it is 5:00 a.m. here here's your top five at 5:00 lyft investors need a lift the stock falling below its ipo price. deadlocked again british lawmakers failing to agree on another plan to try to leave the e.u. boeing saying it needs more time to fix all those grounded 737 max airplanes. prices are pushing higher. you what you need to know before filling up your car on the way to work today. let's call it a food fight amazon just upping the antti in the grocery wars in a big way. we'll explain what they did at whole foods. all on this tuesday, april 2nd, as worldwide exchange begins

right now. ♪ zwriench good morning, good afternoon, good evening. welcome. thank you for joining us i am brian sullivan. here's a live look at london where the brexit debate just took another dramatic turn tempers are flaring in parliament we will take you live to london with the details in moments, but, first, let us get you caught up to speed on what is happening in the global markets and with your money following yesterday's big move higher. it is not the same scenario that we had yesterday remember, this time yesterday dour futures up 200 points right now they're actually down. the implied open off just about 33 points. it is early, but we are seeing a little bit of red on the screen. in other words, not a lot of follow-through now, yesterday bonds did something they haven't done really all year, and that is they sold off. yields came up the yield on the ten-year noticed tote about where we left

it yesterday at 2.47%. a similar story to europe as well where we are seeing the european markets not make th kind of big moves that we had yesterday. you could see it is widely mixed. the biggest gainer is the ftse 100 in the u.k up about .5% now, outside of stocks here is a global look at commodities and currencie currencies the oil march, by the way, that does continue higher we're up another half percent to 61.80 per barrel traded here that makes oil up about 34% so far this year. we haven't talked a lot about bitcoin because it hasn't done a whole lot. not the case this morning. look at that bitcoin on really no news soaring. up 13.5% now, it's still at 4,700

we were 20,000, of course, just over a year ago. still, bitcoin a big move to exactly 4,700. we'll get more, of course, on bitcoin throughout the day here on cnbc. the big question is this with markets rallying around the world and bond yields coming down, what is the right move for the fed? like so many are now calling for, it's a rate cut, is it in the cards? let's bring in james lu, founder and head of research at clearnomics. a simple question at this 5:00 hour does this economy, this market, need a half a percentage point rate cut >> well, good morning, brian you know, the fed is in a very tough situation right now. this is very much a different type of fed than we had seen with janet yellen even just two years ago. this is a fed who is basically telling us they're going to hold rates steady and be patient for a longer period of time. the issue, i think, that we're seeing from the fed is, you know, they're basically trying to, you know, both placate it is markets, the economic views there, and they're trying to

fight back against some political pressure do you think the economy is on path for recession >> we don't think that the economy is going to hit a recession. certainly not over the next 12 months yes, the yield curve is starting to invert, but that's a long-term process. not something that happens overnight. what you typically see is that, you know, once the yield curve officially inverts, let's say based on 10s and 2s, then you have nine to 24 months before something actually happens from an economic perspective. you know, at this point, yeah, some parts of the curve have inverted, but not the full curve. it's okay for the fed in our estimation to be cautious and patient here, but it's a very different thing for them to say that there will be no rate hikes over the rest of this year and to go even further, to say that maybe they'll actually cut rates here we think that's a step too far >> you know, by calling for a rate cut, both for the guy who is likely to be nominated to the fed, steven moore, and the head of the national economic

council, larry kudlow, are they sending out maybe a warning sign simply by doingit? >> it's possible, yes. you have to look at history a little bit here. when the fed starts to reverse its policy and either stops rate cuts or rate hikes, rather, or even starts to cut rates, that's actually usually not a positive sign for the economy it means that the fed has probably gone too far and it means that things are already starting to turnover that's not really what we're seeing this time around, though. we think the fed is being very, very cautious. the economy -- >> overly cautious >> a little bit overly cautious. the economy is still very healthy. things have slowed down a bit. certainly from what we saw the last two years not just in the u.s., but globally speaking. at the same time, you know, the economy is still very, very healthy here still, you know, significant job gains. the last number notwithstanding. still very long unemployment we think that the fed, you know, is probably right to be patient where they stand right now >> then why does there seem to be so much talk about a global slowdown or u.s. slowdown?

>> the numbers are decelerating, and if you look from a stock market perspective, corporate earnings, which have driven stocks over the last ten years, those have diesecelerated as wel you know, from the perspective of the markets, one thing we know about markets is that they can't go up in a straight line forever, and that's what we saw in the first quarter this is very much a fed-driven market today the fed is the main headline you know, obviously that can't continue forever >> hashed to believe, but first quarter earnings season, corporate earnings, almost upon us again >> yes >> feels like the british soccer season just never echbds, right >> they're going to slow significantly from last year certainly earnings were goosed last year from, you know, fiscal policy, that type of thing >> unsustainable comparison. >> an unsustainable comparison just from a comparative basis, we're talking 4%, 5% growth this year now, the market and wall street analysts still expect somewhere

in the neighborhood of 9 the% to 10% earnings growth over the next couple of years >> that's pretty good. >> that's pretty good. if the economy can stay even just stable to healthy in that range, that can still drive solid long-term returns. >> we can see gains in the market zplooits not everybody, but why do you think there are some people in the market who seem to be, for lack of a better term, freaking out over a slowdown to 9% to so% earnings growth? we would have killed for that a couple of years ago. ed beggar issue is we are -- we are about to be in the 11th year of the economic expansion, and so people are concerned. you have this inverted yield curve, which, you know, we don't want to make excuses for

it does historically portend a recession, but it's a process. it could take one, two years, maybe even more, and so we should be very cautious here we think the answer here is not to get out of the market per se. >> should the fed cut, bottom line should the fed cut rates this year >> based on the economic data we're seeing right now, we think that they probably shouldn't cut. >> should they raise >> we think the fact that they're patient right now is probably the best move, and, you know, we like to harken back to the janet yellen fed where it was all about data dependency. if the numbers start to turnover severely, that could drive the fed further. >> don't just do something, stand there. we'll flip the adage thank you very much. >> thanks, brian in corporate news today, new shareholders in lyft are no doubt frustrated it's trading right now at $67. 71 per share let's get to elizabeth schulte for more on lyft's big letdown >> hey, yeah

the lyft rally hitting a bit of a roadblock in trading yesterday. shares dropping 12% to close at $69. that's $3 below the ipo price. this, of course, after lyft popped as much as 23% after going public on friday traders blaming a couple of different factors for yesterday's drop first there are those lingering concerns over lyft's profitability. lyft is nearly $1 billion loss is making some investors jittery as the path to profitability still remains unclear. second are concerns about lyft's $20 billion valuation given that there's no true comparison here in public markets. lyft is, of course, the first ride-hailing company to go public and the first in a string of expected big tech ipos that have stayed private at massive valuations one of those is, of course, uber, lyft's biggest competitor, which is expected to go public in a couple of months. investors could be waiting on the sidelines for that ipo, which will be up to $120 billion in value

it isn't the first time tech ipo shares have dropped. some investors saying it's time to just play the long game here, hold steady. this early volatility is expected in lyft, but we'll have to see how that shakes out today. it is a little bit lower in premarket here, brian, in early trading. back to you. >> yeah, it is down again once more certainly getting a lot of attention. elizabeth in london, thank you very much. all right. how common is this kind of move, the one that we saw with lyft in new technology stocks? well, maybe take some heart. it is more common than you might think. check this out facebook lost 11%, if you remember, in its second day of trading. twitter also fell on its second day, falling 7%. square, yep, also losing ground. not as much. down about 2% on its post-ipo. snap may be the notable out liar it did pop on its second day of trading. the bottom line is this. there is an historic precedent

for the kind of trading we are seeing in lyft right now facebook, twitter, and square can all tell you that. well, lyft is not the only technology ipo in focus. slack has reportedly picked the new york stock exchange for its upcoming ipo dow jones reporting that the company will do what's called a direct listing on the nyse slack not expected to debut until june or july, but certainly with the lyft news, a lot of eyes are on the internet messaging platform new this morning, boeing says it needs more time to prepare a fix for the grounded 737 max airplanes. let's get nor on the details of this big story with frank holland. >> good morning, brian you know, boeing says it will now submit a software fix for those grounded 737 max planes in a few weeks confirming a statement from the faa the company had previously said it planned to deliver the upgrade to the government for approval by last week. boeing now says safety is our first priority, and we will take a thorough and methodical approach to the development and testing of the update to insure

we take the time to get it right. more than 300 737 max jets have been grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes one in ethiopia last month, and another in indonesia last october. boeing is under a lot of pressure to prove the anti-stall system on that aircraft, which is believed to have played a role in both of those crashes, is now safe, and pilots have the necessary training to override it when necessary. the company showed some updates to pilots and regulators last week in a sign the 737 max may be out of service at least for a while longer southwest airlines is publishing a schedule for april and may built around its available fleet and says it will try to reduce last minute cancellations. we are getting started here on a busy worldwide exchange deadlocked again brexit talks and lawmakers failed to come up with another plan later, pumping profits jaw-dropping stats on just how

big saudi aramco really is lima croft is here can you name today's mystery chart? this is not a stock. it is a commodity. in fact, it is the best performing commodity this year maybe for all the wrong reasons. we'll tell y wt ats ghafr thisth i

zblierjs you'll hear exclusively from managing director christine lagarde. you can catch that interview today at 10:30 a.m. eastern time talking about global economies, the imf, and whatever else ms. lagarde wants to talk about. well, tempers are flaring in london as the brexit debate took another dramatic twist there are now just ten days to go before the u.k. leaves the european union let's get right now to willem marks with the details tempers flared in parliament willem >> that's right, brian last week we had mps choosing between eight different brexit options. alternatives to treeheresa may,h prime minister's deal last night. that got witled down to four none of those four alternatives managed to secure a majority inside the house of commons.

zplooits now three times been defeated the europeans, as you might manual, once again expressing impatience, exaspiration with this process april 12th is still the legal default for no deal. in terms of what the british could do before that, they could try and ask for an extension, but we've heard from people like emmanuel macron, the french president. he is not going to offer that unless they have a good reason for that extension, and right now with this deadlock, there is no such reason, brian. >> there was a rather dramatic turn as well where member nick bolles, did he quit parliament or simply quit his party >> whereby they're inside the

customs union, they're inside the market >> he was incredibly upset that members of his own conservative party were not willing to make a compromise, and on those grounds, he publicly spoke up in the houses of parliament and said i'm resigning that's for saying i am leaving behind my party affiliation. we've seen that happen over the last few weeks with other members of the conservatives and the labour leaving their parties for form a new independent group. it is once again another sign of the fragmentation of party politics here in the u.k., brian. thank you very much. amazon upping the antti in the grocery wars doing something that whole foods

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amazon, it plans to cut prices on hundreds of items at whole foods. the average price drop will be around 20% now, unlike previous discounts, the cuts will apply to all customers, not just amazon prime members. those price changes take effect tomorrow stock, too, qualcomm its former ceo dropping his bid to take the company private. paula jacobs was ousted for the board last year. he says the condition simply not right right now for a deal stock three mcdonald's they are making another big bet on technology. mickey ds buying a 10% state in plexu wr they make software this is mcdonald's second big bet on technology in just a week remember, last week mcdonald's bought digital start-up dynamic yield to try to help personalize

its drive through menus using artificial intelligence. switching to political news. wall street is closely watching not one but two big brewing battles in washington right now. let's get to tracie potts who has more on both of these. >> number one, the tletd to shut down the border and the impact that could have on the economy we begin with the mueller report that democrats want by today the attorney general, the justice department saying it's not going to happen. >> the justice department says a redacted version on russian -- should be ready by mid april if congress doesn't get that full report by today, democrats are threatening a subpoena vote tomorrow >> i assume we will be issuing subpoenas soon >> the vote would authorize house judiciary chair jerry nadler to subpoena the report and five white house officials >> talking about this nonsense further, especially after two years and being wrong so many times. it's just really not productive

and quite frankly, it's kind of an embarrassment for our democracy. >> president trump's team says he is serious about shutting down the border with mexico. >> how many folks are you coming across >> this is a crisis. we need to fix it. >> a record number of families and unaccompanied children are trying to enter the u.s., but closing the border would also shut down thaid trade. nearly half of all imported fruits and vegetables come from mexico avocados could run out in three weeks. >> americans could see this play out on the shelves of their grocery store. >> something that closes off the border i frankly predict carries with it the peril of a recession. >> the administration says america is at a breaking point critics say closing the border could make it worse. meantime, the associated press is reporting that the president is considering an immigration tsar to coordinate his border and immigration policy and already have a couple of people in mind, brian >> tracie potts live in d.c. with two big battles

thank you very much. now let's get a check on the morning's other top headlines outside of the world of money and politics francis riviera in new york with those. francis. >> hi, brian good morning >> at least one person was stabbed. the l.a. fire department says 19 patients were traptd two are in critical condition. overnight new details of a man suspected of shooting nipsy hustle a man named eric holder is wanted for homicide. he was last seen in a white four-door chevy cruise joe biden has been accused again of inappropriate -- in an interview amy told the hartford current that although it wasn't sexual, joe bideern rubbed noses with her la pos says she came faf forward after lucy flores accused biden of inappropriately kissing the back of her head

in a statement biden said, in part, not once never did i believe i acted inappropriately. you know that saying let nature run its course. some tourists learned this lesson firsthand watch this group of tour is there enjoying the sites where that huge glacier suddenly collapses trade into the water forcing them to higher ground as the waves approach them. he posted the video to social media, and he said that that no one was injured. you are fixated. you want to watch it from beginning to end and just for us to kind of pause for a little bit so you can watch >> the way that wave just gathered momentum right at the end was -- i mean, it really showed the power of how much ice fell into the water. by the way, i'm just going to take a wild stab, francis. that water is not warm >> i think you might be a little bit right. >> it is ice iceland. francis, thank you very much all right, good video. up next, hitting the skids are car sales finally about ready to stall out we got a pulse check on the car

lots straight ahead. first, again, another look at today's mystery chart again. not a stock. here's a hint. you would have gotten a lesson maybe in how to trade this from eddie murphy's 1983 hit "trading places." no, it is not orange juice we're going to reveal the answer when worwi ehae tus.lddexcngrern really?

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is there another sign the stock run will roll on the s&p 500 cross a major mark some say it could signal a

break-out. what you need to know about the so-called golden cross straight ahead. >> investors slamming the brakes we'll get the latest trade on lyft ahead tempers are flaring in london as some bottoms get beared. the brexit debate taking two bizarre turns. they've got everybody talking today. the details as worldwide exchange rolls on right now. >> thanks for being with us on worldwide exchange i'm brian sullivan as always, let's did kick off the second half of the show with your executive recap frank holland is back with that. >> brian, here's what's leading cnbc.com right now a second day slump 12% in yesterday's session it is close below its ipo price. more than 41.5 million shares change hands yesterday that's more than the 32.5 million shares the company sold

on its ipo >> earlier they planned to deliver the fix to the faa by last week. boeing's fleet of 737 maksz planes have been grounded since mid-march. boeing shares down a little bit in their i recall trade. now to brexit. british lawmakers are deadlocked on the brexit plans. u.k. parliament failed to pass any measures to leave the e.u. if nothing happens in the coming days, the u.k. will actually crash out of the e.u. just ten days from right now. brian, back to you >> here's your your money and investments look right now not the same kind of trade that we had yesterday morning of course, this time yesterday dow futures were up about 200 points not the case right now s&p, dow jones, and nasdaq with an implied open down we're coming off the best first quarter in years, and also a

2329 point gain for the dow jones industrial average yesterday. well, with that big first quarter run, the s&p 500 is doing something right now that many traders consider an important inflexion point. in technical terms, it is called a golden cross whasz that the golden cross happens when the 50-day moving average, which is here, crosses back bottom of the longer term 200 day moving average, which is here the golden cross only happens when both moving averages are on the rise, which is, by the way, exactly what we have now a little hard to see there on the 200 day, but they are both on the way up. you can see the 200 day, 50 day, about ready to break bottom of that 200 day moving average. now, keep in mind, we have not had this kind of a golden cross happen in nearly 1,100 days. you got to go all the way back to april of 2016 by the way, according to bespoke investment group, when that

happened three years ago, the s&p 500 gained4% in the next three months and 14% over the next year. bespoke also notes there have been 26 so-called golden crosses going back to 1928 about markets, the fed, and even the golden cross. with your next guest, chad morganlander, fund manager at washington crossing advisors i know you guys are bottoms up value investors looking through the balance sheets and the numbers. do you pay attention to anything that technicals like the golden cross and what do you make of the recent market momentum either way >> yeah. well, we are looking towards this market momentum because of two very positive indications that have happened one, it looks as if china is all in when it comes to providing stimulus as well you have the federal reserve and

other global central banks that are also quite accommodative. we think the overall markets across the globe can continue to see a 3% to 5% increase over the next three to four months. >> that is really -- it's amazing how i move i was just there, and now there's two of me. it's like the manufactureovie " prestige." it's like i have a twin, an evil twin the gain over the next year has been about 6% when we have seen that happen. the technicals seem to be matching up with maybe some of your value analysis. >> we've seen multiple expansion, even in light of perhaps an earnings recession. keep in mind that this is just about timing here. we think in the short run the markets can move quite, you know, boldly to that 5%. >> how can we have multiple expansion when earnings are starting to slow down. >> well, you have seen that before over the course of the

last ten years where the federal reserve was quite accommodative, and you have little revenue growth in earnings growth. the markets did quite well we continue to think that that will happen. we are not, though, terribly concerned that the global growth environment will fall into scenario where you'll see global growth diesecelerate to 2%. as long as it stays around 3% global growth, then we think that that can sustain this type of positive momentum >> we have many guest on this fine network who say you should be more overweight international stocks than the u.s. you fundamentally disagree where that zblie believe that, and perhaps our whole team believes that we think there will be dollar strength over the kofrs the next six to 12 months.

>> we do continue to believe it's a ten-year bond can continue to rally as interest rates will continue to go lower. >> dloor index posted four up quarters for the first time in ten years. the strong dollar trade has been on we hear all the time, chad, that a strong dollar can be a negative for u.s. multi-nationals. >> strong dollar for a u.s.-based investor, you okay, could be a positive because you're not getting that headwind when it comes to the dollar strengthening. >> over the course of the next six to 12 months >> health care looks good to you snb. >> we like health care we would be overweight some of the steady eddie health care pharmaceuticals as well as the

hmos >> washington crossing advisors. real pleasure, chad. see you soon >> we have a big analyst call just crossing on disney. rosenblatt securities initiating coverage on the dow component with a buy rating and a pretty high price target. stock not moving right now on that. that michigan nation just crossed seconds ago. >> you can always hope the bad accent segment i'm going to start it off. hello. things got a bit cheeky during the brexit debate. >> what is that? >> i don't even know i'm going to move on >> sounds like a lady.

>> chimney sweep things look cheek why i. climate change protesters stripped down in the u.k. house of commons they pressed their back sides against the glass in the direction of lawmakers authorities eventually removed those protesters a dozen of them were arrested for "outraging public decency. >> if you are on the radio right now -- >> yeah where. >> basically they're not fully in their birthday suits. it's just some guys up against the glass wearing -- >> and ladies. >> -- a greek swimsuit, if you will >> greek speed speedos? briefs it's men and women >> those are -- >> everyone is topless, and they're pressing their back end against the glass. >> they do have something on >> they do, absolutely we're going to our next story. today is equal payday. >> dozen fz major companies have a lot of who, to do to close the pay gap. a 46 major world companies finds half of them received a failing

agreed now, just to put that into real numbers, i read a report, women make about 80 cents on the dollar of what men make. certainly we need some progress. time's up. whatever phrase you want to use. it's time for equality when it comes to pay >> well said >> well, we're going to move on to something a little bit more interesting. >> the large esall of kaudo -- the u.s. could run out of guacamole in three weeks if mexican imports were stopped mexico currently supplies all u.s. auf kaudos as california's growing season is really just starting, and it's not just avocados 40% of imported fruits and veggies are grown in mexico. >> watch chipolte. obviously avocado a big part of their menu items, and it's also tequila too. not just avocados. just anything coming across the border >> well, i'm mostly concerned about the guacamole. >> you have to have the margarita with the chips we'll see what happens thank you.

>> you bet the ncaa women baes final four finally set the fighting irish will fight off against uconn. bayl baylor plays florida on friday night. why red hot car sales could soon stall out is that necessary aly bad sign we'll explain, and speaking of cars, pump prices are on the move we'll tell you how much it's going to cost to fill up your car when worldwide exchange returns. story? at t. rowe price, hundreds of our experts go beyond the numbers to examine investment opportunities firsthand. like a biotech firm that engineers a patient's own cells to fight cancer. this is strategic investing. because your investments deserve the full story. t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

>> march is a big volume month

generally, consumers are hybernating in january and february this is the first test we'll have to see if there is strength out there in the marketplace at this point we're expecting that it is going to be moderating from the strong numbers we had at the end of 2018 >> what's the primary reason, if you are right, and they do moderate >> well, there's a number of contributing factors certainly rising interest rates in the background are squeezing consumers. we know that vehicle prices themselves have been rising. our own data was showing the transaction price is approaching $37,000 per vehicle. we know have manufacturers have backed off so they're not quite as aggressive on the pricing we're also dealing with a market where just a lot of uncertainty. we've seen volatility in the housing data we've seen volatility in the stock market certainly with the president's trade policies they're going to be all kind of adding to this level of uncertainty for big

ticket purchases like vehicles our expectation is that's going to chase a few consumers away that might have purchased otherwise. of course, we have the tax reform happening this first quarter where folks are paying the first -- paying their bills for the first time as to what they actually owe. we think there may be some rude surprises out there, which also make it snoo i discount when you have a bad product or get that car off the lot. >> we don't see inventory in outrageous levels. they have been backing off a little bit on product availability they're looking at profitable sales. it's not all bad news. the strength of vehicle prices

is really lending to strong profits for the industry in terms of volume itself we are expecting those numbers to be down a little bit. >> with an average new car cost at $40,000, could you easily pay $50,000 for what i would consider a mid-sized car, if you will can we expect car sales to continue at the pace they have been if you are paying $50,000 for a small chevy suv, you're not going to be buying a new car every five years you just can't >> well, that's right. that's -- we're in sort of a late stage of the cycle where we've sown sold. we'll have sold 85 million new vehicles over the last five years. you know, that's a lot of folks out there that already have a vehicle that are not going to be in the marketplace to buy another one. all of this is really just contributing to the environment where we see vehicle sales slowing a little bit even though we are looking at a very strong economy overall.

it's really these high vehicle prices and the fact that we're reaching the point of vehicle saturation out there that we just don't see this strong demand in the market for these new products >> charlie, those numbers cross all morning. charlie, thank you very much on deck, however big you think saudi aramco may be, i promise it's bigger. we'll be showing you something you'll be talking about all day with rbc's -- today's mystery chart. some of you have gotten it on twitter. you nailed it. you are smart. it is the best performing commodity this year. soarg r t ybthinfonomae e good reasons. we're back after this.

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stock moving about a half a percent. also, qualcomm, former ceo dropping his bid to take the company private. he was ousted from the board last year. his dad founded the company. he said the conditions are not ripe for any kind of a deal. and stock number three is mcdonnell's. making another big tech bet today. the golden arches buying a 10% state in plexur. they make software used in mcdonald's mobile app. this is the second big bid on terk in recent days. they bought dynamic yield last week to try to personalize their drive-through using artificial intelligence if you are filling up your car on the way to work today, you might be paying more at the pump you'll probably notice. national average gas prices up to $2.70 a gallon today. 27 krens higher than this time last month in alaska, hawaii, california, they're laughing at those numbers right now. >>ure going to be talking about this all day today yesterday we learn thad aramco is the world's most profitable company. they made a staggeri ining $111 billion in profit last year.

i mean, it sounds look like a lot, but exactly how much is that >> one saudi aramco does more profit than google, facebook, and exxonmobil, jp morgan, alphabet combined. >> global head of commodity strategy rbc capital markets i had to say combined like that because -- >> huge number >> can you believe it? >> it's a huge number. one of the things we have to look at when we look at the number, it's a huge headline number when we drill down, we see the taxation rates, royalty rates on a per barrel basis the number is not so big then. when you look at it compared to a totale or shell. it's on a per barrel basis a little lower zoo what they're making per barrel is less than some of those. that headline number is stunning >> yeah. it's a huge number it reflects the fact that they have a massive resource space. they are truly the world's low cost producer. very low levels of debt.

aramco has always been saying, wait until we reveal the numbers, and it was a big reveal yesterday. >> it was, and we got it because of their bond sale, not because of an ipo. do you think -- i know you're not an equity analyst on aramco, but does it kind of give the saudis a little bit of swagger if they ever take the company public we told you our numbers are big. >> the question is will they ever take the company public >> been waiting for three years. >> they talk about the deadline as 2 on 021. they are doing this bond sale because it's to acquire the petrol company and give it to the investment fund to make investments. do they have to tap the bond markets? they say they didn't have to do that, so the question is are they doing this in preparation for an ipo we have to wait and see. >> here's the problem. their cost per barrel is somewhere people think around $3 right? $3 to $5 is what they spend. yet, their budget requires, what, $88 a barrel to pay for their social programs? >> that's exactly what the issue is

aramco is the cash cow for the saudi state, and so they really do rely on aramco to fund a very expansive foreign policy, very generous still domestic benefits for their population, and so that is the real issue with aramco is what does it fund? it funds the entire saudi state. stil still, the numbers are very impressive >> oil is the second best. you and i, of course, we were in opec together. many times, by the way, the last few years. it appears opec's strategy is working. >> i wouldn't say it's the saudi strategy that's working. i feel like saudi can take a win. >> i would-for saudi arabia to -- >> give it to -- the saudi oil minister kept saying in december look what we do in q1. you know, you have in questions about our credibility with this cut? the saudis have been very, very relentless in driving down

exports to the united states they've cut overall production, but if you look at the motiva refinery, which they own. >> biggest in america. >> they've basically zeroed out saudi exports in that refinery to change the sort of outlook of u.s. inventory data. thief been incredibly disciplined in basing their strategy of getting prices higher >> no venezuela? there was one tanker three weeks ago that we highlighted. that's it. >> citgo is not taking any venezuela app barrels and -- >> we are now short, though -- >> the type of crude oil >> we basically have the heavy brow from venezuela want coming. we have to base fa from come, and saudis won't give it to us hence, more donald trump tweets. >> any time it gets around $50 or $60 -- >> the saudis have been sending those to voice mail.

>> is it going -- you're not it's not going to work apparently it worked the last time >> well, the thing is the saudis thought and a lot of people believe that there would be no exemptions granted for iran, and he gave eight. they're basically saying to president trump let's see what you do in iran in may. >> i love that, send it to voice mail because who checks that although anymore do you expect it to continue its climb higher >> i want to watch what does happen with venezuela. are there secary sanction proposed you can't take any venezuelan barrels either >> can we say that >> look what we did with iran. china is basically having the iranian imports. if you look at india's major reduction, if we say to reliance, you can access the u.s. capital markets or you can take venezuelan barrels, i think they'll leave it on the sidelines. >> we did grant ek emshons >> now three countries have gone to zero. we basically have five receiving exemptions i think that will probably be a couple more zeroed out by the time the decision comes in may a couple hundred thousand more iranian barrels off the market

>> still, whatever their cost per barrel and whatever they make per barrel, those are big >> big numbers good week for saudi. >> good week for you >> thank you >> appreciate it time for the morning rbi this morning let's talk about something we just referenced, the best performing asset class of the year. it is not the stock market it's a commodity it is lean hog futures that's right pigs futures up 43% this year 55% in the last month. it's not because of increased demand it's a terrible disease called african swine fever that has slammed china's hog farms, and it's serious it's serious that citigroup put out a note on it yesterday saying the high pork prices will drive up inflation, particularly in pork obsessed china the good news, i guess, is that this could also benefit american hog farmers because exports are expected to grow while bacon prices are likely to go on the rise, perhaps it is

the unlikely hog, the sweet swine, that can help bring down the trade deficit with cnahi who knew thanks for watching. "squawk box" is next ?

skbrienchts good morning boeing now says it needs more time to develop a software fix for the 737 max planes that means the fleet could be grounded longer than expected. lyft investors hitting the brakes the stock tumbling below its ipo price. ugly, ugly session yesterday down $9. falling again this morning plus, grocery wars amazon cutting prices at whole foods. that's a shock wiesh going to tell you what's getting cheaper and when the discounts kick in. it's tuesday, april 2nd, 2019.

"squawk box" begins right now. >> live from new york, this is "squawk box." >> good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick and andrew ross sorkin let's take a look. you will see that right now things are indicated relatively flat this comes after yet another big day of gains yesterday yesterday the dow was up by approximate 30 points. it was a gain of 1.25% s&p was also sharply higher. it was up by 1.1% brsh the nasdaq was up by 1.3%.