"squawk box" anchors becky quick and andrew ross sorkin and chief science correspondent bob bazell. thank you. you spoke to mr. buffett today, is that right? >> that's correct. he reiterated a lot of things he put out in the release. he feels great, is he not worried. this is survivable and doesn't change any day-to-day activities at this point. he said that the succession plan, one of the huge questions. the succession plans are not changed at all, and, larry, we talked with him, a cnbc interview with him back at the end of february, and at that point, he told us that the board has had chosen a successor, but that successor did not know they were the chosen one. that has not changed. that successor is the same person and that person still doesn't know. >> can i stay on mr. buffett's health for a moment. how was his energy level? what did he say to you? >> he sounds the way he always did. usually when he says to him, he says never better. but he says things are going great, i have 100% energy, and he feels very confident with his decision. he has chosen with his doctors to wait unti

andrew ross sorkin and gary kamins kamins kaminsky. joe will be back tomorrow. >> thanks for bringing the donuts. >> should i put my jacket back on? >> no. he knows i'm a dunkin man. not betwegood for you, but it's good thing for you. >> here we go. anyway, gary, thrilled to have you. we do have a lot of news to tak about. here comes donuts. >> what a way to start the morning here. this is more important than the fmoc meeting, can i just say? >> gary, you are dangerous. >> as andrew was saying, not good for you, but very good for you. >> very good for you. >> i'm going to watch from here, although i had hard peanut brittle upstairses. so keep those away from me. the fmoc concludes with a rate decision tomorrow at 12:30 eastern time. plus we get theman bernanke. never sure what will get said at them. also we have the case shiller home price index at 9:00 a.m. and then coming up at 10:00, new home sales and the house price index, consumer confidence and the richmond fed survey. so plenty of things to dig through. not so great in europe.

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and joe kernen. the united states is reporting its first case of mad cow disease in six years today authorities are assuring consumers and global importers that there's no danger from meat of the california dairy cow entering the food chain. mexico, korea, and japan say they'll all continue imports at this point but two major retailers did halt sales of the united states beef. they see no impact but as jane wells reported out last night, the damage is already done just by this report getting out. the cattle futures are down by 2.6%. a lot of this is what japan did the last time around, a major import over the u.s. beef. >> remember how scared people were? >> it took the age of 30 for this cattle, down to 20 months. the expectation is they were going to get rid of it and move it back. that's going to have an impact. >> it's really hideous. it's scary the way it happens. it's why animals don't eat other animals. >> i remember being in london when it was a real bad problem. people would not go to mcdona

i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. are there headlines?heard there are. do you want to tell the audience about it? >> no, i want andrew to. >> we're making headlines this morning. among them, bed bath & beyond reporting better than expected fourth quarter earning after the close. revenues came in line, retailers shrugging off gross margin pressure offset by same store sales growth and cost savings. also google is launching is web based digital glasses. you wear them on your head. unveiling a pair of thin wrap around shakes like oakleys. and they put the company's webster advice on your face. >> like if i say google search ryan seacrest, it will pop up -- >> you'd be looking at the browser in your eyeglasses and then you'd -- >> what if i'm driving? >> you shouldn't be driving with these glasses on. the experimental augmented reality glasses can snap photos, might be yat video chats, display directions. still being tweaked and tested. they're not yet available in stores. >> remember the guy i was telling you, the physicist, synthetic organs

i'm michelle caruso-cabrera along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. jobs. 40,000 at&t union workers remain on the job, even though the deadline has expired. following friday's march employment report, the futures are not looking good this morning. there was only 120,000 jobs created, that was less than expected. the s&p would open lower by 1.3% and the nasdaq would open lower by 1%. >> i'm watching aol announcing it's selling more than 800 patents for $1.1 billion. the news just crossed wires. microsoft will license more than 300 additional patents as part of the deal. i'm going to conjure up tim armstrong. joining us on the set, tim armstrong. >> this is amazing how quickly you got here. almost like "star trek"ish. we have to be fast. that's our job. >> this is $1 billion. the entire market cap is $1.7 billion. bidding 19.75. this is big for aol. >> it's significant for a couple of reasons. one is this is an asset of the company that people didn't recognize within the value of the company. and, two, the deal is tremendous. it gives us the ability to

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and joe kernen. have two key economic reports ahead this morning. one is coming up a very important one. the labor department will be out with initial jobless claims. economists are looking for a drop of 10,000 to 376,000. also we have pending home sales and chrysler reporting its biggest quarterly profit in 13 years. sales were up by 39% from a year earlier and those results were boosted by strong u.s. sales as well. also reality track reporting flo foreclosure activity increased tw wh compared to 2011's fourth quarter but says it fell in most major city when is you compare it to what happened a year ago. you can see now the dow futures down by about 14 points, the nasdaq off by just over 6 1/2 and s&p futures off by 1 1/2 points. treasury secretary geithner saying the u.s. and europe are getting stronger. >> we're in much stronger shape than we were six, nine, 12, 18 months ago and europe is doing a better job of managing their crisis. even though they've got a tough, long road ahead of them, they'

i'm andrew ross sorkin. along with joe kernen. becky will be back tomorrow. michelle caruso-cabrera is with us today. let's run through some of the morning's headlines. the most interesting ones that are out there over the weekend, joe mentioned google. a company engineer wrote a computer program capable of collecting personal data from people's hopes wireless networks and fcc report now finding that the staffer told at least two other google employees about it. although the company says it does not know. here's the interesting twist. the fcc left this little piece of information out when it actually release that had report two weeks ago. google released the report itself over the weekend after saying it had cooperated fully with the agency. so we'll have to watch this one. a you new report says that apple subsidiaries in ireland, netherlands and other low tax nations legally side stepping billions in taxes. a study by a former treasury economist saying that apple paid 3.3 billion in cash taxes globally on here's the big number, $34.2 billion in profits last

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and steve liesman. steve, welcome. good to have you here. >> nice to be here. >> joe will be back i think if two days. in just a moment, we'll have much more on what is arguably the corporate talker of the day. the walmart mexico bribery scandal. we have a management expert joining us. but first let's get to this morning's other top stories. a lot of deal news out there. nestle buying pfizer's infant new tregs busineutrition busine. nestle paying almost five times the unit's expected sales. it will extend its lead in the infant formula market. also astrazeneca, 54% premium to the company's closing price and gives them a new drug to bolster its pipeline. also amlin spurped a takeover bid from bristol-myers and is fending off a lawsuit by carl icahn. >> i like did today. we haven't seen this in a while. i don't know if you consider this the pharmaceutical sector when you start thinking about baby infor formula. >> why do they need the cash? >> pfizer has become a bloated big old mess. >> so they get all this money -- >>

i'm andrew ross sorkin along with becky quick and joe kernan. and we have been saying this for the past half hour, but we'll say it again, we have a very big show in store, and it's starting, i would argue right now, and joining us right now is our guest host for the morning, barry sternlicht, chairman and ceo of starwood capital group. and i want to set the stage for what we're doing here today. because later in the prod cast, we have eddie lampert on the show, guys that don't do tv coming on tv for the first time. and they are all coming in part to talk about a guy named richard rainwater who means a lot to you and to you and really helped you get your start in the business. and i thought we'd start if you could by talking about richard and what's going on in his life right now. >> well, first of all, we had this thought when you guys asked us to put together this tribute for mr. rainwater. and all of us were honored. so you've got this incredible lineup of people who have agreed to come on today. and it's exciting for me and i know for them t

i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin.still here. >> as are you, still there. >> and santelli is here to balance things out, as well. >> balance how? >> between you and him? >> yeah. i need someone. >> i'm not -- >> yes, you are. >> i'm qe3 and not qe3. >> rebecca is here. >> if you're just tuning in this morning, let's bring you up to speed. hampton pearson joins us from the labor department.part hampton, just pretend year doing it again. hold on. five, four, three, two, one. >> hampton, the necessary b we see please. >> up 120,000, way below the consensus forecast for growth of about 203,000. 8.2% unemployment rate. that's the lowest unemployment rate since january of 2009 when it was 7.8%. 0.2% average hourly earnings. over 12 months, 2.1% year over year. remember, in private sector job growth up just 121,000. the overall revengz for january and february, january down 9,000. february up 13. so a net increase of 4,000 jobs over what had previously been reported. march job growth, manufacturing as well as services and dri

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.e ceo larry ellison is set to take the stand this morning in his company's suit against google. he claims google's android system violates the java language. and the buffett rule failed to get the 60 votes it needed to proceed with a vote. and average gas loon prices fell by 1.7 cents a gallon this past week to just above 3.92. prices falling for the second week in a row. the energy department said it's the biggest drop in its weekly reading in four months. >> and we go to madrid this morning. julia. >> stage one in this week's auction process complete. it was a solid auction result. it was short-term debt. they managed to get away 3 million euro. the 18-month yield came in at 3.1%, compared to 1.7% at the last auction, the 12-month at 2 opinion 6% compared to 1.4% at the last auction. it was in line with where the secondary market was trade bugs it cost them to get those bills away. the key focus will will be on thursday where we have a two-year and ten year. ten years are 5 or 6 basi

i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. we'll be watching shares of the video game makers. npd says that industry sales fell 25% in march from a year earlier. the pourt cfourth consecutive m declines. i need to know more information. there are things we finally andrew figured out how to do things on the internet. you can get games -- >> you can get them on your ipad and -- >> similar to like not getting a dvd i think anymore. so i don't know how that future plays out either. dow chemical also on our watch list this morning. the company raised its quarterly dividend to 32 cents from 25 cents. that's a 28% increase. that payout, though, if you recall, remains below the pre-crisis level of 42 cents. and apple is rejecting justice department allegations that it conspired to fix prices in the he electronic market, says the and he alsos are simpllegations are not true and the i bookstore was designed to break amazoamazon. you're getting angry about this. you're not angry about google. >> this upsets me because i think amazon will

i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. our guest host is jim chanos.ent after about a 90-point gain in the dow yesterday. s&p back to 1,368. where did the guy from morgan stanley say we're going, 1300? >> nobody has to listen to what i say. they better listen to him. >> weekly jobless claims set to hit the tape at 8:30 eastern. the number of first-time filers likely rose by 1,000 to 358,000. we'll get march producer price index, ppi to rise by 0.3%. the federal deficit is expected to shrink slightly. we're going to keep our eyes on all of that. tony's new ceo outlining a revival strategy for the company today. they'll cut 10,000 jobs and planning to focus on mobile electron, likes phones, games and cameras. sony is also targeting growth in its medical business with annual sales of $1.2 billion. shares of sony are recovering overseas this morning. let's take a quick check on the european markets. european equities at this our are all ticked up nicely but it's not changing the world just yet. >> back here in the united states, earnings season is official

i'm joe kernen along with kick kick and andrew ross sorkin.is carly fiorina former hp chairman. check being equity futures after kind of a surprise snap back yesterday a big one after on monday we were ready to say, after last week that maybe we had -- how many people said we saw gains for the year, we saw the high. sell in may. andrew was gloating about my 30% call. >> i was not gloating. >> you were. a little bit. you're torn. you want me to be wrong but you want the market to do well. >> i want the market to do well. >> you're in a tough place. it's good for the 1 percenters. among the stocks we're watching, intel. >> they still watch you and don't like you. >> let's talk earnings. intel reporting better than expected earnings. the chip maker say sales will accelerate in the second half. the shares of intel recently high flying stock pull back in after hours. company caused costs associated with ramping up new production lines would hurt gross margins more than expected. ibm's earnings also beating the street and the company is now boosting

kerr gh kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we finally have the final report card for the first quarter and during that time period, the dow gained 8%, the s&p was up a whopping 12%, the nasdaq, up 19%. and the russell up another 12%, as well. financials edging out technology for the title as the best sector performer. as for specific stocks, bank of america was the dow's best performer. bac the worst blue chip performer last year. but as you can see right now, it's done well coming up back up. first stock performer was hewlett-packard, it was down 7%. >> same time we were talking about the 30% was bank of america as five bucks. >> can i mention the biggest business news of the morning? ashton kutcher is going to play steve jobs -- you saw this? not in the walter isakson bio, but in another indy flick. i was trying to think about when i thought ashton could really -- if he looked like him. >> you know what that did for me, it drove home the point of how actors can never -- they can try, but ashton kutcher is so -- here's the ne

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.-million dollar beer industry deal is in the news. moulson coors will pay $3.5 billion to buy europe's starbev. motorola mobility is currently in the process of being acquired by google. and regional carrier aleejant air is the latest to charge passengers for carry had much on bags. they'll charge $35 to use the overhead bin for bag storage. no, you can't keep the bag on your lap. aing about that fits under the seat in front of the passenger will still be free. we'll see if this sticks with other airlines as well. take a look at the futures this morning. dow futures down by about 26 points, the s&p off by just over 3.5. >> and the winter was unusually mild in many parts of the country. now the financial impact may be coming a big clearer. jackie looks at the early effects on crops and seeing opportunity. >> good morning, guys. americans enjoyed this year's record breaking march warmth, unseasonably mild temperatures could damage crops and have a big impact on food prices. when temperat

. >>> i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.arnings dominating the markets and it will be a busy day. i hope you guys are ready. a lot of numbers cg

i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernen and kelly evans. becky

i'm becky quek aloick along wit kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we'll get weekly job last claims.irst time

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.your morning headlines on this friday. dow component general electric reporting first quarter profit of 34 cents a share, one cent better than expected. revenue also beat street consensus. another stock on the on-deck circle. mcdonald's. it's scheduled to come out an hour from now. plus positive economic news out of europe this morning. german business morale rose for the sixth consecutive month. economists had been expecting a drop. >> i would expect the morale to keep going up over there. >> it's so positive? >> it's so positive. everything is so great. everything here is so bad. >> no, no, things are good here, too, if you look at the futures. the dow is indicated up by about 60 points this morning. a lot of positive thoughts after yesterday's down close. we did end the day after half the losses at the steepest point. the s&p is expected to open up as well. >> we have kim perly-clark expected to be up by 1.17. and then we have an outlook. adjusted 2012 net of $5 to $5.15 and the est

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we have breaking news if you're just waking up. mag tie nud earthquake hitting the west coast of sumatra. they said the tsunami watch was in effect for the entire indian ocean. individual countries including thailand, indonesia, sri lanka and india also issued tsunami warnings and people along the coast of six thai provinces were ordered to higher ground. it was in roughly the same area as the december 2004 earthquake of 9.1 nag magny attitude. that sent huge waves crashing into sumatra. that's why we're watching this very, very closely. guys, this is something that has just happened in the last hour, and at this point, there are warnings everywhere for this, people watching very closely. >> they have centers and they can measure the waves. you thing 8.7, 9.1 is close, except the logarithmic, ten times is so much worse. >> right. so this could be. i mean theoretically it could be half as -- there's no reason to assume it's going to be good, but i'd certainly be worried at this point a

i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin and kelly evans. becky quick is off today.little bit of a bounceback as we kick off earnings. are you still on instagrams? >> i need money, a billion dollars. 500 million they were worth. >> there's a point where so many people use things to constantly alter their perceptions and representations of reality. it's so easy to everyone to do these days. >> i still don't think it worth $1 billion. we are kicking off earnings seasons today. alcoa kicking off after the bell. some analysts are suggesting a weak season could create an excuse for selling. that whole idea of sell in may and go away, thompson reuters reports first earnings growth expected to be 3.2%, that number falls to 1.8% if you exclude apple. the big apple. it's amazing how large a component that has been to this growth story. in other news today, the white house pushing its case for the so-called buffett rule. a newly issued report says taxes for top earners has fallen significantly since 1995. president obama will continue his push for taxes on those who mike highe

i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin.any companies do you have? >> about 15. >> how many public ones? >> one is a spac we were talking about and the other is roj trust. >> checking u.s. equity future. >> they've come back. earlier we were up at 75 points at one moment because what we saw with the spanish bond, auction actually going off. it was well subscribed. yields were higher but it was well subscribed. there have been some other thoughts going around. art cashin just sent out a note saying a part of this may be because of rumors of a french downgrade or a friction between the bundes bank ecb. >> let's do a quick recap. it has been a busy morning for earnings. bank of america reporting better than expected results. ceo brian moynihan said he saw improved businesses in q 1. and verizon beating streets bay opiniony. and travelers, the company falling short, raising its dividend, living its dividend yield to 13.9%. and morgan stanley, with estimates better than expected. for more on morgan stanley's report, our good frie