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wall street. the dow doing something for the first time since august. let's make a deal. facebook making peace down under over news feed content caution to the wind. spring break towns welcome back thousands of tourists despite warnings from experts. it is tuesday, march 16th, 2021. are you are watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. good morning i'm frank holland in for brian sullivan here is how your money is setting up the day on this tuesday. we begin with the u.s. markets pretty much flat a muted open to wall street today. the nasdaq is fractionally higher averages coming off a mostly higher session yesterday the dow, s&p 500 and russell 2000 all at record highs dow with the longest win streak

since august now turning attention to the bond market. that being watched closely in a bit of a holding pattern as the fmoc kicks off the two-day policy meeting today the ten-year yield is above 1.6% still off the high from yesterday. turning attention now to the global market. asia ending the trading day in the green. investors there also waiting on the word from the fed and europe getting its day started right now when it comes to trading right now, we see the averages in the green important to know the dax up a half percent. to the developing top story. the backlash against the as ex astrazeneca vaccine.

we have juliannna joining us now. >> reporter: frank, good morning. it is worth giving a bit of context. astrazeneca, the vaccine they developed has been billed as the vaccine for the planet it is cheap and easy to distribute and we have a lot of it relative to the other vaccines it has been approved for the use in uk and ureurope it has not been approved for use in the united states what has happened is a small number of events involving blood clots in a small number of people vaccinated have caused some concern among european national governments as aresult, we have seen a dozen countries now suspend use of the vaccine until the cases are further investigated these countries include germany,

italy and france the heavyweights in europe astrazeneca has come out saying a careful review has been done on the safety date of more than 17 million people who have been vaccinated across the uk and the eu that data has shown no evidence of increased risk of the events among those vaccinated they confirmed there have been no confirmed issues related to any particular batch there has been a concern in europe that it is related to a specific batch of vaccines worth noting, the events have not occurred in higher incidents of the higher vaccinated than the general population frank. >> julianna, these are big countries suspended the vaccine rollout. what impact it will have on the effort to end the pandemic in europe >> reporter: so, frank, the eu has come under fire for its slow

rollout relative to other advanced economies u.s. and uk in particular. they also face a huge issue with the acceptance of the astrazeneca in particular. the politicians came out and undermined the vaccine calling it quasi ineffective that was the line from the french president that is a case of insufficient data available for the elderly for the vaccine. there was no reduced timeline of the effectiveness of it. it got caught up in the political rhetoric in europe worth noting the public leaders have had a public row with the supply with the leaders. now is the eu being overly cautious given regulators to date spanntand by the vaccine. we will get more from the regulators today

they will review the information and on thursday, they will hold an extraordinary meeting where they are expected to deliver the assessment so far, they stand by it and they say the benefits much the vaccine outweigh the risks associated with covid-19 and all of the hospitalizations and increased risk of death that comes along with the disease the uk regulator standing by the vaccine. this is crucial. the uk is continuing to charge ahead with astrazeneca with the rollout with the regulator saying it is not confirmed with the reports of blood clots were caused by the vaccine. people should still go and get the astrazeneca vaccine when asked to do so >> thank you, julianna. back here in the u.s., president biden and vice president kamala harris are expected to take a victory lap after the pass age of the $1.9

trillion we have tracie potts with more from washington. >> reporter: frank, the next priority is immigration as there is now a situation, some call it a crisis brewing at the border the president sending federal help down there. while hitting the road today to promote and explain the covid relief plan. >> shots in arms and money in pockets. >> reporter: the help is here tour continues today with president biden in pennsylvania and vice president kamala harris in colorado. pushing the american rescue plan >> it is not selling it. it's literally letting people know their rights. >> reporter: relief payments are rolling out. now president biden says 100 million covid vaccinations will be done in the next ten days republicans accuse him of taking credit for the rollout that was already under way when he took office >> the effort to sprint to the campaign should not fool

anybody. >> reporter: vaccinations are critical now with spring break approaching. >> we have seen people enjoying the festivities maskless >> reporter: the tsa says 1.3 million people flew on friday. a record during the pandemic now a different crisis the federal emergency management agency, fema, is headed to the border to temporarily house migrant children without parents after president biden relaxed the trump remain in mexico policy >> no other way to claim it than a biden border crisis. >> we want to expedite getting the kids oust ot of the facilit. >> reporter: this week, lawmakers consider two immigration bills. legal status for undocumented farm workers and a path to citizenship for dreamers republicans want to talk about

border security. frank, both sides are saying they don't think they will come up with a comprehensive plan here they will probably deal with the issues one at a time >> tracie, the stimulus checks go to people filing taxes. how is the irs doing with the processing of returns? >> reporter: they are behind they are significantly behind where they were last year. they say generally it takes 21 days to turn things around this year, because the relief bill has changed the tax code and they are working with fewer people and they have so many returns, that they are just slower than they were last year in processing. >> tracie potts in d.c thank you. turning attention back to the markets. the dow and s&p hover near record highs with the economic reopening. attention will shift to the fed as they kickoff the latest

two-day meeting today. i'm joined by bill stone >> good morning. >> bill, a lot going on with central banks. bank of england and bank of japan. let's start with the retail sales numbers. estimate is to fall slightly what do you expect and how does that impact the fed meeting? >> so, i think you have to put into context the january number was strong over 5%. remember, that is when we got the first $600 stimulus checks going out. it was juiced by that. february, you may remember, bad weather and you talked about the delay in tax returns, et cetera. that will hold down february hold on to your hat. we have the bigger checks in march. most people will look through this and say there is a big retail sales number likely coming in march and perhaps moving into april as well.

i don't think it will upset people in terms of worry about the economy. and when you think about central banks, oh, here is another reason why we he may not want to be so accommodating. >> interesting back on the fmoc meeting later today. it will include the return of the plots that people think are famous shares the outlook of the federal fund rate from different mechanics. how will j powell look to the dots >> it will make jay powell's job harder if it moves they they move is probably move some rate hike a little quicker than expected. i don't expect that. i think, you know, one way or the other, it would make everyone's life easier on the fed side if they don't do that either way, he has to spend a lot of time talking about inflation being a transatory

item that is the script he will go with he will have to do a fair amount of dancing it would be worse if they change the plots. >> bill, let's talk about the forecast that came from you for q 1 gdp. 10%. for perspective. 8.6% from the fed. why are you feeling so optimistic >> part of it stems from what i talked about earlier which is the stimulus running through the retail sales. that means consumer strong i'm already thinking if you think about reopening. the easy thing to point to is the mobility numbers track cell phone usage mobility is the highest it has been post-covid. that is telling you people are getting out and about. all of the other things you track around vaccinations and et

cetera at the end of the day, if people are moving around, it is a high likelihood you will see a strong economic number. that is the easiest one. >> billstone, we appreciate it thank you for joining us this morning. more "worldwide exchange" to come the latest action on the ongoing gamestop gsaga. and we will talk about the side effects with the treatment with the covid vaccine. and the spac deal on deck. a busy hour still ahead when "worldwide exchange" returns stay with us

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well come back. the volkswagen shares are up after the outlook for the year expects businesses to recover from the pandemic. the number two automaker is targeting 5.5% growth this year. turning attention to the farmer world. abbvie is in talks to sell a $5 billion portfolio of the female drugs. the move restarts the process to sell the business which allergen ditched. nikola is filing to sell 100

million new shares nikola says the proceeds will be used to build the manufacturing plant and fuel cell. gamestop moving lower after the halt in the session. shares rebounded this month returninglevels we saw in late january. we see shares up 3% this morning. important to remember, shares up more than 1,000% year to date. still on deck, spring breakers pushing the covid outbreak back in the red we talk about the influx of party goers. stay with us. >> announcer: today's big number $930 billion that's how much ecommerce sales could reach this year according

to data by adobe that would be a in ogaf 63% from 2019

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welcome back to """worldwide exchange." we have phillip mena with more >> reporter: good morning. asked the judge for a delay and reconsider the change of venue the $27 million settlement with

the george floyd family to impact the jury pool. and the head coach of uconn has tested positive for coronavirus. the school said geno auriemma received the second dose of the vaccine. he is not experiencing symptoms and he is isolating at home. he can rejoin the team on march 24th. the pandemic shifted the way we work. in new york, it may be for good. roughly four out of five office workers in manhattan will not return full-time according to the partnership for the survey they spoke to major companies and 66% say they would adapt to hybrid models and splitting between the office and home. less than half of manhattan's office workers are expected back in the office by september frank, it may never been

business as usual. >> the city is not the same. it doesn't have the same energy. a lot of people are hoping it returns at some point. >> it has been surreal slowly, but surely, it is getting back to normal we are a long way away >> knock on wood we will get back to normal philip, thank you. still ahead. lays out the stocks she and her team are keeping a close eye on. the developments in the country's opioid crisis as the family accused at the center of it all increases the settlement offer. if you have not subscribed to the podcast, do it. if you miss us, check us out on spotify and other apps stay with us we'll be right back.

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stocks fighting to keep record gains coming as investor attorney the policy meeting. we layout what moves the central bank may make. potential threat in the fight against covid as small business owners juggle protocol and making money amid the spring break. another day. another spac betsy cohen eyes another $10 billion deal it is tuesday, march 16th, 2021.

you are watching "worldwide exchange" here on cnbc ♪ welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm frank holland in for brian sullivan for more on what to watch, let's bring in chief market strategist at cross market global investments. victor victoria, thank you for joining us >> good morning, frank >> a lot of people are looking for the dot plots. are you looking for movement is there any significant move? how will jay powell react if there is a move? >> i don't think people were anticipating much. the last time we got this from the fmoc was in december it was a different macro environment then we look at gdp expectations are 3.5% or higher unemployment rate has a lower

expectation than back in december the question is going to be do enough members of the fnc move their dots or move that expectation rate hike enough to where the market is going to react? if they do, powell will have a very difficult time in the press conference trying to walk that back and calm the markets down because we would see rates and the treasury market move higher. not just in the 10-year to 30-year, but in the 5-year to 7-year we have seen the reaction to the rising rates in the last couple months that is what people will focus on >> the rising rates is a concern to people on wall street let's talk about inflation there are expectations the fed will clarify the inflation target does it stay at 2% or will it change >> frank, i think it stays at 2% one of the reasons we saw volatility the last time powell

spoke in the interview a week and a half ago is the fed believes this is transatory infl inflation. many are expecting the fed to come out and do something with rates or with the bond buying program to at least verbally acknowledge the inflation could be more than base effect and supply chain issues. we will see inflation go north of 2% for the next quarter and come back down to the end of the year i'm in the fed camp of transatory inflation it will be key to how powell addresses the market >> about 20% of the market seeing 52-week highs right now let's talk about the stocks. you are bullish on mega tech and faang. can you give us a couple of examples and explain what growth means? >> i think a lot of people get

caught in the growth versus value concept. they forget there are names that really don't have to be one or the other. they can be both for us, an example is we talked about mccormick the spice company. many consider it a value name. it has 2% growth every year. people don't realize the equity portfolio manager says do you know the price you paird for cinnamon we don't envidia is a name we bought recently you can look at other areas and find names with growth that are not necessarily in that growth bucket >> victor tia, are you bullish n the home trade or is the reopening trade where the performance of the russell out perform the others >> i think it depends if you are

trading long term or short-term. we like the 5g and data. short-term, the reopening trade has momentum we play that with visa or mastercard. >> victoria fernandez, thank you. now to the other top stories. mississippi is the second state to open covid vaccinations to all adults starting today. the state following in alaska which made that move last week michigan and connecticut will start dropping restrictions next week the callfor president biden to do so by may 1st members of the family at the center of the opioid crisis is offering to settle lawsuits. sackler family is offering $4.3 billion to settle litigation up from $3 billion from what was proposed the trading platform etoro

is planning to go public via merger with spac the firm is led by betsy cohen's corporations shares are surging on the report the deal which could be announced today, will value the combined company at $10 billion. back to the developing story on the vaccine rollout over in europe 14 countries, including germany, france and spain suspended the oxford university astrazeneca vaccine over fears of blood clots. fears including the w.h.o. say there is no link with the shots and the blood clots. the top regulator meets today to weigh the evidence and joining me now is the expert in the field of blood clots and the organization continues to recommend all eligible adults get the covid vaccine is dr.

jeff weiss the professor of medicine at mcmaster university. jeff, thanks for being here. >> thank you pleasure to be here. >> it is concerning especially in the eu to see the most populated countries in europe as well as the biggest economies pause the use of the astrazeneca vaccine over the concern of blood clots. you are a researcher who is develowell versed in there. it is a connection with the blood clots and the vaccine with certain individuals? >> no obvious link with the astrazeneca vaccine and blood clots. we have to put the problem in perspective. about 5 million individuals hav.

so, the vaccine reduces blood clots by over 99%. it is thinking like that which led isdh and other organizations to urge the ongoing administration of the astrazeneca and other vaccines to reduce the burden of covid-19 >> so, dr. weitz, i know you did go to medical school if all of these countries are seeing evidence of it and you see a lot of backlash to it, is there any reason why they shouldn't switch to another vaccine? why not switch if people have the concerns whether real or perceived? >> right

it would be fine if we had lots of the other vaccines. we don't countries are depending on the astrazeneca vaccine as part of the fight against covid-19 remember, the astrazeneca vaccine has the advantage that it just needs refrigeration, whereas the moderna and pfizer vaccine require storage in a freezer. the astrazeneca vaccine is easier to administer in pharmacies and doctors' offices. there is a need for multiple tools to get the burden of covid-19 under control >> i understand there is a small number of incidents of blood clots situations even the small numbers, isn't that a reason for concern? >> i think awareness of the signs and symptoms of blood clots is important so that

should individuals develop any of those signs or symptoms, they can seek medical attention promptly and get treatment >> for people watching, one of the issues here is thrombosis. can you explain whatdangers? >> thrombosis means it is something that can cause a problem in the veins it can lead to a clot in the legs or lungs. most if caught early can be treated and the risk is low. the important thing is to be aware of the symptoms and signs of thrombosis and seek attention if those develop the benefits of the vaccines far

outweigh any risk. including this rare event of clot formation which is probably related to underlying disease and not the vaccine itself >> we know the safety committee well review the information today and have an extraordinary meeting on thursday. before we let you go, what do you expect from that meeting >> i expect that they will review the data and look at the rare number of events and come to the same conclusions that we should continue vaccinating people to reduce the burden from covid-19 and that these events are not directly related to the vaccine. >> dr. weitz, we appreciate the insight. thank you very much. coming up here on "worldwide exchange." we talk to two small business owners in spring break hot spots how they juggle covid protocols

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>> i have to ask how are you handling the crowds that are not wearing face coverings are you asking them to wear a mask when they come into your business colleen, i'll start with you >> we have decided last wednesday on march 10th, our governor decided that was the choice people could make we are offering that to our p patrons as well. we followed the guidelines before that. we are definitely now allowing people to make that choice >> and in florida, since we have not been under any mask mandate, we made it a personal choice for the customer i would say the average is about 25% of the people would wear a mask that do come in. >> got it. we were all young once and wanted to be at the beaches

where you are at and having a good time. do you think it hurts your business if you mandated face coverings when people came in your business? is there pressure from customers to let them not wear a face covering because the state does not mandate it >> again -- i'm sorry. go ahead, colleen. >> personally here as well i don't know it would effect our business people were very cooperative for the most part when we were under the mandate. now we're not, you know, you still see people that want to wear it. that is fine we're happy to have them come, too. >> what do you see in your venue? >> you know, basically, i echo what colleen says. i have not had too many problems with compliance with people who wanted to wear masks they have worn it and it is a personal choice. we have been at 100% capacity

since september of 2020. we were closed for a short amount of time six weeks back in the early part of 2020 before we started ramping up 25%, 50% and then 100% in september. since that time, it has become more standard andmore normal for people to say it is everyone's personal choice that's what they have been doing. >> maybe that is part of the problem. i'm not a public health official they say people need to wear their masks. you have to weigh business concerns and public health concerns i imagine spring break is the high time. >> in daytona beach, our special events season as we call it, consists of the daytona 500. we got done with the daytona bike week. we already had large crowds come through. we are seeing the inflecux of spring breakers.

college students and families and local traffic that drives to the coast this time of year to be with all of the other vacation travelers so, it has been a smorgasbord of people already covid fatigue has set in and people are itching to get out and start normally >> colleen, how are you balancing the public health concerns and the business? >> we were closed unlike the florida bars we were closed almost eight months in less than a year we are welcoming back people to a normal level we were at 50% the few months we were allowed to be open. now it is very nice to at least have the opportunity to have people make the choice to come into the bar we have 100% capacity. we don't have to have the tables spaced like before you know, it is just -- our bar

doesn't get a lot of spring breakers the other larger establishments on the island o. the island, the city officials decided that they did not want to give any special event permits this year. that has kept a lot of big vendors that come in to support spring break -- they are not doing that this year they were only going to be having about 5,000 compared to 50,000 in the past >> before i let you go and i'll ask you to answer this, is spring break the same? i know you have 100% capacity. that doesn't mean that you will have people coming in there year are you saying the same crowds are people spending the same amount of money? >> not at the levels we're used to in the past right now there has been a number of things put in place, obviously

with the health concerns and the colleges and universities adjusting the calendars this year which took out the traditional spring break that stopped the vast majority from taking a vacation this year because they are all in class. >> colleen, same question for you. you don't have a huge spring break crowd. if you compare 2019 when things are normal are you seeing people spend the same amount of money or have habits changed >> they are spending the same amount of money. if we were able to do business for the full hours, we were not able to do business until 2:00 a.m. we had to close at 11:00 p.m. the months we were open. people are spending the same amount of money. i do not -- spring break this year, i see they are expected to come more heavily toward the weekend. they are in school just like the florida schools, texas changed

spring breaks. >> thank you, both it was a late night last night and probably another late night. i appreciate you waking up early. on deck on "worldwide exchange." the fed in the hot seat. sarah bloom raskin talking about fears of rising inflation. if you haven't downloaded the podcast, go ahead and do it. we will be right back. so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward,

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jay powell to see if the central bank is ready to take its foot off the pedal. cecelia rouse is not concerned >> am i losing sleep over it no there is slack in the economy and we know the american rescue plan is designed to payout over several quarters we will be watching. as we know the federal reserve will be too. we believe the fed has the tools to address inflation you know, i think that right now the imperative is to get to the other side of the pandemic >> joining me now is sarah bloom raskin good morning, sarah. >> good morning. >> you have some special insight as someone who moved the dots personally you moved them yourself and probably had conversation with the colleagues about the

movements. how important is any movement and how will jay powell will react and how will the markets re react? >> you are right, frank. today is the launch of the two-day fmoc meeting, but today is the members of the fmoc put out the dot plots. they contain hints as to how the members of the fmoc are thinking about the recent increase really in short-term interest rates and what they are imagining that tightening could mean. so, there is some hints today as to what that means and whether those creeping up of interest rates mean anything regarding some kind of disanchoring of inflationary expectations. tend to think not. it won't be the case you have markets a little bit active here.

>> the december edition had no moves to the dots. we also have a lot of questions about the fed's inflation target i have to ask, if one of the dots move, does that change the inflation target what does that mean going forward when we see the press conference later what will jay powell say to the markets to keep them calm? >> i won't put too much emphasis on whether one member's dots move versus another members. i think that is really something that is more secondary i would be paying attention to the language that chairman powell uses in his press conference today or tomorrow he will have a lot of questions and how he answers those questions, particularly as they relate to the slight tightening in short-term interest rates in the treasury markets as well as

corporate bond markets that is what we will want to listen to. hear his level of concern. you heard just from cecelia rouse that they are not concerned. essentially markets should see through those increases in interest rates you want to hear from chairman powell as well and hear how he explains what is happening whether he used those interest rate increases as transatory or whether he welcomes them >> a lot of attention on the meeting later today. two other topics that are getting attention on cnbc. spacs and bitcoin. you said something that blew my mind the fed has oversight over spac and bitcoin. just not directly. explain explain. >> that is right in addition to the monetary policy with the fed and fmoc, there is regulatory authority. the fed needs to look and is

continuously looking at the development of acid bubbles of particular speculation of activity the fed keeps an eye on that when the fed sees something that is concerning, it has choices. it says to it self, are we so concerned we want to tighten monetary policy? flatten everything out in order to pierce thebubble of the speculation? or use other regulatory tools we have particularly as they relate to the lenders that are financing and fuelling some of the speculative activity you mentioned, frank, not saying it is speculation necessarily, but something to keep an eye on, which of course, the development of spacs and the bitcoin activity i'm almost certain the fed is keeping an eye on the prices of both of those assets >> certainly keeping an eye on it in recent speeches, the fed

mentioned a possible need for more regulatory authority to rein in shadow market. do you think the fed needs more authority? >> that is a big question if the fed needs that authority or has that authority i would probably think that the fed has that authority and there are ways in which the fed can think about and lean into the wholesale funding markets and liqu liquidity. there is a lot behind the scenes the fed can do prior to running up to congress and asking for more authority >> you are of the opinion of sloppiness as you say in qe 1 and qe 2 does the fed tcontinue an accommodation or change policy

>> i think nobody is expecting significant change in the policy settings you are right, frank, the an accommodation is really quite high the fed has moved the federal funds rate close to zero chairman powell and other members indicated the rate is likely to stay there for quite a bit of time. you look at the dot plat and there is no indication that the rate will get increased any time soon we have a bit of monetary policy an accommodation. the congress passed the $1.9 trillion stimulus. that, too, will provide a lot of juice to the economy betweenthe monetary policy accommodationf fiscal policy, we have

accommodation in the economy >> sarah bloom raskin, we appreciate the insight thanks for being here. that does it for us on "worldwide exchange. "squawk box" coming up next. four, five, turn, kick. we got chased by these wild coyotes! they were following her because she had beef jerky in her pocket. (laughing) (trumpet playing) someone behind me, come on. pick that up, pick that up, right there, right there. as long as you keep making the internet an amazing place to be,

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good morning stocks continuing to hit new highs as the attention turns to jay powell and the fed we will tell you what to expect. more european countries are suspending the astrazeneca vaccine as the u.s. takes a step closer to emergency use approval details ahead. plus, three angles on the opening of the economy a closer look at stocks poised to gain and the latest on the vaccine rollout and reveal new data on the workplace under hybrid models. some talk of a four-day

workweek tuesday, march 16th, 2021. "squawk box" begins right now. good morning welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and joe kernen >> do you get anymore done on the four day is three different from four when it comes right down to it >> yes, yes, yes. >> what if we offered to work another hour a day do three days? >> yeah. probably not going to work >> the new york stock exchange will never. >>