1.3%. in the early trade this morning over in europe, you'll see that there are some green arrows there. just like our futures are reflecting this morning, you'll see the dax is up by just over 0.6%. the cac is higher by 0.7%. the ftse up by about a quarter. take a look at the price of oil. oil is what set the tone once again yesterday. wti with its worst day in almost a month. you can see this morning it's picked up some ground. another 49 cents to 36.99. actually, sitting right at $37 a barrel. >> results coming in overnight from yesterday's nominating contest. i'm exhausted, john. john harwood joins us now with more. i probably shouldn't have waited for hawaii to get called. >> you should not have waited for hawaii. >> there is some merit to that, the idea of doing this show from honolulu. it would be a 1:00 a.m. show, wouldn't it? >> we'd have the whole rest of the day free. >> we would. part of the previous night free i think too. >> correct. >> anyway, john, i'm fascinated. i think maybe most fascinating might be michigan for bernie sanders. >> no question about it, joe. look, that was a shocking loss for hillary clinton. showed real weakness that the polls did not show ahead of time. let's run through the states. first of all, you had bernie sanders in a very, very close race, edging out hillary clinton in the state of michigan. she defeated him soundly in mississippi. that's why she came out with more delegates last night. the argument from clinton folks is, well, we've expanded our delegate lead, he cannot catch up. but this is an emotional blow to hillary clinton heading into contests in big states. ohio, florida, illinois. they're going to have to figure out a way to shift her into a different gear to make sure they don't get disappointed in those states. let's go to the republican side. a big night for donald trump. donald trump again came through with victories at a time when the stop trump forces thought they were picking up momentum. first of all, he won michigan. you had strong competition from cruz and kasich. cruz ended up edging out john kasich for second place. that was a blow to john kasich, which is significant for trump because he faces kasich in ohio next week. then you had mississippi, where as usual in southern states, trump did better. he got almost 50% of the vote, defeated ted cruz in mississippi. cruz did have a win in the iowa caucuses -- excuse me, the idaho caucuses can. he's done well in the caucus states. those are organizational. then the last result that came in overnight was hawaii. this was significant because marco rubio aide told me two days ago, well, we're going to win hawaii, but it's going to come in too late. guess what? he did not win the state of hawaii. in fact, he finished in third place. ted cruz was second to donald trump. it was a very disappointing night for rubio. so the combination of the disappointments for rubio, who is trying to hang on in florida next week, needs to, to stop donald trump. disappointment for kasich, who finished third in michigan. he's trying to stop trump in ohio. just means the stop trump movement, while they're thrilled by the advertisements and the attacks they're throwing up on him, they're not reflecting it with the results, and they may not have much momentum heading into those winner take all contests next week, which they need to grab blocks of delegates to try to deny trump a majority. >> john, i could read anything or any result that came out i would just yawn at this point. nothing surprises me anymore. a socialist won a regular state. not vermont. in michigan. >> a very big regular state. and joe, all the pre-election polling we had, polls have different methodologies, but there was a significant number of pre-election polls in the state of michigan. they all showed her ahead by ten points or more. when i interviewed her late last week in detroit, her aide said, oh, we don't think it's that big. we don't think we have a 19-point lead or a 15-point lead. but they certainly thought they were ahead. there was a debate on sunday night, and the message coming out of that debate from the clinton side was that bernie sanders looked really bad. he interrupted her. he was on the defensive because of his vote on t.a.r.p., which they cast as a vote against the auto bailout since t.a.r.p. funds were later used for the auto industry. people talked about his use of the word ghetto and suggested that he was out of tune with african-american voters, who have been lifting up hillary clinton in southern states and did so in mississippi last night. but younger, non-white voters, younger african-americans were better for bernie sanders. overall, this was a very, very big shot in the arm for sanders' campaign. he may not be able to make up hillary clinton's delegate lead in pledge delegates, not to mention the super delegates who come on top of that, but the more momentum wins he gets, the weaker she looks. that's not what her team wanted. >> in the general election. you see how she wins in the south, by like 30 points, so it was hard to believe that like a midwestern -- i know it's not your classic midwestern state. it's got some industrial problems, rust-belt type problems. i understand that. >> so does ohio, wisconsin. >> we've got illinois and ohio next week. those are going to be really, really important tests as well as florida. >> on the republican side, trump is not quite running the table but pretty damn close. i wish i was a political cartoonist. i'd draw, even though the elephants aren't around anymore in the circus, i would draw a big fat elephant. i don't know, i'd have it like pulling its hair. it doesn't know what to do right now. it's just beside itself. >> no question about it. the senior strategists of the party, the people who have been in charge for quite a long time, are trying to do everything they possibly can to stop him, and they haven't been able to. he comes out last night after winning and starts talking about trump steaks and trump water. it was like a qvc show. it was unreal. >> it really, really is. i don't know how z-- that's whyi said, i'm ready for anything at this point. but we can't control it. either you or me. so we got to just stay above it and just watch it and go with it. i don't know. >> joe, that's the number one lesson, the fact that we've got a set of voters in both parties this year who are not bending to the will of people who cover this, who give money to finance it, who run the parties that set the rules. they've got a mind of their own. i think it really does reflect the deep feeling that millions and millions of americans have, that this economy has not been responsive to their needs. they're not moving ahead. they're not happy about it. they're making that known through these voting results. >> and you have media outlets, whether they're print or digital, taking sides. it's hilarious. in "drudge" the last two days, they found pictures of marco rubio where he looks like he's half the size -- >> in the chair, what is that? >> today they have him looking three feet tall. they're going with the little marco thing. they're full force. then you have "the daily news." paul o'neill must have said something about trump. you can be on the cover of "the daily news" if you endorse donald trump. so every person that endorses donald trump might get trashed individually on the cover of a tabloid. it's just funny. people are taking sides. >> joe, what is significant is even though people in washington, republican leaders in washington have been talking for some time about how they really can't stand ted cruz. he now -- people are going to have to decide, are they more offended by the idea of trump as the nominee or cruz, because cruz looks to be the best shot they have. i thought it was interesting yesterday that neil bush signed on to ted cruz's finance team. >> the other thing, john, and i was talking to becky about this earlier, you know how polarizing ted cruz has been in his career with the filibuster. but that shows how crazy this race is. he's ahead of her in some national polling in the general electi election. ted cruz. just shows you this is topsy turvy insanity. you would think at this point she's a more known political figu figure. >> she's parts of the establish. >> and no one likes the establishment this time around. >> becky just put her finger on it. the more known you are in politics, the less liked you are by voters. the average voter, that's just a name. he's going to do better. >> okay, john. we got to spend time on politics, but we also cover the markets. so we got to go. >> actually, we're talking more about politics. for more on the race to the white house, we're joined by peter wallison. you probably heard a lot of this conversation. first of all, i've heard reported again this morning that rubio is considering dropping out from florida, even before that election next week. do you know anything about that? what do you think? >> i don't. i don't think it'll happen. certainly the rumors are around. he's got to try to win florida. if he does, he could revive his campaign. what you see in most of the commentary is the person who's winning, the person who's won some states looks like he has momentum. that's what the media follows. they talk about that person as coming back. it's a good media story. >> i would have to say, rubio only has one state where he's won the caucus. if you look at how he came in just last night in these polls, instead of winning, he didn't even come in second. in some states coming in fourth behind kasich, if you look at michigan. that doesn't sound like someone who's about to trounce the front runners. >> that's right. it doesn't. but of course he's had a week in which he's been looked at by the media as losing or his campaign is collapsing. cruz, of course, is coming back. trump has been doing reasonably well. the result is that people who are interested in really affecting the outcome will move away from rubio toward kasich or cruz, who are getting a lot more attention. >> peter, were you at the secret enclave meeting at that closed-off island? we said that yesterday, some secret, private island. it's sea island. >> that's right. >> i go twice a year. it's a great place. you were there. >> i was not there. >> oh, you were not there. >> i've been there in past years, but it's so silly. the commentary about what goes on at sea island is absurd. there were agent 15, 20 democrats, major figures in the democratic party. that's what aei does every year. they bring in not only republicans but democrats too. this was not a conclave for the purpose of stopping donald trump. >> oh, it was not. then i hear in some of your commentary, i can hear that it just sounds like that's -- i don't know, the body language. trump is doing reasonably well. he's like running the table, peter. i don't know. you would like him to be stopped. i'm sort of reading between the lines. is that an aei -- >> no. first of all, i really have to say aei has no position on any subject. it's only the scholars at aei that have positions. my position is that i am negative on trump. i would like to see someone else. >> hillary clinton? >> no, that's not -- i'm not that negative on trump. but in fact, there are other possibilities. i think ted cruz will be an acceptable candidate to a number of people. but the problem is for many, many republicans, if ted cruz wins the nomination, they are going to be seriously considering, i think, a third-party candidate. and that's -- >> who would that third-party candidate be? >> well, it's of course hard to tell right now. there are some very good people who have already said they would not support trump. that, for example, is senator sass from nebraska, who's very bright. >> first termer. >> he's a first termer. he's a young guy. but very presentable and very smart. another person who's not -- it's not crazy to think that paul ryan could be a candidate in the end. >> he has to be drafted. >> he would have to be drafted. that's right. >> why wouldn't he? if you don't have to do anything, you don't have to run, you don't have to suffer the slings and arrows which any candidate suffers. we're going to install you. i think he'd probably say yes. >> well, i don't know. he's also a party man and has been for a long time. he wouldn't want to split up the party. but the problem is that a trump campaign, a trump nomination would have a major adverse effect on the continuation of the republican party as a party that has a discipline or ideology. trump doesn't appear to have that. so there are many people who are very concerned about that person being in the white house as a republican. >> okay. peter, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. >> all right. well, there are always individual stocks making big moves we want to tell you about. we'll start with drug maker valeant. going to appoint three new board members as soon as today, according to reports. one of those seats could be awarded to bill ackman's pershing square. you really should give him -- he's sticking with you. give him a couple seats at this point. takata has reportedly enlisted restructuring lawyers amid recalls that are covering millions of vehicles. some of the options discussed include a spinoff, a sale, or consolidation of its air bag operations. and general motors disclosing that shareholders are going to be allowed to nominate directors to the board but only if they hold at least a 3% stake in the firm. let's get a check on the markets this morning. as we showed you, the futures are bouncing back a bit. yesterday the dow closed down by 111 points. it broke a five-day winning streak. week to date, rkd say. the dow is down by just over a quarter percentage point. that would end a three-week winning streak if we were to see the dow close lower for the week. dow transports were the big losers, down by 2.7%. the s&p down by just over 1.1%. take a look at what's happening with wti. a lot of weakness yesterday. that's what drove some of the declines in the stock market too. you can see right now that it's picking up some ground. it's up by about 1.6%. $37.10 a barrel for wti. yesterday treasuries were stronger across the curve. you can see the yield of the ten year right now at 1.878%. dollar yesterday was a little stronger against the euro. down against the yen. this morning it's up against the euro and down against the yen. euro is at 1.0963. gold prices, which came off some early highs yesterday, they finished a little lower, down another $7 today. we're going to take a quick break. you don't have your jacket on. normally you have a fancy jacket with -- >> once i did, yeah. >> when did you start cnbc? >> october. >> so you figure now -- numberly you need to make a good impression. >> i was here when you weren't here one day. >> you did or didn't wear it? >> did not. >> so you're settling in. >> somehow i passed through the phase. >> you're settling in. i like that. you look wonderful. okay. where did you go to school? you have a team in the ncaa? >> not a team in the ncaa. division iii. wesley in connecticut. >> that's good. okay. that's all right. coming up, u.s. stocks snapping a five-day win streak following a decline in oil prices. renewed fear in global growth. plus, four teams punching their ticket to the ncaa tournament. one of them, it would be fairly ridiculous to take them to the sweet 16. >> stop, stop, stop. >> we're going to talk about that straight ahead. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management. i have an orc-o-gram we for an "owen."e. that's me. ♪ you should hire stacy drew. ♪ ♪ she wants to change the world with you. ♪ ♪ she can program jet engines to talk and such. ♪ ♪ her biggest weakness is she cares too much. ♪ thank you. my friend really wants a job at ge. mine too. ♪ i'm a wise elf from a far off shire. ♪ and sanjay patel is who you should hire. ♪ thank you. seriously though, stacy went to a great school and she's really loyal. you should give her a shot. sanjay's a team player and uh... ♪ no, you're not ♪ yogonna watch it! ♪tch it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download on the goooooo! ♪ ♪ you'll just have to miss it! ♪ yeah, you'll just have to miss it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download... uh, no thanks. i have x1 from xfinity so... don't fall for directv. xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. i used to like that song. oh, here you are. today is the seventh anniversary of the start of the current bull market for u.s. stocks. it's the third longest bull market on record. we didn't make it to 20%. i guess we didn't. a lot of stocks did. >> a lot of stocks made it to 40. >> in 2011 you almost made it to 20%. you would have restarted the clock. >> a lot of stocks made it to bear market. >> the majority of stocks. >> probably did. glad you're here for that. you still do this overall stuff. >> crunching the numbers. >> did they just shudder barons when you left? >> it's still there. lands on somebody's doorstep. >> really? >> almost 100 years old. >> i didn't even know that. joining us now, the chief market strategist at voya investment management and jeff dennis, head of global em equity strategy at ubs. our guest host mike santoli continues. he's cnbc senior market commentary. i don't know if you notice this, em has been outperforming? >> that's right. >> emerging markets. >> that's primarily a function in our view the fact the dollar's pulled back and commodity prices have rallied. it's very simply that process i think which has made emerging rkt mas outperform. >> how long of a time span? >> six weeks. actually, we're talking year to date. ems rallied about 15% since late january. so from the massive panic about the global economy in january and oil went to $27, brent that is, the rally we've had since then has just driven emerging markets higher. there's a nice correlation between oil prices and emerging market equities. kind of a proxy for global growth in the oil price. that's what's helped to drive emerging markets forward. >> you don't think this dollar move is a counter trend? you think it's going to be more long lasting? you think these other currencies may have bottomed against the dollar? >> we don't think that's the case. there is just a temporary trend. we're not really chasing this rally aggressively in emerging markets. if the dollar were to fall sharply from here, that would be bullish for the asset class. we doubt that's going to happen. we think there's more weakness to come. >> going to be hearing from the ecb. if you just used a typical cause-effect, historically the dollar should still be strengthening. we're going one way, supposedly, april or june. we're looking for draghi to pull out the baa zzukas or something. >> our view is the dollar does fall against the euro this year. >> that's crazy. that's not intuitive. it shouldn't happen. >> and that's basically because we think there's more chances of positive growth surprises in europe than in the u.s. your comment is fair about the dollar in general because i think what the markets have done in the last few weeks is assume the global economy is okay and no central bank will raise interest rates again. it's very clear at some point the fed is going to come back on the scene. when that happens, the dollar is going to go back up against emerging markets. that's why we're not chasing this in the short term. >> i can't believe the tweets i'm getting about you here with the jacket off. #nicebreast with a smiley emoji. >> what? yeah, oh, yeah. i'd say your new guy can leave that jacket off. i like this. i like this, dude. this is awesome. all right. but we digress. maybe you want to take yours off there, doug. no. doug, comments on the market? seven years, going to continue? >> yeah, i think there's two sides driving it. you have the risk side driven by oil and central banks. then you have the fundamentals side. we've had a lot of positive surprises. the unemployment number was big. that was a big number for consumers. a big positive. durable goods orders were positive. manufacturing still under 50. started increasing. inflation, the pce number was extremely important. it was near the 2% target for the fed. so we think the federal reserve probably one more time in june anyhow, june or september, will raise. but a sign of a growing economy. i think the bull market can continue. the missing ingredient right mow is corporate earnings. corporate earnings three quarters in a row. the outlook for a q-1 2016 is very negative. so we're concerned about that. we think that can turn in the second half. >> but the one thing that sort of threw us for a loop in the last two months with the market break was recession fears. now it looks much less likely in the united states. >> yeah, that softened. you were talking about the dollar. the fed has to keep that dollar stable. compared to a year ago, it's actually slightly down. but the fed, if they keep it stable, that'll be important for emerging markets, for the global economy. >> all right, guys. thank you, doug and jeff. eye candy is going to be with us for the rest of the hour. take a shot at santoli. don't you like having the nypd right there? can you see them? nypd's finest. blue lives matter. they do. there they are out there. they're not there for a reason, i don't think. are they with one of you guys? >> definitely not. >> are they looking for either one of you? >> last time they were here, they almost towed wapner's car. >> where was his car? >> parked right here. >> his actual car? >> his actual car. >> he parked it right there? >> he has new york press plates. it was during a day there was a parade or something. they were going to tow his car. he actually left in the middle of the show to go run out and beg them not to. >> i don't think that's why they're here now. they keep pointing at doug. everything is cool, right? >> we're good. >> we should get out in front of these things. sports news now. we're talking college hoops. gonzaga beat st. marys. they get an automatic bid to the ncaa tournament. 18th straight trip to the tournament for that great jesuit school. good luck. head coach celebrating the win in the locker room by attempting a hand stand. did we see that? that was before the champagne, i think. going to see that again. here we go. maybe not. all right. in the horizon league tournament final -- see, we're pretending we're covering all these. green bay took on wright state. green bay coming off an overtime upset of top-ranked. all five starters scored in double digits, defeating wright state 78-69. they're headed to the tournament for the first time in 20 years. also, south dakota state won the summit league championship. they get a spot into the tournament. here's where we're really leading all this up to. a cinderella story. a local one going to the big dance. the fairly dickinson knights. >> you know, matt is a professor. >> i know he is. no kidding. why do you think we're doing this? our ep. upset wagner in the northeast conference championship and won an automatic bid in the ncaa tournament. at least four cnbc employees are fdu grads, including "squawk" producer toby taylor. and "squawk" tech associate david oral. kate frida is also a student at fdu. our ep is a professor there. just saying matt quail and professor in the same sentence is unbelievable, isn't it? he's also your professor of love in your life. >> yes, you might call him that. anyway, go fdu. we're thrilled to hear it. when we come back, we're going to talk about today's executive edge. we'll bring you a rare interview with a member of china's finance min stre. eunice yun has that exclusive after the break. as we head to break, take a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers. can a business have a mind? a subconscious. a knack for predicting the future. reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit? can a business have a soul? can a business be...alive? they may want the latest products and services, but they demand the best shopping experiences. they're your customers, and as you strive to meet their digital expectations, they're enjoying more choice and greater power than ever before. at cognizant, we're helping the world's top global retail companies face the demands of today's digital economy by blending physical with digital to create more responsive, more rewarding retail models... ones that transcend channels and locations, anticipate expectations, and create new ways to engage consumers at every imaginable touch-point. it's a new day in retail, where a company's ability to influence a purchase decision is only as good as its digital model. together, we're reimagining the store of the future, and building customer loyalty. digital works for retail. let's talk about how digital works for your business. ♪ 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 company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. right mow it's time for the executive edge. to give you an edge today, we have a rare exclusive interview with a member of china's finance ministry. eunice yun joins us now from beijing. >> thanks so much, becky. i sat down with china's vice finance minister who joins the chorus of chinese leaders trying to reassure investors that china shouldn't be a source of anxiety for the global markets. the minister told me that china's leadership feels very confident it's going to be able to manage the economic slowdown and the government is going to do its utmost to reach the economic growth target for the year of around 6.5% to 7%. at the same time, he said that the leadership is well aware of the needs for economic reforms. as evidence of that, he pointed to the authority's efforts recently to tackle industrial overcapacity. now, the main message that he wanted to get out to global investors was that the government recognizes that they need to do better to communicate, and he said that senior leaders like him got a directive from up high. this is what he had to say. >> the premier gave very, very clear instruction to chinese officials that it must enhance the communication with people. we still have many things to be improved. >> the minister and i spoke a lot about different issues facing the economy, including rising debt. i asked him if he was concerned about a fact that debt has been running up by some estimates as much as 250% of gdp. he said the leaders are well aware of their debt challenge. he says they are monitoring the npls and that they're going to do everything they can to make sure they mitigate those risks in the final sector. guys? >> eunice, thank you very much. that's our eunice yoon. coming up, kanye west has made it official. the time of death for cds was 9:33 a.m. on march 7th, 2016. that's when he announced he would no longer release music on disks. up next, we're going to talk about the changing music biz with marcy allen, an industry vet, whose agency connects artists with corporate backers. as we head to break, here's a quick check on what's happening in the european markets. they were all firmer earlier. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers... ...and share promotions on social media? you know it! now i'm seeing dollar signs. you should probably get your eyes checked. good one babe. optometry humor. right now get up to $650 in credits to help you switch to at&t. sir ridley scott, legendary filmmaker. are you a film buff, watson? no, but i am studying the visual storytelling in your movies. you know, it's amazing how much information is contained in a single image. one visual can make or break a film. i am analyzing images for factory managers, sales people and healthcare professionals. that's good watson. but not exactly movie material. perhaps the healthcare professional could be played by matt damon. you're learning, kid. advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan as strong as your values. al, how you doing. hey, mr. hamilton. vo: know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy. with the guidance and support of your dedicated pnc wealth management team. (singing alougetting to know you. getting to know all about you... getting to like you. getting to hope you like me... is someone getting to know your credit? not without your say so. credit lock lets you lock and unlock your transunion credit report with the swipe of a finger. getting to know you. getting to know all about you... get one-touch credit lock, plus your score and report at transunion.com get in the know. welcome back, everybody. u.s. equity futures at this hour have been a little higher. in fact, you can see they're almost up by triple digits for the dow. a gain of 99 points above fair value. s&p futures up by 12. the nasdaq up by 29. this comes after a down down day for the market yesterday. kanye west says cds are dead. as streaming services revolutionize the consumer experience, the music industry needs to find ways to make money beyond actual music sales. marcy allen is the founder and president of music sponsorship agency mac presents. welcome. >> thank you so much. >> who approaches you? do the sponsors approach you and say, wow, we'd love to have a burberry thing with adele? >> that was very surprising. it's rumored she turned down a massive offer from apple music to be involved with their latest campaign. i don't think anyone thought she would commit to exclusively wearing burberry at all of her shows on this tour. that was a big deal. typically brands will approach us and ask us to help them with their music strategy. >> that's kind of cool she did that. she is -- i mean -- >> well, we didn't do the deal. >> i know. how old is she? >> i think she's 25. or 26. >> would you buy adele futures, santoli? >> they're probably very overpriced right now. >> probably overpriced but rightly so. what a career she has ahead of her. that's cool to be able to say, i'm not going to do apple. so what other things have you done? you did something for -- go over some of your accomplishments. >> we did the citi, rolling stones deal. worked on michael buble, delta. imagine dragons, southwest airlines. we did a big grammy party for neil seven. >> is it a lot easier to convince artists these days to do some of these promotions? we spoke with huey lewis. he turned down coca-cola back in the '80s. says it was the dumbest thing he ever did. he wishes he had not done that. if he had it to do over, he would change his mind. he thinks it's a little different these days. >> one of the very first sponsorships ever was in the '70s with the rolling stones. you know, when i started doing this 20 years ago, there absolutely were a lot of artists that didn't want to align themselves with corporate america. but now with the declining revenues that artists are able to tap into through album sales and now it's really single sales, you know, sponsorships is an opportunity for artists to have an additional revenue stream. so there's very few artists, probably only a handful, and adele was one of the last holdouts. her music is not on any streaming services. >> bob dylan is in a commercial. >> he's in a couple. >> victoria's secret. there's a lot. and u2, they had bank of america, sales force, blackberry. >> you say artists are more receptive because other revenue streams have gone down. the consumer doesn't want to pay, thinks it doesn't have to pay. so they kind of pay in a back door way, one way or another, whether it's by being exposed to advertising or something else. >> absolutely. if you look at millennials and the power they have in the music industry right now, there's 77 million millennials in america. the second one of their most favorite things to do is go to music concerts. so ticket sales are still going strong. you have beyonce, who's selling out stadiums on every date. those are $400 tickets on the floor. >> i know that in the notes, people really are buying record players. >> surprise you? >> typical experiential millennials. >> my stepdaughter, who's 11 years old, wanted one for christmas. >> urban outfitters. >> they just did a deal with a record player. they sold a million last year. 12 million vinyls were sold last year. it's absolutely exploding. guess what the top vinyl sale of 2015 was? >> taylor swift? >> adele was number two. >> it's just kuind of a fad. is the music better? is the sound quality better? >> it's not about the quality. i think it's about spending time with your friends. millennials want to throwback. it's interesting. my husband and i laugh at this, about how my stepdaughter will say, i'm going to go up in my room with my friends and listen to the record player. no one wants those clunky cds anymore. even though adele sold a million units at target, it's that cool -- it's just taking the time to experience the music. >> the sleeves are cool. if it gets them so they're not in their own home on facebook talking about playing albums with each other, they're actually together, so that's a step forward i think. if they're not just looking down at a screen. >> absolutely. >> good. so they can do that. so if there's no more cds, how much can artists make with streaming? do they have to be forced to do this other stuff? they'll end up making more money, i think, if they're good. >> if you look at the stats, online streaming has doubled in the past year. i think it's here to stay. i think that it's easy for consumers to access music this way. i think that artists have to get creative in how they're making money. they're becoming -- they were already entrepreneurs, but they're really becoming entrepreneurs. you look at diddy starting ciroc, the vodka brand. more and more artists are saying, how can i come up with additional moneys than just selling albums and selling concert tickets. >> but the old way that you would become popular -- i mean, this opens up the avenue across the board for anyone that's talented, doesn't it? >> absolutely. >> seems like it's expanding the pie, not shrinking it. >> with the power of youtube, anyone who has a guitar and is a great song writer is starting to get discovered. that wasn't around ten years ago. >> right. budapest, that guy was just a youtube recording. he's huge now. you do delve into some of the newer -- to you said the strombellas. >> unbelievable. just had their television debut on jimmy kimmel. that's exciting to see. when they launched at radio, they first broke in k-rock in los angeles. no one thought that it was going to happen as quickly as it did. their album drops the third week of april. i love seeing that. their music is being streamed on pandora. >> not really pop. so you know about like -- you've heard of all these people. you a hoodlum? so you're hit to this? >> i am. but that's what i have to do. we have to always have our finger on the pulse of what's going on in music. i think you saw edm grow so exponential over the last couple years and it started to level out. you're seeing the edm festivals cancel canceled. you're seeing a resurgence of hip-hop. >> well, kendrick. >> huge. >> he's like a genius too. but you have to be ready to listen to crazy stuff. >> but, you know, people thought led zeppelin was crazy in the '70s. >> eiffel tower. i'll tell you about it off camera. you know that song? >> yes, i do. >> what are you referring to? >> you'll see. >> i can imagine. when we come back today, stocks and crude have been moving in tandem since the beginning of the year. but at what price will oil prices stock helping stocks? mike santoli is here with that. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management. welcome back, everybody. and the price of crude has rallied over 32% since the february lows. that move benefiting stocks that have traded in tandem with oil since the beginning of the year. but at what price will oil and its rally stop helping stocks? mike santoli is here with more on that. >> thanks, becky. obviously, this correlation has been so tight. it seemed actually a little bit contrived in a lot of ways, but it makes sense in a lot of other respects. which is, for every dollar that oil goes up, you you're actually rescuing a lot of capital out there. basically, high-yield bonds and stocks that are tied to the price of oil. basically, it makes sense that it filters through to equity prices, but there should be a limit to that. in other words, how far could oil rally before it turns from a positive to a negative. i'm pegging it around $45 a barrel. >> because? >> the reason for that is, that's when it's going to put upward pressure on most inflation measures. we were at $48 on average last march. last summer, we traded in the 40s. about high 40s. and what that's going to do is turn oil into something that makes the fed more aggressive. >> so we have an anniversary of really low numbers and that's when it becomes a lower and lower price point that you'll look at inflation. >> exactly. and you start to, at least in a modest way repeal this gasoline tax. a lot of the positive effects. now, look, by that point, also, the high-yield debt that was really vulnerable to plunging oil will be back in the money. you don't necessarily have that feedback loop working forever. on the other hand, we may never get to $45 anytime soon. >> that's the point i was going to bring up, continental resources and several other players in that space have said, once oil gets to $40 to $45, they're going to reopen a lot of these wells, because it's profitable for them. >> and not only that, but the rally already has made the distance price of oil, basically the futures curve has a lot of these producers to sell forward and stay in business and stay producing. so there is a natural kind of governor on the price of oil right now because the supply response has not been that strong. but i think we have to get used to the idea it's not a perpetual thing, stock's up when oil goes down. >> that made a lot of sense from the broader market perspective. what i didn't quite get yesterday, oil was down, but the transports were down, too. it was the biggest declining sector yesterday. you think that would be the one sector that would really be helped out. >> i think both are calls on global growth. deflation fears is one thing that has really been flaring all year and it's been pressuring everything. also, what this rally since february 11th has been, largely, is the most beaten up, hated stocks and sectors have been rallying the hardest. that includes oil and energy. that includes the transports, it includes the industrials that have been really smoked last year. so i felt yesterday was a switchback movie. it was giving back, in a controlled way, not a very big sell-off, but it was basically unwinding a little bit of that trade, where really the wreckage had rallied so hard. >> mike, thank you so much for coming in and sitting in with us this hour. >> great to see you. >> yeah, well ch is coming in, t would you mind just sitting here and taking a shot of you every once in a while. >> i'll have to put that upstairs. >> next, jack welch is on set to talk politics, the economy and education. ♪ you're not gonna watch it! ♪ ♪ no, you're not gonna watch it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download on the goooooo! ♪ ♪ you'll just have to miss it! ♪ yeah, you'll just have to miss it! ♪ ♪ we can't let you download... uh, no thanks. i have x1 from xfinity so... don't fall for directv. xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. i used to like that song. super tuesday for donald trump and bernie sanders. trump wins in michigan, mississippi, and hawaii. bull market marking a major milestone, seven years and counting. what's next for the market, the economy, and jobs? we will ask our special guest, management guru and former chairman and ceo, jack welch. >> all that plus the ceo of fireeye. we'll find out where david dewalt stands on the apple encryption issue, the nation's cybersecurity deal with china and the state of the industry as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >> announcer: live from the beating heart of business, new york city, that is "squawk box." welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm joe kernan along with becky quick. sir george martin playing some beatles. earlier someone asked you your favorite song, that's impossible for beatles. because even picking a favorite album is impossible. >> i think "revolver" or "evy road" or "dr. peppers." >> i like the later stuff. you mean "sergeant peppers." >> that's what i meant. the futures at this hour are indicated higher. we had five straight days, a pullback yesterday. a big pullback in the nasdaq, too, yesterday. some weird stuff happening with the big fang stocks over the last couple of session. see if there's a rebound today. we've seen a rebound in some of the crumby little single-digit nasdaq stocks while the fang came back. but germany is up, france is up, all up over 1% over the ftse, up about 0.6%. look where oil is, 37 and ice brent is above 40 and it has been. take a quick look at gold, which came back in fashion for a little while. and it's near multi-year highs at 12.52. and the ten-year was 1.88 on the ten-year, still below 2%, although we're supposedly in a tightening phase. let's get to our headlines this morning. lumber liquidators is once again defending itself. investor whitney tillson has taken a new short position in the flooring maker, saying that cancer risks from tainted flooring may be higher than originally thought. the company says that tillson is creating confusion in the marketplace to make money. a planned takeover firm could be in deal. investment firm says it will propose amc's takeover of car mike cinemas, calling the price unacceptably low. and investors will be keeping an eye on a report from the energy department later this morning. the weekly report on oil and gas inventories will be out at 10:30 a.m. eastern time with overabundant supplies being a key factor in keeping prices downs in recent months. let's get you caught up on some stocks to watch as well. valeant pharmaceuticals is the embattled drugmaker. it will be appointing three new board members as early as today, according to some reports. one of those seats could be awarded to bill ackman's pershing square. some of the options discussed include a spin-off, a sale or consolidation of its air bag operations, which i thought was the bulk of the company. also, chipotle, we should tell you, is temporarily closing a location in bulricha -- >> they have beautiful names for towns there. >> worcester. >> braintree. stollton. >> anyway, they're closing the store after four employees of chipotle became ill there. this comes after several outbreaks of food-related illnesses that affected customers in massachusetts and california. >> but you lived beacon hill, baby, right? >> salem, i came from. >> you came from salem. all right. a big tuesday night. jack welch is here. a big tuesday night in the race for the white house. after another week of blistering attacks from the republican establishment, and donald trump has tightened his grip on the gop race. he sailed to victory in michigan, mississippi, and hawaii. ted cruz was the other republican winner last night. he posted a victory in idaho and eked out a second-place finish in michigan behind mr. trump, ahead of john kasich, where the ohio governor wished he had done better, trying to make a stand right in that midwest area there. kasich finished third in michigan. he's hoping to keep next week's ohio primary, will keep him as a factor in the race, but he's down, i think, still, but he has been making some inroads, but then, we'll see. over on the democratic side, the big news of the night, bernie sanders' stunning front-runner by beating her in michigan. it was a narrow victory, but a big one. analysts say this will prolong the dems to pick a candidate for the november general election. i don't know. if you can't beat bernie sanders -- this whole thing is topsy-turvy on both sides of the aisle. if you can't beat a socialist, it's just -- voters are in a weird mood. >> yes, they are. >> they're in a weird mood right now. and i would not try to predict anything, anymore. >> i wouldn't either. but i will tell you what the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll is predicting. it shows hillary clinton holds a nine-point lead nationally over bernie sanders. clinton's the choice of 53% of those voters, while sanders pulls in 44%. it's a slight change from february, when clinton held an 11-point margin. it's worth noting that the change is well within the survey's margin of error. we should also say on the republican side, donald trump and ted cruz are now separated by just three points. last month the poll found cruz had a two-point lead over trump, but that was before trump's big wins in south carolina and nevada. on the geopolitical front, there are some reports that iran has test fired two ballistic missiles at a target some 870 miles away with the phrase "israel must be wiped out" written on it. the fars news agent showed video of the rockets being fired. that comes as vice president joe biden visits israel as part of a u.s. tour. and it comes as a u.s. state department spokesman criticized another missile launch, saying they planned to bring it before the u.n. security council. >> some of them. some of them. joining us now for the next two hours, our very special guest, jack welch, executive chairman of the jack welch management institute. he's also the authorov of "the real-life nba," also, how long were you the ceo of general electric? >> 21 years. >> 21 years. the research, was that 1981 or so? when did you start? >> right, '80. '81. >> revenue was? >> $25 billion. >> when you left? >> $130. >> stock went from split adjusted -- >> it went up a lot. >> it was like a $1 a share. and it went to -- >> we had a great team. >> oh, you know, false -- you of all people don't need false humility at this point in your career. let it go, man, you did it. >> no, it's all about the team. it is. it is in business, i'll tell you. >> it is, you're right. and you can learn that -- and you know what's going to be interesting to talk to you about today. we're not going to do it immediately, but you got your management institute now, and trump university is supposedly, you know, having presided over that is worse than anything bill clinton has ever done, it's the worst thing anyone's ever done, it's probably a disqualifying aspect, according to the mainstream media, for trump. but i want to get your opinion on that a little bit later. but first, since you're a p/e guy, the market went down based on recession fears and you weren't that optimistic either. now we're under the impression after this jobs report and some other numbers that it is pretty solid in this country. is that what you would think right now? >> the last time i was here was in the first quarter, and i was feeling a little shaky, editors were lousy, the order flow was lousy, across the. and there were pockets that were good, health care and a couple of other things. but today as i sit here, i've spent the last few day s lookin at six businesses weave reviewed 19 last two day and things are looking up. there's clearly a pocket of change in, particularly in the last couple of weeks, in february, and the first couple of weeks in march. it's that recent. and it feels a lot better. there's no question about it. >> just in terms of consumer confidence? in terms of order flow? >> well, we know the consumer has more money now. i mean, whether it's gas prices or a little better employment levels, but you're getting strength in autos, you're getting some real strength in housing. and the housing thing spills off to so many different businesses. the strength in the consumer, we have $1.5 billion in a natural lawn care business called trugreen and it's booming. people are renewing on their contracts, paying ahead, et cetera. we've got another business called john deere landscaping, now called site one. it came out of john deere. they do hardscapes, lighting around the house. so housing, new houses, you put that in. that's strong as can be. >> really? >> and so there is no question that the more important one is, you go to some of our industrial businesses, tubing, conduit, stuff like that, they haven't seen -- they've been living off the spread of low commodities, converting to metals, and you try to hold as much of a spread as you can hold. but now they're living off a stronger auto book. so they're starting to see real firmness in their auto book industrially, which is a widget business, if you will. and that's the first time we've really seen volume strengthening there. but there are pockets. if you're serving the oil industry, putting on your hat, okay? if you're serving the medical industry, things look pretty good. it's really a question of industry by industry, geography by geography. if you're serving the refinery business, they're going forward, but haven't put in a new refinery since 1976. but the upgrades and expansions and tweaking it to get more output, very busy. so we have a busy that serves that market. how do you get more of out of a cracker? how do you get more out of, keep the maintenance going? so there is more broad strength with terrible pockets of weakness, both geographically, the old fracking areas, nothing. >> can i ask you just about autos? because we had bob lutz on yesterday -- >> he knows a hell of a lot more than i'll ever know. >> well, his concern, and it's oaked by bob jackson -- >> they both do. >> that the sales are there, but suddenly the auto makers are doing things to try to juice those sales, doing additional leases, offering steeper discounts, and that the profits aren't going to be as strong as they have been to this point. i don't know if that impacts some of the auto businesses you're talking about, but just the concerns they see. >> i saw a chart of the consumeconsume consumers balance sheet, how much they're spending on autos versus what they did in 2000. it's a much smaller percentage today. so in fact there's room for autos -- at least technically from that one statistic. how much of your disposable income is going to auto payments. it reverses from 15 years ago. but -- >> they didn't say sales that were going to drop off, they were just worried about the profitability. >> they're both terrific. >> yeah. >> but there is more disposable income out there. >> so you probably -- >> i'm more -- the bottom line is, i wouldn't have bet on a 2% first quarter in december. today, i would pretty much bet on a 2% first quarter. >> still don't want the fed to move this month. do you want them to move in april or june? >> i think you're more likely to see an april/june movement. >> it is. that's different for you. >> no, no. i would prefer that they don't, because they're up against everybody else wlost throwing it at it. >> do you want draghi to do a lot, but to start take the training wheels off? >> i think if he takes the training wheels off, he doesn't have a very good vehicle. >> somebody who doesn't know how to ride. >> right. right. >> i'm just itching to get to -- do you want to do this now? do you want to start? >> sure, go ahead. >> let's start. you go ahead and start. i will say, we're going to show this tweet you did about ted cruz, but you were the genius of all time, because that was -- was that a year ago when you said cruz was -- >> about 18 months ago. >> i said, you're out of your mine. cruz will never be mainstream republican. but this is a recent tweet of yours. "if you're voting in a conservative about the supreme court, ted cruz is your only sure bet." do you want to do this, beck? >> no. no, go ahead. >> oh, okay, i thought -- i don't know, maybe it is a two-man race here. if andrew were here, he would say, if it's not cruz, he'd try to get you to say you'd vote for hillary instead of trump. i assume you might vote for trump if he's the nominee -- >> absolutely, i'll vote for the nominee of this party against either one of those other two. the thing i laugh about, everybody wants to talk about the affect of the republican debates, but no one wants to talk about the content of the democratic debates. it's like all presidents are altar boys. and they've got to behave a certain way. well, look at our presidents in history and their long-term behavior, whether it with any way you want to call it. look, the idea that what the democrats are saying is frightening. freebies everywhere, these phoney arguments. every time you watch a debate with bernie sanders and he talks about citizens united, it's terrible. he doesn't talk about the unions pouring money into a rate that's twice, three times, four times what individuals do, okay? and it's crazy. his argument, his whole premise of his speech is false. >> right. >> citizens united is causing all these problems. of the 1%. hillary talks about the 1%. the 1%. who created the gap in the 1% and the other end, it's this administration accelerated that whole thing. she wasn't a -- she's like a reporter commenting on the administration she just created. these results, are you -- it's silly! it's absolutely silly. >> although the fed was probably largely responsible for increasing the gap. >> and whose fed is it? >> wall street is a criminal enterprise. >> why aren't we talking about what they're saying, not how donald trump might say it o ted cruz might say it or marco rubio might say it. the twists in their voice or if they say something a little crude every now and then. big deal! it's what they're saying about small smaller, about more jobs, not more jobs by handouts. >> and when thing about mitt romney, too. he won one race, right? he was elected massachusetts governor. lost two presidential races, lost running for senate. that's his claim to fame. what'd you think of that speech? >> i think it would have been better left in the drawer. the facts are, i'm a mitt romney fan -- >> after that? >> i didn't like that speech, okay? but that's one thing, a long resume of -- >> who got in his ear? >> huh? >> do you think anyone got in his ear? >> sure, the club. the club that proves the cartel. >> the party elders. they come on, a lot of times, and it's like, they're kind of out of touch. >> you had a guy this morning when i was -- >> yeah. >> marco rubio is having a comeback. where was this guy last night? >> i know? >> or last week or last tuesday. >> i know we did. i know. and i was saying, i'm hearing something, you're kind of an establishment guy, aren't you? and but they look, they look at something and they say, up is down. they say 2 plus 2 is 6. >> the craziest thing that ever comes out of donald trump's mouth is "lying ted." ted cruz is the one guy, the one guy that's -- the voters all said that in the exit poll. he is the straightest guy. he does what he says he went to iowa. >> but he has some people working from him, i get tweets that say, ted cruz dropping out of the race. and i go, really, it goes, ted cruz dropping out, unless you send money -- they are the most dissemiabling, duplicitous money raising. >> ted cruz personally is the straightest guy you'll ever meet in terms of telling it like it is. and i'll tell you some stories. >> we'll be back after a quick break. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management. when it comes to the fithings you love,. you want more. love romance? get lost in every embrace. into sports? follow every pitch, every play and every win. change the way you experience tv with x1 from xfinity. welcome back, everybody. today marks the seventh anniversary of the current bull market. but can we expect the bulls to remain in charge? joining us is charles cantor, the senior portfolio manager at the cantor group. our guest host is jack welch, and he's with us for the rest of the program. charles, welcome. >> good morning, becky. >> we have seen the markets really reverse course in pretty rapid form. is this for real or is this the beginning of another downturn? >> i think the rapid form's for real, as the market goes from paranoia to complacency at breakneck speed on a global basis. and i think as jack knows, the truth is always somewhere in between. we certainly don't sit in the recessionary camp. i guess that question gets asked less frequently today than it was a month ago. what will conspire us to a recession, i think, is just talking ourselves into it. whereby ceos are unable to allocate capital against a backdrop of uncertainty. but we sit squarely in the view that it's lower for longer. slow, gradual normalization of earnings. we don't sit in the view that we have the stagnation, low or no growth forever. >> it's heartening to hear what jack says about the economy, about the really rapid turn. maybe the stock market is just falling with the economy. >> don't make it a "v," make it a bounceback. >> if "v's" been insentiment. a months ago, we were watching the news and stock market zps stuck in, how do i make long-term investment decisions? i think having spoken to themselves out of that quandary, they're now looking to the future again. and trying to create value on a five and ten-year basis, which is very exciting. and i think investors just and ceos themselves just don't need to understand that we're in this environment where people just run from one side of the ship to the other side, at an incredibly fast and unmeasured pace. and as i said, the truth's in between. >> we have an easy b meeting tomorrow and there are a lot of questions about what they're going to do. the market's expecting they'll lower interest rates even further from where they are now. what's that do to the dollar? >> i'm not a dollar interest rate person -- >> although you kind of have to be -- >> the implication has on investing is really difficult. it keeps rates low for longer. >> globally, it keeps rates lower for longer. and the investment implications that it has for individuals that are thinking about asset allocation are very severe. because there's simply no safe place to go to make a low-risk type of return. and you either have to take uncomfortable credit rate risk in the high-yield market, interest rate risk in the treasury markets or equity risk in the equity markets. this idea that you could retire and buy treasuries at 5% and feel like i've done my job doesn't exist today. and that's been the penalty of the global liquidity stimulus that has come with the hand that was dealt to central bankers. >> charles, thank you for joining us today. great to see you. >> great to see you, thank you again. >> and of course jack welch is here. >> lovely to see you. >> still to come, we'll talk cybersecurity, apple encryption. we have the ceo firewall, david dewalt, he's our guest in just a bit. "squawk box" will be right back. time now for today's aflac trivia question. which nba team has won the most finals in league history? the answer when cnbc's "squawk box" continues. ohh ah ah aflac! aaaaf-lac! ta-daa! he's not a very good magician. he paid my claim in just one day. one day?! shh! how does he do it? in just one day, we process, approve and pay. one day pay, only from aflac. 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 company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov the access informationlows us to from anywhere. the microsoft cloud allows us to scale up. microsoft cloud changes our world dramatically. it wasn't too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. now, we can do a hundred per day. with the microsoft cloud we don't have to build server rooms. we have instant scale. the microsoft cloud is helping us to re-build and re-interpret our business. this cloud helps transform business. this is the microsoft cloud. now the answer to today's aflac trivia question. which nba team has won the most finals in league history? the answer, the boston celtics. at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. oh, look at you, so great to see you! none of this works. come on in. sometimes they just drop in. always obvious. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. welcome back to "squawk box." among the stories that are front and center this morning, mortgage applications edged higher by 0.2% last week, according to the mortgage banker's association, the increase was driven entirely by new home purchase applications, refinancing activity actually fell as average 30-year rates did move higher. olive garden parent darden has a new chief financial officer. chief strategy officer, ricardo carness has been promoted to cfo, replacing jeffrey davies who is pursuing opportunities outside the country. why you laughing? >> that line? >> yeah, pursuing opportunities -- decided to pursue opportunities outside the company. we wish him well. or not. and executives who want to be the ceo of their company may have a better shot at the top job. search firm spencer stewart says about 80% of the s&p 500 companies are choosing a new ceo last year chose one from inside the company, and that's up 60% from 2012. which is kind of interesting. double line capital's jeff gunlake says the recent rally in risk assets is nearing an end. he calls crude the key to everything. he says that unless oil rallies another $10 a barrel or more, a lot of companies are going to go under, which will kill the banking system. on gold, gundlach predicts that prices will continue to rise and hit $1,400 an ounce. he calls gold a good holding for those who have lost faith in the central bank policies. he says, negative rates are bad for the banking system. gold prices today are down $10. he adds that the s&p has maybe 2% upside and probably 20% downside. >> i don't know whether he ever got more optimistic over the last two months. and he's been sort of. >> he was -- yeah. >> kind of saying this then. so, i don't know. and some sad news for the music world. sir george martin, the beatles' producer and arranger who supervised most of the band's era-defining recordings has died at the age of 90. martin's management company confirmed to nbc news this morning that he had passed away peacefully. martin was often referred to as the fifth beatle and served as producer, collaborate, and mentor to john, paul, george, and ringo. and, you know, talk about the beatles forever, but what they did in four or five years, you know what a one-hit wonder is. they could have supplied maybe 250 one-hit wonders with a song that was good enough to remember, to remember that band. which is like unheard of. and when you see mccartney. i saw him at a rangers' game. it's like, it's kind of weird that he's flesh and blood. still, he's almost a demi-god. >> they would write four songs a day. write two, go to lunch and come back and right two more. >> and the melodies can bring tears to your eyes. and you hear them in any are elevator. you'll hear "helter skelter" in an elevator. >> not quite the same as music. still us is jack welch. jack, we cut you off mid-conversation at the end. we were talking politics and talking a little bit about your support for ted cruz. you had a point you wanted to make there. >> yeah, why do i support him, i guess you might ask. because i think, if you get around, away from all the rhetoric, and just look at who he is, he's talking about jobs, he's talking about freedom, and he's talking about security. and jobs, he's got the tax plan they love, takes care of exports, takes care of the personal rates, takes care of the corporate race, repatriots money back here. it's a job creator. his tax plan is a real job creator. now, it's not for the irs, but it is, for hard-working americans. on jobs, i don't think there's anybody close to him. and if you come to freedom, i happen to love scalia. i thought scalia was a great balance to the other side of the court and the only guy you can bet on to deliver you a scalia-like guy in this next -- which i think is so critical to the safety of this country, to have this balance is cruz. as much as i might like another candidate, i think, my experience is that democrats are just better at sticking together than the republicans. and that's why the anger in the country for those of us that have been voting republican for a long time. and i think you'll get a compromise amongst them. how do we trust them to give us a scalia? >> although the democrats are pretty angry, too. you've seen -- >> yeah, but i'm not sure -- but we won't get anything from them. we are done. whether it's the second amendment or whatever you want to talk about, we are done. >> and they pick people that go on to the court that vote knee jerk -- >> every single -- >> republicans pick people -- >> you didn't know where people were. >> but you know where scalia was. >> him and a i lie alito are th only ones. >> jack wants a litmus test on this, too. >> and on security, i think he'll be very tough on the border, which i like. he'll be very tough on sanctuary cities, which i like. he'll be tough on that law about the women, who were raped, shot in san francisco. he's just a strong guy. >> those are trump positions, too. especially on immigration. >> i'm not anti-trump. >> but cruz moved further down the line, based on trump having so much success with the wall and with the sanctuary city rhetor rhetoric -- >> he was that way 18 months ago before trump ever showed up. >> you would not trust trump to pick a supreme court justice? >> i would be more concerned about him picking one. look, the bush record on picking them isn't a whole home run. bushes in general is not a home run. >> so what's the path for cruz right now? can he win it outright? >> he can, yes. if, in fact, if, in fact -- but you don't have people like that guy this morning on there, saying that rubio's coming back. rubio was third or fourth last night and got single digits. >> okay, hold on. >> we just had guys in, you saw ken, they're with kasich. nice, lost causes. >> canada's one of the great investors, probably one of the best investors. they can't get politicians worth a dam, particularly ken. kasich's got the kiss of death with ken supporting him. you saw what happened to christie. you saw what happened to christie. you saw what happened to ross perot. >> ken's with kasich, but he also thinks it might be trump, he's fine with trump as well. >> oh, yeah, he is. i love ken, he's my best friend. >> but he can't pick politicians. >> right now, what do you think -- handicap -- what are the chances the nominee is cruz right now? what do you really think? >> 30%. >> all right. so it's 70% it's trump then. >> he does if both rubio and kasich drop out? >> if rubio and kasich drop out, if trump wins florida and he wins ohio -- >> it's over, right? >> no, it's not over. and they drop out. we go to illinois, and cruz starts getting 50 plus percent of the vote. >> so -- >> although trump has said he would like a one on one with ted cruz, too. >> whatever he says, he would like the opposite. >> on a competing network, they have, you know, a panel, i'm sure you've seen it, where they bet chips -- >> yeah, i know. >> i love brett. anyway, so they bet -- would you put -- if you had $100, you would put $70 on trump -- >> well, i'd put my heart, i would put 100% on ted cruz. and my money -- >> with your money. >> i would put -- right now you have to go with 70/30. >> 70/30? >> yep. >> all right. maybe you're like some of these other republicans that are just in denial, then. instead of talking about cruz, maybe you ought to be talk about trump. >> no, because i want cruz. i want cruz. but i acknowledge he's got a harder path right now and last night was a big night for trump. >> i want to win the u.s. open, but that doesn't mean i'm going to go out there and you know that i'm probably not going to -- >> we just had a rational conversation about -- >> well, what you want and what is going to happen are two different things. >> i think there's a real chance for cruz to get there. there's a path. i just gave you the path. >> one if three. >> you've got to get down to a two-person race. if rubio -- kasich last night, this morning, was on saying, it's a virtual tie last night. virtual tie last night? stop it! he's in the state next to ohio and he loses. to cruz. he gets killed -- >> he came in third. >> do you think, at this point, that the republican establishment can damage trump enough to make him unelectable in the general? >> i hope not. >> they're trying. >> because i'm back to that point again. if we can get the media to focus on what the democrats are saying and not spend all their time on how the republicans are saying it -- >> right. >> that's a big -- it's affect versus content. >> yeah, but democrats, for them to see, keep muslims out, for them to say, build a wall, it's not how they're saying, it's what they're saying. what they say about abortion and gay rights. >> the easiest way for them to stop talking about it. >> a lot of people on principle think -- >> and the easiest way to get the media to stop talking about is to stop saying it. if it was not being said on the stage, give them nowhere to go, except for content. >> but we're not talking about gay rights in this election. don't bring that stuff up. >> no, no, i'm not -- >> and cruz is a states' rights guy, by the way. >> the thing that they're opposed to are in the republican platform. >> we'll be right back. every yea your enterprise uses goes up. smart devices are up. cloud is up. analytics is up. seems like everything is up except your budget. introducing comcast business enterprise solutions. with a different kind of network that delivers the bandwidth you need without the high cost. because you can't build the business of tomorrow on the network of yesterday. welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. take a look. the futures are bouncing back, picking up almost all the grounds that the markets lost yesterday. the dow was down by 111 points yesterday. this morning, the futures are indicating a gain of about 103 points at the open. yesterday, at an analyst meeting, cybersecurity firm fireeye signaled it would prevent a narrower than expected loss, $1.20 to $1.27 a share. the cybersecurity firm works with more than 600 companies on threat detection technology and post-attack forensic services and the ceo, david dewalt, joins us now. have you talked to us a about the whole apple situation, yet, and how the future is going to look for companies that have really strong encryption? >> yeah, it's an incredible, you know, debate going on right now. and i'm kind of amazed. but with my background in cybersecurity, we've been through this a lot over the years. and we've solved these problems in the past. so, you know, having this big debate in the media is a little alarming to me. you know, corporate responsibility is important. i think, balance between private and security is important. we don't want to pivot too far to one end or another. and you know, ultimately, we've seen this, my prior companies, we've figured out ways, as a good corporate citizen, to solve this and deliver information under the right adjudication process. we don't give back doors, we don't give ways for the government to do, but we figured out ways to help and assist -- >> something's right in this situation. is it comey or cook? >> what's that? >> who's right in this situation? the fbi or -- >> i think it's a balance of the two. we don't want to pivot it one way where we create software codes and backdoors for products. that's not the right thing either. >> if that's what you're saying -- >> it's not what i'm saying -- >> sort of, because you're -- because it's important we do have strong encryption when we need it. and we can't use the excuse that a couple of bad actors that are out there that want to do harm, that we throw the whole thing out, after years of developing strong encryption. we're not going to solve terrorism by looking at iphones. we've got to do it in other ways. and there's a lot of things that terrorists are using that you get rid of. if you want to take it to the absurd, we'll get rid of a lot of things to try to prevent terrorism. and you can't do it in a free society. >> i completely agree, but i think there's balance for these things. >> it's a slippery slope. apple said the chinese would have the backdoor key immediately for all the encryption. is that not true? >> i don't mow. do you have a safety deposit box or do you have some sort of -- >> i don't have anything worth putting in there. >> i don't either. >> but in those examples, right, the bank has a key, you have a key. under warrants from the government, they can access -- >> but you're not giving them a key to every single safety -- access to every safety deposit box in the bank. >> there's a happy medium here. there's ways to do this so that you have corporate responsibility, you balance the security and privacy together, and there's ways to solve this without having extremism on either end. >> okay, we don't understand the technology, you do, and that's what i've been kind of confused by. hearing tim cook say, if we do this, we are going to be handing over the keys to the kingdom, and hearing someone like bill gates weigh in and say, that's not really the case. at least that's what it sounded like he said to me on charlie rose. >> and if you're actually handing key or a code or a backdoor to somebody else, i agree with tim, don't do that. >> but you think there's ways -- >> i think there's ways for apple, under the right escalation, under the right adjudication process points to be able to find information in child molestation cases, terrorist cases, crime cases. there's ways to do this so that it's safe for private -- >> but it sounds like apple doesn't want this to be a continual one-off situation where they would have to deal with this. this is based on -- >> it's a global economy, and over time, you have to -- >> dave, what about this? so as the technology advances and i don't know whether you -- you know nikko? you've met her? >> sure. >> let's say it gets to a point where the backdoor becomes irrelevant, because nothing is actually saved. where things actually do go into the -- they're gone after, they're done. so there would be no way -- a terrorist can communicate with another terrorist and it's gone forever, because the technology enables that. does congress get involved and disallow the development of that technology and force so that there is a -- some type of storage somewhere of what's been said? do you go that far? >> no, that's extreme, right? >> he's always extreme. >> but sooner or later, you're going to get to a point, sooner or later you'll get to a point where there's not going to be anything to get a backdoor into? and how do you prevent that? you've got to catch the terrorists some other way. >> where's the balance? i think that's what's important. there are scenarios the world is facing where we need some balance. and what would you tell a company that's going to develop something like that? >> i would tell apple in this particular case to take that phone and give the government the information on it, don't give the government the code. hand them the information. look, for 21 years i was running a company, when the government came in on a big security issue, we found a way to cooperate without -- >> there may come a time where you can't do it without opening a pandora's box. >> what? >> there may come a time where you can't do it individually. >> there's a case in san bernardino, we have corporate responsibility here. there has to be a way to keep apple whole and deal with the security -- >> if there is, fine. >> if we find three terrorists that are going to kill somebody else, i want to find them. >> dave's saying, there is a way to do it. >> you know whose side you're on? andrew's. so congratulations. i hope you feel comfortable. actually, "the new york times" is on my side. >> it's a tricky balance and i think we've got to try to find balance. and this is where the government -- >> that question wasn't extreme. it's that technology will take us to a place where there is no backdoor. >> apple is going to deal with this. i'm not giving the government the code. >> down the road, what if there's no -- >> it's like a -- >> what if there's no stored information to get to down the road. >> i want to deal with san bernardino right now and i want to get that information and i want to hand it to the fbi. >> how many other ways in san bernardino -- >> maybe they didn't handle it just right, okay? >> well, you know, freedom has a cost. and, you know, if you give up freedom -- >> you are the -- >> way out there. >> yeah, card-carrying member of the aclu right now, like michael dukakis. >> dave, thanks for coming in. when we come back, more from jack welch and at the top of the hour, eric cantor will join us. we'll talk jobs, the economy, and of course the race for the white house. stick around. "squawk box" will be right back. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management. welcome back, everybody. still with us, believe it or not, is jack welch. he's staying through all of our harassing. he's the executive chairman of the jack welch management institute. he is also the author of "the real-life mba: your guide to building your career." let's go back to what's happening in the markets. we talked about gundlach and what he sees in the commodity markets. do you think the commodities rebound we've seen is -- >> iron ore, oil, if you look across the board. >> well, look, i think we've seen a bottom, okay? >> for the stock market? >> no, for the commodities. >> okay. >> now, what -- where they go and the slope of the curve, i take the fifth. i really don't know. i don't know if oil will stay at 37 or 38 or 36 or go back to 29. but i know at the end of the year, main my view, it will be higher than it was in the average of the first quarter of last year. and i think the same thing is true of copper and rolled steel. and i think all of these things are going to move. but i don't know how fast and how much -- i think it's going to be a slow growth environment, still. we still get the shackles of this economy hanging on us. we still have regulations about every hour. this guy in labor, he wakes up in the morning, let's find another one to put out there. every day, you're getting whacked. you've got people, forget the president. go to the people he appoints. they're zealots. they're anti-business. if you listen to a democratic debate, the hatred for business just pours out. >> i know, business people are bad. >> fraud. criminal. >> i mean, it's awful. it's the worst. but if you saw these guys in that cabinet, most of them are absolutely bernie sanders. >> if, if you could change a few things in washington. >> yeah? >> let's say we've got an election coming and there is a new administration coming in. >> if you get the democratic nominee and the current, things won't change. she is making a statement. >> he's being dragged to the left. >> she loves what they're doing. she loves obama's plans. she loves the administration's programs. we're going to get -- if you like what's happening to this economy, under this administration, she's the player. >> except you can -- just like anything, you can look at the job creation over the past seven years. they've got -- if you look at the charts in a certain way, the longest streak of job gains, i mean, you've seen them with the victory lap about how the economy is, right? it's funny, though, because he'll say that and then all the democrats talk about how, you know -- >> how the jobs are crappy. >> it's bizarre. >> how the 1% is getting everything. the 1% is getting everything because they put a policy in place -- >> you know who's coming up next? eric cantor. he's going to be fun. >> the establishment guy. we needed 30 new hires for our call center. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. 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(announcer) over 400,000 businesses have already used ziprecruiter. and now you can use ziprecruiter for free. go to ziprecruiter.com/offer2 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 company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov decision 2016. new this morning, an nbc news/"wall street journal" poll finds angry voters are fueling big wins by donald trump and bernie sanders. but can these anti-establishment movements make it to the white house? we will ask former presidential economic adviser, larry lindsey, the author behind a new book entitled "conspiracies of the ruling class." plus, amazon tv goes live. move over qvc, the ecommerce giant is taking a page from the home shopping playbook, letting consumers buy items right from a live beauty and fashion show. and out of this world, jeff bezos wants to take you to space, and sooner than you may think. the final hour of "squawk box" begins now. >> announcer: live from the most powerful city in the world, new york, this is "squawk box." ♪ we will talk about that. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm joe kernan along with becky quick. our guest host this morning, legendary corporate leader, jack welch. moving left on a lot, as he -- i don't know -- i don't know whether it's getting wiser -- >> left of you. >> he called me extreme. >> he did. >> we have more from jack in just a second. first, though, a check on the markets. the futures right now are nicely higher. triple digits -- well, they were, if you count all the decimal points, they still are. up about 100 points now, nice snapback from yesterday's losses, which came after five winning sessions. so ever since mid-february, and if you look at the transports since early february, the markets have gotten a little bit better. and according to jack welch, even some of the things that he sees, the animal spirits in the corporate world have gotten a little better since last time he was on. markets in europe this hour are also higher, that's part of the reason why we're doing well. more than 1% gains in germany and france and the ftse's improved up about 5/8 of a percent. among today's top stories, mortgage applications rising 0.2% in the past week. volume is still 20% higher than it was this time year ago. oil prices are rising this week. an iraqi official says that opec and non-opec producers plan to meet in moscow on march 20th to discuss an output freeze. of course, that hasn't had much impact when they've talked about it to this point, because they're already producing basically flat-out. worth watching, the eia will release its weekly inventory data. that's at 10:30 a.m. this morning. you can see the wti right now is up 1.5%. double line capital's jeff gundlach says the recent prices is nearing an end. he calls crude the key to everything. >> i don't know if there's a lot of risk right now in the markets. if we use the stock market as a proxy, it seems to me that the s&p 500 has maybe 2% of upside and probably 20% of downside for a 10-1 risk/reward ratio. >> gundlach likes gold, calling the commodity a good holding for those who have lost faith in central bank policies. stocks to watch this morning, dow component pfizer has struck an accelerated share repurchase program with goldman sachs, amounting to $5 billion. that represents a significant chunk of the current $16.4 billion authorization. and this just in. valeant pharmaceuticals is appointing three new board members, as soon as this morning. one of the new members is a representative of bill ackman's pershing square. pershing is one of the drug company's biggest investors. yelp downgraded to sell from neutral at ubs. the firm says that the consumer review website operator has lagged peers in user growth, product innovation, and technology investments. and ubs also cutting groupon from sell to neutral. the analysts arguing that the daily deals and ecommerce company has a long road ahead in strengthening its position in the local advertising market. >> my kids laugh at me, because i'll be sitting there and just swallow wrong. did you do that yesterday -- >> i did, when i started having my coffee fit. >> was that self-inflicted? >> i think so. >> so was mine! i was like, when did i forget -- >> maybe it's something in the water here. maybe we're contaminating each other. >> i just don't know how to swallow. >> i did yesterday and i was out for five minutes. >> now i'm saying things, if they -- that sound bad. i forgot how to swallow properly. >> go ahead. >> no, let's just let that sink in before we go. a big tuesday night in the race for the white house. another week of blistering attacks from the republican establishment, donald trump has tightened his grip on the gop race. he sailed to victory in michigan, mississippi, and hawaii. ted cruz was the other republican winner last night. he posted a victory in idaho and eked out a second-place finish in michigan behind trump, which was a big surprise. over on the democratic side, the big news of the night, bernie sanders stunned front-runner hillary clinton by beating her in michigan. it was a narrow victory, but an important one that analysts say will prolong the democratic race. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows hillary clinton holds a nine-point lead nationally over bernie sanders. of course, she had a nine-point lead in the polls in michigan over sanders, too. on the republican side, donald trump and ted cruz are separated by three points. last month, the poll found cruz with a two-point lead over trump. that was before trump's big wins. >> and joining us now, former house majority leader, eric cantor. he knows what he's in for, so he didn't come into the studio today. he's down where he's -- he's down where all the establishment republicans are comfortable, right in the beltway. good to see you, leader. >> it's good to be on. >> you know people are saying that when the tea party ganged up on you with that unbelievable upset that no one expected, that that was the first harbinger of what was to come. do you think there's anything to that? >> listen, i think if you can look back a year and a half ago, when i lost my primary, there's a lot of parallels going on. i think last night was clearly a night of the outsider, of the untraditional voters coming into the electorate, certainly on the republican side. and if you look at my race and what happened, there were about a third of the electorate were crossover democratic primary voters. and that's what the exit polls showed us. so, i do think that there's a lot of anger out there. you know, interestingly, there was very little discussion about policy, if you listen to donald trump last night. this is not about conservatism. this is just about anger. and i think that's where a lot of us sort of come out on this is, where is this all heading? if we're a conservative party, you know, donald trump has never been a consistent conservative. and what does this mean about sort of his policy stances going forward? what does this mean, frankly, about the congressional elections and how will it impact those? >> when you say romney ran on policy, when you say, was there anybody better than the guy you were backing on policy? jeb bush? >> right. >> get with the program! >> right! >> i like policy, too. but, you know, if you're not -- if you're not elected, none of your policies are going to be acted upon. >> i think clearly there's a lesson in what you say there, joe. and, you know, if you watched the donald trump press conference last night, it was almost like a qvc hour. you know, it was, you know, about his wine and his steaks and his water. and, again, very little discussion about policy. but he also did indicate that he had talked to paul ryan and he was interested in making sure that republicans win in the fall. so, you know, we'll have to wait and see where all this turns out. i think there's still some cards left to play. but certainly, it seems that, you know, donald trump's the odds-on favorite here. so, leader, how many times do you think you criticized barack obama for not having any private sector experience and for no one in his administration having any private sector experience? >> i mean, every time i was on this show, i assure you, i probably referred to that. >> trump water, trump steaks, trump tower, trump golf courses. he's been in the private sector, at least. >> right, right. but if there's anything about donald trump, i think that most people say that he's a negotiator. so a lot of these positions that he's taken, i think people are taking to, because they certainly are definitive. and perhaps, you know, he'll negotiate to a point where he can arrive at a solution. but i think that's what i think gives a lot of people concern. you know, my position here now, listen, traveling the world, i think there are a lot of our allies across the world who are very concerned about what a donald trump presidency would mean. >> great. great. they love the -- oh, gosh, we love barack obama. he goes over there -- yeah, the foreign leaders love barack obama! >> i'm not talking about the leaders. i'm talking about the business folks. >> oh, great, to all the -- they make our elitists in new york make look like pikers over in france. let's listen to those people for who we elect. come on! you know, i'm worried about you establishment guys, though. you can't keep saying up is down and down is up. if you take away -- if you don't listen to the 35 or 40% that are seeing something that you guys aren't seeing, you need those guys to elect the president. >> no question. >> and if you blow them off and say, we know what's best, you sound like a democrat, saying, we know what's best? >> joe, we're saying we don't know where donald trump is going to come down on the issues. >> but whatever he comes down, would it be better where hillary clinton comes down or where bernie sanders comes down? >> listen, i'm for the republican in this race. i want to beat hillary clinton. >> y'all say that, but i don't believe it. >> okay, listen, i'm sure we'll be on after the nomination. i'll be for the republican candidate. because we've got -- >> remember when -- like, you're not signing this thing, that you'll support, you know, this is our rules, you've got to sign this, you support any nominee that we get. you sign this, trump, or you get in big trouble. and then it starts looking like trump, and everyone's like, did we sign that? did anybody check, oh -- >> there's no question about it. last night, donald trump won fair and square. so we've got a process. i think there's still some cards left to be played. and we'll have to see how it all place out. but i think most of us say, we'll support the republican nominee and it's important we beat hillary clinton. >> the other thing -- go. >> hi, eric. jack. >> hey, jack. >> look, you talk about anger, ok ok okay. when i think about anger, the anger comes back to the establishment. it's all about, you guys, we re-elect you, you go to a knife, harry reid comes with knives, pelosi comes with knives, and you guys got water pistols and they just eat you for breakfast and it's driving us crazy! >> well, i -- i mean, jack, again, not being in office anymore, i will tell you, there's anger because the negotiating has not turned out favorably towards those of us who believe in free markets, who believe in a competitive and growth-oriented country. i agree with you. >> and you say, if we get the house, then if we get the senate, we'll be able to do this and that. and the water pistol crowd loses. every time there's a knife fight. i'm telling you. >> i think you've identified the appeal that donald trump is having to so many non-traditional voters. he's a negotiator. he takes those positions that, i don't think anybody -- i mean, who knows. is he going to really be for slapping a 45% tariff on -- >> the negotiating. that's what you start with the negotiating. that's all part of it. >> look at what he did to mitt romney, look what harry reid did. he lied about his taxes, and then he said, hey, i lied. >> and romney pulls the same stuff with trump. >> it's crazy. >> but let me ask you this. if ted cruz is able to pull out, can you swallow and support him? >> i'll support the republican nominee, jack. i believe that the republican party is a conservative party. we believe in limited government, and i think it's a much better promise in policy for the future of our country than what bernie sanders or hillary clinton is offering. so, yes, i will support the republican nominee. >> what policies of ted cruz would you be against in terms of jobs, freedom, and security? forget social issues for the moment. >> well, again, i think that in terms of national security, it's important that we have a strong economy. it's important that we support our military. it's important that we get the budget situation straight. i think all of these things that republicans and conservatives can agree on, and that's what i believe that our nominee would stand for. >> and i think -- and, okay. so you can live with ted cruz? >> yeah, i will support the republican nominee. >> ted cruz is right there on every one of those issues. >> yeah, i mean, there's no question. i mean, there's a stark difference. this is where the frustration comes out, listening to what's going on right now. there's no discussion of those issues on policy grounds. none whatsoever. and currently the front-runner has an hour-long press conference where there's no indication of where things will come out on a policy basis. >> if you listen to the two debates, the form of the substance of the form versus the substance, the form on the republican debate is certainly questionable. >> right. >> the style. >> but the substance on the democratic debate is ludicrous. >> ludicrous. i mean, we are really -- >> absolutely insane! >> we are absurd, we are watching a viable candidate on the democratic side that their voters think is viable and bernie sanders, a self-avowed socialist. and remember, the definition of socialism is you don't believe in markets. i mean, that is anathema to the united states of america. that's what's so absurd. >> and he won michigan. >> thanks, eric. >> so, welch like d cruz a long time ago. but if you had told someone a year and a half ago that ted cruz would be the default candidate that all the republican establishments would be rushing to because they're so worried about some other guy, you would have never believed it. but that's where we are. so when you get into that secret meeting later with the establishment, all the establishment guys, and when you meet down there, tell them they missed i something and they've got to quickly get up to speed on what's happening, because they're in denial. you'll do that for me? >> absolutely. i will not be attending that meeting, but -- >> what time was that thing? it was on some private island in georgia. eric cantocantor, love you, tha you. >> good to be on. >> when we return, what's old is new again. amazon is bringing back bookstores and now launching its first live television show. we have the details, straight ahead. and as we head to a break, take a look at where oil is trading at this hour. picking up some ground after being a big decliner yesterday. wti 1% higher at 37.12. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. amazon reimagining itself once again. the tech giant announcing it's launching its first live show. live show? i bet you it is like qvc or something, right? courtney reagan joins us now with more. what can i -- can i get anything from amazon? will there be oxens? >> you can about get anything from amazon. if you haven't checked it out, you definitely should. retail has long been a game of follow the leader, and now that leader is amazon, but the tables have turned. amazon is taking plays from veteran retailers' playbooks. amazon's 30-minute stylecode live is a free 30-minute show streaming daily at 9:00 p.m. eastern where the hosts talk fashion and beauty friends, live chat with viewers, and of course, direct those viewers to purchase items, right on amaz amazon.com. it follows amazon's rollout over its new seven private label apparel lines. notable, because private labels are cornerstones for many traditional retailers. they typically capture higher margins and appeal to consumers' further exclusivity. 51% of jcpenney sales are private label. now, apearl purchases on amazon rose 25% over the last year. so as more consumers are turning to amazon for clothes, the style show is effectively poised for that extra sales push. amazon's north america apparel segment could add at least 25 cents to earnings in 2017 and even higher if amazon can execute strong private label sales at those better margins. joe? >> so how do i find this? >> so every night at 9:00 p.m. eastern time, if you go to amazon, you'll be able to find the show. and it streams for 30 minutes. so you watch the show -- >> you have to watch it in that time frame? >> you can watch the show, live chat with the hosts, and underneath where you can select the products they're talking about. so interestingly, the prices don't show up while the hosts are talking, but if you move down lower on the page, you can actually see them. it feels less like a sales push while the hosts are talking about it, but that's exactly what it is. >> but you have to show up at a set time? that's been the one thing the internet has done. >> so it is live streaming. and last night was the first night. so we have found that they've re-posted it this morning, but it was just re-posted now. so i'm not sure what they're going to do in the future, if it will become immediately available, much faster than almost 12 hours later, but it did take them about 12 hours to repost it. so right now it's live streaming. we'll see if they change that. it's just been one night so far. >> that's the video we're looking at? it does look a lot like qvc zblm yes, there are three hosts and talk through fashion and beauty tips. and hey, if you want to make this look happen, lack at these products. >> i wish i could get my hair like that? i like that guy's -- i go to bed at 8:00! >> i know, it's late for you. i'm sorry, it is late for you. but hopefully i'll get back with you more information about when they post it. otherwise, you'll be all over it. but it is posted now, so you can watch those 30 minutes if you're interested. >> okay, get that guy's hairstylist. coming up, another food scare for chipotle. the details, straight ahead. first, as we head to break, check out the price of oil right now coming back a little bit today. it was up above 37. we'll be right back. welcome back to "squawk box." making headlines, a chipotle restaurant north of boston has been shut down after a few employees became ill. at least one worker has a case of norovirus. but there aren't any reports of customers getting sick. this is not what chipotle needed, though. down, the restaurant is being cleaned and disinfected. health officials will determine today when it can reopen. in december, a chipotle near boston college was closed after nearly 40 people got sick with norovirus. i don't get it. i don't know what it is. >> you don't get norovirus? >> i don't get the connection with chipotle and norovirus. >> part of what the company has said it's going to be doing is changing its sourcing, because what it was doing was local sourcing. there's a reason that big companies went to centralized sourcing for these things. it was to control and protect what was there. >> so 3,000 miles away, you're surprised you're getting this. >> exactly. >> so they say they're changing this, but it's going to take a couple of years before they actually completely redo the sourcing. when we come back this morning, tapping into the anger of america. that's what anti-establishment candidates seem to be doing as they continue to rack up delegates across the country. and it's the focus of lawrence lindsey's new book. he'll join us on set next. but first, take a look at where the equity futures are. dow, above about 102 points above fair value. s&p futures up by 12 and the nasdaq up by 27. you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc, first in business, worldwide. at mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. by debating our research to find the best investments. by looking at global and local insights to benefit from different points of view. and by consistently breaking apart risk to focus on long-term value. we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management. welcome back to "squawk box." here's what's making headlines this morning. valeant pharmaceuticals has appointed three new independent directors to its board. one of the new directors is steven frayden, who is vice chairman at bill ackman's pershing square capital management, which is a major shareholder in valeant. share s of apparel maker express are active this morning after the company reported better than expected earnings for the fourth quarter, up almost 7.5% on a strong holiday season. it also gave an upbeat forecast for the current year. and crude oil prices are higher this morning, back above 37. they were last time that we looked. now just below -- there they are, back above again. i could do this all day long. now they're below, now they're above, now they're below. the key of the direction of crude today likely to occur at 10:30 eastern when the energy department releases its weekly look at oil and gas inventories. jeff bezos announcing plans for his space company to begin passenger flights by the year 2018. that's right, just two years ago. this is the first time that bezos has put a start date on commercial flight. he's aiming to start paying astronauts by 2018. the company expects to build six new vehicles. no word yet on what tickets will cost, but bezos saying it will be competitive with richard branson's virgin galactic. now to politics. the so-called anti-establishment candidates continuing to dominate the polls. larry lindsey joins us now, his new book called "conspiracies of the ruling class: how to break their grip forever." when did you start writing this book? >> i started researching it at the beginning of the last year. >> researching what? >> i started researching the book, trying to find out why people were as angry as they were. thank you very much for the -- >> researching the book, conspiracies of the ruling class. >> whatever you joke about sales, folks, just so you know what's going on. and what i found, i read a lot of what i used to think of as fringe literature, but a lot of it was spot-on. i think a lot of the criticisms of the accomplishment are correct and that's what i detailed in the book. i try to give an explanation for why people feel the way they are. i also suggest that, you know, maybe if people are angry, there are some constructive things you actually want the next president to do. and that's what they should focus on. who is going to actually bring about the kind of change people are looking for? >> so what are people angry about? what were some of the biggest conspiracies you found? >> the two big ones are, first of all, i would call it social engineering. the one thing that defines the ruling class is that they think they know how to run your life better than you do. and you know, being treated like a child is enough to make people angry. now, if they were actually doing a good job, we might forgive them, but they're doing a lousy job. i detail in the book, you know, all the big efforts that are going on. for example, on inequality, inequality has risen and risen and risen. we're now moving 17% of all personal income through transfer payments. inequality moved -- rose faster under obama than it did under george bush. inequality moved more, increased more under clinton than it did under reagan. so the people who are shouting about inequality the most aren't doing the right thing. or infrastructure. we all want better roads. do you know -- joe, i know, has a driveway, i have a driveway. >> got one. >> you have a driveway. the government, the federal government spends more per foot building and maintaining its roads than we do on our driveway. two-thirds more. now, you know, the world should work with economies of scale, right? >> but also they get a lot more use. my driveway doesn't get that much traffic and it doesn't have 18-wheelers driving over it. >> so you have to import all the asphalt and little, little trucks, you have to bring in the roller and everything else. there ought to be -- the real problem, it turns out, and i think a lot of people have identified it as such, is federal government contracting rules, which don't go to the -- or education. you know, we're at the top of the league in spending, we're near the bottom of the league in output. so, you know, they're doing a bad job and they're treating us like children. that's a pretty lethal combination. >> and i was thinking that this does work for both parties, larry. that's what we talked about off-camera a little bit, the establishment of the democratic party, the establishment of the republican party. with the democrats, what gets me is that out of all -- and we always say, every presidential election, these are the two best people in the whole country that we have? where are -- this great country, where -- but the democrats, all the up and coming, these young, fiery guys, they settle on hillary clinton? that's the best they can come up with? and on the republican side, what gets me is, what you just said, people don't want to be told what they need to do. the republican establishment at this point thinks they know how to pick a candidate better than the voters. and they're going to ram it down, no matter what happens, they don't seem to understand, you aren't a kingmaker. >> well, they're not kingmakers. they are not going to ram anything down. >> they're trying, though. they can't believe that the voters aren't listening to what they want to do. >> well, some sproirt. the voters have said something else. 80% of the delegates chosen so far are either trump or cruz, who are the two anti-establishment candidates. and in the end, you can't control a convention. there are no superdelegates in the republican party. the winner of the primaries going forward is going to be the nominee. and i'm not sure who exactly that's going to be. >> right. >> but the winner of the primary is going to be the nominee. >> but there's meetings and back offices with pacs and money and ads. they're trying to make sure that they -- they don't like what's ha happening, right? >> well, if you're losing, you don't like what's happening. you mentioned the word money, and i know that's bernie sanders' push, money control politics. >> but money doesn't matter this year. >> if anything was proven this year, bush would have been the nominee, and clinton should have mopped up by now. so i don't think money is what drives -- the voters still control it, thank goodness. that's the good news. >> voters are angry. let's say an anti-establishment candidate wins. will that make them happy? >> well, actually, that's a big theme in the book. "conspiracies of the ruling class." i think what it really depends on is whether the winner makes the substantiative changes that need to be made to bring back power to the people. what's been happening for the last hundred years is power has moved from the localities to washington. and within washington, from elected people to unelected people. >> that's jack's point. >> that's my point. >> you know, one of the examples that i give in the book, think about the fcc and the internet. we had five unelected people vote 3-2 to give themselves control of the internet. without ever checking with anyone elected now, i'm not talking about the merits of the decision. >> actually, barack obama pushed that, though. it came basically from the president's mouth, to the fcc. >> yes, but normally, the way things should work, according to the constitution, is congress should have said, fcc, you now have power over the internet. that's what democracy is all about. having five unelected people give themselves more power, which is operationally how it happened, you know, isn't the right way to go. another example, congress passed a law, like the clean water act. it says, epa shall control navigable water ways. now, we all know what the word "navigable" means, it means something you can navigate, something you can put a boat on. not in the epa's mind. you can have a drainage ditch on the side of your suburb and now your town has to go to epa to get a permit to repair the road. this is a power grabby the unelected. we have to bring it back at least to the elected representatives. >> is there one place where i can see a lot of these different instances that you're talking about or i can read about it? >> joe, i'm glad you asked that question! by far, the best set of examples is -- >> is where? >> is in this book. >> there you go, you barely got two in, larry. >> larry was telling us the. >> congratulations for writing us when you started. let's face it, he was ahead of the curve. >> i'm part of the -- look, i was a fed governor, a harvard professor, serving three white houses, i can't say -- no, i'm just a little guy out on the street, i'm part of the ruling class. but what i saw after all those years is what was going on and that's what i try to detail in the book. >> congratulations on being out in front of it. >> thank you. >> larry, always great to see you. >> great to see you. >> they told you, you've got to say the word "book" twice. i had to drag it out of you. >> and what about greg abbott supporting cruz so vehemently, having been his boss and everything else -- how do you feel about cruz? >> well, i'm not endorsing -- >> you're a texas man. >> no, no, i'm not. i'm a native new yorker -- >> but you hang out in texas a lot. >> i do. and i've known both ted and -- i've known actually most of the candidates. and i really do think there was a lot of quality on the ballot that may not have been the right people, who people wanted, but i think there's a lot of quality out there. i think ted is a genius. there's no question about it. when larry tribe says you're the smartest student i've ever had, and he's no conservative, believe me, that's a tribute to him. >> stop right there. thank you. i don't want any "buts" coming out of you. >> there's no "buts." >> nobody needs that. >> thank you, larry lindsey. >> thanks, jackson. >> great book. >> book, book, book. coming up, much more from our guest host, jack welch, including his take on the future of education. and whether hillary -- you want to talk about whether she gets indicted. he doesn't want it to happen. stay tuned. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. another look at the futures. they're still higher. dow futures up by about 89 points above fair value. s&p futures by 10.5. the nasdaq up by 22. after yesterday's losses, the dow is on track for a dow week. that would be the first time in after three weeks of gains. >> our guest host this morning is jack welch, executive chairman of the jack welch management institute. we want to talk about that, jack. do you want to talk about that now or do you want to talk about, you know, what we were talking about with comey, loretta lynch, hillary, things like that? >> there's lots of things you can talk about. but if you just spend a minute on school, if you would, where we're going to go over 1,200 students this semester. it's extremely excited to see the growth, still 40% a year. and the outcomes are just fabulous. and we get reports every week of another promotion somebody got, something happening. it is so exciting. now, it's taken them 30 months to get this, normally, on average, but they are killing themselves to get this degree. and they are earning, from the degree, real rewards in the workplace. we have a mission and every faculty member has that mission, change the lives of our students. they live it every day and it's happening. and the student response is incredible. but when you get a michigan around student success, and you get an nps school, which is a net promoter school, which tells you the satisfaction, and everyone is measured about how the students feel about the school. >> and the faculty. >> and how they feel about the faculty. and the faculty drives that, it's the most exciting. it's where education is going. more and more online. more -- we've got to make education more available, more affordable. i mean, our economic proposition is $39,000, you keep your job versus $300,000 and you give up your job. i mean, and you take two years off from the workplace and your career. and that economic proposition can go all the way down to trade schools, to all kinds of schools. >> by the way, it's flexibility, too. to be able to take the courses outside of -- >> and when you need them, when you want them. >> where do most of these students come from? where are you finding them? >> we're finding them -- linkedin is one of our real sources of -- >> that's interesting. >> students. >> but also, word of mouth now. these come from all the great companies. if you look at all the companies they're at, they're all coming from the big name brands. whether it's a ge or home depot or procter & gamble, you name it. and they're coming from there. boeing. so -- but i think the more important point is, education has got to change. the teachers have got to be aligned with the students. right now education, no matter where you go, take care of the faculty. the students happen to be a detail who will bring the money in to support the administration, which is piling up, vice dean, deans. because you see more deans per square inch in universities than anywhere else. and that overhead is just being passed on to the students. and kids are getting crippled with debt. >> right. even in -- i see it, though, everywhere. it's not just public schools. it's not just k-12 tor high schools. it's academia, it's private colleges. it's across the board. it's almost like you can go and sort of earn your living for the rest of your life without really doing anything, almost, right? >> tenure is the worst invention that was ever brought up. where else do you have tenure? it's crazy. >> right. >> and you know, you talk about bernie sanders out there with big money. who's hillary clinton's biggest supporter or one of her biggest supporters? the teachers' union, pumping the money in. pumping the money in. millions and millions of dollars. >> but which academics have failed to tell everyone under 30 that socialism has had a bad outcome, usually? where were they? >> well, you're hard-pressed to find a school where your kids have gone that they're not being just drilled -- >> it's happening with my kids. >> by that left-wing staff. >> it's unbelievable. >> i know. why'd i write that book with my daughter, "teacher said what." >> was that five years ago? >> it was five, six years ago. >> what was the name of that book? >> "your teacher said what." and it's worse now, what i'm hearing. and sometimes my kids channel some of my opinions and they're getting bullied because of some of my opinions. they teach global warming now in curriculum and you have to answer the questions down the line on this. and i'm like, what am i supposed to do with that? what do i -- i'm not sure. >> i have yet to find in my eight kids and ten grandchildren anybody who's come home and told a conservative story, from a school. that's 18 different experiences at different levels. >> about entrepreneurialship or individual achievement. >> not one. not one. not one. >> that's where it's coming from. it's from -- amazing. anyway, maybe we will get to -- >> yeah, we can get to the candidates and what do you think about them? people talk about the republicans hope that hillary clinton gets indicted. >> right. >> i'm thankful that loretta lynch is there, a political appointment. >> she'll never do it. >> she'll never get indicted. but if you indict her, the republicans better worry about what they wish for. they'll get joe biden on a white horse coming in and in his carriage will be elizabeth warren as vice president. and that will be one hell of a tough ticket to beat. because she'll bring bernie's vote s wi votes, and joe is a likable fellow. forget how smart he is or how smart he isn't. he's just likable. good old joe. >> so you think hillary's beatable, but that ticket's much tougher. >> that ticket's much tougher. and republicans better watch what they're wishing for. >> you crafty old dog, to think it through that far. thank you. up next, jim cramer joins our conversation with jack. we'll be talking about stocks as we mark the seventh anniversary of the bull market. the best-performing sector since the march 9th 2009 low, consumer discretionary, the worst-perf m worst-performing area is energy, probably no surprise there. stay tuned, "squawk box" will be right back. oh really? when down a point, you serve an ace 5.8 times more than other top players. you sound like a coach. i am not. but i can customize training programs based on biomarker data. watson, that's pretty impressive. you might say i am the serena williams of cloud-based cognitive systems. nah, i wouldn't go that far. let's get down to the new york stock exchange. jim cramer joins us. he has seen an improvement just across the board mostly except in the pockets where there's a lot of weakness since the last time he was on on the economy. >> it's a joy to listen to jack because as always jack comes with commonsense ideas on how we can make the country greater, and they're not hard. i always find myself in total agreement. i always try to find daylight between us to have something to add. i got into tv because of jack's, i would say, encouragement. there's nothing like you or the wife. suck it up, jack. is there any difference between the way i have felt between today and 20 years ago? >> i love you, jim. >> you're the best. you're just the best. i get so optimistic. it helps. you have to realize things are happening. people can really become their own ceo. they really can become something in this country. it's a joy to listen to, and thank you. >> what piece of corporate -- what tidbit across the landscape did you see today that you said, wow, that's interesting? >> well, i've got to tell you. i'm kind of convinced that there's a lot of people who think we're peak auto, peak cell phone, peace housing. what i s what i see is there's a cycle. oil is in a little bit of trouble. i was looking at the michigan results. there are people who are voting who believe that the japanese did not de valle you the yen, we would have a fighting chance for that industry, and i'm not a tariff guy. i'm not a guy who says protectionism. but i think the business leaders should be a little more sensitive to the japanese flooding our country with cars because that's what that vote was about last night. >> we'll take a break. >> thanks. >> we'll have the final election call when we come right back. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. our guest host this morning is jack welch, executive chairman of the jack welch management institute. what's the saying? we're linki inliving in interes times. we certainly are. just being a tv type, i'm kind of enjoying this election season. >> it's the most exciting riveting election season ever. we also say it's the most important. this one really is because we've had eight years of squeezing this whole economy down, transfer payments as larry pointed out. >> 17, yeah. >> i've got story after story of people not wants to go to work because of transfer payments. joe, $21 is the equal in new york, kentucky, and new jersey. $21 is the break even for a single parent with two children. stay home or get $22 an hour. >> an hour. >> but then you have to go hire help. >> get dressed, shower, child care. >> we have a business i talked about before earlier where they put pavers in and lighting around your house, storm walls. >> side 1. >> side 1. they're coming up with all kinds of products that don't require that much labor to make that pretty easy wall because the installers can't find labor because labor won't come to work. i told you before. i can't get anybody for $14 an hour, i can't get them. >> we've heard the same story from homebuilders who say they can't get anyone to hang the drywall. >> yeah. these transfer payments. these elections are critical. on the democratic side, let's talk about their content. one's a socialist and one's a semisocialist, it's crazy. who wants to do more of this? more of this. we're killing our country. on the right side, we've had a lot of good candidates. i happen to have landed on ted cruz some time ago. i believe he's best for jobs, best for freedom, and best for security. the supreme court decision is very important to me, very important to me. and i'm glad the democrats are saying -- republicans are saying they're going to hang on do. you think they'll hang on, joe? >> i don't know with the supreme court. but next time you use your analogy, i'll give you my joke. we've got on the one hand an aging raving socialist with hair all ore the place and then bernie sanders. try that next time. >> jack, thanks so much for coming in. >> i hope we've captured somebody on the idea of form and substance in these debates. look at the substance of the democratic debate. >> great to see you. >> that's it for today. join us tomorrow. right now it's time for "squawk on the street." ♪ the michigan fight song after a big night for politics last night. good wednesday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla along with

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