we're going to kick it off with dennis lockhart.olicy. >> welcome back to "squawk box". i've steve liesman at the university of dayton. redefining investment strategy education. we have atlanta fed president first on cnbc. >> thank you, steve. >> one of the big issues out there is the timing for when there will be improvement a tapering of quantitative easing. jed fed president john williams said he could see it happening in the summer. could you see that happening in the summer? >> wouldn't totally rule it out. the position i've been taking recently is i think we need a few more months of really solid data and evidence that the recovery is moving ahead. the last two years we have had a strong first quarter which they will certainly get when the numbers come out, followed by a swoon in the middle of the year. i really want to get beyond that. ? up commitment is one thing you're looking for. is it an important indicator for you? >> we approximately together a dashboard approach. we have 10 or 12 indicators that give us the health of

stocks were little affected by a mid-day speech by an atlanta fed president dennis lockhart. he said the central bank may be able to trim its bond-buying stimulus plan by year end if the economy pings. at the close, the dow was up about 89 points, as you see there at 14,662. the nasdaq composite higher by almost 16 at 3254 and change. and the s&p 500 was eight points high at 1570 1/4. >> automakers saw strong sales for the month of march. at this rate, 15 million cars would be sold this year. still, that's about two million from the industry peak. a strengthening economy is seen as just one of the many reasons. phil lebeau has all the numbers. >> solid auto sales numbers for the month of march as the automakers posted a third straight month, which made the first quarter one of the strongest for the oughtest industry since the beginning of 2007. across the board the automakers posted solid gains in the range between 1 and 5% depending on the automaker. for the most part, they were in line with expectations. what drove sales in month of march? a coupe of things. first of all, t

also we hear from a trio of fed presidents, charles evans, dennis lockhart, and esther george. for more on what to expect in markets today, ken cayman joins us. now, jobless numbers are important because adp wasn't quite strong enough yesterday for people to think that perhaps the job data can continue to surprise to the up side. >> yeah. listen, i think we're starting to see things really thaw out. i mean, i'm seeing it anecdotally on an annual basis talking to bankers and attorneys that are involved with business and capital formation. and, you know, it's a choppy road up, but i think we're starting to see things thaw out a little bit. we're seeing housing numbers and we're certainly seeing it in market sentiment. >> ken, what's interesting, though, it's not as if these figures are coming in themselves exemptionally weak. a couple of months ago, that would have been enough to spur a rally. so what's really going on here? >> listen, i think the market is obviously in a very good bull phase. and we are a lot of people ringing their hands on whether, you know, it's going to go b

stocks were little affected by a mid-day speech by an atlanta fed president dennis lockhart. he said the central bank may be able to trim its bond-buying stimulus plan by year end if the economy pings. at the close, the dow was up about 89 points, as you see there at 14,662. the nasdaq composite higher by almost 16 at 3254 and change. and the s&p 500 was eight points high at 1570 1/4. >> automakers saw strong sales for the month of march. at this rate, 15 million cars would be sold this year. still, that's about two million om

stocks were little affected by a mid-day speech by an atlanta fed president dennis lockhart. he said the central bank may be able to trim its bond-buying stimulus plan by year end if the economy pings. at the close, the dow was up about 89 points, as you see there at 14,662. the nasdaq composite higher by almost 16 at 3254 and change. and the s&p 500 was eight points high at 1570 1/4. >> automakers saw strong sales for the month of march. at this rate, 15 million cars would be sold this year. still, that's about two million om

dennis lockhart, maybe by the end of 2013, using the word curtail, looking for a few more months of solid could see slowing of asset purchases. john williams, bit of a shocker this week. he said it could start june 2013. now, let's go to the hawks here. jeff lacquer, more assets the fed bias the more risky. current policy is too accommodating. so to my mind what we're log for for the fed is act is 200,000 this month and keep doing 200. that's where the center of the board is in my opinion for when they might reduce quantitative easing. >> we have a lot more to talk about today. we'll see you back here. >> liesman, the initial reports are off inaccurate and don't say anything useful, hence, all the emphasis on the fed paying attention to what they say to make their determinations or what to do. >> but they have been revised up ream. >> and ed, as you know, was a bush guy but not overtly partisan. >> ed is a very well respected economist. does research by both sides, both the liberal and the conservative. ed has done stuff straight down the middle. >> he loves those jolts. >> see you back h

the bank of japan pumping up its monetary easing plan and atlanta fed president dennis lockhart just told cnbc he wouldn't rule out tapering qe this summer. >>> a new way to buy samsung products as best buy looks to crack down on showrooming. the retailer will open samsung experience shops within best buy stores across the country. >>> brinker, the owner of chili he's and panera getting ym upgrades while domino's gets removed from the conviction buy list. we have reaction from the domino's ceo in a cnbc exclusive. >>> breaking news from cnbc's own scott cohn. jeff skilling may be getting out of prison early. >>> the aggressive monetary policy in japan. pledging to double its government bond holdings in two years. central bank ending a two-day policy meeting with the statement it will pursue quantitative easing as long as it is needed to achieve its 2% inflation target. nikkei closed at a record high. disappointing economic numbers, tensions in north korea, dow, s&p and nasdaq all had their biggest drop since february 25th. transports at a one-month low. >>> let's do japan first. they

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