us. you've got a contract. it's one of those issues. this is one of the few things the ftc is doing -- >> i want to know how it affects me, joe kernen. >> it affects a lot of o people, like hairdressers. >> it can keep us, no matter what. it's nice that they want us. just days before it's said to take it. target set to report. give us an idea. we'll bring you the numbers, reaction on wall street, and an exclusive interview with the man himself, ceo brian cornell. it's wednesday, august 21st. "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, everybody. welcome to squauks right here on cnbc.

we're live from the nasdaq market sooitd in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe ke kernen. >> hi, i'm here. >> andrew is off today. we have a lot of news that's happening. we'll show you very quickly as joe mentioned, not a huge move with equities futures. tow is up, s&p is flats and nasdaq down by 4. yesterday we were telling you we had eight days in a row of gains of nasdaq and the s&p 500. they broke that streak along with a five-day winning streak for the dow. the major averages pulled back, ending the winning stretch for the week. if you look at the month, the dow is flat. the s&p 500 and nasdaq are up each by 1.3%. and then you've got treasury yields this morning. joe was talking about jackson hole. you can see the ten ten /* 10 --

10 yee is flats. goelds is high. it's 25,-- $2,542.80 an ounce, down ever so slightly. yooer to date up by 22%. and crude oil prices pulling back, down by 5% over the last seven days. >> in fedspeak ahead of this week's fed symposium at jackson hole, michelle bowman says she remains positive because of the upside risks of inflation. reacting to any data point can jeopardize the progress that's already been made. she's one of the most hawkish policy meshes at the fed bank. we'll hear from plenty of policy makers starting tomorrow with kansas city ted smith. what could impact them is something the bls does every year. it goes back and looks march to

ma march, and there are -- we don't know what the revision is going to be, but once a year, the march payrolls level is adjustered to a more accurate but less timely data source, called the quarterly census of employment and wages, which is based on something that takes longer to figure out but geshs you a more accurate view. and at this point, up to a million u.s. jobs could vanish in the revision. so at this point -- now, people are saying goldman sachs thinks it will be less. jpmorgan sees a decline of $06,000. goldman sachs says it could be less than a million. we've been adding in our held, 2,040 a month. this would lower it to to 148 down from 242. >> that's a big deal. >> you can imagine what the fed

-- how that would inform the fed's both discussions and actions at jackson hole. so that's 10:00 a.m. we're going to get that number. but, you know, the conspiracy theorists are like, really, a million jobs that every month where we -- oh, better than expected, oh, better than expected, oh, better than expected, and now we find out, a million jobs over 12 months, that's almost 90,000 over the average. >> you talk to liesman about in of these things -- >> where is liesman. >> probably on his way out to jackson hole, i would guess. there are lotses of questionable data sources and better sources he's been trying to tap for a long time, whether it's adp, pair rolls over a large swath of the country, but he's looking for better data sources all the time. >> we all are. we're not really sure. the labor market has looked so strong, but the consumer looks

like there were some cracks? >> that's what we heard from lowe's and home depot we'll hear from today. >> and the selloff now a memory and the vix spup to 50. some are back, but for a while, that selloff that we saw, whatever it was, it was a little correction, but that was on recession fears or hard landing fears or the idea that the soft landing wasn't a given. >> i was going to say, the goldilocks situation. >> it still might be. this could mean that the fed is going to be much more comfortable. >> cutting for a reason. in the meantime, a federal judge has ruled that the ftc cannot enforce its near total ban on noncompete agreements that was set to take effect

early next month. u.s. district judge ada brown who was appointed by president trump in 2019 said the ftc lacked the authority to enact the ban, which she called unreasonably overbrown without a reasonable explanation. a federal judge in pennsylvania had previously sided with the ftc, so that rule is likely headed for a review. noncompetes are becoming increasingly popular. 24% of the work force is subject to them. the provisions harm workers while employers claim they help protect their investments in employees. we know how these have been abused in pretty horrific ways. you walk into a salon and make you sign something that says you can't work within a 30-mile radius after this. >> you don't own me. take this job and -- ♪ >> -- shove it. i'm pushing back against the woman or the man.

>> johnny paycheck. did you know -- >> is that who wrote it? >> johnny paycheck. probably not his real name. shares of jd.com falling sharply after retail walmart confirmed it sold its stake in the chinese firm. walmart said it would allow them to operate in china for walmart china and sam's club. walmart's entered into a strategic alliance with jd.com back in 2016 and took a 5% stake in the company. as of march 31st of this year, that stake had grown to 9.4%. you see jd.com shares down. kick out toll brothers. the home builder recording record quarterly home sales. earnings and revenue for the quarter topped estimates. the company delivered more than 2,800 homes. i understand what they mean.

they finished building. i don't think they're moving them around. >> well, there are some of those homes that are built and delivered. >> there are some rvs. >> it's not just rvs. >> no. it's the double-wide -- >> i was going to say that toll brothers is not that. >> no. the double-wide with the above ground pool. >> clayton homes make them pretty cool. they're kind of amazing. >> i'm from the west side of town in ohio. >> i know. >> i know full well these are my -- >> you can get a -- >> 11%. grew up in the north, adopted all these things, school of hard knocks. ceo doug yearley -- >> and you're afraid of penguins. >> because of those nuns. my food came from bottle all along and i think that scars you

all alo. you know what i mean? >> my food came from a bottle too. not my children's. >> i don't want to know. oh, yes, i'm scarred. i can't unsee that thing. what a contraption. demand is going to remain solid through the end of the year into 2025. i think i brushed against its -- that no, no, no. you were giving me grief at me at one point and i threw a bottle of milk at you. >> that's all right. my coif was good. barack obama and michelle obama head lined last night. megan cassella is there and she joins us with the highlighteds. megan, you've had some really late nights and early mornings and we appreciate you being with us. what happened? >> thank you. it's an after-morning energy after late night and very energetic night of day two at the democratic convention.

the official programming was the role call, the ceremonial role call in which they got to cost their votes for kamala harris. they made a party out of it. a deejay was on stage. when that i got to georgia, lil rapper came out and led the crowd in a chant "we're not going back." as you mentioned, the obamas were the headliners at the end of the evening. michelle came out and said hope is making a comeback, a shot at the democrats. then she made a comment on race. listen it. >> his limited narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by two highly sophisticated educated people who happen to be black. i want to know, who's going to tell him -- who's going to tell him that the job he's currently

seeking just might be one of those black jobs? >> then president obama launched into a speech where he really set bratded joe biden, their friendship and legacy. he spoke how harris is going to take on corporations and he shifted the blame a little bit and started talking about something we haven't been hearing a lot of recently. he talked about polarization and then he made an appeal to members of the democratic partd to listen to moderate and independent voters to make up their minds on who to vote for. let's listen in. >> we need to remember that we've all got our blind spots and contradictions and pr prejudices. and if we want to win over the support of our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. >> now, president trump is continuing to down counterprogr

this week. he'll be in north carolina and he's calling night two of the convention angry, delusional, and devoid of any solutions. >> and what was the message last night? >> chenault had an interesting speech. he tried to make this link between the economy and democracy. it's something we've heard from businesses. e i'm thinking of reid hoffman here where he says the two are link and the reason he's supporting the democratic ticket is because of that stability and democracy. he criticized some of trump's policies on the tariff, but his main argument was the view over stability. >> thank you. >> i was a little chagrinned

that michelle obama didn't utter the words joe biden. and friendship between joe and -- i don't know. i've been reading maybe the behind-the-scenes things are not quite as rosy as they appeared, and if joe biden blames anyone for having the rug pulled out from under him it might be obama himself. >> biden said the night before it wasn't. >> behind the scenes, george clooney said i'm going to pull -- joe biden didn't stop him. a lot of smiles. there's a lot of joy. >> that's what these conventions are for. >> joy. >> it's a pep rally. it's a pep rally. >> it's joy. it's joy. >> these are hard. these are hard conventions to get through. >> tell me about it. >> did you say 76 days of it? >> i can't -- >> 76 days? >> i can't stay up that late.

i condition believe joe stayed up to midnight. i didn't see any of that. when we come back, we'll talk this week's symposium at jackson hole. again, this morning, the futures, everything up a little higher ever so slightly. lauter this hour we have retail. we'll bring you the numbers and then we have an exclusive interview with target's ceo brian cornell. as we head to break, let's take a look at three stocks hitting all-time highs. you had net flex, walmart, and eli lilly. "squawk box" will be right back. (♪♪) what took you so long? i'm sorry, there was a long line at the thai place. you get the sauce i like? of course! you're the man! i wish. the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund

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all right. the faw turs are a little higher this morning. let's talk a little more about the markets with jack cafferty. he's with jpmorgan asset management. this is a big week. i know it's quiet, it's august, right before labor day, but you do have the fed meeting at jackson hole. you have earnings coming out, giving a little more insight to the consumer. as joe said, we've got a revision coming, with what jobs look like for the last year, what the real picture is. what have you been watching here? >> this afternoon might be an important tee-up to what we might hear when we get the fed's minutes in terms of their last meeting. certainly that kicked off the volatility in terms of fed and

fixed income markets. did they have any indication that they got two of the worst data points on the jobs front in the shorter term? i think people will be on edge friday morning trying to understand the parts of the tea leaves, read the statement, pull out all the thesaurus to figure out the vocabulary they used, the breath pause, be more dramatic. >> fair to say, you're expecting what type of tone from the fed? >> i expect the fed to continue their somewhat backward-looking bias toward looking back. i think data-dependent is a nicer way of saying backward-looking real estate than forward-looking. >> you don't think a cut is coming? >> i think they've been talking about plans for a cut but have been struggling with what's been

an okay economic growth when you look at the gdp now statistics. that's above their trend growth rate. certainly the tones recently have been much more to emphasize employment. the challenge we have is the number the bond market keeps talking about. a 50-point basis cut at the possibility or another. that's not something the equity market wants to consider because that would be a fed -- i don't want to say panic mode, but that would certainly be reflective of a much more dire situation than i think stocks are pricing in at this point. >> where do you think the economic situation stands? what's your understand lying view? what do you think? >> i think we have to look -- partially we have to look within the stock mark and that's where things look a little trickier.

it's been utilities, been looking at defense contractors. it's been looking at tobacco stocks. those are certainly very late-cycle movers and that would certainly say people are setting up for something much more defensive, but at the same time, the magnificent 7 has been pretty sig nif kent. >> what would you tell them? would you tell them to buy? save up for a rainy day? >> i think they should be at the margin shifting toward quality with their partneortfolio. i think you want companies that have relatively lower debt because ultimately that's going to be a cost people will be paying at higher rates. >> even if the fed cuts rates? do you think the fed's cutting rates or not? >> i think the fed's cutting rates. i think they're in a position to be cutting rates right before the election where the fed would

prefer not to be perceived as a political avenue and they'll be savage for taking too aggressive an action or not aggressive enough, depending on what side of the spectrum you're on, whether it helps your chances or not. i'll come back to companies that have a more consistent relationship rather than i need cheaper financing for you to do this. >> if you're about to get relief -- >> that helps your short-term funding. if you start looking at the 10-year, 380 on the 10-year, that's helping the mortgage market come in. we'll get data in the next few minutes. in terms of can you restart the refi engine. i think equally important we have had a housing market that's felt unfrozen p and what is the real estate commission which just changed, i think, just last saturday. >> what do you i think the better perception of the market

is? what we see right now, the market's up seven, eight days in a rolw, a slight pullback, or what we saw a few weeks ago when the vix was at 50? >> if we're talking about a vix that went from 15 to 50 -- >> there was a lot of talk that was the beginning of something? was that the beginning of something? >> it turned out to be a horrible morning. two days later it was like, yeah, that's painful, like stubbing your toe. >> that almost looks like a fat finger. it almost looks like a mistake, but it actually happened. 12 to 50, that's unbelievable to get this type of -- if if you had options or had owned a vix. >> had you been long vix future, you would have had a great year at 10:30 in the morning. >> if it sold. >> total head fake. >> we're still operating with -- if you look at yield curve volatility, that prijted last

monday afternoon and the split is at 110. it's sort of interesting the risk-free asset continues to price in. we don't have great certainty for the outlook on yields, and at the same time the market is saying, nothing to see here, remain calm, stay long, i do think it makes sense in terms of speck lar growth and i don't think you want to play with the cyclicals. >> if the fear -- >> not the shallow end, but i think it a is the less exploited end because people don't want to be average, but i think average might be ubds researched, under followed. >> if the fear a month ago was he had underestimated the labor increases and the labor market was in worse shape than we thought, that was a month ago, and now we get this number today -- i don't know what it's going to be -- what if it's a million

fewer jobs in the year ending in march than what we thought. does that put us back in panic mode or is it good because the fed will definitely be cutting? >> i think it will be greater comfort for the bond market and they think it's the cavalry coming to the fore. but we're not going to revise initial jobless claims. that's the data we get every thursday. >> they started going up too. >> they fire -- they spike fair and then they've been easing and better than expected. the tricky thing is if you look at u.s. economic surprises, they even been weak, but they're much better on the g-10. we remain, you know, the best house in more of a challenged neighborhood economically than people want to say. but i come back to, you know, 2% growth earlier in my career eh. then it became pretty terrific. we're finally our way back to

ter terrific. to challenge those, getting consistent isn't relative to the basis points in a relatively short time. there's inconsistencies there. if you don't have to take a strong view or can take an 18-month or 24-month view, it makes more sense. coming up, chinese shein is suing rival temu for something both companies have been accccud of doing. >> it's pretty rich. >> yeah. the jackson hole symposium starts tomorrow. kansas city fed chair who's mena is jeff schmid will be with us.

we'll be right back.

time now for the executive edge. chinese-linked fashion retailer shein is suing rival temu, alleging that that retailer stole its designs and built an empire using counterfeit ing, electropolicy infringement, as well as fraud. it's notable because shein faces accusations from a wide variety of brands. >> that a's all they do is rob stuff. >> including levi strauss and h&m. let me ask you something. if the quality of, let's say, the bag you were buying was identical, would you still feel like you were -- like does it

make a difference? those chanel bags -- >> dude, i'm not a brand label person, so -- >> i know people who are. and chanel bags -- that i don't own one that you don't own one. >> no. the bag that i have right now, you know where i got that bag. >> where? >> target. you know what'ses out right now? target's results. target just reported earnings of $2.50 a share. that's much better than the $2.18 the street was looking for. it came on a revenue of $25.45 billion. that was better than expectations. same-store sales were up by 2%. that returns the company to growth. it's the first time they've seen sales growth for the first time this quarter. the digital comps up 8.7%. most importantly for target,

you've got traffic up be i 3%. for your the full year target is raising its yearly targeguidanc 9.6%. target's ceo brian cornell is going to be joining us at the top of the hour. that's a cnbc interview. increases in traffic again too. >> 9%. whew. that's pretty good news. long-term chart, it's got a ways to go. >> it was one of the pandemic darlings, too, as long with the o'retailers. the retailers who were open during the pandemic saw a huge flood of people coming in. a huge part of that were people fixing up their homes. it also mattered in electronics. people bought a ton of electronics. but apparel and accessories looks like they have growth once

again in that -- in those sectors, and that's a big deal. >> war matter's been hitting new highs, all-time highs. >> yesterday they hit an all-time high. >> a nice five-year comp chart would illustrate some of the issues that targets seemed to faced that walmart hadn't faced. we can ask brian about that. he's been very forthcoming about some of the issues that he had to deal with. >> yeah. >> inventory, canada, a weird thing. >> big issues that came along the way. the biggest guidance for the company was $1.25. came in at 50 increments. first time you're seeing a big jump. >> not too bad. 50s is not bad. when we come back, another major chip company disclosing a cyber attack. we've got the details next. right now as we head to break, take a look at yesterday's winners and losers.

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good morning. welcome back to "squawk box." checking the futures this morning, we have seen a little bit of an uptick with the dow. up 15 points. here's another look at target shares. targets is not a dow component but it's a really important retailer, i would say, after amazon and walmart. we're going to talk to ceo brian cornell in just about -- about the quarter in just about 20 minutes in a cnbc exclusive interview. i think he's here with us. >> yes, on set with us. >> awesome. microsoft technology disclosed yesterday that some of its servers and business operations had been disrupted by a cyber incident. the company said it detected potentially suspicious activity

in its i.t. systems on saturday and shut down some of those systems in response. it launched an investigation with the help of outside cybersecurity advisers. the company said the full scope and impact of the breach is not yet known. ai's startup anthropic was hit with a class-action lawsuit in california this week of alleged copyright infringement. that lawsuit brought up by three authors alecs anthropic downloaded hundreds of copies of copyrighted books. they fed the pirated companies into its large language models. anthropic faces a similar suit against sound lyrics. it was founded by ai researchers and backed by amazon, google, and salesforce, and things are getting interesting. big issues about all of these

things. >> i mean, i know i'm not a robot, but did you -- dud you see this sam altman thing? it was on the front page of the "journal". on the right side there's something called an orb it will classify everyone's irises which is much more than fingerprinting. >> why would we do this. >> because there will come a time when we need to be able to discern whether a person is a human or a robot. we got into talking about it because he wants to pay for it with his crypto kur enis i is called world coin. he wants to register every person on the planet. we need to do that. >> no. >> i think mark zuckerberg already can't pass that

supposedly. >> i think he's gotten better at it. >> he's got the hair down, surfboards and stuff. i'm human, i swear. >> ultimate fighting-type stuff. >> i'm human after all. >> we're going to turn that over to sam altman and say, i'm going to turn that over to you? >> coming up, we're going to examine the dueling economic agendas. it was the front page right-hand column of "the wall street journal." i was reading it. i was looking to see if it was april 1st, to know whether you're a human or robot, we're going to need to know. a reminder, get the best of "squawk box" -- >> he's just the person to keep that inform snoogs yeah, exactly. follow squawk pod on your favorite podcast app. we'll be right back.

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former american express ceo ken chenault, here's what he had to say about economic policy. >> unlike her opponent, she knows how not to build your advanced economy is a broad tariff that would only raise prices, hurt consumers, businesses, and cost jobs. she knows the way not to do it is to give people like me a tax cut when that money should be invested to grow the middle class. if you want to lead, you have to be willing to serve. kamala harris's vision for the economy serves us all. >> because middle class has been doing so well with wages still

down from when biden took office. joining us to talk about the candidate's plans, lonny. for them to come on and speak and not mention the proposals that are coming out now, the capital gains t highest since 1922, at 44.6%, 25% tax on unrealized gains, price controls on grocery prices, there's a laundry list of some of the most radical economic proposals. i think it's biden 2.0. is it that different than what he said he wanted to do but was unable to accomplish? >> i think it's a very similar perspective, but it's hypercharged. you talk about enhancements for down payments for people.

the challenges sound politically appealing, but the execution creates some serious question. >> how do you do a 25% tax on gains? what if it -- like stocks do, just look at the 52 -- what if it goes down and gets cut in half the next year? do you get the money back? >> you can try to get the money back. i think the challenge is that's why this kind of proposal has always been stuck. it's an administrative morass, first of all. how are you going to make this happen? there's a bigger question f what's the right direction of the economy going forward and the perspective? it's two different visions you're seeing. this is an election where you see some similarities, but there are some significant contrasts between what trump and vance would do and what harris and walz would do, and i think it's going to be an exciting debate because on the capital gains issues, on these issues around

price gouging, for example, very different views of the economy. >> could i ask one thing? if you're astasking unrealized gains, how would you -- >> it feels like the same kinds of accounting gimmicks that you get in a lot of budget writing now. >> when you would have sold anyway. >> absolutely, absolutely. and then the question of when you realize it. and the huge point, joe, what about value changes over the years and then are there inflows and outflows from it? it's vest very complex. it's a different way of looking at the tacks. >> give it to me now. >> we had leader hakeem jeffries on. the capital gaines -- i'm sorry, the corporate tax rate going back from 21 to 28% p, everyone poin po

points out it was 34. trump took it down too low, 21. there's nothing wrong with going back to 28. we've had people on who said they have built things here because it's 21% that cfo of j&j, there has been a lot of manufacturing comeback. a lot of good things have happened from a lower tax rate. and then it occurred to me, i keep hearing that the u.s. has emerged from the pandemic because of bidenomics better than any other country, right? it's really been because of our economy, isn't it? because of our corporations? because of the private sector. they celebrate the private sector because it certainly wasn't the government that did this. >> i don't know if you listened to last night. it seemed that there was a celebration. >> is it really the private sector? why do they want to hamper -- and they're also subsidizing select industries with the c.h.i.p.s. act and the ir -- >> the policy -- >> they want to raise taxes on

one hand and subsidize on the other. >> it makes sense from the political -- it's all about politics because the corporate tax rate is very hard to explain to the average voter in the sense of, you say, well, look, corporations are getting a massive tax cut. what they don't realize is two things. first of all, you've got a bunch of people who plan, to your point. the one thing businesses hate the most is uncertainty. you start reopening all of this. that creates a challenge around how the economy grows. >> you're okay with 28 -- now you're sounding like romney's guy, this sort of rhino mess. >> it is. >> you're fine to 28? >> i want the corporate tax rate where it is, right? but may point is -- ai'm trying to explain why it is that it's become such a powerful talking point. it's much easier to say, let's go hit the corporations. >> it's not at fair. >> there are two issues.

one is certainty. the other issue is we're trying to battle all of the behavior that happened before we cut the corporate tax rate. all of the inversions, all of the different kinds of activity that kept corporate activity outside of the united states. it's just going to come back if you raise the united states. it is going to come back if you raise the corporate tax rate. >> could you think at this point the advantage or the what democrats get out of appealing to the populist side of things, does that -- is that accrue net-net for more benefits than smel some people who look at these and say this is bernie sanders, elizabeth warren time economic -- >> that's the question of the election. if people see it as bernie sanders socialist style and believe it has gone too far, that creates political challenges. >> they already had their base. i don't know why they -- >> but i think for a lot of working americans right now, i

think that's the challenge, how do you appeal to working americans. and the democrats have made the bet that it is going to be primarily by moving entirely in this populist direction, and they have sort of essentially unmoored themselves from any reality on a lot of these economic policies. >> is it an advantage she can run against, say, i'm going to on day one, i'm going to change what the last three and a half years have brought? >> look at last night's speeches, they try to -- they try to make kamala harris into the candidate of change. forgetting the fact that the vice president of the united states for several years, right? that will be a challenge -- that's a leap for a lot of people. if they can get there successfully, politically, they will be politically successful. they will be able to win votes if they're able to convey her as somehow this candidate of change. that's going to be the big battle. who represents change? you look at every single poll about the economy, about where our political system is, people are not happy, and so if you can be the candidate of change, you're going to be successful.

i think that's going to be the battle we see over the next couple of months. >> lanhee, we will know, i don't know which polls to believe, internal polls, external polls, betting sites. betting sites are all over the place. betting sites have moved back in trump's favor, i don't know why. >> started with the -- price gouging. >> price gouging. everyone is seeing milton friedman explain to the late -- >> margins are too big. >> exactly. >> that's the problem. >> and the other thing, so for 40 years, corporations didn't know how to price gouge. and then all of a sudden, biden came in and they figured out how to price gouge. >> the question becomes, is she catering more to the left wing of the party, rather than running to the center? it was that day, and then what happened on monday. >> tim walz was the first -- >> that was first salvo. >> first clue. >> and her view must be that somehow this is appealing to, you know --

>> her view? >> the median voter. >> i think the calculus is get out the vote, do you want to get out the vote and inspire people who wouldn't vote otherwise or try and run to the -- tack to the center and take the undecided voter? >> the low propensity vote erk t, the voter who doesn't vote a lot, are they goin ining to fin price gouging appealing? because this game is for everyone. why do couples choose a sleep number smart bed? i need it a little cool and i need it a lot of cool. we're both cool like that. sleep number does that. actively cools and warms on each side. during our biggest sale of the year, save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed shop now at a sleep number store near you.

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it's mine. you, ok? yeah, are you ok? we're fine. my serve. maybe we should stop. this pinewood pickleball champ stops for no one. we got our melons checked. she had a concussion. admitting i was wrong is worse than losing at pickleball. saving your brain is a definite win. don't mess with your melon. if you hit it, get it checked. still to come this morning, the biggest name in luxury is betting on a.i. lvmh chief bernard arnault pouring some of his personal fortune into several tech startups. we've got that story next. target just reporting results earlier this morning, that stock

now up more than 15%. it beat earnings expectations on the top and the bottom line, me sresed traffic by 3%, saw sato sales growth for the first time in five quarters. the target ceo brian cornell will join us in a few minutes in a cnbc exclusive interview.

(grandpa) i'm the richest guy in the world. (man 1) i have time to give. (man 2) i have people i can count on.

(grandma) and a million stories to share. (vo) the key to being rich is knowing what counts. macy's just reporting earnings of 53 crept cents a sh. revenue of 4.49 billion with same store sales on an own basis fell 4%. analysts were looking for a drop of less than 1%. the stock is down on that.

and despite the earnings outperformance, the company is not raising its full year outlook, and it is cutting revenue guidance to reflect in their words a more discriminating consumer and heightened promotional environment relative to prior expectations. >> wow. all right, let's look at the futures this morning, overall, you'll see that they're up across the board, dow futures now up close to 70 points. s&p futures up about by 10. the nasdaq up by 37. over to frank holland with a look at this morning's premarket movers. frank, what's leading the way? >> good morning to you, becky. texas instruments moving to a buy and 235 a share. citi cites the chipmaker flagging expectations of lower capex and margins bottoming during the capital management call yesterday. the earnings come one week from today with nvidia. moving on, bank of america, cutting its price target on

lowe's from 280 to 275. continued pressures around do it yourself home repairs, lowe's lowered its own eps and same store sales guidance yesterday. lowes just down fractionally right now. we're looking at one more earnings mover, toll brothers, higher on earnings on beats on the top and bottom line, also raised its full year delivery guidance. shares up just about 1%. the company added expected to reach a target of double digit growth when it comes to communities they build in. they added the company has sufficient inventory for continued growth and for building. shares of toll brothers up 1%. becky, back over to you. >> frank, thank you. when it comes to investing his personal fortune, luxury king bernard arnault is betting big on a.i. robert frank joins us right now with more. hi, robert. >> good morning, becky. good to see you both. bernard arnault's family office has invested in five a.i. startups, that's more than any other investment category, according to exclusive data from

fintrix. the french company is working on general a.i. and was founded by former members of google's deep mind a.i. project. arnault investing in lamini, enterprise a.i. company and proxima. other investments include borderless a.i. and photoroom. the amounts of his investments at least on a dollar basis are not disclosed since family offices are not made to disclose any investments. but arnault is the third richest man and has a long history of betting his own money on tech. early investor in netflix, spotify, and airbnb. not all of his tech bets have paid off. he invested in what he said was 75 internet companies during the

dotcom boon and said some made it, many didn't. a.i. is the favorite private investment for all family offices, 78% of them plan to invest in a.i. in the next two years, according to a new survey from ubs. for more on how family offices and the wealthy are investing, you can sign up for my inside wealth newsletter at cnbc.com/insidewealth or scan the code on your screen. >> and an excellent newsletter it is. we were just talking earlier this morning about how anthropic was hit with this copy right infringement lawsuit in california, class action lawsuit. and that's got to be the big question on all of these high flyers, these a.i. -- >> there was a recent deal with conde nast, so, there is going to be some lawsuits, some questions around content, but what is clear is that family offices suddenly, which basically invested a lot in the private sector, have more than half their money in alternatives as opposed to public equities,

in the private markets right now, a.i. is by far the dominant theme. i did a piece on jeff bezos and he's invested all of his family office investments this year, every one of them is in a.i. and one of his investments, perplexity, he invested in january and april. in those three months, that value of that january investment doubled. so, there are a lot of questions as you point out to the future of a.i., especially as it relates to copy right, but the valuations and the private markets are big and since family offices are now a $6 trillion pool of capital, they are replacing venture capital and private equity, but -- >> like golden tickets, if you can get your hands on them. they're high flyers, maybe not all of them take off. but if you have a few that did take off like netflix and a couple others -- >> it is the same playbook he used during the dotcom boon, some of them didn't pay off, but the ones did paid off big.

when we come back, target ceo brian cornell on the retailer's latest results. the state of the consumer, what he thinks about price controls and so much more. that's right after this. and later, congressman josh gottheimer will join us live from chicago as we get set for day three of the democratic convention. "squawk box" will be right back. ameritrade is now part of schwab. bringing you an elevated experience, tailor-made for trader minds. ♪♪ go deeper with thinkorswim: 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. ♪♪

ryan t. writes, "moving is stressful. can you help me take one thing off of my to do list?” ugh, moving's the worst. with xfinity, you can transfer your internet in just a few taps. just a few easy moves. did somebody say “easy moves”? ♪ ♪ oh no. no, i was talking about moving your internet. this will move the internet. ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh. -let's keep it professional. professional dancers! -ok! stay connected during your move with the best in home wifi. easily transfer your services in the xfinity app. bring on the good stuff. all right, welcome back, everybody. target reporting quarterly results in the last hour. take a look at the stock. it is up by 14%. and joining us right now is target's chairman and ceo brian cornell. brian, the earnings very strong,

$2.57 a share versus the $2.18 the street was expecting and your previous guidance, comps were up 2%, traffic was up 3%. you said this was going to be a quarter of growth and it was. >> it has been a good day for the target brand and a great day for the target team. i think we checked a lot of boxes today. if you look at the pnl and reported earlier this morning, we said q2 is a time we get back to growth and that's driven by traffic. traffic up 3% was an important marker for us. overall comps, plus 2%. we saw acceleration in digital, led our driveup and target circle, those were up over 14%. and from an overall performance standpoint, for income rate to get back to 6%, people have been waiting n ing for that for a wh. and cps up over 40%, i feel good about the progress we're making

in the quarter. >> what was the key? was it traffic? >> i think target being target, getting back to leveraging our great national brand partnerships, our own brands, some of those unique partnerships we put together came together in the quarter. and we were very focused on delivering value in this environment. and we made a big commitment, we reduced prices on over 5,000 items. those items that are the most frequently purchased. and the consumers recognize that. but we have driven great traffic into our stores and business to our site, great value, great newness, and i think we hit the market in the quarter. >> when you look at the 5,000 items you cut prices on, were those the items that were showing up in every basket or can you tell how linked that was to the traffic? >> absolutely. those are the most frequently purchased items. we also know, becky, when you visit our store, you come in for those household essentials, food and beverage, a big part of our business is the and. you're shopping for apparel. apparel was a standout performer

in the quarter, up 3%. within parts of apparel, all in motion performance line grew in the midteens. a real standout performer. and we're taking share in those spaces. i was actually in new york a few weeks ago with investors, and i had a number of pms mention to me, brian, i only buy all in motion now. i used to buy a national brand, but the quality, the design, and the val ue is so good, i have t buy it and they buy it for their kids. another talked about the fact that for my kids, the design, the quality, the value is so good, i'm saving 60% or 70% versus the national brand. that's all i buy. when we get that combination right of great design being on trend and value, good things happen. >> so, we're looking at a consumer that has been facing some pressure from what we heard in a lot of other sectors. from a lot of other stores, from a lot of other companies. what do you see with the consumer right now? >> the three of us talked about it quite a bit over the last couple of years. we continue to see an incredibly

resilient consumer. they have been facing the pressure of inflation, and rising interest rates. they continue to look for value. but we have seen a pretty steady consumer environment. i think part of it is we still have a very strong labor market. but a consumer who is managing their budget carefully, looking for value and we're delivering value right now. >> we have seen some cracks around the edges in some places, whether that's consumer concerns, the fed survey earlier this week that showed concerns about whether they would still be employed down the road, other places where it looks like maybe the jobs number is going to be revised pretty heavily and expecting that number at 10:00 a.m. what do you see, what can you tell us about whether those concerns are something we should worry about? >> i think the consumer today is going to continue to look for value over the balance of this year, i think they'll be seeking value for every essential, she shop for food and beverage. as they start to get back into discretionary spending, they're looking for value. for us to be up 3% in apparel,

and starting to see green chutes in other parts of our home and hard-lines category tells us consumers were still shopping, but on a budget, looking for value and we deliver great quality and value, they're shopping at target. >> have you boosted any of your profits from gouging on prices yet? and how prevalent and pervasive do you think that was in terms of causing the recent 40-year highs in inflation? >> joe, again, we talked about the fact, we reduced prices on 5,000 items, but value is in our dna. you go back to the brand promise, expect more, pay less. it is what we do -- >> you haven't done that. do you think it -- do you know anyone who has? any of your competitors? >> i'll put my retail hat on for a second. you two talked to industry leaders in every different sector. is there a more competitive space than retail? big multinationals. >> or lower overall margins. >> we're celebrating the fact that we delivered margin rate of

over 6%. you talked to other ceos who are delivering income of 20, 30, 40, 50%. so, we're in a penny business. >> should we go after them? >> i think from a retail standpoint, though, you got physical stores, digital stores, you can shop socially. people can pull up their phone like becky and check the price of milk at retailers. >> she does that. so does andrew. >> it is a penny business and it is a very competitive space and we provide the value consumers are looking for. >> we talked about it a little, i'm sort of crazy, i think corporate tax rates should be zero. i want to compete globally as well as we can. we can find other ways to do it. raise taxes somewhere else. but i want corporations to beat all the global competitors and have all the money to innovate and do everything that they do. so we're now hearing it was 34,

we went to 21, most people thought that was too far, back to 28 would be a good move. would that hurt the corporate sector if we went back to 28? >> from where i sit, target is one of the great american companies, all of our 2,000 stores are here in the united states. we employ over 3,000 team members, mostly in the u.s. and when it was 35, we paid 35%. when it dropped to 22 -- >> they say no one does that. >> we did. but more importantly, joe, when the taxes were reduced, we put our capital to work. since 2017, when the corporate taxes were reduced, we spent close to $50 billion of capital, building new stores, remodeling over a thousand store. it gave us a chance to accelerate investments. we put the dollars back into our business. it helped us grow since 2017 our top line almost $40 billion. that's the way america should

work. >> what about your wages? >> our wages have gone up. we put capital in the stores and remodels, we built new distribution centers, that creates jobs at target, but also all those construction workers benefit from the fact that we're building again and we put those dollars to work. so, i think those corporate taxes, we're an example of a company that put it back in the business, created more jobs, grew the top line. >> what happens if it goes back to 28%? >> we're still going to win best, but we'll have to think how we pace it. i think our example is one that other companies should look at. >> would you urge policymakers not to raise corporate taxs? >> absolutely. i think we got those examples, joe. we're going to put the capital back to work, it is going to create more jobs, we took care of our team members, we raised wages, improved benefits, gave them debt free educational assistance and grew the top line and benefited shareholders. but we created jobs because we had more flexibility, and more

dollars to invest, it grew the top line, but it created jobs across america. and we think that's a model others can follow. >> you don't do anything based on capital gains rates, do you? would that be a detrimental to target if capital gains taxes -- >> it is not at the top of our list. >> this is more important. >> what about share buybacks? >> well, becky, this quarter we have improved our balance sheet, we generated a lot of cash, we continue to pay our dividend, we continue to invest in our business, but we started to buyback shares. >> yeah. go through some of those things too. >> you are a minnesota company, and your governor walz is now tapped as kamala harris' running mate. what is your relationship with governor walz? what would you say along those lines? >> we're based in minnesota, we have a relationship with the governor, as we do with other elected officials. i've been in his office. he's been in ours. we have a good working relationship. and we'll be watching carefully as new policies come forward. >> back to what you see with inflation, we're talking a lot

about how the consumer has weakened, how the economy has weakened, and that is giving the federal reserve the potential to lower rates. big meeting this week, where they're going to be talking about some of these things in jackson hole. where do you see inflation right now? is that still a problem? still a little higher than the 2% target. >> well, certainly in categories like food and beverage, since 2019, prices are up 20%, 25%, but they started to stabilize. i think anything the fed can do to benefit the consumer as we go into the holiday season, you know, we'll certainly applaud that. >> okay. brian, want to thank you very much for being with us. take a look at those shares, up by more than 13% this morning. you're here in good times and bad, and we appreciate it. >> good to see you. >> thank you. >> sorry to drag -- and he's so good, because you -- everything you answer, you answer in terms of target and how it affects what you're trying to do for employees and shareholders and everything else. so, we appreciate that.

>> always good to be here. >> all right. thank you. up next, gold gaining 22% so far this year, fueled by geopolitical concerns in the election. you got customers on both sides of the aisle obviously. so gold glittering rally continues. we'll discuss that after the break. and edgar bronfman making a bid for paramount global. we'll hear about the battle for the company. as we head to break, here is today's aflac trivia question. the securities exchange commission was created under which president? >> i know, i know. >> you do? >> i do. >> jfk? >> no. earlier, right? >> that's right. that's right. that's why i was -- yeah. >> i don't know. we're giving it away. stay tuned and find out the answer. >> the original rooster in the hen house. >> fox in the hen house. lped par medical expenses, groceries, rent. it really helped close that gap. (whisper) go, go, go! (group) yay! go aflac! go duck! get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover.

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> and now the answer to today's aflac trivia question. the securities and exchange commission was created under what president? the answer, franklin d. roosevelt. that agency was created as part of the securities exchange act and part of roosevelt's new deal program. of course, it was after the

crash and people wanting some answers to what happened after all those times. >> guess we need the s.e.c. probably. what did elon call it? >> i don't think you're allowed to repeat that. >> i saw a tesla yesterday, i didn't like it. it had a bumper sticker. >> mm-hmm. >> elon, shut up. have you seen that? >> isn't that like shut up and dribble? >> i think it is. i think it is someone -- i think it is -- i'm referencing someone else saying it, i may have agreed with it, but, no, you know, the -- this is a person who -- >> i'll buy the car. >> she bought it under false -- she would say under false pretenses probably. >> maybe, maybe not. >> saving the world and now this guy is a trumpster. i didn't sign on for this. >> all right, some breaking news for you, an energy deal just announced. coal companies arch resources and consol are combining with a

market value of $5.2 billion. that combined company will be called core natural resources. arch shareholders will receive 1.3 shares of consol's common stock for each share of arch that they own. the company's expected annual cost savings of $110 million to $140 million. you take a look, right now, arch resources shares up about 3%, unchanged right now for consol. we'll dig a little deeper into it. the merger of equals, you got to wonder who the management team is, who the rest of it and we'll find out more of those answers and get back to you. gold prices up more than 20% this year on a variety of things. global tensions, maybe the anticipation of rate cuts, joining us now ryan macintyre, sprot managing partner. and the big proponents of gold and there are many and they have a lot of passion, a lot of

times, ryan, they are pointing to now a clear divergence between gold and fake digital gold, they would call it, and how it is distinguished itself once again when the going really does get tough, when we're really worried about inflation, really worried about global tensions, some of the smart money seems to go toward gold. and it seems to be uncorrelated to risk assets. >> yeah, no, absolutely. i think, you know, gold has proven itself over many years to be a great store of value. >> like 6,000. >> during many periods of uncertainty. >> like how many years? just a rough calculation, what do you think? >> thousands. >> thousands? yeah. amazing. at this point, it has gotten above resistance and you have -- do you look at the technical side of things? what is possible over the next 18 months? >> well, there is a lot of

factors at play and we continue to be very positive towards gold, you know, central banks have been big buyers of it the last several years, and one of the interesting things is that it only has been very recently just starting in may where we actually have seen inflows into the etfs that are backed by gold. and so to us that's a whole new source of madness coming in. so we see gold as being very positive over the next 18 months and beyond, frankly. >> so, do you have a number or do you do technicals? is there an x resistance level? >> the next resistance level we see is around 25, 50, that sort of next stop, you know in the next few months here. but we -- >> that's $2. give me something i can use, please. >> well, that's $2 over the december price, i guess, on the futures basis, but still $50 higher than the spot. >> all right. >> but it has done very well this year. up over 20% and frankly, you

know, to me, there is a lot of positives that are sort of in the works now. >> money printing? what is it this time? >> yeah, so i think to me the biggest thing is probably the fiscal situation that many western governments are in. we're running 7% deficits today, in a nonrecessionary environment, which is pretty unique circumstance. and if you look at our debt situation that we have in this country, and frankly other western countries, it is not like we're starting off at a great place either from fiscal responsibility. i think that's one part of it. and from, you know, a stored value sense of things, as you mentioned, people are looking for that and either bitcoin or gold, and i think the one great thing about gold is that it is a real asset that is tangible and proven to have a sophisticated, you know, uncorrelated and frankly the only true hedge against i would say elevated sovereign risk that we see in the future. >> very good. okay.

ryan, thank you. been a while since we have been talking about new highs in gold every day and it seems like we are or have been recently. >> arch resources and consol, consol is the bigger market cap, arch is smaller, afterwards, consol will be 55%, arch will be 45%. the president and cfo at consol will be the president and cfo of the new company. it is a shareholder swap. >> what is the bottom line there? >> 1.32 -- >> couple of companies holding on to each other or we're still going to need some of this stuff. >> they didn't say that in the press release. i'm still reading. >> india and china are using more coal and producing more coal than ever before. >> yeah. and that's part of the reason for this.

they say they're going to have access, the north american coal producer will have worldwide reach with access to international markets. >> maybe we can do clean coal and make people happy. need something. >> yeah. >> wind might not blow, sun may not shine. >> work on it all the time. when we come back, edgar bronfman jumping into the race to acquire national amusements, that's the company that controls paramount global. we'll talk about that move, this new bid, what it means for the other players in the media world, what this bid looks like. "squawk box" will be right back. the places we cheer. trust. hang out. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. powering more businesses than anyone. powering possibilities.

it's mine. you, ok? yeah, are you ok? we're fine. my serve. maybe we should stop. this pinewood pickleball champ stops for no one. we got our melons checked. she had a concussion.

admitting i was wrong is worse than losing at pickleball. saving your brain is a definite win. don't mess with your melon. if you hit it, get it checked. ahead of this week's fed sim symposium in jackson hole, fed governor michelle bowman said she remains cautious about any shift in policy because of the upside risks of inflation. she warned that overreacting to any single data point could jeopardize the progress that already has been made by the fed. bowman has been one of the most hawkish policy members at the central bank. the fomc will be releasing its minutes from its last month's meeting, that comes this afternoon ahead of that symposium. cnbc's covering that event, steve liesman will be there and is bringing us interviews all this week, starting tomorrow with kansas city fed president

jeff schmidt. coming up, rich greenfield here for the battle for paramount global and check out the shares of tjx rising after earnings were better than peedthe top and bottom lines. revenue as well. raising guidance, earnings guidance for the full year. we'll be right back. it's time to grow your business. create a website. how? godaddy. coding... nah. but all that writing... nope. ai, done, built. let's get to work. create a beautiful website in minutes

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veteran media executive edgar bronfman jr. submitted a bid to control national amusement, that was raised yesterday and now there is lots of speculation about what's going to happen. joining us right now is rich greenfield, lightshed partners of -- the co-founder there. rich, i want to go back to something you said last friday, and then update your thoughts today. you said why would anyone in their right mind battle one of the richest families in the world to acquire paramount? let's ignore its breakup fee to skydance, let's ignore the fact that most investors believe skydance is overpaying for paramount, you say, by the way, the family could easily sweeten

their offer and win anyway. yesterday, you said you think edgar bronfman jr.'s bid is in pole position. you changed your mind completely. why is that? >> we haven't changed our mind completely. we are speculating whether or not something meaningful has changed. it is because the investor group, you know, there were details leaked out to the media of who is in the investor group backing bronfman. and there is at least one party that has ties -- direct ties to the redstone family. we find it bizarre or -- i don't believe in coincidences, becky. and so it is a little strange to go why would bronfman -- you read what i wrote on friday, why would bronfman be doing this, why would he be gathering the investor group that he did with some of the names that are in the investor group. why do all that, if you have literally no shot at winning and the redstones don't want this to occur. something just feels very

strange and we wonder, you know, originally, his current bid, the bronfman bid today does not have a tender for paramount b shareholders, that's what all the public investors watching this own right now, versus 50% tender offer from the ellison bid. however, based on conversations that we had in the last 24 hours, it sounds like bronfman is trying to tender for at least 25% or 30%. they're going to say, we're going to tender for less, but we're not going to dilute you with a big asset and other studio we're pushing into this combined company. and they're going to basically go to the special committee and say, which is better? and it is going to be hard to know how the special committee assesses those two. i certainly come back to the fact, how could you vote against ellison with those deep pockets? that seems like a long-term strategic mistake. but we can't foot why is bronfman bidding? that's the missing link here, becky.

why would you bid if you definitely can't win. that's a bizarre behavior. >> so who is the investor that has the close ties to the redstone family? >> you know, if you look across that investor list, there is certainly at least one investor that i think you'll be fairly obvious to folks that when you see it, you'll go, why would that person be included? >> who? tell me. i don't have the list in front of me. >> i'm going to leave it vague for now. but there is definitely a puersn in that group that stands out and gives me pause. you saw our notable change in opinion. i think you have to -- everyone watching this should be thinking twice over what happens next. now, if i were sitting there, i don't think this is a question. do you think about what's happening to media, you, andrew, joe, becky, we all talked about the challenges facing media over the next decade. having deep pockets and having the ability to invest

aggressively, not just in programming, but marketing and tech, it is going to be really important for the future to have all of that capital and firepower. that's what you should want. and what is strange here is that we really thought that redstone wanted to leave this to a deep pocketed family. bronfman, sure, bronfman is wealthy, but not on an ellison scale wealthy and he packaged together 20 plus people in the investor group. the ellison fortune and red bird capital and that's about it. so, it is a very simple, basically the family is taking control of this asset very, very different here and it is -- it is really hard to understand, maybe relations between redstone and ellison or redstone and skydance fell apart and that's why we're at this jufncture. there is a chance all of this is to get skydance and ellison to raise their bid or provide legal coverage. this could all be a smoke

screen, just to make it easier on the existing bid. it is just weird if that's -- if edgar is being played here, it is a little weird. >> it is hard to imagine edgar going along with that. >> i know. that's -- that's the thing, becky, the fact pattern. if you look at all the facts here, it doesn't make sense. why waste your time. >> very quickly, which bid that you've seen so far, and by the way, my understanding is that the bid could be sweetened from here, so this is opening salvos on a new thing, if they can get them to extend the -- if they get the executive committee to extend the period that you're going to be looking at these things. you could see higher bids from there. which situation benefits class b shareholders the most? >> i mean, you would have to say, if you're tendering for 50% of the shares at 15, a b shareholder will want the ellison bid. i don't think there is any question. if people believe that a tender offer -- a second offer with a far smaller tender, even if

dilution and better long-term strategy, my guess is investors will sell fistrst and not wait see if the other strategy works out better longer term. they're going to want the larger tender at least in the short-term. if you're a b shareholder, you would want the ellison bid today, just because you want that 50% sale at 15 with the stock trading at 11. >> rich, the demise of the linear tv, let's say you hired, you know, the geniuses of content production to come up to the greatest slate of shows you possibly could, for thursday night, must see tv. i don't want to pick on nbc, pick anyone who still does linear tv. is there any way even the greatest content in the world is going to be on at 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, tune in at 9:30 for magnum pi, is there any way that's going to be something we're doing in five years or do we

have to throw tear up the entire playbook and just do streaming? >> i mean, joe, i think your parent company sort of illustrates what is happening. you're shifting from entertainment content to sports. and when you think about what's happening in linear tv, broadcast tv, and nbc is telling you straight up, the future is sports. they're not even trying to compete. they brought the nba. >> what is warner brothers worth now. the cable entities, i would have loved to have gotten those properties. now i don't know. now it seems like they were unloaded. >> look, i like the fact that they have hired channing, the responsibility, she's going to turn cable networks more into studios and maybe that's the future of cable networks is they become more studio production entities for third parties like netflix and amazon. the linear tv business, joe, is not fixable. i don't think there is anybody who can put the toothpaste back in the tube, can't get people to

watch at 8:00 on a thursday, that whole concept outside of sports is dead. and is not coming back. >> okay. rich, thank you. >> i do hope they keep watching "squawk box" in the morning, though. >> i want to know who this investor is. >> we're going to leave that vague. >> it's not rich? >> no. >> it is not rich. >> news and sports. business news, particularly, which we do occasionally. >> i love watching business news live. >> which we do occasionally. but it is an election year. up next, if you're planning a winter getaway, you may be in luck. phil lebeau takes a look at where airfares could be headed. d anthen, problem solver caucus -- no, not an ox yoxymor josh gottheimer joins us. s you s and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley meet kandi technologies, where innovative, eco friendly design meets exceptional performance.

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someone get a helmet on this guy. get a free unlimited line for a year when you add one unlimited line. plus, get a new google pixel 9 on us. bring on the good stuff. airfares are expected to stay below the 2023 levels through the end of this year, that is very good news for

consumers, but not so great for airline investors. phil lebeau joins us right now, he's got more on that. hi, phil. >> hey, becky. this has been a summer where if you are booking a ticket, you have said, wow, pretty good. i know a lot of people will sit there and say it is still super expensive to fly and the reality is we're seeing prices at levels we haven't seen in a long time. so, let me run down exactly what you're expected to see. this is according to hopper, which is taking a look at booking patterns as well as the capacity in the system. in september, the average domestic round trip is $240, again, close to levels we haven't seen in years. in december, at the peak of december fares for round trip, $283. those are 8% to 9% lower than last year. the issue is capacity. we have talked about this for some time. the airlines added so many seats and planes and routes, domestic that the main cabin, the lowest price seats on the plane, they

flooded the market, up 6% compared to last year. the capacity does moderate a little bit after labor day. it will be up 2% to 4% in the fourth quarter. but it is going to take some time to take this excess capacity out of the system. there is no shortage of people who want to fly right now. this summer, per day, there were 2.7 million people flying. we're at record levels in terms of what you see at airports and when you get on plane right now. it's hard to find an empty seat. quickly look at the airline index versus the s&p 500. this says it all, because you're not getting revenue. the revenue that people would like, investors would like from airlines. so take a look at southwest, jetblue, frontier, spirit. reflected in all of those stocks. guys, back to you. >> yogi barra. nobody goes there anymo. it's too crowded. >> it is crowded. you'll see how crowded, come on

a plane. >> had so many. had too many -- unbelievable. brilliant or -- >> brilliant. >> had to be. up next, congressman josh gottheimer joins us getting ready for day three of the dnc. plus, street reaction to target's results. ceo brian cornell joined us earlier. such a big move in that stock. look at that. pretty good. almost 165 dollars. up 14%. we'll bring you highlights of that interview, and more. we're coming right back.

it is day three at the democratic national convention. join us from chicago to talk taxes and more is new jersey congressman. thank you for being with us today. >> hey, becky. >> i've been looking forward to talking to you about this, because i think it's been kind of interesting watching since last friday what the campaign has done. kamala harris' campaign. they have put out a lot of more progressive policies, and it looks like it is really an effort to try to get out the

vote. motivate voters who might not have shown up otherwise. two ways to go. either get out of the vote from the left, or try and move towards pulling mo ing moderate. i always think of you as a moderate in terms of the party and i wonder what you think about what we've seen so far this weenck. >> so far, thanks for having me. a lot of excitement. and i think it's across the board. i feel, frankly, somebody who really believes in bringing both sides together, if you hear what they're say, it's about unity, positive energy, and the fact we have to bring the country together and we need -- i think the vice president's been clear about this. she wants to represent everybody. democrats and republicanrepubli she's president of the united states. look what they proposed. expanding child tax credits, making child care for affordable. housing starts. increase support for first-time

home buyers, getting more houses built around the country and more support for renters. of course, right now housing costs are expensive. we immediate more houses built. that kind of stuff brings people together and specifics will keep coming big. we'll hear more tomorrow night and i'm eager to hear more what the vice president has to say. >> and policies that look a little populist. like price gouging. price controls potentially thrown out as ideas for trying to tamp down inflation, which we've seen these things in the past not work. getting back to the idea of taxing unrealized gains and standing behind that. those policies rolled out this week, and that certainly sets the business community on edge wondering. a lot of people say why say things like this when you basically should say i'm not joe biden. i'm not donald trump, keeping it

at that. intentionally take an attack to the left and i asame trueing to get out the vote. the issues and looking at things that will send the business community kind of look askance and taking a few steps back. >> first of all, on the, talking about competition and standing up against price gouging reaches out to everybody. saw it after the pandemic with supply chain issues. clear about that. talking competition and making sure that we address that kind of behave e. if you look at grocery store, price margins 1% 2,%. >> josh, you know that's not what caused inflation. say it with a straight face, it doesn't help your cause at all. >> no, but, joe, talking about, as a capitalist, i believe in competition. making sure that there's actual competition. >> we have competition. why didn't the corporations raise -- why didn't the

corporations gouge for 40 years? if that's what caused it? how did it suddenly happen? they lelearned thousand gouge three and a half years ago and went to four and a half years of inflation. you may be unifying intradnc but i guarantee you what we're seeing in policies comes out are not unifying policies and you must know that in terms of the populist. >> joe, but, joe -- >> not to me, unifying. they're very divisive. >> i think we all agree the other side that been clear about burning down the house and taking a much more ex--- >> we'll have to agree disagree. i'm sorry. becky, go ahead. >> making point -- >> everything starts with -- every -- you know, statement begins with, we can all agree.

no, we can't. no, we can't. >> i'll say -- i'll say -- >> go ahead. >> go ahead. >> no, no. >> go ahead, congressman. >> saying my perspective what people are speaking about and what we're hearing here has a positive tone bringing country together, and focused on what we can do to make life more affordable for people. proposals of child care is about. housing, we need to address housing issues. building on nearly 16 million new jobs from this last administration and a lot of accomplishments. supporting veterans, infrastructure legislation. bipartisan legislation proud of to get done. not just what we're proposing now. it's also building on years of great accomplishments over the last four years and that's what you're seeing a lot of positive energy about. >> this convention. we had the republican convention and obviously both of them are kind of pep rallies for each party to get going. does it make your life more

difficult as part of the problem-solvers caucus when we have stuff like this going on or are you able to get back to washington and say there's a lot of common ground between the two sides even on an election year just coming out of both conventions? >> no. next year a good debate over the tax package. the 2017 tax bill expires. a lot of decisions need to be made. no matter how it turns out you'll have tightly controlled congresses. i believe democrats will win the house and hakeem jeffries will be the speaker. i want to make sure that we lower taxes and remove the cap. a big issue. rnd tax issuesance debates where taxes are overall and i'll be fighting for issues that matter to jersey, trying to get taxes down. those the kind of things we have

to come together about and have discussions about. i think, joe, those are the sort of things i'm talking about. the debates we'll have happen. you'll see both sides lay out specifics. former president trump, very thin on specifics. talking about so far 20% across the board tariff, i think would be incredibly inflationary and have a big impact on hard working families. we want to see specifics. i want to see specifics. we'll see a lot more i believe tomorrow night infrom the vice president and in the weeks ahead and when we can have a debate about the differences. right now we haven't even heard from the vice president yet. i want to hear more specifics, totality, how it will affect hard working families. i like what we're hearing, child care costs, affordability costs, housing. things folks talk about all the time. talking last night. with law enforcement. with them last night. support firefighters, veterans. the policies i think bring us together, and that's what i'm

talking about. that positive, sort of that positive uniting instead of dividing people up. common sense over extremist policies. that's what brings people together and the kind of stuff i'm going to talk about, joe, and we need to work together to get this stuff done. >> no more defunding the police or getting rid of i.c.e. or making it a civil offense across the border. no more nasty things proposed in the past. it's all good, unifying things. >> you heard former president obama talk about that last night. the messaging and of course michelle obama brought down the house. listen to -- joe, i'll send e you that parts of the speech he was talking about that specifically. >> he's not running, fortunately. all right. >> congressman, i want to thank you. >> well -- >> for joining us. >> sorry, but we're going to build on what he was talking about. that's the point. >> okay. >> thank you very much, congressman. appreciate it good to see you. we have breaking news on

ford. phil lebeau joins us now. what's happening, phil? >> joe, look at shares of ford. the company is shifting its ev strategy as it tries to be more nimble about producing lower-cost evs. so the company making a number of changes that will play out over the next couple years. immediately for investors to keep in mind, they are going to be taking a $400 million charge. also announcing their ev costs will increase by $1.5 billion over a certain period of tilme. playing out the next couple of years. speck moves in terms of ford adjusting its ev strategy. it will be coming out with an all-electric commercial van with production starting in 2026. that will be the first vehicle coming out, or one of the first vehicles, with its production facility. talk about has in a little bit. a mid-sized electric pickup launching in '27.

first skunkworks vehicles. electric fluk 2027 and announcing dropping plans to build an all-electric three-row suv. the market's just not there right now. they do believe that it's there for commercial vehicles which is why they are accelerating production and plans in that department. look at where ford stands relative to their competitors in u.s. ev market share. in the first half, ford was number three. there you see tesla, top, which has a little over half the sales of evs in the first half of this year. then you see hyundai, kia. ford at 7.4%. by the way, forde's ev sales first half of the year up 71%. they do see some success within electric vehicles. they're simply adjusting plans. part of that adjustment also calls for moving battery production from poland to holland, michigan. so ford making these changes as it lays out its strategy. bottom line is this, guys -- they realize they have to lower

costs and moving as quickly as possible in that regard, but in the near-term it includes a $400 million charge. guys, back to you. >> okay. phil, thank you. that stop now up by 0.8%. meantime, target is out with second quarter earnings as well beating analysts prompt and revenue forecasts and returning to sales growth. first time in more than a year. traffic also grew at target. up by 3%. ceo brian cornell joined us on the show in the last hour and here's what he said about his customers. >> i think the consumer today is going to continue to look for value. over the balance of this year i think seeking value for essentials, shopping for food and brev rerage looking for val. up 3% apparel. seeing green shoots in our parts of our home and hard lines category tells us consumers are still shopping, but on a budget,

looking for quality and value. they're shopping at target, full year raising guidance to range of $9 to $9.70. up from its prior guidance $8.60 to $9.60 a share. stock up 14.4% and operating income margin up by 1.6 percentage points. futures this morning, 60 points of momentum for the dow this morning. 63, the nasdaq. up a little bit. up 16 points, and now the s&p chiming in with about 8 points. treasuries this morning, ten year, 3.81. i see two year now 3.98. almost uninverted. what's it called? get to the broader markets. mike santoli standing by at nyse with that. deinverted? what is that? >> both acceptable. uninverted or deinverted. good? what it always means is that the

market is saying fed's got to move. shr short end's got to come down. i don't know. historically uninverted it's sometimes been a precursor to recession. past patterns have failed or been delaeldelayed. this time around we'll see. almost 20 basis points. s&p holding steady. paused in this comeback rally around the 5, 600 level. rebounds more than 6%. rebounded by 8% in history. here is last year. this was around september 1st. pullback in august. recovered most of it into the beginning of september. we know september historically. you'll hear about it next week. historically a rough month. unclear if you pulled forward some weakness with that correction we just went through a couple weeks ago. take a look at some of the parts of the market that really have

distinguished themselves to the upside. rate-sensitive, more defensive. ream estate and utilities. good g good-looking charts. more aggressive parts the market. cyclical as well as semiconductors further off highs than when the s&p was at this level a few weeks ago suggesting maybe chances of a change in character here. look at the u.s. dollar index as part of the same story. dollar down. yields trading heavy. obviously, people expecting rate cuts. this is a three-year chart. kind of get to the bottom of this range. by the way, the yen is not far off the levels where it was after it had strengthened causing the market tub bueaux l -- turbulence. purged related to a weaker yen. >> thanks, mike. what about this thing coming at 10:00 a.m.? and whether the jobs numbers

were -- you know, not purposely overstated but could be -- it could change it significantly, which i don't know whether that's good or bad? because it would give the fed a lot of leeway to cut. >> i feel mostly about, you know, trueing up the data for the new seasonal revisions. happens periodically. it's probably going to look like a bigger than usual revision to the down side. i guess it's good to change the story. we tell about exactly how strong the labor market was and i don't think necessarily change near term policy choices because we already have seen a softening up of the stated monthly payroll. feels like it's an interesting debate point, but in general, i think mostly for economists. >> all right, buddy. thanks. all right, coming up, neil irwin from eaxios joining us. what we should look at when fed minutes are released later

today. and later in this hour, eric cantor joins us to talk kamala harris's latest economic proposals and give his take what he's heard from the dnc in chicago this week. by the way, another key earnings mover heading to break. macy's. shares falling after the company cut its full year's sales forecast, dealing with selective shoppers and more promotions in the entireanticipated before. stack down 6.7%. stay tuned. you're watching "squawk box" and this is cnbc. energy fuels, a leading american uranium producer,

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. we're expecting quite a bit of commentary at the kansas city fed jackson hole symposium and the soft landing. is it a little softer. is it semisoft? is it actually trending back to hard again at this point j.t.

what do you think if we get a revision down at 10:00 a.m. on some of the jobs numbers that we see? >> remember, this fomc meeting, minutes are stale. extra stale this time. revision you're talking about benchmarking, looks like that will tell us job growth weaker all along this last year and a half in a way that maybe changes, as mike said earlier, perceptions how strong this labor market really is. i think you're right. all signs point to a labor market not nearly what it was a year or two years ago and the fed's probably going to react in september. >> can it be almost in a good way, neil, for the markets? what i mean, because we're -- we're in the -- even if we find out that the jobs numbers weren't as good as we thought they were, we still have a pretty good idea gdp-wise where the economy is. almost seems that could be taken as, like, almost half full,

because it gives the fed some leeway to go ahead and cut and maybe eventually cut again and again? maybe do the 100 basis points eventually or 125 that were in the market a year ago? could it be good? >> yeah. i think so. i think you're exactly right. the kind of overheated job markets, to me, the narrative two years ago. just isn't any more. revisions, benchmarking should confirm that. i think the fed would like to -- powell said not data points dependent but data dependant. not looking at any one data point. this report on september 6th, two weeks from friday, is really, reimportant for what th end up doing in september. weak unemployment got attention. keeps moving up, myself have to break the glass and go more aggressively than they wanted to. >> wondering whether that was a total outlier that sent the vix over 50 and really got people

thinking, wow. they are late. they're almost too late in -- a couple of firms raised recession odds. i think they went back down, but is that still a possibility? that woee could be in the mind-t that the fed is late to cutting? >> absolutely. sound like really on the fence whether to cut in july. did not do it. you have to imagine there were people in the room thought they should have cut and got that jobs report two days later, a sense of, told you so sense of things. the question for the september meeting coming up in a few weeks, are they behind the curve? do they need to cut 50 basis points and catch up or go with the plan? points in time and mid-cycle adjustment. this data will tell us is the sky falling on the labor market or things coming in for a soft landing like we've seen in the last couple of years. >> have you seen anything that's a microtable in terms of credit quality at banks or retail

spending by consumers, whether it's high end or low end. have you had anything that looks to you like we're being fooled how strong the economy is, or is it pretty good? it's a soft landing? >> yeah. actually a lot of warning signs. credit card and auto loan delinquency up quite a bit. hiring rate substantially below the rate of the pandemic by half a percentage point. look at the data from big companies that sell to especially lower-income consume definitely seeing price sensitivity in a way they didn't this time a year ago. does that turn into recession? not necessarily but tells you something is cracking a little in the economy and the fed, if they don't start moving, will definitely be behind the curve if that happens. >> dismal signs but you study it closely. i had a question the other day. there's that rule that if unemployment rises what is it?

a half point from some level, then you can expect recession at some point? we were already there. but we at such low levels historically that i don't know if it really counts, when you go -- what would the unemployment rate, wlhat is it? 4.2 now? where would that have to be for to you say, okay. we have a problem. like 5%? >> rates in isolation, direction of travel. what's alarming. mentioned the sahm rule. a big move over the course of soven months. if it stabilizes in the mid-4s. great. still quite low unemployment rate. nothing wrong. but if it keeps marching up, the sahm rule is about that. it tends to level off. go past 5 you're in a situation probably are in recession and

it's hard to stop. >> right now if you were applying the rules strictly, we'd already be there? is it a half a point? >> yeah. half a point over the three-month average. yeah, we're there. >> low enough to where a half point isn't really -- if it stays here it's still okay. because you're talking about what are you -- talking about from 3.7 to 5 is 1.3 points. so that's like double? or more than double what you would typically need? >> yeah. problem is these rules are based on the -- modern economic data only goes back to the late '40s. the idea something applied in the past will definitely necessarily apply, very strange business we've been in with the pandemic, just don't know. >> we don't even know what a recession is and whether it's two quarters of -- i don't know. that's why! economics. is it a science? i'm not really sure. >> not quite. >> not quite. thanks, neil. >> thanks. and a program note.

a full slate of speakers, werther you like it or not, if the fed's jackson hole gathering tomorrow and friday starting with an interview with the kansas city fed president. tomorrow at 7:30, eastern time. what's his name? >> josh. >> no t. >> no.

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walmart says it will sell its stake in chinese ecommerce player jd.com. walmart told cnbc the decision to sell that position will allow it focus on what they say are their strong china operations for walmart. china and sam's club and deploy capital towards other priorities. walmart teamed up with jd.com back in 2016. j.d. was the biggest loser on hong kong's hang seng list.

keeping an eye on that. less than two weeks into the new job, and the new boeing ceo kelly ortberg is dealing with fresh problems at the planemaker. earlier this week the company said it had halted test flights of its 7779 aircraft after a component failed during a maintenance check and separately the faa would require inspections of 787 dreamliners checking into possible sudden movements of the captain's or first officer's chairs. joining us on the overall safety culture of boeing, former argumenting faa administratadmi. now chief safety officer at archer aviation and good to see you again, billy. as we always point out, none of this is great. makes us happy. but the safety record is still unparalleled, for the u.s.

airline industry. >> absolutely, joe. first, again, thanks for having me on. always enjoy it. you've said it well. right? so by the time we closeds records on 2024 that would have been over 40 million flights on a global basis, and virtual i all taking off and landing safely every day. that being said, always say, safety is a journey. if we come back to boeing, this is happening at a critical phase, which is what this process is called a type inspection authorization which is typically the last phase that oem would go through before the craft is certified. you would expect this rememberinger at that stage of the process is something is going to be found this is the time to find it. before you have passengers onboard. this is a process with both boeing and with the faa doing test flights, putting the aircraft, if you will, through all of rts paces to ensure that

it conforms to its type certificate by which the faa will issue before the aircraft can enter into service. >> what should the -- i mean, i'm wondering. because there's all of these different interests here. the faa, public perception of the job the faa is doing is really important, and boeing, obviously, has been dealing with so much. so what should be -- is the faa being tough enough? is it being too tough? what are the different constituencies here for what's really happening? i don't know. there are some things i don't know how you mess up the seat. sounds like when i'm trying to arrange the seat in my car. bad if it didn't lock and i went flying forward and hit the accelerator. none of that sounds good, but cracks next to the engine on a, on a plane seems even more

serious. >> yeah. so let's just -- take a little bit, go back in history. right? when boeing delivered the first 777-200 back in 1974, this phase they're in now with the 7779, that t.i. authorization was issued by the faa only one month after the first flight of boeing 777-200. moving forward to the 787, it took eight months from the first flight of the 787 before a tight inspection authorization was issued. so there clearly the faa is taking longer. all of this has to be what we call ten to the minus nine, which is 1 in a billion chances of failure. this piece, this thrust leg is part manufactured by boeing. no concerns, as i understand it on the engine. the g-9x engine certified in

2020. again, doing this process, you fly, you put the airplane through its paces and then check it out and make sure there isn't something you missed. clearly, this is an opportunity for the boeing engineers and the faa engineers, structural engineers, to go back and say, so why did this critical piece fail and then what is the next step? they'll certainly go through a rigorous analysis of that to make sure they get it right and they will get it right before this aircraft is put into service. >> at this point people don't criticize the faa for being too close to the industry. so many things have happened they've had to find religion to some extent, and is it a changed agency at this point? >> it is a changed agency. you know, what we've said. look across all of the administrators that have led and the 44,000-plus professionaling who make up the faa. what we always say is it's a journey that, number one the

public trust is sacrosanct. the goal of the agency, to ensure that trust. whether the newest boeing aircraft or the newest airbus or the newest of new technology, gulf stream, it takes a bit. we are finding that we're doing more. there are human factor considerations in the 787 accidents that happened. we're finding for the agency that it is, i'll say a little more conservative. end of the day, you have to be able to give the fine public absolute faith and confidence that when they step aboard that aircraft, whatever it is, it is certifiably safe. >> but not an enviable position to be in, because you don't want to be too heavy-handed. we know about what happens when regulators are too heavy-handed works get bogged down and it takes too long and the economy

is hurt and fortunes of the company and everything else. i don't envy anyone who has to manage that. it's a fine line. >> right. it is a balance. the ball, is number one. i used to always say when i was the active administrator you know, safety never comes at the expense of technology. as we have this, you can say you've get to what's going to be an incredible aircraft. i can't wait to fly it. i do believe as was syd strong faith and confidence that kelly ortberg is the right leader for the job and they'll get this and get to the other side. i want to stress in this particular incident with the 777-9, this is a part of that process where you, it is so rigorous by design. you want to make sure that you just figured it all out before you put it into service. >> so you fly these things. how many seat controls do you have? is it -- can you do the back? can you do -- you can slide it up? got, is it like a car? i got so many -- i don't even

know how i want it. sometimes -- i got lumbar support. what's it got? or just simple -- >> so i'm not a captain on this particular one. i did not fly during my -- i did during my airline control. multiple controls. lumbar support, 4.5 tilt. >> not a massage? >> no. >> no magic fingers? >> no. no massages there, but it is designed. think about just what that p pilot, you know, the global pilot population looks like. trying to accommodate the maximum range. so there's a lot of flexibility and durability so can you get that seat in the right position to fly. >> and sitting -- not really tense. i would be, but -- could be a 12-hour flight. who knows? i mean -- >> absolutely. >> it's actually a non-trivial matter to make it as comfortable as possible. and work well. billy, always a pleasure having

you on. thank you. >> appreciate it, thanks, joe. still to come this morning, inside target, second quarter earnings. the retailer reporting better than expected results. and former house majority leader eric cantor will join us on the democrats' messaging at this convention in chicago. heading to a break, check out of bank of america. downgrading stock to neutral from buy saying billing prospects appear weak. bank of america likes anex's long-term strategy but pointing to a challenging spending backdrop even more hiring consumers. stay tuned. you're watching "squawk box," and this is cnbc.

welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc. futures now, 70 points on the dow. nasdaq up 43. s&p pitching in as well to about 12 points. treasuries, last looked, 381. 380.9. could all change. i can't believe i'm so nerdy waiting for that thing at 10:00.

10:00 a.m. to see how much -- >> i've been a nerd a long time. >> wait a minute. i thought you were waiting, too, nerd. >> not surprised you're there. >> i'm a nerd. proud nerd. >> yeah. >> hmm. >> nerds of cool. top earnings story of the morning, target beating analysts prompt and revenue expectations and the shares are surging. that stock up by almost 15%. we spoke with ceo brian cornell in the last hour. he said that the successful second quarter came from target being target. >> we very focused on delivering value in this environment and made a big commitment. we reduced prices on over 5,000 items. those items most frequently purchased. i think the consumers recognized that. >> target's also raising its full year earnings guidance to a range of somewhere between $9 and $9.70. previously $8.60 to $9.60 a

share and again, stock up pretty big. joining us right now on target, the other recent retail results and what they're signaling about the state of the consumer is the cfra research analyst. what do you think? because we've had some reports, like lowes and home depot that really highlight a slowing consumer. what's your overall feel for what you're seeing? >> hey, becky, yeah. no. i think the consumer spending environment remains tepid at best. seeing these big box retailers, retailers stock consumables and everyday items doing well. specialty retailers are still struggling a bit. why home kdepot, lowes, lowered outlook. struggling a little more. the big box retailers like walmart, target, costco. even amazon. doing exceptionally well in this environment. >> so the big box retailers, do you think this is a value play? do you think it's something

else? >> yeah. no. it's a value play. walmart, target, costco, they really focus on value. also they focus on newness. have a broad product assortment. don't just sell food and beverages. also sell clothes, apparel, things like that and really strong digital ecommerce business. you saw that this quarter with not just target but also walmart, costco ecommerce business is growing really well as well. it's really retail and selling a broads assortment of products and focusing on value are the retailers that are winning. >> interesting to see target actually showing growth for the first time in five quarters. this has been the first. four quarters in a row seeing less growth. part is apparel and accessories pick up, too. plays into your point with that. maybe signaling it's not a consumer with not many money but pick whey they spend their money on? >> exactly. i think the consumer is still willing to spend.

have the ability to spend. choiceful where they choose to spend their dollars. you're seeing consumer allocate to the big box retailers. to your point. target's apparel sales up. exceptionally strong in this environment. private label, own brands, doing really well. all in motion is one of their private brands up in the low teens this quarter. really focused on newness, value, private labels very important for target. target actually has over 45 different private labeled brands. many of which consumers don't even know about. i think those brands, resonate well with target customers but also margin creative to target sales. so kind of a win-win for customer as well as target. >> macy's share up about 6% last i saw. came out with earnings better than expected but also warned

about what they called a very promotionary, promotional environment for retail at large and shoppers that are really oent only willing to shop during those promotions. what do you think? >> exactly what we're hearing amongst various retailers. key promotional seasons and events. even holidays. go back to, like, july fourth and easter. these major holidays consumer spending is really strong showing consumers want to spend but selective when they spend and sometimes some retailers exits promotional periods see sales fall off a cliff, for some retailers. that's hurting some. i cover wayfair for example. they saw strong growth during key propormotional events. once they ended you saw traffic and sales fall. seeing that throughout the retail space.

i expect promotions to continue to increase and xpexpect them remain rational but rise during the holiday season. good for the consumer. >> thank you. >> thank you. up next, former house majority leader eric cantor joins us on-set to talk about the 2024 race for the white house and the latest from the democratic convention. in chicago. reminder -- as we head to break you can always watch or listen to us using the cnbc app. stay tuned. "squawk box" will be right back. hi, my name is damian clark. and if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. all these plans include a healthy

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night two of the democratic national convention highlighted lie michelle and barack obama. an feel democrats to listen to

voters still trying to make up their minds. >> we have to remember we all have our blind spots, trikzs contradictions and prejudices and if we want to win over our candidates we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. >> joining us now on the message coming out of chicago is former republican congressman and house majority leader eric cantor. he's vice chairman and managing director at moelis and company. a day doesn't go by either side isn't playing on either emotions or feelings or something like to. it is the dnc and we're going see a lot of this, but when it's all said and done it would be good to really know exactly how either side it going to govern. you know? on the republican side, i mean -- you got to explain tariffs. how that's going to not be

inflationary. come to grips with $34 trillion in debt just like anyone. but on the democratic side, i think plenty to talk about for a guy like you who was a republican and in the house, some of these -- we shouldn't be surprised. these were all in the biden plank, i think. the 28% for corporate taxes. the raising capital gains. we've seen all this before, but they're going to do it, or going to try. >> so i'm still a republican. so i am still, i believe in free markets and this is what's so stunning about what's coming out of chicago right now. all of a sudden -- i do think it's an opportunity for donald trump and the trump campaign now. >> to talk about issues? >> to make a distinction. because either we are a system that believes in the markets or we think washington is going to be better at setting prices. so this speech that kamala harris gave in raleigh on friday on her economic platform and she began to talk about gouging, it

is about price fixing. and if you think that washington's going to be better at decide ing what a pound of hamburger cost then that's your philosophy and what you souppor. we all knows thee are kwwarmed over failed policies of the 1970s. i think you're seeing a harris campaign trying to separate itself from the biden/harris agenda she was a part of every single day. >> and maybe going a little to the left of what we've seen, already a pretty far left agenda from the biden administration? >> they can't get away from the fact there has been extraordinary inflation -- >> around the world, though. what they're tell you. that we've dealt with it better than most places. right? >> but that is -- the bottom line, the reason why we've had inflation is we've flushed so much money into this economy and then there was supply chain problems.

so you had limited supply. you had more demand, because of all the fiscal policies coming out of washington. no wonder we had the kind of inflation we did. >> europe did have higher inflation. able to bring it down more rapidly, though. >> because we have had unbelievable -- $5 trillion of liquidity put into people's pockets and what's so stun stog me on kamala the platform advocatings $25,000 for housing when the real problem is there's no supply. >> but -- >> really -- you know, let you talk. what really gets me is i've seen the biden administration take credit for coming out of the pandemic much better than anywhere else. and you know, dealing with inflation better than anywhere else. is it -- creating more jobs than anywhere else. wasn't the government that did those things, it wasn't. it was corporate america that came out of the -- right? came out of the pandemic, it was corporate america that created those jobs.

so who do you go after? corporations? the same people that you're taking credit -- the same entities, well, taking credit for, they're the ones that you're bashing every -- everywhere you utter at the convention, bashing corporations. >> you have been consistent in saying there have been many ceos leaders of companies. i know we have plenty of clients who made investments in this country because of the tax rate. and we have had economists say, when you lower that corporate tax rate we stop the inversion, we stop the flight of capital out of this countries and now what this harris platform is about and what shae said is, no, no, no. we're going to go back to the failed policy having higher corporate rates to be less competitive with foreign -- again, this saul about politics. it's about her trying to go get the independent voters and blame whatever it is their problem is

on someone else. >> are you surprised the relief in the democratic party is not having joe biden at the top of the ticket? i've never seen anything like it. >> she's risen in the polls rapidly. why do you think that is? >> well, because -- i think first of all people who people who looked at the equation when it was biden versus donald trump, you know, remember, there was always this discussion about the double haters. there was an extraordinary number of people in this country who just, you know, couldn't stand either one. so, now the democrats have taken that out of the equation, and i think, you know, listen, the media -- and i don't want to include the current crowd -- but the media has been very part and parcel of allowing this to happen. >> paul ryan, former speaker of the house, former vice presidential running candidate for mitt romney, said whoever dumped either biden or trump first was going to win. that this was two older people who were put at the top of the ticket and whoever dumped it

first would win. what do you think? >> i don't think that the american people and the sliver of independents who are going to decide this race. we're talking about -- >> is it the sliver of independence, or is it the extremes if you can get out the vote? >> all of the above. but what, again, remember what the extremes on the left are for. they're for this extreme environmental agenda, the extreme border agenda. they are for, you know, a lot of the health care policies she's trying to run away from. remember, that's the bernie sanders/elizabeth warren agenda, so they've got to get their base out. their base is really excited right now, so they're trying to go for the independent right now. it's not just the professional business person. it is the working men and women who are really not paying a lot of attention to this, so if they hear, hey, we could get some money or we can go and stick it to corporations so we have it better, that is an appeal to the independents. so, i don't think -- i think i give the american people and the independent voter a lot more

credit than what this ploy is that the democrats are trying to do, and i think donald trump will, you know, once this fever pitch diesdown after the democratic convention, that will have a much more -- hopefully a much more balanced discussion, and i think donald trump, in the end, policy-wise, and the fact that people remember things were a lot better when he was president, that he will win. >> you think policy is going to be the focus on this? i'm a little doubtful that either side is willing to stick to policy. >> not right now. there was a harvard harris poll out recently that talked about the border situation. and 68% of this country does not believe in open borders, whereas 70% of this country believes that kamala harris is for open borders, so if president trump and his campaign prosecute the case against kamala harris and what she has said she is for in her very own words -- and remember, there's a lot of money getting ready to be spent in doing exactly this in the swing

states. you're sitting here in new york. you're not in a media market that's a swing market. you're not seeing the kind of money and advertisement -- >> so, does -- and i don't know who makes the decisions. i really don't. will she be tacking left, or will -- what's surprising to me that she already did -- i couldn't believe the vp pick. i would have picked shapiro. he's an assassin. you get pennsylvania on your side, unbelievable. and i don't want to say why they didn't. i know you're jewish. >> it's abhorrent to even have that as part of the discussion. >> it was a relief for a lot of people. but then some of the policies that are coming up, tacking left, are you thinking this through? >> look, they tack left, and bernie has basically been on record giving kamala a pass to have to say, well, maybe i'm not against fracking anymore, but the bottom line is she said it in her own words. >> but you got gensler.

did you see that? or elizabeth warren? treasury? >> those were -- >> maybe it's just rumors. i don't know. >> and plus, as you say, the policy discussion, much less the personnel discussion, is not really going to be a part of what is going to determine the outcome of this election. i think those of us certainly who sit here in the markets are concerned about that. >> as the -- becky, as the statue of liberty, ten-foot-tall walking statue of liberty. >> and elmo. >> elmo doesn't have a stitch on either. thank you, eric. we're coming right back. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria.

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well, we've heard a lot lately about activist investors targeting well-known companies. one name in particular keeps coming up. leslie picker has been tracking the names, and she joins us with more. >> hey, becky. maybe in another lifetime, but in the activist investor space right now, elliott management is increasingly standing in a league of its own. the firm has launched 12 major campaigns this year. that's a rate of one every three weeks, and it's more than double

the number from the next most active firm. part of it is the uniqueness of elliott's ability to scale and grow its activism, which we'll dig into in a second, but another part of it is that other traditional activists, trian, pershing square, even icon, haven't kept up the pace in recent years, and many don't want to anymore. elliott's differentiators are its vast resources, its manpower, womanpower, and depth of research. the firm has $70 billion in assets under management. additionally, it has a sizable team with specialties in a variety of sections and regions of the world. what the firm doesn't typically do, though, is threaten proxy fights for board seats. a big exception is southwest where elliott is planning to mount a proxy fight with a proposed slate of ten candidates comprised in part of former airline ceos. if it goes through, this could be elliott's first proxy fight in seven years. that was when it took on

arconic, and that situation ultimately ended in a settlement. other recent elliott headlines include those from yesterday where the firm applauded texas instruments' capital allocation update, which elliott says is well aligned with elliott's approach. that stock well higher. just last week, starbucks, another prominent elliott campaign, changed ceos, and here's an interesting stat. it's the 13th ceo that had been replaced in situations where elliott was an activist in just the last two years, becky. >> who's in second place? you said that elliott is at three times the second place in terms of their -- how frequent they're they're bringing these things. >> dalton investments, they have about five proxy fights -- not proxy fights, campaigns, compared to the 12 campaigns that elliott is doing this year. >> wow.

wow. okay. good to know. thank you very much, leslie. we knew they were active. i just didn't know how active. very quickly, let's take a final check on the markets. s&p up by about ten. that does it for us today. see you right back here tomorrow. at least he will. "squawk on the street" begins right now. bye. ♪ good wednesday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer, david faber at post nine of the new york stock exchange. stocks do try to reclaim their momentum after breaking that eight-day win streak. retail is a big story today. target, macy's, tjx, fed minutes and some benchmark revisions to payrolls at 10:00 a.m. our road map begins with target's quarterly beat and the profit outlook, sending the stock up double digits today. plus we got the broader market looking to regain momentum, this after snapping an eight-day win streak, and interest rate policy