Starwood. Well talk to marriotts ceo, arnie sorensen. The president in cuba raises questions about Economic Opportunity there. And were hours away from apples highly anticipated event. Well look at what to expect. Valeant has been halted for the past half hour or so. As becky pointed out, mike pearson leaving the company. Ackman to the board. Predictable or not, jim . No. But there hasnt been much that is predictable. Theres a mea culpa note from Lehman Brothers taking the price target from 135 to 134. Taking numbers from 10 the reason i point this out is because the numbers are all of the map. No one knows the cash flow, what the company is really do. Ackman joining the board is a sign he cant dump the stock. They couldnt dump the stock. This is a great mystery, carl. When you have a company where you have to idea what it will earn, where its dermatological business is being carved up aggressively by allergan. Ophthalmological being carved up by j j. All this stuff. This is a company, you find yourself asking, these are the kinds of things when youre with a private Family Company and theres rivalry. This is a public company. This is a travesty. Statement from pearson himself in the press release, its been a privilege to lead valeant for the past eight years. While i regret the controversies that have adversely impacted our business over the past several months, i know valiant is a strong and resilient company. Im committed doing everything i can to assure a smooth transition to new leadership. Meg terrell is at hq. What else do we need to know . There is a succession planned for pearson. A lot of things about misstatements in financial reporting, disclosure controls and why the 10k has been delayed. This is tied to potentially triggering defaults on 30 billion worth of debt. This is a quote from pearson, while we regret the circumstances that resulted in the delay of our 10k filing, we are committed to filing before april 29th, 2016. Thats much stronger language than last week. So that is one major thing here in the release. They are also talking about why theyve had these problems with financial reporting. Quoting Improper Conduct of the companys former chief Financial Officer and former corporate controller. Which resulted in the provision of incorrect information. So, a lot of information here in the release, but really the main headline, ackman joining the board, a ceo search at valeant. Well bring you more headlines as we get them. Thank you, meg. We talked last week about what it would mean if they missed that deadline. Where is the audit committee. This is not where are the auditors. This is a serious company. People asked me this week, why does cnbc focus so much on this . The volume, number of shareholders. The fact it was a 260 stock. It was the darling of the drug group. This is not some minor company. Its taking a lot of people down with it. As numbers keep getting sliced. No one knows the numbers. I struggle to recall a noncorrupt it doesnt seem corrupt, it seems a clown show. You think its more inco incoincom inincompetence than intent . I did not like the relationship with philidor. Walgreens gave it a Good Housekeeping seal of approval, thats no more than what they did with theranos. This is more of a soap opera than a company. Were not used to seeing it. I struggle to think about when a publicly traded company would have a ceo, a not ceo, we never knew what was wrong with pearson. The whole thing seems to me unstable. An unstable major american company. The likes of which, if you had an aggressive sec and Justice Department saying we are in here with a monitor, not unlike what they did with bristolmyers when Chris Christie was u. S. Attorney. Chris was a candidate. I did testify on behalf of the government lvernment against an company. But there should be someone on the committee running that audit committee. Its a travesty that the government has not stepped in. The sell side continues to catch up. Barclays today bringing it down to equal weight. Yeah. The analysts frank ly valean is a company that did a lot of business. Made a lot of acquisitions, made a lot of friends doing that. A level of momentum pre the president ial election. They did not want allergan to go to the this was the allergan involved with activists, to go to they had the highest p e but also the most rnd. Its a core business which shot being talked enough about. The ophthalmological business not talked about. The dedermatological these a the core businesses. These other Companies Went in against them. Ackman goes against the ophthalmologists saying use our drug. There are product lines involved here. The product line, throughout all the soap opera, people have forgotten it has real competitors who were really well capitalized, carving this thing up. The lehman guy, so hes using is 11. 70 0 11. 70. Am i supposed to believe the stock is sell two times earnings . I think these earnings are illadvised. Especially given the new 8k filed today. Meg has more on that. Going through this release. We mentioned the company was citing Improper Conduct of the companys former chief Financial Officer. That is Howard Shiller who is on the board of valeant. The company saying in its changes of board of directors that the board requested that Howard Shiller tender his resignation as a director, but mr. Shiller has not done so. Schiller was standing in as interim ceo as pearson was on medical leave. They want him off the board, hes not going. We will continue to dig into this. Some of these headlines are almost surreal. One or more material weaknesses exists in internal control over financial reporting. As if this werent already obvious. Ive seen the s. E. C. In much smaller situations step in and say you are now in charge. Sell the company. The s. E. C. And the Justice Department, i urge them to look at this issue. They have been more active in previous administrations. They say, okay, we need a monitor, Justice Department. We need an outside guy to reason this company, s. E. C. And theyre going to let this thing go with 30 million in debt . Theyll let this saga go on . The government has stepped in in smaller situations. I think the s. E. C. Chairman should be making a call. Valeant becoming the story of the day. Another big story, starwood agreeing to accept marriotts sweetened stock and cash takeover offer after anbang had a bid last week. Stay tuned for an interview with arnie sorensen. You were just talking about starwood. And they didnt feel they were worth much . Yeah. They booted fritz van pashen, he was great executive. Arne sorenson coming from cuba. The fact that marriotts stock is not even down shows me or down just slightly, shows me how much starwood sold out the company. Here is marriott offering 20 more, and the stock isnt down. Shareholders, were done. We want to move on. We are just going to sell you out. You will get 44 of the company. But in reality, the Chinese Communist party looked at this and said im not going to let the capitalists steal the company. Anbang is state controlled. That means the chairman is in there saying lets bid it up more. The Chinese Communists are saying, marriott, we dont think you have game, well take it up. Theyre playing with funny money. Yes. It does create the worlds Biggest Hotel change. Marriott increased the cash component from 2 bucks to 21. Starwood could have negotiated harder im not saying they threw the company to marriott. Hold it. I am. And meanwhile, as we mentioned the president in cuba today, starwood signing a deal to operate some existing hotels in cuba. The first to do so since 1959. Getting that authorization from treasury today. Right. I know a group of students just came down there. Other than the germans, the hotel situation there is quite weak. It would be great. This is the president is leading this trade delegation. Tampa bay and the president. This is the most aggressive trade delegation hes done as president. Its funny. This interplay between communists and capitalists is strange. The communists invite us down to cuba, president goes. These are not exactly economic friends of ours. No, havent been in a long time. Iran, another one. We welcome our socalled enemies with open arms. Im not being political, but boy, do we want to do trade. The president selling abc over the weekend that google will start expanding wifi and broadband access. There is almost no Internet Access down there. You see trade as a powerful Political Force . Its a small country. Iran is a huge country. There could be huge Business Done with iran. Cuba was a place a lot of people went to. It could be a popular tourist destination, but they lack any infrastructure. They dont have any money. But they sure do have great beaches. They do. Well see if more americans take advantage of those. The president got a full day today with the state dinner, baseball game tomorrow. Well see if raul castro takes questions. Does the president throw out the first ball . That will be interesting. I threw out the first ball in a game. Mr. President , you better practice. I practiced to 60 feet. When you bounce it in like tom brady did not good. The president better work on his arm. Its a long way. When we come back, going smaller could be a part of apples strategy today when they launch new products at its event in c cupertino. Stocks are up five weeks in a row. Dow going for seven up days in a row. 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 longterm value. We actively manage with expertise and conviction. So you can invest with more certainty. Mfs. Thats the power of active management. Ngo to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over one hundred of the webs leading job boards with a single click. Then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. And now you can use zip recruiter for free. Go to ziprecruiter. Com. Were just a few hours away from apples Product Launch event at the companys california headquarters. Apple expected to unveil a smaller version of the iphone, catering to consumers with phones with smaller screens, and this new version of the ipad expected to be introduced this comes a day before a hearing in riverside, california regarding the doj dispute. Im looking at all these different introductions. People are saying should we sell apple . Stock went from 93 to 105. The new apple band strap change. I need a new band. You did a number on that. I did. I treat it like a timex. I think people will be should be focused more. Tim cook please tell the story about service revenue. Those numbers for the quarter could be extraordinary. Just give us a hint. At this point, i think last week swisher described the event as it was Andy Hargreaves as hohum. Were not in the sweet part of the cycle. I always like when you go in hohum. Its always bad when you go with youre seed number one. Theres seed number seven in this. They could go further than we think. The evolution of the fbi dispute. I dont know. I was helping come, they would come to some conclusion that this is a special event. I think hes sensational. I think the world of tim cook. I just keep hoping for compromise. Last week guidance on mobile suggested that the iphone 6 cycle is weaker than we think. That took people by surprise. They didnt lose share, they just shut down production. We knows there a product gap. The thing thats important is the product gap will be filled up by services. 14 of revenue. If they can could get that to 20, that would be good. Im not fretting apple. On to the broader markets. We mentioned stocks aiming for a sixth consecutive week of gains for the First Time Since november. S p joining the dow in positive territory for the year. Within 4 of record highs on the dow and the s p. Why wouldnt you want to ring the register here if you were nervous in february. I come back from the nova victory yesterday. I hit up the website. Whats going on . Valspar, which had a weak quarter, frankly. Lost a lot of business at lowes. Gets the sherwinwilliams bid. I come back and say heres a company underperforming, longterm good. They get a bid. Markit does good analysis, out of nowhere, they get a bid. Marriott, you thought that marriotts stock would be down 35 cents. The stock just undervalued. Oth oracle last week, nobody paid attention. Nike, what happens is when we go back to the micro, the individual companies, i keep seeing companies. Lets watch dover or jw, nordstrom. They got downgraded. A lot of people feel its momentum. In the end, maybe the stocks are undervalued. If the dollar gets weak, you will look back and say why was i selling . All of january was the aberration, not february. That case downgrades of nordstrom and intel today doesnt make sense. The bernstein downgrade is funny. There was a lot of thought that intel would preannounce a bad number. It didnt. Hes saying dont be depressed that intel didnt announce a bad number. Okay, fine. Go ahead, knock yourself out. Report a bad number, maybe the stock goes up. Bernstein does say the risk of a fullyear reset in april. That guy is cheering for intel to not do well. I dont know. Hes like a baylor thing. I wish yale bad luck. Its not the bracketology, my friend. Intel is a good company. Im not calling for an upset surprise, but to continue rooting against intel, i dont know. At a certain point take your foot off the jugular. Maybe he surprises. When we come back, the mad dash, count down to the opening bell. We will talk about the premarket. We have not talked about the western primaries tomorrow, twitters 10th birthday and more. At t helps keep everyone connected. Right now at at t, buy the new Samsung Galaxy s7 and get one free. No matter how you hang out, share every minute of it. Buy one water resistant Samsung Galaxy s7 and get one free. And right now, get up to 650 in credits per line to help you switch to at t. Just about seven minutes to the bell. Lets get to cramers mad dash. Theres a big call by matthew boss, an analyst at jpmorgan. He upgrades nike ahead of the nike report. He downgrades lulu. Why is this so important . Nike has come down from when it reported that terrific quarter. He points out alleged margin pressure may not be there. Lulu, he liked lulu when no one else did, now he feels lulus numbers may be materially higher. This stock has been a rocket ship. I like this call. I, too, am concerned that lulu has gotten too far too fast on maybe the subtle notion that vf corp could make a bid, or that lifestyle yoga is so good. I would do what he says. Buy nike ahead of the quarter. I think you take profits to lulu. How do you look at nike, theyre fighting over the same space, but nike is layered with this 4x plan kblanket. True, but mark parker talked to sara eisen. Yeah. It was a fabulous interview. Mark showed mark parker, one of my favorite ceos, showed a level of confidence. Thats technology giant. I am not taking away from kevin plank. The questions sara asked him, they were like think longterm, were a dominant company. Nike is a dominant company. When you watch the tournaments, you see nike, under armour, and maybe too much notre dame, who i like, but im not concerned about the margin pressure. The technology is so strong. The things theyre doing is so positive. This is a Great American company. Apparel has been a struggle back and forth. The names have rebounded. But j crew finally having a decent quarter. Thats good. Because the bonds traded up. They ticked up a bit. Target had a good apparel quarter. It was overlooked by a lot of what people are concerned about. Walmart, nothing special, but has been one of the best performing stocks of the dow. Did get oversold. Had that good yield. Good Balance Sheet. A lot of people pulling for doug mcmillan. Well get the opening bell and a lot more with jim in a moment. Man, im glad aflac pays cash. Aflac isnt Major Medical enough . No whos gonna help cover the holes in their plans . Aflac like rising copays and deductibles. Aflac or help pay the mortgage . Or child care . Aflaaac and everyday expenses . Aflac learn about one day pay at aflac. Com boat blurlbrlblrlbr . Youre watching cnbcs squawk on the street. The opening bell in about two minutes. What a morning. Valeant remains halted after we get news that mike pearson is stepping down. Bill ackman so the board. Apples event out west. The president in havanahavana. Marriott and starwood finding a way to work together. Which raises the question, i wonder if the chinese will come back again. I think they will. David faber always on the hunt for news seems to indicate that. Maybe hotels are undervalued. I think this air b b has done this to hotels, but theres a supply issue. I was talking to people who came here to the Barclays Center to watch some great games. Air b b, theres an inventory. They have such a shortage. I dont want to count out the hotels. Wyndham putting up great numbers. Marriott chronically undervalued. Starwood the most undervalued of all. Halliburton, the eu stopping the merger there. I think the eu has their own issues, they should stay focused on their issues. And twc could be compelling once the regulators stock has been amazing. I think that it is there is so much excitement on a day where ihs merges with market, Everybody Wins. Theres a lot of Everybody Wins stuff. How about a city call to, to break up city. I think mike corbett is doing an excellent job. Theres a call to break up citi. That would be monumental. I think that citi is doing better than people realize. Theres the opening bell. The s p at the bottom of the screen. At the big board, tmc bonds, highlighting new regulations on fixed income execution. At the nasdaq, pra group, an acquirer and collector of nonperforming loans. When oil was going down, they look like they would have their fill. Oil is not out of the woods. 45 is the price you need to see for companies to be able to continue to drill and drill and have the cash flow. Many companies have refinanced and done equity deals. Cover of business week is jack dorsey on twitters 10th anniversary. Ten years ago, 2006, jack sent his first tweet. Famously said im just setting up my twitter. Eventually going public, hitting 75 bucks, then hitting 13. I think its interesting to see tim cook congratulate on twitter. jack. I think twitter is still challenged. People are trying to figure out does it matter if growth slows and they start monetizing . I think if growth slows, stocks slow. Be careful. A lot of people on twitter are confusing a product they may love with the stock price. I think twitter is just filled with possibilities. Someone will have do them soon. Theres the valeant post. Stocks up about 4 . Who would you like to see run this, if not pearson . Run valeant . I know david piatt doesnt want to come back from retirement. He would be excellent. I do think that there are some great retired ceos, a lot of the major pharma companies. Really . They need someone to step in who is really a gray beard. Fred hasen was the guy i wanted, sold scheringplough. Did a fabulous job at schering. He was the chairman of avon. I remember that. Hes willing to be in the fire. Hes willing to be on the pan. Fred hasen, if the government were to say we will step in get fred. I know people dont think the government plays that role, but he can. He can stabilize valeant. That debt is doubting. Fred knows a Balance Sheet better than anybody. If you had been disciplined enough to avoid vrx so far in the midst of this fire, would now be an interesting time to get curious . I think politically its a bad time to own pharmaceuticals. The headwinds to pharma with both major candidates being finding pharma to be one of the guilty parties makes it difficult. I would say people feel ackman is in it for the longterm. He was always in it for the longterm. He had his guy on the board. If he joins the board, that says theres no insider selling. Meaning theres no ackman selling, even though ackman was not could sell mondelez instead. Yes. Mondelez holds up well. I dont know. Valeant is going up because i think people feel theres a grownup in charge again. I would like to see someone from the outside. A real grownup. A bill george. A great cnbc contributor. He could come in and be a monitor by the governor. If you saw fred hasens name, you take it to 35. He would refinance that debt quickly. Value x was asked about pearson last week. Heres what was said about pearson at time. He is incredibly driven. Incredibly smart. Hes a great problem solver. Were solving problems as we think. We think mike is the right guy for the job. Hes incredibly gone, too. He left thats the benefit of hindsight. This man has been a great investor. You know, i could place poke fun at that. But valeant again has been one of these situations where it was a soap opera, maybe if he steps aside, there could be stability. Theres 30 billion in debt. We dont know the cash flow. That is always daunting to not know the cash flow that is that indebted. Too much of a question mark for me. When you have a company like j j, doing well. Billion dollar drugs. I would rather be asleep at night with Johnson Johnson than valeant, which is a company where you better not you better be sleep deprived and still play the game. Well get to some other movers, including starwood and nike. First, dow is down six. Lets get to bob pisani on the floor. Im here by the valeant post. Want to bring you up to date. Take a look here. Valeant up 6. 7 on that news here. Initiating a search for a new ceo. Mr. Pearson is remaining until a successor is named. Ackman is on board. The former cfo was also asked to resign as a board director, and apparently has not tendered his resignation. Shares elevated the last few weeks. Valeant was 200 back in september. It was Something Like 70 six or seven trading sessions ago. So, a lot of volume in valeant, a lot of people feel a bit of good news with ackman on board now. The markets, have you noticed we have the fiveweek rally going here . Virtually everything. The s p 500 up five weeks in a row. Germany, the dax up five weeks in a row. Oil as well. Rolling into a new contract on oil today. Its bouncing around today. We are not that far from the old closing high of 2130. Mixed picture over in europe. Mostly to the down side. These days, the things you want to watch in europe are oil stocks and auto stocks. Oil because of oil bouncing around, auto because they react in relation to the euro. If the euro is stronger, generally auto stocks move slightly to the down side. Euro is flat today. Were approaching the end of the month. All ten sectors in the s p 500 are up. We had a great month. S p is up about 6 . Energy the big leader, up about 11 . Big gains in materials and financials. The laggard this month has been healthcare, only up about 1 . Want to mention a merger deal here thats very interesting. Its an inversion deal here. Were getting markit and ihs merging. It looks like the price for markit is about 31. If you include all the deals in it. I wanted to point out theres two thing going on here. Number one this merger between ihs and markit will produce a financial powerhouse. Markit is big for providing data for bonds. And ihs owns janes defense, cambridge energy, car fax. So you are merging Data Analytics and information firms. This is a big business. You charge a lot of money for this information. This is an inversion deal. The company will be headquartered in london. The Company Expects a tack rate of 20 . The typical tax rate in the United States is 35 . Clearly this is an effort by ihs to move most of the operations. It will stay partly in colorado, but move most operations to london where the new company will be headquartered. All of that has been controversial for the company and for inversion deals in general. Just keep an eye on valeant now. Only up 1. 5 . We were up as much as 7 at the open. Volume very much the big side. 8 million shares. Thats about 40 of the average daily volume in just the first five minutes. Back to you. Thank you very much. On another day we might pay more attention to a 13 billion merger in the paint business. To think this is one of those companies that sherwinwilliams will be such a powerhouse. Wel wells fargo suggesting it is worth substantially more. Rpma little compa rpm, a Little Company i had on mad money, we know them as rustoleum. Has their value at more than 40. I like that call. I believe rpm is undervalued. Just a very good, Solid Company that people ought to look at. And say if its 50 undervalued that may be a good takeaway. Sherwinwilliams was up six when this deal was announced it should be up. This is how you go toe to toe with lowes. Home depot has a great relationship with behr. But paint aisle just got down in all of america. Paint and hotels. You are arguing that m a becomes a marginal a positive for stocks, where buybacks was the leading one to date . I will take them both. We dont have any ipos. Havent since square. Which is incredible. I know when i saw Goldman Sachs up big we mentioned this New York Post article. I dont know what to make of it. They say goldman is cooperating. I think youre getting business from the m a. That will make up for some of the net margin shrinkage. To have m a out there is to justify them back up to 60. Congratulations to jimmy diamie on a welltimed buy. The banks actually did okay last week. Maybe some of that is because m a is back with a vengeance. We went first couple of months wondering if it was ever coming back. People felt this was that world coming to the end trade. As is the usa today, as january goes the rest of the year didnt go. But i do think that when you see a valspar, which was a company that had in february reported a not great quarterpreviously lost money, this makes sherwinwilliams a great company. Leader up almost 4 . There was a combination of belief that people would stop traveling, not true. And a belief that the Hotel Business would be challenged by a whole new paradigm. As big and as great as i think i do think air b b is great. The notion of a bricks and mortar business selling at such a low level is wrong. I was speaking to someone in corporate finance. There was such a scarcity of hotels, how could there not be more of a premium to begin with. Starwood was linked to china. We had a raise in the margin rates. I know theres a bubble in china. You come off, you say anything good about china people laugh at you. China may not be as bad. It may have bottomed. The banks may have bottomed. A lot of groups have bottomed except healthcare. Im concerned that donald trump, when he does his talk and Hillary Clinton does the talk, you never hear great things about pharma. Wow, lipitor was a great advance. You never hear about the cancersolving drugs. I am a big fan of big pharma because they save lives. They dont get enough credit. Certainly f thshgcertainly, n this political cycle, i will be amazed. Public enemy number one. Lets look at oil with jackie at the nymex. April expiring at 2 30 today. That is trading at under 40 a barrel. May trading over 41. When you look at the chart last year, there was a period where we saw a rebound like this. Then in june prices went back down. People are pointing to that saying it is definitely possible and we see another pullback again and not to read too much into this rally. I will say this the dollar index at 95, higher today. Its relatively on the weaker side. Thats providing some support for oil prices. Gas prices, they have crept up, too. Theyre up a quarter in the last two weeks. And interesting because this is probably a blend of these crude prices going up, but also were switching to that summer blend of gasoline that is typically more expensive. Finally the decoupling theory. People pointing to the fact that on friday, oil was down, stocks were up. Maybe a pattern of these two diverging in different directions. Something to keep an eye on. Jackie, thank you very much. What do you make of how transports have behaved since we got back to 40 . Its interesting, theyre not hedging. Its funny, this is the one time they should have hedged. I continue to believe that supply is very strong. But people are missing the dramatic decline in information out of venezuela. You may think that the u. S. Will drop by 900,000 barrels a day, iran could increase by a million. What happened so venezuela . Nobody has answers. We dont know production numbers there. Thats one of the five biggest in the world. No one talks about it. Venezuela has become a country that is inscrutable like north korea. We dont know whats going on there. We know that theyre not pumping anywhere near what people think. Gulf of mexico up big this year. I think that the story may be that theres not as much supply worldwide. We have a bit of a glut here. When we come back, marriotts arne soernson will ta arneso domingusorenson will tale sweetened deal for starwood. N get your tv and Wireless Service from one provider. dad are not we your providers . Do we not provide you with this succulent jackrabbit pie . This delicious graywater soup . And a single lick of the family lolli every harvest moon . vo dont be a settler, get a 100 reward card when you switch to directv. Every Auto Insurance policy has a number. But not every Insurance Company understands the life behind it. Those who have served our nation have earned the very best service in return. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. And to help you accelerate,ast. Weve created a new company. One totally focused on whats next for your business. A True Partnership where people, technology and ideas push everyone forward. Accelerating innovation. Accelerating transformation. Accelerating next. Hewlett packard enterprise. I have an orcogram we for an owen. E. Thats 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. Im 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 shes really loyal. You should give her a shot. Sanjays a team player and uh. E trade is all about seizing opportunity. So im going to take this opportunity to go off script. So if i wanna go to jersey and check out shotsy tuccerellis portfolio, whats it to you . Or im a scottish mason whose assets are made of stone like me heart. Papa youre no son of mine or perhaps its time to seize the day. Dont just see opportunity, seize it applause alibaba hitting a new milestone, transaction has grown by 3 million yuan. Zuckerbergs trip has garnered attention in china meeting with chinese officials and jogging in tiananmen square. As the president is in cuba, zuckerberg is in china. You think about google talking about free speech, facebook talking about personal speech. Yahoo is going down, we hear lots of cat calls about marissa may mayer. When yahoo is up, we hear nothing. Like her or dislike her, the stock is going up. Sometimes i think you have to have equality of coverage. Yes. One of the biggest gainers today. Is it part of that school youve been talking about where a lot of strategic m a banking self help. I keep thinking about that unbelievable Herb Kelleher interview. The three strikes, higher fares, taxes, liquor. A triple whammy for him. Those stocks have been on fire, too. We got a little undervalued. S p at 18 times earnings. If the dollar goes down that will prove to be too high. I just think there were a lot of segments in the market that got oversold oil and airlines. Keep in mind, individual stocks are being made expensive by some of these consumer package stocks which are very highly valued and stalled out. Some wonder how defensive names like that and cyclical names could be doing well at the same time what that says about sentiment. Its a great point. Theres more money coming in. I also think that the defensives are trying to make things happen. Clorox radically changes the structure. Procter gamble changes the structure. Of those groups, those companies are doing well if fchltwell. If we see banking, the whole idea of a bounce back was a mistake. When the fed got out of the picture, we stopped thinking about every statement that the fed made, look what happened. Look what happened. When we focussed on individual companies. Think about if you had you been in the marathon oil secondary, or devon secondary. There were opportunities. People wanted to ignore the opportunities because people said the world is coming to an end. The whole world coming to an end thesis has not played out in my lifetime. You mentioned the fed statements. We got one this morning saying he sees 2 . We will get bullard later in the week. Bullard is talking about things better. When the cats away, mice will play. Well get stop trading with jim in a moment. Its more than the cloud. Its security and flexibility. Its where great ideas and vital data are stored. With centurylink you get advanced Technology Solutions from a trusted it partner. Including cloud and hosting services all backed by an industry leading Broadband Network and people committed to helping you grow your business. You get a company thats more than just the sum of its parts. Centurylink. Your link to whats next. Its time for cramer and stop trading. Sometimes you see these notes, its apropos of the discussion you had with me this morning. Companies which dont want to standstill, dont want to see their price do not. This is somebody saying we need to talk. This may be type to consider breaking up citi. They do unbelievable work on banking. Talking about maybe selling the International Consumer business in bantemx. You cant have a city account and transfer it to bantem x. I think mike corbett is doing it a good job, and betting against him and that he has to break this company up is a mistake. Lets accept the fact that banks are in a bear market along with pharma. The chatter again president ially is saying no candidate is saying its time to rely on the banks. All you hear about is will the banks fail again . Mervin king saying, i dont know, theyre too big to fail. I think the banks are strong in this country. They raised a lot of capital. Dont break up city. City is a buy. Its a buy on earnings. When i see a stock selling at 17 times, its 7 times earnings. Keith does argue a 20 upside of a split. I think thats very aggressive. I would like to see that. But no. Jim, whats on mad tonight. No, no, no. I will reach some conclusions about march madness and stocks. People wont like it. Im saying that theres way too much march madness decisionmaking about stocks among everyone. These are not zero sum games. And just because an oracle wins does not mean a sales force loses. Theres no race to houston. People view it that way. Thats one of the reasons people have gotten the stock market wrong. What a weekend of games. Oh my. Reiterate, im not necessarily for any team, carl. Its been cold in here. You have to protect yourself. It has to do with winter apparel. Well see you tonight, mad money at 6 00 p. M. When we come back, marriott ceo arn Arne Sorenson on the starwood deal. Theres no one road out there. No one surface. No one speed. No one way of driving on each and every road. But there is one car that can conquer them all. The mercedesbenz cclass. Five driving modes let you customize the steering, shift points, and suspension to fit the mood youre in. And the road youre on. The 2016 cclass. Lease the c300 for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. We believe in the power of active management. Anagement, we actively manage with expertise and conviction. So you can invest with more certainty. Mfs. Thats the power of active management. Youre 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 maam. 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 im 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. [so i use quickbooks and run mye entire business from the cloud. I keep an eye on sales and expenses from anywhere. Even down here in the dark i can still see were having a great month. And celebrate accordingly. I run on quickbooks. Thats how i own it. Diversity isnt just important for your financial portfolio. Its also important for your life. Celebrating, welcoming, and surrounding yourself with people of all kinds is an investment in both you and your community, and were all the richer for it. Good monday morning. Welcome back to squawk on the street. Im Carl Quintanilla with sara eisen, simon hobbs live at post nine of the new york stock exchange. David faber off today. Markets in a muted tone. Dow is flat at 17608. After five weeks higher, dow going for its seventh gain in a row. What a flurry of news, whether its Starwood Marriott, the president in havana, mike pearson leaving valeant, apples product event in cupertino which will kick off at about 1 00 p. M. Today. Lets get breaking news on existing homes. Diana olick is in d. C. February existing home sales down 7. 1 month to month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5. 1 million units. Thats a huge miss. The street looking for it down 2 . Its unusual to see this month to month drop. The last time we did was november. Thats only because of the new mortgage rules that went into effect and pushed closings from november to december. We are slightly higher than a year ago. But february of last year was exceptionally low. This is the slowest since november of last year and a much larger than normal swing. Considering all the momentum lately, sales are meaningfully lower. Why . Inventories and pricing. Inventory down to 1. 88 million ho homes for sale. Were in spring, were supposed to see more supply coming on. The median home price up 4. 4 year over year, its the highest february median price since 2007. Thats barely short of the record high. Realtors saying were seeing resistance to higher prices, and again, just not that much for sale. Investors all cash and distress sales stepping up in february. Investors making up 18 , that firsttime buyer still at 30 . Should be up around 40 normally. Condo sales down by 6. 6 . Single family down by 7. 2 . Regionally sales down across the nation. Worst in the northeast, down 3. 4 month to month in the west. Sales in february down 7. 1 . Very unusual drop. Back to you. Diana, thank you very much. In the meantime, big news today, valeant shares slightly higher after the Company Announced its ceo, mike pearson, will leave the business for good and that bill ackman will join the board amongst other changes. Meg terrell is back at hq with more on that. Its been quite the monday morning for valeant after the week it had last week. Shares are trading up a bit on the news that valeant is going to initiate a search for the new ceo. Pearson will remain with the company until that ceo is named. Valeant up about 14 on the news. Bill ackman is joining the board of directors. That requires one board member who voluntarily left the board in order for him to come on there. The board requested that former cfo Howard Schiller who took over as interim ceo while pearson was out on medical leave, they requested that he leave the board. They say this in the statement and that apparently schiller has not done so. Hes the former cfo of valeant. Ackman will be helping with the ceo search. And said in the statement the companys large scale and dominant franchise is in eye care, dermatology, gi and other therapeutic area coupled with its low valuation presents a spectacular opportunity for a world class healthcare executive. Also saying the Financial Statements for 2014 and the First Quarter of 2015 should no longer be relied upon. We should be looking for restatements there. Also saying they plan to follow the 10k by april 29th. This is important because the filing of that 10k has huge implications for the covenants around their 30 billion in debt. If they file it by then, they should be okay. They are still negotiating with creditors to get a waiver in case they miss those deadlines. Still important they think theyll hit it. Meg, thank you very much. Starwood has Just Announced a sweetened merger off wer with marriott. Marriott offering 13 13. 6 billi in stock and cash. Good to have you here, mr. Arne sorenson. Thank you. I know youre here to talk about cuba, first we have to talk about this deal. Pretend im a shareholder. I get 76 from anbang or 21 from you and the promise of a better combined share price. Its not just a promise of a better share price. Were at 79. 53 based on fridays closing. We think theres great upside from there. We have power by combining these two companies to drive not just cost savings to drive revenue lift, hotel performance, combined Loyalty Program which is second to none. And for Hotel Customers which can cause them to say why would i belong to any other program . We think thats something we uniquely bring to this. Woe have another platform to bring to it. Starwood shares trading close to 84 this morning. The market is demanding more than the sweetened 79 bid. Well ready to do more if necessary. Our bid is 79. 53. Starwood shareholders also receive a timeshare piece which is broadly between 5 and 6 a share. Im in cuba i dont see whats happening in the market on a minute to minute basis, but i think where the stock is trading is factoring in both of those things. Not making a pronounced view about whether or not another bid will come in. We think what we have up on the table, starwoods board agreed on it last night, is a compelling offer for starwood shareholders. We want to get moving forward. Anbang seems to have a lot of money available to them what if they come back . At what point do you walk away. Well take things as they develop. For now we can look at what we can control, the steps we can take. And again were really excited about what lies ahead. Simon. Arne, good morning. Congratulations on trying to hello, simon. The analyst call from cuba, not without its technical difficulties this morning. You battled through bravely. The offer on the table is 22 higher than what you came up with before. I understand that youve got 50 million of extra cost savings in there. But to listen to you, it seems like theres a fundamental reassessment of the value of the business. I want to see if you could run us through what you found during these additional months. Right. There are a couple things that happened. We think our bid is about 15 higher than the last one. But there are different ways to calculate this based on whether you use average share price or spot share price and some of those things. I would also acknowledge, as i did on the analyst call this morning, that this deal financially, the proposal we signed last night, is not as good for us as the deal we signed and announced in november. The deal we got in november in retrospect was just too good a deal. And so weve gone back and obviously there was a competing bidder which surfaced last week. We said what is a fair offer for us to put forward . We made a significant move over the course of the weekend and decided we are really very interested in the Strategic Power of the combined platform. Lets put on an increased offer on the table. Starwood boards accepted it, were ready to go. I think its fair to say hilton is still reeling from what anbang was willing to pay for the waldorf astoria. They have deep pockets what if come back again. Have you said to starwood this is a final offer . No, we havent. Again, were not going to talk about what might happen. I think we have teed up something which not only values extraordinarily well in the marketplace, but it also offers a unique upside in the future. Starwoods shareholders will own a significant stake of the surviving company. Theyll be age to ride the upside in this portfolio, which should be enhanced performance for hotel owners and franchisees. A lot of people watching want to know what happens to the loyalty schemes. I know they will run in parallel at the moment. Whats interesting again and again in the Conference Call you came back to the power and the combined schemes. You said it was your best tool to compete in a digital marketplace. As we discuss air b b and the Online Travel agencies, i wonder if youre reassessing what the Business Model is for hotels in the future and then seeing the value that you didnt before in the Loyalty Programs. Can you run us through the latest view on that . That is certainly a part of our evolving appreciation of the strategy of this. When we first looked at starwood almost a year ago and decided not to pursue it, we reached that conclusion in part because of the financial aspects of the deal that seemed available at the time. But also because we didnt understand as well as we do today the advantage that this extraordinary ecosystem through the Loyalty Program would give us. Were watched in the Digital Space and we see it develop quickly. Lots of folks are trying to monetize search or create their own relationships with our customers, even selling our guest rooms through their sites. We think we will be better positioned if we can have a platform which is not just big, but allows our customers to say were getting real value by booking directly with marriott. They know us. They understand us. They can personalize our stay. We know we can earn points on a big portfolio of hotels and be able to stay and earn or redeem wherever were going around the world and whatever the purpose is of our trip. To piggyback on what simon asked you in terms of anbang being willing to pay what it was for the waldorf astoria, any frustration bidding against a Chinese Company which by its nature seems to have implicit government backing by the nature of the people involved by what is from the outside appears to be an incredible desire if not desperateness by Chinese Companies to get exposure outside of china . Their incentives are so much higher in a way that seem to push you to places or to a price that you didnt want to go to before and could push you higher is that frustrating . Were here in havana, i do believe both personally and as a matter of business that we compete in a global platform. We have Global Capital moving in different places at different times and nick cycles that capital is moving for different reasons, different return requirements. I would just assume not have a competing bidder surface last week in the context of this deal. But its not fundamentally a political issue. Its a question for starwoods board and shareholders to say whats the best longterm value for our shareholders . How does this offer compare to somebodys allcash deal in which theres no future . And, again, well see how things evolve. I think the offer we put on the table is compelling. I think it is quite different because of the future growth prospects. We are here in havana simon, you wanted to ask something . I did. Arne, just as far as the brand is concerned. You have 30 brand now or you will have if the deal goes through successfully. The question is always is that too many brands . The real fly in the ointment arguably is sheraton which was not growing in asia as it should have done. It seems to me that the battle lines are now drawn. You said on the Conference Call that you would require extra capital i investment from the hotel owners. That maybe some of the properties would be deflagged. You are committed to keeping sheraton within the portfolio or cue phase it out and transfer those hotel owner to other brands . Yeah. We are committed to keeping sheraton in the portfolio. We think its a great brand. It does often get questions because there are some hotels, particularly in the west, not in places like china, which could use Additional Capital. Thats why people ask. But it is broadly distributed around the world. Very well known. It is growing in asia. We think this brand can be positioned to be stronger than its been in the past. What we said this morning on the call is that we can improve the economics for the owners and franchisees of the hotels. We hope with those improvements they will find it rash and reasonable to invest Additional Capital in bringing those hotels up to standard. Those that dont, over time, may get deflagged or ending up in another brand position. This will be very much a multiyear project. We think its one were well suited to do. And we are optimistic about the growth that we can return to sheraton both in terms of the performance of the existing hotels and the addition of new hotels in that brand. Have you had a discussion with starwood at all about the deal they signed with cuba . Can you tell us anything about the deal where they will manage three hotels . Both starwood and marriott on friday of last week got approval from the u. S. Government do business in cuba. So that in a sense was an extremely important bit of clarification. In cuba we talk about what do the cubans need to do in order for americans to do business here . In this business we needed the u. S. Government to act do business. Starwood has been down here exploring opportunities. When they got that approvement from the u. S. Government they signed a deal with cuban partners to start two hotels, talking about a third. They say they will open within the next year or so. There revenue sharing or i think theyre management contracts, but separate company, by no means do we have deep insight into the terms they negotiated. If we acquire starwood that will be something we will love to take as our own. But even if we dont, this is a great step for the industry. We have discussions underway with a few different cuban partners. Now with the u. S. Government permission were optimistic we can get a deal done quickly. When you say the cuban partners, thats the government. They own everything here. The cuban government owns everything here. Now some of those models would have the cuban government maybe own the real estate, maybe have another company be the operator of the hotel. We might franchise to the hotel. There are a number of different models we need to work our way through. What is it like negotiating with the cuban government . When i was here the first time last july, one of the cuban ministers said to me we were talking about the u. S. Coming to cuba i said what do you think . He said its like the blade of grass with the elephants. I said what do you mean . Whether the elephants are make love or making war. The result is about the same. That captures it. Theres an incredible anticipation and eagerness for the economic development. A bit of a wariness. Can we preserve what is most important to us and our economic system. And those things are coming together in a way that im not sure any of us know how fast theyll move or where they ultimately come to rest. There is an interest in both sides. And greater engagement between the United States and cuba. Greater economic growth. We certainly know american travelers want to come to cuba. Thats for sure. Mr. Sorenson, pleasure having you here. Thank you, simon. Back to you. Michelle, thank you very much. Thank you, arne. Coming up, also live from havana, the ceo of zero, ursula burns about the opportunity she is seeing in the country. Opportunities arent 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. Apples Company Spring event at its headquarters is taking place today. A smaller iphone and new ihpad are expected to be unveiled. Jon fortt has the latest. This is the iphone 6s. This is the iphone 5. We expect more like the iphone 5. There wont be many design changes to this, but the internals totally different. An updated a9 perhaps even a9x chip. A better camera on the back. The question is, price . Will this be closer to 450 . If so, this is a break through for new iphones. Iphone users are used to getting good prices on their phones, even if theyre one or two years old. If apple is selling a new phone for 200 less, what will that impact . And this is the new ipad pro. This came out the end of last year. It has not blown the doors off in terms of sales. This is a smaller version of the ipad pro. The fullsized ipad with many of those features. How will that be priced . What kind of accessories will come with it . All of those are questions. Will it do anything to perhaps accelerate ipad sales . Tim cook expected the ipad to overtake the pc in terms of popularity, in terms of volume. That doesnt seem to be in the cards any time soon unless something dramatic changes. Thats what were looking out for here. As always, the apple versus fbi case lingers all over this. Well see what, if anything, apple says about that. A lot to get to today. Jon fortt in cupertino. For more on what investors can expect from the launch, lets bring in walt picek. Good to have you back. Good morning. Good morning. You are looking for anything that will add some spice to this cycle that were in right now. I dont think anyone is looking for anything out of this event. Its been quiet going in. Theres the expectation on the smaller phone which is a refresh of the 5s. Jon mentioned the stuff about the ipad. I think expectations are low going into the event, which from an investment standpoint is what you prefer if youre long the names. What happened to the notion that consumers able to upgrade early would groodrive volume. That was the narrative formed last year. It was. Even on the most recent quarterly calls of at t and verizon they said theyre not seeing a pick up in the upgrade. Even though its been available to them. Verizon shut that down a bit. They tightened up over the past year. For Companies Like at t, where they have made it easier for people to upgrade phones, you have not seen that acceleration that i think we were expecting over the past six months or so. Obviously you talk about jon talked about the tablet pc dynamic. Who do you think wins in that scenario . Tablets are a small percentage of the businesses jon pointed out. Its been down for eight straight quarters. Our expectations are that it will continue to decline in units. Even the asp, which should have been helped by the ipad p pro didnt show any type of uptick. Its been quarter after quarter of disappointment as far as the ipad is concerned. Its hard to get our hopes up high that this is a product that will stimulate people, who have ipads working perfectly well in their homes now and that they will upgrade. The new phone, it may be the 5s with a better chip in it, games and Services Like apple pay. Would you have time for that within the portfolio . Services are important. Everything contributes. At this point when youre talking about a company that went from 25 growth a year ago now hoping to a couple hundred basis points now, every little bit counts. The 5s and this upgrade is more about the fact that someone has a 2yearold phone, maybe the 6 and 6s were not the size they wanted, now they have an upgrade for this product. Its coming mid cycle. Where you have this annual event where numbers spike up high, maybe this provides an opportunity to level that off a bit for those people who prefer the smaller sized phone. Walt, i know you took your target down to 141. They continue to add to their Bond Offerings ostensibly to return more capital to shareholders. Why is that not worth the higher price target. Last time we were on we talked about whether the multiple can expand. It went up one turn. It outperformed the market since they reported that december quarter because we got that fear of the march quarter its a real issue. The revenue and earnings decline. Our numbers are above consensus, but youre looking at an 8 decline in revenue, 12 decline in earnings. Can they inflekt back up to june quarters . Can these products help them do that . Can that multiple expand . And the share repurchase, all of those things should help the multiple expand as we go through 2016 and execute on some of these items. Well start with the event today. Walt, good to see you. Thank you. Lets turn our attention to the broader markets now. Stocks starting the week off in the red. Modest moves lower following five straight weeks of gains for the s p and rising oil prices. Joining us is bill smead good to see you in person. In town. Thanks for having me. Lets talk about deals. Looking at another Starwood Marriott deal. 13 billion. Tie up between weve had the paint company deal worth 9 billion. Markit deal, is all of this a bullish sign for the market . It is. The total number of companies has shrunk. I think the wilshire 5000 has 3,500 companies now. The disappointment of the commodity bust continues to reverberate through the market and we havent made the full movement over to the main street dominated market. As diana olicks report of existing home stales. Its hard for the housing boom to take place with limited supply and inability on the part of the builders to build as many and as fast as we need when all these millennials decide they want a home in the next three, four years. It sounds like youre not a buyer of the housing stocks . We are. We own nvr, the fifth largest home builder from florida to pennsylvania. We own home depot. A number of plays on housing. The big banks are a play. Youre not going to get better Interest Rate spreads until the millennials make their First Mortgage pay. That will be a much better spread for bank of america. The banks and healthcare is another sector that is the most beat up this year. Were Large Cap Value managers. I can remember five years ago telling people well go through one of the greatest life science periods in our history, but nobody wanted anything to do with them five years ago. Now we know its a great life science period, including two politicians trying to scare everybody out. We want to buy Wonderful Companies when everybody else hates them. I say they hate healthcare now. What r. You bare you buying . Merck, pfizer, amgen. We like them at pe ratios well below the market and much brighter futures and fantastic dividends and free cash flow. Youre not worried about the rhetoric on the campaign trail . John templeton said if you can see the light at the end of the tunnel youre too late. Everyone says think of the hedge fund folks who are sixmonth myopic. I dont want to own these things until we get closer to the election. You will get your low point at a price when nobody wants them, rather than six months later when you are closer to the pop list rhetoric. We got twe got the fed ou way, were breaking the correlation a bit what you are looking at as the driver from here. Substantially better economy driven by the household formation of millennials and thats not a thing that happens on a month to month basis. I got on an airplane in phoenix, there were nine strollers waiting to get on the airplane. And phoenix is not a baby place. I was flying to seattle. And thats normally not considered a baby place. Were having a baby boom. Do they not have children in phoenix. They have children in phoenix, but these were the children of people in seattle going to visit the grants during spring training and coming back on the flight. Most people dont think of amazon people making a lot of babies, but even theyre going to be making babies. Thats one investment philosophy. When we come back, the ceo of xerox live from havana. Dow is down 34. 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 companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov we want to take you live to havana, cuba where president obama is becoming the first sitting president to visit since the 1920s. Hes laying a wreath at one of the memorials in havana. Show you that. As we continue to monitor it. We know several Business Leaders have accompanied the president to havana. Michelle carusocabrera is live with one of them. The ceo of xerox. Michelle, take it away. Sara, thats the jose mart martinmemorial. Supporters and opponents of castro claim him as a mentor. And in central park theres a statue to him wer lived in new york city for quite a long time. Im here with the ceo of xerox, ursula burns. She joins us today, shes the chair of the president s export council and accompanied him on this trip. Why are you here . Why come to cuba . We were asked by the president to come to cuba the president s export council is an organization that advises the president on policies and programs that could increase exports and trade for United States and United States businesses. So, the convenience of this trip, his trip and the president s export council is that we are on a fact finding mission. Early days, obviously, for the opening up of a market potential opening up of a market. We need to understand more from as early as possible. So that we can be ready, more ready to partner with the cubans as they actually open up their markets. I heard you caveat it, the potential of opening up a market. People have their doubts. Have you met with members of the government . From what im seen, im not convinced theyre interested in a lot of Foreign Direct Investments. Are you . Im convinced they want a lot of Foreign Direct Investments. The challenges are conditions. Conditions under which Foreign Direct Investment and the cuban way of life and the cuban governments view of the way of life can get together. And if that is reasonable for both sides, i think that well see trade increase. If not, it just wont. There are rules that have to be worked. An embargo has to be lifted in order for us to have more access to the markets. But there are also infrastructure elements here that need to be improved. There are currency rules that have to be improved. There are worker rules that have to be improved. Theres so thatch has to much t done that it will take a while. Im convinced that the interest is there. Im not convinced on how exactly it will be done. They say they like investors to come here. But when Companies Come here, they find out they cant hire employees directly. They have to hire them through the government. The government decides who gets hired, who gets to keep their job. You pay the cuban government 0 500, but they only pay the cuban worker 20. Investments in direct investments in cuba would be low if this kept up. So while the path forward is not exactly clear, im here with secretary penny pritzker, shes working on exactly these items. Were here, myself as the chair and Arne Sorenson as the vice chair to lead credence to the conversation. This is not only a government set of rules and restrictions, its literally business that would say how exactly do we operate here . Theres not a model for us. The message being, okay, even if the embargo went away there are so many problems here related to socialism that make it difficult to do anything. Socialism, i wouldnt go as far as socialism per se. Xerox does business in 160 countries. Any country that it is legal to did business in, we can work out a model for customers to get served and for employees to be compensated. Some of the rules here are a bit odd, though, a little bit more challenging for business investment. This worker rule issue is definitely a huge issue. Its not even the tax as much as the fact that the employees dont work for you. They work for the government and then theres a whole thats not something i can see my way around easily. You got a busy year, breaking up the country company. Not the country, the company. Trying to take costs out of the business. And still questions of what will you do next. Its interesting. I will do something. Thats the great thing. I will do something. We will ill be engaged in one of the two companies. I think thats for sure. Im holding back on speaking about this. But im not unaware. Im not saying it publicly because theres still a lot of work to do to make sure the internal Organization Structures are set up and then settled down. And we will make announcements about the leadership structures of both in due time. Time that allows us to get that talent in, settle down, organize and communicate. Its really at this point just a matter of moving the separation process along. Its not as easy as it sounds. As i say all the time, its easier to get married than divorced. So fortunately were not divorcing in any form of animosity, but its complicated. We will make progress. I will make it clear what im going to do in due time. Great. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. There was a marshaling of the press corps during that interview. We have some breaking news with meg terrell on valeant and the situation with the board. Thats right. Were getting a statement from Howard Schiller, the former cfo of valeant and current board member. Really in the cross hairs of all the news this morning. The company had come out in its press release and filing saying that there was Improper Conduct of the former cfo and the comptroller which resulted in the misstatement to the audit committee. Now from schiller and his lawyer saying those statements contained incorrect statements, contrary to those. He says at no time did i conduct any Improper Conduct or provide inaccurate information to the audit and risk committee. As a result of that fact he has respe respectfully declined the request from the board to resign from the board. Coming back out here saying hes not at fault. And saying that he was told by the corporate controller that the outside auditors reviewed the transactions in question. A lot of he said she said going on here. Very odd story. Thank you. For now the stock is higher by 15 . Meg terrell back at head quarters. Straight ahead, a new report says that big republican donors are finally united against donald trump this as arizona and utah prep for primary contests tomorrow. All the latest on the 2016 race. Before we go to break, sue herera back at headquarters with a news update. Thank you very much. Heres the news update at this hour. Belgian prosecutors hoping that the public can provide clues about a man who allegedly travelled to hungary last year with the top suspect in the paris attacks. This after forces arrested a prime suspect in the paris attacks which left 130 people dead. The black boxes from the plane crash in russia are so damaged a top russian official saying it could hinder the investigation. The flight nosedived while trying to land in strong winds on the saturday near the black sea. All 62 people on board the boeing 737 were killed. Winter is not going away quietly. Parts of new england digging out from a snowstorm which dumped close to a half foot of snow in some areas. An aerial drone taking these pictures this morning in massachusetts. Police are investigating an unusual scene at a new jersey mall. A mall easter bunny and a father getting into a brawl yesterday. It happened after the fathers 1yearold slipped while getting her picture taken. No Chocolate Easter eggs for either one of those two thats the cnbc news update. Squawk on the street will be right back. The race by some in the gop to stop Donald Trumps nomination despite previously backing other candidates, Financial Disclosures released last night show some bigmoney republican donors are uniting to fuel the antitrump fight. This as two more states, utah and arizona, prepare to hold contests tomorrow. Joining us to discuss this is former minnesota congressman ben weber and cnbc contributor tony frato. Congressman weber, the money coming together, were talking about millions these super pacs are raising to fight donald trump, will it work at all . Big question. Im not a trump guy. I hope it works. But the fact is the money thats been spent on the primaries up to now against donald trump and jeb bushs super pac spent 100 million has not seemed to affect the race. One thing were learning about politics in this cycle is that communication is very different than the past. Paid advertising has had minimal impact. Social media has a maximum impact. I hope it works. I think were presenting ourselves with a huge split in the Republican Party. But theres no assurance this will do the job. Would you agree with that, tony . Is this the race that changes the idea of money and politics and Campaign Fundraising forever . Well, i dont know that i would go that far. You still need to reach large amounts large numbers of people with messages to try to get them in the right place. Really the bigger problem weve had on the republican side is start of a collective action problem. Trump still representing a solid but Minority Group of Republican Voters. It seems like most Republican Voters wanted someone other than trump. They had a hard time getting out of their way to focus on trump. I think money, paid advertising, social and digital can have an impact. Reducing the numbers is going to have an impact as well. And allow more nontrump voters to cole ealesce around one of t other two candidates. Hillary clinton raised 30 million, senator sanders raised more than that. This is becoming very expensive for mrs. Clinton even though shes way ahead in the delegate count. One of the interesting things about senator sanders campaign, hes been railing against big money and politics, his Campaign Proves you can raise money to fund a campaign without relying on big money. Hes proving you dont need Public Financing or some other things because hes raising his money largely through social media in small contributions. Thats a wave of the future in both parties. Lets tie this to what well see tomorrow. Another round of tuesday primaries, arizona and utah. The polls suggest that ted cruz has a good shot at taking utah. And donald trump is ahead in arizona. If that is the outcome, does that increase the chances of a brokered or open convention . I think so. I think it will be difficult for trump to get the 1,237 delegates he needs to avoid a contested or open convention. Thats probably a good thing. Im a trump opponent, but i think opportunity to take this to the convention and let delegates vote and sort this out is actually the right way to go in a field that started with so many candidates. Youre right, probably looks like trump takes arizona. There are a lot of undecided voters still left in that state and utah. Interesting thing about utah that i saw over the weekend, not just that cruz might win utah, but that in some polling were seeing Hillary Clinton beating trump were he the nominee in utah. That should really shake the confidence of a lot of republicans. If you lose utah, this is going to be a difficult election. Congressman weber, do you agree that would be the best way here forward for the republicans . Do you not at all buy the idea it would be bigger to get a more engaged, more United Republican Party even if it is around donald trump . They would have better chances of defeating Hillary Clinton . Theres no evidence that its possible to unite the party around donald trump. Theres considerable evidence to the contrary. Not just the fact that most voters voted against him in the primaries, but a huge number of republicans say they will vote third party, some for Hillary Clinton. Its not possible to unite around donald trump. Theres nothing mysterious or nefarious about a convention. The convention has the job of taking a fractured field and finding out who has the best chance of uniting the party. When i first ran for office, i was endorsed on the tenth ballot. Nobody said it was a brokered convention. Thats how we went about choosing candidates. Thats how we should go about choosing somebody here. It shouldnt be donald trump because he cant unite the party. Have any of the candidates given us a clear Economic Vision for the country beyond protectionism and other controversial ideas like that. I think its a rocky set of policies. From our perspective. Some very pro trade and free markets. I would like to see more of that. Kasich has had some of those ideas. Full disclosure, ive backed candidates who are no longer in the race who i thought were espousing those views. I think the Republican Party is a pro trade open free markets economy. I think thats where were going to end up. We almost maybe need to have this fight right now so that we can settle that. I dont know about that. The anti trade message seems to be cnbc. Well leave it there for now, gentlemen. In both parties. In both parties, agreed. Vin weber, tony fratto, great to see you. Next, both candidates plan to bring manufacturing back to this country. Can they do it . That answer, when we come back. Its more than a network and the cloud. Its reliable uptime. And multilayered security. Its how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. With centurylink you get advanced Technology Solutions, including an industry leading Broadband Network, and cloud and hosting services all with dedicated, responsive support. With centurylink as your trusted technology partner, youre free to focus on growing your business. Centurylink. Your link to whats next. Thats why i run on quickbooks. Details. I use the payments app to accept credit cards. And everything autosyncs. Those sales prove my sustainable designs are better for the environment and my bottom line. Thats how i own it. We believe in the power of active management. Anagement, we actively manage with expertise and conviction. So you can invest with more certainty. Mfs. Thats the power of active management. Why are so many traders shorting stocks now . Strategist tom lee joins us to discuss and explains why it could be a bullish sign. Go to trading nation. Cnbc. Com. More squawk on the street coming up. These are live pictures from cuba, where the president is now making his way to the palace of the revolution, where he will meet the current president of cuba, raul castro. A very controversial visit with thousands of political detentions and a military in charge, despite the fact you see exporters doing deals. They are doing deals with the cuban military. More throughout the day on cnbc. We were just talking about the economy and the election throughout this campaign. Several candidates, both republican and democrat, have pledged to bring manufacturing back to the u. S. Can they really deliver on that promise . Our phil lebeau is live in chicago with more on the answer. Phil, morning. Good morning, sara. Odds are whoever is elected president will not be able to create as many manufacturing jobs they are campaigning they will do. Donald trump regularly talks about bringing jobs back to the u. S. Leaving our country, rapidly. Rapidly. Whether its carrier air conditioning, whether its ford, whether its eaton. I was in cleveland, and eaton corp, theyre leaving. And so Many Companies are leaving. And frankly, im disgusted with it, and im tired of seeing it. And theres no reason for it. Its just gross incompetencies at the highest level. We should not allow it to happen. One Reason Campaign lines like that are resonating with people is because when you look at the number of manufacturing jobs that have been lost, over the last ten years, and yes, et cetera come back some over the last six years. But nowhere close to before the recession is when you talk with manufacturers, they will tell you, look, if we havent already exported some of these jobs elsewhere, because of lower cost, its tougher to compete in the u. S. As a manufacturer. Western forge out in colorado springs, we spent some time with them. They point out, look, we have to use leaner production, which means hiring fewer people and its too expensive to build in the United States which is why Companies Like western forge say its unlikely theyll be able to bring back jobs as many people expect. I think its really hard to think you can forge people back here and still be able to get somebody to buy your product at a higher cost. It comes down to can your customers afford the price of your product. Thats really what it comes down to. That is the truth for manufacturers. This is another truth. Take a look at the ism index. Guys, when you look at this chart, this is one reason why these campaign pledges for bringing back jobs resonate with voters so much right now. They look at manufacturing and say, cant we do better . And a lot of manufacturers say you can do a little better, but youre not going to bring back all the jobs that have gone away. Okay. Thank you very much, phil. Lets go back to havana. This is raul castro, about to shake hands with the president of this country. Its the first time in 88 years a sitting president has been to cuba. The president clearly wants to do deals, more exportled relationships to be brokered. For many people, the cubans have been reluck at any titant to co. Even as we speak, Cruise Line Companies are ready to go in with ships. But the cubans have yet to say okay. And he will not meet fidel castro during the course of this visit. Such is the anger for many people in this country about what fidel did and political contentions to this day. Thousands of them in an environment where if you do deals there, you do deals with the military, not with entrepreneurs effectively on the ground. Lets get your score card. It is, of course, apple day in cupertino, california. Jon fortt will have more on that. Theres no one road out there. No one surface. No one speed. No one way of driving on each and every road. But there is one car that can conquer them all. The mercedesbenz cclass. Five driving modes let you customize the steering, shift points, and suspension to fit the mood youre in. And the road youre on. The 2016 cclass. Lease the c300 for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Steve, other than making im here atme move stuff,rade trader offices. What are you working on . Let me show you. Okay. Our thinkorswim Trading Platform aggregates all the options data you need in one place and lets you visualize that information for any options series. Okay, cool. Hang on a second. You can even see the anticipated range of a stock expecting earnings. Impressive. Whats up, tim. Td ameritrade. Everhas a number. Olicy but not every Insurance Company understands the life behind it. For those whove served and the families that have supported them, we offer our best service in return. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Get an insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. Take you live to havana, where president obama is meeting with cuban president raul castro. Of course, this historic visit, the first for a sitting president since 1928. Calvin coolidge, the president arrived. And will continue tonight. State dinner, Media Questions with reporters. Well find out if raul castro actually takes questions from reporters. Baseball game tomorrow. Take a listen to the national anthem
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.