good morning. breaking overnight, china gdp. the country posting its lowest pace of economic growth in seven years. new this morning, russia throws cold water on hopes of an oil deal. and a blowout in brooklyn. hillary clinton and bernie sanders square off in their final debate before next week's critical new york primary, and they didn't pull any punches. it's friday, april 15th, 2016. "worldwide exchange" begins right now. good morning. welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm sara eisen.

>> and i'm wilfred frost. a very good morning to you from me as well. happy friday. let's get straight to the market action for you. u.s. equity futures at this hour pointing slightly lower after some gains this week. the dow closing at one of its highs for the year. its highest close back to july 2015, only on very slight gains on the day. we're expected to open down by 18 points for the dow. the s&p by three. the nasdaq by about a point. not too much action on the u.s. ten year. the yield currently 1.77. >> but a selloff for ten-year treasuries pretty much for the week. financials are in focus again today as we wrap up a week driven by bank earnings. on the docket today, citigroup. analysts are looking at 1.03 per share on revenue of $17.5 billion. worth watching here, the bank could give us a snapshot

globally because more than half of citi's revenues come from outside the united states. it's been more exposed to emerging market swings. it also comes off that decision from the living wills where citi was singled out as a winner. >> they sent themselves a self-congr self-congr self-congratulatory press release. that point on international exposure is going to be important. when we look at investment banking sales performance, both of them alluded to the fact that asia was the brightest spot once we got to that march pickup. they both said january and february were very weak. but march started to see a pickup. the margin might help citigroup, given around 16% of their earnings comes from overseas. also, guidance will be absolutely key. that's been the swing factor. they guided the worst of the energy stuff was probably behind them. wells wasn't so clear on that

front. >> and bank of america. that was a miss, right? >> well, it was sort of in line on the eps number. the share price yesterday really started to perform once we had the call and once they explained how much their expenses are under control. that's something that's very important in a tough top line environment. they controlled expenses pretty well. here we have the chart year to date. i think this is very interesting because it highlights that we have now got a market that will respond to earnings. five days of gains in a row for bank shares. we've got bank of america now 13.6% since last thursday, when the bank started to turn it on a little bit. but it's still down 14% year to date. i think that just really highlights the bank story. we've had a tough start to the year, but since earnings have come out and since we started to see a bit of fundamental performance relative to expectations, the share prices have performed. i wonder whether that carries through for all of earnings seasons. >> still headwinds facing the banks. lower interest rates, which don't appear to rise any time soon, at least if you're listening to janet yellen.

maybe later in the year. although, christine lagarde did say maybe we can squeeze out at least one rate hike this year. i'll bring you that sound later. also, the brexit risk we highlighted it a bigger risk for banks. the question s can the u.s. market rally if the banks start to rally. a lot of our guests have said that's the key. >> big performance from them the last couple days. we'll see what other earnings happen later next week. the big story this morning, china gdp. its slowest economic growth in six years, but the figure was in line with forecasts. >> you're seeing the economy recovering from the lows that we saw in december and january of last year. that basically shows the government measures which they introduced in recent months are beginning to have an effect. >> asian stocks closing the week

slightly down, as you can see. the nikkei down 0.4%. hong kong down slightly. initially that data was applauded. we lost a bit of steam. nothing too significant. do watch the level of credit that has fueled this return to stability of growth, you might say. we'll talk to paul donovan about that from ubs shortly. >> show you the major currency action this morning. what stands out to me is the dollar slightly weaker against the japanese yen, which is strie slightly stronger. that jawboning, or complaining and threatening of intervention by the japanese has led to the yen pulling back this week. it's going to be something to watch. >> and it's allowed the nikkei to have a decent week as well. let's have a look at european trading today. ending the week on a soft note,

as you can see. about half a percent falls across the board. do bear in mind the performance europe has had this week. germany, italy, spain, france, all up just over 4%. the ftse 100 is up 2.5%. the energy and commodity sectors have led europe significantly higher. 4% plus gains for the likes of germany this week. >> we're watching oil prices ahead of this week's highly anticipated producer meeting. ministers from the biggest opec and non-opec countries will be debating the next steps in a production freeze, but russia's finance minister tells cnbc a freeze might not have that much impact on crude prices. listen. >> translator: our economic plans are correlated in relation to the current oil price, about $40 per barrel. that is why we see in conditions in the slowing down of growth rates, accumulation by oil reserves by producers, there's

no serious grounds in talking about increasing oil prices. >> let's have a look at oil prices this morning. giving some back. wti stays above 40 but below $41 a barrel. brent international benchmark, 43.44. so much speculation and chatter from the oil producers, from the markets on what we're going to expect on sunday in doha. you wonder if we get that freeze, how much is priced into the market and what kind of commentary will come with it to figure out what happens next. >> couldn't agree more. i think given the stability and the rise we've seen in oil prices recently, i don't know if a freeze does much. if you have a cut, i think that would spur prices. they've already talked that down. on top of that, we're now kind of in agreement that we'll at least get a freeze. i think the risk is to the downside. whenever these guys get in a room, more often than not, i find they disappoint, particularly over the last couple years. >> oil ministers in particular or all policymakers? >> oil ministers in particular,

opec in particular. i personally think, you know, we've got a great bit of stability in oil prices. a lot of it based off this meeting. so i think the risk over the weekend is to the downside. >> we'll see what happens. we'll see what they comment. it's also friday, which means we get the baker hughes numbers on rigs in this country, which has taken on more importance. >> packed economic agenda today. industrial production is the big one to watch. that's at 9:15 a.m. eastern time. at 8:30 eastern time, we'll get the empire state manufacturing survey, a read of manufacturing in new york state. 10:00 a.m. eastern, consumer sentiment data is out. later this afternoon, we'll hear from chicago fed president charles evans. >> speaking of the economy, i did spend yesterday talking with world finance leaders about the state of the global economy and much more. here was a notable comment from the head of the imf, christine lagarde, about what she had to say about the fed's next move.

listen. >> being data dependent, being gradual, and being well communicated, we're more likely to have an interest rate race rather than a move into negative territory. it could probably mean a move in 2016. let's hope so because it would mean that the u.s. economy is faring better. >> christine lagarde giving some policy guidance on the fed monetary policy. it was particularly interesting to me because lagarde and the imf have been leading the charge for a long time now for the fed to be cautious, gradual, and pay attention to global developments when it makes policy. it seems like it has taken janet yellen and the federal reserve some time to come around to this view. lagarde said she's pleased that the fed is more cautious, gradual, and paying attention to global governments. >> not as concerned about negative interest rates. >> not as concerned. in fact, she said it's a net

positive. she stood up and supported negative interest rates in places like japan and europe and switzerland when at the same time there are a lot of people saying it's going to backfire, not work, including alan greenspan, the former head of the central bank of this country. >> a great lineup of people you spoke to yesterday. great work. but it's good to have you back. corporate news, exchange operator bats global market pricing its ipo at $19 a share. shares expected to begin trading today on its own exchange. the company is hoping this goes better than its last attempt to go public in 2012. here's a look back at how it all played out right here on cnbc. >> apparently there was some kind of system overload that

happened there. the system itself crashed. i'm trying to be fair to everybody. this is an epic embarrassment. there was one official trade. the rest were erroneous trades at a few pennies. my question here, what exactly happened? when is the stock going to reopen, if at all? >> bats says it's been aggressively testing its auction system to make sure it can handle the volume today. stocks to watch today. yahoo! modifying its severance plan if they sell all of its operating business. dick's sporting goods has reportedly expressed interest in buying assets of sports authority, which will be on a sale in a bankruptcy auction. a california judge has ruled that sumner redstone will not be deposed in a trial regarding his mental competency. redstone owns voting stakes of roughly 80% of viacom. sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but monday is tax day. an important reminder.

if you're leaving prep to the last minute or if you're waiting for your refund to come, there are some things you should know. landon dowdy joins us with more on what we need to know for tax day. >> hey there, sara. good morning. it is that time of year. we all know tax day is today, april 15th. but this year it's extended to april 18th due to emancipation day, which is a legal holiday in d.c. beyond the date, here's what you need to know if you are a last-minute filer. 70% of americans will get an average refund of nearly $3,000. time is money when it comes to preparing your taxes. americans spend 6 billion hours repairing at a cost of roughly $233 billion. there's a less than 1% chance of being audited, but keep an eye on your refund. there's been a 700% increase in identity theft cases since 2010. also, tax code. it's always a hot topic, especially during election season. so just how complex is it? there have been over 4,000 changes in the code since 2004. the code contains 4 million

words. just to give you an idea, that's over two times the length of the five "game of thrones" books combined. and a few fun facts here. 35% of people would rather talk to their children about sex, 13% would rather go to jail. >> well, there you go. 35%, that's a high number. landon, thank you very much. making tax fascinating for us there. >> i've already done mine. i'm good. thank you, landon. >> when we come back, our trade of the day. and we'll bring you the fiery debate between hillary clinton and bernie sanders last night. stay tuned. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. >> i stood up against the behaviors of the banks when i was a senator. i called them out on their mortgage behavior. >> secretary clinton called them out. oh, my goodness. they must have been really

crushed by this. was that before or after you received huge sums of money by giving speaking engagements? bak from bank of america to buy a new gym bag. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time and 2% back at the grocery store. even before he got 3% back on gas. kenny used his bankamericard cash rewards credit card to join the wednesday night league. because he loves to play hoops. not jump through them. that's the excitement of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

good morning and welcome back to "worldwide exchange." today's trade of the day. next week tech will be in focus with a slew of companies reporting. using history as a guide, our data team crunched the numbers to find out what stocksing likely be winners and losers. turns out old tech names like

intel, microsoft, apple, and texas instruments were among the top performers on earnings, as they're reliable long-term bets. the laggards, names like hp, ebay, and qualcomm tend to lose ground. just a historical look there, not based on the analysis going into this period of quarterly earnings. but for more, go to cnbc.com and check out cnbc pro. right. let's get back to markets today. joining us to discuss more is paul donovan, managing director at ubs. a very good morning to you. thanks for joining us. let's kick off on the big global story of the day. china gdp coming out overnight. it's clear things have stabilized there since the start of the year, both in term of growth and sentiment. what's the main driver for that improvement? is it sustainable? >> so i think it's quite clear the chinese authorities very definitely want growth to be comfortably over 6% this year.

reform essentially has been sacrificed on the altar of a decent growth number. so what we're seeing is policy stimulus really coming through in these numbers. if you look at the credit growth numbers in particular, they were stronger than expected. that's feeding through into housing demand. that's feeding through into construction. the good, old-fashioned sources of demand powered by stimulus are really coming through. is it sustainable? well, it's sustainable for now. absolutely. it's sustainable for this year, maybe next year. on the five-year view, no. this is a bubble that is building. trend growth in china is probably a lot closer to 5% than 6%. you can't persistently keep growth above trend without there being adverse consequences in the long term. for this year, next year, thing stays. >> then what happens? talking about a crisis? what happens when the bubble pops in, what did you say, two years? >> this is the problem in trying to predict the peak of a market

or when a bubble bursts. no economist ever wants to do that. we'll predict the event. we won't predict the timing. i would say that what we're going to end up with is a point where the credit growth is simply not sustainable. right now china can manage its credit growth very well because it's debt that it owes to itself. it's all internalized. the banking system is controlled by the government. the debt is all internal. you've got that degree of control now. at some point, the government either through deregulation or because more of the debt starts to be owed externally, will lose control of that process. at that point, i think the credit fueled expansion comes to a very rapid, abrupt halt. >> that's china, paul. if we touch quickly on japan and europe, how worrying is it that the policies enaked by the central banks aren't getting the traction that they're seeking? of those two areas, which

concerns you more? >> well, i think if we look at japan and europe, they are very different policy objectives. so the overwhelming policy objective of the european central bank, i would argue, is to increase bank lend. that's quite clear. they signaled that they didn't mind a stronger euro with the march decision because they included a capital control which allows -- prevents the euro from weakening. and bank lending is rising in europe. they are getting traction. although, i would argue the policy was largely unnecessary. bank lending is growing. the problem for japan, i think, is that the japanese authorities appeared to believe that if they went to negative rates, the same thing would happen that's happened in switzerland, but that's not right. negative interest rates are not a monetary policy. they're a fiscal policy. they're a tax.

a tax on banks. so you can't translate one country's experience into another country. and it was never likely that the yen was going to weaken on the negative interest rate story. i think what's happened now, of course, is with the weaker pay round, we've got clear evidence that domestic demand in japan is going to remain fairly lackluster, and that's leading to another round of angst about what stimulus has to come through. japan, i think, has the weaker growth outlook. the european growth outlook is actually not too weak at all, given the ongoing bank lending improvements and given credit company improvements. japan, i think, is a more troubling picture, but it's an economy that has been, let's be honest, somewhat sidelined in the last 20 years. it's not terribly integrated into the rest of the world. >> paul donovan, thank you very much for joining us. a pleasure as always.

>> thank you. coming up, a political showdown. democratic presidential hopefuls hillary clinton and bernie sanders squaring off and sparks fly. the highlights next. first, though, as we head to break, here's today's national weather forecast from the weather channel's kelly cass. >> good morning, sara and wilfred. how about a nice looking day in the northeast? even back toward the great lakes. it's looking fabulous in chicago. highs pushing 70 degrees with all that sunshine. warming up in the northeast over the next couple days. you will see some scattered showers and thunderstorms, especially along the gulf coast. we're already seeing some of that rainfall in northern florida. miami could see more storms later this afternoon with highs near 85. speaking of storms, some of these storms across the high plains could turn severe. large hail, damaging winds. we can't rule out the possibility of a few isolated tornadoes. cooler air coming in behind that system. some of you here in the rockies getting ready for a snowstorm this weekend. otherwise, it's warm ahead of

that. in the plai-- that's a look at national weather.

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. ♪ frank abagnale. convicted felon and con man. that was a long time ago. you know, they made a movie about it. you were shown to be quite skilled at fraud. times change. now i help catch the bad guys. me too. i help banks detect fraud by applying cognitive analytics to public financial records and social media. so if somebody said, "catch me if you can...?" we can. let's do a sequel. it could be a buddy movie. i would like to have a buddy.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange" and good morning. let's get to politics. bernie sanders is heading to the vatican this morning after debating hillary clinton in new york last night. he lands in just a few hours. for the latest on that, plus new poll numbers, we turn to nbc's tracie potts live in washington this morning. good to see you. that reminded me of a republican debate last night. >> reporter: yeah, it was pretty

contentious. people had been talking about how toned down the democratic debates have been, but compared to the previous ones, this one was totally different. bernie sanders now in the air as we speak, headed to the vatican, where he'll speak at a conference later today, likely -- in fact, sure to be much less contentious than what we saw last night. >> interesting comment, but you didn't answer the question. >> i did. >> reporter: and so it went in what could turn out to be the democrats' last debate. >> i do question her judgment. >> reporter: they clashed over sanders backing gun makers. >> what about the greed and recklessness of the gun manufacturers in america? >> i've got a d-minus voting record from the nra. >> reporter: and clinton's fees from big banks. >> i called them out on their mortgage behavior. >> secretary clinton called them out. oh, my goodness. they must have been really

crushed by this. >> reporter: our nbc "wall street journal" poll before the debate shows clinton's lead in new york grew just since monday. she's now up 17 points. meantime, all three republicans showed up at a new york fundraiser, despite protests. donald trump is embracing his home state. >> what are new york values? number one, honesty and straight talking. >> reporter: ted cruz and john kasich both ended up on late-night shows. >> i feel pretty confident as a result of tonight that we're going to win new york with 100% of the vote. >> that's the attitude you got to have. >> reporter: here's kasich on voters supporting trump. >> they do like me. it's just they went for the bombast. >> reporter: so now we have kasich, cruz, and donald trump all in upstate new york today. different demographics, smaller areas, sometimes a little different politically. but they're getting out of the city, campaigning in those upstate areas. again, hoping to gain ground before the primary tuesday.

>> tracie, is he going to get a meeting with the pope? >> reporter: we don't know. talking about bernie sanders today, he was asked about that. in fact, i was just looking at this italian newspaper interview he did. that's up to the vatican. from the air, as of this morning, they still don't know. >> tracie, great stuff. thanks as ever. have a lovely weekend. tracie potts in washington. on a programming note, don't miss senator ted cruz on "squawk box" for a full hour starting at 8:00 a.m. today. one not to miss. still to come here on "worldwide exchange," this morning's top stories. plus, forget about the banks. we'll tell you about why blueberries could be getting a bailout. that and more much still to come here on "worldwide exchange."

good morning. oil prices under pressure ahead of a major producer meeting this weekend. new this morning, donald trump writing an op-ed asking america a question. we'll bring you the highlights straight ahead. and video gone viral. a chimpanzee escapes from a zoo, and it's all caught on camera and coming up for you. it's friday, april 15th, 2016, and you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. good morning. happy friday. this is my favorite song, wilfred. >> well, there we go. i've taken note for the next party that we both go to. >> welcome back to world world on cnbc. i'm sara eisen. >> and i'm wilfred frost. good morning to you.

u.s. equities are trading lower. only slightly though, coming off the dow's highest close of the year. the highest close since july 2015. we're looking at only a slight decline at the open. 15 points for the dow. s&p down by about three points. nasdaq by about six points. let's look at markets elsewhere around the world. the big news coming out overnight was china gdp, which showed some kind of solidarity and improvement since earlier in the year, but nothing too significant. we're looking at markets in europe down. germany down half a percent. do bear in mind we've had strong gains in europe this week. germany, france, italy all up over 4%. a quick look at oil prices. that's been a big driver, leading those commodity names higher. we're off a little today, but we've had good performance over the last week or so. 41.03 for wti crude this morning. >> let's dig into the big global market story of the morning. that would be china's gdp. the country posting its lowest

pace of economic growth in seven years. that 6.7% figure did come in line with forecasts. >> thanks so much, sara. china delivered a pretty decent economic report card for the first quarter. gdp came smack in line with expectations at 6. %. that was well within the targeted range for the year. this was the weakest growth we've seen since 2009. at the same time, there were positive signs of stabilization towards the end of the quarter. the march data looked better than expected. the retail sales numbers were steady. the industrial output surprised a lot of people because it was up more than a percentage point than estimates at 6.8%. the fai also improved. this all just feeds into the confidence that has been building since last month, where you're seeing a recovery in the housing sector here. also, the export figures were

surprisingly strong for march. even though some people say that might be because of distortions due to seasonality. the currency here has been more stable, and we've seen less volatility in capital outflows. that's all seeing an improvement and a reason to cheer. at the same time, of course, people are wondering going forward just how sustainable is this recovery, and is it sustainable beyond a couple of quarters. the economy faces a lot of pressure, downward pressure. that's because the government has already said that it's going to be cutting more industrial overcapacity. also, the bigger picture of the economy is that demand is weak, both at home and overseas. so that's the big concern that later in the year the economy is going to face a lot more pressure. >> paul donovan of ubs just told us we'll be okay in china for a

year, into next year, but they'll face reckoning when the credit bubble bursts, eunice, thank you. i sat down yesterday with u.s. treasury secretary jack lew talking about the importance of the tpp. listen to what the treasury secretary said. >> the transpacific partnership is an agreement that's very much in the interest of the u.s. economy and american workers. >> we have to make the case why this is good. i accept that, we accept that. i'm arguing the merits of something that i think are profoundly important, promoting a strong u.s. economy and strong opportunities for u.s. workers. >> and the treasury secretary, wilfred, has been on this kick to really promote u.s. engagement and leadership in the global economy. part of the reason has to be because of what they're hearing on the campaign trail.

it's not just republicans like donald trump. it's also bernie sanders and hillary clinton that have bashed the tpp and have talked badly about trade policies like nafta, threatened to rip them up. there is this idea that we're moving, like britain and other places, toward more protectionist policies. the only thing the treasury secretary consider do at this point is come out and defend those policies and engagement. >> i think so. you mentioned hillary clinton there because a year or so ago she wasn't so much against this type of policy. she's been forced to thattic that position. i maintain a point, whatever china is doing relatively and whatever the market's doing, in an absolute sense, it's always going to be a giant economy, a giant market. establishing strong trade ties makes sense in the long term. there's no doubt about that. >> someone's got to buy the products. everyone wants to export, and everyone wants a weaker currency. someone is going to have to buy

that. china has the market. it's transitioning into a consumer market. it makes sense. but there are arguments against it. it could lower wages in this country, cost jobs. >> absolutely. a crucial election issue over here. stocks to watch today. the private equity firm carlyle group is in talks with baker hughes. those assets could be valued at more than 7 billion. ensco announcing it will begin a public offering of 50 million class-a ordinary shares. it plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, and it's down 6.5%. shares of network monitoring security company ixia reporting preliminary first quarter results. they missed estimates. shares down sharply. now for this morning's top trending stories. start with amc movie theaters. they may allow texting to kater to millennials. the company's ceo telling

"variety" magazine, when you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, they hear, please cut off your left arm. he elaborated on twitter saying amc would only designate select auditoriums as text friendly. >> it's a step too far if they allow it. you've got to the watch a movie, sit through it. don't go to the movies. >> don't they say to turn off your movie and not text? they do anyway. i don't go to the movies. i don't have a strong view on this. it's not an enforced rule. you don't get kicked out. >> people get annoyed about it. >> but they have to worry about livestreaming with periscope and facebook live. >> i think it's a mistake. we'll see what happens. delta airlines is abolishing a $25 phone reservation fee. the company says it made the decision based on customer feedback after a february survey found 49% of travelers hated that particular fee. >> of course they do. >> they just slipped that into their results yesterday.

>> that's a big fee to take away. i wonder if the other airlines will follow suit. nobody will be happier than our very own bill griffith, who hates airline fees. the u.s. department of agriculture will buy up to 30 million pounds of wild blueberries from the state of maine to help stabilize prices. prices there have dropped more than 50% in the past five years, threatening one of the state's biggest industries. the sta >> crazy. >> this is a currency story. canada -- >> always currency. >> canada is a major producer of blueberries the canadian dollar has gotten crushed, that makes them more kpet pif. >> what was the other story? cauliflower. >> congress can't pass anything, but they can buy $13 million of blueberrie blueberries.

>> incredible story. video gone viral. a chimpanzee fled a zoo in northern japan and tried to avoid capture by climbing an electric pole. >> this video is crazy. >> the chimp was free for nearly two hours before he was shot with a sedative and fell into a rescue blanket held by workers. zoo officials say he was unharmed and is recovering. >> he does not look unharmed. that was a bad fall. >> that was a big fall. let the guy go. he doesn't want to be in captivity, clearly. >> crazy video. all caught on camera. >> when we come back, today's must reads. donald trump in the headlines with an op-ed. this time his name is on the byline. he's writing one for "the wall street journal," asking america a question. we'll have that. as we head to break, a reminder monday is tax day. don't go away. "worldwide exchange" will be right back. cathy's gotten used to the smell of lingering garbage...

...in her kitchen yup, she's gone noseblind. she thinks it smells fine, but her guests smell this. ding, flies, meow febreze air effects heavy duty has up to...

...two times the odor-eliminating power to... ...remove odors you've done noseblind to [inhales] mmm. use febreze air effects, till it's fresh and try febreze small spaces... ...to continuously eliminate up to two times the odors... ...for 30 days febreze small spaces and air effects, two more ways... [inhale + exhale mnemonic] to breathe happy. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." now to this morning's must read stories, catching our attention. donald trump has written an op-ed in "the wall street journal." he say, let me ask america a question. he's asking the question as whether the system has been working for them. one of the quotes inside it, he writes the political insiders have had their way for a long time. let 2016 be remembered as the year the american people really finally got theirs. he's being very critical here of the republican selection process. he's going on to say, you know, he's got more votes than anyone else, but there's a good chance he might not get the nomination. he goes through lots of details.

the reason i pick this out, apart from the fact he's written it, is the over the last week or so, we've seen more structured speeches from him on certain policy areas. this clearly a very structured, written argument. when he comes out like this, he can be very, very convincing. you come away from it, you agree with him on lots of points. of course, some of them enhanced and exaggerated a little bit, but that's going to be a big question if we go forward, if he does get the nomination. can he adapt into a really true political candidate that can fit the mold. on some policy areas, you can't just wing it each time. as he comes through, he is developing in a way that, you know, three months ago we wouldn't have expected. >> "the new york post" certainly thinks so. they endorsed him today. "the new york post" writing, imperfect but so full of promise. an endorsement of donald trump ahead of the new york primary. they say he's a rookie candidate. he has promise. he's a doer. he's a businessman. he's created jobs and has a proven track record. they went to that despite what

they recognize are some of his flaws in what he has said. a little different today. i have a must listen instead of a must read. we've been hitting this theme of especially senator bernie sanders bashing business lately. he did not back down during last night's democratic debate. here is my must listen of the morning. >> there's some great businesses who treat their workers and the environment with respect. verizon happens not to be one of them. and what we need to do is to tell this guy, immelt, who's the head of general electric, doesn't like me? well, that's fine. he's outsourced hundreds of thousands of decent paying jobs throughout the world, cut his work force substantially. and by the way, turns out both verizon and general electric in a given year paid nothing in federal income tax despite making billions in profits. >> this of course comes after the ceo of verizon took to

linkedin to write a post about how bernie sanders is wrong about verizon on taxes and on other issues. of course, ge's jeff immelt writing in "the washington post" that senator sanders is wrong as well as ge not paying taxes and ge not destroying the moral fabric of america. the debate continues to heat up, especially from the sanders campaign. >> it's not the only must listen or must watch clip from last night's debate. it was a fiery one, to say the least. >> yeah, what started off as a very genteel process on the democratic side has turned ugly in new york. we're approaching the top of the hour. that means the team is getting ready for "squawk box." joe kernen joins us from new york to continue the political theme. great interview for you guys today. >> we have senator cruz for an hour starting right at 8:00. i was listening to wilfred's comments on donald trump. it is a little bit -- it's interesting, guys, because his

appeal has been his raw sort of break the mold outsider appeal. put that together with a little bit more policy. hired a couple veterans to try and help with that. put that together, and it's a little scary. we'll see whether just the sort of idea or presumption that he doesn't have a chance against hillary clinton. it's a long time until november. you put those two things together, somehow combine the two, and he's been underestimated up to this point. even carl rove's super pac. i don't know if you noticed that. they've been anti-trump, but they've been telling people that he can win in november apparently. that's one of the stories. wilfred, let me digress. when do people in the u.k. -- do you have an april 15th? do you have a day like that celebrated by democrats as really their independence day,

or do you have -- what day is it that -- basically your most patriotic day for the left in the u.k. what day is that? >> i don't think we have a particular patriotic day between the left or the right. >> you don't have a tax filing deadline day? >> we have a tax filing day. >> that's what i'm talking about. the most patrioting day for the left. >> it's the end of april, i think. it changes. >> you think? did you pay taxes? are you like general electric and verizon? >> it changes each year. it's usually like towards the end of april. >> changes each year? >> it's not like a set day. it will be like the last friday of april or something like that. >> well, from all of us here at "squawk," i would like to wish you and sara happy tax day. >> well, thank you very much. i wonder what are the most patriotic day could be for certain types of people. it could be june 23rd depending how a vote goes. that might become the most

patriotic day in years to come. >> we have july 4th. >> that's our real patriotic day. >> i'm aware of that one. a little lost on the first point. >> i know you are. you guys are still mad about july 4th. still trying to tax us without representation. not going to happen, wilfred. >> i don't think we are, but we'll see. i'm certainly looking forward to getting a long weak. >> donwe'll pour tea in that harbor. i don't care if it's earl gray. even if you do brexit. >> looking forward to the conversation, extended one, with senator ted cruz. >> one not to miss. that's at 8:00. up next on "worldwide exchange," a huge week for the big banks. citigroup set to post quarterly results this morning. we'll talk all things financials with chris whelan next. you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. don't go anywhere. we're back in a couple minutes. . make sure it's an intelligent one. ♪ the all-new audi a4, with available virtual cockpit. ♪

e*trade is all about seizing opportunity. and i'd like to... cut. so i'm gonna take this opportunity to direct. thank you, we'll call you. evening, film noir, smoke, atmosphere... bob... you're a young farmhand and e*trade is your cow. milk it. e*trade is all about seizing opportunity. in new york state, 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 technology moves faster than ever. the all-new audi a4, with apple carplay integration. welcome back. bank stocks setting the tone for broader markets this week and potentially into next.

joining us now is chris whelan. follows the banks very closely. the stocks had a very strong week, chris. did you see signs of underlying strength, real strength to carry on from the banks, or were they just too negative on these stocks? >> well, we think that people probably have been a touch too negative, especially when they worry about oil exposure. certainly credit costs are going up this year. you know, some people have said the first quarter will be the worst of it. i think in general, the banks were taking money out of reserves for the past few years. now they have to put it back. energy is the chief reason. overall, energy exposure for the larger banks is relatively small. i don't think it's going to have any credit impact on the banks. we see it as an earnings story overall. probably the strongest of the top four so far, or at least top three, is wells fargo. very disciplined management, a lot of expense control.

it's not terribly exciting. there's not a lot of alpha here, sara. overall, they're navigating this environment reasonably well. >> chris, as you say, decent beat for wells fargo on the eps line. however, its share price performance has been the softest. i wonder whether that is because of the energy issue you just mentioned, saying that it wasn't as crucial perhaps as other core earnings areas. their guidance for the rest of the year on the energy issues seem to be much less confident than jpmorgan's was. is that not a concern? >> they certainly have more exposure than some of their peers. when you look at the totality of their business and the sources of revenue, i think overall -- lest say they wrote everything off that they had on energy. it would still be a relatively minor event in the grand scheme of things. i don't think they're going to see losses of nearly that magnitude. this is a situation where the fed manipulated credit spreads for years, and now we're

starting to see the impact of it. sadly, i think the biggest pain is going to fall on bond investors, investors in limited partnerships and things of this nature. retail investors, rather than the banks. bank portfolios tend to be the best quality assets. the bonds and other vehicles for financing tend to have inferior assets. >> let's touch on the capital markets side as well. we knew that was going to be weak. what have you made of the guns we've got from bank of america and jpmorgan in terms of a pickup in march and whether they can bounce back in that area pretty quickly for the rest of the year. >> well, you know, the big unknown for a lot of these banks other than wells is capital markets. what's going to happen with investment banking, what's going to happen with other lines. the other issue, of course, is that all of these larger banks are slowly getting out of the residential mortgage business. they used to be the dominant players. i think all of them are going to be in single digit market share within the next couple years.

so they have to look somewhere else for revenue. since the dodd-frank law has taken away a lot of their principle opportunities, their own account trading opportunities, they have to get into other businesses. you see itn the growth of the loans. all of these banks are growing loans as fast as they can, because that's how they're going to make it up. you always have to remember guidance of large cap companies, generally banks in particular, tends to be overly ambitious. the guidance on revenue and earnings this year is negative. >> and quickly, what are you looking out for in citi's earnings today? >> again, with citi, you only have two businesses. you have the bank and the consumer side, then you have capital markets. the estimates are fairly down beat. again, you could see them beat, but who knows. you can't predict the

noninterest side of the house, the investment banking, the trading, everything else. >> chris, thank you. >> thank you. >> financials are the best performers of the week in the s&p. >> i know, and i think the key takeaway from that, for me, irrelevant of which sector it is, is this market is ready to respond to earnings seasons when we see beats. >> chart of the week? >> yeah, i'd put the banks up. i don't know which one we'd choose, bank of america of jpmorgan. five days of gains. up significantly over the last couple days. >> mine is related. mine is the dow jones industrial average. we're at the highest level since back in july of last year. goldman and jpmorgan med the dow higher this week, but also strength in names like caterpillar, united technologies. the only ones down for the week were coca-cola, mcdonald's, the defensive names. that's a bullish tone. can it continue into next week? >> and i point out europe is taking part in the rally as well. the german index up 4% this

week. that's it for "worldwide exchange" this morning. "squawk box" is coming up next. have a lovely morning and a lovely weekend. town in minutes or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. ♪

good morning. breaking overnight. china gdp, the company posting its slowest pace of economic growth in seven years. major oil producers preparing to meet in doha, but this morning russia is throwing cold water on hopes for a deal to freeze output. and a battle in brooklyn. hillary clinton and bernie sanders square off in their final debate before next week's critical new york primary. they didn't pull any punches. and it's the most wonderful day of the year. actually, it's monday. but symbolically, it's april 15th. "squawk box" begins right now.

live from new york, where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning, everyone. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we have a big morning ahead. gop presidential candidate ted cruz will join us for an hour to talk jobs, the economy, taxes, trade, the banks, and much, much more. that's all coming up at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. in the meantime, let's get a check on the u.s. equity futures. markets eked out a gain. that was the third day in a row of gains. the futures are just slightly lower with the dow futures down by about nine points. it has been a big week of gains for the markets. overnight in asia, china releasing first quarter gdp numbers. the country posting its slowest pace of economic growth in seven years, but the 6.7% figure was in line with forecasts. we'll have much more on china in a minute. you can see the