♪ if i was in l.a. >> 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, andrew is off today. guess what, tuesday, today, it's the final trading session of may. the dow is on track as joe mentioned for its fourth consecutive positive month. that would be its best streak since the five straight winning months that ended back in june 2014. six out of ten s&p sectors positive for the month. led by technology up by more than 5%. check out the month to date returns. dow up by 0.6%. that's a gain of 100 points. s&p is higher by 1.6%. nasdaq jumped by 3.3%. they're gains are safer. check it out, the bulls are in demand this morning.

dow is up 25 points. s&p is up by 2. nasdaq up by close to 7. overnight in asia, better than expected economic data coming out of japan. factory output rising. 1% gain to the nikkei up by 166 points. if you take a look at early trading and european markets you'll see at this point thing, relatively flat. red arrows across the board. none of these major averages down by even 0.2%. >> a race looking at how european average, up on asia. they read articles like that. they don't last long in these websites. >> no, they don't. >> i guess that's the same way with print. we're going to talk about the top stories. do you like a four-day week where you have a friday off or a four-day week -- >> definitely a monday. >> it's pay it forward, right? >> pay it forward.

>> you don't do anything for the friday off of the fore-day week. but were you've put in five last week and get three off. it's already tuesday, everybody. >> monday is gone. >> it's better. it's better. >> among our top stories this morning, price of crude and the only markets we'll be watching an opec meeting in vienna that's coming up on thursday. most are not expecting any coordinated action on production at this point. but crude prices as you know have almost doubled after hitting three-year lows in the winter. down around 27 now, briefly above 50 at one point last week. there was a lot of scuttlebutt, display disruption, the new guy from saudi arabia, it's all happening. that's going to continue to be something that affects everything else. anyway, it's a holiday short trading week. today, look for april personal income. and then the march smp

case-shiller home price index out. as well as pmi and consume confidence for may. on wednesday, we're getting may ism manufacturing and then the fed's beige book. while on thursday, it's may automatic so sales and adp -- wait a second, are you kidding me? >> end of the month. >> friday? friday? we just did that, honestly. >> time goes fast were you're having fun. >> oh, my god. the may employment report. the may employment report. it's still may. it's may 31st. okay. that is amazing. why do they keep taking that shot? do they want me to look over there? >> they love us. >> it's two -- >> because of wapner. >> wapner is out. he had an emergency issue. >> i'm not allowed to do that hand signal on air, am i?

>> yeah, i know which one. >> not here, either. it's cable, why can't i do that. >> we're so effective with our censoring. >> anyway, familiar comments from st. louis fed president jim bulliard speaking at a conference in seoul. bullard said that the markets seem to be well prepared for a summer interest rate hike. i love traders they're such babies. you think they've been clear enough that maybe there's one coming in june or july? do you think everybody's ready now, they got out some of the bad trades that might go wrong or something? >> indicating a 30%, to 35% chance in june to 60% -- >> eat your food, eat your food. we coddle. all right. here comes the airplane. here comes the airplane. open up. we coddle these people, don't we? >> this time, i think they've

been pretty transparent. >> god forbid, we've got to -- now, they're moving it over. just two cameras. >> you are so smooth. >> yeah. >> it's me. let's tell you about new developments in the drama over sumner redstone's media empire. viacom's directors vowing on monday they are not going without a fight. in a letter to shareholders, the six independent share shoholdery they plan to contest any battle. they believe sumner redstone is legally competent to act on his free will. a letter comes from redstone issue bd his spokesman who said he was considering ousting ceo chair philippe dauman from the board. that move to control the shares if redstone is deemed incompetent or dies. shares of viacom have dropped about 50% in the last two years

as its cable network suffer from viewers cutting the cord. the stock has risen more than 15% since redstone is removed from the trust. many believe redstone's daughter shari is behind the move. she's supports les moonves over at cbs. >> you don't cut the cord on things that they've got to have. spongebob suddenly isn't as important. >> it's constantly new content that comes through. comedy central with jon stewart. >> you know, it depends on espn, maybe advertising issues and down slightly. but comcast has been adding. >> comcast has been adding. >> i mean, this is an issue that people saw coming for a long time. it's an interesting chess game when you realize that there was just this battle to deem him

incompetei incompetent in a different lawsuit. >> right. it's a classic -- >> when you come after me. >> it's a classic soap opera thing with families. people eat it up. i didn't read the article today. at this point -- >> yeah. >> stocks to watch today. jazz, jazz pharmaceuticals is buying celator for $1.5 billion. $30.25 a share double from basically where it was. the company announced that its treatment for a deadly form of leukemia helped older high-risk patients live longer than those who received standard care. that was that a late stage cancer trial. the coo of airbus says a slowdown in bookings this year is normal. the company has only secured 92 of those orders through the first four months of 2016. john laney says as long as airbus matches order, they'll be

happy. suncore said operations north of alberta are expected following a massive wildfire in the area, suncor has moved 4,000 employees back in the region and bringing in another 3500 this week. air france-klm says it is in talks to sell a stake in its catering unit to china's hma group. that business is worth about $529 million. hma is stepping up global expansion agreeing in april to buy swiss airline catering group for $1.5 billion. reuters reports several japanese and chinese suitors interest in cit unit. first round bids for the leasing a fleet of over 350 planes are due in june. and the ceo of singapore's noble group yousef aliriza has

resigned. after being accused of overstating its assets by billions of dollars. known shares since then down about 75%. back to the markets. u.s. equity futures, again, last trading day of the month. you can see there are green arrows. dow up by 20 points. s&p, a point higher. nasdaq up by 5. we want to check out the treasury market. joe was talking about the fmoc comphevn comments. take a look at what's happening with the dollar. right now, looks like in the currency markets the dollar is down by the euro and yen. the euro is trading at 1.1146. the yen at 1.1105. gold prices look like down slightly. the dow and s&p are coming off their best week since march. let's get more on this holiday-shortened week on wall

street. julian emanuel joins us now director of u.s. equity and strategy at ubs. along with don sciutto. are either one of you june or july in terms of a next rate hike? >> more likely, july. >> if you're going to do it, you might as well do it in june. >> might as well and doing it are two different things, do you think they will? >> i think they will. they've laid the groundwork. i've on an advocate of they should be doing it. british is not going to affect the yen and euro as much as people think. it's going to affect the pound. i think holding monetary policy back because you convince xi to move rates -- >> we're talking about how sensitive the fed is to the notion that they surprised someone.

what is that all from? are they -- generally, are they too worried about the slightest market tremors or whatever happens? do they watch it too closely? and then do they take it to heart when people blame them for like a 200 or 300-point selloff? they know that can't happen. are they too sensitive? >> they're not day traders by any respect but the fact is you look at the financial crisis, things are more intersected than ever. by that respect they're prudent about thinking about -- >> prudent? >> they are. >> it's been eight years. when was it 2000 -- >> almost '09. >> we never had a fed that was this intimately involved with this aspect of our life. >> you can say the same thing with central banks. >> we're not at 4.9% unemployment. >> fact is, the fact is, if you look at the last three or four

weeks the markets actually like the fact that the fed is calling the shots now, as oppose to the markets guiding the feds in a lot of ways which has been the case since the taper. >> the bottom line is, we've done nothing for a year because of entering into the so-called titan cycle. we've only got be a quarter point so far. everybody is waiting around. we've made very little headway, whether it was the oil, oil collapse and the dollar. but it is difficult for the dollar to make headway in a tightening phase? >> i think what's happening our valuation are relative to activity. they've stretched those. >> not at secure row interest rates. >> again, relative to zero interest rates. aggregate economic activity to drive it broader. u.s. markets have difficulty going up. the real question is not whether the fed raises its rates 25

basis points or not, it's what is the glide path towards their quote/unquote normalization rate i have no idea what that should be. neither do they, unfortunately. >> there seems like there's two issues. one is the fed doesn't want to surprise the markets and the markets are still 30, 35% pricing in a rate hike in june. the second is they don't want to lose credibility. after talking up the game, warning people that a rise is coming. if you don't do it in june, you're going to have to list ton a month of people criticizing you? >> you're 100% correct. remember week at a year anniversary in june. they've got 25 basis points out of it. if you really felt you needed to go where you needed that level of advertisement, you should have had more. part of the problem for the market is, when you look at the data, the market wasn't anticipating the fed to go. the fed is data dependent. when the markets look to data, the markets said they don't need to go. then they come out with the

rhetoric and that's where they put the credibility on the line. that's the mistake. monetary at this stage should not be leading the economy. they should be following the economy and moving along with it. they're well ahead of it. that's the problem that the markets get into every time they do something. >> all right. so if at some point, we think that the markets are -- or that the rates are going up for good reason, can then traders finally go, okay, this is actually positive? >> i think the last month has told you that it's positive. if you look, the most encouraging thing, again, about the fed taking back the narrative in a lot of ways is the fact that financials have outperformed defenses as much as they have. and that's a very good sign. >> i don't know what you're talking about the fed took back the narrative. the only reason the fed has gone positive is because the markets indicated them strongly enough to say we can go up. they're scared and feckless and tiptoeing around normalizing

rates. and it's been nine years. >> it's a new world. and you know, coming off of zero is not an easy thing -- >> with the value, we'll see what happens. >> we're getting there. >> yeah, well, we'll see what happens when they can look at rate effectively. do you think we're higher by the end of the year both of you? >> for the country? >> no, the stock market. >> stock market? probably not. >> we won't be higher? >> no. >> so there's headway? >> the fed is much farther along than the actual economy is. the economy is struggling. it's got global headwinds. it's got deflation head winds. it's devaluation, it's not cheap. >> gentlemen, thank you. when we come back from the garden state to the golden state. hillary clinton cancelling campaign events in new jersey and announcing a five-day swing in california. later, we'll talk politicses

with former texas governor rand paul he'll join us. ♪

takeover deal announced just moments ago in the utility industry great plains energy buying wesstar energy. the deal is worth $60 per share. closed at $52.92 a share. w wesstar is the largest utility in the state of kansas. bernie sanders rally was interrupted by protesters yesterday. animal activists. secret service covered sanders immediately and stopped the activists. at least one was met with a police baton. the group direct action everywhere took credit for the protests. they said they want to end violence against animals in the united states. >> why is bernie sanders the target? >> that's a good question. >> i read a couple reports on

this and never got that. >> the rhetoric seems to cause violence at his rallies. i'm not saying he's lopsided. it just seems to be his message. it just seems to be his message causes a lot of violence. >> we've heard that before. >> violence at a trump rally, even if they're sent in by sanders people. >> it's odd for animal rights activists to be protesting at -- >> they want more of a socialist. >> protesting him from the left. >> they want animals to rule us all, i guess. bernie sanders is not -- >> the zoo director getting the flak about this. what are you going to do? >> yeah. >> i know. >> the tranquilizer, it doesn't work. >> he was already hurting the child. >> he was dragging him around. they were very concerned about it. it's a terrible situation.

>> we've been there. i been there to see the gorillas with the family. i think he was one of the guys. they're so cool. >> they're awesome. >> they definitely interact. >> it looked at first like he was protecting the kid but then he's dragging him around. >> i get the same expression from you. the same grumpy -- >> the same gorilla attitude. >> for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, ben white in politico is here. we've seen hillary clinton saying she's cancelling some events taking place in new jersey muling out to california. is that because she has to? >> it is because she has to. she's probably going to get the nomination the total number, the last thing she wants on that day is the final head line to be hillary clinton loses california to bernie sanders. that would embolden sanders to go to the convention and demand

more from her and it would look like she doesn't have a hard grip on the nomination. she leafs new jersey to go to california where polls show they're pretty much tied. so she could avoid that negative headline but bernie won california. maybe he can win enough superdelegates. >> it's important that she wins california. >> even if she wins california is it a given -- >> no, bernie sanders has said he will be in the campaign throughout and not concede until the convention. it's not a give at all unless she wins california. to say she's won the biggest state in the nation. she's got a big lead in the popular vote. we need to organize to take on donald trump here. come into the fold. it's going to be tough either way. it's a lot easier. >> people say a tough primary makes you stronger. that may not be the case in this

situation? >> i'm not sure that is the case. given how angry supporters are who think the superdelegate thing is not at all fair. it's party insiders. they think the party nomination process has not been fair. it's going to take a while to bring those people on board. >> if you remove the superdelegates would hillary clinton still win? >> she still has a couple more million votes and pledged lead in delegates. california is say proportional state so each will get delegates there. you'll have more pledged votes from sanders any way you cut it it's hard to make the argument that he should make the nomination. >> you saw the huffing post piece that had to be taken down, it was a blog. >> it was a blog. >> this guy says he's got sources in the fbi that says an indictment is -- they've decided

to do it and they're trying to figure out with justice, about how -- what's going to happen if they recommend it, and then justice decides not to do it. i just wonder where there's smoke there's fire. does anyone have sources at the fbi who know this? >> people do have sources at the fbi. people who penned this piece, i don't know. >> and the delay on that -- saying that he had sources at the fbi. >> whether it's true. >> you can make some calls? >> let me call josh gernstein. >> maybe trump -- it's been 11 years ago. 11 years ago. >> i know you're not a fan of this piece but this is based off of a document that was recently released. >> i know, though -- >> is donald trump worth the $10 billion that he claims? >> he should have said i'm mitt romney, i'm only worth $200

million. then you find out oh, my god, he's actually worth $1.5 billion. we're arguing about -- >> we're arguing - the question is the candidate's veracity. >> right, however, we are arguing about is he at thing the truth to voters? >> he's telling the truth about exaggerating. he's got my name on it. >> let me just tell you what he said? >> how do you value that? >> some of these valuations are based on nothing, okay. the piece says he claimed $575 million in income. he's actually counting all revenue. that's not the bottom line. the bottom line is a lot lower than. >> six months ago, they told me the same thing. >> i know you don't care whether donald trump says what he's worth. >> and why -- >> because this is a new document out in june. now he's the presumptive nominee for president. i think it matter what is he

says about his own net worth which is one of his biggest claims to the nomination. fabulously wealthy. >> so it could be 15 -- >> we don't know. the american people deserve to see them. >> people don't care about that. >> maybe they don't care but i would like to know. >> talking to billionaire and financialists who go through and value the properties? >> right. it looks like he's overvalued the golf properties. in new york, westchester he values that club at $50 million. in a tax dispute, his lawyers valued it at 1.35 million. that sounds like when you value your house, when you tell people how much it's worth and when you're trying to decide what to pay.

>> it's $1.5 billion or 10 billion. i don't know, 1.5 billion, i'll take. >> i would, too. but i think it matters to americans. >> at least the other candidate -- >> she is dishonest. her e-mail scandal is a big deal. yet, you make it seem that i don't care about hillary's scandals and i do. >> i wish politico will start looking at the foundation stuff. >> josh has written a lot about the foundation. she's got major honesty problems, too, joe. >> what sounds better, politico or the puffington post? which if you're going g ting t merge -- >> you're on the marriage of these two. >> well, you're soul mates why don't you put the two together. you know, with people, you just, pool your resources. >> there are plenty of people at politico that i like a lot.

>> you have a choice of politico or puffington post. >> i like puffington. that's like puff the magic dragon. >> you started it by tweeting -- >> i enjoy it every time. i do. >> thank you. >> the pleasure, always. >> puffington post. >> i think you can sell that -- coming up, the new theme park in china is looking to take on disney, but some disney characters were spotted at the park's opening weekend. and disney says it will protect its intellectual property. as we head to break, s&p 500 winners and losers. ♪ it takes two baby it takes two baby me and you ♪

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welcome back. time now for "executive edge." a new theme park in china is taking on disney. and business owners are talking trash. and some expanding at wanda city over the weekend. sounds like wally world, wanda city. >> well, hopefully, you will, at least that's what china's

richest man hopes. china's richest man got himself in a bit of a dispute with disney this is just two weeks before soaping shy hang disneyland. the chairman of the wanda group opened his own theme park. this is a $3 million mega complex called wanda city. he said he hopes it's going to promote chinese culture in the face of disney. >> translator: chinese culture led in the world for 2,000 years but for the last 300 years because of lagging development and the invasion of foreign cultures we have more or less lacked confidence in our own culture and have fawned over foreign culture. >> reporter: and just this month, wanda's chairman was very critical of disney on state tv saying that disney's ambitions here would crumble in the face

of local competition. and he also said that the frenzy over mickey mouse would soon pass. so, it was a its of a surprise when many visitors who went to wanda's tourist attraction spotted mickey mouse shirts, snow white, captain america, as well as "star wars" storm troopers. wanda said those characters are not part of a park but instead, part of a promotional event at one of the stores at the mall that has a license tour disney stuff. but disney did not take this very lightly in fact they're very unhappy. they issue add state saying we have a good relationship with wanda, particularly in the film business, you including in the united states. and we are perplexed that mr. wang would choose to have a public battles with. disney is, as i said, two weeks away from its open of shanghai disneyland. this is the biggest park in the world. the company does actually have the backing of the government

for its park. but just like so many other foreign companies it does face intellectual property issues and what foreign companies have been describing as an increasingly anti-foreign atmosphere. guys. >> is there anything similar to mickey mouse for wanda. >> i don't know of any of the -- i mean, it's going to be tough. disney's got unbelievable -- >> reporter: there are a lot of pagodas -- there are a lot of pagodas and dragons. but there are other characters that look similar to pokemon or to other characters that people have recognized in the past. so, yeah, they do -- might face intellectual property rights issues. >> yeah, it's just disney -- disney hasn't been slow either with just mickey and minnie and donald. >> can't keep track of them all.

>> snow white and dumbo. >> "star wars." >> i don't want to inflict cultural things on to term. but a lost these things, i don't know, i'd like to share them. some of them are in "star wars." some of it pretty good stuff. it's not all just a battle. and there's enough room for both. >> lighten up a little. >> yeah. all right, eunice. see, if wanda tries to open over here, forget about it. i'm not going there if they try to inflict that -- >> they will. they do have this ambition. wanda's chairman said that he not only is going to open 15 theme parks in china, but theyless are hoping to open three or five overseas. and they're not the only one, the major film company highlighting hollywood, they've also made comments regarding conditionny. i think what's interesting, what both of them have said the

selling point for their own parks is that they have a lot of them and the ticket price is cheap. about $30. whereas for disney parks they're priced at more than double that. but at the same time, disney's business strategy has always been to create fewer parks like in the united states, where you only have florida and california. and here you have quality of experience. that's what disney says. >> with sharing cultures of both. it should be a two-way street. eunice, thank you very much. >> it's becoming a universal city parks better than disney for the total experience. >> harry potter, the newest installation in california. oreo cookie maker mondelez is intending to roll out new videos. it comes from the twist and dunk mobile app. the company is trying to move away from traditional and focus

on more content. mondelez launched in november 2012 and has hadded 7 billion downloads since then. it's not a loss, they're actually making money on this. coming up a disappointing holiday weekend for disney. the "alice in wonderland" failed to bring it. is there actually a sequel? >> i didn't see it. >> didn't they do a whole book in "alice in wonderland"? anyway, back, we're going to talk about hollywood winners and losers as we head to break. i'm going to look that up. let's look at what's happening on the european markets. ♪ you know you're going to fall tell them all ♪

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♪ no, you're not ♪ yogonna watch it! ♪tch it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download on the goooooo! ♪ ♪ you'll just have to miss it! ♪ yeah, you'll just have to miss it! ♪

♪ we can't let you download... uh, no thanks. i have x1 from xfinity so... don't fall for directv. xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. i used to like that song. welcome back, everybody. summer movie season kicking off over the weekend.

"x-men apocalypse" led the pack. of x-men days of future past which opened on memorial day two years ago. disney's "alice through the looking glass" brought in $32 million. that is well below the $62 million the original reboot brought in in 2010. joining us now is barton crockett. he's fbr's capital market senior analyst it's. this was a disappointing weekend but is it something that the street wasn't expecting? >> no i think that this weekend was lighter than many people had thought for this particular period. but i think the overall trend for box office this quarter was that expectations were low. and that box office will come in line with that. i was thinking that it would do better and that the not going to happen. for disney, we thought they would do better than eps

estimates for the year. with this movie, they're likely to see a writedown in consensus for the year. >> what happened? >> well, i think this movie didn't get the reviews. i think the k"alice in wonderland" movie in 2010 had a lot of hype in 3d which is not there. and the johnny depp didn't help. and then competition with x-men. i don't think there was as much competition with x-men in 2010. >> it seems like we have this conversation about movies every summer. about the depth of movies not being that good. how would you grade the overall of the film entertainment industry right now? >> i think there's been skepticism over the past years. it's pushed back. had over 12% growth in the first quarter. you had a very healthy fourth quarter for box office. here in the second quarter, we've got tough comparisons to a

year ago that had jurassic, inside out, fast and furious, one of those th iterations. i think we'll be down with the "star wars" coming up. >> going through the stocks which ones do you like out of the group? >> well, i think in the movie theater group, amc is very interesting with a play on their acquisition will be helpful for that the equity. i think within the studio stocks, the tv network conglomerates, viacom is interesting but it's really not about their movies. it's about everythings happening there. disney is investable, i think you got to pick your places. i think the movie performance has been rate. just less from this weekend. >> let's go back to viacom, you say it's interesting because it's what's happening there. do you think this san opportunity to jump into the stock? >> i've been recommending viacom

more aggressively going into this year, as we started to get a better sense of the instability at the top i think that creates more opportunity. with viacom, you have a stock trading that's pe, that's a high single-digit pe. and this is a company in a control situation, you would think of this as a takeout target, maybe a breakup where you can get better management of-these properties. with the discussion at the top, you have to wonder if that control persists. and it could be in play to realize some of the parts. >> what if it's not a situation where the company is in play but one where it's being combined with cbs? >> i think that comes into play but i also don't think that cbs wants to buy viacom. it's pretty clear. if it did happen, i would expect that would not be a bad situation for viacom equity in something where cbs might look

to exit a lot of the properties there. perhaps tax efficiently. i think there's a lot of people who would like to have some of the viacom properties. i'm not sure that any one entity wants to have all of them. and i'd put cbs in that count. >> barton, thank you for joining us today. in 1865, the first one was alice's adventures in wonderland, kept the adventures part. louis carroll wasn't his name. it's a suda pseudonym. and then the sequel, i don't know how the sequel did in 1871 versus -- >> versus the original? >> yeah. but they didn't need to like -- they didn't need to like come up with "dumb & dumber 2." they just actually did -- coming

up -- see, that's why, because it would have been questions like that. did you ever read? >> i read that, "alice in wonderland." i started reading it to the girls. i never finished reading it to the girl. >> the dollar trading near its highest level in more than a month. boris frostburg joins us to talk about the expectations with the next interest rate hike which starts tomorrow, in fact. ♪ that's the way you do it money for nothing your chicks for free ♪

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europ the dollar getting a boost. climbing towards a two-month high and growing expectations for a rate hike. boris schlossberg. managing director and a cnbc contribut contributor. yellen closed, in your mind -- have to believe it will be june or july. >> she did not say no. usually she is the biggest dove in the room and always pours cold water over any expectations. she didn't do that this time. i think it's because they have to do something to gain credibility back. they've been backing off the whole idea of hiking rates for so long that, if they do it again, it will destroy their credibility going forward. >> is it already in the foreign exchange markets? >> not yet. i am surprised at how little fed

funds are pricing in the project of june. the markets still remain skeptical about this. >> after they do it, does the euro go to 108 or 114. >> i think it has a chance of going down to 110, 110, 108. >> it's not in it yet. >> no. i think yen could bust out above 112. there is room to scope. the thing about the rate hike, why the market is not uber-bullish is because i think it will be one and done and they'll wait -- if they do this. they'll do now and wait until december to figure out what to do next. they're trying to do two things. not screw up the economy by tightening up too fast too soon and at the same time establish escape velocity. they need to get into the normalization -- >> and not look like they've been on the entire rate hike for a year now. >> the whole 75 basis points psychologically is the escape philosophy.

japan raised 25 basis points and had to come right back. if you get beyond the 50 point bear year you might be in the mode. >> where does japan go from here in terms of negative rates and everything else? will this be -- will this weaken the yen enough to where they -- >> hopefully -- they are starting to feel a lot better. what's interesting now is before -- before the euro strengthened, the yen strengthened on the point that the fed was willing to do nothing. now that the fed is trying to communicate with pretty uncertain terms that they're going to hike rates it should help the other central banks with their policies. the boj needs the yen to be weaker. ideally above 115. they backed off already the idea of a sales tax seeing how tight the conditions are in country right now. >> what does this do to things denominated in dollars? what does it do for the oil or

gold market? >> gold, already took a big tumble. straight out of the playbook. i am still bullish gold long term because there is a lot of evidence saying, even if the dollar strengthens, gold could strengthen as well. this is the key thing. depending on how equities go. i think if the dollar strengthens considerably we could have a wobble in the equity market in the summertime which could be positive for gold. so gold could -- >> loved it at 2,000. i am thinking i might buy -- you can still buy a maple leaf, right? >> right. >> american eagles -- >> only 91% gold. >> you want to buy physical gold? >> border guard? i'm going to give the guy my efts. >> which border are you going to? >> there is no border guard on south america. >> that was your reasoning

behind getting a gun. nobody cares about gold. >> with a gun, if other people have gold, you can take their gold. if other people have a gun too, you are in a standoff and then you're using gold as a barter -- >> just get a gold-plated gun. >> a gold-plated gun. that's an idea. >> thank you. >> people love gold at 1900. they hate it at 1200. >> yeah. i am pretty bullish -- >> everybody should own -- >> a little bit. >> it's cool. >> it's heavy. >> just there is a reason. i think i'll buy two and then i can rub them together. >> buy some jewelry. that will work out better for you. you get the dual pleasure. >> you buy it 99% pure, you're just buying gold. and depending on what happens in the gold market -- >> you may catch the bounce. as far as the dollar goes, i think dollar moderately positive for the next month or so, assuming the fed delivers what they promised. this will be the big thing. if they back off now -- >> credibility issue. >> big credibility issue.

if the fed backs off on the assumption that maybe we need a little bit more easing, i think it will be horrible for the stock market. just like when the boj eased and everybody thought it would be great and it turned out to be terrible. it's time for central banks to establish credibility, so they need to hike rates. when we come back. brick and mortar feeling the pressure from amazon. we'll tell you which stocks are safe from the e-commerce giant's reach. the presidential race in focus later. we'll be joined by former texas congressman ron paul. ♪ it's how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network, and cloud and hosting services - all with dedicated, responsive support.

with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you're free to focus on growing your business. centurylink. your link to what's next. what aremaking a cake!ht now? ayla reminds me of like a master chef and emiana reminds me of like a monster chef. uh oh. i don't see cake, i just see mess. it's like awful. it feels like i am not actually cleaning it up what's that make mommy do? (doorbell) what's that? swiffer wetjet.

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forget about selling may. will the gains hold or is a summer swoon ahead? countdown to california. hillary clinton packing her bags and heading to the golden state hoping to hold off a bernie sanders' surge ahead of the primary. don't mess with adele. why the pop star called out a fan fo filming her concert. the details straight ahead as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ i can't help feeling we could have had it all ♪ >> live from the beating heart of business, new york city, this is "squawk box." ♪ you had my heart and soul welcome back. >> tom! it wasn't tom vibrating.

it was his phone. >> not a good start. >> by the way, it was tom's phone. >> i could feel it all the way over here. it was we are. welcome back to "squawk box." first in business worldwide. futures slightly higher for most of the morning. still less than 20 minutes. up 18 on the dow. up 1.25 on the s&p. oil prices under 50. $49.47. in fact -- that's weird. ice brent and w.t.i. are the same. exactly the same. $49.47. >> there is usually a premium to brent. st. louis fed president james bullard says the financial markets are well prepared for a summer interest rate hike. at a singapore news conference he said the u.s. economy seems to be recovering, though he did not specify which summer meeting might be the most likely for a right increase. market betting on july at this point but plenty assuming that

june is a very live meeting too. a multi-billion-dollar utility merger announced. great plains energy, the parent of kansas city power and light, is buyer westar energy. it will pay $8.6 billion in cash and stock. that is worth about $60 a year. oracle and hewlett-packard enterprise are heading to court. the hardware is sold by the hp spinoff. last trading day of may. dow up .6%. s&p higher by 1.6%. the nasdaq has nuchjumped more 3%. joining us is tom lee and oksana. you're going to do fixed income for us.

start with tom just to see what -- if you want equity exposure buy the dips if there are any in june. that's the takeaway from what you think, even with all the fed talk and possible action? >> yes. i think part of it is the fed tightened in december. this would be their second hike. i think we have to just keep in mind the market has priced in a lot more tightening already. maybe not in the fed futures but in financial conditions. we have inflation picking up, commodities bottoming. the dollar is not gaining any more. high yield is probably the most important thing to focus on. it's telling us the stock market should have double-digit gains this year. >> so high yield? what's high yield telling us? what did he mean by that. >> i'm going on the record saying high yield may actually be a better investment at this point than equities because if we are looking at a tepid sort

of muddle-through recovery, historically high yield has tended to do well during periods like this. what equities have going for them, from a dividend standpoint they're yielding 3% above what you're getting on high quality, the higher quality bond space. another important point for the realm of fixed income in general is that everything that's said about fixed income these days is hinging on speculating about the fed, whether the fed will go in june or whether they'll go in july, et cetera. this entire morning as i was sitting in the green room, every speaker you have had here has talked about it. the reality is that, irrespective of whether the fed goes in june or july or doesn't go in june or july, the sad truth about fixed income today for investors is that it's never been less equipped to deliver the three reasons they hold it. that's true irrespective of your opinion of whether rates are

moving sideways or going higher or lower. the runway is limited. i think there needs to be a different approach for diversification for portfolios today. >> you say you liked -- high yield will outperform stocks but you don't like high yield. >> we do like high yield. absolutely. >> you're saying -- >> you get paid for the risk. >> the one area in fixed income i think where you are getting paid for the risk is high yield. to give you an idea certainly the energy and commodities sector will continue to have issues and defaults will continue to escalate. the actual default has been not even .5%. fundamentally that space is okay. it's certainly not looking like something that's going to experience several times the defaults that we are seeing today. even if you were to factor it in, you're getting paid to take

the risk. if you are in an active management framework that can focus on issues that will not be -- >> why is it so different today? why has the entire structure changed where you think you need to find other ways to diversify? >> the issue is that, when you buy a bond, you are taking on a number of risks. so if you look at a high-quality bond, investment grade bond, you are taking an interest rate risk. liquidity risk. only one acts as a diverse fier during periods of stress for equities that's interest rate risk. interest rate risk is exceptionally limited in the ability to deliver the diversification. if you look at global indices they're yielding barely 1%, probably around .7%. that's with central banks globally nearly fully deployed. what is it that you are hoping to get from that space? >> we have been spending a lot of time talking to investors are

rethinking your approach to diversificati diversification. year-to-date you've seen over $40 billion flowing into high walt fixed income. over half towards passive strategies. tracking indices that are over 80% government bonds. considering that the market is not pricing in a fed move with -- barely 30%, 35% for june, maybe slightly higher for july. the reality is the market has not caught up with that reality. i think there could be significant downward pressure there. >> i made the point, tom, the u.s. dollar -- three mistakes people can make. the dollar, i would think, if they raise it, it's already seen -- it's already back -- it's gotten stronger based on the concept that they are going to raise, right? do you see it going to 108, again, the euro, for example? >> i think the dollar has been flat for the last 15 months. >> even with another hike, it's already in the dollar. >> yeah. i mean it's -- you know, if the

dollar is flat, earnings are going to actually have a benefit from weaker dollar. i think consensus this year has gotten a lot of things wrong. a lot of people said sell in may. we're up .5%. >> it's been a year of underperformance for the stock market. nobody feels flush right now from staying in equities. >> you could have pulled a rum am still skin. a lot of things move but the stock market is exactly flat. that's not a bad thing, right, because, you know, i think there is a case being made this morning that high-yield is a good market. >> you're making the same case. >> double-digit returns, right. that's happened 15 times since 1985. 14 of the 15 times stock market returns when high-yield was double digit at least 10%. average is 22%. >> you can buy high-yield stocks right now? >> i have worked with the high yield market for 20 years as an

analyst. if high yield will do as well as it is the stock market will do even better. >> see, i would buy the stock market then. >> yeah, because you get dividends -- >> for diversification i need the high yield too. >> you don't worry about defaults. it's more liquid. stock market could be up even more. >> you're getting two different markets. if you look at the high yield space, essentially you're getting a mid-cap, growth type exposure. if you were to translate that into equity terms. you can plan around that and diverse diversify accordingly. if you were playing that space, you can sort of expose yourself to other parts of the equity market to reap the benefits. >> tom, just to clarify. you like u.s. stocks but only on dips? or you would tell people to buy anyway? >> i just think we're almost to new highs.

and yet every client we see thinks the world is ending, they're cash. they all said sell in may. you know, today, you know -- almost 40% -- i think it's actually probably close to 60% of the s&p now has a cash return yield. so that's dividend plus buy-back. stocks are really cheap. >> thank you both. when we come back, keeping up with amazon. traditional retailers are spending billions to compete with the e-commerce giant. but is it too little, too late? we'll talk to an analyst next. get ready for the rio olympic games

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and catch every live event on your tv with nbc sports live extra. i'm getting ready. are you? x1 will change the way you experience nbcuniversal's coverage of the rio olympic games. call or go online today to switch to x1. amazon's retail domination -- >> sorry. go. i didn't know we were on air. >> amazon's retail domination forcing other companies to play a game of catchup. amazon is up more than 60% over the last year. traditional resalers like macy's and target in the red. courtney reagan joins us with a few ways to amazon-proof your portfolio. good morning. >> good morning to you, joe. happy tuesday. >> we're on air. >> we made it. we're here. >> amazon is a formidable force. amazon may not be the only way

to play the retail space. i have some analyst picks to help you amazon-proof your portfolio, at least a little bit. two paths retailers can take to create a competitive mote around amazon. differentiated shopping experience and selling products with emotional connections. both harder for amazon to offer online. tjx companies and ross stores for the treasure hunt. selling beauty and ulta for consumers needing the in-person testing on product first. restoration hardware for the curated store experience. and l-brands for the emotional connections. bras are definitely hard to try on online. broader sectors. key bank points to the handbag luxury space as those with lower risk and higher opportunity when it comes to competing with

amazon. lululemon and under armour are two brands that are important in the athletic space and amazon would have a hard time coming up with an alternative since price is less than a decision factor for both of those brands. they think tiffany is more insulated since fine jewelry is something most prefer to buy in person. blue nile, online only, hasn't done well. >> tiffany's has not done well. >> if you're looking for against amazon, perhaps a play to consider. >> stay here, courtney. robert durvell, thank you for coming in today. >> if you were to add a name to the list, who would it be? >> we'll throw walmart into the list. >> against amazon? >> not that it's amazon-proof. but we think it has the financial flexibility to effectively compete longer term.

i think that they've taken a longer-term perspective. the near term is an improved situation with where the low end consumer is. lower gas prices and increased wages. they've put together a pretty good three-year plan that they're executing nicely. >> is that because they have the resources to go head to head even in the e-commerce world? >> we don't expect walmart to overtake amazon. we think they're playing for the number two seat at the table. >> that's funny to hear. walmart playing for the number two seat. >> when you look at their core retail bricks and mortar business, they're executing that business nicely. seven consecutive positive same-store sales, six consecutive increases in traffic. inventory is down 6% in the u.s. the basic retailing 101 they're doing pretty nicely. >> do they need to be online even more than they are or -- i

am asking because allen joined us recently and his thought was the traditional retailers chasing e-commerce, maybe it's not the best bet. all the things you pointed to as to why walmart is doing well is in the stores. >> the consumer is going online at a rapid clip. i believe most successful retailers need to have a competent bricks and mortar plus online strategy. one of the things walmart is doing, one of their competitive advantages is the grocery business. they've narrowed their focus a bit. grocery online, in-store pickup with the grocery. grocery home delivery. and they're executing that pretty nicely right now as well. they're trying to balance it all and i think doing a fine job with. they have the longer-term time hi horizon to invest in online, in associates, in the stores.

and they're doing it well. >> i think the e-commerce growth for walmart was pretty low in the last quarter. 7%. >> it has decelerated. >> right. >> i think that really signifies the need to invest in it. if you look at where the world is going -- walmart is investing a billion plus. they're losing a billion dollars in e-commerce as well. they understand the urgency of being there. i think the deceleration in the numbers makes us understand that the money they're putting towards it is likely money well spent. it's either invest heavily and try to be relevant or do nothing and become a lot less relevant. i think the investments they're making should pay off over time. when you look at amazon's business, the size of amazon, they're reaccelerating their u.s. business. when you think about the lead that they have and watching the numbers play out, you know, in a variety of categories. i think the environment is

moving that way and walmart is trying to get to that point in time. >> do you agree that amazon is the retail-killer and is hurting all the other stores dramatically? >> it's definitely a major factor. look at egm as a growth vehicle. electronics general merchandise, the north american segment was up 32% in the first quarter. reaccelerated from the fourth quarter. those numbers versus a 1% comp in walmart and low single digit comp at many other retailers. there are a few strong retailers who can effectively compete but it's definitely amazon is a force to be reckoned with. it's not going away anytime soon. they've invested heavily for 20 years to get to where they are today. >> robert and courtney, thank you. coming up, adele has one request for concertgoers, put down the video camera. pop star's strong words for one fan. i would be embarrassed if i was

the person. we'll tell you what she said. here is quick check on the futures as we head to break. ♪

in global news. south korean officials say a north korean missile launch likely failed today. this is the latest in a string of high-profile failures. it somewhat tempers recent worries that pyongyang was pushing quickly towards its goal of a nuclear-tip missile that could reach america's mainland. india telling apple it can open stores in the country if it creates jobs. the government says that it's discussing apple foreign direct investment application that seeks a waiver from a local sourcing rule. india wants the tech giant to sell at least 30% locally sourced goods if it wishes to open shops in the country. apple ceo tim cook met the indian prime minister a week ago. cook's trip to india expected to set the stage for the company's expansion in india. a new survey this morning focusing on brexit fears. a third of top executives say they've spent up to one million

pounds preparing for the consequence of leaving the eu. they intend to relocate parts of their operation. >> you can dance, sing and propose to your significant other, but don't film adele's concerts. the pop star calling out an audience member for recording the performance instead of watching it live. at the concert in italy adele asked her to take down the tripod because this is a real show. >> here here. either watch it on your video player or watch it in real life. >> i go to things when my kids have chorus concerts and people tape the whole thing. they're playing with -- >> i've tried to tape it and i realize i'm not watching them. i am watching it on the video camera instead of watching them. i have to hold it like this to

actually what they're doing. >> have you ever watched one after? i have taped things with my iphone and i've never gone back and watched. >> i have shown the grandparents. i have never actually gone back to watch it for myself. >> the video camera used to be something 25, 30 years ago, wow. >> really cool. >> now there is no one that can't -- >> it drives me nuts at the school concerts, the people who bring their ipads and hold the whole thing up. be discreet. you're blocking everyone else from seeing. >> they don't care. but everything is on video now. it's scary. you have to remember that, too, or you could be the espn reporter reaming the poor parking lot -- you know? >> yes. >> i think about that now. i am a better person. >> because you're being surveilled all the time. >> not on purpose. yeah. >> you're supposed to have a reckoning and a -- right. >> better person. squawk sports news, the nba's western conference finals came down to game seven last

night. didn't really surprise me, even 3-1. you win 73, 74 games. >> you're going all the way. >> the golden state warriors fighting back from being down 3-1 in a series against the oklahoma city thunder. they trailed by six points at halftime and put the hammer down. curry drilled a deep three late in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach for the thunder. the warriors win 96-88 to punch their ticket to the finals where, for the second straight year, they'll face lebron and the cleveland cavaliers. >> is it thursday when it starts? >> the reds scored 11 runs yesterday. joey votto, two hits, three noi rbis. in hockey last night. game one of the stanley cup finals. the pittsburgh penguins led by captain sidney crosby facing off against the san jose sharks in the first-ever trip to the

finals. the penguins took a 3-2 lead in the late third period and held on to win the game. game two is tomorrow night. wednesday night. when we come back, we have a lot to talk about. donald trump's tax controversy. the secret service getting hands-on with bernie sanders. and hillary clinton switching to plan b to try to win california. we'll talk about the race for the white house next. ♪ ♪ for decades, investors have used a 60/40 stock and bond model, with little in alternatives. yet alternatives can tap opportunities that traditional assets can't. and even though they're called alternatives, they're actually designed to help meet very traditional goals. that's why invesco believes people should look past conventional models and make alternatives a core part of their portfolios.

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♪ one more time i go, higher powers taking a hold on me ♪ ♪ one more time i go. higher powers taking hold ♪ among the stories front and center. a busy day tofor economics numbers. the government will be issuing april personal income and spending numbers in about an hour. later, the case-shiller report and consumer confidence. apple reportedly planning to lengthen the time between full iphone model changes to three years rather than two years. according to japan's nikkei

newspaper. that would be in response to a slowing market and difficulty trying to make significant advancements. martin sen has committed swoid suicide. three years after the company's chief financial officer took his own life. >> zurich insurance? yeex. in political news. the u.s. chamber of commerce wants to keep the status quo. the nation's big ez business lobby announces today to raise money for tight senate races to keep the gop from losing control of the chamber in november. the gop is defending like 24 seats, the dems, only ten seats. it's 54 right now. >> mm-hmm. >> and that would mean how many -- that would mean 46 democrats. except one is not a democrat. is he a democrat specifically. >> he is now. >> you feeling the bern? >> he is running as democrat

nominee. >> in the senate he was an independent. >> he was. >> now he claims he is a democrat. >> he has won 28 states and counting. >> you know that, i know. one week away from the last major contest in the democratic race. the california primary. joining us former u.s. congressman harold ford and president and founder of the polling company, kelley ann convey. hillary clinton looks like she is changing her schedule. she'll be campaigning in california. harold, it's looking like a tighter race? >> that's a big part of it. maintaining the momentum that she has. she'll get enough delegates after california to secure the nomination. score board is still relevant when it comes to this. bernie sanders has raised important issues. he's raised some issues that the spotlight should stay on not only throughout the race but

throughout the next presidency which i believe will be hillary clinton. the energy he has generated, it's hard to imagine it going anywhere but to hillary clinton. >> some of them could go to trump and some could stay home. >> the bulk of his supporters and even bernie sanders who has publicly stated that he would support the democratic nominee, not donald trump. when you ask the questions about supreme court nominees, climate change, income inequality. i believe mrs. clinton has a more compelling message. will some bernie sanders' supporters demanding more? of course. that happens in every presidential race when you have urging of a third-party candidacy. if that materializes, i can't imagine how that doesn't help hillary clinton in the fall. i like where hillary clinton is. if bernie sanders choosing to stay running, he has every right to. >> kelly anne, it seemed earlier

in the race that the republicans had a much tougher time, now it seems like the democrats are facing a little bit of hurdles as donald trump has kind of taken over as the presumptive -- he is going to be the republican nominee. >> that's the point. donald trump has something today that hillary clinton still does not have. he is the presidential nominee of his party. i believe, had they not cleared the field for hillary clinton, she would already be the nominee. she has a difficult time in a one on one race, whether it's barack obama in '08. bernie sanders right now. donald trump in the polls. she seems to have a difficult time waging the two-front war against both sanders and trump. they're even struggling with changing the message. this woman ought to get a refund an her focus groups. it's practically june, and she is struggling to find a good message. i disagree with the fine congressman whom i respect enormously. bernie sanders promised a quote,

messy convention. his folks will not go gently into the night. they believe he's not just raised important issues, they believe the issues ought to be the dominant, front and center part of the conversation going into the convention. >> she said, i'm not changing my positions. i'm sticking with my positions. it puts her in a quandary if she is pushed farther left and alienates more moderate voters. >> income inequality, climate change, two of the most prominent issues and concerns that bernie sanders has expressed and his voters and supporters have evidenced. mrs. clinton is where he is on the issues. >> climate change comes in like 2%. >> it may be the case. the first conversation is about bernie sanders supporters. if she consolidates the supporters, the numbers you are seeing now -- kelly anne has a better understanding that i'll ever have but if she is able to

consolidate the support, i think her numbers go up against trump. when it comes to moderates and independent. mitt romney i believe the independent vote in 2012 still lost the race. i am not saying she'll lose the vote in 2016 -- >> is that an argument for hillary adopting more of sanders' positions and not worrying about the moderates? >> some would argue the opposite. i am saying the math dictates that if mrs. clinton holds the coalition that barack obama built in 2012 she can win in 2016. she has not locked it up. in a few days i think that will be the case. when the score board indicates she has enough delegates to be nominee i hope mr. sanders and his supporters will respect that and focus on unification. >> you are always a great party man. i like that. but -- it was a bad week last week with the inspector general report. i know that, you know, the

clinton camp is still with -- there's nothing to see here, there's nothing to see here. i don't know how many shoes drop before it's -- an indictment would probably be -- at that point that spin won't work. let me bring up something important that was in the "journal" today. i think this is what a lot of americans are looking at now. we've seen 20 years of the clintons sort of no rules -- it may not be against the law, but no rule seems too flimsy to sort of bend or at least push out to the very end of the ethical -- the ethical spectrum. maybe we can bring this up -- mcgurn has a piece of it today that i asked for. you got that? here it is. in clinton world, anything that isn't found criminal becomes -- even putting aside the question of criminality. we know the following. while in a position of trust she deliberately chose to put security at risk, maybe she didn't know it was classified or not, but setting up her home server. in doing so, she also concealed

what should have been public records. you'll never see most of the emails that were personal. in the year since she has been found out every public statement she made -- the coverup has been worse than the crime. she refused to cooperate. finally, the last same thing. the last conclusion, which is damning to some extent, harold, i think, just that you never -- is that all? maybe that's the end of it. isn't there sort of a perception that -- with the clinton foundation, right on the edge all the time. >> i think there is an equally broad perception that this family has been under a kind of scrutiny unlike any political family. >> it's the vast right-wing conspiracy? >> i am not saying that. i didn't call it that -- >> it is bernie sanders. i don't vote in the democratic primaries. we haven't laid a glove on this woman yet. donald trump is right saying i haven't even started. hillary clinton does best when she looks like a victim of the

right wing. she can't claim that in this instance. the last point he made she failed to cooperate. she won't debate bernie. it's the sort of argument that she is above the law. >> she says she'll cooperate with the fbi. >> as long as this is hanging over her head and part of a legitimate news story, news cycle, she can't grab the news cycles back for herself and it's why americans find her to be dishonest and untrustworthy. >> both of these candidates have such high unlikables. >> they're for different reasons. i believe, becky, the more that the left tries to paint donald trump as a misogynist, sexist, racist, they keep doing that, by the time november rolls around nothing will strike people as new information. >> i asked for this last paragraph too.

inner short, this is a woman who never tells the truth when a lie will serve her purpose equally well. >> he's entitled to that opinion. this is a race between two people. i have heard kelly anne's comment about mrs. clinton. i think this race will be not litigated on mr. trump's personal behavior. it will be litigated on his public record. some will argue he is a below-average real estate developer. he argues that mrs. clinton is crooked and i think the record will reflect that. as we look at trump university and the things he tried to do, is this how he will act as president. >> those were aired in the primaries. >> all the things being raised about mrs. clinton, many have been raised during her 20-year career. >> her position on libya. she has problems i think on the issues. in large part because a non-card-carrying member of the vast right-wing, mr. bernie

sanders has forced her hand on. you mentioned, joe, climate change is way down in the polls in terms of priority. what's up is terrorism. when you see mrs. clinton putting her own private email -- the need to be sneaky above national security, it bothers americans. i hope, harold, that the contest ends up being about issues and that donald trump will force a conversation on health care, terrorism and the economy. >> if he engages in the continued name calling, it won't happen. >> she got $21.5 million to give 92 speeches. she gives speeches for free now and nobody seems to want to listen to them. donald trump has the momentum. as anybody in politics knows, harold knows. you cannot substitute for a quality candidate. you need a candidate who is compelling, inspirational and people want to follow. so far mrs. clinton does not measure up. >> those golf courses are not

below-average. i know you've probably played them. >> i played one of them, yes, sir. >> those are not below-average real estate. >> look, i think as we look at the business -- >> it's not really a below-average -- >> he has been successful in many ways. but for him to argue as he has been that he has the best management agents to lead this country, i think it will be put to the test. >> wouldn't the worst private sector guy in the world be better than what we've had? >> as he ran in the primary, the number of people who have openly opposed him. many of the networks in this show's best friends and best advisors and best spokespeople were not for him from the beginning for a variety of reasons and they'll all have to answer the questions now. they all may say we don't like hillary clinton and we believe he would be best. that doesn't exclude some of the questions raised about him early

on. too take anything -- what he's accomplished -- i have never seen a person dominate and shape the narrative like he has in the moment. democrat or republican. he deserves great credit. what i hope we'll shift to is a conversation about the issues. >> when i asked -- cruz isn't going to get it. she'll back trump. all of the guys may have gone initially with christie -- >> for a reason. >> they went to two or three people before they jumped to trump. >> 11.5 million voters now -- he just passed -- he has the highest, most historic number of voters. i feel as a republican, really as a conservative, you can't ignore the voters' will. >> i would agree. >> how can you -- >> he lost. >> how can you believe 10

millions voters who have gone for sanders on the field. bill clinton can never run in this party. i don't know if harold ford could. this -- i don't recognize the democratic party. where are the blue dog democrats. >> i would say the same about both parties. >> they all think it's right-wing. >> i think in some ways this is a positive when both parties get shaken like this. >> i agree. >> shed your skin. >> bernie sanders has done that on the democratic side. >> this is a new -- >> you would be a good veep pick. >> he would be a good veep pick. >> it will be very interesting to watch over the next -- the next several weeks how -- tokyo-style ramen noodles.

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when you cook with incredible ingredients... you make incredible meals. fresh ingredients. step-by-step-recipes. delivered to your door. get your first two meals free blueapron.com/cook. welcome back, everyone. viacom's board of directors gearing up or a legal battle with sumner redstone as the fight for the media empire heats up. julia boorstin joins us with the latest. good morning. >> good morning to you. viacom's board members are preparing to fight to hold on to the seats and control of the giant. the independent director issuing a letter to shareholders and employees saying they'll fight

any attempt to remove them from the company's 11-member board saying we'll contest the removal in it comes because we see it as a responsibility to the non-control shareholders at viacom who own 90% of the equity of the company. and to the legacy of a man we greatly admire and consider a dear friend. the letter saying the assertion that redstone was, quote, acting of his own free will and with the mental competency to do so is inexplicable. viacom shares down 50% over the past two years. reports that a change in management might be in the works did send shares higher on friday. what's next? solerno is trying to meet with redstone and dauman is going to court next week. when we come back, we'll

have more of this morning's stocks to watch. plus veteran hedge fund investor steve cohen is fed up with the lack of talent in his industry. now he's doing something about it. we'll take you inside his trading school when "squawk box" comes right back. ♪ i-layered security. it's how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network, and cloud and hosting services - all with dedicated, responsive support. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you're free to focus on growing your business. centurylink. your link to what's next.

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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. steve cohen has not been shy expressing his thoughts about the lack of talent in the hedge fund industry. now he's trying to do something about the problem.

kate kelly joins us with a look into his newly established trading school. >> at a recent conference in california he minced no words. >> frankly, i'm blown away by the lack of talent. it's not easy to find great people. >> so, he's taking matters into his own hands. in two months his firm will graduate its first class of nine students from its trading school. all have landed jobs workingfte. they recently hosted an all-day seminar for college sophomores. they say they received 400 applicants for that day alone. here is what one student had to say. >> the most beneficial thing i have learned so far today is when chris said, the only puzzle that hasn't been solved in the world yet is the capital markets. i think that's so true, i just

want to be a part of kind of solving that puzzle. >> selective as point 72 is, students in general and other job-seekers feel they can't be picky. the economy doesn't feel strong to them, despite the data and banking jobs are not what they once were. one candidate is looking for it as a third career after a math teacher didn't work out and a stint at chemical companies wasn't a right fit. hedge funds are underperforming in a big way. and investors are pulling money out. the hope is that the new generation will turn it around for them or play a role. >> do you think cohen looks at this and says there is a talent dearth because fewer people are coming into the industry post financial crash or there are so many more hedge funds and it's hard to find qualified people because more are snapping them up?

i think it's the latter. when he said that before he was referring to the senior or mid-level manager. of course, what he is doing is trying to bring in the new generation, the younger generation, and train them up, which is a little bit of a different problem but same relative idea. what i am hearing is, underperformance, consolidation in the industry, which is early stage but is probably on its way to happening, is kind of crimping the talent pool. also, those who were good are well paid and incentivized and not looking to go anywhere. his firm had its legal troubles. some people left over the years. that may have played a role. there are a number of factors. >> they look at the capital markets as the only puzzle that hasn't been solved. i agree that hasn't been solved but the cure for cancer and all kinds of other big puzzles are out there. >> one anecdotal observation i would make is a lot of new sort

of millennials graduating out of college or i even spoke to business school students. they are interested in silicon valley. they want to change the world. they want to do something disruptive and game changing. capital markets i find it interesting. i know you guys do too, but it perhaps doesn't have the sense of mission as some of the other jobs might. >> kate, thank you. the coo of airbus says a slowdown in bookings this year is in his words normal. it follows years of strong orders. the company has only secured 92 orders for the first four months of 2016. john lahey says as long as orders match deliveries airbus will be content. also in the airline sector. air france, klm, in talks to sell a stake in the catering unit to china's aka group. the business is worth $529 million. agreed in april to buy swiss airline catering company gate

group. several suitors expressing interest in c.i.t. group's aircraft leasing unit. first-round bids for the leasing arm, which owns a fleet of more than 350 planes, are due in june. katy perry's 89 million twitter follows were in for a surprise last night. the pop star's twitter account was hacked. her page was filled with profanity and slurs. not like the usual ones, as well as a tweet to her rival, taylor swift. the tweets, though, if you're going to run and follow her -- you're probably already following her. 89 million. anyway, the tweets have been deleted. my next story has been deleted just like the tweets. i'll let you talk about brexit.

my next one -- i was going to repeat the adele story. >> one of mine was gone too, the box office. >> when we come back, we will talk about the brexit. the vote is quickly approaching. we'll talk to former german defense minister about what it might mean for the eu economy. later, don't miss former texas congressman ron paul who joins us to talk about the race for the white house. stay tuned. you're watching boston red s"sq cnbc, first in business worldwide.

the dow headed for its strongest winning streak in two years. one last session in the month. is it time to sell in may and go away, or will the summer be a sizzler for stocks? decision 2016. donald trump working to unify the gop in his run for the white house. former congressman ron paul tells us what he needs to hear from the candidate before he throws his support behind the businessman. go cold or go home. starbucks betting big on iced coffee this summer. we'll hear from the ceo. as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >> live from the most powerful city in the world, new york, this is "squawk box."

welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm joe kernen along with rebecca quick. andrew is off today. we're less than 90 minutes away from the opening bell on wall street. all green across the board this morning. a little better than we've seen for the morning session. 3.5 on the dow. 3 on the s&p and 5 on the nasdaq. the european markets at least one turned positive now. it's been up and down this session. not huge moves in any of the boards so far today. they started out a little bit firmer on some asian-positive action in equities. now they're all red again, actually. barely. among today's top stories, a flurry of economic statistics. 8:30 eastern time we get april personal spending numbers. at 9:00, the case-shiller report. as all of that happens we'll

watch what the markets are doing. the dow is on track for the fourth consecutive positive month. that would be the best streak since the five straight winning months that it ended back in june of 2014. six out of ten s&p sectors are positive for may. led by technology which is up by more than 5%. and we are watching oil prices as well this morning. just below $50. $48.58. wti beating brent crude by a penny. there is an opec meeting to be held in vienna on thursday. most are not expecting any coordinated action on production but will be watching the newly appointed saudi oil minister. crude prices nearly doubled after hitting three-year lows earlier this winter. few stocks on the move. details of the tentative deal between verizon and the unions have been released. the pact includes pay raises of more than 10% and 1400 new jobs.

volkswagen reporting an increase in first-quarter profit. auto maker earned 3.8 billion. up slightly from a year earlier. forecasts called for a 17% drop in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. a multi-billion dollar utility merger. great plains energy, the parent of kansas city power and light, buying western energy. westar energy. the largest electric utility in the state of kansas. it will pay $8.6 billion in cash and stock. it's worth about $60 a share. new survey this morning focusing on brexit fears. a third of top executives say they've spent a million pounds preparing for the consequences of leaving the eu. 7% of those polled say this they intend to relocate parts of the operation if britain votes to leave the union. this morning the ceo of coca-cola european partners told

cnn his company won't leave london regardless of what happens with the vote. >> we think the decision needs to be up to the choices made by uk voters. 95% of the products sold in any one of our given markets are produced in that same market. so we -- we frankly think the british voters should decide about brexit. whatever the decision is, we'll certainly be able to deal with it. >> brexit also a point of discussion at the g7 meetings in japan over the weekend. joining us right now to talk more about it is carl guttenberg, the former germen defense minister. he is founder the spitsberg partners here in new york. >> the brexit polls indicate it's more likely that britons will vote to stay in the union. >> the whole discussion has already weakened the european

union more than anything else. it would be a disaster if they leave, of course. i am as the always pessimistic, i'm slightly optimistic right now that they'll stay in. given that there is no accident or some kind of incident happening on the continent in the weeks ahead. >> there is the old saying, that which does not kill you makes you stronger. is that the case in the eu if britain votes to stay in? >> we have had that saying for so many decades now in europe, that we always said, well, we went out of every single crisis stronger. i think it's none sense. europe is weaker than ever and the discussion has not made us stronger. >> so what happens? say you get through this, and the britons vote to stay. what's the next step? >> the next step will probably be that other european member states will also start to negotiate their terms in the eu. the next step could be we found even more de-solidization.

there could be another stock debate. it's hip to vote in or out. >> you mentioned europe is weaker than ever. what needs to happen? what could happen to strengthen things? where did things go terribly wrong? >> we have to face realities. we've been living in some kind of a dream now for a couple decades, and a couple of things we're wonderful. it's the peace dividend, the four freedoms. they all worked out properly but people take it for granted. people do not believe in that kind of narrative any longer. they say, we need something new, tackling all the new geopolitical issues. the refugee crisis. >> the refugee crisis is a huge issue for europe to deal with. i don't see any clear answers. >> yeah. it's not over yet. we didn't see any answers at the g7 meeting. no answers are coming from the european union.

the most toxic element is that we start to de-solidize in the union. the biggest and strongest bond we've had for years and decades has weakened. the realities i have been talking about we need to face now is a europe which is not coherent as some would like to see it, which is already acting in concentric circles, which has different speeds. so -- the treaty still -- the european treaties still reflect the mythic quality. all these things. so that's not happening any longer. what we need is -- we have to get our acts together and fix these treaties. >> at a time where europeans feel less and less solidarity, how do you possibility get these treaties where nations have to give up even more sovereignty where you have questions about border security and crossings? >> if the option is giving up

all the achievements i have been talking about before, if at the same time risk of geopolitical clashes is rising, if at the same time we face larger challenges on the global stage, where a single european nation-state could not prevail or be successful that's the message. we need leadership. >> the jobs have been much more plentiful and you've increased gdp. it's probably tougher than say from greece where the refugees are hitting their shores and they're being asked for more austerit austerity. >> it's true but all the refugees moved to germany. >> merkel is in trouble for the first time in a long time. she's held together the eu. >> that's right. everyone looked at her -- i called her once as the mael vellia.

she was trying more or less to keep it as quiet as possible at home. that shows again -- we are first thinking nationally as opposed to european. >> if the fed, the u.s. federal reserve votes to raise interest rates, does that help at all to take pressure off your currency to maybe help from an economic position? off the e.u. currency, i should say. >> right. it's bits and pieces. there is no larger -- no larger impact in my opinion. it does not reform the e.u. it puts the pressure off our shoulders, but we still need to do more. >> you need the pressure in order to be pushed to make some of the more difficult decisions? >> we've been through the pressure since 2007-2008. and it's -- it's rather cynical to say actually we need to clash to finally come to terms, but we need to wake up over there. >> what's your end game? how do you see this playing out? >> i always say -- i love this

american saying. we'll keep kicking the can down the road. is that an end game? no. it's actually just trying to keep something together which is weak right now. end game would be finally to have some leaders who are willing to fail, who are willing to risk re-election to say, okay, let's get something done in the european union. >> kt. thank you for coming in today. coming up, three-time candidate for president ron paul, holding out on his endorsement of donald trump. i don't know if that's the right way to say it. we'll ask him what he needs to hear before he would support the presumptive gop nominee. he joins us next.

welcome back to "squawk box." in our headlines this morning. air travel demands slowed in april to the lowest rate since january of last year. the traditional air travel association says the impact of the march attacks on the brussels airport and safety are the top challenges facing the industry. a group holding its annual meeting in dublin this week. while airlines are getting a boost from lower fuel prices, weakened economy and ticket prices are posing problems for a sector operating within thin profit margins. back to politics.

donald trump starting to rally the gop base. still those are holding out from endorsing the candidate. joining us former u.s. congressman dr. ron paul. congressman, you want tucdonald trump to be more libertarian in his approach. will you endorse the libertarian ticket? >> i think people who are frustrated with socialism coming from the democrats and they're frustrated with trump, you know, they ought to vote for the libertarians. that would be a good idea, i think. but i don't know if trump is going to change his ways. i'll have difficulty supporting him, obviously. >> the -- just looking at your pre-interview notes, i didn't think there was even a chance that you would ever support donald trump. there are things he could say to bring you into the fold? >> well, sort of facetiously, yes. get rid of this notion -- and he confesses -- that putting on 35% tariffs is a crazy idea and that

he just said it to gather up votes. i would like him to get away from the idea that the interest rates must stay very low to keep the economy going and allow the fed -- or get rid of the fed's ability to fix interest rates. if you ge tt the fed out of the interest rate fixing and get the notion that all our problems are from mexico and china and that we have to punish them -- i think those are crazy ideas. if he would argue the free market -- this is jokingly. trump will not back down on anything, but that's what he would have to do. most people have sort of rolled over and say, yeah, we complained two months ago about tariffs but he probably wasn't serious. how do we know what he's serious about. the tariff war would be terrible right now. the way the fed manipulates

interest rates has been the cause of our trouble. i just read this morning that the prices of houses now are the highest in history, especially on the valuable houses. there is a huge bubble out there. people seem to ignore it because 99% have not participated in it. there is a lot of mal-investment out there. excessive debt. unless that's corrected, believe me, tariffs and that type of mercantiliism won't help us. we need free trade. >> people probably thought you were crazy when you ran. to this day. we don't need the irs, the va, the tsa. i don't know whether they were bargaining positions for you. we could use reforms in all of those. as far as mexico, a secure border probably is something that appeals to people. maybe -- maybe you don't

necessarily deport 11 million people, or you find some way to work with the system. but securing the southern border probably is not a stretch for a lot of people that that's something we need to do. >> no. i think -- i think i've always complained for many, many years when i was campaigning before, we worry more about the borders in the middle east and we spend trillions of dollars and kill a lot of people and americans get killed and we forget about our own border. yes, i think we should concentrate on them. this idea of building the china wall on our southern border and making mexico pay for it -- i don't understand how people say, hey, you know, that sounds like a pretty good idea. that's his rallying cry. i find it a little bit silly. >> i don't know. i mean, i don't know -- maybe not a physical wall. you need something that secures the border. i don't know how you -- >> i think so too. my program is deny all

incentives for people to come here. trump made a good point the other day that, illegals that come in here probably get better treatment than our veterans. i would say no benefits. they don't come here to get on our welfare rolls. right now, our economy is not doing well, and there are some statistics now that show that there is an exit of mexican citizens away from us, but we need to just eliminate all the incentives. in a libertarian society property would be owned -- pardon me? >> you guys could get somewhere closer to agreeing on that. as far as china goes, i don't know what the correct answer there is. i don't know whether it's tariffs. do you concede maybe that there are times when we get the short end of the stick in certain areas and china takes advantage us, whether it's intellectual property, hacking or flooding us with steel or -- i mean, a lot of these things, the reason they resonate with people is because there is some truth to it.

if you start at this, what you would think is a crazy all or nothing position, if you start there with the idea of negotiating something that helps the united states a little bit better, maybe that could bring you around. >> well, i start with a different principle. i argue that you are an american citizen, you earn money and have the right to spend it any way you want and the government shouldn't tell you. if you want to buy an import because they have discounted it, it's a benefit to you. this whole idea that it's the foreigners' fault. oh, the chinese manipulate the currency. what do you think we do? >> we do too. >> we're the biggest currency manipulate. we have the advantage of having the reserve currency. we've done it for years and we've had tremendous advantages. we exported all our inflation. we printed the money. we buy stuff cheap. which has been a blessing for poor people. they send it back there and they finance our debt. we have a good thing going. >> right. >> it will always end. i mean, it's a bubble.

debt is a bubble. >> right. >> we just can't to do this spending and inflating and borrowing. it's a course that will lead to a majority calamity as far as i'm concerned. >> when it comes down to it, if you had an either/or -- you have to fill out the form, and it says hillary clinton or donald trump, you have to fill it out. you can't rip it up, you can't write in weird al yankovic, you can't? >> i can't. i would have a guilty conscience. both of them will mess things up. >> you would throw the thing away? some people are in that position. others get to the point where, i don't know. it's either/or. >> that's the way it's been for -- always voting for the lesser of two evils. i'm so tired of that. i played that game for so long. you still end up with an evil. i'm not for that.

if you can pick out one thing where trump is better, i don't know it matters. >> you can stay home that day. >> well, i may -- i may still vote, you know, for another alternative. i would like to see on the ballot, none of the above. i bet it would win right now, this year. i'm sick of all this. none of the above. i'm tired of all this. doesn't matter anyway. republican and democrat policies for the whole time in my life that i've watched. the policies never change no matter what the platforms say. platforms are a farce. >> if you put none of the above, then the guy who is there gets to stay another four years. how would that strike you? >> we'd have to deal with that then. nobody would allow us to do that because it would be such an embarrassment for the politicians. >> what about the irony of the rule set up to keep you from challenging mitt romney being something that helped donald

trump win the nomination very early on? >> i think it is ironic. that is true. it's an irony that went back to haunt the republican party. so -- it was so unnecessary back then. i didn't have the votes that donald trump had. we had the five states. we qualified. my name was supposed to be put in the nomination. i could give a speech. they got houysterical. oh, no, we can't. i think they didn't like it because i had political clout and i had ideas challenging the status quo. that made a difference. so they got hysterical and changed the rules and said, no, we don't want any part of him and then they lost the election by a narrow margin. they're not better off now that they've made changes. now they're trying to recover from it. they're saying, we hate trump. we didn't want him. we have to save the party. the party above convictions and good policies. so now they're in turmoil.

there are still republicans who say, we're going to get an independent candidate to run. >> yeah, right. >> they better hurry up because time is running short, and i think the contest will obviously be between trump and hillary unless hillary gets indicted but that's highly unlikely the way the political system and the judicial operates. it's not likely to happen. >> exactly. thanks, congressman. see you around. thank you. >> thank you. when we come back, it is the unofficial start of summer. starbucks unveiling a new lineup of cold drinks to appeal to those iced coffee cravings. speaking of starbucks, ceo howard schultz weighing in on the state of the consumer. we'll show you what he said next. it's more than a network and the cloud. it's reliable uptime. and multi-layered security. it's how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network,

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coming up, we have breaking economic data. personal income and spending. plus new numbers on jobs in america. we'll hear from paychex about how many people small businesses are hiring right now. stay tuned. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc. first in business worldwide.

♪ take it in but don't look down ♪ ♪ because i'm on top of the world ♪ hey ♪ waiting on this for a while now, paying my dues ♪ in our headlines. gwyneth urging shareholders of tribune publishing to withhold votes for all directors at the annual meeting saying that should be the case until and unless tribune engages in talks

about the cash-takeover bid. we are literally ten seconds away from personal income is it spending. futures up for most of the session and continue to trail up. rick santelli standing by at the cme in chicago with the numbers. >> april income expected .4%, arrived up .4%. no revision to last month. spending, more powerful than the .75%. up 1%. lost a tenth from last month. if we look at the spending side, real spending was up .6%, better than expected. maybe here is what everybody wants to look at. granted the fed picks a very conservative inflation game, granted, maybe services are running faster. but whatever you look at, this is the one they look at personal consumption expenditure.

month over month, up .2%. year over year may be the big number, up 1.6. that was the last look. that's what we expected. let's do a quick walk around the block. february's number up 1.7, hottest since december 2012. we haven't been 2% or higher since april of 2012. that seems to be the target. but like growth, it hasn't gotten up there. pre-opening equities are still solid. up 35. many markets were open yesterday. we'll have to see. fascinating. boon yields up 18, 19 base points. it doesn't sound like a lot but it's close to a four-week high in the euro zone. we want to pay attention to that. steve liesman is on the set with us. what do you think of the numbers. >> income number up 0.4. wages and salaries up 0.5. coming with a revision to the fourth quarter and first-quarter wage and salary number that was strong. consumers have money in their

pockets. we saw that they weren't spending it, so by math the savings rate went up to 5.9. it came down in april to 5.4. that's okay. who is to say where the right savings rate is for people. it came down. that's why you had personal consumption up 1%. when consumption exceeds income the savings rate goes down. strong on durables. that's the car number. autos are coming up this week. an expectation of over 17 million. on the inflation side, the fed would like to see that number rising, that core number, 1.6 from 1.1. the headline number is up to 1.1%. up .3. the core number is stable. when you say what's it going to take for the fed to hike, i think it's stable to rising. it doesn't have to be right at the 2% number. it has to be some sort of confidence that they're on their way there.

we put together, becky, the hiker's guide to the data for the week. there is a lot of data coming up. i want to share it with folks here. the beige book comes out tomorrow. ism manufacturing. that's probably going to be the weak report of the week. the manufacturing sector has still not found its legs in that post-strong-dollar world. beige book. vehicle sales. i've seen estimates around $17.4 million, which is a good number. adp on thurz asday and the ecb. the consensus is 206,000. a definite ratcheting down. at the same time the unemployment rate is seen coming down to 4.9%. >> you can't maintain it -- when you get to this low unemployment level. >> exactly. i have a few commentaries from some of "the economistthe econi

>> it would weaken the case for waiting however we expect the data to be mixed enough to bolster the case for caution. it's all about the data between now and june. if you get mixed data, the fed could wait another month. another analyst thinks they ought to wait another month. i don't think there is much at stake. a quarter point, june or july. big deal. christian says a july hike will likely pass smoothly and could see risk assets rally further. a june hike would risk material strain on global markets and the traditional economy. >> that sounds bizarre that the difference of 30 days -- >> christian is not given to hyperbole. he is a measured guy. he was a key advisor at the new york fed. he thinks the fate of the world rests on the 30 days -- >> after talking it up so much, there are two things they're facing. first of all, they don't want to surprise the markets. but at the same time, right now june is still only 30 to 35%

that they hike, but at the same time once you have so many of them out there talking and on the same message, beating the drum that rate hikes are coming, they risk the credibility -- >> credibility if they don't hike. they risk the credibility if the numbers are good and then they don't hike. >> yeah. >> they i guess could argue -- >> they run the credibility risk either way, i think. >> what if the data is good and they do one of the things they did like in october, talk about considering the rate hike at the next meeting, which would pretty much bake it in. >> such an old song and dance at this point. >> you would be like, oh, they did it again? >> they're going to have to listen to a month for people criticizing them for not doing what they said they were going to do. >> if you think about the long term. if you're investing for three, four, five years, the idea the fed moved a quarter in june versus july does not make a whole lot of difference, whether or not it happens in that month or the one after it. >> we'll see the data. thank you. >> we've said that about every

time they haven't raised. we've gotten a grand total of one quarter-point increase. how many goal posts have been moved? 6.5 to 6. 5.5 to 5. new data breaking on small business employment across america. latest paychex ihs survey showing job growth declined. marty is here to take us into the result. the ceo of paychex. are we at a point now where valued employ yeses can start to say, i want a little bit more or i'm going somewhere else? will this start to be reflected in what everybody has been waiting for? income gains? >> we could see some of that. we have seen wages go up, actually. we have seen that with the states that have minimum wage n

increas increases. it's dropped off after a hot start to this year. we're seeing more of a drop in job growth in those states that had minimum wage increases. kind of an interesting impact there. >> wow. people aren't going to want to hear that. so number one, the wage gains we're seeing are not from market-based -- better economy, making workers less scarce? they're from legislative action. secondly, it's actually those are the states that are actually hurting in terms of job creation? it's not supposed to work that way. >> well, i think -- i think it's a combination. obviously, when there is less people out there, you're going to pay more to get people, but we definitely have seen in the data for small business job growth that those states with minimum wage increases -- the wages have gone up more but the job growth is lower than the states without minimum wage increases. i also think that -- you'll love this one -- regulations like overtime rules and minimum wage increases are putting a little bit of a damper on job growth. small businesses are being more

careful. >> unbelievably, marty, it's -- jobs week again. another jobs friday. are we -- have we down-shifted? or will the jobs numbers confirm some of the other more positive economic data? do you think we're in a downshift? will this be born out in the next few reports? >> i don't think so. we had a hot start to the first of the year. the data we have was up pretty strong in the first part of the year, making up for the downturn at the end of 2015. it could be a temporary thing. but regulations, minimum wage increases, those things make small businesses in particular a little careful before they hire the next person. >> what is the number friday? liesman? >> i just got a fresh one. i was using 162 from reuters. dow jones is now 156. it's sinking. >> why -- >> 5% unemployment rate.

>> we were averaging 200. >> last month we did 162. >> now you're down -- you said -- >> 160. 160. >> you said anything -- >> 150, 160 is greater than the growth of the work force. >> that's enough -- >> to keep the unemployment rate stable. >> we aren't going to get a june increase? >> june rate hike? >> you don't care. >> for television purposes i do. >> all right. i don't know, marty. maybe we are -- i don't know whether that's a discernible downshift or not. it probably would be good because then we can upshift a little right in september and october before the election. >> well -- yeah. you have to remember -- >> the party that's in power loves when that happens, don't they? >> they do. you have summer hiring which could help to pick up a little bit over the summer. that's part-time employment mostly. but you have also got the election that does make people a little more cautious about hiring until they know kind of what the rules and what the platforms will be.

>> all right. great. all right. thanks, marty. appreciate it. >> okay. thanks, joe. when we come back, lessons from a galaxy far, far away. what "star wars" can teach us is more about in the realm of economics and politics and not just hollywood. we'll talk to the author of the new book "the world according to star wars." that's next. 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.

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in our headlines this morning, medical products maker medtronic reporting quarterly profit of $1.27 a share, one cent offer expectations. revenue beating forecasts. medtronic forecast full-year profit of $4.60 to $4.70 a share. below for the most part the consensus estimate of $4.70. the stock is up about 11 cents. germany's bayer increasing its bid for monsanto according to the "sunday times." the new bid could come this week after monsanto rejected the offer last week. starbucks is making a big bet on iced coffee. the company is unveiling a new lineup of cold beverages today. vanilla sweet cream and nitro cold brew. starbucks is projecting that the cold coffee category will double in the next three years.

summer we get iced. dunkin' donuts, actually. in the winter you get hot. i don't want big whipped cream, you know, flavorful caramel stuff. >> no. >> you're just adding to the problem. >> calories. calories. >> just adding to your problems. >> i do like blueberry. speaking of starbucks ceo howard schultz, talking to cnbc' kelly evans, weighing in on the recession fear factors and the state of the consumer last week. i think it's an overstatement to say we're heading into a recession, but clearly there is significant pressure and anxiety on the american consumer. you're seeing that play out in a number of the earnings reports that have come out recently by consumer brands and retailers. i think the pressure and the anxiety given what's going on in our political system is adding to that situation. >> do not miss this interview.

the full interview which is on later on ne"closing bell." the star wars films are full of deception and truth. if you ask our next guest, "star wars" offers important life lessons in this galaxy too. the new book "the world according to star wars" is with us. he formerly served as administrator of the white house office of information and regulatory affairs under president obama. cass, thank you for being here today. >> thanks for having me. >> i thought i was a "star wars" freak until i read your book in the notes. you have taken a much deeper meaning in this. >> i got into it because my now 7-year-old boy did. i was no the a "star wars" freak until the boy was staring at it. i was intrigued why it's taken

over our culture and made $30 billion. more of the gdp of half the nations on the globe. the question of why it's become the defining saga of our time is an intriguing question even for people without much interest in "star wars." >> what did you find are the reasons? >> one of the reasons is caught a wave. like some businesses and some political candidates, it got an echo chamber going which got louder and louder, so much so that everybody was hearing it. you can think of your preferred company or politician who did the same thing. the other thing that happened with "star wars," it took many myths and religions and instilled their essoencssence. that's what george lucas tried to do and succeeded. it gave an element and twist of freedom. that you have freedom of choice, whether you are about to have a child, and you can take your life in multiple directions, whether you're running a company

and you maybe want to try cold coffee and you can give that a shot. or whether you want to change your career or be helpful to a friend who is vulnerable. which is a crucial moment in "star wars." the emphasis that on every minute of every day we have freedom. that's the twist that "star wars" adds to myths and religions of many cultures. >> you are a behavioral economist. what jumped out you from your training that said this is something to take a second look at? >> i am trained as a lawyer but have a keen interest in behavioral economics. what interested me in the "star wars" tale about behavioral economics is there is a lot in behavioral economics about how the human mind works, how we end up being subject sometimes to manipulation, how we can sometimes be tricked. >> you're talking about the jedi mind tricks.

>> the jedi are masters of behavioral economics. there is some psychological reality that they can divert your attention so you don't see the droids they think you're looking for. or they can make it seem like there are illusions because of misdirection. >> you are telling me that when he reaches his hand and the light sabre comes flying to his hand that's a trick of misdirection and not actual mystic powers? >> actually, in the long time ago in a galaxy far, far away they have powers that go way beyond those identified by behavioral economics. >> your son, i take it, loves the movies not for the broader messages but the flashy effects that come along? >> he does love the effects. and i think the tale of a young boy going away and becoming a hero. i hope he doesn't go away for a long, long time. >> or get to the dark side. >> we discuss behavioral economics a little bit, as any

good father would. >> cass, thank you. interesting perspective. i did enjoy it. the book is called "the world according to star wars." >> thank you so much. forget the minimum wage debate. look out for the rise of the machines. worried about this, as becky said, for -- >> years. >> you said centuries. you're probably not wrong. robots about to invade and then take over the nation's low-paying jobs. that's even before the killer -- what are those things called on "terminator?" that's even worse. >> killer -- ♪

welcome back to "squawk box." timing has confirmed my space has been a victim of a hacking incident. the company said the breach didn't affect any other systems. subscribers or media properties at this point. just myspace was compromised. the data includes myspace user names, passwords and e-mails. the addresses that were published on an online hacker forum. myspace invalidated passwords of all known affected users and monitoring for further

suspicious -- monitoring both existing accounts for -- no. >> and one of them's yours. >> and i joined myspace recently. it's a great new idea. kind of like you go on and puts pictures of yourself. >> really? >> yeah, it's really cool. we're still on myspace. >> welcome to 2016. >> who is still on myspace? >> no idea. >> just me. >> you. somebody else. when we come back, this morning's biggest stock movers. and then later this morning, don't miss the u.s. energy secretary. he'll be joining "squawk alley" at 11:30 eastern time. stay tuned, you're watching cnbc first in business worldwide.

a young boy fell into a gorilla enclosure at the zoo, and the medical response team shot the gorilla saying it was their only option to make sure they could save the child. there's a growing push for the boy's mother to face charges in the incident. nbc's jay gray has the latest on this story. >> reporter: cell phone video captures the horror as it unfolds at the cincinnati zoo. a small boy inside an enclosure for a full ten minutes. at times seemingly protected.

at others dragged and tossed around like a rag doll by a 450-pound western lowland gorilla before zoo officials made the difficult decision to put the animal down. >> we did not take the shoot in of urambi lightly, but that child's life was in danger. >> reporter: today a handful of mourners gathered for a memorial to the 17-year-old gorilla. >> i'm here to make sure people remember that he lived his life in captivity and died through no fault of his own. >> reporter: there's been backlash on social media since the incident. more than 150,000 have signed an online petition calling for the boy's mother to face charges, but police say that won't happen. calling the situation an unfortunate accident. the family released a written statement saying we are so thankful to the lord that our child is safe. he is home and doing just fine. we extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the cincinnati zoo staff. we know that this was a very

difficult decision for them. and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla. the gorilla exhibit remains closed. zoo officials expect it to reopen next weekend. jay gray, nbc news. >> that zoo so well and that exhibit so well. all right. >> look, you've seen it in other places too. it's an incredibly unfortunate accident. >> it is. >> a three-foot barrier that the child climbed over, fell in. >> and animals are -- you just don't -- >> the zoo leader had seen him crush a coconut with his bare hand before. these gorillas are massive. he was out of context a little confused. >> the counter factual which we always argument about here. >> right. switching gears back to the stock news today, among the biggest movers today volkswagen, surprising analysts by reporting an increase in first quarter profit earned $3.8 billion for the quarter, up slightly from a year earlier. consensus forecast call for a 17% drop in the wake of the

company's diesel emission scandal. in squawk sports news, steph curry and golden state on their way to the nba finals. warriors coming back from being down 3-1 in the series to force a game seven with the oklahoma city thunder last night. and then win big, 96-88. the warriors punching their ticket to the finals where for the second straight year they'll be facing off against lebron james and the cleveland cavaliers. that first game is on thursday. bernie sanders was among the excited golden state warriors fans at game seven of the western conference final last night. the presidential candidate was seen taking selfies with fans along with campaign supporter and actor danny glover. sanders was in oakland ahead of the california primary. after the tweet -- or after the game he tweeted, last week golden state was down three games to one. tonight they finished off a great comeback. i like comebacks. we don't hear our computer rising machines guy.

i think watson might have hijacked him. >> didn't want him saying these things and bringing up the questions about whether these machines should actually be as powerful as they are. >> we're going to be totally -- people with flesh and blood, they're not going to -- some day they're not going to need us at all. and it's going to be scary. >> let's hope. >> they don't like us. >> they're protecting us. >> oh, yeah, right. make sure you join us tomorrow. "squawk on the street" is next. ♪ good tuesday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with david faber, martin sooshort week, ja jobs numbers, auto sales, stocks trying to hold onto gains. consumer spending came in strong here. the best in nearly seven years. and watch oil ahead of that opec meeting on thursday. s&p