The wake of Weaker Oil Prices but carl icahn raises his stake on the energy giant. The site twitch may have been a victim of a hack. Although credit and debit card numbers are not thought to have been effected. And were just getting euro zone pmis coming out. The comp sit number coming in at 54. 1. Thats the highest level since may. Since may 2011. 54. 1. That came in against expectations of 51. 5 and against the previous reading of 53 sorry the expectations of 53. 5. The previous reading of 53. 3. Also the manufacturing number 51. 9. Thats shiethlightly above forecasts. Weve also had the Services Data at 54. 3. The reuters poll was 53. 9. All three of those readings have come in above expectations. It follows the german data 15 minutes ago which was strong as well. The french data was mixed. The euro strengthened over about the last half an hour or so. Sparked when the german data came out. The euro zone as a whole coming better than expected. Its allowing a continuation of the bounce back. 109. Its pretty amazing. Quite the strengthening in the euro against the dollar in todays trade. The question is this better than expected pmi data is this a sign that quantitative easing is already feeding through to the real economy . Better than that its that the economy is already improving before the quantitative easing started. Weve had just over two weeks of it and the great difference for European Market is a commitment that will continue until september of next year even though the data is improving. Right. Good data can be welcomed by the market because we know quantitative easing is there as well. We should look at the European Markets. They were trading lower but has the data changed the move . Yesterday we did see a little bit of a sell off. Today markets higher. The ftse 100 up about. 2 . The dax and german markets up 45 points and ftse mib with a gain of 56 points. What does this mean for u. S. Futures . Look at the u. S. Markets now. We did see higher oil prices. That boosted sentiment for energy stocks. A little bit of losing steam at the end of trade but right now we are looking at u. S. Markets higher in premarket trade. The dow up 17 points. Nasdaq up 17 points. Focus on february cpi. Thats very important because Lower Oil Prices pushed inflation much lower in the u. S. That will be something well watch today. Currency is still grabbing headlines. The focus has been on the weaker dollar and stronger euro and what that means for markets but of course the harjlarger picture is on the dollar. Earnings kicking off next week. The big concern is how much will the stronger dollar ill pact profitability for sectors Like Technology that have over 40 exposure to international sales. Right now the euro thanks to the better than expected manufacturing data at 109 against the u. S. Dollar. Its an interesting move. Compared to a year ago the u. S. Dollar is weaker than it was. Its not an outright change in direction but it has been quite a mark mover. Some people have been forecasting parities still with the u. S. Dollar. Yeah. Quite a significant move in the other direction but i dont think people are forecasting an outright sell off to continue in the u. S. Dollar. We had a bit of a correction and we continue to look at that Monetary Policy. Lets look at bonds as well. That continues to paint that story of Monetary Policy. Look at the u. S. 1. 9 . Thats come down from the 2. 1s we were at about a week or so ago. Based around rate rise expectations. Will it be june or september or further out after the dovish comments last week from janet yellen. Contrast that to. 2 in germany. Were 2. 5 weeks into the Bond Buying Program and its continuing to keep yields across europe very low apart from greece which remains elevated 11. 5 . Issue continue in greece to still fail to be solved and of course thats not involved in the Bond Buying Program. In the u. K. 1. 47 . Weve seen similar types of moves as in the u. S. Yields coming down a bit as dovish commentary comes out of the central bank and pushes back rate rise expectations. Lets look at commodities of course because we have had a disappointing data out of china. That hurt sentiment in the oil price. 47. 3 for wti down. 4 . 55. 7 for brent. Thats down. 23 . I mentioned the flash pmi. That fell to an 11 month low in march missing analyst forecasts. Shares regained some of the ground toward the close. Lets get a summary of what happened in markets in asia so far today. Sri standing by as ever in singapore for us. Good to see you. Its interesting wasnt it . The composure has returned to the asian markets toward the close of trade. Yes, the pmi number the first blush number the flash figure from hsbc was pretty ropey and it did tell us that the chinese economy remains very fragile, especially eternal domestic demand. Activity dropping to an 11 month low. So that builds the case for more stimulus but they didnt see it that way. They seemed to take the numbers at literal face value. We did see quite a sharp sell off by as much as 2 but they did stage a come back and here we are. Steady at the close for the shanghai composite so what the markets are are doing is probably from running the idea of more stimulus. Being brought to bear into the system more injections more cuts. So thats request we got a degree of composure toward the end of trade. Important points and notes about these numbers is its the first clean read that weve got in the data set after the Lunar New Year holidays. Remember typically the data in the january to february months at the beginning of the year is distorted by the holiday. This is important because it offered us a lean read of what was going on in the chinese economy. Very important point to make. Thank you so much. Now moving on Standard Charter shares pairing gains after a sharp rally in yesterdays trade. This after upgrades from citi and jpmorgan. They will appoint bill winlters as a ceo. Carolyn is live in london where the future of the Financial Services sector is top of agenda isnt it carolyn . Yeah absolutely seema. Good morning to you and wilf. We have seen this incredible raise in the share price over the last 7 days up almost 15 but also because investors and analysts have been pressing the bank to move their headquaters from london possibly to asia. Im now joined by one of the executives. Im now speaking to the head of the u. K. And European Business richard holmes. Thank you for joining us this morning. Pleasure. Are you party to these discussions . Are you aware of othem . I guess id say you cant believe everything in the press. We have been in london since 1853. We like it here. If some of our investors suggest we take a look at moving then well take a look at it. But there is a considerable pressure. Not just from one investor or one analyst and they have a good point. The tax bill is rising. We saw George Osborne the chancellor slapping more taxes on the u. K. Banking sector. Your tax bill increased 50 from last year and its now rising further. What justifies staying here . We have a conference going on today and tomorrow called citi week and i think the city of london has some unique advantages for the Financial Sector. We have been here over 150 years. Leaving here wouldnt be anything we could do lightly. What are the advantages . Time zone. I think the talent pool that you have here in london. The fact that the London Foreign Exchange market is 40 of the worlds Foreign Exchange market. Historically very stable regulation and tax regime. Admittedly thats changing a little bit now. But as i say we have enjoyed a long history here. Richard there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the general elections, the policies that will be implemented, the referendum set to take place in 2017. There are a lot of reasons why investors would be saying we dont want this surrounding it. You understand those concerns dont you . I do and i think if enough investors suggest we take a look at it well take another look at it. Weve looked at it before. Were not blind to whats going on. But no decision yet. Absolutely not. What are you expecting from the new government . I dont know what the new government looks like. Let alone what to expect from it. Im hopeful it will make sure that growth and jobs are a top priority and i think the Financial Sector has a significant role. Its over 10 of gdp. It has an Important Role fuelling the rest of the economy. So id like to think the new government will look at the Financial Sector and say its important that we do the right thing. When i look at europe by commissioner hill thats looking now at the aggregate impact of all of the regulatory changes that have happened and any new change he said hes going to put through a lenses or is it good for growth and jobs. I want to come back to Standard Charter. Its no secret that your bank has really been banking on growth and emerging markets and weve seen that slowing and were seeing profit warnings the share price decline and appointment of a ceo. Now your job here in europe and the u. K. Was to facilitate the business in africa and emerging markets. Now that growth there is slowing do you think the role could be reversed . We will be seeing that strategy shift under bill winters where your region will gain a lot of prominens. Our region will gain a lot of prominens because europe is the largest trading partner with china and by far europe is the largest trading partner with africa. Over 35 of imports and exports from africa go in and out of europe. So our role in europe is connecting corporate europe to the fast growing markets. Admit china slowed a bit. What a disaster. When i look at europe if im a corporate ceo in europe im looking across asia at growth rates 5, 6, 7 in africa. India we just increased our forecast to 6. 7 gdp growth so admittedly a few markets slowed down in the emerging markets but across africa across asia we love whats happening there and well stay connected to it. What can we expect from the bill winters leadership. Youll have to ask bill that. But you have met him. I have met him. Hes very personable. He had great marketship. He had great followership. Investors are looking forward to that too. Indeed. Thank you. Appreciate your time this morning. Best of luck with your panel. The ceo of the u. K. And European Business at Standard Charter. Back to you. Thank you so much. Lets get you a run down of what to watch this trading day because inflation will be the big focus in the u. S. February cpi is out at 8 30 a. M. Eastern. Headline consumer inflation is expected to have risen for the first time in months. Although just modestly. At 10 00 a. M. We get february new home sales which are forecast to drop more than 4 . New homes only account for about 10 of all u. S. Sales. St. Louis fed president James Bullard is speaking in london later this morning. As for earnings look for results from hd supply mccormick and sonic. He gave all his best comments here on squawk box europe yesterday at cnbc in london. Chesapeake energy is slashing its Capital Budget for this year and sharply cutting its production outlook. The latest Energy Company to do so in the face of oil prices. Meanwhile, carl icahn is raising his stake to nearly 11 . He remains the companys second largest shareholder overall. He rose 2 in after hours trade but it is now down 2. 3 in todays trade in frankfulrt. Still to come the competition for sports tv rights heats up as the nfl looks to sell to a digital platform for the first time in its history. All the details later in the show. Stay with us. Welcome back. China Manufacturing Activity slides to the lowest level in nearly a year weighing on oil prices. Chesapeake energy is the latest casualty of Lower Energy Prices slamming to slash production and amazon owned streaming site twitch admits it may have been the victim of a hack attack. The greek Prime Minister will meet more top german officials in berlin today. It follows a meeting with chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday although its unclear if much progress was made in the debt deal. Meanwhile a greek government spokesman told a local Television Channel that athens will present its reforms by monday in the hope of unlocking much needed funding. Annetta joins us live from berlin. We saw the Leaders Exchange smiles. The question is when does greece get down to business and present a list of reforms. Yeah im totally with you. Its high time for them to actually get down to business and do something about their reforms and implemented them. Yesterdays meeting between Angela Merkel and alexis was more like a Charm Offensive from both governments. That was like the top priority on the list to actually convince everybody that they can Work Together and thats not the spat between both nations which essentially will drive greece out of the euro zone because of course when we listen to his counter parts who are telling each other over the recent weeks that really sounded very badly. So yesterday we had those actually playing a little bit of harmony. But it comes down to the facts, actually. Both parties actually insisted on what they have been saying before. Saying that he wants of course reforms but also social spending and Angela Merkel insisting on that he has to bide by the contracts the previous government has signed so we have to wait and see what that meeting means in terms of improvement and today hes meeting with the vice chancellor and the opposition leaders. With that back to you. Thank you so much. Still to come on Worldwide Exchange. Nigeria government is facing a perfect storm of political and Economic Uncertainty but will the central bank come to the rescue . Well preview the upcoming Rate Decision coming up after the short break. [ male announcer ] ours was the first modern airliner, revolutionary by every standard. And that became our passion. To always build Something Better airplanes that fly cleaner and farther on less fuel. That redefine comfort and connect the world like never before. After all, you cant turn dreams into airplanes unless your passion for innovation is nonstop. Nigeria Central Bank Announces the Rate Decision later this afternoon. Policy makers have been under pressure to stem the currency slide as the Government Faces a perfect storm of Falling Oil Prices economic weakness and growing security threats. The dollar is up about 22 over the last six months. Joining us now is the head of research at ashmore investment management. Thank you for joining us. Good morning to you. So the central bank does face a difficult delima. Does it protect the currency or the economy . I think the primary concern of the central bank at this point is not to be seen to support either of the two sides that are contending for the presidency and the best way it can do that is to remain neutral so my expectation would be they keep rates at 13 . In recent weeks it regained a few and that follows s ps downgrade. Whats driving the slight bounce back . I dont think we should read too much into the price action. The liquidity has delined dramatically. Most of the liquidity is provided by the central bank. Its a rationed fx market. I expect this to come to an end after the election when the political pressures disappear. That should result in a further deval you de devaluation. The president ial he election coming up. Of course its been delayed two times now. The question is who is the better candidate for Financial Markets and the economy . Right now there is a desire for change in nigeria and i think the markets would welcome a change. I think he is some what of a controversial president ial candidate. He has an history being involved in a coup in 1983 but when he has been involved in management of the economy he has a record of reform adjustment and cleaner government. Thats what nigeria wants right now. Lets talk about other emerging markets now. What happens when we do get the fed rate hike . I dont think the fed rate hikes that were going to see this year or next year are going to pose a serious threat to emerging markets at all. Were starting off from low levels and well move slowly. If you look at the valuations of emerging market assets now compared to prior to qe theyre vastly cheaper than before qe signaling that the vast majority has gone into the heavily developed countries. You describe in your note that its a good insurance policy which is not a word associated with em credit. Insurance against what . The inflation thats likely to come if quantitative easing. Over the last six or seven years economies have swuquandered them. When it does currencies will take a major tumble. I expect everyone to be limit long dollars. Theres going to be a disorderly unwinding. Were still a couple of years away from inflation in the United States but when it does youll probably be best off. Thank you very much. Very interesting perspective there. Head of research at ashmore investment management. Still to come in Worldwide Exchange will apple come baring fruit for investors . Well tell you about the 1 trillion evaluation on the tech giant. Take a look at u. S. Futures as we head to break. A higher open the dow jones up about 19 points. The inflation number will be key for markets. Its 5 30 a. M. In new york. 9 30 here in london. Here are your headlines from around the world. Get ready for a lift off. Jon williams becomes the latest fed official to voice support for a rate hike this year. This after Stanley Fisher and James Bullard both say the u. S. Economy is Strong Enough to warrant a move. Chinese Manufacturing Activity falls to the lowest level in a year fuelling concerns of a slow down. Asia markets pair losses at the close but the data does weigh on the price of oil. Chesapeake energy is the latest firm to slash production in the wake of Weaker Oil Prices but carl icahn is bullish raising his stake in the energy giant. Twitch which is owned by amazon admits it may have been the victim of a hack although credit and debit card numbers are not thought to have been effected. Were just getting some u. K. Inflation data. February core cpi has come in at plus. 3 . Thats slightly better than expectations but still a significantly low level. Of course compared to past data. Price inflation has also come in a little bit lower than forecast. U. K. Inflation hits zero for the first time on record. Thats coming. Lower prices particularly for food and computer goods. Consumer prices unchanged from a year earlier for the first time on record. The month by month figure of. 3 has also come in as well. So inflation forecast. They expected it to fall to. 1 . Lets look at sterling. Its off about ten basis points for the day. No significant reaction. The chief economist is saying the central bank was as likely to need to cut rates as raise them in the immediate future. Of course that dovish commentary similar to the meds last week has seen rate rise expectations pushed out for the u. K. Lets get an update and what to expect in the u. S. Markets. Were looking at the dow up about 28 points or 22 points in premarket trade. The nasdaq which did break its five day winning streak yesterday. Much of that having to do with the sell off is slightly higher in premarket up about 7 points. Worries still keeping some investors on edge when looking at the u. S. Markets. Here in europe were mostly green. Negotiations continue. Yesterdays meeting was particularly interesting in that you had germany, europeans strongest economy. Greece is the most challenged. Try to ease tensions and put their differences aside and see eye to eye. The question is did merkel see the meetings continue in berlin. Were looking at markets relatively higher. The euro strengthen against manufacturing data. Were looking at the euro trading at 109 against the u. S. Dollar. Earnings kick off next week and one of the big themes is expected to be the strengthening dollar and the negative impact that will have on profitability and will have 40 of exposure to international sales. China will be another big story, isnt that right . Absolutely. We had hsbc pmi this morning. That fell to an 11 month low missing analyst forecasts. They supported expectations for further stimulus. That allows shares to regain some ground in the close. Of course the data hurt the likes of oil prices as you can see we closed just above flat in shanghai. Hang seng is down about. 4 . Joining us now is charlie, the head of macro strategy. We have seen shares rally into the close. Of course expectations of easing. When does the equity market inspired by liquidity and easing bubble burst based on the weakness in the fundamental economy . Its a very good question. Were being driven higher and higher in anticipation of the policy response. I think thats one of the things thats keeping the policy makers in china is that theyre not going to be too keen on the concept of this bubble forming in asset prices but the fundamentals are the fundamentals. Its proving to be weaker than they think and that means they will have to respond. The rmb has plenty of economies near it facing weak currencies whether because of the stronger dollar or easing in the likes of japan but theres so Many Companies that rely on a strong rnb and borrowed in u. S. Dollars or hong kong dollars. Which way does the central bank want to engineer the economy to go . Theyre in a sticky situation. I think the days of china using the currency as a cheap way of stimulating the economy by depreciating it have passed. We heard this week that they want to elect themselves or to be part of the sdr and to sort of become a proper international currency. So i think the idea of them deliberately depreciating it is very unlikely. Theyll rely on specific support measures which involves the Interest Rate profile and rate cut and potentially some focused sort of fiscal stimulus as well and theres also the Housing Market as well which they can lessen restrictions at the same time. The fed has been a major driver of Global Markets and jon williams says the central bank should consider raising rates sometime this summer. Speaking via video to an economic conference in sidney australia he echos comments made earlier this month before the fed removed the word patient from his statement. The stronger dollar will be a drag on u. S. Growth this year but the economy is Strong Enough to handle it. That view is he echoed by the feds number 2, Stanley Fisher. The vice chair expects rates to start to rise this year but added increases will probably not follow a smooth path upward. Theres one point which is critical to understand. When we raise the Interest Rate as we probably will do one day, from 0 to 25 to 25 to 50 basis points, we will be moving from an ultra expansionary Monetary Policy to an extremely expansionary Monetary Policy. Now as we wait for rates to rise there has been a sustained appetite for yield among investors. Question is is there an asset bubble brewing in the bond market . The very fact that were having a conversation about there being a bubble would suggest were not quite there yet. One of the symptoms of a bubble is everyone saying you just got to buy it. Its going to go to the moon. Et cetera et cetera. Theres enough warnings suggesting that valuations are rich that i wouldnt say were quite in that territory. But obviously it depends on sectors. Some look richer than others if you like. Theres a depleting pool of safe haven assets. Where else will they find safety if youre looking at the german bond below 10 . Well i mean this takes us into the broader qe story and the whole supply dynamic of fixed income. I dont see the fixed income valuations if you accept the new normal at the long end of yield curves are that extreme. So the long end of the curve compared to where you would think growth and inflation tie dynamics are going to be. I dont think theyre that rich. At the front end with negative yields they look rich. Thats a fascinating one all together but we have to point out the desperation for yield is also one of the reasons european equities continue to rally. Were looking at the euro stoxx 600 index up to date. Of course but that out performance is less pronounced. Whats the positioning at the moment in relation to u. S. Equities . Well overall in equities rather than just having a blanket overweight were trying to be more targeted about that. So we do prefer the long end of yield curves. We think that certain sectors of u. S. Equity markets look good at this point in time. Any in particular . Cyclicals we like and some in the Financial Sector we think have been beaten up quite enough and offer some value but you compare it to the european story thats where perhaps the cheap evaluations are and perhaps more tuns lie. Thank you very much as ever for joining us. Head of macro strategy. Lets take a look at top stories at this hour. An analyst is prediking apple will hit 1 trillion market cap within 12 months. He cites the launch of the apple potential for an electric car. The stock price at around 127 values the pane at around 744 billion. Quite the call here. I think of interest to me on that note is particularly what he is saying the growth in china. So far apple in china has been a very high end product but as we see upgrades coming through its starting to grow more and they have a great relationship with china mobile. He didnt site apple tv going forward. And the watch also he mentioned which will be the interest of a new product in five years for apple. Absolutely. So 1 trillion still a long way away but we start to get bullish calls and tie them to the big types of headlines. Now facebook has been in talks with several Media Companies about hosting their content inside the social network as opposed to he redirecting users to an external website. Facebook plans to Start Testing the new for matmat several months from now. Facebook lets have a look in frankfurt today down about. 5 . Gamers beware. Twitch a popular site where peel can live stream themselves playing video games says it may have been hacked. Hackers may have gained access to personal information but credit and debit card numbers are not affected. Twitch has about a million users and more than 65 Million People a month jump on to watch content. The National Football league is branching out beyond television for the first time in its history the nfl mans to sell the global broadcast writes to a digital platform be it youtube, facebook or another website. They decided to make the move for the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills which will be played in london in october. That shows the power of live sports content. All about digital. Still to come Falling Oil Prices forced many Energy Companies to scale back production but thats not deterring carl icahn. Find out where he is putting his money after this short break. After a mega run in bio tech stocks we did see some of the stocks lose yesterday. Closing down over 2 . Biogen after being downgraded by steeple and vretex shares lower after disappoint oing results for a Cystic Fibrosis drug. Over the fast year its up about 40 . Very very strong performance. Lets switch focus to a sector thats not done so well over the medium term. Big oil and Gas Producers and another one is tight bening its belt. Lets get to landon with more on the story from cnbchq. Good morning to you. Chesapeake energy is the latest Energy Company to cut back amid lower global oil prices. The Oklahoma City based firm is slashing its 2015 Capital Budget by more than 10 and sharply cutting its production outlook. The move comes in response to continued weak commodity prices. Prices dropped 50 since last june as growing supplies from oil sands in north america are overwhelmingly weak global demand. The second largest gas producer places it between 3. 5 and 4 billion this year down from 4 to 4. 5 billion. It also plans to operate 25 to 35 riggs. Less than half the number from last year. Chesapeake is cutting its Production Target to between 1 and 3 growth in 2015. Last year the Company Projected 7 to 10 growth this year. Carl icahn is raising his stake in Chesapeake Energy to nearly 11 . Hell remain the companys second largest shareholder and he believed oil prices would continue to drop in the near term. Last year his publicly traded Investment Fund purchases its first since 2008. Shares are down nearly 40 in the past year. Wilfred back over to you. Landon thank you very much. Another big market player remaining bullish on the Energy Sector is the ceo of the carlyle group. He gave this on where he see prices heading. Because prices are so low, 50 50 below the peak there will be attractive opportunities to buy now. We think oil prices come back a bit and gas prices go up as well. If you can buy now and hold on for a few years you can do quite well. We say theres probably no other sector in the world were as bullish on as energy. Lets take a look at oil price which is have stabilize over the past 20 minutes. Brent crude up about. 7 at 56. 30. Wti crude at 47. 77 up about. 7 . Crude prices now climbed nearly 9 in the past week. Have we finally seen a bottom in oil . Thats the big question. I think impossible to say if we have finally seen the bottom. What i do think have been interesting is oil prices have been responding so much to the u. S. Dollar rather than fundamental supply and demand. Wraeyeah. Of course we have seen a high level thats seen the sell offs back down to the 6 year lows we saw. Theyre responding to Financial Markets in the last two weeks rather than the fundamental supply and demand of the oil industry. The kingdom is now pumping about 10 Million Barrels a day which could indicate an increase over february production. Doesnt seem like anyone is cutting Oil Production. Exactly. Whether were at the exact bottom or not is hard to say. But if we rewind to that interview we had here ten days or so ago he said we expect a very painful period for a long time to come. Maybe well see fluctuates in and around 2 or 3 or 5 moves. But in the meantime we should point out that the rebound, the slight rebound we have seen in oil prices over the past one month one of the reasons were expecting february cpi in the u. S. To come in above expectations this time around. So something to watch today. Before we go to break lets remind you of what the headlines are. China Manufacturing Activity slides to the lowest level in nearly a year. That was weighing on oil prices early in trade but its bounced back over the last hour or so. Chesapeake Energy Planning to slash production and switch admits it may have been the victim of a hack. Well be back in a couple of minutes. Welcome back. Lets have a look at European Markets performing relatively well today. Were green across the board. Not strong green. Up about a quarter of a percent. It follows strong pmi data we had earlier. Particularly germany which outperformed and the euro zone coming in better than expected combining improving macro fundamental data with continued loose policies about 2. 5 weeks into the Bond Buying Program. You can see the ftse 100 is up. 2 . Lingering concerns around greece yesterday. Angela merkel tried to put their differences aside and see eye to eye but the question is when does greece put this reform list together that will get their next installment of credit from the ecb, the eu as well as the imf. Absolutely. Its an on going debate and doesnt seem like we made much progress. About a month ago we had this extension meant to give more time to make genuine progress rather than arguing over each other. But no clear positive developments. In the meantime take a look at u. S. Futures. The dow up about 22 points. The nasdaq which did break the 5day winning streak yesterday is showing some signs of green here in premarket up about 8 points. The s p 500 up about 2 points. A lot having to do with the rebound in the Energy Sector thanks to oil prices which are trading higher as we showed you before but the currency market still grabbing headlines. Were looking at the euro strengthen against the u. S. Dollar. Heres the reason beating expectations. It points to a q1 gdp growth. Were looking at european equities broadly higher. The euro strengthening against the u. S. Dollar trading at 109. A sharp contrast to what many analysts are calling for which is parity with the dollar. Yeah i think that very very strong slide that we saw in the euro over the last few months i would say its that though. A bit of a correction. Were back to 109 and people got it up when the euro is sliding around the start of quantitative easing. Lets have a quick look at sterling. They softened today 1. 49. That follows inflation data out of the u. K. Showing that Consumer Price inflation tropical waved to. 0 in february to. 3 in january. And last week we had similar tones from the u. K. s Monetary Policy committee as we had from janet yellen in the u. S. Pushing back rate rise expectations toward early next year. And that inflation data we got this morning confirming one of the possible reasons for that. U. K. General election coming up in may. Meanwhile jon williams says the central bank should consider raising rates sometime this summer. Speaking in australia he echoed comments he made earlier this month before the fed removed the word patient from its statement. He also said it would be a drag on the growth this year but the economy is Strong Enough to handle it. Lets get a run down of what to watch this trading day. Its going to be a big day. February cpi at 8 30 a. M. Eastern. Its expected to have risen for the first time in months although just modestly. At 10 00 a. M. We get february new home sale which is are forecasted to drop more than 4 . New homes only account for about 10 of all u. S. Sales. James bullard is speaking in london later this morning. H. D. Supply mccormick and sonic all reporting today. I think this housing data is important of course but i dont think its as important as inflation overall and indeed unemployment because the fed did reference that housing has been weak recently. Theyre aware of that already. So unless its drastically poor i dont think it makes a change. You would think it would equal a strong Housing Market but that doesnt seem to be the case. Still a mixed picture when looking at the u. S. Housing recovery. Thats all weve got time for today on Worldwide Exchange. Squawk box is coming next. [ male announcer ] ours was the first modern airliner, revolutionary by every standard. And that became our passion. To always build Something Better airplanes that fly cleaner and farther on less fuel. That redefine comfort and connect the world like never before. After all, you cant turn dreams into airplanes unless your passion for innovation is nonstop. New today saudi arabia says its Oil Production is close to an all time high. Breaking overnight china manufacturing dropping to its lowest level in nearly a year and hacking america and amazon owned streaming site popular with gamers may have been breached. Its tuesday march 24th 2015 and squawk box begins right now. Live from new york where business never sleeps this is squawk box. Good morning and welcome to squawk box here on Cnbc Facebook may soon be hosting material from news organizations. They have been holding talks with half a dozen Media Companies. A change could mean that users are able to get stories without tapping a link to go to an external site. More on this story in a little bit the markets did end weaker. Were talking down by 11 on the other. You can see the dow futures are indicated higher. 35 points right now above fair value. S p futures up by 3 points and nasdaq up by 10. Lets get to the big stories were watching today. The Consumer Price index is expected to rise by. 2 . That would be a relief b