Shanghai composite was down by three quarters of a percentage point. In europe, some early trading there, at this hour the bulls have their way the dax is up by 0. 6 . The cac is up almost by 1 the ftse up by 0. 4 . If you look at crude oil prices, crude was up yesterday settled above 46, this morning at 45. 87 big developing story. Londons fire commissioner says theres been a flub of fatalities in a fire that broke out overnight in a high rise apartment. Fire fighters still working to put out that blaze which quickly engulfed the 27Story Building in london. Londons mayor says question also have to be answered over the safety of those towers some residents in the building say they had been advised to stay inside in the event of a fire in another part of the building so no smoke alarms or sprinkler systems set up the fire took place on the fourth floor and spread rapidly. Someone wanted to close it down years ago this building yeah. I immediately its a fire at this point with everything happening in london thats what i thought of, but at this point, just a fire horrific and scary. Another big a firish story, if you enjoy my segue, Corporate News youll be walking on egg shells i wont be walking on egg shells uber board member David Bonderman resigning from the board after what he made what was described as an inappropriate comment. At the meeting bonderman cut off Arianna Huffington trying to jokingly say that more women on the board means its much likely theyll be more talking. That was the comment bonderman since apologized but his comments immediately came under yes, squestion as thr discussing the findings produced by eric holder into the companys Corporate Culture. Holder offered 50 ideas to improve workplace culture, including reducing alcohol use we talked about that mem move that went out before the party they were having, some of which talked about alcohol separately, uber announced Travis Kalanick will take what is being described as a temporary leave of absence no exact date for when he will be returning well talk more about all of this in just a bit with an expert clearly, you said im on egg shells i dont feel like im on egg shells lets hear your comments then i think right now in the valley theres a remarkable sensitivity around all of these issues okay. Rightly, by the way there you go. Clearly an issue at uber. I think in the moment of what was taking place yesterday, the particular choice of words was particularly tough now, were those did all of this mean he should resign from the board . That seemed to me to be an aggressive step to take. But given all the signals theyre trying to send to all these people, maybe the timing. What i dont know is aryiann huffington, i gather just from what ive read she laughed she chuckled you think she was offended i have to assume, given all that wastaking place, that there was some ill will about it at that time prior no. In the moment. Yesterday, i was talking about you get if you have a Huffington Post sensibility about everything you do, you obviously would never say that thats for sure. His sense of timing was not the best the Huffington Post, there are in society there are probably people that are here on terms of how politically he correct they are, and people here, and some people in the middle that was obviously on the continuum, that was dont path of being politically incorrect on a normal day im glad youre able to say that this is the egg shells im talking about. No, no. On a normal day, you could say that and somebody might be offended that you said that some people might laugh, some people might not. Im not sure it would rise to this occasion. But on a day when the meeting is talking about Sexual Harassment, the culture of the company, its an acute issue i will be agis. Hes 74, not in tune with the current you im 60 and i dont think things through i dont think thats agist. The guy comes from a different time and youre also not quite address qui a quick. Youll see i did this on the air, on power lunch when the recommendations were coming on uber had a problem, y needed to take steps they made them change the name of the war room to the peace room one of the most ridiculous things i heard i thought it was a joke when i heard it everybody has a war room right im sensitive. I have a wife who happen to be here today blakes here . Blake is here my experience is they both talk the right amount of time they never talk too much, never too little we agree. We agree. You just walked those egg shells well, my friend thank you in just saying that in a lighthearted way means im not taking it seriously. But its a context story. In this particular instance. Its a context story. On todays economic agenda may retail sales and cpi released at 8 30 a. M. Eastern. Followed by April Business inventories at 10 00 a. M the feds statement is due at 2 00 p. M janet yellen will hold a News Conference 30 minutes later. There she is right there you can get full coverage of the decision on power lunch. In washington news, attorney general Jeff Sessions denying Campaign Collusion with russia and said he would maintain a safe distance from the probe into the election interference Kayla Tausche joins us now with more more than 2 1 2 hours of questioning attorney general Jeff Sessions declined to discuss his communications with the president , but he was emphatic that he had nothing to do with the russian interference in the election. The suggestion that i participated in any collusion, that i was aware of any collusion that would hurt this country that i served with honor for 35 years or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process is an appalling and detestable lie Sarah Huckabee sanders says from what the president saw he thought sessions did a good job. In response to a question about whether the president as some of his allies have suggested, would seek to fire the special counsel bob mueller, she said while the president has the right to do so, he has no intention to do so there could be a new legal challenge for the white house. Nearly 200 democratic lawmakers filing suit alleging violation of the emollients clause today the press is seeking access to meetings on healthcare after reports that the president told senators yesterday that their bill needs to be more generous than the bill he apparently called mean john thune said the president is fine with us taking a different direction with what the house did. The president s 71st birthday will be on work force week yesterday a white house contingent visited wisconsin where the president and that group toured a Technical College and he then made remarks at a fundraiser for scott walker interesting note, back stage at the event, the pool reported that the president said we were negotiating with a major, major manufacturer of phones, computers and television, and they would give scott walker a happy surprise sometime soon were waiting to hear what company that is, joe i like that the president sometimes usesed a jek tuses adjectives a couple of times was that a direct quote . That was a direct quote it would be help ful ifhe said company headquartered in san diego, with x amount of dollars. And it is his birthday today . 71st birthday is it also flag day did you know that . I didnt know that. That could well be the case. Is this trivia hour . He has his flag tie on for you. Coincidence i dont think so thanks to Kayla Tausche. Senator thune will join us at 8 40 a. M. Eastern. Well talk about whether the senate is really thinking about doing anything ever. But they did have a meeting about obamacare. Now they have direction, make it less mean less mean less mean. Thats nice. Nobody wants to be mean. Definitely not. On top of all of that, we have the fed wrapping up its twoday meeting today. The markets are waiting to see how it will reduce the Balance Sheet. Joining us is steven richutto from mizuho securities, and carcarl carls charles cham beampbell. Steven, is there any chance they dont raise rates . No, theyre going to raise rates. The markets will look to see if theres new direction in terms of the Balance Sheet i dont think theyll get much in terms of the statement. That may come out in the minutes. Were trying to figure out why the market doesnt seem more concerned that the fed is moving up its timetable for shrinking the Balance Sheet. Will that have additional impact other than just raising rates . The Federal Reserve when they were doing their quantitative easing, they felt 5 500 billion of reserve would reduce the rates by 90 basis points on the other side of the equation, you look at where the tenyear note yield and where it s 2. 20 nobody would be upset if it raised up to 2. 50. Charles what do you think anything es happenilse happenin the surface . Will we wake up and say this is ang iss an issue we have the tenyear at 2. 20. We have stocks at alltime highs. Which one is right . What is each market looking at and each investor looking at . The bond market a janet yellen fade are moving glacially slow everyone cut rates going into recision with the exception of australia. They then had to reverse after raising rates, then cut again because they went back into a double dip or slowdown the only three that different, the bank of england, federal receive and trcentral bank of hg kong the yellen fed is cognizant of that Inflation Expectations have come way in if you look at the gauge of inflation, its at lowest level in a year and a half if you look at the ism, down 8 points month over month. So fed Inflation Expectations are low now. Stock market is saying corporate earnings have been much better than expected. They continued to do well. Pmi reports look fairly decent, healthy. So the economic back drop is constructive so youre saying both markets could be right at the same time. Its not that the bond market is signaling you are long equities at this point . Im long equities steven . I always have equities in my portfolio. Im a bit overweight bonds ive been grabbing yield, i think thats a Good Alternative to taking risk in equities equity markets look okay but they are expensive they are expensive even relative to forward earnings. Im more cautious in that environment. I yanked the poiunderstand the s no reason to limit the equity exposure, but where do you limit the dollar that youre putting in thats the question investors have been asking for months and months you missed 15 in the equity markets. I know its impossible to ring a bell at the top. Thats correct. Is there an argument to be made that because rates are so low and not expected to rise soon that equities you would be clipping coupons for eight years to get to what the market has been doing for six years. But i could lose that very well, and the valuations are thats always the if. Its always the if, but its an important if. Its nice getting 5 rather than 2 . Im not losing as much as you consider, and im getting price appreciation look at where corporates are, high yield performances have been, theyre comparable and there are a lot less risk factors in there i would think on preferred stock theres more risk if rates go up . Im not expecting a major back up in rates but if they d its like an eternal bond i dont know your yield, if rates were to double, your preferred stock is going down. I dont think rates will anywhere near double not if the market corrects, but if the rates go up look at the Political Risk in washington we have a president not the leader of his party. We havent done anything on tax reform oh, okay. Theres a lot of risk that is still imbedded in there that needs to be taken out. He would have taken out 2018, and i think 2018 is coming up soon so you think the market is up because of the president s agenda how much of the premium in the markets now are because of things that are expected to happen in washington, charles . The market is not discounting and expecting tax reform theyre not expecting the healthcare reform. Who is the leader of the party now if its not trump . There is not a leader theres no leader of the party. A lot of people think they are. Who is the leader of the Democratic Party theyre as confused as the Republican Party gentlemen, thank you. Those are both sides of the market, appreciate it. Your horoscope coming into play here. Coming up, uber board member David Bonderman is out after he made whats being described as an inappropriate comment at a staff meeting. Well talk to a Crisis Management expert next when squawk returns usaa gives me the peace of mind and the security just like the marines did. The process through usaa is so effortless, that you feel like youre a part of the family. I love that i can pass the membership to my children. Were the williams family, and were usaa members for life. 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. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. The future isnt silver suits anits right now. S, think about it. We can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. Find love anywhere. Hes cute. And buy things from, well, everywhere. How . Because our phones have evolved. So isnt it time our networks did too . Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. Welcome back to squawk box. Ubers culture problems continue even as kalanick agreed to take a leave of absence now David Bonderman is resigning after he made an inappropriate comment at a staff meeting, the same day the Company Released that report on a culture of Sexual Harassment and gender bias joining us for more is eric desmal good morning to you. Good morning. Weve been talking about it all morning, late yesterday. Did he have to now were on to dave bonderman. Given the sentence that he said around women talking more and sort of the jokey way we understand he said it. Did very to resign probably. Look, it is an aggravating catalyst and whenever you have somebody Say Something that causes people to be on cable tv talking about it, rather than the Company Going about the business of fixing its problems, its a distraction. I found in situations like this companies simply dont want to be in the position where theyre trying to explain what a person said so the easiest way from a to b is to step down and get it out of the news. How acute in terms of what you think he said at the meeting, meaning had he not resigned last evening, would we be talking about this for a week or more . You would be talking about it for the next couple of days, looking at it in the context of hold everys report. If this had happened during a retreat that had no timing intersection with the release of this report, we would be having a different conversation it would be one of those dumb things that people who are not in tune with the culture say the fact it happened on the same day as the holder report is the reason why were talking about it if you look at the holder report, historically i had a ceo say to me once, the person who takes the company from 0 to 10 million, from 10 to 100, from 100 to a billion people are all different people and the holder report is about them saying theres a raging debate on twitter and Silicon Valley related to the bonderman comment and the decision to resign in large part because some people say has Political Correctness gone too far when youre a business how do you weigh the public issue in this particular instance, hes a board member, with whatever value you think he brings to the company, versus whatever damage you think that comment made . Thats the findme mefundamentaln that somebody needs to ask in this case it was asked and answered and he resigned look, my personal view has Political Correctness gone too far . Yes. But im not paid in these situations to be an arbitrator of the culture im paid to help make problems go away. If the reality is a company in a controversy simply does not have the spine in 2017 to fight a battle on these grounds. Companies are simply not able to withstand twitter battles in 2017 the question is do you want to go to war over defending bondermans comment, or do you wanted to go to war to take a company into the next generation i think the answer is straightforward. The latter if lets say he was a key man at the company i thought hes a hes on the board. How often do they meet hes a billionaire 74 Board Members are sort of there as its like a parttime thing. After this happened i was like, you know, im out of here is what i would do. Im just gone. I can help the company, i dont need it. Do you think a key whether its an operating guy or someone in an important position, do you think they would have left that quickly . Probably not. A board nmember is different. One thing ive always been uncomfortable with, in recent years when you have a crisis, people get on cable tv and scratch their chins and they say do you think the ceo has to resign as if the ceo of united, a accompany with 100,000 employees, has to resign because two idiots do something stupid on a plane its ridiculous. Now we have this climate where getting rid of the ceo on a knee jerk basis is considered a good Crisis Management strategy we would be having a different conversation if we were talking about a key executive rather than board member. We cant be overly analytical. The reality is when youre working for a company under withering siege, and you suddenly find that 100 of what youre doing is responding to comments people make, it is simply too traumatic inside t