I want candy i love m ms and i think theres a new candy. Welcome to power lunch, everybody. Sweet moves in the market at this hour. S p erasing its march deficit going positive for the month. Seeing its fifth straight day of gains. The dow has 100 point deficit to make up to break even for the month. A few notable movers, here, expecting annual grows through 2021 and will return 8 billion shareholders. Investors dont seem too impressed. The stock is down about 4 right now. Goodyear tire also lower. It was downgraded to a neutral from a buyover at Goldman Sachs evaluation call and chipotle shares are moving higher to 2 1 4 . Tyler . Mely sarks thank you very much. Welcome, everybody. Here is what else is happening at this hour. Good news for home buyers right now, morgans rates are falling again. 30year rate dropping to its lowest level in a month, averaging 4. 4 . Not as low as they used to be, but still pretty low. The debt, National Debt that is on track to keep rising over the next three decades. Congressional Budget Office saying u. S. Debt could reach 150 of gdp by 2047 and that would be the highest level in the nations history. And facebook unveiling a new crowd funding feature to help users raise money for themselves for personal emergencies and other stuff, like education and medical costs. Brian . Thank you. Now lets get to the big interview on cnbc today, really around the world, russian president Vladimir Putin denying his administration played any role in the u. S. Election, but that is not all he said. Cnbc europe jeff cutmore conducted the interview. First off, spectacular job. I know this morning for us obviously Late Afternoon for you, a wideranging panel. Some really interesting comments from Vladimir Putin. What stuck out to you . I think it was the denial of involvement in the u. S. Election that was key here. He used that phrase read my lips, no, we did not try to influence the u. S. Election. Of course, we have a Senate Intelligence committee which will look into that very issue. Vladimir putin, though, insisting they will not find any evidence. The other issue i thought was very interesting, the question of when we will get a facetoface meeting between the two president s. So far weve only had a telephone call. President putin called up President Trump to congratulate him after he won the election. Since then, radio silence. And at the moment, the current agenda is for a meeting in germany at the g20, but thats not until july. So i asked president putin whether he would be ready to sit down earlier. Lets hear what he said. Translator i said i expressed my position a number of occasions. Were ready for the meeting which will discuss the agenda and that depends to a large extent on the american side. You see what is happening, what has been happening. Youre just trying to involve me until those squabbles and kwaurl quarrels. You know what has been happening there. The newly elected president is barred from implementing his agenda and delivering on his pledges in health care and in National Affairs and relations with the russian federation. Were just wait . Things recollect fie and stabilize. We dont interfere in any way and i believe, which is the best proof that we didnt do that before. The other issue that i brought into the conversation whether washington would push ahead and ratify the paris agenda on climate change. And obviously at this point it does appear as though President Trump and scott pruitt at the epa are backing away from that. The russians will implement the paris accord, but president putin being very careful not to be critical of the administration in washington, which suggests to me he is looking for some kind of connection here with President Trump and hoping that there will be some early meeting. Back to you. All right, geoff, thank you very much. Do you have a question . Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right, lets bring in donald jenson, senior fellow with the center for transatlantic relations. Welcome. Good to have you with us. Lets begin with the headline that geoff just sited and that is that mr. Putin repeatedly said that there was no russian involvement in the u. S. Election. Do you believe him . I do not actually. I believe our own u. S. Authorities which have found there was interference, not necessarily for one candidate or another, but he was meddling. And that mr. Putin says a lot of things, as in this case a lot of it is not true. So can you do business with a liar . I find a whole talk of a partnership, the whole talk of joint Strategic Interests very difficult to believe and even more so to implement. Russias fundamental goal is to push the u. S. Out of europe, diminish its role in the world and diminish frankly undermine the system. I find that makes it very difficult to do business with, although you can cooperate on some specific issues. You point out on a whole host of issues from europe, which russia sees as its sphere of influence to syria to russias relationship with iran, we and they do not see eye to eye on any of those things and are harshly critical of them. We are. We do not see eye to eye and we are justly harshly critical. For example, in ukraine, most of the violations of the socalled mince accords are committed by Russian Troops or russian sep ratists. Russia does not want ukraine to chart a prowestern course. In sere yarks we have very serious differences about strategic goals, about the future of the assad regime and in fact we dont agree on who is a terrorist. This makes it very difficult to operate on serious substantive issues of course its worthwhile trying. Its worthwhile talking but it will be very difficult to come to any kind of agreement as putin suggests. Do you think the u. S. Administration has stepped back from its desire to maybe find ways to improve relations with russia . I think its more important to look at the kremlin. The kremlin since december has noticeably stepped back from what was frankly cheer leading for the u. S. Administration. There are a number of people around the president who have been critical of russia and recently President Trump himself was critical of their illegal annexation of crimea. I think rather than a month or two months ago, the kremlin is now much more cautious, much more trying to get the measure of the corallation of forces in washington. In many ways its not going as well as they thought it would be in november. Whats also changed, donald, is seemingly that the president surrounded himself with advisers that seem to be taking a harder line stance on russia, whether it be tillerson or mattis or hailey. When you take a look at the number of World LeadersPresident Trump will have met with, before even meeting with president putin, it sort of sends a different signal from the rhetoric he gave on the campaign trail, doesnt it . It certainly does. He met with the baltic Foreign Ministers this week. They were very pleased secretary tillerson did and they were very pleased with the meetings. And i think moscow is much more concerned than it was, as i said, a few weeks ago about whats going on. I would add to your list the designate for the National Security adviser fee owe that hill who is excellent. Geoff cutmore is still there. If youre going to go all the way to northern rush sharks were going to bring you on tv im curious about why this event was in russia, but thats a different issue. Im going to use this word loosely because Vladimir Putin to me seemed almost casual, a little jovial. Im using it in the putin sense obviously. Thats about as much casualness were going to get. What was it like being on stage with Vladimir Putin . What kind of security is around him . What kind of presence does he wield in a country where he literally is the ruler . Yeah. I think youre absolutely on the mark there. The security is intense and tight. The event is carefully prepared. There is an intensity while youre on stage with Vladimir Putin, as you might expect here. And i think just to pick up on some of the comments that we heard from donald there, i think that he is a man who at the moment is struggling to understand what the russian policy is from the white house. And i think that might be to an extent why he used this opportunity to reach out. When i asked him several times about whether he would be prepared to meet President Trump, he said pretty much anywhere. And of course there are a number of cities that are offering that meeting. So, i think just to pick up on that point, there is an unpredictability about the Current Administration that the russians are not used to. And i think we were here primarily to talk about the arctic, arctic security, about energy and the Energy Reserves we know that are in this part of the world, but it was clear to me that president putin also wanted to use this opportunity to show that they are keen to begin talking again about some issues where u. S. russian bilateral relations are incredibly important for the rest of the world, be it terrorism, syria, shared resources in the arctic, security in the arctic zone or indeed the potential for relations to worsen from what is already a very, very low ebb. Back to you. Its donalds view, donald, that on those key areas, terrorism less so but syria certainly and iran, we just dont agree and are unlikely to, but donald, you mentioned some areas of more narrow common interest. What would they be where progress could be made, what would they be . Certainly on Environmental Issues as you mentioned earlier. I think consultations between the u. S. And russian militaries in syria and elsewhere are very useful for lowering tensions and reducing the chances of misunderstanding. But that should not be mistaken for benign intent on their part and not be mistaken for somehow russia agreeing with us on what are Strategic Interests could be because they very much disagree. Geoff, before we let you go, the thing about putin i was in the room with him once in russia in the sochi olympics. I didnt talk to him. He was there. He was close by. Two things stuck out to me. Number one, physically hes a lot smaller than i thought he would be. You see him him on the back of pumas whatever it is. But the aura he carries with shim and the people around him, you didnt need to know he was coming into the room, you almost felt it because the other people in the room stiffened up. You sense that sort of power that comes around him. Yeah. No, i absolutely agree with you. There is an intensity and there is i guess, we would have called it charisma back in the past, but im not sure if it sounds right when you talk about it being applied to president putin. But clearly, you know, in spite of the protests that have taken place here over recent days, his own popularity rating remains high when people here talk about corruption and how angry they are about that, they dont necessarily point the finger at him personally. They point it at the Prime Minister or they point it at other parts of the government here. So, i think what is remarkable in spite of so many areas where there is potential for disagreement, not least in the relationship between washington and moscow, president putin himself has a certain teflon characteristic where he just seems to come through that without any csignificant dent t his personal popularity here. Back to you, brian. Geoff cutmore. Thank you very much and donald jensen. The country is standing out in the stock market for one big not so good reason. Did you know that the russian market is the only major stock market not participating in a recent global rally. More than 20 global etfs we track, russian is the only one lower this year. But does that mean it might actually be good investment for you and your money if you can hold your nose and stomach all the headlines that . Bring in tim seymore, man who lived and worked in russia as well. Two questions, why isnt russia participating . Two, do you think it will be ultimately a good investment at this price . Well, look, brian, russia was up 45 last year and outperformed just about every emerging market. Most of that was before the trump bump. Obviously we pulled back on the back of oil and on the back of politics that i think were expecting a lifting of sanctions which by the way i dont think will happen soon and i dont think it really matters. When youre investing in rush sharks theres two dynamics to think about, one is that russia is always cheap. Its mostly oil and Gas Companies that traded four to five times earnings. But a weaker rue bell and it went from 34 to 80 ultimately over the last couple years before pulling back has been very good for russia. Very good for the Oil Companies 60 oil with 60 to the u. S. Dollar rubel is win fall time. Thats part of what you need to think about. With oil where sit now, tim . We pulled back technically lets talk about that first. It bounced off the 200day russia looks very interesting if oil stabilizes. Youre going into dividend season in russia where the russian stock market and the russian yeah, the russian equity market offers the best dividend yields in markets outside of turkey. May, june a ton of dividends are paying out. They may soon be to paying north of 50 . Thats what youre investing in russia. If oil stays higher, the trickle down effect into the real economy means youre buying names like mts, mbt which is their walmart and you buy the consumer. Tim, thank you. Tim seymore. Still ahead todays downward dog, the lululemon. The company claiming lack of colors down in sales. The ceo will join us with the headlines next. And jeff bay soez just up staged Warren Buffett well tell you how next. Is your daughter ok . Thats where i felt relief. Were the rivera family, and we will be with usaa for life. What we do every night is like something out of a strange dream except that the next morning it all makes sense. To power global ecommerce Fedex Networks are massive farreaching and, yes a little magical. We cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. Well a few owned amazon. Com stock for a few years, you have made a lot of money, but not as much money as this guy, founder and Ceo Jeff Bezos is now your second richest person on the planet with amazons recent run, he officially leapfrogged the struggling Warren Buffett. Bezos wealth climbing to 75. 6 billion. This despite amazon planning to cut 263 jobs and pull the plug on its kwid si unit that runs sites like diapers. Com and soap. Com. Amazon bought it in 2011 but failed to turn a profit. Of course the guy that started that went on to buy jet. Com which was bought by walmart. It is todays downward facing dog. Shares of lululemon getting crushed after an earnings much. Jim cramer just sat down with the ceo who joins us now with all the details. What did he have to say . First, thank you for having me on, melissa. It was ill tell you, it was a little contrary to what the stock is doing. Why dont you take a look at this. After a fabulous run, just a great, great, great couple of lets say years, you reported a number that was good but you gave us dramatically weaker than expected guidance. Help us here. Whats happened . The stock is getting killed. You know, i believe weve had an incredible q4, incredible 2016 as you mentioned. Im super grateful for the team, for the first time were returning to Earnings Growth since 2013. Were a little disappointed. Were not satisfied with q1. We had a slow start. Weve taken drastic steps to fix it. I also pressed him. I pressed him about the competition that its got to be the competition. Listen to this one. There was such a sudden shift, was it the fickle consumer . Was it something you did wrong . I felt the health and wellness theme was a great secular trend what you were behind it, you were riding it, theres a new players, j. Crew, have they caught on to what youre doing . I dont think they have. There are a lot of great brands there and we continue to lead the market. Theres no doubt in my mind that the healthy active mind style we created we continue to lead that. I see the strengths of oi business in china. Our business in china is on fire. You know what, you were talking to Laurent Scott was talking to the founder. His main beef was a criticism of a kmodization of the product which is skiend of a different way of saying youve got a lot more people doing what you did. I listened to that interview and i think scott was right to press chip because i do feel that this is the one company that had bucked the trend. This is a terrible business right now, apparel. They had 22 quarters doing this man has done a remarkable job. This is a sevenweek phenomenon that this thing has fallen off cliff. It is denim, the competition the fact they missed in colors, the fact that theres less traffic in the mall, is it the fact that athleisure is dead . I think my i have a little surprising view on this. Their buying back stock hand over fist. He told me that in the interview. They are still sticking by their guidance for the year. Now, you cant pay a premium price because it turns out to be a lot more fashion oriented than we think and that means its fickle. But its not the end of the world. So you believe snhim . He sounded a little oblivious in the sound bites. You should have asked him in french . True. This is what you said is so triegt. My executive producer in the middle of interview and said with a quizzical look, maybe this thing isnt as horrible. But it is quizzical and the problem here is that this is a company thats consistency dropped off so quickly that you know that whatever he says you have to say, well, wait a second. You werent just wrong but you were really wrong. But i dont want to write this company off. Am i interested in buying here . I think the halftime guys it can g