the potential for a trade war heats up the u.s. considering a new round of tariffs on china. democrat conor lamb claiming victory, but nbc news has the race too close to call. and is it game over for toys "r" us the toy giant could file for liquidation today. it's march 14, 2018, "worldwide exchange" begins right now good morning welcome to "worldwide exchange"

on cnbc. i'm brian sullivan thanks for joining it's. the five big things you need to start your day stocks are holding vong decemstg despite threats of a new trade w war. too close to call. that's how nbc news is characterizing congressional election in pennsylvania conor lamb is claiming the win, republican rick saccone has not conceded defeat. a passenger was forced to put her dog in the overhead bin on a flight, and her dog died. united is taking full responsibility. and toys "r" us is planning to liquidate, meaning stores will close permanently that process could happen as early as today

toys "r" us operating 800 stores nationwide. and stephen hawking died after a long battle with lou ghering's disease. he was 76. the white house considering a new round of tariffs on china. eamon javers, what would this new round target >> good morning. it's about $60 billion that reuters is reporting that the united states would be targeting in terms of imports from china and new tariffs. unclear what the tariff rate would be and what industries the united states would specifically be going after i've been talking to sources at the white house, it's not just tariffs. it's more than just the tariffs they're thinking about imposing. they're talking about tariffs but also investment restrictions in the united states by chinese individuals and also possibly visa restrictions on chinese travelers coming to the united states all of that is in the mix at the

white house. we'll try to figure out today where we go. what's the big number that all this is about? here it is, the trade deficit with china the president likes to say it's about 5$500 billion the official number is 3$347 billion in trade deficit the president wants to roll that number way back. the effort here with the tariffs, with the investment restrictions and visa restrictions will be to send a strong message to china that they have to do something on that front diplomatically. the u.s. reached out to china and asked them for their own proposals on what to do to lower the trade deficit. you were just talking about it, big news overnight in pennsylvania, the 18th congressional district we still don't have a winner here nbc news saying it's too close to call between democrat conor lamb and republican rick saccone. both parties pouring millions of dollars into the campaign.

the president himself campaigned in pennsylvania last week. a big rally outside of pittsburgh the president putting his credibility on the line for rick saccone. there's been grumbling among republicans that saccone is not a strong enough candidate, but this is a district that president trump won going away back in 2016 if he can't carry this district with a republican candidate in 2018, that indicates a potential problem for the republicans in the midterms this fall in 2018 that's why this is being watched so closely a lot of moving pieces here. >> is it also not true that lamb had a huge lead in the polls, even if he ends up losing, the margin of victory is less than 600 votes, maybe showing polls are not indicative of the ultimate results >> absolutely. some vote totals i saw this morning, some of this dates back to 2:00 a.m., now we're back at 5:00 a.m., we're looking at a

margin here of just over 1,000 votes separating these two candidates that is very, very close as you say, the polls can be off a bit in some of these small elections, particularly when there's this much interest, this much media attention a presidential visit, all of that sways voters until the last minute my iphone here is liberal of democratic groups already claiming a win here. conor lamb, they're saying, has won his. referring to him as congressman-elect conor lamb nbc news saying it's too early to call that one wail wait and see what result is if the democrat wins, expect a lot of hand wringing in republican circles >> many people would say lamb had a fairly gop-like agenda in certain ways but the democrats will make much of it. >> the president called him lamb the sham and said he's trying to be republican. the president was frustrated that conor lamb was appearing as

if he was republican in many positions, and didn't like that. but that might have been a savvy strategy for mr. lamb. >> eamon is an old gallic word which means the man who doesn't sleep. >> feels that way. >> rex tillerson was the huge news yesterday being fired, one of the few secretary of states in the history of the united states to be fired what's the continued tafallout from that move as well as the fact that tillerson's aide was fired for mischaracterizing for why he was leaving >> it was like a drum roll of firings yesterday. first we had rex tillerson out that news crossed the wire at about 8:40 in the morning yesterday morning. according to tillerson's timeline it wasn't until noon that he actually got a call from the president of the united states we're trying to piece this together it looks like last friday tillerson got a call from the chief of staff, john kelly, which told him something something about a tweet might be

coming from the president, you're in hot water. things are not looking good. it's not clear what exactly john kelly said to rex tillerson on friday but according to tillerson's own spokesperson, tillerson did not know why he was fired. didn't realize this was coming was surprised, wanted to stay on as secretary of state. after that spokesman issued that statement, then we got the news that the white house had fired that spokesperson from his job and replaced him with a spokesperson from the state department who is seen as much closer to the white house going forward. you have sihave tillerson being one of his top spokespeople being fired. and then you have mike pompeo coming over from cia to run the state department so we'll now have con fir make he confirmation hearing for a new cia director, a confirmation

hearing for the new secretary of state and you can bet democrat also try to pin down both leaders on where they stand with the 2016 election and what they need to do to stop russia from interfering in 201 >> and there's multiple starbucks within walking distance of where you are now. eamon javers, thank you very much it is the end of an era in the toy world. sources say toys "r" us is in the process of filing a motion to liquidate its business. a liquidation would result in toys "r" us shutting its doors permanently. they have gone through a round of bankruptcy and come back, but this would be a permanent closing for stores. remington outdoor could file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this weekend

a person familiar with the matter tells the "wall street journal" that the creditors who end up with the company will sell it but not at a loss. just last month remington announced it could file for cre chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. bill ackman's hedge fund cutting its stake in adp as the value of its investment grew in recent months. remember ackman did lose a battle to win seats on the company's board last week but pershing square will have a 7.2 stake in adp after this cut. a court is siding with at&t on a question on whether in the coming time warner merger trial that the judge says they can cite a voluntary commitment not to withhold content and licensing talks as a key part of its defense. the antitrust trial over the $8 billion acquisition of time warner will begin next week. the justice department sued to block the deal arguing a merger would lead to higher pay tv

bills for customers. adidas posting expected earnings and plans to buy back stock but quarterly revenues did fall short of expectations and they are forecasting slower sales and profit growth for the year the adidas ceo will join the "squawk box" team at 6:30 a.m. eastern time. a very sad note. the world mourning a great mind, perhaps the greatest mind. stephen hawking has passed away. the physicist was best known for his i sighnsights on black holed quantum gravity. he was diagnosed with als at the age of 21. that eventually paralyzed him. later he lost his ability to speak. hawking was tough akept it up until the time of his death. stephen hawking was 76 years old. still ahead, more outrage

this morning at the airlines after a dog died on a united airlines flight. contessa brewer is looking at the fallout. so what we're looking at is a big public relations challenge for united and heart break for a family who was forced to stow their dog in the overhead compartment on this flhtig we have more after this on "worldwide exchange.

welcome back if you're just waking up let's get you up to speed on the markets. u.s. equity futures indicating a slightly higher open after the dow fell yesterday afternoon after tech stocks slid the nasdaq broke a seven-day winning streak oil making not a big move today. we are seeing brent crude up 0.3% we have to watch oil as we think about summer driving and the growth in the demand for gas and i'll told summer will apparently arrive a disturbing story from united airlines. the carrier under fire after a dog died on a flight from houston to new york. contessa brew hear more. >> this is a heartbreaking story for the family involved but a huge public relations challenge for united airlines. let me show you kokito he was a gift to a little girl

he's a french bulldog. the mom says the dog was in a small pet carrier designed to fit up the seat. they were flying from houston to new york monday night when the mother said the flight attendant insisted the dog had to go to the overhead bin at the beginning of the flight they heard barking they didn't know the dog died until after the plane landed in a statement united said this is a tragic incident that should have never occurred. pets should never be placed in the overhead bin we assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them. a spokesman said united refunded the tickets purchased by the owner and the two children and the $200 fee they paid to bring a pet on board transporting animals on flights has attracted controversy in recent months with several airlines tightening policies last month united toughened requirements for passengers flying with emotional support

animals. united transports more animals than any other airline a recent report by the department of transportation show there's were 24 recorded incidents of an animal dying on a flight last year of those 24, 18 took place on united there's two things here. when you fly with your pet as i've done and you shell out the big money, sometimes the pet ticket can cost more than the people ticket. you're using your own carry-on space to put the animal underneath because you want to check on them. i don't understand how something like this could happen even more so, oscar munoz has been on this incredible initiative to try and improve customer relations they're sending employees to compassion training. apparently not soon enough we saw last year the doctor dragged off the flight from louisville we saw a mom forced to hold her 2-year-old on a flight from boston to honolulu, even hthough

she paid for a seat. >> united carries 27% of pets, but 18 of the 24 pets that passed away on a flight have been on united the incidence of united pet deaths is far greater than the percentage of the pets than it carries. >> this is something that when you take your pet on board, you expect your pet to be safe because the instances that you usually hear about are with animal handlers on the ground or stored in cargo in kennels this is different. this is one of those instances where they had a big, giant bunny die. this was an animal they were showing at the iowa state fair they believe the temperature was too cold they were storing dry ice near the bunny. they cremated the bunny before a necropsy to be done. >> i'm a dog lover

i've never flown with my dog have you it sounds like you have. >> i fly all the time with my dog. >> you keep it in the cabin. >> i would never -- >> i've seen people put their dogs in cargo. >> right right. and, look, there's definitely an issue now. when you go to fly -- don't know if you've seen this, people going through their little dogs, this is my emotional support animal legally the airlines can't ask to see proof >> apparently they can reject the emotional support peacock. we did see that. that's a real story. >> i did not know that >> probably an nbc employee. >> i fly united a lot. >> they've gotten a lot better how are you? welcome? they're trying >> high-profile incidents. it just happened to me, we went to the wrong airport, when i go to the -- drive an hour to the next airport, i'm there with an hour to spare, no, we have to

rebook you but i have an hour >> if they want to do something, keep dogs and pets alive, reup the leg room >> it will be interesting -- you're a tall guy, come on what are they going to do about that? >> more leg room thank you. walmart upping the ante in the grocery delivery wars. and another crypto crackdown. what google just did that could be a blow to bitcoin fanatics. first here is today's national weather forecast from bill karins >> good wednesday morning to you. here we are. we'll be watching the snow once again falling through northern new england. the nor'easter is just about over with. one to two feet was common for eastern connecticut through rhode island, massachusetts and eastern portions of the state and up through new hampshire and maine. incredible amount of snow. one location picked up 26 inches of snow. winter storm warnings for northern new england, winter weather advisories through new

york, buffalo, syracuse. syracuse could get another six inches of snow as we go throughout the next 48 hours this is where winter is continuing as far as the forecast goes, a lot of flights were canceled with that nor'easter today is catch-up day. a lot of airports look fine. a bit of wet weather in san francisco and a chance of normal a thunderstorm in areas around salt lake city

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good morning it's 5:22. great to have you with us. stock futures indicating a slightly higher move at the open not a lot to write home about. we had pretty much the same scenario yesterday late yesterday afternoon tech stocks started to slide. that brought the market down we ended on the lows for the session. take those futures with a grain of salt. bitcoin is also moving a bit lower today. here's why google will soon ban advertising about cryptocurrency related content. those changes will take effect in june. a top google executive tells cnbc that the company has seen enough consumer hard or potential for consumer harm and wants to approach the topic with extreme caution. facebook announced a similar ban on crypto advertising this year. we're learning the things

you return back to stores might be used against you. today's "wall street journal" reports that best buy and some other retail chains have kind of quietly hired a service called retail equation. that company has tracked shoppers behavior and scores it and then the companies impose limits on what you can bring back it's an attempt to crack down on customers that they believe are abusing the return system. 11% of all sales are returned and an equal 11% are believed to be fraudulent. walmart planning to expand its grocery delivery business to 800 stores by the end of the year the retailer says the service will be in about 100 metro areas reaching 40% of households it will offer same-day delivery of fresh produce, meat, seafood and nonperishable items. breaking news from d.c. on the congressional race in

pennsylvania nbc news is saying democrat conor lamb is the apparent winner in that hard-fought congressional campaign in pennsylvania's 18th congressional district the election was yesterday the vote counting stretched deep into the night as it was very, very close now nbc news reporting that conor lamb, the democrat, is the apparent winner of that election they're saying the onlyo outstanding votes are approximately 200 in greene county even with those added to the count, nbc says it doesn't appear republican rick saccone can catch up to conor lamb they're saying this relies on the fact that the count as of right now is accurate and it's possible that there may be a recount ordered even if that is the case, though, the apparent victory here of democrat conor lamb in a district that donald trump won overwhelmingly back in 2016 will cause republicans to

go back to the drawing board and figure out what was wrong with their strategy in this race and also what it means for the house races more broadly going into the fall in 2018 president trump has been watching this carefully. he campaigned in this district for rick saccone and one of the concerns here is that if the democrats are riding a blue wave in 2018, and they take the house of representatives, that could lead to a failure of the trump administration to be able to push any of its remaining agenda items through in the last two years of his first term in office that would make the remaining two years of president trump's term very difficult. it also raises the specter that democrats might take more of an interest in some of the investigations into the russia xwri issue than republicans have and that could dog president trump for the last two years of his term it's just one congressional race in pennsylvania, but that's why it's being watched so carefully.

>> all right eamon javers, see you soon. more to do on "worldwide exchange," a double dose of netflix news the company coming under scrutiny over details about how it pays the stars of "the crown. netflix looking to get into this business, tv news. it's looking to take on "60 minute ia g s"n biway. coming up after the break we'll tell you how you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet.

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good morning so glad you're with us let's check on how your morning markets look wall street pointing to a higher open investors seem to be brushing off the growing threat of a trade war with china. united under fire after forcing a dog to travel in an overhead bin. and toys are toys "r" us is moving closer to shutting its doors. this is "worldwide exchange. good morning welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm brian sullivan 5:30 in the east futures indicating a higher open the dow with an implied open of 112 points higher. among your top stories the white house reportedly considering a new round of tariffs on china

what is the reaction in asia eunice yoon is live in beijing with more. good morning the chinese reaction today was a reiteration of themes as well as comments that we heard from authorities here over the past couple of weeks. regular press briefing the foreign ministry said today that u.s. and china trade relations should not be a zero-sum game. this is a statement we heard in the past from the foreign ministry and also terms of the state media, the official response there, there was an interesting commentary that came out of the state-run news agency, xinhua, which blames the u.s. for the large trade deficit, saying that u.s. statistics are faulty and also that if the u.s. really did want to narrow the trade deficit, that washington should consider easing restrictions on high-tech exports. this again is another longstanding position of

beijing. another theme we heard quite often now is coming out of the chinese statistics bureau. but what's interesting there is that the bureau was messaging to the public about a possibility of -- the potential for a trade war saying don't really worry about this because china can sell to itself at the same time there is a lot of concern here that the list that trump what is now going to be broader than what the chinese had expected it could include some basic goods, such as toys, footwear, as well as apparel as you guys know, this is a huge employer of -- a huge employer here even though there are a lot of public statements about this is not going to be a big concern, what we hear on the ground is that chinese authorities are concerned about a trade war, they've been frustrated with what they saw as lack of results once president xi jinping sent

his top economic man to washington and finally they're drawing up a list of their own american goods to target. we don't know what is on the list yet but we can guess based onion going investigations into sorgum we have a hat trick of economic reports to watch for today. february retail sale how are the consumers doing out there? we'll find out at 8:30 a.m. eastern time that number expected to show a rebound after a decline in january. key inflation number out at 8:30, the ppi. the producer price index later on the january business inventory numbers will be out at 10:00 a.m. let's talk more about your trading day and your money joining us is the director of research at janney montgomery scott. inflation seems to be the key

story right now for the stock market how worried are you about the "i" word >> from our perspective, we're not too concerned with the inflation picture now. the way we sort of preface this is by saying we're not really inflating here or seeing pressures of inflation in the economy, rather reflation. if you recall the ten-year note yield back in july of 2012 really hit all-time lows at around 1%. historically the ten-year note yield trades from 3% to 4% on average. so the past several years as the economy has been growing and we've seen that multiple expansion, that big stocks bull market in the u.s., it's been against rates just reverting to their means. again, we've seen this in cycles in the past, great example would be the 91940s, 1950s period wher

we had growth against reflating interest rates at this point we're not concerned. our position is despite near-term volatility, whatever noise comes out on the geopolitical front that could disrupt th cycle is so strong and usurps so much of the daily noise that we see. every day the markets, millions of investors are discounting so many different things. you do have to remember that it comes through the lens of their own sentiment, their own human emotion. there's a lot of volatility that takes place. coming into the new year, stocks were at all-time highs investors were worried that stocks were frothy, expensive. so any of these binary events that come out either of washington or on the economic front, the geopolitical front can certainly cause temporary disruption when we look back at the history of the markets, when you're in a strong multiple expansion cycle such as we are and equities relative to other asset classes are attractive, any type of

noise that comes out on that front, the administrative front, in hindsight is just a blip on the radar screen short-term noise can cause trading disruption we can see volatility over thet. i'm in agreement with that. but this long-term cycle itent l market cycles have ended it's too low i'm not saying stocks are cheap here, but they're not as expen shuf as prior bu expensive as prior bull market tops >> how can our audience make money today? what looks good to janney montgomery right now >> we're staying away from technology technology year-to-date is up 18% versus the s&p, specifically internet technology. where we would like to go is

banks and financials against a rising rate environment. a lot of banks are expensive, but you can drill down and find value there. and a strong correlation between bank stock performance and that ten-year note yield. that's where we would concentrate in 2018 and beyond >> dan, it's a pleasure to have you on "worldwide exchange." thank you. >> thank you very much it is a sad end of an era in the toy world. sources telling cnbc that toys "r" us is in the process of drafting a court motion to liquidate its business the filing could happen as early as today a liquidation could most likely result in all of toys "r" us's 800 stores closing for good. they have gone through a couple rounds of bankruptcy but fought back, however this would be a permanent closing of its stores. united airlines under fire

after a dog died in a flight from houston to new york because of a rather dumb move. contessa brewer has more >> the family was flying with its french bulldog from miami to new york the mother says the flight attendant demanded that the dog go in the overhead bin the mom says she put the dog in a small pet carrier designed to fit under the seat passengers said they did hear some barking during the flight but didn't know the dog died until the plane landed in a statement united said this was a tragic incident that should have never occurred as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin we assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them. spokesman says united refunded the ticket purr clachased by th owner and her two children

transporting animals on flights has attracted controversy in recent months with several airlines tightening policies last month united toughened requirements for passengers flying with emotional support animals following a surge in numbers. united transports more animals than any other airline 27% of the total carried last year a recent report by the department of transportation show there's were 24 recorded incidents of an animal dying on a flight last year of those 18 took place on united the airline has renewed efforts to improve customer service, but these high-profile incidents prove a massive challenge for the airline. >> it's just unbelievable. on one hand they're putting the dog in the overhead bin. the dog is barking at some point somebody should stand up and say this is not acceptable we see everything else happen on flights. people are pushing back against the airlines note to anybody out there, if this happens, basically say, no,

i'm not putting my dog up there. >> the mom was also juggling an infant, the dog. her other child. you would think other passengers would notice that and say wait, the dog doesn't go in the overhead bin anyone who has flown with a dog knows that in this case it seems like a series of unfortunate incidents. united is sending its employees to compassion training in this particular case, apparently not soon enough >> bad move there. dog owners, your pet is literally a part of your family. contessa, thank you, courtney. a big call on the gaming stocks penn national gaming, scientific games and golden entertainment with outperform ratings. basically we like these stocks, however they're not advising clients to buy the biggest players this very market perform on mgm, sands and wynn

tyler technologies getting an upgrade last night the analyst slapping a bullish 240 price target on the stock. that's about 15% upside. valeant pharmaceutical shares moving higher on insider buying ceo joe papa disclosing the purchase of 30,000 new shares of vrx. on deck, trending today, netflix in some hot water. we'll tell you why the streaming company is coming under fire for how it pays the stars of "the crown. and elon musk is at it whhe sti hai y 'setngis sights on satire details when "worldwide exchange" returns. get it for jean who's always cold. for the sales team, it and the warehouse crew. give us the data we need. in one place, anywhere we need it. help us do our jobs better. with domo we can run this place together.

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listening, is the new reading. text "listen 4" to five hundred five hundred to start listening today. we have some sports news michael ruben is adding star power to his bid to buy the carolina panthers. alibaba co-founder joe tsai will join the investment group. espn is reporting that steph curry and sean combs could also be involved. ruben is estimated to be worth 3 $3 billion and also owns minor stakes in the sixers and the new jersey devils and crystal palace of the british soccer league time for the top trending stories. contessa brewer back with some of these

>> with the news of stephen hawkings passing this morning came an outpouring of appreciation for the scientist this tweet says his passing left an intellectual vacuum in his wake, but it's not empty think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of space time that defies measure that's appropriate and chris hadfield tweeted genius is so fine and rare good-bye, professor hawking. you inspired and taught us all and this photo of hawking is with the cast of big bang. she wrote stephen hawking's life and career have been subject matter on the big bang theory. we're all better for it. he will be missed but the world is grateful for the knowledge and courage you leave in your path hawking was 76 >> what's amazing, there's thousands of families struggling with als across america. the average life span is five years. he lived 55 years, which could

give some hope to families out there. >> the other thing is because he was able to live a full life despite als, he got a lot of attention for his sign tefic he scientific theories, deep thoughts, and brought more attention to the facts world. what a life he lived. netflix is under fire for pay disparities on "the crown. claire foye, who portrays queen elizabeth and gets home most of the screen time gets a smaller salary than matt smith the creator said going forward no one gets paid more than the queen. this might not help foye, because "the crown" will recast most roles including hers as

season three moves forward decades. the pay disparity will never end until we know how much male colleagues earn in that vain, brian -- >> yes what is it, courtney >> i won't put you on the spot >> please don't. i like my job. i work for free, by the way. i just come in i don't even work here >> do you believe that come on. somehow between his many businesses, elon musk finds time for comedy the spacex founder and ceo hired multiple former writers and news editors from the site the onion. musk called comedy the next frontier in an interview with the daily beast. it's unclear what he's hiring the comedians to do. you would assume it's to be funny. for its part the onion has never been shy about skewering musk. last month they ran a story called elon musk offering 1.2

billion in grants to any project that promises to make him feel complete >> he's got a touch of humor his company that is drilling tunnels for the hyperloop is called the boring company. and he sold hats he also had the flame thrower sale >> saw that. >> he has a dark side. >> he would like to be featured on "saturday night live" >> "saturday night live" brought to you by the tesla model 3. thank you. >> sure. still to come, jeff gundlach making a bold call on yields and stocks what the ceo thinks might drive treasuries higher and ocstks lower when we return

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is it adidas or adidas >> i was a kid, when they first started, the first pair i had was cool it was the guy's name. >> his brother started puma across the river in germany and they hated each other. >> you know what else was weird? when arm & hammer bought arm & harmer what are the chances something called arm & hammer -- who is -- >> your guest, the ceo of adidas should buy the mattress company, kasper >> should we be worried about china and trade? this pompeo is a hard liner. what do we think about that? that's one thing we should be thinking about today that's how the tillerson story relates to us. and i'm looking at the ten-point who is this guy kudlow what is he going to mean is that going to happen?

you have any insight there >> free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity or something like that. >> here-here preaching to the choir there does this matter about -- i don't know the guy will only be there until november then this saccone/lamb thing i don't know what to make of that. >> the democrats will make it everything the republicans will make it nothing. >> you're right. so this is sort of a -- i feel like i'm on a couch. you're sort of helping me out. my anxiety >> the good news is on this schedule now, we won't be on the couch, we'll be on the 13th hole or the 19th. >> yes whenever you want to do that, i can be there >> i shot a 76 the other day 76 on the front nine. >> that's what i was going to say. if i'm going to shoot my age, that's the way it's going to happen for me, too i think i can do 12 holes. you know what i'm thinking about with you weren't you a power forward or

something? were you good at basketball? >> no. i'm the worst. i'm the clumsiest oaf. >> i watch the things these guys do that's pretty good i have to look at the ball dribbling. there's no way we take for granted the top of the key. i'm excited about that i was wondering whether you were -- you could be on the cnbc team a lot of our guests, unless it was in the hobbit league, they would have trouble >> i have height, joe, but i have a four-inch vertical, but i can luge if you need somebody for the luge team, i'm your guy. >> i had trouble picking these teams, too i get to the point where i'm going to pick a team to win it all, i go, i don't want to watch a tournament where this team wins so i just picked xavier. >> there you go. >> it's the only time where they

have -- just, you know, maybe this much of a chance. i just went with it so i could hope for the team i'm watching i can't hope for the other teams. >> loyola chicago will watch two games. >> how about the bonnies that's neil cavuto's college >> see you in a couple minutes turning back to the markets. joining us is ellen zentner from morgan stanley we had jeff gundlach coming out last night saying rates will spike. that's going to hurt stocks. part of the inflation story. is morgan stanley buying into the idea that inflation is going to eat bonds, yields go up, stocks go down >> inflation is going to rise. we have to get past this kink when we get the march data, and some of the effects of that price reset rolls out of that 12-month window. inflation ison a gradual rise. there is nothing here that suggests it will suddenly spike

and the fed will have to pick up the pace of rate hikes in order to tamp it down. plus we have been in a shortfall for so long, below their 2% goal you don't just slam on the brakes the second we get towards 2% or close to that. you get beyond that. this is something that was underscored by governor brainard last week. what we saw when the market rapidly adjusted to inflation, back in january, was that what the fed has been expecting to rise this year, the markets were not expecting inflation to rise. that suddenly got markets to snap to. >> you are not buying into the inflation panic we seem to have lately >> no, not at all. fundamental underlying trends are strengthening, but it's a slow bleed up. again, once we get past that kink in the data in march. that's a technicality.

it's some of the transitory effects that were weighing on inflation last year. but we're going to be on that gradual rise towards the fed's 2% goal. nothing here so far in the inflation data is coming if ahead of the forecast. it's coming in line with forecasts. when data is coming in line with forecast, that's not a reason to change the forecast. >> we'll end on a positive note. ellen, thank you very much for joining us really early. see you again. >> feels good. you look good. >> it's all makeup thank you all for watching "worldwide exchange. i'm brian sullivan, we'll see you tomorrow "squawk box" coming up in two minutes. at t. rowe price we've helped our investors stay confident for over 80 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. oveso try febreze one toers gently clean away odors. with no aerosols and no heavy perfumes. so you can spray and stay.

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is a trade war brewing and becoming more of a possibility the u.s. considering a new round of tariffs on china. we'll get reaction from around

the globe. democrat conor lamb, the apparent winner in a close race in pennsylvania that was a special election another one in november. we'll make a big deal out of this and play type is over. toys "r" us can file a plan to liquidate its u.s. stores as soon as today. it's wednesday, march 14, 2018 it's a day in between my anniversary and my son's birthday weird. "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. look at the u.s. equity futures.

we've been in the green all morning. you're going to get strong results with the dow futures indicated up by 100 points how we go in the morning has not indicated anything by the end of the session. yesterday the dow was down by 170 points the s&p was down by 17 the nasdaq was off by 77 you are still looking at positive month for both th