Lets have a look at u. S. Equity futures this morning. Were on track to snap a sixweek winning streak. Weve had a bit of red this week. Not in pronounced a fashion. Low volumes and low conviction, really. But were looking to continue that today. The dow called lower by 24 points. The s p by 5 1 2. The nasdaq by 13. Even if i day say low conviction just there, the move in the u. S. Ten year yesterday did show some risk aversion. We did see some buying of the bond, pushing the yield on the u. S. Ten year down. Were currently at 1. 87 . That slide in oil impacting the market. Economic data and fed speak front and center this morning ahead of a threeday weekend. First up, weekly jobless claims and february durable goods. Orders are forecast to have dropped by about 3 last month following a big gain in january. The markets are closed for good friday tomorrow, but the government is still going to be releasing the final revision to Fourth Quarter gdp that morning. In earnings central, well get signet jewelers, finish line, winnebago, and game stop. St. Louis fed president James Bullard speaking about the economy this morning before the opening bell. Yesterday bullard was one of the multiple policymakers making hawkish statements, suggesting an april Interest Rate hike could be possible. That speculation influencing the currency market, where it has been a story of dollar strength. Stronger dollar pressuring stocks, pressuring commodities. Youre seeing the euro back up a little bit more today. Below that 1. 12 region. Theres the s p 500. It is on track, along with the dow and the nasdaq, to finish the week lower. As wilfred just mentioned, the first down week in the last six. Not too big a correction given the fiveweek bounceback weve had. Lets check in on Global Markets this morning. Theyre certainly influencing u. S. Futures today. European markets there for you down to the tune of about 1 across the board. France leading the way, lower, down 1. 2 . Germany a little better than that, down just 0. 8 . Asia seeing red as well. The Hong Kong Market down 1. 3 . Sha shanghai, 1. 6. We are snapping a decent winning streak. Among the headlines out in asia overnight, chinas premier says the government will not seek to devalue the yuan in a bid to boost exports. He also argues that china has enough tools to ensure a stable Economic Performance in his words. Lets have a look at Broader Markets this morning. Commodities, oil prices have gone back below 40. Were down another 1. 3 . Sara said earlier, oils slide did hurt Market Sentiment yesterday. Again, were close to ho. We were close to 40. Compared to some of those debts in the middle of february, nothing too significant. Its been a poor week for gold. Were looking at 1216. Were coming off that niceshaped chart wed had for the start of this year. Gold going up very significantly. Down another 0. 6 today. I suppose, sara, the question is how much conviction is there in this little correction that were seeing this week, and given the level of volumes, youd probably say not too much. The other question i would have, especially after this week and the last 24 hours is what on sert this Federal Reserves communication strategy . It is so confusing. Last week we hear from janet yellen, who is the most important person to listen to on the fed, especially when shes talking at a press conference after a policy decision, talking about worries in the Global Economy and financial markets, pushing out Interest Rate hikes at least. The entire fed forecasting now only two instead of four. Then a slew of fed speakers out yesterday talking about the better economic data, the higher inflation number, the fact we might need to go sooner than later in april. Chris rupke is an economist, hes been on the show. He said this is the most fouled up communication strategy from the fed. It is confusing. Whether thats led to the selloff or not, it certainly has helped strengthen the u. S. Dollar, and thats something multinationals are still dealing with, hence nike, General Mills this week. I think the fundamental reason for these disagreements between certain fed members, and there was a great debate on closing bell yesterday, but i think the main reason is theres a debate between them about how much they should be taking account of the foreign situation. I think domestic data continues to still be pretty supportive, and perhaps they should have already hiked in march or perhaps they should hike in april. Even yellen has decided to start to take in kind of general fears about whats happening to Global Growth a little more strongly than they had done last year. The only thing i would say is Pay Attention amid the cocoughny of fed statements to the three core fed members. Janet yellen, stanley fischer, and new york fed president dudl dudley. Thats the core of the fed. Ultimately, thats whos making policy. More comments from bullard today as well. Now to the latest from brussels following this weeks deadly terrorist attacks. Our very own Michelle Carusocabrera joins us from the belgian capital. Good morning, michelle. Reporter good morning, sara. The Key Development overnight is that the authorities believe there is a definitive connection between the attacks here in brussels and the attacks in paris back in november. The two brothers who died as suicide bombers here, one in the subway, one at the airport, are believed to have been accomplices, facilitators of the paris attacks, providing safe houses and or transportation. This is raising the level of criticism of the Security Officials here. The argument is you have this belgian terrorist cell. You have terrorists working across borders, but Intelligence Services not necessarily cooperating or working across borders. So this is already becoming a political discussion here. Does this situation require more europe. The euro skeptics are saying it requires less europe. We need to reduce the ability to cross borders. We need to control our own borders individually as countries. So once again, the Key Development, theres definitely a connection between paris in november and brussels here in the last two days. Other developments are that the suspected bomb maker is believed to have died as one of the suicide bombers at the airport. Theyre looking, perhaps, now beyond the one man hunt weve been telling you about, from the one individual seen on the closed Circuit Television at the airport. Theres perhaps another individual from the subway station they may be looking for as well, somebody who may have been there beyond the suicide bomber who died there. So those are the key Political Developments overnight. Also, some of the investigative results or details weve been watching for. We are here in front of what used to be the Stock Exchange here in brussels. Its now a museum. This is where theres a memorial, a constant vigil, as people here in brussels come together to mourn those who died, at least 30, and more than 100 injured. Back to you. Michelle, tell us what the sentiment is there on the ground. I know were in a day of mourning, standing in front of a memorial there. Theres been a great sense of solidarity across europe and across the globe, of course, in response to this. But these updates youre telling us, you know, it does point towards some intelligence failures, perhaps mistakes made leading up to this. Is there a sense of anger as well, or have we not got to that stage yet on the ground . Reporter i havent heard that yet. I heard it very, very quickly after paris because, remember in november when the large paris attacks occurred, Charlie Hebdo had already occurred. So the french citizens felt like there should have been more done in the time period between the two. The why did it happen again. I havent heard anger here yet. Well see if we actually hear it, but this is a city that has been dealing with closures, a very high level of alerts, shutdowns constantly as there have been raids over the last several months. So its quite possible that you start to hear that, wilfred. And what about the airport . Is it still closed . Is it sort of life back to normal, people at work . I imagine with heightened security measures, of course. Reporter it is not life back to normal. The airport is not open to commercial traffic yet. Its not clear when thats going to happen. They told us its at least through friday, even though private planes can fly and as well as cargo planes. At the train station, we have some video of that if you want to show it. There used to be multiple entrances to that train station. Now theres only one. We are told by the authorities that they were frisking people as they went in, even though we didnt see that ourselves. So certainly that is not life back to normal, having to be frisked when you go into a train station, not being able to go about your typical commute. Michelle, thank you very much for joining us this morning. Michelle carusocabrera in brussels there. Switching gears to Corporate News this morning. Starboard is reportedly ready to launch a proxy fight to remove yahoo s entire board. Theyve been a critic of the companys management. Starboard owns less than 1 of the company. The wall street journal says the Hedge Fund Plans to announce this morning that it will nominate nine directors to yahoo s board. Yum brands is reportedly in talks with private equity firms to sell a Minority Stake in its china operations. Yum, as you know, is preparing to spin off the chinese unit. Reuters reporting that the possible sale values the China Business at about 10 billion. The stock shot up yesterday on that report. Sequoias president has resigned. The mutual fund has been hit hard by its big stake in valeant. Morning star says sequoia has underperformed at 98 of its peers so far this year. Some other stocks to watch today, pvh reporting better than expected Fourth Quarter results, but the maker of calvin klein and Tommy Hilfiger apparel is giving down beat guidance for 2016. The company citing increased promotions, restrained consumer spending, and currency headwinds. Appearing on mad money, the ceo says he sees Growth Opportunities in china. The calvin klein business is about 275 million in china. Tommy is less than half of that. Weve been experiencing Significant Growth with both brands. I think theres a real opportunity to really take that business. I think both brands could be in the next five years over 500 million. That market is growing. That consumer continues to spend. Were well positioned there. Both brands are really well received by the consumer in china. Echoing nikes bullish numbers on china as well. Kb home First Quarter profit rising 68 , beating forecasts. The home builder saying a healthy backlog is contributing to a favorable outlook for the full year. The company also reporting a 5 increase in average selling prices to more than 344,000. Nice reaction there in the stock. Up almost 7 in the premarket. Raytheon is raising its annual dividend to 2. 93 a share. This is the 12th Straight Year the defense contractor that boosted its annual payout to stockholders. American airlines is bringing back Profit Sharing. Certain employees will get a cut of 5 of pretax profits starting with the airlines 2016 annual earnings. American had Profit Sharing before filing for bankruptcy in 2011, but employees hadnt received payouts since 2001 because the company had not been profitable. Terex said it received a nonbinding takeover offer from zoomlion for 31 a share or more than 3. 4 billion in total. The crane maker says its board hasnt changed its recommendation in support of a proposed merger. Oxford industrys Fourth Quarter profit rose 11 but revenue missed forecast. The maker of tommy bahama. When we come back, a huge weekend for retail. Well bring you the big numbers behind easter next. But first, as we head to break, we want to hear from you. Our twitter and facebook question of the morning. Heading for our first down week in six for u. S. Equities, where are we . A bull market, a bear market, or simply range bound . Get in touch with us. We want to hear from you. Well discuss the results of that with many market experts coming up here on Worldwide Exchange. E market. But at t. Rowe price, we can help guide your investments through good times and bad. For over 75 years, our clients have relied on us to bring our best thinking to their investments so in a variety of market conditions. You can feel confident. In our experience. 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. In new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. All across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the western hemisphere will soon energize the world. And in syracuse, where imagination is in production. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. If youre just getting up, lets get you up to speed with the market action. U. S. Futures pointing lower. Th theyve extended their losses over the last 20 minutes, but not too much. Oil still weaker, dollar still stronger. Thats part of the story. Easter is this sunday, so you still have a few days left to spend. As americans prepare to celebrate the holiday, theyre getting out their wallets, hunting for the perfect gift, and retailers are certainly welcoming them with open arms. What do people buy more than candy . Retail sales expected to be hopping, pun intended, as americans anticipate theyll spend more than ever. The National Retail federation expects sales of 17. 3 billion this year. Thats up more than 5 from last years high. Those celebrating forecast to spend an average of 146 per person. Where are people planning to fill up their baskets . More than half will go to Discount Stores so they can take advantage of promotions, but shoppers arent putting all of their eggs in the same spending basket. Food retailers expect to see the most benefit with consumers forecast to spend 5. 5 billion on food. Thats followed by 3 billion on clothing. You cant forget about the chocolate. Americans are expected to spend 2. 4 billion on candy with sales driven by people taking part in easter egg hunts. Sara and wilfred, i wanted to do an easter egg hunt, but our producer said we didnt have enough time, so i got you guys some chocolate bunnies to make up for that. No way. Thats epic. Im going to eat that at the break. Thats better than guinness on st. Patricks day at 5 18. I dont know. The guinness was pretty sweet. And guys, the Holiday Weekend means two hours of Worldwide Exchange on monday morning. That is right. 4 00 a. M. We will be here on monday. All of us with very genuine smiles on our faces. Landon, thank you very much. Thanks, guys. Still to come, a war of words and photos between donald trump and ted cruz about their wives. The story tops todays political talk. Thats coming up. But first as we head to break, heres todays National Forecast from the weather channels jen carfagno. After the fifth snowiest march day on record in denver, colorado, the storm that really shut down the city for the day, this thing is on the move now, bringing snow to the upper midwest, including southern minnesota, parts of wisconsin, and even Northern Michigan as well. Plus, there is a severe side. Watching for storms to pop, really starting throughout the day, but really getting severe later into the afternoon. Watching regions from Southeast Texas right up into tennessee and back into alabama. The risk for storms with hail, damages winds, and even the risk for tornadoes as well. Temperaturewise, theres going to be a lot of warmth across portions of the east. Not quite record breaking but warm temperatures well above average. In fact, nearly 20 degrees above average. Plus, where we got the snow . We got temperatures cooking down but a quick rebound coming right behind that. Thats your coasttocoast forecast. World word continues after this. Cathys gotten used to the smell of lingering garbage. In her kitchen yup, shes gone noseblind. She thinks it smells fine, but her guests smell this. Ding, flies, meow febreze air effects heavy duty has up to. Two times the odoreliminating power to. Remove odors youve done noseblind to [inhales] mmm. Use febreze air effects, till its fresh and try febreze small spaces. To continuously eliminate up to two times the odors. For 30 days febreze small spaces and air effects, two more ways. [inhale exhale mnemonic] to breathe happy. Welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. If you are just waking up, lets get you up to speed on the market action. U. S. Equity futures lower across the board. Dow futures down about 44 points a the this early hour. S p down eight. Nasdaq down 21. This after a selloff yesterday. And were looking at the first down week for stocks in about six. The u. S. Dollar is strengthening right now. Lets show you whats happening. Weakness in the euro below 112. Dollar stronger against the yen by almost half a percent. Stronger against the british pound as well. Oil is very much a part of the story, which is selling off, though i would point out were seeing bigger moves in places like the russell, which is the small cap stocks. We saw yesterday a bad day. The bio tech stocks had a brutal day. Weve just seen europe extend losses. Theyre down 1 . To politics, the president ial campaign taking a personal turn this morning. Nbcs tracie potts joins us from washington with new developments. It escalated a bit, both ted cruz and his wife are fighting back against this. Both candidates, donald trump and ted cruz, have said that dragging the wives into this is unfair. For donald to go after heidi i think is despicable. And it reveals a lot about his character. We will not stoop to the level of donald trump. These sort of personal things are way out of bounds. Reporter trump first tweeted hed, quote, spill the beans about heidi cruz after an antitrump super pac ran this ad featuring milania trump handcuffed and naked in a photo shoot. The group that created the ad claims trump had already been going after cruzs wife. His campaign has been calling numerous reporters and talking about supposed criminal and mental issues. Reporter meantime, Bernie Sanders just wrapped a latenight rally in los angeles. If we win the california primary with a decent vote, were going together to the white house. Reporter and Hillary Clintons talking national security. How high does the wall have to be to keep the internet out . Reporter denouncing trumps wall as ineffective against terrorists. Now, the democrats are really focused on the west coast right now, so tonight youll see Hillary Clinton in l. A. Last night it was Bernie Sanders. Sanders is moving up the coast. Hes going back to washington state, a state he thinks he can win. Yeah, im just reading some of the tweets, the twitter reaction to this. As you can imagine, brutal. Kara swisher of recode, how did we get on cruz side, talking about donald trump threatening ted cruzs wife. It strikes me it comes on a day where the house speaker, paul ryan, came out to talk about dirty politics and to tone down the rhetoric and the insults, right. Reporter and keep in mind that ryan is also the chair of the Republican Convention coming up in cleveland this summer. Hes trying to tamp things down before they get to cleveland. Donald trump has suggested they could have riots in cleveland. Theyre preparing for that. Paul ryan comes out and tries to say, look, we need to unify this party, we need to be focused on civility and not some of the nasty things weve seen. He didnt mention donald trump by name, but he certainly is trying to change the tone within the Republican Party. Maybe he should have. Tracie, thank you. Good to see you this morning. More on the ryan speech in my must read later on in the show. We want to get to sports. A showdown of western conference rivals in the nba last night. The Los Angeles Clippers traveling to the bay area to take on the golden state warriors. Steph curry and his clippers counterpart chris paul getting ready before the game here. Golden state winning their 51st straight game at home, 11498. Wouldnt have been the first or else we wouldnt know who steph curry was. And we do. You do thanks to our daily updates of his magic on the courts. And his endorsement of under armour. The clippers loss to the warriors was probably not the present steve balmer was hoping for. The former microsoft ceo has a milestone birthday today, turning 60. He bought the clippers for 2 billion. Happy birthday to him. The most enthusiastic and entertaining ceo. One of the most, that is. Still to come, this mornings top stories, including some market moving fed speak. That and much more analysis of the situation in bruflssels is coming up here on Worldwide Exchange. E trade is all about seizing opportunity. And id like to. Cut. So im gonna take this opportunity to direct. Thank you, well call you. Evening, film noir, smoke, atmosphere. Bob. Youre a young farmhand and e trade is your cow. Milk it. E trade is all about seizing opportunity. Good morning. Global markets under pressure. European stocks trading lower and the major u. S. Averages are on track to snap a sixweek winning streak. A shakeup at yahoo . An investor wants the tech companys entire board gone. And if you hear it on tv, it must be true. How the australian Prime Minister is adopting the Campaign Slogan of a wellknown u. S. Television comedy. Its thursday, march 24th, 2016. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange on cnbc. Good morning and welcome to Worldwide Exchange on cnbc. Im sara eisen. And im wilfred frost. Lets get right to the u. S. Equity futures. Theyre pointing lower to the tune of about 40 or 50 points for the dow. Currently 42 points. The s p down by about 7 1 2. The nasdaq by about 20. So we are on track to snap a sixweek winning streak. Futures pointing lower, following asian and european markets down. Lets have a quick look at the tenyear treasury note in the u. S. We saw some buying of this yesterday, some risk aversion out there. Not too pronounced, but were at 1. 87 on the tenyear note. Among the stories front and center today, a senior u. S. Official saying the two brothers involved in the brussels attacks acted as facilitators in last novembers attacks in paris. The suspected bomb maker in paris is believed to have been one of the two airport suicide bombers in brussels. Belgian and french media are reporting its suspected there was a second attacker in the bombing of the subway station in brussels, but its unclear whether that person was killed in that attack and may still be at large. Lets check in on Global Markets this morning. As i mentioned earlier, europe is seeing red. The losses in europe have just extended a little bit in the last half an hour. Now down over 1 for all the main boards. Asia also seeing some red. Hong kong was down 1. 6. China down a little bit more than that. Asia and europe facing a similar theme as the u. S. Markets on track to snap a recent winning streak this week. But in not too pronounced a fashion. Were not staring a huge correction in the face. Lets show you the Broader Market picture right now. Dollar strength is back on. The dollar has risen for the last four sessions at least, marching higher, causing all sorts of pain in commodities and multinationals that do business overseas. Dollar yen, 112. 84. Euro weaker against the dollar. The pounds continues to sell off. Oil has been a big part of the story, weakening almost 4 today, dekwliclining e ining ag. Up a lot mofor the month of mar. Quickly show you gold, its worst week in about four months. The strength of the dollar is pressuring gold. Theres also so much fed speak thats confuse b everybody about when the next rate hike is going to come. More on that in a moment. But gold selling off again this morning. And i think the other point to make is that volumes are still pretty low. Not just this week. The week we might snap into a fall for equity markets, but last week as well. The final week or so of the correction upwards, now perhaps a slight correction downwards. Very low volume. The question is, is there no conviction or or no catalyst. Thats a good point. Thats an issue. Shes good with words. Thank you, wilfred. A big jump in january for spending. It is expected to decline a bit for last month. That number out today. Initial jobless claims on thursday. Tomorrow, even though the market is closed, well get a revision to gdp. Another potential catalyst, of course, is another fed commentator today, James Bullard is speaking. Thats been a crucial influence on markets. Theyre all over the map. I mean, some of these fed president s are saying everything is great. The Unemployment Rate is 4. 9 . Inflation has ticked higher. Thats our dual mandate. We can start to look at raising rates. Then janet yellen out last week, the Federal Reserve chairman saying were worried about Foreign International developments and market stability. The question is, who do you listen top . Has to be yellen, core of the fed. This has been the key to the whole trade. Emerging markets have reversed. Dollar stronger. All of those were getting some relief after the fed last week. You wonder with all this fed talk how its messing it up. I wonder whether this weeks geoPolitical Developments might influence the fed. We do have Corporate News to get to this morning. Starboard reportedly ready to launch a proxy fight to remove yahoo s entire board. The activist has been a vocal critic in the tech companys management, most recently asking yahoo to central its asian assets and sell its core business. We also would note that starboard owns less than 1 of yahoo . They have a strong voice in all the arguments we see. Well, thats because the stock hasnt done very well. She hasnt really engineered a turnaround in the core business. They have a strong case. Yum brands is reportedly in talks with private equity firms to sell a Minority Stake in its china operations. Yum is preparing to spin off the unit. Reuters reports the possible stake sale values the China Business at about 10 billion. Now to geo politics. Global security is sure to be top of mind for voters following the attacks in brussels this week to discuss the brussels situation. Also the u. S. Political situation. Joining us is the director at the Global Market strategy. Great to have you with us. If we kick off with the brussels situation, i suppose even as recently as last year after the paris attacks, very quickly there was a debate, how do we solve the situation, how do we put a stop to it. It focused on syria and iraq. We saw an elevation of military action there. Very quickly this time it seems like the debate is purely domestic. Its purely europe and how do they solve a problem internally. Is that a fair summation . I think whats happened is the unfortunate reality is this is perhaps the new normal in europe. What i mean by that is the paris attacks maybe was just the beginning of a wave of a series attacks. Now will this be every week, every month . The fact is over the coming weeks, months, and years, this will be the new normal in europe. Over time as the refugee crisis has taken place in europe, theres been over 1 million refugees. Many jihadi elements have used this particular crisis as a pretext to infiltrate europe and set up cells. Does europe have the ability, the tools, the know how, the intelligence to stop it . Out of all the Member States of the european union, id say the United Kingdom has proven itself, particularly after the 2005 attacks. In paris, french authorities are engaged in overseas commitments against jihadis. Overall, theyve prevented many attacks. Many others throughout europe who are in the accustomed to this threat still have a long way to go, particularly belgian authorities. You mentioned the u. K. Theres been a lot of focus on what the developments mean for the brexit vote. Do you think these developments strengthen existing supporters of a brexit, or does it really start to influence swing voters as well and change the outcome altogether . Those who are committed to brexit, in my opinion, are committed to brexit. Its those swing voters that events like this, particularly if were looking at the referendum in june, between now and june, there possibly can be other attacks. The more attacks there are, the more chaos there is, the more it will swing those sway voters. When we look to the political situation here, does it make a big influence on people like trump, who have clearly advocated a hard line on terrorists in the past . His supporters who love him are dedicated and committed to him, but there are many others sitting on the fence, similar to those sitting on the fence in terms of the brexit vote. In terms of the more attacks there are, the more likely it is to strengthen his position in terms of his rhetoric of a hard line on Foreign Policy. As he says, going after isis. Although hes not provided any policy detail in how hell do it, a lot of his rhetoric has been marked by rhetorical flips and sound bites. It still strikes a cord with many ordinary americans struggling to understand with this jihadist threat. Im looking at your note here. You say huge economic impact, which im a little surprised to read given the Market Reaction was fairly muted to these attacks. In terms of huge what was that statement . Im getting it from your notes. Countries have benefitted from open borders and theres going to be a big impact. In europe itself, many of these strikes where you have countries with solid fundamentals, itll be shortterm impacts. In terms of other places in the world, if youre looking outside of europe, particularly in the middle east in countries like egypt that have a high tourism industry, where you have terrorist attacks in places like that where the economic fundamentals are not strong, thats where you have a longer term impact where it does impact the economy. Largely in europe, these type of events, i think, will have shortterm impacts. The fundamentals are quite solid. If we go back to the u. S. Election debate, and we mentioned trumps Foreign Policy there, on many levels, of course, trump and sanders are polar opposites. Another point you make in your note is there are some areas of Foreign Policy, protectionism, where they actually have some similarities, even though theyre seen as being on two political extremes. One could use the term neoisolationism. With trump, you get more of that rhetoric. I think trump to a large extent, his instincts are isolationist. As time goes by, he may fall into place. This is going to be a long election process. As this process goes by, he will his rhetoric will continue to remain neoisolationist. I think over time, hes going to have to accept that you cannot disengage america from the world. Whereas president obama in terms of policy action proved to be somewhat of a reluctant incrementalist. Trump might be end up being a reluck tantd internationalist, albeit with rhetoric thats fairly neoisolationist. Do you think the markets will Pay Attention to that . Over time. I think its still too early. If you look after labor day from september, october, leading up to election day, i think the markets will be far more sensitive to whats being said. I think for now theyre looking at accepting it in terms of election rhetoric. Just quickly, if it was a clinton versus trump race, do you think its plausible sanders supporters could flip and vote for trump, or are there too many gaps between the two . Certain may, but i think that would be a vast minority. I think the majority are going to fall in line behind Hillary Clinton. Its been fraet to have you with us this morning. Thanks very much. It is time for todays top trending stories now. Starting with politics. President obama dancing the tango during the official state dinner in argentina. President obama is there to a twoday visit to the country after his visit to cuba. Should we do our own quickly . We cant do a seated tango, can we . Look at that. Hes got moves. He has got moves. This debate this week, does he embrace the trips hes on and join in on the planned festivities, which hes clearly done, or should he have flown back . Hes stuck to his guns. Theres obviously been a debate. Hes good. And Michelle Obama also there on the floor. Right. Australian Prime Minister has adopted the Campaign Slogan continuity and change. Its the same one used in the hbo series veep. The writer and executive producer saying it was the most meaningless phrase they could think of, yet its been used. You dont watch, do you . I havent, but im wondering if i should. You should especially since youre a house of cards fan. The whole thing is a parody on politicia politicians. Now the producers are coming out mocking the australian Prime Minister. What does continuity and change mean . Its such a paradox, such a joke. They cannot believe its for real. Its meant to be a great show, as house of cards is. Both of them copies of british sitcoms. Brilliant. Coming up, todays must reads. Thats coming up after the break, including threatening our political processes and trump and brexit affecting conservativism. Worldwide exchange is back in a couple minutes. Some say free the whales. For them, nothing else is acceptable. But nothing could be worse for the whales. Most of the orcas at seaworld were born here. Sending them into the wild wouldnt be noble. It could be fatal. When they freed keiko, the killer whale of movie fame, the effort was a failure and he perished. But we also understand that times have changed. Today, people are concerned about the Worlds Largest animals like never before. So we too must change. Thats why the orcas in our care will be the last generation at seaworld. There will be no more breeding. Were also phasing out orca theatrical shows. Theyll continue to receive the highest standard of care available anywhere. And guests can come to see them simply being their majestic selves. Inspiring the next generation of people to love them as you do. Out on the town or in for the night, at t helps keep everyone connected. Right now at at t, buy the new Samsung Galaxy s7 and get one free. No matter how you hang out, share every minute of it. Buy one water resistant Samsung Galaxy s7 and get one free. And right now, get up to 650 in credits per line to help you switch to at t. Welcome back. It is time for todays must reads. I picked one in usa today. A longtime republican adviser wrote, paul ryan is right, will anyone listen . Quote, if you want to get sick to your stomach, read the Facebook Page of any member of congress. The things people will say to Public Servants are completely outrageous and disrespectful. Its worse on twitter. Most newspapers have decided to not even publish comments at the end of articles because theyre so inappropriate. Social media just making things worse. He talks about the incivility thats affecting our political process, and he likens whats happening on the campaign trail to an episode of real housewives of atlanta where all the friends get together and they just bash each other and call each other liars and throw insults and insult each others spouses. Thats whats happening right now. And its happening all across europe as well. Its not just reserved to the u. S. In fact, my must read talks to a sort of similar topic with a different angle. Its by tony barber in the financial times. Its titled trump and brexit whirlwinds are tearing apart conservativism. Matters have now reached the point at which it is no longer inconceivable that both the republicans and confideservativ will break apart. Clearly hes not saying its inconceivable, this is likely. The parallels arent exact. Whats happening in britain is not exactly the same, but both the conservative party in the u. K. And the Republican Party here are being divided by it. It remains to be seen what the conclusion is. Absolutely. The conclusion is that at least in this piece and some of these columnist pieces and paul ryans speech yesterday is we need a filter for our society. Its important our leaders send a message of respect. I dont know. It certainly helped people like donald trump. They dont want him to be politically correct. Its refreshing in some way. Were approaching the top of the hour. That means the team is getting ready for squawk box. Joe kernen joins us from new york with a look at whats coppicop i coming up, joe. The pendulum swings. Weve seen that in life. Weve gotten microaggression. Weve gotten to the point where on universities, the word coddled has been used. The latest incident down at emory, where the president is really worried. Someone wrote trump 2016 somewhere. Some of the students unfortunately saw it. Theyre in pain. Theyre frightened. Hes tried to help the situation by being very im going to have trouble getting through this myself because i cant imagine what those Young Students are feeling right now. You can go too far. On the other hand, i have called twitter. Harvinger of the end of days. It is just a cesspool. Anonymously you can say whatever you want, and lots of people will see it and retweet it. Its just a race to the bottom. Not to mention the role in global terrorism. It reminds me of the end of days. Also, wilfred, you say its not a surprise to me when you say its happening in europe too. Dont get high and mighty. Ive seen what happens in the house of commons over there. Its usually not words. Its usually fists flying. You say dont get high and mighty. Im agreeing this is happening everywhere. Its not all the earl of grantham Walking Around over there. Just get off your high horse, will you . I dont know where this is coming from. Im agreeing. Im just used to you see, i was just there. I know you people. Anyway, getting serious again, i was thinking about the european markets are down today. How could they be up this week . How can anyone, just in terms of animal spirits are one thing. A lot of times, you know, if things are seem okay in the world, maybe people feel better about buying stocks or something. Who knows how this plays itself out. 400 trained fighters. Not only is there something ahead of this thats totally uncertain and frightening, but its not a great time to be, hey, im going in the market because im really excited and buying stocks. Im not surprised were having trouble making any headway. Its been a tough week. Its just really been a tough week. Im still thinking about the people that are trying to recover. Not even out of the woods yet. Cant ghaet out of my mind. Absolutely right, joe. It has been a tough week indeed. We look forward, though, to squawk box coming up in nine minutes time with joe and the team. Still to come here on Worldwide Exchange, fed confusion. Could a rate hike be in the cards next month . Well have fidelitys head of global macro straight after the break. In new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. All across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and new infrastructure for a new generation attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in rochester, with worldclass botox. And in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov futures are lower this morning. Joining us to talk about the markets. We asked on twitter today for our questions of the day, where are we . Stocks down this week for the first time in six weeks. Bull market, bear market, or rangebound . So far, 49 , which is a majority, say rangebound. What say you . Were sort of in a market purgatory here. Were in between a bear market and a bull market. Most Global Markets were down 20 , 25 , or even 30 . Weve had a pretty solid correction in most global stock markets. Were sort of this sixyear bull market we saw since 09 is being put on hold because we have this policy divergence between the fed and other central banks, especially the pboc. We need for this policy divergence to play itself out. Then i think we can get back on track. Were not there yet. But i mean, my response to this twitter question was very much bear market because i cannot believe even aside from this week were flipping back down. I cant believe how quickly we bounced back from this torrid start to 2016. Have any of the issues that brought us down in the first place been solved, whether its central bank ability to act, its china, the strength of european banks, let alone recent geopolitical concerns. We havent had any solutions to any of those questions, have we . We had two shocks pushing us down, right. It was oil prices, and people always ask me, why is everything tied to oil . Thats because it was a big Earnings Growth coming from shale that has been reversed. Also, it became a credit probable because there was so much debt involved in putting all these drill rigs into the ground. When oil went to 30, it caused a lot of pain in the credit markets and in the stock market. Like i said, we have this policy divergence. It started last august when the chinese devalued. That kind of pushed the fed back in terms of not tightening in september. Then things quieted down and the fed went in december. Then things got shaky again. The fed is again on hold for march. Now things are quiet again. So we continue to have this back and forth. The markets were very oversold in january. Then they double bottomed in february. Now were getting towards the high end of the range. But its still a range. 1800 on the s p to 2100 or so. I dont see the catalyst for us to break out of that range in the near term. Very quickly, what do you make of all the fed commentary, the fact that there seems to be real disagreements on the timing of Interest Rate hikes and the view on the u. S. Economic data. What on earth do you make of it as an investor . Well, you know, theres sort of some conspiracy theorying going around about was there a plaza accord during the latest g20 summit and did the fed talk to the pboc and the pboc convince the fed to kind of go slow, keep the dollar down, because if the dollar goes up, it puts pressure on everyone. Now it sounds like some of the fomc is sort of backtracking on that, even talking about an april hike, which i think is silly. A june hike, you know, the odds are 50 right now. Its a coin toss. Were back into the same mode of how the numbers stack up. Got to leave it there. Thank you. Thanks. Thats it for worWorldwide Exchange. Squawk box is coming up next. Announcer if the hardest part of your day is the staying awake part. [train horn blares] sleep train has your ticket to a better nights sleep. With a 100 night low price guarantee, sleep trains love your mattress money back guarantee, same day delivery, plus helpful advice from the sleep experts, its no wonder more than a Million People fall asleep each night on a sleep train mattress sleep train [train horn] your ticket to a better nights sleep good morning. Oil prices falling further, below 40 this morning, following news that u. S. Stockpiles grew three times faster than expected in the last week. Got another shakeup at yahoo . An investor wants the tech company to clean house and ditch the entire board of directors. And terror in brussels. New details this morning on the bombers and their connection to last falls terror attack in paris. Its thursday, march 24th, 2016. Tomorrow is good friday. Squawk box begins right now. Holy thursday. 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. Right now the markets are on track for their first down week after six weeks in a row of gains. You can see the dow futures are down by about 37 points this morning. S p futures down by 7. The nasdaq down by 17. In europe, red arrows as well. The dax is off by about 1. 1 . Cac down by 1. 4 . The ftse down by 1 . Overnight in asia, stocks fell by 1. 3 in hong kong. Chinas shanghai composite was also down. Oil prices under pressure, falling further below 41 a barrel. Yesterday the dollar was