S p indicated up fractionally. The nasdaq up fractionally as well overnight in asia, the nikkei ended higher it was up by 11 points thats still a win hang seng was up by a quarter percent. So was the shanghai composite. This morning and in some of the early trading weve seen take place in europe, modest advances actually things are relatively flat the cac is up by 0. 1 . The ftse is flat the dax is flat. Well see how things react as we get deeper into the trading day. Lets look at crude oil prices crude was down yesterday this morning its back above 50. 50. 7 5 50. 70 Hurricane Maria is lashing the islands, and puerto rico is preparing for a strike Steve Mclaughlin joins us now. From 7 00 p. M. To 1 00 a. M. , this storm had winds of 175, were down to 155 this is a strong category 4. The eyewall a bit bigger, now on land, mainland puerto rico we dont get an official landfall until the center of that eye crosses land. Here are the implications. 150mileperhour sustained winds, gusts to 180. Four to 9foot storm surge at the coast. 12 to 18 inches of rain, especially in the mountains where you could have rudd and mud slides real quickly lets check out the track. It looks like once the storm gets past puerto rico, it will go just north of the dominican republic, not a direct hit, still could be bad then right around or east of the tishg turks and caicos, east of the bahamas, from there, we think the east coast of the United States could be in play for a hurricane at this time maybe not a direct landfall but close enough for high surf up and down the east coast from georgia, South Carolina to boston well have more on that in the coming days. Thank you very much for that. Now its coming for us the number of storms, the number of hurricanes, ferocity has been stunning. Its not the only Natural Disaster weve been watching we have an update on that devastating earthquake that struck mexico city heres what we know. The magnitude 7. 1 quake struck 76 miles southeast of mexico city more than 40 buildings and structures collapsed the Mexico Stock Exchange and the Mexico City Airport suspended operations Officials Say that at least 226 people are dead. 22 children were killed and 38 are stillmissing after an Elementary School collapsed. The quake hit just two hours after buildings across the city conducted earthquake drills to commemorate the anniversary of a deadly quake that struck back in 1985 the scenes have been horrific. The video thats been coming out, very hard to watch. We will get an update from a reporter who is in mexico city thats coming up in less than a half hour. Lets get you caught up on some of the top corporate stories. Fedex earnings missing the mark. A cyberattack on its tnt express unit earlier this year cutting profit base third. Hurricane harvey also impacted operations fedex is lowering its fullyear profit forecast. Bed bath beyond is down 14 in the premarket. The latest results missing forecasts as online sales were not enough to yoffset sliding sales. The company also cutting its fullyear outlook. Is Bed Bath Beyond being amazoned yeah. Yeah . As simple as yeah. The Federal Reserve taking central stage today. Joining sus charlie d ishus is and Jim Osullivan our guest host is dan primack, the Business Editor of axios. Jim, what do you expect to hear from the fed. The first part of qt is well indicated. They gave us the plan three months ago they will activate the plan today. 10 billion a month of shrink cage increasing the Balance Sheet by 3. 6 trillion its slow and steady it builds up to 50 billion a month after a year you dont expect surprises. There will be no surprise in that the focus of markets is on the signal of rates, dot plot what they show for the new inflation project slunio projections, growth in unemployment the first thing people will zorsoazero in on is the median dot in december meaning so thecalled dot plot where the fed projections, do they show another tightening before the end of the year . 12 of the 16 do. So the median shows one more rate hike before the end of the year i expect that will be the case still, even if one or two officials take it out of their forecast theres a set of projections Inflation Numbers probably will come down a bit. Charles, sounds like this has been telegraphed probably no surprises, which means what when it comes to the market well, i mean, i think its interesting this sort of focus on the dot plots, as was just being described. I think the market, particularly after its recent moves, where we moved back to the middle of the range weve been holding in this year, it leaves the market vulnerable to a dovish surprise. I think if we do see the forward looking dot plots being moved slightly lower, the market will take that as a bit of a dovish signal because we moved back to the middle of the range so quickly after the pressing towards 2 a couple weeks ago. Forgive me for pushing on this, its been so long that bad news has been considered good news by the market the market looks for any goldilocks thinking the economy is okay, the fed will never do anything if the fed sounds more dovish, stocks trade up as a result . Charles . Im sorry, i couldnt hear you. Would you repeat that. I guess my question is, if the fed sounds more dovish than expected, you think the market would trade higher stocks would trade higher as a result yeah. I think so broadly speaking, everything to do with the rate profile has been the primary dictator for the sort of riskon riskoff appetite for the market. In the current market mindset, if we continue to see a potential sign from the fed to continue hiking that will be taken constructively for equity markets and credit markets thats been the primary determinate. I dont think that will change its been amazing, axios can cover all the didnt political headlines coming out, theres a lot of news to get your head around, the market seems to Pay Attention to none of it. Ill get messages saying trump said so and so, you would say this is a problem. Yesterday he basically threatened nuclear war on stage at the u. N. , markets dont care. Nuclear war doesnt happen does tax reform happen or not happen the markets go up no matter what comes out of washington, d. C charles, back to that point, is there anything that could move the needle higher when it comes to the market . It seems nothing takes the market down. If tax reform looks more likely, does that add additional fuel to the rally or not i think the devil lies in the detail for that one. Certainly tax cut also help support consumption. If we get meaningful reform that does start to repatriate things, potentially open up the possibility of more infrastructure spending, i think that that would provide additional fuel to the fire and could accelerate as i say credit markets and equity markets by a significant margin jim, i think all eyes again, we use that phrase and hate that phrase, all eyes, but the fed matters. Thats the one central theme to whats happening to stock markets, not just the Federal Reserve but the Central Banks around the globe absolutely. In the long run for sure its not in the feds interest to shake things up too much today with the start of qt ultimately, the markets right now are pricing in 40 basis points of tightening the feds own median projections suggest 100 basis points to the extent theres a tax cut and now its coming back on board, theres agreement apparently about a budget resolution in the senate, that starts the process, to the extent that comes through, thats only going to encourage the fed to tighten more in 2018 f that comes through thats still an if i think theres a risk the bond market in particular is complacent about the fed right sure dan, the one thing everybody is watching now is which direction washington will go will we see more across the aisle, more bipartisanship issues, or if healthcare passes, is that the end of bipartisanship and what does that mean for tax reform if this Healthcare Plan goes, the whole democrat, white house dance, i think they go back to their separate corners tax reform is still the big one, not bigger than healthcare the idea that you will have a big kumbaya on tax reform is Wishful Thinking theres big differences there. We talked about bipartisanship, its just spr d sprouts . Weve seen it on the debt ceiling for a couple months this wasnt a longterm fix, it was a couple months. Well deal with that again in december dan will be with us for the rest of the hour jim and charlie, thank you dont miss complete coverage of todays fed decision, thats coming up on power lunch starting at 2 00 p. M. Eastern time coming up, fallout from the brexit we will talk to a member of the European Parliament who sees big opportunities in the uks tech sector dont miss a live and exclusive interview with bill ackman he will be talking about the battle with adp for the very first time thats at noon eastern today welcome back to squawk box. In political news, senate t republicans reaching a budget deal that would allow tax cuts over the next decade sources say the Senate Budget committee could hold a vote on the measure as early as next week separately the white house says it will continue to pay obamacare subsidies for the month of september, this as senators failed to reach a bipartisan deal to repair obamaca obamacare. This is something you have to be watching closely the bipartisan agreement doesnt come together, but theres a republican plan that the white house supports the bipartisan plan seems to have died because paul ryan and the house said dont do this. The other thing is if theres a deal on healthcare t has to happen by september 30 sntth yeah. After that, you will need the support of a lot of democrats, and it doesnt look like theyll get that. Brexit will leakly p likely lot of opportunities for the uk tech sector. An Advisory Panel has been set up to see potential brexit benefits we are joined from d. C. This morning by the cochair of the european conservatives and Reformists Group you made the case for why the uk brexit has will or could become ultimately a good thing for Tech Companies what you are hearing from them now . Good morning. Yes. What im hearing from the tech sector is a variety of responses. Some assume we will go back to a 1970s model of doing things, such as immigration and trade. Im saying whenever theres disruption, you have three ways to respond you are either be fragile and roll over, you can be robust and seek to survive, or be a antifragile and try to thrive we can move into more online immigration systems, we can be moving into smart immigration systems. We could be moving to smarter border controls rather than assuming going back to paper systems. In terms of attracting Technology Companies in the uk, making it an attractive place for business what kind of feedback are you feeling and hearing now . Clearly there are some concerns some people assume leaving the eu means an insulate britain and closing our doors. The immigration policy would be that we would treat everyone out of the uk equally. We will be able to attract some of the best Global Talent for tech and other sectors in the uk, but it will be a more controlled system. Im hearing the opposite. I dont know where dan is landing on this. Dan is here from axios you spend a lot of time with Technology Companies im hearing fear. Part of it is the uncertainty of it if youre starting a new business and say somebody is in britain and wants to start a busine business, and youre from france, start the business in france in some parts, some say the other advantages in the uk outweigh everything in france. Youre right, there is uncertainty. The uk made an offer on immigration and the status of eu citizens thats the back and forth in the messa negotiations the eu is saying your offer is not good enough. The uk is saying hold on, we want to treat everyone equally we dont want to give people preference just from the eu, we want to attract Global Talent. This is a huge issue is there any example yet of success . Is there a company or a group of people that you feel like you have found and either they stayed or youre keeping them in a way you werent before i think people are waiting to see what sort of deal well get. We are seeing Companies Investments by some companies. Apple announced a bigger investment google announce the bigger investment in the uk thats where the more uncertainty is but at the moment the advantages are still in the uk. Is that a talent pool story a tax story . You have to look at these things as not just one factor. Clearly migration is an issue. If you look at the friendliness, our infrastructure, we cant be complacent about this, its important that we continue to offer those advantages so, people feel comfortable starting up their companies and growing their companies in the uk dan, i dont know if you recall eric schmit from google said the uk would be the next Capital Venture capital and the hot spot did that change in your mind and all the folks you spend time with from Silicon Valley its not a britain thing, its a europe thing. If you look at Global Venture capital, the u. S. , california is number one china number two where britain stands with the rest of the eu, its usually above, but not that high above we appreciate your time and perspective. Just give us before you go, whats the timeline in terms of what comes next in this grand dance . Its a grand negotiation. I have likened it to a tenround boxing match, at the end it will be a split point decision. People will be arguing about the result for years to come there will be almost monthly rounds between now and the end of 2018, hoping theres a deal in time for march 2019 what you wont see from the early wounds is a victory or the eu or uk emerging victorious there are so many issues to discuss. From one other piece on that, given the timeline is as long as it is, does that Mean Companies have to make hard decisions and make some bets now do you think theres a real wait and see attitude i think companies dont like uncertainty. Some say they have to make decisions, 12, 18 months in advance and theyre starting to make some decisions now. If you look at the negotiations, both sides have weaknesses the eus biggest weakness is the money. Theyll be poorer without the eu, and the oceeu, thelonger thy hold out on the deal the more unteu uncertainty they cause for the uk good to see you thank you when we return, Hurricane Maria is lashing puerto rico right now. Just a day and a half after it began to sweep through the caribbean address the category 5 hurricane. Well speak with the Prime Minister of the island of st. Lucia about the hurricanes destruction and what it has meant for islands around the area and what the recovery will take right now as we head to break a look at yesterdays s p 500 winnerswin ers and losers welcome back youre watching squawk box live from the Nasdaq Market site in times square. Good morning welcome back to squawk box on cnbc look at u. S. Equity futures at this hour. You are look at the dow. Looking like it will open higher, s p 500 up by a half point. The nasdaq up about a point. Hurricane maria is bringing a powerful punch to the islands in the caribbean islands that can illafford more damage after the recent storms that have been hit so hard not all islands have been hit equally, many will need massive levels of rebuilding joining us now to talk about all of this is the Prime Minister of st. Lucia, Allen Chastanet thank you for being here great to be here. I understand its still early, you have storms still swirling and inflikcting damage st. Lucia has been spared some of the damage, but what have you seen im chairman from st. Kitts down to grenada. Ive had the opportunity to physically fly into the British Virgin islands, st. Kitts, ann teague g ann teag antigua and turks and caicos and what have you sign . You seen. A lot of damage in 2004 we had hurricane ivan. St. Tomas in 2010 was damaging to st. Lucia the resilience of the caribbean is strong. We are brothers and sisters so whereas there may be other events taking place around the world and priority may not be on us, we have always bound together to make this thing happen whats interesting about whats taking place is the number of destinations that have been impacted so you have the british with the british vir ygin islavirgin isl martin, guadalupe, puerto rico, houston was out. You had florida and miami that were potentially going to be in the path then you had an earthquake in mexico, another earthquake last night, my heart and prayers go out to the citizens of mexico and the Mexican Government its been a bit of a perfect storm taking place with all of that, here in the United States the focus was very much first on houston and the surrounding areas, then on florida. What kind of efforts and attention have you received in the caribbean . Because of the dependence being impacted so severely, the u. S. Were very quick to respond in st. Thomas and st. Johns the british were down in anguila and the British Virgin islands, most people would say that recovery has been slow and then you have the french and the dutch being preoccupied in st. Martin so people like the florida caribbean cruise association, carnival and Royal Caribbean have been responsive the venezuel