Good morning. Todays top story, what else its official, the bulls are back, the dow soaring to an alltime record close. Global stocks, well, they had to follow suit overnight. Its wednesday, march 6, 2013. Squawk box begins right now. Good morning, everyone, welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. Im becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. Welcome back, andrew, back this time. To celebrate . How long with we going to celebrate for, though . I dont know, another three hours. Three hours. When the market opens every day that we close higher. The new alltime high. Wondered if we would break it a new, fresh alltime high. And none of them are rotten. Theyve never been hit before. I wonder if we could keep this going every time. We will. Oh, we will. If we get one point, thats another it is another fresh, alltime, new high. Thats the generation that hasnt seen that. There is. Did you also see, though, theres a story in the wall street journal well talk about that in a minute. The dow jumping more than 125 point yesterday, setting an alltime interday high and closing at a new record. Volume historians, you might realize today is the history of the 12year intraday low set in march of 2009. Strange kicoincidence. The major asian markets traded higher. The nikkei up 2. 1 . Another 248 points. The hang seng and shanghai up. In europe, stocks also trading higher. Germanys got the best gains, though. Dax up. 9 . The u. S. Equity futures are indicated higher. Joe, are you correct. We are set to close at another alltime record today. 1 3 of the dow components closed at multiyear or alltime highs yesterday. Those that set alltime highs are disney, home depot, Johnson Johnson, 3m, and travelers. The best dow performer since the indexs previous close in october of 2007 are home deparkway, ibm, and mcdonalds. And the worst outperformers during the president are alcoa, bank of america, and hewlettpackard. Our guest host this hour, Rebecca Patterson of bessemer trust. And yahoo s mike santoli. And we have expert standing by to share their insights including s ps David Blitzer. Omega advisadvisers chairman a see, leo cooperman. Head of equity strategy, barry knapp, black rocks chief strategist ross, strates, and howard ward of growth equities. For february, you have the adp report sit to hit the tape at 8 15 eastern time. First, andrews has the top headlines. Venezuelan president chavez has died after a battle with cancer. Little reaction in the oil market. Chavez oversaw a decline in Oil Production during his 14 years as the leader of venezuela. Analysts dont expect that trend to change immediately. Michelle Caruso Cabrera is going to be joining us in the next halfhour to talk about all this and what it means. In corporate news, e. U. Regulators set to hit microsoft with a hefty fine today. The antitrust chief in europe will be saying that the company broke a promise to offer consumers using its windows system a choice of rival internet browsers. Didnt that debate end a long time ago . I feel like this is so backward looking. Anyway, google has also begun testing a sameday delivery service. Its called google shopping express. The setup helps local Retail Stores sell products on line and have the items delivered to shoppers the same day. The service is googles latest move into amazons ecommerce world. Well see all about that. Weve talked about stocks and record highs. Lets look at the broader markets. Quickly look at the ten year, 1. 9 , you expect maybe yields back up a little. A look at the dollar. Well talk to rebecca about obviously. And then gold which, not sure what gold should do when the vix goes to 14. To the lows there. My most one thing im looking for and santoli will appreciate this, you like to see confirmations of new highs with the important averages. Another one im not looking for that. Im looking for g. E. To confirm this with a new high of sits ow. Well double today . Might be a while. 60 its at 23 which is telling. Right . Each bull market has a different bweather. It couldnt bellwether. It couldnt go much higher. Maybe now its free to go back to the high 20s, low 30s. Was trading at 50 times earning obviously. Sure. In the late 90s. The ultimate growth stock. Always hit on its numbers. And who knows what happened. It happened to coke, walmart, happened to all the nifty, the new nifty 50. Whats interesting, though, is that g. E. Unlike what you would consider its peers, those guys are closer to the alltime highs. Some are. Some are, but not g. E. How much it was and how much it had in terms of g. E. Capital during the financial crisis. Which was a little bit of a setback. You havent followed it quite as long probably. G. E. Was the original i heard about it. Called the mother ship. Heres my question still bitter. No. Im not. Its a Great Company that at one point it got overloved. Look whats happening to apple. What do they say with rca . Yeah. What do you say with westinghouse . Yeah. I guess im bitter about being sold. Not about trying to not take that you love the new, but yes. It was i think you were with to make the point before, its the story on the front page of the wall street journal, the idea that sorry o inflationadjusted basis, were not not this. You got to go to see 2000 to feel good about it where things are. Weve got another 8 or so to hit inflationadjusted highs. But everyones going to slice and dice this a million different ways to justify where were too high or why were not high enough. And at the end of the day, im going keep an eye on flows. If we still have a lot of people in cash, our own firm, we added stocks in january. Not because we had too much cash, we felt we had too much high yield debt. And it was getting too rich. If you get people switching out of cash, out of some other instruments that maybe have more yield and dont have it today, you know, as long as the fundamentals dont deteriorate rapidly rapidly or we have a shock, that will get us going. You saw stan the man on yesterday. And you cant you dont want to see its all fed, but you cant say that the fed has not been helpful. And if youre creating that money, doesnt it flow downhill and it finds its way into its just i see other people calling it a steroidfueled stock market. I think where i argue is that its any different than it ever was. Its only different in degree. Dont fight the feds decades old saying. In the early 90s we said the same thing. Oh, theyre keeping the rights this way to nurse the banks back to health. Everything i think its a matter of degree. The way i view it is, its like the ancient greeks thinking atlas held up the world. Didnt hurt you that. If you went with the assumption, you didnt get proven wrong though you couldnt disprove it. Thats what the fed is with this market. We think its there. Therefore the worlds not going to tumble right. The flat world or holding up presumably, yeah. Holding up a big floor. The ground world, yes. Its the bank of japan. It might be the ecb this week. If they werent doing it, id feel bad that we were. Id feel like we were but valuing. Everyone is. Its a party. And it also isnt just that the point was the bigger the more you drink, the bigger the hangover. Right. That money has not just flowed in the markets, its flowed into a better economy. Its floweded into an improving housing sector. So the fundamental that the fed is a chicken egg thing again. Kelly evans is like, these guys, god, im standing here. I have to go to the bathroom, i got other stuff i got to do. Time now for the Global Markets report. Thank you for ever pushing us along. Kelly evans standing by in london where finally she has a report. Kelly . Yes, joe, theres an element of truth to what you just said. Nevertheless, im happy to stand by, jump in now, and give you a sense of whats happening over here in europe. Actually in a week when were reminded again by all the Central Bank Meetings especially today and tomorrow, the bank of japan, bank of england, the European Central bank, europe has been on a stable if not tightening basis lately. That hasnt necessarily interrupted the rallynd equities. This morning, were led by vodafone up 6. 5 . Thats a u. K. Listing, of course, on potential talk about further tieup with verizon. Thats one corporate piece of news. For the rest of the story, though, its actually banks that i want to briefly draw your attention to. Down here on the stock 600, losing about. 2 prcht. In particular, its rbc that may be the focus. If youre in stamford, connecticut, you may want to listen. Mervyn king speaking before a Parliamentary Committee on banking standards said he thinks rbc needs to be split into rbs needs to be split into banks. Its still about 80 owned by the government. Weve had a series of people on the program talking about how they dont see how the government can ever exit its stake. Mefb inking thinks one way of doing this is to isolate the healthy assets, move forward that way and privatize them. At this point in the game, pretty late, he thinks a decisive restructuring like that could be done in a year. Can you imagine the changes that would involve . And can you find another example where thats happened . Thats what hes laid out. He said hes been talking to george osborne, chancellor, about it ongoing. Cope an eye out for potential reaction throughout the banking sector. A quick look at other equity market here across the continent. There generally is, as joe serksd you look for confirmation. Remember it was a strong day across europe yesterday. Same general story with the exception of italy, down by. 3 . The xetera dax adding. 8 . The cac coran in paris is higher, the ftse 100 adding. 2 as well. Its multiyear highs around the world and not just in the u. S. For a lot of equity indices. Japan, australia overnight at 4, 4. 5year highs. Is some of it nominal because weve seen currency weakness, yes. Its certainly not the case that its only the u. S. Rallying. People will remind you the dow jones is hardly a u. S. Only index. Talking about 30 , 40 of sales globally anyway. Back to you. Thats a great point. We should focus more on that, too. We look at whats happening in the u. S. Economy. Its obviously a picture of whats happening around the world. Thank you. And well release you for the moment. I know what its like after sitting there for a couple of hours. Okay, enough. Thank you very much. Thank you. See you again tomorrow morning. As kelly mentioned, the dow closing at an alltime high. The s p ending at a nearly 5. 5year high. The nasdaq closing at its best level in 12 years. Our guest host this morning, mike santoli and Rebecca Patterson. And guys, the real question is what happens next. Do we continue, or was this, we hit the number and dropped back down . Rebecca . I mean, since november, weve gone up almost 14 now. So to have some sort of pullback, at least on a tactical basis wouldnt shock me at all. This fridays payroll report will be the next catalyst to watch. Ive been surprised, ill admit it. Happily surprised that even with payroll tax increases, political noise around the world, including at home in the u. S. , that the data are holding in. If were looking at housing data, if were looking at weekly jobless claims, confidence data, confidence datas improving despite this stuff. So you cant ignore that. The fundamentals are getting better. If you look at stocks and say theyre not not justified, look at weekly jobless claims in the u. S. Stock market. Theyve correlated nicely the last five years. There is a fundamental story here. As one last thing id mention, we worry about Rising Interest Rates stopping the rally. Interest rate have been rising. If you look since november, weve seen the tenyear yield go from 1. 6 to 1. 9, not a big move. Is this a situation where its the trend that matters or the absolute value, though . I think its the trend and the speed, right . If the ten years rising but its gradual and backed by improving data, then the stock market can go up, too. I mean, thats news to me. 1. 6 to 1. 9, i dont care do we worry about the consumer and war at thes going to flag . I think there was a note, ben white had it, on a less encouraging note, the march tip on line index of consumers outlook on the economy plunged, 38. 8 the highest nonmanufacturing number yesterday. And what that means. Yeah. Were seeing new orders in the service, ism pick up. Were seeing employment hold in. So i dont think theres enough data to say that the consumers rolling over. I was worried about gasoline price thats had a run up at the beginning of the year. Theyve rolled recently, not much, 1. 5 down from the peak. Brents come down a lot. If that can stay down, gasoline should stabilize at a minimum. That at the margin might help the consumer keep going. Mike, we have the adp report today which could give an indication of the jobs report on friday. Is that the most important one of the economic yeah. Its happening at a light data week. I think theres at least a quiet suspicion that maybe we have one of these blowout weekly monthly job numbers. Way better than expected . Yeah. I wouldnt be im not saying im betting or estimating it, but i think thats kind of that would have to be the next act i think. In order to push us. Weve reached an escape velocity with regard to labor market. I mean, my view on the dow is, yes, up 14 or so from midnovember. But up less than 5 since midseptember. I mean, we basically in six months have gone up 5 . So i dont know how to actually calculate how excited people seem to be relative to that. A good point. Its not like uncharted territory despite the nominal new high. Tactically i thought weve should have had more than that step down 2 . Its following along the path the last couple of years. You had that you know, refused to buckle until april. And maybe you found a reason to shop around. I guess rebeccas right in terms of looking at the flows that are coming out. As long as you have people who are still willing to jump in and pull money from the sidelines or from other assets. I mean, and companies themselves are kind of doing this arbitrage on their own capital strait of juan de fuca, buying stock because its so cheap to borry. I dont need to see aggressive retail inflows. You have to say, look, if i look at the texas trum, high yield spectrum, high yield. Theres nothing consistent with the alltime high if thats where high yield will be. And market cap as a percentage of u. S. Economy, not out of the range. So its kind of just all in the zone of whats going on globally. As kelly mentioned, its also whats happening globally with the economies overseas. Weve watched china, we were watching japan closely. And there have been some questions about europe, particularly with italy. And the latest round of elections there. We have seen European Equity markets underperforming in the last couple of months. Now part of that is because they had their big rally last year, outperforming in the u. S. Now theyve gone in the back seat a little bit. But the the italian elections were a reminder that things are not normal there by any stretch. You know, there are some bargains to be had in europe and in japan. There are great Multinational Companies with Good Governance and valuations. But you have to do your research. I wouldnt just buy a European Index and call it a day. But you are seeing china. I thought it was really interesting this week that the government in its National Peoples congress say theyre going to increase their fiscal deficit this year. Right. They also expect growth of at least 7. 5 . And they have never underperformed their target. We could argue the numbers are meaningless. But if you get growth in china, 8 , and they are trying to manage the Housing Price but keep growth going, thats good for the Global Economy. What japans doing, maybe its not sustainable. For now, its good for the Global Economy. If europe can keep things quiet. Thats good for the Global Economy. I you know, im cautious because i still see all the headwinds, fiscal tightening around the world, the politics. And gosh, it tells you what low bar there is. There was a piece yesterday on the wires. So a half a dozen senator got a call from president obama over the last week or so and said this is leadership. I thought, really . Republican senators. Right. Republican senators. Your phone rings and suddenly everythings good. Is that all it takes . Ill call you. What so, you know, theres a lot of headwinds out. There the Global Economy is important. And i think it is one of the reasons markets can go hire. Okay. Rebecca and mike will be with us leaving message, is your refrigerator running . Coming up, oh, you better catch it. Do you have Prince Albert in a can . [ laughter ] better let him out. Can i speak to hugh jazz, please . Is there a hugh jazz here . Ivana you like the simpsons, dont you . Yes. And hugh jazz is there. He says, hi, this is hugh jazz, looks like an accountant. Time to slip in a quick break. Ill tell you they werent just making a prank call. They seemed terribly excited to get the calls. Listen it woued to the song crazy for the past week on the airplane. You finally heard passion pit . This was number one a year ago. They have a new number one. Yeah. Our market conversation is just getting started. Stocks breaking records left and right this week. Up top and bottom, left, right, everywhere. Up next, well talk volatility with elevations tim freeman, were afraid of him. He is not afraid of us. First, a look at yesterdays winners and losers. This is america. We dont let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. So if youre one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day. Block the acid with prilosec otc and dont get heartburn in the first place [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Welcome back, everybody. Take a look at the kwetd futures. Dow futures up by 35 even after yesterdays close at a new alltime high. In our headlines apple has reportedly held talks with beats electronics, Audio Technology firm cofounded by hiphop producer dr. Dre. Reuters says theyre talking about a potential Partnership Involving beats streaming service. Mixed news for retailer staples. The company earning 46 cents a share for the Fourth Quarter excluding certain items. That was one