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janet yellen says the fed's highly accommodative policy is appropriate right how given continued risksing wednesday night in new york, yellen says that the fed has a number of options if it were to embark on another round of asset purchase, although she didn't advocate doing so. the fed could keep rates low past 2014, but that could change depending on how the economy performs. >> i'm prepared to adjust my policy views in response to incoming information in particular, further easing actions could be warranted about if the recovery proceeds at a lower than expected pace. while a significant acceleration in the pace of recovery could call for an earlier beginning to the process of policy firming than the fmoc currently anticipates. >> aside from yellen, another top fed dove is speaking came, bill dudley talks about the economy first at 7:15 a.m. eastern and then again at 11:20. a fair of fed hawks step up to the podium, charles plosser and minneapolis fed president at 1:00 p.m. watch for those comments, as well. and frank when we look at quantitative easing, i feel like wall street real

let's point out that we mentioned janet yellen will speak this evening. you can watch that live on cnbc.com. let's pick up the attorney general now, eric holder announcing his suit against apple. >> the justice department's ensuring fairness in the marketplace and making sure that cutting edge technologies are available at the lowest possible price. in recent years we have seen the rapid growth and many benefits of electronic books. ebooks are transforming our daily lives and improving how information and content is shared. for a growing number of americans who want to take advantage of this new technology, the department of justice is committed to ensuring that ebooks are as affordable as is possible. as part of this commitment, the department has reached a settlement with three of the nation's largest book publishers and will continue to litigate against apple and two additional leading publishers for conspireing to increase the prices that consumers pay for ebooks. earlier today we filed a lawsuit in united states district court for the southern distri

louis fed president and then the speech by janet yellen tonight. as tyler suggested, the yellen speech will be most closely watched. at times the comments could be advance guard of the chair. the two are not far off. >> how closely is the fed watching europe? >> i think it's a big part of fed policy right now. i think it may be a reason not to do qe-3. if europe remains to have potential for shock to the u.s. economy, the fed's going to want to have at least a couple bullets in its gun to be able to help the u.s. economy, tyler. i wouldn't want to shoot those bullets before it had need to. >> steve, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> the struggling housing market still a major drag on the economy, but could 2012 be the turning point? diana olick with a new report that's giving a number of home builders a boost. diana. >> well, that's right, julia. 2012 may be the long awaited recovery year for housing. that's the headline from analysts at wells fargo after a record positive response on their monthly home builders survey. 63% of 150 sales manager

. >> janet yellen's speech made them sound like hawks. she said fed stimulus has been inadequate since 2009 and there has not been enough. i don't think a slight trade down in crude and gas is helping things yet. >> i saw that as a big positive. >> it's in the positive direction but it hasn't gone far enough or hard enough. i'm not sure how much it's going to go down. if they're going to be throwing money at this from helicopters -- >> i think dudley said in his speech we're not going to throw money. dudley was a little tougher. yellen, i don't know. i got to get out of this segment. >> what was when the banks start to withdraw those reserves they talked to the federal reserve? what's the fed going to do? >> they should withdraw the excess money. will they? i don't know. >> retail investors need to always think long term. don't get too worried about the macro stuff. it's interesting to follow but that ten-year-plus perspective. >> thank you. we appreciate it. now we've got breaking news coming in to cnbc. nbc news confirms south korea has

federal reserve's tealeaves today as the fed's vice chair janet yellen said interest rates maybe should be kept at zero until as late as two thousand and fifteen reportedly she said that in a speech in new york meanwhile the new york fed president william dudley also has reiterated he supports keeping interest rates near zero until late two thousand and fourteen now all of this has us thinking back to the future about time travel and has us wondering if the artificial manipulation of interest rates distorts this space time continuum and therefore frenzy economic destruction of cosmic proportions now we have mike norman here to talk about it he's probably going to severe with what i have to say but that's why we like him so much his chief economist at john thomas financial and he joins us now to talk about all things monetary issue related first of all mike thanks so much for being on the show again it's nice to see you. i love being on the show lauren and you know i love talking to you and you are so smart how did you get some more i mean i'm going with. my things i said i don't read yo

there's janet yellen and bill dudley who spoke this morning.sentially that they will do more if the economy worsens. i did not hear additional qe. more fed on tap today. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much, steve. >> all right. sony ceo laying out plans to revive a struggling company cutting 10,000 jobs moving away from unprofitable tv business bringing us to this morning's squawk on the tweet. you can make a mixed tape for sony, what song would you make for its new anthem? we have your responses straight ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] aggressive styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. ♪ the 2012 c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. ♪ the c-class starts at just $34,800. is to take you from where you are... to where you need to be. and we're not just talking about points on a map. with a more intuitive delta website and mobile app... and the most wifi equipped planes. we let you be everywhere at once. innovations like these are extending our reach so you can

lockhart thinks only in extreme situations and janet yellen very important speaker going to talk about monetary policy on the -- >> it's not televised but i believe it will be simulcast. >> and we have bob weir on at 5:00. he has a cool new deal. >> now you've caught my interest. >> is that more important than yellen? >> it's not. thanks so much. we want to quickly check in with markets less than two hours to go before the close. nice comeback from recent losses this week that is. the dow hasn't had a losing streak that long since last summer. of course we've seen a little weakness after that beige book report hit. for the dow, s&p and nasdaq we have the biggest one-day gain still since march 26th. all three on track for biggest drops of 2012 will take more to change that. let's get down to bob and rick. bob, what are you watching? >> i think the important thing is i think this is rather positive tone to this whole statement. manufacturers optimistic, consumer spending encouraging, hiring and loan demand improving, all pretty positive. what it hasn't done is move the markets much. we'r

janet yellen is the vice chair of the federal reserve. and dudley is not only new york fed president, he's the vice chair of the fomc. i would think they're carrying a bit more weight probably speaking for the balance of the committee. and i think that's reflecting where the center of the committee is and probably very much likely reflecting where the chairman is. >> some members are more equal than others. steve, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> meantime, sony's new ceo wasting no time in laying out his turnaround strategy. the struggling electronics giant holding a conference call earlier announcing job cuts. just fewer than the greek public sector. and the shift towards mobile devices and its medical business. but the big question for investors now is will this plan work. our jon fortt is in silicon valley with the details. jon. >> hey, kayla. the question is also is the plan enough. first let's go over the pieces we heard already. letting 10,000 employees go mostly from the chemical and low end display. he's focusing on turning arou

i want to get to what janet yellen said last night. thought what she was doing when i think about the total sum of the 21-page paper that she put out last night with the charts and graphs was that bottom line is she's in the middle here, that defending current policy will do more if things get worse. i don't hear her saying they'll do any more, yellen or dudley. i did think yellen said what caught attention was even if operation twist ends right now, which is scheduled to do, she won't consider that a tightening of policy. suggesting that maybe they're going to let operation twist end without any potential continuation. >> the other thing i heard that she said that i thought was interesting is she said, look, i'm data dependent essentially, i'm still looking at the numbers as they come in and i can change my opinion based on that, which people keep thinking this is a promise to not raise rates before 2014 or so and that's just not the case. there could be changed if the economy -- >> either way. >> right. >> i feel like by now it's alr

janet yellen saying interest rates should remain low through 2014 and the central bank stands ready to take additional actions to boost the economy should the recovery falter. of course, the problem in the recovery has been the housing market. and to that echbd, realty track reports that the number of homes entering the foreclosure process rose for the third straight month in morch saying housing prices could remain under pressure. >> mary thompson, thank you. >>> and it was an attack of the giggles on anderson cooper 360 this week. the cnn host just couldn't keep it together during his "ridiculist" statement. and just thinking about it gave him the sillies. >> i'm going to let you do this one. it's really so stupid. km on. come on. >> i feel his pain. we've all been there at some point. cooper has since apologized for his laughing fit to anyone who celebrates dingus day. by the way, hearing it makes you laugh. it's a polish-american tradition the day after easter celebrating the end of lent. 7:18 right now. now ann has a fit of the giggles. >> no, but his was definitely a giggle. that

dow jones futures are up this hour following commentary from federal reserve vice chairman janet yellen yesterday. ahead of the bell, the dow is up 62 points. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span or radio. >> our specific mission is to work to see to it that human rights remain a central component of american foreign policy, and when we are evaluating foreign policy moves globally, human rights can never be the only consideration, but it has to be part of the dialogue. when we abandon our deepest values, and as we are talking about torture as relates to the war on terror, or the policy with russia and the upcoming issue of whether the accountability act should be passed, whether we will stay on record saying human-rights matter in russia, china. >> more with katrina lantos swett sunday night at 8:00 on c- span's "q&a." "washington journal" continues. host: we want to introduce you to lauren ashburn, editor in chief of the daily download. what is the daily download? guest: the daily download, daily-download.com, is a website that curates the smartest content on the web, the s

this with any prominence, they have taken inflation out of the targeting issue in the sense that janet yellene are from different political parties and they've agreed on this thing, inflation targeting. >> professor, we have to go. thank you. i appreciate it. >>> coming up, the view from wall street. we're going to head down to the new york stock exchange with a look ahead at the trading week. >>> we're back on this monday morning. let's get down to the new york stock exchange. carl and melissa join us now. what do you make of that microsoft b & n news? >> great interview on "squawk" this morning. it's probably the buzz of the exchange this morning, if there is a buzz. >> definitely. you have to think about what this might mean, what microsoft gain with it with the release of windows 8. it has 100 apps or so compared to apple's hundreds of thousands of apps. does this move the needle at all for microsoft? >> where did you leave cramer, carl? >> cramer eers on vacation this week, well-deserved. >> i figured he's in d.c. in a gutter after on afterparty. >> you might have been the last one to se

janet yellen saying ending without extension not a tightening.d not be reversal of policy. and bill dudley of the new york fed said additional qe has costs and could raise inflation anxiety. they are not spooked by that skbloorkts. but that's so far, they are holding out really final judgment on that to see what other labor market indicators have to say as the months go by. they are still defending the existing policy. really little change in the status quo. some hawks were emboldened. like one from minneapolis saying the fed could begin to tighten from six to nine months from now. that's not seen by the markets as the balance of the committee. read all about this on cnbc.com where i post ad piece. >> thank you very much, steve. looking forward to ben bernanke later on the network. with europe is a major focus heading in to the weekend whether we like it or not with the falls on the european markets and euro breaking through some support levels on the down side. axle merck is the president and chief investment officer for merck investments. how c