good morning. stocks march higher. wall street kicks off the new month by hitting another milestone. oh snap, prices above the expected range. and jeff sessions is in the hot seat over a report he lied under oath. we'll take to you the capitol for a love report on that. it's thursday, march 2, 2017, "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ good morning. welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc.

i'm sara eisen. >> i'm wilfred frost. good morning to you from me as well. it's throw back thursday. we're kicking off the show with a little r. kelly. what's the theme? >> throwing it back with a great song. >> my favorite one of his, to go to my typical soft music stance "i believe i can fly." >> of course it is. the cheesiest song created. >> i like it. i will listen to it later. >> maybe we can get it on the show. >> the dow believes it can fly. >> the dow believes it can fly. i guess you were impressed by yesterday's rally. >> i was annoyed by it. i knew i would have to admit to you this morning that i was wrong the last couple of days. >> specialtive superlatives are today. best start for the month of march, an unbelievable rally that sent the dow higher by 300 points. the dow is under a bit of pressure now, down 11 points.

s&p down 5, nasdaq down 10. a lot to watch today, including that outperformance of the financials. let's look at that one-week chart. stocks really took off yesterday. you can credit president trump and his softer tone in the speech. you can credit maybe the increased expectations of a march rate hike and a better prospect for the u.s. economy. also credit the global economy. i pulled out one chart, because we are "worldwide exchange" to start off the show. it's not just the u.s. where the outlook has improved. here's the citi group surprise index, economic indicators. look at what's happened past the yellow line, highest level since 2010. the economic data around the world are beating expectations as much as they did back in 2010. we're really breaking out for the world economy. that's helping to drive yields a bit here. tech out the ten-year treasury yields. we saw a boost yesterday. much more strength in equities

than we've seen in fixed income and the dollar. the two-year note yield, that was the real mover. we got to the highest level there in seven years. >> of those three bullish reasons, i think the one to focus on, all important, but the one to focus in on is the change in fed rate hike expectations. banks led the charge. they have all been correlated, yields going up, that helps the banks, banks outperforming up nearly 3%. the market up about 1.5%. going back to that bond chart, it's important to note that we saw two-years move. more than the longer end of the curve. yes, the two-year is moving un, but banks just don't want higher yields, they want a steep yield curve. what we've seen in the last two weeks as the fed rate hike expectation for march go up, the yield curve has flattened. the expectation is that the long end will rise, but something to keep an eye on.

any yield going up is good for banks, but the flattening doesn't help them that much, but the outlook is better than where we were many months and weeks ago. keep an eye on whether or not the longer end of the curve starts to respond. kit juckes pointing out from socgen that we will get march but he needs more rate hikes down the year to get the yield moving as well. >> we talk to strategists on the show, there was a deep sigh of relief that president trump, in his first appearance before a joint session was more conciliatory, more presidential, reaching out, mentioned the democrats in the speech, kept his pro-growth agenda on track with little details, but also that willingness to work with congress and less of the carnage speech that people saw in the inaugural address. it was a broad-based rally it also was backed up by better economic data in the u.s. manufacturing strong, new orders, highest since back in 2013. >> it wasn't just a u.s. rally

but europe more than asia that took part in it. let's look at asian trade first up, which we see some gains for japan today, but not so much hong kong and shanghai. similarly mixed in asia yesterday. so asia has missed out on that big jump in wall street. yesterday europe didn't. yesterday we did see a decent return for europe. better than we saw domestically in the u.s. we saw about 2%, over 2% of gains for germany and france. pausing today. but they did play a part yesterday. that european picture mirroring what we got in the u.s. futures. we also had data out of europe this morning. eurozone january ppi 0.7% month on month, 3.5% year on year. and annual inflation rose in february by 2%. that was in line with expectations. separate release, unemployment remains stable at a rate of 9.6%. european markets a little lower as are u.s. futures.

the broader market picture, oil and energy stocks are been strong. the best performers along with financials. oil prices are weaker this morning. down about a percent here on wti crude. goes back below 54 at 53.36, brent 55.57 almost down a full percent. nat gas continues to get hit. the dollar, we saw the dollar spike yesterday. we are still a bit down or flat for the year. we'll see for any breakout. we'll watch that dollar trade carefully. you have euro weaker this morning, just a bit here. 1.0530. the tdollar is stronger against the yen, 114.16. and the dollar stronger against the pound as well. >> the yield flattening curve may be why the dollar has not responded moreprominently.

>> gold, we'll show that you on the flip side of that, strong dollar and gold under pressure, down $5 an ounce. fed speak and rate hike expectations are the key market theme this week. yesterday lael braynard said it would be appropriate soon for the fed to raise rates. >> with full employment within reach, signs of progress on inflation and a favorable shift in the balance of risks at home and abroad, it will likely be appropriate soon to remove additional accommodation continuing on a gradual path as the federal funds rate continues to move higher towards its expected longer run level, a transition in balance sheet policy will also be warranted. >> just getting the front pages trying to check on the exuberance levels of the markets, how widely covered this is, we look at that to see how much further the market can run.

the "journal" leads with stocks surging as optimism rides. interestingly, "usa today," trump inspires dow to 21,000. dow 21,000 did get a few headlines. it's not on the cover of the "new york times," i don't think. the more this rally surprises and the more people are left on the sidelines, probably frustrated by it, i think the more people are joining the party. >> the momentum is very impressive. this move yesterday off the back of what did we say, just a 5% move for the dow during the month of february -- >> 15%, 12% for the s&p since the election. >> good time to go public. snap pricing its ipo, $17 a share. above the target range. it values the parent messaging app snapchat at roughly $24 billion. the richest valuation in tech ipo since back in 2012 with

facebook. the stock expected to begin trading on the nyse today under sn snap, ticker symbol s.n.a.p. i think it's an interesting time, it's a good time to go public clearly. while there may be demand for the hot new thing, biggest tech ipo since alibaba, first tech ipo of 2017, the question is longer term is this a good inve investment? still not a profitable company, it's got a lot of competition, especially with facebook and instagram. >> and a writeup suggesting that 25%, roughly, of the share holding will be locked in for a year. that's not that high a percentage. still leaves, of course, a huge free float and will be fascinating at 9:30. i can't wait to see how it opens. when the bell goes, a few more exciting things. >> nothing like an ipo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> i was just going to point

out, these are nonvoting shares. these share holders don't get a vote when it comes to acquisitions, executive compensation, a slew of things that also could -- >> mr. spiegel and company keeping tight control on management but also becoming very rich today. 4.3 billion his holdings. >> and just 26. >> i couldn't believe that, re-reading that on the way in. just painful to look at. >> six years older than mark zuckerberg. >> congratulations, he says through gritted teeth. >> i don't know which you are more jealous of. >> i'm not that jealous of miranda versus evan. >> lyft is seeking to raise $500 million in a new round of fund-raising that would value it between 6 billion and $7 billion, just a fraction of uber's valuation. reports say lyft hired catalyst partners, the investment bank

run by frank cattrone to help. lyft it would have been helpful for you to spell it out. >> i was spelling the ticker. it's a new ticker symbol. wall street's agenda today, weekly jobless claims out at 8:30 a.m. it's a thursday. there is fed speak. cleveland fed president, loretta mester speaking in new york this evening and steve liesman has an interview with fed governor jerome powell. he doesn't speak that much. >> on tv. he doesn't speak much on tv. >> no, he doesn't give a lot of speeches either. earnings to watch, kroger this morning, abercrombie & fitch, and burlington stores report results before the opening bell. i'll be watching for signs of food deflation at kroger. after the close, we hear from costco. in other earnings news, abi reporting fourth quarter results before the bell.

landon dowdy has more details. >> a bshgb inbev reporting the decline since its formation a decade ago, it was hit by higher costs in brazil due to the weaker real. core profit fell more than 3% in the quarter well short of analyst forecasts. if you exclude brazil, the company said the profit would have risen 6%. beer sales declined in europe and north america, the biggest market, but profit grew due to more expensive brands being sold. they are seeking cost savings from sabmiller. the company expects to save 2.8 billion versus the forecast of 2.45 billion. ab inbev expects the bulk of that savings to come within three to four years and the company hopes that the sab deal will lead to new growth in africa and other emerging

markets like colombia and peru. shares of ab inbev down more than 2% in europe this morning. back over to you. >> thank you very much for that. never too early for alcoholic video, just to keep you ready for the day ahead. >> 5:00 p.m. in hong kong. still to come, a round up of today's top stories including yahoo! punishing marissa mayer for those massive security breaches. you're watching "worldwide exchange." safety doesn't come in a box. it's not a banner that goes on a wall.

it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it's giving offshore teams onshore support. and it's empowering anyone to stop aob if something doesn't seem right. at bp, safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

yahoo! ceo marissa mayer will forgo any stock bonus she might get this year because of the massive data breach the company suffered in 2014. the board is also withholding her 2016 annual bonus of $2 million for the same reason. her stock award is not to be less than $12 million per year. the breach affected data belonging to at least 500 million users. yahoo!'s general counsel is also resigning. yahoo slipping about a half percent this morning. shares of juno therapeutics falling due to news that the clinical trial of their cancer drug led to some deaths. and roche reports positive results from her-ciptin. broadcom forecasting higher

revenue for the quarter. the stock up 4%. solarcity slashing 20% of its staff in 2017. this amid slowing growth in the rooftop solar industry. and box warning the current quarter won't live up to expectations. the cloud software company did beat earnings forecast for the final quarter of the fiscal year, but down 1%. shake shack revenue growth slowed. the full-year sales guidance also falling short of current consensus, down 3.7%. coming up, the hejohn harwo speaking with richard cordray. >> i have not seen this yet. >> you are watching "worldwide exchange." with people everywhee

on sea, on land, and in the air. inspecti towers way up high avoiding turbulence in the sky. personalizing treatments with dna and recommenng who ould play. a ess that thinks, which ops to grow, tax ep to help keep payments low. you can find me onn oil rig, i answer questions small and big. hello, mname is watson.

in washington news, the trump administration says it will take aggressive action to fight what it views as other countries unfair trade practices, and may defy world trade organization rules in a policy document released to congress yesterday, the u.s. trade representative office said it will not tolerate practices that distort markets like currency manipulation and unfair government subsidies. it suggests that the u.s. may try to push the limits of what

is acceptable under wto rules and bring manufacturing jobs back. one of the most consistent messages and promises from our president. the testing of the wto rules, though, not sure how that will go down internationally. >> we'll have to wait and see on that one. top democrats are demanding jeff sessions resign immediately, this follows news he meet with the russian ambassador to the united states during the 2016 presidential campaign. he didn't disclose the meeting during his confirmation proceedings, investigators have examined attorney general's contacted with russian officials, and now some are suggesting a special investigation into ties between russia and president trump's campaign. the head of the consumer finance protection bureau, richard cordray is in a tight spot. john harwood got a chance to sit down with the boss on a one-on-one interview. >> "wall street journal" wrote an editorial said your agency is

lawless. ben sass of nebraska refers to you as king richard, people say he's a dictator. what do you say about that? >> i think it's completedly ill-founded. there is never specifics in those claims. and accountability is at the heart of this agency. we're about holding large financial companies 5:ibaccount to the law. >> are you not suggesting you are not accountable to the government? >> we are accountable and are expected to be. i have to be accountable to congress, i have to testify in front of them four times a year. i'm accountable to the courts. there's a number of cases they get to test the boundaries of whether we got something right or wrong. if we get something wrong, we fix it like everybody else does. >> doesn't accountability mean that somebody in government above you can fire you or change

your budget? >> well, what they can do is replace you from time to time. that's the way the independent agencies work. nobody is talking about firing janet yellen at the federal reserve. nobody is talking about firing other independent agency heads. that's the principle of our government. >> there's an ongoing legal case to determine whether or not president trump has the authority to fire richard cordray. democrats argue he does not. one protection he may have is that there are so many controversies swirling around other members of the administration, including jeff sessions, as you just talked about, the question is does the trump administration want to take this fight on now. guys? >> great interview there. i'm looking forward to seeing more of it throughout the day. did you speak to him about the wells fargo scandal specifically? he mentioned accountability, one of the criticisms is that it took the cfpb too long to

reprimand wells fargo about something that was in the "wall street journal" many years before that final settlement. >> it did take them a while to get on that, they cite that as one of their signature enforcement provisions and an expression of the need for the office. even if they were too slow, their argument is that without a consumer protection bureau you wouldn't have a hammer to come down on wells fargo, they fine them $100 million. >> it's interesting you frame the conversation in the context of his own job, a lot of republicans would say just get rid of the agency. it was created under dodd-frank and associated with the elizabeth warren ring of the democratic party. what is the chances this agency remains in the current form? >> i think the chances it remains in its current form are not great. the -- what i hear from business is a range of options. one is trying to fire cordray specifically and replace him with someone with a different

philosophy than he has. that some in congress, republicans favor that approach. another approach is to abolish the agency altogether, or change the structure, go from a singular structure to a commission, and right now money is on autopilot from the federal reserve, congress says we want to have oversight of that and determine the size of their budget. when i talk to representatives of industry, they accept the idea that some consumer bureau should remain. the question is in what form. >> what are you hearing about the sessions news? how big of a deal is this? what do we need to know this morning? >> i think it's quite a big deal. don't know the substantive of the conversations. the thing that is worth exploring and considering is i would did senator sessions during his confirmation hearing not disclose it. when michael flynn, the national

security adviser, had questions about his contacts arise, he said this was about, you know, christmas greetings, that sort of thing. then later he came out and said, well, i may have had general illusions to sanctions, and the trump white house decided he misled the president so he ended up getting fired by president trump. if these were harmless conversations by jeff sessions, which they might have been, why wouldn't he have come out and said that at his confirmation hearing? i did talk last night with a republican senator after this story broke, the answer was we are going to hold the trump administration accountable, investigations are ongoing. we'll have to see what house and senate intelligence committees, which are trying to proceed in a bipartisan basis what they come up with and when. >> john harwood, thank you for joining us from washington. >> you bet. >> just to come back on the cfpb point, in fact, there's so much political focus on that and mr.

cordray himself, but it's not a game changer for the banks. the bigger banks would like a redefinition of prop trading within the volcker banks. >> one of those symbolic things. like rolling back dodd-frank, we're getting rid of the red tape. >> it's not something they have spent a huge amount of time on. they would like progress on living wills and stuff like that. how will snap inc. perform on its first day of trading? a live report from outside the company's headquarters in venice, california hours before it makes its highly anticipated wall street debut. "worldwide exchange" is back in a couple minutes. since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. okay. i'm plugged into equities- trade confirmed- and i have global access 24/7.

meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. visit learnfuturestoday.com to see what adding futures can do for you. we're drowning in information. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. morgan stanley.

new records on the street. stocks rocket higher turning in their best day of the year. snap it up. the day is today for the disappearing messaging app to make its wall street debut in the most highly anticipated tech ipo in years. a live report from snap hq straight ahead. and the top spending stories including alec baldwin taking his impersonation of president trump to a new level. the details of that coming up this thursday, march 2, 2017, you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. ♪ ♪ snoetd. good morning. welcome back to "worldwide

exchange" on cnbc, i'm sara eisen. >> i'm wilfred frost. good morning to you from me as well. it's throwback thursday, throwing it back with some spice girls. >> perfect. >> very nice. let's check in on the global market action. we are called slightly lower after that blowout day on wall street yesterday. down about eight or nine points on the dow. fractionally below fair value. yesterday, new record highs for the dow. positivity following president trump's first address to congress that that was of a better tone than some of his rhetoric over the last month or two. of course those rising expectations of a rate hike now in and around the 80% level for march, resparking the reflation

trade highlighted by the fact that banks led the charge higher. let's look around the world. asian trade, did not take part in this wall street rally either yesterday or today. the nikkei up a percent. australia up as well. hong kong and shanghai trading lower. europe did take part yesterday, not today. germany and france up yesterday 2%. today pausing for breath, similar to u.s. futures. >> with the dow going above 21,000 for the first time and closing above that, the question was could it really be because of the president's tone? you just have to look back to election night, when the dow was down more than 800 points on this surprise win of donald trump 6as president, he came ou, gave an olive branch to his rival, hillary clinton. >> it was about 2:30 a.m. >> we were there. we were live on set. and then the market turned

around, came back up and finished close to the flat line. so the tone is important with an ambitious pro growth agenda that he did talk about and that wall street has been rallying on. the question is how much is baked in. what sort of price for perfection are we at when it comes to delivering on these reforms. >> you can't underplay the fed speak and the rates as well in terms of being a big factor. >> remember when that was a scary thing when markets would sell off as rate hikes increased. now, if we have the growth, and we can break out of this 2% secular stagnation economy we've been in, thanks to some pro growth policpolicies, maybe a f rate hike is deemed appropriate. oil is declining this morning. down almost a percent. actually cutting our losses here. wti crude, 53.39, down 0.8%. brent, 55.91, sitting below $56 a barrel. treasuries, big move up, mostly

in the two-year yield. highest level there in seven years on this increased expectation. the big move was in the short end of the curve, which signals that it is a bet on faster, higher interest rates coming from the fed. something that caught up in the last 48 hours or so. >> a bet on a faster initial rate hike as opposed to a belief that we'll have more hikes in total over the course of the year, which is something to keep an eye on. clearly the short end moving up is good for banks. that's why banks respond, not as good as a steepening of the yield curve. >> along with that, the dollar jumped to the highest level since back in january. looking at the dollar index, a broad picture. rising again today against the euro. up -- euro weaker, 1.0527. stronger against the yen, 114.21. always setting a good tone, positive for equity markets. stronger against the pound, 1.2268. gold has been declining on the back of this two-day period of

dollar strength. down a half percent. the top corporate stories, snap inc. making its wall street debut. julia jones us from outside the venice, california headquarters. good morning, julia. >> good morning to you. that's right. snap inc. is going public at a nearly $24 billion valuation. the company will raise $3.4 billion in the ipo. shares priced last night at $17 per share, above the range that the company projected last month of $14 to $16 a share but pretty much in line with the pricing reported recently. snap will be the biggest tech ipo since alibaba group in 2014. to put that in context, facebook was far more mature when it went public at a $104 billion evaluation. twitter was $14.5 billion. facebook's ipo is marked by the nasdaq technical errors and a huge spike in the stock. snap wants to avoid volatility.

to minimize near-term selling, the company says it will sell about a quarter of today's offering to a consortium of existing investors who grier to a one-year lock up period. so far analysts reports have been mixed. on the plus side, snap's remarkable usage and engagement numbers with the hard to reach 13 to 24-year-old demographic. possible negatives include competition from facebook and instagram and the ability to copy snap's most popular features. the pressure to keep innovating, so snap holds on to the fickle teens and the pressure to expand beyond that youthful core audience. we're waiting for the stock to begin trading today on the new york stock exchange under the nicker snap. >> we were talking about evan spiegel, 26 years old. will become a multibilliona arm today. investors have to put so much

trust in him because he has all the voting power, him and a few executives. >> that's right. evan spiegel has all the voting power, they are not issuing any voting shares in this ipo. people say that he is a product genius that he has an understanding of how people want to interact with the product, especially younger users, and he has an unusual product development ability but he's also secretive. he has not done a television interview in years. there are offices behind me, they never opened the doors and let us in to take a tour. so it's a pretty secretive company in contrast to facebook and twitter. evan spiegel grew up here in los angeles and is now engaged to a supermodel. an interesting guy, one who tries to stay out of the limelight. we don't know if he will be at the floor of the new york stock

exchange today to do the typical interviews after a company starts trading. the company is staying very tight-lipped. >> so unusual. >> obviously going well for him at the moment, today in particular. of the things to look out for, how things could turn south for the company, the likes of instagram and now what's app trying to get in on that snap story turf. is that a reason why they brought forward this ipo? did they say that on the road show? how much of a threat is that to them? >> they didn't say that's why they brought forward the ipo but listed that as a risk factor. they say there's a ton of competition. and they say having your main appeal being to younger users comes with risks, because teens, as we know, are fickle in taste. they also said they face a range of competition, not just from facebook and instagram, but companies like apple and google. when you look at a company like facebook or instagram, that's much larger than snapchat, when they have the opportunity to

copy a snapchat feature, something like stories, which snapchat invented and then instagram copied, became very popular on instagram. facebook talked about the fact that they are giving users the features they want even if they originated somewhere else. snap talked about those being risk factors. the fact that it needs to keep on innovating, keep on changing what it is offering users to make sure they stay addicted to that snap app. it is worth pointing out that snap is incredibly addictive, particularly with those younger users, spending about 30 minutes a day on the platform. >> i know one of them. he's sitting beside me. >> no, not anymore. i'm the classic switch to instagram story. >> you used to be obsessed. the filters are better on snap than on instagram. i agree people are moving. julia, thank you. it will be a big day. we'll see you later. >> what will be telling, you will be on the stock exchange floor when the bell goes. will you cover that story on

snap or instastory. >> probably both. i think for today i'll do snap. >> you have split -- it's annoying, you split yours, you have to watch both. you have to hop between the two. >> i have people who follow me on both. >> then i think you need to -- >> i need to deliver. >> you don't need to deliver because the story is disjointed. basically speaking, i worry about their future because of just my example. i've gone completely to instagram. >> to the other big news items on wall street's agendagenda. one economic report of note, jobless claims, 8:30 a.m. eastern. also cleveland fed president, loretta mester will be speaking in new york, and steve liesman has an exclusive interview with jerome powell at 11:00 a.m. eastern. as for earnings, a few notable ones here.

kroger, abercrombie & fitch, burlington stores before the opening bell. after the close, we'll hear from costco. >> interesting, wpp tomorrow, i'm sure mr. sorrel will have an opinion -- >> they spend a lot of money. alec baldwin will be co-writing a satirical white house memoir with radio host kurt anderson. the political parity is called you can't spell america without me. my fantastic inside story of my first year being president. so really trying to capitalize on his great impersonation. i'm not sure how that translates into a book. maybe he'll do an audio book version. >> right. it's the voice and the impressions that are so funny. when we come back, today's must reads. first, a look at the companies that had the most positive impact on the dow's surge

yesterday. helping it close above 21,000 for the first time ever. goldman sachs, boeing and 3m. you're watching "worldwide exchange." with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

that ride share? you actually rode here on the cloud. did not feel like a cloud... that driverless car? i have seen it all. intel's driving...the future! traffic lights, street lamps. business runs on the cloud... and the cloud runs on intel. ♪ i wonder what the other 2% runs on...(car horn) welcome back to "worldwide exchange". throwing a spanner in the works, it's a new phrase for you? >> i haven't heard of it. >> it's like a cog, you throw a

spanner in a machine. >> we were talking about the house of lords. my pick in the "wall street journal," snap goes to the market. it reads in 2012 facebook bought instagram for $1 billion, two years later, they acquired watts app for $19 billion, both apps have developed features that compete with snap's disappearing storie stories. it looks at the likes of myspace and other companies which started brilliantly and disappeared, how some other companies came to market. a nice comparison. >> my pick is in the financial

times, trump's spending plan tests the soul of his party. we talked about this after the speech yesterday, that his whole agenda, which wall street is so excited about, sort of does not include the fact that it would potentially raise the debt and the deficits of the united states. >> potentially? >> he says it will produce growth. that will help plug the hole. the ft says how much the federal debt can grow from its current 104% of gdp without economic harm is hard to say. some expansion of the deficit may be wise. the pressing question is politic political, to what degree and where will lawmakers resist mr. trump's call to spend? if they do not, mr. trump's hostile takeover of the party will be complete. and paul ryan, the so-called deficit hawk, and maya mcginness on in committee for responsible budget said yesterday this all

sounds very expensive. >> in the 2017 outlook t doesn't really matter for markets. that will hit the outlook for the u.s. -- >> until it does. remember bond vigilantes? but no sign of that right now. we're approaching the top of the hour, the team is getting ready for "squawk box." andrew ross sorkin joins us this morning. good morning. >> good morning. a lot to talk about. we will be talking about these guys. >> you got a pair. >> nice. >> we'll be snapping a bit this morning. i'm snapping you as we speak. so we'll see how that goes. >> i didn't know you were on snap, andrew what is your user name? >> andrew r. sorkin. >> good. >> we'll find you. >> how did you get the spectacles? did you wait in line for six hours in midtown? >> i know some people. i know some people. we have the new ceo of exxon who will talk to us. did a sitdown interview with becky quick yesterday.

we'll hear some of that interview and tape. fascinating what's going on in the world these days. separately, a couple other things that are fun, especially because you guys, you're so fun, millennium and digital. we have the founder of reddit. have you done these ask me anythings? >> no. >> such great examples of millennials we are. >> and the ceo of semantic syma coming up for you. all right. still to come, david rosenberg will be on to talk with us. we'll be back in a couple minutes.

your path to retirement may not always be clear. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. call us or your advisor t. rowe price. invest with confidence. bp engineers use robotic ultrasound technology, so they can detect and repair corrosion before it ever becomes a problem. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

their leadership is instinctive. because safety is never being satisfied. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's check in on the global market action. we are pretty much bang-on flat. not quite. >> i would not call this bang-on flat. >> one point.

>> dow futures down 1 1/2 points. >> holding those gains we saw yesterday. >> 1.5% for each of those three indices. financials led the charge. lots of banks hitting all time highs, including wells fargo. 9 out of 11 s&p 500 sectors were higher, two did decline, real estate and utilities. the interest rate sensitive sectors suffering. banks moving higher. we saw fed expectations for a march rate hike tick up once again. that manifested more in the short end of the curve than the long end of the curve. but nonetheless banks benefited and led the charge higher. asian markets have not really taken part in the rallies this week. we did see japan close higher today. australia up over 1%.

hong kong and shanghai down. europe tracking a similar 24-hour picture to the u.s. very strong yesterday. germany and france up more than the u.s., up 2%. just treading water this morning. we are green across the screen. as you can see, only fractional gains. >> i would say the dollar continues to march higher after yesterday's climb. and oil is weaker a bit this morning. let's show you what's happening there. wti crude, 5 3.35, down a percent, same with brent. 55.87 after a strong month to march for oil. treasuries, big story here is that rate expectations have increased. so the month of march for the fed interest rate hike now firmly on the table. those odds have shot up this week and that's really helped the two-year yield surge to the highest level in seven years. joining us with the fed focus and the trump rally is david rosenberg, chief economist and

strategist at gluskin sheff. i'm sure you're surprised to see this strength in the equity market. i know you were souring on the trump trade. what do you think is driving it and are you changing your tune? >> what's interesting is two days ago warren buffett, i think on cnbc cam out and said that it's a big mistake for investors to base their investment decisions around politics. i would tend to agree with that. you read the headlines today, it's about the trump rally taking another leg up. there's different factors that drive the equity markets at different time periods. right now this is a momentum-driven market. fund flows and technicals are strong. but i will still continue to say that valuations, though not a very good timing device ever, are extremely stretched right now by any measure. they are at 15-year highs. i still think if you have a 6, 12, 18-month view on this

looking at evaluations, especially looking at sentiment indices and the vix, the upside is seriously constrained. >> what will make people focus more on those valuations? you mentioned they're not a great timing advice. going back to warren buffett on monday, he did say when the discount rate goes up it makes the valuation look worse. as rates go up, will that make people focus on valuations? >> i think it will. monetary policy hits the economy and hits the markets with a lag. just go back to 2006 and 2007. the stock market didn't roll over the same day that the fed funds rate peaked at 5.25%. irrespective of the view on politics mixing with investment decisions, this clearly is a trump-related rally. so my sense is that markets will lose their patience if we start to see all these policy

proposals, especially the stuff that's good for the markets, whether it's deregulation, repeal of obamacare, especially tax reform. if any of these things get bogged down in congress and we don't see progress through the summer, then the markets lose patience. i would agree that the fed is the elephant in the room right now. if the fed raises rates in march, they could move more than three times this year. i agree at some point that will slow down what is already a fairly tepid economy. and people focus on the ism, which like the stock market is another sentiment barometer, when yesterday we had a 0.3 decline in january real consumer spending, a 1% decline in construction spending, we saw the atlanta fed slice first quarter gdp numbers to 1.8 from 2.5. the one pie in the sky view is we have an economy breaking out.

i think that's a projection not reality. if we don't get policy proposals coming through, there will be a reckoning here. >> you don't think the confidence boost we're seeing across, not just investors, but home builders, small businesses, and so much of corporate america is going to translate into increased hiring and increased economic activity? >> i'm -- i would say that i'm skeptical on that. let's face it, this is not the first or second year of an economic expansion with a 7% or 8% rate on unemployment rate, or 8 or 9 multiple. expectations are extremely high. if you listened to brainard yesterday, she's talking hawkishly now. she's saying the economy is close to full employment. if the economy is at full employment as per the fed, where are the doves going to come from? what happens is we'll get wage pressures, but it's a double edged sword.

>> we have to leave it there, david. thank you. david rosenberg. >> all eyes, 9:30, new york stock exchange, snap's debut. if something doesn't seem right, so everyone comes home safely. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. start your party prep with venus embrac...touch of aloe a... because the best bit of the party is the pre-party party and venus snap for those last minute invites the perfect party prep

. good morning. another milestone for the trump rally. the dow soaring past 21,000. 21,000 on the best day of the year for stocks. got to learn how to say this. oh, snap. it's not like oh crap, it's like what people say when something goes wrong with their computer, i'm told. the disappearing messaging app pricing shares above estimates. we'll tell you what to expect when the stock begins trading today. crap is a no-brainer. i'm sure i can say that after this week. and a "squawk box" exclusive, the first interview with new exxonmobil ceo darren woods, his take on oil prices, the health

of the company, and taking over for new secretary of state rex tillerson. it's thursday, march 2, 2017, "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we're live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we'll start with the market rally. stocks coming off the best day of 2017. the dow was up by 303 points, climbing above 21,000 for the first time ever. that march from 20,000 to 21,000 happened in just 24 trading sessions, that's a tie for the fastest time that's happened. last time it happened was on the march from 10,000 to