let's head over to pippa stevens. >> good morning. i'm pippa stevens from cnbc. wall street is set to open higher. consumer prices are forecast to have slowed in march thanks to a drop in gasoline, furniture, new cars and other items. but if you strip out food and gas costs, core inflation likely ticked higher last month. prices from the services sector which includes rent and restaurants are keeping core inflation high and that could lead the fed to hike interest rates again in may. stocks were mixed yesterday ahead of the inflation data. also in focus today, the minutes from last month's fed meeting. warner brothers discovery will unveil it's new service. it combines hbo max and discovery plus and there will be multiple subscription plans. there will also be a cheaper ad-supported tier that may cost $10 a month. and ikea has a new interior design service that brings in a professional to pick out your new furniture. it costs $99 per room or 299 for a business setting. it's accomplished digitally over three video calls. after you book an appointment and fill out

our pippa stevens is digging into how much money is sitting on the sidelines pippa?oss the market, rising rates and fears of an economic slowdown, the companies that had cash on hand could be better able to handle the storm. looking specifically at russell 1000, overall they were down 13% year over year higher rates, surging costs because of inflation, softening demand, and purchasing stock all played a part. but i wanted to specifically take a look at ample free cash flo because they could be in a better position if we do have a recession. generating cash means you could take advantage of unique opportunities presented by a slowdown macy's, cf industries, toll brothers, nordstrom, and expedia show a free cash flow yield. now looking at dividends and buybacks, they declined 8% over a quarter to $1.5 trillion now, retailer kohl's topped the list at 31.5% with tapestry in second place at 19.1%. then we had whirlpool, eastman chemical, and newell brands rounds out the top five. >> are there any trends about what companies are returning the most cash to shareholders? >>

from verizon. >>> pippa stevens has the main stocks we're looking at today. >> at&t, what's weighingock is the slow down in subscriber growth. they're seeing consumers cutting back we'll hear from verizon and t-mobile next week. >>> also, union pacific reporting a mixed quarter this morning. the company saying higher costs as well as weather affecting results. we're hear from night swift after the bell rings today j.b. hunt missed earnings estimates this week. they're saying the goods economy needs to improve scott? >> let's send it now to kristina partsinevelos with a look at taiwan semi. better than feared >> we can start saying they dispelled some rumors. >> you were watching this wondering whether this was going to be a cut in some of their business, right? >> a lot of people were, especially given that apple is one of their biggest customers that's what didn't happen. they didn't cut their capital expenditures part of that was on today's earnings call, the company reiterated its full year guidance, ceding the range would be 32 to $36 billion that includes the $40 billion plant i

on that note, let's get to pippa stevens. of the old energy names today. >> exxon and chevron beating top and bottom line estimates. shares of exxon surging to an all-time high. that company reporting its best start to the year despite the decline in oil and gas prices. exxon reporting $11.4 billion in profits with chevron posting a $6.6 billion profit. they're down from record results a few quarters back when russia's invasion sent oil above $140 q1 results were well above prepandemic earnings shareholders are reaping the rewards of those profits via record dividends and buybacks. there's a lot of cash left over and that's fueling acquisition rumors this is what darren woods said. >> we're always interested in a value acquisition. cash generation and cash from the balance sheet doesn't change the strategic fit of an acquisition. this is a value play, not a volume play. >> he said as the summer driving season approaches, inventories could drop with not a lot of levers to pull to increase production higher prices are on the ho

pippa stevens is here with those. >> hello again, frank. planning to reduce stock awards as part of the compensation plan in 2025. it is making the move as it looks to cut costs amid the difficult economic back drop according to business insider, a leaked email from employees raised concerns about the value of their stock compensation following the slump of shares. the company finding a balance with the stock and cash compensation. >>> advertising on tiktok in the u.s. grew by 11% in march from companies including pepsi and doordash and amazon and apple. citing data sense tower. this comes amid concerns of the government over the chinese-owned app. >>> and disney is giving joe earley the president title over streaming services he will keep the position until the successor is named disney is under scrutiny by bob iger who expressed concerns of the streaming services. >>> thank you, pippa the china influence is gaining stream after meeting with leaders in los angeles a bipartisan group heading to meet with top tech companies steve kovach is h

i'm pippa stevens.all street is set to open slightly higher after markets were mostly positive yesterday. the dow rising more than 100 points while the s&p 500 inched up a fraction. with us the nasdaq ended a few points lower investors are looking ahead to key data on price inflation out tomorrow and thursday. which could offer hr insight on how the federal reserve may proceed. a survey of small business sentiment. netflix exis extanding an animated series. just the title or release date. "stranger things" became the most watched english language series. a spinoff is in the works and a prequell stage play will debut in november. and you can now order pizza ia the dom know's app. there are two options. tap to order and call to order, which allowhouse to call in an order hands free. dom knee's experimented with different options before, including an emoji text and a zero click app that instantly orders food at markets. anything to make getting pizza easier. >> when you have kids in the car and it's almost

. ♪ ♪ >>> markets deteriorated a bit this afternoon let's send it over to pippa stevens. >> solar stocks, dragged lower. those shares creating more than 26% and having the worst day in more than eight years. the ceo said, quote, we're not growing in the u.s he pointed to rising rates as the primary reason bank of america saying we thought the worst was behind us. we were wrong. key bank, jpmorgan, deutsche bank cutting their price target on the stock they're driving down other solar names, all of which down double digits >> pippa, thank you. >>> let's get back to kristina partsinevelos with some key stocks to watch. >> i got to talk about chipotle. they beat estimates for the first quarter. that's driving shares 13% higher what happened? the company was helped by more expensive menu prices, inflation, 40 new restaurant openings and lower income customers heading back into the stores chipotle's base is higher income customers and they continue to buy bowls and burritos pack west moving higher today after they reported deposit inflows. that's giving investors some comfort. we may as well c

. >>> about 15 minutes before the closing bell pippa stevens has a look >> and bo eing is in the green production of the max. after a problem with the fuselage in some of its 737 max planes but at the shareholder meeting today, calhoun said that the issue will not impact long term guidance and also the video in the green after a double buy saying that more than offsets prior concerns around a data center slowdown. shares up more than 80% this year >>> and last chance to weigh in on our twitter question. what is the best streaming stock right now? results right after this break ready? so it all started when i was at a friend's party. mia, can you send me that? sure! everyone keeps asking- even my french neighbor- mia! green light! i mean all the time. red light! can you send me that? i'm not making this up. hey, can you send me that? everyone. sure! ♪it's incredible♪ >>> results of the twitter question what is the best streaming stock? the majority of you said it was netflix. and in overtime, 54.4% disney. and we'll have a rundown of what to watch coming up next in the market zone. you

pippa stevens is back. >> banks are the story of the day. who's winning?ck on that after the bell coming up next. ♪♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪ ♪ it's our turn now we'll make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deader than me. ♪ ♪ we'll scale up, and we'll scale down ♪ ♪ before you're six feet underground. ♪ ♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪ you got this. let's go. gobble gobble. i've seen bigger legs on a turkey! rude. who are you? i'm an investor in a fund that helps advance innovative sports tech like this smart fitness mirror. i'm also mr. leg day...1989! anyone can become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq, a fund that gives you access to nasdaq-100 innovations. i go through a lot of pants. before investing carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com. at pnc bank, investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses you can find us in big cities and small towns across the us, where

to 4%.he through the best trade is to look for tens to get up to 4% >>> oil down nearly 2% and pippa stevenssy day what is happening with oil >> and oil is under pressure we got the hot inflation data out of the uk. and we also have the rise in u.s. dollar which is once again leading to demand concerns and wti below that 80 dollar level. and there was a 4.6 million draw in accrued stockpiles, that brought storage to a ten week low. but we did see a build in gasoline more than 1 million barrel build, so that is leading to fears that maybe product demand is not there. and also watching the gasoline down signaling that maybe the demand for products isn't there. energy stocks are under pressure, but baker hughes did beat top and bottom line estimates and they say that they still see the supply and demand balance tightening over the course of the year and they still expect spending from upsu upstream players and that they are coming from a place of strength. >> all right, thank you very much >>> now to contessa brewer >> tyre nichols' family has lawsuit against the city and the police officers in

oil closing for the week pippa stevens here >> 50 cents higher on the average price of gasoline sinceuary and we saw the fallout i digress. >> i don't have a white board. not as engaging. but look at what a muted end to the week for oil, fourth straight week of gains we did get the latest report from the iaea today and they had choice words for that surprise cut from opec and its allies with saudi arabia, of course, and the precautionary move the iaea said this was all about supporting prices, given the recent weakness we had seen. they forecast demand hitting an all time high above 101 million barrels, that's global demand. they said consumers confronted by inflated prices for basic necessities will now have to spread their budgets even more thinly and this is bad for the economic recovery and growth part of that is that we're not seeing a huge uptick in production in the u.s. we just got the latest rate count data, lowest since june 2022 a lot of things to watch here as oil and gas earnings kick off next week. >>> to bertha coombs now for a cnbc update. >> here what's happening at t

and getting crushed on weaker q2 outlooks the company's ceo llteing pippa stevens growth in the u.s.still the u.s. accounts for 65% of the company's total revenue. we're back in just two minutes ♪♪ the only thing i regret about my life is that i did what everyone else did at the time. i hired local talent. if i knew about upwork, i would have hired actually talented people from all over the world. instead of talentless people from all over my house. -grandpa... -shh.. shh.. shh.. -but... -shh.. shh... shh... -but... -oh... ♪ this is how we work now ♪ >>> people are out traveling at all costs. that's the main takeaway from hilton's q1 earnings, raising its outlook for the year, expecting another busy summer. joining us now in a cnbc exclusive is hilton's ceo. welcome, chris good to see you. >> hey, sara, thanks for having me >> you're welcome. >> can you just expand a little bit on the demand you see from here on out? >> yeah. listen, right now, what we're seeing is strength across all of our important segments leisure, travel in the quarter continue to be very, very strong both from

you >> thank you very much, rick we appreciate it and the flip side of that, oil closing higher pippa stevense spoil sport, here with the numbers. >> yes, making back some of yesterday's losses i did want to take a closer look at chinese demand today because that's been such a key driver of this market and we have gotten some conflicting data. first, a couple months ago we showed data from keppler show loadings bound for china were down, so a lot of people thought import numbers were going to be down then it turned out and china said in march, their imports rose to a multi-year high, so i spoke to matt smith at keppler, and he said that was a product of vessels flagging for someplace like singapore and ultimately changing the destination and going to china instead. he said there's not really too much to read into the data there. however, so the strong import data speaks to this demand growth in china but we also look at experts exports were also higher in march after five months of declines the question is how much is strength in china versus imports being high then turning those into refined

nat gas trying to show some life, though pippa stevens. >> starting here with oil. not doing a whole lot, down just shy of 1% with wti right around that $80 level although it is coming off the third straight week of gains supported in part of course by that surprise cut from opec and its allies but nat gas is the big mover, up more than 9% last i checked. and dennis kissler over at -- 7.8% i should say. dennis kissler at bach financial says there are some fears that perhaps over in europe they won't be able to store more energy over the summer because of droughts and nuclear power plants being offline, things like that. however, the majority of this move today is thanks to short covering he noted that traders don't really want to be short with nat gas right around the $2 level and given how much it's come down this year there's a much greater risk the next move is to the up side versus to the down side so i allot of people getting out of the market. >> are we going to talk about the exxon pioneer -- i mean, this is interesting. >> yeah. >> i had no idea that company

. >> appreciate that eamon javers an update with pippa stevens. >> your news update at this hour policeing that five people were killed by a shooter in downtown louisville and six have been transported to the hospital police also say the shooter is dead the police consider an active scene, but there is no threat to the public >>> meanwhile, government authorities are investigating a pentagon leak involving dozens of classified times more than 50 documents on the war in ukraine were posted online and many of them were labeled as top secret. the pentagon's deputy press secretary leased a statement saying that defense department is reviewing and assessing the validity of the photographed documents. >>> during an interview this morning with al roker at the annual white house easter egg roll, president biden commented on his potential plans to run for re-election in 2024. >> help a brother out may some news for me. >> no, no, no. i plan on running, al, but we're not prepared to announce it yet. >> well, that's what we get for now. sara, back to you. >> that sounded like an accidental announc

. >>> energy giants exxon and chevron reporting before the bell today pippa stevens listening to the bottom line estimates during the latest quarter with exxon reporting profits for the first three months of the year despite the decline in oil and gas prices and with record payouts to shareholders the companies are sitting on a lot of cash and there are questions about what they might do with that. on the call just now, exxon's ceo darren woods asked about possible acquisitions emphasizing any deals would be focused on value rather than volume he added the company is comfortable with the current cash level saying it's a buffer when moving into the bottom of a cycle. executives emphasizing the importance of growing exxon's dividend noting roughly 40% of the companies shareholders are retail investors woods adding the company is on track too cut costs by $9 billion by the end of this year relative to 2019 chevron's call kicks off in 45 minutes and key things include commentary around the permian production and capital spending plan exxon just now hitting a new all-time high. >> thanks

let's get a check on the corporate stories with pippa s st stevens. >> thank you, frank. john williams spoke yesterday and he expects the unemployment figure to climb from 4% to 4.5% after the friday jobs report williams is a voting member of the fmoc and discussing the trouble facing the financial sector and saying that the central banks continued rate hikes were not a driver for the issues williams add the that there are no clear signs of the credit run m -- crunch in the economy. >>> and warren buffett is looking to add a stake in the japanese trading house he is considering additional investment in five trading houses and is planning to meet with the condimpanies later in e week >>> the head of the congressional committee on china expressing concerns of the tesla dependence on the country. representative gallagher says the ev maker is dependent on the chinese market and government in the form of tax breaks gallagher making the announcement after tesla announced it is opening a factory in shanghai. tesla is not the only ev maker dependent on china >> pippa, thank you.

it is part going directly to the needed pippa stevens joins us with more >> good morning, joe we seee miners as automakers look to secure battery minerals. we are talking about lithium and nickel and cobalt. those go into the battery. the map from the wilson center shows reserves you see lithium deposits are in chile and australia.t is cobalt the majority of the congo and some in australia. australia and indonesia are nickel producers while these minerals are all over the world as the next map shows, refining and processing is concentrated in china that is one reason automakers are working with the miners directly they want to move away from independence it can help with exposure to the price risk with the lithium rally. there is a warning we won't have enough of the minerals ford has agreements with bhp and ioneer amongothers guys. >> i appreciate it. >>> when we come back, lawmakers meeting with executives talking about china and potential threats. we talk about what is on the agenda reminder, you can watch us any time on the nbc app and also on the peacock app we're back after thi