tv Squawk Box CNBC April 4, 2024 6:00am-9:00am EDT
6:00 am
good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. everybody's here in the studio. >> good to see you. >> well rested. >> of course. >> happy. >> as joe mentioned, u.s. equity futures are higher. dow is up 130. nasdaq up 95. the s&p up 18. this comes after you were looking at the dow down for three days in a row. it was a mixed session for stocks yesterday. the dow was down 43 points. the third straight session of declines. the s&p was inching higher. up .10%. the nasdaq up .20%. treasury yields you did see higher yields across the board here.
6:01 am
the five and ten and 30 years all showing the highs. two-year yield at 4.68. the fed and inflation in focus. we spoke to steve cohen yesterday about his expectations about a rate cut. >> i think the market expects three cuts. i think that's the number. i don't disagree with that. i think inflation has been somewhat contained. i think ultimately it will come down to is that a true statement or not. the fed think it is will come down to 2% inflation rate. >> what do you think? >> i think that will be hard. >> that interview is available online right now. you can go to cnbc.com/pro. gr greenlight capital ceo david einhorn spoke about inflation. >> how many times will they cut
6:02 am
this year? >> i think fewer than they are priced in right now. >> fewer than three? >> sure. >> is there a chance they don't do anything? >> sure. >> as a defensive play against potential market downturn, david einhorn is loading up on gold. he also said that gold is a very large position for them and physical gold bars is the way to hedge the problem with the monetary and fiscal policies in america. you can watch that full exclusive interview on cnbc.com/pro right now. we will talk to a wharton school professional who is warning of a meltdown in 2025. i assume you would buy digital gold? >> i can't remember the year
6:03 am
einhorn -- >> i was looking that up right now. >> at least five. he loaded up and it didn't work. >> i was looking that up. >> if it was a while ago and he actually did -- it was more than five. he did a couple of mea culpas on this. i miscalculated this or that. disney was weird. it turned down after the news came out. that was the rumor. disney did defeat nelson peltz. the contested proxy battle. they voted the slate of nominees and rejected peltz's bid for two seats on the board. david faber has an exclusive
6:04 am
interview with bob iger at 9:00 a.m. we will talk to jessica about this. she thinks this is great. they thinks he will be bob iger unshackled. he has a full backing of everybody and he's now going from repairing disney and what happened after he left to a growth phase. video games -- >> tougher issue to go back to the slate. cost cutting was the easy part of the move. bob iger has the chops. he has done this before. >> we'll see. >> reason why the stock dropped or not moved higher is in nelson was there, there would be short-term moves. >> i don't know if that is great for long term. >> a long-term bet on bob iger and disney. you won't get a short-term pop.
6:05 am
that is to be expected. >> as much as we knew about it, we knew it would not work for nelson. it is weird when it was official. how many days have we been saying it? >> i think people play along with this very bizarre -- >> activist. >> -- bizarre narrative or charade. >> buyback? you raised the dividend. >> you are saying if nelson peltz was there? that is part of the problem. i don't think people knew it. anything that is quick may have hurt it long term. >> i don't know if that popped the stock. >> james gorman said it. a lot of what peltz was looking at is stuff they have already done. let's talk about apple. reportedly looking at developing home robots after abandoning the electric vehicle ambitions.
6:06 am
according to bloomberg, they are looking to build robots to follow you around the home and a tabletop device to use robot you cans for a display screen. if you are doing a facetime call and if you went like this with your head, the screen on the other end would do the same thing. move a little closer to the jetsons. >> i was more interested, by the way, of the new lom. if you believe the -- >> large language model? >> it could be better than chatgpt. >> they have promised that for the developers conference. >> if you believe that model is going to be as good. >> we need a robot following me around? what would it do? >> if it did the dishes, that
6:07 am
would be cool. >> i don't think it would do that. i have three dogs following me around. i'm not sure it can help me. file my nails or something? >> i'm not sure i can help you. >> what would your robot do for you? >> pick up clothes, do the laundry. >> i can think of perverted things. a "curb your enthusiasm" episode. if you're married, you've seen those things. >> what? you know what moves everything forward. you know what moves technology forward all the time. some sick use of these things. >> gambling does, too. >> vice moves technology forward. >> well -- apple has been delayed on technology and those issues. i'm not sure you will get the robot doing those things. >> if not them, someone.
6:08 am
we bet on drugs all the time. i read about it all the time. google is considering charging for premium features on the generative a.i. search en engine. they are looking for a variety of options including a.i. powered search features in the service. the google spokesperson says they don't have announcements root now and they continue to build services to enhance subscript subscrip subsc subsc subscription offerings. and in the meantime, paramount stake is in a deal to sell to sky dance media. the two sides have agreed on the framework for the deal sanand w have a 30-day window to work out
6:09 am
the details. that would stop all bidders. of course, the breakdown between her side and the company and whether you are taking the studio or what you are doing. >> i am trying to see when einhorn went long on gold. >> it was before that. >> 2022. >> it was between five or ten. >> 2013? could it be that long ago? >> yes. you know anything we talk about when someone died and you think it was a couple of years ago and it was 2004. >> 2013. in 2013, it said that his fund was down 11.8% because of gold. wow. he created an actual gold fund. he was long on it in 2022. >> it's been long since. you know, it's doing okay.
6:10 am
>> it's new highs. this is when gold was below $1,200 an ounce. fell below it in 2013. first time in three years. $1,000 above that now. >> it hit $2,000 years ago. a decade. >> it is $2,300. >> after it hit $2,000, it went below $2,000 for five -- i don't know. people are watching closely. people who were wrong about everything else. >> it is up 450%. that is better. i would have expected. when we come back, a flood of fed speak giving clues about the path for rate cuts. we will show you what jay powell said about the data next. later, don't miss the interview with iac chairman barry diller. he will join us at 8:30 a.m. eastern. weil wl talk about disney and much more. "squawk box" will be right back.
6:11 am
>> announcer: this cnbc program is sponsored by baird. visit bairddifference.com. - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these guys are intense. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? ♪ ♪ engineered to minimize noise. and built for adventure. which can also be your own quiet cabin in the woods.
6:12 am
the fully electric q8 e-tron. an electric vehicle that recharges you. how we get there matters. you know doug, ever since switching to workday you've been a real rock star. rock star? what do you know about rock stars? billy idol? i mean where's the skin-tight leather? my shoes are leather. where's the unnecessary zippers? that thing! billy, rock star is just how doug feels when he uses workday. thanks, rory. i'll show you rock star! be a finance and hr rock star. workday. for a changing world. billy idol just stole your golf cart!
6:13 am
when i was your age, we never had anything like this. for awhat? wifi?orld. wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. the basement. so i can finally throw that party... and invite shannon barnes. dream do come true. xfinity gives you reliable wifi with wall-to-wall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. maybe we'll even get married one day. i wonder what i will be doing? probably still living here with mom and dad. fast reliable speeds right where you need them. that's wall-to-wall wifi on the xfinity 10g network.
6:14 am
6:15 am
slow despite bumps along the way. fed governor kugler echoed powell's comments. she expects that lowering interest rates will be an appropriate this year. the question is three cuts? two cuts? will any materialize? joining us is the isi vice chairman who heads the central bank strategy team. krishna, looking at this, i see a lot of changing opinions in the last week. what are you thinking right now? >> i think june and three cuts this year is still the right base case. i think that's what we heard from powell yesterday at sta stanford. the fed is not getting freaked out by strength in growth and strength in payrolls. why? because they're buying into the story that the real key to
6:16 am
understanding the u.s. economy is that we're going through a positive supply surprise. labor supply is off the charts strong. mostly because of immigration. productivity is looking good, too. this means the speed limit for non-inflationary growth for non-inflationary payroll is higher than the market thinks. the assessment of inflation is january was probably a bump in the road. so, you have to check the inflation data for march and april. if that is broadly consistent with the idea that january was more noise than signal, we will go in june and you can expect three cuts as the baseline. still even a chance of four by the end of the year. >> why do you think after christopher waller spoke last
6:17 am
week and said multiple times throughout the speech they are okay with being patient. that was before the stronger pce number and stronger jobs outlook this week from adp and before the stronger ism. why would they necessarily rush to cut in june when they say they are data dependent and the data is leading them toward anything but that? >> i would certainly agree with you that because the economy is strong and because the labor market is strong and they don't have to cut rates if the inflation data disappoints again in march and april. i think they're making that quite clear. they're not forced to cut. they cut if the inflation data confirms the baseline hyp hypothesis. which is inflation is still continuing. the key point i'm trying to get across here though is don't worry too much about strong growth because growth can be
6:18 am
strong because demand is strong. growth can be strong because supply is strong. if supply and demand is strong together, no problem. that's fine for the fed. >> i keep getting back to the fed thinks this and the fed thinks that. christopher waller did not think that. raphael bostic doesn't think that. he thinks maybe one cut this year. why are you confident the cuts are starting in june? >> raphael bostic is an outlier. we know there are few fed officials who have taken that in the dot plot. bostic has his logic for that. that is not the governing logic in the fed. in terms of the right base case is they are cutting in june. it is not 90%. i put it two-thirds probability right now. based on my read of the data and my read of what they're saying, powell is saying as you stated, the strong growth jobs and
6:19 am
inflation print for january and february has not materially changed the picture. that was the key take away from the stanford speech. it is reasonable to say that as saying as of now june for three is still on track. doesn't mean it is a slam dunk. it's on track. when you look at the economic analysis behind that stanford set of remarks, powell kept coming back to the strength on the supply side. lots of workers available. increasing the potential output for the u.s. economy. it is because of the supply side analysis which is a theme of our work at evercore isi, that we are key in the economics of disinflation. when i listen to powell, it sounds like he is buying into that stthesis as well.
6:20 am
>> let me read you one more comment. this is from christopher waller's spt speech. the risk of waiting to cut is risking the rebound of inflation is something i thwawant to avoi. we hear that from roger ferguson who is very close to a lot of fed members and i know jay powell listens to. if you are wrong and there are not three rate cuts and they don't start in june, does that change your outlook for where you think the markets are headed? >> i think for sure if we started to worry about whether the fed is going to be cutting rates at all this year, than would be a big problem for the market. if it is a question of delaying from june to july and three to two, the market will have to
6:21 am
adjust. you are absolutely right in terms of chris waller. he expressed a preference. powell stated two sides of risk yesterday. he did not say one side is more important than the other. chris was certainly more hawkish in his remarks. you are absolutely right. however, he also said that he would need to see at least two better inflation prints in order to cut rates. he's actually not ruling out at all march and april are favorable. we can go in june. >> although, the latest numbers we saw were revised upwards for inflation. >> they revised up january, but february core pce was at the low end of market expectations between .25 and .30. january was better.
6:22 am
>> krishna, why is it a terrible thing if the fed doesn't cut rates because the economy is doing better than anticipated? >> i agree with you. this is fundamentally good news. if in the end the fed decides we will wait until july or september or cut two times rather than three times, the market should get over that. the bull market can continue 100%. the thing the fed has to think about is it is a 5.5% fed funds rate. the thing that can be sustained indefinitely without rolling the dice on the set of current economic conditions. there is uncertainty where the neutral rate setting is found. no one thinks neutral is 5.5%. it is prudent for them to trim that rate back down to 4.5% which is where you get three
6:23 am
cuts is pre-o prudent to do tha. that is the nominal data with prices and wages. it is not about growth and payroll. >> krishna, thank you. coming up, pepsi and carrefour have ended their feud in france. and walt disney and nelson peltz haveucssfu scelly ended their proxy battle. "squawk box" is coming right back. the award-winning trading platforms. bring your trades into focus on thinkorswim desktop with robust charting and analysis tools, including over 400 technical studies. tailor the platforms to your unique needs with nearly endless customization.
6:24 am
6:27 am
pepsi and carrefour ended their feud. they reached a deal to return pepsi products to the stores in france. negotiations in other countries are ongoing. carrfour will no long carry pr products because of prices. both sides say this is in the best interest of shoppers. carrefour's ceo held the bottle of pepsi on the twitter post.
6:28 am
co consumer ming up, we will t about the nelson peltz and bob iger proxy battle. we will talk to barry diller coming up at 8:00. as we head to break, here is a look at the s&p 500 winners and losers. >> announcer: executive edge is sponsored by at&t business. next level moments need the next level network. [due at target in 5!] copy that. make a hard left down the alley. network's got you covered. [please confirm requesting back-up.] -changing route. -go. roadblock ahead. ...back up, back up... reverse! reverse! next level moments, we're 30 seconds out. need the next level network. [north corridor, hurry!] -coming through! -or 3, let's go. the network more businesses choose. transplant received.
6:29 am
at&t business. are you keeping as much of your investment gains as possible? high taxes can erode returns quickly. at creative planning, your portfolio is managed in a tax-efficient manner. it's what you keep that really matters. book your free meeting today at creativeplanning.com. last week we had our special day of giving where 100% of sales were given to local charities. that really matters. so many of you came out with huge support. i am pleased to announce that together we raised over 25 million for local charities across america. thanks to all our team members who truly get the giving culture, and our heartfelt thanks go out to all of you that showed up for our day of giving. together we always make a difference.
6:31 am
6:32 am
jessica. you are raising your price target? >> we did. >> not based on this? >> no. it is based on operating performance. >> in your view, what happened will take the unshackled bob iger to do what he needs to do? >> it was an expensive and nasty battle. disney came out with guns blazing. they had tons of promotions and press releases and calls. they won by a substantial margin. they can get on with the issues that were facing them before and still facing them. >> they played nice with the governor of florida so they can focus on this. >> they need to move on. >> is it done? do you believe that? i think this is more ike than nelson. they are gone? do you think this is a cloud that will be over everybody
6:33 am
waiting to see where things are next year? >> well, bob iger, most people agree is a tremendous executive. incredibly successful with one major mishap in terms of his last successor. he is in command and in control. >> i'm not suggesting he is not. is there a birdie on the back of your shoulder saying we have to make this work? >> some of the issues are not immediate. there is a lot you can do about dtc. turning the film around is not overnight. you can some with warner bros. discovery and dc films. it takes time. tlc. they have strategic issues as well. >> you think the easy thing is direct to consumer and
6:34 am
streaming? >> obviously, it is a major challenge. i don't mean to belittle it at all. the strategy is clear. to be more efficient with costs. they overspent in content and marketing and technology. to have however many originals they need to keep people engaged and turning off the service. being more cost efficient. it is not easy to be better with content, but make content that is higher quality and more focused. >> i have seen a couple of articles in the last few days. here is who will take over for iger. that started immediately. we're back to that. >> it is a self-imposed issue over his head. if bob iger didn't say, and i know he is coming on later, and
6:35 am
said i'm leaving in 2026, none of us would talk about it. >> who would it be? >> i don't know. we'll see. there is a time to train the successor at that company. >> you don't have a view on a name? >> no, i'm not going to throw out names. there are several candidates who could be amazing. >> what about the sports prospects and the tie-up with multiple other players? fox and warner brbros.? what would work? it ticked off the nfl and other leagues in the process because they didn't know what was commentcoming even in negotiations. >> the sports is an unknown. it seems like the price will be $45 to $50. it will be an incomplete package. is it good enough? our concern is it will encourage people to leave the pay tv
6:36 am
bundle. if you are paying $200 now and paying $50 for sports, but if you are a cord or never a cord cutter and going not paying to $50, that is a big jump. having said that, it does seem like they're goal is whenever consumers are located. i don't know why you pay $50 for a bundle or $45 for espn flagship. >> the studios, i wouldn't know what to do. it is like in the past he would say pixar is working. then "star wars." you can't feed the beast forever. what do they need to get back to at disney? >> hopefully they get back to original titles. it could be very successful.
6:37 am
they are all based on existing characters or existing movies. it takes time. the originality was last year barbenheimer. universal has done incredible in film. wbd is coming up behind them. they had a amazing run with "dune 2" and "godzilla" and they have "the joker" coming out. disney said this is the release date and everybody ran away. now it is really competitive. now it is bob's focus. >> huge part of the success has been major acquisitions that bob was responsible for whether it be something with pixar or something with lucas or something with marvel. those led to amazing runs with a massive download of content. like a drug company going out and buying a small bio company.
6:38 am
that is what he has done for years. can he do another purchase? is that allowed? can you get it through? >> it would be allowed. that branded film strategy worked for a decade. as i said, if disney said this is the release date, everybody ran away because it was powerful. there's been a catch-up period. you know, bob iger spend the last year, since he came back, restructuring the company. he did an amazing job. morale is great and they are improving cost structure and now he has to focus on growth. that was the purpose of the note earlier this week. it focuses on growth. revenue is mid single digits. if the ad market comes back, make it can be higher. they really need to grow the bottom line. >> is a year and a half enough time for bob iger to create the ma magic? he is a long-term guy.
6:39 am
>> he is not successful connconnect t executives i have seen in my career. his legacy is proving himself in the next two-to-three years. >> is the media business recreate its magic in the next year and a half? >> it is a tough business. it makes you wonder sky dance and red bird taking over para paramount. you have to have a lot of energy and a vision to really want to get in and roll up your sleeves and compete. >> you are optimistic about dtc. i wouldn't know what to do. fewer players is how i start, i guess. >> look, i think from dc perspective, they he ave a ton work with. it was when disney took over marvel. >> are we talking about dc or dtc?
6:40 am
>> it does probably -- what does it look like? i don't understand in the golden age of content why no one is making any money. >> well, ultimately, in dtc, direct to consumer, there will be a handful of players. handful of players in the broadcast networks and cable network world. there should be a handful of players in dtc. the question is who will those players be? we'll see. >> i have replaced 1,000 cable channels and i cannot find anything. i have netflix and go through a million things. >> you can't find anything you want. you loop through every tile. i go from service to service to service and i go, there's nothing here i want to watch. how is that possible?
6:41 am
>> you need a tv guide. >> netflix is the new pay tv bu bundle. there's a ton of stuff there. >> not really. >> are you a believer it will? >> you can see them going down that path. >> right? >> they are dipping their toe in. >> they throw stuff up against the wall and expect you to think it is good. a lot of the documentaries are hodg hodgepodge. have you watched them? >> it depends. >> there are some they churn out and another ted bundy. thank you. >> thank you. >> praised by name. criticized by category. >> a great one. >> a great warren buffett line. >> "the gentlemen" is pretty good. >> i have not.
6:42 am
6:44 am
6:45 am
i don't see it as a bubble. i think the markets are discounting some of what they think a.i. will do for companies. >> you think it is discounting? >> disdiscounting? >> you think there is more upside? >> i do. i think this is a durable theme. >> that was steve cohen, owner of the mets and chairman and ceo of point72. if you think we're in an a.i. bubble akin to the dot-com bubble, steve says that is not the case. >> the mets did not lose yesterday. >> yeah. that's good. i'm a good luck charm.
6:46 am
>> it got rained out. >> the a.i. glow. there are certain companies which are fantastic. there will be the after burn. >> he said that part, too. winners and losers. to me, the idea he think there is is so much more room and that's when i said we're 96. i didn't want to say where we were in the parallel time. >> '96 against when it blew up. >> their fund and we could not talk names, because he was not going to talk names, with the way the fund is set up means there are dozens of managers with the views of things. if youlook under the hood, they own nvidia as a collective although everybody is making their own decisions. he doesn't have a take, necessarily, on the individual stocks. it is interesting because as a big holder of nvidia, if you think things are under valued,
6:47 am
that's a pretty bullish call. >> it is confusing when you took it correctly. i took it the other way. discounting means it is up because it knows how great things are going to be. the way he was using it, it wasn't getting enough credit for what it can become. >> exactly. >> that is weird. i had to think about that. the other thing i thought was weird is the mets owner. i had years where it was horrible. then it turns out is that apples to apples? >> we'll see. >> who knows? it's early. it is early. >> it's early. >> for the mets. >> october is a long way out. >> you can cut your losses early or trade players. it is harder to trade players the way you trade stocks. >> exactly. these are people. these are people with families. >> the contracts are bigger. >> exactly.
6:48 am
>> it makes it harder. coming up, we will talk to a wharton finance professor who is sounding the an larlarm for the potential for a 2025 meltdown. that is next when "squawk box" returns. (♪♪) business can happen virtually anywhere. (♪♪) but there's nothing like being there. at national, you can skip the counter... and choose any car in the aisle... even manage your rental right from the app. so you can give some quality time to a quality cause. swing by to see one more customer... [audience cheering] and really get down to business. go national. go like a pro. trading at schwab is now powered by ameritrade,
6:49 am
giving traders even more ways to sharpen their skills with tailored education. get an expanding library filled with new online videos, webcasts, articles, courses, and more - all crafted just for traders. and with guided learning paths stacked with content curated to fit your unique goals, you can spend less time searching and more time learning. trade brilliantly with schwab. encore energy, america's clean energy company, now in production in south texas. energizing america with reliable and affordable uranium for nuclear energy fuel from our environmentally friendly extraction process. encore energy.
6:51 am
6:52 am
the latest report. our next guest testified on the hill to talk about his scenario, unfortunately, that he believes could have the economy and if nothing is done to revert the course. joining us now is joao gomes from the wharton school. you think we have a real big problem ahead. i'm not disagreeing with you. lay out how bad the problem is and how quickly it becomes a problem. >> good morning, andrew. how quickly is hard to say. i think there is real urgency. i think people are not really appreciating that. i think real interest rates are high and they're going to have a momentous change relative to the last 15, 20 years. i think all the trends we see point toward higher rates. it is true, growth rates are higher. we'll see how long that lasts. that's the one thing that is a positive the last two or three years. some of that is demographic, immigration, so on. but real interest rates are significantly higher and i think
6:53 am
all the projections that you see, everything you see is very benign. it forgets that interest rates are high, it forgets that 2017 tax cuts are set to expire in 2025. it forgets that capital inflows are going to be reduced and are already significantly reduced. a lot more of the debt will have to be funded internally. these projections, basically, if you're wrong because you're too pessimistic, if you sort of doctor if productivity turns out to be better than you expect it doesn't change the trend. if it turns out to be a lot worse than you expect or a little worse than you expect, we go to 200% debt to gdp ratio in three years. what added urgency to me is i think we'll have a serious debate next year about the tax cuts and whether to extend them or not. and i think we just can't afford them, honestly. >> can't afford them? >> i don't think we can. joe might not like me to say this, but i just don't think we can afford them. >> you know what's going up,
6:54 am
professor? in a nonemergency -- in a nonpandemic, nonemergency situation, so spending is going up too. >> i agree. >> we're right where we were in terms of what we needed to spend during an emergency situation. and as always happens with the government, we're not going back down to prepandemic levels. we're staying where we are and going up. i understand what you're saying about the taxes. letting those things expire isn't going to solve anything. we need to address spending across the board. 100% agree with you. 100% agree with you. i would only say, i don't know if it is worth debating this here, a lot of that is -- some of those things have expired. just that some of these mandatory programs we have, they just continue to grow. overall spending is about the same level, but largely there has been a little bit of a composition change. i agree, that is -- >> can we talk about the potential for a crisis and the reason i mention a crisis,
6:55 am
timing. you say it is hard to predict a crisis and when that will happen. we'll talk about it. unfortunately our form of government for better or worse doesn't seem to operate unless there is a crisis and the, you know, the clock is about to hit midnight and something terrible is about to happen on the other side of it. >> yeah. >> well, i think, to me, an eye opening experience and i would be talking about these things forever, but i never thought it was as urgent as right now. i think an eye opening experience is what happened in the uk 2022. that's one episode. a government that is -- i think financially better position than we are now, just loses confidence of the bond market just like that, in the space of a few days. that is something that could definitely happen to us next year. we announce a fiscal path that is just markets just wake up to it. that could happen. >> we have been crying wolf. >> i know. >> we have been crying wolf and it hasn't happened. that's a very bad lesson to learn, and that's where mmt
6:56 am
comes from, and that's where we have got the reserve currency, we can do whatever we want, and now we spent a lot of money in the economy, the gdp is great, unemployment -- these are bad lessons to learn when they can come home to roost. very quickly. and you're right, the rug could get pulled right out from underneath the bond market probably. with this much supply. you're at wharton, you may know what you're talking about. >> a little bit. i know a little bit. thank you. >> thank you, both, for scaring us, maybe scaring us straight this morning. we appreciate it. >> i hope so. thank you. >> that's a good documentary. >> scared straight? >> yeah. remember that, they go to the prisons and -- that was a good one. look it up. good movie, yeah. >> when we come back, we'll get you ready for the trading day ahead. the stock futures this morning are pointing to gains right now. in fact, the dow is indicated up by almost 150 points. nasdaq up by about 100. s&p indicated up by 20.
6:57 am
and later, don't miss our exclusive interview with iac and expedia chairman barry diller. "squawk box" will be right back. last week we had our special day of giving where 100% of sales were given to local charities. so many of you came out with huge support. i am pleased to announce that together we raised over 25 million for local charities across america. thanks to all our team members who truly get the giving culture, and our heartfelt thanks go out to all of you that showed up for our day of giving. together we always make a difference.
6:58 am
the future is not just going to happen. you have to make it. and if you want a successful business, all it takes is an idea, and now becomes the future. a future where you grew a dream into a reality. it's waiting for you. mere minutes away. the future is nothing but power and it's all yours. the all new godaddy airo. get your business online in minutes with the power of ai.
7:00 am
stock futures are higher this morning, following a third straight day of losses for the dow. fears that the federal reserve may keep rates higher for longer weighing on stocks and pushing treasury yields higher. a number of fed members will be speaking ahead of tomorrow's jobs data. we'll break down what investors need to know. and disney shareholders voting for the current disney board, denying activist investor nelson peltz a chance for change at the company. now the real work begins for bob iger. so should investors buy the
7:01 am
stock? we will discuss that and much more as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we're live at the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm andrew ross sorkin with becky quick and joe kernen. green on the screen. dow up 21 points. treasury yields, the ten-year, look at the two-year, the ten-year at 4.353. and ten-year at -- we have been talking about risk on, risk off,
7:02 am
and inflation, so let's show you some crypto right now. bitcoin at $66,301. and then gold, which of course made a big move and seems to be doing that somewhat independently of bitcoin, so, something from that, i don't know what, though, 2$2,315. >> they're both at 2300 at one point. one went to 70,000, one went to 2330. >> sure. we can lay the grass on top of each other. >> for more on the markets, we want to bring in aziz shah at goldman sachs asset management. people look around at the markets now. and even though we have been at or near all time highs, there is some concern, and that concern plays out in the treasury markets. what do you think right now? how do things look? >> we think the market has run away. we like risk assets in general.
7:03 am
without question, there has been crowding and momentum going on within the market that is real cause for concern, particularly if the fed ends up staying higher for longer. >> what do you mean crowding and momentum? >> we have seen momentum stocks do better than they have for really seven, like, 15, 17 years, going back to periods of time that, really should concern us. and so, you know, that's the kind of environment where you ask the question of, like, what can i do to prevent myself from being exposed to drawdown, sell-off in the market that is sharp and violent. and, you know, a think a lot of investors are worried because the money has been really easy to make over the course of the last six months. you've seen the a.i. rally that has been fantastic and generated a lot of return. and it is -- a.i. is a fantastic long-term trend, but there is going to be crowding when
7:04 am
popular trades kind of get -- >> what is the answer to that question? what can you do? >> we think there are a couple of things going on and they're already starting to take place within the marketplace, which is investors are looking for diversification and other themes to play that are long term teams but represent value in the marketplace. within the u.s., we see a broadening of the themes that we're seeing particularly around industrials. so people are asking, if there is going to be this a.i. buildout, how do i play it through the industrial space? is it data centers? is it literally steel? or electricity to power the data centers? i think when you look more globally, what we're seeing is actually that, you know, you look to asia, places like japan, india, and you're seeing real long-term stories that are driven by structural trades within the market, where companies are improving their
7:05 am
governance and that's unlocking a lot of value. india could end up being a decade of growth that really kind of propels the economy and there is going to be all sorts of plays from consumer to infrastructure within that. you don't just have to bet on a.i. >> do you think some of those markets, like india or japan are a better place to invest than here in the united states? >> i think that they're equally good, like, we -- the u.s. is beachfront property without question, right? we have the density of talent and resources within this country to really drive forward this next generation of technology. but, you know, there is -- you look at u.s. stocks and they have gotten expensive, right, by most measures at the top line. now, within the market, you know, there is the normally priced stocks, but then there are stocks that are doing really well as a function of a.i. and that's where the risk return is changing. and i think when it comes to the
7:06 am
bond market, right, you -- again, you have real rates that are very high because of this growth. the fed has been hiking, you know, they're now looking at pivoting and that may end up resulting in an opportunity to, again, diversify, particularly if growth slows. >> i know you were sort of listening to our last guest. he had some concerns about the idea that buyers for u.s. treasuries could disappear or go on strike at some point if they don't like what they see in future budgetary lines and the direction we're headed on things. ray dalio was speaking just yesterday and saying that he's concerned, he thinks there is a 50/50 chance there is some sort of a civil war or civil break in the united states where the states can't get along and no longer agree to abide by federal laws that exist. those are some pretty dark doomsday type scenarios. do you worry about any of those things? >> i think it -- when you're a long-term thinker and long-term
7:07 am
investor, all you do is worry, right? but the question is what do you do about it? you're sitting in cash is a long-term losing game. and so i think the first thing you have to do is ask yourself, are there things of value here in the u.s. that regardless of where you sit are going to continue to be valuable and grow in value over time? and i think without question the u.s. has a lot of assets that pair with those liabilities, that debt, that are going to actually guide us through the next periods of time. but there have been times when the dollar has been weak and right now we're at a point where the dollar is strong, and so, it makes a lot of sense to look outside the u.s. for growth stories, for long-term growth stories where you can generate returns. but, you know, look, the rule of law in the u.s. is why the u.s. is actually so powerful. >> i think that's what dalio's point was, rules of law may not continue to exist if you see states ignoring federal mandates
7:08 am
that are there, federal mandates completely disregarding what states think about -- >> look, you go back to the history of the u.s., states in the federal government have fought for a long period of time, it is one of the fantastic things that our system of government is that our government actually competes. and that creates an environment where, you know, ideally investors and entrepreneurs can build businesses and, you know, in an environment where there is not 100% certainty, but you look back at the last 100 years of this country, when has there been actual full certainty? i think we're being a little bit spoiled. >> there never is, right. >> but it is a real reason to be concerned and to make sure you're voting and being vocal when it comes to policy. >> you say that if investors have been waiting for a signal to extend their duration in
7:09 am
treasuries or in -- in bonds overall, maybe it is too late? >> so, i want to take everyone back to october when we hit 5%, right? everyone at that point was talking about how there was going to be no demand for treasuries, and the u.s. government had to issue so much, and then we had, like, over 100 basis point rally in the ten-year note and the reason for that isbecause when you see that pivot, right, everyone is going to come out. and so, trying to, like, time it perfectly is going to be an impossible task because you see growth slow and the fed has a lot of room to cut here. but we don't know when that is going to happen. all the talking heads, you know, anyone that is, you know, at the fed, you know, they're dealing with uncertainty and so the reality is, if you're an investor, if you're trying to build a portfolio, you want to buy enough bonds that you're not going to be regretting not locking in that long-term yield. >> thank you for stopping by
7:10 am
again. >> thank you for having me. >> all right, good. before we go to break, so i said it's very old. i wouldn't call barry diller old. >> i thought you were talking about the movie. >> i was talking about the movie. i don't like when people call me old. but, for you two young whipper snappers, which don't know what scared straight is, because you guys are -- it was 1978, when i graduated from college. >> yeah. >> they took these kids that were at risk to prison and the lifers would know what they had done and they would yell and berate and just tell these kids get it together because you don't want to end up like -- i think we need to do it again, actually, but that was what i was referencing, for me, it was, like, i just saw it, it seems like, it was 1978. >> i don't -- barry is a contemporary. if i call him old, i have to call myself old, not what i was doing. coming up, a federal report
7:11 am
ripping microsoft for the second rate security in response to a chinese hack that allowed attackers to break in to email accounts of senior u.s. officials. more on what is being called a cascade of errors next. later, hybrid vehicles gaining y st traction and ev sales slip. whcuomers are taking a detour. that's masterful, when it comes to new purchases. "squawk box" will be right back. that's what i needed in scotland. and came back. the difference that made, made all the difference.
7:14 am
new federal report blasting microsoft over its handling of a chinese hack involving the breach of emails of several u.s. officials including commerce secretary gina raimondo. want to bring in chris krebs, formerly ran cyber policy for microsoft, serves as the inaugural director of the u.s. department of homeland security cybersecurity infrastructure security agency. some members are on the board that produced the new report.
7:15 am
so you're in an interesting position here, i don't know how much you're going to say or not say or how you want to play this, chris, given your involvement with all different aspects of this. first of all, let's just say, do you agree with the report? meaning is microsoft in the wrong here? >> yeah, look, it is pretty disheartening to read as a former microsoft employee. particularly as part of a trustworthy computing team. in 2002, 2003, bill gates sent around a memo, the trustworthing computing memo, that effectively shut down all development across microsoft in the wake of windows xp and took two months. they got their security culture back in order and they effectively led industry, they developed the software development life cycle, integrated security into software engineering, and they really were at the top of the game for a decade or more. and this report highlights that they -- as i said, they drifted
7:16 am
away from that security culture. it is hard to read. it is consistent and echoes many things i saw at siss sissia andd in the laf in the last couple of years, including this compromise of the systems. it is a hard hitting report. i recommend that everybody read the executive summary. it details the risks that we're struggling with on a daily basis out there. >> if you're satya nadella and read this report, how are you supposed to feel? defensive? do you feel this is a call to action, we screwed this up, we got to change course? >> well, look, if i'm satya, if i'm brad smith, i'm reading the recommendations and taking them to heart. it is very clearly outlined that the ceo and the board need to get in a hands on oversight administration of the security program. need to hold senior leaders accountable. need to prioritize security over feature development. that is at the heart of it --
7:17 am
decisions made were on the business side and won out over security and that's got to stop. and the last really important part that the report makes is that microsoft is one of the most important, if not the most important technology company in the world. and we all depend upon it for hardware, software, productivity, cloud, security. it is a lot we're placing on them. and with great power comes great responsibility. >> can you sort of stack rank the big tech companies as it relates to security? it is funny, i don't know, not funny, but microsoft i think actually has been known for security, trying to secure the enterprise, if you will, with various different features and products and other things. have a huge cloud business, they run a lot of the business for the u.s. government, and yet oftentimes we hear about hack attacks and things that seem to be happening on
7:18 am
microsoft-related products and/or services. and for whatever reason, and maybe the reason is you think they have better security, i'm curious, google, do you think they are running a much better ship, apple, are they doing this better? for whatever reason, you don't hear about hacking attacks on those platforms at the same level. the flip side is, you could argue, and i think what has been argued over the years is that apple has a much smaller market share. google has a smaller market share. is that true? >> well, look, again, i point to the report. they interviewed the cybersafety review board interviewed google cloud, amazon web services, oracle, to determine what their cloud security practices were and, you know, in comparison they found microsoft's internal security controls to be lacking relative to those organizations. now, do they have issues at gcp and aws? absolutely. but not at this scope and scale.
7:19 am
i think what is going to be the -- for it is the product stickiness. until microsoft feels some potential customer loss or erosion of the market, are things going to change? that's the kind of barometer of this report. >> i asked originally the question, what does satya or brad, what are they supposed to feel and think. if you're a customer, a big customer of microsoft, you read this report, you call your cto and says, hey, i think we should move our business. >> that's what every board and every c suite should be looking at right now. how dialed in and deep into your tech stack are you dependent upon microsoft. i talked about hardware, software, cloud, security, how much do you really have riding on -- >> if it was relatively easy to move, you would move it?
7:20 am
>> you got to evaluate what the business impact is. i think there are options you have out there that you can shift over to a different platform. but some spots i have a feeling where microsoft is just super sticky, and the options aren't as good. >> okay, chris, good to see you, getting your perspective on all this. this is eye opening. >> thanks. coming up, a look at some movers in the premarket. and later in the program, iac and expedia chairman barry diller will join us for an exclusive interview. a lot to talk about with what is happening with kisdisney, e dita landscape and beyond. "squawk box" will be right back. >> announcer: time for aflac's trivia question. what u.s. state has the longest total coastline. the answer when "squawk box" returns. ncakes! - cash! who pays you cash when you have medical bills? grrr! no idea. [tapping] gap! the gap left by health insurance? who pays cash to help close that gap? aflac! oh, aflac!
7:23 am
>> announcer: now the answer to today's aflac trivia question. what u.s. state has the longest toastal total coastline? the answer, alaska. the state's coastline is 6,640 miles. new hampshire has the smallest coastline with just 13 miles. yeah. that's -- >> get to dom chu with a look at this morning's premarket movers.
7:24 am
dom, you shouldn't even have to do any research, you already talked about all of them on wex. >> on worldwide exchange. so some of them we have. some of them we have not. we have a couple of analyst calls to kind of update you on. we will start with one that i have talked about this morning already, which is a big apparel mover, that's levi strauss, up now 12.5%. it is over 30,000 shares of trading volume at this point. the denim and casual wear company reporting quarterly results that topped estimates and raised full year guidance for profits driven in part by robust growth and dtc business. a record 48% of levi sales are now made through is own stores and website, versus other channels like department stores. so levi strauss up about 13.5%, and keeps moving higher. we have a couple of analyst notes new out this morning getting attention. shares of bank of america moving between gains and losses on just over 100,000 shares of volume so
7:25 am
far. this after analysts at ubs cut their rating on america's second biggest bank by market value, a neutral rated stock versus prior buy. the target price gets bumped up modestly by a buck to $40 a share after nearly 50% gain from the october lows that we saw up over here. those shares have reached what they determined to be a fair value and there are some concerns about how much more leverage bank of america is to interest rates if and when the fed decides to start cutting the rates. so we're watching b of a shares flat right now. and to fintech, our third mover, block, the company known as square, the payments processing e-commerce company down 3% just around 80,000 shares of volume due in part to analysts at morgan stanley cutting their stock rating to an underweight. it was equal weight before. the target goes down to 60 bucks from $62. they cited things as what they see as more limited upside potential to expand the reach for the cash app within square/block.
7:26 am
now, for more on those analyst calls and other top calls of the day, head over to cnbc.com/pro. subscribers can get more detailed analysis of the top calls. back over to you, andrew. >> we have another news alert. bill ackman retiring as the chairman of the board of howard hughes' company saying its current board members scott sellers will replace him as chairman. they owned a big piece of that company for quite some time. a statement from the company saying they intend to remain a major long-term shareholder. stock right now unchanged. coming up, lots of fed speak for investors to digest. steve liesman is going to join us with some highlights next. and then an effort by activist investor nelson peltz to win board seats at disney falling short. far, far short. a look at what it means for the stock and later in the program, we're going to talk all things media wiarth bry diller. don't want to miss that conversation. that's going to happen in the
7:27 am
8:00 hour. "squawk box" returns after this. last week we had our special day of giving where 100% of sales were given to local charities. so many of you came out with huge support. i am pleased to announce that together we raised over 25 million for local charities across america. thanks to all our team members who truly get the giving culture, and our heartfelt thanks go out to all of you that showed up for our day of giving. together we always make a difference.
7:30 am
the fed and inflation in focus yesterday, we spoke to steve cohen about his expectations for rate cuts. >> i think the market expects three cuts. i think that's the number. i don't disagree with that. i think inflation has been somewhat contained. i think ultimately what it will come down to is a true statement or not. we think -- the fed thinks eventually it will come down to 2%. inflation rate. >> what do you think? >> i think that's going to be hard. >> that rare and exclusive interview available right now online, go to cnbc.com/pro to take a look. >> a lot of fed speak today ahead of tomorrow's jobs data. steve liesman joins us now with more. hey, steve. >> hey, joe, good morning. fed chair jay powell and several other fed officials offering some assurances that if the the
7:31 am
economy evolves as expected it will be appropriate to lower rates at some point this year. get used to those words. a lot of people are saying them. but that leaves plenty of doubt as to the timing and the amount of rate cuts. we had atlanta fed president raphael bostic on "squawk" yesterday, he backed a single cut in the fourth quarter. the forecast is for three cuts beginning we don't know when. fed officials making clear they're watching a couple of factors most closely. the speed and the amount of decline in inflation are important to them, whether that progress on inflation is slow or fast, and that's going to determine the speed and amount of rate cuts. whether the economy remains strong or weakens from those rate hikes and the big question that they're puzzling with right now, january, february firm ware inflation numbers, a blip on the way to some better improvement. all of that is introduced, down into the policy outlook. you can see there, we're in the 58, 59% range when it comes to the june fed funds contract. but you get a little more sure
7:32 am
as you move towards the july and september. powell made a point yesterday, we got lots of fed speak today, i wanted to get to that here, we have harker, we have barkin, goolsbee, neel kashkari, and loretta mester, all speaking on the economic outlook. we don't know where the fed stands after today, i assume it is because we're not paying attention or they were not clear. powell making the point yesterday of saying that the fed doesn't take politics or personal decisions into account when setting policy. after fed governor adriana cougler spoke yesterday, thinking about the biden appointees and the trump appointees to the fed, i find it hard to find much difference in the outlooks of one side, joe, being more dovish than the other. >> i thought it's strange,
7:33 am
strange, steve. i guess we got to listen to jay powell, though we were at 6 for a while. i don't know if most people were. three to a lot of people now sounds probably unlikely. but they're sticking to it. that was kind of interesting. they don't want -- they don't care if the market goes higher, do they? they're not trying to disappoint investors. that's not why they're doing this. >> no. >> why are they doing it? >> no, i don't -- i don't -- well, first of all, joe, i will give you ten bucks for every time you can find anything the fed said that would have justified the market going to six. i think that's more of an interesting -- >> now they're endorsing three. the market could be -- people could be wrong about three, but they're kind of endorsing three, even though -- >> you know, joe, i said this repeatedly. the fed is a victim of its own transparency. i really like the dots. the dots tell me where the fed
7:34 am
is going. but i don't know why that june probability is so low. i think that might be wrong there. should be 57%. anyway, what i'm seeing on my screen. in any event, i like the dots because i understand how to contextualize the dots. they're just forecast of individuals. either they get together and they get into a policy, here's where we think we should go or maybe they should get rid of them or maybe they should just keep explaining to people, this is what happens when everybody puts their forecast in. it is not a promise, joe. it is a forecast. >> yeah. it is just -- we keep trying to figure out whether we're really in restrictive territory and it all depends on what you really think the inflation rate is going to be. >> yeah, but, joe, put yourself in the position of a policymaker. let's say you had your finger on the button and could do it. when you look at this economy, does it look to you like it is
7:35 am
really restrictive? what is being held back? we're talking about 2.8 on gdp, under 4. you do it because you think you're a little bit restrictive relative to some kind of theoretical long-term rate, which is interesting, because that's exactly the way powell does not like to operate is according to some kind of theoretical construct. and real quick, joe, on the jobs tomorrow, i don't know what you think, but 200 is the number. i think 300 makes us worried it is too hot. and around 100 makes us worried it is too cool. >> hey, steve, question for you. did you see this greg ipp story today? >> i just saw the headline, andrew, and i said i got it read that. i thought what was weird, there is another story below it that says $100 doesn't go as far, so i read that one first. >> here, so, basically the
7:36 am
headline of the story for those who haven't read the paper yet this morning and i recommend you do, what is wrong with the economy, it is you, not the data, and effectively what greg ipp does and he's been on the broadcast many times over the years and is also a fed watcher, that's why i asked steve about this, says that when you look at the polling, and ask people about what they think about the economy, what they think has happened, for example, to inflation, to their own bank accounts, to the stock market, they say that things are worse, or trending in the wrong direction. and invariably says that's like factually not true. so i'm so curious how you sort of examine that issue. >> he says, he totally says, look, inflation went up a lot. now it is going -- now -- the point is, it is going in the right direction is what he says. which means the increases are slowing but it is still going up. so if you're already up at
7:37 am
40-year highs and still going up at 4% or 3% a year, and then says, you know, that's why people give biden 30% approval on the economy, because you feel the increases they have already got. the increases might be slowing. a second derivative story. if you believe inflation is in his words going the right way, it is. because it has come down from 9 to 3.5. but 3.5 on top of 40-year highs makes people feel like crap. >> i'm not disagreeing with that. the question that was posed in these polls is inflation going in the right or wrong direction? >> right. >> factually it is going in the right direction. we're asking about the trend. >> the rate of increase is slowing. >> correct. so you have people saying the opposite. here is a more interesting stat to me, which is people are asked
7:38 am
how they think their investments or retirement savings are going. are they going in the right direction or the wrong direction. and they are saying that they believe that their retirement savings and the markets are going in the wrong direction, even though anybody who is, like, not, can look at the numbers now on the screen and you know they have gone in the wrong direction and that's the point i was trying to get at. >> i've been doing this polling for i don't know how many years, maybe 20 dwyears, something lik that, people believe what they believe. what is interesting for our viewership and i think i can say this with some authority here is when you super impose your political beliefs on your investing decisions, you generally lose money. >> sure, but, steve, the idea that people -- people believe what people believe, if you're being misinformed, then you believe the wrong thing. >> but, greg ipp says more. you look at the average customer
7:39 am
retirement account at vanguard grew 19% last year. that didn't make up for the 20% decline in 2022. it depends how long you're looking at this. >> to call people wrong when their paycheck is buying less than it was three years ago -- you just said that the facts are that they're actually better off and they don't know it. >> they're better off. that's not what -- >> going in the right direction. >> going in the right direction. >> the poll asks is your -- are your retirement savings going in the right direction. the point is, if they're saying that statistically and that's mathematically wrong, the idea you believe what you believe is only because you're being misinformed. >> i don't think people are walking around when they go to the grocery store saying, wow, i don't have enough money to pay for things, but my retirement savings are looking good. >> that's not the question. >> the main part of the poll is about inflation. >> if you ask a question about
7:40 am
whether you think your retirement savings are going in the right direction and you say -- >> the question was over the last year, not the last two years. >> they say no. >> then that's -- they're wrong about that. >> someone is telling you bad information. part of the problem we have in this whole country is people are basing a lot of their opinions on bad information. >> i think people node how they feel, they're smart enough to know if they like this economy or not, and only 30% like it. >> i know how you feel. >> and that's how -- i would never -- i tell viewers or consumers, you're wrong about how you feel. actually things are really good. they know exactly how they feel. >> when we come back, hybrid vehicle sales gaining traction. we will talk about that after the break. and then, disney's ceo bob iger defeating an effort by activist investor nelson peltz to win two seats on the board. is that a good thing for the stock price?
7:41 am
7:42 am
you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. great job astro-persons. over. boring is the jumping off point for all the un-boring things we do. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady.
7:43 am
all words you want from your bank. taking chances is for skateboarding... and gas station sushi. not banking. that's why pnc bank strives to be boring with your money. the pragmatic, calculated kind of boring. moving to boca? boooring. that was a dolphin, right? it's simple really, for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has had one goal: to be brilliantly boring with your money so you can be happily fulfilled with your life... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it. thank you, boring.
7:44 am
welcome back. hybrid vehicle sales gaining traction and the trend does not look like it is ending anytime soon. phil lebeau joins with us more this morning. phil? >> good morning, andrew. it is not changing anytime soon. we now see hybrids with more than 10% of the market share here in the united states. this is what we saw in the first quarter, according to motor intelligence, they get the numbers from every automaker, they crunch them by model, crunch them by thetype of power system, if you will, for the vehicle. look at that, evs now 7.1%. by the way, that's the same year over year. ice about the same. hybrid up to 10.5%. and when it comes to hybrids, who is the king of the hill? no question about it, it is toyota. hybrid sales for toyota first quarter versus first quarter of last year, up 76%. let me put this into some perspective for you. hybrid or toyota's totalsales,
7:45 am
of their total sales, 36% of them had hybrid models. one out of every three vehicles going off a dealer lot for a toyota is a hybrid. so when you look at the leaders here, toyota's market share went from 41% in the first quarter of last year up to 51% in terms of hybrid sales here in the u.s. there you see honda, followed by hyundai. and stellantis is now in fourth place. you might be saying, wait a second, i don't hear about jeep and chrysler having hybrids. they do. they don't have many, they got three models, but those three models, good sales for them. the jeep wrangler and the cherokee, the extended range versions of those, yes, those are hybrid models, now fourth in terms of hybrid sales. look at toyota and tesla. i got a lot of questions from people saying tesla is still easily dominating the market when it comes to evs. yes, but if you look at tesla's total sales in terms of evs, here in the united states, we're not talking globally, about
7:46 am
135,000. we know what happened in terms of sentiment toward evs last year and this year. there is the difference in the performance between shares of toyota and tesla. by the way, tesla's total sales for evs in the u.s., 135, 136,000 in the first quarter. for toyota hybrid sales, more than 200,000. clearly we are seeing a pivot by buyers to go towards hybrids and toyota is benefitting from that. >> all right. phil, these numbers are amazing. i want to talk to tim higgins about this. for more on the ev landscape, we're joined by tim higgins, wall street business columnist and cnbc contributor. i'm trying to check, i assume that these numbers are right, if it is from the president, president biden's energy information administration. and it is a forecast, so i guess it could be wrong, but by 2050, the biden administration itself
7:47 am
thinks total evs will be 12% of the u.s. car market. have you seen these numbers, tim? >> yeah, that's going to be hard to do if the results continue what we just saw in this past quarter, clearly, right? and the other things we see, the biggest threat to electric vehicle future that is tesla's future here in the united states is that vision that toyota has just made so ubiquitous out there, that hybrid vision for the future of the car. in a lot of ways for a lot of customers, it is just easier, right? you don't have to worry about a charging station, you don't have to have the added cost of an ev. it is something that is, you know, more attainable and in a lot of people's day to day lives, for some people a really radical shift to evs. >> 12%. i was looking at it different -- you say that's going to be hard to get to. by 2050, 84% of cars will still be fossil fuels, with everything
7:48 am
we're doing, all the stuff, the infrastructure, the charging stations, the subsidies, you're still only at 12% in 2050. >> it is a huge adoption, right? we're changing the world, want to change the world to electric. we are accustomed to gasoline powered vehicles. a lot of change. the biden administration has been very aggressive, right, and money that they're spending, to encourage carmakers to make the change. at the end of the day, it comes down to what customers want to buy. if you look at surveys of customers, sentiment to buying electric vehicles, their willingness to look at it, it is still very large percent an of people who don't want to consider that. and it is interesting because you go back to 2022 and strategic vision, which surveys customers, they saw some improvement, more people were willing to look at electric vehicles and in part because
7:49 am
electric trucks were coming out and there was new excitement about potential there. when you saw people get into an electric truck, they just weren't the same kind of performance they were accustomed toin an f-150, for example. you couldn't tow your boat and go the same distance because of the limitations of an electric vehicle. so, when people see that, they're not ready to make the jump yet. but the car companies are still, you know, plowing a ton of money into electric vehicles for the next generation. so you have to imagine that per fop ans would has to give. we're at 5% of sales of the u.s. sales are evs. by 2050, they're talking 14% of total sales will be -- didn't you think we're supposed to -- i thought by 2030 we were all supposed to be driving evs, tim. this is only 40% of sales in 2050? >> from where we are today, that would be, you know, a pretty big
7:50 am
jump, right? but you have to also look globally. markets like china, much more dramatic adoption of evs, which pressures -- >> it is strange. i don't feel quite so bad about, you know, i'm not shopping peop- >> i like my hybrid. >> check marks. >> hybrid's a big deal. >> that new prixous looks pretty slick. >> hybrid -- >> doesn't look like a cheese wedge, as much as it -- as it used to. i think for some people that buy the prius they don't want it looking good. i think it's -- >> a badge of honor? >> yeah, yeah! it's harder to virtue this thing when you have a pretty good-looking car. >> tim, anyway, thank you. when we come back, disney post-peltz with yesterday's proxy vote. rsat it means for shareholde in disney stock. we will be right back.
7:51 am
it's time. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmer's dog. made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. ♪♪
7:53 am
business. it's not a nine-to-five who proposition.ome. it's all day and into the night. it's all the things that keep this world turning. the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. see why comcast business powers more small businesses than anyone else. get started for $49.99 a month plus ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. don't wait- call today.
7:54 am
disney ceo defeated knelten peltz to win two seats on the company's board. a good thing for the stock price? jon fortt is here to weigh in. what do you think? >> becky, well, no. good for big iger's representation not for the stock. now that pressure is off to dramatically change disney's trajectory the company is at risk diverting to muscle memory. remember hoe were you go here. iger took over 2005 and legendary deals, pixar, marvel, brilliant moves paid dividends. unprecedented box office and lucas films opened parks and experiences. stock soared from $24 a share to nearly $200 when iger took over at its pandemic peak. declined before pelts got involved wasn't disney plus
7:55 am
spending or dramatic swerve off course during the 11 moss, and iger being executive chairman had to do with decisions on iger's watch. pixar hasn't been the same since cut john lasso without equivalent replacement. and stock meaningfully won't recover from cost cuts alone. disney needs fresh vision from whatever ceo takes ts baton fro b bob iger. >> you're saying he needed nelson peltz. >> on the other hand, iger can finish fixing disney. already off to a good start. improved film slate and growth in parts with pixar, marvel and lucas film floundering iger needs to prove he can get disney's creative engine humming again. not the thing peltz would have been able to help with at all. will iger act without an
7:56 am
activist breathing down his neck? yes. this time his legacy is at stake. can be about money or power but the storybook ending. iger's never good at good-byes. delayed departure so many times last decade all potential successors left. stepped down in 2020 right as the pandemic hit, all wrong. this time everyone including iger knows the task isn't just fixing disney's problem. it's doing that setting up the next ceo to succeed independently. investors say that playing out, stock will rise and we know that and more in-line with shareholders than in more man a decade. >> succession planning. it's key, probably, that james gorman is joining the board. has come on. going to be working on that succession plans because what they did at morgan stanley worked very well. >> this has been -- almost like a knock-knock joke or something. number of times bob iger goes, i'm really leaving this time.
7:57 am
now, james gorman, like you said on the board seems reasonable. >> i think i know which way were you leaning this time. >> really? first or second. >> second. >> "on the other hand" newsletter time. find out which one you agree with more by scanning that thing right there. right over there. or type in cnbc.com/otoh. arguments you can share. when we come back, barry diller with us on the media landscape and reaction to disney's victory in its boardroom battle. interview at 8:30 this morning. don't miss that. also a programming note. david faber speaking with bob iger a little later today with the gang on "squawk on the street." that happens in the 9:00 a.m. hour. we'll have a lot more disney talk as the show and the network rolls on this morning. back after this.
7:58 am
7:59 am
it's smarter, healthier pet food. last week we had our special day of giving where 100% of sales were given to local charities. so many of you came out with huge support. i am pleased to announce that together we raised over 25 million for local charities across america. thanks to all our team members who truly get the giving culture, and our heartfelt thanks go out to all of you that showed up for our day of giving. together we always make a difference. (sirens) [due at target in 5!] copy that. make a hard left down the alley. network's got you covered. [please confirm requesting back-up.]
8:00 am
-changing route. -go. roadblock ahead. ...back up, back up... reverse! reverse! next level moments, we're 30 seconds out. need the next level network. [north corridor, hurry!] -coming through! -or 3, let's go. the network more businesses choose. transplant received. at&t business. good morning. futures finally pointing to some gains. major averages all on pace fon a dour week but right now seeing green across the board. a possible recalculation. fed chair jay powell stressing need for more evidence inflation is easing before he says it would be time for cuts.
8:01 am
talk about it. and disney prevailing over nelson peltz in a bitter proxy fight. speak with media mogul barry diller on that possible sale and so much more. final housh of "squawk box" begins right now. good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. tomorrow is a -- is it a jobbance number? >> yes it is. >> yep. >> that's right. >> again? >> mark your calendar. dvr. wake up early. >> really amazing. and that is all -- we're waiting for some data point that says that there's some reason to cut rates. >> right. and adp didn't give it to us
8:02 am
yesterday. >> no! >> we'll see what the weekly jobless claims show this week. yesterday, adp hotter than expected feeds back into the argument that the economy is stronger than expected. the jobs market is stronger than expected. feeds into what we've seen with inflation. >> the best day yet for, if you're wrong as far as equity futures. i think, it's early, but we are seeing green. up 160 points. a couple rough sessions. really. for monday, tuesday, wednesday. this up a little from yesterday. dow still down but i think that was up. treasury yields, something to keep an eye on especially along with gold recently, but treasurys now, 436. almost 437 on the ten year. among today's top business stories, disney winning its proxy fight with activist investor nelson peltz. at yesterday's annual shareholder meeting investors re-elected disney's full plate of board candidates including
8:03 am
two peltz wanted to boot off the board saying fiercely promoting himself and former disney cfo jay rasul oh. criticizing disney operations including espn and the company's recent films. we're going to talk all about this fight later this hour with barry diller. google is looking into charging for souped-up a.i. powered searching within its premium subscription services according to a report in the "financial times." it says engineers are working on the technology but executives haven't made a decision whether to deloy it. in a statement google would continue to build new premium creating robots for the home with engineers considering one that would trail users around the house. according to a bloomberg report which says the idea could warp into one of the company's next big things. apple decided to scrap its car project code named titan. declining to comment on the most
8:04 am
recent report. >> i mean, i can see -- get away from me, will you? i mean, do you really -- >> aaargh, aaargh, aaargh. >> do you want a robot following you around? >> a robot help me get through the day. come on. >> only if it's going to do dishes, like i said. >> here's your cocktail -- mix your cocktail. >> a million things a robot can do for me. >> i don't -- i don't even want to think about it. back to the markets. as of yesterday -- yeah. and a camera following you. perfect. andrew ross sorkin circle reality show. i'm thinking. >> you know, i try to stay off social media, so -- not going to -- >> aww -- what? oh, no! we got -- it's already following me around a little bit. as of yesterday's close, the s&p 500 was on pace for its worse week in three months. but our next guest says it would
8:05 am
barely, 2% drawdown so far consolidating would be healthy. start in a different way, alecia. head of investment strategy equity advisers solutions at bmy, mellon management. what's not to like here? why fight the tape? >> why fight the tape. we think we're in one of those great situations that you saw at the end of the '90s really where the fed's going to cut but not that much. growth is coming in better than expected. the labor market's holding up and the data are just telling you that the economy's reaccelerating. that means earnings will be okay. so what's not to love here? what's not to love is, does it come with another bump in inflation? right? that's the risk out there. >> what you just said. better than expected growth and interest rate cuts on the horizon. that's why we keep asking. where is the logic here? if that is indeed the case, that's really -- best of both worlds? >> we have been saying on the cut side, we've been saying less
8:06 am
and later, which may not be grammatically correct dut a literation there. less and later. we think that the economy -- fewer later. >> no. >> doesn't sound right but the economy is holding better than expected. point to pmis on manufacturing side. finally out of that downturn, and new orders are above 50 coming in strong. new orders on the manufacturing pmi tend to lead s&p earnings by about three to six months. coming at -- bottomed, moving higher on the manufacturing side. which had been the drag on the economy. not the services side. what's not to love? and powell, think about what he said yesterday. he's telling you they want to cut. in june. they want to. it's going to take a lot on inflation to get them to move off of that, i think. >> because a strong economy, if you could do it with low
8:07 am
inflation, you could cut, i guess. you think inflation could reaccelerate because the economy's reexcelreaccelerating? >> sticky on the way down, evidence. last six months, for the last six months haven't moved off this number. has to move lower. the fed so far does not seem as if they are overly concerned. let's get to the next thing. markets cut in three. fed says three. what if it's two? i don't think is changes the story, because the pivot remains. the pivot is not longer a hiking bias. even if you get to zero cuts i think it's okay as long as growth holds in there. long as growth is there, it should support the market. >> whatever reason, election years, even though the fed's not political, but usually friendly, for the markets. right? that goes into it. also seeing broadening at this point in the participation? i'm going to sneeze, i think.
8:08 am
in the participation? >> yeah. no. one of the big misgnomers, a very narrow market. maybe last year and maybe november, december, but we saw since beginning of the year financials, materials, industrials really and energy sectors participating. by the way, tdeep cyclicals telling you trough and growth and reaccelerating here. i actually think the market's pretty healthy. 88% of the s&p is above its 200-day moving average. you don't get tops from that. float around and bounce around consolidating but you don't get tops when you get an increasing percentage of the s&p constituents above the 200-day movinging average. >> tech rate continues. the magnificent seven existed before chatgpt, i think. so even before this transformative phase that we're in right now, we still love those -- maybe it's only four
8:09 am
now. it's not the magnificent seven. but now layer a.i. on to your feelings about the tech trade. >> a great feeling. >> must be. i mean, more than just additive. one plus one equals six or something. >> look, i think most of us who were around in the late '90s when we had dotcom and everything like this, the boom. i don't see it exactly an analysis. sense of increasing productivity and increasing margins and enormous growth in a sector of the market that then expands to the rest of the economy is there, and that is the same story. that's why i think we're early in this growth and productivity. the margin, the margin growth in s&p is coming from the top seven names. margins of those magnificent seven have double that of the rest of the s&p. so unique equations coming from that. why we love that sector. great the market is expanding. in the end, last 15 years only
8:10 am
one year tech underperformed. that was in 2022. exactly when you'd expect. >> weird. not like they don't have capex. involved in the delivery system it's not like you don't have capex. >> they have capex but they have so much cash flow that they can play with it to bring it down to earnings when they need to. in a way that a smaller cap company can't or more capital intensive companies can't. >> play with it? almost manipulation? cut our capex to get it here? >> quarters the large capex gives earnings because they need to and nen go on with investment. that's not manipulation but managing the balance sheet. >> for business. >> and they're successful at it because fundamentally businesses are strong and growing. so they're able to do that, because of the cash flow situation. and so, you know, getting back to, you know, do we rotate at all, or what about broadening?
8:11 am
we still think large cap america is the place to be. reallocate asset classes. productivity and a.i. is here among other things. >> alicia, head of investment strategy and equity advisor solutions. if you want to call it -- how much money -- you don't get -- people like me? >> we do. >> really? >> we do. >>okay. >> well, now, again -- >> a different platform. >> too big. a different place. >> thank you. nice to see you. coming up, media mogul and iac chairman barry diller. going to a differ place as well. joining us exclusively to share thoughts on disney's proxy fight win over nelson peltz. you don't want to miss that interview. latest, this time the chat cu not go anywhere.
8:15 am
welcome back. from the "wall street journal" highlight of snapchat the friend-ranking feature showing users how they are, and causing anxiety. this for young people consideration and as of this feature. there are pictures right here. find out. are you uranus, the planet? makers of tiktok and others, ceo of tusk adventure. pay up for snapchat plus. $3 or $4 for the app and get to find out how close you are to your friends based on how often you -- seems the worst most d diabdie
8:16 am
d -- diabolical for teenagers? >> you see the bad guy says am i taking crazy pills? feels like i'm taking crazy pills. what it feels like here. the reality of the situation, talked about it a lot. a disaster. the world report, happiness report u.s. fell out of the top 20 first time ever. people under age 30 are so unhappy. ranked of 62nd just had people under age 30. 30% teenage girls considered suicide. harvard study found 61% of teenagers have deep low self-esteem. teenagers can't conduct a normal in-person conversation anymore because so addicted to their screens. snap says this, take the worst situation and make it a lot worse! really want to be regulated. congress be competent and do something so offensive and crazy, they'll have no choice
8:17 am
but to regulate. >> daring them. and what does congress does? >> nothing. nothing! still waiting for the tiktok ban passed the house overwhelmingly. nothing in the senate. kids safety act, nothing. >> what do you think, though, was driving this decision and do you think even the public pressure and conversation we're having now creates -- the question is, does it make somebody like evan spiegel say to himself we made a mistake, rethink this? unforced error? or does he say to himself, i'm doubling down. what do you think actually it will do to the business? >> i think until they actually learn that there's a price to be paid, they will do what the market keeps telling them to do, which is generate more users, more activity and more revenue. >> do you think it will? >> yeah. for sure. for sure! >> $5 a pop. >> terrified my kids will use this. >> gets the kids, into this gambling psychology again. >> for sure.
8:18 am
>> you can't disconnect from the screen you have to continue. how you gang numbers higher. still texting you in the lines, in the chats. >> yeah. my kids, my son, like, he talked to his friends, snap streets all the time and emails 2:00 in the morning. someone's ceiling, whatever it is, to keep it going. yeah. i mean, they already -- i have two teenagers. they have no common sense. no judgment. they are absolutely going to use this feature and the only way to -- >> totally develop it. >> yeah. happens, around 50 i'm learning. just getting there. >> and listening to your jerk, stop it. >> and i don't know what else. congress, same thing. which is they just want act, and, look. look at nefarious arguments like there are people, for example, senator schumer, myold boss, kids happen to be employed by platforms like facebook and personal financial reasons he doesn't want to take the issue on, or it might be simply that the two parties or each members can't agree because they all
8:19 am
want to be hero in their own perfect solution. so many different things. section 230, you and i debated on a bunch of times, close to the tiktok ban and we don't do any of it. >> joe brought this up before. when he sat down. he said we're looking at the -- >> i don't feel bad. it would just be, like, me. no arguments on anything. you know? i would feel bad, too. definitely don't want to feel like uranus, like you said. right? >> pluto. you get disqualified -- >> did it say plusto. >> and not even a planet -- >> when you know. >> as far as you can go. how about neptune? pretty damn far. >> outcast. no longer considered a planet, that's when it's bad. >> pluto's back. pluto might be back. goofy, no way. >> right. >> well, okay. what's to be done? there are some movements that
8:20 am
are being made at state levels. movements made where, you know, school districts are coming together and going after these social media apps because they're the ones left to clean up the mess on this. >> a few. we did see, like you said, four school districts in canada sue the platform saying our mental health costs dealing with our own kids have skyrocketed because of you. state's arguing a good job and it's bipartisan. governor desantis in florida yesterday signed a bill giving parents more control over what their kids see. >> can't be on it if not at least 14. >> correct. a bill in balbany, making progress and social media platforms, lots of left-wing interest groups say the of sway and now all of the sudden the bill is held up. >> what do you mean? >> everyone has an annual fund-raiser. a gala. they make donations to various things. hire people, family and friends. hire lobbyists close with them,
8:21 am
used to work there and make the case and say, oh, you know, yeah, but this is the wrong solution. if we pursue it this way we're going to curb free speech or we're going to -- give lgbtq kids fewer outlets to express themselves or whatever it is. ultimately all just excuses the platforms make up to block any real reform. then when they fail at that, take it to court. right? california and texas, tied um. passed legislation. all tied up in court right now. ultimately great the states are doing this, school boards are doing this. talked before about the notion i think that controllers, city and state, should talk about potentially divesting from social media platforms like meta. they have so much market power, that can actually be meaningful, but overall, you know, a lot of this does require federal action and we have a completely dysfunctional incompetent federal government. >> a number. 30%. seriously considered -- >> yeah. >> almost one out of three?
8:22 am
>> yeah, yeah. >> that ought to change some -- >> over 20% major depressive episode last year compared to 8% for adults. so i don't know -- what else we need. kids are, like, literally -- usually something 3w5d bad happ stop it before somebody gets hurt. countless kids hurt every day we don't do anything. >> thank you for continuing to bring it out to people's attention and laying it out so clearly. >> finland. >> seven years in a row. >> happiest place in the world. >> apparently the title. heard this? >> miserable. i see pictures doing the tango. >> yeah. coming up, speak with iac xpeedian chairman barry diller in an extended interview on the disney versus nelson peltz fight. potential paramount deal and more as we, first, head to break a few of this morning's
8:23 am
headlines. former giant zantac reached agreement settles lawsuits centered on allegations that the heartburn drug zantac could cause cancer. and supermarket chain, pepsi co-and carrefour resolve a spat. pepsi product pulled from store shelves in france. and former twitter executive nick caldwell suing x's elon musk for not paying severance pay to him and other workers must immediately respond. comments on that. "squawk box" will be right ck.
8:24 am
8:25 am
8:26 am
welcome back to "squawk box." treasury secretary janet yellen going to china. second trip since the summer. bring you developments from her trip over the next several days. news just out from coinbase. cnbc secured dealer licensing in canada pushing expansion of br meets script security rules for crypto and can operate legally in the country. look at shares right now up perhaps on the back of a little bit of that news up 2.5%.
8:27 am
guys, when we come back breaking jobless claims datand r exclusive interview with barry diller. "squawk box" will be right back. and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. wealth-changing question -- are you keeping as much of your investment gains as possible? high taxes can erode returns quickly, so you need a tax-optimized portfolio. at creative planning, our money managers and specialists work together to make sure your portfolio and wealth are managed in a tax-efficient manner. it's what you keep that really matters. why not give your wealth a second look? book your free meeting today at creativeplanning.com. creative planning -- a richer way to wealth.
8:30 am
jobless claims, and look at the futures. you can see. a little stronger. the best of the week by a long shot. if we were to hold on to these gains, in the close. standing by with breaking news from is rick santelli. >> and deficit and a little larger 68.9 billion, the largest had since april of last year. so going in the wrong direction and we see last month had a very subtle revision. claims expecting a 214 and 215,000 on initial. a little higher. 221,000, which is up 9,000 from a revised 210 that turns into 212,000.
8:31 am
actually, 221,000 is the biggest initial jobless claims, believe it or not, since last week in january. it's been awfully well behaved. if you look at continuing claims, we were expecting the number could be over 1.8 million. not to be. under 1. 8 million. last week was moved from 1 million 819,000. 1 million 810,000. 1 million 791,000 the most current read. well, how far do we have to go to see a number that low? lowest level going back to, drum roll, please, second week in february. so once again, very well behaved, and on those data points we see a subtle uptick in what already is an upticked market in interest rates. we're now hovering right around 437, up two basis points. almost at 438 in tens. look at twos. 468, whisker under 469.
8:32 am
up a basis point. comping to november, but what i find most important, at least with the long end of the market, is that the close we had day before yesterday above double tops and 2024 high yield closes at 432 plus. so the close that we've had above that really does signal momentum to continue to build to the upside of yield, down side in price. weekly close comes in above 4.33%, look for that momentum to potentially continue. andrew, back to you. >> thank you, rick. when we come back, a big can't-miss exclusive interview, iac's chairman barry diller is here in the house at the table in moments and we'll give you his take on disney's win against nelson peltz. so many things going on in the media. various chess pieces move ing around. i have about 100 questions for
8:33 am
him. "squawk box," coming back right after this. nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years. when i have customers come in and ask for something for memory, i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. (bobby) my store and my design business? we're exploding. but my old internet,
8:34 am
was not letting me run the show. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. to finally lose 80 pounds and keep it off with golo is amazing. i've been maintaining. the weight is gone and it's never coming back. with golo, i've not only kept off the weight but i'm happier, i'm healthier, and i have a new lease on life. golo is the only thing that will let you lose weight
8:35 am
8:36 am
obviously a victory for disney. welcome back to "squawk box." disney winning its proxy fight against activist investor nelson peltz. shareholders re-elected the full slate of directors rebuffing peltz's campaign to put himself on the board. statement, peltz saying proud of the impact the firm had on, he says, refocusing disney. for his part disney ceo bob iger calling it a distraction saying now that this is the past the company can focus 100% on growth. shareholder value creation, also creative excellence. joining us to talk about this and so many other things that are going on in the news right now. barry diller. chairman and senior executive and expedia's chairman and senior executive. great to have you at the table, mr. diller. >> and media executive foremost. then what did he say? foremost -- >> foremost -- >> foremost. let's start with disney.
8:37 am
you've known bob iger and known this company a very, very long time and watched this all play out. >> yeah, yeah. >> what do you think and what do you think that ike perlmutter and nelson peltz are going to be doing or thinking over the next 12 months? >> a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. it was a grand waste of time. the only reason it makes sense to be an activist is if you want to overthrow the chief executive. then i can understand you get in and you are able to do that, but if that's not your goal, to think you can give them a white paper, okay. what are you going to tell them to do? cut costs. make better movies. what is the battle-ax? >> already done that. >> done? >> meaning -- look. donald trump lost the last election. he's back. is perlmutter and peltz going to try to come back? >> and do what? insurrection, recount the votes, say a fraudulent election?
8:38 am
>> not now. i'm saying 12 months from now. >> depends. >> is this over? >> depends what happens with disney. the thing is, bob iger came back a little while ago. he diagnosed the situation. he is as good an executive as you can possibly -- you could not buy, beg or borrow him. the fact that he said he was bored in life and wanted to come back was the greatest thing that could happen to disney. he got back. he did the sensible things. cut costs. he's going to get them back into a better creative mode, what their moves have gotten so discombobulated by the previous ceo, just to repair that is going to take some time. so he's doing all the right things. who needs this noise coming at you for what productivity? >> okay. as a former paramount man, what do you think about the hand that sheri redstone has and the hand david ellison and the folks
8:39 am
at -- >> well, now, i guess exclusive you. i would not want to be a member of their, of their special committee. that this group now has to decide to value the skydance company. you know, all companies that get internal valuations are just wrong. i mean, they're usually blown up beyond all proportion of reality. so you can say it's worth $4 billion or $6 billion, whatever billion it's worth, but what is it actually worth and how could the special committee make a decision to exchange basically paramount shares for that asset without -- i don't know -- a trillion lawsuits at their throats? i think it's an impossible thing to do, but good luck to them. >> what else could they do? i mean, it's so complicated by -- >> i don't think there's any way you can take -- that kind of conflict of interests. we've got one party who now has actually voting control of the
8:40 am
company. >> right. >> on the other side, you've got a transaction that actually -- there is no way that independent shareholders could ever say, oh! we really want to dilute our stock for this company that does, what? makes some movies? 1,800 in animation? i mean, just a very hard trick. >> there are tax implications? needs to be sold as a whole? >> i don't know. first of all, it's the worst time in the world to sell this thing. it is a perfect candidate for actually turning itself around, but the idea that you ought to sell it, because whoever gets in it, at whatever base they get in it for, there's an enormous amount of work that's going to have to take place. so -- >> that's really interesting. the idea that you think this is the worst possible time.
8:41 am
that suggests that there is a light behind this. this is not the end of media writ large? >> oh, my god, no. paramount is perfectly capable of competing. >> i think there are so many people who think that media right now, the old media in particular, is never going to be able to make it or make good again. it's going to get its lunch eaten by all of these new entrances streaming. >> go back to the original craziness. best defined as a group of people, get together, invent the greatest rocket with the most precise delivery system and they set it off and then they run to exactly where it's going to hit. which is what the entire business did to get into try to compete insanely with netflix. >> right. >> and so they're all viable entities that are just going to be much smaller. they can't -- they've lost hedgeimony that's gone to netflix, to apple and amazon. because they have different
8:42 am
business models. if of you just take the entertainment business model you're perfectly able to compete, but to delude yourself you can displace or compete with netflix? netflix won five years ago. >> one of the big winners you didn't mention was social media and role social media is playing in all this. i'm curious. steve mnuchin was here and would try to buy tiktok if available. >> because of his great expertise in social media. >> well -- so, would you like to buy tiktok? >> no. >> no interest? >> no. no. by the way, tiktok's a -- tiktok is a very popular thing. anybody who goes on it gets addicted to it and a then spend aimless amounts of time twiking through, you know, et second or 12-second videos. entertaining, addicting all that but who cares?
8:43 am
>> a national security issue or risk? >> no. >> you don't? >> no. i don't think the idea that china will use it to indoctrinate one of the claims it would use tiktok to -- indoctrinate interest in china is about zush. >> absurd. >> and challenged a monopoly google has on search? you've said in the past? >> i think there's a monopoly. >> more than that. i mean, so my question to you, though, as you look at apple now and see the doj has brought a case now against apple. how do you feel about that, in the app store and all the things that you know about that company? >> i think what needs to happen, all attention should go towards regulating artificial intelligence, and we don't have a minute to lose. i don't know if any of you saw it the other day.
8:44 am
it, was it april fools' day thing, which had videos of trump and biden that were absolutely perfect replicas of each of them talking in their voice gibberish. now, when you have that, what do you know -- how do you know where truth is? we've got to have legislation that says, it is illegal to make up something, take someone's persona and manufacture something that is not them. >> mm. >> so you've got to deal with that now. you've got to deal with -- >> already done but -- you have to always -- >> now you can -- >> the thing of, we found out that -- princess of wales, doctored her photograph. well, okay. because you saw, she did it badly. an arm in the wrong place. done like simple a.i., nobody in the world would know. totally different person.
8:45 am
>> and self-regulators. you know sam altman but on the other side of sam altman as it comes to opening of a.i. >> two things have to happen. you have to race to have legislation that let's, of course, it birth and grow. there's also reasonably protective. the second thing you have to do is you have to redefine, i have weeds here, their use in terms being able to publish things. you have to say, allows to take things from them, snippets, do whatever. but the idea you can scene up, for instance, all of expedia's content and use it, that it took us billions of dollars to create, is nuts! you have to redefine it and say, it is illegal. and then what will happen is, transactions will get made between the parties on what fair use really is. which is your using their content. you get money for it. >> it's funny, because when sat
8:46 am
c satna ya della was talking to lester holt, looking for a section for 230 a.i. let them grow but don't blame them for anything. >> it's ridiculous. you can't. google said to us -- endless discussions. >> for years. >> partners and whatever. they said, yes. absolutely. we should pay for content. when we get paid. but what percent of zero would you like? because right now we have zero revenue to which we say, that's actually, lovely, but in fact, because you have a monopoly, you have to make a transaction now, which presupposes some things, but all everybody who's in this now is saying that -- that they want to define fair use to be they can take everything. it's wrong.
8:47 am
it should be done with. >> i got a question. not a political question about former president trump, but actually a business question about truth social. you've seen the skunk on the move in this, i'll call it remarkable maybe even crazy way. >> two words. gamestop. >> gamestop. what you think is going on here? >> i mean it's ridiculous. >> do you -- >> company has no revenue. >> do you think it could ever be a bigger business? >> no. >> does he win the presidency? >> no. why? >> it becomes -- >> why would you figure? he's only interesting now because he's out there entertaining the folks. i hope if he gets elected he just plays golf four years. >> do you thill all investors in this are scammed? they think this is a transference of wealth from one side to the other and that's the goal? what do you think is happening? >> i think their dopes. who would buy a company that literally has -- what does it have? $30 of revenue? why would you put, how could you
8:48 am
put a value on it? they're buys it for other reasons just like they bought theaters when thwas no theater business or bought gamestop whatever. it's stupid. it's stupid stuff. >> it was 1,000 times revenue, i think. >> what? >> wasn'twasn'tit 4 million? >> why are you eventalking about this? it's a scam lie everything he's ever been involved in is some sort of con. >> let me pivot -- >> survival of a con man is just beyond comprehension, but there is. >> let me ask you, a different question. steve cohen on the broadcast yesterday and he made a comment i wanted to you weigh in on. he thinks we're moving to a four-day workweek and not just in terms what it means for companies themselves but as an investment -- do you think we
8:49 am
really are, four-day workweek? the other piece of it vocal wanting to have people in the office, i think, five day as week. no? >> i'll settle for four. or two. or two and a half or three and quarter. craziness we've entered out of this process, this covid process, couldn't be with each other. once over, why didn't we just go back, so to speak to life? we didn't, because people said, well, we did it an employ survey and our employees would really like the flexibility. sure, ask an employee. what do they want? total flexibility. stay home and get paid more. of course, why not? but -- but the idea of all of these conniptions everybody's gone through in various of our companying, literally, i can't keep track of it. some is 50/50. how do you do 50/50? two and a half days? how's the half?
8:50 am
others three and two. some one week a month. some are come in for sure tuesdays and thursdays. it's madness, which is what is going to lead to, i think, sensibly not necessarily a four-day workweek, but four days in the office and fridays frida you can work from home or work at your own schedule, and i think that is going to be the sensible evolution of all this, but it has to be standardized. you can't have 17,000 different programs, because how do you deal with all the things around it? >> to me, it seems like it adds to the inequality issues, because if you are a salaried employee, you can have these conversations. if you're an hourly worker, you can't, and it must just seem like, are you kidding me? >> what if you need to get something done? >> you can't -- look, if you have to -- >> normal people have to work five days. >> if you have to talk to anyone else, you cannot work from home.
8:51 am
if your work involves anything other than sitting and staring at a screen or talking to a -- on customer service, which doesn't involve anybody else in your company, okay. but if you relate to anyone else, come into an office and be part of an environment that has so many different things running around inside of it that berttes your life, your career, and betters the business. i do think, though, that we're going to go to four days -- i hope it will get standardized. fridays -- fridays -- >> construction people? >> no, look, there are people, like with mgm, we have a lot of resorts. you have to come to the resort. >> you can't vacation on fridays. >> that's the interesting part. >> we're talking about white-collar. >> this is -- the investment thesis question as it relates to
8:52 am
this is, you know, here you had someone saying, everybody has an extra day to play golf. for you, does that mean there's an extra day for people to get on an airplane, go to vegas, and gamble at an mgm? >> i think partially so. i think fridays is going to be -- i think for some businesses, friday will be a workday but not in the office. >> does that mean people are going to be renting more vrbos? >> i think we're going to more or less -- not an absolute, because it isn't absolute if you're going to be -- if you have a gas station, you have to be there to do the gas, if there are gas stations. but i think that it's going to get standardized, and i do believe that probably four days -- look, it is just, right now, it really is chaos in these companies. you have so many different
8:53 am
programs. our companies, which total, i don't know, 60,000 or something like that, we've probably got 10 or 15 different plans of which days -- we confuse, oh no, that company, they're in thursdays. oh no, they came tuesday. >> before we let you go, i wanted to ask you about this deal. you sold what i think is one of the great iconic magazine brands in life to josh kushner and karlie kloss. >> we did not sell it. >> i know you still have a piece of it. >> we licensed it, because we, while we do a lot with "life" magazine in terms of the archives, we don't publish "life" magazine any longer, and josh came, and he made a passionate argument as to why "life" magazine could be reborn, and that he wanted to take the responsibility for doing it, and i said, that's fantastic. i will back anybody's passion
8:54 am
that's got a brain, and he's got more than a brain. >> they're doing this with a whole bunch of magazines now. >> yeah. well, not a whole bunch. >> "sports illustrated" licensed. yeah. >> do you think that the magazine business has any kind of future? >> it has. we are the largest publisher in the country, both print and online. and yes, of course i do. now, look, the print business, like all other things, is evolving. it's like, is there going to be a cable business ten years from now? i say, yes, but will it be less of a business? certainly, yes. print magazines aren't going to go away, but there are going to be less of them. "people" magazine, we still -- i think 350 million books, we publish. you know, from "people" to "better homes & gardens" to, i don't know, you want me to go with all our titles? but for sure.
8:55 am
magazines -- print, like many other things, decline, but if you manage it correctly, it doesn't go away. it's like my argument about these legacy movie companies. if you manage them, they'll be okay. they just aren't going to be able to compete with tech overlords. >> they'll go to doctor's offices. the aging population need magazines. >> barry diller, thank you so much for joining us and touching on so many different issues. thank you. reminder. don't want to miss an exclusive interview coming up in just a little bit. disney's ceo, bob iger, is going to be with the gang, mr. faber and others, "squawk on the street" in just a little bit. we make our way towards the opening bell on wall street. stay tuned. you're watching "squawk box." this is cnbc, and now, the dow aqupres are up by 220 points. nasd, 170. s&p, up by 35. we'll be right back. bringing you an elevated experience, tailor-made for trader minds. go deeper with thinkorswim:
8:56 am
our award-wining trading platforms. unlock support from the schwab trade desk, our team of passionate traders who live and breathe trading. and sharpen your skills with an immersive online education crafted just for traders. all so you can trade brilliantly. (grunting) at morgan stanley, old school hard work 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. (sirens) [due at target in 5!] copy that. make a hard left down the alley. network's got you covered.
8:57 am
[please confirm requesting back-up.] -changing route. -go. roadblock ahead. ...back up, back up... reverse! reverse! next level moments, we're 30 seconds out. need the next level network. [north corridor, hurry!] -coming through! -or 3, let's go. the network more businesses choose. transplant received. at&t business.
8:58 am
8:59 am
the food processor is up just about 4.5% right now. this is the company behind brands like bird's eye frozen veggies, duncan hines cake mix and others. there's still some pursing through the comparability of those reported adjusted profits against estimates, so we'll stay on top of that. we'll stay in food processing. big drop in shares of lamb weston right now. this is america's biggest producer of potato and frozen french fry-type products. profits and revenues both fell shy of consensus estimates, and they cut its full-year forecast. let's end with one of the more notable analyst calls of the morning. shares of capital one financial, 2% upside right now. the retail bank and credit card issuer is getting help from wolf research, which is upgrading its shares. now, you can watch those shares up 1.5%. for more on those calls, other top calls of the day, head over to cnbc.com/pro.
9:00 am
joe, becky, andrew, you get more details there. back to you. >> all right. final check on the markets. we're going to have an in depth discussion now on the fed's next move. we got 11 seconds. >> we'll do that tomorrow when we get jobs friday. >> is that true? >> yes. >> it's like it happens every month or something. >> you're quick. >> it's constant. >> i am. >> make sure you join us tomorrow. "squawk on the street" is next. we have turned the corner and entered a new positive era for the walt disney company. anchoring all of this work are four key priorities. >> disney and bob iger looking to move forward after shareholders re-elected the kmaen's board in this defeat for activist investor nelson peltz. good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer at post nine of the new york stock exchange. david faber is at disney hq in burbank, california. futures solid here as treasurys find some footing in the wake
120 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CNBCUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=728633694)