Futures picking up on this. Jim cramer was tweeting if youre buying this because of what happened in japan, be careful, because he does not think the markets are correlated. Watch out for it. Also, news out of europe, a survey showing that german analysts and Investor Sentiment climbed more than expected in august. That news suggests that europes largest economy is regaining momentum. Well have more from our colleagues in london in a few minutes. In corporate news, yum sales in china sliding more than expected in july, down 13 . Among the reasons, the heat, some analysts say the companys lack of cool drinkz and ice cream meant could nsumers looke elsewhere. The kfc parent is trying to bounce back from the dublg double impact of a food safety square and bird flu outbreak. A new director may be named as part of an effort to resolve the dispute with bill ackman. Ackmans effort immediately remove interim ceo mike ullman would apparently be put on hold. We talked about this story. I dont get this part. Ive been thinking about this. Ive been thinking about the deal, if i was on the board, i would try to reach with ackman. Which is i would say to ackman, heres the deal, we will put this other person on the board ackman is director, theyre saying here is someone that ackman wants on the board . Or someone in the retail business. Somebody with experience. Right. That he would be happy with. We say, fine, well put this fellow on the board. However, you have to sign on the dotted line that you will not speak ever to the public, do anything outside of the bounds of the role not just of what you think a board member is, but i would write rules and if you are to if you were to contractually somehow get kicked off the board. Thats the structure of whatever transaction here i would be setting up with that. I dont know if it is possible. But i was thinking this last night, what i would do if i was a boardmember. I had a strange dream last night. What is interesting about this whole episode, i think, and was, you know, laid out in all of the letters, whether from ackmans side or from the jcpenney board side is that nowhere did the jcpenney board push back and say, no, mike ullman is going to be our longterm guy. They in their own letter he was only supposed to be there for six months or something. He is the interim guy. In their own statement, to ackman, after this whole thing started, even they say theyre going to initiate a search for a new ceo, it is simply the time frame that ackman and others wanted, you know, 30 to 45 days where as the board wanted a more deliberate take their time kind of a search to find the right person. This is because of timing of the new ceo . I think so. I think everyone grew ackman grew fraus traustrated with the that the stock price was going down on a daily basis. When the board agreed to initiate a search for a ceo in his mind, i think they seemed to be dragging their feet a little longer than the market had been telling them, get off your you know whats and lets do this. Here is my question as our activist expert at the table that you are, in some cases here. Do you believe this situation has strengthened or weakened bills hand in his ability to go after other companies . And the reason i raise this is in recent years, he has played in some cases, unless youre shorting the company, the nice ackman. He goes in, he says id love to be your friend, take me under the tent, i want to be on your board. Right . And because people have been semiscared of ackman, they take him under the tent because they think thats the better course. After this little episode, do companies say, i cant have him on the board because im worried about what just happened or do they say, im actually now even more scared of him than i really need him on my board. Boy, thats a really tough question. I dont know that i think ultimately each case will be judged individually, that the next position he takes of scale or he wants a place on the board, people may be a little bit wary because of the situation. Will they be absolutely not but may be so nervous they may decide thats a better course too. I could see him cutting both ways but wasnt sure how maybe i was not thinking about it. I dont know. I honestly dont know. It will be a good case study that next time he tries to take a seat on the board and see what if any pushback there is. Hes not trying to get a board seat at thats his latest position. So i dont know. Okay. At the end of the day, hes going to get what he wants here. Theyre going to get a new ceo. Theyre going to get a new director with Retail Experience. Just the timing. It is the way in which it all went down. Right. It is the way in which it all went down and the question is, longterm, is this good or bad for the future of jcpenney. You look at the company, does this disruption in the end help it because they get the things he wanted in, they get the things sooner or does it hurt it because it raises questions with suppliers and customers. I think those questions are already out there. I cant imagine that this whole circumstance could help. If it maybe if it creates more of a sense of immediacy within jcpenney that, okay, if we dont do something quickly, we may not all be around this table a year from now. I dont know. You know, were not going to know until we look back a year from now. Hindsight of where the stock stands that the point. Well see. Yeah. All right, activist investor glen View Capital Management says a majority of shareholders in Health Management associates voted to oust the hospital chains board. The members will be replaced with glen views slate of directors, david faber first reported the news yesterday morning. The board changeover complicates hmas planned sale to community health. You want to touch on this too. One thing about jcpenney, a story out there yesterday that glen view and the soros fund were taking jcpenneys side because they both are shareholders. Now, i reported later in the afternoon that according to a source close to glen view, it is a passive state, theyre not choosing sides, and, c, there is only one side according to them, at least according to this person, to take. And that is that everybody agrees that jcpenney needs a new yeah. So it comes full circle as we end on this glen view. Unrelated story. But related. We have other news the Federal Reserve yesterday. Jcpenney not related to this story, the cftc now subpoenaing a number of major metal ware housing firms including glenc e glencore. The regulator wants documents and communications from the last three years. The cftc looking into allegations by users of metals that ware housing firms have made it more expensive for them to buy metal by restricting the flow of metal out of warehouses. The Financial Times reports Goldman Sachs and jpmorgan received subpoenas as part of the inquiry. Bp is suing the u. S. Government. The Company Wants an injunction that would lift an order by the epa that suspends the company from contracts to supply fuel and other services. That ban was imposed after bp pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges related to the 2010 gulf oil spill. And feels like so long ago. Now to see bp turn around and sue the government, i dont know how i feel about all this. Lets look at the markets this morning. You see the futures again are indicated higher after losing ground once again yesterday for the markets. Markets were down but slightly. Bigger drops early in the morning and that smoothed out through the course of the day. The dow futures up by 70 points above fair value. Oil prices up by almost a dollar to 107. 05. This will not move Oil Prices Today but a huge story on the wall street journal about how mexico is trying to overhaul the oil industry. This is a huge deal. This is the worlds biggest remaining untapped oil reserves. Theyll be opening them to private companies and setting the stage for a new energy boom, which is right here on our doorstep. Also, look at the tenyear note this morning, see that right now, it is yielding 2. 658 , so the yield continues to creep higher. The dollar today is down against the euro, trading at 133. 06. Up against the yen at 97. 90. Gold prices this morning are down just slightly, down by 1. 70. Right now, time for the gloek markets report. Carolin roth is standing by in london. Good morning. Good morning to you, becky. We are modestly higher to the tune of. 4 . We are off the session highs, though, look were much higher before that. But well take those gains. We are higher for the fourth straight day. Getting a little boost from the zew index out of germany. Want to show you the markets one by one. Germany one of the outperformers, up by. 8 . Strong earnings from Utility Company e. On in germany. Cac 40 up by. 3 . The ftse 100, after Inflation Numbers for the month of july, higher than forecast 2. 8 , but that tells you that inflation is still cooling. Quick check of the forex markets for you, sterling dollar got a little bit of a boost after the inflation number, but has come back down. Currently cable sitting at 1. 5457. Euro dollar getting a lift after the zew index beat expectations. Now it is just above that 1. 33 handle. Coming back just a tad. And dollar yen, once again, the big mover in the currency markets. You talked about this report in the nikkei newspaper saying that Prime Minister shinzo abe may want to offset the rise in the consumption tax with a cut in Corporate Tax. Now, guys, this is nothing new. This has been reported before, but still it is managing to lead the dollar yen higher up by 1 . Back over to you. Thank you, carolin. We have another buzz story this morning. Elon musk now unveiling plans for a 10 billion hyperloop Transportation System. We talked about it in a preview yesterday. But here is what is going on here. The plan is aimed at cutting the travel time between San Francisco and los angeles down to get this 30 minutes. The price would be less than an airline ticket, musk says, and he hopes that someone will develop the concept because he says he doesnt have the time. But hes now suggesting he might try to create a prototype of some sort. It will take him three to four years, he says. Also suggesting that they dont have to actually buy new land, so part of the problems with most trains is you have to buy peoples houses, this would run down the median of a highway. They would they would put it up in the air, down the median of a highway, a little tube, vacuum tube, but not fully a vacuum. I dont know how like a modern day mono rail. In a tube. I dont understand why you dont get gforces on you or something if youre going i dont understand a lot of it. Elon musk figured out some impossible to solve problems before. I think hes the steve jobs the next generation version of steve jobs. If not, i give him the einstein or something. Black stone reportedly agreed to buy a majority stake in about 80 apartment complexes from the financing arm of general electric. That deal values the portfolio at 2. 7 billion. The apartment buildings contain roughly 30,000 units and located in dallas, atlanta, other parts of texas and the southeast. A judge has thrown out racebased claims in a paula deen lawsuit. Those claims were made by a former savanna restaurant manager. The lawsuit ended up causing the celebrity cook to lose a big slice of her empire. When we come back, attention airline passengers. Why some say that higher fares could soon be in the cards. Squawk box will be right back. Peace of mind is important when youre running a successful business. So we provide it services you can rely on. With centurylink as your trusted it partner, youll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. Multilayered Security Solutions keep your information safe, and secure. And responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. Centurylink. Your link to whats next. Time for the executive edge, a daily segment focused on giving Business Leaders a leg up. First up, ford ceo is brushing off china slowdown fears. He tells cnbc he is not overly concerned about a pull gaback i growth, stressing there is a tremendous market there. China is the largest automobile market in the world. So as you pointed out, it is with were the Fastest Growing brand in china, bringing all of our one ford vehicles to the consumers in china. I think our best estimate now is that it will continue to expand in between that 6 to 8 range. I guess the big question is, can you have a slowdown in china is fine for a big company like ford who is the Fastest Growing truck and car company there, but still have things come true that others have talked about . I always wonder if you can have both sides be right in this debate, depending how you play in the market. It depends how steep the slowdown can be. You cant have a slowdown at the same time youre having problems in europe. If ford is going to have more optimism about what is taking place there, you dont want that to be offset by a sizable slowdown in china. The type of slowdown na chanos talks about the slowdown that includes a real estate bust, which therefore you think you can mean you can get a loan for a car, all those things you think would trickle. I dont know how you play it. When you start off with such a small piece of such a large pie, i guess you can see a slowdown and still see a company able to expand into a much broader part of the market, just from starting from small numbers and being able to expand to an incredibly huge population. I dont know how that all works out. But chanos is interesting, the caterpillar call he made back in delivering alpha, saying that you can see the all of these slowdowns affect mining, the minerals, and spread beyond that. Big companies you may not think about as being big china plays. I guess i would have to sit down and think deeply through all of this, but i wonder if you can have chanos be right and still alan mulally be right too. Do you know the most popular u. S. Car brand in china . Cadillac . Buick. Buick. I did know this. I forgot. Yes. Little factoid for the morning. To our next story, attention cfos and investors. The government is set to unveil new annual audit report rules today. The wall street journal reports the Accounting Industry will be forced to disclose more about its views on a company. Regulators argue that investors need more information from auditors about things like whether a companys accounting is aggressive and what auditors think of the most important features of a companys finances. Were back to a position, guys, of feeling like there have been failures even when some of the big firms are accounting things. There are some complaining we havent made any progress since 2001. Dare i compare for a moment the Accounting Firms to the rating agencies. I was thinking the same thing. Thats whats going on here. The company pays the Rating Agency or in this case the Accounting Firm, the Accounting Firm doesnt feel they can say or speak openly exactly about how they feel, they always preferred just doing the numbers. This new plan, rule, would force them to actually say how they really feel about the situation, which is going to put them in certain cases in quite a conflict with their client, which could be good for investors. Great for investors. If theyre truthful. May make it hard because saying what they really think is always a difficult thing when you know who is paying you. Paying the bill. A tricky issue. There have been so many complaints about accounting, it is one of those issues that Charlie Munger comes back to continually and blames for a lot of the things that went wrong in the financial crisis. Well see if we get stronger rules on this. Those rules are set to be released today. Could the looming merger of American Airlines and us airways spell trouble for consumers. The wall street journal says if past mergers are an indication, fares could rise at some hub cities. This reduced competition doesnt always boost ticket price because Industry Experts say Discount Airlines can still police pricing. Airfare wars and is that going away from consolidation . This is your topic, becky. You know that anecdotally, i think the statistics bear it out, the prices go up. Everywhere ive been traveling recently, prices have gone up. Thats good news for investor because the airlines are gotten killed over years of stupid pricing wars. The Business Models of the airlines have changed so much for the better if youre a stockholder. Bill miller, jim cramer jumping back in and saying, yeah, they like the airlines again and thats something you never expected to have happen. The question is, from a consumer perspective, not just the rise in fares, but how you get from here to there, do these roots end up getting canceled . Do you have to go through another hub city before you get somewhere . Thats something i noticed with the United Continental tieup here. You cant get there directly. Got to fly through chicago to get to that market. Flying stinks for the most part, right . Say what it is. What every consumer you need to buy shares of the airlines so you can hedge your if youre going to pay more for the ticket, maybe your stock price goes up. It stinks. We will continue to fly. When we come back, we have the live report from florida where a 50 foot sinkhole swallowed up a third of a resort near disney world. Buying a piece of the farm without having to do the hard work of the farmer. First, as we head to a break, check out the National Weather forecast. We have the weather channels alex wallace here. Alex, good morning. Good morning, becky. Not a great morning in the northeast. This slug of moisture moving toward the 95 corridor. Quite a bit of steady rain to deal with. Approaching the philadelphia area and getting pretty close to new york city. Not going to make for a very fun morning commute. That is for sure. This is all thanks to a cold front coming in from the west. That front will press through today. Showers and storm