good morning. global market alert. oil prices extended gains with u.s. crude trading at six-month highs. follow the money. the world's most powerful investors releasing details on their latest bets. the napes, common themes and what they tell us straight ahead. and decision 2016, two states holding primaries today as the race for the white house heats up again. it's tuesday, may 17th. "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ >> good morning, welcome to "worldwide exchange." on cnbc i'm sara eisen. >> and i'm wilfred frost.

good morning from me as well. let's get you up to speed on the wall street action. a nice day for wall street. 1% gains in all three indices. apple another one of the factors, it's carrying through asian trade and helping futures. 16 points on the dow and 1.5 points on the nasdaq. the s&p up by eight points. let's have a look at the chart of the day. oil on supply discussions. eia saying share output is expected to drop in june for an eighth consecutive month. and also fires burning around the canadian oil supplies of fort mcmurray up again. up ten basis points but the big move came yesterday with up 3.3%. settling at its highest since the 3rd of november.

and today a high of 47.85. oil prices remarkably strong. >> inching towards that $50 a barrel. it's helping markets everywhere. take a look at asia over night. we did see a gain after the nikkei went to a one-week low. also saw gains in hong kong with shanghai comp did close lower by 0.25%. gary fink of black hawk make something warnings. we'll have that in a moment. and got the uk inflation numbers just moments ago, and still looking at 0.5% in the ftse 100 even though it continues to point to inflation. cpi? >> no, cpi came in plus 5%. we'll talk more about that when we get to the sterling chart. a ten-year note at the moment, just ticking up a little bit yesterday. the yield towards the 1.8 range

as opposed to 1.7 range. in the middle of that 1.764%. if we look at the currencies, the dollar not doing too much today. a little soft. but as you can see, the euro only moving by 0.5%. against the yen, we've got a 0.5% move. and pounden an interesting one to focus in, 1.445. it was up as much as 1%. you can see that on the chart. that was basically the poll that came out earlier talking about the brexit vote. and then on the less watched internet poll, but on the more watched telephone poll, it was eight points ahead. that gave sterling a boost earlier. but 0.3% in april expected to be 8.5%. that's led to a slip in the

pound. gold prices very quickly as well, and we're looking at declines today by 0.15%. >> yeah, other prices like factory gate inflation i guess as we output price by 1%. it is interesting, online, it's a higher voting out. i wonder if that's a younger demographic. >> yeah, i don't know the details. the ft has a poll of polls always that brings all of these other ones together. at the moment, that says 46% stay. 44% leave. >> it's a big factor. >> on the exit camp we'll see high turnout. those people who have wanted his referendum for years and years they'll turn out to vote. s there not as much passion about remaining as there is exiting. that's a huge factor. when you look at individual polls, you still see a huge

amount of undecideds as well. if you look at the markets they expect a 20% chance of exit. i feel that's a little too confident that a remain vote will happen. >> the pound continues to strengthen. meanwhile, george soros is increasing his fund against the s&p 500 and cutting his stock holding by 37%. the billionaire investor cited a risk. sources disclosing a 2.1 million share put option. to attract s&p 500. the fund also continuing to unwind its exposure to commodity its selling in dow chemical, penn virginia, kindzer morgan. baker hughes. and soros did buy a $19 million stake in barrick gold and gold

options. he once called the metal, quote, the ultimate bubble. again, his comments versus what his fund is doing, but it does sort of mirror what we've heard from him which has been warning of prices, warning of financial pain. now, you're seeing the bets manifest. and the funds betting against the stock market. >> and he's a little bit more bearish. he's the one to watch as we get closer to brexit. he famously made money in 1992. >> in contrast, global jumped also paulson and company slashing its investment in gold, to 2.48 million shares. this is the first time that paulson has reduced his stake in a year. a few matchups with the battle with the titans.

the gold and apple and yahoo. adding to positions in apple, yahoo, macy's, yelp, and general motors. david einhorn owned 8.2 million shares. we learned they owned apple but just for a trade, sold it during the quarter. and tepper got out of it. this is becoming a controversial stop with big money. >> an interesting point with apple yesterday which of course was much discussed the different styling investment coming into it. buffett is a great example of that. it was traditionally a growth stock and it's what the new innovation. buffett doesn't invest for that. he invests for value. is that actually a bad sign of apple moving forward? when you go from the whole of share holding to go from investors to growth holders then you're going have a long theory.

it's a vote of confident for the buffett style. not a vote of confidence for guys who want high growth. >> it wasn't a buffett pick, maybe they thought it was too cheap at his level. and it did leave the dow yesterday. carl icahn, we know, is out of apple. he also sold his stake in other company it's in quarter. he got out of gannett,ing at the that, mentor graphics and hologic. it's notable that he didn't actually buy into any new companies during the company. let's get on to pershing square upping its stake in the restaurant brands during the first quarter. and also increased its holding in valeant and cut its stake in

mondelez. and speaking at a forum in hong kong, the head of the world's largest asset manager said 3 it transforms it must easily exit from a services driven economy. saying that a recent explosion is not the correct way to reorientate the economy. and foreigners bought treasury for the second straight month in march. overseas investors purchasing $23.6 billion in u.s. treasury debt in month of march alone. at the end of the month, the yield on a ten-year treasury declined as low as 176 which isn't too far off from where it is now. there is increasing demands for u.s. treasury. the demands is high.

and we're still in the 1.70s. >> 1.7% on the u.s. 0.115 on the german. absolutely -- continues to correct me that one. >> not all mispronunciations. the german yield is at .17%. why on earth would you buy the german yield when as you rightly say you can pick up the yield. >> right, yields are so much higher. you get so much for more the u.s. treasury. isn't stocks to watch, corvex with pandora. pandora says its core business is up. and office depay may sell some

of its european operations with staples due to antitrust concerns. they expect disruption from the deal to continue into this quarter. lending club received a grand jury subpoena from the justice department. the ceo was ousted after an internal probe showed that the company falsified documents when selling loans. several large investors have halted business with the company down 8%. more stocks to watch, twitter is adding leb bra lee, the ceo of b.e.t. networks to its board. jack dorsey added pepsico's hugh johnson and trying to make it more diverse and clearly is adding a number of female directors. vodafone reporting profit growth since the first time since 2008.

the mobile carrier says it plans to spend more than previously expected to improve its network. investors liking that news. reuters reporting that the usda will join syngenta and chemchina taking over pesticide makers syngenta. box. potential impact that this deal has on food security. more housing and inflation data and retail earnings on the docket. the april consumer price index out at 8:30 eastern. headline cpi has been expected to tick up slightly. also we'll get a read on april housing starts which reports a rebound after a big decline in march. 9:15 a.m. look for april production. john williams, atlanta fed president dennis lock hart and

dallas fed president kaplan will be speaking. and investors will be eyeing those investments closely from places like nordstrom's and macy's. despite the reports there are share holder meetings as well. landon dowdy joins us. first, from home depot, despite a brittle first quarter from the retail sector, analysts expect them to release a strong report as home improvement stores take its share from department stores. oppenheimer telling me q1 sales are the most important factor here. second, gap holds its annual sharehold meeting. it will report later this week. but today listen for turnaround plans and the pipeline. third thing to watch, amazon

hitting an all-time high, $704.55. these capitalize on latest ventures like expansion of private data offerings. for the twitter and facebook question of the day, we ask you lots of consumer indicators coming out. is the consumer in good shape? weigh in on our twitter and facebook page. of course, it was a big debate last week, it's another big debate this week. was it just the department stores -- >> we thought numbers were strong for april. consumer sentiment continues to hover near highs. where are those spendings? home depot a place. also still to come, could greece be paying its bailout loans until 2040. details coming up. and also happy birthday to ronald wayne who turns 82 today. he may not be a household name,

but wayne co-founded apple with steve wozniak and steve jobs in 1976 acting agency the first adult supervision. will receive a 10% stake in apple and sold the shares less than two weeks for $800 a decision he says he doesn't regret. we'll be back with "worldwide exchange." 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.

welcome back. today's trade of the day. there's an important trend to watch in the bond market that could impact the stocks you own. what's happening, the yield curve is flattening to levels not seen anyone else 2007, traditionally seens a recession indicator. the difference between the two-year treasury note yield and the ten-year treasury note yield. when this happens, how do you trade it? utility and communications sectors are by far the best performers. as for individual name, apple, verizon, united headlights, mcdonald's and coca-cola do well. check out cnbc pro. clearly it makes sense. we're not talking about an inverted curve but we are talking about a lackluster economic growth period. >> and some big moves as well. but more small -- >> but this is a real indicator. in government news, imf

urging the eurozone for skipping payments. "the wall street journal" cites officials familiar with the talks imf proposing rates be fixed at 1.5% for decades. g-7 finance ministers to meet in japan this week. he plans to stress the need for stability in the global foreign exchange market. japan is ready to intervene in the market if needed to weaken its currency. although at the last g-7 meeting in china there was widespread disagreement that they would not invest in the currency market for valuation. we'll see if japan gets support. >> they've been wanting to be clear over the last couple of month, a couple of clear indicators. and they have reacted to that on certain days and gone back to strength. >> they do need buy-in, whether it's explicit or not explicitly

from their counterparts, no? >> not if their backs are really against the wall. i mean, they'd like to save face if they can, if things really get bad which one would argue -- >> still to come, donald trump is hiring a campaign pollster after saying he wouldn't. that story among the top political news amongst others still to come here on "worldwide exchange." ood at hiding. oh, boy. there it is. ♪ ohh. ooh. [ gags ] so when you need a house cleaner or an exterminator, we can help you get the job done right, guaranteed. get started today at angie's list, because your home is where our heart is. ♪

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we're now officially down to the last month of this marathon primary season. tracie potts joins us live from washington with the latest news. tracie. >> hi, wilfred, good morning, everyone. here's the bottom line, hillary clinton could lose both of these contests today and still be the strong front-runner for the nation but she's fighting hard to avoid another symbolic loss to bernie sanders. it could be a tight race in kentucky today, hillary clinton won coal country eight years ago, but today, miners fear feel take their jobs. >> i am not going to let them be left behind. >> reporter: she's hoping to hold ton a five-point lead in kentucky but that was two months ago there's no recent polling there. bernie sanders is expected to win oregon. today, he's back in california. >> i know that we've got an uphill battle. >> reporter: but there's already a battle shaping up between clinton and donald trump, senior aides tell nbc this fall, we'll go after clinton's character,

e-mails and her husband's infidelities. she's already hammering his lack of detail on creating jobs. >> republicans, democrats, independents, a lot of folks are going to be thinking what's he talking about. >> trump is hiring a new pollster while the pac, super pac that's supporting clinton mk they've gault $6.5 million in anti-trump ads starting to run in battleground states tomorrow. >> tracie, thanks. that was like the exit poll what voters care most about. tracie potts in washington. donald trump is getting vice on u.s. foreign policy. nbc news reporting that he is scheduled to meet with former secretary of state henry kissinger in new york on wednesday. the campaign aide said that the two have spoken many times on the phone.

henry kissinger was as noted for the cease-fire during the vietnam war. some wondering what he'll say for nato, for instance. >> hard to say he's hugely respected for his foreign policy views but divisive. >> i think that's fair. also that view to put national policy first which is the trump view as well. now to sports, the golden state warriors winning all three regular season games against the thunder. the teams are facing off again in the nba western conference finals and the thunder came ready to play on monday night. after being down 13 points at the half, okc stormed back in the third quarter. russell westbrook draining a lawn three. 19 points in the quarter, 27 for the game. the thunder would tie it up in the fourth. and kevin durant didn't have the best shooting night but still

provided the dagger with less than a minute to go. oklahoma city stuns golden state 108-102 handing the warriors the first loss in the playoffs. wow, unusual for steph curry. meantime, golf, tiger woods paying a visit to the nation's capital for the upcoming tournament and the quicken loans event. all three balls in the water, it's been seven months since tiger had back surgery. and he was asked the same question about his health. when will he be back. listen. >> i want to play, trust me, i want to. now, whether i can or do, that's a different story. if i could tell you, i would. but i can't, not yet. i'm still -- i'm still working. i'm still trying to get stronger. and still need to try to recover. >> despite winning not winning a major since 2008, the 40-year-old woods says he still believes jack nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. everyone is urging him to make a

strong comeback. but it's seeming elusive at the moment. >> absolutely. when we come back, this morning's top stories including oil prices moving towards $50 a barrel. the driver, and can it continue -- next. the facebook question of the day, lots of consumer indicators coming out later in the morning and later in the afternoon. is the consumer in good shape? weigh in on our viewer exchange question. let us know your thoughts. we'll discuss that and much more on "worldwide exchange." ♪ you're not gonna watch it! ♪

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good morning. markets now, oil prices nearing $50 a barrel. the catalyst coming up. the state of the economic data and retail earnings reports on the agenda. we'll get you ready straight ahead. plus, 140 characters or bust. maybe not. details of changes at twitter. it's tuesday, may 17th, 2016, you're watching "worldwide exchange." ♪ lying on the cold hard ground trouble trouble trouble ♪ good morning, welcome back to "worldwide exchange." on cnbc. i'm sara eisen. >> and i'm wilfred frost. a very good morning to you. >> the markets looking to extend the u.s. rally. u.s. futures higher across the board. we saw a 1% gain yesterday to close out the future. dow futures are off.

up in triple digits. now futures up one point. s&p futures up 0.3. nasdaq up almost 5. oil prices may be a big clue to reaction in stocks. take a look at where we are after more than 3% rise for the pricing of oil. oil started the day stronger. brent higher. potentially taking the air out of the rally we're seeing in stock. wti crude, 47.73, still looking at six-month highs for the price of oil inching towards $50 a barrel. >> asia managed to close worse. oil prices at their highs for the overnight session. sense here looking at the nikkei up 1%. hong kong up 1%. meanwhile, china closing slightly down. europe also benefit from the strong oil price earlier. but losing steam similar to u.s.

future. german dax up 0.2%. >> and let's show you the treasury note yield, 1.75, below 1.76. that cpi in particular will be key for the federal mandate. and the existing prices will we see it, higher commodity prices, economists are expecting a myer bumpup today. we've seen a stronger dollar in conjunction with the stronger oil price which set of trintere. the dollar is weaker against the euro and the pound this morning something to watch as the uk did release its own inflation data which is interesting. everything is interesting ahead of brexit. >> exactly, brexit the biggest factor on the pound mover up a percent.

and gave more steam to the main camp and the cpi which disappointed came out but the pound still up 0.4%. interest manage we get the u.s. cpi data today how much can that really move the u.s. dollar. even if it was a blowout positive, june's pretty much off the table. we saw that with retail data on friday, very strong dollars. and it's not really influencing the fed in terms of the next meeting. >> but you can't stake everything on one economic report. it has to be a holistic view on price. and there's always evidence that it's not there yet. >> we can get more of a reaction market today. let's look at the calendar for other signs to watch. housing and inflation data and retail earnings on the docket. as we said april consumer price date did is out at 8:30 eastern. head line prices expected to tick up. at 8:30, we get housing starts.

9:15 a.m. look out for april industrial production. and williams and kaplan speaking today in terms of earnings, home depot, tjx and others reporting numbers before the opening bell. that takes to us the twitter question. lots of consumer indicators. is the consumer in good shape? let us know we'll bring you results of that poll later in the show. >> it's a good debate. if the offprice stores like t.j. maxx and nordstrom do well. and redstone and the media empire, redstone reportedly has the power to remove the chief executive from the trust that will control his $40 billion media stake when he's no longer able to do so. he cannot, however, remove his daughter from the trust giving

sheri redstone a more stable position on the seven-person trust. holdings of trust include cbs and others. >> and corvex dising an interest in pandora. office depot may sell due to antitrust concerns. and lending club said it received a grand jury subpoena from the justice department last week. the ceo was ousted after an internal probe showed the company falsified documents in selling a package of loans. in an s.e.c. filing, lending club also said investors have halted business with the company. the stock continues to get hammered. more stocks to watch, twitter is adding debra lee to the board. jack dorsey has been seeking to

overhaul the board. vodafone reports a four-year organic and profit growth since 2008. the carrier says it plans to spend more than previously expected to improve its networks. vodafone is up 2% in numbers. reuters reports the-u da will join the report as chemchina plans to take over gin gen syngenta. now, for today's top trending stories. more changes at twitter. this has to do ewith its produc shaking up its character limits. it will stop counts photos and links towards the character limits. they usually take up the characters themselves. this will give them space to write more. something that the company has

been experimenting with. raising the character limit from 140 to 10,000. maybe a step in the right direction. i like his, i'm a user. >> i agree. to switch it would have been a transformation, this allows us with twitter polls to put in more space and pictures. >> and it goes does it widen the appeal of twitter to people who don't use it which is really all -- this is ma this what theo do, right? grow the user base. maybe the thought here -- when you have 140 characters and you have to have a link, you have to write something really obscure and short. >> now, when you tweet pictures of me, you've got a whole 140 characters to be descriptive and actually be complementary. and amc can on s.n.a.p. khat

called preacher on the discover section. and snapchat can be there for 24 hours before broadcasting it on other social networks. i haven't got to watching long clips yet. >> five minutes. i didn't know you could do that on snapchat. i guess if you're amc you can. adele is release a brief video clip of her new video "send my love" will debut at the music awards. she's nominated for eight awards. and the album has sold 33.38 million copies in the first week alone. >> she's doing well, adele. ticket prices very expensive if you didn't get in the first round. >> she's coming to new york. >> come to get u.s. all over. madison square garden in november. >> did you get tickets? >> i haven't done. because they are so expensive. i'm debating it.

today when we come back "must reads" including why voters around the world are drawn to the strong man. that's the theme. on this date in history in 1792, the new york stock exchange was formed under the buttonwood agreement with stockbrokers outside of 68 wall street under abuttonwood tree. now, as we head to break here's today's national weather forecast from the weather channel's jen carfagno. good morning, jen. >> sara and wilfred, on tuesday, we've got green. look at all the green. severe weather risks again for texas. dallas, watching you, austin, san anthony, houston, and corpus christi where we had 12 inches of rain. a lot of scattered showers in the southeast, florida. mid-atlantic, we've got rain,

including d.c. keeping the temperatures well above average for a good chunk of the mid-atlantic and the u.s. that's the story for the rest of the week. the weekend comes, until then, we're running below average. a lot of 50s at best for highs right here in missouri into parts of indiana and ohio. in the south, temperatures running below average, too, with the clouds and rain. meanwhile, in the west, enjoy awe couple days of relative warmth. and temperatures below average and rain will be back. meteorologist jen carfagno for weather channel. "worldwide exchange" continues after this. waiter. water. so why would you invest without checking brokercheck? check your broker with brokercheck.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." u.s. equity futures this morning losing a bit of steam. when we came in an hour ago, they were up by more than 100 points of a percent. still higher in terms of future but lost early gains. dow futures up 14. nasdaq up 7. this as oil started in an overnight session strong and has lost all of that and it's flat. we'll keep an eye on that. george soros is increasing his bet against the s&p and increasing 7%. soros' firm disclosing a 2.1

million share option. but soros bought a 19 million share stake in barrick gold and in a gold-backed etf. this is the first return to gold in three years. he called gold the ultimate bubble but changed his mind. and the gold bet is shaping up to be big money. contrast, paulson and company slashing its investment in the gold trust by 17% to 4.8 million shares. this is the third time paulson has reduced his stake in the year. to today's "must read" stories."the wall street journa great op-ed. titled "what's socialism, dad?" on the deterioration on venezuela's health care system and awful pictures there, the emergency they're facing. he compares it to what's happening here in the u.s. when it comes to policies by bernie

sanders. brett stevens writing it had no shortage of western cheerleaders as it set venezuela on its road to hyperinflation, hypercriminality, water shortages, beer shortages. and they are complicit in venezuela's agony. and he does says she do have these cheerleaders in the west noptably bernie sanders. he says for you avenue you supporters explain to your children this is what is happening in venezuela. it does not work. >> i love that among the serious consequences, beer. not quite as serious. my take in the financial times is titled "donald trump, vladimir putin and the lure of the strongman."

the story saying that typically they trade on feelings of insecurity, fear and frustration. putin and everything dough began have portrayed russia and turkey as surrounded by enemies. the trump campaign has incorporated elements of these themes. saying the fact that the u.s. is a bit late to the party to display a strongman leader that these other countries have come to it earlier. mentioned people in egypt. and an interesting comparison, of course, they're all different to each other. but that kind of strong rhetoric, the nationalistic vibe is certainly working in terms of opinion polls. putin a great example. those guys slightly cozying up in terms of rhetoric. the similarities are based on facts being strong and having that rhetoric rather than peer -- >> whether that correlates to

having good policy. that is interesting to see the personality paralleled. some interesting pitches. but worth looking because they've imposed these leaders heads on various body builders as well. >> including trump. >> including trump. still to come, the consumer in focus today, john manly, the executive manager at wells fargo funds. you're watching cnbc. first in business worldwide. don't go anywhere. 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. we're approaching the top of the hour that means the team at "squawk box" is get the ready in new york. andrew ross sorkin joins us in new york. we just can the "must read" section, but we left off with the election uncertainties. >> that goes to the idea of what ultimately happens. people forget this, over election cycle there have been studies not just in the united states but many countries in six months and usually a year of the

election gdp legitimately does slow. it did paralyze business, people use this epithet on certainty. but in a political season it's actually very, very true. increasingly so. that's what that piece get ace look at. we have a couple great things coming up. weapon have rob portman on. a lot of people speculating that he could ultimately become a vice presidential candidate for somebody named donald trump. we will see and talk to him about what's going on in washington. paul ryan's relationship with donald trump and all of that. and we also have kate and andy spade on the show. are you a kate spade fan? >> of course. >> i'm an andy fan. oh, we have a comedian on the show -- have you ever seen "between two ferns" do you know what i'm talking jab.

>> about? >> oh, no. >> obama was on. we have that guy. he's on the show. if that's not a reason to stick around, i don't know what is. >> i have to note i'm not a kate and andy spade fan yet but i'm sure i will. >> i'll get you a bag. >> a man bag. >> a man bag. >> and the cincinnati senator. thank you, andrew. futures right now, let's have a look as we said earlier we were over 100 points higher on the dow. about 90 minutes ago. now 70 points higher. and now futures lost steam as oil prices slip. oil prices had been higher by 1%. let's discuss this and the day ahead with john manly, chief equity strategist at wells fargo funds. john good morning. the oil price has been very important in recent weeks. let's focus from the data. cpi comes out today. do you think it's going to follow the suit of retail sales which surprised very strongly on friday? >> i think it's going to be

decent. we're going to get a little inflation in there. you look at the components there seems to be a potential there. any number is an oddity. but it's going to show signs successful in getting inflation in the economy. >> what's your strategy around consumer related stocks right now? >> we're neutral. a week or so ago, i always felt that retailing is idiosyncratic that it never tells you what's going on in general it's a hist in one style. automobile stocks are on their own bender right now. i'd rather own oil for the quality that i could buy at a decent price in the big oil companies. i think health care is still an extent way. you can't go out and buy clothes if you're not feeling well. that helps. >> company big names? >> big names. >> do you mind --

>> well it's simple. you can never be sure. the way i look at it when i retire if five, ten years, whatever, i'm probably going to have to retire on large cap stockings. bonds aren't giving me anything. very little. those stocks aren't the cheapest things. the way i looked at three or four months ago, it put the big oil companies on sale. they gave that. >> you're talking about large cap to be? that's what you like? >> i think that's a theme that's with us for ten years. >> like mcdonald's? >> i can't name any names but sure sounds like that for me. how do i face this, if i retire at 70 or 72, there's a good chance that either my wife or i are going to make it to 100. you can't get bonds long enough. you can't get yield. that's my problem in ten years. the first baby boomer has it today. every class of baby boomer after him or her gets it in the next

round. >> what about around the world, do you like u.s. stocks? >> u.s. is fine. but if you look at europe, things are really getting better there they've been cheap -- european stocks have been cheap for a few years but cheap for a reason. such as title fiscal policy. the european central bank. no quantitative easing. all of that is changing. the way i learned to play value, find something that's cheap, find out why and wait for the reasons to go away. >> the ftse 100 has been underperforming. it's got a good yield. partly brexit-related. now a good time to get into the stocks or wait until june 23rd? >> well, you can try and time these things too closely. i would have some exposure there. brexit in the worst case scenario is unlikely to happen. it's probably a bad economic wheel. there are some emotional issues involved as the british know

from their dealings with the scottish. you get yourself worked up in these things. at the end of the day, i think you got with the pocketbook your emotions. >> big head line, soros cuts his equity exposure. soros in the fund by 37%. and loads the boat on gold. when your clients call you and say to them, what do you say? >> i'd say george soros say very smart man. i'd like to know why he did it it. someone doing something because they have a phenomenal track record make please wonder but get please thinking about it. i think it's been less than a dead asset for a long time. i think we're moving towards that stage where the economy gets better to help gold. i'm not sure it's not that bad for stocks along the way. i can sort of see why he added to the gold. i'm not sure i would have taken from stocks. >> so your telling your clients to have some gold? he bought barrick gold. >> gold stocks are interesting. you can take all of the gold

that exist information the world would still be less than the capitalization of -- gold stocks are notoriously expensive versus underlying asset and there's a reason for that. market weighted on the materials, i'd rather get my expressier through the big oil companies right now but i'm definitely moving towards materials rather than moving away from them. >> we've got three fed speakers we'll hear from today. what's your latest expectation? >> i think we get one or two. the most important thing, not how many rate hikes but how many can encourage or discourage growth. whatever the interest rate is, if they're trying to encourage growth, that's pushing towards the economy and that's good. >> john manly from wells fargo. >> just click on the results of our twitter and facebook poll of the day. we asked if you the consumer is in good shape ahead of cpi and earnings. 48% said yes. 52% said no.

the no vote wins. >> yes. that's pretty telling. >> and home depot and t.j. maxx. >> that's it. "squawk box" is next.

good morning. the whale watch is on. new investments from some of the world's biggest investors revealed. we have the details straight ahead. and earnings alert. home depot, talked about this yesterday, set to report the numbers and wall street reaction just moments away. and a democratic slowdown in the blue grass and beaver states. john harwood has the latest as voters in kentucky and oregon head to the polls. it's tuesday, may 17th, 2016 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪

>> announcer: live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernin and andrew ross sorkin. check out the u.s. expect futures. big day for the markets surprisingly up by 1% for the dow by the end of the day. the dow futures up by 10 points. s&p up by a point, nasdaq up by 7. check out what happened overnight in asia. you'll see that the nikkei was up 1% as well. similar gain for the hang peng. but the shanghai composite down by a quarter point. biggest gainer looks to be the ftse up by .75%.