a great leadership decision by doug mcmillon. so we'll talk to doug about all of that. u.s.much of an impact did gas prices have? for the sales guidance for 2061 simon, looking for 1 to 2, back in october they were saying 2 to 4. is that the strong dollar at work? that's probably the likely culprit. if they keep making investments like they are with training with neighborhood centers, we'll see what kind of impact that has on sales down the road. >> i'm really looking forward to your interview in an hour's time partly because all of this chatter about $9 an hour i read that the labor unions already think the average wage in walmart is $8.81. from what they're saying it's a 19 cents difference. but i guess a leveling out process and $10 becomes more important, i think, next february. >> reporter: it's the lowest wage you would make would be $9. the average wage of a full-time worker at walmart is $13. average wage of a part-time worker is $10. so we're talking about the least you could possibly make at walmart. that's the numbers we're talking about. >> i'm just interested in

visa is more important than doug mcmillon, mr. walmart.isa and mastercard, not unfortunately american express, holy cow -- >> not a good week. >> what will happen to american express that's bad today? i mean, will i -- >> one more day in the week right. >> another -- how many shoes have fallen? >>> imelda marco's shoe collection. mastercard and visa particularly visa, companies that are open-minded, they are saying any way you want it and i'm tell you apple pays real. they get that blood pressure thing in the apple watch you'll spend $500 -- 6,000 people die every year of a heart attack -- you'll buy the watch more than fossil. your fossil watch, you'll trade. >> a swiss army watch. remember those. >> you're all about that blood pressure thing. you can't wait. >> no, no i am trying to prevent heart attacks. heart attacks per share, number of -- >> or strokes. >> very smart. >> strokes. absolutely. >> walmart, downgraded by barclays to equal weight from overweight in the wake of the wage hike announcement. walmart's unlikely to see near-ter

we heard comments from ceo doug mcmillon to carl quintanilla this hour.y talked about everything from the minimum wage increase for about 40% of walmart's workers that will take effect in april as well as apple pay and as well as just the state of wages and the state of the consumer and effect of lower gas prices in this country and beyond. henry, we were sitting here watching this and discussing it while happening but what struck you the most. >> first, carl did a great interview. you've got to salute walmart. this is a great move for walmart employees and the economy. we've had this incredible divergence over the last ten years where shareholders have done extraordinarily well, companies have hiked their profit margins to the highest level in history, meanwhile averages wages stagnant. workers are not getting any share of pie. to see walmart say look we're doing this voluntarily, not being forced to, that is greatp for the economy. it's great for people that work at walmart. ultimately, although you don't see it in the stock, it is actually good for sha

doug mcmillon, after the company reports earnings. you do not want to miss that. break. can it make a dentist appointment when my teeth are ready? ♪ ♪ can it tell the doctor how long you have to wear this thing? ♪ ♪ can it tell the flight attendant to please not wake me this time? ♪ ♪ the answer is yes, it can. so, the question your customers are really asking is can your business deliver? ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. ♪ >>> let's take a look at s&p telecom sector one of the worst performing in a market that's got the dow down 32 points. dom chu has more back at hq. >> right now telecom stocks jockeying with ene

this morning, carl will have a live and exclusive interview with walmart ceo, doug mcmillon in the top sta

ceo doug mcmillon speaking exclusively to our carl quintanilla, saying the turnaround at the company has a ways to go. we got happen from low fuel prices and tailwind from other experiences as well. the quality has improved. it doesn't turn overnight. >> all right. joining us to discuss walmart and much more, jerry stewart, ceo of hudson's bay behind saks fifth avenue and lord and taylor. welcome back. >> thank you. >> to the news of the day first, your reaction to the pay hike at walmart? >> it's great. some of they needed to do for market competitive conditions, the training they need to do for their work force to raise the store experience but net net it's good news and i applaud them for what they're doing. i think they're showing real leadership like maybe they did years ago when sam walton started the company they energized the employees around their strategy. >> what kind of pressure does it put on the marketplace and its competitors? >> a lot of people already pay more than minimum wage. a lot was news perhaps long overdue so i think it will put some pressure. i think you saw

one of the most existential issues of our snims wasn't it doug mcmillon of walmart that said the onlynk check he days. is for security t >> banks say the same thing. >> any time your position is really on the ceo's radar and the board you get resources, priorities. >> not a lot of pushing on closed doors in that meeting. you're going to stick around. appreciate that. speaking of the white house, senior adviser valerie jarrett will be on "closing bell" this afternoon with one kelly evans talking cyber security. begins around 4:40 eastern time. next up, in china, companies usually hand out red envelopes of cash to workers on the event of the lunar year holiday on wednesday. this year alibaba's executive jack ma told his employees don't expect anything. he explained why on a blog saying in the past year, alibaba group has not had exceptional results and not any special surprises. aside from going public objectively speaking we haven't been satisfied with our results in 2014, coming on a week where elon musk like said their any going to be the best, if not already, the polar opposites of

. >> quickly make sure you tune in tomorrow we will be talking to walmart's president and ceo doug mcmilloncnbc exclusive after they have earnings tomorrow morning. you'll see that beginning right here at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. >> a big name to have carl. we'll be looking forward to it. a check on the markets at this hour as well. the dow, nasdaq and s&p all have modest losses for most of the morning. dow hovering above 18,000. the nasdaq we should note, if it's down today, would be nochg its first losing day in six sessions. this coming after touching record highs in yesterday's close. we had negative data. the fed minutes this afternoon and all eyes, carl, will still be on greece as we near the deadline on february 28th. >> zillow finalizing its merger with trul ya after the bell yesterday. the ceo will break it down in a first on cnbc interview in a moment. attention all businesses if you don't have a good shopping app, you in big trouble. more on that a little later on. shake shack went public a couple weeks ago. danny meyer has a new gig, with us to explain later this hour. "squawk a

doug mcmillon, the kobe ceo thomas announced -- the company ceo announced that nine dollars will be the and that will go to $10, starting in february of next year. a $1 billion investment in that increased hiring. that takes a toll on earnings. she talked about headwinds in currencies. we've seen this from companies to get their sales internationally. walmart gets a big chunk of its sales abroad. continued spending in e-commerce is something walmart has been doing. all of that, compressing earnings and putting pressure on the shares. betty: thank you so much. julie hyman. oil prices sliding under $50 a barrel this morning. a spite lower prices, u.s. production is resilient at a 40 year high. saudi arabia has been on the offense but how much more ammunition does the kingdom really have? alix steel, joining me now with more. what can saudi arabia do if it's goal is to lower prices to push out producers? how long can they hold on? >> let's pretend like that is their goal. that saudi arabia wants to lower the price. betty: that is not their goal? >> they are saying they are responding to de

coming up an exclusive interview with doug mcmillon at 11:00 a.m. eastern. >> don't miss that one.ece asked for an extension of its agreement. and reuters is reporting the euro group will meet on friday to discuss that request. let's get to julia with the latest in brussels. >> thanks so much. as you quite rightly said, formal request today to extend their master financial assistant facility agreement. we have been talking about this all morning. this process has been very well negotiated with the euro group. that's rather than the european commission which is what happened on monday according to reports and the deal was rejected. that could be crucial. i know the greek government is very hopeful that they have come up with something that will be signed off by the euro zone finance ministers. expected to talk about this on friday. the working group behind the scenes expected to talk through some of the details today. we have to understand what's in the details but judging by what i heard the question is whether or not details like the reforms that greece goes forward with gets disc

we talked to doug mcmillon about the wage there we between provide a great customer experience.ng include structural changes in the stores wage increases, training programs and this company, as you probably know has always been a people business, it's a people business today and it will be tomorrow. so our associates their pride in the company the ownership that they take those things are vital to running a good retail business. and today we're investing in them and we want them to know how important they are. >> some call the move significanting but consumer advocate ralph nader says it's not enough. the author of "unstoppable the emerging left/right alliance to dismantle the corporate state." good morning. >> good morning. >> are you saying it's not enough? if you are, why you looking a gift horse in the mouth? it. >> not enough. walmart workers in 1968 were making more in inflation adjust adjusted buying power than they're making today. if the inflation adjustment was made starting with 1968 the walmart minimum wage, by law, would be $11 an hour. going to $9 next month and th

doug mcmillon focused on wages.should be focused on target. >> lowe's not bad, either by the way. >> not at all. >> not at all. talking about a stock, though up 30 points since let's call it the summer and rose. is that justified. >> 3.6 million homes that have not been spruced up during this period. the remodeling that -- homes that were taken out because they were bought by various funds, and then rented. these homes must all be remodeled, in tremendous amounts. this according to home depot, and lowe's is benefitting from that. take a look at categories doing great, millwork it's kitchen, bath, small hand tools the stuff of reconstruction. go over the toll brothers quarter and toll made a number, not by putting up more houses by putting up apartments. this tremendous project in brooklyn, pier houses thought they'd be 2.5 million. going for 4 million. that is the kind of gross margin you dream of but it doesn't come from moor homes. comes from smarter homes. i'd like to hear from meg whitman. >> we're going. what y

eastern and speaking of another big guest, walmart ceo doug mcmillon will be on squawk alley.date for this hour. "the closing bell" coming back after this quick break. can it make a dentist appointment when my teeth are ready? ♪ ♪ can it tell the doctor how long you have to wear this thing? ♪ ♪ can it tell the flight attendant to please not wake me this time? ♪ ♪ the answer is yes, it can. so, the question your customers are really asking is can your business deliver? i'm type e. i know what my money is doing. i rebalanced my portfolio on my phone. you know what else i can do on my phone? place trades get free real time quotes and teleport myself to aruba. i wish. let me talk to you about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? i would. i would indeed. well, let's be clear here. i'm actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way! i have no financial experience at all. that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro you just don't know. find a certi

in an exclusive interview here on cnbc walmart ceo doug mcmillon explained the move. >> we want to provideociates to know how much we value them. the changes we're making include structural changes in the stores wage increases, training programs. and this company as you know has always been a people business. it's a people business today and it will be tomorrow. so our associates, their pride in the company, the ownership they take, those things are vital to running a good business. today we're investing in them and we want them to know how important they are. >> here now to agree on this and many more topics dan senor, cofounder of the foreign policy initiative. and steve ratner a cnbc contributor. the only place i saw, guys where this was seen as sort of that walmart was shamed into this by pressure was in "usa today." both "the new york times" and "wall street journal" said it's time in terms of the competitive market place and the labor market right now has gotten to the point where it makes sense for walmart to do this strategically to attract the best workers that they can. and it's