Good morning and welcome to march. Stocks try to finish the week with a climbing to record highs after, oh, a brief weakness yesterday into the close. The sequester deadline finally arrives with no compromise in sight. Plus, in Corporate News, groupon out. Its ceo and in an unusual cliff, wait until you hear the email that andrew mason sent to employees announcing his own firing. Ill ask ben white if politico got this email, too. Its friday, march 1st, 2013. Squawk box begins right now. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. Im becky quick along with joe kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Our guest host this hour is zach carabell. Also ben white who is politico chief economic correspondent. Gentlemen, welcome to both of you. Thank you for getting up early. It is a grait great day to have you both with us. Were talking about the wall street situation and washington. We have stocks and the sequester, the s p coming off its fourth straight month of gains. If you take a look at the markets, highlights over whats been happening as we get ready for the first trading day in march. The dow and the s p 500 rising more than 1 in february. The dow transports, this was an amazing month up by more than . The best performing sectors last month were consumer staples, telecom and industrials. And at this hour as we await to see what happens with the sequester situation, the dow futures are indicated lower. Theyre down by about 17. 5 points. S p futures and the nasdaq are slightly lower, as well. The dow about 20 points within its record high yesterday. Now at some point before midnight, president obama is expected to sign the order that will slash the congressional budget. The house went home for the weekend yesterday. That means theres virtually zero chance of any lastminute deal to avoid cuts. House Budget Committee chairman paul ryan squawk box yesterday. I dont think the president was ever interested in a grand bargain deal. Hes unwilling to publicly put out idea toes save these entitlements from bankruptcy and hes been more focused on campaigning against republicans on these issues. On the other side of the aisle, white house pretty secretary jay carney on todays meeting. There are no preconditions to a meeting like this. Any topic is up for discussion. And in an interview with the wall street journal today, bank of americas Ceo Brian Moynihan says the economy would take off if politicians would just solve the sequestration. We wont see any more. Its sort of over and done. Theres the photoop thats coming up. This is a photoop, theres no chance anything is happening. This is the leadership showing up at the white house. Its over. Two or three more weeks for then something to be hashed out. Yeah. Any furloughs would take 30 to 60 days. Any real impact on peoples lives would take that much time. So the planes are not going fall out of the sky later today because of this. And i think thats the risk to the white house is they cried wolf and nothing big happens. If thats the case, its a problem for them because then republicans say we could cut a lot more and nobody is going to squawk. The stuff that ive read, the seas opened and then one of the actual quotes was actually taken directly from the administration officials. I like this in your paper . Do you know her . I know her, not very well, but i do. Boehners call to stop fiscal halts cheers the gop. Even if youre not way on the right where they say are the people that need to leave the party to come into the 21st century, even if you say theyre gone, the ones clinging to religion and guns, there is a core saying you got what you wanted once. Dont bring it back. I think its the lowest stake for them to go over. Its just 85 billion in cuts. Boehner needed to say im not negotiating with obama and no tax hikes. In the woodward controversy, i was reading what the new yorker says that woodward through an interception or Something Like that. But i did read that initially they say woodward was right on the first account, that the president had, in fact, suggested the sequester. But on the second point he said there werent supposed to be revenues included, that the president said it was always going to be a balanced plan. But that was before the fiscal cliff. You got your balance. Where was the spending cuts on the fiscal cliff deal . Now you say, object, give us something and its like, no, were going back to the point is, obama wants 1. 332 trillion in tax increases. And the inside basis is not woodward at all. The fact that were sitting here on a much domestic day. Its a right column of the New York Times. A nun with the bird is the main toto. Knot, oh, my god, washington is shutting down. Its cliff fatigue. And theres a degree of washington has locked in its own passion play and thats it. But its a fast val on what everyone else is doing. Clearly, at least not what has been what the rhetoric has suggested for the past year. One question on the woodward thing. This is not inside basis. This is Robert Redford played this guy in a movie. A, if i knew i wouldnt tell you and, b, i dont know. Do you think it made sterling look better or i think it made sterling look better. But it looks like what happens every day at the you cant realize where politico got those emails . I think other people in the white house say, look, im having this conversation and somebody else decided, you know what this means . I think its uncouth is sperling is the one sending out the emails. Im not going speculate, but it was with his blessing. And woodward says you never have to apologize . By the way, i thought woodwards answer was great. You did . You didnt sthp. Which answer. You never have to apologize to me. I love a spirited conversation. Yeah. It was fantastic. He went on fox and knocked down some of the others. He went on with glenn beck. Hes a hero to republicans now and to the right wing. Hes probably a hero of yours now. You threw him under the bus so quickly. You love him so much when he hammer i lot of how you personalized this. You started the personalization. I the guy who brought down the Nixon White House and now youre going to enable the dirty tricks in the obama white house. Theres a nice back and tworth between we have to see weather woodward gets audited every year for the past years. Meanwhile, you tried that shiyi. Now its unanimous. I got so many positive emails about this shirt. Oh, bull. Youll be very happy to know that get us thats the front door. I picked up some new shirts yesterday. So you had some you could have worn. Alexander nash. Meanwhile, you and zach are dressing out of the same closet. Its the reason were across the table from one another. In Corporate News, groupon has fired andrew mason as its ceo. Hes known for his atypical sense of humor and i have to tell you, his letter to employees, his departure letters was one of the more amazing departure letters ive ever seen. He writes in part after 4 1 2 intense and wonderful years as ceo of groupon ive decided id like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding. I was fired today. If youre wondering why, you havent been paying attention. He also said says my biggest regrets are the moments that i let a lack of data override my intuition on whats best for our customers. This leadership change gives smu breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happy ps. Dont waste the opportunity. Its amaamazing letter and sease wishes the best for coupon and it is refreshing from what you usually get in these corporate titles. Did he sell much already . No, no, no. Still not so bad. And he has even more controlling shares, right . Yeah. Which i dont know if its a good thing or a bad thing when use you leaving the company. When a founder leaves, do you still want them to have these special schars . The interesting thing, first of all, this would be the first multibillion Dollar Company that went the zero, from zero to round trip to zero. Its been on that trajectory. But, you happen, you read a letter like this, this is nonwall street, nonsilicone Valley Vision for a company. Do you give credit to google for not doing the deal . Do they look like idiots now . Im still thinking back to 210,000. In the past, we have people that started things and got like 50 million and you were disappointed for him that it was not more or who was that . Well, we dont need to say who it was. Hes been a guest hold on our show. Got it. Baseball thats all right. Thats all right. They know who wears the fake rolex in the afternoon now, too. But this guy at 30 on groupon, he was worth 1. 3, 1. 4. So 210,000 is better than any i dont know about that. So you feel good for him or you still wow . No. I feel good for him. 32 years old, i think thats a pretty good group for the 210. He went to college with my wife. What could have been. For her, not for me. Shes beside herself. She left you. Shes not even around. Leonsis, too, right . Yes. We should have ted on the show. Tell us what the heck he is thinking. You know who is else is on the board of that company . Melanie hobson. And you know who else used to be in the company . Howard stults. Before he got one over. You wouldnt to be a director. Not now. Melody, youre talking about . Yes. Yes. The guardian, about the outlines, you said. I think thats what it was. Thats because george lucas didnt make it. Oh, thats right. I forgot about that whole thing. Im with you. Best buy is going to report Quarterly Results today. The New York Times reports the talks between the retailer and founder Richard Schultz have added the whole idea of coffee and flat screens. Ive never understood. Theyve ended discussions about a full takeover by schultz, said to have broken down about a week ago, but recently discussed adding shae to the company. Bestbuy is expected to give an update when it reports Quarterly Earnings and that will come before the bet bell this morning. I happily said this was fake when it started, its fake now and thank god we dont have talk about it any wore. It was so made up. This is commentary. We should be commentary out there. Part of it was journalism, but at the same time, the realistic chance of anything really happening was always, at least in my mind, minor. Best buy has been a grit extensive learning company. They have an awful say and they are a Failing Company because they have an awful business model. A big box model selling electronics that can be bought elsewhere does not have a future that is viable. Although the geek squad, great idea, but if youve ever tried to get those guys to do anything for you on running computers, it doesnt work out that well. And im not sure theres anything you could have done great from their property, thats not working out so well, either. I dont know what they could have done been thats the story of a lot of retail. Lets take a look at the global markets. Kelly evans is standing by the london. Kelly, weve talked about how the month has been a very good one for the dow. It was up by 174 . S p 500 up by better than 1 . What about whats happening today in europe . Starting with china and continuing through europe, the message pretty has been weak. Thats dealing a blow to sentiment. Coming back and making this at least in the u. S. Will be tough to flip back into the green. Generally speaking, the emi held citi steady. The uk came out and is shows surprising declines. The periphery taking it on the chin today, as well. Take a look at the impact we saw on starling in particular. We havent been focused until very recently on sterling. Over here, you can see 1. 5028 so were just 30 basis points away. 30 away from falling below that 1. 50 level. Were already at a 2 1 2 year low. This hats fallen almost 0. 9 after this trading session. After we saw it fall below the 1. 55, is 1. 54 level. There wasnt much to keep it from falling further and thats exactly what were seeing here. The euro dollar is falling below that level. We can flip through and show you the performance of sterling over the past year. Its only down about 4 . Fast forward to what weve seen recently. You can see the sharpness of this selloff. While over in britain, interestingly, to contrast this with america, policymakers still generally top up the weaker pound. Whether its the bank of england or people in parliament, they actually like to talk about how this will spur the economy. But, in fact, all its really done is spur higher import prices robbing consumers or purchasing power. Some weakenness, some concern about the british economy. Today thats dealing a blow to the economy, i would argue more than the sequester. We know the first day of the month often sets the tone for the rest of the month. It could be a weak one. Back to you guys. Kelly, thank you very much. Were watching sterling very closely, but also ben whites glasses because joe is convinced theyre google glasses. And you just said youre watching porn through the whole show. Which was very funny. We are all riveted. Youre making this up as you go along. What is your favorite saying . This is all politico stuff thats coming in and emails are beamed right to my glasses. Youre getting dnc stuff right to the glasses. Excellent. Rnc. How do you click . You blink. And you look in Different Directions to see what you want to click on. The big article is they just cant make them look good. That was a really good article. What . What . Its hard to get them to look like that when youre doing all that stuff. Well, thats true, but they managed it. Well done. Well done. Its friday. Rand and ron paul feud on the left. When we come back, they are hartley household names, but leaders are gathering in istanbul with a unique take on the economy. Hey, becky. Were at the ypo. The average Revenue Per Company here, 2 billion a year. To get a great sense of whats happening in the Global Economy, we have a great guest on after the break. Stay tuned. Well give you some insight on where in the world are things growing right now and where anterior they . Right after this break. Stay tuned. Announcer before you hit the road, here is your travelers check. When it comes to loyalty programs, hotel chains are getting back. Take hilton, for instance. The worldwide change raised award prices by some 9 . Which other programs are cutting back on reward programs. While going shoeless and metalfree in seconds. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. Now this. Will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. Just like you. Go national. Go like a pro. Welcome back pop lets get to the national forecast. Im interested to see how hes going to outdo you oh, man. Yesterday was a lighter gray. Now hes just this is good. Yeah. Looks like james bond. You do. Look at the stance, too. He knows it. Guys, i was thinking about going the direction of the pith helmet and the grass skirt, but decided to keep going with this. Thats something to look forward to next week. Weve got time. Weve got plenty of time. Right now, time to talk about the heavy snowfall were seeing in parts of maine. Maine, believe it or not, had up to a foot of snow in the last 24 hours. Scattered snow showers into the eastern great lakes and into the midwest. Its pretty quiet, but were having the beginning of another storm system thats going to ramp up for parts of the plains. But today, tranquil along the eastern seaboard. Snow showers in chicago. Kansas city had rain early. St. Louis, youre going to deal with the rain, too. Dallas, 56 degrees and is relatively quiet out towards san francisco. L. A. , breezy conditions. That will make it tough for firefighters. Expect scattered showers in seattle. Possibly snowfall in the high elevations outside of missoula. That rain could cause you some backup at the airports. Especially in seattle. But in nashville, a wintry mix as well as in cleveland. Minor delays possible. Back to you guys. Reynolds, thank you and we look forward to that grass skirt next week. Careful. Pith helmet, careful. Peek a boo. Reynolds, well see you next week. The economic recovery on china, whats on the minds of some of the most part frl ceos right now . We are live in istanbul, turkey. Michelle crusoe cabrera is there. Good morning, michelle. And it is a great event, buckeye, because it gives you this wonderful view into what is lapping in the Global Economy from people who are running businesses all over the world that are really granular level. One of those individuals sitting next to me tceo of the eye group. This is a European Based Company that has Investment Funds and also anastasio is greek so he has a shipping company. Great to have you here. Its great to be here. Its sequester day. It is. Is that an issue . It is, but i think the europeans have a time more issues at home. Theres a lot to divert their attention to. So youre saying between the sequester and the italian election hes, the italian election res more impactful . Its closer to home, so yes. Youre greek. Yes. Are you shocked to see the rise of an antiestablishment comedian in history . No, im not. I think it has to do with the people saying austerity is one thing, its good, we need to do it, but we still need growth at the same time. That is i think the message coming out of the italian election. Speaking of growth, where in the world are you seeing . This is like davos and you see the buzz and you instantly know, this part of the world is growing and this part of the world is suffering. Compare this year to last year. Its remarkable. We are looking at companies every day, but what were seeing here compared to singapore is the u. S. And our european counterparts are back. Theres a lot of discussion. Remarkably, below the rate a screen area thats picking up is africa, infrastructure, energy. So for a change, its not just all about asia. Ceos are talking amongst themselves and is looking at the next space. In a way that hasnt been true over the next several years . Absolutely. 100 so. The buzz is there. Youre in the front line. Youre talking to ceos that are leading roughly 10 of the World Economy and theyre there. You said youre looking at the periphery of europe to do deals. That is correct. So basically what were doing is were avoiding countries like the u. S. , france and germany and were looking at Eastern Europe. In our global powers only a couple of months ago,