we all have metaphorical scars. i have a physical scar. but you don't have to live with that. you don't have to live with keith raniere haunting you. you can reclaim your life. you can -- you can learn from it, and you can move on. ♪♪ ♪ it is 5:00 a.m. at cnbc global headquarters. here are your top 5 at 5:00. we begin with stocks snapping as invests await guidance from fed chairman jay powell. safety reassured eu regulators, they coming around new data surrounding the astrazeneca, oxford university covid-19 vaccine its use remains suspended across the continent. and a strong stance, the u.s. laying out policy with top relations with china as top officials prepare for the first

face-to-face meeting and a big win for uber drivers in the uk after a landmark global victory. last but not least, elon musk reversing course to jump into that red hot space. it's wednesday, march 17th, st. patrick's day and you're watching "worldwide exchange" right here on cnbc ♪ and good morning i'm frank holland in for brian sullivan, kicking off your wednesday and your st. patrick's day with the stock futures let's take a look. the futures pretty much flat across the board we're seeing the dow up slightly the s&p actually down slightly as well down with the nasdaq, all of these numbers coming off a lower session yesterday. the dow snapping its first win streak since august. the s&p coming off of its first day at 6 this is followed by a jay powell

press conference 30 minutes later. investors looking for any indication the central bank may change course in the face of a growing u.s. economy and rising inflation. former fed governor sarah bloom raskin on this show laying out her expectations for powell and company. >> i'd really be paying attention to the language that chairman powell uses in his press conference today he's going tomorrow, he's going to have a lot of questions and how he answers those questions, particularly as they relate to this slight tightening in short-term interest rates, both in treasury markets, as well as in some corporate bond markets, that's what we're going to want to listen to and hear his level of concern >> and just like everybody else on wall street, we are keeping a close with on those short-term yields you see the ten-year right now

at 1.632 up slightly. turning our attention to markets around the world, asia president of its press conference europe getting its trading day started with germany's dax coming off a record close. our joumanna bercetche is live in the newsroom. good morning, joumanna >> you if you can looking at it, you wouldn't know it's st. patrick's day because there's absolute no green. uk down 0.3 percentage points we're seeing major declines in basic stocks, energy names and at the top, though, we do have the tellicos like vt and vodafone leading the charge after committing to spend 1.3 billion pounds to expand the network. you can see the tech trading on the back foot.

i want to take you on the ultra sector for europe. new car sales came in for europe at 20% for year on year. bmw beating the charge at 4.5% at this point. and volkswagen up. they forecast a major expansion of their margins, as well as an increase in demand for their vehicles so the mood for autos, at least today in europe is pretty good, frank >> joumanna bercetche live in the london newsroom, we appreciate it. turning our attention back home now, another busy day in d.c. as president biden meets virtually with his counterparts from ireland over 2020 election interference this meeting will be held virtually this year, because of, you know, covid-19 and the pandemic a bit of a change from the previous years all right. turning to today's pore top

business stories, uber will reclassify all of its drivers in the uk as workers. the change comes agency the company spent millions fighting regulatory changes around the road, including ab-5, the law in california over 75% of drivers will receive the wage and with spac, on the fraud of q4 earnings today hindonberg recently accused the truckmaker of having no sellable product and there be misleading investors. on monday, lewistown ceo louis burns responded. and on monday, the rollout of the astrazeneca vaccine as the european medical agency continues to investigate the more than 30 blood clots reported after that vaccine was

administered the findings expected to be released more than 4.4 million shots of the vaccine have been administered in europe to date another busy day in d.c. as president biden meeting virtually in ireland over the heels of the new report over the 2020 election interference nbc's tracie potts joins us now from washington with much more on this. good morning, tracie >> hey, good morning good morning, it's st. patrick's day, traditionally, what's happening, the president will meet with the irish prime minister, they have issues to talk about but we begin with immigration, and the growing situation at the border the homeland security on capitol hill sure to be grilled about that today >> reporter: as president biden prepares for a virtual meeting with ireland's prime minister on st. patrick's day, his administration faces an increasing pressure over the growing number of migrants

piling up at the u.s./mexico border there will be more than 1,000 new entries in the last week and 4,000 unaccompanied children now in border custody. >> translator: she cries and was scared but before that she wasn't like that she was very happy >> reporter: homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas testifies before the senate committee and says we're on pace to see the largest influx in 20 years. >> it's getting worse because of president biden's policies what president trump was doing was working. >> reporter: president biden tells nbc -- >> don't leave your town or city or community >> reporter: today, democratic and republican senators meet to decide on whether to focus on immigration, the minimum wage or infrastructure this, as the director of national intelligence releases a new report that russia, not china, interfered to get president trump re-elected >> russia has these really

brazen high-impact, high-visibility efforts. meanwhile in the background, china's playing a much slower, quieter game >> reporter: the report found that russian president vladimir putin personally authorized efforts to undermine public confidence in the election and new reaction this morning from the russian embassy they claim that this report is just full of groundless accusationses, frank >> yeah, a lot to follow there, tracie just kind of switching gears a bit. i was googling, correct me if i'm wrong, i don't think the president's had a news conference in nearly two months. do you see one coming soon >> more than 50 days it's a record. no president in the last century has gone this long without a news conference. now, the white house argues he does q and a almost every day. but a formal news conference, questions from the press, that hasn't happened in a while but it's scheduled now for next thursday >> tracie potts with the latest in d.c we appreciate it, thank you,

tracie turning our attention back to the market, stocks in a holding pattern ahead of the fed's decision investors will be watching for gains in economy and markets while inflation fears are percolating in the background. for much more on this, i'm joined by ryan payne, president of payne management. thank you for being here >> thanks, frank >> whether the inflation is targeted at 2%, that's a question, we don't know yesterday. your thesis is that inflation is going to rise no matter what and it's actually a good thing, can you explain that and what kind of companies benefit >> first off, the fed controls short-term rates longer-term rates, i would say the bond gods control the longer term rates interest rates are rising 1.6% why i think that's remarkable, that's higher, frank, than we were when the pandemic started january was the last time, 2020 is the last time we saw 1.6% on

the treasury one thing we're seeing as a theme. you've seen the economy recovering at warm speed we have operation warp speed and we've seen over 100 vaccine shots taken in the u.s what that says, the economy is recovering quicker than expected and if that's the case, inflation is going to continue to run high. it's been running hot but i think that trend is going to continue here. >> you say it's running hot, over the last ten months, it's 1.11%. actually over the target you say it's going well over 2%. what sector do you see benefitting? one sector especially seeing a gain from inflation? >> one thing i've been talking a lot about, especially on this show, is cyclicals, energy, anything more sensitive. oil, specifically, when you look at oil consumption, that's the most sensitive to what the economy is actually doing.

when you look at exxon which is up 50% this year already their costs are the most set the fixed costs are set already. anytime oil goes higher it goes right to the bottom line for energy companies anything of energy, if interest rates don't go higher, that benefits the bank's downsheet. anything more sensitive, like cyclicals that's where it is right now. >> anything with inflation >> once it reopens, the economy, we're going to be outside quick with the stimulus checks bestowed upon the economy. it's going to be traveling, going to restaurants, flying, all of those areas of the economy which have already had a nice boost here, that's a longer term trend as the economy reopens. >> so you're seeing inflation rising but my question to you is how much is tied to a successful vaccine rollout by the end of q2

>> i think a lot of it is hugely connected to that, i think the thing is if you look at most economists on wall street right now, economists, they're a cynical bunch, frank i know you're a philadelphia eagles fan, i am it's okay to have a healthy dose of cynicism, but i think the one thing we've learned here, any sort of -- you know, anything with the vaccine related where the rollouts haven't worked as well like astrazeneca, we're having issues in europe that's been a slow process as we've gotten around that, and what we've seen, the economy again has started to reopen quicker than anticipated i expect that rollout to be surprises in the positive, not the negative, even if you get a couple of speed bumps along the way. >> all right, ryan payne, from payne capital management, appreciate the insight when we come back to "worldwide exchange," forget about silicon valley, how the likes of facebook, google, apple and many more looking to attract even more business post-brexit

and succeeding even in times of covid-19 plus, much more rollout of vaccines and how any setback for the astrazeneca vaccine could be a set back for the world and ahead look at the economy in china, ahead of a face-to-face meeting tomorrow. ahead of a very business day when "worldwide exchange" returns. ou glad you can also just swing by to pick it up, and get your questions answered. that's healthier made easier. from cvs. and get your questions answered. no one likes to choose between safe or sporty. modern or reliable. we want both - we want a hybrid. so do banks. that's why they're going hybrid with ibm.

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welcome back president biden will hold a virtual summit with ireland's

prime minister to mark st. patrick's day and the bilateral relationship between washington and dublin. the u.s. is the largest trading partner for ireland accounting for 30% of export sales last year let's talk more about how ireland is working to attract foreign investment amid the challenges of the covid pandemic and brexit the ceo of idi ireland, the government agency that works to attract and retain businesses, good morning >> good morning, frank >> great to have you here. i think a lot of viewers they may be surprised, i didn't know, that ireland actually has 1500 multinational corporations that have headquarters or based there. we're talking big names like google, facebook, how do you attract them and why are they coming to ireland? >> i think number one conversation with these companies when they're thinking about ireland, i think it's those companies that a tract and

retain talent. which we've had for decades, i think our major attraction is easy to do business in ireland obviously, we have a very consistent transparent corporation tax rate at 12.5%. all of those things add up, the fact that we're english speaking and access to the european union, also a key attracter, i think. >> let's talk about the corporate tax rate, here in the u.s., it's about 21% you mentioned there, it's 12.5%. how big of a driver is that for these companies? and are there other factors that bring companies to ireland besides talent >> other than the fact it's a competitive place and is an attraction but i think the fact that it's stable you know, the stability of our regime and our race is the key driver and the stability of pro-enterprise policies so we've

made it very easy for business to do business in ireland. investment in research and development by this space, and very strong entrepreneurship in ireland as well. we've seen recently stripe founded by two irish guys. do phenomenal things in silicon valley and amazing recently, amazing valuations all of that challenge is available here in ireland. >> you mentioned stripe, obviously that's a fintech company, in general, 2% of the companies have headquarters, either tech or medical companies. are you looking to diversify >> we've targeted those sectors which we believe undermine, technology, medical technologies as you mentioned, international services, engineering and food is a significant industry in ireland also and those sectors have proven particularly resilient, particularly over the last year.

we only saw a 6% drop in investments despite the pandemic, and ireland posted positive gdp growth modest at 3.4% last year, but positive, nonetheless. so these sectors that we have targeted over the years have played out well for us what we see a role of digitization coming from all sectors at this point. at that, i'm a agreement and focused on the most. >> martin, clearly, you're trying to clearly attract businesses let's circle back to taxes for a moment janet yellen and other leaders have talked about a multiunion tax. how would that impact your business >> the first thing to say, we believe the oecb process that janet yellen is commenting on is

the right process. it will address it at a global level and that's much more comparable to individual countries and blocs going it alone. we understand what is coming out of that process the hope is there will be political agreement by midyear the focus has been on, pillar two of this process around taxes. but there's also a focus in pillar one how substance and distribution to markets in terms of tax take will be provided for. and once we get political agreement, we'll have to see what the technical underpinning for that so we're a long way off from understanding what impacts it will have on any country, including ireland. >> very interesting stuff. happy st. patrick's day, martin. by the way, beautiful view of the emeraldiv ism you and have the same tie on elon musk, those jumping

into that red hot nft game and back to work and back to air. how major companies are handling the spring break surge in travel we're back after this. today's big number -- $131 trillion that's the total investment needed to meet global climate goals by 2050, according to the international rewaneble energy agency that's a 30% increase over currently planned commitments. they changed how the world fights cancer. blocking the pd-l1 protein, lets the immune system attack, attack, attack cancer. pd-l1 transformed, revolutionized, immunotherapy. pd-l1 saved my life. saved my life. saved my life. what we do here at dana-faber, changes lives everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. everywhere.

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and welcome back to "worldwide exchange. let's get a check on this morning's other headlines. nbc's phillip mena is in new york with the headlines. happy st. patrick's day. >> a suspect has been requested that left eight dead in atlanta it a massage parlor were targeted six of eight victims are confirmed to be asian women. that's according to our affiliate wxia president biden made his strongest comments yet about new york governor andrew cuomo who is facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct. >> let me ask you about governor cuomo of new york. i know you said you want the investigation to continue. if the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should

he resign? >> yes, i think he'll probably end up being prosecuted, too >> governor cuomo is facing accusations from seven women he has denied touching anyone inappropriately, but has apologized for any past behavior that may have made people uncomfortable. and finally ly some good ne from golf legend tiger woods he's out of the hospital three weeks after crashed on a road in california, woods released a statement, happy to report i am back at home with my recovery woods went on to thank the staff at the hospital that he was in and says he's working to get stronger every day frank, fantastic news there, sounds like tiger's health is improving. >> amazing news there. great to see tiger on the road to recovery. i really wish we would see him in the masters next month. but maybe next year. >> happy to have him with us after that crash

>> happy st. patrick's day. >> same to you with the red how housing market, diana olynyk is here to break it down. and with the inclusive economy is all about expanding opportunities so more people can achieve success. the cnbc forum examines strategies and initiatives, helping equity for all, roger ferguson, mellody hobson, roel campos and many more for tomorrow, sign up and register at cnbc.com/inclusion we'll be right back.

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countdown to the fed, stocks in a holding pattern as investor as wait the latest policy decision and insight on rates or inflation. the biden administration expected to take a blunt approach as it prepares for its first high-level meeting with china. we're live in washington with a preview. and rebound in mortgage rates and what it could mean for the housing market it's march 17th, 2021. st. patrick's day, and you're watching "worldwide exchange" right here on cnbc ♪

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i am frank holland in for brian sullivan here's how stock futures are looking as we're halfway through the 5:00 a.m. hour -the-markets across the board, flat but flightily lower you see the nasdaq a bit lower all of the major markets coming off a lower session yesterday, as the dow snapping a seven-week win streak, the lowest since august and 1.367, up slightly ahead of that fed policy decision due out at 2:00 p.m. eastern time today. followed by a jay powell press conference at 2:30 eastern time. investors watching for any language to suggest the fed is concerned or even considering action on rising short-term rates or inflation as it stands this morning, results from the latest cnbc fed survey say expect asset purchase stos begin slowing in the fall, with a rate hike a year later. now to your morning's other top stories, palantir ceo is

offering sharp criticism for wall street, speaking with cnbc's wilfred frost as part of an executive meeting in chicago. he says there's too much emphasis on near term gains as expense of helping healthy long lasting companies. >> at palantir, we fought large bureaucracies in this country i believe to some extent on. and we're to some extent battling away with short-termism on wall street which i think is the most corrosive attributes of an otherwise interesting and largely functioning system we told the wall streeters that we will focus on building the long-term health of our company. that we're going to invest in our product development and in our clients. first and foremost and then, you have to battle it out with them. jetblue is calling airline

attendants back. the airline took employees who took a two-month leave of absence for april and may, they should report back a month early. it comes as several airline ceos including jetblue reported bookings are on the rise chime is preparing for a stock market listing the company held preliminary talks about going public as more people are taking their banking online amid the covid-19 pandemic the report says chime could be valued at more than $30 billion by the end of the year and as investors await comments from fed chairman jay powell they will be keeping a close watch on key rates from this morning our diana olick has more on the big shifts in housing. good morning, diana. >> good morning, frank yeah, big news yesterday from the home builders and the continued headline as you said is mortgage rates.

they continue to rise and took another move higher yesterday. they're way up in the past month, that's hitting affordability, not to mention the ability to refinance or get any savings. with the average around 30-year fixed about 3.4% those folks don't get any savings. we'll see how refis and purchase applications do for the week that's out in 2 1/2 hours. we also get housing starts and building permits at 8:30 no question the market needs more houses we're at record low supply of existing home which is puts prices run 10% over the year and as for reporting, executive chairman stewart miller said is noting, strong personal savings rates during the pandemic, strong stimulus from the government and strong household continue to drive the demand while the housing short avenue driven by ten years of production shortfall defines a

constrained supply now it has raised prices along with other builder costs, however, have risen dramatically that caused a drop in builder sent sentiment. a lot of news and certainly more to come, frank >> certainly a lot of news there, diana in rising rates, are there still people that can benefit from a refi >> there definitely are. about 500,000. if you can save 50 basis points more like 75 basis points so if you can get from 5% down to 4%, that's great and there are still some people who are up in that 4% range. but as ratings, of course, continue to edge higher, fewer and fewer people are going to benefit from that savings. and that savings usually translatedtr translates into consumer spending >> diana olick, we appreciate it now to the first official meeting between u.s. and china

under the biden administration as the two sides prepare to come together in alaska tomorrow. k kayla tausche has more on what to expect. >> the biden administration will meet with the china counterparts tomorrow even agency the broader china relationship is under way. the secretary of state antony blinken and national securitied a visor jake sullivan will meet with china's state counselor and its party president. among the discussions, human rights, and hong kong and cyberactivity and broadly economic coercion against the u.s. and its allies around the world. senior administration officials say the meet will go serve for expectations for the new white house there will be no statements or deliverables to announce the u.s. says it's simply not there yet. and the meeting itself say one-off, despite beijing

promising it's the beginning of regular consultations. the u.s. said it's focused on deeds not words on any future engagement just this week, the u.s. had harsh words for china. china's behavior where inconsistent with the existing international order presents political, economic, military and technological challenge to the alliance and international community. the white house is resetting its relationship with china with a strategic study of its military posture, trade policy and much more that officials say could last up to six months. and just last night, senior administration officials said don't expect much to change this week that after this summit, it's not confident it can persuade china of the error of their way and the righteousness of ours in just a matter of hours, frank. >> you say that's going to take months to complete after the statement from the white house and blinken speaking in japan yesterday saying, china

is, quote, raising expectations, not diminishing them with taiwan and the east china seas kind of seems like they're taking an aggressive and perhaps offensive tone >> they are. and certainly want china to know that the u.s. is on alert, that it is aware of what has been going on for the last several years. to be sure, the biden administration received high-level briefings from the trump administration during the transition about what exactly led to the hard line, at the trump administration and the its state department and national security council and trade offices took throughout the duration of trump's tenure they have a lot of information to work with, but they just don't want public policy in place yet. it's going to be a broad portfolio. and the biden administration wants to be sure before it takes any concrete policy steps, it knows exactly what it's doing but does feel confident enough to at least rhetorically speak

out. >> kayla tausche, looking ahead to the first meeting, we appreciate it. still to come on "worldwide exchange," the big money movers, including the accounting shares that has sellingoff. a former goldman sachs executive has been revealed as the mystery buyer who paid $51 million for the property lebron james has raised a stake in the boston red sox fenway sports group. and elon musk has said no thanks to a $1 million offer to buy one of his tweets as an nft. musk says it doesn't feel right selling the nonfungible toke which is also included in the song and video clip. only elon musk "worldwide exchange" is back in a moment

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your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. all right. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's get a check of big stock movers let's start with plug power. the company says it will have to restate financial results from 2018 onward. the company spotted noncash items. but no misconduct was down shares down 20% in early trade coupa software a surprise ahead in the first quarter

rising above the guidance range. coupa sees first water ahead of expected crowdstrike, the security software maker above analysts' estimates. those shares up more than 6% and shares of eastman kodak, they're sliding this morning they're down, the company reporting a wider loss with revenue pretty much flat last year and those shares down 2.5% this morning. all right. back to another developing story this morning and the backlash against the astrazeneca oxford university covid-19 vaccine 17 countries including germany, austria, estonia, latvia, france, spain, a lot of companies keeping the vaccine in place despite assurances by eu

regulators the shot is safe and not directly linked to those who will received the vaccine. the european medicine agencies released its final findings tomorrow but remains, quote, the benefits continue to outweigh the risks but this is a serious concern and it does need serious and detailed scientific evaluation." joining me now with more at what's stake, ed silverman good morning, ed, thanks for being here >> good morning, frank >> ed, we appreciate your insight on this topic so let's begin. if there is actually something wrong with this vaccine, or it appears there may be something wrong with the vaccine, what does it mean for the global vaccination effort, even here in the u.s., we've stockpiled about 10 million doses of that astrazeneca vaccine. >> well, if, and again that's a big if, because we've not gotten any scientific analysis from regulators or others looking into this. it could be a big problem, at

least for many of the big economies that you just mentioned in europe, because so many of those countries have bet on getting the astrazeneca vaccine into the arms of their citizens by now and over the next several weeks and months. so if there is an issue with that, that means it's going to have to be quickly -- everyone's got to quickly pivot to get more deals with some of the other vaccine manufacturers. that's easier said than done, of course, because the manufacturers are already under pressure to ramp-up production as quickly as possible, to get vaccines out to countries with -- which they already have contracts. and they're going to have to then suddenly find ways to develop, or, rather, produce even more, to compensate for what is needed in europe and elsewhere. so you can see right away that the global effort to try and vaccinate everybody and develop herd immunity from corner to corner around the world is going to get slowed down dramatically

very quickly and -- >> sorry, important to remind everyone that on thursday, european regulators, they're going to release their findings. right now, we don't have a definitive answer. you said it, but we're going to make sure we say there is no definitive answer about this blood clot issue you say everybody has to find a vaccine? is everybody in the same boat? are big countries like germany and the developing countries in europe, as well as other countries who get the vaccine from the w.h.o. are they in the same boat and will they feel the same impact? >> well, it varies around the globe, of course to the extent that astrazeneca got a big jump last year because the company has been working with oxford university in the uk so there is some cache there and the oxford university folks are talking it up last year. and there was a lot of excitement as a result the european union struck a deal last summer with astrazeneca, initially, for 300 million doses. so, right away, there was a lot

of anticipation that astrazeneca's vaccine would be a savior and as a result, as i mentioned before, many countries were counting on this but there have also been deals with other manufacturers, of course so it's not necessarily uniform effect everywhere you look the problem is that these countries are going to have to rely on, as i said, other manufacturers. but there's also another wrinkle here which is that the world health organization working with some nonprofits and foundations last year launched a program they called codax which is designed to get vaccines to low and middle income countries around the world that can't afford to pay up like other countries and kovacs made a deal early on, so that the

astrazeneca vaccine would be made by other companies in other countries, the big example is the company in india and these other deals were supposed to pfacilitate and the supply and distribution of the astrazeneca to dozens of other countries. so if these countries can be get the vaccine through covax, but they suffered the same setbacks that others do in trying to get their citizens inoculated and achieve herd immunity. so, you see the ripple effects when you add all of that up and step back and look at the planet as one big challenge >> definitely a developing situation there, ed. it sounds like developing nations would have a harder time pivoting to another vaccine because they were counting on the astrazeneca from the w.h.o i think a lot of us are wondering why was the astrazeneca, here in the u.s., we saw the moderna and pfizer

roll out first any reason why this was the vaccine of choice? and as far as the blood clot issue, did the vaccine have a smooth rollout >> well, again, the astrazeneca got a lot of good publicity early on and it has the university science along with it. and also astrazeneca had said that it would sell -- or make the vaccine available on a not for profit basis, at least until -- rather, the pandemic was declared officially over by the w.h.o. so there are a lot of nice pieces in place all of which sounded good and astrazeneca is based in europe so it had sort of -- i wouldn't say a home advantage, but there was a very favor -- europe was favorably disposed to look sat astrazeneca as a lead option for getting through this crisis. and the u.s. -- the operation warp speed as it was called by the trump administration was

working with different companies, striking different kinds of agreements to get vaccine supplies in place for the united states. and astrazeneca is just one. as you mentioned, they have a stockpile. but it's not been granted emergency use yet, authorized emergency use by the fda, as the other vaccines have. as americans heard we can get a pfizer vaccine, and moderna and j&j once there's enough of them but astrazeneca has not been granted that status. nonetheless, the u.s. decide as you mentioned to keep that stockpile in reserve for the time when the fda does grant that status but right now that's, of course, in question >> ed silverman from stat news, we appreciate that insight on the astrazeneca vaccine, thanks. back here on "worldwide exchange," chief economist lynn za pieazza explains it

and if you missed us on "worldwide exchange," check us out on spotify and other apps. and a reminder, march is women's history month. here's requisite capital's managing partner bryan talkenton with advise. >> ann richards used to say in a crowded room, ginger rogers did everything that fred astaire does she did it backwards and in heels. beyonce said never let success go to your head. finally advice from me, work smarter, not harder. most importantly, believe in yourself because if you're believed, you will be believed

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all right, turning our attention back to the markets,

the federal reserve is set to conclude its two-day policy meeting today with expectations with no change in interest rates but language around inflation and accommodation will be key. joining me now is chief economist lindsey piazza good morning >> i'll jump into, jay powell i going to have his news conference, what do you expect to hear from him with regards to stimulus and the markets with the fed inflation policy >> you're right, we're not expecting much, we're lacking for rates on change, as well as asset purchases at $120 billion a month. really, where the excitement comes in, the press conference or the upsets sep, summary of projections. and the potential stimulus coming down the pipeline and of

course, an expedited vaccination process. as far as the press conference, we do think people will be pressed on the president's latest rescue fund and whether that was a net positive for the economy. or additional funds are needed but the big focus, as you mentioned, will be around the latest reaction in the marketing and rising inflation expectations now, the fed has danced around that more recently, suggesting that the recent volatility is not something to be concerned of and fin fact, if it is later determined willingly that the fed is able to step in and control additional volatility in the market or longer-term yields but as of right now the fed does not seem concerned about inflation with headline and core readings well below the fed's 2% target >> lindsey, the fed does have a mandate to deal with cost of things and unemployment. with inflation at 1.1 and real

unemployment closer to 10% that's according to jay powell a couple months ago. how do they fulfill that going forward? >> as the chairman has been sure, the economy is still struggling to gain momentum from the low levels that we've seen since the onset of the crisis. as you mentioned the civilian unemployment rate reported in that report is much lower around 6% but if we look at some of the lingering unemployed if we look at some of the americans that have dropped out of the labor force, that number is much higher so from a full employment standpoint, the fed doesn't feel pressure to raise rates. on the inflation side, yes, we are inching closer to that 2% level. but we also have to remember that the fed's framework around inflation has been adjusted. they're now looking at a flexible average inflation target so essentially giving the fed more wiggle room around inflation, potentially allowing inflation to run hot, at least

temporarily, again, before adding pressure to the committee to lift off of these low rates in fact, with inflation just at 1.3% on average since 2015, the fed could especially allow inflation to push closer to 2.5% or 3% for the next deferral years and still not exceed that longer term average of 2%. so translating into what this means for rates, lower or longer for quite some time, i would say. >> lindsay, you're taking a longer view. before i let you go, we have to ask, we know the press conference comes about 2:30 in the afternoon. how do you see the marketing reacts on what we expect powell to say >> as we do look at the fed, we back off the fears of inflation. the market may read this as the fed taking a relatively nonchalant look or nonchalant position to inflation which may exacerbate the recent activity we've seen in the market

of course, we've seen the ten-year yield back up 80 basis points since the start of the year and we could see some upside risk or volatility after that press conference, if the market misreads or doesn't interpret the fed as strong on inflation control. >> lindsey, we got to leave the conversation there that does it for us on "worldwide exchange. "squawk box" subpoena next want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? with xfinity mobile, you can. how about saving hundreds on the new samsung galaxy s21 ultra 5g? you can do that too. all on the most reliable network? sure thing!

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♪ good morning, the dow snapped a seven-day winning streak yesterday today, investors await new guidance from fed chair jay powell we'll tell you what to expect. uber waving a white flag in the uk after losing a major court battle drivers will get some new benefits we'll tell you how the ceo responded. plus, elon musk changing his

mind about selling his tweet about an nft, as an nft, the story keeps getting weirder. march 17th is it st. patrick's day? it is, happy st. paddy's day "worldwide exchange" begins right now! ♪ good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. st. patrick's day everybody. we're going to start with the markets. st. patrick's day you got green on, don't you? >> i do. >> or is that purple >> no, i've got green going. it's gray with green lines on it to celebrate >> i could easily done that, i totally forgot >> and i got my socks on >> whoa. >> green socks >> wow those are too close to the