good morning, stocks stumble. major averages retreat from record highs hit by selloffs in financials. and snapped up. shares of the vanishing messaging app leap in the wall street debut. and the president defends his attorney general amid criticism about conversations with russia. the latest out of russia straight ahead. it's friday, march 3, 2017. "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ good morning. warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" this friday morning on cnbc.

i'm wilfred frost along with morgan brennan in for sara today. good morning. >> good morning. great to be here. >> great to have you with us. not just any friday, new music friday. we're kicking off the show with lo lorde's brand-new song. the "e" is silent, much to the amusement. this is very peppy for lorde. i'm digging it. >> it's called "green light." let's get to the market action. >> let's look at what your money is doing this morning. starting with u.s. equity futures. we have got red today. we have the dow jones indicated to open lower by 35 points. the s&p poised to open 6 points lower. the nasdaq down 15 points. this after stocks took a pause yesterday given the record rally we have seen in recent days. 9 of 11 s&p sectors yesterday finished lower. led down by financials. caterpillar was the biggest

negative after federal agents searched their offices, something i reported on throughout the day yesterday. even so, we are on track for all three of these indexes to close the week in the green. turning to the treasury market. a lot of fed speak this week, which the markets have perceived to be much more hawkish. we have seen expectations of a fed rate hike this month really jump this week. you have seen that in the treasury note throughout the week. treasury market, excuse me, throughout the week. ten-year treasury note, the yield is slightly lower. down to 2.48%. but again, solid moves this week. the biggest story, perhaps, has been the two-year treasury and the fact we have seen yields there highest since 2009. >> exactly. about a seven-year peak. a flattening of the curve, but expectations of a hike have moved significantly. it's the best case expectation for march. we will hear from both stanley fischer and janet yellen today

in and around lunchtime. will they stick with the rhetoric of the last two weeks to suggest march is possible or change the tone? let's look at data out of asia overnight. japan's core consumer prices rose for the first time in more than a year. january core cpi at 0.1%. forecasters expecting the number to be flat. japanese household spending did drop more than expected. asian equities ending on a soft note. not been a great week in asia. hasn't taken part in the wall street and european gains. you can see we're down about three quarters of a percent in hong kong. european data as well, uk february services pmi coming in at 53.3, consensus was for higher, 54.5, which was also the prior reading. so that fall in the headline index coming down due to softer rise in new work. business optimism remains fine, but the point being this is lower than what is going in

terms of across the rest of europe and potentially shows a bit of a slowdown in the uk for the first time post brexit rally. eurozone final services pmi, 55.5. basically in line with expectation. europe european sales dropping for the third consecutive month, down 0.1%. what does this mean for markets? they are in the red slightly. this comes off the back of a desent week for european trade. markets up over 2% in and around 2% with these declines for the week as a whole. >> they've been outperforming u.s. equities for the week as a whole. turning to the broader markets, let's look at the energy complex right now. we've got oil up a bit this morning. wti crude trading about 52.67. ice prebrent, 55.18 after lossen both of those yesterday.

keep in mind u.s. inventories at a record level. that's according to the government data we got this week. nat gas about flat. turning now to currencies, looking at what has happened with the dollar this week. we've seen strengthening in the dollar this week. this morning we've got it weaker against the euro. however weaker against the yen an stronger against the pound. again, this is all that hawkish fed talk that we've seen playing out in currencies. turning to gold. >> the pound, i would add, has had quite a bit slip over the past two, three days as data has come out. that's something to keep an eye on. support levels it will test over the next couple of days. >> turning to gold as well. we've seen the price of gold falling this week. down about $5, almost $6 this morning. 1,227 an ounce. we've on track for the first down week in five for gold.

>> coming dback to markets more broadly. selloff yesterday, off a half percent. almost exact reversal of the big gains we saw on wednesday. in that sense, i think the biggest reason is profit taking after the surge we did see on wednesday. financials led the way down, down 1.5%. utilities were the best performer. exactly the kind of turnaround we had seen in terms of the week before. also the other factor, which, of course we need to mansion is snapchat which sucked up liquidity given the rise on the first day of trading, up about 40%. huge gains. the biggest winners could be the investment banks, because i'm sure everyone else on the sidelines wondering should we be ipo'ing our company thinking let's do this, markets are high, liquidity is there. >> so many traders and investors i spoke to yesterday said they think overall the ipo yesterday went smoothly. we did see a 44% gain. heavy volume in snap yesterday.

so turning now -- i want to look at bitcoin. we highlighted the price of gold. if you look at bitcoin, the digital currency is at 1,285, near record high. it crossed the price -- it was higher than the price of gold as of yesterday. we're seeing it higher again this morning. up 2%. now, if i had my druthers, i would go with gold, not the bitcoin. that's me. >> i'm still not a bit -- i don't fully understand all the aspects of bitcoin. i agree. i don't think i would lump all my savings into it yet. new data on where people are putting their money to work. investors poured $7.3 billion into u.s. based stock funds in the week ending wednesday. this is the fifth straight week of inflows. taxable bonds attracted nearly $3 billion, and u.s. based etfs brought in 6 billion capping a ninth straight month of inflows. today it's the first friday of the month, which usually means it's jobs friday.

but the jobs report is not coming out until next friday. the labor department usually conducts surveys during the week, that includes the 12th day of february. but in february, the 12th fell on a sunday so surveys were pushed back a week. so instead of jobs, we're getting the february ism services index at 10:00 a.m. >> and watching out for fed speak, chair janet yellen speaking about the economy this afternoon at 1:00. appearing before the executive club of chicago. she's expected to take questions from the audience. vice chair stanley fischer giving the keynote speech at the u.s. monetary policy forum in new york. and charles evans and jeffrey lacker also speaking at that event. here's what was said about the probable of a march rate hike yesterday. >> the economy behaved pretty much as we expected. the balance of risks which has been to the down side in recent years that shifted to being even

and lifting to the upside because of the possibility and likelihood of fiscal action. you put all that together, the case for a rate increase in march has come together. i think it's on the table for discussion. >> so, of course, expectations for a march hike have risen significantly over the past couple weeks, and the u.s. dollar index hit a why not seen since the 1st of november. up about 1% this week. >> turning to corporate news. snap inc., the parent of snapchat, saw shares surge by 44% on the first day of trading. that's after pricing at $17 a piece. that was dove tabove the expect range. snap opened on the new york stock exchange at $24s. a market cap of $34 billion. that makes snap inc. three times larger than twitter and puts it billions of dollars ahead of companies like united continental, hilton, viacom, hershey and ferrari. snap lost money every year since it began commercial operations

in 2011 and warned that it may never earn a profit. >> i don't know which -- why we picked out those companies, it's amazing it's bigger than all of them. clearly bigger than lots of companies, but extraordinary. 33 billion. december end make a profit. as i said earlier, coincidental, but banks were down in the market, but this is great news for investment banks. there's such a pent up lack of equity capital market action. this was the best test. it went well. absolutely not out of the woods yet. they have to see how snap itself performs, but investment banks are out of the woods. day one went well, it rose on day one. i imagine we'll see a wave more of ipos coming to market. >> i'm curious to see what the first quarterly results will bring. daily active users will be more critical. >> to politics, an update on the jeff sessions controversy.

president trump came out in defense of his attorney general over his past conversations with the russian envoy to the united states. >> mr. president, do you still have confidence in the attorney general? >> total. >> mr. president, should sessions recuse himself from the investigation of russia. >> i don't think so. >> when did you first learn that sessions spoke to the russian ambassador? when were you aware that he spoke to the russian ambassador? >> i wasn't aware at all. >> mr. president, do you think he should have spoken truthfully with whether he spoke to him. >> he probably did. >> the president did say sessions could have been more accurate in his statement to the senate about the conversation with the russian official. sessions said he will recuse himself from any investigations that russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. and it was reported that mike pence used a private e-mail

while governor of indiana. the story was confirmed by pence's office. according to the publication, the now vice president used his aol account to conduct government business including corresponding about potentially sensitive issues. i should note, he was legally allowed by the state to use this private e-mail server. >> best thing about this, aol. old school. who still has an aol account. >> and verizon, which now owns aol. >> like when you get an e-mail from someone, and it's from hotmail. stocks to watch today, wpp's revenue growth slowing in the second half of last year as clients spent less in the u.s. and uk. the company forecasting slower growth for 2017. here is ceo martin sorrell discussing the quarter's results on "squawk box" europe. >> very great focus on cost for those three reasons, technology

disruption, zero based budgeting, and last but not least the activist investors, it's a hand to hand come bat. it's what they call in the nfl a ground game. there is very little passing, very few hail marys i guess. >> shares down sharply, 6%. that was more because of the guidance for the year ahead than anything. i would note his outlook for the u.s. economy was pretty upbeat, because of trump's policies. costco reporting lower than expected quarterly comparable-store sales and profit. grocery chains have been competing against costco by cutting prices to attract prices. the wearehouse club retailer raising fees by $5. auto desk giving q1 guidance that missed forecasts amid its major transition to cloud computing. still q4 earnings top exed peck takes. down a percent. >> more stocks to watch. american outdoor brands reporting a revenue miss for the third quarter and offering guidance that fell below the

street's expectations. the company was formerly known as smith & wesson. i should note gun sales have taken a bit of a breather since president trump won the election. aries of nutanix plunging after the company issued a forecast that missed expectations, even though the cloud computing retailer topped estimateds in the last quarter. shares down 18% right now. london stock exchange seeing the full-year net profit fall due in part to acquisition costs. the exchange operator says it sees growth opportune tisz and is continuing to work on the proposed merger with deutsche boerse. shares down about a half percent. coming up, the morning's top corporate stories including news that federal agents searched caterpillar's headquarters that sent shares of the dow component tumbling. we have those details coming up. stay tuned. you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. t i keept grog by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one.

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?

ways wins. especially in my business. with slow internet from the phone company,

you can't keep up. you're stuck, watching spinning wheels and progress bars until someone else scoops your story. switch to comcast business. with high-speed internet up to 10 gigabits per second. you wouldn't pick a slow race car. then why settle for slow internet? comcast business. built for speed. built for business. exchange." rejoice, it's friday. albeit the market action no so celebratory. it comes off the back of the worst trading day for more than a month yesterday. down about a half to 0.7%. depending on which index you look at. it comes off the back of big gains on wednesday. of course an extended winning

streak, more prolonged if we look out. yesterday, the biggest decliner was financials. let's look at that. because, yes, financials were down 1.5% yesterday but it came off a big gain on wednesday. so, yesterday's fall was very much a bit of profit taking. financials was the worst performer. 9 out of 11 sectors were down. utilities was the best performer. for the week as a whole, markets still higher as are financials, up about 1.6% for the week. morgan? >> turning now to industrials, caterpillar's ceo is seeking to reassure employees following a raid of the company oop's head quautders and two other facilities yesterday. in a statement to employees, cat's new ceo says he believes the raid is related to a previous matter related to the company's subsidiary in switzerland which has been under investigation for export filings

for three years. he said he is surprised by the timing of the action because caterpillar has been cooperating with authorities and will continue to work to resolve the issue. i should also note that the company disclosed it is under criminal investigation, it had received federal subpoenas just last month. we saw the stock barely react to that. when you see federal agents coming in and actually searching the offices, that's a whole other ball game, part of the reason we saw the stock fall 4% yesterday. still to come, attorney general jeff sessions under fire because of his conversations with russia. new developments out of washington straight ahead. but first, as we head to break, here's today's national forecast from the weather channel's kelly cass. >> good morning. we are in for a mostly dry day along the 95 corridor. the interior sections of the northeast, that's where it is still windy and cold enough for some of that lake-effect snow between detroit, cleveland, buffalo, syracuse, all could see

some lake-effect snow bands setting up there. temperatures only in the 30s in chicago as well as new york city. it's warming up in the south. look at dallas, sunshine, 70 degrees. what a great way to end the work week. temperatures in the upper 50s in atlanta. still on the cool side, but it is dry. a few showers down towards miami. across the west coast, a few showers in j s is in seattle wi temperatures in the 40s in los angeles, high of 80 degrees. the coldest around the great lakes this morning and as we head into the weekend. we'll be right back.

bp gives its offshore teams 24/7 support from onshore experts, so we have extra sets of eyes on our wells every day. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. because safety is never being satisfied. you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com

mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. shis it dna or olay? er than she should. new olay regenerist helps take years off your skin age so you can look younger. who needs dna when you have olay? new regenerist. what powers the digital world? communication. like centurylink's broadband network that gives 35,000 fans a cutting edge game experience. or the network that keeps a leading hotel chain's guests connected at work, and at play. or the it platform that powers millions of ecards every day for one of the largest greeting card companies. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink.

. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." president trump strongly defending attorney general jeff sessions over his communication with russian officials. edward lawrence joins us from washington with the latest. edward? >> reporter: good morning. it seems like it's been a drip, drip, drip of stories about russia and the trump administration. in this case, democrats say that the attorney general must resign. attorney general jeff sessions defends himself saying he should have disclosed his election season meetings with the russian ambassador making an important distinction about the conversations. >> let me be clear, i never had meetings are russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the trump campaign. >> reporter: he recused himself from any investigation into russian meddling in the 2016

campaign, something republicans in congress called for. during his confirmation hearing, sessions did not disclose his communications with the russian ambassador to the u.s. >> i didn't have communications with the russians. >> reporter: in a statement, president trump said he could have been clearer, but this is a total witch hunt. >> i think it was hyped beyond reason, and i think it was unfair. i was glad to be able to address it today. >> mr. president, do you still have confidence in the attorney general? >> reporter: democrats don't buy it. calling the new attorney general a liar. >> i don't think it has anything to do with confidence in the attorney general. it has to do with not telling the truth under oath. >> the fact that the attorney general, the top cop in our country lied under oath to the american people is grounds for him to resign. >> and now we're learning that the president's son-in-law, jared kushner and the former national security adviser, michael flynn, had a meeting with the russian ambassador last

october in trump tower. the white house billing that meeting as just a 15-minute meet and greet. morgan? >> edward lawrence, thank you for joining us. turning now to other headlines involving the president and the administration. the president making his case yesterday for a proposed $54 billion increase in defense spending. now, he was in newport news, virginia on board a new air crafted carrier. >> america's always been the country that boldly leads the world into the future. my budget will ensure we do so and continue to do exactly that. american ships will sail the seas. american planes will soar the skies. american workers will build our fleets. >> investors have agreed, given the defense headlines we've seen

this week, the defense etf is poised to close the week up 1%. he was standing on board the gerald r. ford aircraft carrier being developed by huntington engles, it was a strong performer yesterday in light of the fact he was there. they are the biggest u.s. manufacturer of military ships. investors are expecting a big build up in ships, in aircraft carriers, in all of this military hardware. the question is can he actually get the money to do it? and how much will he cut costs to do it? >> the other question is will you get to go on to an aircraft carrier to report close to the facts? >> i'm working on it. i'm working on aircraft carriers and more fighter jets. >> pretty cool. >> some good stories coming up soon. >> i get to visit banks. very exciting. moving on to sports. not one but two amazing shots last night in the nba during a time-out in the thunder/blazers

game, this young man had a half court shot and nailed it. peter crum said he knew the ball was on line with the basket but hoped it had the distance. he won a new toyota minivan. also from that game, less than three seconds left, taj gibson intercepted a long pass down court and threw it back the other way, a high rainbow arc, and hitting the shot, it wasn't enough for oklahoma city, the blazers won the game. epic stuff. coming up, a round up of the global markets, and why the gift tom hanks just mailed to 1600 pennsylvania avenue is generating a lot of buzz. stay tuned, you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc.

markets now, wall street expected to open lower ahead of a key speech by janet yellen. >> and snapped up, shares of the vanishing messaging app leap in the wall street debut. and the top trending stories, including why actor tom hanks set a new espresso machine to the white house. it's friday, march 3, 2017, you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. ♪

good morning. welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm trying not to dance right now. >> it's friday, you're allowed to. >> good luck to sara, she's en route to vegas. we wish her a profitable and enjoyable weekend. let's get to the market action. yesterday declines, looking at the futures board. >> looking at u.s. equity futures, in the red. we have the dow jones indicated to open down 27. almost 28 points. the s&p poised to open 5 points lower. the nasdaq futures indicating that we're down 12 1/2 points. this after markets took a pause yesterday on the heels of the recent record rally. it looks like we'll extend in terms of those losses here this morning. at least for now ahead of the fed talk which is expected today, with janet yellen around lunch time.

>> absolutely. it was a bit of a turnaround from bigger gains on wednesday. net net for the week we're higher. and banks which were down 1.5% are also still higher for the week. >> turning to europe. and what is going on in the equity markets -- excuse me, let's go to asia first. looking at asia. we have mixed or -- okay, we'll stick with europe. the german dax is about 0.3% lower. the french cac, about flat. ftse 100 about 0.3% lower. still on pace for gains in the major indexes in europe as well for the week. now turning to asia, if we look there, we have red arrows there as well. the japanese nikkei down a half percent. hong kong and shanghai are lower as well. the nikkei hitting a 14-month high yesterday. have some profit taking there

today. >> let's look at broader markets. oil prices, which have had a soft couple of days, down 2.3% yesterday. down about 2.6% for the week as a whole. wti is, in fact, below the 50-day moving average. that's something to keep an eye on. as you can see, bouncing back a bth toda bit today, 52 opinion 7. ten-year note, yields have risen during the course of the week, much more so at the short end of the curve than the long end of the curve. the two-year is at the highest level for seven years. all eyes on janet yellen at 1:00 p.m., she'll be speaking in chicago. let's look at the dollar. the dollar has moved higher for the week. it's about 1% up for the week as a whole. about 0.4% move yesterday. as you can see, not doing too much today other than against the pound, we had some slightly

soft pmi data, 1.22 the level of the british pound. gold prices to round things off, down about 2% week to date. the dollar has been higher. gold slipped a little bit. down a third of a percent, significantly good run year to date. 1228 the price. >> turning to today's agenda just one piece of economic data, but plenty of fed speak. the february ism services index is out at 10:00 a.m. eastern. it is the first friday of the month, which usually means jobs friday, but because the 12th of february fell on a sunday, the survey has been pushed back a week. today, janet yellen is speak at 1:00 p.m., and charles evans and

jeffrey lacker are also speaking at the event. quite the crescendo in a busy week in terms of commentary from fed officials. >> clearly expectations in the marketplace that we get a march hike. so janet yellen has the ability today to either confirm that or push it away again. all eyes on that 1:00. stanley fischer as well, lunch time no where to be other than cnbc. new data on where people are putting their money to work. l l lippor reports that people poured $7 billion into stock funds. etfs brought in $8.6 billion. snap inc. making a roar on the floor of the new york stock exchange for their first trading day yesterday. landon dowdy has more.

>> snap opening at $17 a share and closing at 24.48 a share, a 44% rise. the offering of 200 million shares brings the firm's market cap to $34 billion, making it more valuable than twitte eter ferrari and best buy. snap's ipo is one of the largest debuts in recent years. it has a vast audience of 158 million daily users. but there are notable concerns. the firm has lost money every year since 2011 and said it may never be profitable. last year posting a net loss of more than $500 million as it spent heavily on marketing and data storage. the challenge going forward is to find ways to boost the advertising business quickly and ramp up revenue per user.

shares up 1.5% in early trading. back over to you. >> thank you very much for that. spotify has reached a new milestone with more than 50 million paid subscriber,s that's up 25% in less than six months, and extends the music streaming service's lead over apple music, which has about 20 million users. spotify has yet to turn a profit but is expanding into more countries. last month it was reported that spotify is considering an ipo. shares of nintendo rallied today as it launched the new switch games console. success of the device is key following the disappointing reaction to the last console, the wii-u. the switch is considered a hybrid device, it can be used as tablet or played by multiple people in tablettop mode. the company will ship more than 2 million units this month.

time for our top trending stories of the day. tom hanks gifting the white house press corps a new espresso machine. the machine, delivered by mail, with you was accompanied by a note saying keep up the good fight for truth, justice and the american way, especially the truth part. back in 2004, he realized they didn't have a coffee pot, he gave them an espresso maker and replacing that in 2010 after he jokingly said it was not being cleaned properly. i didn't know about this tradition of him giving coffee until yesterday. >> i didn't either. >> i wonder what kind of machine he gives? >> i hope a good one. i hope not a cheap token one. i'm sure there's plenty of ways for them to get coffee, so slightly random but appreciated. a trump related dating show could be heading to the small screen. the creator of trump singles.com

is partnering with box communications to produce a tv series based on the site. the show's concept is being finalized but it will reportedly revolve around politics and not limited to people from trump singles.com. >> i didn't know that existed. the idea of having political-based dating websites is nuts to me. americans put their politics on their sleeve a lot more. it's the kind of thing that wouldn't come up in dating in the uk. >> politics has gotten a lot to more divisive in this country the last couple of years. i can tell you i've seen members of my family stop talking to other members of the family because of politics. so there might be a market for this. >> you can imagine finding your one true love and falling apart because of political allegiance that would be a shame, wouldn't it? >> differing opinions make for better conversation. >> there we go. moving on, time to channel your inner taylor swift because ed sheeran wants a digital duet

with you. he teamed up with an app called sing, allowing fans to sing virtual duets with him. jason derulo are some of the other singers that fans can duet with on the app. a bit of private karaoke at home. >> will you do it? >> not really with an ed sheeran song. maybe flick through -- nor the other people on it yet. but depends on who is added to the list. >> okay. coming up, the must-reads. later this morning on "squawk box," a cnbc exclusive with commerce secretary wilbur ross, an in-depth conversation on the economy, global trade and so much more. don't miss it. that's at 7:00 eastern. first, as we head to break, check out european equities at this hour. we have red pretty much across the board. the german dax, ftse 100 and french cac all down, albeit modest losses today. opportunities aren't always obvious.

sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the wod advances. bp engineers use underwater robots,

so they cakeep watch over operations below the sea, even from thousands of feet above. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. bounty is more absorbent,mom" per roll because safety is never being satisfied. so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper i work with people everywhere on sea, on land, and in the air.

inspecting towers way up high avoiding turbulence in the sky. personalizing treatments with dna and recommending who should play. a dress that thinks, which crops to grow, tax prep to help keep payments low. you can find me on an oil rig i answer questions small, and big. hello, my name is watson. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's get up to speed with the market action. yesterday, delines about a half percent to 0.7%, depending on which index you look at. but still higher for the week as a whole following that blow-out gain on wednesday. yesterday, 9 out of 11 sectors were lower, almost a direct reversal in terms of veksector performance from the day before.

banks still higher for the week as a whole. utilities were the best performing sector. down this morning by about 0.2%. let's look at treasury yields. we crossed above 2.5% on the ten-year yesterday. expectations of a march rate hike have risen significantly this week. that has not really manifested itself with higher yields on the long end of the curve. flickers of movement during the course of the week. we are seeing a bit of a yield flattening. two-year has been higher. 1.3% this morning. in around seven-year highs. decent reaction at the short end. not so much at the long end. we hear from janet yellen at lunch time today. currencies have responded this week. the dollar about 1% higher for the week as a whole. up a half percent yesterday. not doing much today. the biggest mover is the pound. the dollar higher by 0.4%. disappointing pm iis. on going talk of the possibility

of another scottish referendum. we're a long way from that happening. the headlines hurting the pound a bit. oil prices, a soft week for oil. wti dropped below the 50-day moving average. bouncing back a bit today, up nearly a half percent. morgan? >> in global market news, china's national peoples congress will open on sunday. more than 3,000 officials are expected to descend on beijing for the event. among the items to watch, the annual growth target and tax reform. and we'll turn now to our must-reads. i'll kick it off. >> i was menuas meant to be fir go. >> it's the "washington post." this is titled trump's infrastructure plan could run into a big problem, democracy. charles lane writing the united states failure to enact a massive program to repair our crumbling infrastructure reflects not stupidity or weak national will but a genuine

inescapable collective action problem. infrastructure benefits are diffuse, long-term and to some degree speculative. costs are neimmediate, focussed and palpable, this after president trump vowed to get a trillion dollar infrastructure spending plan together. this has been and for years now, this has been the biggest hurdle to infrastructure projects getting done. that's the fact that municipalities, local laws, local citizens step in and block larger plans. even if the federal funding is there. we spoke to amtrak's ceo a few weeks ago on "power lunch," and amtrak is trying to create a new set of rail line that would make the trip between new york and boston shorter, it would go through old line connecticut. citizens there are blocking this. >> lots of hurdles, but the

clear intention for these sorts of things to come. it hasn't derailed the markets thus far. >> my must read is in the "the financial times," snap unleash the unicorns. i mentioned this earlier, the fact of will we now see lots of ipos come to market, as that point makes clear, perhaps in the future maybe the share price of snap will decline, but day one above expectations and gained significantly off the become of that. i'm sure the investment bankers will be pushing all sorts of privately held companies to rush through their own ipos. >> we just reported it, spotify might be considering an ipo. still to come, fed speak likely to drive the day. we will talk with michelle girard.

later on "squawk box," commerce secretary wilbur ross, in-depth conversation on the economy, global trade and much more. don't miss that we're back in a couple minutes. with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov 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. so i thought it might be time to talk about a financial strategy. you mean pay him back? so let's start talking about your long-term goals. knowing your future is about more than just you. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. 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." shares of wpp are under pressure today as the advertising giant cut its sales targets saying the market will be ultra competitive in 2017, but ceo martin sorrell told cnbc this morning he hopes president trump's pro business policies will kick started growth. >> his pro business, pro growth agenda if it gets implemented is good for business. america first will probably benefit the company. >> for now sorrell says the company is preparing for a more conservative budget in the year ahead. but those shares are down about %. of course that is on this weaker than expected outlook. >> calls for a march fed rate

hike gaining momentum. here's fed governor jay powell in an exclusive interview with steve liesman yesterday. i wrote down three rate increases in the september summary of economic projections. that still feels about right to me. that's a gradual path by any historic measure, and it does feel to me that's about right, but it is really going to depend on what the economy does. could be higher, could be lower. >> joining us now is michelle girard from natwest markets. officially changed her call yesterday. >> so we are calling for a hike in march we came into the year thinking it was june. i delayed making a switch. even as the data came in better because i thought the hurdle for moving in march was high because i felt for the fed to take action again in march, having moved in december, essentially establishing a pace of once per quarter, it would sort of signal

to the market that we are going to get more -- or the odds of getting more than the three rate hikes that they guided us to with their last forecast was higher. so i felt like the fed had this sort of get over the hurdle of thinking that you were going to get perhaps more of the upside risk that had increased. clearly listening to them, it feels like that condition has been met. we moved and moved to four rate hikes as well. >> quick short question, you think janet yellen when she speaks at lunch time today will not derail that? >> i hope not. that's usually what happens. i cave in, throw in the towel and she will say no way we could go. but my expectation is she was upbeat when she testified in february before congress. all of the conversations that we've heard from everybody since then have been upbeat. i imagine she will stick with that tone. >> clearly the markets moved its expectations. we've seen a big move in the short end of the curve. pricing in a march rate hike

now. not much movement in the longer yield of the curve. people expect march but maybe not so many hikes. >> i think you're right. i believe people are not yet expecting four. there's more talk of that but most people, i don't think have gone, the consensus is like the fed, three rate hikes is what we'll get. the other thing to keep in mind is the more fed tightening you see the less inflation risk ultimately there may be. we talk about a curve under the scenario where the fed is doing more, the short-term rates should rise more than long-term rates because the action the fed is taking now should keep inflation in check, and that is good for keeping longer rates moving. >> how closely are you watching the potential showdown on the debt ceiling we're expecting in the next couple of weeks? could that derail future hikes?

>> the debt ceiling being reinstated on march 15th shouldn't have an immediate impact. the treasury will have a lot of cash, particularly getting into the spring and april tax receipts, that they can keep servicing the debt. that probably wouldn't come until the end of the year. what i thought you might say, too to what extent does this fiscal uncertainty on whether or not we get tax cuts impact the fed decision? if everything boggs down and the economy slows, maybe the fed won't be able to continue on this path they have set of maybe moving once a quarter. that's the risk to our for cast now. >> is it plausible we will see tax reform by the end of the summer, which seems to be what the administration maintains, but there's so many hurdles. there's a lot of hurdles. there's a lot they're discussing. so i actually think, you know, the choice is do you do

individual, corporate tax reform and border adjustment tax. that just seems like it's taking a lot to get done. and wrapped up before the summer recess. i think they want to deliver something. so we're expecting they'll end up just kind of putting a down payment, if you will, on the broader tax reform initiative and at least by summer just cut the corporate tax rate. then perhaps deal with broader issues like individual tax cuts and a border adjustment tax at some point in 2018. >> is all of this factoring into your longer term forecast for u.s. growth? >> i am optimistic. i think we're getting tax cuts, the regulatory relief which i think is why we're seeing the economy having the momentum it does, even in the face of fiscal uncertainty. you know, i'm optimistic about the outlook. it all comes together, even coming back to the fed in terms of why we would expect more

rather than less. >> what is the main risk factor? >> if we do get something in terms of disappointments on the fiscal front -- and i don't blov t love the border adjustment tax. i think the impacted potentially may be negative on the consumer. any protectionist actions like that would sort of derail the positive sentiment that i think we've got going so i'm watching developments out of washington closely. >> michelle, thanks for joining us. have a lovely weekend, michelle girard of the natwest markets. a brand name i'm aware of as a brit, 30 seconds to go. charts of the week. f financials, the way they led the market higher and then lower. still net positive for the week as a whole. both are important. >> and we'll keep an eye on

snap, too, after that 44% gain yesterday. >> that's it for "worldwide exchange." have a lovely day. have a lovely week. "squawk box" comes next.

did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's over 6 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business.

good morning. stocks stumble, pulling back from record highs but still above 21,000. we'll have a rundown of the events that could move markets today, including a speech by fed chair janet yellen. snap chairs surging in their public debut. you should see this market valuation. major name brand companies this brand exceeds. we have an analyst with eight reasons to pump the brakes. and the newsmaker of the morning an hour away. the first sit-down interview with the new commission

secretary, wilbur ross. it's friday march 3, 2017. "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick with joe kernen. andrew ross sorkin will join us at the top of the 7:00 hour with commerce secretary wilburio ros. joining us on set is jason. are you watching all these records we've been setting? >> you're darn right. it's terrific. let the good times roll. >> there you go. >> you have been. you've been long. >> we've been