Of 2013, but im back now. In corporate news, boeing completing what it calls an uneventful test, a flight of the 787 dream liner. And opposition is growing to dells big buyout, that 24 billion buyout and a Carnival Cruise ship is floating in the gulf of mexico after an engine fire. Plus, digging out, the northeast hit hard by a weekend blizzard. Hundreds of thousands are still without power. Airlines are trying to restore service. And news out of the vatican about the pope. If you havent seen it, well bring you that, as well. Its monday, february 11th, 2013. Squawk box begins right now. Good morning. Im Andrew Ross Sorkin along with joe kernen. Becky is off. Breaking news, the vatican has Just Announced the pope will be resigning on february 28th. The blizzard brought as much as three feet of snow to some areas in the northeast. Here is the Massachusetts Governor. Were, woulding hard to make sure that the t is fully functional by the morning commute. Utilities seem to be making progress. Bertha coombs will join us with the latest from Power Outages to grounded flights. Then, of course, there is the topics of the markets. Earnings season is winding down. Only 53 s p 500 Companies Set to report. One event to watch, janet yellen is scheduled to speak on the Economy Today and our guest host this hour will be the former managing director at pimco. Hes currently the share of global societies of fellows. And also we have Rebecca Patterson. Weve got a lot to did you discuss with them. Before we do that, were going to head over to michelle who has the morning headlines. Thank you for that, andrew. Usair and nmr are set to meet. Boeing completed what it called a, quote, uneventful test flight of the 787 dream liner on saturday. It was the companys first test since the airlines were grounded more than three weeks ago. Carnival cruise ship in the gulf of mexico will need to be towed to port. Carnivals triumph, as it was called, was heading back to galveston, texas, when the fire occurred. The ships extinguishing system kicked in, no injuries were reported. Lets get over to Ross Westgate and kelly evans oh, its Ross Westgate standing by. Ross, theres big market news and big news out of italy. Do we know why and whats happening here . An announcement has been confirmed from the vatican. Pope benedict is due to resign on february 28th. Apparently he spoke in latin this morning and announced this move. We dont yet know why. There have been a number of stories surrounding it. He is going to resign. The vatican spokesman has confirmed that in the last five minutes or so. February the 28th is going to be the date. Now, i have just been doing some digging. The last time a pope resigned might have been way back in 1415. Clearly, unprecedented in modern times and well have to wait and see what the reasons will be given. There is going to be a press conference at 11 30 g. So, in other words, 27 memberships from now there will be a press conference from the vatican to outline exactly whats going to happen and maybe the biggest question to be answered is why is the pope going to stand down . And if he does, how will they choose the replacement and in what types of time scale . Interesting, of course, is the timing of this is before easter, but its just a few days after the italian election webs which is very important for investors, as well. From one sense, the worlds media will certainly be there, anyway, for the event. Anyway, the pope has confirmed from the vatican he will step down on february 28th. Im now hearing kelly tell me kindly it is apparently for Health Reasons. Apparently it is for Health Reasons that hes going to step down. And there have been other speculation about that, as well. We havent actually got the ftse mib up. European stocks mildly higher at the moment. The xetra dax up 0. 2 . The ftse 100 up 0. 3 . One stand out stock today, novo nordi nordisk, the worlds biggest maker of insulin drugs. Its stock off 12. 3 . The fda coming out and saying were not going to a prove your drug. We want more information. And thats somewhat on a shock. Thats the company saying, look, we think we can get through this and it may not impact 2013 but investor res clearly taking it as a big negative right how. Thats why we stand right now in europe. The pope will resign on february 28th for Health Reasons. He was old, ross. When he took over, you wouldnt call it a it was sort of an interim pope, but he was pretty elderly to start with. When you said you heard some story, you couldnt say that without allude to go something. Health would make more sense. How long highways been pope . He will be 86. But even for health, you remember, we all remember how Pope John Paul ii was so young when he was elected. I think he was 56 or 57. A young man. He used to go skiing all the time. He was elected when he was 78 years old. Yeah. So we watched him turn into an elderly man that was very frail. Remember how long it took, we waited and waited. I can remember i was on a plane when he finally passed. But he didnt i mean, he was not healthy at the end and he didnt resign. So thats what i dont really understand, ross, right . Well, traditionally, they havent resigned. So 1415, yeah. So hes 2005, hes 86. So thats five, six, seven, eight i think what were all dancing around the issue of whether or not theres more to it, right . Is that what were getting at . Is there Something Else we dont know about. All of them have gotten elderly and they have essentially died in office and thats when they begin to look for a new pope. That is no happening in this case. Right. You said it would be pure speculation. Its probably best not to specula speculate, at least you filled us in that at this point its been called for Health Reasons. And well find out more about about a half an hour. All right. Thanks, ross. Send it over to bertha couples who is tracking the latest in the northeast powerful winter storm. Its not what anyone wants to hear, but the northeast is bracing for another storm tonight making its way through the midwest even as the cleanup continues from the massive weekend blizzard that dumped up to thee feet of snow in new england. Theyre still digging out on the long island expressway. The boston mayor ordered skuls there to remain closed today as the hub digs out from its top five highest snowfall ever. Close to 120,000 customers remain without power. The vast majority more than 118,000 in the bay state. New york has a large number, as well. About 1400. Mostly out in long island which we all know suffered under sandy with a very long power outage. Folks will be looking to see whether theyll be get online sooner this time. Youve got about 850 people 850 customers in rhode island, more than 300 in connecticut and about four dozen in new jersey. Airports resumed operations for the most part in new york and boston on saturday and a limited service in connecticut on sunday morning. Some 5800 flights were canceled on friday and saturday, according to flight tracking services wide aware. Its going to take a while to get them all back on track. Meanwhile, amtrak service, north to boston, it has resumed mostly on the northeast service. In addition the springful service has resumed operation, as well. But once again, we do have another storm coming our way. Yep. February. Weird, isnt it . It is winter. Weird. But i thought it was supposed to get warmer and warmer. No. Global warming . No . Sorry. Drought, water, cold, warm, the weather keeps changing. Thats the point. Thats the point, though. The weather keeps changing. The climate is changing. The weather keeps changing. Snow in february. More snow coming. I dont know. I just have to shake my head. A number of tech stories so discuss today. Google executive chairman eric schmidt selling roughly 42 of his stake in the company. A google spokes woman would not say why schmidt is selling the shares at this time. Maybe because he wants 2. 3 billion. This is a little weird. I was talking about this last week, andrew. He owns about 7. 6 million shares. A good job, but he was not the thunder. In this case, im not bothered by that at all. What im bothered by is that a year ago google put in place a third class of shares so that eric sch mi dt, larry paige, and and survei could all keep control of the country and do what theyre doing now, which is sell their shares. And you wonder whether that qualified for evil. They do no evil and yet, at the time, we said this looks evil. Did it not . Right. Theyve had theyre supposed to do no evil. That was not an altruistic thing, is it . Isnt that their corporate montra, do no evil . The question is, when you have so many different constituencies, people dont realize how you sell run constituency to benefit the other. And its pretty nice for the ceo to amass an 8. 2 stake in the company that he didnt found. He may not away founder, but hes close to it. Before he showed up, this was not a company that was making money. Look at the market cap. They had not figured out a revenue model. Back then, they were a Great Technology firm. In the market cap gains, if you look at what the stock reviewed, market cap and were giving him a little part of it, right . There may have been some momentum in that company and the algorithms that it had that a lot of people i mean, theres people that say that Oil Company Executives should not be benefited from their company mistaking a lot of money. I think what happens in search and everything, the algorithms were already there. Did he manage it 5 billion worth, andrew . He might have, actually. Im glad to get you to im glad you took my side here. Im with you. Im glad you took my sign. Remember when you told lloyd blankfein, say it loud and say it proud . When you were gone last week, he was demanding that he fire ceos. What is getting into you . Ite just a fairness thing because there are people working a hell of a lot harder than eric schmidt and making less money. The fairness issue is still something in my mind that seems like its not fair. Unless help the ditch diggers. School teachers, i want them to and get tenure after three years and all right. Never mind. And none of their kids can read in fourth grade. Thank you for coming back. Im going to go and get a coffee. And you wore a sweater. It is not a sweater. It is a sweater. And you probably know about this, too. People dont want to do this. The biggest shareholder. Michael, but he cant vote. No, but i think he wants to do it. And he gets the company back, right, for pretty cheap. Opposition is a big landout. Three of the companiess largest objectors are joining us. Theyre set to be standing nirm on their 13 and that is cheap for its investments. Coincidentally, i think theyre in at 22. Here is the issue. Of the top 25 investors, Something Like 16 of them, theyre all under water. So they all want more. Having said that, part of him says, let him have it. Im not sure you can get your money back. Im not sure michael dell can get his money back. I think this will be a hard deal to pull off, dont you think . You think even to get the deal done . No, theyll get the deal done. Im saying five years from now, is he going to be happy, is he going to be sad . Ur use saying the turn around is going to be difficult. Extremely challenging. So your point is that those complainers right now ought to take what they can get right now . Yes. I dont know how many better that quickly. He was brilliant as creating a prices change. But when it comes to exchange, with they thaelt involve that . Silver lake, they bought it for peanuts. If there is value here, if im michael dell, i would rather buy it and have it as mine instead of sharing it with the company. And think what he could make on this if it works out. Hes worth 4 billion or 5 billion, so i probably makes rike 250,000. And he may do great with this. The question is, are these shareholders willing to sit around and whit . Its unfair. But i remember his whole career, looking at him and as we try to feel good about ourselves and our career and seeing someone like michael dell makes it hard for everyone. If this was about the supply chain, why keep trying to deal with you find some other business where you can redo the supply chain . Youre seeing michael dell should leave and if its all about the supply chain, supply chain Something Else. Some people say he was the washer pony. They did very well for a period of time. They commoditized the pc. The question is can he re invent himself . Were going to talk more with Jonathan Geller at 7 15. Including. Apple news. We will see about that. Okay. What . I dont know. Watches . Like dick tracy. Coming, were going to talk about the trading week ahead with Paul Macaulay and Rebecca Patterson. Plus, if youre just waking up, theres breaking news out of the vatican. Pope benedict is resigning on february 28th, citing Health Reasons. Speaking earlier today, he said he doesnt have the strength any more. He was in when he was elected pope, that he was almost 80. Well have a live report from italy when we return. Welcome back. The vatican has announced he will resign on february 28th citing Health Reasons. Good morning. This is news that just came out moments ago that was announced officially ten minutes before noon in a statement, an official statement and absolutely shocked everyone. The statement says that he is not able to the pope is not able to continue with his work because of his health. He does not have the strength or the energy to go forward. Now, he will be stepping down on the 28th of february. That is the official day. And really, again, it came as much of a surprise. He did become pope in april of 200 5 after john paul ii passed away. And has been affected by a weak health, but apparently what happened is that he became more unhealthy in the last month because of a degenerative problem in his bones which makes moving around very, very difficult. But he was last seen on the 8th of february and on sunday did once again do his mass vatican. So things appeared quite normal up until ten minutes of 12 00 today when he did announce that he can no longer move forward in his position. Thank you so much, claudia. I saw the pope speak live in cuba and i gave him a lot of credit. He was staring at raul castro in the front row. And i thought it was very brave to talk about democracy and freedom in a place that so desperately needs it. Hes never loved as much as i always refer to him as want pablo its a tough act to follow. The papacy, according to the vatican, will be vacant as of february 28th until how long does it take to you never know. They have to vote on it. Its like congress. Its similar. They do rounds and rounds of voting. Theres a lot of politics back and forth. And its interesting its right around the italian lekdz which is around the end of this month. They shouldnt effect each other at all. But its a big election. Its one of the reasons european markets have been trading down lately. You wonder if this has any impact on that election tall. I doubt it, but you could have some fun with conspiracy theories. Which are big over there. Oh, yeah. I helped cover the vatican as a journalist a long, long time ago. And im not catholic. It was fun as an objective observer watching this whole whole thing. Conspiracy theories . Are you kidding . Oh, yeah. Well get back to the papal watch in a moment. But first, lets get the forecast from the weather channels mike bettis. Hey there, still digging out for you. Hamden, connecticut, 40 inches. In portland, the biggest snow in city history, 32 inches of snow falling in portland, maine. We have a messy commute for you, more freezing snow, more rain rolling in. For new york, it will be all rain for you. Put it on top of the foot of snow that you had, its a crummy morning. Light snow rolling in towards boston and freezing rain, temperatures at 26 degrees. 3 below in bangor. In the Capital District about 32. In new york, temperatures close to 42 degrees this morning. A little bit more snow to go, mostly through northern new england, as much as half a foot. And in watertown. But now, in addition to that, the staff has gotten very, very active. Yesterday evening, a tornado touching down in hattiesberg, mississippi. Many people injured, hitting southern mississippi campus here. More storms firing up this morning, not ruling out tornados. More storms in pensacola, florida, including val ves ton and houston. Low chance of tornado, but a high threat for flooding. Guys, no matter how you slice it, north or south, some very unwelcome weather this morning. Yeah. Were okay, though, with that. Were okay at least up here with a little bit more snow and its snowing out west. Its supposed to snow like six out of seven days in colorado. Great for skiing. Thank you. The dow snamd a fiveweek winning streak. Paul macaulay, currently chair of the global interdependent Center Global society of fellows and Rebecca Patterson is with bessemer trust. And i saw the wall street journal at a Convenience Store this morning as i was getting gas. Others are coming, but im told there is a front page piece about companies not being at all certain about their future. Did you get a chance to see that, rebecca . Does that matter for whether we continue to see new highs or does that build the i like bricks in the wall of worry and maybe complacency is something we dont necessarily want. Yeah, absolutely. Companies not being sure where the world is going matters a ton for the economy and whether the stock market can keep going up. If companies are still cautious, were not going to see as much cap ex as we would like. Were not going to see that peck up in hiring that we want. We started to see some good leading indicators in january. I think the ism services sector, jobs component, thats a mouthful this early in the morning, but it was at 57. 5. Thats well above the expansion contraction line and tells me, anyway, that at least from a sentiment perspective, people are getting a little more hopeful about hiring. But we need to see it in the numbers and we havent yet. Paul, youre at a bond firm and i think of you as a fed watch or an Interest Rate guy. B