Are not moving much at this point, but yesterday we did see heavy action. In the red italy reporting that its in recession, two quarters in a row of contraction. Germany was heavily hit, not only by what happened in italy, but by all the talk about what happens in these sanctions and the retaliation against the sanctions by russians. Back here in the states, key data today. At 8 30 eastern time, weekly jobless claims. This afternoon, we have Consumer Credit. In addition, many of the nations retailers will be reporting july samestore sales today. On the earnings front today, Companies Set to post quarterly includes including orbitz, wendys. In corporate news, bank of america reportedly close to a nearly 17 billion settlement with the government over mortgage bonds. The deal with the doj is said to include about 9 billion in cash. The rest said to be going to consumer relief. Settlement was reportedly reached in principal after a phone call last week between bofa Ceo Brian Moynihan and attorney general eric holder. What are you going to say . So the big two things i would say. First of all, most of this was from countrywide, long before they ever bought the company, right . 4 of loans that went bad were done by bank of america. Second, bnp and the french ought to shut up, right . Because they only paid 10 billion for activity covering 20 years. But this is a jamie dimon problem because they bought merrill and they bought it at behest of the government. I can make all the same arguments that jamie made and i have the same opinion. And i have the same opinion of that. And worse, my real opinion is of all the bad things that happened, who is paying for it . The shareholders. The shareholders. And theres nothing in there that is punitive to make future people not do anything like this because there are no individuals who are the ones who actually have to account for any of this. So its technical of consumer relief . Well, that depends. And, too, consumer relief, who do you think ended up with these houses . The bank did, right . The bank is the one that ended up with massive numbers of houses that they had to sell because the consumer could just mail in the keys, even if they had cash in the bank, nonresource loans. Does anyone think these headlines play case these quote unquote i dont think its it gets to the populous cry . I dont think it tamps down to populous. Its like, here, this is the win in our court and this is what we do with it. Eric denali was in recently and he was somebody on the regulatory side from the insurance companies. Now hes looking at it from the other side and he basically said at much. A lot of this is shakedowns. When the government decides they want this, theres not a lot you can do and expect to continue operating. Literally eric holder said you have until 8 00 a. M. To raise your bid, basically. By a substantial amount. 17 billion to 17 billion. Thats a huge percentage increase. Or else were going to file more charges against you. There you have it. Unbelievable. And, again, bmp has no right to complain. They were accused of breaking the law for 20 years. Sanctions and they only paid 10 billion. Kol log has reportedly hired an adviser to look at a bid for uk smacksmaker united biscuits. They are said to be working on plans for a sale of an ipo by the end of the year. I associate biscuits with the united kingdom. Im not under the impression this was supposed to be structured as an inversion deal. Unlike walmart. Walgreens. Wall genes. Excu walgreens. Excuse me. President obamas topic of inversions is promising to arides. President obama says his administration is set to act to help companies not escape Corporate Taxes. The lost revenue means it has to be made up somewhere and that typically is going to be a bunch of hard working americans who either pay to hire themselves or to reduce services. And in the meantime, the company is still using all the services and all the benefits of effectively being a u. S. Corporation. They just decided that they go through this paper exercise. The president says Congress Needs to pass legislation to stop the use of inversions entirely. In the meantime, hes pledging to look for ways to discourage the deal. Congress isnt going to do anything anytime soon. But the bully pult works in the case of walgreens. That is a certain type of company. One that has Retail Operations walking in the door, choosing whether you go to ralph nader was planning to he wants to have boycotts around this. Right. If they have the drug that youre going to be using they do generics, but who knows. Anyway, lets talk geopolitical news this morning. Russia banning the imports of milk, france, fruit and vegetables from the u. S. , australia, europe and norway. Taking actions on countries which have imposed sanctions on russia. Russia imported 43 billion worth of food last year. This would have been a much bigger deal if it happened back before 2008. Poultry was the really big issue here. There are some poultry farmers who said years ago this used to make up 20 of our sales. But now its a much smaller portion because russia said they wouldnt use chick bs that had been cleaned with chlorine, which is something that is not allowed in the eu, but it is used here. As a result, theyve seen some significant cutbacks in the amount of food. And remember the whole issue originally with ukraine was russia wants to create its own customs union. Belaruse is in this. Remember the whole chiobani issue during the respectolympic. This is a violation of the w. T. O. Agreement. They were anxious to get in and now left and right theyre trying to well, its like the go and the ukraine. Exactly. Fox reports higher profits, betterthanexpected earnings after the bell. The results coming a day after the media giant announced its decision to pull its bid for time warner. I wish you were here yesterday. I really wanted your take on what happens. I was surprised. I felt i had failed you. We had talked a couple of times over is this for real or is this a fake . I think hes really gone for now. I think, by the way, there will be five bucks or more on the time warner stock simply on the assumption that he may come back. But because of the comments he made, and well tell but them in one second, because the comments were as strayed end as they were about leaving and because they committed to ads 6 billion buyback. Over the course of the year. Over the year wait, wait. I think what happens with by the way, it was just authorization. You have to believe now that jeff is going to come back. I think jeff you saw the press release and said, whew and then he saw the stock price and did what . I think he knew that was going to happen. I think he just says now, i have to deal and i have to try to work it out and figure it out as opposed to, oh, my goodness, i have to try and make a deal. I didnt think this was going to change his mind about being open to the idea about coming in. And this is more resolute, by the way, in the hundred dollar number. I think the view was get to 100 and then we will say thank you. In this time period of easy money, i ask a question, is it possible he wasnt able to get the financing . No, i dont think that i think hes somebody who cares legitimately about the stock price. Probably almost to a fault, potentially. Some people say he didnt care enough about the stock price when he was buying the dow jones. But i think he saw what was happening to the stock. Lets tell you one of the things he said, though. Rupert murdoch does not normally get on the earnings calls specifically. He did get on this one and he did it because he wanted to reinforce the decision that he was truly ending the pursuit of time warner saying, while we remain opportunistic and nimble, we are a strategically complete company and have a clear sense of where we are going. And he does not do that. So and today we have barry isabel will i. He will talk to us about this quite a bit. He owns both shares, both stocks. I would be interested to hear what somebody who is on both sides of that table. Its like a wash. He will be joining us at 8 00 a. M. Eastern time. Well have a lot more to talk about. But youre of the sense that yeah i dont think this is part of a shortterm dance. It might be still part of a longterm dance, but thats the stock prices and the economics could go his way at some point if he can come back. Oh, no, he can come back. Im just saying i dont think this was a head fake or a tactic. Right. The timing was beautiful. Right. As a tactic in the sort of public relations. Playing hardball. Plenty of reasons we should talk about for investors to by worried with so much going on around the world. Our next guest, though, says that the markets still look okay as far as hes concerned. Jim is from the American InstituteEconomic Policy analyst, hes a cnbc contributor. Jim, thanks for being here today. You bet. What is it that worries you the most at this point . I know that youre not overall worried, but for something to creep up, what would it be. . I would have been really worried, you know, had russia banned imports of Louis Vuitton handbags. That would have hit russia where it imports. Thank goodness that didnt happen. But italy in recession, german manufacturing orders, i would be very worried about europe. This isnt going to help. An economy thats not growing very fast, probably not growing at all outside germany. And i really worry about the euro prices, its a fragile economy and the conflict, both the import ban and more generally was going on in ukraine is not good for that economy. I think thats a major worry. But overall, you dont think that stocks are unfairly priced and maybe you think that theyve gotten punishment too much in the last kervel weeks . Listen, i would feel a little better about stocks if, you know, mario draghi came out today and said you know what . Were instituting a qe plan, we are buying sovereign bonds. Otherwise, the u. S. Is doing okay. Were still not, you know, down 2 2. 4 growth path. Thats fine. Where im more worried is what happens in europe and to the extent that what happens in russia affects that. But mario draghi, you dont think its likely that hell come out and say anything other than trying to a reassure markets with words, do you . Why now . Take your time. Its not like its year four or whatever. But listen, those economists are not going anywhere. Debt levelsry main extraordinarily high. Italy, 175 of gdp. Greek, 175. Italy, ireland, 121. Highly indebted countries. Whats amazing, jim, the yield is higher than germany, but nobody appears frightened. You you have that much debt yet you do not grow, your ability to pay back your debt declines dramatically. At some point, if they dont grow, theyre going to be fault, restructure, do something. Its going to be greece all over again. Hopefully american banks dont own all that stuff, right . The writing has been on the wall for a long time. But when they dont grow, they have a big, big problem. Thats been greatly misunderstood about the entire european debt crisis. It was never so much a debt crisis, Interest Rate crisis where Interest Rates eventually in greece, sure, it was a nongdp crisis. They werent growing. That made that debt burden that much worse. These continue not to grow. So why are the yields higher . Thats the mystery. Greece, 6. 4 . I guarantee you theyre not paying back the rest of the european union. Right. To me, that still is a bit of a mystery. Longer term, i would remain very concerned. I wouldnt take any solace in that. So what would you be doing right now . I mean, as we watch stocks fall here, do you think this is just the beginning of something or do you think this was a temporary blip . Listen, i used to cover the markets, you know, back in the 1990s. And i remember writing all these stories about, you know, market is up, but whats going to happen in north korea . Were very worried about north korea. We always have geopolitical issues, ee boll la, to help distract you. But as long as the prospects in the u. S. Economy are growing, and theres no problems right now with the u. S. Economys growth path, i would stick it out. So these sanctions from russia dont matter, essentially . No. Listen, i dont think they matter. Theyre fought going to affect certainly what Vladimir Putin does. Hes knit for the long haul. He will make his people suffer if he has to. He is going to remain in charge and continue to do what he has to do. Will that affect us, will it affect european markets . The idea that theyre not going to be importing food . Whats going to affect european markets is that you have very weak economies where you really dont want anything else to go wrong when you have inflation at 0. 4 and basically the region is not growing other than one country. Okay. Jim, i want to thank you for joining us today. Good talking to you. You bet. Some crazy stories in the New York Post today. Coming up, the tiger drama and the pga tournament. He took a practice round yesterday, but will he be able to compete this weekend . Were going to tee that up next. And apple could be about to get a new neighbor in new york city. Is fifth avenue big enough for apple and microsoft . Well talk about it when squawk box returns. Welcome back, everybody. Microsoft is negotiating to open it first big apple retail location at 677 fifth avenue. Thats about a fivenet walk from apples flag location. I think theyre too close, too close for comfort. Really . Microsoft is going to be able to have such a prominent the apple store itself is so you know. A draw. Its like a tourism spot. It is a landmark. We should introduce would is here. Were talking about tiger woods this morning. Deciding to play in the pga championship. Showing up yesterday unannounced, a practice round to test his strengths. Joining us now is dave rigs. Nbc sports anchor. Good morning to you. He says its different, whatever happened. Its not where are the back surgery was, its in darnt spot. Theater. I even brought an illustration for you. Its the sacrum. He says those thee words that you dont often hear a golfer say. Just the sacrum. In that means its not that big of a deal . I think its a bigger deal. For a guy that had back pain for 20 years, its a big problem. So i did put a call in to a surgeon who said you cant pop out a is i acrum on a bunker shot. So he must have mistaken something in terms of the language. So he brought along a physiotherapyist. It was likened back to 20 years on a certain white bronco going down a california freeway. The coverage was redeckus. But this was 72 hours before his practice round, what youre seeing right there, withdrawning from a tournament. Youre telling me everything is fine . Its not possible. His game is off even when hes healthy and hes clearly not. Do you think hes ever gone to win a major tournament again . Absolutely. The rest of the world world seems to write off the best golfer weve ever seen. Hes going to have to reinvent himself and stop taking thinks violent but rory mcilroy, hes amazing. Hes not just amazing. Hes 25 years old. Hes doing everything right. He is head and shoulders above the rest of the golfers. Could he be greater than tiger woods some day . Jack nicklaus said yesterday he thinks he could win 15 or 20 majors if he sets his priorities right. Theoretically, that means if he doesnt try to get married again and cancel the wedding after the invitations go out. Good for him. Good for her, by the way. Its a different level than tiger when it comes to the business of sponsorship and never. Not close. Why . When you look at what rory mcilroy is doing, hes playing brilliantly, hes young, hes in good shape and looks like the package. Then tiger shows up limping in shoes and gets ten times the press coverage, it clearly tells you no one will ever gather our attention like tiger. Sergio garcia could finally stop being a brides maid and win. You can get a guy like Jordan Spieth would wins. I think theres some golfers, is it better to have people that we dont necessarily know, younger people who are americans going up in this, and im talking from a sponsorship and from the pga perspective or to have those top golfers show up. And thats assuming that we need american. Look at the game of tennis. Very similar. Theres some dominant, some of the greatest players ever. But unless theyre americans, we dont pay attention. Remember the drama at the ladies pga where they wanted to see you have to speak english because there are so many korean winners who didnt speak english and you lose audience in the United States. If you want american, Rickie Fowler finished in the top five of every major this year. He wears cool puma clothes, good looking kid. He could win this weekend and get a lot of attention. Weve got the New York Post to talk about. Okay. So here it is. Jerry jones. Extortion. On the front page of the New York Post. Theres a lovely lady down here. In a compromising position on page five she is fully clothed in all these photos. This one seems like a different lovely lady. Yeah. She has her clothes on. She has her clothes on, too. But she doesnt look like shes the wife. Im just stunned that a billionaire owner of the most popular sports team arguably in the country got caught in some compromising photos, clearly an extortion plot. Hes been married for decades. But again, im sure his wife is furious, but beyond that, we can fault jerry jones for a lot of things. Stupid nights, stupid photos. Anything more than ta does his wife own half the team or anything . They always do. They always do. Do you know how much money she would get or any details on the well, the photos actually emerged from a groupie, not a female groupie, a guy who got a load of i thought that was like a new selfie. I was going to ask you, theres a term for every photo today. What do you call those photos . Sexy . A badie. Jerry jones has done it all wrong. Building the cowboys and taking a lot of im going to leave this between he and his longtime wife. And you know what happens . You get to a certain age and people say, go get em. He did not want to go home when those pictures emerged. Khakis or is he not wearing pants . No, he has thats her arm. Oh, okay. I think jerry has more to worry about in terms of that that was awful last year. Speaking of six nfl preseason games tonight. Lets get excited for this, people, no . Patriots, redskins, broncos, seahawks. Does football season ever end . God help us. We want it to never end. Its the best product on the planet. 12 months a year . And it really gets krapging up tonight. Theres no more football free weekends in 2014. Thats something to celebrate, people. Thank you for coming in. Im going to rock this. Is it okay i know joe is not here. Joe would give you such grief. For wearing a jacket . Patterned shirt and patterned jacket. Oh, patter