pain at the pump governor lemont signing a bill to suspend the gas tax the governor will join us. it is friday, march 25th, 2022 "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning. welcome to ""squawk box" here on cnbc i'm rebecca quick along with joe kernen andrew ross sorkin is live in d.c. he has the capitol building behind you andrew, you have a big interview. good morning >> a big interview later this morning. live at the treasury department building to interview janet ye yellen so much to talk about.

the sanctions on russia and the news we'll talk about in a moment in terms of what president biden agreed to providing more energy in europe and we'll talk inflation and economy and probably talk crypto and so much more lots of news, i imagine, will be made in the 7:00 hour. i should say in the 8:00 hour. you know, stick around a big interview. very good. let's look at what is happening in the markets it is friday end of the week. dow futures higher up 25 points this is after being up 1% yesterday. s&p futures are higher they are up 2 points after the gain of 1.4% yesterday the nasdaq right now is flat less than 1 point below fair value. this is after the positive market with the dow up 350

points s&p up 1.4%. nasdaq up 1.9% all 11 of the sectors up yesterday. technology was the biggest gainer chipmakers in particular intel and nvidia at 6% if you want to look at where we have come this week, it has been good for the markets the dow for the week down, but only .10%. s&p up by 1.25%. the nasdaq up 2.1% for the week. by the way, this is going to be if these gains continue, two weeks in a row back-to-back gains for the s&p and nasdaq after all of the declines in the beginning of the year. a couple of good weeks for the s&p and nasdaq look at treasury yields. they have been climbing. up again this morning with the 10-year yielding 2.36% t it is the 2-year yielding more

than the 10-year right now, the 2-year at 2.162%. crude oil up 7.3% this week still wti at $110 a barrel guys, if you haven't seen it, aaa natural gas at $4.236 a gallon that is near a record from where we were. down from a week ago that is still up 47% from where we were a year ago nickel lme nickel second day in a row. up 15% you will see this morning after being up for a couple of days in a row. it is up again three days in a row up 15% for lme. trading at $37,235 per metric

ton. joe. we didn't mention crypto if you are paying for gas with bitcoin, it is cheap. >> cheaper >> $44,000 on bitcoin. that has moved slowly. crypto making the move back above 40 almost got to 45 it has been moving higher recently 33 or 34 recently. katie stockton talking about it. almost as the dog to the s&p's tail which i thought was weird she did not say crypto was the tail to the s&p dog. it was vice versa. weird to hear that phrased the hang seng dropped 2% tech with the brunt of the

selling. delisting fears are in focus with the u.s. s.e.c. adding chinese social media platform weibu to the list of chinese stocks delisted in the united states andrew some stocks to watch this morning. our favorite stock, joe. bed bath & beyond. the deal could include three new directors. pointed to the board disclosed a 9% stake in the company calling for change including looking at options for the buy-buy baby division. we have not talked about that division >> i know buy-buy baby >> it's been a while for me. >> that's where ryan cohen thinks the opportunity is. it is not just having more people come in and look at the

vaporizers and check out the brita filters and the like. >> i have been -- i shouldn't admit this >> you were just there you can't get away from it >> i wasn't just there i have been there a couple of times when the keurig machine. i don't know how to clean the machine. you can clean with vinegar >> you throw it out? >> if you bring it back, they replace it with a little bit of a fee. you have been renting it and or lease it i shouldn't say this i'm giving people ideas. >> that's like me admitting the gas thing yesterday sdp >> you can get the new keurig. you don't have one, sorkin you have the george clooney thing? >> i think we may be fancier than the keurig. >> in terms of everything. >> we have the coffee pods

>> you have the nespresso. >> the nespresso and the keurig. >> anybody see it last night >> the game? gonzaga? >> all of them the only reason i mention it is this is going to be rare for me to be able to do this. i've got a new system that is absolutely foolproof in terms of betting. >> you sound like my uncle >> i bet on the opposite of my bracket picks. >> the rest of us knew that for a long time. >> i made a decision i can't change it. i've acted with my feet on the bracket picks so i know the opposite will happen it does. i can put money on it of the i had arkansas. >> the control room has known this for a while betting against your brackets. >> i can't wait for tonight.

>> tell me you didn't take saint p peter's? >> you can't bet on it it's new jersey. >> right i'm excited about this first time a new jersey team made it to the sweet 16. >> you are right i'm in new york. i wonder if i can do that. >> don't, don't. we don't want you. >> all right we're doing a show >> i love the boilermakers and purdue, but i have to go with saint peter's. it would be exciting. >> it would be fun new this morning, united states reaching a deal to ramp shipments of liquid natural gas to europe as the continent looks to reduce reliance on russian energy europe has been racing to sign are contracts before next winter we will get a live report from brussels in minutes. >> okay. >> we have more coming up. we can talk more about joe's

bracket picks. >> i can do it it's here. >> we're half points 12.5 points. on the other side of the break. what the yield curve is saying about the risk of recession. steve liesman has latest then janet yellen will have an exclusive here at 8:00 a.m. eastern time you are watching "uasqwk box" live on cnbc from washington, d.c. back after this. >> announcer: this cnbc program is sponsored by baird. visit bairddifference.com. and start crunching a year's worth of transactions against thousands of compliance controls with the help of ai. now you're making smarter decisions faster. operating costs are lower. and everyone from your auditors to your bankers feels like a million bucks.

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recession fears are rising with the collapse of the spread with the two-year and ten-year bond needs there is another spread watched by the fed and economist that is telling a different story. steve liesman has more steve? >> reporter: becky, every picture has a story as rod stewart sings. you will follow a .20% spread. within a few months or years, the economy punches into recession. at 19 basis points, it is not singing the recession tune yet it is close. economists asked what is the

spread with the two-year and ten-year yield from now? the answer is it shouldn't tell you much roberto perli wrote that it is the short end of the curve with prediction power for recession the shortened is far from learning 163 basis points separate the three-month and ten-year treasury it is in the middle of the great expansion of our time. if you buy the spreadrecession the fed is signals the recessions happen months up to two years afterwards stocks usually rise in the interim. the economists write, lending too much cto

the credence to the predictive power of yield curve if so, the economists look to that for the short end of the curve and investors have to make direct bets on the outcomes. becky, we are not there yet. >> a stupid question i wasthinking predictive ability of the two-year and ten-year and always leads to recession months or years after that if it is years after that, that is not predictive. i say that stinks as a pre predicting tool. >> it is not great it is even worse investing tool. becky, the day i have seen you can get it as quick as six months or 23 months later. one of the weird things economists are writing about is the curve inverted before 2019

before covid covid caused recession people go back and say how did the two-ten or other inversion predict covid? >> they knew covid was coming in. >> i have always had my doubts, becky, about it. derived spread that is not a direct bet on the outcome. the two/ten. the three-month/two-year is a better bet what does the fed do now and two years ago now? that makes sense you don't bet on the game here to get a result from the game over there which is what that's doing. >> one thing i noticed this week is the five-year inverted. does that matter five-year yield is higher than the last >> all kinds of inversions santelli said there is traffic

all over the yield curve 20 inverted to the 30. all kinds of stuff going on. people are saying, becky, that because the fed has been involved in the market so greatly and now coming out and some inversions can relate to that some inversions relate to a longer term outlook to inf inflation. with the 20-year and 30-year, there are issues with liquidity. >> steve, let's say you are counting the gazillions you are making with the interest in the investments. after ten years, you look back and say i got an extra 15 basis points by going into the five year did i gain the system? does it matter neither one of the yields did diddly you know what i mean >> i know what you mean. >> these are tiny ifferences

i can't believe we base an entire forecast on the global economy on three basis points or something. >> i think so. remember, you are talking about 160 between the three-month. the fed. the two-year is up to what what what are you doing with it, joe? putting in the nasdaq stocks >> amc i'm an ape >> i know what you are doing you are investing for your future >> draft kings. >> you are taking your children's fortune and betting it on the games this week. >> on saint peter's. on the peacocks. which we should be sponsoring. we should be sponsoring. >> exactly >> the peacocks. >> there you go. >> joe, here's the thing you have all of these people they have diversification in the

portfolio. they are yielding. >> it is risk free return. you don't take into account interest rate. >> so on i-bonds you get 7 plus percent >> these guys are finding long carry and short carry. that's where the money is made. >> i know. right. thanks, steve. see you later. coming up, crude prices right now moderated a little from earlier this week. $111 on wti. later this hour, connecticut governor ned lamont will join us he signed emergency legislation to ease the gas tax. "squawk box" is coming right back

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tough question most of us would prefer to ignore what do you do when your loved one dies covid killed nearly 1 million americans in the past two years. now more important than ever to settle financial issues. senior personal financial correspondent sharon epperson has more >> reporter: when his father died in 2015, the physics adviser had to settle his estate >> i'll try to do this it touchedurned out to be bigger >> reporter: it can be straight forward with a plan fin place, t is not easy. his father had a will. he chose a family member as

executor and friend as backup. that was decades ago at the time of the death, neither was capable. >> it was not a simple process >> i don't have an ifb i'm sorry. i was not hearing it maybe you are not hearing me >> i'm hearing you, sharon the taaudio on the package went away i'm told -- he did have a will, his father, but an old will. you should have a will >> right what happened was you should have a will. you need to review it over the years. you know, at least every ten

years. some attorneys say even more than that because there may be parts of the estate plan that are related to what the state has to say as well the point is that you need to make sure that the person who is named the executor who has to deal with the details of the estate is able to do that. in this case, that wasn't able to happen. the people were also elderly and unable to perform the task he had to be knowledge acknowlee able to do that by the court and manage the tasks it involves leg work if you don't know the life insurance or financial adviser or accounts. settling that is important it is important to have the discussions with your loved ones so you know where the documents are and who has them and if you have the right to be the person to make sure these things can happen so, naming the beneficiary when

it comes to the bank accounts and brokerage cycaccounts is critical that will supersede your will. you need to do that frequently >> you need a good finance person who shakes you and says it no one wants to do it. >> that's how i got my estate planning attorney. they are a team. >> yes >> because otherwise, it is uncomfortable. everybody is in denial living in the state of denial. >> that's right. that's right you know what, joe i had to run through my estate plan i got sick and in the hospital, i could not make decisions all of those things came to play what is interesting, i figured out some of the people i named, that job may not have been the right job. i redid my will. a lot of people don't have a trial run. you need to know the people that

you put in there to be your power of attorney for your finances and health care and executor and guardian of your children make sure those are the people who want to do it and able do it and know you named them to do it it is really important tough con vversation to have. >> when they decided to do it on your own really you need to. we need you to do these stories. you need a financial person to say look, death and taxes. it's coming. look into it make sure it is right. don't leave it to other people to deal with something when they are dealing with so much thanks, sharon we're going to go to brussels right now to get the latest the u.s. struck a deal to provide more natural gas to europe kayla tausche is there live this morning. good morning, kayla. >> reporter: good morning, an andrew we are getting more details on the deal part of the effort to

reduce the dependence on russia natural gas as the war in ukraine continues. europe will get 15 billion cubic meters of gas from the u.s. and other countries. 50 billion cubic mieters from te u.s. in 2022 senior officials could not specify which countries were providing how much europe uses 155 bcm of russian gas in 2021. that was triple from 2019. this pledge would require increase of fossil fuel production in the next decade. that is in conflict with the climate goals. here is how president biden acknowledged that. >> the united states and eu will work together to take concrete

measures to reduce dependence on natural gas period and to maximize the availability and use of renewable energy. >> reporter: they say long term they are trying to keep european energy demand stable yesterday, during a trio of summits, president biden called for russia to be ejected from the g20 group of the largest economies. he warned putin that chemical weapons would be met with a nato response and suggested western allies would keep sanctions in place for more than a year in order to get president putin to reverse course the g7 is cutting off access to the reserves it is storing for fear that russia would use gold to prop up the ruble and fund the war andrew. >> kayla, we are talking to janet yellen here in washington about all of this. in terms of the pledges that are being made do we know if there are other

back channel conversations with oil companies in the united states or europe about how they reach the pledges? >> reporter: certainly those con ver conversations have been going on for months as troops were built up at the border senior officials said cargo was diverted from asia and supplies negotiated and rerouted to europe and replacing the russia gas and build up reserves to get europe through the winter in case russia decided to weaponize its energy it is not enough to keep the lights on. it will take a decade to get there. you hear germany and austria and czech saying they cannot cut russia off it will take time to get there certainly there are a lot of allies working behind-the-scenes

to get it done. >> kayla tausche in brussels thank you. i appreciate it. becky. thanks, andrew before we head to break, we want to shoutout to andrew. a contestant on the college week episode of "wheel of fortune." he is a sophomore of pitt. he is the nephew of our katie cramer we know where he gets the smarts we will watch him tonight. unfortunately, guys, in cleveland, they will not watch him because they are preempting it because of the ncaa tournament they don't get to watch him. not live shoutout to andrew a smart kid. >> i mentioned that yesterday. i saw it and said that is cool i mentioned it to my daughter and my wife and son. they were psyched. he is a good-looking kid we're very excited about it.

we're ready. we're ready for it at 7:30 we watch anyway. i don't always watch you know what? i would rather have that half hour of sleep. i can't do "wheel of fortune." i can't. >> you do wordle. >> i do jumble i can't -- i don't know. i don't like it. i can't do it. then what happens is the other people in my family know what it is and i think i know and they say it and i think if they hadn't said it, i wouldn't know. >> you are the guy sitting at the table. we know this one >> i whether oouldn't get it >> go, andrew. we are watching. when he we cwe come back, w talk to the ceo of the first crypto mortgage company.

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time for the squawk coin crypto is already set up shop in the real estate market homes have been bought and sold with cryptocurrency. we have diana olick joining us with the ceo of the first crypto mortgage company hi, diana. >> reporter: joe, milo is a three year old mortgage lender which worked with international clients. closing over $100 million in loans in the last 15 months. now it is getting into crypto loans. the ceo is joining us. thank you for being here in the simple terms, how does a crypto mortgage work >> absolutely. a pleasure to be here on the show this morning. crypto mortgage is an

opportunity for an individual with crypto to purchase real estate we do that by getting comfortable with the borrowers and the crypto is a fantastic asset to hold. >> reporter: do you lend them bitcoin and ethereum to buy a house or is it based on the underwriting >> great question. this is for individuals who own crypto this allows us to underwrite that and extend credit to them and purchase real estate in the u.s. >> reporter: you are lending them dollars, not the bitcoin and ethereum >> that's correct. we're providing a mortgage dollars similar to a transaction today that happens where there is a seller that likes dollars to sell property we facilitate that by extending dollars and provide a mortgage to the buyer the individual who has the

crypto >> reporter: they can make their monthly payments in crypto >> that's correct. they can pay in crypto or dollars. which ever they choose >> reporter: let's get into the unde underwriting you are looking at the money in the bank that is settled. being as volatile as crypto. if you are underwriting a borrowing based on the crypto and considering that their wealth, isn't that volatility a huge risk to you >> that is the magic of combining a stable asset like real estate with crypto to allow us to get comfortable with the overall transaction of the mortgage with the consideration they have crypto which is a liquid asset and real estate tied into one transaction. that smooths down the volatility for us. >> reporter: why do we need crypto mortgages

>> really interesting information and it is not so much where the world has been, but where the world is going one out of eight consumers actually liquidated crypto we believe this asset class right now is roughly $2 trillion it will continue to grow over time the individuals who want to tr transact and purchase real estate will need our product this is a very big deal for lot'slots of consumers that have needed this product for a long time. >> reporter: you have a lot of demand >> yes we launched a wait list a couple of months ago. we offered a 30-year mortgage in the u.s. 7,700 on the wait list as of today, we have a product that is live and people can come to our site and qualify for this

crypto mortgage. the first of its kind and meeting the charge in what we believe the future for crypto and digital assets and real estate >> reporter: josip, thank you very much. andrew, back to you. thank you. i think we're in the same place. same city. in washington, d.c coming up, fedex testing a new delivery option in big cities. details after the break. plus, don't miss our interview this morning with treasury secretary janet yellen. that is coming up in the 8:00 hour so many questions for her about the economy and what is taking place across the ocean conflict with russia and ukraine and more reminder, you can watch or listen to us live anytime. you can it doright now on the cnbc app we're coming back right after this >> announcer: squawk coin is sponsored by bitwise the world's leader in crypto

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welcome back to "squawk box. this morning, new, fedex is announcing the electric cars for deliveries in big cities frank holland is here with more. >> reporter: delivering to s skyscrapers where it can be a

challenge. the electric carts designed by the subsidiary helps deliver up to 15% more in dense urban areas and reduces trucks on the route by 25% that is a model where a van with carts filled with packages they are trying to get ahead of the issue of parking loading zones and parking spots stay about the same. new york city and other cities are limiting where trucks can park and the ceo says the rise in diesel prices is boosting interest >> companies are stopping and thinking about how we rethink operations the world is changing not with oil prices and energy prices, but also increased pressure to reduce carbon emissions. >> reporter: the electric carts will be used for express

delivery with 50% of the revenue. rising fuel and labor costs are making it difficult for all of the delivery companies to maintain or grow margin. andrew >> what do we look at margin 12 months or 24 months from now what does it look like >> reporter: in all fairness, andrew, this is a trial. this is an issue for companies ecommerce continues to grow. we will not stop buying from online especially new york city and toronto, limiting where the trucks park, it takes longer to get the packages it is really wait and see. that is what analysts have been questioning with the margin numbers. the revenues are stable. they have a lot of pricing power. >> quickly, what about the opportunity in the real estate market to get closer to the customer you look at new york city where restaurants and other businesses

have closed down you think that is where the opportunity would lie. >> reporter: that is potential, an andrew i think the question for the companies, do you want to build up more cap x investment on buildings or what fedex talks about urban mobility this is what this plan is about. more flexibility to move different products around. also have a more time sensitive product. that is why they are focusing on express, the air delivery. it is harder to promise one day delivery and two-day delivery with issues with parking and packages and workers. >> frank holland, it is like magic. it is like magic to be on the phone and say i want it and then it shows up an hour later. crazy. we'll talk toandrew, one other thing, hail to pitt. i'm hrooting for andrew tonight

>> we are all rooting and watching "wheel of fortune. becky. thank you. when we come back, maryland, georgia and now connecticut are among the states enacting a gas tax holiday to try to ease the pain at the pump connecticut governor ned lamont will join us next. "squawk box" will be right back. >> announcer: executive edge is sponsored by at&t business at&t 5g is fast, reliable and secure our best deals on every iphone - including the iphone 13 pro with 5g. that's the one with the amazing camera? yep! every business deserves it... like one's that re-opened! hi, we have an appointment. and every new business that just opened! like aromatherapy rugs! i'll take one in blue please! it's not complicated. at&t is giving new and existing business customers our best deals on every iphone. ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "squawk box," everybody.

connecticut is joining maryland and georgia in pausing its state gas tax, giving consumers a break from those sky high fuel prices it is the third state in the nation to do so and dozens of states could follow. governor, this is a move you're taking when gas prices are extraordinarily high what's this going to mean to the average consumer >> it's 25 cents a gallon between now and july 1 i think 25 cents makes a difference in peoples commuting lives. this is a state where you have to get in the car. so we're making a difference we did this on a bipartisan basis the last couple days >> the high prices i know you guys are pausing this through july 1st we've bip talking to analysts who say high prices are likely to last at least beyond this year and beyond that will you extend the gas tax

holiday in this case >> i don't think so because the gas tax is how we pay for our transportation and bridges and rail on july 1 you have other tax cuts coming in $300 on your car tax, on your property tax >> i know this is a bipartisan move and same story in other states that have acted on this we spoke with the governor of maryland earlier this week one concern when we look at it, it is helping out somewhat for consumers, but for the average consumer at least in the state of maryland it was probably going to be mean savings of about $15 if you were the average driver over the course of their cuts it's going to mean a decline about $100 million in revenue for the state. some people look at that and say nice to help out a little but going to create issues where there are shortages. these funds are used to help out

roads and bridges. >> we have a $250 million surplus right now in our transportation fund. we've got to be careful but we can afford to do this. the other thing is we're going to provide bus service for free between now and june 30. so help those folks who maybe have to take a bus just to go buy dproesryes, save them a few bucks each trip as well. >> in terms of where this is happening, i get it, you're trying to help out, make sure you can make a little bit of a difference but why not just try to lower taxes overall. connecticut has the second largest tax burden in country, new york is number one why not try to do something permanent? >> that's not quite right, burt what we have done is try to reduce property tax. so we're going to give like i said on the car side and on the home side a significant tax cut,

combine, you know, 5, $600 depending. also, you know, we've eliminated the tax on pensions and 401k you're older, you're thinking about going to florida, go there and visit and watch the grandchildren get older right here in connecticut. >> how is connecticut doing right? i guess you must be bringing in some decent revenue. >> yeah. right now the economy is really strong and it's just finance which is what we've got down in southern connecticut, but manufacturing is going strong, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and biotech. all the pillars of our economy are on full throttle >> what has that meant for your tax receipts

>> we're going to have our third surplus in a row we're beginning to get that under control. >> governor, we talk about what's been happening in the economy on a national level every day here what are the things you're worried about? obviously inflation is on your minds if you're lowering the gas tax at least temporarily for these issues what else do you hear from your constit constituencies >> work force, work force, work force. shame on us that's our great strength here in connecticut, one of the best education systems, the most productive workers in the world but i've got to make sure they're trained for the jobs out there or those jobs go someplace else and also a great opportunity to lift people up. we need them trained and working. >> why to you think workers have been harder to find? this has also been a national problem. was the people getting paid to

stay home? people worried about covid or was there something else at play here >> i think those are two things i think it's a little habit forming. i think for a year and a half some people were working out of the house and maybe starting up a little online business, and the idea of commuting back into downtown new haven is a bridge too far. we've got all of our men back compared to pre-covid. got to work hard to get women back that's why day care and child care are so important here >> how are some of your big cities like new haven fairing? because in new york it's been an issue. you don't have the white collar workers back in any sort of majority force at this point >> we've got our folks coming back slowly. up here in hartford where i am, insurance capital, they're back at work right now. we need them back at work. that's how you get your culture and ecosystem. also our down towns need it,

foot traffic full throttle at the offices will make a big difference >> you're kind of winding down your covid task force at this point, too you think we come through the other side of this >> i do. we've got a warehouse. we've got rapid tests. we've got 90% of our people have vaccination shots. so i think we're pretty well protected, but you never know. >> hey, governor, it's andrew. one of the questions i have. you were talking about getting people back to work, into us the office and i appreciate that but if you look at the statistics around the country it's not clear they were ever going back at the same level they were before and whether you believe that cities and states need to rethink what those downtown areas even look like and how the ecosystem even works longer

term >> you're absolutely, right, andrew five days a week may be a thing of the past for offices. a lot of housing going on in stanford, new haven, hartford bridgeport that's a good thing. you go where are they working if they're not going to the office? i think you might find a lot of them are working for google or something just off a laptop in hartford >> governor, if that's the case what do you do i can see the idea of trying to reshift some of that real estate, but are there different incentives you need to put in place? do you need to rethink even zoning laws? to me long-term there's some huge implications if this is in fact directionally where we're going to land. >> well, in the broader sense connecticut's pretty well-positioned. i mean, maybe you were working

in new york city or boston but you don't have to be there five days a week. if we can speed up transportation, get really good broadband, you can do everything you want from brooklyn, connecticut. and also our cities are just very affordable compared to say boston or even new york. those are other reasons we get young people here as long as they can work remotely >> governor lamont, want tathank you for your time today. good to see you. >> thanks, becky it is just before 7:00 on the east coast and you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen andrew is live in d.c. for a big interview this morning andrew, want to tell us a little bit about it >> we've got a big interview i'm actually about to leave to head over to the traeasury department for our big interview

with janet yellien we're going to talk about inflation and the economy and some of the moves overnight president biden has made around energy, energy policy in the united states in terms what it's going to mean in terms of fossil fuel production. we'll probably talk to some degree about what's happening in the united states around esg, the comments by larry fink and maybe a bit around crypto currency, i should say but a lot on the docket. so many questions. i see a lot of folks sending in questions this morning over twitter and i encourage that and we're bringing you that interview at the top of the 8:00 hour >> excellent we'll see you in just a little bit. in the meantime let's get a check on the markets dow futures up indicated up 68 points, nasdaq up 27, s&p up by 9:00 let's get on over to dom chu so on this friday morning some of the premarket movers

today are tied to stuff happening in washington, d.c. although not directly linked to the treasury secretaryof monetary policy. we're watching shares of many of the pot stocks those shares gained heavily on some fresh optimism that legislators at the federal level are making some progress on a federal legalization effort for marijuana cannabis products. that made big gains for till ray and others yesterday it's following a 14% gain, so keep an eye on that industry and also watching what's happening with some of the electric vehicle makers out there the one headlining is the big electric vehicle maker out of china. it came out with an earnings report, a quarterly report generally okay the loss per share was in line with estimates revenues were actually better than expected, but its current quarter revenue and delivery

forecast fell shy of estimates that's the reason why those shares are weaker, down by about 4% for those u.s. listed shares in premarket trade nickel has got a bit of positive momentum after this week's news it confirmed it's building its first electric vehicle commercial truck but others that are relatively kind of calm and trading today after bigger gains on some of that nikola news and across the board in chinese internet stocks it's been a very voltime week we know they've made some big gains. but in chinese trading many of the names we know. by the way these four stocks are the four biggest laggards in the nasdaq 100 right now fresh concerns from a regulatory standpoint, whether there could be delisting efforts still kind

of festering about driving some of that downward trade we had been positive for the week earlier on. we're now negative, so keep an eye on those volatile stocks, guys i'll send things back to you >> right now to a potential headwind for big tech. the eu is considering regulation that could threaten the profitability of apple's app store among other things and other tech stocks. cnbc's steve covack joins us now. i don't know, steve. i just was thinking about the eu is definitely ahead of us in regulation they're very innovative there. it's just they aren't very innovative in creating great tech companies it's kind of weird, isn't it they're great at regulating things we come up with over here but what's the last thing they developed, s.a.p.? >> joe, congress people here are

looking at it that way they asked the eu to go a little easier on tech companies in this law. let's talk about this. it gives broad authority to eu regulators to say, look, this company as a $75 billion market cap, all right they're a gatekeeper now and we can start dutching on these regulations we've been talking about for the last few years in apple's case that means allowing you to install software from the internet directly on tool your phone. and apple tells me that's a huge security risk. and it goes on and on and on consumers are probably going to be the most impacted by the messaging stuff. so, for example, it would allow this interoperability between your imessage and facebook

messenger, and that's going to be a technical mess to achieve for these tech companies, the eu wants this in place by october, joe. >> yeah. the things we talk about here, and we spend a lot of time in washington talking about what to do with big tech what are the differences for example, think about anti-trust over in europe. they protect other companies and the employees of other companies. they do a lot of things. is bass acwards but definitely more draconian steps over there. >> you might remember a few months ago when facebook dropped below a $600 million market cap. you're like oh, my gosh this is the level our legislators have

set for considering these anti-trust rules if this goes into effect and everyone is expecting it will maybe not as as soon as october as the eu would have you believe, these are such big changes they're going to have to do it globally if you want to rewind the clock back to 2018 when the privacy law gdpr went in the eu they had to change their apps on all websites including cnbc.com. we had to change how we do it across the world, and i can see it happening here because these are such fundamental changes to the way these big tech platforms work they're just going to have to do it globally. >> hopefully we don't forget some of these things i think of the goose and the golden eggs and things like that we're glad they're here, the market cap gains and wealth building and innovation, and it's all happening a lot of it in california, and we're happy we don't want to -- we certainly don't want to end up hurting

that, i think. we've got to tread lightly because it is a great thing to have >> yeah, that's exactly why our representatives are asking the eu to tone it down a little bit, but they're going ahead. >> good. and they need to keep that in mind themselves. and we could easily slip into the elizabeth warren or the -- i mean the stuff i read that some companies are doing in terms of inflation it's just patently wrong. it's like someone needs to take an eco 101 course. >> this is bipartisan thing. it doesn't matter if you're left, right or center but the end point is the same. >> which is dangerous when politicians agree on things. >> exactly then you've really got to worry. >> yeah, then you've really got to worry the three worst words, hi, i'm from the government and i'm here to help. >> exactly coming up new estimates show more americans are paying no federal income tax we'll talk more about possible changes to the tax code.

that's next. plus our exclusive interview with faa administrator steve dickson. it's an exit interview really just days before he steps down as the head of that agency stay tuned "squawk box" coming right back strengthening client confidence in you. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully.

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more than half of americans pay no income tax according to the tax policy center. now there are proposals that would require more americans to pay up robert frank joins us now with more besides mitt romney, who are we talking about, robert? >> well, joe, we're talking about new estimates from the tax policy center showing 57% of americans paid zero income tax in 2021. now, this is much more than the 43% rate pre-pandemic. and the main reasons government stimulus checks, higher tax credits especially the child tax credit and the standard deduction now of $25,000 and retirees moving to social security now as some of these programs phase-out the number of nonpayers expected to fall back to normal levels over the next year or two, but people say when you combine payroll taxes and federal taxes only 41% of americans actually paid zero in combined federal and payroll

taxes. senator rick scott and others saying more americans need, quote, skin in the game. estimates if every taxpayer paid at least $100 in federal income tax, it would raise $100 billion a year in added revenue. more than 80% of that increase would be borne by those in the lower and bottom half making less than $54,000 a year meanwhile the share paid by the wealthy continues to be at or near a record high the top 1% paid 39% of federal income taxes last year, and the top 10% paid 71% of all taxes. joe? >> yeah, we have a progressive system and we still do, and we can hear it's not and things like that. but it does not excuse the notion i could probably find 100 really rich people maybe they didn't pay zero federal income

tax, but as a percentage of their -- you might as well round it down to zero and they don't necessarily take a lot of income it seems like some type of consumption tax would cure us on both sides on the very wealthy and on the not so wealthy although it might be too aggressive on the low end. >> yeah, it would be very regressive and if you look at this nontaxpayer number the numbers at least according to the share of that 57% that is wealthy taxpayers is very, very small. now, it may be a decent size dollar number, but it's not people evading taxes at the top or at the bottom it's just people that don't make enough to pay taxes because of these new credits. >> well, the skin in the game argument is one thing, but willy sutton, you remember what he said, and that's not going to be a huge amount of money down at the low end, but could be a nice chunk of change at the other end where you're saying there's not

that many people >> that's right. and if you did that along with closing a lot of the loopholes and enforcing the tax code, then you could get some real money. >> all right i was kidding about mitt romney. as it came out, he paid a lot. it's just that i don't know someone said he didn't pay any and by the time the election was over it's too late the guy said we won, didn't we thanks let's bring in dona edwards, former congresswoman of maryland running again for her former seat in congress and carlos car bellow would both of you do you concede we're not perfect in this country, but we have a progressive tax. you just heard top 10% pay 71% would you like those top 10% to pay even more in taxes, dawn >> well, i think there are ways

they could pay more. for example, dealing with a tax on capital gains, making sure we tax income that's earned from investment in the way that we tax ordinary income that's earned from a paycheck and so while the tax code itself may be progressive, there are a lot of elements of the tax code that actually allow people at the higher in to not pay i think their fair share of faxes. and really i think that this student is a little bit over the -- the discussion of it is a little bit misleading because most people dip in and out of whether they're paying taxes or not. you're talking about a lot of people who are older americans who are on social security and a lot of people on very low incomes under $30,000. and so we get -- and a pandemic year where it's i feel very confident in 2022 those numbers are not going to look like 2021

and 2020 >> carlos, i guess the push back on some of those notions would say we've always taxed income, and if you've paid tax on it once and then you make good investments that there are reasons why we advantage capital people -- people that riv capital to do certain things long-term, do you think would it hurt capital formation if we were to tax capital gains at the same rate as income? >> it certainly would. we do not need to design the tax code in a way that discourages people making money, people investing. what we should do is broaden the base i think we want more people to contribute, but the best way to achieve that is not by investing even more on this progressive income tax system. it's about bringing more people in and how do we do that through consumption taxes. there's a concept out there it's called a carbon tax.

it would tax pollution there's a way to design it that would protect the people at the lower end of the income ladder we'd be addressing two problems at once. yes, the government needs more revenue, and this would certainly bring in more revenue. and we'd actually be taxing something that we want lez of which is pollution we don't want less income. we don't want less capital formation. let's not increase taxes on those. let's tax something that we actually want to get rid >> okay, carlos. what about a very successful if trupruneurwho has never really paid -- obviously it is income he created a great company, but it's never really been touched it could be even a billion dollars, it's never really been touched. do we go after that some way, a step up or maybe i don't know how you'd want to design that. would that -- that would raise some money is it against our principles or

just too hard to do in prac sitous by trying to value assets before they're sold? >> i think it does make sense to close some of these loopholes. for example, if you go and sell $100,000 in tax and if you sell real estate -- so there are inequities even among entrepreneurs. i do think we need to take a look at those. but to address the broader problem of bringing in more people and broadening the base it has to go beyond closing loopholes. >> do you think that a wealth tax would you be crossing the rubicon if you did that? and wave never done like that before other countries have tried it and it doesn't work that well. do you think we should do that

>> i don't know. i think it's important to look at the taxing the super wealthy but there's been a lot of people below the super wealthy status i also agrow with carlos about a carbon tax i think that is an appropriate thing to look at to, you know, in effect kill two birds with one stone, bring in income but also deal with, you know, how we're dealing with carbon emissions. and so -- and let's not forget that people who are lower income and who are not paying federal tax, believe me they're paying a lot of other taxes they pay federal tax when they go and put gas in their tank they pay state tax when they do that they're paying sometimes state and local taxes as well. and so -- and of course retail and sales tax, which hit the lower income more than they do upper income families. and so i think we need to be careful about the way we think about those who are not paying

taxes. they may not be paying federal taxes. and again, heavily -- heavy subsidies over these last couple of years because of the pandemic, i suspect we're going to go back down from the 57% range to the 41, 43% range as the economy recovers people go back to work, and the incomes that are at higher levels >> okay, i want to thank you both for joining us this morning. good to have you both on coming up an exclusive interview with treasury secretary janet yel n. before we head to break let's get a check on the markets just barely in the green "squawk box" will be right back.

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welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. among the stories we've got in our headlines this morning president biden says that the united states will supply more liquefied natural gas to the european union to help it cut the dependence on supplies from russia the president made its remarks at a news conference in brussels he added the that would help avoid subsidizing vladimir putin's brutal attack on

ukraine. workers at a hershey plant in virginia have voted against unionization that plant is which is hershey's second largest in the united states has about 1,400 employees and makes products like almond joy candy bars votes like this have been getting a lot more attention lately because of the successful union votes we've seen at starbucks as well as recent strikes at companies like cereal maker kellogg. and ins tucart has slashed its valuation by nearly 40%. its private market valuation is now $24 billion according to the company. that compares to $39 billion a year ago the company said it's not immune to the market turbulence that's impacted leading technology companies in recent months instagram has been mulling various options to go public, but it has not yet done so when we return insurance stocks soaring this year, but can they keep that momentum up contessa brewer will join us

with the latest next plus faa administrator steve dickson leaving his post in just a few days we'll talk to him in an exclusive interview you don't want to miss stay tuned what is currently the most expensive bourbon on the market? the answer when cnbc's "squawk box" continues [bat swinging] the aflac pre-pain show. aflac! ohhh, mark is about to become a living piñata. luckily, aflac will help cover his unexpected medical bills. aflac? [whimpers] i don't think he has any candy in there. am i at least going to get hit hard enough to forget this? nobody is going to forget this, ever. [bat hitting] ohhhh! i'mma call his momma. aflac! ♪ aflac! official partner of march madness. competition beat us again. how? they have a better finance system than we do. i feel like they might have a better finance system than we do. workday.

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now the answer to today's aflac trivia question. what is currently the most expensive bourbon on the market? the answer, old rip van winkle 25 years old the average price per bottle is $33,438. >> i'm guessing you don't mix that with anything better drink it straight up. insurance stocks up big this year, but what is driving theeraly contessa brewer joins us right now with more. good morning >> good morning, becky yes, some of them have hit all-time or long time highs this week all state, wr berkeley up 18,

19% this year. chub, aig, prudential up more than 10% why? problems like the war in ukraine or russian sanctions have little impact, and people and businesses tend to pay on insurance in spite of economic slow down. they're benefitting now from a rotation out of growth and into value stocks piper sandler analyst paul newson predicts the next quarter will still be a good one with limited natural catastrophes and prices for commercial insurance has been rising over the last few years. that contributes to expanding margins. kbw meyer shields points out underwriting results have improved and last year's profitability is reportedly just conservative so the cost of litigation, lumber and labor, they're largely predictable and baked in and wells fargo green span tells me she likes the potential up

side but she's wary about auto insurers what we've seen is high accident rates and expensive repair and replacement costs. those rates are rising but not keeping up with the cost of claims, although we might start to see gas prices and that of course drives down accident rates. largely as a group the analysts think there's still -- >> all these insurance companies have to put some of their money into long-term things like treasuries because they've got to make sure they have the money and able to pay off when these things come through and finally starting to see higher rates and that's of benefit to these companies, too >> you've hit the nail on the head, and you've seen that coming out in the economic data that the car insurance prices are rising, and again what we've seen in skyrocketing cost for used cars, car repairs and car

parts and supply chain issues are a real factor there as is the labor shortage and auto insurers have been not been able to make up what they're making out in the loss. >> we just got our car back yesterday. it took months to get the parts in to get it fixed and this was an accident, a fender-bender that happened back in october, november and we literally just got the car back >> oh, my gosh have you been taking the bus the whole time >> no, we were driving around before, just driving a beater. dented parts contessa, thank you. great to see you >> true that okay >> with the big wind turb bine and one of those blades -- >> no, it was the back of the minivan. somebody hit the back of the mini van >> you don't have the wind driven -- >> not yet

>> a regular one much more still to come. we're going to talk to faa administrator steve dickson and the city of chicago, also aperture investors per kusetrae all coming up. stay tuned "squawk box" coming back

. welcome back let's get to phil. phil lebeau joins us flow with a special guest. hey, phil. >> hey, joe. let's bring in steve dickson, administrator for the federal aviation administration who is joining us from washington steve, this is an exit interview of sorts you are leaving office next week, 2 1/2 years into your 5-year term. we've got a lot to discuss with you, but i think the most important thing people have is we've got a federal mask mandate expiring april 18th or set to expire on april 18th do you think the federal government should come out and say, yeah, it's definitely over on that date because the airlines are pushing for that right now? >> well, phil, thanks for having me this morning and it's great to be with you as you said, you know, i will be stepping down in a few days.

the public health requirements that are set by the white house and by the cdc are certainly continually under review, and no decisions have been made yet from the faa's standpoint, you know, we don't take a position on what the public health protocols are. we believe that air travel is the safest form of transportation for many reasons, not the least of which are the protocols we've undertaken over the last couple of years during the period of the pandemic >> steve, let's talk about unruly passengers. we've seen the spike we've talked about this before during the pandemic a lot of it driven by people who aren't happy with the mask mandate when they're on a particular plane or other issues there do you think there should be a continuation of the zero-tolerance policy in terms of those passengers once they're kicked off a flight, be banned from flying that ticketed airline, and by extension should

they be banned on flying on-air lines let's say a year, two years, whatever the length may be >> phil, i instituted the zero-tolerance policy because, first of all, the flight crew is on the airplane for passenger safety and you don't want the flight attendants or the pilots distracted from their safety duties if i'm the captain of the you don't want be distracted by something going on in the back of the airplane. and the policy is on behavior. and we have seen over the last year significant decline in these incidents, but they continue to occur so we will be keeping the zero-tolerance policy in place. and i know the secretary has said everything is on the table in terms of broader measures such as a no fly list. but, again, so that's under consideration. >> steve, i'm just cure yg, you and i have talked about this off

camera a couple of times how surprised are you at some of these reports and some of the conduct that you've seen during your tenure as the head of the faa? >> well, i was very surprised when we started to see this significant uptick again, the actions we've taken and we've done a lot we've done memes we've done service messages. i've even been on tmz to make sure we're reaching the public and making sure they understand that these kinds of -- this kind of behavior is not acceptable on airplanes. and it's got to stop i will say that the measures we have taken so far have significantly driven down the rates, but they are still above historic averages, and i think as we move into a more normal posture past the pandemic hopefully in the next few weeks that we'll return to more of a sense of normalcy.

>> steve, so much of your administration has dealt with the work that the faa has done with boeing. a lot of it with 737 max, taking a look at what happened as the max was going through certification. and now you're dealing with the boeing leadership in terms of the protocols that they must put in place before they can start delivering the 787 dream liners. what's your sense in terms of how close boeing is to having protocols in place where you guys say to them, yeah, you're good to go and boeing says whereby okay, we're ready to resume deliveries? >> well, first of all there are no safety issues what we're talking about are production quality issues and quality escapes that boeing had committed to correct and put a process in place to correct, so we're working with them on what that solution looks like and we're making good progress on that point and as you know we have also

said once deliveries do resume we will be doing the air worthiness tickets ourselves we will be doing inspection and that will give us a good check and balance to make sure their processes are under control and production quality issues in the future, which is what boeing wants as well. >> as you know we've been following a number of your hearings on capitol hill a lot of them focused on the progress that the faa has made in terms of revamping the process or certification of new aircraft will that change, do you believe, over the next ten years? do you think that what started with your administration will be extended and that we'll see a revamp of sorts continue in terms of how new aircraft are certified in the future? >> well, the short answer is yes. you know, this is as i said many

times, bill, safety really is a journey. there is no final destination. we always need to get better, and so we made significant improvements, significant systemic changes both within what we do and also what the manufacturers are doing in terms of what they're bringing forward to us. so we have to engage early with the manufacturers as they bring designs forward, and then as we have new aircraft that we're going to certify we need to be very rigorous in our oversight, make sure that we are having good visibility under their safety management processes so we can address issues and chapture any potential safety issues before they reach the design approval stage. >> steve, i know you're tracking the investigation into the 737-800 crash, the china eastern crash in southeast china we still don't have a lot of answers what happened there.

and there's already some chatter especially people online saying are we trying to get a full accounting of what happened, are the chinese authorities giving us a full accounting how confident are you we'll get a full transparent review of what actually happened with that crash? >> well, i'm confident that we'll get to the root cause of the crash but it requires us to not engage in speculation. i'm certainly not going to speculate about the cause. and the chinese civil aviation authority has contacted the ntsb, and the ntsb is the accredited representative for the united states as the state of design for this aircraft. i would also the 737-800 and the ng fleet, which the 800 is part is one of the safest aircraft that ever produced in commercial operation, and it's one of the most widely used aircraft around the world.

so by all indication this was an air worthy aircraft but we'll have to go where the facts take us in terms of getting to the root cause as the investigation proceeds >> steve, thank you for joining us this morning. it's been a pleasure having you on our air as you were the administrator for the faa. i know you're excited to get back to your family down in georgia, enjoy some time there, stop roaming the halls of capitol hill and having reporters like me chase you down the hallway after hearings and other meetings steve dickson, administrator for the faa joining us this morning. guys, i'll send it back to you >> great, phil appreciate that. and administrator dickson as well coming up, don't miss an exclusive interview with treasury secretary janet yellen. as we head to break a quick check on oil prices this morning. $110 and a reminder you can always watch us live on the go on the cnbc app we're coming right back. after years on the battlefield and multiple concussions,

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popping after juching jumping 21% yesterday. the house would be voting next week on a bill to federally legalize marijuana an earlier measure cleared the house two years ago, but then it stalled in the senate which at that point was controlled by the republicans. the chinese electric vehicle maker nio reporting better than expected fourth quarter sales. however, deliveries missed the forecast it expects to deliver about 25,000 deliveries this quarter and then there's netflix buying yet another video game company as it tries to look to create another revenue stream it's obtained boss fight entertainment by an undisclosed amount it's known for its mobile game dudgeon boss for mobile and ios

devices. andrew, you're back. >> i'm back and at the treasury building coming up after the break our exclusive interview with treasury secretary janet yellen, live from washington, d.c. as we head to a break a check on futures this morning stay tuned you're watching "squawk box" right here on cnbc this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. but whatever work becomes, the world works with servicenow.

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morning. the united states and the eu striking a deal to send more natural gas to europe this year as the bloc looks to cut its reliance on russia the head of energy research for goldman sachs, and we kind of knew this was going to be coming, but what does it mean in the broader sense in terms of what's going to happen in the market and the prices? >> in the short run the u.s. is already exporting as much lng as it can, so the key is making sure what can go to europe will go to europe the issue, though, as i stated we're running out. that's a 2.5 to 3-year horizon which needs contracts and commitments. this is the first bet redirecting flows, meaningful reduction in russian flows will take several years to pay out from the u.s. perspective.

>> it's already been pointed out this morning that by doing this biden is already going to be kind of violating the longer-term goals that he's laid out in terms of what he wants to see in cleaner energy and getting away from fossil fuels are there other changes that are likely to come in the administration in term of more than just signaling and saying these things because i think that's what it would take to convince private industry to go ahead and invest in some of these projects and spend the million you're talking about. >> the white house statement is two fold actually this morning it's getting more gas to europe and the second half is about consuming less gas i think what's key here is from energy security and availability today gas is essential renewables are great, but to do them at scale it takes time and requires what we don't have, which is utility scale storage, hydrogen so your natural gas have a key role to play in the rest of this decade in enabling the decarbonizization as well as providing the energy we consume today. i think that's really the core

of how one should think about shale's contribution here. it's what we need. it's short cycle, and by the way 35% of global power generation is still coal. replacing that with gas is already a huge improvement on the carbon side. >> what companies would be front and center when you start thinking about being able to get this lng to europe >> you need more gas out of the ground so the emps have a key role to play and more pipes to get it to the coast and more lng terminals. it's really the value that benefits here. >> the higher the price of legacy energy, the higher the price, the closer renewables get to being economically

competitive. but it's going to cost the world more, obviously to provide energy how much more do you think where do you think and how do you measure per kilowatt hours, and i don't know how you measure it but where does natural gas, where does coal? what prices get them to the point where renewables are completely economically competitive with -- with fossil fuels? >> yes, i think there are several moving parts here. first of all, you know, renewables are clearly where we need to go so we still need those legacy hydrocarbons. that's the challenge for producers. you really need that gas ten years from now that's where the policy side comes in you need to create a visible pathway to that transition where you're not underinvesting in today's resources. if you did underinvest we're

testing that right now across gas, coal and oil. so that's the real challenge, right? underinvesting in what we need now is significantly higher prices for energy today. so that's the policy solver ulttimately is creating that more realistic path. what's the price you get demand destruction, we're starting to test it in oil our forecast this year is effectively that supply can't respond quickly enough with this latest russia shock, ando we need to start to redo this consumption. we kind of know what price range we're at you look at european gas prices. they're already reducing industrial demand, so this is where we start to see that we should see supply respond economics is getting there it's just creating that visibility >> i guess my point is it's

going to be expensive. it's going to be expensive it's going to be regressive. you're sure that it's worth it, you can't mitigate the effects of co 2, 10, 15, 20 years down the road we can't have steps where there's not going to be technology that mitt fwats it? we should spend maybe 40 trillion on the green new deal there's something between what we're going to do and the left and climate real lobbyists would like to do we're never going to get to the 40 trillion but are you sure it's money well spent and not something we can handle down the road and we can handle this very regressive system for the next 10, 15, 20 years and lesser developed countries it's going to affect them even more >> i think the key here is just the time line. >> you can scale those low carbon solutions and you probably want to include carbon capture on top of renewables but just the scale required, the

time it will take to scale means you can't stop investing today that's why, again, it has to be a two fold approach, investing what we need to today and make sure we're ramping up investment elsewhere. again, we know the resources that we need we know what we can use and cop sume today and know what we need to invest. it's just about making that investment commitment today. >> people keep wondering why gasoline prices here at the pump are so much higher i didn't know until yesterday that there are a lot of refineries i think refineries in places like north dakota and california that are being repurmsed to do things like renewable fuels and sustainable jet fuel that's a big deal, and those are things going to take a very long time is there any way to undo any of that >> i mean, those are relatively small in scale i think what's important to understand about gasoline prices, you know, it's a global market, so first of all we're not based on the wti really up

front. by the way, we also import gasoline from europe so the very high natural gas prices in europe made gas prices even more exexpensive. and you can see in the end really the energy challenge is global we have record high coal prices and that forces more demand for the gas. you run out of gas and you try to burn oil for power generation this is just one energy market across all those three key components has seen underinvestment. so renewal of diesel is just a small call ponent whf what has been a multiyear underinvestment. >> globalization a big question in this and so many other industries, too. thank you for your time today. it's good to see you we've been talking about all morning, the big news this morning, president biden announcing a joint tosk force to

bolster energy in the european union, the primary goal to diversify lng and curb europe's reliance on russia for energy. joining us now is treasury secretary janet yellen madam secretary, thanks for joining us so as we were just discussing energy is the big topic and want to understand from you how you reconcile the administration's climate goals right now with what clearly is a shift in posture around energy and fossil fuels. >> well, the climate goals are very important and there's no change in that it emphasizes in making the transition it will shield us from the events happening in russia,

global development that impact the oil markets if you really want to believe and see the need of all of us, the united states and our allies, to move quickly to renewables that will give us a safer and more energy picture. >> but clearly in the short-term that's not going to work including there's going to be an effort to push for more fossil fuels. the jp morgan ceo telling the administration they need to create a marshall plan around fossil fuel. >> i don't want to get into what happened in a private meeting, but i certainly agree we're looking at the situation we banned russian imports from the united states and we recognized how important russian oil and natural gas influence

are for our european partners, and they recognize and we recognize how important it is to reduce that dependence to the maximum extent possible goes to this morning's announcement by president biden about our intense cooperation on lng but it's not possible to completely eliminate that -- >> do you think the investor class has to rethink its position on fossil fuels >> and i say that only because there's been a real shift towards esg over the past several years. and whether that idea needs to be suspended to some degree relative to what's happening now and the national security issues that it is either creating or has created. >> i don't think that the esg movement and the emphasis on climate change is creating the problems that we have. if anything the problem is we

haven't moved as rapidly as we should have. europe and the united states will be less exposed to the pressures that this conflict is putting on our energy markets. if we had greater reliance on renewables, so that remains firmly appropriate as medium and longer term goal, but in the short run our ability to punish russia for really the horrific acts that they're committing in ukraine and to degrade their power and influence in the world economy, it would be greater if there were less dependence on russian oil. >> one of the things happening in the united states, for example, is the seec just put out a notice about proposals around climate disclosure. >> yes >> do you think some of those policies shift in terms of

either their timing or otherwise as a result of what we're seeing right now? >> so i was heartened to see the sec proposal it's something that the financial stability oversight council is focused on. our partners around the world and the investing community really want information that can guide investments. you see an increasing number of american investors including banks that have commitments to net zero by 2050 and they need the kind of information that's consistent and transparent to let them make investment decisions those goals haven't changed the need for globally comparable information remains a high priority, and i think the sec has crafted a very good proposal i was really very pleased to

see. >> let me ask you a question about globalization. larry fink this week said globalization may be over and that this war between russia and ukraine has become a flash point and that american companies doing business in certain countries potentially even china and thinking about big companies like apple doing business there may have to rethink where they're doing business what do you tell american business leaders this morning who are thinking about where their supply chains come from and the politics of where those supply chains come from? >> we do have to and this is not just because of the russia-ukraine situation but this became evident in the pandemic that maybe american businesses have focused on efficiency and organizing supply chains in ways that lower costs but impair resilience. and resilience of supply chains

is a high priority for the administration and so to an extent that will lead to some reallocation of -- >> how much of that is about resilience which is an issue we talked about in the context of the pandemic versus politics and national security? >> well, national security is also important, and we recognize the need to consider having appropriate trade policies that protects our national security interests. but when you say this may be the end of globalization or something that extreme, i really have to push back on that because we're deeply involved in the global economy i expect that to remain. it is something that has brought the united states and many countries around the world and we certainly don't want to go to a system in which the

united states is -- loses those benefits so there may be some rethinking to promote the national -- >> you've put a number of sanctions obviously on russia, but would you consider sanctions on china as an ally of russia? >> so i don't think that's necessary or appropriate at this point. senior administration officials are talking privately with china to make sure that they understand our position. we'd be very concerned if they were to supply weapons to russia or to try to evade the sanctions that we've put in place on the russian financial system and the central bank we don't see that happening at this point, and it's really up to china to make sure that they understand this complex situation that they face >> becky has a question for you.

becks? >> thanks, andrew. it's very good to see you, secretary yellen just a question about how the economy is fairing right now because the markets have been kind of roaring higher on some of the economy, and then there are these questions about inflation and what the fed does next you see the tax receipts coming down every day, is there any sign of weakness anywhere in this economy >> i honestly don't see it even though we have an immensely strong job market. growth over the last year has been extraordinary job creation renewables very high when you look at the balance sheet of the typical american family it is in very good shape. consumer spending is strong. and tax revenues have, frankly, been surprising to the up side, you know, helping us in a plan to reduce deficits will be

reducing the budget shortly. so i see a lot of strength in the american economy inflation is high, and, you know, the fed certainly has a role to play there >> what do you think about the global economy more broadly and where we fit in? this is the dallas fed president earlier this week. quote, if the bulk of the russian energy exports is off the market for the remanlder of 2022, a global economic downturn seems unavoidable. i imagine if that's unavoidable, it's unavoidable for us as well. >> so we're seeing pressure on commodity prices because of the russia-ukraine situation and it's importantly oil and natural gas, but also other commodities. and i am concerned about spill overs to countries, for example, that are dependent on wheat. wheat prices have been soaring,

and i think it will likely reduce the prospects for global growth over the next year. but we've got a good, strong u.s. economy we're a net exporter of oil. oil prices obviously impose significant burdens on american families, but it's also likely to imbalance the offset and impact of spending by faster drilling expenditures. >> how high do you think oil prices can get at the pump >> listen, there's a lot of uncertainty. you're not as high in real terms as they were earlier -- earlier in this century. and, you know, it's conceivable that they could move higher, but we're doing everything that we can working with our partners to ensure adequate global supplies

to make sure that europe is supplied with oil and natural gas and to protect american consumers to the extent possible but when the largest economy faces sanctions because of their horrific behavior in ukraine there just are going to be spill overs that are unavoidable >> president biden, by the way, said last night -- overnight i should say about sanctions that they would not prevent the continued invasion do you think -- and i should say secretary mnuchin, your predecessor said he would have moved faster on sanctions. do you think that sanctions could have had a greater effect had they been put in place earlier? >> well, we hope that they would have a deterrent effect. and certainly prior to the invasion president biden made

abundantly clear to president putin that if he invaded ukraine that there would be very significant consequences and hope that would affect his calculus clearly it didn't, but i do think there's some chance it will effect his calculations going forward and the pain that russia's experiencing i think will exceed anything that they expected and i think a relist looking at russia's long-term economic prospects, prospects for its defense sector and all of its, you know, competitive export activities we'd have to see that the export controls and financial controls are going to degrade economic performance in russia for a long time >> how much do you think the sanctions on the oligarchs

influence putin's behavior >> well, you know, i'm not a political expert on russia, but, you know, i think the oligarchs probably have some influence on the thinking of president putin, and they have provided resources that enable putin to carry out a war like this, so influencing, you know, the sanctions that we've put on them i think were appropriate and hopefully will matter as you know we announced new sanctions yesterday i guess it was that will impact russia's defense sector, make it very difficult for it to import parts and supplies that it needs to be competitive, so eroding russia's power to have a defense sector, a high technology sector that's

competitive over time. advanced semiconductors and access to those have been cut off by export controls >> one of the oligarchs that wasn't sanctioned in the same way as many of the others was abramovich and the view was that that was done he was going to act as a mediator russia says he's no longer acting as a mediator first of all, can you speak to his acting as a mediator >> no, i can't i've also heard that reported as well we are tcontinuing to sanction individuals as well as looking at broader sanctions on sectors, and i would hope open the possibility that certainly but not take off the possibility that either individuals could face sanctions in the future >> more sanctions now that he may not be acting as a mediator? does his position as a mediator or not change? >> i'm not going to comment on

the cal clas about exactly what determines if he is or isn't sanctioned, just say that it remains a possibility. >> joe's got a question for you. >> madam secretary, you were very positive on the u.s. economy and looking for even any weak spots we saw chair powell go a quarter point and then come back and say maybe 50 basis points is going to be necessary. a lot of people think that the fed is behind the, you know, is behind the eight ball right now in being able to raise rates to the extent they need to. would you have gone 50 and do you think 50 since you think the economy is so strong and rates are so low do you think that we'll go 50 at some point in the future and should have done it already? >> so, you know, it's been my job and -- >> you were so good at it. >> well, thanks. >> what would you be doing right

now? >> much appreciated. my job in my current position is to emphasize how much i respect the independence of the fed. >> but you could be such a great help i'm sure he would love -- i'm sure he'd love -- would you give him advice maybe not on "squawk box" would you whisper something in his ear and what would that be >> we have a very good and strong relationship, but it's up to the fed to make these decisions and we'll respect the deci decisions they make. >> another question from becky >> i do, thank you madam secretary, the fed you mentioned is going to do its own thing and decide how much to raise rates but the rates may

raise more rapidly than the market was anticipating. the cbo was anticipating the market is going to pay something like $445 billion a year just in interest payments based on where interest rates stand and predicted they're going to stand over the next five years if that goes up by 50 basis points i think that amount jumps. what do you do how do you budget for this where are you expecting to see interest rates in terms of what you might be able to fit into the budget on what the government will pay in interest payments >> becky, if you look at last year's budget what you'll see is a projection over time interest rates would rise back to more normal levels. i mean, obviously, interest rates have been at rock bottom levels below most estimates of neutral for a very long time and there may be differences in the details, cbo and the

administration in its budget projected rising interest rates. one way i think is quite good to measure the burden of the debt is by looking at net real interest payments. and that burden has actually been negative. and as interest rates rise back to more normal levels, and you can see this in the budget we put out last year, we project somewhat higher but still historically low debt in terms of interest payments >> two quick final questions for you. one, couldn't get through an interview without asking about crypto in particular russia just said they would accept bitcoin as a

payment for their energy resources. what does that say to you about where we are in the crypto conversation >> well, crypto has obviously grown by leaps and bounds, and it's now playing a significant role not really so much in transactions but in investment decisions of lots of americans and the president just issued a couple of weeks ago an executive order tasking us and other agencies with thinking about the regulation of crypto >> we've been talking about it together for a long time now, and i think you had a skepticism about crypto technology. >> i have skepticism because i think there are valid concerns around it. some have to do with financial stability, consumer investor

protection, use for illicit transactions and other things. on the other hand, there are benefits from crypto and we recognize that innovation in the payment system can be a healthy thing. we would like to come out eventually with recommendations than will create a regulatory environment in which healthy innovation -- >> and finally signer it's the one thing everybody is worried about especially given what's happening in russia right now. is there an industry or industries you're concerned about? >> well, we're worried about the energy sector and also focused especially in this building on the financial sector we have a, you know, robust program to work with financial firms at treasury to monitor and quickly inform financial firms about threats detected or firms

experience -- >> how confident are you >> cyber is a real risk, and we recognize that we have vulnerabilities and we're doing everything we can to be prepared to deal with that and to up our defenses but you know this is -- this is a significant risk >> a longer conversation we appreciate you being with us this morning madam secretary, thank you so very much. nice to see you in person. >> thanks, andrew. nice to see you as well. >> joe, back to you. >> could you hear that maybe a beginning of a stacker, a bitcoin stacker? i'm just reading between the lines. didn't that sound a little -- no that's what i just heard maybe, no? >> i don't know about that i don't know about that. >> more than before. >> maybe not a stacker >> my thinking has been an

evolution as well. coming up much more on the markets and our reaction to our exclusive interview with janet yellen as we head to break here's what's in the headlines at this hour european lawmakers have reached an agreement on a new digital competition law aimed at curbing the power of big tech companies like apple and google. it would still need approval, though, from each eu country that's about to take effect. and california governor gavin newsom has proposed an $11 billion relief package aimed at relieving the burden of high gasoline prices. it would include direct payments to californians of $400 for vehicle and the average price of gasoline get this $5.88 in california $5.88 a gallon to fill up an suv out there. stay tuned you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc

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still to come, we've got some top stocks on the move ahead of the prfriday morning opening bell and getting veteran investor peter cros's take with our interview with treasury aycretary janet yellen

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welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. this is cnbc and let's talk about some of the stories investors are likely to be focusing on today. first up apple wants a court ruling that it largely won last year over app store policies to stand. this is part of the legal battle with fortnite maker epic games yesterday apple told appellate judges that the decision was sound and that epic also has not put forward any reasonable alturnive to its app store policies pandemic mainstay ins tucart coming back down-to-earth. the grocery delivery company citing market turbulence as it smashed its valuation by almost 40% to about $24 billion at the funding around a year ago the company was valued at almost $40 billion. the company issuing a statement just a short time ago. as part of that pact three new

directors will be appointed. cohen's rc ventures holds a nearly 10% in the retailer and that stock is up today >> on the opening bell on wall street dom chu joins us now with a look at some of the morning's top three market movers. he's got all four of the first elite 8 i know in his bracket and you'll probably get all four of the other ones tonight, right, dom got anyone >> no. >> do you have one of the elite eight? >> it doesn't matter to me right now because in the bracket you're talking about, which is, you know, the tv newsroom one, right, i have picked kentucky to win the whole thing. >> i know. maybe you're hoping for the peacocks since that is our corporate logo

>> and they're just down the road from us here. they're across the river from you and down the road from me. >> in new jersey they have a prep school team that my son's basketball team played, st. peter prep, too. they're good >> they might have to be the cinderella team we all root for. yes, exactly just like that anyway, let me get through these movers first of all for this friday because we do have some stuff on the move. first of all what you're watching right now is a move in cyber security and one of the big names that's been a juggernaut over the last couple of years it's down due in large part to a downgrade by analysts in bank of america. they had it as a buy before. it was 385 they say a lot of the good news, the catalysts and returns are already baked into this stock. it's been a fairly range bound

trade. down to neutral. also what's happening with the premarket and some of the big fertilizer names out there because the war in ukraine and russia is a fertilizer, and if there's supply concerns there the fertilizers from other makers in the world will go up in price up huge over the course of this conflict and the mosaic companies up fractionally as well and a check on the most popular tickers searched on our website cnbc from yesterday's full session the 10-year yield remains number one wti crude remains in the mix as well but drops a bit on the list for the first time in a while because it started trading yesterday, it's still trading today after being a month of being closed and as always, andrew, the rest of the top ten and highlights from the top 50 on my twitter feed

andrew, i'll send things back over to you in washington, d.c. >> at the domino, thank you, dom, appreciate it when we come back on the other side of this break an interview that goes right to the heart of energy independence and the climate conversation we've been having ever since russia invaded ukraine. we're going to be joined by the city treasurer of chicago. the city council there voting to ban investments in fossiful el companies. don't want to miss this conversation "squawk box" coming right back ♪ ♪ connecting to opportunity is just part of the hustle.

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>> just as russia's war in ukraine is causing a surge in global energy prices, chicago's city council voted this week to ban investments in fossil fuel companies as part of an effort to help fight climate change the windy city is the latest to join the investment train. and stocks that chicago sold

include exxon mobil and chevron. joining us now to talk about all this is the city treasurer of chicago, and it's great to have you on madam treasurer, is that -- is that good? >> that sounds great to me, joe. good morning >> good morning. >> i understand chicago is making a statement, putting a line in the sand am i wrong to say that you don't want everybody, big money everybody to do this all at once right now because of what the ramifications would be especially in light we know europe moved too quickly iprenewables and a cascade of events and with vladimir putin a lot of leverage to have the energy card held over the head

do you want everyone do this all at once or chicago just making a statement for itself >> well, i'll tell you first of all some people believe we waited too long to act as a society to move away from a reliance of fossil fuels, and so this is a very necessary step. i think that's a very interesting question at a time such as this but this is the time for chicago to stand up to say that we are going to fight climate change. and as you mentioned with the crisis in ukraine, it seems as if the oil industry is again in the middle of chaos. >> the one rationale i've seen put forward is we know that renewables at this point need a lot, need subsidies and oil companies there's been subsidies for fossil fuels as well i understand that.

but to be completely competitive right now you either need to bring down the costs of renewables or you need kpeeing investments in fossil fuels to those prices to go up. are you okay with consumers paying two or three times more for gasoline, two or three times more for natural gas or for whatever we use at this point to supply the grid because renewables can't do it yet you know, for at least another decade we're going to need that. is that -- are you all right with that economic offset we're going to pay three times as much but at least move toward renewables more quickly? >> joe, i'm a lifelong chicagoan. you asked am i okay with residents paying more? absolutely not we don't want to pay more. we also want to make sure our

future is protected for our kids i'm also the mother of a very young child, and when we look at fossil fuels and what fossil fuels is doing to our environment, it is something that has to be addressed and really has to be addressed now in order to fight climate change and when we think about the oil and gas industry, even like in the beginning of a pandemic the prices, the stock prices were in the tanks. and now with everything that's going on with ukraine we're certainly seeing a difference but again oil is always in the middle of -- not always but oil is again in the middle of chaos. and so that is something that we want to make certain we are paying attention to, and we want to make certain that we stay focused on the future of our children and oil and gas is very volatile it's up and down so i understand the question because it definitely is appropriate for right now, but what we have to do is make

certain that when we're investing taxpayer dollars that we're investing taxpayer dollars with the values of chicagoans, and certainly that's important to make certain that we provide a clean environment for the future of our children >> let me approach it this way -- madam treasurer i like that. natural gas at this point is the cleanest alternative to coal or other -- renewables aren't ready yet to power the grid and won't have any power around the world if it was just solar or just wind if natural gas is the cleanest alternative we have in terms of emissions and it can power the grid so people have heat and power and everything else and you need to produce natural gas as an energy company, so you do

need financing to be able to produce the natural gas which would bridge the transition to what you're hoping for in the future would you think does that make sense or do we need to keep producing a lot of natural gas to keep the lights on in this country? >> so no matter how -- how we look at it, i'm still going to go back to the point that i -- and i hear what you're saying. and that's why i think that these conversations are healthy. of course right now in the situation we're in we know that we do need natural gas there's no doubt about it, but certainly i think the steps chicago is making and thinking about chicago being the second largest municipality behind new york that has stood up to say that we are divesting from fossil fuel companies, if we don't do this, and when we stand up to say we're going to divest

from fossil fuel companies, what happens is that these companies acknowledge that, hey, we have to make a change and so if we do not do this, then we will not be able to initiate the change. and i think also moving away from fossil fuels is just smart. it's just smart investing. and so i think that this is absolutely necessary when we look at even in early 2020 there were reports of about or over 100 oil and gas companies declaring bankruptcy in north america, and so it's a very volatile industry. and we want to make certain that this industry understands and acknowledges the value of residents. and residents want a clear environment. and i believe that we can have both >> but in the meantime, between now and when we can go to more renewables, you're making this

statement chicago can't cut off the fossil fuel industry obviously. do you in the back of your mind know that's not going to happen and therefore chicago is able to make this kind of a symbolic move to try to force people to talk about these things, and you hope other people continue to finance the fossil fuel industries because we need that energy for the next ten years? or do you really wish we cut them off completely because people might not have any heat in their homes during the winter >> let me tell you it took me 18 months as treasurer for the city of chicago to divest in all the fossil fuel investments that we had. so that's certainly a process. it's not something that happens overnight. it took me 18 months so i believe with all the municipalities we started in the process in order to send the right message that we will not accept this climate crisis and that we are going to work to

make certain we protect the environment, the future environment of our children, i think this is absolutely necessary. over the past 18 months as treasurer i have divested $70 million in fossil fuels. that was necessary in order to send the message chicago is the third largest municipality in the country, second largest behind new york and so many other municipalities that stood up to say that they will divest from fossil fuels, so many others houston, phoenix, boston and many others even around the world have stood up to say that message. so chicago as of today in the chicago treasures office i have divested over the past 18 months in all fossil fuel companies, again, because it is the right thing to do, because it is smart investing and because it protects the future of our

children >> have you -- we know that you've divested. are there things you've invested in that you think will bridge us to where we're going to be in the future with renewables is it -- is wind something you've invested in or solar or hydrogen have you done any active thing that way instead of just divesting fossil fuels >> so our goal with the investments as treasurer is really maximize the returns with a close eye on the city's liquidity needs and the preservation of capital. and so we can best achieve those goals by constructing a diversified high quality liquid portfolio of fixed income securities so we obviously put a high degree of importance on pretrade fundamental analysis and part of that analysis is to incorporate an esg overlay sole we're selecting companies that are outperforming in areas

to the environment that's very important. and so certainly renewables would fall into that category. we also give strong consideration whose use of proceeds involve grains and sustainable projects >> how about some crypto throw in a little crypto 10%? you got any bitcoin yet, melissa, or no >> that is something we're certainly looking into it is a diversified portfolio, but as of now -- >> all right, well we appreciate having you on. i love the -- it is the second city but we do love it we do love the windy city. >> yes, we do. very healthy conversation. >> very welcome. city treasurer of chicago, thanks when we come back hacking charges against russian government officials this allegedly involves oil and gas firms, utilities and a

nuclear powerplant we will bring you all the details. "squawk box" will be right back.

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welcome back, everybody. we have news of an alleged hacking campaign by russians

against critical infrastructure. eamon javers joins us right now. what are the details >> good morning, becky the department of justice says they unsealed the indictments of four russian hackers as a warning to the u.s. energy sector of what the russians have been up to in recent years, but you can also see this as a warning to russian intelligence that the u.s. government knows far more than they they might think about exactly who has been carrying out this campaign there were two indictments yesterday charging a total of four russian hackers, one associated with the russian ministry of defense and three men associated with something called center 16, that's a hacking unit of the russian fsb russian intelligence agency. the hacking took place in 2012 and 2018 but the u.s. says the indictments show the kind of hacking groundwork president biden warned about this week in one dramatic instance the government says they compprised

the business business network but not the operating computers in kansas. in another case russian hackers allegedly hacked into a refinery causing a fault that led to two emergency shutdowns there. the u.s. says the russians had the injury, and economic harm. they also allegedly researched similar refineries inside the united states. now much of this was done with sophisticated malware programs some of the research here was surprisingly simple. in one case, the officials said the russians were able to determine which systems u.s. refineries were running by searching the employment postings and looking at the technical requirements for the new hires there. >> wow pretty stunning. by the way, this was all before we were really at serious odds with russia. thank you. i'm sure you'll be talking about it more later today. it's something we'll pay attention to we'll get down to the new york stock exchange and check in

with jim cramer. i'm not sure if you were listening to the interview with secretary yellen earlier, i was wondering if any points jumped out at you. >> i think on the natural gas thing, you know, we have to figure out how to become independent. it involves every aspect of our government i think she should captain it. i just think people don't understand there's going to be a lot of moving around a lot of international work to get the natural gas to them. she's incredibly savvy and knows her way around the world we don't really have anybody else in the government that can do it. so just a very smart person. and have to hope that this recognition you can get the stuff there. we cannot send it all -- we can't send it to asia and europe it has done quickly by 2024. i think there's possibility. it's going to be hard. >> the i agree with you. because we had so much time with the secretary, we're short on time today we'll be watching for you in a few minutes, jim

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welcome back just over 30 minutes until the opening bell

we're in the cash room of the treasury building in washington, d.c., after our interview with janet yellen, the treasury secretary here pe peter krouse is here great to see you this morning. >> sure is. >> i'm curious what you made of the treasury secretary's remarks in terms of inflation and in terms of our economy here in the united states. she seemed to have a very positive view of it; however, we clearly heard from others -- i'm thinking of karl eye can earlier this week that thinks we can go in a recession the dallas fed who thinks the global economy will have a tough time and imagines it spills over here where are you? >> i'm closer to yellen than karl or the dallas fed

in the united states we have strong employment. we have consistently higher earnings we see projected earnings for the first quarter for the s&p actually higher. it's hard to argue that we'll have a recession in the united states it's not hard to argue i think we should expect a gross slowdown in the u.s. and the market already priced it in. europe is a little bit trickier because the spike in energy for europe is higher and it'll probably last longer there again, it's probably not a recession. there's going to be substantial fiscal spending in europe that europe hasn't seen in many years. maybe a long time. you'll see spending on energy security, you'll see spending on cybersecurity, you'll see spending on defense. that's going to be stimulated. >> all right. >> i don't think we're going see a recession, andrew. >> but, peter, it sounds like you're suggesting it's baked into the cake. it's in the markets. does it suggest we have the

buying opportunity here? do you think there's additional costs that haven't been put into that baked cake, if you will by the way, one of the costs may be what larry fink has been talking about this week. if you believe globalization is either over or teetering, there's a lot of companies that do business and have supply chains in other countries that have to move them. that'll be an additional cost i don't think is in the numbers now. >> yeah, so your first question is the market ready to be bought the answer if i had a certain amount of money to put in the market today, i wouldn't commit at all there's a chance the market sees the lows and tests them one more time i don't think we're at the beginning of this. i think that the market is already reacted. as it relates to the globalization question, i think it's too early to tell that's a good question it's a good point that larry raises there are things that western economies can do for example, they could actually

combine together and create a free trade environment we've been debating free trade for over 10 years. we haven't done anything about it whether it could be a free trade deal between the united states and europe and the united states and asian democracies, which actually would accelerate trade. it might, in fact, continue to accelerate globalization trends. i don't think we know the answer to that question yet. >> to the extent there are viewers thinking to themselves, okay, peter is willing to commit some money now where do you commit the money? >> well, you know, i think, look, picking sectors and picking companies is obviously challenging. i would be buying broad indexes, quite frankly, if i didn't allocate money to an active manager. i would say, obviously, the manager has to figure it out but picking stocks is going to be challenging, if you're not in the markets all the time. >> what would you be buying? by the way, would you buy an energy index or commodity index

now or are you buying just the nasdaq because you think that the growth names that have come down there's opportunity there? you buying the russell >> i think the russell it's an interesting place to go. it was down 23% and it recovered somewhat i think the russell is a good place to go. i think the s&p is probably a good place to go yes, i think you can also argue that growth stocks have been beaten up. ( there's plenty that deserve to be beaten up by the index, you won't get the benefit of where the better growth stocks will go. >> i don't think you're buying a spak index we'll have to leave the conversation there. >> probably not, andrew. [ laughter ] >> i imagine looking forward to seeing you in person thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> thank you good to see his watch band it matches his tie final check on the markets

just up over 100 points now on the dow. interesting things happening across the spectrum. i thought that was interesting. >> it's an evolution we've seen it. >> yep. >> it's friday >> it is. >> this is the bitcoin room, you think? >> whoops. we'll know the elite eight at the end of the day make sure you join us next week. "squawk on the street" is up now. good friday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer david faber has the morning off. it could be the first back to back weekly gains of the year for the s&p. the president heads to poll land after striking the deal to supply the eu with natural gas energies and metals are lower. the treasury secretary speaking on cnbc a