we are on cnbc and i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. making headlines, andrew, what did you want to -- >> i don't even remember any more. >> these people are -- b. >> it all came back. >> probably not. >> i wanted to talk about -- not -- the long-term unemployment and this idea that the president is going to talk about. that's a tough one. >> helping push the companies to -- >> because those people always felt that. >> yes. but there is a pleasing in this. if you have been unemployed for a year or two or longer and you go to a company and the company sees that, i imagine people consider that to be a sign because they think if you were so hot to trot -- >> that's not always true. you get caught and you were fired at the wrong time in an industry that's really hit hard, it's fairley easy and the number of people who have been out of work for over six months and in some cases even longer, through no fault of your own. >> it's very easy to say these companies are not going to discriminate against those people, anyway. >> you know the night h

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. to you live from the world economic forum in davos, switzerland. we'll have more of the exclusive jamie dimon interview coming up in a few minutes. his thoughts on the economy, asia, europe and the banking business. we've been watching the futures. it seems like we've seen red arrows this morning with those futures. the dow futures are down by about 60 points below fair value, the s&p futures off by 7 1/2 and the nasdaq is down by 4 notes. the ten-year note, the yield is at 2.837%. and in our headlines today, carl icahn is at it again, just a few hours after he was told he was increasing his stake in apple, icahn revealed a new stake in ebay. separately, ebay reported fourth quarter profits slightly above expectations. ibm is selling lenovo. it has been widely reported that the two sides were in talk. the deal will help lenovo defe s diversify. >> ibm wants out. is it a good price? ibm will take what they can get. >> i think it's fair for everybody. it sets ibm up, hopefully, to get o

i'm andrew ross sorkin.crossing as we speak on bank of america's earnin earnings. let's take a quick look at the futures. >> 29 cents, 3 cents, that stock's already up to 17.06 after a 16.77 close. revenue estimate was 21.238. and that came in at 21.49. so that is a little bit above expectations. the number yesterday we saw a couple of $5 billion quarters with wells fargo and jpmorgan. this is $3.44 billion is what the company is able to earn on revenue of 21 -- we'll call it $21.5 million. then all these different metrics, tier one is 11.19. global banking revenue, $4.31 billion. provision for credit losses, $336 million, and net chargeoffs, $1.58 billion. i don't see -- how do we -- what's the number that gives us what they brought back in, you know, from those reserves? that's what everyone wants to look at. how much they're bringing back. >> and the adjustment of $.6 billion. >> so 600 million they brought back. >> because of tightening of the company's credit spreads. >> i don't know that that's the sam

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. blackrock reporting better-than-expected earnings this morning. the company raising its quarterly dividend by about 15%. blackrock's chairman and ceo blairry kimp king is whichever thattette gob on. what a megs al ya should. the ceo marissa mayer said she fired enruqui de castro. he was her first major hire. made $632 milli million. the financial times reporting that apollo group will buy chuck j. just. >>> and then with citigroup, now sayingite going to replace all customer debit cards involved in data breaches at target. the "new york times" reports that the bank did not place the cards sooner because it warchblted to minimize disruptions during the holiday season. >> yeah. >> united health is -- -- is tha jacket on? i think it might be at this point. >> revenue, $ 3311.2 billion. i don't have the right number to compare that to. net margin, 4.6%. watch pretty closely now, given everything that is happening in health care. so the full year guidance that we're getting must be for the

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. check out today's squawk lineup on the ceo call. we have the head of atlanticer and spirits giant diageo. auto nation and eli lilly. plus we have investing legend and a contend either for the first 25. right now, let's get to the global markets, though. after yesterday's rough right on wall street, stocks in asia fell overnight. the nikkei closing down nearly 2.5%. that was significantly off the lows of the session. and if you look at what happens on wednesday, the stocks there were up by 2.7%. so this is really just a give back. but among the reasons that were listed for this sell-off, you have data showing signs of a contraction in china's economy and the fed's decision to continue with the taper. in europe european trading this morning, you can see there are red heir rows across the board. italy off by more than 0.5%. in perhaps, germany and spain, some more muted declines. u.s. equity futures are looking a little bit better this morning. at this point, the dow futures are up by ab

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin. andrew has this morning's top stories. andrew? >>> thank you, becky. making headlines, general motors' cfo says the automaker is close to reintroducing a stock dividend. they continue to believe they will break even in europe by mid decade. in other gm news just days before it learns whether a 2014 chevrolet silverado pickup truck wins the honors as north american truck of the year, the company is recalling 370,000 full-size trucks due to a potential fire hazard. gm's incoming ceo mary barra is joining us live from the detroit auto show at 8:00 a.m. eastern time this morning. >>> also, southwest airlines had a plane land at the wrong missouri plane last night. the flight to chicago midway was scheduled to land at the nearby branson airport with a longer runway. nobody was hurt. that's the good news. it is not clear whether the plane landed at the airport by accident or whether there was an actual emergency. >>> and picking up on what becky was talking about in news around target, neiman marcus is saying thieves stole some of its c

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin who is reporting from new york today. andrew, you have a big show coming up. what's on set? >> we are here, becky, at the lowes regency no. >> well, it -- >> i can't. i have to do another show after this. >> she has to do another show and i have to -- what do i have to do? i do have things to do. i have to get a haircut. >> there you go. >> i've got to get more clothes for davos. >> it's crazy. i can't -- >> you know, i'm trying -- long underwear today, andrew, and you're not here when i need you. >> you're trying on your long underwear? >> thinking about it. >> i will get you -- you know my favorites. i will give you some tommy john long underwear. i will go and get some today for you. >> if it doesn't fit, can i return the bottoms? do they take those back after you try them on? >> no. >> here is the question. do you wear your long underwear over your other underwear or do you wear it -- >> i don't think you should. i think it's -- >> your other underwear? >> yeah. yeah. >> you're the authority, andrew. do you or don't yo

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin. we're both here at cnbc headquarters. joe, however, is reporting live from the nfl house in "new york times" square today. he's going to join us with today's game plan in just a moment. but first, today's top business stories. we start with the markets this morning. look out. u.s. equity futures at this hour are indicated sharply lower. you're looking at the dow futures down by 137 points below fair value. s&p futures are off by about 16 points. and the nasdaq is down by 30 points below fair value. this is all coming after some volatility this week. yesterday, you saw the markets up pretty sharply. the dow was up 109 points. the s&p saw its best day since december 18th. but this is par for the course these days. a little bit up, a little bit back. we'll see where things take us through the course of the day. again, those dow futures down by 137 points below fair value. the month is wrapping up today and so far, the stock market is down about 3% this week. we know that old adage, as january goes, so goes the year. that sta

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. as the s&p is coming off its fourth losing session in the first five days of the trading year. futures are indicated up sharply, up by about 68 points. i don't know if we made this ground up today, i don't know if we would take it. it's supposed to be the first five trading days. i hear joe complaining even though his microphone is turned off. >> file for an extension. >> an extension? >> i filed for one. >> there you go. so maybe we take today and tomorrow's activity? >> we'll see. we're going to make our own understand indicator up. keuchly jobless claims are going to be released at 8:30 eastern time. first-time filings rose slightly to 340,000. in global economic news, the european central bank and the bank of on england are holding policy setting meetings today. the ecb is trying to deal with the slow recovery and inflation that's too low. we'll have a live report from our colleague, geoff cutmore in frankfurt in just about ten minutes. first, andrew has some of the mornings's top

i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin.snappycam. >> do it again? >> snappycam. good name. it allows you to modify the way the built-in camera. i think my daughter and son do things like that, you can make it different -- make it black and white, make it -- get rid of red eye, i don't know. and how quickly the photos are taken, this is apple's latest deal of buying 11 companies in 2013, but not like twitter. >>> and deal news for you, the nyse topped the nasdaq in technology and internet ipos in 2013 for the first time in at least 19 years. companies preparing to make their public debut are increasingly worried about technical hiccups. some technology firms atriblt the shift in big board to the so-called designated market makers formally known as specialists, those are the guys on the floor who make sure there is an even flow constantly. >> just to clarify on snappycam, what it does is it allows you to take your picture faster and to do sort of rapid pictures. >> oh, where it is just like -- four different shots at a time.

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. today's top story is the december employment report. you have polled forecasters saying the economy probably added 200,000 jobs last month on. that has been upgraded since we got those adp numbers last week. it would be a bit above the average for the last three months. the unemployment rate is seen holding steady at a five-year low of 7%. as for the markets, the s&p and nasdaq are clinging to small gains for the week at this point. that's just this week. that is not for the first ty five days that joe had been looking at with the extending option. we're going to see what happens with that. the dow is on track for its second straight weekly decline and the futures at this hour are indicated sharply higher. right now, the dow futures are up by 66 points above fair value. that's significant because a lot of times before a big jobs report, nobody really wants to move one direction or the other. this could be an indication that the market is expecting that number to be stronger than 200,0

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. it is an important day ahead on the economic front. we've got 8:15 eastern time, the december adp employment report out. but payrolls are seen rising by 200,000. today's release comes ahead of friday's government nonfarm payroll report. so the markets will be watching it closely trying to figure out if this gives us a good indication of what to expect on friday. notable today, the fed will be releasing minutes from last month's fomc meeting. as joe mentioned, stocks reboungd from a three-session losing streak yesterday. the s&p turned in its first positive close of the new year and it was a biggie. we are about halfway back from those losses we've seen from the first three trading sessions. however, this morning, futures are indicated lower once again. dow futures down by about 20 points below fair value, nasdaq down by 5.5 points. keep an eye on treasuries today. there is an auction of $21 billion in reopened ten-year notes at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. traders note that the sale comes

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and joe kernen. we have a huge lineup for you today including the ceos of ubs. eric cantor just came from a panel, right? >> and glenn hutchins. >> and we have two contenders for the top 25. and we caught up with bono and the george soros. we'll hear from this em in a moment. but first, to today's top stories. >>> microsoft posting better-than-expected earnings after the close. the results were helped by strong sales and software for services and businesses and a solid holiday season for its new xbox game console and surface tablet. also, a slightly lower tax bill helped out, too. no word from the company on its ceo search just yet. >> starbucks is boosting its forecast despite slower growth. same-store sales cooled more than expected at online shopping kept consumers at home. >>> and a boeing executive says the reliability of the 787 dreamliner is slowly improving, but it is still not at satisfactory levels. boeing's vice president to services adds that the firm is working to improve the performance

i'm becky quick here on cnbc along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. the question of the morning is can the stock euphoria carry over into this new year? the dow and the s&p ending at record levels. advances were led by consumer discretionary stocks with that secretarior up more than 40% in one year. if you want to measure sentiment, it's worth noting that the volatility index fell 40% in the last 12 months. the futures this morning on this very first trading day of the year, they are indicated lower. dow futures down by about 43 points, s&p off by 5.5 points. take a look at the "wall street journal." it has an interesting profile and some of the traders who scored the biggest wins will calls. we'll talk more about david tepper and some others in just a moment. but first, andrew has a roundup of some of the morning's top stories. andrew, that story is already here in the new york city area. >> i can't believe it. we needed it about a week ago. >> i don't know. shocked me a bit this morning, whoa, back to work in the snow. >> well, happy new year. >> yo

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we have another big lineup today, include dow chemical's chairman and ceo andrew live ris. plus, we have senators rob portman, heidi height camp and paul ryan. turkey's central bank hiking all of its key interest rates. policymakers ignoring the warning if it is prime minister as they battle to defend the overnight lending rates. that was a much sharmer move that's economists have been forecasting. also the imf's top financial counselor says the recent volatility in world markets is due to problems in particular world countries and is not linked to the fed's decision to start tapering. the imf officials argue that the fed is acting prudently. and speaking of the u.s. central bank, fed is wrapping up its two-day meeting this afternoon. this as ben bernanke's final meeting as chairman. that policy announcement is due at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. will they or won't they taper the taper? that is the question today. the u.s. equity futures are indicated higher. in large part because of what h

i'm joe kernan along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. s an old, old name and cnbc contributor. it had something to do with andrew carnegie, didn't it? >> henry phipps, and he sold his share of this deal company and invested that money about 107 years ago. so, yes, the firm's been around a long time. >> and it started -- see, i'd like that. this investment firm came from one guy's money. >> and he did it himself. >> right. we need to remember that things like that can happen here. $90 billion plus? >> under supervision. >> yep. >> and you're the chief investment officer? >> not like it, i am it. >> you are it. if you don't like someone, you can fire them, basically. if their performance is bad, it's like they're out the door. >> well, people are going to underperform for different parts of cycles. you don't want to fire too quickly. i think we have a great team. i don't see any need to be firing anybody. but in theory, yes, i could. >> and you're a contribute to here, too? >> i am. >> you've got that going for you. barry knapp is head of u

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.mong our top stories this morning, it is official. janet yellen has been confirmed as the next chair of the federal reserve. the senate voting 56-26 last night to approve her. democrats were joined by -- to sit in between them. we continue to watch the markets and various historical indicators. right now, we are down three for three for the first three trading days of 2013. the s&p 500 closing lower every session, making it the worst start to the year in almost a deca decade. the futures this morning, after all of that, at least at this point look like they are up sharply. dow futures up by about 78 points above fair value. the s&p 500 futures up by better than 7.5 points and the nasdaq up by just over 13 points. then, whether on wall street or main street, there is the story that everybody is talking about this morning, and that is the weather. meteorologists are calling it a polar vortex from the north pole. almost 2,000 cancellations have been made for today for the flights. jet blu

andrew ross sorkin will have more in a half an hour. >> a ceo that entered the "shark tank" and livedapp later this hour. >> harvard economist ken rogoff will be showing up at 8:40 eastern time. plus, if you like the rolling stones and who doesn't, don't go away. one of them, right here in studio ♪ it's all right now . >>> time now for today's aflac trivia question. sony has a new pocket analogue radio. known by the model number srf-39fp. who is its target consumer? the answer when cnbc's "squawk box" continues. ♪ yeah, he's clean, boss. now listen to me, duck. i have an associate that met with, uh, an unfortunate accident. while he's been incapacitated, somebody's been paying him cash. now, is this your doing? aflac? now, if i met with some such accident, would aflac pay me? ♪ nice. this is your stop. [ male announcer ] find out what aflac can do for you and your family... aflac? [ male announcer ] ...at aflac.com. for you and your family... aflac? sometimes they just drop in. always obvious. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach glob

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we're going to start things off with the markets this morning. the s&p is coming off its hardest hit in two months. consumer discretionary and stocks were the biggest losers yesterday. the dow shed more than 1 % with 29 of 30 components finishing in the red. as for rates, this would be the reason you saw a lot of that sell-off. rates yesterday fell to their lowest level in about a month. today, the ten-year note is at 2.851%. yes, joe, i've been thinking about this and our bet. the bet was engineered around the taper and what the reaction would be to the taper. >> i wanted to go longer. and you said no, i'm going tout of town. >> you wanted to go longer into the next week or something. you didn't say i want this to be for the next seven months. >> no, not seven months. it's only been two weeks. >> it has not been two weeks. >> three weeks. >> 3 1/2. >> 2.85%. i am so in the money. i couldn't have bought an option any shorter. >> you could have changed the terms of the deal after we go

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.ng better-than-expected earnings this morning. the company raising its quarterly dividend by about 15%. blackrock's chairman and ceo blairry kimp king is whichever thattette gob on. what a megs al ya should. the ceo marissa mayer said she fired enruqui de castro. he was her first major hire. made $632 milli million. the financial times reporting

i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin and becky quick. to you from davos, switzerland. it was cold but we have the hand warmers. lovely. >> mine haven't warmed up yet. >> is that the ohm place you have these andrew, in your pocket? >> are you talking about the other ones in my shoes? >> in your shoes. >> or elsewhere? >> in your shoes. we have so many great guests, ray dalio of bridgewater, tom from the u.s. imchaber of commerce, james gorman and matt damon to name a few. the headlines we're looking at, "squawk" market master, also known as someone from pimco, mohamed el erian is stepping down as the ceo and co-cio. the company is not giving a reason for his farthdeparture. he'll stay on to consult for the parent company. >> people thought he'd run that someday, thought he was the successor to bill gross. >> he will stay with allianz. egypt has not figured out a leadership structure. i don't know whether this has anything to do with that but. >> it would clear the way for him to run for election in egypt. >> united technologist is among t

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin. andrew has this morning's top stories. andrew?headlines, general motors' cfo says the automaker is close to reintroducing a stock dividend. they continue to believe they will break even in europe by mid decade. in other gm news just days before it learns whether a 2014 chevrolet silverado pickup truck wins the honors as north american truck of the year, the company is recalling 370,000 full-size trucks due to a potential fire hazard. gm's incoming ceo mary barra is joining us live from the detroit auto show at 8:00 a.m. eastern time this morning. >>> also, southwest

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. coming off its fourth losing session in the first five days of the trading year. futures are indicated up sharply, up by about 68 points. i don't know if we made this ground up today, i don't know if we would take it. it's supposed to be the first five trading days. i hear joe complaining even though his microphone is turned off. >> file for an extension. >> an extension? >> i filed for one. >> there you go. so maybe we take today and tomorrow's activity? >> we'll see. we're going to make our own understand indicator up. keuchly jobless claims are going to be released at 8:30 eastern time. first-time filings rose slightly

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.heck out today's squawk lineup on the ceo call. we have the head of atlanticer and spirits giant diageo. auto nation and eli lilly. plus we have investing legend and a contend either for the first 25. right now, let's get to the global markets, though. after yesterday's rough right on wall street, stocks in asia fell overnight. the nikkei closing down nearly 2.5%. that was significantly off the lows of the session. and if you look at what happens on wednesday, the stocks there were up by 2.7%. so this is really just a give back. but among the reasons that were listed for this sell-off, you have data showing signs of a contraction in china's economy and the fed's decision to continue with the taper. in europe european trading this morning, you can see there are red heir rows across the board. italy off by more than 0.5%.

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we have an exclusive interview with lee cooperman. our guest host today is former citigroup chairman dick parsons. mark mobius and thomas per easy, those two will be joining us during the 8:00 a.m. hour. this morning, we start with the markets. the dow closing at six-week lows. futures at this hour are indicated higher. dow futures up by about 100 points. the s&p futures are up by just over 9. yesterday, it looks like things were starting out strong. they gave that back by tend of the session. this is a pretty momentous

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we have another big lineup today, include dow chemical's chairman and ceo andrew live ris. plus, we have senators rob portman, heidi height camp and paul ryan.

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. top story is the december employment report. you have polled forecasters saying the economy probably added 200,000 jobs last month on. that has been upgraded since we got those adp numbers last week. it would be a bit above the average for the last three months. the unemployment rate is seen holding steady at a five-year low of 7%. as for the markets, the s&p and nasdaq are clinging to small gains for the week at this point. that's just this week. that is not for the first ty five days that joe had been looking at with the extending option. we're going to see what happens with that. the dow is on track for its second straight weekly decline and the futures at this hour are indicated sharply higher. right now, the dow futures are up by 66 points above fair value. that's significant because a lot of times before a big jobs report, nobody really wants to move one direction or

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.ries this morning, it is official. janet yellen has been confirmed as the next chair of the federal reserve. the senate voting 56-26 last night to approve her. democrats were joined by -- to sit in between them. we continue to watch the markets and various historical indicators. right now, we are down three for three for the first three trading days of 2013. the s&p 500 closing lower every session, making it the worst start to the year in almost a deca decade. the futures this morning, after all of that, at least at this point look like they are up sharply. dow futures up by about 78 points above fair value. the s&p 500 futures up by better than 7.5 points and the nasdaq up by just over 13 points. then, whether on wall street or main street, there is the story that everybody is talking about this morning, and that is the weather. meteorologists are calling

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. yes, we are all here this morning.ng down roads, canceling flights, closing work for thousands in the u.s. out there. some areas are expecting a foot or more. but the problem isn't just the snow. it's windy, it's really, really cold. be careful, don't go out if you don't have to. we are going to have a live report from the weather channel in just a minute. if you're home, snuggle up. we'll tell you about what's happening on wall street today. the s&p beginning the new year with its worst performance in three weeks. this is the worst performance for the year. it was the only trading day of the year. the dow was

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin who is reporting from new york today. have a big show coming up. what's on set? >> we are here, becky, at the lowes regency

i'm becky quick here on cnbc along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.the stock euphoria carry over into this new year? the dow and the s&p ending at record levels. advances were led by consumer discretionary stocks with that secretarior up more than 40% in one year. if you want to measure sentiment, it's worth noting that the volatility index fell 40% in the last 12 months. the futures this morning on this very first trading day of the year, they are indicated lower. dow futures down by about 43 points, s&p off by 5.5 points. take a look at the "wall street journal." it has an interesting profile and some of the

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.on sitting down with apple's ceo tim cook and the head of china mobile earlier today. she's going to join us from beijing with that exclusive conversation in just a few minutes. but first, let's take a look at the markets. we are only nine sessions into 2014. but the s&p posted its best day of the year yesterday. this comes after some pretty disappointing days. if you take a look at equity futures this morning, you're going to see at this point that the indices are indicated higher once again. the dow jones industrial average indicated up by about 26 points. s&p futures are up by 3 points and the nasdaq is up by 12 points. all of this is coming as asian markets picked up ground overnight, too. and the world bank is raising its global growth forecast. we'll talk about that a little more later. on the economic calendar here in the united states today, at 8:30 eastern time, the december producer price index, the headne

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and the birthday boy himself, joe kernen. 6:00 a.m., we among our top stories today, a dangerous arctic blast that is expected to be the coldest in decades. more than half of the continental united states is facing below zero temperatures. the dakotas and minnesota clocked temperatures of 20 degrees below zero yesterday. in fact, at its lowest point, the windchill in minnesota was a numbing minus 50. that's right, minus 50. as we were talking at last week, when you get down to temperatures like that, that's colder than life on mars. >>> tracking website flight aware reports that 2300 flights were canceled yesterday. we'll have a live report from the weather channel in just about 15 minutes. >>> and speaking of the cold, a less than stellar start to 2014 for the bulls. two sessions in, wall street started ne

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin, and we are coming to you live from theswitzerland. davos to be precise. this is the host city of the world economic forum and again we have an embarrassment of riches today for the show. topping off our line-up today, one of the contenders for cnbc's first 25 leaders, icons and rebels, jpmorgan's chairman and ceo jamie dimon. we have treasury secretary jack lew, larry summers, commerce secretary penny prizker, muhtar kent, steve schwarzman and goldie hawn. >> "laugh in" was a show decades ago, yes, there was a guy named ronan and martin and a lot of different characters be

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.rtant day ahead on the economic front. we've got 8:15 eastern time, the december adp employment report out. but payrolls are seen rising by 200,000. today's release comes ahead of friday's government nonfarm payroll report. so the markets will be watching it closely trying to figure out if this gives us a good indication of what to expect on friday. notable today, the fed will be releasing minutes from last month's fomc meeting. as joe mentioned, stocks reboungd from a three-session losing streak yesterday. the s&p turned in its first positive close of the new year and it was a biggie. we are about halfway back from those losses we've seen from the first three tra

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and joe kernen.uge lineup for you today including the ceos of ubs. eric cantor just came from a panel, right? >> and glenn hutchins. >> and we have two contenders for the top 25. and we caught up with bono and the george soros. we'll hear from this em in a moment. but first, to today's top stories. >>> microsoft posting better-than-expected earnings after the close. the results were helped by strong sales and software for services and businesses and a solid holiday season for its new xbox game console and surface tablet. also, a slightly lower tax bill helped out, too. no word from the company on its

i'm becky quick along withjoer can kernan and andrew ross sorkin.ini will be up and ray dalio of bridgewater, william bratter, thomas donohue of the u.s. chamber of commerce and david rubenstein, james gorman and matt damon. that's right. tomorrow an interview with jpmorgan chairman and ceo

i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. with the markets this morning. the s&p is coming off its hardest hit in two months. consumer discretionary and stocks were the biggest losers yesterday. the dow shed more than 1 % with 29 of 30 components finishing in the red. as for rates, this would be the reason you saw a lot of that sell-off. rates yesterday fell to their lowest level in about a month. today, the ten-year note is at 2.851%. yes, joe, i've been thinking about this and our bet. the bet was engineered around the taper and what the reaction would be to the taper. >> i wanted to go longer. and you said no, i'm going tout of town. >> you wanted to go

i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin. we're both here at cnbc headquarters.oe, however, is reporting live from the nfl house in "new york times" square today. he's going to join us with today's game plan in just a moment. but first, today's top business stories. we start with the markets this morning. look out. u.s. equity futures at this hour are indicated sharply lower. you're looking at the dow futures down by 137 points below fair value. s&p futures are off by about 16 points. and the nasdaq is down by 30 points below fair value. this is all coming after some volatility this week. yesterday, you saw the markets up pretty sharply. the dow was up 109 points. the s&p saw its best day since december 18th. but this is par for the course these days. a little bit up, a little bit back. we'll see where things take us through the course of the

>> and then there's nelson peltzer, of course, being added to the board in mondelez and as andrew ross sorkinorted earlier this morning not going to push for a pepsi deal. but clearly loeb not the only activist making some news today. >> i think this is a company, i can speak on the fundamental side has been undermanaged a lot. people feel it should have had longer growth. had a long history in cad burca. they are fighting history, heinz made a lot of changes internally and wendy's, did a lot of good there, ingersoll-rand, for those who say the story is over, it could be just beginning. >> interesting heinz was the last time that pelz ran a proxy fight. it appeared he was close to doing so here, sources indicated he wanted two board seats it would appear and he ends up getting a board seat for himself and no stand still. in other words, meaning that, you know, he doesn't have to support the board in what it does. but, of course, he most likely will. if he had gone to a proxy fight, he would have gone after four seats. but it's interesting he hasn't done that. a lot of times they don't want to