watch the ten-year, near 2.3 now. fedex does miss expectations, cuts guidance. shares are down sharply in the premarket. >> we'll have a cnbc exclusive with hewlett-packard's meg whitman. >> and the stage is set for what could end in the merger of the world's two biggest beermakers. first up, so much going on one day after that rally on wall street. the fed kicking off that two-day meeting today with a decision on rates due tomorrow. possibly the first rate hike in about nine years. one barometer of the economy, fedex missing with quarterly earnings and cutting its full year guidance. sabmiller receiving a takeover approach from anheuser busch inbev. you have been busy. this is not something we have been unaware of. many of us have been chasing it so a certain extent. we'll get into more detail later, that anheuser busch, they did not want this to leak out the way it did. the time clock has started under uk takeover law. they have 28 days to make an offer. there is financing, the family which owns 28%. the offer has not yet been made. again, we'll go through a lot of the other names here, carl. there's a lot moving. anheuser busch is moving. s sab, altria moving. a lot of moving parts. it's not a done deal by any means, but one of the largest of all time. >> you will talk with chris albrecht of starz later today. jim what are your thoughts out west? >> these are deals so positive it makes me want to say, okay f the fed does something you don't want that hurts the market, circle back to molson coors. why? molson coors will be the new con te constellation. the justice department would demand that -- of the -- that tap gets the miller take. s cerona merging? this was a three-way olygopoly. you get this deal going, another place go is shine. the one not involved is the winner. >> fascinating. in terms of -- we'll knock around the fed this morning and later on tomorrow morning while we await the decision. there's a growing sense, jim, that the market is prepared for what they're calling a dovish hike. fed rate hike not likely to spook the economy. i doubt that's a headline would have written. >> absolutely not. i'm listening to steve liesman this morning. when you see 50/50 about what people think they will do, it means someone who borrowed a lot of money is about to be on the wrong side of the trade. we lived through the idea that it's not the fed that matters, it's your fellow shareholders or renters on the wrong side of the trade. the treasuries, that's china continuing to sell in order to prop that market up in the last hour, a shameful act. but, you know what? they'll have to keep doing some propping if the fed raises. >> jim, we'll get to hewlett-packard and comb back to the news this morning. jim joining us from san francisco where, by my count, it's 6:04 in the morning. i guess it is for meg whitman as well. hewlett-packard making news at the analyst meeting yesterday saying it would slash up to 30,000 more jobs as the company seeks to cut $2.7 billion in costs. that work force reduction is in addition to previously announced job cuts that amounted to about 55,000 over the last few years. here to give us more details on how the company plans to restructure and what to expect in the future, following the split that's less than two months away is chairman and ceo meg whitman. always a pleasure to have you. early in the morning. i would love to start with the job cuts, of course which are getting significant headlines across the country. why the need to cut another 30,000 jobs from hp enterprises? >> yesterday we got a chance to lay out for the first time the strategy of the two new companies. hewlett-packard enterprise and hp inc. i think people generally peeking were pleased with the strategy and the overall story for the two companies. you're right, on hewlett-packard enterprise we have one more restructuring, that's because the market is changing so fast in technology. it's remarkable what's happening as new technologies come in, we have to restructure the labor fo force to low-cost locations and much more automation. and a strong enterprises services is important to hewlett-packard enterprise strategy because we are pivoting to more solutions-led selling around the needs that our customers have most, in terms of transformation to a hybrid infrastructure or cloud environment. these cuts are never easy but it's the right thing to do because we have to get to the next phase of the hp journey. if you think of the cuts the last four years they were mostly to help us get a cost structure in line with the revenue trajectory. we're saying revenues will grow next year. so this now can be about margin expansion. that's got to be part of the story. >> right. i heard you say it, the next phase of the hp journey. usually we start off many interviews with this question. will that actually involve growth -- >> yes. >> if the economy stays where it is now. >> for hewlett-packard we said there will be growth next year in constant currency. we feel confident about that because we have an incredible innovation pipeline in enterprise group, enterprise services we said would be down negative 2% to flat in constant currency. by the way, enterprise group has staged a remarkable turnaround in the last three years. they grew 9% in constant currency in the third quarter, probably the fastest growth rate in the last four, five years. we're optimistic about the growth. >> you know, to be fair, meg, i think we've done interview now for the last four years. i think at the outset you anticipated that there would be growth prior to this. i don't want to take away from the accomplishments the company has seen the last few years, but you never quite got there in growth what gives you the confidence you'll be right this time? >> first of all, i think separating these two companies is the exactly the right thing to do. one of the things that came through, i think yesterday, was that, you know, it's amazing -- these are two entirely different businesses. hewlett-packard enterprise is solutions led, enterprise selling. hp inc is a fantastic volume business. one printer a second. they're entirely different businesses. as you know, the pc business and the printing business has been very volatile over the last four years. the focus, the competitive sharpness, the ability to have the right capital structure for these two companies will help quite a bit. listen, technology has been -- our industry goes through these big tectonic plate shifts every 10, 15 years. the last 5 years has been no exception. it's hard to forecast in markets that are as changing and as fast as ours. i think we have a good handle on this. you never say never. the economy can fall out of bed. anything could happen. he would feel good about our product lineup, our services lineup, our go to market strengths which i think will stand us in good stead for fy16. >> that's funny. we have you here. the global economy certainly a concern to many investors, whether it be china or europe. 65% of your sales are outside the u.s. what are you seeing now when it comes to china, meg, and then europe? >> china is a -- it's a slowing economy from what we can tell. what i will say is we're doing quite well in china now. you recall we announced a joint venture for our enterprise business with xinhua in china our server business is doing well there. our networking business is in a resurgence. but the economy is tough there now. the other hot spot is russia. hp has an exposure to russia. we have a big russia business between hp inc and what will become hewlett-packard enterprises. europe is up and down. some quarters you feel quite bullish, then you take a step back. i will say i think the strongest economy in europe from our perspective is the uk. the austerity work, now coming out of that, i think david cameron and his government have done a remarkable job on setting that economy on the right foot. >> jim has a question. >> jim cramer here. >> hey. >> when i looked at the analysts, i said enterprises seems okay, kind of the same as when we talked to you last. i was surprised that hp looks like it will be valued at level that's so dramatically lower than any other hardware company that i'm attracted to, particularly with what you're giving is a good balance sheet. can you speak to the idea that maybe hp is not as bad as we thought it was about a year ago? >> well, listen, i think one of the underlying thesis of this split was we'll be more focused on the businesses, but each company ought to trade at a slightly higher multiple at least over time when we continue to execute. the competitors for hewlett-packard enterprise trades -- the conglomerate discount is significant. when you take hp inc, the printing company, when you look at lexmark, they trade at higher multiples. so this may be correct at the time of the split or a few months after that. but we have to execute. the markets have to cooperate. we have to do our jobs. i think we're excited about the possibility and the potential for value creation for shareholders. >> meg -- >> fortune asked you what your point of pride was so far. and their quote was we have not done anything stupid in the last four years. is that the standard by which you think you should be judged? >> that was a misquote. the question that was asked to me was are you going to make a large high multiple acquisition. and i said, listen, we have not done anything stupid in the last four years, i doubt we'll do something stupid in that realm in the next four years. that was specifically about big acquisitions. no. the thing i'm proudest about is reigniting the innovation engine at hp. that's who we are as a company. that's the legacy of the company. you look at our innovation pipeline and enterprise group, strategic enterprise services, we're the second largest security company in the world. very few people know that we have 5,000 security professionals that step into very difficult situations every day. on the hp inc side, we have sprout, our immersive computing offering, great laptops and the future on 3-d print which we weren't doing much on four years ago. so i'm much proudest about the innovation engine we reignited here and the fact that we reestablished trust with partners and customers. >> meg, your free cash flow is bounditiful, maybe less than what some analysts were expecting. i need to hear something about dividends. i totally understand the growth strategies, but are these something that a retail investor might want? while you're waiting for the companies to grow, you'll give them good dividends. >> yes what we said when we announced the split is the dividends of the two companies would be equal to or greater than the dividend of the company as a whole today. the higher dividend yield company will be hp inc. they announced yesterday they would return cash to share holders between 50% to 70% of free cash flow. a very healthy dividend. hewlett-packa hewlett-packard enterprise will have about $400 million in dividends. both of these companies will return cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchase. >> meg, one of your frequent critics has been jim chanos, the noted short seller, he was guest last week on "squawk box." he rebuts some of the assertions you're making. listen to what he had to say last week, and then respond. >> okay. >> hewlett-packard's basically a backwards looking company. >> even with the new breakoffs? >> the breakoff is financial engineering. it's more of the same. it's more of the same nonsense. tell me new product that hewlett has got that people are excited about. cybersecurity? no. 3-d printing? no. all these things that keep getting launched up in silicon valley, hewlett-packard misses. >> meg? >> so, i just think he's wrong on that dimension. this split is not financial engineering. there may be value to shareholders embedded on that, but this is about defining the future and focus. we have announced a 3-d printing technology that's ten times faster, higher quality, better cost. and that product comes out in '16. on the enterprise side, we're leading in all flash away we have our next generation of servers. got aruba, our wireless networking product. so i actually disagree with him. i think we've done a remarkable job of reigniting this innovation engine and bringing things to market that customers want. you can see the evidence in our results. the -- while revenue is still shrinking slightly, this is a big change from four years ago where it was close to high single digits. if we did not have the foreign currency impact we would be doing better. these big turnarounds take time. my view is that separate in these two companies will be the right thing for shareholders and the right thing for customers. and, you know, i think high pressure in many respects is back and back in a healthy and good way for silicon valley. >> finally, meg, in retrospect, you had nothing to do with this decision, it's an issue in the presidential campaign. was the compaq merger a mistake? >> listen, what the compaq merger did was give us a bigger position in pcs and a bigger position in servers. it was very controversial at the time. i'm not intimately familiar with what happened there, but i'm pleased by our position in servers. we have a great franchise in pcs. you never know about these things. my view is -- someone said earlier on your program that acquisitions have been a failure at hp and there certainly have been some problematic ones, but there's been some good ones 3com, aruba i think will be a big success. it's a mixed bag, but it's not quite fair to say every acquisition has been a problem because there's been some very good ones. >> that's true. that was a company-defining deal that was not a smaller one or a tuck in. that defined the future of the company. >> absolutely. >> ending november 1st when the split will take place. meg will join us right here on november 2nd. >> i will. >> when the opening bell rings. we'll see you then, meg. thank you very much for joining us this morning. appreciate it. >> all right. thank you very much. >> meg whitman, chairman and ceo of hewlett-packard, still one company right now. >> busy morning. when we come back a closer look at the megamerger of the home of budweiser and imbev. shares of ua outperforming nike. the feed meeting gets underway. c debate tonight. it took joel silverman years to become a master dog trainer. but only a few commands to master depositing checks at chase atms. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank. futures steady as the rest of the globe tries to catch up to our rally yesterday. the fed going into the two-day meeting with the first negative print on cpi since january. we'll get cramer's mad dash and the opening bell after the break. ve active management can protect capital long term. active management can tap global insights. active management can take calculated risks. active management can seek to outperform. because active investment management isn't reactive. it's active. that's the power of active management. i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? just about seven minutes to the opening bell. let's get cramer's mad dash coast to coast here. i know you want to talk fedex. the guidance, the miss, some of fred smith's comments. >> fred smith is an economist who runs a transport economy. i've been watching the transport index thinking it was bottoming. yesterday u.p.s. was strong. the comments out of fedex, the core business is not that good. if you were the fed and watched what fred smith had to say, you have to say, geez, how much do we have to cut to make the core business better. i find it interesting to listen to this stuff about the fed. all i hear about is listen, we have to get started somewhere. maybe you believe that. you know what? if you have to get started somewhere, you don't want to own a stock like fedex or maybe you don't want to own a lot of stocks. the fundamentals that are declining are indicative that there's slowing throughout the chain. a lot of stocks are cheap, but don't con fees things. those who say we can have a fed hike, are they listening to people like fred smith? they don't bother to watch what companies are saying. this fedex is bad news. all of those who look at the gainers since the august lows, transports at the top of the list, gas prices down 4 in cpi, that's not enough? >> look, the valuations are really amazing. forever instance, the railroads. union pacific, my favorite rail that trades at the lowest it has traded at in years. i totally get what you're saying which is the transports have been great on the rebound because oil has collapsed again. all i'm saying is when i read the part of the weakness that is fedex, i think the broader economy can't be that great. the fact is that if we just buy things on valuations, the transports remain the cheapest. that's not the way people go. people want netflix. they wanted to own amazon. no one seems to want to buy value. i think a fed rate hike will not make people want to buy value any more than it is now. >> we'll find out more tomorrow. we will get the opening bell in just about four and a half minutes. don't go away. here at td ameritrade, they work hard. wow, that was random. random? no it's all about understanding patterns like the mail guy at 3:12 every day or jerry, getting dumped every third tuesday. this happens every third tuesday. we have pattern recognition technology on any chart, plus over 300 customizable studies to help you anticipate potential price movement. there's no way to predict that. for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. opening bell in about 90 seconds on a busy day where we have a gop debate tonight. a two-day fed meeting, a downgrade of japan over at s&p, overnight saying they do not think that abonomics will help reverse their deterioration. >> i don't want to hear that, the only way out for them is -- they don't have the demographic growth, is to continue to make the jen cheaper. that's not what they've been doing. the yen has gotten stronger versus the dollar. when i hear these things, i say look out american industrials. the reason why these stocks have been acting so terribly is either people expect the euro to have another down leg, it sounds like that the eurozone is willing to do that or japan have another down leg. think about the prospects if you're gm or ford. cars get more expensive by the day because of these manipulations in currency. >> wow. >> a lot of research out today. a few upgrades of note. link link linkedin, jpmorgan upping hershey. ge upping the focus at credit suisse. >> all have the same tone, we've been underperforming so let's buy. very frustrating from ge. hershey was the worst in the food group. it was the highest value. that's all about stocks being low. people want to pick bottoms. >> there's the s&p, at the bottom of your screen. at the big board, newly clowned miss america 2016, betty c cantrell. at the nasdaq, s & w seed compan company. >> let's get to the beer story if you will. it's a long story and a big story as you might imagine this morning. i think worth hitting right now. sab early this morning coming out with a press release saying it's been contacted by ab inbev, budweiser, anheuser-busch saying it will make an offer for the company. that offer has yet to be received. anheuser-busch confirming it intends to make an offer but only one recommended by the board. it's not going to with a hostile offer of any kind. so a clock has begun on the uk takeover law, 28 days a number of cancellations, strangely enough at analyst conferences and the like, sparked speculation about this yesterday. altria canceled, last week bud's cfo replaced. all of this has given way to speculation of this potential deal under which sabmiller would be purchased by ab inbev. there's an awful lot that has to happen over the next 28 days in order for this to potentially come to fruition, including the offer being made. analysts are saying it could be 42 pounds, perhap 4s 45. you have two significant shareholder here's who may want more stock, they are altria, which owns 27% of sabmiller, and then the santo domingo family at 14%. they have significant board representation. they're going to be represented by the same bankers as sab's board. so, this is going to be looked at in a complete fashion by that board, including the opinions of its two most important share holders and the board members they have. nothing says they will get there, depending on what the price is, and whether or not it's acceptable to them in terms of structure and price. also, of course, huge dive divestitures have to take place. 58% of it is owned by sabmiller that has to be sold. conceively molson coors will step up and buy it, so they're up 11%. and not to mention in china, latin america, the point being there's an enormous amount of divestitures have to take place. 50 billion to 60 billion pounds of finance has to be done, depending on the cash consideration. will it be 80/20 or 70/30. it's not something that can't be done. most importantly, we may get a sign in 28 days as to whether or not sab is cooperative or is unwilling. because it is up to them whether they want to extend by two weeks and then another two weeks conceivably that timeline for anheuser busch, for ab inbev to make it's formal offer. if they do that, we'll know they're perhaps interested in receiving that offer if they cut it off after 28 days, we'll know it's a different reception that any bid, if and when it finally get there's will receive upon getting there. an enormous amount to take place no shortage of people this morning who think they've thought about this for an awful long time. rates may be ready to move up, at least in a slight way very soon. and therefore it is now time to make their move. even with all the divestitures h that have to take place, it's not a done deal. >> these are vicious competitors. i can tell you with my little dealings with a tavern that has to deal with beer companies, these guys are cut throat. they're worried about craft beers. this is an obvious need. t.a.p., molson has not had the growth people want. valuation was high going into this. people suspected there could be a deal. the only company in the whole industry that has real growth is constellation, that's because they got the gift from the justice department to buy naming rights in the u.s. you're right, gross margin also go up, but do not forget the way this industry has changed because of the power of these ipa's, which i find undrinkable. it feels like i'm drinking cheerios, but i'm old. >> you brought it up, constellation, a great analogy, jim. that was an important deal to happen to get the deal done with anheuser-busch, and the t.a.p. deal getting done. many people think that's automatic. they want to do that. so it will conceivably happen. other divestitures will be more difficult. it's a big, big number. we're on our way. the clock is ticking. october 14th is when they have to have a formal offer. unless sab extends the clock. the santo domingos and altria will be extremely important. altria has become more constructive on at idea, when you look at the comments of its coo over time, they do seem to have at least opened the door, if not opened it wide to the idea. this was the most recent comments. we regularly evaluate our investment. we believe maintaining the asset is our share holders best interest. we're well aware of speculation that's been going on respecting global beer consolidation, how that might affect our investment in sabmiller. our goal has always been, and remains to manage this inve investment in a way that delivers the best to value and altria's shareholders. we'll be following that closely. >> my only concern is that people who are buying molson coors, understand that took is overvalued without the deal. people who buy constellation, you'll be fine. the last quarter was magnificent. people who buy altria, rest in peace, so to speak. the company is doing incredibly well. >> meantime, jim, we said earlier, you're in san francisco for the dream force conference. oracle tonight. sun trust upping them to a buy saying some of the long-term potential is being clouded by confusion over the emerging cloud business. what is your view going into oracle tonight and then crm later? >> look, oracle, this is mark herd. larry elson is just buying more properties. oracle is in a clamation death match with sales force. when you read the conference calls, all oracle does is mention cloud, cloud, cloud. mark bennyhoff just likes to talk about triumph. >> you are going to hang out with the foo fighters, that's the big -- >> yeah, why not? they asked to hang out with me because they're big fans of "squawk on the street." >> yes. with all that, guys -- hp up 3%. dow up 34. some big integrated oil companies leading the charge. company the best performing dow component. is pisani good? should we go to bob? bob, good morning. i guess he's not. we can tap dance for a couple more minutes. you mentioned hewlett-packard up almost 3%. there seems to be a positive reaction to yesterday's meeting. in particular the plan to cut $2.7 billion. we heard from meg whitman on it. something we didn't get to that's interesting and a reflection of what's going on broadly speaking in the economy, they're moving a lot of these jobs. not just getting rid of jobs in the u.s., but a lot of them will be in places like bulgaria, costa rica which is somewhat scary for the likes of our work force here, carl. >> 60% of employees at enterprise will be in low-cost locations by 2018. >> yeah. >> interesting to hear meg this morning as well saying we think we have a handle on this. but the economy could fall out of bed. anything could happen. we asked her every time whether this is the end. clearly it hasn't been. >> it hasn't been. currency is also a key for them as it is for any number of companies that have more than 50% of sales overseas. should the dollar become stronger, hedges are starting to come off that will also be an impact. when she talks about growth, she has to do it in constant currency. if the dollar moves against them, that can be a head wind. >> let's get to bob pisani who i think is ready on the floor. we indeed ready. you're right, carl. it's energy that moves things. despite the fed what really has been moving the stock market is when oil moves around. today oil is trading towards the higher end of its recent range. so energy stocks are the leadership group. by quite a large margin. 1.4%. that's a healthy gain. that's one of the reasons we're seeing the dow jones industrial average up 45 points. consumer staples are doing okay. modest moves in health care. tech has been lagging. intel and some chips to the down side. in asia, the big rally in mainland china. you know the authorities have been trying to close down these illegal market trading accounts in the last few days. there's been estimates of a couple thousand of them, like $30 billion worth. illegal ones. there was a big rally overnight because there was some reports out that they may not close all of them. they may leave some of them open. some of them were run by big trust firms. it's all confusing. big rally in shenzhen, nikkei was under a bit of pressure. a down grad over japan at sap sap. japan lagging a bit. if you look at emerging market countries, all doing well on the backs of the big move up in china the fxi, the hong kong-based big cap chinese stocks. brazil is up nicely. the eem, the largest of the emerging markets etfs up about 2%. europe is at the high end of trading for the month. germany, france, that's the ftse 100, the uk. all trading towards the high end. up nicely today. you can call it, if you want. the fed stock rally. i talked about this yesterday. traders felt a good part of yesterday's move up was traders front running the fed. we have known for years that markets tend to rise in the 24 hours before the federal reserve announcement, fomc meeting. there are eight on the year. 2013, a paper was published by some fed officials that quantified this overall effect. so the s&p 500 is up an average of 0.49% in the 24 hours before an fomc announcement. this was a huge piece of news on the trading desk. this is the most important point they came to. this accounts for 80%, these eight times a year gains, accounts for 80% of the annual realized excess stock returns in the s&p 500. this got huge play on trading deb desks. the paper concluded that there were no similar effects in treasuries. they also noticed no similar affects in any other kind of macro economic news like the gdp. this seem s to be a unique effect. they saw some modest effect in other stock markets, but the biggest one was with the s&p 500. so there is some clear quantitative announcement that that kind of effect is real. the dow is up 40 points. back to you. >> we're watching some of these yields and the curve. let's get to the bond pits. let's get to rick santelli. >> is the deserve party over? i think it is. some of the people speaking up to nor rate increase are those that will most be affected. the big banks, big banks, they've enjoyed this. lots of business and access to capital that many don't. i think too big to fail banks speak out against it, the more i know they're doing the right thing. let's look at some charts quickly. april of 2011, last time two years were here. we finally broke out. was yesterday about a fed implication? that was the catalyst, but why people either got in or out, it could be as simple as we closed over 74 1/2 and it was buy, stop, close onlys. june of 2015, that's the last time the three-year note yields were up here. august -- early august of this year for five-year yields. now two charts on tens. the two-day. i could have shown the two-day of twos, threes, fives, 30s. they all look exactly the same. the move yesterday stuck. that is significant. we could talk about the reasons, we can get into the granular. is this a repo event, because the money from the gses has not greased the gears. all of the above. easy money has created a dynamic. we can explain it nine ways from sunday. let's look at july of this year. last time 30 year yields were up here. august of this year, you can see bund yields have not popped to the best levels, highest levels, but it's getting close and the spread is constant around 150. we know what s&p did to japan, maybe janet yellen and stan fisher are watching now. look at a 20-year chart of ten-year jgbs, nothing but straight down. has it fixed their economy? i rest my case. david faber, back to you. >> thank you very much, rick santelli. look at stars of starz. a story late yesterday indicating it was in talks with amc, that sparked the stock to an increase of almost 6%. you can see it there. up a bit more after hours. i'll have a chance to sit down with chris albrecht in about an hour from now. hear what he has to say about that and the changing landscape of media. we're back on "squawk on the street" after this. 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. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. they come into this iworld ugly and messy. ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. but under the proper care, they become something beautiful. i had a couple of tech giants on, elon musk on, the ceo of uber. when he was here, he said apple is working on a driverless car. >> i read that. >> he's already given it away. you guys aren't big on secrets. tell me about it. come on. cat's out of the bag. here, i'll have tape you while you talk about it. >> we look at a number of things along the way. and we decide to really put our energy energies in a few areas. >> apple's ceo tim cook put on the spot by colbert. colbert turning into a place where some of the titans of technology and business are having an answer for things. >> clearly a theme he's developing on his new show. yeah, with those three already. he's not a bad interviewer. in fact, he's a very good interviewer. >> yes, he is. maybe one of the best. jim, your thoughts on that, even as we start to get reviews of ios 9 and even "usa today" talking about the battery performance it will bring. >> i think that this is something that steve jobs always wanted to do later in life, which was to have a car. the car they wanted to do was not a driverless car. he wanted a car that runs on alternative fuel. the fuel he wanted is water. i would have gone there if i was colbert. i would like to hear about a break through to another kind of fuel, not just electric and battery. by the way, there's a note this morning, really important. deutsche bank raised its price target on nike. why? chinese sales. this is another company that points out before you write off america -- selling goods in china, nike is doing well. nike is a similar price point to some of the apple products which confirms what tim cook said. apple sales are strong in china. that matters. i want itv? where was colbert on itv? did he give him a pass on itv? >> you want a driverless water fueled car from apple? that's what you're looking for? >> am i really asking for too much at this point? we have all these unicorn companies that just deliver things. a lot of these things are just about delivering things. how about a car that runs on water is a car i'm a buyer of. >> rbc looks at the upgrade cycle for phones. it's 26 months now. it's gotten longer the upgrade cycle. their point is their upgrade program will help accelerate that turnaround. people getting new phones more often. >> when i say to own apple, not trade is, it's because analysts come up. all of a sudden they discover there's maybe a lot more demand for a new phone. they also came up with the idea that maybe there's demand for a watch. they know nothing. the analysts who govern this company are the ones -- they wake up in the morning, look at this. my apple watch, time to recommend apple. they look at the chart. the chart looks good. i understand tim cook's frustration. these analysts what do they do? they just say, eh, you know what? stock is moving up. let me come up with something. the apple watch. good. hey, i saw it on colbert, good. hold or buy. he was good on colbert. you can't make this stuff up. >> we will get stock trading with jim after the break. and there's no going back. lease the 2015 gs 350 with complimentary navigation system for these terms. see your lexus dealer. heart health's important... ...so you may... take an omega-3 supplement... ...but it's the ingredients inside that really matter for heart health. new bayer pro ultra omega-3 has two times the concentration of epa and dha as the leading omega-3 supplement. new bayer pro ultra omega-3. awe believe active management can protect capital long term. active management can tap global insights. active management can take calculated risks. active management can seek to outperform. because active investment management isn't reactive. it's active. that's the power of active management. (vo) wit runs on optimism.un on? it's what sparks ideas. moves the world forward. invest with those who see the world as unstoppable. who have the curiosity to look beyond the expected and the conviction to be in it for the long term. oppenheimerfunds believes that's the right way to invest... ...in this big, bold, beautiful world. i'm a gas service rep for pg&e in san jose.. as a gas service rep we are basically the ambassador of the company. we make the most contact with the customers on a daily basis. i work hand-in-hand with crews to make sure our gas pipes are safe. my wife and i are both from san jose. my kids and their friends live in this community. every time i go to a customer's house, their children could be friends with my children so it's important to me. one of the most rewarding parts of this job is after you help a customer, seeing a smile on their face. together, we're building a better california. time for cramer and the west coast edition of stop trading. was going talk about fitbit and the new deal with target. a big meeting at target and talking about giving employees fitbit. the key is a negative one. cowan comes out and lowers the price target for grubhub. competition from amazon to deliver food. many of these unicorns, they're about bringing you a cup of coffee, a burger, bringing you dinner. this is not -- this is the delivery economy. these companies, i don't know how much they're really worth. they're all competing with each oefr other. they're all just about taking a bicycle from point "a" to point "b." >> a big show tonight. >> we have a whole cruise ship of people out here for dream force. that's why we want marc benioff, and chuck robbins of cisco. had a great quarter. chuck is the newly minted ceo, he's done a lot of things right. why is the stock not moving? people hate tech. let's see if we can do something about it. >> that's a show right there. we will see you tonight. "mad money" at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. when we come back, breaking news on home builders sentiment. a lot more on busch busch, david will have chris albrecht of starz. the dow up just 12 points. buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda. when you do business everywhere, the challenges of keeping everyone working together can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at&t has the tools and the network you need, to make working as one easier than ever. virtually anywhere. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? i could get used to this. now you can, with the luxuriously transformed 2016 lexus es and es hybrid. ♪ the has unlimited access is thatto information,tion no matter where they are. the microsoft cloud gives our team the power to instantly deliver critical information to people, whenever they need it. here at accuweather, we get up to 10 billion data requests every day. the cloud allows us to scale up so we can handle that volume. we can help keep people safe; and to us that feels really good. at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping. good wednesday morning. welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with david hobbs. sara eisen is at underarmor investor day. she'll have an exclusive with underarmor ceo kevin plank during "power lunch." a tight range as we get ready for the fed statement tomorrow. the dow up about 13 points. oil is managing to step above 46. we'll watch that. and then check out fedex trading lower after first quarter results did miss estimates. the company cutting its profit forecast. conference call headlines coming in now. >> another data point. home builder sentiment from diana. >> home builder sentiment rose 1 point to 62 in september on the national association of home builder monthly index. 50 is the line between positive and negative territory. this is the highest reading since november of 2005. we've been in positive territory for over a year. the builders are reporting solid progress in the housing recovery, but they continue to say that there is a critical issue involving lots and labor and availability. fire traffic is still in negative territory. curre current sales rose, and the northeast was the only one in negative territory. we did see strong housing starts in july compared to june. we'll get the august monthly housing starts tomorrow morning. >> thank you very much, diana. according to the cnbc fed survey, market outlook at its lowest level since july of last year. there is some hope for next year. steve liesman is back at hq with more details on that exclusive survey before he goes down to washington. >> thanks. some good news, some bad news for you from our respondents to the cnbc fed survey. let's so he you what the new marks are for the s&p 500 for the end of this year. 2,032 is the mark we're at. let's look at 2016 forecast. 2159. so the story is this -- you do get a 9% bounce by the end of next year according to the average estimate here. but we don't recover the loss, we don't recover the old high until sometime in 2016. you can see this has come down as the market has come down. that pessimism has infused the forecast. on the other side you get relief when it comes to the rate outlook. they lowered the outlook for the ten-year to 2.4 from 2.6. you come over here, you look. it had been up nearly 3% that was the prior forecast for the end of this year. looking at 2016, we have come down from 3.5% now down below 3% is the projection for 2016. again, a lot of tightening, a lot of higher rate forecasts have come out of the estimates of other 51 respondents. just want to show you as well, is the market ready for a fed rate hike? 56% of respondents say, yes, it's baked into stocks. 60% say yes, it's baked into bonds. we already reported that this meeting is a live meeting. take a look. 49% say the fed will hike in september. that's the first time in our five-year history that respondents have said the hike would come in the current meeting. not some future meeting. 43% say no. a little bump up among those who don't know and who are unsure. you can read all about this on cnbc.com. >> reflecting that the economists think there will be a hike, the market pricing suggests not, steve. >> if i might, i did separate out economists from the noneconomists who respond. the economists tend to be a little more hawkish by about a month. but even the equity guys and the fixed income guys are predicting that hike, not september but october and november. >> steve, thank you very much. stocks remain mixed today on the dow and s&p hovering around the flat line. the nasdaq is just slightly negative as we go into the meeting with that decision tomorrow, 2:00 p.m. eastern. art hogan is the chief market strategist and ethan is with us. even small children should be able to recite the pros and continues of raising the rate at this meeting. i was trying to think forward to tomorrow, when we get there and how the market will react. whether we like it or not, there will be a basic question, is the fed in favor of risk assets? is it behind risk assets? is the most important central bank in the world prepared to move against them? fair, ethan? >> i think that actually -- i'm slightly inclined towards the equity market liking a rate hike from the fed. the reason is the equity market is looking at the fed and trying to get a sense of if they believe in the economy or not. hiking at this meeting would be a strong endorsement of the idea that they see momentum in the economy and they won't be dissuaded by volatility in overseas market. the markets could be upset by the withdrawal of liquidity of the fed. in the coming weeks, the equity market probably likes the fact that the fed endorsed the recovery. >> i imagine that you would agree with that, art, since you always said a rate rise would be symptomatic of animal spirits. importantly, art hogan, coming into this, the market is not pricing a rate hike tomorrow at all. it is pricing it, but not for the majority. that would suggest the fed, if it disbelieved that, might come out and attempt to correct that notion and it clearly is not signaling a correction on market assumptions. how important is that? >> i think what you refer to is what the fed funds rate is baking in to the probable of the market moving. what we like to think about is what has the market done in anticipation of this fed meeting. 46 billion out of equity, mutual funds, we shaved off $5.3 trillion in global equity valuations. part of that is the concern over the slowdown in china and the assumption that the fed will do something sooner rather than later what has the market priced in or baked in, part of what we've seen in this volatility of late is an assumption that the fed is going to lift off in september and they'll leave commentary that says we're data dependent but not going to see another interest rate rise until sometime in 2016. that's baked in the market probably has a positive reaction to that. >> to add to that, i would say that the broader markets also are pricing the fed in why is the dollar so strong unless the markets really believe in fed hiking? why have we had this correction in the credit and equity markets? and why is it that corporate bow bower borrowers gone in front of the market to borrow. >> ethan, a lot of people are trying -- i know it's not fair, but trying to compare this tightening cycle eve to past tightening cycle eves. looking at i flanflation expectations. and they say the risk of a policy error is higher this time. would you go that far? >> no, remember where the u.s. economy is right now zero interest rates with a massive fed balance sheet. it's almost like having negative 1% interest rates. the initial tightening is not tightening in terms of past cycles where the fed got into territory where it mattered. this is really clearing their throat, moving in a small way. i think it's important to recognize, the u.s. economy is more resilient than it was in the past. you saw where that home builders survey -- three years ago the housing market was totally dysfunctional. now it's back to full health. same story for the labor market. i don't see a policy mistake when you have an economy that has solid momentum like this. >> at the same time, you're paid to have an opinion, we ask you to have an opinion, we're grateful for the analysis. does anybody know what the markets will do tomorrow in major directional senses? >> i think there's a lot of uncertainty. because we go into the meeting with a pretty even split among forecasters and what the fed will do. i don't think there's a big move either way. this can't come as a major surprise to the markets. the fed has been talking about it for a year. half the economists in the surveys think the fed will hike. it's hard to predict the market move given that split in sentiment around the fed. >> it's not long to wait now. after all the talk, thank you both. art hogan and ethan harris joining us as we count down to the fed. >> shares of hewlett-packard trading higher today. announcing yesterday they will cut up to 30,000 more jobs as part of cost cutting measures. these cuts are in addition to the 55,000 job cuts already made. meg whitman addressed the employee reductions in an exclusive interview with david earlier on the show. >> we're excited about the future. these cuts are never easy. it's the right thing to do because we have to now get to the next phase of the hp journey. if you think about the cuts over the last four years, they were mostly to help us keep -- get a cost structure in line with the revenue trajectory. we're saying revenues will grow next year in constant currency. this can be about margin expansion. that's got to be part of the story. >> yes. on that note, meg's cuts, these cuts this time around will help save hp, she says, $2.7 billion. when we come back, a big beer deal could be brewing between ab inbev and sabmiller, how do you play the stocks? we'll walk you through it. later on, elon musk's hyperloop dream getting closer to reality? hyperloop's ceo will join us for a live interview. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. it's from virtually anywhere.rn of danger it's been smashed, dropped and driven. it's perceptive enough to detect other vehicles on the road. it's been shaken, rattled and pummeled. it's innovative enough to brake by itself, park itself and help you steer. it's been in the rain... the cold... and dragged through the mud. introducing the all-new mercedes-benz gle. it's where brains meet brawn. . anheuser-busch working to brew up a new deal to take over sabmiller. the 28 count jodown is on. sab has some big share holders and antitrust issues could hinder the deal. joining us is ross colbert. before we talk about winners and losers, how confident are you that this will happen at all? >> good morning. good to be with you. this deal has been on the table at least discussed and analyzed for well over 24 months. i think it's a big day today where we finally get confirmation that this deal is actually in it -- formally in discussion. i think it's a transformational global beer. and the risk of getting the deal done by ab inbev is relatively manageable in the context that it's been -- it had plenty of time to look at all the moving parts. and there are a lot of moving parts, not the least of which is antitrust issues. >> yeah. you make the point that what we've seen in brazil and china has added urgency to this. right? >> yeah. look, ab inbev is a money machine. they also have a big appetite for mma. as brazil and china's economies have slowed down, beer consumption has slowed as well with more pressure to accelerate this deal and get ab inbev back on the growth trajectory. can 3g handle this and heinz kraft? >> i think they have the management horsepower at ab inbev and it's a terrific team. they know how to execute and integrate. and that's probably the biggest challenge ahead. >> just on the specifics, ross, of what we could expect here. if altria, the tobacco giant and the santo domingo family own 40%, do we assume they want paper for this for tax reasons? what price could it go out at? should people look at sabmiller and buy in now with a view of a further premium or is the game up in that respect? >> i think the game is up. look, the santo domingo and altria share holdings, they do have some options to work with. and i think there's, again, it's a complex deal from the sab shareholder side. i do think that it will get done. >> to get really together, they will control, correct me if i'm wrong, one-third of the world's beer markets. does that get past european regulators, for example? >> it's really a market by market assessed. globalry, ab inbeef is about 20%, there will be some mar can t markets will they will get push back. the u.s. is one. they will have to sole off the molson coors, heineken or carlsburg. and snow breweries in china. those are manageable issues. i think the big winner here -- one of the winners is a heineken or carlsburg as they pick up the tail brand that are not transferred in the ab acquisition. >> finally this has ramifications going into the soda business because some of the bottling businesses have been so active. you've been doing a while but your head must be spinning. this has a knockdown effect not just in beer but soft drinks. sabmiller is a major coke bottler in africa. ab inbev sells and distributes pepsi in latin america. so you immediately have a conflict in the world of soft drinks. that will get resolved. neither one of those are deal breakers. >> ross, appreciate the insight. we're trying to get our heads around it ross colbert joining us today. coming up, we're finally there. day one of the fed meeting. wall street bracing for the results tomorrow afternoon. we will talk to the former dallas fed market who says the fed has behaved dangerously so far. and also ahead, david a agonized about global trade. perhaps as the fed meets they might want to look at what fedex says, they are trimming their global outlooks for the full year as they see weak demand and higher costs on ground. still ahead, the man trying to make elon musk's dream of a hyperloop a reality. the brand-new ceo of hyperloop technologies, rob lloyd, will join us live when we come back. this bale of hay cannot be controlled. when a wildfire raged through elkhorn ranch, the sudden loss of pasture became a serious problem for a family business. faced with horses that needed feeding and a texas drought that sent hay prices soaring, the owners had to act fast. thankfully, mary miller banks with chase for business. and with greater financial clarity and a relationship built for the unexpected, she could control her cash flow, and keep the ranch running. chase for business. so you can own it. from and the people whought you underwhelbrought youet speeds. temperamental satellite television. introducing... underwhelming internet speeds and temperamental television... in one. welcome to the moment no one's been waiting for. the fastest internet and the best tv experience is already here with x1. only from xfinity. dream for future production announces that rob lloyd will be taking over. rob lloyd joins us, the new ceo of hyperloop technologies. good morning. congratulations. >> good morning. thanks for having me. are you ready for this ride? >> it's going to be a big ride and very exciting. after spending 20 years participating in the construction of the internet, what an amazing opportunity to have a chance at the very beginning of the major transformation of transportation. this is $154 trillion market in terms of equipment for transportation moving goods and people. it hasn't been disrupted. so, you can imagine how excited i am to have this opportunity and lead this team here in los angeles. >> yeah. people are calling it -- it's still becoming a household term, they are calling it the fifth mode of transportation, in the extreme early innings. as you survey the landscape, are the biggest challenges in the near term the engineering or the financing? >> the engineering is a certainty. our ceo, brogan, who joined us after study iing for ten years elon musk's spacex, is certain the engineering is there. we are currently raising our next round of funding. that funding will allow us to invest in the infrastructure required to build a two-mile test track that two-mile test track will prove the actual capabilities of the system and our target is to have that completed towards the end of 2016 or early 2017. >> you said in one of the e-mails you wrote to staff that the advances in technology made this appeal to you. what is the major advance that makes this more feasible now? >> imagine that you actually take a tube and you create a very low pressure environment inside that tube. and then you create a pod, and you actually propel thatted a very high speeds. with either cargo or people. some of the non-investigations that hyperloop technologies is developing today would be in tube design and manufacturing is the livtation of the pod inside that tube, lifting the pod, and removing the air in front of the tube and propelling it out the back in terms of the propulsion system. these are all innovations underway now at hyperloop's new 55,000 square foot facility in downtown los angeles, three acre campus the team has constructed. >> rob, my basic question would be are whether people are prepared for vision these days, a massive expenditure. you and i grew up in a world where people debated how you would change the world, sort out its major problems. government could fix this. the private sector could fix that. we're often nowadays just buffeted around with nobody really able to fix anything. why would this work out? you don't see major infrastructure projects on this scale virtually anywhere in the world at the moment. >> the business model we'll see bear out is going to be different in countries around the world. in fact, this is already a global opportunity. the inbound inquiries coming in to hyperloop are from all parts of the world. in many parts of the world people are ready to move quickly. if you think of countries and different models, we'll probably see some in which government builds investment infrastructure and others in which there will be a private partnership where private enterprise and as well the government come together to actually facilitate this capability. i listen every morning to you talking about the innovations and the last mile of transportation with autonomous driving from apple and google, new home delivery systems from amazon and others because we're living in an on-demand economy. the backbone the economy has to keep up. hyperloop is in the process of building that new transportation backbone. >> i'm looking at some comments from viewers. >> hyperloop in an earthquake zone. wow, i'd rather walk. another one says this is too cool, but you go first. maybe the challenge will not be fichbsing and engineering but the marketing and regulation. >> well, i've seen many comments that say when can i ride? and we'll obviously be looking at two different models, two different operating constructs. one is for cargo, where a full-size container or two can be loaded in the pod. and then propelled down the tube, the other for passengers. both scenarios will be safe. they'll be independent of weather and interruption. you're just on top of the ground or underneath the ground. safety is one of the absolute focuses we'll have. but i've had as many people ask me when can i join and when can i ride as there are doubters. there seems to be a global movement getting behind this construct which is very exciting. we think the public wants it. we think the public is tired of having an antiquated transportation system based on technologies that were invented a century ago. it feels like the time for ho hyperloop is right now you can imagine how excited this team of 50 people at this facility are glad to be at the beginning of the journey. >> rob, congratulations. thanks. rob lloyd joining us, new ceo of hyperloop technologies. >> precious metals, gold, silver, we have news about that. jackie? >> that's right. the weekly petroleum status report a draw down in crude invi inventories of 2.1 million barre barrels. the api reported a draw down of 3 million barrels last night. five-year average is only about a negative 270,000 barrels this is more of a draw down than expected. you have to look into those numbers and see what's happening with the import situation. are we taking in less oil? using more of our own oil? this is the time of the year that we do expect to see builds like we saw last week because some of that demand drops off a bit. prices are holding up. up about $1. 45.56 is where we stand. traders will be watching closely over the next couple of days the fed to see what impact the fed has on the dollar. right now the dollar is weaker which is supportive of crude prices. the charts forming a consolidation pattern, this is typically when we're poised for a breakout. >> dow up 36 points. let's get to sue herera. >> here is your cnbc news update. hungarian police using tear gas and water cannons on hundreds of migrants who broke through a razor wire fence on the border with serbia. frustrated migrants blocked on the syrian side threw plastic water bottles at rows of hellmenthel hellmented police. donald trump was met by protesters yesterday in los angeles as he delivered remarks on board the decommissioned uss iowa. they carried signs reading "trump, you're fire fired." and "dump trump." target will offer fitbit to to its employees, employees will be able to get fitbit's most basic device which retails for about $60 for free. look at this. australian tightrope walker kane peterson crossed between two peaks of the eureka tower, almost 1,000 feet above melbourne's skyline. halfway through, he basically had to lay down. he got a leg cramp. he did manage to get through it, however. okay that makes my palms sweat. simon, back to you. >> it's not for the likes of us, sue. >> it's not. >> the fed kicking off its two day policy meeting today and tomorrow, that could result in the first rate hike in nine years. our next guest says the fomc's inaction has been dangerous, damaging for pensioners, and that it's time to post a help wanted sign on the nation's front door from what she describes as a fearless and grounded central banker. danielle dimartino booth was an adviser to the dallas fed president. good morning. >> good morning. >> do you not think janet yellen is fearless and grounded? >> i don't think she's fearful enough for the financial markets. she doesn't appreciate some of the distortions that have emerged. as you mentioned earlier, some pressures put on the public pension plans in this country to reach out for returns. >> would you support a rate hike today? >> i would. i wrote that the global debt market exceed the $200 trillion in size. i don't think any of us could know where the risks lies when the pool of debt in this world has increased by over $60 trillion. >> at the same time i suppose we should weigh whatever those risks might be with the benefits. would you not agree they help to avoid a much deeper depression around the world and that assets, people with capital have been saved by the fed? the s&p 500 is up 200% from the low. >> they have been saved, but savers have been sacrificed. >> elaborate on that. >> if you want to be prudent as you head into retirement years and do as my grandmother would do, she would go down to the local bank, get a five-year cd, sock it away and collect the income on it so she could be prudent retirement portfolio, that's not allowed today. >> they might argue if we didn't do what we did, if we didn't drive rates to zero, everything would have gone into bonds, interest rates would have shot up, we would have crashed again. >> i think you're referring to a time when it was defcon 1 at the federal reserve. that was apparent that was the only route we could take two years ago, when interest rates spiked, when bernanke, the then chair, first suggested we would begin to reduce purchases in the open market, there was a take or tantrum as we all know in the bond market. and then markets began to acclimate to the idea that the tightening was going to begin. then we should have taken more proactive steps. there's an odd chance now that more will build up in the financial system and we completely missed the window to tighten. >> it's a common view that there was a window and they didn't do it. going into a meeting with a negative cpi since january, industrial production is a mess does that not weigh on them? >> it certainly weighs on them. market volatility weighs on them. a lot of the slowdown in inflation that we're seeing is beneficial to households if you think about my retired mother every time she fills up her gas tank. gee, honey, i filled up today for less than $2 a gallon. that's friendly for u.s. households. the 3.6 rental growth is not friendly. that was in the morning cpi report that are percolating that are damaging to u.s. households. inflation, i think inflation is in the eye of the beholder depending on what your expenses are. >> is there such a thing as a dovish hike? could you design a hike tomorrow and promises for no more tomorrow. >> you could. you certainly could. i think policymakers want to understand the mechanics of this first rate hike. money market mutual funds have been running at loss for a long time now. i don't think they know how the plumbing will work when they put this first 25 basis points out there. and it's critical for us to figure that out given how anemic fed funds future trade hag been. >> one major reason to hike is they need to come out, they need to hike rates in order to cut them again when the business cycle turns. do you have any concept of when that might be? are we losing valuable time here? next time, let's say we turn down -- let's say in two years, do we automatically have to crash into qe again because there's no interest rates to cut? >> that's the question. you're talking about refilling the toolbox so that policymakers have a bit of cushion in the event that brazil continues to cascade. and/or potentially australia. >> do you have an idea of what the -- what is the shape of that cycle? when does that happen? how much time do we have? >> i think that they'll be -- if they hike tomorrow, and i really hope they do, it's my birthday. it would be a great birthday present. >> you're easy to please. >> 25 basis points, it's not a big -- it's not a big price tag in theory, but it is a big price tag in practice. but i do hope they raise rates tomorrow. and i think that once they see how the markets acclimate to it, they might have an easier glide path for october and december and potentially quickening the pace of interest rate hikes to try to get out in front of what we see happening around the globe. >> if they say that think not hiking was mistake, they can do it in seven weeks, that means nothing to you? >> you know what i think they should do in seven weeks and should be in tomorrow's statement, they should say there will be a press conference -- >> in october. >> in october. they should say we're not making commitments of any kind, we'll provide ourselves the wiggle room to remain data dependent and explain ourselves in october instead of boxing themselves into cancelling christmas. only moving in december. >> december 16 would be an interesting date for sure. danielle, thank you. when we come back, david faber will sit down with an exclusive with the ceo of stars. they're in the news today. 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? lease the 2015 rc 350 for $429 a month for 36 months. see your lexus dealer. if the fed raises interest rates on thursday, what names might get hit the hardest? we talk about that on trading nation. more "squawk on the street" next. david faber continues to pick up exclusive interviews this morning, hot off the heels of the interview with meg whitman, he made his way over to uptown manhattan where major media ceos are. >> i'm here at goldman's annual conference. my guest is chris albrecht from starz. strangely, each time we speak, twice in the last year there are stories involving your company and consolidation. the latest, a bloomberg story saying you're in talks with amc about getting together. is it true? >> if i had a dollar for every time there was a rumor about starz, you and i could retire. in an industry where people are closely aligned, we all do business together, conversations are going on all the time. that being said, i canthe premi brands, starz one of them, are more valuable than before. people looking to innovate the way tv gets to consumers. >> the talk of consolidation is also one because of perceived weakness. the idea that being amc or starz or lion's gate, scripps, all of these companies need to figure out a way to get together, to exert more power with the carriers and to have more of a presence in the changing landscape. do you believe that? >> yes, i do think that there's a good business rationale for different companies coming together. that's the beginning of any conversations around a deal. i don't think that comes out of weakness that comes out of saying here's more opportunity. so we go to work every day thinking we're a strong company. at the same time, when you put two good companies together that have complimentary and supplementary businesses and good management teams and both executing well on their own, that's an opportunity. there is some rationale for people speculating about this kind of stuff. but that doesn't mean it will happen. you know that. >> if it doesn't happen, do you think you're still well positioned? >> i think we're bet poter positioned than ever before. >> why? >> not a lot of channels out there are more valuable. hbo more valuable. showtime, more valuable. starz has more opportunities than ever before. there are more people looking at distributing our products in innovative ways. whether we take advantage of those opportunities is -- >> how you go about evaluating that when you could conceivably tick off some cable providers, with whom you are a part if you go with the new ott platforms, so too speak, say forgot you, i'm going there. does it risk hurting the relationship that's been very kind to you over the years? >> look, i think that we have said to the operators, you need to non-investigate with us. this is a high margin product. let's all make more money together. they haven't been doing that. >> you're right. if they take a bunker mentality, we have the obligation to look elsewhere. but we think that the mvpds are in the best position to innovate. that's their business. a lot of big companies are interested in distributing television over the internet. so this is not the end of television. this is the beginning of television being delivered in new ways. that's something that we're going to have to consider more seriously if we don't see the kind of movement we've been looking for. >> all right. you're 32% vote holder is john malone, talking about this same thing, imploring to the cable industry to get on. saying there shouldn't have been a netflix. we should have figured this out does this sound like he will bring the change he wants? you have charter, a company he's involved with, buying time warner cable? >> i think john is right saying that the cable industry, the mvpd industry could own this space if they would be more aggressive in innovating. he's a shareholder, not an owner or operator. he has influence. i don't necessarily know that he's going to have the last word about this. as a shareholder, i get to talk to him a lot. he and i are aligned in the opportunities and potential for starz. he's excited about what's going on. >> when he sees a potential for starz, does it involve consolidation? he was quoted at the allen & company conference saying lion's gate would make sense. he owns part of that. >> yeah. >> does that make sense? is he pushing you to find a merger partner? >> john sees the big media companies at the top and then the free radicals. john is a dealmaker a visionary. he can see the benefits of aligning some of these companies more closely. whether that's jv on some business or a complete merger, that remains to be seen. i do think that john believes that putting these companies together could really result in enormous value investigation. >> why aren't you just making it happen? >> first, you shouldn't assume i'm not making it happen. it's not easy to put these things together. >> something you made happen in the past is creating hit shows. people may forget when you're in hbo, the incredible run there, whether it was "the wire" i think the greatest show ever created. "the sopranos," "sex and the city." what about now? i don't hear as much buzz about starz programs as i do about netflix or amc. >> we have a lot of -- we are doing great with a lot of specific demographic groups. we decided to target what we consider underserved audiences. we have huge audiences for african-americans, that is expanding to female demographic which is underserved in the premium space. we announced havana quartet, looking to get a hispanic audience. we have ashe versus evil date. >> you feel like you have the slate you want? >>y. we don't go for pressure stuff. we go for fun, popular, entertaining. >> but they're paying for it, too they want something to entertain them. >> more people than ever before are paying for starz. we're the second most prescribed channel. >> >> dodoes it tick you off wh hear about netflix shows and we don't really know how many people have watched them? have business model envy. they're friends of know, mazing to watch what they get away with. >> they do get away with nobody really knowing except them how popular a show is or not. marco polo, you pass odd that. they paid a fortune for it. i don't know. >> i don't know either. maybe they don't know. >> they spent an enormous amount on programming. they are, i mean, so much of the value has gone, it would seem, from the traditional providers to them at this point, including their market value, which is about $50 billion. are they the big kid on the block now, netflix? >> i think they're being valued like a technology company or internet company where the rest of us are still being valued by traditional media companies. i think we have some of the same opportunities. maybe not in quite the same way as those guys have, and i think new people that are coming into the space want to distribute products like stars are going to help us help nuj us in the direction of evaluation that more closely resembles netflix because there's not a whole lot of -- >> they have the direct to consumer model. we're a well financeded company. there's a lot of people that want to partner with us. john malone is the biggest shareholder. you know, it's not a bad thing. >> what's this world going to look like? sfwlo it should look more like investing in your business and figuring out how to drive value. that's what i think about when i go to work in the morning and in order to do that you have to be bold, and i think the media companies probably haven't been as bold as they might have been and maybe this change that people are talking about is going to make people be more bold. >> do you think time warner was bold and sort of really serious over the top for hbo? >> i think the timing was curious. it was right after obviously they were able to fend off rupert. i think hbo is a great product, and when i was running it in 2005 we started the plans to go over the top and in both wholesale and retail models. the fact that ten years later they're doing it isn't a surprise to me, and we're looking at some of the same things. you know, showtime is doing it a little bit differently, but there may even be different ways to do it. >> the next time i see you is josh sapin going to be sitting over here? >> only if you are wearing a blue plaid suit. >> we'll leave it there. >> good to see you. >> you too. ceo of starz. coming up on the program we're live from the under armor investor's day today. sarah will have an interview with kevin plank and obviously any news that breaks from that stock market. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts, ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. at boeing, one thing never changes. our passion to make it real. ♪ our passion to make it real. awe believe active management can protect capital long term. active management can tap global insights. active management can take calculated risks. active management can seek to outperform. because active investment management isn't reactive. it's active. that's the power of active management. with markets hugging the flat line, a quick market flash. >> simon, gold prices are on the rise here. up by 1.a%. the precious metal is at its highest level so far to date. early trading up by that 1.5% mark. showing, again, a little surprise drop in u.s. inflation last month. gold miners as a result ridesing on that bit of news here that market vektors, gold miners, etf, that ticker also near its highs so far to date. up by about 5%. if you look at names like newmont mining, barrick gold, or all up big by about 4% or more, so gold miners certainly ones to watch. again, the trend has been lower this year, but they're getting a pop today. back to you. >> thank you. high time we had ali on the network. let's go to john for the next hour. >> hewlett-packard up better than 4.5% at this moment after what meg whitman said yesterday. find out what's coming next for that company. also, facebook ceo mark zuckerburg, is a dislike button really coming? president obama making a speech to business leaders later on in the hour. tune in for all that and more. 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. this just in: 50 million customers' data was not compromised this morning in a security breach that didn't happen. wall street. not rattled. at all. no. not at all. not at all. i mean, look at the day. sir. sir. what went right? what went right? everything. thank you. with threat intelligence, behavioral analytics, and 6000 experts, ibm security will help keep you out of the news. my dad's company wasn't hacked today. cool. >> it's 11:00 a.m. on wall street, and squawk alley is live. ♪ welcome to "squawk alley." thank you for joining us today. john steinburg. john, good morning to you. cale azzel. shares of hp are doing pretty well after the company said it would cut another 30,000 jobs. this is a larger plan to cut 2.5 billion in annual costs. meg whitman explained those cuts to us earlier this morning on "squawk on the street." take a listen. >>