president zelenskyy's speech to the joint session of congress. they are in person, awaiting this we know some of what the message is, but against president zelenskyy has been so -- so much someone to watch on all these issues "squawk on the street" is going to pick up the conch right now >> good wednesday morning. carl has the morning off just a few moments from now, president zelenskyy is said to deliver a historic address to the u.s. congress. he's expected to plead for more military aid from the u.s. in the brief time we have, though, let's look at futures, and a setup on the day ahead as well with jim. obviously a big rebound in

china, which we've been talking about, in terms of the decline of so many stocks. what else do you think may come out of this address that is perhaps of importance from an economic and/or business persp perspective. >> milt tea-- militarily, they d drones, and they need humanitarian aid >> people are being shot in the bread lines. >> it's their typical game plan. can you imagine? can you imagine? i remember when churchill just waited and waited and waited, against the nazis. >> well, zelenskyy will

certainly by focus odd that, asking for more potential eight, though again a no-fly zone has been ruled out, because that would essentially take us into conflict with russia, which is something the administration is determined to avoid at this point. when it comes to what also military aid is obviously what it would be. >> bring up john ellis, substack saying don't forget they have tactical nuclear weapons in certain areas. very frightening. >> very. >> this man, who is crazy, obviously, because of what his's doing, he's not crazy like a fox. he's just crazy. >> that's the conversation that comes up, i'm sure, no matter who you're talking about, it's always first and foremost, what is putin's off-ramp? is he irrational

how does this end? of course, you don't have an answer to any of those questions. i'm not sure who does. i'm not sure the experts know, either >> he had the war in syria, the chechens, and his course of action was to encircle, starve, bomb >> zelenskyy may be delayed ever so slightly, which will give us a chance to talk a bit more about the day ahead. >> sure. china's very important xi jinping didn't want the market to go down any more remember xi back a few -- he came in and which looked like death -- it looked like there would be a reverse head and shoulders. the insanity of what goes on over there, you can do whatever

you want see, that's why i don't think it's a great market. it's a command stock market. it's not, by the way, like a fed put. it's like, okay, it's down enough. >> the psychology changes so quickly, jim it's a difficult market to navigate for that reason it has the impact, not to mention the volatile moves of putting corns when it comes to big decisions, for example, m&a, which you know i'm well acquainted with, but specific to china, of course, we've been talking the last two days about the dramatic fall in names that had already been crushed alibaba or jaidee, but china and the u.s. have maintained good communications and made positive progress in terms of cooperation plan dealing with that, holding foreign countries accountable act, and the three-year period

of delisting, because that was the latest thing that scared a lot of investors in chinese equities, not to mention 89 covid lockdowns, and the possibility of further economic war between the countries. >> you hear applause you can see -- >> you have to know what xi is up to. i think it may be a hold here we go. [ cheers and applause >> thank you good morning good morning, mr. president. good morning, madam ambassador, who is with us this morning.

madam ambassador ambassador [ applause ] mr. president, it is my honor to present to you the congress of the united states, which has great respect and admiration and appreciation for your courageous leadership members of congress, i have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of ukraine, volodymyr zelenskyy. [ speaking foreign language [ applause ] >> my colleagues -- [ speaking foreign language

>> translator: glory to heroes thank you very much. madam speaker, members of the congress, ladies and gentlemen, americans, friends, i'm proud to greet you from ukraine from our capital city of kyiv, a city that is under missile and air strikes from russian troops every day, but it doesn't give up and we have not even thought about it for a second. just like many other cities and communities in our beautiful country, which found themselves in the worst war since world war ii, i have the honor to greet you on behalf of the ukrainian people, brave, and freedom-loving people who for

eight years have been resisting the russian aggression those who give their best sons and daughters to stop this full-scale russian invasion. right now the destiny of our country is being decided the destiny of our people, whether the ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy, russia has attacked not just us, not just our land, not just our cities it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values it threw tanks and planes against our freedom, against our right to live freely in our own country, choosing our own future against our desire for happiness, against our national

dream, just like the same things you have, you americans. just like anyone else in the united states. i remember your national memorial in rushmore, the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the united states of america as it is today. democracy, independence, freedom, and for every person, for everyone who works diligently, who lives honestly, who respects the law we in ukraine want the same for our people all that is normal part of your own life ladies and gentlemen, friends, americans, in your great history you have pages that would allow you to understand ukrainians, understand us now when you need

it right now, when we need you right now. remember pearl harbor, terrible morning of december 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you just remember. remember september 11th, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories into battlefields, when innocent people were attacked, attacked from the air, yes. just like no one else expected it, you could not stop it. our country experienced the same every day, right now, at this moment, every night for three weeks now various ukrainians

cities, russia has turned it into a source of death for thousands of people. russian troops have already fired nearly 1,000 missiles at ukraine, countless bombs they use drones to kill us with precision. this is a terror that europe has not seen, has not seen for 80 years. we are asking for a reply, for an answer to this terror from the whole world. is this a lot to ask for, to create a no-fly zone over ukraine to save people is this too much to ask? humanitarian no-fly zone is something that ukraine -- that russia would not be able to terrorize our free cities. if this is too much to ask, we offer an alternative

you know what kind of defense systems we need. you know how much depends on the battlefield, on the ability to use aircraft, powerful strong aviation to protect our people, our freedom, our land, aircraft that can help ukraine, help europe and you know that they exist, and you have them. but they are on earth, not in the ukrainian sky. they don't defend our people i have a dream these words are known to each of you can say -- i have a need i need to protect our sky. i need your decision, your help, which means exactly the same, the same you feel when you hear the words, i have a dream.

ladies and gentlemen, friends, ukrainians are grateful to the united states for its overwhelming support for everything that your government and your people have done for us for weapons and ammunition, for training, for finances, for leadership in the free world, which helps us to pressure the aggressor economically i am grateful to president biden for his personal involvement, call for his sincere commitment of the defense of ukraine and democracy all over the world i am grateful for the re lose which recognizes all those who commit crimes against ukraine, against the ukrainian people as war criminals. however, now it is true in the darkest time for our country, for the whole europe, i call on you to do more enough packages of sanctions are needed constantly, every week until the russian military

machine stops. restrictions are needed for everyone on whose this unjust regime is based. we propose that the united states, understand, all politicians in the russian federation who remain in their offices and do not cut ties with those who are responsible for the aggression against ukraine, from state domas members, who lack the morale to break the terror all must leave russia from their market, leave their market immediately because it is flooded with our blood ladies and gentlemen, members of congress, please take -- if you have companies in your districts who finance the russia military machine, leaving business in russia, you should put pressure.

i'm asking to make sure the russians do not receive a single penny that they use to destroy people in ukraine. the destruction of our country, the destruction of europe, all american ports should be closed for russian goods. peace is more important than income we have to defend this principle in the whole world we already became part of the anti-war coalition that unites many countries, dozens of countries, those who reacted in principle to president putin's decision to invade our country we we need to move on and do more, new tools to respond quickly and stop the war, the full-scale russian invasion of ukraine, which began on february 24th it would be fair if it ended in

a day in 24 hours, that evil would be punished immediately. to think the world does not have such tools, their wars of the past have prompted other predecessors to create institution that should protect us from war, but they unfortunately don't work we see it, you see it, so we need new ones, new institutions, new alliances, and we offer them we propose to create an association u-24, united for peace, a union of responsible countries who have the strength and consciousness to stop conflicts immediately, provide all the necessary assistance in 24 hours political support, finances, everything you need to keep the

peace and quickly. to save the world, to save life. such association, such union would provide assistance to those who experience manmade disasters, who fell victim for humanitarian crisis to epidemic. remember how difficult it was for the world to do the simplest things, just to give vaccines, vaccines against covid to save lives torque prevent new strains. the world spend months, years doing things like that, much faster to make sure there are no human losses, no victims ladies and gentlemen, americans, if such alliance would exist today, that is u-24, we would be able to save thousands of lives in our country, in many countries of the world, those who need peace

those who suffer inhumane destruction. i ask you to watch one video, video of what the russian troops did in our country, in our land. we have to stop it we must prevent it, prevent it and destroy every aggressor who seeks to subjugate other nations. please watch the video ♪ ♪

[ crying ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ applause ]

today is not enough to be the leader of a nation we need to be the leaders of the world. being the leader of the war means to be the leader of peace. peace in your country doesn't depend any more only on you and your people. it depends on those next to you and those who are strong strong doesn't mean big. strong is brave and ready to fight for the life of his citizens and citizens of the world. human rights for freedom with the right to live and to die when your time comes, and not when it's wanted by someone

else, by your neighbor, to take on people without fighting for the values of europe and the world to -- our lives in the name of the future that's why today the american people are helping not just ukraine but europe and the world to keep the planet alive to keep justice in history now i'm almost 45 years old. today my age stopped when the heart of more than 100 children stopped beating. i see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths this is my main mission as the leader of my people, brave

ukrainians, and as the leader of my nation, i'm addressing president biden. you are the leader of the nation, of your great nation i wish you, being the leader of the world, means to be the leader of peace. thank you. >> translator: glory to ukraine. [ applause ] [ applause ] the ukraine leader volodymyr zelenskyy, from his capital city under siege, addressing the congress of the united states of america, in a historic moment, the first virtual address by a world leader to the united

states congress in american history, at a moment when volodymyr zelenskyy's country is under siege, and his capital city is slowly being encircled he said martin luther king had a dream. volodymyr zelenskyy said, i have a need he said i have a need to clear the skies. he said, i need the world's help and specifically the american help he said i need a no-fly zone i need the planes to stop killing my people. he said if he can't have that, the backup is i need aircraft. i need the united states to supply or create supply of aircraft he said i need new sanctions, restrictions for all in europe, no all politicians in the russian federation to be punished, monetarily i want every company to leave business in russia and don't give them a single penny with which the russians can murder my

people volodymyr zelenskyy in a historic speech, david and jim, in a historic forum, at a his turkey moment, potentially pivotal in our world. >> shep, it was a powerful summation from poise poise, and obviously that devastating video as well. much of it, i assume, designed to influence the president and the congress to do something they've been unwilling to do, at least the administration, which is to impose the no-fly zone he seemed to acknowledge that moving quickly on, if you're not going to do that, at least give us planes, we needplanes >> he has a desperate need for it just moments before he spoke, i was up in my office. the first feed came in of another building that was attacked today in the central part of kyiv a city of 2.8 million people before this began, the population of chicago, a massive

apartment tower struck, presumably by a russian weapons of that kind, and against that attack, zelenskyy set he has no protection they're now surrounded on the north, on the east, there's a buffer zone on the west, not so much on the south. the russians are attempt to go surround the city of kyiv. you're military analysts say that could take some two to three weeks, then another 30 to 60 days to starve to death everyone in the capital city, not let them in, not let them out. no food, no power, no energy in, no people out, starve them to death. he proved he would do it in chechnya, and in syria, and analysts say he will do it here if not stopped and analysts tell us nightly on the news, nightly, that if in fact he takes over kyiv,

ukraine, an puts in a pep et government, he will not stop there. he didn't stop with the crimean peninsula. nato is on the doorstep, the fight is coming. that's what we hear from our analysts. >> shep, does zelenskyy have a number two i don't think it would be beyond the russians to kill him. >> he has a number of number twos, who speak. they've made -- a number of them, the mayor of mariupol. he's the face of this. many analysts credit him for the fact that the resistance has been so strong one baby, one adlessant escrapes ukraine every second of the day.

1.5 million youth have already escaped. there's weeks and weeks and months, potentially years to go. >> shep, we obviously will be tuning in tonight to your show and throughout the day. >> one more thing i wanted to mention, president biden has a scheduled speech as well, 11:45 eastern, 8:45 pacific this morning. and we'll have live coverage, and a complete wrap on the news at 7:00 eastern. thank you, shep. "the news with shepard smith" tonight as well at 7:00 p.m. about a minute and a half or so before we get started with trading. these transitions can be difficult, but we do it, because that's what we're here for >> we have a mission to do

that's separate. >> yes for instance, do i want to talk about starbucks after i saw the chilling video no >> but at the same time the area where we can at least add value is more on the sanctions part. i would point out zelenskyy asking for even more sanctions, close the ports, but the sanctions on russia have been dramatic, devastating some would say. that economy is certainly on the brink of significant contraction. >> our own leslie picker had some pretty good things to say that the nation is not debt ridden the nation's balance sheet is stronger than people think >> interesting, though, western companies have withdrawn is truly amazing. two three weeks ago you would not have expected a massive

withdrawal from the russian market for many companies it's not a large part of its business, but for that to be the case and china, in other words, a sanction regime. they've got to be thinking about it a lot there it is, the opening bell. [ bell ringing ] at the nasdaq sonder holdings, celebrating a recent listing. >> >> would -- >> those are pretty strong words from shep, what he hearing on his shower from the military experience, their belief nothing will stop putin.

the only -- as i said earlier, the conversations you have, i'm sure you have had this all the time, where does it end? it would be unexpect ed for putn to stop. >> there's a percentage of people who say he'll use tactical nukes, and if he didn't win, it's over for him he's always won. he's won every time since 1999 he knows the west is weak. >> yeah. >> he's never seen the west be strong he thinking the west always crumbles he genuinely had respect for merkel, but she hasn't been seen since mid february she was a part of, in many ways, of power plays so germany is at the mercy. >> jim, now it is time for us to start getting to some of the news we haven't been able to in

the first half hour given that address. let's start with starbucks kevin johnson is leaving very quickly, announcing kevin johnson intends to retire after five years as ceo. april 4th, only a few weeks away, howard shultz has been appointed interim ceo. kevin johnson will stay around as a partner, employee, special consultant starbucks said it would select a new leader by fall the chap of the independence board melolody hobson. >> then we have this mvp, one of the greatest players in the game on the bench, so the board called him up. we called and said, howard, would you help us out during

this period? he agreed to do so we thought at this moment he's the person persons, the perfect culture carrier. he'll help us transition, on-board a new leaders we get all of that for a dollar, doing it for free. >> they seem to be patting themselves on the back i don't quite get it in a quo, k.j. said i signaled a year ago as the pandemic ended, i would consider retirement. a year ago heir apparent is now running walgreens. what have they been doing? >> when i spoke to kevin, i thought she was doing a perfect job. obviously the headwinds of china are beyond most. there's unionization in a lot of the franchises of starbucks.

seven years, longtime ceo, 13 years on the board, yes, but not so long that you couldn't have had an easy succession beginning last year. >> what do you think happened here >> again, i find it extraordinary and quizzical, and can draw no conclusions, other than the fact the idea of howard shultz coming back is extraordinary. >> maybe there was a lack of urgency, but, again, if you are a board and your ceo says i'm think being retiring a year from now, i don't understand why you don't have a lot of candidates potentially lined up if you let something walk out the door, perhaps it's exactly a year brewer left in january of 2021, or announced t i don't get it. this is an important company and would you expect a succession

plan in place. >> i think kevin johnson is great, there's a lot of headwinds, obviously i regard it as material that he told the board he was going to leave. >> it should have been -- well, i don't know a lot of times you can signal. >> signaled? signaled >> that's what he says i signaled maybe he didn't signal enough. >> maybe it's like the patriots, where you had the steelers signal the astros -- i mean, david, kevin johnson, who i thought was doing a terrific job, is someone i'm going to miss tremendously it's too soon, but you know what -- >> his plan, as i understand it, is not to disappear, but have an

active role, perhaps not as ceo, but in different things. >> howard, in many ways, is starbucks and stepped aside, a presidential run not successful, don't need me to tell you that the stock is up because howard is great can i say kevin is great, and the referendum of the stock i think is unfair. i welcome howard back, obviously, and howard always had new ideas, but they're not saying mr. shultz is going to be the permanent ceo. i think people surmise perhaps we'll see what happens come the fall, but one of the key things a board is supposed to do is have a succession plan in place. if you're given a signal a year before, my point would be you wouldn't expect to have to go to

an interim session i want to congratulate kevin for doing a great job, welcome howard back, but to call this expected, frankly, is insane >> alibaba shares are -- we hit it a bit before president zelenskyy's address, but we're coming back to it. it's adding a lot of market value today, a generally positive documents, from state media from kiev, vice premier in china in technology companies, working on the delisting process that may take place as a result of the holding foreign countries accountable act. covid is still a problem they still have lockdowns going on, so we'll see what the impact of the economy is over there you get other things as well the property, you know, the

overall property sector has declined dramatically year over year in terms of use 2019 to 2021 data 46% as well as versus. >> look t. china does have a strong balance sheet the chinese state-owned companies have horrible balance sheets i think president xi said too many people are losing money, so let's stop the decline we have shaken out a lot of the rich people, we're anti-rich he is wildly popular among the middle class. >> he doesn't say common prosperity as much as he used

to we talked about it a lot, it was an important moment there may be slight challenges -- >> not slight. there's a november election. he ate got to get the economy moves. there's a bunch of people who are very important who do not like the way the economy is going. i don't want to quibble, but there are actual people judging him. >> right >> you don't want the economy to be in a complete tailspin by november i think he's managed to prop things up. >> yeah. >> do i think it's too early to buy pinduoduo? >> yesterday was a good day to have bought it, i guess.

>> did anybody get the signal? let's look at some research this morning as well, jim. it's like when the third base coach gives you the signal to steal home, the sacrifice is on, and you missed it. >> you didn't get the signal, did you? >> no, i didn't. it's like howard stole home, to destroy the '64 phillies >> was kj in the batter's box? [ laughter ] paypal

you like lisa ellis. >> i thought that piece was excellent. >> one note of pay policy was interesting. >> part of my charitable trust. >> the stock is 8% below where it was in 2020, despite revenues being up. >> she does say, listen, it was the fintech pandemic stock now i feel like it's zoom, peloton, docusign, and paypal. >> look at that. by the way, there's a lot of company stocks that look like that, a full round trip. >> shetalks directly about the reason that is, is management credibility, which she thinking is new, by the way lisa ellis does not think the company has management credibility, unless they develop some, it's not going higher. i found her piece brilliant

anybody who wants to know how wrong i was about it, you need to real this report, because it's extraordinary extraordinary. >> all right which all leads to -- again, do you hold on to it here or do you buy it if you don't own it >> join you can buy it until management's credibility is reestablished. >> how will that happen? >> does he have to leave >> someone has to leave. >> someone who? >> now, listen to me there's a kreismt, cfo, high-level people. people told me things were very strong when they weren't what do you do remember, i am not making -- i'm

not saying there was dissent i'm saying someone does not how the business is doing. >> fair enough >> my charitable trust has been crushed. even my wife asked me about it are you over it? >> wow, that gets -- at least she got over that. >> she's a good sport. >> no other wife would get over that stringing together -- >> nine years of you talking about your wife -- >> that was chilling. netflix also gets a note out this morning in laura martin she hasn't liked it for a long time not to like it this year has been the right call. falling hours. >> must-add ads.

>> pivoted toward news, for often reasons, which benefits streamers of air news. in the seventh inning of the streaming wars. >> did you see who one of the winners is disney. >> of course disney. >> why isn't it 135? >> winners are at 185. losers are at 135. >> part of a consumer -- even though the price frankly in the early days, that price was something that attracted everybody. >> what is the frequency >> i'm not dan rather. i don't know >> there's a lot of quizzical things today i thought the idea of putting ads in netflix is sacrosanct. >> i don't think they're

necessarily interesting in it. you -- what, change --, you know -- >> yeah. all right. >> no, not all right. >> you don't want to move on >> i'm just saying there's so many events today, it made very little sense the only thing that made sense was zelenskyy saying, police will you give us the migs? zelenskyy is a brave man are other leaders brave? >> he is a brave man i thought he was truly effective, when he transitioned to speaking in english at the end there. >> we say how putin -- putin didn't count on that man he was, like -- talk about a guy who is really just -- if putin had known that man, he would

have taken on another independent state. before we get to bob and the broader markets. a strong market, know the names you like there obviously we do have the fed we are expecting the 25 basis points there's a lot of questions as to how much more mr. powell can raises in face of significant cost increases in other areas that will result from this war in ukraine, other commodities. >> that yield curve, david, is starting to look better, but i city -- should the oligarchs -- they've got -- i'd like to know the oligarch bank list, who has the money t do you think that's important? >> i do. i think it is. of course, another thing we never expected to see was the swiss actually impose sanctions.

>> was that not incredible >> that was quite a moment >> a lot of things have happened you're never allowed to use the word nazi, but until russia decided to kill people and it's criminal, you have to talk nazi. the swiss protected right down to sergeants, and they didn't protect putin. putin believes civilians should be killed. under the nazis bombed rotter da rotterdam -- churchill debate add long time about whether to kill civilization, until harry came in and said that's the only way. this man kills civilians at a whim, and we won't let the migs

go in? if you were watching zelenskyy, it's difficult to figure out why to bother with why kevin johnson is leaving. >> it is it's hard to focus on -- >> we're on air. how do you process what you saw? >> it's very hard. we try to compartmentalize it. this is what we're here to do. >> is it a charade >> what i'm doing? >> no, no, i'm saying watch zelenskyy and then try to figure out whether microsoft should be up >> agreed it's particularly easier for us -- bob, with all of that we're going to transsix to you. >> the market is trying to respond to the prospects we moved 160 points on the s&p since the bottom on monday that's all on hopes for

additional peace talks seven to one advancing to declining stocks two sectors are making a tenth at a bottom, one of the best days they've had in a long time. i'm talking about china, mchi, which was caught in half since november and cathie wood, ark inovision, having one of the best days in a long time. i want to point out sectors that are still on the weak side, after moving tremendously, the defense sector, seeing mostly declines there lockheed, northrop, all to the down side. really the market leaders recei recently, the defense stocks, all well off their highs i know we emphasized this in the last few days. when you see advances like

today, mostly it's happening out of those particular advances david was talking about the china stocks alibaba went from 107 to 76, now it's at 90 essentially. it was a bit higher a little while astonishin moves. didi and j.d. and comp and lou hey who is the price premier in china gave a speech overnight and this is what he said chinese and u.s. regulatory bodies have maintained good progress and the two sides are working on a concrete cooperation plan and the whole period was on progress on allowing u.s. regulators to review the audits of chinese companies. this is where the sticking point is, and the delisting threat is coming from. so these are positive signs and the market is responding to that finally, standard and poor's every year does a survey of active stock pickers and active

mutual funds trying to pick stocks the annual report, terrible and they've been terrible for many years. 79% of active stock pickers underperformed the market last year 79% underperformed their benchmarks over ten years it is even worse. 86% of active fund managers upd performed. these numbers haven't changed many in many years they have been doing some study for 22 years one of the things that they note is there is survivorship bias problem among the mutual funds 5% of mutual funds margin or liquidate because their performance is terrible. 70% of the mutual funds go out of business after 20 years put you will the next full screen that is very important to note because the fundsdon't do very well overall put up that next full screen you could see that and finally why aren't they doing with the why aren't they able to outperform benchmarks even with all sorts of technology

available. number one, they charge too much so the fees tend to overwhelm any outperformance and two, they have overconfidence in their ability to pick winners. and number three, market timing is impossible to get right and very low on that and, david, finally, tough competition it is important to remember it is not because these people are stupid, that their underperforming that is that they have competition that is so intense, professional investors against professional investors, that it is very, very difficult for any of them to outperform because most of them have high levels of expertise. another year of under-performance. back to you. >> bob, back to you. and i would love to get jim's comments 86%. that is incredible and i talk to head fund managers, and they're smart and rigorous, it doesn't seem to get them much over time. i don't know what the answer is

here maybe everybody should be in an index fund cnbc doesn't want us to turn off the network. >> no. people could pick up great stocks people could become millionaires but i think what bob said about the fees >> bob pointed that out. >> for performance bob, you're so right to point that out >> well they took bob away from us and it is a great point and one that he'll come back to as well. three out of 21 of the last years have outperformed. >> individuals who do great work and find the faangs of the world when the faangs are right. i worked with many wealthy people who became wealth any in the stock market but they learned how to do it themselves which is what i have tried to do. >> as you have on "mad money." >> and that is what i teach on the the investment club. i'm still -- on the zelenskyy

speech. >> we'll take another break. but i want to look at treasuries before we do that. we know what decision is, don't we that is the only surp if it was not 25 basis points. you could see the ten-year, it has had a significant move higher in yield and down in price over the last week or two. 2.153. we'll be right back.

so, who's it going to be? tom? could be danny. guess it's on maggie. should we have another one? talk to us about retirement today. feel comfortable about tomorrow. massmutual. hancock, you sign first. no king? gentlemen have you taken leave of your senses. who... who are you going to bow to? no more genuflecting? the people shall have the right to vote. even the stupid ones? yes! stupid people vote? yes! arghh! ♪♪

franklin! hey, i left my cane in there. what? what do you mean? hey! that's an expensive cane. as an independent financial advisor, what? what do you mean? i stand by these promises: i promise to be a careful steward of the things that matter to you most. i promise to bring you advice that fits your values. i promise our relationship will be one of trust and transparency. as a fiduciary, i promise to put your interests first, always. charles schwab is proud to support the independent financial advisors who are passionately dedicated to helping people achieve their financial goals. visit findyourindependentadvisor.com

david cybersecurity, tonight, not as good as crowd strike and most important today may be me interview with american express because i think the consumer is incredibly strong, once again to watch what you and i saw zelenskyy, if you remember, if we only knew in 1938 and '39. >> he was very, very strong. powerful summation as well all right. speaking of summations we're just at the beginning of the market's moves today

but you could see so far to some it up, a strong day. at least if you're long. we'll be back right after this ♪ ♪ we all need a rock we can rely on. to be strong. to overcome anything. ♪ ♪ to be... unstoppable. that's why the world's largest companies and over 30 million people rely on prudential's retirement and workplace benefits. who's your rock?

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the street." rick santelli here live at cme hq, with news. our january inventory is expected to be up 1.1%, exactly as expected. up 1.1% and last month revised from 2.1% up to 2.4% and since january is the first month of the first quarter of 2022, building inventory is going to add to gdp. and another number out this morning, our march read on national association of home builders, housing market index and for that we head east to diana olick. diana. >> well, rick, home builder sentiment dropped two points on the index, from a downwardly revised february read an it is the fourth straight monthly drop and the first time it has fallen below 80 since last september. what is the problem? well, building materials supply chain issues and rising

construction costs but higher mortgage rates are taking their toll as builders say current demand is relively solid of the index three components, it fell to 86 but sales expectations in the next six months dropped on outsides 10 points to 70 that is your mortgage rate fear. we don't see this kind of move current buyer traffic did see a two-point gain to 67 now on a three-month moving average, sentiment in the northeast fell to 69 the midwest dropped one point to 72 and the south fell three points to 83 now the west moved up one point to 90. and note, we do get earnings from one of the largest home builders, lennar, after the closing today and we'll be looking at rising mortgage rates. back to you guys. >> good wednesday morning. welcome to another hour of "squawk on the street. i'm david faber with morgan brennan and mike santoli markets are up across the board

and quite nicely, morgan. >> we're up quite nicely the dow goes positive. we're 30 minutes in the trading session and here are the big movers starbucks, making staff changes shares are up 7% and the ceo kevin johnson will retire on april 4th and howard schultz will return to the helm on an interim basis. we'll have more later this hour. plus the sharp rebound in chinese tech stocks. that is helped by reporters and commentary out of china that the u.s. and china are progressing toward an agreement on regulatory requirements for those companies. the china internet wtf on base for the best day after jd.com andal yu babu and baidu almost 20% we'll end with spotify signing a big sponsorship deal with fc barcelona and an

agreement that see the team bear the logo for the next four years and for the first time ever include naming rights for the stadium. those shares are also up 5.5%. but they are still down about 45% year-to-date david. >> last hour volodymyr zelenskyy delivered a speech to congress asking for more financial and military assistance. our kayla has the laft for us. >> president is set to deliver on one of the requests later today in a speech from the white house. biden is expected to announce another $800 million in security assistance to ukraine bringing the total authorized in the last week to $1 billion $2 billion total since the beginning of the administration. it is part of a nearly $14 billion aid package that the biden signed into law last week and as you mentioned it came after that impassioned plea by ukraine's president to congress, where he implored the united states to do more.

>> i am grateful to president biden for his personal involvement, for his sincere commitment to the defense of ukraine and democracy all over the world. i call on you to do more new packages of sanctions are needed, constantly every week until the russian military machine stops. >> and while zelenskyy is asking the u.s. to ramp up the sanctions, the secretary of state speaking with mpr this morning suggested that there might be a carrot for russia in the removal of sanctions if apeace deal is brokered. he told npr, if the war ends and the terroristal sovereignty are restored then many of the tools we're using get to that result that is the purpose eof them. they are not designed to be permanent. as they are meeting in brussels today, paving wait for leaders to take place there next week. all of this as there are some

signals that perhaps a compromise deal is on the offing russian foreign minister suggesting that there are parts of an agreement coming together. ukrainian negotiations saying that perhaps russians are more willing to compromise. although as secretary blinken said in that interview that i just referenced, past his prologue and a massive grain of salt should be taken with that sentiment. back to you. >> there are a lot of moving parts here, kayla. president biden is expected to speak in the next hour we had $14.6 billion in direct aid to ukraine signed in the omnibus by the president just yesterday about a billion of that is expected to be announced by the president to be going as military support to ukraine. a lot of reports surfacing on what that military aid to look like but this no-fly zone that president zelenskyy of ukraine called for and in recent days very highly unlikely that we'll see something like that implemented by the u.s. and

europe because it is seen as so he escalatory and a sure fire way to get more countries more directly into a conflict with russia when you talk about aircraft, we had that mig transfer proposed by poland last week. things like the s-300, the soviet era long range defense missile that zelenskyy called for today, are those possibilities if we continue to see this conflict go on with russia. >> it depends on what happens. i mean you've seen the criticism of the possibility of a no-fly zone the president secretary again batted that down saying it was enter the u.s. into this conflict and require the u.s. to be shooting down russian planes. the same has been said to zelenskyy's suggestion that the international community should block russian ships from being an international waters that would be acontinue -- akin to a

naval battal there are suggestions by exports, that those actions and responses could be reserved for an escalating turn by russia on "meet the press" this past sunday, the allied commander suggested that a no-fly zone would be appropriate if russia was found to be using chemical weapons or biological weapons or if there was a strike on nato territory or even an accidental or errant strike in that case it would be appropriate to green light a no-fly zone or blockage tonight waterways. and the u.s. and allies hope it doesn't get to that poin but there has now in recent days been some suggestion that could be warranted if russia goes even closer to nato territory, morgan. >> just the fact that it is being discussed speaks to how real the possibilities are and if you look at russia's playbook in other countries in

the past through history, unfortunately it is something that needs to be discussed thank you for bringing us the latest. let's turn now to the fed. expected to raise interest rate for the first time since 2018. our steve liesman has the latest >> morning, morgan the fed expected to deliver this long awaited first rate hike almost certainly the first in a series as it begins removing stimulus from the pandemic and then also battles high inflation that battle has been more complicated, more complex with the uncertainty of russia's invasion of ukraine, threatening growth and already delivering a huge price surge here is some of the things that you might expect as many as six rate hikes are striked into the manrket and faster rate hikes powell may say would come if warrants if inflation doesn't respond and balance sheet reduction he'll probably say could be an issue for the summer the fed will be date a and

geopolitical motivated and larry summers saying the fed may have to hike the real or arated adjustment up to 5%. he said i believe the fed has not internalized the magnitude of its errors and operated with a dangerous framework and needs to take far stronger action to support stability. and most forecasters believe that the average number of hikes from fed officials will go from three to about five or six this year the main question is whether some fed officials begin to side with summers in forecasting that rates have to rise above the neutral rate, which is about 2%, 2.5%, to slow the economy. guys. >> steve, thank you. steve liesman. for more on this, and well a lot of other things, let's bring in former chairman of goldman

sachs, former u.k. treasury minister, jim o neal i would like to start with russia we heard from president zelenskyy about an hour or so ago asking for more in sanctions in terms of closing ports saying peace is more important than income but given your knowledge of the russian economy i'm curious to get your thoughts. how effective has the sanctions been and what are your expectations when it comes to that economy and its ability to function >> well, i think putin is not shown any evidence of being the great strategic thinker that so many people tried to persuade me in the heyday that there was a brick in the norses, supposed had. he cannot envision the freezing of the central bank as echts and the huge response of germany and essentially changing the whole of their fame work, for defense policy posts, second world war ii and the aftermath and so, i think he's probably

floundering. i don't know that you guys have picked up the subtlety of it, but there issome talk obviousl coming out of ukraine, and russia and elsewhere in europe this morning of more seriousness about the bilateral talks going on and i'm not sure of what you find when you explore what is below it is the russians real struggling to make any serious progress in the military side of this attack and that sort of feels right to me now, i quickly add that i'm no geopolitical expert on security masters and as we've found out in the past month, who knows what is going on with this but those sanctions are playing quite a role on putting russia on the back foot as martin wolf wrote today, the russian economy is now smaller than poland. and certainly given the ruble, you know russia is nowhere near

what they would have hoped it would be 20 years ago when i dreamt of the whole brick thing. the way things are going, it is lucky to be in the top 20 economies in the world in another few years. so he cornered himself in my opinion. >> one of the more skextraordinr things is they're preventing him from using these foreign reserves that he built up. >> yeah. >> significantly foreign exchange reserves. give me your thoughts on that, what is the impact is going to be not just on russia but on other emerging economies in terms of how they think about building up foreign exchange reserves. >> there are so many extraordinary things about all of this. that time will tell. but i wrote something about two relates aspects to this. first of all, i would imagine that the chinese must be secretly furious with putin about this because it is -- it's made it

clear that this is the sort of thing western policymakers can do and of course with a never ending discussion about taiwan, it must be forcing the china to think, well, this is the sort of thing that could happen to us. and there is one thing for the china to think that through on their own terms but having to forced to think about it because of some external countries is probably another the second thing that i find myself thinking about in terms of the u.s. rate market and just picking up on the tangent of what steve was saying, i probably might mean the end of the never ending build up in foreign exchange reserves by so many emerging economies which has been the philosophy ever since the crisis of 1998 now if that were true, another problem the bond market has got and possibly the fed is that that would pull the plug on the whole savings argument that has gone with that for the past 20

years. so, it is not surprising that the bond market, fascinatingly through all of that, continues to weaken and there is so many cross currents going on here it is sort of intellectually fascinating but very difficult to fathom out. >> for sure. jim, absolutely. the upside momentum in yield has not stalled in the u.s >> no. >> i do wonder how you think about it like from an investor's macro economic perspective people are raising their probability of a recession in europe at same time where it seems like there is a lot less room for my move for tightening by the ecb that would be in sync with the federal reserve where does that leave you in terms of risk/reward on investments globally at this point? >> listen, i put something out at the start of the year, i thought if i put it in context, it seems to me 2020 and 2021, by the standards of these things

being ridiculously difficult was actually quite easy because if you could judge where the vaccine policy was going, and the pace of closing and opening up, it was a pretty good proxy indicator for what would happen to theeconomies and their markets. but i thought at the start of the this year, just knowing the known unknowns that we've got, it was literally one of the most difficult environments i could ever conceive of in my long time thinking about these things. and then you throw all of this on top, to be honest, it is just -- i'm very pleased i'm not in at the hour of every day. that is for sure but with all of those cafe ats, you know, i was at the core of the development of a financial conditions index goldman way back in the mid '90s and of course for many years the fed especially under bernanke and yellen put financial conditions as a lead, lead indicator at the heart of how though thought.

and probably still really important. and if you look at u.s. and global financial conditions since january, they have tightened, a lot and it is fascinating to hear somebody like larry saying what you reported from last night a leading financial conditions index would tell you to be a little bit careful because, yes, there is all of this inflation that is coming in from all of the price in energy and food, but, you know, we shouldn't confuse that relative price changes with actual inflation. so it is tricky. and i think -- a month ago i would have been in the really hawkish camp but given how much financial conditions have tightened, would you be a little bit more careful here >> okay, jim, it is morgan just to put a fine point on it, what does this do, this entire conversation, do to the dollars

dominance on the the world stage and as of yesterday we get the headlines that saudi arabia is going to accept yuan and i can't help but thinking the timing is not coincidental. >> i missed that but it linked to one of the pieces i wrote i think to some extent and it is being reflected in the volatility of so many different markets, that sort of risk premium goes up. so traditionally the dollar safe haven profits come into the fore during events like this, but it has not happened so far. and it is probably because of issues like that if you are somewhere like saudi arabia, or you could think of 20 other significant reserve holders around the world, do you want to keep some -- in such a vulnerable position that you might have done a month ago.

and most of them will probably conclude actually, yes, as long as we do things the right way then we won't get penalized. but at the margin, and in terms of risk management, you want to think about things like the saudis have just said. and of course we're having this conversation on a day where it looks like beijing has, to me, sent a very big message that all of these fears many of us have had for a number of months min ating in the past two days, big decline in the stock market has pushed beijing off the fence and they're going to reverse policy that have been worrying their economy in recent months in my opinion. so i think it is tricky for some currency, particularly the euro, but, if we were to get some kind of shift here and ukraine gets truly recognized as an independent country and the conditions for future nato membership is sorted out, it is

not difficult to actually build a more bullish scenario for europe in the median term. and obviously, again, i quickly add, with some significant risk premium because it obviously could also easily get a lot worse. but i think for the dollar, i don't think, unless the fed doesn't tighten aggressively, there is a lot of good news left in the foreseeable future. >> okay. jim, so much to digest there certainly is a appreciate you having us do that. >> thanks for having me on take care. >> here is a look at the road map for the rest of the hour, including the big changes at starbucks. kevin johnson is retiring, howard shults is returning as interim ceo. >> plus we'll talk with allen blinder and get his thoughts on the fed expected to raise rates for the first time in four years. and russia is scheduled to pay more than $100 million in interest payments on two bonds

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starbucks announcing some big leadership changes today our kate rodgers has the latest. hi, kate >> hi, mike, good morning. big news today as kevin johnson announces he is stepping down after five years on april 4th at ceo. the company has weathered the pandemic with johnson expanding on mobile order and pay, drive-thru and cold beverages

and continued to expand in china to 5500 stores with him at the helm covid in the u.s. and china weighs on earnings last quarter. it had been flat but has since grown up for man 40% during his tenure now howard shults is coming back for a second time as interim ceo as the company searched for a replacement. the last time he came back was in 2008 at the height of the recession. it is facing down a union bite that is gaining steam across the country. he went to buffalo early on to talk to worker as head of the first union vote so you have to imagine that he'll be active as this plays out this is also the second high-profile departure from the e executive bench with ross brewer leaving last january to head to walgreens in march of 2021 which begs the question why wasn't a replacement started up this morning they said that the

pandemic delayed the process with hiring. howard is the right person for the job but that is a question that investors are going to be asking today that being said, the stock is responding very positively to the news this morning. higher by just under 8%. back over to you >> yeah, kate, we brought that up this morning. that idea that -- i don't know if i buy that pandemic excuse. i mean, you can't meet with people and you can't figure things out? he signaled a year ago and the board hadn't come up with an interim. it is an odd choice that they were not in a position to actually have a successor ready to go and letting ross brewer leave if she was seen as a great h heir apparent. >> he took the opportunity at walgreens because it came up and that the the exact same question i think a lot of investors are asking, where was the succession

planning here and why isn't there a replacement lined up on "squawk box" this morning they did say we don't want to hire over zoom it is a very important position. but it remains to be seen who step news the big shoes to fill. but howard is back now for the second time. so -- >> kate rogers, thank you into as we head to break, on the hales of the zelenskyy's historic address to congress and biden is expected to announce another $1 billion in military aid, some big movers in the defense sector today arrow environment, which is up about 6.5% on reports that the u.s. is considering providing ukraine with a switch drones and air aero jet for the stinger and anti-tank missiles which is made by raytheon which is lower today and a raytheon lockheed and those shares are down 6%

why? you have reports that the pentagon is going to cut its request for f-35s by 35% in the upcoming fiscal 2023 budget request. weavmo sawon he requk the street on the other side of this break. you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner.

the london medal exchange was set to resume trading in nickel. >> but a new systems error led to more chaos. kristina partsinevelos is tracking it. >> last week the nickel trading mark broke and the london metal exchange, started up again and the ceo was on our airways bright and early this morning. >> we are absolutely mindful of the impact that this had on so many people. and we need to make sure that it doesn't happen again >> and it did happen again right after he went on air not long after he made that comment. unlike the new york stock exchange, they imposed a 5%

nickel limit and 15 base metals and they were supposed to be rejected if they fell more than 5% but that didn't work this morning. the lme said there was a glitch and you can ome trade nickel by phone or in the open pit the 145-year-old london metals exchange halted trades after prices doubled last tuesday surging to over 100,000 per ton in just a few hours. the u.k. regulator and the lme were aware of the swings on monday but only reacted on tuesday. retroactively canceling thousands of trades and angering a lot of traders while supply constraints from russia drove prices higher, it is short sellers that added to the speedy surge concerns do remain about the elevated price of nickel because it is used in battery production and metals and mining etf xm e-trading just above 5% this month. and one of the main reasons nickel trading resumed was

because of tycoon behind shing zen holding group and was caught in a squeeze and struggled to post the required margin against that exposure until some banks stepped in to bail them out. it is not clear how trading will resume in an orderly fashion morgan >> which is kind of incredible since they've had more than a week tro try to sort this out. >> exactly. >> thank you >> thanks. after the break. we're going to talk with former fed vice chair alan blinder ahead of that big meeting down in d.c. later today. we're back in two. ♪ ♪ wow, we're crunching tons of polygons here! what's going on? where's regina? hi, i'm ladonna. i invest in invesco qqq, a fund that gives me access to the nasdaq-100 innovations, like real time cgi. okay...

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anticipate what customers need. because happy customers are music to our ears. genesys, we're behind every customer smile. welcome back i'm rahel solomon and here is your cnbc update president zelenskyy getting a standing ovation as he meat a address to the u.s. congress

he urged lawmakers to enforce a no-fly zone over ukraine and if that is not possible then send his war planes he also asked for increased aid and sanctions on russia. he said that the surging civilian losses are heartbreaking. >> now i'm almost 45 years old today my age stopped when the heart of more than 100 children were -- there is no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths and this is my main issue of the leader of my people, brave ukrainians >> and in kyiv, renew add tacks on residential buildings and surveillance captured the moment when two high-rise apartment buildings are hit with a russian strike they struggle to keep up with the attacks and battle fires and russia has quit europe's

leading human rights organization shortly expected to be expelled, russia is only the second country to leave since it was founded in 1949. david. i'll send it back to you. >> thank you. of course keeping an eye on our markets. nasdaq up almost 3%. some of that perhaps a result of some headlines indicating some progress in peace talks between ukraine and russia but certainly a part of it has to be the positive comments out of china with regard to its ending its crackdown on technology companies to a certain extent. it is cooperation with the u.s. when it comes to the foreign -- making foreign companies accountable act. sometimes i forget the exact wording of that. we've seen the adrs of so many chinese companies get crushed over the last -- well some period of time but what a rally. >> one observation, and this is not just this time, this is a pattern, the chinese financial

authorities are incredible traders. they wait until the market is leaning really hard in one direction before they essentially kind of turn the other way and say they're either going to lighten up on some regulatory moves or impose more. the thing to keep in context for stuff like that, look at that chart and see this massive bounce today is getting you back to where we were a week ago. so not necessarily a longer term change of trend, and that is the case for alibaba, for the k-web. and we've unwound one weeks of losses, no doubt, a lot of pile on shorts and people thought a lot would be delisted and be orphan stocks. for one thing, morgan, it means the market thinks there is less reason to worry about an immediate either big sanctions move against china, every day that goes by where there is no sort of movement in that direction is probably a positive and then of course that the chinese authorities themselves are now rooting for their to be

more pain for investors in these companies. >> and it is interesting to get commentary on the u.s. side as well from the u.s. and american officials where some of the dynamics between the two countries are concerned. got to wonder, we showed the chart of the k-web for example yes, it is a big intraday move but the fact that it is beaten up so much over the last couple of months, really last year or so, i mean, is this -- has this become a value trade within tech >> yeah, well, if you believe the fundamentals, it is without a doubt a value trade. alibaba isone of the cheapest stocks in the world if you believe you have a ownership in earnings and that is always the question about it and it is a traders contrarian opportunistic whether you have to determine whether there is a long-term value determined. >> it started turning when we had the guy on yesterday during his appearance.

so, hey, how about that. let's get back to the marks and treasuries as well h higher this morning ahead of the fed decision at 2:00 p.m a quarter rate hike is expected. joining us now princeton university professor alan blinder. let me ask you what your thoughts on are larry somers' comments who said e.that we're going toward stagflation and a major recession and average unemployment and inflation both averaging over 5% over the next few years ultimately we'll get a major recession. what are your thoughts on that >> i think as often is the case with larry somers, he takes some valid points and has some valid points about the fed being a bit late and exaggerates them greatly five years of over 5% inflation

i think is what i read and in which he said. i bet against that it is not impossible but that seems like a long shot to me. >> all right so that said, put in perspective then your thoughts about the fed. you did say at least you sort of identified perhaps that they're a bit behind the curve >> yeah, i think so. i think it was sort of clear as time was evolving and it is very clear in retrospect that they were late. especially if you think about the bond purchases, the qe, they're just now ending. i mean, they should have ended a long time ago. i never understand why they kept that going and i think that she probably should have started inching up and i use the word inching up and not jacking up interest rates a little bit ago, not many, many months ago. but a little bit ago so i think they are behind the curve. i think they know that they're behind the curve. >> alan, it does seem to be very priced into the mark at this

point that we're going to get 25 basis point hike today and that is a foregone conclusion from a market standpoint but the trajectory of future rate hikes is in focus. so if you have a fed behind the curve on inflation, is it going to need to hike above neutral? >> that remains to be seen because, you know, it depends on the size and duration of this stagflationary shock that we're now getting because of what is happening in ukraine and most obvious aspect of that is the oil and gas but there is also wheat and corn and a bunch of other things. and disruptions to the supply chain, we were sort of getting a grip on that that is been a big problem for months now it is going to be a bigger problem. and that is kind of a stagflationary shock the fed is thinking over this

but doesn't have a crystal ball and they are wondering what i just said, how long and how deep and that is going to make them cautious i mean, larry somers could write whatever he wants in "the washington post," but jay powell is not going to signal, you know, 300, 400 basis point increase in interest rates that may happen, but it may not happen it may be a very bad -- as events unfold, it may be a very bad policy and powell isn't going to by no means hit anything like that >> right i mean, the fed chair would never sort of project ahead that far or try to restrict probably the committee's own flexibility in that way, alan. but i do wonder, in retrospect, perhaps they did find themselves in this position we're ahead of this entire new framework on inflation which was supposed to let it run hotter

and not be preemptive about inflation and a reaction from the prior decade is that out of the window at this point do we expect a longer term regime shift in the feds thinking and reaction to the inflationary levels that we have right now? >> it is a very good question. my guess is no because the fed just adopted this new framework in the summer of 2020. it is a very inertia bound organization and it is quite unlikely to, two years later in 2022, to say we're changing again to a new framework. the irony here is that it made a lot of sense in the old circumstance where the problem was inflation was dead and not going anywhere, and the fed was saying we're not going to be preemptive we want to see inflation before

we act against it. but what happened, of course, is by seeing much more inflation faster and higher than anybody thought in august of 2020. and that policy of being deliberately behind the curve, i mean let's say what it is, it was a decision did to be behind the curve and not respond to false starts about inflation that kind of policy doesn't look so great now with the inflation numbers that we're having. >> no, it certainly does not. >> by the way, it is also irrelevant the fed is seeing the whites of inflation's eyes and is going to be reacting to it. so this idea of waiting and waiting is finished now. >> yeah. alan, we are finished at least for now as well. so thank you appreciate it. >> sure. >> let's check out the top gainers on the dow

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." zoeta, the largest producer of medicine for pet and livestock, scaling back business in russia while providing critical services company saying the conflict not having an impact on the supply chain. joining us now, the ceo kristen peck great to have you on the show today. thanks for being with us. >> thanks so much, it is great to be here. >> so this is a question, i think so many companies across so many industries have been grappling with in recent weeks and that is how to i guess address and adjust operations in russia and in the region so given the fact that you are scaling back some of those businesses, but leaving other ones in tact, what has gone into that decision and why?

>> sure. i mean, first and foremost, we condemn the attacks on ukraine from russia. and in the strongest of terms. and our first focus is on our colleagues and their health and safety we have a number of colleagues in ukraine and we're focused on trying to do what we can to keep them safe, help evacuate if they need we do have business in russia but we do have any manufacturing operations there we do not sell to the government and we are selling medicines and vaccines for animals and so this is really an essential industry even under opec guidelines. but we're guided to nurture the world and human kind by advancing care for animals and our business there is focused on livestock and making sure there could be a safe food supply. so it is obviously challenging times but our purpose is really what grounds us. >> and of course there has been focus on supply chains and then we which we talk about livestock, that is its oeb supply chain and we're seeing what is happening to food

prices the world is over right now. so i just wonder when you see something like livestock in the bread basket of europe impacted right now, what does that do in terms of the demand for animal health which i would imagine becomes even more crucial? >> sure. we make products for both imagin becomes more crucial >> we make products for both pets and livestock this is not something you will see a significant effect on. the last few years and even in reces recessionary, times, pets have done well. i think there are reports you have been having over the last few days on what could happen to cor corn or wheat prices and what that means for livestock around the world. probably impacts meat at the grocery store. we look at a globally.

we are a diverse business across many markets and species we have been able to weather these shocks many times over the last ten years we think we can continue to do so >> just to turn back to russia for a moment, i realize it is not a very large market as far as products and you are not manufacturing there, but in terms of how you are thinking about business or operations in that country in general. do you think of it with sanctions afoot, do you think of it as a halt or potential exit for the business i ask that because russia has suggested it could see bases that stop doing work in the country. >> we make essential vaccines for everything from livestock to pets we don't have operations there we have halted investment in the market as well we are selling to livestock producers who still require that

to ensure they have healthy animals. we are going to follow any sanctions the government puts into place, but as you know in many sanctioned countries, vaccines are exempt from that. we don't have any large assets there and it is not a large market it is less than 1% >> are you through the impacts of covid i mention on both sides. we know so many people who adopted pets, but we know there was a lot of absenteeism at veterinary practices that perhaps prevented people from getting their pets taken care of in a timely manner is it over >> i never know when something is over. it seems to evolve i think lasting effects will be with us for a long time. we saw how important that human bond is.

it was critical. people spent more time with their pets more time they spent, the more they noticed about what was going on with their pets even if you look at this year, i don't think we are out of it, but if you look at some of the early months, we still saw an 8% increase in sales at veterinary clinics. a lot of that is by increased spend, but these pets aren't going anywhere most importantly we are bringing significant innovation to the market, and it will be important as many of the pets age. this will be a trend that continues. people are spending more time at home, even if they return to work a few days a week >> always appreciate your taking time with us thank you. >> absolutely. we have a big show coming up later today on closing bell overtime ffn't miss an interview with

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[ cheers ] are we actually going? yes!! and once in a lifetime moments. two tickets to nascar! yes! find rewards like these and so many more in the xfinity app. welcome back russia is due to pay more than $100 million in interest on a

pair of sovereign bonds today, but will the company be able to deliver? leslie joins us with more. >> it looks like no. we are monitoring the situation closely. it's fluid and could be indicative of the nation's first default on external bond for the first time since 1917. the country has half as much debt as general motors and was rated as investment last month but sanctions froze its dollars in oil and other things. paying with rubles as russia indicated it was willing to do, would still constitute default

i spoke with one person who said this is different in 2022 and is avoiding any exposure to russia due to the impact of sanctions >> usually it is about the willingness of someone to pay. in the case of russia, they are indicating a willingness to pay but lack of capacity or capability capability isn't necessarily because they don't have the financial resources. that is because technically it's going to be very difficult for then to pay. >> after today russia gets a 30-day grace period. if it's unable to pay then, the nation will be in a hard default. >> say we get a hard default, or say, leslie, that the company tries to pay in rubles which is going against the terms of these interest payments as well. down the road is there any recourse for investors given the

fact you have a country in conflict and a country being sanctioned and is moving away from the world stage >> it is a great question. a lot of people look at what happened with venezuela. essentially, when you have a sanctioned country that is also in default, the bonds don't do anything they stay there. there are very few buyers able to take that supply off the market people are having a hard time selling them they will trade well below typical levels for a sovereign net. it is only countries participating in the sanctions that would have the money to buy them so it is a huge mess >> yes, a huge mess. with about half a minute or so left, let me turn to mike. what are you keeping an eye on as we rally sharply today? >> into the fed meeting the

market is going to want to be in wait and see mode. we are at about a two-week high. we are at the top end of this range. this tells you what the market was betting going into what it wanted to see as revealed in a press conference >> we are going to hear from president biden as well. that will do it for us ♪ happy wednesday. welcome to tech check. we are live here at cnbc headquarters today and tomorrow. it's a comeback day. lots of colleagues back in the office and a lot of software stocks coming back in a significant way in the early