Stock Disconnect, Word Jumble, $200K Ride: Talking Squawk
By: Talking Squawk: Blogging tidbits, insights, and some sarcasm on the WEEK THAT WAS and the WEEK TO COME from the notepad of the senior executive producer of "Squawk Box."
Joe, Becky, and Andrew all hit on this week's theme: The U.S. stock market-disconnect continues to confound. Most of the major equity indexes have maintained their upward trend lines, lingering at or near all-time highs, while the economy continues to stall/sputter/lag/under-perform/idle (or insert your own description) and red flags continue to pop-up all over Europe.
Speaking of Europe, has the Cyprus story run its course? The Cypriots are flocking to their now-open banks and marching in the streets, (which sounds promising as a TV news event), but as a market event it's anybody's guess. The more I think about it, I'm not sure if there are physically enough people on the island of Cyprus to create a quality "TV network worthy" protest. Maybe the Greeks can organize a sympathy demonstration in Athens to satisfy our need for some good old-fashioned tear gas canisters, police in riot gear, and the firebombing of a few municipal garbage cans? I can guarantee you one thing that business TV newsrooms will hedge their bets and surely start looking up euro zone GDP stats, flag colors, and capital cities in search of the next domino. Can anybody locate Slovenia on a map?
Tweets of Note
@MCaruso_Cabrera: Armed delivery of money to a bank in #Cyprus. We've seen many of these today [Thursday] as they prepare to reopen the banks.
@alexcrippen: Warren #Buffett isn't a big fan of Wall Street, but he does love Goldman Sachs http://cnb.cx/10bftu8 #BuffettWatch
@beckyquickcnbc: Yale's Sonnenfeld on splitting Chair & CEO: "I feel like the proverbial mosquito in a nudist colony. I hardly know where to strike first."
Guest Moments Worth Another Look
David Darst of Morgan Stanley guest hosted on Tuesday. Have you ever wondered what a real "Squawk Box" looks like?
(Watch Video: Darst Gives Us a Squawk Box—at around 1:52 in this clip)
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos seems to never age and always comes to work with a smile on his face, despite a potential new competitive threat from Wal-Mart.
(Watch Video: 'Laughing' Jeff Bezos)
Word Jumble
It's one of "Squawk Box's" oldest traditions. After the show, Joe and Becky compete every day to see who can be the first to solve the "Word Jumble" puzzle in the newspaper. (Living on the edge! The glamorous life of business TV news anchors!)
If you interrupt them during this daily ritual you risk having a phone thrown at you. It gets very intense. They literally have kept a running score of who wins each day that goes back to 2007 (click photo). Yes, they both need some new hobbies. It was a short week. So far, the weekly tally: Joe 1, Becky 2. Here's Becky after her big win on Tuesday (click photo).
Mark Your Calendar (or Set Your DVR):
Monday: Q2 Begins!
Tuesday: Scott Minerd, Guggenheim Partners CEO (Guest Host) 7-9 a.m. ET
Wednesday: Christie Hefner, Playboy CEO (Guest Host) 7-8 a.m. ET
Thursday: Daniel Akerson, GM CEO (Guest Host) 7-8 a.m. ET
Friday: Templeton's Mark Mobius 6:10 a.m. ET
'Squawkward Moments'
Becky in regard to all the potential bids for Dell: "Stop dickering around."
Joe "Can you say that on cable?" And yes, we looked it up! Dickering (verb): Engage in petty argument or bargaining.
Speaking of Dell...
Carl Icahn loves to read his name in the paper or on the cover of Forbes. I'm not sure if he has any real interest in Dell or not, but he surely has managed to get a lot of airtime this week. Maybe next week we can set-up a phone call segment and get Icahn and Michael Dell to call in and slug-it out on air like the fight he had with hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on "Fast Money" a while back.
(Read More: Billionaire Smackdown: Ackman, Icahn Spew Insults)
