in like lion wall street looking to roar back to life in march after the dow snapped its longest monthly winning streak in 59 years. walmart lifting the minimum age for gun buyers to 21 the s.e.c. reportedly launching a sweeping probe into digital currencies full details ahead it's thursday, march 1, 2018 "worldwide exchange" begins now. good morning welcome to "worldwide exchange." you're watching cnbc, i'm seema

mody >> happy new month good to start it with you. >> i'm mike santoli. wilfred and sara are off today let's check the futures this morning for the start of a new month. they were under pressure a bit it started to the positive side, but looking like maybe some of that late-day weakness could continue into the s&p. set to open down 5 points. dow jones down 65. the nasdaq still the out-performer, only tiny losses there. >> we'll have more on the markets in a second. first to a major corporate story. walmart joins rick s spos sportg goods goods to raise the minimum age to 21. walmart is removing item from its websites that look like assault rivals including non-lethal air soft guns and toys walmart already stopped selling assault weapons and accessories back in 2015

shares not really doing much, but slightly higher in extended trade. turning back to the markets, february was a tough month for stocks the dow and s&p snapping ten straight months of gains some talk about the s&p snapping a 15-month win streak. that is the longest streak since 1959 that was snapped. quickly recapping the month, the dow fell 4%. zch do s&p down 3.9%. the nasdaq off 2%. all 11 s&p sectors lost ground for the month, with energy, consumer staples and telecom down the month ten-year yield touching 2.9% last month for the first time in four years with february in the books, what's in store for march? joining us is ed campbell. good morning to you. i'm sure some investors want to forget february what do you expect for march >> i think we're still in the

corrective phase v-shaped recoveries from corrections do happen, but not typical. it typically takes us a couple months to shake this off we had a big bounce. we're starting to move down again. bottoming is a process here. we're still positive on the stock market and overweight equities in our multi asset class portfolios i still expect equities to outperform core bonds by a decent amount. we're buying in our portfolios we think it's -- you don't want to be too cute in trying to time the bottom here. we've been buying on the weakness >> what is the market trying to sort out in this corrective process? is it simply trying to get acclimated to slightly higher rates for interest rates or the fed? did we just overshoot in january to the upside? >> as you mentioned, we had a very long winning streak so what we had last year was very unusual in that it was lowest volatility that the stock market has posted since 1964

the biggest draw down we had last year was 3% we went 400 trading days with the s&p 500 at a new high without a 5% pullback. so this was long overdue so i think what has caused it is the rapid repricing in the fixed income markets and the notion that we're going to see rising inflation. so we have significant fiscal stimulus on top of a labor market that's fully employed so inflation pressures are coming back. the market is spooked by it. but we think the fundamentals are strong and that will keep the bull market on track. >> do any of those factors and the potential fed response to those give you worry about how much longer this expansion cycle has to run do we feel like we're comfortable for a while? >> i'm comfortable for a while in terms of the indicators that we monitor to get a sense of

what recession risk is, they're still blinking green i think the probable leability a recession this year is 15%, by in the next three years closer to 60% we still have a window of 12 to 18 months where risk assets and stocks can do well we are -- it's been a long business cycle we're closer to the end than we are to the middle or to the beginning. but our best guest is that the next recession is in 2020. the markets don't really begin to discount that until mid to later 2019 i think we're okay for now >> where are you seeing opportunity in terms of sectors or areas where we could see further upside is it technology or laggards like energy that have not participated in the rebound we saw prior to this two-day selloff? >> we like both. we like tech it has the best fundamentals it has the momentum.

we do like energy. there's not many attractively valued assets in the market. energy typically does well in the late cycle we think energy will do well we like financials on rising interest rates and the deregulatory tailwind that they're facing financials are reasonably cheap. >> credit markets have been pretty well behaved through all of this. is there still value there or is that just okay for now >> i don't think there's value if you look at the high yield market, we're down to pre-financial crisis levels. so we think you're better off taking your risks in equities rather than in fixed income. we've been pulling back on credit even though we stayed overweight on equities >> we'll leave the conversation there. ed, thank you for joining us ed campbell. we are following a developing story in the cryptocurrency market. the "wall street journal"

reporting that federal regulators launched a sweeping probe into cryptocurrency trading. the journal says the s.e.c. handed down dozens of subpoenas to tech companies and advisers involved in the digital currency market the subpoenas include requests for information about the structure of slam coin offeri offerings, known as icos bitcoin for the most part is actually traying higher by 3% in coinbase and bit stamp some would say this is a surprise regulators have been warning this is where there's a lot of bad actors perhaps this was expected. >> definitely expected i think it's good that you mention the currency markets themselves for crypto and maybe larger technology may view this as let's clean up this opportunistic fringe activity. >> lay down a framework so the people who have good intentions

can get to work. we'll monitor cryptocurrencies in political news, we have a bombshell announcement from the white house that hope hicks is leaving her post as communications director. eamon javers is live in washington with more on this >> reporter: good morning. another dramatic and emotional day at the white house yesterday with the departure of hope hicks. the "new york times" breaking the story late in the afternoon. hope one of the president's closest confidants and advisers. the white house saying she tendered her resignation to president trump on wednesday morning and they insist her departure has nothing to do with that testimony she had before the intel committee on capitol hill the day before. about eight or nine hours of straight testimony for hope hicks con capitol hill they say the resignation has been in the works for weeks, and that the president was not unhappy with her hope hicks saying there are no words to adequately express my gratitude to president trump

i wish the president and his administration the very best as he cons to lead our country. the president himself putting out a statement. the president's statement is she's a smart and thoughtful as they come. a truly great person i will miss having her by my side when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities i totally understood so no indication of who might succeed hope hicks in that role. remember she's the fourth person to hold the title of communications director in the trump administration during the course of just over a year she's been involved in many of the flash points of the trump administration, some of the most controversial moments including the decision to issue a potentially misleading statement about the don jr. meeting with russians at trump tower. she was involved in the rob porter fiasco. that was an issue that blew up for the white house. hope hicks, of course, was at the time dating rob porter

she's become a figure who does not seek publicity but who has become a public person in washington, d.c. with paparazzi, photographers following her to restaurants, taking pictures of her in cabs. that testimony before the special council's office, robert mueller's office, also before the senate intel committee, people wanting to know what her role has been and what she knows about the campaign, the transition, and the president's perm in the white hous term in the white house. so a lot of pressure on hope hicks. the white house not saying when she will go, but her departure will be effective in the coming weeks. >> any idea who will fill her spot and there is a sense that the resignation of hope hicks makes trump's inner circle much smaller. is that a cause for concern? >> i think it is if you look at hope hicks, communications director was her title but that did not encompass all of her duties. she was one of the president's

closest advisers somebody who was with him most of the day she's said to be the person who the white house could trust to bring the president bad news, and he would take the bad news better from her than from anybody else on the staff. the president is an emotional guy. gets riled up from time to time. and hope hicks is said to be the person inside his inner circle who could calm him down, get him focused, deal with whatever the drama of the moment is there's been so much drama in this trump white house that role is not likely to be one that the white house will be able to replace. somebody who is a confidant, an adviser, as well as a communications director. in term of the coms job, mercedes schlap may take over that role. it could be difficult to bring

in a high visibility person from the outside, though they may be tempted to do that, because there's been so much turnover in that job qualified big-name people from the outside may be wary of going in and taking a job that might only last a few months >> thank you for that. >> you bet turning to today's wall street agenda, the focus will be on the fed jay powell heads back to capitol hill to testify before the senate banking committee that hearing gets underway at 10:00 a.m. even. weekly jobless claims are out at 8:30 a.m. eastern, along with january personal income and spending at 10:00 a.m., the ism manufacturing index. automakers will worth february sales throughout the day best buy, kohl's, amc networks report before the bell gap, nordstrom, american outdoor brands also out after the close. a lot of people will be watching that one in earnings news, shares of ab inbev moving higher after reporting strong quarterly

results. landon dowdy joins us with more on those numbers >> that's right. shares of anheuser-busch moving higher after better-than-expected earnings. they reported higher profit in the fourth quarter thanks to savings from the sabmiller acquisition and a rebound in brazil despite the strong finish, ab inbev is still struggling in the u.s. as budweiser and bud light continue to lose market share to wine an spirits and as consumers switch to beers to smaller craft brewers. the company saying we're not satisfied with our market share per forl mformance and are workr to balance the equation. beer sales have fallen 15% since 2008 analysts and ab inbev are optimistic about 2018. brett cooper noting that q1 is expected to be weak, but we should see improvement over the balance of the year.

the stock down about 11% in the past year and up 5% in early trading. >> landon, thank you very much spotify announcing plans to go public. the streaming service filed for a direct listing of shares on the nyse, this means spotify will be able to list existing shares without raising new capital. still much more ahead on "worldwide exchange," including a round up of the top headlines and a check on global markets. plus shares of cloud company box plunging we'll tell you what's behind the drop. and under armour is making a bet on the future what the company's ceo told jim kram their is gettin cramer that is getting attention today. mom, dad, can we talk?

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that's a good one. seems a bit long, but okay... set a memorable wifi password with xfinity my account. one more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. welcome back some stocks to watch today, sales force profits beating forecasts on the strength of the cloud business and raising its full-year guidance its ceo said the company signed more million dollar contracts than ever before >> europe is huge for us you can see that in some of these spectacular customers we're signing in europe. you know the adidas story. you know it is all salesforce. if you get an e-mail from adidas, it is salesforce if you go to a store and talk to a sales rep in person, that's

salesforce, we're building a single view of the customer for adidas >> benioff says the company's goal of raising a revenue run rate of $20 billion by 2022 just got more realistic box reporting a narrower loss, first quarter revenue rose in line with estimates, but the forecast for the current quarter revenue is below estimates the stock down some 13%. shares of monster beverage are in the red the energy drink maker reporting higher earnings and revenue. both numbers missed forecasts. kevin plank says 2017 was a transformative year. under armour embarked on a plan to cut jobs, close stores and focus selling directly to consumers through online and own-branded stores plank spoke to jim cramer last

night and says 2018 will be one of the most important chapters in under armour's history. bhafrnlgts >> what we want to do is make sure we have a clear understanding. i want my team to feel we have the balance of our plan. the strait tegy we put in place let them take root implement to go to market and you will watch a successful company. it just takes time >> after a run of disappointing results, under armour reported better than expected revenue the stock had a nice run of late, up 15% this year 2017 was rough with the stock dropping about 50% during the year >> i think that message from plank that we'll focus on the core, on the brand, a little bit less about expanding into new areas, maybe wanted to assert the fact that he's there, he's kind of focused on what matters. the stock doesn't look cheap for

as hard as it's fallen it was so expensive at the highs, a lot of people wonder when it can go into the valuation. >> doesn't it come to targeting the nike customer that is glued to that brand. >> and adidas. and if you are talking about athleisure, you're talking about other companies. it's payback for this incredible run the stock was on still ahead on "worldwide exchange," we're going global as italy heads to the polls for a nationwide vote. willem marx will be on the ground with what to expect >> coming up after the break, we'll continue our tour of italy in the northeast city of venice alere silvio berlusconi's forza itia has been out campaigning for votes ahead of sunday's election thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory.

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russian president vladimir putin is giving his annual state of the nation address. among the headlines so far, he says there's room for lower interest rates in russia putin argues that slowing inflation is creating more opportunities to support infrastructure investment and also telling lawmakers that russia needs to create a new tax framework to support economic growth we'll monitor his comments and bring you the latest news as we get it. exxonmobil says it is exiting joint ventures with rosneft. this comes after international sanctions against the energy sector stopped a drilling

project for exxonmobil the decision came late last year as the u.s. expanded sanctions exxon says it will formally initiate the withdrawal later this year. >> the italian election kicks off this sunday. willem marx is live in venice with what you need to watch. some familiar faces from renzi to berlusconi, willem. it wouldn >> you're right. matteo renzi has been falling in the polls, and berlusconi is actually banned from serving as prime minister, but that doesn't mean he won't be kingmaker his party, forza italia teamed up with a right wing group known as liga, formerly the right wing league they will not necessarily get a majority of votes to form a government, so the negotiations that follow have a lot of moving parts.

another party here, 5 shg, the r movement looks like they will get the most number of votes as a single party they issued their list of potential cabinet ministers, trying to project confidence ahead of this vote on sunday either way there will be negotiations likely on monday. a lot of horse trading we won't have a clear picture of who ended up on top and who teamed up with two long term until the end of march back to you. >> i'm curious what your thoughts are and why the equity market seems to be brushing off this uncertainty i was looking at the year-to-date performance of european markets, italy is the standout why do you think that is >> it's interesting. talking to some fund managers here, they have said they didn't anticipate a huge amount of change in the market reaction on monday after the election, as you mentioned a lot of the same faces will be around we're seen action on the italian

bond market, but that could be reflected in what's happening elsewhere in the world but the equity market not responding that aggressively doesn't seem anything is priced into the election on sunday. a lot of business leaders i've been talking to have been saying regardless of what happens, they don't expect huge changes to m policy especially when it comes to spending. >> willem marx, thank you. let's check on what's happening outside the world of business francis rivera has the latest. good morning hundreds of people surrounded i.c.e. offices to protest a recent wave of immigration raids. they demanded an end to the raid i.c.e. officials have arrested more than 150 people in northern california since sunday. three billboards outside of hollywood are getting attention. the sides blast the entertainment industry over the

downslaught of textural harassment allegations and keith richards is apologizing to mick jagger after suggesting the front of man needed a havevasectomy. he commented on jagger becoming a father for the eighth time at 73 he said it's time for the snip you can't be a father at that age. he should know you always can't get what you want when it comes to mick jagger and those tight jeans. should know better >> thank you very much for that. still ahead on the show, focus will be on the fed jay powell heading back to capitol hill today we'll tell you what to watch. later, kfc under fire agai mu "worldwide exchange" will be right back finally. you're still here? come on, denise. we're voya!

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taking a stand walmart lifting the minimum age for gun buyers to 21 more on the retail giant's big move straight ahead. stocks under pressure as we kick off a new month the big focus will be on fed chair jay powell he's headed back to capitol hill today. and why kfc is making food headlines again today. it's thursday, march 1, 2018 you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc.

♪ good morning welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm mike santoli >> i'm seema mody. mike, good to be by your side this morning >> great to start a new month with you let's look at the futures at this hour. still under pressure we had late-day selloffs the past two days. the dow down about 83 points right now. still not far above last week's lows the s&p indicated to open down 7. about a third of a percent the nasdaq also looking to be open down about 7 points >> we'll have more on the markets in a second. first a major corporate story. walmart joining dick's sporting goods in raising the minimum age to buy a gun to 21 walmart is also removing items from its website that look like assault rifles including non-lethal air soft guns and toys walmart already stopped selling assault weapons and accessories

back in 2015 turning back to the markets, february was a tough month for stocks the dow snapping ten straight months of gains. that was the longest win streak since 1959 recapping the index for the month, the dow fell more than 4% the s&p dropped 3.9% the nasdaq was better, down just under 2% as for the s&p sectors, all 11 lost ground in february with energy, consumer staples and telecom down the most. the bond market was a big story. the ten-year yield touching 2.9% for the first time in four years. it's pulled back just slightly from there it's all about fed chair jay powell today he's headed back to capitol hill to testify before the senate banking committee. let's bring in the chief economist for the americas and a cnbc contributor great to see you everyone is focused on what

powell will say. will he repeat his comment from monday or take on a new angle here >> no new angle. the prepared remarks will be the same my guess is that the q & a depending on what the senators ask will be the same it's my sense that even though the markets reacted to powell's comments, it was in the q & a session, and what people might infer he means by four rate hikes. i don't think he was trying to be hawkish we all try toshiba mind readers. my guess was he was attempting to be as neutral and uninteresting as possible. so he will repeat the same things i don't think he'll clarify anything he wants to get to the march meeting where he can be fully briefed as chair there is when he can really kind of strike maybe a more directional tone

otherwise i was surprised the markets reacted the way they did. >> he may have been seeking to be balanced in the answers to the questions the other day. i do wonder about his use of the word potential for an overheating economy, which a lot of people took note of probably not an accident also if nothing else, didn't he sort of refuse the opportunity to be more dovish to essentially take a fourth one off the table? >> maybe we are wordsmithing things he did mention overheating i guess people feel that's a loaded term. the fed has undershot its inflation target for seven years. in the context of where we have been, i didn't look at that as a loaded word. in terms of the risks if you asked people and said the fed is not going three times this year, how many times is the fed going, people would probably say four i happen to say two. most people would say four that's probably why he didn't want to push the fourth hike off

the table, because the risks with the economy as good as it is would seem to favor more hikes rather than few. >> do you think it's a plausible scenario that the fed lets inflation run hot that's above the 2% target? >> i love that idea. to me it's a great idea. i would love to see the fed lag the markets. meaning the markets price more tightening than what the fed is likely to do or what the fed is telling us it will do. that's been the opposite to what's happened over the last seven years. i'm not sure they'll go in that direction. it's the only way the fed would be able to normalize policy and not cause a significant financial instability which we got a taste of last month. >> where does that leave us with regard to the markets? the ten-year yield pulled back slightly there's been very, very recent softening of the economic data relative to forecast not much of a trend just yet

with everybody focused on higher yields, might the bond market calm down for a while? >> i agree my work suggests the ten-year note shouldn't go much above 3%. when you look at what's happening globally where rates are, especially the easing of policy within the ecb, bank of japan, u.s. yields can only go i so much. if you look at the major industrialized economies, only new zealand has a higher ten-year rate than the u.s that reflects that its base level rates are about 30, 40 basis points higher than the u.s. there's a limit in my mind as to how high rates can go. too many investors are telling me ten-year notes have to go to 4% i don't see it >> if the equity market continues to react negatively to powell's commentary, do you think that will complicate his relationship with president trump?

we know our president is foe cutsed on the stock market and it moving to the upside. >> i don't know how it will impact his relationship with the president, but there may be a powell put, as much as he may not like that scenario if the equity market were to move significantly lower and at the same time credit spreads tighten, so financial conditions would become more restrictive, that will impact the expectations for growth going forward. and i would argue with inflation still very low, the fed will have no choice but to succumb to what markets are forcing them to do, back away and not hike as much as you think. >> thanks for your thoughts, joe. >> my pleasure we are following a developing story in the cryptocurrency market. the "wall street journal" reporting that federal regulators launched a sweeping probe into cryptocurrency trading.

the journal says the s.e.c. handed down dozens of subpoenas to tech companies and advisers involved in the digital currency market the subpoenas include requests for information about the structure of coi offerings, known as icos bitcoin for the most part is actually traying higher by 3% in coinbase ab inbev moving higher this morning. landon dowdy has more on the numbers. >> shares of anheuser-busch moving higher after posting better-than-expected earnings. they reported higher profit in the fourth quarter thanks to the sabmiller acquisition and a rebound in brazil. despite this strong finish to the year, ab inbev is still struggling in the u.s. as bud wiser and bud light continue to lose market share to wine and spirits. the company saying we're not satisfied with our market share performance and are working hard to balance the share and profitability equation at the start of the year, the

firm replaced its north american chief to bolster sales which have fallen 15% since 2008 analysts and ab inbev are optimistic about 2018. brett cooper noting that q1 is expected to be weak, but we should see improvement over the balance of the year. the stock down about 11% in the past year and up 5% in early trading. back over to you >> landon, thank you very much l brands reporting better than expected results and an extra selling week added to sales by the parent of victoria secret and bath & body works is giving a downbeat outlook for the first quarter and full-year 2018 3-d systems reporting profit and revenue that beat analysts forecast the prichti iprinting company ig full-year results as it goes through an accounting review.

hostess brands beating forecasts. sales of its all natural baked goods. the petites brand which has no artificial colors or flavors contributed about 3% to the total revenue increase. david einhorn had a rough february his main green light capital fund and the green light capital offshore fund fell by 6.2% during the month his hedge fund is now down 1% year-to-date in a conference call last week he said the company that in his records never underperformed like this. been tough for value investors like einhorn still ahead on "worldwide exchange," we're breaking down the crypto crystal ball. what to expect from bitcoin in the month ahead. first here's today's national weather forecast from bill karins. good thursday morning to you. thunderstorms overnight training

over the same areas. we have a serious flood problem in southern arkansas texarkana, little rock, memphis under a flood watch. we have to deal with the nor'easter this moves in late tonight, forms on friday and gets strong. one to three inches of rainfall. maybe a bit of problems with the rain and rivers, but the bigger issue is the winds we'll have serious airport delays and cancellations from boston to new york to washington, d.c. we could see gusts in the 50 to 60-mile-per-hour range on the coast wind gusts could go to 70 miles per hour and we could have major coastal flooding problems friday into saturday we'll also get some heavy snow in western new york, in the mountains, catskills and poconos. more "worldwide exchange" when we come back

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welcome back we have a news alert out of russia vp vladimir putin is giving his state of the union address he announced russia developed an array of new nuclear weapons that no other country possesses. he claims they can't be intercepted. he showed video during his state of the union address we will continue to monitor the speech turning back to markets, bitcoin has had a volatile month in february, falling below $7,000 on some exchanges before clawing its way back what is in store for bitcoin in

the months ahead >> well, it gained 6% in february you could say that it outperformed stocks which were down 3% for the s&p and the dow. the bigger story is year-to-date still down 17% all those fears on cracking down on the cryptocurrency market hurt bitcoin one thing to watch is the lightning network. this new protocol that will be implemented on top of bitcoin. and what it will do is make bitcoin easier and faster to transact with. get used to talking about lightning network. >> i barely got used to the lightning connection for the iphone >> on the regulatory front, we will keep a close eye on the s.e.c. especially after the news this morning that there's a probe into the initial coin offering space

telegram, the biggest ico, is expected to raise a billion dollars. talking about the crackdown in this part of the cryptocurrency space, telegram is the big playe player >> thank you we'll have to track all that time for the top trending stories. spotify is going public. the music streaming service has 159 million monthly active users, 71 million subscribers. despite fierce competition for users from other services, itsei 2017 it doubled over two years. what are thoughts on this listing? >> very interesting. clearly they don't love the idea of being a public company. they're just listing not trying to raise capital. they're willing to say whatever they can get for their shares is good enough for them i think investors will be interested in having this other

play besides pandora in this area 71 million paying subs, that's close to what netflix has. >> it may give us more transparency on the music business spotify has been so private. here's what's also trending. kfc restaurants in the uk just reopened after a chicken shortage now there's another snag in their supply chain this time the chain is dealing with a gravy shortage leading to limited menu offerings at many uk locations kfc switched its delivery contract to dhl on february 14th leading to logistical issues. no word on when the restaurants will restore full menus. >> you're telling me at kfc the gravy is not made from scratch >> good point. it is now time for the

must-reads my pick is in the "wall street journal. editorial called cleaning up the cleaned up tax code. of course there is talk about how there are technical issues with provisions of the tax bill and republicans wanting to fix them one way or another republicans have to make technical corrections to the tax bill and lawmakers could address the issue in the find details of the budget bill. the changes in tax rates can unlock new dollars for the treasur treasury so this is specifically referencing a farm accounting treatment, which is a looch hole th loophole that could allow some farm businesses to evade taxes it just shows you this was a hasty bill that got passed through. a lot of openings in there it's not clear the republicans will have the votes to fix it. >> you wonder if this tax bill is a shared google document that they are constantly updating

>> they probably wish it were. >> my pick is in the "washington post." we got china wrong, now what this is a skeptical view, saying it is possible that xi overreached politically and the new power grab will galvanize enemy enemies leading to new political instable within china, accompanied by a meltdown of the country's rickety financial system so pending further clarity on if washington will put more tariffs on china the focus is not really mour about wh more about what washington will do, according to this, but what china will do. with a leadership that's more assertive. here's what's coming up on

"worldwide exchange. rising rates and housing, what jay powell could mean for your mortgage stay tuned that orsty coming up.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's get you up to speed on the market action. equity futures mostly to the down side. s&p 500 looking at slight losses of less than 3 points. the dow indicated to open down about 40 nasdaq slightly in the green bond yields have taken a pause from their march high in the past couple of days. ten-year note yield down to 2.84%. so a bit of a margin below the recent highs >> the last two days we lost 2.4% on the s&p 500. it suggests and brings back memories of early february is this the start of something bigger >> or the process of figuring out what the new base is, the

new trading range for stocks the last two days you mentioned are when bond yields have been coming down. higher rates could have a big impact on your mortgage. what does that mean for housing spring buying season let's bring in doug duncan, chief economist at fannie mae. i want your thoughts what do you see happening in the mortgage market as rates do rise >> one thing that the housing sector doesn't like is interest rates that rise a significant amount in a short time period, which is what we've had in the last couple of months. so what you've seen in the housing data is a slowdown in existing and new home sales. also pending sales showed a drop off. that could be a problem if rate continue to rise, abobut if thi level off, housing will pick up steam again. our view is it will be slightly up in terms of sales this year

relative to last year. >> doug, the housing related stocks, the home building related stocks have been quite weak a lot of concern about what's even slightly higher rates mean for affordability. essentially prices looking like they were getting stretched. is that an issue for the market? >> there's no question you have a combination of a couple things going on one is that house price appreciation has been running at about four times the long-term national average because there's not supply the boomers are not moving and selling their houses new home construction has been lagging demographics when you add to that a spike in interest rates of about 50 basis points or a half percentage point, the people that were on the margin, they can't find a house they can afford. second the increase cost in the mortgage will slow them down until their income picks up to catch up to that >> how closely are you watching jay powell's testimony

how do you think that will impact the housing market based on what we hear today? >> we're certainlywatching i think his initial testimony to the house was successful if his objective was to have a smooth transition from janet yellen's leadership to his leadership there was a bit of a market reaction that reflected his personality, which is coming from the business sector, experience at carlyle and industrial mm&a. he knows his way around washington and has been on the fed board for several years. most importantly he was there when ben bernanke gave his speech about the taper tantrum, saying they would slow the pace of purchases in the portfolio and that led to a spike in mortgage rates, which slowed housing down he has that experience in his background and is aware of the fundamentals of how that will shift markets.

>> doug duncan, thank you very much for joining us. >> happy to be here. we want to highlight a few things to watch today. jay powell will deliver day two of his semiannual monetary policy report. this time he'll appear before the senate banking committee beginning at 10:00 a.m a lot of economic data on the docket weekly jobless claims, personal income, construction spending. and the auto sector in focus. car manufacturers will report monthly sales throughout the morning. the big question is does jay powell see the need to modify or slightly walk back this perceived hawkishness he had a couple days ago. it's not clear he would want to do that. besides that, the ism number will be interesting. you had a bit of a soft patch in some of the macro data. >> something to watch. mike, fun hour with you.

that's it for "worldwide exchange." look at the futures, we are lower on the first day of mah.rc "squawk box" is next

good morning for the bulls, good riddance to february the dow fell more than 4% in the month snapping the longest winning streak in 59 years. in earnings news, get ready for today's big retail reports we have kohl's, best buy, nordstrom and the gap. and calling it a cryptocurrency crackdown the s.e.c. issuing scores of subpoenas in a sweeping cryptocurrency probe it's thursday, march 1, 2018 "squawk box" begins right now.

live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning well co welcome to "squawk box." i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we will start with the markets february was a pretty tough month for stocks the dow and s&p 500 both snapping ten months straight of gains. leading into this month had been the longest winning streak since 1959 for the month of february, the dow was down by more than 4% the s&p dropped by 3.9%. the nasdaq was down by just under 2% a lot of that exacerbated by losses that picked up yesterday afternoon. yesterday the dow was down by 1.5% decline of 380 points. s&p off by 1.1%.