Wor Worldwide Exchange on cnbc. Lets get straight to the markets. U. S. Equity futures. We had a positive start to march, a decent second of march, although in more muted fashion. The third of march looking to continue that positivity, albeit just slightly. Were looking at only two points up for the dow. Were fractionally higher in this early premarket trade. While you were sleeping, heres what you missed overnight in asia. New numbers showing momentum in chinas Services Sector has slowed. Business activity remaining in expansion mode. Thats key, but only at a modest pace. In an interview, chinas Vice Central Bank governor said the country will keep a prudent Monetary Policy. He also said theyll keep the yuan basically stable against a basket of currencies this year. So more communication from the chinese authorities. A number of big market events that could come up and have an impact on asian stocks, including Chinas National Peoples Congress begins meeting this weekend. Then the ecb and the bank of japan meetings next week, followed by the fed meeting after that. Heres how the major averages closed overnight. Mixed session. Gains in china, gains in japan. The yen has started weakening with this upbeat sentiment around the Global Markets. Thats helped the japanese stock market bounce back. China closing higher as well. China in particular responding more to that rrr cut at the start of the week. Little bits of data that have been negative. That Shows Confidence coming back in investors eyes and the chinese authorities ability to stick to their aim. A developing story out of asia this morning. Just hours after the u. N. Security council slapped new sanctions on north korea. South korea is accusing the north of a new provocation. South Koreas Defense Ministry says north korea fired several shortrange projectiles into the sea. The sanctions on pyongyang are the toughests in 20 years and came in reaction to the norths recent nuclear test and longrange rocket launch. Lets give you a picture of what europe is doing in the early trade right now. Also a mixed picture. The euro just turned higher. It was weaker overnight. It is now stronger against the u. S. Dollar. What youre seeing is fractional declines. Actually, the dax is pretty much flat over in germany. So is the french market. The ftse 100 with a gain, same with italy. You mentioned china and the upbeat mood and upbeat tone. Copper is actually at a threemonth high. The tenyear treasury yield is at the highest in a month. A lot of these moves are showing a rebound, oil among them. Lets have a look at oil itself. Not rebounding strongly today, but as sara already said, its had a decent week. Wtis flat. Its at 34. 7. Brent down slightly at 36. 8. Later this morning, do watch out for natural gas Inventory Data due at 10 30 a. M. Eastern. Gas prices are trading around the lowest levels in 17 years. Were at 1. 675 today. I mentioned some of the cross currents. Lets show you the Broader Markets, including the move in the treasury market. Less demand for those safehaven government bonds has pushed the yield higher. In fact, the twoyear yield has shown a big move. Its at the highest since back in january. The tenyear yield also above 1. 85. The dollar has made a move higher on the back of some positive data surprises in the u. S. Economy, showing perhaps were not actually entering a recession after all. Were going to get a load of Economic Data today. Well see if thats confirmed. The dollar higher against the japanese yen, heading toward 1. 14. An important psychological indicator overnight showing things are a little calmer. Lets show you whats happening with gold. Interestingly, it has been gaining along with stocks and along with the dollar. Continuing what has been a strong year for the price of gold. Its up again today, continuing this winning streak. If you step back and sort of look at what has changed into this week, i mentioned the u. S. Data. Its a little bit better. Oil has firmed. This is going through sort of investor checklist. Its in the mid30s 37 were away from the low 20s, which is super scary for banks. The chinese currency stable. Its a little stronger overnight again today. As i mentioned, the chinese policymakers have been more communicative. A really silly point to make, its march. I wonder whether weve got february behind us, january and february. Clearly lots of weakness in january. Lots of volatility in february. Maybe people had cash balances. Also a little focus on central banks. The ecb has got a lot of mention. The euro, albeit flat today, has fallen to 1. 08. People saying theyre expecting more easing on the back of that move. Investors clearly softening the euro ahead of that. I want to point out the move in the other direction from the german bond yield. Thats seen yields tick up, matching the u. S. Yield tick up. Clearly yields rising for the german bund would suggest other expectations. It doesnt highlight it that closely there. If we go to a closer time frame, its at 0. 2. We need to get to about 0. 13. Not a huge move. This last week when people have been mentioning, oh, were expecting easing, youd expect to see the other direction. All im saying is i dont think its nailed on that weve got the expectation in investors eyes that we move further into negative rates. Nonetheless, the japanese have moved, and its now mario draghi deciding what to do. The fed meeting, which the market is not pricing in any Interest Rate increase for the month of march. Though, the odds have been increasing slightly on the back of these beats in Economic Data. European stocks, the financials have roared back. In the middle of february when they hit the lowest point since 2013, they have now rebounded. Euro stocks, 13 since then. Well, i think the financials roaring back has been a clearer move in u. S. Financials. They certainly have bounced back. Much more selective in europe. Results still have been ticking out over the last week or two. Standard chartered last week tanking off the back of its results. Barclays tanking off its results. Today, the busiest day of the week for Economic Data. Jobless claims out at 8 30 a. M. Eastern, expected to hold steady around the 270,000 level. Also, 8 30 we get Fourth Quarter productivity, which is expected to be revised slightly lower with a forecasted drop of 3. 4 . Dalgs fed president rob kaplan speaks about the economy this morning. Kroger reports earnings before the opening bell while broadcom, h r block and Hp Enterprise out after the bell. Kroger earnings are going to be good. Its an Economic Indicator in themselves because its the biggest grocer in the u. S. Outside of walmart. There has been noise from walmart about food deflation. In other Corporate News today, apple formally objecting to a judges order directing the company help the government unlock the iphone at San Bernardino shooter. This is essentially a procedural move. The aclu filing a friend of the court brief to the magistrate judge yesterday, urging her to reject the government efforts. Chesapeake Energy FounderAubrey Mcclendon died in a single car crash yesterday, one day after being charged with breaking federal antitrust laws. Reporter Aubrey Mcclendon was a natural gas titan who revolutionized the Energy Industry. He died in a single car crash in Oklahoma City. The only occupant in a Sport Utility vehicle that slammed into a concrete bridge support. He went left of center, traveling at a high rate of speed, and collided into the west embankment wall of the overpass. His vehicle was engulfed in flames immediately, and he did not survive the accident. Reporter mcclendons death follows an announcement on tuesday that he had been indicted for allegedly conspireing to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in northwest oklahoma between december of 2007 and march 2012. Mcclendon, a key player in the u. S. Shale boom, helped to found Chesapeake Energy in 1989, before stepping down in 2013 after a series of investigations into his business practices. Chesapeake filed a lawsuit against him in 2015, accusing him of misappropriating company data. He founded American Energy partners after leaving chesapeake, where he served as chief executive. The company put out this statement. Aubreys tremendous leadership, vision, and passion for the Energy Industry had an impact on the community, the country, and the world. Were tremendously proud of his legacy and will continue to work hard to live up to the unmatched standards he set for excellence and integrity. Mcclendon, a duke graduate, was a part owner of the National Basketball associations Oklahoma City thunder. He denied the charges filed against him. Reaction is coming in from people inside and outside the oil industry. In a statement, t. Boone pickens says, ive known Aubrey Mcclendon for 25 years. He was a major player in leading the Stunning Energy renaissance in america. He was charismatic and a true american entrepreneur. No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American Energy will be long lasting. Carl icahn, who helped lead to his ouster in 2013, saying, quote, Aubrey Mcclendon was one of the brightest men ive ever dealt with. I personally always found him to be a gentleman in our interactions. Of course, the obituaries are coming out. All of them talking about how influential he was in terms of shaping the shale revolution in this country, but all of them also, you know, marking his stunning rise followed by what has been a checkered past as well and what he stood for in terms of excess in the industry, highly indebted, and running into some legal trouble, including all the way up to a day before his death. Indeed. Thoughts and prayers remain with his family. Right. Lets switch gears. Stocks to watch today. Costco reporting lower than expected quarterly earnings. Decreased january traffic and a strong green back weighed on the retailer. Its flat in remarket trade. Samsonit session, reportedly nearing a deal to buy tumi holdings. It, too, is flat in premarket. American eagle saw its sales rise during the holiday quarter. The retailer also offering upbeat guidance for the current quarter. Its risen just over half a percent. Ibm is suing the daily deal site groupon on, claiming they infringed on four of its patents. The linkedin ceo saying he will decline his annual stock compensation. Instead, hell pass the bonus to his employees. And adidas giving e ining an up outlook. The Sportswear Company is hopeful for a boost from 2016 events like the rio olympics. The ceo will be on squasquawk later at 6 40 a. M. Hes the outgoing ceo. The company has struggled under his watch lately to catch up with the likes of under armour. I wonder how much of it is kanye west and those yeezy shoes, which are so explosive. I dont know if its that or soccer stars like david beckham. Doubleline capital is shutting down its stockpicking fund. The threeyearold fund never gained much traction and is down 12 this year. They decided to close the fund at a time when investors are more interested in index funds than actively managed ones. Still to come, the dollar rising ahead of tomorrows big jobs report. Plenty of other factors at check. A currency check from the bank of tokyo coming up. First, we want to hear from you. Our twitter question today, is the u. S. Economy on an upswing . Worldwide exchange will be right back. Well have answers to that question and much more. Your path to retirement may not always be clear. But at t. Rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. So wherever your Retirement Journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. Call us or your advisor t. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. You gein your car. Odors you think it smells fine, but your passengers smell this. {ding} eliminate odors youve gone nose blind too, for up to 30 days with the febreze car vent clip. Wow, it smells good in here. So you and your passengers can breathe happy. Earth hour is about empowering people making a difference to change Climate Change with passion and excitement earth hour is about inspiring Climate Action celebrating a Global Movement and impact join us at earthhour. Org 19th march at 8 30pm welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. A very good morning to you. March the 1st, big gains. March 2nd, small gains. March 3rd, were looking at even smaller but still gains. Were looking at a little bit of green. The dow called to open up by about five points. As we look at european trade, a similar story over the last couple trading days. Again, not too much happening there. Weve got france down, the ftse 100 and germany up. Basically flat as a whole for european trade. Sara . Wilfred, todays trade of the day. Prices for junk bonds are spiking and are now flat for the year. Our data team crunched some numbers to determine what to buy if that kind of momentum continues. Looking at the hyg, the etf that tracks the u. S. Denominated highyield corporate debt. When it rallies, so did these etfs. The rsx, the russiabacked etf. The ewz, which tracks brazil, among others. Clearly theres an emerging marketing tie in. For more, go to cnbc. Com and check out cnbc pro. Part of this overall sort of risk recovery. High yield selling off when commodities sell off when emerging markets sell off. Now were seeing a reversal of that. And another key factor for both of those asset classes, em and high yield, is what the fed is doing with Interest Rates. Again, this u. S. Data weve been seeing coming out this week a little stronger, a bit more coming today. Big one coming tomorrow. Very important. On jobs. When we come back here actually, were going to talk about currencies and the u. S. Data picture right now and how to trade all of that. So Global Markets of course waiting on tomorrows big jobs number. Central banks will be watching that as there have been many factors around the world. In an interview earlier this morning, negative rates may break the system soon. If you try to run the global system with the systemically important banks all in negative territory, i can guarantee you that something will break. The system is not built to operate at negative rates throughout the world. The system is not built to operate in negative rates. Lets get another perspective. Joining us is the european head of Global Markets research at the bank of tokyo. Thanks for joining us. I suppose this week has slightly increased the possibility of not negative rates but a rate hike again in the u. S. As we look at the fed meeting next week. There will be more focus on the rest of the data that comes out this week, particularly friday. Where do you stand out in on what you expect the fed to do for the rest of it had year . Yeah, for sure. I think definitely theres been a shift in the flow of data, which i think definitely brings back the idea of rate increases this year. Thats not really been taken on board yet by the u. S. Rates market. I would expect that to change over the coming weeks. For next week or for the next fomc on the 16th of march, i think theyre going to have two, at least three dots still there for rate hikes. Fed president williams yesterday said there would be a slight change in the profile. That points to perhaps three rate increases still being expected by the fed. When you look at the data, that is understandable. In particular, the inflation figures we had recently. I think very, very clearly points to domestically generated inflation building in the u. S. That is of crucial importance to the fed. Perhaps they need to see a little more evidence of it. Before the fed comes the ecb next week. The euro has made a sharp move lower. European stocks have rebounded. Great expectations from mario draghi. Will he deliver . I think he will. I think one change from december when the markets were disappointed that he didnt deliver more is i think a shift in thinking in regard to the bundes bank. They cited increased concerns in regard to Energy Prices staying lower for longer, shaping wage settlements and pushing Inflation Expectations further lower. So i think their level of concern is definitely higher today than it was in december. So that element of resistance, i think, is probably gone. And that makes for a much better chance that we do get a more impressive package of measures from the ecb next week. Derek, for that package to be more impressive, dont we have to see a much bigger monthly size of bond purchases as opposed to more negative rates or lengthening the time frame of those purchases . Because as weve seen in the past within europe and also very much recently with japan with negative rates, their Financial Systems dont really respond that much to the just simple negative rate move. Yeah, i agree. I think the ecb is studying very closely how best to do that. The obvious conclusion is theyre going to replicate in some way what the boj did and tier the impact of negative rates to try and protect the banks to some degree. That looks like something that could be. But yes, theyll have to increase the pace of asset purchases as well. Were expecting a 10 billion per month increase and a sixmonth extension in timeline. That would make a qe program of 1. 5 trillion become something a little bit just over 2 trillion. That coupled with the rate cut is an impressive package, but i would stress thats probably what the markets are expecting. I dont expect the euro to plunge on the back of those steps of the ecb. Its not just about the ecb. We need Broader Market financial conditions to continue to improve. Most importantly, we need the fed to come back in and to be raising rates in the second half of this year. So is the takeaway, just to tie this all together, the ecb is easing, japan is easing, china is easing, the fed is going the other way and tightening. Is the market going to be okay . The broad market, equities, with these crazy currency moves and divergences in central banks, or is the market going to force them all to move together . Well, i think what might be different on this occasion if the fed were to raise rates, say, twice this year, june and december, if were in a situation like were in at the moment where broader Risk Appetite is a bit more stable, and in particular oil prices stabilize and dont drop again, then i think where the Dollar Strengthens Going Forward will be against a much narrower window of currencies. In other words, the dollar could potentially weaken against a lot of emfx because i think emfx has depreciated by so much that theres some value there. Then in commodities fx, we could see a recovery if we see oil continue to stabilize. So the window for Dollar Strength becomes a lot smaller in terms of the currencies it moves against. That of course is beneficial for the fed to move and for the u. S. Economy Going Forward. Derek, quick question on sterling just to wrap things up. Lots of brexit news came out last week. We saw pound devalue off the back of that. It stabilized a little this week. Do you think we get stability in sterling until we get much closer to that june 23rd vote . I think were still in for a potential further decline. Today, most worringly, was this services pmi. It dropped again. That correlates much closer with real gdp. The brexit issue was mentioned as an element that was dampening sentiment. Thats something that could linger Going Forward and start to hit the economy. My view is that from a valuation perspective, although the pound versus the dollar is undervalued at these levels, theres still ample scope for further weakness Going Forward, and we could get into the high 120s by the time we get to the referendum on the 2 23rd of june. The high 120s, i cant believe it, but coming from you, ill give it serious consideration. A pleasure as always. Time to go shopping. When we come back, republican president ial hopefuls ready to square off again tonight, but the field is looking a bit different this morning. Well tell you why next. But first, as we head to break, heres todays forecast from the weather channels jen carfag carfagno. Sara and wilfred, we got another system on our hands, and this one certainly brings a lot of potential with it. Thats the key with this. Potential for some snow, fairly light accumulations in places like chicago. Scooting through the south with rain. Not a lot of thunderstorms. What happens overnight tonight as it moves off the east coast, this thing could really bomb out, really actually drop some snow from d. C. To philly, to new york city, even to southern new england. That happening overnight tonight into tomorrow. Theres also the chance that it goes out to sea very quickly and leaves almost nothing. So this is the forecast with certainly a lot of uncertainty. Temperaturewise, cold enough to snow. Thats whats key to know here across the midwest and northeast. South warming back up. Texas, back to the 70s. The west, big changes coming for the weekend. Get ready for a lot of rain and cooler temperatures. Thats your forecast. Im jen carfagno. Worldwide exchange continues after this. You can fly across welcome town in minutes16, or across the globe in under an hour. Whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. In less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. And if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. Welcome back. A very good morning to you. Political news today. The republican candidates for president getting ready to face off for yet another debate in detroit. Meanwhile, both Democratic Candidates continue to fund raise and campaign. Nbcs tracie potts reports on the latest. Reporter dr. Ben carson, the first postsuper tuesday casualty. His campaign confirms he will not be at tonights debate, and his public schedule ends after a speech tomorrow. Ted cruz tells carson supporters we welcome you on our team. Im looking forward to that debate. Are you looking forward to debate . Reporter march yo rubio is already in michigan, hoping to put the brakes on donald trump. Everyone get together so we can keep this front runner from winning and destroying the Republican Party. Reporter but efforts to stop him may be futile. John kasich is predicting a brokered convention. It would be likely we would have one of the most Interesting Times in cleveland that weve seen in modern political history. Reporter Donald Trumps tweeting about mitt romneys speech today. Romney is expected to criticize trump. Trump calls it another desperate move by the man who should have easily beaten barack obama. Were going to win here in michigan. Reporter meantime, the democrats are raising money. I need you here in new york. Reporter ready to take on whoever emerges from the other side. That was tracie potts reporting for us there. And the 2012 republican nominee mitt romney will be speaking today at 11 30. Probably to tell republicans why they should not rally behind drump. And did you see Donald Trumps reply on twitter . He said no doubt well see the man that should have beaten obama. And he spelled barack wrong. I didnt see that. When we come back, this mornings top stories and stocks for you to watch. Plus, if you havent noticed already, its throwback thursday. Todays tbt theme is boy bands. Wilfred and i had a big fight over our favorite boy band. Tell us what you want to hear at our spotify collaborative play list. Find the link by liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. Were taking requests. Mine already went past, hanson. Wilfreds still to come. A couple big british boy bands coming up. See if you can recognize any of the tunes. Back in a couple minutes. Good morning. Wall street in wait and see mode. Well tell you what investors want to hear before making their next bets. New this morning, lots of data on the state of the u. S. Consumer. People shopping or dropping . And forget the black car. Why uber is betting big on scooters. Its thursday, march 3rd, 2016. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange on cnbc. A very good morning. A particularly warm welcome to Worldwide Exchange on cnbc. Im wilfred frost. And im sara eisen. Day of the boy bands. On the agenda today, a ton of Economic Data. Jobless claims today out at 8 30 a. M. Eastern time, expected to hold steady around 270,000. Also at 8 30 a. M. , we get Fourth Quarter productivity, which is expected to be revised slightly lower with a forecast for a drop of 3. 3 . Then the monthly ism Services Index and january factory orders are out at 10 00 a. M. Dallas fed president rob kaplan speaks about the economy and Monetary Policy this morning. And supermarket giant kroger reports earnings before the opening bell. After the bell, broadcom, h r block and Hp Enterprise all reporting. That Services Number very important. Last month it showed a decline and the entire market reacted. Its the biggest swath of the u. S. Economy and could be a signal that the manufacturing weakness is spilling over into services. Similarities there with the u. K. Where service is very much the allimportant number. Weve seen that start to slide, including this morning. Lets check in on Global Markets. First up, u. S. Futures. Were pointing to a very slight positive open, as you can see. Basically flat. The dow up by one point. We started march very strongly. The 2nd of march yesterday, slightly stronger. Looks like today will basically be flat. Nonetheless, still a decent start to the month. Lets have a look at european trade. A similar story over the last couple days. Were in slightly negative territory today. The dax flat. France is down. Asia saw a little more positivity. The Hong Kong Market was down, but we saw china and japan up. China so far reacting to that rrr cut as opposed to some data thats been coming out, which has been a little weak. Nothing too crucial. A little bit soft. Oil also been a factor. Its held on to the gains of last week. Wti climbed 10 last week. Its flat today. 34. 7, no change there. Decent performance in all over the last two weeks. Yesterday during the day, the intraday high was 36. 39. That was the highest level since back in january. Things really do seem to be coming together better than the early part of the year. One point a lot of people are talking about, citigroup tracks economic surprises in this country. Its turned higher. Its now at the highest level, that index of tracking the releases, since november. Which is a positive sign of momentum. Hey, maybe were not actually going into recession. Well see what happens with the data today. But thats one to watch. Lots of surprises during earnings season. Big moves, both up and down, when stocks were reporting over this last quarter. Crazy volatility off the back of it. Absolutely. Some stocks for you to watch today. Sun edison is suspending the Quarterly Dividend on its preferred stocks. The move comes days after they delayed filing its annual report amid an internal probe into its finances. Shares sliding more than 11 in extended hours trading. Semtech seeing First Quarter earnings and revenue above analyst estimates, citing strong overall demand and bookings across several businesses. Thats a good sign. Those shares reacting nicely, up 13 . Pure storage forecasting better than expected First Quarter results. Pure storage reporting positive Free Cash Flow for the first time notably in its sixyear history. Another example of stocks with big moves in either direction off the back of results. And we could get more on the consumer front. A mixed read on the consumer front from retailers reporting this week. Target, costco, and American Eagle all making headlines. Our landon dowdy is here this morning as always to round up some of these movers. Good morning. Good morning. Thats right. Heres your retail recap. Target announcing plans to invest 2 billion to 2. 5 billion in growth. The ceo highlighting plans in an exclusive interview on cnbc. Well continue to invest in technology. Well continue to invest in supply chain. Were investing our stores, both remodeling and building new stores. Obviously theres ongoing maintenance and repair. Those are the really big buckets. And on the earnings front, costco reporting disappointing Second Quarter results. Thats due to the strong dollar waking on the big box retailer as well as slow traffic. But American Eagle saw sales rise 3 during the holiday quarter. That momentum should continue. The Company Offering an upbeat outlook for the current quarter. Also in consumer news, kroger reporting Fourth Quarter results this morning. One im sure youre watching, as there could be deal talks. You being a cincinnati girl, you have that in common. It is a big cincinnati company. This will be the first time, landon, as you say, the company will be speaking to investors since reuters reported they were in the auction process for fresh market. Well see if they make any comments. Thank you. Now for todays top trending stories. Did you see this one . Another interesting one for uber. Its launching motorcycle hailing service in india. The companys partnering with indias ola to target commuters that are tired of sitting in traffic in cars. This is ubers second announcement. It launched a Similar Program in bangkok last week. This service has consiexisted f long time in london. Isnt that an intimate thing . Also, for someone thats quite big, you feel very exposed. Not being a motor bike driver myself, i just didnt enjoy it. I imagine in places like india where traffic is crazy, it could catch on. Absolutely. Are you going to give it a go . I dont know. I think its strange. Get your leathers on, helmet. Former google ceo eric schmitt will head a new pentagon advisory board. Pretty interesting. Makes you think of the case right now in the fbi versus apple. Thats not a military versus technology case, but if the private sector can work with the government on these kind of Technological Solutions to todays modern day problems, maybe that would be productive. Maybe it would be. Another google trending story for you. Testing a digital wallet that lets you pay without taking your smartphone out of your pocket. The wallet uses bluetooth and wifi connections with location sensors to detect when someone is near a store with handsfree payment technology. Just look at your face and you can pay. Pretty incredible. If it comes through and works successfully. I dont think the apple pay, samsung pay, theyre not that convenient yet. Its not mainstream. Well see. Great song in the background. Is this yours . This is. Ive never heard of them. I cant believe youve never heard of them. People get in touch. Im sure americans must have heard it. This particular song reached number five here. They were mainly a u. K. Boy band. They did very well. Wilfred frost, boy band enthusiast. Anyway, whilst we continue to enjoy this song, well let you know whats coming up. Must reads, an open letter from trump to National Security leaders. And an interesting take on elections in iran. Worldwide exchange will be back and back for good, as these guys lyrics are saying, in a couple minutes. Courtesy of jas and patricia thompson. This tv . Margaret and tom lee. The championship game ball . That was sebastian diaz. Good guy. And all i had to do was ask for their money and pretend i was investing it. Their life savings is now my lifestyle. Female announcer dont let someone else live the life youre saving for. Find out if youre dealing with a registered investment professional at investor. Gov. Its a great first step toward protecting your money. Before you invest, investor. Gov. Welcome back now to todays must read stories, the ones catching our attention this morning. My pick is an open letter published on the Foreign Policy site war on the rocks. Its from 50 conservative Foreign Policy experts that have banded together, condemning donald trump as an unfit person for the presidency. They wrote, quote, his vision of american influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principprincipl. He swings from isolationism to military intervention in the swing of one since. Kind of unusual, saying theyll work energetically to prevent the election of donald trump. Really gets at the problem and the question in the Republican Party right now. Do you line up behind the presumptive nominee or do you band together and fight him . I would imagine its going to differ across the Republican Party and will be very interesting to watch play out. The international community, of all the areas of most concern, would be Foreign Policy. Of course, one of the Foreign Policy issues front and center for whoever is the next president is issues in the middle east. Switching focus to my must read from the financial times, ive picked one on iran that says the hands that rocked irans hardliners. Bringing into focus the elections that we saw in iran, the legislative elections we saw in iran over the weekend. They havent had much focus this week. I wanted to bring them up when i read this piece. The author writing, the elections are a boost for hasan rouhani, the centrist president , and backed by his indication of a nuclear pursuit. Probably one of the biggest benefits is the endorsement of the reformist government of rouha rouhani. Whether or not westerners should trust the reformists as opposed to the hardlines, theyre probably a better outcome than under the previous government. Still lots of questions about that particular deal. It has manifested the deal in supporting the reformists and rouhani. And it has opened up for business. I would imagine Business Leaders would point to Election Results like this as a reason for wanting to engage. Since the deal, theres been lots of other issues, and they havent stuck to certain terms. Still lots of trust issues. This is one of the issues to focus on. All right. Were approaching the top of the hour. That means the team is getting ready for squawk box in the city. Joe kernen joins us with a look at whats coming up. Great start to march. The u. S. Data has continued to be pretty good. Yeah, good start after january and february. Was sara kidding . Its not really boy band thursday, is it . It is. Whats your favorite boy band, joe . Most important question of the day. Wilfred chose one ive never heard of. I chose two. Take that and westlife. Two huge british boy bands. I might need help. I know what hes going to say. Were the four tops boys . Ive never heard of the four tops. Give us a song, joe. You shouldnt answer any questions. To say youve never heard i was kidding. Youve never heard of the four tops . I thought you were going to say nsync because nick lachey is from cincinnati. I like the guy with the hair. Harry styles. One direction. This is four tops, dude. Will you do me a favor and say scooters again. Scooters. You said it so good last time. They skipped a week on downton abbey, and i havent heard the way a lord would say or whats a marquis . Is that a real thing . Im not a marquis, alas. Im just mr. Wilfred frost. I have no title, very sadly. One food for thought, sara, an those signatories. Do you remember when the republican establishment was like absolutely sure it wasnt going to be trump and theyre like, hey, look, buddy, you got to sign this thing here. If its somebody else, you got to support them because youre not going to mount an independent run. And he didnt do it. Now its going to be him and its like, wow, did we say that . Suddenly nobody that signed it on the other side well, that was only good if you were the nominee. Or if you werent the nominee. If you are the nominee, that whole thing i love that. And well see what mitt romney says today. I hope its not a how to. I know hes given a speech. I hope hes not giving any strategy tips on how to defeat the dems. Anyway, back to the original question. The market seems to be once again 90 correlated to oil, as you said. I also heard you mention that the chinese currency has stabilized a little. Who knows what it is. For whatever reason, its pretty solid so far this month. Maybe march will, what is it, come in like lion . It came in like a lion, didnt it . You hear theres too many lions over there now because no one is allowed its like, whoa, hands off, dont touch that thing. Now theres like people running for their lives over there because the lions are everywhere because of that dentist. Thank you, joe. Great stuff. 11 minutes to go. Lots more discussion in 11 minutes time. Jamie dimon tease there as well. Well be hearing from him. Next on Worldwide Exchange, much more on markets. Were going to get you caught up and ready for the u. S. Jobs report out tomorrow and a host of Economic Data out today. Art hogan will be joining us with your wall street setup. Worldwide exchange will be light back. Your path to retirement. May not always be clear. But at t. Rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. For over 75 years, investors have relied on our disciplined approach to find long term value. So wherever your Retirement Journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. Call a t. Rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor. To see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. You gein your car. Odors you think it smells fine, but your passengers smell this. {ding} eliminate odors youve gone nose blind too, for up to 30 days with the febreze car vent clip. Wow, it smells good in here. So you and your passengers can breathe happy. Thwith aches, chills,g. And fever, theres no such thing as a little flu. And it needs a big solution an antiviral. So when the flu hits, call your doctor right away and up the ante with antiviral tamiflu. Prescription tamiflu is an antiviral that attacks the flu virus at its source and helps stop it from spreading in the body. Tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people two weeks of age and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. Before taking tamiflu, tell your doctor if youre pregnant, nursing, have Serious Health conditions, or take other medicines. If you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. Children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion, or abnormal behavior. The most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. Antiflu . Go antiviral with tamiflu. Tomorrows jobs report is the major market focus this week. Weve got a lot of Economic Data ahead of that in the next 24 hours. Joining us now, art hogan, chief market analyst. How much do you think the better data has been a catalyst for this stock market . Yeah, sara, thats a great question. When you look back to the bottom of the market in february, i think part of that was predicated on the fact the Economic Data stream has gotten more constructive such that the narrative shifts from, you know, the slowing Global Economy has to drag us into a recession to were probably in the same kind of economy 2 to 2. 5 growth but not going into a recession. I think you pointed out in the last block that when you look last week at the flash pmi Services Number, it was in contraction. We need to see that not confirmed by the ism number today. We need to see something it may be sequentially down but 53, 54 would be a great number there. We also get factory orders. Thats going to be important. Tomorrow, obviously, we want to see wage growth. We want to see the Participation Rate continue to tick up. Art, are we getting a little complacent . Yesterday was a little better. Yes, february was a lot better in terms of Market Performance than january. But the average daily moves in february were still huge. There was a lot of underlying volatility, even though markets were slightly up by the end of the month. Doesnt that highlight that there are huge, huge issues still under the surface . For sure, wilfred. I was thinking about the fact that, you know, that astronaut that just returned to earth after 340 days in space, you know, came back and said, oh, the s p is exactly where it was when i left. Nothing really happened here. When you really think about what weve gone through in this time frame, weve had more 1 moves in the s p 500 this year than we do in an average year. Here we are, you know, a couple days into march. I think volatility continues to be the norm. I think whats gotten better, wilfred, is our perception of what china is doing. They seem to have a firmer grip on both stimulus and currency. If they stay steady with the currency moves theyre doing versus what we saw last august, that helps a whole lot. I think its that shock factor thats not in the market. Also, i think we got in and out of earnings season pretty unscathed. If we can get support in the financials, which is imperative, if we pay a close eye on the transports and the Economic Data stream continues to improve modestly, i think this market can perhaps settle down into the summertime. I think volatility is going to be with us for a bit here. How are you recommending your clients hedge against the volatility . Normally i would think you would say go to dividend stocks, income payers, but those valuations are pretty stretched here given what weve been seeing. Yeah, sara. Thats a great point. One of the things weve seen in this volatile market is a sponsorship of the dividend darlings, whether its utilities or the staples. If you look at the utilities in particular, thats a group thats gotten the most stretch. You have to be very careful there. I think theres probably a better option in the telcoms. I think the multiples are lower and the dividend yield higher. Away from that, i think you want to look at the names that are leaders in technology. So Technology Got caught up in the momentum meltdown. I think theres some Software Names that you could do really well on, whether its service now or salesforce. Com. Trading at reasonable multiples but also growing here. I think you can start getting back into technology. You want to be careful of the dividend darlings. If you have to be in utilities, pick one that hasnt had a big move. Art, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Much appreciated as ever. He has a 233,000 forecast for jobs tomorrow. Thats pretty optimistic. If we get that, would we be wondering if the fed could hike in march . Theyre only pricing in like a 12 chance. That was the story yesterday. Decent data. Not much performance. That fed debate slightly coming back into it. I dont anyone is expecting a hike in march. Its sort of on the table for later in the year. What are you watching today . I still think the u. S. Dollar. I say the index as a whole. The dollar with that fed meeting, its the key factor for me at the moment for general sentiment. When it comes to indicators that things are looking better, ive been watching copper. Its a the a threemonth high. Its very internationally tied to the Global Economy, like china. Things looking better. Copper higher, oil higher. Yen weaker. These trades are sort of all correlated. Also want to correct myself. Nick lachey, 98 degrees, not nsync. Crucial point there. Thats it for Worldwide Exchange. Squawk box is coming up in a couple minutes time. Have a great morning. We were born 100 years ago into a new american century. Born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. And what an amazing time its been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. So, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. Good morning. A stealth rally on wall street it says here, but other people didnt notice. Stocks rising to the best level in two months, but there are new de tests for the markets today, including a flood of Economic Data. And a fatal car crash. Former Chesapeake Energy ceo Aubrey Mcclendon is dead just one day after being indicted by a federal grand jury. And republican president ial hopefuls face off in detroit tonight, but the field is a little smaller. And donald trump is facing mounting pressure from the party establishment. I think is kelly megyn going to be there . March 3rd, 2016, and squawk box begins right now. Live from new york, where business never sleeps, this is squawk box. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. Im becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. Lets look at the u. S. Equity futures this hour. Right now youll see theyre slightly in positive territory. Dow futures up by about 12 points after an up day for the markets yesterday. A big day up the day before. S p futures up by about two points and the nasdaq up just over 7. 5. Overseas in europe where the early trading has already started, there are some modest advances there as well. The dax is up by about just over 0. 1 . The ftse up by about 0. 4 . Overnight in asia, new numbers showing momentum in chinas service sector. Business activity remaining in expansion mode but only at a modest pace