still takes her with him out here on spider lake. ♪ good friday morning. welcome to the program. this is "street signs." i'm dan murphy. let's get straight to the headlines. >> i accept your nomination to be president of the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] >> kamala harris makes history, becoming the first woman of color to top a major party ticket and taking aim at her republican rival. >> donald trump is an unserious man, but the consequences -- but

the consequences of putting donald trump back in the white house are extremely serious. attention now turns to jackson hole and fed chairman's jerome powell's keynote speech. fed policy-makers says their sides are set on lowering rate while stopping short of committing to a september cut. >> there's room to consider where we go from here, but i frankly think we've got time. >> what matters is we start to bring rates down. >> mm-hmm. >> it's not about the rate today. it's about what the rate is going to be in the future. meanwhile, european equities look to close off the week on a high note with major a. ticking up while wall street is on pace to shrug off those day's downbeat sessions. and mark schneider is replaced a company insider. in order to sustain wine growth

at the food giant. >> we want to gain market shares, and that comes back to increasing our brands and gross platforms. our top story this morning. ka kamala harris has formally accepted the democratic party's nomination making history, becoming the first woman of color to top a major party ticket. her speech topped out a democratic national convention aimed at introducing her and vice presidential candidate tim walz to the nation just over two months ahead of polling day. brie jackson has the story from chicago. >> reporter: history made with kamala harris officially accepting the democratic party's nomination for president. >> i accept your nomination to be president of the united states of america [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: a sea of white honoring women's suffrage and the first woman of color to lead

a major party ticket. harris sharing her personal story, including the powerful influence her mother had on her life. >> and i miss her every day and especially right now, and i know she's looking down smiling. >> reporter: the self-proclaimed joyful warrior laying out her vision for the country, if elected. >> i promise to be a president for all americans. you can always trust me. >> reporter: capping off a week filled with stars, singer and passionate activist pink, speakers highlighting the 59-year-old's professional career as a prosecutor and senator. >> kamala harris can't be bought and she can't be bossed around. >> reporter: supporters taking direct aim at her rival former president trump. >> our fallen veterans are not suckers. they are not losers. they are our heroes.

[ applause ] >> reporter: civil rights leaders highlighting her commitment to helping all people. >> we fought hard for lgtq loved ones to get out of the closet. we won't go back! >> reporter: harris says she's ready to lead the country towards a brighter future. the candidate who just recently stepped into the role seeking the highest office in the land. the harris/walz ticket is looking to take the momentum here from the democratic national convention back to the campaign trail where they will just have over 70 days to try to convince voters to support them and reject the trump/vance ticket. in chicago, brie jackson, nbc news. >> so what we have just seen is harris sealing her place in history as the first woman of color named to the top of a major party presidential ticket, and what we've also just witnessed really would have been hard to imagine almost six weeks

ago. harris delivered a speech that was part personal narrative, part policy pitch and all aimed at convincing americans that she is ready to take the chair in the oval office as the first female commander in chief. donors like what they see. harris has raised $500 million since moving to the top of the ticket, and it's also really hard to deny the momentum that we're seeing now behind her candidacy and her campaign. actually the real clear politics polling average now has her pulling ahead of trump, but, of course, these campaigns still have a long way to go, and trump has already started developing attack lines and maintain solid support among his base, so there's still a long way to go here. with regards to the speech itself, it was a domestic-focused address, but harris also made some important points on her economic vision and key issues of economic policy including the wars in ukraine and gaza, so we're going to unpack that over the course

of this hour and help you understand exactly what could happen next. we're also going to continue the discussion later this here with see peter westmacott, a former u.s. ambassador for the u.s. do stay with us for that conversation. in the meantime, let's get you a live look at what's moving across europe today. you can see here major markets are higher. the stock 600 in europe ahead by 0.8% and 516 points. of course, we're not on bird watch. we're on word watch in wyoming today. investors really hoping that chair powel drops some monetary policy wisdom in the coming hours, and his address is really being treated, i guess you could say, like a netflix season finale. markets are basically betting on what could be a quarter point cut in september, but some analysts that i've spoken to this week on this program still see 50 basis points in play, especially after the fed minutes this week that revealed a vast

majority of members will cut as soon as next month. we'll watch and wait to see exactly what unfolds in jackson hole over the coming hours. meanwhile, a look at how europe markets are trading and looking at some of the specific indices here. you can see green on screen. the zetradax higher and stocks in italy higher, with italy up by more than half a percent. london's ftse up.02% and stocks in london getting a boost after a bullish pmi that shows business activity growing more than expected which is helping to drive momentum there. here's how we stand on a week-to-date basis. when you look at this, it has been a broadly positive weeks for stocks. the cac-40 up by 140% and the ftse up by half a 1% and stocks in rain really rallying up, one of the top performers in the last five days, up 2.4%.

the underformer on the week being the ftse, down 0.11 boston. take a look at the specific sectors to see how they are moving right here right now. it's technology stocks across the region that are pulling the indices lower. that index down by.will% and banks and markets driving the markets up with a 4.53% gain respectively. here's how wall street closed out the session as well as we count down to all of the insights out of jackson hole. the dow and s&p 500 holding on to gains this week but really only just. wall street actually being pressured by a rise in treasuries overnight with the heaviest losses being seen on the nasdaq, which actually saw its worst day of trade since august, so what we saw here was the nasdaq closing about 1.7% lower. the dow and s&p 500 also in negative territory. a live look at u.s. equity features right here right now as well. the nasdaq called up 116 points as we stand. the dow and s&p 500 also expected to open higher when

trading gets back under way in the united states. as i mentioned, central bankers are gathering in wyoming for the annual jackson hole symposium. traders are eyeing an additional rate cut. futures predict a 75% of a rate cut accord to the fed watch tour while over a quarter seeing a quarter point. jeff schmidt took to cnbc and indicated he's not in a rush to adjust policy. >> rates are restrictive, but they are not overly restrictive. i think there is some room to consider where we go from here, but i frankly think we've got time, and it's not an overrestrictiveness to the economy in my opinion at this stage. meanwhile, the philadelphia fed president said he's not yet taken a% on how big the first

cut should be. >> i think we need to let the data speak to this. right now i'm not in the camp of 25 or 50. i need to see a couple more weeks of data, but i think it's, again, what people are asking for, and we're seeing this at the longer end of the curve right now. the markets are already responding. that's what matters. it's not the fed funds rate that matters as much as the overall curve. >> chair powel will stake center stage later today with his keynote address due at 1600 cet. powell is expected to give limited guidance for what's ahead of the fomc with the fed taking kues from latest issues that showed the way to a rate cut. let's welcome in our guest. >> great being here. >> i love "the wall street

journal" editorial this morning. they say this is a make-or-break moment that will determine the economy's fate. how much is hanging on powell over the next couple of hours? >> it's always important when the fed chair speaks and jackson hole is an important symposium as they discuss relative measures of monetary policy. it is going to be important because since we had the powell press conference after the fomc in july, what does powell think of the various events which have happened? back in july, powell characterized the economy as solid. he was more optimistic and confident that inflation is heading towards its 2% objective, but, of course, we've had a space of extreme market volatility and, of course, a relatively soft parallel number of 14,000 which was released at the start of the month. what are his views on that? how much will he reveal? we don't know. our guess is he's going to say, look, we already said that the jobs market was cooling and the july number was really

consistent with that, and inflation numbers we've seen we think are consistent with both the core pce numbers and core cpi numbers heading towards 2% over the medium term. whether he will inject a more negative note, we'll wait and see. >> so we're looking to see the tone of the speech that he makes later tonight, but when it comes to exactly what sort of move we might see in september, goldman sachs says a 25-point basis cut would be appropriate given the downside risks. why not 50 though? why not pull the trigger given the revisions to the data that we've seep and also the most recent minutes as well suggesting that the vast majority of members are ready to go forward here? >> well, absolutely, but as we heard from jeffrey schmid overnight, he said he's not in a hurry to cut rates, and i don't think the committee as a whole is in a particular rush to get rates right down to neutral or

accommodative. if the economy is still solid, then there really is no need for a jumbo-sized rates move, and indeed the economy at the moment does appear to be doing quite well. going back to the payroll numbers in normal times. payroll increase of, you know, between 100,000 and 150,000 would be seen as normal so it's not appropriate we think to cut rates between 50 basis points but things could change. of course, we've got another jobs night in a fortnight's time. if that's the case, then perhaps a 50-point cut is in play. we think the most likely scenario play is 25. >> does the market have it right? is the amount of easing being priced in, being reflective of the downside risk? >> there is downside risk. if you want a central view that the economy slows gradually which is what we're saying, then you may well get two 25-basis

point cuts. don't forget, the fed dock plots were suggesting one. now if there are more signs that storm clouds are gathering over the economy, then the downside risks begin to crystallize and, yes, the fed could be more aggressive. but on a palestine case we think they are overegging the amount of trees and next year as well. >> one of the other questions i've been asking this week is do we need to see a green light in september from powell in september in order to see the equity rally to continue? >> we probably do. there are some signs that consumer spending is slowing in the states, and we've had warnings for several corporates this results seasons as mcdonald's being the staples as investors are becoming more sensitive and cautious. you're probably not going to get a lot of interest rate support unless, you know, powell says we

could be more aggressive on rates, which i don't think he's going to say. >> okay. watch that space. you know what. we always say it's not just the fed that is the only story in jackson hole because, of course, we have governor bailey speaking tonight. hopefully not overshadowed by the fed chair. what is keeping him awake at night, and what did you make of the latest pmi print coming out yesterday suggesting the uk still looking pretty good when it comes to the overall data front here? >> yes, it is, actually, and that's something which our clients are pointing out to us that actually the economy, the forward-looking indicators are doing pretty well. if you look at the backward-looking indicators they have done as well with gtp running at.06% or.07% per quarter over the first half of this year. our view is that the economy is likely to lose a bit of traction over the second half, but the pmis were pretty positive. it may well be that purchases managers are saying, look, we've got a little bit more political clarity now.

they like the sound of more house-building. they like the sound of, well, perhaps we could get growth up to 2.5% on a more sustainable basis and the there were signs in the pmi report that uk manufacturing was up in capital spending. whether that's temporary or more fundamental, again, we'll wait and see. we do think that the economy will slow down over the third quarter and fourth quarter this year. >> one of the other interesting things is what's happening from a fiscal perspective here in the uk. do you think the chancellor's budget black hole is going to be a factor of influence here for the b.o.e. when they meet on september 19? >> no, typically the bank of england ignores potential fiscal policy and says, look, we're setting monetary policy according to the fiscal policy that is current, and so having eased policy earlier this month, the monetary policy committee is likely to say, look, let's see how the economy responds. we've had some positive activity

data, and, therefore, there is no rush to cut rates again. it seems more likely that the committee will reconvene in november and say, okay, the inflation story is looking better with services inflation coming off and perhaps wage data looking easier as well. uncut rates by 25 basis points. yes, the fiscal story is an important one in the uk but not necessarily at this juncture with regard to the monetary policy. >> let's look ahead to the ecb on september 12. both of the central banks moving ahead of the fed. what should we expect from that looking forward? >> if you looked at the account of the minutes from the july meeting which were published yesterday, the governing council was saying, well, september is a good time to reassess the degree of restrictiveness in terms of monetary policy which is also a big hint to say, look, you know, we could well be cutting rates. there was also a line in the account which says, look, we can't leave policy too restrictive for too long because that will damage the economy and

look at the data the ecb says it's data dependant and not data point dependant, but we did see a big drop in negotiated wages number in q2 which is the ecb's own series. that's something which concerns them, and the fact that pay growth isn't accelerating, it's actually going the other direction i think is a factor which will deliver the 25 basis point rate cut next month. >> okay. all good news for investors. rates seem to be moving in the right direction, but let's see what happens. appreciate the conversation. thanks for coming on. that's the chief economies of investec for your market pulse check. of course, ahead, jay powell's keynote will be the focus in wyoming today, but cnbc will be sitting down with two key fed officials. we'll hear from the atlanta fed president raphael bostic and the atlanta fed president austan goolsbee. check out cnbc.com.

mark schneider steps down 'lha me teth. of nestle. wel veorafr is

welcome back. nestle's incoming ceo says his major goal will be market share as the company looks to regain momentium following several xwaurters of lack lusters stairs. the new stays will take over from mark schneider who has been at the helm of the year. do we expect a strategy shift? >> it is likely. the board is not happy with the performance of nestle in recent times. therefore, they are trying to have some sort of change here in their business outlook. however, i just would like to point out that mark schneider has been in the company, leading the company for eight years, and the announcement that we received yesterday was very sudden so it took investors by surprise. no one saw this coming,

particularly because mark schneider had also signaled recently that he was committed in the long run as well to remain the ceo of nestle, so a sudden change here, and that's clearly not bringing any sort of calm really among investors. if you look at the share price reaction at this stage it's trading lower by 1.5%. earlier trade had shares lower by about 3%, so some of the concerns have eased slightly now into the trading session. nonetheless investors very much at this stage closing the question of whether the new ceo is actually going to change guidance. now, however, what we've heard so far from the incoming ceo is that he's very much focused on bringing up the organic growth of the business. >> we want to perform in our industry and we want to gain market shares. that comes back to investing in our brands. that comes back to investing in

our gross platforms, and the focus will be on driving the current portfolio, primarily organic growth is of the essence. on the portfolio there might be, of course, adjustment, but, again, top priority is absolutely organic growth and measures to complement the strategy to strengthen our portfolio, and that is the core of the strategy. >> the incoming ceo addressing investors this morning. would i like to remind our viewers the second-quarter results nestle had already lowered their guidance for the year saying it expected sales to grow at least 3%. they had previously guided for 4%, so they revised these numbers at the second-quarter results, and what the investors want to figure out is whether the incoming ceo will change the plan and whether we'll see a

further cut in guidance. the whole sector is actually going through significant challenges. it's not just nestle. if you look at unilever, everyone is facing a lot of pressures because consumers have been dealing with very high prices for a long time. there's also consumer behavior changing at the same time, so how are these companies going to position themselves going forward is a key question, and when it comes to nestle, on of the key questions i have for the incoming ceo is also that? does he have any sort of plans to change the portfoliole? do they want to have a smaller portfolio that actually increases profitability in the coming years? >> absolutely fascinating to watch, and right now investors don't seem convinced. the stock down more than 1.5% off the back of this so we'll have to watch and wait and see. that's sylvia amaro. up next on the program, kamala harris closes the democratic national convention accepting her party's

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dan murphy with you. welcome back to the program. these are your top stories.

i accept your nomination to be president of the united states. >> kamala harris makes history, becoming the first woman of color to top a major party ticket and taking aim at her republican rival. >> donald trump is an unserious man. [ laughter ] but the consequences -- but the consequences of putting donald trump back in the white house are extremely serious. attention now turns to jackson hole and jay powell's keynote speech. fed policy-makers says their side is set on lowering rates while stopping short of fully committing to a september cut. >> there is some room to consider where we go from here, but i frankly think we've got time. >> what matters is we start to bring rates down. >> mm-hmm. >> that sets the expectation.

>> it's not what the rate is today but what it is in the future. and weak major a. are ticking up but wall street is set to shrug off the downbeat session. nestle shares fall as the firm replace mark schneider with laurent freixe who pledges to drive sustainable top line growth in the food giant. >> we want to improve our industry and regain market shares. that the comes investing in our brands and comes back to investing in our growth platforms. welcome into the program. well, kamala harris has formally accepted the democratic party's presidential nomination in chicago. harris used her keynote speech as the dnc to take aim at republican rival donald trump and set out her economic pitch to voters. >> he doesn't actually fight for the middle class. instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends, and

he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt and all the while he intends to enact what in effect is a national sales tax, call it a trump tax, that would raise prices on middle class families by almost $4,000 a year. well, instead of a trump tax hike, we will pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million americans. >> for reaction and analysis we turn to the former british ambassador to the u.s., france and turkey and a senior adviser at chatham house. i want to say, thanks so much for being here today. appreciate it. let's begin with your first take on kamala harris' acceptance speech. how would you grade the vice president when it comes to

messaging and impact? >> well, good morning. thanks for having me. i was thinking as i watched her acceptance speech and on the back of the other speeches that the dnc has had, you know, powerful remarks from bill clinton, hillary clinton, president obama and so on and michele. this was a -- >> okay. it looks like we might have, unfortunately, lost the absthere. we might come back as soon as possible. we might have gremlins in the system this friday. in the meantime, perhaps we can give you another live at how the markets have been moving here and, of course, through the course of the european session we have seen markets trading mostly higher higher. london's ftse is up by.02% but we're seeing solid gains coming through for the spanish ibex, not just in today's session but also for the week as well. up which more than 1.5% and the

ftse is up .74%. the big question today is what's going to happen out of wyoming? the fed is hoping chairman powell drops monetary wisdom in the next couple of hours. his address is being closely watched. they are looking at the frequency of cuts and the magnitude of cuts to come. right now markets are pricing in a quarter point cut in september and analysts have also concede that had 50 basis points may well in fact be in play here, especially after we saw the fed minutes this week revealing that a vast majority of members favor a cut as soon as next month. in terms of the overall market moves we've seen in the last 24 hours, the dow and s&p 500 in the united states holding on to gains this week but only just, and what we've seen is woman street being pressured by some of the anxiety around the outlook for jackson hole and, of course, also a rise in treasury yields overnight with heavy losses being seen on the nasdaq which, as i flagged, saw its

worst day of trade since august 5. i believe we have sir peter back with us now. ambassador, if you can hear me. welcome back into the conversation. apologies that we just lost you there. please, finish your thought, your reaction to kamala harris' address. >> well, hello again, and thanks for having me. i was saying that i think that in the space of barely a month it is rather extraordinary as an observer from across the atlantic who follows events in america so closely the transformation in the mood and perhaps even the fortunes of the democratic party. powerful speeches from both obamas, from both clintons and an acceptance speech from kamala harris last night which really was pretty different to what most people would have expected a month or so ago before president biden stood down, so i think pretty dramatic, momentum, enthusiasm, happiness, and would i have thought a sense in the democratic community that this is now an election that they feel that they can win whereas a month or so ago my friends in

the democratic party were a bit down. >> ambassador, i know you know president biden personally and professionally and, of course, have you to also think that this was a speech that he had hoped to give himself. are you personally surprised by the momentum and the unity that we see among democrats behind candidate harris now? >> i am a bit surprised. i think it was an extraordinarily brave thing for the president to do, to decide that he wasn't going to run for another term. of course, there are all sorts of indicators and the speech -- the debate was not a great success, and even i who is a big fan of president biden felt at that moment, dear oh, dear, this can't go on. he needs to stand down. it took three weeks for him to do so, and here we are. i do think there are a number of people in the democratic party who would have liked to have had an open competition to choose a successor, to choose a different nominee once the president decided that he wasn't going to

run for a second term, but that was arranged differently, and i think it is pretty remarkable, pretty surprising, your point, that kamala harris has managed to move right into the position of lead candidate. she's got a unanimity behind her in the democratic party, and she even seems to have caught donald trump a little bit off balance. he's not quite sure at the moment how to deal with the these. a the momentum and positivetive of the democratic candidate that he'll have to deal with the next few months. the democrats have much more of a chance to their surprise than they felt they were going have just a few weeks back. >> let's take a deeper dive into foreign policy as well, your area of expertise. i want your reaction to what kamala harris said about gaza, an issue through the course of her campaign. on the one hand expressing

strong support for israel but also calling out for the senseless killings of palestinians on the ground there and pushing for a cease-fire. i want to get your take on how harris differs from trump on this issue and whether or not there is light perhaps between her and president biden on this, particularly given the protests that we've seen outside the dnc on this week on this issue. >> we were warned before the convention that there were going to be dig demonstrations, and some of my friends who are there in chicago were worried that this could become a big distraction from the victory parade, if you like, for kamala harris and her nomination. in the end it wasn't too bad. the numbers were not very large, and it did not get out of control. on the substance of the policy, i have to say i was impressed by the way in which kamala harris spelled out both her unequivocal support for israel's right to defend itself and america's commitment to its security, but

also making the point that palestinians had to be dealt with dignity and respect and self-determination which is code for a two-state solution. is that a different tone to what president biden has been adopting? i think slightly. i think there's a nuance there and a little bit perhaps more emotion, perhaps empathy for the plight of the 40,000 people in gaza who seem to have lost their lives, and that's not each counting the ones who may still be buried under the rubble. i think a little bit of a nuance but not substantively different from where the current president is, but i thought she had a sensible balance. in the convention hall there was great applause for what she said about israel but even more enthusiastic applause for what she was saying about the rights of palestinians. >> of course. it's not just gaza as well. ukraine was also quite central to this speech as well. how do you think president putin of russia is viewing this, and if you're president zelenskyy, how are you thinking about this as well? >> i very encouraged by what she

said about ukraine and nato and, of course, i would be i'm a brit. i would argue nato is crucial to the support of the west generally and the protection of democracy against tyrants and autocrats who don't see the world in the way we do, but her remarks about ukraine were extremely encouraging. president zelenskyy feel pleased about that. the russians in the past wanted to see donald trump win last time around and there are some signs, though i can't give you chapter and verse, that the russians would like to see trump come back. we certainly know that president benjamin netanyahu is keen to see are a republican president than he have to have a democratic candidate. he campaigned actively against president obama when i was in washington and i think he prefers to have a president who won't ask too many questions. i think the russians would be

looking at this and say we'd rather have our friend donald trump back in the white house than we would like to have the degree of continuity but with certain nuances represented by kamala harris following four years of joe biden. >> ambassador, just before i let you go on a personal note here. we have also now confirmed that mike lynch has passed away. i understand he was a friend. his body being recovered from the sea after this tragedy in italy. a man certainly celebrated for his entrepreneurship and his influence on the technology industry. i'm just wondering if you have any thoughts on what's unfolded here and whether or not you've spoken to his family, sir. >> well, thank you for asking. i think it's devastating news. it's such a tragedy. this man, a great tech entrepreneur, very successful, close adviser to different governments and didn't agencies trying to keep the world safe against cyber threats. i personally do not think he should have been extradited to

the united states to face trial in california. i think it was remarkable that he went there. he did not take a plea bargain. he made his own defense, and he's one of the .4% of people who have been acquitted in a federal trial in the united states. it's an extraordinary achieve president and testament to the fact that i always thought whatever went on in that business, there wasn't a crime committed under u.s. law, so i was thrilled when he was first of all acquitted and then i was appalled at the nauss this trip on the boat where he was inviting family and close friends who supported him during his legal case ended so tragically, so i think it's deeply distressing. a lot of questions to be answered. there was a magnificent boat, allegedly built to the highest spec. very high safety standards and within a day or two his co-defendant in the trial also killed in a road accident in the north of england when he was out having a morning run by a

motorist who presumably didn't see him in the road so there's a sort of fatalistic tragedy to the fate of these two people after the trial which just makes me feel very distressed on behalf of mike and, of course, his family and close friends. >> ambassador, my condolences to you, and thank you for sharing your thoughts and reflections on this tragedy unfolding in italy. we appreciate it. we also appreciate your time. thank you so much for coming on today to help us unpack and expand on the u.s. elections. that was the former british ambassador to the u.s., france and turkey and a senior adviser at chatham house. up next on the show, we'll take a look at the investment case for fertility case. sylvia has all the details on the other side. stay with us.

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welcome back. kamala harris used her democratic national convention speech to look to draw a dividing line between her campaign and donald trump, criticizing his economic policies as well as his stance on reproductive rights. >> stories of women miscarrying

in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the act to ever again have children all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. couples just trying to grow their family cut off in the middle of ivf treatments, children who have survived sexual assault potentially being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, this is what's happening in our country because of donald trump. >> new research from barclays has identified the fertility industry as an attractive investment opportunity as governments seek to tackle declining birth rates which in turn will drive demand for health care and social solutions. sylvia is back with us for more on this. you've been following this pretty closely as well. >> yeah. such an interesting theme because either we know a friend

or a friend of a friend who is going through something of this kind, and ultimately it just seems that this is actually a global problem where the global per filth rates are declining pretty much everywhere. as a result, fertility stocks are now seeing growing interest among investors. traditionally many managers have been quite skeptical about getting exposure to these companies due to high costs and limited access for the general population, but barclays highlights now four reasons why this is changing. these include broader fertility approaches meaning that more families are having access to these treatments. companies are also increasingly offering fertility benefits, particularly in the united states where fertility policy lacks compared to europe. assisted reproduction is also getting destigmatized and a number of fertility tech startups are coming up with innovative products and services. now what we're witnessing here is a shifting narrative, and as a result it's shedding light on

a number of companies as well that offer solutions from pre-care such as financing all the way to post-care. so some of the companies involve heard include merck which lass reproductive health and fertility drugs and off vags treatments and parental care and nurseries with bright horizons. analysts at barclays also said that this strength is likely to growth further with fertility rates -- fer filth-related mnas and ipos potentially on the horizon as well. it seems though that this is basically a new trend, but it's here to stay obviously because these social challenges are not going anywhere either, you know, with the global fertility rates declining pretty much everywhere, and it seems that the investors are now also waking up for the role they can actually take in the space, too. >> so there is an investment opportunity here. what type of innovation are we seeing in the space though? >> it's so much actually. i was very interested to see how

a.i. is also trying to -- is playing a role here. would i like to mention, for instance, this app called flow. it helps women tracking their cycles, and, of course, that's important when one is trying to get pregnant, but options here are varied. they go all the way were sperm and egg-freezing services to hormone testing systems and monitoring platforms as well, so we're just seeing more innovation in this space, and on top of that i would also highlight the fact that employers are also changing some of their benefits to promote families as well. it's having a huge role here with more companies, for instance now also paying for some of the ivf treatments, contributing to that, on top of that equal parental leave. some of these things actually sound pretty basic to be honest, right, and not that hard to make a significant change, but ultimately they can actually make a huge change for some of the women in particular if you want to bring women back to the workforce which is also important from an economic point of view. >> and such important developments in this space, too.

sylvia, thank you again for joining us. we appreciate you. sylvia amaro there. our next guest is actively investing in this space. her firm recently raised $150 million in fresh capital to invest in early stage ventures including in biotech. thanks for being here. >> thank you. it's great to be here. >> look, before we unpack exactly where and what you're investing in, i think it's fair to say that this new raise has put the spotlight on the firm and also your teenage ties to russia as a former putin youth leader which has been well reported over the years. i understand that. also also, of course, the subject of a major. before we quick it off, who are you today? >> i did participate in politics as a 15-year-old teenager.

i was in the past time and i am 55 and i'm focused on supporting and supporting measures for humanity. >> expand on that for me. i think perhaps there is unfairly an air of uncertainty around exactly your source of funding, so let's separate facts from fiction here. can you call out who funded your latest raise? >> yes. our fund has been funded by over 20 tech founders, including at least ten founders that has been backed by our firm and a number of couldn'tntributions from the and switzerland. >> can you say without a doubt that there's no russian funds in your business? >> absolutely. >> vcs like yours are not

required to disclose backers. this is not specific to your fund. >> i was invited to speak about -- >> i understand. i understand. >> and i would love to come back to this topic. >> we will get to that point. but also just with regards to transparency and the industry, because you have been the subject of so much scrutiny, do you think it's also fair that transparency should be improved in the vc space and funders should be disclosed and declared? >> i think it's a great initiative. i also think it's very important that mass media like yours supporting female investors which are underrepresented in our industry. i believe it's only 7% of venture capital gets to be managed by female investors which is definitely unfair. >> so let's talk about where you're going to be deploying some of this capital. elaborate for me on the new investment thesis and how it differs from some of your

previous funds. >> we have been traditionally investing in enterprise software, financial technologies, artificial intelligence. i think over the last years we came to conclusions that in addition to this area of investment, we have been deploying capital over the last six years. we also identified areas called superhuman. it's really important to continue our existence on this planet, and i do think it's really important to be thinking about technology in a perspective of humanity. how can we use technology to enhance our lives to make our lives better, more healthier, happier, productive and better family members and parts of society and better part of the overall economic system.

futures have a number of founders called life heritage to reproduction health and mental health. these are some areas we've been looking at. we have a number of investments in this area and the plan is to be able to double down on these areas. >> i think it's fascinating as well. you've said longevity and reproduction is also going to be the future of consumer investing. some investors might consider those more high-risk bets. where do you see the opportunity, and how do you sell it to your funders? >> well, i definitely want to say venture capital has always been backing one of the most risky technologies, and that's the role of venture capital a.m. and there are some things that venture capitalists should be able to do really well. they should be able to identify exceptional founders who are

difficult to bring new ventures to the market. i think we can look at the numbers. we can look at the numbers of our other performance. we have exception ratings. i think as our backers look at the numbers, they get convictions into technology and investment into financial areas to invest in and right now superhuman is an area to support with our work and our capital. >> very quickly you backed eight unicorns. how do you know which companies to back, and what do you look for in a founder? we only have a few seconds left so keep it -- >> definitely a great question, and one of the most important thing i'm looking at a founder is the ability to identify what

is the most important thing to focus on at any given time and the ability to pull all of the attention to solving this thing and this problem and besides that i do think it's really important how much is the market and how big is the market going to be expanding? what kind of cultures are we backing, and we go after companies with companies and culture. >> okay. great conversation today. thanks for being here. sorry. we're out of time here. marsha bucher from day one adventures. stay with us here on cnbc. "worldwide exchange" coming up next.

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♪ it is 5:00 a.m. here at cnbc global headquarters. welcome to "worldwide exchange." futures are higher as investors get ready for a critical week that could determine the direction of the markets and the economy, at least for the foreseeable future. it starts today with fed chairman jay powell speaking at jackson hole. wall street will be looking for any new signals on rate cuts as the u.s. economy hits a crossroads. stopped in his tracks. the canadian government orders its two largest rails back to the bargaining table. making i