it's 5:00 a.m. here at cnbc global headquarters. welcome to "worldwide exchange." here's your "five@5." futures are in the red to kickoff the final trading week of the year. the santa rally struggling to find its footing. officials in south korea are investigating a deadly plane crash involving a boeing jet. the latest on that probe. and trump weighs in with elon musk feuding with workers. and front and center for the fed in the new year. former vice chair roger ferguson

is here to weigh in. and the clock is ticking over the decision of the nippon and u.s. steel. we will talk to the member who is directly impacted and what a merger could mean for his town. it's monday, december 30th, 2024. you are watching "worldwide exchange" here on cnbc. good monday morning. thanks so much for being with us. i'm frank holland. before we get to the markets, we begin with the passing of former president jimmy carter. was 100 years old. the 39th president was surrounded by his family in his final moments. political leaders from around the world, including president biden and president-elect trump are paying tribute it's to carter. we will have more on carter and his life and legacy in a moment. for now, we begin the final trading week of 2024 with the look at u.s. stock futures after

the lower close on friday leaving questions if the santa claus is leading. the dow down 55 points. nasdaq down under 30 points. markets had a winning week last week. the nasdaq is best performer. a selloff on friday. you see the dip here. the s&p over .50%. the nasdaq is the best performer up .75%. back to the sell yol that s back to the sell yol that ellof putting the santa claus rally in jeopardy. you see right here, the market is basically flat during the santa claus period. a lot of people looking at the moves today to see if the santa claus narrative is in tact. we will talk more about this in the show. there is a probe in south korea involving a boeing yet. shares down 4.5%. meta down 3%.

palantir, one of the big winners of the year, down 2% in the pre-market. possibly profit taking. mohawk industries rounding out the list. in addition to profit taking, higher yields putting pressure on the markets. the bench mark ten-year easing back, but up 20 basis points from the fed cut on december 18th. we continue to watch the yields in the market. you can see right here, quarter to date, up 7% right here. pulling back a bit right here. quarter to date up 7%. again, one of the factors people believe putting pressure on the markets in recent weeks. for now, let's get a look at the action in europe. steve sedgwick, it is real guy oreally good to see you. >> i was worried i was the only one here between christmas and new year. i know you are alive and working as well. let's take a quick look at where

they have been trading. really diverse year for indices. the kospi has had a dreadful year. one of the worst years in the last decade. the nikkei lost 1%. nikkei had the best year of the last decade. the yen mains low and the central bank keeping rates low. giving back a little bit of money. 1% low neither er in the final f 2024. it has been a tough market for the london trade. 8 8,128. we have basic resources and oil companies as well and struggling to go higher. dax which is actually despite the concerns of germany we've spoken about on "worldwide exchange" as well.

it had a really good 2024. where they haven't had a good 2024 is in paris. 7,350. flat in the current session. the trevails on the political front. frank, back to you. >> steve sedgwick with the trevails. i like that word. have a good day. treasury yields on the ten-year is closing out this year about 75 basis points above where it started in january. that is with the fed delivering 100 basis points of rate cuts. joining me now is joanna gallegos. >> good morning. >> we have seen ups and downs in the bond market. we saw bond yields spike. still, relatively elevated. as we look at the bond market going into 2025, are bonds actually attractive right here or is the equity market or attractive? >> we think the bond market has

been overlooked for the last two years or significant opportunities across the board. with the backup in rates in the ten-year, it is telling you that we're back to the language, borrow from my friend, of higher for longer. that means that's a good thing for investors especially in fixed income markets. it means there are higher yields for investors and probably continued strength in corporate fundamentals to support, you know, these higher rates for longer. >> all right. there has been quite a bit of talk about the bond market especially with yields moving higher with fed cuts in september and in december. i want to ask you, we heard a lot of notable voices in fixed income say the belly of the bond curve is attractive. last time we heard from you, high yield corporates and triple c rated corporates are attractive. as we go into the new year, give

us a sense where you see the opportunities. >> we think backing yields, rates being higher for longer, and corporate fundamentals continued stronger and growth in the economy, we see two things. we should be buying credit. fundamentals are strong. high yield bonds and investment corporate debt. anything past the intermediate space in rates is really volatile. something in the long end, the ten-year or the 20-year. the 20-year space has been down 10% this year. it's had a lot of volatility over the last couple of years. we say stay away from the longer dated exposures and stay short in treasury and credit exposure. >> i want to go back to the high yield corporates. we showed the chart there. as we go into the new year with

the strength of the economy, would you continue to advocate for investors or putting their money in there with the idea i think a lower risk of default there. >> yup. it is our top pick the last two years. it is one of our top picks for 2025. the reason is there is much better quality in those higher yielding bonds. that's because these corporations and these issuers took the opportunity pre-pandemic to refinance their debt at lower rates and they had growth and they've been prudent about the way they've been managing their balance sheets over the last two years. there's a lot more quality in the high yield exposure and one of our top picks is going all the way out in xccc. we have seen it perform year after year with relatively non event defaults in terms of historical averages. the strength of the economy and

the corporate fundamentals and view on credit. we love that space. >> joanna, i have to ask you a few years back, alternative trade to equities. i'm looking at the s&p up 25% this year. if you put the money in the index fund, you get that return. why put your money in ccc rated debt? it is a 13% or 14% return. why wouldn't you lean in on the equity market with the rally we are seeing that most people think is going to continue into the new year? >> i think fixed income is an important part of anybody's portfolio and risk management. if you are doubling back into equity risk over and over and over again, you are not used to the risk you are putting into the portfolio for that return. on a risk adjusted return basis, you need to be considering some of of the spaces in fixed income spaces. in corporate space, it is a really good diversifier away

from the concentrated risk you are seeing in an index like the s&p 500. it's great to source that return, but you really should balance it out with other opportunities and now with rates being higher and they have been higher for the last three years and they will persist and continue. we want people to start looking at that. the other place to look at is non traditional fixed income assets like private credit where the yields and return opportunity has higher potential than public credit. we launched a product in that space a few weeks ago. this is giving investors access to areas of capital investment they haven't had unless they were a big institution or high net investor. there is a lot opening up in nixed nix fixed income. >> we have to go. there is actually a senate bill proposing an exam becoming credit investors and invest in

private credit and equity. if that bill passes, do you see a bigger boom with private equity and private credit? we have seen that boom over the last couple ears. >> i think professional managers have been doing it for a subset of investors and now that is opening up. that's really important. i think as more people interact with the kets and access the managers, like our product does, you will see more interest in the space. it is just important for everyone to have a full opportunity set and private assets are the full opportunity set. in that space, you would be surprised how important the component of the economy is employs over 48 million people. over 300,000 companies. >> joanna gallegos, thank you

very much. >> thank you. we are now turning ourselves back to the death of former president jimmy carter. the carter center confirming the passing of the 39th president of the u.s. who has been in hospice care since june of last year. carter had a unique story. he was a naval academy graduate and a peanut farmer who became president. nbc's lester holt looks back at the life and legacy of carter. >> my name is jimmy carter and i'm running for president. >> he went from being jimmy who to winning the white house itself. then struggled with crises overseas and troubled economy at home. a one-term president whose time as ex-president was the longest and among the most active in american history. james earl carter jr. he went by jimmy. was born in small town plains, georgia.

growing up on a farm without electricity or indoor plumbing. he an ttended the naval academy. married rosalynn smith, a friend of his sisters. >> the time of racial discrimination is over. >> a year later, he ran for the white house. >> i'd like to announce i'm a candidate for president. >> and won. a born again christian who promised voters i will never lie to you. >> i, jimmy carter. >> he scored historic achievements and leading successful peace talks with egypt and israel. closer to home when the economy tanked, so did carter's popularity. he seemed to blame americans themselves. >> the erosion of our confidence in the future. >> and it got worse. in iran, scores of americans were taken hostage and a grueling re-election battle. >> i'll bring new hope to

america. >> jimmy carter lost in a landslide. through it all, carter was sustained by his faith. >> you were faced with huge crises as president. did you drop down to your knees and pray? >> often. i prayed more per day while i was president than any other four years in my life. >> his defeat d a beginning. he established the carter center and advancing human rights and democracy. carter built houses for the poor and in 2002, was awarded the nobel peace prize. an extraordinary ex-president, proud of his years in the white house. >> kept the peace. we never went to war. we told the truth. never lied to the american people. never misled the american people. in general terms, i feel at perfectly at ease. >> he brought discipline and

devotion to everything he did. including his battle with cancer. >> i'm thankful and hopeful. >> despite the diagnosis, he continued building houses alongside rosalynn and marked their 75th wedding anniversary in 2021. rosalynn died two years later marking the longest presidential marriage in history. carter marked another milestone. his 100th birthday with the outpouring of life in service. he brought that devotion to everything he did for family and for country until the end. >> and president biden scheduled a state funeral for former jimmy carter on january 9th and declaring it a national day of mourning. former president jimmy carter was 100 years old. we have more to come here on "worldwide exchange," including

the one word every investor needs to know. focus pivot. the spector nvidia is turning its attention to as it faces increasing chip competition. later in the show, microsoft spending big to capitalize spend. steve kovach is looking at whether it is paying off. we have a very busy hour of "worldwide exchange" ahead. stay with us. and relentlessly work with you to make them real. ehh... hmm. oh, that's very, uh... - right? - mmm... this store doesn't have agentforce, so an ai agent didn't tip off the stylist

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exchange." time for the check of the corporate stories. bertha coombs is here. bertha, good to see you. >> reporter: good morning, frank. good to see you. south korea's acting president has ordered an emergency safety inspection of the entire airline system after the jeju airplane crash over the weekend which killed 179 people on board. the jet landed and skidded off the end of the runway at muan international airport heeruptin into a fire ball slamming into the wall. they will inspect all boeing aircraft operated by airliners in the country. back here in the u.s., president-elect trump weighing in on a feud among republicans over h-1b worker visas.

trump telling "the new york post" that he supports the program which allows employers to temporarily hire non-citizens for highly skilled jobs. trump allies, including elon musk, have argued that the h-1b visas benefit the country. the financial times is reporting that nvidia is turning its attention to robotics as it faces rising competition around a.i. chips. the ft says the company will launch the next version of compact computers for humanoid robots in the first half of next year. the paper adds nvidia is looking to become the top platform in a potential robotics boom. robotics, i don't think, frank. it feels the future is on the precipice here. >> the future is now, bertha. interesting how this is all going to play out. especially the a.i. story. it will disrupt things and

change things, we haven't seen it yet. maybe 2025 is the year. see you later on in the show. you will not be replaced by a.i. not in this show, bertha. >> thank you. coming up on "worldwide exchange," navigating the return of the trump white house. former vice chair roger ferguson is here to layout the curve balls that jay powell may present to the ctr bk wienalanth the policy proposals. much more coming up after this break.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." that includes microsoft which is one of the biggest cap ex spenders. steve kovach is here to breakdown the numbers. >> good morning, frank. microsoft is ending 2024spending $53 billion in capital expenditures. we don't have the final numbers in the current quarter. nearly all of that is for artificial intelligence. chips and data centers and land and so for the. it will not stop any time soon. microsoft is expecting $20 billion in the capital expenditures each quarter going into 025. the risk is the return on spend. microsoft doesn't know when the return is going to happen. satya nadella and cfo amy hood

said on earnings calls the a.i. demand is increasing and microsoft is going to meet that demand. microsoft has announced 20 investments or commitments of $20 billion or more at various locations around the world of infrastructure and classes. that includes locations, spain, india and london and various locations in the united states and many more. we don't have a clear view how well microsoft's suite of a.i. products are selling. microsoft said it is on track to generate $10 billion of a.i. related sales a year and that is nowhere close to what they are making up on cap ex. a lot of that is from the azure cloud business where a lot use the service. still no disclosures from microsoft on the rest of it. copilot pcs which launched out the a.i. feature.

microsoft said in may, it will sell 50 million copilot pcs. also, no clue how well cpilot for business is selling. i heard from a few ceos that 2025 is the year they assess whether or not copilot is worth the cost and if they want to put more money into it. then, there is, of course, openai. the big vestment from microsoft. it is pleading over to the biggest benefactor. microsoft expect the losses to shave a couple cents off eps in the final quarter. $1.5 billion. frank. >> just $1.5 billion. everything is relative in the world, steve. i want to ask about the b2b function than and the consumer side for microsoft? >> on the consumer side earlier

this year, they hired suleman, the ceo of a.i. reporting to satya nadella. right now, he is reliant on openai for the development and greatest a.i. features that will eventually make its way to a.i. products. he has his work cut out for them. >> good to he see you, steve. coming up, we will talk to one pennsylvania mayor and why he says he and other leaders are getting behind the nippon u.s. steel deal. and if you miss "worldwide exchange," check us out on spotify or apple or other podcast apps. we'll be right back after this break. ♪ whether your phone's broken or old, we've got you. with verizon, anyone can trade in any phone, any condition.

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some people did take a very preliminary step and start to incorporate highly conditional investments in the forecast at this meeting and said so in the meeting. some people said they didn't do so and some people didn't say whether they did or not. >> that was fed chairman jay powell earlier this month following the fed's latest policy meeting. powell talking about president-elect trump and how the central bank is navigating the incoming administration's likely policies and potential impact on the fed decision

making going into 2025. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm have former vice chair rog ferguson here and he will layout the tightrope with mr. trump's return to the white house. we begin the final week of 2024 after a lower close on friday which is leading to questions of the santa claus rally. you see futures are in the red. all three indices are down. s&p down 8 points. nasdaq off 16 points. the markets did have a winning week last week with the nasdaq as the best performer. dow up .13%. s&p up .25%. steep selloff on friday. that selloff that we're seeing here on the charts putting the santa claus rally in jeopardy. if you look at the moves since tuesday, that began the final

five trading days of this year and the first two of next year, the santa claus rally, is flat. we want to look at the biggest laggards on the nasdaq 100 in the pre-market. take a look. we see micro strategy. bitcoin play here. palantir also down 2%. last week, we saw a lot of pressure on palantir. a lot of people thought it was profit taking. this is the best performing stock this year. profit taking is one reason we are seeing declines in the markets. higher yields is putting pressure on the markets. take a look at the ten-year. the benchmark at 4.59%. rising 20 basis points since the cut on december 18th. we want to take a look at the dollar. on pace since the best quarter since 2015. also putting pressure. the dollar up 7% this quarter. best performance since q1 of 2025.

big upside moves for the dollar. that's the set up. let's turn our attention back to the markets and fed. stocks stumble in december denting a strong year in the markets. bob pisani has more on the trading year ahead. >> for stock investors, the handoff for 2025 is as good as it gets. there are significant headwinds. here is the good news, there is a strong economy. 3% gdp. second, record profits are expected for a second year in 2025 and not just from the tech sector. under valued sectors like healthcare and industrials are expected to see profits in high teens and not just profits up. profit margins are expected to remain at record 12%. corporate america is keeping the revenues they take in as profits. here are the tailwinds. there are four. first, the fed might make a

policy rror and cut backs with the job market risk. the trump administration are m&a friendly. those positives may be countered by tariffs that are too high and hurt growth. third, with tech prices near record highs, there is the potential for the collapse of the a.i. story as investors may revolt against endless rounds of spending. finally, there is the threat from the bond vigilantes and the possibility they could force interest rates higher. the bottom line, there's lots to be happy about, but lots to worry about in 2025. back to you, frank. >> turning to the federal reserve and a rocky year for jay powell in the new year. most officials are expecting two

cuts this year which is down from anticipated four. all of with the risk of inflation continues to drag on and the trump factor as highlighted in the wall street journal piece over the weekend. the tightrope powell and company must walk with the president-elect's policies and the potential it might reignite inflation. for more, let's bring in former vice chair roger ferguson. good to see you. >> good morning, frank. >> you have been in the rooms and what the fed is weighing for the future. the fed says it is data dependent. it has to be forward looking. if were you in this room, how would you look at the incoming policies of the administration especially when the next fed meeting is a week or so after the inauguration? >> a week after the inauguration is going to be much too early to start to bake in any formal view of the policy. what do we know right now? it is most likely that they will

continue to be, you know, tax cuts. i don't think they will manage to cut government revenue or expenses as much as they like. i think the policies are likely to be more toward deficit sending for sure which could feed into rapid growth, but it could also feed into greater inflation. very uncertain at's going to happen on tariffs. it's too early and too early to bake that in. the expectations of mass deportations, i think, are probably somewhat overdone. we have seen some changes around tone there when it comes to h-1b visas. i think the only thing to expect right now is wait and see and expectation with the higher inflation pressures because of the deficit spending likely to continue. >> roger, i heard people putting out this thesis, i guess you would say, that tariffs don't

cause inflation. scott bessent saying if you raise tariffs, people spend more money on that so tariffs don't start inflation. do you agree with that idea or thesis, whatever you want to call it? >> i hink it's very uncertain. tariffs will be a one-time increase in prices as bessent said for some sectors, then the follow on. will that lead to individuals demanding higher wages if the things they are consuming are going to go up in price? tariffs can hit goods, but not services. that is a deflationary area. it will be in the good sector. might give us ightly more inflation to the economy. the issue is how does the rest

of the world react and ratchet of tariffs around the world? i think tariffs are a bit of a wild card. too early to say it is not inflationary. too early to say it is not contractionary. it depends on second order effects and that has not played out just yet. >> on january 8th, we get the fed minutes and the jobs report which has a lot of weight on it. as we look ahead to that, what do you expect with the minutes and the jobs report especially if it comes in it line or better than expected with the job market showing strength? >> i think the minutes will show an i very close call at that last meeting. we saw at least one dissent. there is often one formal dissent and perhaps others uncertain or on the fence. i think it was a close call meeting. the question of what to do next

will be very much in abeyance. wait and see at the january meeting. they need greater clarity. right now, inflation has been sticky as chair powell said inflation department idn't keep down. labor market seems to be in good shape and the economy is growing at trend. just as you saw they expect fewer cuts next year, i think you will hear more of that out of the first meeting. wait and see. you will not move as quickly to reduce rates and inflation looks to move sideways and not trending down. very cautious message at the first meeting reflecting what we heard at the end of the year. >> so, a lot of questions going into the new year. roger ferguson, thank you very much. >> thanks. coming up on "worldwide exchange," the latest on the deadly south korean plane crash and the investigation including a focus on the boeing jet involved.

you see boeing down 4.5%. we will have mh ucmore on this story and much more in the markets coming up after this break.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." quick check of the futures. all three indices down fractionally. s&p moving lowest on the percentage basis. shares of apple as it moves to the $4 trillion market cap. shares pulling back a bit in the

pre-market. down .50%. ticking closer and closer to $4 trillion. again, we will continue to watch that throughout the day. coming up on "worldwide exchange," we have the one word that every investor has to hear today and the stock pick every investor need to know. making the case for nippon steel for u.s. steel. we talk to one on why he and calol leaders are backing the plan. we'll be right back. don't go anywhere. - right? - mmm... this store doesn't have agentforce, so an ai agent didn't tip off the stylist as to what i might actually wear. - yes. - oh. that's a commitment. [glass knocked] hey bud! whaddaya think? you know, people can see you out here. ha ha ha ha, yeah, yeah, right, right, ha ha. love you, too. agentforce helps retailers prevent fashion fails. it's what ai was meant to be. ♪♪

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." the clock is ticking for president biden and the decision for nippon steel's bid for u.s. steel. a group of mayors and other local leaders where u.s. steel has production and facilities are calling on the president who indicated his opposition to now back this deal. that includes our next guest. marcus adams, mayor of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. mayor, thank you for joining us. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> i'm looking here. you and 20 other local leaders wrote a letter to the president and you want him now to back the deal. why is this deal so important to your town and other towns in the area? >> well, the first reason is you are looking at an area that is already economically distressed. when you remove the final

bullwork from that area, you will have total collapse. what -- >> mr. mayor, you seem to get a bit emotional about this. >> no, no, no. it is, you know, there's a serious problem here. you know, u.s. steel -- >> can we get into the numbers for a second? you are worried about it leading to deterioration of the local economy. it sounds like your city and other cities in that area. i actually went to school in pittsburgh. i don't know if they told you that. i'm familiar with the pittsburgh area. it hasn't been a steel town in decades. diversified in healthcare and tech with carnegie melon and other things. what is this a lynchpin to? >> involvement in the community

is what really matters. u.s. steel has been doing amazing things with the community and you are right that there has been some movement toward high tech, but this region has -- has basically been where we are from the very beginning. what i mean by that is we have been producing steel for so long that whenever the '70s came around and we lost the industry for the most part we became that rustbelt. we just never really progressed from that point. >> okay. >> u.s. steel is a household name. >> of course. >> there was -- i'm sorry. >> no, no. i interest rupted you. i want to ask one ther question

and we have to get going after this. according to the letter, you think nippon steel is going to bring growth to the area. what are the issues you want the president to consider? >> if you look at the numbers, in 2023, u.s. steel has supported 11,417 jobs, okay? there was $138.2 million in local, state tax revenue. with the acquisition, that number will probably increase. or those numbers will robably, more than likely increase. >> all right. markus adam, mayor of pittsburgh. thank you for being here. i know it is important for you and your town. thank you for your insight. i would be remiss if i didn't

mention, university of pittsburgh has great tech programs. upmc. i had to mention that. that's my alma mater. i didn't want to get the calls and tweets. mayor, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up on "worldwide exchange," the 2024 sector laggard that kari firestone says is big for the new year. we will reveal the mystery chart coming up after this break. keep us going. the places we cheer. trust. hang out. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. powering more businesses than anyone. powering possibilities.

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welcome back. as we close in on the 6:00 a.m., we are tracking the stories of the morning. the south korean president ordering a safety inspection of the airline system after the plane crash that killed 179 people on board. shares of boeing which made the jet- involved are under pressur down 4% right now. south korean officials will conduct a special inspection of all 737 aircraft operating in that country. president-elect trump supports h-1b worker visas. elon musk argued that vice sas benefit the country. the financial times on reporting that nvidia is turning to robotics as it faces rising competition with chips. the company will launch compact

computers in the first half of next year. at&t and verizon reveal they were targeted by a chinese espionage invasion. they are working with law enforcement and government officials on the matter. wall street is just about to put 2024 to bed with just two trading days to bed. the s&p and dow on pace for a winning year. let's bring in kari firestone, executive chairman at aureus asset management. >> nice to see you, frank. >> are you concerned about the clause santa claus rally and it not actually happening and what it could mean for 2025? >> we had quite a rally already in 2024. this has been a very strong quarter. let's look at the numbers. 26% up in 2023. the market is up 25.5% in 2024.

i call that a lot of rally and plenty of gifts from santa claus so far. >> all right. i'll keep that in mind. you think santa already delivered. we don't need the rally. what's your word of the day? how do you see today shaping up? >> i give you the word ceiling. i think ceiling is a critical, critical word for this time of year and into next year. let's talk about the debt ceiling. the spending. a lot of people want to keep a ceiling on spending. we've got, perhaps, a ceiling on valuations. we've had a lot of increase in price as we talked about. who knows if that ceiling can go higher on price earnings multiples or ceiling to valuation. that is something we really need to keep in mind going into 2025. >> so, i want to ask you about that. s&p is trading 22 times forward earnings. is that an area of resistance

for the market stopping it from going higher? what is the ceiling with valuations? >> i think there is something to that point. there have been two times in recent history or any history where the multiple has gone higher than 22 times. once is covid. at the depths of covid. we didn't know. the multiple was extremely high. you discount that. then think about what happened in 1999 and the beginning of 2020. the dot-com bubble. that multiple was 26 times. there was a lot of speculation going on in the market. 22 is a big number. it implies we need a lot of growth for this year. first quarter growth is going to be 8% to 9% earnings growth. for the full year, we're talking about mid teens to higher teens. you know, numbers come down through the year and i think that we need to see a little bit more of the reality of what

we've got in the first quarter for the market to believe that we can continue to sustain a number, a multiple number in the 20s. it is not to say earnings aren't growing. they are growing. we have a gdp that is positive and a set up that is good into 2025 with lower expectations and business friendly environment. a lot of that is in the business of stocks. >> kari, what is your pick for us today and why? >> i would say it's controversial. i can't say mag seven. that would be ridiculous. everybody is saying t. i want to give you healthcare. this is an under performing group. this is the worst sector in 2024 and one of the worst in 2023. if you look at the multiples of the big cap names. merck, bristol myers or pfizer. bio-tech, side, it is amgen and

biogen. the terrible stocks the last couple of years. on the device side, thermofisher and abbott. these companies are struggling. we own thermo and abbott. you can really think that over the next year, if you are looking for a group that can sustain cash flow and has innovations and unrecognized is worried and really worried because what might happen with the next administration. healthcare is an interesting sector just like financials when nobody thought anything positive would happen and the silicon valley bank or energy in 2021 when everybody thought the price of oil was going to be zero for years for some reason. that wasn't going to happen. it won't happen here. >> kari firestone, the pick is the healthcare sector. we will have to wait and see in

2025. thank you. great to see you. >> nice to see you. happy new year, frank. >> happy new year and happy hanukkah. i have been watching those in the red across the board. right now, you are seeing the s&p down 8 points. dow down 40 points. nasdaq down almost 20 points. that will do it for us on "worldwide exchange." "squawk box" starts right now. good morning. stock futures just slightly lower ahead of the final two trading sessions of 2024. santa claus is coming. he is taking his time. we will show you where it's moving now. officials in south korea are investigating a deadly plane crash involving a boeing jet. the latest just ahead had. and the world is remembering the life and legacy of former president jimmy carter who died yesterday at the age of 100. it is monday, december 30th,

2024 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andrew is off today. let's take a look at what's happening the last couple days of the trading year. the dow futures are off 43 points. s&p futures down 8. the nasdaq down by 20. of course, we did have the dow break a five-day winning streak last week. the s&p 500 and nasdaq are now on back-to-back losses for this, but the s&p is still on pace for its best year since 2021 at this point. let's look at what is happening with the treasury market. there are a lot of questions there as yields continue to rise. right now, it looks like the