The early trading most of the major averages are trading higher. The dax is up by better than o. 6 . The cac and ftse both sitting just under 0. 6 higher. North Korean Leader kim jongun has ordered his country to be ready to use its Nuclear Weapons at any time. He told the military to be in preemptive mode attack. The saber rattling follows harsh new sanctions imposed by the u. N. Over north Koreas Nuclear program. Also, new data this morning on where investors are putting their money to work. Nearly 5 billion went to riskier, u. S. Based junk bond funds. Thats making the groups largest inflows on record. Federal prosecutors have now moved to dismiss the indictment of Chesapeake Energy founder aubrey mcclendon, as expected, following his death. Mcclendon died in that fiery onecar crash the day after being indicted. A Law Enforcement source tells cnbc that the justice departments broader investigation into possible collusion in the oil and gas industry is ongoing. Generating buzz this morning and all day yesterday, what a day, the fiery gop debate following the mitt romney takedown. John harwood joins us now from washington with the highlights. I stayed up pretty late, john. Saw most of it. Reporter couldnt make it to the end, huh . I couldnt make it all the way to the end. It was kind of like the others. Theres only four people left up there. Makes it hard to put someone in the middle. Reporter when you only have four people, you can focus your insults more tightly. Look, this Republican Debate is getting to places we havent seen before. Incredible amount of schoolyard taunting and attacks. Marco rubio, who earlier in the campaign talked about running a campaign that didnt attack other republicans, it was focused on the 21st century, justified his attacks on donald trump. Hes done it over the last two weeks, and he justified it again last night. This came pain for the last year, donald trump has mocked everyone with personal attacks. Hes done so to people sitting on the stage today. Hes done so to people who are disabled. If theres anyone whos ever deserved to be attacked that way, its donald trump. Reporter now, donald trump of course responded, and he responded in a way that we havent seen before in any president ial campaign forum, much less a nationally televised debate. Take a listen to how he responded to rubio. He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. Ive never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are they small hands . And, he referred to my hands, if theyre small, Something Else must be small pip guarantee theres no problem. Reporter joe, i just dont know what to say after that. Ive covered politics for a long time, and i havent heard that before. You heard the initial insult. That he has small hands. Reporter and i was dumb struck. Im still dumb struck. If someone was implying something about me, i might say im fine in that area. Reporter thats true, you might. I dont know. Ill try it on you sometime. Youre not just going to sit there and go, oh, yeah, i guess i could do a little better. Reporter yes, i am. Oh, youre right, im not much in that category. Problem my whole life. Rubio started it. He said hes got small hands and you know what that means. Actually, john, did you see that analysis . It was really well done. It was on politico or something. A guy took a bunch of pictures, shots of trumps hands in reference. Went back and looked to see if there was any truth that they were small. They said hes 62. It came out they were you know, i dont know where that came from. I have no idea, but its stupid were even talking about it. It started from the short fingers. Maybe it came from that. I thought megyn kellys question to rubio was better but not answered. She quoted him from three weeks ago saying he would never get down in the muck because hes only going to talk about polpol. He wouldnt be able to face his children. He then went on to talk about spray tan and hand size and were not going to make america great, were going to make it orange. He spent a week doing that to no avail in terms of the numbers. The other thing with kasich, hes been very the adult in the room. The adult in the room has managed about 4 in most of the states that have voted so far. I dont know. I dont know what to tell you. Reporter thats a fair observation about kasich, although i think when you have a smaller debate stage and kasich has more ability to talk and get his message out that, benefits him, and it benefitted him last night. He wasnt going there. When we him on here, its a great forum for him. Debates are not his i dont know. He always falls back to the record thing. I feel like ive heard a lot from jay kasich on the debate, given his ranking in the polls. And hes saying he never a lot of people they also blame the debate questioners for why theyre not doing well in the polls. Because you havent given me enough time. A lot of time, thats the result of the polls not really putting them in a position where they deserve a lot of time. I dont know. Its always a chicken, egg thing. Which came first . The Media Coverage or the popularity of the candidate itself. We in the media play some role in determining what gets air time and what gets exposed. So your point is taken. But listen, guys, can i talk about Something Else . You going to talk about romney . You going to talk about romney . That was surreal. Or you can talk about duke. No i want to talk about the fact that later today im going to have an exclusive sitdown interview with Hillary Clinton. Talk about her economics plan, her jobs plan. Thats the other side of the president ial campaign debate. Shes in a strong position against Bernie Sanders, but shes not done. She hasnt finished locking up this nomination yet. Shes going to be giving a speech in detroit outlining her jobs plan. Well sit down with her after that. You going to talk about the elephant in the room, or you just going to they going to tell you what to talk about . Youve got to be kidding me. Im going to talk about what needs to be talked about. Well, what you think needs to be talked about or what someone else might think needs to be talked about . The obvious question youre referring to, yes. All right. Good, john. Im counting on you. Ill be watching you. Ill be watching you and your very large hands, man hands. All right. Thank you. Hey, becky. Yes . Will you be the hall monitor of this show . Can you control this guy . You couldnt wait to get to that sound. Can you palm a basketball . I dont think you can. I definitely cannot palm a basketball. I cant either. And i definitely cant dunk one. Usually, joe, when i dunk, i have to grip it with both hands, otherwise you can lose it when you get up to the rim. Yeah, when you dunk, sure. Who did we see dunk the other day . Steve balmer. Did it with a trampoline. For me, youd have to do that too. Mine is adjustable, the one i have in the driveway. Id have to lower it and have the trampoline to get anywhere close to that. But youre number 17 now. Duke is back up there. Carolina this weekend. Last game. We got creighton on saturday. Xavier. All right. See you later, john. Thank you. Were counting down to the february jobs report. We are just hour away from februarys big jobs number. Telling us what to expect right now is michelle gerard, rbs chief analyst. Michelle, start off telling us what youre expecting today. The average consensus is 200,000. Were right around that level a little better. 210,000. I have to tell you, i was worried that we might see a weaker print. Some of the numbers have softened a little bit. When you look at it, there are some categories last month that were just unusually low. So if we dont get a revision, its hard bottoms up to get a much weaker number. I feel like we sort of might be due for a temporary setback. I think the economy is holding in much better than people feared. So i wouldnt be inclined to overreact if this number is a little softer. I have to admit, im a little watchful that perhaps we might we just seem overdue for a little bit softer print given some of the other numbers that weve seen. Julian, how does wall street react . Are they looking for one of these goldilocks numbers again, one not too weak but one not too strong where feds are forced to raise rates sooner rather than later . I think you have an acceptable range. Were on the low end, 175. The point is whats happened is the negativity over this first two months has built so sen intensely, such that youre at a point that all you have to do is surprise positively by the smallest of increments and you have an outsized positive Market Reaction. Thats a good place for both the economy and the stock market. So that suggests the street really does want to be reassured were not heading into a recession. That is. But at the same time, you have after fed that if you look at the january minutes, they use the word uncertainty 19 times. That tells us that theyre going to be very hesitant. Theyre going to want to see more data. Maybe pce creeping towards their 2 target before they get aggressive the next hike. You know, richard fischer, the former Dallas Federal Reserve president , was here this weekend. He said they need to raise rates quickly, sometime between now and august. If it hasnt happened by august, theyre not going to be able to do it during an election season. I have to say, i personally dont think that is as much of a concern when youre already in the process. I think its hard to initiate a tightening cycle close to the september, october time frame where you could risk unsettling markets. But when youre in the middle of a tightening cycle, to kind of carry forward, i dont think thats going to be a significant input into the feds decision. I mean, i think in general, the timing that were all thinking about, that theyll probably move in june, then perhaps september. Those kinds of predictable, gradual adjustments i dont think should be a problem. Like a quarter point hike shouldnt seem like its a big deal in any direction, but when you start looking at the potential strength of the dollar when you have other nations that are at negative Interest Rates, thats what concerns people so much at this point. Every quarter point is going to make the dollar that much stronger and put that much more pressure on our exports and on our markets. Well, again, i think here the fed does take a little bit longer view. Its absolutely true that, you know, if the fed moves and people anticipate further moves in the future, theres going to be some upward pressure on the dollar. But ultimately, if that helps for other currencies to somewhat weaken, which then helps global economies to do better, theyre in a sense borrowing some growth from the u. S. In the longer run, that comes around to actually helping our exports. From is a bit of a rebalancing. Does the fed actually think about that . Weve heard the fed. Were going to give a little growth away, we dont care about other economies. They have talked about the fact that ultimately a stronger dollar can boost exports in the longer run if it does help Global Growth. So i think that man, that is a long thought process. I dont think so. I think the market gets too shortsighted in terms of the fact if we start thinking about the dual mandate that turns into the triple mandate, the idea were thinking about trying to help other economies so that they can then in turn buy more from us. Im not trying to say that as much as im trying to say people say the fed cant hike because of the dollar, and people only focus on the fact that a strong dollar is immediately negative for u. S. Growth. I think the fed tries to stress out that if you really think it through, ultimately its not clear if the u. S. Im not trying to say theyre trying to help other currencies in the currency war. If the fed doesnt move, it puts more pressure on other Central Banks to have to ease as weve seen. You start this cycle that ultimately its sort of a race to the bottom. Other Central Banks have to do more easing. Then where does that stop . I see what youre saying. Julian . One of the untold positive stories at last five or six weeks is that if you look, not only has oil bottomed and credit improved, but lo and behold, the commodity currencies, the ones that have been feeling the most pressure, the canadian dollar, the mexican peso, the australian dollar, they have strengthened, and its not atypical for the currencies to have already discounted what the fed has done. Weve seen actually peaks in the dollar at the start of rate hike cycles in the past. I think thats definitely part of, you know, the fed feeling a bit more reassured. Would you tell people to buy stro stocks here . You think were stabilizing . Yes. We feel good. Our yearend price target is 2175. We feel like this negativity bubble that built the first couple months has really been eased by the fact that youve essentially taken recession off the table to a great extent over the course of 2016. And expectations are very low. As we all know, the market is a game of expectations. Valuation is good, particularly against a subdued yield. Thank you both for coming in today. Thank you. Coming up, gop unfighting hitting a fever pitch yesterday with former republican nominee mitt romney Bashing Trump and urging the party to elect any of the other three candidates. He would like a brokered convention. Therefore, if each one wins their own state, no one gets a majority. Then in some diluted notion, he thinks the party might come to him for another replay of four years ago. Right. We will talk president ial politics and last nights debate with former governors Bill Richardson and jedd gregg. Thats next. In your dreams. When youre on hold, your business is on hold. Thats why comcast business doesnt leave you there. When you call, a Small Business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. No annoying hold music. Just a real person, real fast. Whenever you need them. Great, thats what i said. So your business can get back to business. Sounds like my rides ready. Dont get stuck on hold. Reach an expert fast. Comcast business. Built for business. It was a slug fest in detroit last night. If you went to bed early, here are some of the highlights. This little guy has lied so much here we go. About my record. Look at those hands. Are they small hands . And he referred to my hands, if theyre small, Something Else must be small. I guarantee you theres no problem. Breathe, breathe. Lying ted. You can breathe. I know its hard. When theyre done with the yoga, can i answer a question . You cannot. I really hope we dont see yoga on this stage. Well, hes very flexible, so you never know. Everybody loves the yeah, its our fault. Because we watch it. No, because we get such a kick out of it. Prickly, prickly. They got to throw the prickly term in there. Size matters. Theyve got him the whole thing is so embarrassing. Well, youre so above any talk like that. Joining us now you embarrassed . Im embarrassed for all of us. For the country. Its hard not to be. This is what its become. Right, okay. You dont feel that way, a little bit . I think that Ronald Reagan would probably be like, whoa. Ronald reagan who wouldnt go into the oval Office Without a jacket on. Probably all the bushes. Theyre all like, what is this . Anyway, the reaction to mitt romneys takedown of donald trump, thats going to be something we talk about. Former New Hampshire governor and u. S. Senator jed gregg is here. And former new mexico governor Bill Richardson. Theyre going to have different views, obviously. Jed, im going to start with you. I kind of think of you as sort of republican establishment, but then i dont think of you as republican establishment. But what is your take on the notion that the establishment now thinks that if they, i dont know, disrespect the whatever you want to call donald trump, whatever you want to call the people backing him, what if they were to say, were just not going to listen to you and do what we want to do and select who we think passes muster . What would that do in the general election . Those 35 worst would say, youre on your own, wouldnt they . Probably, yes. Im glad you think of me, joe, by the way. Thats very nice of you. I do, often. I think theres no question about what donald trump has done has brought into the political process a lot of folks who historically havent participated in the process at all, or if they have, theyve been marginal players. From both sides of the aisle, he brings in a fair amount. The simple fact is the numbers work in his favor right now. If he were to win florida, that would be game, set, match for rubio. If he wins michigan, its going to be a blow to kasich. Although, i think kasich did extroe extraordinarily well last night. My view is trump is headed towards the nomination, were just going to have to figure out how to deal with that as a party. What do you think went into that romney speech . It was 17 minutes. It incapsulated every perceived flaw, misstep, or criticism that had been leveled at trump over the last six months or even longer than that. Was there a closed door meeting somewhere . Which republican elder would have led that . Do you know behind the scenes what happened, jedd . No, i dont. But lets be honest about this. There are no republican elders. In this scenario today, in this fact pattern today, republican elders, even if they existed, would be basically out on the street corner. Mitt romney spoke to people who already felt the way he felt, which is that donald trump is crass and erratic, which i happen to agree with. But he didnt speak to the trump base, which is basically frustrated with people like mitt romney and people, i guess, like myself when im establishment. When im not establishment, hopefully they havent. Theyre just basically frustrated and angry. Theyre looking for somebody who expresses that frustration and anger. Donald trump is a showman. Hes shown he knows how to do it. He certainly had more fire in his belly yesterday in trying to defeat trump than in trying to defeat barack obama. I dont know. Governor richardson, youre watching this. I mean, im reading a lot of stuff from the left side of the aisle. I saw one guy, you can quote me, hahahaha was his quote for the debate. Tickled to bedeath by all this. Well, it was the most incredibly negative yet entertaining debate id ever seen. I think ive seen every one. Heres my take as a democrat. Theres two schools. One schoo