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The deal of the day. Sherwin Williams, acquiring Valspar for $9 billion. The stock soaring on the news check out Valspar today up to 105 to 106.90.
Markets broadly speaking looking higher today. The Shanghai composite over night in Asia was to standout. It closed at the highest level in two months up 2 percent.
In Europe, little changes this morning although we do have some gains. As you could see the Dax Index, in Germany is up about 1percent. Oil price is pulling back this morning.
In the U.S. we're expecting a higher opening for stock prices. Futures indicating a gain about 25 points on the Dow Jones Industrial average.
President Obama makes an historic three-day trip to Cuba. Landing in the island nation yesterday, but not without controversy, just hours before, the president landed Sunday. Cuban authorities arrested more than 50 protestors. They were marching to demand better human rights. Critics also calling at Cuban leader Raul Castro for not greeting the president upon his arrival.
My next guest says he's also disappointed but for other reasons. He's Dr. Manny Alvarez. He's Fox News Senior Managing Health Editor. He was born and raised in Cuba before moving to the United States and Dr. Manny it's good to see you.
MANNY ALVAREZ, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR MANAGING HEALTH EDITOR: How are you? Good morning.
BARTIROMO: Thanks so much for joining us. I want to -- we want to hear about your story when you immigrated here. But first, why are you disappointed?
ALVAREZ: Well I'm disappointed because, you know, this is a historical moment. You know, and I was hope for changing the Embargo rule because I think after 50 years it has not worked. However, I think just like Trump said, you know, if Trump was president, who would have made that deal. I wouldn't have made that deal either because Cuba is getting everything and we're not getting nothing in return.
Human rights, you know, you saw that story the 50 ladies that got arrested. They say, you know, you see the story big and pictures taken, 50 people, that happens in Cuba every day. That has happened in Cuba for the last, you know, 40 years and it's all over the, you know, all over the country, you know.
The Cuban society even today gets monitored constantly. And I would argue even the Cuban's government keeps a tab on all the Cuban-Americans that are here. They know what I do, or where I'm, you know, the things that I'm saying.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
ALVAREZ: So it's still a society that is quite controlled by the government. And the whole intention of this whole thing is to make Cuba a Chinese model. That's all it is. I mean, no more and no less.
BARTIROMO: But what is the mean? I mean, what is the point? Dough Heye your thoughts on this as well because if we're not getting anything out of this and the human rights remain or lack of remain the way it has been for so long, what are we doing there?
DOUG HEYE, COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR: Well we're there for a Barack Obama legacy plaque (ph). Barack Obama when he is no longer president can say, "I'm the one who opened Cuba, so you can go to Floridita and have your Hemmingway Dockery, or you still going to be backed out and that's it".
BARTIROMO: But that he didn't open Cuba. I mean, that.
ALVAREZ: Well, you know, look Doug .
HEYE: Because Cuban's know .
BARTIROMO: Right, that for Cubans.
ALVAREZ: Just like as being said. This is something that the president wanted to get, you know, in the bucket list.
I was the first president in 88 years to get there, and he got it. That's all that really he has done, you know, but nothing for the Cuban people.
KEVIN KELLEY, CIO OF RECON CAPITAL PARTNERS: Now you think a lot of the business deals that are happening and kind of opening up the transportation can lead to real chain and have actually open up the economy down there and make it more capitalistic and help small businesses, do you think that can actually take effect?
ALVAREZ: Well, look, a lot of the people that went on that trip, I know them all and I know them very well. And I know that for the last year and a half, a lot of Cuban Americans and big business have been going down to the islands in their private jets, having private meetings, and they just still trying to get their hands around how to make the deal.
Now, most of these people are westernized, they know about buying equity, investing money, getting that returns on their money. That's not the model that Cuba is ready to do.
So they -- this whole thing is to try to, OK, just like the Starwood deal, run hotels, you don't own the land, you don't own the hotels, we'll split some of the revenues and that's as good as it gets.
A lot of business spends -- the business people need the hand-holding of Obama and that's exactly what they're going to do. But so far as to straightforward investment and economic, you know, me going over there so, you know, what I'm going to open a hardware store tomorrow. Can I do that on Cuban? I can't do that yet.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, AMERICAN ANCHOR: And but -- and also in terms of what we didn't get. What about the 70 -- roughly 70 fugitives from justice here in the United States who were in Cuba Joanne Chesimard, convicted cop killer. Are they bringing her back to the United States?
ALVAREZ: No, no, no.
MCDOWELL: Who would with it, again. Like a people are disgusted by this deal. That's one of the very reason.
BARTIROMO: You're right, you're right. You know, you got -- you came here at what age? I know you have photos of you growing up.
ALVAREZ: Oh, my God.
BARTIROMO: And the child's in Cuba.
ALVAREZ: Morning people having breakfast.
BARTIROMO: Tell us as we look at some of these photos about your story.
ALVAREZ: Well, you know, look I left Cuba when I was 12 years old. I came through a program called the Peter Pan program, and at that time, the Catholic Church would help some of the Cuban citizens give up their sons and daughters to the Catholic Church so that they would be put in foster care.
Look how cute I grew in.
BARTIROMO: Wow. You are really cute.
ALVAREZ: Look at all the hair I used to have.
BARTIROMO: How cute you are.
ALVAREZ: Then the present management killed me.
BARTIROMO: And growing up in Cuba. What was it like? Tell us what .
ALVAREZ: Well, look, you know, it was a simple life in the sense my father was a businessman. We had food on the table. We had roof over our heads. You know we had a good Catholic upbringing that's, you know, Cuban very Catholic.
KELLY: And then you reunited with him right?
ALVAREZ: Well, I was put in foster care when I got to this country for many years and ultimately my father happen .
BARTIROMO: As part of the Peter Pan program.
ALVAREZ: As part of the Peter Pan program and then my father ended up in labor camp for four years. And he had to do that, force labor camp and then we were reunited four or five years afterwards.
So, you know, and this is as, you know, this is a story of .
BARTIROMO: So he was put in the labor camp because -- because you .
ALVAREZ: Well he went into the labor camp because of -- his political ideology to certain degree, you know. That's, you know, in those years it was like North Korea. It was very harsh.
You made a mistake. You said the wrong thing, you get caught, you know, if we get caught with a pound of beef because somebody gave it to you and you couldn't explain it, automatically, you know, you went to jail.
And so it's a very harsh society back in the day. Nowadays things have changed but still the joke is that, you know, the biggest thing that the Cuban Revolution or the biggest failure of the Cuban Revolution is that there's in no breakfast, no lunch, no dinner. You know, that's basically what you're dealing.
KELLY: What do you think about how Raul Castro didn't even visit President Barack Obama when he landed? Is that a way for him to signal his strength over the Cuban people?
ALVAREZ: It amazes me. Two things about that, yesterday I wrote it (ph) when he was arriving. The whole trip was not really well informed for the Cuban people. You know, nobody, you know, it's not like they rallied after the, -- oh, hey, the president is going to be in this avenue, let's everybody to go out there and welcome, you know, welcome Mr. President". Even you had white flags, you know, saying, "OK, peace is here to stay." none of that.
And the fact that the President Cuban did not go to see the President in United States, come on. This tells you the whole story.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, what's that all about?
ALVAREZ: Well it tells you the whole story. You know, these people are living in a different planetary system and that's not going to change for a long, long time, so.
BARTIROMO: Dr. Manny, thank you for sharing your story.
ALVAREZ: You're welcome.
BARTIROMO: Really great to talk to you.
MCDOWELL: You're lucky to live in your urban.
ALVAREZ: Yeah, right.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Take a short break. When we comeback.
It is hatched on nation's capital welcoming a second baby bald eagle over the weekend. Bald eaglets still with temporary names and fan suggesting a school of alternatives. Well weigh in on those.
Plus Wisconsin fans might have been rejoicing after defeating the Xavier's last night. But why is actor Bill Murray expressionless.
Don't forget Wall Street we getting you live on the Fox Business Network. Airing Friday night to 8:00 p.m. Eastern then airing again on Saturday and Sunday morning. Is hosted by our very own Anthony Scaramucci, and Gary Kaminsky. Catch it right here on the Fox Business Network.
Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back, the top suspect in last year's terrorist attack in Paris claims he was planning to go launch new operations from Brussels.
Cheryl Casone with that story and the other headlines right now. Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK ANCHOR: Well, Maria, Belgium's foreign minister speaking to reporters yesterday, saying that police found a lot of heavy weapons in the first investigations and they had seen a new network of people around the suspect. Salah Abdeslam, this is him.
He was captured Friday in the police raid in Brussels. Abdeslam is the only surviving suspect to the November 13th attacks which killed 130 people.
Well, a second bald eagle hatching at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. Baby number two emerged yesterday. Two days after baby number one. Now, they are so cute.
The parent's nicknamed Mr. President and first lady have been nesting at the national Arboretum since October of 2014.
And this, why is Bill Murray so unhappy? This is him in the stands watching of Wisconsin-Xavier game, he's a little perturbed.
His son Luke is an assistant coach Xavier, Bill Murray went from happy to sad when Wisconsin edged Xavier seeded a second-seeded Xavier 66 to 63. So his sons team lost France and colleague by the way his two to three pointers in the close and second. The last of them as the buzzer sounded, Koenig also connected from well beyond the three-point line to tie it at 63 with 11.7 seconds remaining. Still, Bill Murray, unhappy about the win. Back to you Maria.
BARTIROMO: Well, I'm not so happy either.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just this bracket oh is it .
BARTIROMO: My bracket got busted, Friday. And that Mr. I told you so over there. Tell me what a horrible bracket I had on my first came out with it. And you said, what did you say - says Michigan State say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said Virginia over Michigan State.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, and I said you're on the wrong side of that trade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
BARTIROMO: Well, boohoo.
MCDOWELL: I augmented, what word did you use? You were pretty gentle about her original protected that you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah. I don't know what the agreements are there but not.
BARTIROMO: But not, oh, but not. But not.
MCDOWELL: Yeah, all of a sudden this post is stuffed on facebook about go who's. And I'm like who's the person cheering on the Virginia Cavaliers. And sitting here over here.
BARTIROMO: Big shot. You have .
MCDOWELL: Never been the show of Bill.
BARTIROMO: Do you have a bracket that time?
HEYE: I do. Mike Tasha (ph) give away that I'm a North Carolina targio but I actually pick Villain over to be Virginia in the finals. And picking the North Carolina Virginia game, after having been at the North Caroline Virginia game in washing in a couple of weeks ago, it's a very tough personal decision that I don't want to talk about publicly.
BARTIROMO: OK.
MCDOWELL: If you drive from Chapel Hill to Charlotte, Dough you drive right to my hometown in Virginia. There you go.
HEYE: Nice.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Cheryl, for bringing that to us by the way.
Apple enthusiast to eagerly awaiting the company's in that this afternoon.
Multiple reports today say that Apple with unveil a smaller phone and a revamped watch.
Fox News is Clayton Morris is at Apple headquarters in Cupertino California this morning.
Clayton, good morning to you.
CLAYTON MORRIS, FBN NEWS: Good morning, guys. Yeah, Maria, you know, I know you're a fan of the larger giant iPhone 6s plus which is like the size of your head.
Well Apple for the past few years is made the play to go bigger with bigger phones and they've seen record-breaking iPhone sales over the past year. But today at town hall which is really one of Apple's smaller venues. Apple is making a play for the small and rolling out probably their brand new iPhone SC which will be the smaller 4-inch phones.
So for people who like to take their phones jogging with them, and not have to fly and hit the wall and smash as they're running? We will be rejoicing if they get that smaller phone.
We're also expecting Apple to make smaller iPad Pro today. So in the fall of course we saw the giant 12 inch iPad Pro come out and a lot of people claim, yeah, that's really maybe a niche product because it's so large, well, really their sweet spot maybe the 10 inch iPad Pro that we'll see today. And it may actually have that Apple pencil support too.
So a lot of big plays. Apple doesn't manage to keep thing under wraps when you got that supply chain in China, but software, Maria, could be the thing that we don't know about today because they're able to keep it behind these walls here and they keep it hush, hush.
So we'll see some big software updates today as well. I'm expecting, Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: Well, Clayton, we were all just talking about the charge and that it doesn't charge well, the larger one, the one that you have and I have as well.
Are you expecting any changes in terms of the plug, the new charging mechanisms?
MORRIS: No, they're going to keep this. When they made the play for the new lightning connector, that is a new play, they got rid of the larger 30- pin connector the way they had for 10 years.
You're going to see this one around for a very long time. But, I know you're the big fan of the bigger one, do you think you'll go small?
BARTIROMO: No, I'm not going to go small. I like the bigger one.
Clayton, we'll be watching you all day. Great that you're there outside the event. Have a great day, my friend.
MORRIS: Thanks, guys.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: Clayton Morris. Coming up next, call it a spring awakening for stocks, markets are raising annual losses as recession fears are beginning to go fade. But is there another storm in the making that could put a winter chill on markets?
We'll break it down. Take a look at what's happening this morning.
Then Barron's making a big bet on FedEx, calling to the stocks to surge their whapping 20 percent from here. Details on that and the other morning's movers, next.
And then before we take a break. Divisionary spring but winter having the last laugh, that's for sure. Look at the dusting of snow hitting the northeast. Winter weather advisories, in effect to New York City, all the way up to Main and in Boston, schools are not taking any chances. Many districts are closed today.
Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back, we're expecting a higher opening or the broader averages today. Let's take a look at some stocks on the move this morning.
Valspar share is jumping. The company is being acquired by rival Sherwin Williams. And in all cash deal, valid at $9.3 billion, take a look at Valspar up sharply in the pre-market.
Barron's going bold on FedEx saying the stock could rise another 15 percent to 20 percent just in the next year after FedEx soared 12 percent last week and beat analyst expectations with its earnings by 7 percent.
Alibaba saying transaction volume on its site hit 3 trillion Yuan. That is $464 billion with more than one week left in its fiscal year. The rate of growth, however, is slowing. Many people look at that, most importantly.
These Rocket movers coming as the S&P 500 during the Dow Industrials Friday and turning positive for the year.
Joining us right now is J.P. Morgan's Private Bank Global Head of Equity Strategy, Steven Rees.
Steven, good to see you.
STEVEN REES, J.P. MORGAN'S PRIVATE BANK GLOBAL HEAD OF EQUITY STRATEGY: Great to see you.
BARTIROMO: So will in, we have seen the change in this market certainly from the dooms day days of earlier in the year. We had the worst beginning any year with the stock market. What's too high .
REES: It's pretty incredible. We had a major shift in sentiment, I think oil are rallying back is really help, you know, give people get bit more comfortable. Obviously the Fed last week providing a slightly more Dueber (ph) statement.
The markets actually slightly above our year and target and we're not raising that at this point. We think the first-quarter earning season is going to be tough but there still are things for clients to do.
We actually recommend reducing some of your broad marker exposure in favor of sectors at the log places that consumer discretionary and even healthcare to us looks pretty attractive.
Considering adding for short-term protection, looking at dividend strategies, which I think make sense in this environment as well as looking beyond the U.S. and Europe and Japan which about three lag.
BARTIROMO: I want to ask you about first-quarter earnings. Because I know Kevin, you has got on this too, but in terms of commodities, iron are surging again this morning in Singapore above critical levels, oil back close to $40 a barrel. You see that's part of the sentiment change but how important is that and would you buy into the rally?
REES: We're not chasing the oil rally. We actually think it set for a pullback. In the short term a lot of what we seen is technical short carrying in the oil markets. But it has lifted a big cloud over the energy sectors and people feel like the worse is behind us. We're a bit more cautious than that.
KELLY: Yeah, I think one of the things that people need to take away from this market that is if they don't think it's richly valued, it's at least fairly valued. And so that's the general consensus, so you're talking about reducing broad market exposure. But also at the same time we need to look at what's driven this market, right?
We've seen the dollar get weaker. And that's even in the face of diverging policies from central banks around the globe. Or we should actually be getting stronger.
So what are those dividend names that you're talking about that people should get into?
REES: Well I think we're not chasing places like the Telecom utility sector which are up, you know, 13 percent to 14 percent in day. But there are a lot of great dividend stories in places like health care, consumer discretionary, financials, even technology that offer 3 percent plus dividend yields and if we are talking about a Fed that potentially is moving slower than originally thought, we are at our target. If you can collect 3 percent to 4 percent yield for a good growth story, I think that's a smart strategy in today's environment.
KELLY: Do we want to avoid the earning cycle that's coming up in four weeks. I mean, for people the position or portfolios now after this big run-up, do you want to get ahead of next earning seasons, looking to come down 7 percent.
BARTIROMO: We're 10 days away from the end of the core and then we'll get the earnings in the first two weeks of April.
REES: Part of the reason why we're not changing the target. I think the first-quarter earning season will be difficult. The good news is consensus is already there calling 47 percent declining year over year.
I do think there's a case as it moves towards the back half of the better earnings picture as to start to the easier comparisons from a U.S dollar perspective and also oil. And if oil has seen the bottom and we're in the range of 30 to 40 -- to 45, potentially, you're going to start to see better or less negative earnings trends in the energy seconds and a half.
MCDOWELL: It's a better earnings picture offset by the uncertainty of what will be regardless of who the nominees are and intense political race?
REES: Yeah, I mean, you've got the U.S. elections, you've got the Fed which is likely to move in June. I mean, there's enough things out there that still were in caution which again, you look at the market multiple today, 16 and a half times earnings, where's the upside? The upside has to come from earnings and we just don't see it that now until we move for that half the year.
BARTIROMO: And there's a back drop here Doug Heye and that's the story of the economy. And that's been the story that's been playing into Donald Trump and sort of the anti-establishments.
HEYE: Yeah, absolutely, we see the economic anxiety throughout the country. And whenever we hear good economic news, we also get bad economic news coming with it. So, whether unemployment rate falls, we may see obviously the underemployment rate stays steady or improve a little bit but not much the people are feeling it.
There is anxiety throughout the sector. We'll see durable goods go down, when we get another good set of economic news. GDP obviously is not where we need it to be.
BARTIROMO: GDP out this Friday and we get durable goods out I think on Wednesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
REES: Yeah, the actual economic data on U.S. we think is pretty good. We made a big call or then a year that we weren't going to see recession. We were buying to pullback that was the right call. And from here we're expecting steady growth around 2 percent GDP and continuation of solid data.
KELLY: I think investors need to take -- also take away that, in the past when we were growing up 4 percent GDP, the market was trading at 15 times earnings.
Right now 16 and a half and 17 times earnings with GDP growing at 1 percent. You have to be extremely cautious. They are talking about those dividend names in the tech sector. Microsoft is one that is trading at a reasonable price with a high dividend
BARTIROMO: Yeah, all right. Well keep watching that. Steven, great to see you.
REES: Great to see you Maria.
BARTIROMO: Thanks so much, Steven Rees, J.P. Morgan.
Next hour while the president tours the communist state of Cuba, it has been disclosed a number of U.S. marines will be dispatched to Iraq in the wake of the recent ISIS attacks.
Fox News Military Analyst General Bob Scales will weigh in on that next. Back in a minute
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Good Monday morning everybody. Welcome back on Maria Bartiromo. It is Monday March 21st, your top stories right now, 7:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
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