i'm sara eisen. >> i'm wilfred frost. very good morning to you from me as well. before we check in on the markets, four big international stories we're watching. china getting hit with a credit gown grade overnight. we have the latest market reaction. the uk upping its security threat level to critical following monday night's terror attack. opec about to kick off a meeting in vienna. president trump is at the vatican this hour after meeting with pope francis. more on all of those big stories straight ahead. >> first let's check in on the markets this morning. u.s. equity futures after a mini gain yesterday for stocks. s&p closed higher by 0.2%, following a trend of fractional moves, mostly higher. looks like futures are indicated higher again. dow futures up 12. s&p up 2.5. nasdaq futures up 11 points a bit of a defensive tone to yesterday's dane wigain. the ten-year hovering around the 2.28 level. a bit of buying of treasuries, saw that yesterday. the economic reports have been kind of mixed. the new home sales number for april was weaker than expected after a jump in march. we'll wait to see what data showed today. overall it's been a mixed picture at least in the u.s. the data has been very strong, notably in europe. >> going back to the u.s. markets, underwhelming rally, but four days in a row of that, such that last wednesday's big 2% decline has all but been eradicated. the resilience of the markets. the question is once earnings season finished, does one of those resilience factors get taken away? we'll have to see what happens at that point. less focused on washington with president trump's trip abroad. top global market story. moody's downgrading china's credit rating from a1 to aa3. they cite sern concerns over a slowing economy and increasing debt. all things considered, china's debt to gdp figure is more like 200%. this is a significant downgrade. the first for china by a significant rating agency since 1989. it hasn't dampened asian markets. we are still higher across the board. albeit only slightly in hong kong. >> hong kong has been on fire. >> japan 0.6%. european trade, given that it was mixed yesterday. kind of mixed today. yesterday, the declines -- yesterday, excuse me, last week the declines in europe were more pronounced than the u.s., down around a percent. today just positive for the ftse 100. the rest in the red. >> paul donovan, a frequent guest, one of the credit rating agencies, no one cares which one, lowered china's credit rating from something to something else. nobody cares what. there's a flicker of interest but no real new information. we know china has had debt levels and has been trying to keep its gdp in check for a while. >> it's always good to get paul donovan's sarcasm in the morning. these are reactive, not predictive, not proactive. the headline is we think growth will be slightly lower than what is forecasted. the euro has been remarkably strong lately. highest level since november. it's backed off from the highs. about 112.60 yesterday. it is going strong a bit. the dollar is firmer against the japanese yen. sitting below 112. the pound is up by a quarter of a percent, even after the terror warning, the terror threat was raised to a critical level. the highest level yesterday. did see the pound sell off a bit on the back of the manchester attack the day before. we are watching that currency sitting below just 1.30. as for gold prices. gold is down by a third of a percent on the back of some dollar strength. as for oil prices, they have been strong. up for five days in a row. wti is back above $51 a barrel. they were weaker yesterday, but that turned around during the u.s. session. we're hovering just below 52. brent 54.52. >> before we stick with the old december cushion, quickly going back to the currencies market. yesterday was a rebound day for the dollar. the euro strength just continues remarkably hitting that high of 112.67. highs not seen since november. it's that you at the moment. intraday yesterday there was another high hit. we have a meeting of the ecb on june 8th. opec members are about to kick off a big meets in austria. steve sedgwick is in vienna. good morning to you. >> good morning. this is really interesting. the opec group has a successful strategy on its hand, believe it or not, despite the fact that oil prices net-net have not moved much over the six-month period. the problem is it's not manifesting itself in inventories in nations. it is changing inventories in the producing nations. while they have cut production, they have also kept on exporting. in order to see the global inventories come down, what we need to see is a continuation of it. it's all very well doing it the first quarters of the year, these are peak demand areas. it's interesting to see if they can have the discipline to have a six or nine-month extension or whether they will see deeper cuts. a lot of things opec can't control at the moment, including they can't control the fact that in japan, germany, the u.s., three of the biggest users, you've seen declining growth and demand. they can't control the fact that the shale production has been way above expectations. they expected it to be stuck around 8.6 million barrels a day. shale is producing over 9 million barrels a day. the lack of demand, other producers filling in the gap, that's the problem for opec. the strategy is kind of working, just needs more time. we'll see what happens in the next 24 hours. >> lots of things out of their control, but what is in their control is how long they do extend that production limit for a time frame there, possibly six to nine-month extension. what do you think is priced in? what is a boost for the oil price today if they extend it more than expected? >> has to be more than that six to nine-month extension. the sifr doe low demand first quarter every year. if you extend it to september, you are not factoring in the first quarter of next year which is quite catastrophic for the price. you have to have your nine months in place. i think you would need depositioner cuts. i'm not sure how they do deeper cuts. the iranians and iowa rack rac want deeper cuts. unless saudi wants to cut more of their own oil, will we get deeper cuts. >> steve sedgwick in vienna. the other thing opec cannot control is the u.s. is a swing producer. new developments out of the uk following the terror attack. let's get to willment marks in manchester. we were talking about it yesterday. the possibility they would raise the threat level and prime minister theresa may has. what's the impact? >> that's right. just here this morning we have seen counterterroism officers moving inside this vast police cord than is ringing the center around the manchester arena. manchester police say the focus is whether this 22-year-old, salman abedi acted on his lone because they cannot rule out other people were involved. that's why the lthreat level ha been raised. last night theresa may explained what that means. >> is now concluded based on today's investigations that the threat level should be increased for the time being from severe to critical. this means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that a further attack may be imminent. >> we're getting a bit more detail about salman abedi, the british home secretary, amber rudd, said he likely traveled back from libya in recent weeks. the french interior minister said according to french and british intelligence agencies, that this man also traveled to syria likely and did have a relationship with isis. there is going to be a huge police presence in cities like manchester for some time. it looks like more armed police officers will be coming up. the military will also be guarding major installations like downing street and buckingham palace. >> i knows there been events canceled in manchester arena itself for obvious reasons. what about around the rest of the country. does critical suggest that events need to stop taking place? do they continue regardless? >> what the police have said is that there is likely to be increased police presence at smaller events where you would not typically see police at all. the larger sporting events. we have the f.a. cup final coming up and a rugby game this weekend, a large number of armored police there, which you wouldn't typically say. >> willem, thanks. the other thing to watch today is the europa cup final, it's manchester united versus ajax. it is taking place in stockholm. >> soccer? >> soccer. but it's important -- manchester united one of the big sort of flag carriers of the city of manchester. it will be taking place in a major match tonight. moving on to today's wall street agenda. more data on housing and the fed. april existing home sales out at 10:00 a.m. eastern. at 2:00 p.m., the minutes from the fed meeting earlier this months. dallas fed president, rob kaplan and neel kashkari a speaking earlier today. lowe's and fitiffany report befe the bell. shares of toshiba jump 8% on western digital is offering $18 billion to buy the memory chip business. intuit reporting better than expected results. the company raising its full-year guidance following a hard-fought tax season. the strong results come amid that companies could be hurt by president trump's proposal to simplify the tax code. shares of container store, its earnings beat by a wide mar jet. they included a restructuring plan which include layoffs at stores. the market cap around 2$200 million. the fda has approved merck's drug to treat cancer in adults and children who carry specific genetic traits. the drug was previously approved to treat head and neck companieses. shares of universal health services are lower on reports that the fbi launched probes into the hospital operator. buzzfeed is looking into whether the hospital kept patients for as long as insurance would cover them rather than medical need. a new york state appeals court has ruled common mobile mu exxonmobil must turn over records about how long it knew about global warning. again, no real move in exxon share prices. when we come back, we're talking grains and grain alcohol. two big m&a stories developing overnight. we'll tell you the details when we return. first a look at european markets this morning. the ftse 100 slightly higher. france and germany slightly lower. back on "worldwide exchange" in a couple minutes. since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. okay. i'm plugged into equities- trade confirmed- and i have global access 24/7. meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. visit learnfuturestoday.com to see what adding futures can do for you. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." let's get you up to speed on the market action. four days in a row of gains for the dow. yesterday just a small gain of 0.2%. the gains in terms of sector performance a little bit risk off. a little bit of a careful rally. consumer staples doing well. also utilities. banks have done well and financials have had four days of gains in a row. that takes us to level ts that would pretty much erase that one day blip. also the less focus that we've had on washington dilemmas given president trump's travels abroad. he's in the vatican this morning. this morning it looks like a similar picture, higher, albeit only slightly. oil is likely to be in focus today with opec oil ministers meeting in vienna. oil has had a decent run of late. it's bounced a bit yesterday. another half percent today. well above 50. wti at 51.75. all focus on whether the opec m ministers will expend the supply cut. >> a big developing m&a story overnight. constellation brands making an approach to acquire jack daniels owner brown-forman. brown-forman is not interested in selling but informed its board of constellation brand's interest. i was reading some research notes overnight on this one. it's a staples brand. bonnie hertzog says hard to imagine imagine where this deal gets done. first of all, they don't want to sell. constellation is a closely held company by sands. she says the upshot is it's encouraging con tell lastellati willing to go bold. >> either way what is fascinating about the sector, we've seen lots of consolidation both in the drinks market and in terms of foods, snacks. it's kind of necessary for these guys to deliver the growth targets and that we have these attempts to bolt on more acquisitions and lower costs. >> constellation has been a rock star in this space, thanks in part to its big mexican beer unit. which is -- >> modello. >> a nice one. >> corona. >> usually when we talk these stories we get to see pictures on the screen of delicious alcohol. other m&a news, glencore making a takeover approach to the u.s. grains trader, bunge. the ft says bun je is not currently engaged in talks with glencore, however it rallied yesterday. it's off 5% today. still ahead, president trump meets the pope. we'll have the details and the pictures of the face-to-face meeting next. first, as we head to break, here's today's national weather forecast from nbc's bill karins. >> good morning. the big weather headline of the day is the southeast. severe weather, potential for flooding continues. 38 million people at risk. literally all of the carolinas, georgia and florida. a huge population center. a lot of cities. when the thunderstorms roll through, we will get the airport and travel delays. here's the timing of everything. going throughout the late afternoon, this is when thunderstorms pop up. a line through central florida a line through george. a couple of strong storms heading through the carolincaro. that will continue as we go throughout the evening. the strongest storms could produce isolated tornadoes. some of the rainfall will be exiting during the morning hours throughout areas of new york city southwards, and a warmup for the middle of the country. that's your business travel forecast. more "worldwide exchange" when we come back. e baby's room won't build itself. and her paw won't heal on its own. we're all working forward to something. synchrony financial can help your customers make it happen sooner. so she can plug into her dreams... and they'll have a new addition for their new addition. whatever you're working forward to, even if it's chasing squirrels, synchrony financial can help you get there. welcome back. if stocks hold to gains here, this could be the fifth day in a row. dow futures up 12. s&p up 2. nasdaq futures are up 12 as well. we'll watch for the fed minutes this afternoon. some notes from the last meeting, for instance to see how they characterize the weakness in the first quarter and what they expect to do going forward. the remarkable resilience. s&p crossed the 2400 level yesterday. closed below there. just a few points away from another record close. as for action in europe. a mixed to flat picture. strength for the ftse 100 in the uk, just a tenth of a percent there. the dax down. the currency market ahead of those fed minutes, ahead of more housing data this morning after weak new home sales data yesterday. the dollar firmer against the japanese yen. and the euro firmer against the dollar which has been a continuing trend. the president continuing his first trip overseas. pope francis welcoming trump to the vatican, shaking his hand before they met face-to-face in the pontiff's study. it was a highly anticipated meeting as the two men have disagreed in the past. during the presidential campaign, france criticized trump for wanting to build walls. this meeting, as we can see from the pictures, far more amicable. >> then he goes to brussels, he'll go to nato, also fougraug with tension after criticizing some nato members. >> i think the nato part of the trip is the highlight of the european leg of this. this is highly significant for religious religions, but not least to mention the fact he's now met leaders of islam and judaism and now catholicism. >> the trifecta. >> opening your arms to all those faiths. you have to commend him for that. >> a lot of symbolism there. the cleveland cavaliers are on the verge of a third straight meeting in the nba finals with the warriors. the cavs went up three games to one last night in the eastern conference finals beating the seceltics 112-99. lebron james had 34 points, following one of the worst playoff performances of his career. game five will be tomorrow. everybody knew this would be lebron and steph curry. the intrigue is in the final games. curry has something to prove after he lost last year. >> i'm looking forward to that now. >> he's got kevin durant now. >> i think i'm more of a nets fan these days. >> nets are terrible. >> i can get better tickets. still ahead, opec meeting, key commentary and a downgrade for china we'll set you up for the market moving events. "worldwide exchange" will be right back. good morning. moody's downgrading china's credit rating for the first time in nearly 30 years. >> oil front and center as opec ministers get ready to meet in vienna. what you need to watch coming up. and going hog wild. the big outrage today of harley's plans overseas. it's wednesday may 24, 2017. you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. ♪ >> good morning. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm sara eisen. >> i'm wilfred frost. good morning to you from me as well. let's get straight to the global market picture. futures positive, albeit only slightly. a trend we've seen in recent days. the dow up 10 points. nasdaq 11. s&p up 2 points. yesterday about 0.2% of gains. which made it four days in a row of gains for the dow. they have been slight. but enough to now pretty much eradicate that 2% fall we saw this time last wednesday. a picture around the rest of the world, moody's downgraded china's credit rating to a1 from aa3. this is the first downgrade for them since 1989. they're citing concerns over china's growth and debt burden and whether they will meet government forecasts. it feels more reactive than predictive. not really seg eally something concerned about. let's look at european trade as well. which has been mixed to down over the last couple of days. similar this morning. the ftse 100 eking out a 0.2% gain. >> ten-year treasury note yield hovers below 2.30. a lot of demand for bonds, for treasuries. look at that. we drop to 2.27. let's see how the economic data shakes out. we will get existing home sales and the fed minutes from the last meeting. the u.s. dollar has been weaker against the euro in particular. we're seeing that turn around. just showing some strength below 1.12. firmer against the yen, 111.80. the pound is up even after prime minister may raised the let level signaling what could be an imminent attack. gold prices have been under pressure. they are down this morning on the back of a firmer dollar. about a third of a percent. oil prices have been higher. crude oil crossing back above $51 yesterday. now sitting just below 52. up a half percent this morning. brent crude up as much as well. 54.46. oil is a big focus in the market ahead of the opec meeting in vienna. let's check in with chris kelly from janis capital what are we expecting in terms of a big decision from opec? >> i think the expectation is for an extension of the cut. i would say by in large everybody expects it to be extended for nine more months. anything short of that would be a disappointment. >> to rally in oil prices today we need more than nine months extension. what about deeper size of cuts? >> would be luge if we get a nine-month extension. we'll see oil up 50 basis points. if you were to get a deeper cut from 1.8 to anything over 2, or just the signaling that they might go there this the future. that's how you get the legs to go up to 60. which countries will hold out? who's ready to do more, cut more, cut for longer? who is holding out? >> the 800 pound gorilla is always saudi arabia. they can cut more. 100,000 barrels a day does not mean much to them. iran and iraq primarily want to hole out. really it's saudi that drives the market. >> are they driving the market? is it working? are these extensions and cuts actually getting them to the goal they want on prices? >> it's not getting them to the goal they want but it's working on the incremental side of this, the supply -- >> put a floor -- >> put a floor on it to some degree. if they continue to do this, it should really start to work. we're at 500 million barrels of excess inventory today. we need to get 200 million off of that. >> the u.s. has become a real swing factor that makes it hard for opec to control prices. >> that's very true. at the same time if they work off the inventory. the u.s. cannot supply 1.5 million, 2 million barrels a day of production. work that off. the market will be healthy. >> just switching quickly, yesterday we saw the administration planning to sell some of its strategic oil reserves. is that a bright idea? is that something that should be there regardless of whether the shale production is picking up and what does that mean for the oil price? >> i don't flow if it's a good idea or bad idea from regular foreign policy or economic policy, but it's probably not a huge deal with respect to excess supply in the u.s. the u.s. can just flip the switch and get some production back. because we're not importing, it probably makes more sense to get rid of some of the spr. what it does to the oil price is probably muted. i saw a number, they'll do it over a long period of time. i think it was ten years. it only adds about 90,000 barrels per day of supply to the market. >> thank you. nice to see you. corporate news. harley davidson is making a bold move overseas. landon dowdy has the story. >> do you remember this scene? arly executives rolling up to the white house to meet with president trump, touting made in america. now just three months later, the motorcycle make ser taking heat after announcing plans to open an assembly plant in thailand. the plant will open in late 2018 where it will assemble bikes from components produced at u.s. facilities. theerations are expected to reduce costs, especially tariffs. the new plan has steel workers and machinists worried. the president, leo gerard, says management's decision to off shore production is a slap in the face to the american worker and to hundreds of thousands of harley riders across the country. hog sales continued to struggle in the u.s. take a look at the stock shares of harley. unchanged in early trading. >> it's an important development. president trump met with harley executives, at one point was talking about pressures of trade and high tariffs because of what harley was facing in certain markets. specifically with india. he says the tariffs hurt harley. by doing this they assemble them in the other countries. so it cuts back on those tariffs. harley is basically saying we're not taking jobs away, we're not hurting the workers. we'll see what happens. right now they're not too happy about it. >> still pushing for that expansion. some top trending stories now. alec baldwin's daughter is giving her dad's donald trump impression her own spin. baldw baldwin's wife taking to instagram to poetsst a video of their daughter carmen, her best trump administration. >> what day does daddy play donald trump? >> saturday. >> can we go like this with our hands and go saturday? >> saturday. >> saturday. >> okay, everybody. >> okay, everybody. >> it's saturday. >> it's saturday. >> that is so cute. >> that is funny. >> that's pretty good as well. >> he should teach acting classes. that's all it takes. nbc's "the voice" krocrowni its season 12 winner. chris blue winning the title. blue edged out country singer lauren dusky in one of the closest votes in the show's wristry. t history. have to say, i wish all of these shows collectively would say let's take a breather for five years. idol has done that. >> so we could actually watch them. they kroefr lyoverly milked it. they have some big stars as judges. >> right. that's whyrecurring characters. i have no time for it. the bachelor started this week. >> 40 seasons, five -- >> first, that needs to be fact checked. i don't believe it. i think it still shows the power of the bachelorme menbachelor. >> 5 out of 40 stayed together. >> five married couples is not bad. >> don't propose if you're not going to stay together. >> james corden is heading to snapchat. cordon will start a new show on snapchat called "james corden next james corden." it's a series, fictional competition, where the late night show looks for his replacement. he wants ample time to select and groom a worry successor. so snapchat made a show about this. >> it's kind of odd. but two big takeaways. i'm not sure what the show will be like. "a," cordon, strength. >> with young people. >> and snapchat as the vehicle which is interesting since he works for abc, his carpool karaoke has been sold to apple, and now snap chot. >> snapchat. >> i've yet to watch a show. i know snapchat wants to have programming. >> and because of the partnership because of the winter olympics, they have a tie up on that, whether that becomes a root to watch that sporting action. coming up, more "worldwide exchange." i love you, couch. you give us comfort. and we give you bare feet... ...backsweat and gordo's everything. i love you, but sometimes you stink. ♪ new febreze fabric refresher with odorclear technology... ...cleans away odors like never before. because the things you love the most can stink. and plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up... ...to 45 days. breathe happy with new febreze. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm wilfred frost along with sara eisen. jobs news, chinese companies invested a record $46 billion in the u.s. last year. that number could grow as china looks to up its manufacturing capabilities in the united states. can chinese companies really save mron by poney by producing america? eunice yoon has more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. i think the answer would be yes. president trump has said that he wants the u.s. to become much more competitive and in the conversation i've been having here with a lot of chinese executives t turns out they believe the u.s. is competitive as it is. now speaking to one textile manufacturing, a company called kier, they're investing 2$228 million into a facility in south carolina. when i spoke to the company boss, he said he's hoping that eventually he wants to move everything over to the united states. why? he says his costs are just so much cheaper. he said in the u.s. his costs are 25% cheaper than in china. i spoke to one analyst who told me he believed this trend would only gain momentum. this is what he had to say. >> chinese companies are going to the u.s. because they think by doing so they can lower their costs of production. in certain pockets of the u.s., the land will be much, much cheaper than china. the electricity rate, natural gas, the logistic costs. >> reporter: you can probably see that i'm in an apparel factory. this manufacturer ships to the u.s. as well as europe. they say if president trump pushes through part of his agenda and lowers corporate tax rates that would make manufacturing in the u.s. more attractive. there are draw backs. for labor industries, like apparel, the concern is about the cost of labor. beyond that, it's also the lack of skill in the u.s. it's not because people don't have the capability of learning these skills, but it's just that in china over years, especially in industry like apparel, people have built up so much experience it makes it more difficult for factories like this one to relocate. which industries are looking more closely at the united states? they are in cap paltense iinten ins duhries, like chemical, paper. >> eunice, thank you. made in america all the fwra china time for some must-read stories. my pick in the "new york times," trump's budget doesn't make sense. penned by maya mcginness. they just does the math here. she's not partisan on this issue. she writes the largest savings, which it does plan to balance the budget, the largest savings comes from aggressive growth assumptions which would generate 5$500 billion in a year. assumptions in a presidential budget are age-old tradition, but this budget takes it to new levels. assuming we reach 3% growth, a fum perce full percentage above what congressional budget office forecasts, with the baby boomers leaving the work force, demographics are destiny, and there is just not reliable plan to increase growth that much. clearly this is a trend when it comes to administrations, they didn't balance the budget either. >> i thought think conferenhis because of that was absurd. >> i think he was shooting larry summers. >> but he also said 1.9% growth doesn't allow you to balance the budget so we're focused on 3% growth. that doesn't show confidence that you'll reach it, it's just necessary. >> he says 3% is normal. why shouldn't we strive for that? we shouldn't be in the low new normal growth that the obama years have been in. we'll unleash deregulation, tax reform. >> the bottom line, as you were saying on the way in, none of the economists who have been wrong before can get past 2, 2.5 in best estimates. and the administration has not shown them the steps. >> it assumes a lot of balancing -- >> a lot rests on the 3%. >> my pick is in the financial times. jim hackett has an impossible job to remake ford. it starts by saying the detroit big three of general motors, ford and fiat chrysler have been steadily squeezed in the home market by asian rivals. ford's market share has halved to 15%. u.s. manufacturers used to dominate the profit pool, but now part suppliers and dealers with them under their pu view. supplies of electronics and software take the most value today. i learned a lot reading it. detailed in terms of what pressures both ford and the big three u.s. automakers face. >> big story of the week. we're approaching the top of the hour. the team is getting ready for "squawk box." joe kernen has a look at what's coming up. >> we'll summarize a lot of the big stories. we'll talk more about the budget. we'll roll out some of the usuals usual s suspects. we have the governor of new york to talk to. also senator rob portman. larry lindsay. wilf, i think we're all still dealing with the aftershocks of that attack. now that, you know, seeing some of the victims, the teens and tweens, and the hideousness of the attack itself. that doesn't go away quickly. must have been a tough day for you. tough for everyone. but now we've got -- once you find that maybe it was part of a larger cell or that there were associates, you go to an imminent. i don't know whether you have friends over there or not, and whether you talked about it. it also, not to immediately politicize it, but when is the election? because this is -- any -- her lead was narrowing. anything that was narrowing, i would think it's gone back to where it was and maybe widened from where it was. >> i don't know about that. they suspended campaigning. >> i understand that. >> the threat level is decided independently by a group that the prime minister doesn't interact with. >> i don't know why that's pertinent to what i was saying. i'm saying this probably at this point, the people are in shock this was fundamentally different. this was not in london. it was in a smaller city. >> jack jacobs was saying something similar. they look at corbyn not as much as a protector or safety net as someone in the torry party. >> you could say that, but i have to say going back to my time in france, ahead of the french elections and the reaction a day or so before was one of defiance. people saying we know these things are a threat, we make up our minds before that. i don't think it will make a huge difference. it could have done if this was more of a topic of the brexit, in or out type vote, where that was more of an issue. either way, listen, i think the elevation of the threat level to critical is highly significant. it's been there briefly twice, but not for a decade. over the last two, three years it was always clear to those of us in the newss industry, even when there were threats around, five threats last year, that still wasn't enough to elevate it to critical. the definition of that meaning something could be imminent. >> it may mean nothing other than he was not, you know, self radicali radicalized, and maybe it looks like that he had some help. unless you knew about the specific -- >> we don't know the specifics. that's the headline reason that people are suggesting why it's been elevated. the other one people are writing about. we haven't gotten this from the officials, this attack, this week, wasn't from a knife or a gun or a car which is fairly easy to come by, it was from a bomb which tends to be tracked quite well by the security services. >> not this time. >> the fact that got through is a worry. another possible reason for the level being elevated. >> we will the airport ticket counter, where you have no security. once again, they were outside where no backpacks were allowed in smaller city. anywhere. and tweens. where's the line? no line. >> it's very sad and worrying. everyone stands united in defiance against it. >> coming up, we'll get the trading insight for the day ahead. ne. this is the new guy? hello, my name is watson. you know wine, huh? i know that you should check vineyard block 12. block 12? my analysis of satellite imagery shows it would benefit from decreased irrigation. i was wondering about that. easy boy. nice doggy. what do you think? not bad. hans olsen joins us now. we sit here today, we pretty much eradicated that 2% decline this time last wednesday. that's encouraging, isn't it? >> almost like a complete do-over. toch much to do about nothing. >> where is the next signal coming from now that we surpassed earnings season. the economic data sort of mixed do we need a stronger signal there of what kind of growth we're looking at to get the next move in stocks? >> that's a good point. we've been sort of caught in a channel with stock prices over the past several weeks, despite the headline risk from washington. what last week showed us was the susceptibility of markets to unsettling news. that said, i think we're just going to be stuck in this track, if you will. sort of a sideways churn until we get into the new earnings season, which is about a month and a half away. against the back drop that this is all occurring in is an economy that i think for the most part continues on an upward trajectory at a fairly sustainable pace. that 2, 2.25% pace, annualized growth, that's not threat ed at all. >> at the start of the year, the valuation difference was huge. has that evaporated now? >> no, the opportunity for europe remains quite positive. earnings expectations are rising. it's bun one of teen one of the performing markets of the year. if you look at economic activity in sprain, germany, the uk, though not part of europe, uk and europe together, it remains some of the most compelling areas from both catalyst and valuation standpoint. >> thank you very much for joining us. hans olson of steeple. uk still part of europe at the moment. >> for the moment. >> two years left. that's it for "worldwide exchange." thanks for watching. "squawk box" coming up next. breaking overnight, moody's s slaps china with a credit rating downgrade. and a deal bust for two spirits makers.brands making a n offer for foreman. and the president meets the pope at the vatican this morning. it's wednesday, may 24, 2017, and you're watching "squawk box." ♪ >> good morning. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and melissa lee. andrew is off today. watching u.s. equity futures. after the gains we saw yesterday, you are now looking at the dow within 3 points of being positive for the month of may. kind of shocking given that pullback last week. the nasdaq and s&p 500 are already positive for may. the s&p futures up by close to 3 points. the nasdaq up close to 13. overnight in asia, a different story. moody's downgrading china's credit rating to a1 from aa3. the agency cites concerns over a slowing economy and growing debt. moody's estimates