you can see behind me here, not the typical mad rush of people looking to buy this new se, but that's to be expected, because this is a different kind of product launch for apple, where the company's really targeting this specific subset of customers, those who just appreciate the smaller screen size. when you look at the se, at first glance, it looks a lot like the older model 5s, same 4-inch screen, but the components of the se, the brains of the phone have been updated. so, the se actually has the same processor as that iphone 6s, the

a-9, meaning it's super fast. reviewers also say the battery life of the se is very, very good. and in addition to the features, what might attract a lot of customers is that price point, at just $399. it's certainly cheaper than a lot of people had expected. now, that said, the team at rbc estimates that the se is going to drive about $7 billion in sales this year. that would be about 3% of the company's total sales. so, a modest financial impact. but the se does have certain strategic importance for apple. for one, we know the company did sell 30 million 4-inch iphones last year, so this se now gives those people a reason to upgrade. also, at 399 bucks, it could appeal to a price-conscious consumer, especially in the emerging markets where a new, smaller, cheaper phone could win over some fans. in addition to that new phone, we also do get that new, smaller version of that ipad pro today, starts at $599. we know the ipad's been a

disappointment, at least for wall street, so the question for investors is do you think this new ipad could change that product's trajectory? this store behind me in palo alto's going to open up in about three hours. we will be talking to customers and bring you updates throughout the day. back to you guys. >> josh, thank you very much. we'll look forward to those updates. still ahead, stocks seeing quite the turnaround in the first quarter. the dow and the s&p 500 actually positive for the year. so, will the rally continue into q-2? the one and only art cashin joins us to weigh in when we come right back. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty.

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm bertha coombs at the nymex. we're awaiting the eia inventory number for natural gas storage. the expectation is for a withdrawal of about 20 to 24, and the actual number is down 25 billion cubic feet, so it's a little bit better than expected. natural gas already coming into today's number was trading at a seven-week high, above $2. and we are seeing natural gas, if you take a one-month chart, having one of its best months in an awful long time, up about 18% for the month of march, a very nice recovery. for the quarter, though, it is still down. now let's head over to sue herera over at the news desk.

>> thank you very much, bertha. here's what's happening this hour. vice president joe biden meeting with the turkish president on the sidelines of the nuclear summit in washington. he may also meet with president obama, although no formal meetings are scheduled. at least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured when a portion of an overpass under construction collapsed in a congested area in eastern india. an official says the private builder had missed several deadlines for completing that overpass. brussels airport will remain closed to regularly scheduled passengers' flights at least though tomorrow evening. flights will initially operate at no more than 20% of regular capacity. officials say refurbishing the damaged departure hall could take months. some airports' service workers are on strike at reagan national airport in washington. they're protesting unlawful termination and threats of retaliation and intimidation by their employees. that's what they're alleging, at least. other major airports are expecting strikes and protests as well.

you are up to date. that's the news update this hour. simon, i'll send it down to you. >> thank you very much, sue. meanwhile, relatively flat on the markets today, and of course, for the quarter as we now close out the first three months of the year, slightly positive overall for the s&p, but the bigger story, perhaps that huge rally, up 14% that we had from the lows last month. art cashin is director of floor operations at ubs. art, does that sort of tectonics -- good morning, by the way. >> good morning. >> does that tectonics shift that you have mean there is a rebalancing to be had later in the day, massive volumes from some of the bigger players? >> you'll see very large volume. it's the end of the quarter. there will be some indices that have rebalancing. i believe there are three. none of them is very huge. so, the bulk of what you see will be portfolio adjustments from pension funds and others for end of quarter. >> if you look at what's driven the rally here, art -- telecom best performer, up 15% so far

this year, utilities and consumer staples, all defensive, not super fast-growing sectors. does that tell you anything about where we go from here and the sort of air of caution that has fueled this rally? >> yeah. we got a big boost out of yellen, for example, so up until then there was some uncertainty. the nonvoting regional presidents threw a monkey wrench into the market, and that had things a little screwy. but i think you're going to see the market pretty much stay defensive here. we're going into earnings season next week. that means that the corporate buybacks have to stand down. many people believe that they have been up to 70% of the support in the market. and so, that will be a little bit of a headwind for the markets to face. >> on the other hand, art, april, people don't talk about it quite as much, but one of the stronger months of the year, whether that seasonal stuff matters anymore. and also, i just wonder about,

you mentioned yellen. if the market is treating what she had to say as a little bit of a green light in the sense of, look, a strong jobs number on friday doesn't really seem to change the picture, so can good news be good news for a little while? >> yeah, i think it probably can be good news for a while. she laid out a very long criteria of things that people should watch out for, including a lot of things offshore. and so, you can't, i don't think, take any one indicator or piece of data here and turn it into a market mover. >> what is better underwritten now? sara described the areas of the market, the stock market that have done well, the bond-like areas of the market. we were highlighting how bonds, treasuries have out-performed massively in the first quarter, the stock market. if yellen is saying interest rates will stay lower, if the ecb doubles down with greater qe tomorrow, which is the start of their heightened activity, and lord knows what the bank of japan will do, what's better supported? what does well, bonds and

bond-like stocks or the stock market in general? >> i think it's the former. i think -- >> the bond-like stocks. >> i think we will continue to see those doing well. now, it's going to be key as we move closer to june and see as the ecb really starts to roll that ltro routine out -- >> this is the cheap money to fund the banks -- >> yeah, there are some hints that the banks aren't quite as enthusiastic as it looked. we won't know that for a couple of months. so, and we may get a surprise next week. you've got the wisconsin primary. there are a lot of people wondering, could that be a shift of gears for mr. trump and where things will go? so, next week earnings and a lot of interest in that. >> art-of-been critical on a lot of the central bank moves, some of the easing, but are you bullish on stocks as a result of them right now? >> well, i'm -- since yellen spoke up, and one of your favorite topics, the dollar has

eased back, that had been a threat. it was working on the multinationals and others. so, that gives me a sense of ease about the market, so i'm a little happier with that. >> worse quarter in five years for the u.s. dollar. this was a real inflection point. >> it could be very dramatic. >> and coming out of the g-20 meeting, which is one that really took hold. people said they didn't come up with anything. >> conspiracy theories -- >> it's either a conspiracy theory or just a coincidence, but the uptake after the meeting was, they didn't get anything done. >> right. but as sara says, there's enough conspiracy theorists around, they say the fix was put in, that there was almost a plaza accord. i don't tend to believe that because action looked independent to me. >> well, that's a foolish thing to suggest because the euro's rocketing higher, and i can't imagine that the ec bank overjoyed about that, given the lengths they're going to on their own to try and weaken it. that's in the in the interests of the ecb, and arguably, its situation is far, far worse than you've got here. >> i wholeheartedly agree with

you, that's why i said i doubted the conspiracy theory -- >> although maybe they were more worried about their banks than having a strong currency. >> maybe, maybe. we'll see. >> good to see you, art. art cashin from ubs. still ahead, cisco's john chambers is investing in a drone start-up. he'll be joining us live with the ceo for that company, airware, to explain by. we'll be right back. sup jj, working hard? working 24/7 on mobile trader, rated #1 trading app on the app store. it lets you trade stocks, options, futures... even advanced orders. and it offers more charts than a lot of other competitors do on desktop. you work so late. i guess you don't see your family very much? i see them all the time. did you finish your derivatives pricing model, honey? td ameritrade.

as california debates raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, on "trading nation," we take a deep dive into what companies and sectors may be impacted the most. go to tradingnation.com. more "squawk on the street" coming up.

we were born 100 years ago into a new american century. born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. and what an amazing time it's been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. so, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. ♪ welcome back to "squawk on the street." stocks largely unchanged right now. industrials and materials competing for the worst-performing s&p 500 sector, as you can see there. among the names, leading materials to the down side today.

steelmakers like n nk cor, monsanto, fmc corps, cf industries all down a percent or so in the early trade. the sector was one of last year's underperformers but is holding up so far in 2016 year to date, up 3% on that market. so simon, materials a focus for investors in early trading. >> counting down to the end of the quarter, don. thank you. let's send it out to rick santelli in chicago. good morning, rick. >> good morning, simon. of course, the chicago purchasing managers survey, let's open up the board. good number, better than expected, but still didn't take out the lofty $55 and change from january. let's go through it. the headline was up six, $53.6, obviously, since january. color? >> yeah, rick, this is a good report. the barometer held up by new product demand, seasonal product demand, warmer weather and also the release of some monies for capital expenditures and special projects, but i'll caveat that last one, was on the miner side.

you have ordering components up, that's good news, fueling your production and also -- >> the biggest ups were production and employment, 9.7, 7.6, 53 and change, almost 53. what is that telling us? >> right. so, that's telling you that, you know, you've got a lot of orders, you've got to produce and you've got to hire some workers. i would like to point out that this employment, there's a big jump here, rick. but last month, we were at a 6 1/2-year low, so you're going to naturally have some giveback there. >> that's what a lot of people are saying post report that i talked to, the traders, is that this report isn't bad. two things -- it's making up for a lot of weakness. >> yes. >> and as we get to these areas, which are more negative areas, it underscores inventory is the main driver. can you talk to that? >> right, we can talk about that a little bit. now, the problem here is that we're not firing on all cylinders, right? so, we have our supplier deliveries shortening -- >> i made this colorful minus 1.6, because as this goes down, deliveries, what that tells me is i might get my product faster. >> correct. >> but if i'm betting on the

stronger economy, i want to get my product slower, i want it to take longer. >> right. >> that's why it's a bit colorful. it's slow as in 2013, but another way to look at that is that isn't necessarily a good thing. >> that's right, because we really had some underlying demand, you'd be choking at the supply chain may be longer. >> stretching out, right. >> inventories up just 0.9. these have been a contraction five months in a row. this is a reflection of people doing just in time, made to order, being very cautious, because the thing they say that's bothering them is this election coming up. they don't know which way this is going to go. >> i'm going to stop you there. i know you wanted to say this, and we talked about off camera -- manufacturers complain when the dollar is going high, okay? dog ate my homework in the form of the stronger dollar. the stronger dollar dissipated with janet yellen letting the cage of doves fly in every direction. so, now it's politics? i don't know. you look at both sides of the party, you can come up with the

c-r-a-z-y on either side, whether it's taxes or who knows what somebody's going to do, but in the end, i have a hard time swallowing that excuse, but you can continue. >> well, they are telling me that it's bothering them. they are also telling me that because of the election, they are not expecting much in the area growth. can the barometer range between 45 and 55, yes? >> the problem is, they need to learn that just-in-time inventory isn't flawless, we need to go to the second power. they continually made too much and now we're churning through it. quickly, special questions was a biggy. >> special question is what do you think your orders will be in the second quarter as compared to this quarter. 44% said higher. >> 44% higher. >> 42% said the same. >> 42% the high. >> and 14% said lower. >> 14% lower. if you look at the lowers and the same, they outweigh the growth side. >> that's right. >> and that's the point. >> right. and that's a direct reflection of last year them being wrong all year. >> alyce, thank you. if it's politics or not, we don't know, but it's always a great excuse. sara, back to you. >> rick santelli, thank you very

much. speaking of politics, up next, the leading presidential candidates don't agree on much, except when it comes to trade and the idea that it is hurting america, but is that really true? more on that question when "squawk on the street" comes right back.

canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, in washington for a summit on nuclear safety, speaking exclusively to our susan lee less than an hour ago on the show, making some headlines as well on trade policy. susan joins us now. i see the winds, susan, hasn't yet died down. >> reporter: yeah, yeah, the gusts are still going out here, but let's talk about the u.s./canada relationship. and a lot of it is hinged on trade. they are both each other's largest trading partner, $670 billion worth of trade go through each other's borders each and every year. and as you've heard, some of the rhetoric during this election cycle, both from the republican and the democratic side, both front-runners say they want to either renegotiate or cancel nafta, the north american free trade act. so, i spoke to the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, and asked him if he's concerned. >> i think we have to understand that trade is ultimately good, not just for our countries, but for our businesses and for our

workers. we know that engaging with the world in a constructive, positive way leads to good jobs and good growth. i'm not worried that we're going to suddenly reopen nafta or other trade deals. the challenge is, once you reopen it a little bit, they all tend to unravel, and it's too important for both of our economies to continue to have a strong trading relationship. >> reporter: and he also said that during, of course, election cycles, the rhetoric seems to be spiking a little bit, but then it dies and goes back down afterwards. now, what about the canadian economy, because we also touched on oil pricing, as well, downs down 70% since 2014 and 20% of canadian trade is based on oil exports. canada went into a mild recession last year. he says he's not concerned about 2016, because in his recent budget, they've announced one of the largest deficits since the global financial crisis, but he's going to spend for growth in canada and diversifying away from natural resources. and also, when talking about his largest trade partner, i asked

him, once again, who would he prefer to be in the white house? he didn't want to be drawn into it. he says he will continue to work with whomever wins the vote. so, there you go, yeah, very diplomatic answer there. thank you very much. we enjoyed the interview. susan lee in washington. let's talk more about trade politics and bring in matt. it's good to see you matt. >> thank you. good to be here. >> so the prime minister telling us that he's not worried about having to go back to the they fwoesh yating table and rediscuss it. should he be? >> well, he was very articulate in voicing how for canada overall and it's companies and workers trade has been good. what's worrisome is none of the currently leading presidential candidates are giving voice to that narrative. they're all talking about the down side of trade and globalization and what's missing

right now is voices about why trade is good overall and what we might do to address the concerns of workers and families that aren't benefitting from it. manufacturing and steel and other industries have been harmed by open trade. what do you say to them? >> that's a great point america has long enjoyed games overall with the trade. we continue to enjoy larger games in the future. but not every worker and company and community correctly benefit from trade. that's been true for generations. that's going to be true for the future so what is needed are voices to acknowledge the gains. acknowledge that the concerns of some workers and communities are legitimate but then find the policy and solutions that are well targeted, well designed and

well funded today dress the concerns of people that aren't directly benefitting. >> i think the problem may be far bigger than we anticipated. these candidates may not be going rogue. they may be reflecting what the bulk of the population believes suggesting that two third of american favor more restrictions on imported goods instead of fewer. it's a big deal that allowed the situation to deteriorate. surely. >> that's a big deal and the survey evidence has shown ambivalence there's the gains evidence in the research and a spurt of productive and greater consumer choice and yet as this recent poll underscores a lot of americans worry about their jobs and the impact on wages so

there's a window of opportunity here for leaders to step up and give voice to the benefits and what smart policies could address these concerns about jobs and wages are we saying that the people are wrong or the policy has to change? >> no i think what is clear is some of the most sophisticated people are workers impacted. doing things on the physical side to address wage concerns. the policies are very clear and a lot of good research. it's finding skroiss to lead the policy change. >> are you suggesting that we use the tax system in effect to subsidize wages. >> yes, that's one possibility.

if you're concerned about america's tax code not being progressive enough you can look at the payroll tax so you can have redistribution for that or other wage programs such as wage loss insurance programs so to make up for the lost wages certain workers might incur in transitions across jobs to entice them to take jobs that might be more risky but hold for opportunity. >> so you mention that neither of the front runners are talking about this. you were an advisor to president bush. i wonder what caused this shift and thinking and whether it's broader than just trade when it comes to republicans and their ideology about the economy. >> i think time has ticked along. we had many years now where for the majority of american workers the wages are not rising. in some measures they're

falling. so the pressure on labor markets is what has changed. we have this opportunity for some leaders to step up and say the concerns are legitimate and they're real and yet here's the smart policies for how to address them. >> but just to highlight what you're saying here, the smart policy that we have identified in this conversation is greater entitlement spending to deal with the problems that we have with free trade. that would seem very wrong to people that support free trade in the first place. that's not supply side economics is it the question is what type of policies do you design to facilitate transitions in the market and give people the opportunity to gain more skills in the short and long-term and to the extent you think you need some political support that's part of why we have the tax code i just wanted to get your thought here.

would you advise donald trump if he does become the nominee and ask for your price or do you think his views on trade are so dangerous like the economist intelligence unit and the economy that you would decline. >> interesting question. i'm terrified at the prospect of starting a trade war at the end of next january. the way to address the concerns of workers is to try to find more ways to connect american workers and companies to the world and address concerns about how many of them directly enjoy the gains. >> thank you for joining us on this important issue. >> let's send it over to john fort and have a look at what is coming up on squawk alley. >> good morning. well, downloads did it to record stores. uber did it to taxis. have we reached that moment for banks? possibly. we could see lay offs of up to 30% because of this technology. also john chambers is going to

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>> good morning, it's 8:00 a.m. at apple headquaters and 11:00 a.m. here on wall street and squawk alley is live. good morning and thank you for joining us here