hsbc flash pmi drops more than expected as new orders hit a four month low. >> in the u.s., the labor market is in focus as keenums on unemployment could shed some light on what we could see in the march jobs report. >> just getting in of the pmi figures out. euro's march composite pmi that flash at 48.7 is the figure that we're getting look you here. it was less than forecast and it represents a decline from last time around, as well. we see a reaction in the euro, fresh session lows coming lieu there. let's get a bill of colt of col williamson is with us, chris, run us through what it is that has sent will figure lower. lower than expected, as well. >> yeah, it's a real disappointme disappointment. so it's not signaling the rate of contraction that we had late last year before the ltros have been in place, but there's been a broad based weakening. a steep race of decline still in the periphery. perhaps more worrying than that, germany, the rate of growth is creeping closer towards stag thags. so it looks like the problems in periphery are continuing to affect the two largest economi

david bloom joining us from hsbc. thank you to you both. and so on behalf of jackie and i, have a great day. coming up next, "squawk box" and the countdown of markets state side. >>> good morning. stocks starting a new month today. february could be a tough month for the bulls to top. today's test key reads on jobs, manufacturing, auto and the consumer. it's thursday, march 1st, 2012. "squaw "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ of the blue bird as she sings 6:00 alone would never ♪ >>> good morning. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. this is in honor of david

it's ahead of hsbc. they pulled ahead of the rivals by concentrating on community banking services. >>> starbucks today opens its first noncoffee shop the the evolution fresh juice store will open. it's like the coffee shops. the emmoi yees will mix the custom orders. >>> let's call this next story the alec bald win effect. the faa is looking at the policy that forbids passengers using the electronic devices during takeoff and landing. these are the first tests since 2006. >>> and audiences jumped to see $21 jump street" this weekend. the action comedy played best for those under 25. who don't remember the tv show on what it's based. "the lorax" was in second and "john carter" was in third. >> you can always tell the kids. >>> coming up next, fear on a stretch of florida coastline after two people are attacked bay shark. >>> and today's big event. a high-profile first by the duchess of cambridge. [ ringing ] hello? [ sea ] hello, this is the sea calling. [ laughing ] [ sea ] what's the last romantic thin

concern the slowing growth in china and also after it posted a trade deficit recently and also the hsbc pmi survey yesterday which show they fall to 48.1 indicating a slowing in manufacturing. we also had a eurozone manufacturing just yesterday also indicating a slowdown in manufacturing. now, the currency markets did show immediate signs reflecting some of the concerns in the marketplace. let's have a look at the dollar, yen and euro/yen and can you see what i'm talking b.28.51-53. that was trading around 83 levels this time yesterday. euro oyien 108.95-99. that was trading around 110 this time yesterday. we did also see a u.s. treasury bonds, the yields dropping there, so investors shifting some assets into the relative safety of the yen and treasury bonds. >> yeah, absolutely. and ramin though, u.s. economic data, still, that continues to show steady improvement, so markets i guess in a bit of a twist with positive u.s. data, but, you know, as you said, slowing growth in china. >> yeah, exactly. a bit of a twist there because a lot of investors are looking at, for instance, weekly jo

hsbc had to announce that they had to restate previous year's earnings because of losses in subprime loans. no one knew what a subprime loan was. everyone now has opinions on it, but that is the start of it. the recession we had was extremely severe, and it was a financial recession, and it takes a long time to recover out of them, but we are on the right trajectory, and that is the important thing in terms of the outlook for this economy. inflation -- this chart is the consumer price index, the broadest measure of inflation, and it goes back to 1975. many of you in you may remember the very high levels of inflation we had then. now, it is down around 2%. this is a level that is acceptable for the federal reserve bank, and it allows them to use their tools to try to stimulate the economy because they do not have to use those tools to try to fight inflation, but this is the concern -- housing. i love the start because it puts in perspective how bad the housing market was affected in housing market was affected in this econo

he covers the commodity and precious metals from hsbc securities. >> susie: a key week for readings on the housing market started on a flat note: homebuilders are about as optimistic as they were last month. throughout this week, we'll see the latest on housing starts, sales and homebuilder earnings. darren gersh looks at what may be shaping up as a the strongest year for housing since the bubble burst. >> reporter: this year the stock market seems to be more bullish on home builders than the builders themselves. the national association of home builders' reading of builder sentiment didn't budge this month, staying stuck a long way from what economist david crowe calls a mild comfort level. that's also what crowe is expecting to learn from readings later this week on home sales and housing starts. >> i don't think we are going to see any barn burners. this is not a recovery that is just going to leap forward at a moment. it's going to continue to be a slow process. >> reporter: 2011 was the worst year on record for new home sales. but this year investors seem confident the worst is ov

now the fed is going to fine 8 more banks including hsbc goldman sachs for improper home foreclosures any chance folks could get a relief because of that? >> possible. the settlement last month about a -- 1 million homeowners did get some relief. >> sadly the gas prices. they go up you think it's time to buy a more fuel efficient car. not so much now? the prices of cars going up? >> used car prices going up hybrids and fuel efficient cars are going up. kelly blue book says the average used car price up more than 1 percent last month to 12,286 dollars. if you are in the market for a small car you can get one you won't get a great deal. >> you might save money on the gallon of gas right now. >> oprah we played everybody hurts from rem a moment ago. ratings for oprah not going well. she had to do layoffs. >> everything she does doesn't turn to gold. a 5th of the staff, 30 workers and 150 or so. she needs to understand her network is just about one year 3 months older so to be an economic startup you need to cut costs. this is one of the ways oprah is doing that. >> one of the shows is ge

they're likely going to get hsbc. i saw their stock offering today. my question is do you like their move? >> stephanie link, the research director. she and i go back and forth to get into capital one. she's arguing, listen, you can't have it, it's not diversified if you have american express and capital one. i keep saying we have to get in on the second offering. turns out we're both right. this capital one has gone much higher. cof is the one to be in but american express, that ain't so bad either. the bears got caught in their own traps today. the transports are trucking. crude went down. the banks are bankable. the bulls it seems right now yogi and boo-boo, hey, hey, you're dumber than the average bull. "mad money" will be right back. >> coming up, urgent care. dr. cramer is pitting two health care plays against each other. which stock is the best medicine for your portfolio and which one will be admitted to the sell block? and later, drilling for tech. where's the real innovation these days? cramer's looking for a new breed of tech stocks. tonigh

. >> and it's not just hsbc maintaining the forecast of a soft landing. at least for now, the banks are predicting monetary easing. if not earlier. that could take the form of an interest rate cut or a reduction in the capital reserves that banks are required to hold. china's pmi seems like it didn't have an effect across the region. it had been down earlier but it closed down marginally in the red. asia is manning small gains. australia's asx 200 managed to close up thanks to gains in banking stocks. the nikkei added .4 of a percent after a surprise trade sur plas of $400 million was announced. it seems investors are not too concerned about china's pmi for now. >> interesting, ramy, considering the chinese authorities did move beforehand to ease them back a fraction. it's all pointing towards the directions -- ramy inocencio. thank you. >>> the china numbers are so closely watched here. just to see that reaction in the asia market to sort of take that in stride suggests there's no undue concern among investors about the speefd the slowdown, at least yet

data more closely because this is compiled by hsbc, a private firm.t goes against the official china pmi numbers that come out so watch that. shen den 300 is up 10% year-to-date. china after dropping all of last year had a nice start to 2012, backed off a little the last couple of days. we'll see if this collapses that again. >> this is a one-month low, finishing the session down 0.1%. it kind of picked up. we've seen the weakness again. the miners are down across the globe in europe right now, where we're looking at a lower open for the miners in the united states. >> i've been saying it's china off, usa on, buttressed by employment claims. i don't see any reason to go into the china play yet. they're obviously in weak hands. i don't want to buck a 2008, remember, people decided to sell the commodity plays, sold fertilizer and steel. why get in front of that when we have plenty of u.s. companies doing well and offer much better value. >> what about u.s. companies doing well in china, i.e. general motors, buick, not the hottest brand and china, and be

hsbc getting a big pop today.almost 5% a big move considering it's such a big stock on the hang kenge, on the back of comments by angela merkel talking about a new willingness to support the -- any other moves to tackle european debt problems. so the banks getting a boost here, the hong kong hang seng closing up 1.8%. it was all about the nikkei, up 2.4%, 10255. the country's largest exporter, sony, leading the way up by more than 3%. >> andrew, when it comes to the united states markets all three major indices on wall street rallied by more than 1% on the back of ben bernanke's speech. the dow saw its biggest gains in nearly three months. here's felicia taylor with a full wrap of the action on wall street. >> reporter: a rally to kick off the new week. the dow recorded its second biggest gain following a speech by ben bernanke. the fed chief said recent jobs data has been positive but it's still out of sync with the modest growth. investors pleased since that implies the bank will continue to hold interest rates

plus we've got hsbc's flash numbers so we'll perhaps be able to get a glimpse of exactly where the slowdowns, given that there's been a lot of reverberations as to how quickly china is slowing down. alzheimer's you can see, more losses coming through in our key markets. korea down three quarters, australia down a half. the other is rallying by 1.7%. we've had quite a bit of weakness in japan and also greater china, flat-lining there. although the h index seems to be reflecting quite a bit of weakness, becky. >>> in the european markets after a weak day yesterday, we're looking at gains. 9.2% higher for the ftse, the french market is up by nearly a half a percent but the ftse across italy has turned a fraction lower. jackie. >> thanks for that, becky. in the meantime we're seeing in the state as bit of a monthsive momentum now. if the market opened now, the dow would be up. the s&p 500 higher be i about 3.5 as well, this after stocks finished lower in trade yesterday on tuesday. we saw a little bit of a pullback on the concerns of growth in china and the headline miss in term os the housing

the group includes hsbc and it holds a combined greek debt worth about $107 billion. that's about 40% of the total private debt. with many of us set to follow suit, what it does, this kind of move by these creditors sends a positive message to those bond holders. they're still wavering over the terms of the deal. greece already has warned them that they won't get their money back if they don't sign up. what we're seeing here is a 75% subskrupgs rate required to make this particular plan work. at least for the moment investors are hoping that that will be sorted out by the end of the market trade today. there's confidence that that kind of figure can be reached and exceeded and that would pave the way for the bailout funds to reach athens before it's likely to default on its debt. it has $18.5 billion worth of bonds coming due on march the 20th, hence the deadline here that they need to clear with that debt swap before that. this is how the markets are fairing. a little optimism ahead of this. we should point out that the paris cac is the highest. the aerospace group e

number two, this recent run-up in gas prices is really concerning a lot of investors and an hsbc economistctually says this is more severe than greece but we can't forget about grease which is number three and a banking trade group this morning saying that, if there is a disorderly greek default which could happen march 20th, so just days away, we can see $1.3 trillion in damage to the 17 nations. >> some companies use credit checks as part of the screen is progress sees. some won't allow it. what is the debate on this. >> we are in a bad job market. many employers feel more secure hiring people with good credit histories and with solid credit scores but unfontly in 2012 after all we've been through, it is hard to keep i'm good credit score. many people will tell you that creditworthiness does not determine work ethic. we are seeing more states saying that we will for gid bid the company to check your credit score before hiring you. >>> it is super tuesday and voter will have their say on who they think will be the republican presidential nominee. we'll take a look at the numbers. >>> also

stocks continuing to get hit in hong kong, but that was offset by gains in the banks, particularly the hsbc. property stocks getting hit, lingering concerns over chinese premier wen jiabao's statement that real estate prices remain too high and that restrictions will remain in place. take a look at that, the composite down after closing down 2% yesterday, another .75% today. there is a real concern about exactly how long the chinese authorities are going to maintain that choke hold on the property market. okay, i told you about the japanese exporters. it's been a long time since the japanese exporters have had actually something to smile about. natural disasters at home, plus the floods in thailand put a squeeze on supply last year, and the european debt crisis put a squeeze on demand. and the strength of the yen compounding both of those issues. but the country's big names are on the up this week, as you can see there. since the thursday close, some of the big names, honda, sony, nintendo, toyota, all recording some pretty strong gains, and that, as i said, is as the currency finally start

. >> look, the right strategy, get the china, pmi coming out this week which matters more than the hsbcon good friday you'll get the jobs report and then earnings. the way to look at it is to look at sectors, and what most people right now are missing is this market has changed. if i told you that gold and silver would be down 4% in the last couple of days, if energy would be down 5%, you'd say, well, the s&p is going to be down accordingly. it is not. this is a different marketplace. this is about technology. this is about financials. the time really isn't right now for coal and energy and the precious metals. this is about a consumer discretionary name that works so on pullbacks you're lacking at ralph lauren and tjx. those names will continue to work just like large-cap technology. >> on the best performers list, whirlpool is on that list and watching jim's show last night, he had the show of jardon on, a plants-maker. they have grown by acquisition and own from mr. coffey to bicycle cards to coleman. take a look at their multiple. they trade about nine times forward earnings. this i

patrick is senior mining analyst with hsbc global research and bob pisani with us as well. patrick, let me begin with you. you think now is a good time to buy these stocks. and you've got several on your buy list. make the case for them. >> yeah, well, we think the whole sector is attractive right now. gold prices have been quite strong although we're seeing gold prices actually come down off recent highs, 1660 an ounce, 1650 an ounce is still a fairly good price, actually. and these gold companies can make decent money at this sort of price level. now, we're forecasting higher prices. we forecast 1850 an ounce. we're bullish on the stock with leverage on the gold price in general. and we see earnings continuing to increase. and there's been significant earnings increases in the last couple of years in these companies. >> gold has blown off the top there a little bit. and i think of gold in a big rise partly attributed to a variety of things. but among them was the sense that people were seeking gold as a haven in a very fearful time in 2011. this does not feel quite as fea

i determined that the rolling cost about 90 basis points a year and negotiated a deal with hsbc for a less than 90 basis points a year. we store it and insure it and we own it. it sits in the system but it's just ours. >> kyle was able to negotiate a significantly lower price to hold the gold and didn't have a problem with the gold bouillon bank owning it for them. more on my interview with kyle bass and gold on cnbc.com. look in the top right-hand corner. these gold bars weigh about 400 troy ounces a piece. how much will this one gold bar be worth at the end of the day today? take a guess for a chance to win a prize on cnbc. tweet your guess to me. hash tag is gold bar. remember, follow me @bob pisani on twitter. the best part about this whole thing? it took a year to do this documentary. the best part was being able to go underground in the deepest mine of the world and see how dangerous gold mining is. a new found respect for the gold miners. i had to sign a release that said if you don't come out when you go into the mine, don't blame me. tough sell but it was worth it. >> look fo

of the pullback that we've seen most recently on these china concerns and they started before the hsbcstarted this week with the comments from that bhp executive about slowing iron ore demand. where did you look to first take advantage of this pullback? >> melissa, china has been trying to slow its economy down for three years. they have been trying to pop the real estate bubble for three years, so it's finally bearing fruit, and i'm delighted to see it. they need to do that. it will be good for china, good for the world and it will present opportunities for all of us. i hope that the chinese market collapses so i can buy chinese shares. >> so at this point you're not using this minor pullback because you're anticipating a bigger one which will be a bigger buying opportunity in your view? >> i certainly expect the world to have more of a slowdown in the next year or two and that will be an opportunity for all of us. >> jim, if you look forward and you see a potential sovereign debt crisis in japan so think about japanese yen down 10%, u.s. dollar up 10% from here. how do you think abou

. >> keep in mind, sunday night we're actually getting the real pmi, not the hsbc flash pmi, which we had last week. which looks at small and mid-sized businesses. the the official stats look at large-cap chinese companies that have good access to banking credit, that have a lot of international trade. that number is still up in the air. we notice to some extent it's managed. but still i don't think we're out of the woods as far as the china slowdown. >> let's bring in our senior economics reporter, steve liesman, what was bernanke's message intended to be? >> can we get a picture up of the six guys here? let's go do that picture. raise your hand if you heard bernanke say new qe3 today. one guy in the middle. the market is trading as if it heard bernanke say new qe3. i did not hear that what i think has happened is i think the debate on the board has shifted. from one that wanted earlier when the jobs numbers were not quite so good, to do new qe. i don't think that's the case. i think what's happening is the doves, including the fed chairman are trying to defend the existing accommoda

according to an hsbc report, rising oil prices have become the new greece in the eyes of investors. joining us for more 0 the senior director of global commodities strat they from merrill lynch. bob is still with us as well. in terms of price at the moment, how much is political risk premium putting on the price? >> you'd be surprised. i think it's relatively small. i would say after the last $20 in the brent crude oil rise, i would attribute $5 to iran and $15 to liquidity and continued quantitative easing and just the fact the supply of money continues to rise dropping the value of money relative to the value of real access. liquidity is having a huge impact on oil prices. >> i studied the recent data. let me ask you, if we look at net long speculative position in the futures markets, last april at the time of the libyan blowup, we saw a surge. going into december, early january, those speculative positions came off a lot. in the last few weeks, have they been up again? >> they've been up a little bit but not really to explain the rise in prices. >> it's a very important statement

separately hsbc purchasing managers index rose above the 50 mark for the first time since july 2011 adding home for a manufacturing recovery. back to you. >> rhie, thank you very much for that. live from south korea. ross, it's a friday. i think i might treat myself to a glass of wine. what do you think? >> it's funny you should do that. you have a choice whether you drink it or just put some money into the bottle. are you looking to add vintage to your portfolio? how you can diversify at the same time. 2009, all those vintages to be the best. what do we have to say about it? what does it mean for you? [singing] hoveround takes me where i wanna go... where will it send me... one call to hoveround and you'll be singing too! pick up the phone and call hoveround, the premier power chair. hoveround makes it easier than any other power chair. hoveround is more maneuverable to get you through the tightest doors and hallways. more reliable. hoveround employees build your chair, deliver your chair, and will service your chair for as long as you own your chair. most importantly, 9 out of 10 people

hsbc, that was one of first ones with the housing problems. >> do you know how enough this bank makingsper year. one of the best. they're selling their insurance business to a french insurer. also it's not just to axa but australia's kbe insurance green. $19.4 billion. netflix has quietly met with some of the nation's largest cable companies. >> this is fascinating. >> in recent weeks. >> this could be a game change sneer really. >> we thought they were going to be a comb pet tore. >> did they meet with comcast? >> it didn't say. we should just get him on the air right now. >> good idea. this is a reuters report? they're discussing adding it. net flick could be another ondemand process. >> is that because netflix needs to raise money quickly and look at this as a real quick way to -- it's another way to compete with hbo and showtime. in terms of who has the credit card. this way they bill straight through and they don't have to actually get you as a new subscriber. if you're a comcast subscriber or time warner -- >> good idea. you could get the mail stuff too? >> i think this is a strea