world world on cnbc. i'm sara eisen. >> and i'm wilfred frost. let's get right to the market action as investors minced fed chair janet yellen's words yesterday. some confidence by markets taken by the fact that fewer rate hikes now expected this year than previously. dow once again pointing to a positive open. s&p by six. the nasdaq by around nine. let's have a look at the u.s. ten year. we saw it spike above 2%. it's now settled back down. just trying to work out which way it wants to move. yes, we'll probably have hikes this year, but probably not as many as previously. that's now led the yield to be a little lower than it was before the start of play yesterday. >> the yellen celebration continues. call it the week of the central bank. the bank of england, the swiss national bank, and norway's central bank all meeting today. and breaking just in the last half hour, switzerland's central bank leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged but saying it is still willing to intervene in the currency market to weaken what it calls the, quote, significantly overvalued swiss franc. there's the reaction. norway is expected to cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point as the country's economy tries to adapt to lower oil prices. it's getting slammed by that as an oil producer. but the big news in washington yesterday, a dovish federal reserve kept interest rates unchanged as expected and suggested it would be very cautious about future interest rate hikes. the central bank giving a fairly upbeat assessment of the u.s. economy, but policymakers are clearly concerned by recent global economic weakness. have a listen. >> so you have seen a shift this time in most participants' assessments of the appropriate path for policy, and as i tried to indicate, i think that largely reflects a somewhat slower projected path for global growth, for growth in the global economy outside the united states and for some tightening in credit conditions in the form of an increase in spreads. >> a more cautious fed. still, yellen did not rule out the chance of future interest rate hikes, underscoring that the fed officials have forecast two additional rate rises this year and said every meeting is live, meaning they could raise rates, though that was a big downgrade from the four interest rate hikes that the fed projected as recently as december. the fed is worried about the global economy and financial markets. >> i've been a bit surprised by the risk on reaction to this. i thought largely that was baked in. let's have a look at that risk-on reaction we've seen in equities around the world. first up, asian markets, as you can see. predominantly green across the board. it's been the mining stocks around the world that have reacted strongly. in particular, some of those em currencies with the thought that the u.s. won't be hiking rates as quickly as previously expected. europe has also reacted nicely too. we're looking at slight -- >> there's the emerging markets. that's really where they felt the euphoria. they love that weaker dollar for the moment. >> indeed. so across the board, we have seen a risk-on reaction. sara, i am a bit surprised by that because we weren't expecting a hike in march, obviously, which we didn't get. so that wasn't a surprise itself. and we weren't expecting to still get four. everyone discussed how there likely would be two or three. the fact she confirmed that and yet we did get a risk-on reaction as if to think easing is better than tight tng rather than the fundmental economy being strong, i was surprised. >> well, it sounds like the markets took some relief. investors took some relief in the fact the feds caught up with the markets. just in terms of the surprise that wilfred mentioned, you really saw it in the currency market. but surprise caution, that worrisome signal saw a sharp turnaround in the euro. the dollar getting absolutely crushed after the decision came out with that statement. that continues this morning with euro stronger 1.1287, continuing to surge. the only market in terms of equities that didn't like this is japan. that's because a weaker u.s. dollar means a stronger yen. pound stronger as well today. let's show you the reaction in commodities, which was also strong. weaker dollar helps commodities. wti crude getting another boost today. up 2.8%. look at that, marching toward $40 a barrel. brent the international benchmark. up almost 2.5%. even nat gas getting a bid. gold did not get much of a boost. it is, though, today up 3%, almost $40 there. also, there was word from some of the opec and non-ope drrks members that they would still look at a production freeze even with iran not cooperating. >> do you think that the fed still has more control over markets than perhaps the bank of japan or the ecb? the reaction has been much more unanimous, much more risk on in all asset classes. we didn't get a clear tightening signal as if it was a net easing in a sense relative to expectation and markets reacted positively. after the ecb, it was crazy mixed moves. after the bank of japan, one day of moves. >> yes, the fed is the world's central bank. it's something the fed itself, janet yellen, acknowledged in her statement. she did say the unemployment rate remains low, 4.9%. there's been improvement in the jobs market. there's been improvement in inflation. she signaled some caution on inflation, but she specifically called out the global economy and financial market risks, which is something that investors have been pushing for in the fact that they pared down -- she looks at that and they're paying attention to that. the fact she was cautionary, it seemed to be a react of the fed gets it. she gets it. she gets what we've been trying to fraforecast for so long. there was a lot of volatility at the beginning of the year on this idea that the fed is overly optimistic and disconnected from the market. the fed is expecting four rate hikes. well, the market isn't expecting that. so there was a sense of catch up. we'll see if it lasts. >> exactly. how long will it go on for? we also have the bank of england today. no surprised expected there. we get another round of economic data to consider. weekly jobless claims out at 8:30 a.m., expected to tick up after hitting a five-month low in the previous week. also at 8:30, look for the march philly fed survey and current account numbers. at 10:00 a.m., it's leading indicators. tencent reports before the open. we'll hear from abobe systems after the close. >> more on the markets in a minute. first a check of corporate news. we'll start with more pain for valeant. shares getting crushed after the company said it would not meet a deadline for filing its annual financial statements with securities regulators, which put it in danger of defaulting on a $30 billion debt load. well, now reuters is reporting creditors are demanding new terms that could further pressure the drug maker's model. a little boost in the early action. bill ackman's pershing square lost about $800 million on the drop in valeant this week. it sold 20 million shares of snack maker mondelez. pershing square now has one of the worst performances in the hedge fund industry this year. down 26% so far in 2016. it's off 47 federal reserve the fund's 2015 high, which it hit just seven months ago. >> i was surprised to see that the results of our survey yesterday, we asked who had a worse tuesday, marco rubio, bernie sanders, bill ackman. bill ackman was number two. marco rubio had the worst day. just by about 2%. anyway, tuesday is already a long time ago. we're in a positive, upbeat mood today. a very happy st. president riat to everyone. just in from norway, the central bank cutting rates again. this was expected, but nonetheless another central bank going into easing mode once again. let's have a quick look at the kroner. it has taken a move down by almost 1%. we're at 8:.38 against the u.s. dollar. stocks to watch today, starting with fedex. third quarter profit fell 19% due to legal cost in acquisitions, but revenue rose and results came out better than forecast. the package delivery company also raising its full-year profit outlook largely on the back of growth and e-commerce shipments. citigroup raised ceo michael corbat's pay, earning roughly $16.5 million for the year. although, that's still way less than jpmorgan's ceo, jamie dimon, who saw his compensation rise 35% to $27 million. >> and he's enhanced that further with some well-timed trading. >> the dimon bottom, when he bought his own stock. mckesson cutting 1600 jobs. that move coming as the u.s. drug distributor slashing costs after it lost some key customers. mckesson is offering severance and benefits for the affected workers. their health care is the worst performing sector on the s&p. health care and banks. >> and biotech within that has been a tough area. some stocks to watch. a few more. toshiba is selling its medical equipment unit to canon. the company will use the proceeds to help fund restructuring after a massive accounting scandal. the s.e.c. and justice department are investigating toshiba over accounting issues. off 8% this morning. ctrip swings to a fourth quarter profit easily beating forecasts. expects first quarter ref knew growth but it's off 5.6%. > glaxosmithkline says the ceo will retire in 2017. it is roughly flat this morning. the fed follow through. joining us from new york is the managing director of fx strategy at bk asset management. boris, one of the biggest moves we saw was in the currency market yesterday with the dollar getting absolutely slammed. do you see this move as lasting more than just 24 hours? did she put a floor here under asset markets? >> you know, in one of my more churlish moments yesterday, i tweeted out that betting on janet yellen being hawkish is like betting on donald trump being civil. the market was leading to a pro-dollar move. when you look at the fundamental pictures, the economy in the u.s. is doing relatively well. unemployment is really low. inflation numbers, even that morning, cpi numbers came in relatively high. so the market thought at very least the fed would be neutral to leaning towards more hawkish posture. the fact they did not is a testament to the idea now of how international we've become. the fed is so much more concerned about global capital markets than at any time i've ever seen in my life. we talk about the whole idea of currency wars many, many times on this show. it really feels like now it's almost -- it's not a currency war, certainly a currency competition to make sure their currency is not so strong it tempers down their recovery rates. >> as we look for the rest of the year in terms of how we expect equities around the world to react, it had started to look as if central bank influence was much diminished. it wasn't a simple case of easing is good for equities. but the moves again yesterday suggest otherwise. i mean, how do you position in a portfolio based on the expectation of two rate hikes? >> i still think the fed is going to hike, assuming we just sort of maintain the pace of growth we have in the u.s. right now. in order to basically preserve their credibility. steve liesman asked yesterday, what do you need to do given the conditions as they are now? i mean, how much better can things get before you actually begin to normalize? if they're really interested in normalizing monetary policy, they're probably going to go before june. after that, they don't have any opportunity until after the election. i think what you're seeing now is probably the last drive against the dollar. i think the dollar is going to strengthen as we go forward into the year, simply because the fundamentals really bear themselves out towards a pro-dollar stance. >> let's talk specifics. clearly this was a big shift in fed thinking. that's something she telegraphed. you just acknowledged this is a big shift in the way the fed is looking at the world and its policies. what do you do the morning after? what trades are you making? >> well, you know, of course the easy trade right now is to simply sell the dollar because that seems to be what the market is doing. i think we're coming up to some key support levels in major currency pairs where you have some interesting bargain opportunities. definitely the euro at 113, 114 is a sell, not a buy. if you believe the fundamentals matter, i mean, it's very, very hard at this point because we're in an alice and wonderland market where up is down, left is right, and nothing seems to make sense. but ultimately, the markets do react positively to interest rate differentials. the interest rate differentials are arguing for a pro-dollar stance eventually this year. >> all right. not seeing it this morning. that's quite a chart in the last 24 hours on the euro-dollar. boris, thanks for joining us this morning to help make sense of the fed move. still to come, today's trade of the day. why value investing is back and how you can profit from it. >> but first, our facebook and twitter poll of the morning. cheers to janet yellen on this post-fed day, st. patrick's day. which is your pick? lager, ale, or stout? wilfred? >> it is lager for me most of the time. on today of all days, it is stout no doubt. we're back in a minute. oh hey allison. i'm val, the orange money retirement squirrel from voya. val from voya? yeah, val from voya. quick question, what are voya retirement squirrels doing in my house? we're putting away acorns. you know, to show the importance of saving for the future. so you're sort of like a spokes person? no, i'm more like a metaphor. okay, a spokes-metaphor. no, i'm... you're a spokes-metaphor. yeah. ok. see how voya can help you get organized at voya.com. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." very good morning to you. let's get to corporate news. jpmorgan and citi shareholders will reportedly get to vote into whether the two banks should break up into smaller pieces. the wall street says the vote was requested by a shareholder in both companies. the question will be included in proxy filinings and voted on lar this year. switching gears to silicon valley. the firm has backed companies including facebook, air bnb, spotify, and spacex. apple has recently started using goe ining google's cloud . they also use amazon and microsoft's web services. apple is spending between $400 million and $600 million on google's cloud services. chipotle is giving away as many as 9 million burritos in its latest effort to win back customers. the chain plans to send 21 million free coupons through snail mail, expecting about a quarter to be redeemed. then based on the cost of a burrito, the value of that giveaway is more than $62 million. stock getting a little bit of a boost. >> what's snail mail? >> it's sort of like where they mail coupons randomly. >> so just the regular mail? >> yeah. >> okay. >> it's a promotion. but will it work? it'll certainly cut into margins, but they need to start winning customers back. >> indeed they do. still to come, we'll talk about donald trump's warning to his own party. >> plus, it's st. patrick's day, and guinness brewery ambassador is here. it's not too early for guinness. 13 million glasses will be sold around the world today. but hold off on grabbing a cold pint until we show you how to do the perfect pour. the green behind st. paddy's day, and we're not talking about shamrocks. that's still ahead. first, here's your st. paddy's day weather forecast. >> sara and wilfred, happy st. patrick's day. green on the weather map today, including in the northeast. showers may rain on the parade in new york city later in the afternoon, but it's really a hit-or-miss type of thing. in the south, old front rebounding back into texas could bring showers and thunderstorms. possible hail with some of those storms. the west, we get a nice break. we're going to keep it nice and dry. actually warming up. those are the spots warming up, getting to nearly 80 in l.a. today. 70 in dallas. today is really the last day that we're going to see widespread areas of above-average temperatures. getting into the weekend, we're heading back to either close to average or close to sort of early spring temperatures, even below average a bit. enjoy these 60s in new york city and upper 70s in atlanta for today. that's your latest coast-to-coast forecast. i'm meteorologist jen carfagno. "worldwide exchange" continues after this. or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. ♪ in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and new infrastructure for a new generation attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in rochester, with world-class botox. and in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov if you're just waking up, it looks like the post-fed janet yellen rally is continuing. future gains have been cut in half in the last half hour. dow futures up 45. s&p futures up three. nasdaq futures up one point. if the dow does go positive and finishes that way, it could be a fifth day in a row. both the dow and s&p closing above their 200-day moving averages yesterday. a bullish sign with some momentum from the fed. >> the dow yesterday having its highest close of the year. let's keep that in mind. all of those issues we went through in january and february apparently behind us. >> dow, s&p both down less than 1% for the year. >> right. we'll have to see if that can continue. let's get to politics. president obama's supreme court nominee will make the rounds on capitol hill later today. tracie potts joins us now with that story. >> reporter: hi there. good morning. so judge merrick garland is in the middle of a hot political showdown between capitol hill and the white house. less than 24 hours after this nomination, it's in limbo. >> the importance of hard work and fair dealing. >> reporter: a handful of republican senators have agreed to meet with the president's supreme court nominee, merrick garland, on capitol hill today. the white house is encouraged. >> that's a good thing. there's a constitutional responsibility that members of the united states senate have to consider the president's nominee to fill a vacancy on the supreme court. >> reporter: chuck grassley may meet with garland in april after the break. others are undecided. >> if i do meet with him, it may not be a good use of his time because i'm not going to change my position because it's based on the principle. >> reporter: the senate's top republican spoke with garland by phone but says he won't meet face to face. majority leader mitchell mcconnell calls waiting for the president's next nominee a fair and reasonable compromise. the house speaker agrees. >> the president has every right to nominate whoever he wants to, but the senate, which is a co co-equal branch of government, has every right not to act on that nomination. >> reporter: democrats will rally outside the supreme court, urging republicans to act. >> if merrick garland can't get bipartisan support, then nobody can. >> have the guts to vote yes or no. >> reporter: but for now, republicans vow no hearing, no vote. we are also hearing from the nra, national rifle association. they say that they're strongly opposing this nomination because their review of judge garland's record shows they don't believe he'll be a strong supporter of the second amendment. >> tracie, thank you very much. the war of words continues. my must read has to do with this. mitch mcconnell going to "usa today." that's later in the show. the gop debate scheduled for next week has now officially been canceled. this after donald trump said he would not attend and then governor john kasich pulled out also. trump said he only recently found out about the debate and can't cancel a planned speech. the other big political story, speculation about a possible contested gop convention. in an interview, donald trump said it would be a disaster, suggesting perhaps you'd even have riots if they don't give him the nomination, even if he has the most delegates but can't make it to the 1237. wilfred? >> sara, you drew the short straw today. i got the best story. happy st. patrick's day to everyone. have an early print with "worldwide exchange." we're celebrating with guinness brewery ambassador. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. we're going to talk through after the break how to pour the perfect pint to make sure you drink it properly today. but tell me as we go to break, what exactly makes it this color, this taste? what's the main ingredient? >> the main ingredient, the reason it's dark is because we're using roasted. that's what gives it that lovely dark color and the coffee flavor. >> i'm going to try it now. "worldwide exchange" is back in a couple minutes. breaking market news. norway's central bank cuts rates. the swiss hold steady but have plenty to say about currencies. up next, the bank of england. new this morning, nike unveiling a self-tying sneaker video you need to see to believe. and green is the color of the day. we're talking about the big business of beer. it's st. patrick's day. thursday, march 17th, 2016. you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. good morning and welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm sara eisen. >> and i'm wilfred frost. let's check in on the global markets this morning. green across the screen. futures included. although, relatively muted fashion. the dow closing at its highest of the year yesterday. let's have a look at europe and asia as well. europe is seeing green. not quite as much. in fact, we've lost impetus in the last half an hour or so. the ftse 100 up by 0.3. the rest seeing a bit of red. asia closed in positive territory. the lack of hikes this year from the fed seen as a positive by emerging markets, by commodity currencies, and we're looking at australia up and most of asia up as well. >> it's really a lot to do with the currency moves. the chinese yuan is at the highs of the year at the back of that weaker dollar from the fed. the market certainly likes that, when the chinese currency strengthens. on the flipside, the japanese yen strengthens and the nikkei doesn't like it. we've been talking about the fed all morning long, but three other global central banks are out with policy decisions today. let's get you up to speed here. switzerland leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged but saying it is still willing to intervene in the currency markets to weaken what it is calling a significantly overvalued swiss franc. meantime, norway's central bank cutting its interest rate to a record low of half a percent. that was expected. policymakers there saying the central bank may cut again to fight this economic downturn prompted by a drop in oil prices. the norwegian krona is strengthening against the u.s. dollar. >> let's have a look at broader markets. oil has liked the fed decision yesterday, or lack of decision. the commentary we're likely to have only two hikes this year rather than four. surging as you can see close to $40. we're up 2.8% this morning. let's also have a look at bond markets. interesting moves yesterday in the u.s. ten year. it surged -- the yield surged initially above 2%. it's now settled back below 1.9. we're at 1.87 this morning. sara said already that currency has been important. let's have a look at the u.s. dollar. we've seen the euro bounce back significantly, up half a percent again today. 1.128 at the moment. the move as well has seen the yen strengthen to 111 against the u.s. dollar. gold, let's have a quick look at that. a strong start to the year in january and february. in march it's just lost a little bit of steam, but it has bounced today by 2.9% to 1265. >> the gut instinct now that we've read all the economic research overnight when it comes to the fed and seeing some of the market reaction, that celebration in emerging markets, seems to be that it is a relief that the fed has caught up with the market's view, that overly pessimistic view in the beginning of the year. the fed got spooked about it. they cited two main risks to the economic outlook. overseas, what's happening there, and financial stability. so fed catching up with the bond market. instead of that disconnect we saw earlier in the year, seems to be celebrated today. >> i think particularly as you say, the mention of considering overseas volatility and what's happening there. of course, that's not specifically in their mandate, but janet yellen clearly acknowledging that she is considering that. of course, at a time when u.s. data has got quite better. the key piece of u.s. data is looking a little more positive. >> so the question is, are they too pessimistic? is the data going to force their hand to raise interest rates, or is there something they're seeing there underlined in the economy that doesn't smell so good and seem so well? i think that's one question to look at going forward. >> yeah, either way, though, i think we are still expecting a couple more hikes this year. if you kind of rewind to january or february, that would have been seen as quite a surprise itself because people were so bearish all of the sudden. so she struck a decent middle tone. clearly markets reacting well. the question will be, will this be like a bank of japan incident where we get positivity for a day or two then evaporates, or will it continue? >> we'll ask a panel of guests later. we want to get to corporate news and stocks to watch today. starting with viacom, creating a new position of lead independent director. he's a former cfo at verizon. he's been close to viacom. he does have a history there. rio tinto names a new ceo. walsh a director since 2009 and ceo since 2013 will be retiring in july. william sonoma's fourth quarter results missing. poor same store sales at its pottery barn chain. the company's launching a $500 million share buyback program. interestingly, it owns a furniture store, which i recommended to you. >> i was explicitly warned off ikea. i'm told in i bought any of mine from there -- >> well, i wanted it to last for your full time here. >> anyway, let's move on to the other stocks to watch. under armour will issue a new class c nonvoting stock next month. they will be issued through a dividend to all existing shareholders. jabil cuts full-year guidance. the electronic supplier is warning of weaker demand for its mobility business. down 6% on the news. guess reporting a bigger than expected drop in fourth quarter profit as same store sales fell more than 2% in the holiday quarter. the retailer's ceo says the company still has more work to do on its turnaround plan. that's down 10% in premarket trade. now time for today's trending stories. nike finally unveiling its self-tying sneakers. the idea has been in the works for about ten years since "back to the future" and will hit shelves by this holiday season. it's called the hyper adapt 1.0. it uses power operated laces that tighten when you step into them. there are two buttons on the side of these shoes, a plus and a minus, to tighten or loosen the laces. by the way, nike's ceo will be joining me on "squawk on the street" later this morning, a first on cnbc interview. they're holding an innovation summit this week in new york. there were also other big announcements. >> you tweeted a video of you trying on this video. i've never seen anyone look like that. >> i was on a podium. it was part of a demonstration. we were just trying the new technology. they were size 10. i'm a size 5.5 womens. >> you should have brought them back for me. next trending story, larry ellison made $1 billion overnight thanks to a positive response to oracle's quarterly earnings report. oracle stop is up more than 5% this week. and hamilton the musical may have saved alexander hamilton's spot on the $10 bill. turns out the creator and star of the broadway hit tweeted that secretary of the treasury jacob lew told him he would not be disappointed by an upcoming redesign of the $10 bill. lew has said he wanted to add a woman's image to the bill, but there's pushback by those who don't want to see hamilton replaced. i was told by treasury that there would be a woman's face and they would keep in circulation and keep in print hamilton as well. >> a bit of both. >> yes. something for everyone. >> this musical is meant to be excellent. i want to see that. >> i'm seeing it in april. very excited. you have to wait two years on the list. >> we'll see if we can pull some strings. something else that's sure to be trending today, st. patrick's day. 70 million people will put on green accessories and use today as an excuse to down a nice cold guinness. 30 million glasses will be told cede, nearly $4.5 billion will be spent on festivities, with an average of $35 per partier. the market value of a leprech n leprechaun's pot of gold, $1.2 million. guinness' brewery ambassador traveled all the way from dublin to celebrate with us. thank you for being here. this lovely spread of guinness on the table. you've just been pouring these prints for us. tell us how you pour them. it's not a simple pop the cork and pour it out. guinness takes time to pour. >> it does, absolutely. so guinness has been around for 257 years. we've been making beer since arthur guinness signed a 9,000 year least in 1759. the thing that's made guinness iconic in the last 57 years -- nice mustache by the way. >> thanks. just had a little sip. >> you look like a professional. the thing that's made guinness a little more iconic in the last 57 years, to be exact, is this that you find on the top. it's exactly that, that gave you your mustache. it's nitrogen gas. we combine our beer with nitrogen gas during the beer. this means a little patience has to be kpers exercised. i've brought some guinness nitro ipa. >> this is a blond? >> this is the nitro ipa. it does look a little blonder. i call it a golden honey color. quite nice. we brew this back in dublin, ireland, but there's not one drop available there because it's a u.s. exclusive. >> there we go. we'll have to have a sip. >> have a try. >> how much more guinness do people drink on st. patrick's day around the world than on your typical day? >> st. patrick's day has been such a long-standing irish institution, something we're proud of. for such a small country to have this globally celebrated holiday, as you said 70 million people, so we do find that quite a lot of people explore their irish heritage. if they want to do that with a guinness, as long as they're doing it responsibly, we're happy for them. >> 5:40 in the morning. not too early. >> cheers to that. donald, thank you so much. very happy st. patrick's day. donald, thank you for joining us. coming up, our must reads of the morning, including senator mitch mcconnell's take on the open supreme court seat. stay tuned. you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. you get use to pet odors in your car. you think it smells fine, but your passengers smell this. {ding} eliminate odors you've gone nose blind too, for up to 30 days with the febreze car vent clip. wow, it smells good in here. so you and your passengers can breathe happy. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." now to today's must reads, the stories catching our attention in the papers today. i went to mitch mcconnell writing in "usa today," let the people have a voice. he's writing, of course, about obama's supreme court justice pick. the american people may well elect a president who decides to nominate judge garland. the next president may also nominate someone very different. either way, he says, the american people can continue the national conversation about the type of justice who should serve, arguing there on behalf of all republicans, of course. he is the leader in the senate there, that it's not appropriate to do during an election year, which is something the republicans -- a point they made coming out after obama gave that news conference introducing garland. some of the democrats say he's mainstream, he's middle of the road, he's got that reputation. the republicans say let's just get to work on the legislation, and we'll let the american people elect the next president who can then do it. they're also calling it the biden rule, which he uses during this piece as well. >> it's a good piece summing up his argument, the republican side of the argument. i have to say, a spread across all of the papers today with very clear opinions either side. obviously those with democrat leanings saying it's outrageous they don't even give a hearing. >> and still meeting with members of congress today. keep going as if they might do this hearing or vote, which mitch mcconnell says is not happening. right. we're approaching the top of the hour. steve liesman is filling in today. he's joining us. steve, lots of political news continues, of course. but the story for us remains the fed. a very positive risk-on reaction to the nondecision yesterday. >> yeah, good conversation you guys have going this morning. we're going to continue it, trying to answer that question. why does the market rally when the fed gives the market what it already knows? more on the fed coming up on "squawk box." plus, a lot on this issue of free trade. is it dead? how do revive it, if it is. we have the former commerce secretary. we have more on pershing square, that big 26% year to date decline in their main fund, guys. back to you. >> very quickly, steve, do you think this was a major -- now that you've had time to digest it, come back from washington, do you think it was a major shift in thinking the a the federal reserve? >> i actually do, sara. i think what they had is they had an idea before where they were going to hike earlier so they could go gradually and not be forced to do a lot more later. they've decided they're going to risk a little more inflation. they've decided that the global economy has a bigger effect. they definitely were more dovish than most expectations of most of the fed observers i speak to, including my own expectations. >> steve, thank you very much for setting up our next conversation. we'll see you at the top of the hour. when we come back, more fed follow through. what does it mean for your money? the global markets are reacting to this shift in thinking, as steve said, from janet yellen. we're going to talk to an economist and global strategist about what to do about that when we come right back. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's show you what the futures are doing. they've just turned lower after a nice early morning rally. dow futures were up more than 70 points. now they're pretty much unchanged going into the open. s&p futures down three. nasdaq futures down 14. we'll continue to keep an eye on that after a rally yesterday following the federal reserve's statement, decision on no policy change and outlook from janet yellen. joining us to discuss all that is hans olson and anthony chan. anthony, we just asked steve how much of a shift in thinking this is from the federal reserve. do you agree with him that it really is now that they're putting more weight, emphasis, and caution on international developments? >> i absolutely do agree. i think that when you are the largest economy in the world, or even the second largest economy in the world, you have a responsibility to pursue strategies that are not only in the best interest of your own country but also the global economy because you have such a large impact. so whether i look at the federal reserve or the people's bank of china, i think they are pursuing strategies that are in the interest of the world and their own respective countries. keep in mind that yesterday the federal reserve lowered both their growth targets for the u.s., both for 2016 and 2017. so if growth is slowing down, there's no need to be as aggressive when it comes to interest rate hikes. >> hans, at the top of the show, we were applauding the positive reaction in risk assets to this announcement from janet yellen. yesterday we got green on the screens. we had it in asia, europe, and the u.s. futures an hour or so ago. europe's turned south. now u.s. futures just below flat. is even janet yellen and the fed amongst the central banks losing their ability to act now? >> well, i think the move of the fed yesterday was probably a missed opportunity, although i understand their reticence to raise interest rates. what you're seeing with the market is you come back to the fundamentals, especially in the united states, where at the end of the day, we had a tough fourth quarter earnings season. the first quarter earnings season is going to be another tough quarter, both on the top line and the bottom line. if as expected at this point it comes in -- earnings come in down 8% from prior year, this will be the first time since as the recession wound up we would have four consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines in earnings. >> well, clearly the immediate reaction was positive. but i wonder if there's some room for criticism here. that is, international developments and financial markets are not part of the federal reserve's dual mandate. by introducing them as key things that they're watching to the economic outlook, they're creating a lot of policy uncertainty about when they're going to hike interest rates going forward. >> well, sara, many fed chairs, whether it's bernanke or greenspan, when they've been in the same predicament and somehow they are veering outside of their mandate, whether it's prices or employment, they've always said the same thing. they have to watch anything that has a dramatic impact or can have a potential impact on the things that they care about, whether it's growth or whether it's employment. so you're absolutely correct. the stock market or international financial market, those are not within the mandate, but to the extent they can have an impact on the things that they focus on, namely the mandates, those are things that they have to monitor. so that is the reason why i think both janet yellen and future fed chair will, in fact, be looking at many of these variables. >> hans, you said markets are now focusing on the fundamentals more than just central bank action. how strong are those fundamenta fundamentals? are you embracing riskier assets? >> if you look at the return spectrum this year, it's been challenged at best. some of the best performing assets have been either crisis assets, crisis-type assets such as gold, which has really had a good year indeed. or energy, where early in the year, things got oversold in that sector. overall, return expectations are modest for this year, especially for u.s. equities. it's really based on the fact that the operating fundamentals remain challenged. we think probably what happens is we'll get some relief in the back half of the year when the comps get easier. but, you know, really this year is going to be a year of really differentiated returns. it forces one to do things rather differently as a result. be much more tactical in their positioning. >> on that positioning, hans, one group that probably did not celebrate janet yellen's tone yesterday were investors in banks, bank executives, anyone at the big banks who were just looking forward to higher interest rates to help their profitability. they sold off in the immediate reaction to the fed statement. do you have to rethink that trade this year? >> well, yeah, i mean, the short-term move there was tough because these folks have been in the wilderness as far as their net interest margins are concerned. i do think, though, that what'll end up happening in the back half of the year is the fed will be forced into a catch-up mode. as we can see by the data, you know, they're hitting their stride in both the employment and the inflation from a consumer perspective, certainly at the core. so i think in the back half of the year, we'll still look at maybe one, possibly two interest rate increases, which will give the financial sector a bit of a break that they need. >> anthony, as we look at the rest of the year, where does the u.s. dollar go from here? lots of conflicting forces. year to date, it's been split against different currency pairs. today, of course, the move more unanimous. >> i think it's very clear that if the federal reserve is not going to be raising rates four times when the market feared they can raise four times and now it's going to be either one or two, that the dollar's upward momentum is going to be a lot less strong. by the way, that's going to be good for earnings because what you saw last year was that earnings were on downward pressure because of the stronger dollar with regard to multinational corporations. also going to be good for energy prices because with a weak r dollar, energy goes up. >> we have to leave it there. thanks for joining us. good to see you both. that's what i'm watching today, the euro-dollar. just broke 1.13. weaker dollar helps emerging markets, helps u.s. multinationals. is that going to be the trade? is the fed effect going to continue? so far this morning it is in currencies. >> also, see what that's doing on european equities because the euro is hurting. that's all we have time for today on world world. squawk wa "squawk box" is coming next. born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. and what an amazing time it's been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. so, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. ♪ morning. we are still watching the fed after all those comments. taking another look at janet yellen's message. futures were moving higher. maybe they're lower now. although, oil is surging. wti creeping up on the $40 level at this point. and quite a disaster at pershing square. bill ackman's hedge fund taking an $800 million visit on valeant this week alone. now he's selling shares of mondelez. millions of shares. how much more pain is still to come for ackman and his investors? and trump's warning. the donald says there could be riots in the gop tries to take away his nomination. he also pulled the plug on the next debate, then was followed by john kasich, who could have been there with just ted cruz getting all the time in the world, which he's always been complaining about. i forgot it was st. patrick's day, but i did take notre dame in the first round. let the march madness begin. "squawk box" begins right now. live from new york, where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning, everyone. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. happy st. patrick's day. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and steve liesman. andrew is off today. the city getting ready for the big parade here. former senator george mitchell will be the grand marshal. let's see if the markets are seeing green this morning. they were for a while. now it looks like we've turned to the red. dow

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