it's 5:00 a.m. here at cnbc global headquarters. welcome to "worldwide exchange." here's your "five@5." stocks riding the longest daily losing streak in months. a sector shakeup showing a sign of things to come. why investors should be paying attention. shares of u.s. steel are plunging on reports that president biden has made a decision on the proposed $15 billion takeover by nippon. nearly one year since the

boeing door plug blowout. it's friday, january 3rd, 2025. you are watching "worldwide exchange" here on cnbc. good morning. happy friday. thank you for being with us. i'm frank holland. we begin with the look at u.s. stock futures. s&p, nasdaq and dow. take a look at futures. the s&p is up .13%. the dow up .13%. 140 points. the nasdaq up about .50%. we want to look at the s&p 500 pre-market gainers. look here. the stock we see at the top of the list. cooper co and followed by las vegas sands. a gaming company. constellation energy. and the shift in leadership.

you see the best performer after a laggard in 2024. you are seeing the moves right here week to date. we have three sectors in correction territory. materials, healthcare and energy and real estate. yields have been steady, but they still held above 4.5% which is one factor putting pressure on the market. take a look. the benchmark at 4.55. down five basis points from levels we saw last week. different story with the 30-year. it held 4.75 to 4.77. touching 4. the last few days. bond yields on the long end of the curve. the dollar in particular is continuing to strengthen and hitting a two-year high. pulling back right now, but week to date, almost up 1%. these are big upside moves. the greenback up about 1% week to date. pulling back a bit right now.

we want to look at oil starting the year rising on hopes of economic growth all around president world. take a look. pulling back right now. wti pulling back .50%. above the key sentiment level of $70 a barrel. similar story for brent crude. pulling back right now. well above the sentiment level of $75 a barrel. trading above $75.50 a barrel. we want to look at gold and crypto this morning. i'll remove these circles, of course. we are seeing gold pretty much from the and moving ctionally higher right now. back above $95,000. still below the all-time high of $107,000. that say set is your set up. let's get to london and silvia amaro with the action in europe.

happy friday. >> happy friday. european equities started the year on a positive note. we had the benchmark stoxx 600 up .60% on thursday. that's changing. let me show you what i'm talking about. looking at the major bourses across european continent, we are red at the moment. there are several reasons behind this, but one of them is the fact that investors have been digesting weak economic activity out of china and, of course, that could have ramifications for european companies, too. let me show you how the different sectors are trading at the moment so you get a better idea of what is the corporate dynamic at the moment. at the top, we have financial services. we're up .70%. oil and gas is also up .60%. oil and gas was actually the best performing sector on thursday and that positive sentiment continues today. i want to focus on the worst performing sectors because that's where the most important

market narrative is at the moment. look at it. we have autos down by more than 1%. basic resources also down similar levels and that shows, frank, clearly, that those chinese concerns that are having ramifications on european bourses today. let's see what will happen. perhaps, we will not see that positive performance that we witnessed at the start of the year continuing today. we'll see. >> silvia, thank you very much. silvia amaro live in london. we stick with the overseas action. these are pictures from seoul, south korea. officials are halting to impeach president yoon after the standoff at his residence. a move coming one month after yoon shocked country by declaring martial law only to lift it six hours later. it is unclear if they will make another attempt over the weekend. we will have more on this story

throughout the hour. again, a live look at seoul, south korea right now. time for the check of the top corporate stories, including a long awaited decision from the white house. pippa stevens is here with that. >> good morning, frank. u.s. steel shares sinking after president biden blocked the $15 billion takeover deal by nippon steel. the president opting to kill the deal despite warns it could damage the u.s. relation was japan. should the administration try and block their merger attempt. an official announcement could come as soon as today. meta platforms is shaking up the policy team days ahead of donald trump's inauguration. the company says nick clegg, a former british deputy prime minister and global head of policy since 2018 will be

stepping down and replaced by former staffer joel kaplan. kaplan served under george w. bush and appeared with vice president-elect vance in december. and more issues on the hack attack. the chinese sponsored hackers were able to access classified documents on servers and drafts and notes and communications. the agency is assessing what was taken. notes that hackers did not access the email system or classified systems. frank. >> thank you, pope ippa. turning back to the markets. the dollar close to a two-year high. let's now bring in doug bonaparth. he is a member of the council. good morning. happy new year.

>> good morning. happy new year. >> the s&p down 3% over the last month. in your mind, is this a viable dip? should investors be loading up on stocks down on a sign of trouble in the new year? >> i think we are seeing volatility here. 3% dip. not screaming buy. you should buy. i think we're in urgatory with the market. >> i remember a couple of years ago with the t.i.n.a. trade. remember the money in the money markets? $6.85 trillion. everybody said that will come out. that is a tailwind for the market. it has grown over last year despite the rally. in your mind, is ying in bonds and money market because of the volatility? >> for long-term investors, no. you will be begging for today's prices 10 or 20 years from now.

whether it is a home or stock market. >> if you are a long-term investor, don't you need to make short-term moves and changes to the portfolio? you have a 30-year horizon. don't you want to get out of sectors that are showing weakness and put money back in later? >> at the very least, re-balance at the front of the year. you baked in risk from the out performance of equities from '23 and '24. you are heavy on the equities with the fixed income positions or other years that lagged mag seven or large caps of the world. >> speaking of the mag seven, are the mag sevens growth stocks? is that the a.i. narrative that could push it higher? i want to look at the mag seven the last month. that's when we started to see the weakness in the market. the mag seven is up 3%. the market is down 3%. what are the mag seven in your mind? are you worried about

overconcentration? they continue to work? >> they do continue to work. whether they are defensive, i chuckle a little bit. stay with that stability in earnings and dominance in the market. you don't have to go back too far in time to 2022 to see what happened to technology and mag seven stocks overall. i still view them as growth if you are doing the a.i. play, you are speaking to growth. they are strong. no doubt about that. >> i know you are always talking about the long-term investor. i want to ask about the change of leadership. energy being a leader. consumer discretionary was the laggard. should you maybe allocate toward energy? do you see a rebound in energy and oil prices rising as well? should you put money in healthcare after the tough year last year? is now the time to put money in the laggards or just keep riding the wave? >> i view no issues with having a slice of your portfolio in

sectors that you feel strongly. >> how big of a slice? >> up to 5% or 10%. >> small slice. >> we are not talking about the large allocations. that 5% allocation to see if you're thinking is right. it's not a bad idea. we are broad based investors. >> that 5% you are talking about, healthcare or energy or small caps that are almost in correction right now? where would you put it in hopes of a rebound in 2025? >> that's a good question. i come on here and like digital assets. i think there is an opportunity here. if you do see rising oil prices, you will see appreciation in the energy sector. >> doug boneparth, thank you very much. and coming up, the best from stephanie link still ahead. and sunday marks one year since the alaska airlines

incident that resulted in a costly year for boeing and its shareholders. 12 months later, we get the analyst take on the stock and the company. a very busy hour of "worldwide exchange" ahead. stay with us. is a bitcoin etf the same as owning bitcoin directly? while bitcoin etfs might offer a familiar face, they lack the true ownership and flexibility of directly investing in bitcoin. with itrustcapital you can buy and sell real bitcoin 24/ 7 with the tax advantages of an ira. real bitcoin means no middleman, no restricted stock market hours. choose the path of direct bitcoin investment

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is that love island? welcome back to "worldwide exchange." time for the big money movers. three big stock stories of the morning. carvana are down in the pre-market after closing 2% lower yesterday.

this is after short seller hin denburg research said turn around is a mirage. carvana shares down 4%. we are watching shares of tesla trying to rebound after closing down 6% yesterday shedding $70 billion in market value. the move yesterday coming offer the company reported the first annual drop in deliveries. up 1.5% today. warren buffett's berkshire hathaway out performing the s&p 500 and posting the ninth positive year in a row. it saw class-a shares top $700,000 ever as it halted the buyback program and rely on investment income from auto insurance giant geico.

shares are higher right now. turning to the developing story and latest in the investigation into wednesday's new orleans truck attack and las vegas cyber truck explosion. we go to frances rivera in new york. >> frank, good morning. the fbi saying the suspect in the deadly new orleans attack acted alone. investigators believe 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar is solely responsible for the new year's day attack that left 14 people dead. jabbar was also seen on surveillance video placing devices in coolers near the attack. and officials found bomb making materials in the home in houston according to the law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. the fbi reported no definitive link with the new orleans attack and the explosion of the cyber truck in las vegas. authorities have identified the suspect in that suspected driver in that case inside the vehicle

with the military i.d. of matthew livelsberger. army officials say he served as a green beret and based in germany, but on approved leave. authorities are waiting on dna confirmation, but tattoos point to the 37-year-old being their suspect. according to the coroner, the suspect sustained a gunshot wound to the head before the detonation. officials tracked livelsberger route from las vegas to colorado via charging stations. the motive in this case is still unknown. frank. >> frances rivera, live in new york. coming up on "worldwide exchange," the d.c. and wall street connection and what happens on capitol hl iltoday could have huge ramifications for your money. stay with us. meets bold new thinking. to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real.

icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." natural gas heating on both sides of the atlantic. european benchmark ttf gas is at the highest level in just about a year. it is not just winter weather settling in. we have pippa stevens with us. natural gas is the most volatile area of the market. this is upside. >> known as the widowmaker's trade. we saw crossing the wire for the first time since 2023.

there are three primary reasons for that. the first is that it has been a colder start to winter compared to last year which was be abnormally warm. the next is the dunkelflaute. a higher number of days like that meaning renewables which europe had a lot of aren't performing at capacity. finally, a transit agreement that saw gas flow from russia to ukraine and us a and slovakia has ended. as the world's largest lng exporter, the u.s. is filling some of that gap supplying nearly half of europe's lng last year. europe is very reliant on energy flows to help refill storage over 2025.

meaning that strong competition with asian markets and prices benefit the fee u.s. producers. >> a lot of upside moves. how much more supply does the u.s. have to send to europe and other places that need natural gas? >> right now, we are maxed out. it takes a long time to get a terminal up in running. by the end of 2028, we could double our export capacity. it has been a markable transformation. in 2016, we exported for the first time in louisiana. now we are the largest exporter surpassing australia and qatar. the world is looking to the u.s. to meet that demand. we supply almost half of europe's lng last year. as they look to move away from russian gas, the u.s. is stepping up. >> volatile area of the market.

pippa, thank you. still on deck, hours long standoff and failure to arrest former president yoon over martial law declared a month ago. we'll have more on that story. if you haven't aealrdy, follow our podcast on apple, spotify or other podcast apps. much more coming right right after this. morgan stanley can help create the future only you can see. [crowd cheers] [music out]

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i was in constant contact with president trump without the process. i spoke with him recently 45 minutes ago. he knew what we were doing and why and this is a good outcome for the country. elon musk and i talked about an hour ago and we talked about the extraordinary challenges of this job. i said you want to be speaker of the house? >> that was mike johnson two weeks ago on the heels of the 11th hour deal to avoid another government shutdown and what could have been his last major play as speaker of the house. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm frank holland. happy from you.iday. coming up, we will show you what matters to wall street and your wallet. we look at the s&p and dow and nasdaq all starting low on the year. take a look at futures. a rebound in the pre-market.

s&p up 16 points. the dow up over 100 points. up around .13%. nasdaq is 80 points or .50%. we look at some of the biggest gainers s s s in the pre-mark. constellation energy and astrazeneca and applied materials up. we are seeing a shift when it comes to leadership. energy, the best performer after a laggard back in 2024, i know it is not that, just a few days ago. on the other side, consumer discretionary. you see down almost 4%. energy up almost 2.5%. we also have three sectors that remain in correction territory. materials, healthcare and energy and real estate. actually four. yields held steady over recent

days, but at 4.5% which is putting pressure the market. the ten-year holding steady at 4.55. pulling back in recent days, but still above 4.5%. different story with long bond. this has held steady at 4.75. evercore saying higher yields on the long end of the curve is the biggest threat to the cyclical bull market. we will talk with our guest. look at the moves on the dollar. pulling back a bit. you can see here week to date up 1%. that is a big upside move for currency. we want to look at energy. oil in particular, starting on hopes of economic growth. we start with wti. i'll remove the circle, of course, pulling back a bit. above $70 a barrel. almost $73 a barrel.

that is a key sentiment for crude oil. another key sentiment level trading at $75.75 a barrel. pulling back .25% right now. we want to look at gold and cryptocurrency. bitcoin. gold moving higher right now. still right at a two-year high. bitcoin is pulling back down 1%. remember, cryptocurrency trade around the clock. back above $95,000. trading at $96,445 right now. that is your setup. we are shifting gears and keeping a close eye on u.s. steel. sinking on records that president biden blocks the nippon steel $15 billion takeover. shares down over 8.5%. according to reports, the president is opting to kill the deal over a warning.

nippon and u.s. steel have threatened to take action should the merger attempt be blocked. an official announcement could come today. shares are down 8.5%. congress convening the first session on capitol hill. the first key issue is filling the speaker of the house. it is anything but guaranteed. we have emily wilkins with more. emily, good morning. good to see you. >> good morning, frank. we are about to find out if the gop trifecta is starting with unity or chaos. if all members are present today, it will only take two republicans voting for a candidate other than johnson to deny him the gavel. johnson is projecting confidence. he struck a really optimistic tone when he left that meeting. >> people are talking through process and change if they want.

i'm open to that. i think tomorrow will go well. >> now there are about a dozen undecided members. many who want to see federal spending cut and debt shrunk. one member who met with johnson said he would not think we would have a speaker by the end of today, but he said johnson was in listening mode. >> i'm happy with the way most people would say the same thing. are we there yet on everything? no, but we'll tell you. >> johnson is set to meet with some of the holdout members this morning in hopes of getting them to yes before the new session at noon. a number of members did hold up kevin mccarthy's speakership to 15 rounds, those who hold up this time, will hold up the agenda. including donald trump as the

winner of the 2024 election and border security. frank. >> a lot on the line today. what's the order of events? how do we see thing playing out? >> around noon, we will see them gavel in for the new congress. we will do a call and that will be key. johnson will need to win a majority of anyone who votes for a candidate. obviously, if you vote present, that will change a little bit of what we will see math wise. this is a long process, but transparent process. they will call on every single member one by one. all 434 of them by name. that person will stand up and say who they will vote for. we will have a very clear sense, probably around 2:30 if johnson has the votes. if he doesn't, who are the people opposing. >> emily wilkins, thank you very much. joining me now to connect the dots with washington and wall

street is steven wieting at citi wealth. good morning. >> good morning, frank. >> all this political tension in d.c. and questions of the speaker and election certified, does that matter to investors? >> look, i do think that investors will really care if this is an indicator of whether the republican majority will work together to get things done or fight amongst themselves. that will be useful. i'm not going to argue if stocks rise or fall today. as we look deeper into 2025, this is just going to be one of the indicators and obviously the process last year showed that there could be a long and arduous process. it doesn't mean that much over a short period of time. once you get through this and deeper into 2025, all sorts of issues will arise. in the second quarter of the year, the republican majority

will deal with their own increase in the debt ceiling. so, these are the types of issues that markets will care about and really assess the functioning of the new congress. >> it sounds like this could impact sentiment. leaning on that threat of impacting sentiment. president-elect trump backed johnson to be house speaker. the big rout earlier was president trump would have support in d.c. and support in congress and support in the senate. if johnson doesn't become the speaker or if this is a prolong process, does that change sentiment when he takes office and he will have a lot of support with congress? does that change the narrative and what sectors people invest in like small caps? >> there are a lot of issues on the personnel issues, but, clearly we have a different outcome than the potential we saw in the pre-election period. there have been big reactions

and profit taking on various reactions. we would still think that a deregulation beneficiary and there's going to be a flurry of activity with the executive orders. the ability to build natural gas pipelines and natural gas exports. simply not increasing the burden and the financial system again. these are the things that will happen anyway. it will not change the direction of u.s. growth. we have seen a change of business sentiment. there is great tariff uncertainty. of course, the scope of headlines for tariffs is a lot bigger than we think reality will be. >> let me interrupt you. you are trying to be a rational voice. i think over last few years, we see d.c. isn't necessarily rational. i want to ask another factor that isn't an issue right now,

but may come up. the credit rating of the united states. fitch downgraded the u.s. credit rating, here is the rationale. the growing debt burden which remains the same and erosion of governance which manifested in repeat standoffs and last-minute resolutions. that is a similar picture to right now in d.c. should we be concerned with the downgrade of the credit rating or the bond yields? >> there are many roads to higher and lower interest rates. the federal reserve easing monetary policy, making it more accommodative to higher inflation is the way you get a steeper yield curve. not a credit risk premium situation for the united states. we have a lower budget deficit we did during the pandemic period. i think we learned a lot from

the pandemic period that the economy is not limitless. you can see plenty of other stories in the world where this is not the primary driver of bond yields. japan doubled its debt relatived to gdp compared to the united states than we borrowed the last 40 years. there's been a lot of concern about this thing. it has been intermittent. look, the risk of not increasing the debt ceiling at some limit can be awarded in triple in markets. i think we learned a lot from the prior decade and see the political process as ugly as it seems at times really isn't the major problem. >> i want to finish on the markets, steven. you are bullish on small caps. we will show a chart. rates and small caps they move inversely. i don't seem to be worried about the rise in bond yields. it has been elevated above 4.5%.

they seem sticky above that legal. the trump policies could be inflationary. look at the rise in bond yields. doesn't that make you concerned about the small cap trade? doesn't that seem to be unwound with the fed signaling fewer cuts? >> oh, sure. first of all, we want to be careful and discriminating about small caps. you look at small cap growth companies that are already profitable, they are trading below the long term valuation. the complete contrast to large caps. these are not leverage companies that constitute or profitable companies in the russell 2000. look at the s&p indices and look at growth companies. these may be lower beta companies, but we think they are under valued. the final point is why interest rates will rise. we are expecting unexpected

economic growth barring shocks through 2026. the steepening of the ield curve is driven for profits by smaller and midcap companies. >> steven, thank you very much. have a great day. on deck here on "worldwide exchange," no meme madness here. one shop is looking in fundamentals in the chewy call sheet. more coming up after this. which is not that. what's up, my brother? oh, hey, bud! we really needed this rain. right? [car splashing rain water] agentforce helps restaurants prevent dining disasters. paddle on over! it's what ai was meant to be. we got you, brother.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." time for the morning call sheet. jeffries is raising the will have lvs to a buy. wolfe is upgrading chewy to out perform. views valuation at 17 times ebitda. raymond james upgrading block to outperform. the valuation is attractive despite the stock's recent run of 30% over the last three months. time for the global briefing. south korea officials halting the effort to arrest impeached president yoon at his residence after law enforcement officials went to the home to serve an arrest warrant which is valid until monday. here is a live picture outside the president's residence in

seoul. the move coming one month after yoon shocked the country by declaring martial law only to lift it six hours later. it is unclear if officials will make another attempt over the weekend. and the mainland index closing out the worst week since 2022. bonds hitting record lows. this after the central bank is looking to cut the key interest rate at the appropriate time this year. including smartphone subsidy. china is ramping up a months long tit-for-tat trade with the united states. eunice yoon is joining us with more on that story. good morning, eunice. >> reporter: frank, it looks like china will keep ev in house. it is revising the export

controls to include technology important to the production of ev batteries. this includes lithium and gallium extraction. the regulations, we don't know when they will come into effect, but the public commentary period ends on february 1st. the back drop is china is the world's largest producer of the ev batteries. the suppliers with the nio and xpeng. the battery supply chain is dominated by these chinese players and, of course, people see the move as the one for the chinese to maintain that edge. the big question, frank, has been what does this really mean for chinese suppliers that are looking to invest in other countries such as the united states? catl is a partner for tesla and

gosha is looking to expand beyond michigan. >> eunice yoon live in beijing. eunice, thank you very much. coming up on "worldwide exchange," sunday marks one year since the door plug incident that resulted in a costly year for boeing and shareholders. up next, what, if anything, can fuel a turn around for the company and stock. we're back after this. stay with us.

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exchange." sunday marks one year since the blowout of the door panel on the alaska airlines jet. a long list of issues there. boeing stock up 25% since the end of the strike back in november, but the worst performer in the dow down 22%. joining me is the president of the falcon group and ceo of pan am and aloha airlines. david. >> happy new year, we hope. we hope it's good for boeing. >> i'm glad you are starting the year glass half full, david. >> i'm an airline guy. that's the only way. >> you have to keep it steady. you have to keep the plane steady. on a serious note, david, one year since the door plug

blowout. in your mind, you led other airlines. have you seen clear since of a turn around here? >> too soon. way too soon. it's like trying to steal an oil tanker. it takes a long time to do. i think they brought in the right guy. they furloughed and did too much cost cutting. they changed the strategies. people know this the last 10 or 15 years with mcdonnell douglas. now this new guy coming in as a good record with united technologies and rockwell collins. his name i'm just checking here. >> kelly ortberg. >> i don't know him personally. i studied is background. he's a walk around engineer. he will be down on the floor talking to people and motivated people and reorganizing

management. it will take a long time. do not expect a fix tomorrow morning. >> you are talking about the company. as a former ceo, you had to deal with the board and investors. look at the stock. $440 was the all-time high. now trading at 171. it bounced 125% what seemed to be off the low of the strike. rising 25% since the strike. what do you think investors need to see to have more confidence in this company? >> well, the order book is what? 19,000 airplanes backlogged between them and airbus. in terms of production itself and demand, the old supply and demand, the demand is very strong for the product regardless of all of these incidents. the issue is going to be getting the leadership focused on quality which will give investors confidence for the long term. this is not a short-term stock play in my opinion.

it's a long-term play. boeing's going to be around. they will turn around. their numbers will get better. they have to improve their cash flow, but their order book is terrific. they still have in the industry a good reputation. >> david, can i ask you, do you own any boeing stock? >> no, i don't. i did at one time. outside looking in. >> a long-term investor story right now. you still believe it's a solid company? >> yes. i'm prejudice. i've always been a boeing guy. i have had a lot of boeing airplanes in my day. i know a lot about the company and its possibilities. >> david, we have to leave the conversation there. you keep the sunny outlook for 2025. >> yes. sun's on my shoulder. thank you. coming up on "worldwide exchange," why the wd orof date for stephanie link is strategy. we'll be right back after this break.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." as we close in on 6:00, a few of the stories we are watching this morning. u.s. steel are down more than 8.5% on reports that president biden decided to block nippon steel's proposed $15 billion takeover. the official announcement could

come as soon as today. meta platforms shaking up the policy team naming former staffer and vice president of policy joel kaplan as head of policy. shares of carvana are lower in the pre-market after closing down 2% yesterday. this is after short seller hindeenburg research shorts carvana. shares of tesla rebounding after riding a five-session losing streak. rebounding in the pre-market up almost 1%. stocks off to a gloomy start in 2025 with the s&p extending the losing streak to five straight sessions. don't look at the rest of the year based on the first trading day of 2025. historically, the s&p lost ground of the first day of trading in the last two years to post gains of 20% overall.

joining me now is stephanie link at hightower and cnbc contributor. steph, happy new year. good morning. >> happy new year. good morning. >> what do you think of the historical stat? s&p trading lower. do you see that happening again this year considering the slide we had going into the new year? s&p down 3% over the last month. >> well, i think, frank, the set up for 2025 is little more challenging because this year we're going to have less stimulus from the fiscal side of the equation. we're going to still have trump's pro-growth policies, but if you add it all up, you will not see 3% to 3.5% gdp growth which is what we saw last year and the year before which led to higher earnings and, therefore, the 20% gains on the market. i still think you will see mid single digits and maybe upper single digit earnings growth and that's good enough for the

markets, but is it good enough for 20% gains? i'm not so sure. >> let's talk about tech a bit. i'll use it as a way to look at the weakness going into the new year. mag seven up 3%. the s&p down 3%. in your mind, despite the concentration, would you just stick with the mag seven mega cap trade or would you believe the story would unfold in the new year? >> i don't believe it has to be one or the other, frank. i'm not entirely convinced the mag seven will lead us into 2025. they had a nice run. i think the reason they did so weapon well in december was people were chasing for performance and chasing for winners and those were the winners year to date. amazon is my largest position, but my only mag seven. there are other places that are attractive like accenture and

ibm. there are plenty of places to choose from in tech. you want to look at the laggards. energy. that's tremendous, right? healthcare. i know that's really out of favor. i like lilly down 18%. i combined a lot of different names. this may be more of a stock pickers market. >> we are seeing the change in leadership. energy is the best performing sector in the last week. i want to get to your pick today. what is your pick and why? >> my pick for today is the gap in consumer discretionary. the gap, this is the ultimate turn around story, led by richard dixon. richard dixon was at mattel and fixed barbie when barbie was broken. he has been there a year and a half at the gap. he has put in new leadership at old navy and athleta.

that led to better than expected results. we had four straight quarters now of total revenue growth. they had seven quarters of market share growth on a trailing month basis. up 4.50 basis points. good stuff. >> stephanie link, thank you very much. your pick today is the gap. that will do it for "worldwide exchange." "squawk box" begins right now. good morning. reports say president biden has decided now to block the acquisition of u.s. steel by japan's nippon steel. an announcement could come as soon as today. big drama in washington. the new house of representatives set to vote on a speaker in a couple of hours. we will have the latest from the capitol. later, far, far away, on other side of the world, a standoff in south korea. authorities trade and failed to arrest impeached president yoon.

they were blocked by his secret service body guards from arresting him. it's friday, january 3rd now, 2025 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ good morning everybody, welcome to squawk box. we are live from times square. andrew is off today. let's look at what is happening with the equity futures. there are green arrows. dow futures are up 85. as a pr of 14. the nasdaq is up by 75. we saw the assive gains in the futures in the morning. that did not pan out.