it is 5:00 a.m. here at cnbc global headquarters and here is your "five@5." we start with closing in on s&p 5,000. wall street bracing for a fresh milestone as the rally is broadening morning big tech. a kitchen sink quarter for disney after announcement of the big tech. and china, a bleaker picture as consumer prices fall off a cliff. we are live in beijing with the report. the red sea risk is real as one global shipping giant is

suspending buybacks. later, how community bank is trying to keep the reckoning at bay. it's thursday, february 8th, 2024. you're watching "worldwide exchange" right here on cnbc. good morning and welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm frank holland. let's get you ready to start the day with the check of the u.s. stock futures with the s&p 500 less than five points way from breaking through the 5,000 mark for the first time ever and coming off another record close. take a look. you see s&p 500 futures are down slightly, but still we look like we're on track to break that 5,000 mark at the open. speaking of the open, 76 s&p 500 stocks and six dow are trading at fresh 52-week highs. the walmart is hitting the all-time high going back to the first trade in 1972.

that is american express up there as well going back to the ipo in 1977. merck going back to 1978. for a broadening varally, tech in record-breaking territory. we will dig into one sector coming up and checking on the stocks driving it higher. disney has a blowout quarter with the partnership announcements. the stock is popping this morning. we will have more on that and what it means for the investor battle with nelson peltz. shares up 6%. that is the u.s. setup. let's see if this is making yts wa its way across the bond with joumanna bercetche. >> the answer in short is yes, frank. take a look at how shanghai has fared in the final session

before lunar new year. up 1.3%. a lot of the national support has come through. by the end of the week, despite the weaker inflation data, that is positive. compared to hong kong, that is down 1.3% on the pull back of alibaba after posting disappointing results. finally, the nikkei is up 2% today in trading. very strong performance and a reflection of softbank being the key stock in the nikkei up 10% which is after posting strong results for the quarter. in europe, this is the picture. a day of positivity. ftse 100 is .30% higher. one stock we are watching is unilever by posted better than expected results with expansion in volumes. the stock is up 1.3%. dax in germany is shy of 17,000.

up .20%. siemens is in focus. we see positive uptick within the index today. siemens energy is under pe performing. we had credit agricole down 1.6%. luxury is also in focus. we had a lot of earnings coming through in the stoxx 600 today. one other stock which i know wityou will talk about is maersk. it is down 13% in trading today. >> joumanna, thank you very much. once again, the futures are on track to hit s&p 5,000 for the first time. we are looking at the gainers right now in the pre-market. disney is one of them. you see disney up 6.5% right

now. that is the big one we're talking about. we might as well stick with disney. shares are higher as we showed you on the earnings beat and raise to the guidance. it is on pace to meet or exceed the target by the end of the year and investing more in content announcing exclusive rights to the eras tour on disney plus and a $1.5 billion stake in epic games. disney entering the "fortnite" world. y bob iger heiighlighting the younger customer base. >> i think this is not only timely, but an important step when you look at the demographic trends and gen alpha. it is dramatic in the amount of time spent gaming. >> let's talk more about the

quarter with john hudluk at ubs. john, great to you have here. >> thank you, frank. >> before the report, you had a price target of 110 and the rating was a buy. you talk about the announcements for a second. cost cutting ahead of schedule. disney entering the "fortnite" world with epic games and taylor swift movie. did that change your rating or price target? >> it did change your price target from 120 to 110. we moved up the numbers. we were at 427 for earnings. we are in the 460 range. the story here is easy to see. the content is giving us more confidence it will grow. >> i want to get to the announcements for the investor battle and future for disney. s stock is up 6%. there was a revenue miss.

if you look at the price increases, it led to the decline in subscriber count. should investors be concerned about it or give fuel to nelson peltz and the investor fight? >> this a massive company. a lot of information was released yesterday. i would say the subscriber decline was expected. the revenue miss you talked about was in entertainment business and lineal and entertainment and advertising which was worse than expected. on the sports side, it was better than expected. a lot of moving parts. as a whole, investors and activists should be happy. >> bob iger on cnbc with julia boorstin yesterday showing a clear focus on gen z and gen alpha. for you, how does it view your future of disney? the stock has under performed

since bob iger took over. is this an inflection point? >> i think there has. you really see it in the earnings numbers. for the last couple years, the earnings estimates has been coming down. we think they bottomed and they are starting to move up again. part is the cost, but also real growth. i think sports can inflict here with the espn flagship app. the question is the brands and content brands. bob has only been there over a year and rejuvenating the brands and getting "star wars" and marvel and pixar back to where they were. over the course of 2024 and 2025 is when we see that. >> epic games bringing in disney into the "fortnite" world. john, thank you. >> thank you, frank. turning attention to the capital.

the commerce department announcing the a.i. consortium focused on safety. it includes 200-member companies and organizations on the frontlines of using the most advanced a.i. systems and hardware. that includes apple, amazon and openai. time for the corporate stories with bertha coombs. >> good morning, frank. shares of new york community bank continuing their wild week of trading after closing up more than 6% yesterday following the bloomberg news report which said the bank cites credit cut to junk by moody's a day earlier has been reaching out to investors for capital to finance the massive portfolio of residential and vehicle loans. a federal judge is dismissing a lawsuit accusing

apple of overpaying executives by tens of millions of dollars by miscalculating stock awards. in ha ruling, the judge found n moves that the board of directors used that pay for play. mattel is buying back $1 billion in shares and vowing to revitalize the fisher-price american girl brand. they have faced increased pressure from activists to sell the struggle thiing brands. american girl will no longer operate in a segment on its over. mattel says it is a brand value asset in the portfolio with the significant fan base.

frank, i know there is an american girl place near 30 rock. you see little girls going in and getting their doll's hair done. >> it sounds you have been their shopping. you sound excited about that. >> i haven't. i have been by. it is amazing to see it. i would have loved doing that as a kid. taking my doll in for a beauty appointment and high tea. >> bertha coombs, thank you. coming up on "worldwide exchange," we have more to come including the s&p 500 barrels toward 5,000. the drivers that could push it past that mark today. the new hope for disney investors after the kitchen sink quarter and what impact it will have on the proxy war with nelson peltz. striking back. a check on softbank and historic quarterly comeback on the heels of the impressive beat from one of the top holdings. we are talking arm. later, the return of

deflation. we head to beijing with the first hs firsthand look and the measures that president xi has in his back pocket to try to turn things around. we have a very busy hour when "worldwide exchange" returns. stay with us. meets bold new thinking. (laughter) at 88 years old, we still see the world with the wonder of new eyes, helping you discover untapped possibilities and relentlessly working with you to make them real. old school grit. new world ideas. morgan stanley.

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as they say, rising tide lifts all boats, the world index with stocks from two dozen developed markets logging the first record close in two years. it is a world index, but it is heavily weighted to the u.s. at 70% at the end of january. japan is over 6%. the largest holdings in the index with six of the magnificent seven in the top ten of the holdings. let's talk about this now with the chief investment officer at northstar. great to have you here. >> good morning, frank. >> obviously the rally is continuing on wall street. s&p closing in on 5,000. what does that mean to you and also some of the broadening we are seeing? how important is that for investors? >> frank, it is interesting to continue to see the market power ahead. we continue to focus on the long-term philosophy which is we

want to ask clients to think about what their investment horizon need is and establish a strategic asset allocation. within that asset allocation, there is a role for equities. long-term growth and capital appreciation and place for fixed income as well. >> speaking of fixed income, you gave us the playbook for 2024, but with stocks and s&p powering to 5,000, why do you want to be in the bond market when the equity market is showing strength? >> because we don't know what the future looks like. being diversified has been the best playbook that has worked over and over look at treasuri are looking at the five-year maturity. that is where we pick up good yields and preserving the

flexibility. that's where we are on that. the credit risk is why we are in the equities for that. as you said, frank, you are right with the years with equities returns to 25%. if you look back to 2022, it was tough for equities and bonds. being diversified is the best way for long-term meeting financial objectives. >> you are looking for high free cash flow stocks and stock was low debt. you gave us two examples. one criteria is a company that helps human kind. we will show the audience. i want to ask you about the high valuation stocks. a lot of people talk about the market being stretched. when you look at the stocks, you are focused on the benefits to humanity. are you worried about valuation? >> when we are looking at

stocks, we are taking a long-term view. our investment horizon is five to ten years. that is the free cash flow which is the metric for valuation for stocks. we are looking at five or ten years and discounted cash flows. some stocks are free cash flow conditions. they make sense owning them. we are not blind to valuation. we will the take our opportunities in the market as the market see-saws and we will take opportunities to trim and add to positions as wrararrante. we are looking for stocks that are essential with companies providing products and solutions that are solving the problems society is facing. a lot of them are ecological and those are the stocks you will talk about right now. >> badger meter. nimrit, thank you. >> thank you. coming up on "worldwide

exchange," your big money movers in the pre-market and beat for public chip maker arm. shares are surging this morning. as we close in on the sap s&p 5,000 and if there is more room to run. a look at stocks that could see a super bowl boost. stay with us. ♪♪ whoo! ♪♪ light work! ♪♪ next victims. ♪♪ you ready for this? ♪pump up the jam pump it up♪

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exchange." let's look at big money movers. shares of arm with the strong profit forecast. customers shipping nearly 8 billion chips in the quarter thanks to strong a.i. demand. the recovery in the auto and cloud providers boosting sales. don't miss the first on cnbc interview with the ceo of arm at 10:00 a.m. and paypal is issuing disappointing guidance with the revenue growth of 9%. the company is seeing an account slowdown as competition from apple pay and others is weighing on activity. and oscar health exceeds expectations and is focused on long-term expansion is paying off. shares are up over 223%. the s&p march to 5,000 is powered by the magnificent seven

and healthcare is the top performer this week. check out the gains in the big pharma names. eli lilly up 25%. merck is up 15%. let's talk more with mark goldstein at mizuho. mark, good morning. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> great to have you here. right now, we're seeing healthcare hitting a new high. it was a laggard last year. why is healthcare getting so much investor interest and moving higher? >> i think you have a couple of combination of factors. some are specific to the overall macro environment. first of all, the idea of lower interest rates are better or certainly healthcare. you have that. i think you add in a little more clarity on what the political environment might be like over the next few years.

that is always important to health care stocks. you combine with a sector that was beaten down and over sold and beaten down and that means the stocks are up well. >> obviously, the sector is performing well. we mentioned hitting a high. your top pick in the space is merck. what is it about merck that makes it the top pick? >> we have a particularly unique focus within the coverage. we focus heavily on oncology. it is not its only sector. what we like about merck is the pipeline has critical mass that investors are seeing and valuing. that critical mass on the pipeline and flow of new products over the next decade will sustain the company as the largest product with keytruda

begins to lose exclusivity in the decade. that is a overhang for the stock. keytruda is a significant component of merck's revenue and how it sustains itself once that drug loses exclusivity is an important focus for investors. the combination of the pipeline and collaboration and acquisition has changed the nature of how investors view that. >> isn't that an overhang for the healthcare sector? a lot of drugs will lose that exclusiv exclusivity. how do you see that impacting the sector going forward for the year? >> sure. exclusivity is always a feature in the healthcare universe. wh what is important is understanding the alternatives and what can sustain the companies going forward.

what can help us at the time is the development of really big, new, classes of drugs that are very consumer friendly. obesity is one and cardiovascular space. these are big consumer-oriented drugs that really change the dynamics of not just the markets these companies are in, but also how investors and in particular not just specialist, but general stocks. >> mara gold scgoldstein, thank. >> thank you. we turn to the big game with the sky high room rates gives places a lift, but others have exposure to the game. our contessa brewer is in vegas. >> reporter: allegiant is host to the biggest sports competition. nike, official apparel for the

nfl. travis kelce lands in vegas dressed in nike. that's a lot of swoosh. apple is sponsoring the halftime show with usher. fans want a surprise taylor swift appearance. and paramount will broadcast the game and adding drones and the doink camera. madison square garden owns the sphere. disreplaying special content in response to the action on the field. peloton is giving each player and coach bikes and shoes. and toyota is advertising in the game and it named brock purdyits new pitch man.

genius sports is responsible for feeding stats to sports books. verizon is the wireless provider in vegas on the strip and the stadium. finally, what about snapchat and meta? with the fans at the stadium with the access to the 5g netn net network, you know what happens in vegas, frank. >> thanks, contessa. we get set for two days of coverage in vegas, including the conversations with fandual and others coming up today. kedo t shares of maersk get tan wno size. we are coming right back on "worldwide exchange."

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it is 5:30 a.m. in the new york city area. there is more ahead on "worldwide exchange." looking to break through the 5,000 mark for the s&p 500. futures suggesting it may be a fight today. bob iger hitting back against nelson peltz as companies are looking for strategic changes. consumer prices in china are facing the steepest drop in 15 years. it is fuelling deflation worries

around the world. it is thursday, february 8th, 2024. you are watching "worldwide exchange" here on cnbc. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm frank holland. let's start the half hour check of the u.s. stock futures with the s&p 500 less than five points away from breaking through the 5,000 mark for the first time ever. it is coming off another record close. look right now at the s&p which is flat. same for the dow and nasdaq. we will watch the futures all morning long. 76 s&p stocks trading at 52-week highs or all-time highs. walmart hitting the high going all an the way back to the first

trade since 1972. american express going back to the ipo in 1977. also merck at the record high going back to 1978. for more signs of the broader rally, we look at the pictures with tech and industrial and healthcare trading in record territory. it is more than big tech and the magnificent seven pourwering th market. one stock is disney which is trading higher on up beat guidance. disney out with announcements with the espn streaming service and $1.5 billion stake in epic games. this comes as disney faces ongoing pressure from nelson peltz and blackwealth capital. peltz saying the company has not performed for shareholders. iger responding to the comments on cnbc yesterday.

>> i have not spoken to mr. peltz in a while. i have no plans to speak to him. i'll leave it at that. >> the last thing we need right now is to be distracted in terms of our time and energy by an activist or activists that, frankly, have a different agenda and don't understand our company and its assets and the essence of the disney brand. >> peltz's management is responding to the cnbc interview. we saw this last year and it is deja vu all over again. we have the latest on the discussion with ken. >> good morning, frank. >> does this change the activist campaign and do you still believe the campaign is good for shareholders?

>> first, the clip you showed, bob iger calling peltz a distraction and saying he doesn't understand disney is disingenuous. they do not look at proxy fights as distractions. you can disagree all you want with peltz's plan for disney, but saying he doesn't understand it is disingenuous. it hurts bob iger's credibility. >> you still think this is good? >> this is about long-term accountability. the best thing for disney is for nelson peltz to get on the board. not because he has the answers, he doesn't, or because he has a track record, but because he brings a fresh perspective to the board that needs it. when you have a company with an

iconic ceo, it is good to have directors to debate, not defer. >> they added james gorman. he led a succession plan at morgan stanley. he may not be the right person to led this campaign. let's look at others. norfolk southern. i spoken to someone familiar with this. the big thing is efficiency. they believe norfolk southern is not efficient enough and not chasing the right business. what do you think about that campaign? >> it is an under performing railroad and you will have an activist at your door. activists have been successful at these companies instituting scheduled railroading which is essentially a way to keep costs down and get the operating ratio down to the low 60s versus the high 60s where norfolk is right

now. they want to see a new ceo to institute psr. they will be successful i believe. >> you gave us a stat that was remarkable. according to your data, 96% of activist campaigns were successful last year. what does that mean about the climate right now and give us a sense of the global picture in 2026. will we continue to see the surge of activist ss? >> 96% sold or had success. we have never seen results like this before. as far as 2024 goes, as everybody knows, the market is really rewarding growth over profitability. now that script is flipping and the market is looking for profits. there are a lot of companies with ceos that know how to grow revenue, but have to learn new

skill sets. that is where activists have a field day in value-oriented models and looking for companies and management teams to get to profitability. >> ken squire, thank you. turning to the market flashes for you. maersk shares are slumping after the high uncertainty in the 2024 earnings outlook. the company suspending share buybacks over the uncertainty. the ceo spoke to our colleagues in europe this morning. >> we are heading for a period of oversupply and probably a lot of price pressure which is what we flagged already in our q3 report in november. of course, we have seen the situation unfold and continue to unfold in the red sea. the impact is causing unce

uncertainty for how this plays out. >> we are watching shares of unilever glorowing in the fourt quarter and volume hurricane warning fgrowing for the first time since 2021 p. coming up on "worldwide exchange," bullish calls in the morning's top stock stories with disney. first, we have the top trending stories. apartment hunting is not easier in manhattan. leases and rents rising for the first time in october. higher sticker prices doing little for the demand. the hidden side effect of the super bowl could come in hot this year. employers prais bracing for the flu on monday. 16 million employees are expected to call in sick with more than 14 million admitted to lying about being sick.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." time for the morning call sheet. the big story of the morning. disney and the team going to $120. going a pair of ratings on roblox. both firms citing bookings and margin momentum. morgan stanley upgrading ally financial. time for the global briefing. s s softbank posting the biggest gain in three years. s softbank posted a quarterly profit in 2022. and kering logging a profit

in 2023. the gucci parent company warning the investment strategy will weigh on the profits this year. turning to china, consumer prices falling at the fastest rate in 15 years. eunice yoon is here from beijing with more on the story. eunice, good morning. >> reporter: frank, cpi missed in january year on year and month on month. the main issue was a plunge in the price of pork which is a 17% drop. that is a chinese staple. the signs are that the pressures are broadening. travel has been a strong point in the recovery saw a rise by the slowest pace in a year and a half. this is despite the pre lunar new year rush. price wars to get consumers to

buy evs influenced prices for transport. that hit a record low of minus 5.6%. price wars hit producer prices because manufacturers were bidding for orders and slashing with the prices. ppi fell for the 16th straight month, but eased slightly at minus 2.5% year on year. the data has been sparking debate among analysts whether or not this weakness is temporary and maybe season al because of the lunar new year or evntrenchd with the poor consumer sentiment or lack of policy action. frank. >> eunice, deflation over in china. i want to ask because you live there. we see you reporting on cnbc. have you seen the impact of the lower prices? we talk about higher food prices

here in the u.s. what are you experiencing? >> reporter: definitely we see prices at the grocery store where you see more bargains on the table. a lot of discount stores popping up. that is something we see. a lot of people call it a consumer downgrade. what is interesting is what happens with the lunar new year. it starts tomorrow when everybody starts going home for family tradition. it is a gauge on consumer spending. it is primetime consumer spending and the first time we see people traveling without any restrictions from the pandemic. people are going to be closely watching the particular travel period, frank. >> eunice yoon live in beijing. great to see you. coming up on "worldwide exchange," the one word that every investor needs to knon kn today and the markets are not

sold on the enthusiasm and one may say the rally is onits last legs. if you miss "worldwide exchange" check us out on your favorite podcast apps. as we head to break, here is kai wright at ogleve global. >> i'm proud of black heritage because of the encouragement of the collective action of the dei pledge and organizations in people that are attempting to make change permanent. [♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's healing formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond.

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why can't they use my backyard!! with empower, we get all of our financial questions answered. so we don't have to worry. empower. what's next. welcome back. time for the "wex wrap-up." the commerce department announcing the a.i. consortium focused on safety. it includes 200-member companies creating and using a.i. systems and hardware. that includes apple and amazon and meta and nvidia. and shares of new york commerce bank are lowywer this morning. you can see shares down 4.5% this morning. mattel is buying back $1 billion of shares and vowing to revitalize fisher-price and

american girl doll brands. and news corp is warning that a.i. is stealing content. this despite the recent push toward a.i. due to the ability to reduce costs. arm shares are surging on the beat. the customer shipping 8 billion chips in the quarter. don't miss the ceo interview with arm at 10:00 a.m. and palpay sees an account slowdown as other competitors take an increase in the industry. we have earnings on tap from conoco phillips and affirm and take two interactive. we get fed speech from tom barkin. janet yellen is on capitol hill

giving testimony to the senate banking committee. and we have trump looking to take on colorado after they banned him from the ballot. and the s&p is fighting to take on the 5,000 mark. closing yesterday five points away from that milestone. the futures are slightly lower he. dow opening up 15 points lower. for more, let's bring in greg bran branch from veritas. you sent us your notes yesterday. you say you are still bearish. s&p is going toward 5,000. we have been talking about it all morning. healthcare at the new high. industrials at a high. why are you still bearish? >> chasing the tape is not

enough, frank. all of the things that kicked this rally off are reversing or pivoting. we had 150,000 jobs. now we have months with 300,000 jobs. that is too hot for the fed. it leads me to believe the fed will push this out or might be a possibility they will raise before they cut. >> greg, hold on. they may raise before they cut? where are you getting that? jay powell is clear they are moving toward cutting. >> jay powell was clear on a lot the things. he thought the economy was transitory. i think jay powell said for months before that posture pivot in december that a hike was still on the table. i still believe it to be there in terms of it being more likely than a cut in the first half. let's go back to the other data that kicked off the rally. core pci.

we celebrated a paradigm up to 2% annualized. we jumped back in the 30-point b bandwidth. we cannot call the fight with inflation over. go ahead. >> go ahead. >> you look incredulous. >> just for context, you are the most bearish people on wall street. you may be the only person calling for a possible hike before a cut. some people telling us and i talked to others who said we believe a 50-point basis cut. >> yes. those possibilities were 90% two months ago and now down to 15%. we are all trying to figure it out. i want to be clear about these words, frank, i think it is more likely we get a hike before we get a cut. >> contrary to say the least.

i want to talk about the big stock story this morning which is disney. what does that make you think about the legacy company taking a turn? we had a guest on earlier saying it is a reflection point. >> the cost of capital for companies is higher. consumers are starting to see signs of it stretched. that is one of the things i got wrong in 2023. the consumer balance sheet was stronger than i anticipated from the great wealth transfer and refinance. i applaud where companies in a ha harshening environment can put up numbers. >> you gave us a couple of names you like. two of them are high valuation names. palantir. >> i long said in the middle of my bearishness, you have secular

tailwinds with a.i. and cloud. people concentrate on the mega names for those. the tailwinds are more acute in the smaller companies. you look at service now and it grew 24% and gave us 500 bps. when you look at palantir. 70% growth on top of 30% growth last quarter. i think you will see the same tailwinds. >> greg branch is bearish. a quick look at the futures. s&p 500 closing in on a possible milestone of 5,000. s&p right now is flat. thanks going to do it for us. thanks for watching. oh no, a rash. maybe it'll go away. awww, how am i going to find a doctor i'll actually like? is that a qr code?

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good morning. futures are quiet right now. too quiet. following another record for the nasdaq and the s&p 500 which is flirting with a milestone. disney unpacks a bundle of news from earnings to epic to eras. will it be enough to keep investors from strorming the castle? and arm flexes for investors. the chip maker surges in the pre-market. it is thursday, february 8th, 2024. we get an extra day this month.

normal february. "squawk box" begins right now. good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. if you check things out this morning, look at the u.s. equities. not a lot of movement at this point. dow futures down 17. s&p futures down 5. as joe mentioned, we almost crossed the 5,000 mark for the s&p 500 yesterday. it did close at a record high. 4,995. we will keep an eye on this. we had the nasdaq 100 closing at a record high as well yesterday. it came after strong gains