tv Squawk Box CNBC November 4, 2014 6:00am-9:01am EST
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♪ so wake me up when it's all over ♪ ♪ when i'm wiser and i'm older >> good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. and this is the perfect song for today. in case you've been living under a rock and have missed those campaign ads, the posters, it is election day. if you wonder why it matters, check out this chart from jpmorgan's anthony chan. it shows when the stock market sees things, it's not always a huge fan of change. two months after the election, the s&p rose more than 6%. when the incumbent white house party gained seats in congress. stocks rose less than half of that when the opposition picked up seats. the s&p jumped nearly 12% in the final two months of the year. probably not going the be the case this time around. they are expecting republicans to make some massive gains, at least in the senate, if not in the house, as well. we'll be talking more about
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today's battle for control and all of the issues at stake in just a few minutes. but first, we have a round up of the morning's other top stories. joe talks about it. oil prices falling sharply, expanding losses for a fourth session. check this out right now. you thought this was bloody yesterday, down another 2.6% this morning. 76.70 for wti at this point. saudi arabia cutting prices to the united states. the exporters battling for market share here in the world's largest energy consumer, nation, also weighing on prices. signs that opec is ready to curb outputs. oil prices are down more than 20% from this year's peak in june and, andrew, this is a huge deal because, in saudi arabia, they can produce that oem oil for about $30 a barrel. here in the united states, if you start looking at fracking and some of these other techniques, it's more complicated, it's more expensive, and it costs somewhere between $ 6/0 and $63 on average to get some of that oil on the ground. >> we've got the number of
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stocks on the move to talk about this morning. online coupon company retailmenot is announcing its cfo has resigned. no word on why. the company's quarterly forecast falling short of estimates. sprint, we should tell you, reporting a bigger than expected quarterly loss. it's also announcing a 2,000 job cuts, as it tries to trim costs. of course, that company has a new ceo. still, 86 days in, they've done a lot of things. we'll see what they end up doing at that company. hopefully we'll see them in the next quarter or two. some of the things that they're doing coming to fruition. herbalife's earnings and revenue missing the mark and the maker of weight loss and nutritional products slashing its full year forecasts. aig reporting better than expected quarterly earnings. the results helped by performance at its core insurance operations. the company authorizationing more share buybacks. and one more corporate story of note this morning, jpmorgan says
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the justice department is conducting a criminal investigation into its foreign exchange business. the bank is setting aside more money for legal costs to almost $6 billion, more than it had previously reserved for that category. so they're still in a legal suit. it ain't over yet. >> it's like she loves me, she loves me not. and retail, capital m, and they didn't put it in there, right? >> let's check on the markets this morning. yet, sort of up, sort of down, but not too bad and not too bad today. i don't -- if you think the markets wait to see what happens in the election -- >> >> yeah. and wait to see what happens in oil, too. >> there is a saying if you want to live like a republican, vote like a democrat. you've heard that saying, right? yesterday they were saying that
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a couple guys were saying if the republicans win, i expect a big bounce in the markets. the democrats argue that it's always better to have a -- >> always. >> democrats argue that it's always better to have -- somebody hit a correlation of all of the ways the government has been organized since world war ii. the market has done best when you have a democratic president and all-republican congress. >> you know, a lot of times i think that there's lags, there's leading things. you never know the composition. most people don't take it that far. they just take it democratic president or republican president and they look at things based on that and come up with all these numbers that i don't think necessarily are -- >> when you have a small number of cases, it doesn't necessarily prove that. >> the ten-year is at 232. 237 by the end of 2015. here is the dollar against the
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euro, 1.25. pound, 1.59. finally, let's check out gold. some people say it's gold with us moving one way and the rest of the world moving the other. >> a number of races are too close to call at this point, so john harwood joins us in the studio. i said my number is 58. 58 republicans and you agreed with that. >> no. >> you did not agree with that. >> how did you get to 58? >> you could get to 58 if republicans win every tossup seat. there's ten of them. >> that sounds good, yeah. >> and if they win virginia, that gillespie stages a miracle comeback to beat mark warner, terry wins in michigan and somehow al franken gets taken out in minnesota. >> there's no way minnesota is going to let a comedian --
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from -- i love "saturday night live," but serious think? >> i mean, he is quite likely to win. >> no, i know. >> it is a breeze, not a strong win. you said last week definitely not a wave. you could surf this wave at this point, couldn't you? >> well, you know, it's a little bit of a distinction without a difference. you've got a bunch of close races. it looks as if republicans are going to win most of them. they're likely to win the senate. i'm thinking 52 seats or so. >> 52, 53, yeah. >> that is a very good night for them. and a wave, you know, in the house, we're always talking about small numbers of seats changing hands because there aren't that many contested. so how do you call something a wave if you only win a few house seats and in the senate you have
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a lot of close ones. >> did biden, is he speaking for the administration the last couple of days, do you think? >> that didn't come from the president. you remember gay marriage, that started with biden. >> i think biden has his own ideas. >> the question is whether they can get a compromise. >> that didn't happen in the last six yearses. >> well, it actually did. >> so you think that that was not a news item you led with, biden saying that in the last couple of minutes? >> i mean, who says they won't compromise? ted cruz and that's about it. >> yeah, no, i was thinking of the other side. i don't see the president moving a lot one way or the other. he's not going to abandon his principals just because the republicans win a couple of seats in the senate. >> but his principals aren't necessarily at odds with things
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that compromising would be -- >> or corporate tax reform, something like that, you mean? >> yeah. you had 16 republicans vote for that immigration bill. that's a pretty large number of the republican caucus. the problem is with the house. it's not with the senate. >> how can how would they compromise with the house on that front? what kind of an immigration bill be something that could pass both chambers and that the president would sign off on? nothing.. >> i don't see that happening and i think the president is going to take executive action to legalize a substantial number of people unilaterally, which is a remarkable thing that we haven't, you know -- we hadn't entertained that possibility that a president could do this. he's really going to push the edge of -- depending on what the final order is, but most people think it's going to be several millions of people granted legal status. i think it's going to be tough. it's obviously going to go to
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court. there will be a constitutional issue raised against it and -- >> so where do we come up with compromise on legislation that both sides can actually agree on? >> very few. trade deals are a possibility. you have a president's negotiating a trade deal with europe and one with asia. i think you can get the two sides agreeing on that. corporate tax reform in theory is something they can agree on. but i don't expect it to happen because of the larger political dynamics where republicans want to link it to personal tax reform, which is much more difficult to do. you could have some infrastructure spending. you have the republicans who want too much some infrastructure, not on the scale the president wants and that's a potential area. but i don't see a lot. >> the runoff stuff is hard to understand, obviously, because it -- you know, you see them where the democrat has a higher vote on the first round and then someone leaves and you add the
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two together -- >> you have two conservatives running against landrieu in louisiana. she's not likely to get to 50. you'll have a runoff in december and she would be favored to lose that race. >> georgia looks like it's possible it's a tide turndown and maybe purdue wins 50 on today. >> could be. i wouldn't expect it. >> really? >> i would expect georgia goes you to a runoff. that would be in january. but purdue will also be favored in that runoff. >> that's all we need. that's going be like hanging chads. >> and maybe like tonight, because there are three seats that republicans are favored to carry, that may not be resolved tonight, alaska takes a long time to count votes, very far flung rural, you know, voting precincts. we could have a -- we could be pregnant with a republican senate, but not have it delivered for several weeks or months. >> you're going to take this
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again, aren't you? is that where you're going with -- the pregnancy, because they couldn't get birth control from the republicans, is that why? the republicans didn't let them have birth control. >> just be a little late. >> i like the analogy. >> and there's no pitossin for that. >> you know it's coming. >> i'm offended by it. >> did you see this morning money today, anthony chan and jpmorgan, did you see the report? >> no. that's what i was reading. >> i saw that, but 6% when the incumbent in the white house gains seats in the white house? >> i'm sorry, what? >> not that the s&p soared 11.9% in the final two months. >> oh, yeah? you said those words? >> 12%, yeah. i didn't think you were listening. >> tlit was. i thought i was listening, but then i saw 11%, 12%. >> you don't lisp to becky? >> no. i try to listen to becky. i try not to listen to joe.
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>> do you listen to joe more than electricky? >> no. >> i think you are admiring your new tie, your new election tie. i do like it. it's my holiday tie. i thought you were mention -- >> i like you. >> okay. i'm done. >> a happy idiot. no, i'm not -- >> but i am a happy idiot. >> a new one? >> yeah. a new song. we have to play that if we can find it. >> thank you, thank you. i know you have a very long day. >> and we will be here all morning. >> we may not have an answer by tomorrow morning. >> we'll be back tomorrow morning to discuss the pregnancy. >> it sounds good. when we come back, we are going to head to ireland for the dublin webb summit. some of the biggest names in technology are on hand. after the break, we'll catch up with eva langoria. she's been doing a bit of sight seeing and eating ahead of this big event. and later, if there's any
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doubt steve jobs was a big personality, another actor turning down the chance to play the big tech on the screen. we'll find out on who and why when "squawk box" comes right back. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.
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construction. renovation right now. another actor playing down the role of steve jobs. christian bale, ee krauing from apple movie, deciding he wasn't right for the part. leonardo decap reno pulled out of consideration. the project was expected to begin shooting this winter. the screenplay is written by my namesake, but unrelated allen sashgin. sarkin. >> at first i heard ashton kutcher was doing it, i thought no way. >> the book was great. the film that's ashton did was based other books and other things. >> christian bale is -- i think he's insane, but he's great. i would have been perfect.
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>> you saw american hustler? he's fat with that comb over and -- not that there's anything wrong with a comb over, anyway. >> let's check on the markets this morning. if you're taking a look at the futures, you're going to see right now, at least, that things are under a small amount of pressure. dow futures down by about 28 points below fair value. s&p futures off by 5 and the nasdaq down by 10. oil is the big story, though. this could determine where a lot of markets end up trading. another down day today after falling below $80 yesterday. you'll see a decline of another 2.7% this morning. all the way down to 76.66 for wti. that is something that's going to move a lot of different markets today if we continue to see these pressure. seema mody joins us now with a special star in dublin, ireland. she's there covering europe's hallmark tech event. seema. >> that's right. we've been speak to go several entrepreneurs as well as tech titans about whether
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entrepreneurship is the answer to europe's economic woes. we've also been exploring and discussing technologies that have been presented here at webb summit and the important role it plays, not just in corporations, but to media personalities. we're going to bring in eva langoria, a well known media personality. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> how important is that to you as a media personality and in building your brand? >> well, it's absolutely important. i mean, when they asked me to come here and speak about my philanthropy and my entrepreneurship, i thought, that's so great because i've always tried to unite the two and the way you do it is through technology. if it wasn't for social media, i wouldn't be able to get the message out about all the philanthropy i do. technology has pretty much disrupted every other aspect of our lives, except in the classrooms. we still sit at desks, we still
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look at a chalkboard. it's my hope we can integrate more technology into educational systems. >> and you think in order to be a successful media brand or actress, you have to accept the fact that we live in this visual age? >> yeah. i think you have to accept the fact that we live in a global community. you no longer just live in the united states. we are affected by everything that goes all over and around the world and so i think once you accept and acknowledge that, you're able to understand the way to reach the rest of the world is through technology. >> you're the executive producer of food chains, which debuts on november 21st. it explores the current -- of farmers in the u.s. tell us why farmers are such an important issue and something that you decided to make a film. >> this is my second documentary about farm workers. agriculture is the backbone of many economies in the world and it's still very important, obviously, in the united states. sometimes when people think of exploited labor, they think of china, they think of the ivory coast, but they don't think about the united states. and so for me to be able to
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humanize the issue and what's happening in our own backyard in the united states with the exploitation of cheap labor and we have an entire industry completely depend i can't answerant upon immigrant labor and this film shows the food chain, how a tomato specifically gets from the harvest on to your table and what happens then. >> you know, it's interesting because at cnbc, we've been covering the economic data that's been coming out of the u.s. which suggests that the u.s. economy is improving. but the research you've done with your documentary on farm labor and that argue, of course, plays a big role in u.s. gdp, would you say that the economy isn't, perhaps, allude to go or the economy isn't improving as much as the data is suggesting? >> well, i can't answer that because i'm not an economist. but what i can say specifically about the documentary, about the farm workers is we are the most well fed nation in the world and the people who pick our food goes to bed hungry. they do not have access to that economic mobility like others may have. >> your foundation recently
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partnered up with warren buffett's son. can you tell us about that? >> yes. howard is a farmer so howard and i do a lot of work together in central america, in mexico for farm workers there. but also we partnered on an entrepreneurial program. we have the buffett/langoria fund that helps women gain access to capital and business training to start their own businesses. >> okay. see va langoria, we'll leave it there. guys, back over to you in the studio. >> great, seema, thank you. that was great. >> i heard her speak recently. she seemed very concerned about farming issues. america has been worrying about. you're not eating organic, you're eating food that's been sprayed and therefore all the workers who are working on the food have been sprayed.
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>> right. >> you were listening to her, i noticed. i mean really closely. >> i listen to everything that becky says. >> in that case, i looked at you and i was going andrew, andrew. >> compelling television. still to come, we're minutes away from alibaba's first earnings report.. trading now above $100 a share. la alook back at the man behind the mega chinese company. as we head to break, check out the list of the most clicked names on cnbc.com. more squawk in just a moment. ♪ there's confidence... then there's trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence. our expertise, technology,
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good morning. welcome back to "squawk box." i am joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. it is election day, timely, and beyond the battle for congress, there are some interesting ballots, ballot initiatives in california. there are votes in berkeley and san francisco to raise taxes on sugary drinks. supporters say the new one cent per ounce tax would reduce consumption and battle obesity and diabetes, but the american beverage association and its members are spending big to stop it, at least $2.1 million, or $27 per eligible voter. >> hmm. >> i think that's cheep to prevent it. >> so tax it, don't just outlaw it. >> might be okay with that. >> we've done that with cigarettes and other things.
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>> cigarettes, sugary drinks. how do you feel about that? >> i don't like that at all. >> what are you going to use the tax for? >> yeah. >> okay. so goes. anyway, we've been watching stock markets, the stock market today, bites really the oil market that's been getting a lot of attention. the price of crude oil plummets once again this morning. it's down by another 2% at 76.70. voters heading to the poles today, markets may continue taking a wait and see approach at least until there's some clarity after the midterm elections. the outcome of these elections may determine the market's direction for the next few days, months or even years. joining us right now is john lynch, regional chief investment officer at wells fargo private bank. right here on set with us, karen cavanaigh, senior market strategist. karen, i know you look at what's been happening with washington. and your basic advice is telling people don't pay too much attention to washington. pay more attention to other things happening in the markets. >> well, absolutely.
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the fundamentals are going to be the driving force of the market. but in the short-term, everybody is going to be looking at washington. >> and the government shutdown. and in the end, it's a lot of noise. but the market plows ahead based on the fundamentals and those are the corporate earnings. corporate earnings are doing just fine. in fact, they're better than expected and coming in strong. >> what happened a few weeks ago? why did everyone panic and bring stocks down by almost 10%? >> they did panic. i think they're doing a little too quickly. the fundamentals were strong. it this wasn't like a 2008 scenario where corporate earnings were falling apart. in fact, corporate earnings were trifkt and we just started earnings season and investors panicked because of global growth. but that's not really a big story. we've been looking for global growth. i think the turning point was really when we saw the numbers that were not very good and the ebola and investors do, when there's a little bit of
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volatility, they head for the hills. and instead of looking at those underlying fundamentals, which are still strong, and, in fact, the u.s. economy is getting stronger. the manufacturing numbers we had yesterday were very good and those are indicative of a better economic back drop. so with corporate earnings, we're going to continue to forge ahead and there will be more volatility as we exit from qe and the fed is not guiding us as much any more. so the investors have to be -- of that. they have to know that that's what they do. instead of looking for a place to hide out, they say i want to be broadly diversified because then i don't have to worry about that. they keep getting gains. people keep buying and selling and it's a long time looking for that best performing asset class and really broad global diversification. it's huge. >> john, which stigma do you pay the most attention to? because as karen just laid out, a lot of different ways that you could look. if you were watching ebola, if you were watching some of the numbers coming out of europe and
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germany in particular, if you're watching china, those are numbers that could spook investors. but there are underlying strengths particularly here in the united states. what are you watching? >> absolutely. good morning, becky. i think karen made some supplements points. when you see the strong manufacturing number yesterday, you know, ebola and the germany numbers, certainly accelerated the decline a few weeks back. but, you know, 5% revenue growth, 7% earning eggs gains, that can make up for a lot of sins. we saw a pretty good recovery. i think going forward, continued 3% economic growth in the fourth quarter appears we're tracking for that. looks like we'll do about 3.5% gdp in 2015. i have to think if you're looking at numbers like that, 75ish on oil should be a bottom. >> $75 should be a bottom, but we may test that today, skraun. what happens? >> oh, i'm aware of that. i'm painfully aware of that. and i just think that the saudi arabia news threw everybody for
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a loop. but on top of that, the bank of america news threw everybody for a gain last week. when you look at 3.5% global growth, i think the situation not as bad as investor feared just a couple of weeks ago. >> when you say painfully bad -- >> yeah. that's exactly what i was going to say. i'm sorry, john, got a lot of money still invested in that group, i guess. what do you mean painful? it's not painful to us. it's painful to saudi arabia. did you think 85 was the bottom when we were at 87? yeah, i could call bottom at 75 when it's at 76. >> well, yes, thank you for pointing that out, joe. >> i'm sorry, i was asking. i didn't know -- >> production costs. production costs and when projects are viable in that $75 region, i think that's really the demarcation line, if you
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will. >> so would you change your mind? i'm gegs you've been long energy stocks. would you change your mind at this point? >> certainly not, certainly not. we think energy and the commodities space in particular, we recently upgraded that maybe four or five weeks ago. and i think giving -- again, 3.5% global growth, looking at the earnings numbers i've suggested earlier with 6% or 7% earnings growth, 2% yield, we think equities can climb to 2200, 2250, 14, 15 months out. >> i guess the different situation with oil right now is that it trades only in dollars and the u.s. federal -- >> right. >> the u.s. central bank has been very clear that it's moving away from quantitative easing towards higher rates eventually. and you have the rest of the world, including the bank of japan who are all getting much more involved with quantitative easing at this point. that may explain some of the disconnect between oil prices
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being down, even as global gdp continues to climb. is that something that changes all past looks at oil, all past trades? >> i don't necessarily believe so. i think we have to reframe the discussion on the currency on the dollar. i think the dollar is less weak. i don't think we should consider it strong just yet. if the dxy is 85, 87, on that level, i don't consider that strong. it may be a convenient excuse that we thought many companies would use in third quarter earnings and thankfully we were spared that issue. i think if you get to 1.20 like we were 10, 12 years ago, 110 on the dxy, i think that's when the strong dollar begins to impact overseas opportunities. but i do believe, you know, if we're simply less weak on the currency right now. that's simply a pretty good opportunity. much like we've seen in the past couple of years. it's good, not great for domestic and global growth. a slightly stronger dollar, if you will, a less weak dollar.
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i think bodes well for the energy space. >> karen, how about you? do you have any thoughts on the dollar or how we make sense of all this given the central bank being so active and moving in different directions? >> the fall in the price of oil is a good thing for u.s. consumers, a good thing for u.s. companies, it's a bad thing if it's an indicator of slowing global growth. i think we're going to see some good things for the forurth quarter. i think we'll see an increase in consumer spending. latest retail sales number we had was not good. i think its will be good for the overall u.s. economy at least for the fourth quarter. we don't expect it to fall that much more. a lot of these projects, people are worried about all the shale oil projects. the big point now has gotten lower. and it used to be the break even point. >> and now it's like 66. >> yeah. as technology comes on board and the break even points get lower. so it is concerning if it is a predictor of lower growth global. but right now, i think there's a
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lot of surprise and kergsz going on. so it's going to be a good thing right now for the short-term and for the u.s. consumer. >> karen, thank you for coming in today. john, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. let's talk about some auto news rite real quick. hyundai and kia will be paying $350 million in penalties to the u.s. government. the carmaker is accused of overstating fuel economy ratings. u.s. rel laters say it will examine whether honda failed to report deaths -- >> is it honda or hyundai? >> i'm going to get you the right answer because maybe it's both. but we should -- we started with hyundai. >> the faulty takata parts are part of a massive review. record sales in the u.s. over-shadowing the impact of a slowdown in china forney san.
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coming up, his company just went public. now he's part of cnbc's next 25 list. a profile of alibaba's jack ma, china's richest man. and a tight rope stunt drawing big ratings, but is this a trup troubling sign for where television is head is in the is the entire industry jumping the shark? and as we head to break, a quick check off what's happening in the european markets right at this moment, next. not much happening.
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welcome back, everybody. dow is down by about 28 points. s&p is off by 5 and the nasdaq off by 10. in earnings, dickinson beating the street on both the top and bottom lines. earnings at dish network, falling short of estimates of revenue. revenue was basically in line, but you see this morning, that stock is trading higher. time earnings and revenue topping estimates. that stock at this point is unchanged. and 2014 marks cnbc's 25th anniversary earlier this year. we revealed our list of the 25 rebels, icons and leaders from cass lows to steve jobs. they had the most impact in the world of business over the past quarter century. now, though, we're turn to go our list of the highest 25 of the future.
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in his own words, here is jack ma. ♪ ♪ >> the internet is a great treasure island for people. and we need a path for them. they can invest in alibaba, definitely. we focus on heallping small business, we focus on helping them make money. by helping other people making money, we make a lot of money. there are lucky people at this stage that are using internet, internet is something that you
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can change people's lives, we can create more jobs. what we want to see, the computer and service that a lot of human lives, a lot of the hopes, that is the key. >> we hope in the next 50 years, we say this is a company like microsoft, like ibm. they change and shape the world. >> i believe in an entry. if you want to be a successful company, you have to learn how to solve a problem of society. instead of catching one or two opportunities. everything should be transparent. everybody should be connected to each other, help each other in the ecosystem. we are entering the century of the small. the last century, big was beautiful, big amount money, big, larger skills. now it's small, practical,
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tailor made for the futures. and as a small business, not only creating jobs, it's creating hopes. we are creating innovations that take a lot of dreams. and they are the future. it's always scary looking far away. oh, my god, this is difficult place. go there, test. you never learn to win until you are in the waters. >> today, alibaba will be posting quarterly results for the first time as a publicly traded company since e-commerce giant's first day closing price is stock is up nearly 9% in shares. now we're more than 20% above its post ipo low. in total, we're up nearly 50% in the total gains. and the numbers come up at 7:00, 45 cents on earnings per share is what the expectation is. $2.61 billion in terms of revenue. we'll see whether they beat or they miss. kind of think they're going to beat, potentially in a big way, but --
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>> i can't believe it was such a great opening and people who bought are making money. >> definitely and i think you will see profits, but i don't want to -- >> i know it is, but then you've got all the worries about exactly whether it's apples and apples, the way we report here, right? >> oh, there's always going on to be accounting issues and questions about relative china versus -- but my point is, you look at an amazon and the valuation that amazon has and the valuation that alibaba has and a company that has a huge profit margin and a company that doesn't. >> so a profit margin that looks too good to be true. >> i'm not sure. >> but the decision between what alibaba does and what amazon does is remarkable in that they don't actually hold inventory. it's a totally different business. we often talk about it as if it's -- it's more like ebay. >> and it's kind of an
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incubator, too, which gis gets that premium based on this nebulous. >> they're going to start investing in media and other things. >> what is the situation? what does it trade at? >> you've got to use the right earnings number. >> earnings for last year. anyway, those numbers are hitting and we expect at 7:00 today. we'll keep you updated as those numbers roll out and give you the instant reaction. when we come back this morning, pushing the envelope on reality tv. whether it's walking a tight rope at hundreds of feet above the air or trying to survive in a forest naked and afraid. where shock tv is headed next. and will all these stunts start to turn off viewers and tirzs? we'll talk about that next on "squawk box."
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welcome back to "squawk box" in morning. the price to the death of tv viewers is reaching new heights with nick wollenda's death defying high wire stunt. my heart was pounding as this man was walking on that tight rope. 6.7 million viewers tuned in to see wollenda walk blindfolded above the streets of chicago. it's nowhere near the 13 million would tuned in to his last stunt where he crossed the colorado river near the grand canyon. the question, though, is whether viewers are finally start to go sour on these extreme life or death events and what they all
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mean. here to help us with that question, the future of television, michael wolf for media companies also the former president and coo of mtv networks. first of all, did you watch this thing? >> is an element where you watch this and you think to yourself, this is -- is this what tv is always going to be? we're going to try to -- people are watching basically to see whether the guy's going to fall. that's what it is. >> i think there's more to it. i think first of all there's a whole narrative around him. his family, the number of people who died in his family, his faith. and in a lot of ways it's a calculated risk on his part. he's not just doing this for the first time. he spent a lot of time practicing it and with the blindfold, knew the wind conditions. but more importantly everybody looks and says is this the future of television? the audience is hungry for events. and tv networks have to nourish them. >> be are advertisers one of the -- when he successfully
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crosses the wire, an advertiser is the desperate to be associated. if he falls, i'm wary. >> they mainly ran commercials for their own shows. they were respectful about it. >> they were respectful about it or is that a function that certain paid sponsors didn't want -- did not necessarily want to place ads next to it? >> i think that -- i don't think it's that advertisers didn't want to be there. i think on the contrary. >> they wanted to be there and discovery said we don't want that. >> discovery ran ads for advertisers, but they also -- it's such a big event, it helped their own ratings. that's part of the challenge. part of what we see going on today is with the advent of netflix and hulu and others. people aren't watching as much dramas on tv, they're watching it on netflix.
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>> or they are watching it on dvr and they don't get credit for it. >> the stakes are too high. i was mentioning discovery is going to do is show where a man is going to be eaten alive by an anaconda. >> it's much more dangerous for the anaconda than the man. but two years ago think about how many people watched felix baumgartner as he did the jump from spacex. that got huge ratings. 80 million people have watched that on youtube. this is what people want. it's especially important as the reality tv format is -- it's really getting worn out. >> that was discovery, too, wasn't it? >> yes. >> what do you think happens if something goes wrong? thus far not much has gone wrong. knock on wood. >> discovery canceled a series
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this year. >> up at everest. >> right. i think people are going to watch and see what happens. but -- >> isn't there a nascar element to all of this? >> or circus element. when you're live. you've seen people fall. >> we've seen it in nbc with recreating "the sound of music" that they prmerform live. >> people are watching these shows over and over again on places like youtube. they travel way, way farther. >> that's interesting. the show you just mentioned has a repeatability factor. >> are people going to watch nik wallenda over and over in the future? >> yes. you want to see the drama of it. if you look at youtube, one of the most popular videos today is nik wallenda's grandfather's fall. >> i watched that over the
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weekend. it's horrifying. >> a lot of this is, once again, it's about a narrative. it's about a story. it's about this guy's family. they want events and they want stories. >> i don't know if you know the answer, but maybe you can help us at least speculate as an insider in this business. how much do we think wallenda paid for something like this and how much does it cost to put on a production like that given the helicopters, the wiring, the rigging. >> the numbers will come out soon. but much more it pays for itself. recognize he was going to do this anyway. it's not like discovery asked him to do this. whether it was discovery or somebody else, he was going to do this anyway. >> i'm not sure he would have done it without a camera and money at stake. >> yeah. absolutely. >> i don't think it would cost that much.
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just hook a cable up between two buildings. >> no, no, no. millions of dollars worth of rigging. >> this was a massive production. the numbers he got paid aren't public. >> do you expect the netflix of the world or the amazons of the world to ever get into live event broadcasts? >> absolutely. in the same way they're already getting into dramatic programming. they're doing their own reality programming. of course. they're going to want events also. recognize what gets ratings on tv are not only live, but it's things like sports. it's events. i mean, a lot of ways in -- >> the question is when does netflix decide they're doing stuff live? because the whole premise of netflix is that you can watch them any time. it's that live doesn't matter. >> we're way far off from that. they're just producing a couple of shows right now. as they get more and more viewers, expect they're going to do things that will replace large scale tv networks. >> michael wolf, thank you for
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coming in. appreciate it. when we come back this morning, it is your money, your vote. senator rob portman on the republican quest for control of the senate and the future direction of his party. and then gas prices are falling. so is the suv's come back here to stay? brands like jeep would suggest the answer is yes. mike jackson here when "squawk box" comes right back. act i. scene 3. open port twenty-two-oh-one-seven on the firewall for customer db access. install version two-point-three of db connector and ensure verbose flag is set in case of problems. (clapping sound) isn't the cloud supposed to make business easier? get the one that can connect to the systems that you already have. today there's a new way to work. and it's made with ibm.
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who would have thought masterthree cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging markets. it's a masterpiece. thanks. clearly you are type e. you made it phil. welcome home. now what's our strategy with the fondue? diversifying your portfolio? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*?
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thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. election day is here. let the voting begin. we tackle the midterm mayhem and the gop agenda with ohio senator rob portman. >> the comeback of the suv. america's love affair with bigger gas guzzling vehicles has been rekindled.
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autonation's mike jackson tell us what's behind the suv surge. >> that's entertainment. when giuliana rancic is not on "e," she's building her brand. the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. take a look at the price of oil this morning. if you thought you saw red arrow yesterday, look at this. now trading at $76.69 a barrel. over the last two days things have really stepped up sharply. oil fell sharply yesterday after saudi arabia cut export prices
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to the united states. in an attempt to gain market share. there are no signs that opec will be curbing output. the group of petroleum exporting countries is reluctant to seed market share to the united states. we talk all the time about how saudi arabia and other companies need oil to be up to $100 just to meet social needs. but they can pump it out at $30. >> doesn't this increasingly not look like a demand thing. doesn't it look like a supply thing that we're producing a lot more here and elsewhere. >> that's why it's a less scary situation. >> and it's like, you know, positive positive. instead of a negative positive. >> you get low prices and it's not because the world's falling off of an edge. yeah. good news for the consumer. >> a little bit of both, maybe. with europe. >> some of it. but not the last two days.
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it's not those declines. >> andrew swb it hitting? is it out? >> alibaba is supposedly out. my computer is not updating as quickly as i'd like it to. do you see it on yours? >> i'm waiting for alibaba to hit. but no it's not. becky, to figure out the p.e. we'd have to -- on first call we have next year. 2015. looking for 222. so you can figure it out from there. >> you can see right there alibaba is reporting total users of 307 million people. which is an unbelievable number. >> that's about the united states. in fact, they were looking for 298 million active buyers. i am getting a hold on this now. >> i see why no one's flashing the numbers. because it's -- >> it looks like eps is the same
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in terms of expectations. and looks like slight growth on the other side. >> up 49%. around 46%, 47% is what consensus was looking for. >> i finally figured this out on the revenue side. they are being reported. revenue came in at $2.74 billion. that is better than the street had been expecting. they'd been looking for $2.61 billion. those numbers you see of 10.9 billion is not in dollars. that's where you're going to see people taking time to get this through. obviously chinese companies said the reporting numbers in both. the analysts are only giving estimates based in dollars. >> 555,000 million. that comes out to 90 million american. >> also looks like earnings came
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in at 45 cents a share. the earnings per share in line at 45 cents. revenue better than expected. $2.74 billion better than the street was expecting. and the number of annual buyers better than expected. 307 million annual active buyers. that compares with what they were guessing of 298 million. some numbers also coming out from the company showed something that jon called gmv which is gross merchandise value. they grew gmv across their china retail market place by 49%. hard to compare with what that'd be out there. but that is showing some acceleration. it shows they are growing faster than they had been in previous quarters. >> did you see an ebita number?
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>> yeah. 1.48 billion. the consensus was 1.346. so that's also better than expected. >> my favorite stat, active users on their mobile commerce applications. that means they added 29 million people in one quarter. which is the size of texas. basically. so the scale and scope of this thing is kind of an out of control situation. >> the stock is trading higher. trading above $105. $105.74 which is up about four dollars from where it closed yet. >> trying to see if they say anything about the holiday quarter. >> this is the first time ever getting an earnings release from alibaba. it's going to take us awhile how to read them. >> do they give guidance, not give guidance. it's like opening a gift. >> right.
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on live it was. see? like nik wallenda. >> yeah. we're on the high wire our hearts are pounding. >> and i'm about to fall off. just hanging on. >> all right. well, i don't see any guidance either and i'm scrolling through this whole thing. but again, it looks like very quickly those earnings are better than expected. i'm guessing this is better than you were anticipating. >> yeah. the most important things are the gross merchandise volume. that being up 49%. also the active buyers being above $300 million up at 307. i'm getting a version now of this release that's better formatted. >> ki throw out one number that that i just highlight because it's interesting to me? general and administerive expense. long-term they're going the have to spend a lot more. it's gone up. so now it's 11.6% of revenue in terms of their general
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administrative expenses. that compares with the same quarter in 2013. the question is what that line looks like on a long-term basis. >> the graph above that is the sales and marketing expenses. they do point out that grew from about $285 million or 10.4% of revenue to -- that's what it grew to from about 6% of revenue in the same quarter. they say that increase was primarily because of an increase in tactical advertising and promotional spending to promote the china retail market. when intense interest in alibaba enhanced. they spent more money to do it. that gufs you a sign, don't know if that trend continues too. if they will spend more to get more eyeballs. >> a little bit here about cash as well. $17.9 billion at the end of the quarter after an ipo you would
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expect that to be way up from before and it is. net cash provided by operating activities is $955 million, up 29.6%. compared to the year before. and cash used in investing activities looks to be mainly included dispersements for short-term investments. $2.25 billion. so they're making lots of investments. bringing in a lot of money. a lot of money going out. >> thank you mr. fort. we're going to talk about the battles of online retail dominance. later on "squawk on the street" david faber will have an interview with alibaba vice chairman joseph tsai. republicans as you have heard by now are hoping to take control of the senate. joining us with more on what the gop's agenda would look like if the party retakes the senate,
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senator rob portman. vice chairman of the national republican senatorial committee, member of the finance energy budget. and homeland b security committees. and the first question you ask in our pre-interviews, what does the gop stand for? rob, that grand old party, it's an old term. from years ago, i would have thought you would have known that. >> you're taking him literally. >> you're right. and in fact, that is what we keep hearing again and again and again. it's got to be more than the party of no. there are people that paint republicans as obstructionists now. i don't think that's necessarily a fair, you know, accounting of what's happened over the past two or six years. but what would you say is a positive message that the gop should have right now? >> first of all, it's exciting. . we do get the majority which we've talked about, it's an opportunity to actually move the country forward on some
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fundamental issues that we have left behind for too long. why not get the keys to an xl pi pipeline done. why not do something on tax reform? we talked a lot about these companies that are going overseas. the president and everybody else says the fundamental problem is we've got the highest tax rate among all the developed countries. let's deal with it. the budget issue. we talked about the fact we don't have budgeting anymore in congress. there aren't appropriations bills, there's not the oversight on the administration that's needed. let's pass a budget. that's supposed to be what congress does. it's exciting, i think, to look at these opportunities. trade is one we've talked about on this show before. we do not have the ability to negotiate trade opening agreements. it's the first president not to have it since franklin delano roosevelt. let's give the president the authority and opening more marketing for our workers and farmers. this is what the gop stands for and the majority would stand for if the voters choose to give us a majority.
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>> do you -- you must see polling from inside the gop. can you give -- shed any insight into what we may not know? we've seen real clear politics. we've seen "washington post," "new york times." some of the closest races. what are the ones that you are kind of watching thinking, wow, this could really be something since it seems to be going the republicans' way but may not be expected. >> look, it's going to be a close election. but if you look at the states where there's been early voting, we've seen a lot of really good results for republicans. in colorado, for instance, about 120,000 more republicans than democrats. in iowa, a lot more republicans have voted compared to what happened in 2010 when we did well there. so it looks like there's more energy and enthusiasm on our side this year. that's what the polling would show also. two states i would watch are iowa and colorado. those are purple states. and they're states that
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sometimes during a presidential year seems to be blue. but this year they may well be red. i think early on, you'll see what happens in north carolina, georgia, new hampshire which will be interesting. but i think there's a very good shot we get the majority. and i think it's because people are sick and tired of what they see going on in washington. they want to see some change. the republican majority reflects that -- represents that change. and as i said it's an opportunity to have more administration. and to get stuff done that people care about them and their families. >> so senator, i guess we might take a couple only days to try to figure out what happened in this election. you know when that's finished, we're going to talk about that selection. we had senator cruz and jack welch on yesterday. there's already a bit of -- i don't know. people say different things about how to win in 2016. some say don't run a candidate that's trying to, you know, sort of being in the middle and you're not sure what he stands
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for. run someone that has clear cut republican credentials. because it didn't work the last couple of times running moderates. do you have a feeling on watching what's happening in this election? what would work best in 2016. >> i think what works best is pretty simple. people, you know, want to see some progress. they want people who are going to help them in their lives and the economy and jobs is the top issue. it was in 2012. it will be again in 2016. it is this year. so i think it's laying out a clear agenda and saying, look, if i get elected what i'm going to do to help you. the republican party needs to reach out more too. there's this notion that republicans plan to keep doing the same thing. we have won a couple elections because of that. we've got to attract more voters who understand the policies we're talking about, pro-jobs policies actually affect them. if we do that, there's a good shot of getting a republican president. one reason i'm excited about
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what's happening this year, until now we haven't had the ability to have a republican agenda because the house passes a lot of legislation. it's not the republicans obstructing. it's the democrats in the senate who have refused to take up any of the house-passed legislation. there's been 12 republican amendments debated. there's only been eight democrat amendments voted on. it's just blocking the process. now we'll have the ability when the house passes something, for the senate to take it up. some will go to the president. some he'll sign, some he won't. but it shows people the republicans are not the party of obstruction or the party of no. that we've got an exciting pro-growth agenda. i think that's the most important thing going into 2016. >> so the disillusion right now, is it with progressive policy or is it with washington in general? >> i think it's all of the above. i think people are sick and tired of the bickering and the
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fighting and the partisan gridlock. but they also don't like the direction president obama has taken the country. look at this approval rating today, it's far lower than it was in 2010 when there was this republican wave. and some of it's isis, some is ebola, some is the economy and irs. but this is still a country that is a common sense conservative country. they are looking for people who want results and want solutions. >> senator, i think you're 100% right. i think people lose track of what happened when, who insulted who, who didn't come to the table, who did things along the way. but how does that change? my question has always been, how do you change that environment in washington? that seems like it has been for the last six years, a really bad place to try to get work done, a really bad place to try to reach across the aisle. >> it starts with leadership. look, i think the president is more likely to come to the table
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if there's a republican senate. but it's also incumbent upon republicans to come to the table too and talk about these issues. we have a broken tax code. we haven't changed it since '86. every other competitor has. we're falling behind there. we have a broken regulatory system where we're not applying regulations in a smart way. cost benefit analysis. we have a broken trade system. not being able to negotiate trades since the '30s is crazy. we should be out there negotiating more openings for our farmers and workers. so these are things that we can and should do. and they don't have to be partisan. we're going to have differences. that's fine. let's work out those differences and find common ground and begin to move the country forward. that's what people are frustrated about. we're not had moving forward. we just continue to have partisan gridlock. >> senator, thanks. you'll still say bengals over cleveland?
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>> absolutely. look, they're my two favorite teams in football. but the bengals are still my favorite. >> oh, that's cute. so you do like one child more than the other? >> yeah. and both of them won last sunday which was awesome. bengals barely, but they did win. and looking forward to the game on sunday. >> i don't know. i'm looking for a new team. anyway, after that indianapolis game. thank you. >> thanks, guys. up next, the comeback of the suv. big sales in october of those gas guzzlers. is it more than just cheaper prices at the pump? more after this. gigs for the sa. 30 gigs? wow - that's a lot. you don't have to do that for me. oh, that's ok... no, seriously, i wouldn't want you to get in trouble... it's the same plan for everyone. families...businesses...whoever. riiiiight. (yelling) no celebrity treatment here! (yelling) there really isn't any celebrity treatment. just a normal guy, getting a great deal. we're just saying it loudly for some reason. now get 30 gigs of data to share with family or your business.
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welcome back, everybody. the nation's largest auto retailer reporting for the month of october. they rose 8% from the same time a year ago. plus how successful has america's car rerival been so far? joining us is the chairman and ceo of autonation. great to have you here. >> thank you. wonderful to be here back in new jersey, my home state. i was born and raised in south jersey. but the auto industry had another solid month. autonation was 8% retailing under just 25,000 new vehicles. but the story is the short
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memory of the u.s. consumer around gasoline prices. we already had had a migration towards trucks this year. with gas dipping below $3 a gallon, it's turned into a stampede. the poster child is chrysler corporation. its sales are up 22%. jeep sales are up 50% which are all suvs. the ram pickup truck is up 33%. and for chrysler sales, 75% of the vehicles chrysler sold this month were truck based. >> and you attribute that to the reduction of the cost of fuel. >> there was a migration towards trucks anyway, just on some cycle things. but there's no question that the drop in the price of gasoline changes the type of vehicles that consumers buy. >> do people trade -- >> it doesn't change b the total number of vehicles sold, but it has a tremendous impact on the mix. and it's hard to believe, but i've seen this movie many times.
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that someone who's buying something that they're going to keep five, six, seven, eight years is buying it on the basis of that month's gas prices. >> do they walk in and think to themselves, okay, gas is going to be this price for the next -- they're not making that bet. >> i'm always saying don't look at what the american consumer says. look at what the american consumer does. all the research says fuel economy is their number one consideration in purchasing a vehicle. we're there at the moment of truth when they write the check. i'm telling you, when they write the check, they're in the euphoria of gasoline been $3 a gallon. and off they go. >> i wonder. are they trading in hondas and toyotas and vehicles that get better gas mileage to buy some of these things? and what happens if gas prices go up? will they swap out again? >> if gas prices were to go lower, you would then see
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priuses traded on pickup trucks. if gas prices were to move quickly to $4 a gallon, people would be bringing in their cadillac escalades and trading them in for a smart car. it's like a cannon rolling back and forth and the deck of a ship, a loose cannon. and of course if we had a rational energy policy. >> that's what i was going to needle there. you're not running for anything today, are you? >> no, absolutely not. no need. >> how much of a mike jackson gas tax would you like to levy on a gallon of gas right now? hoe u how much? >> i would ease in. i would rebuild is the roads of america. >> so do the gas tax. >> yeah, i would do the gas tax. >> raise taxes. so you're not running for anything. >> we as an industry have been mandated by the federal government to sell fuel economy and we're making billions of dollars in investments in fuel
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economy technology. and you need an economic rationale for that. >> you love this. >> when i met with the epa over this regulatory mandate and i said what if gasoline pries go down, they assured me gasoline prices will never go down again. so i have that assurance from the u.s. government. unfortunately it's not working out that way. and with gas prices going down, of course a gas tax should be put in place. but that's not going to happen. >> thank you. >> thank you, joe. always a pleasure to see you. especially you, becky. you too, andrew. coming up, the drop of oil and the midterm effects on the markets. what to expect at the opening bell. (receptionist) gunderman group.
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still to come this morning, the midterm effects of the market. plus definitely no free lunch for travelers anymore. we'll reveal the staggering amount of money that airlines are making on fees this year. is it $30 billion? is it $50 billion? or even $70 billion? the answer is coming up next. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts?
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there are a number of others out with quarterly results. the revenues fell short on archer daniels. and michael kors announcing a $1 billion stock buyback program. but its sales guidance giving some investors cause for concern this morning. and a top and bottom line beat at cvs health is raising its outlook. burger king matches expectations. revenues falling just a bit short. they expect its merger to close late this year towards early 2015. so they don't seem to be having nearly the same problems mcdonald's was. and the home of nick wk wallend tightrope walking out with numbers. the company was helped by a 32% jump in international sales. but a big question mark.
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>> if you are irritated by all those airline fees for things like wi-fi or checked bags, sit down for this. phil lebeau is here with the staggering amount of money that the airlines are making on fees this year. earlier we asked you what do you think it is. $30 billion? is it $50 billion? or even $70 billion? phil's here and he has the details. phil? >> becky, do you have a guess? >> i'd guess 70. >> you're a little more optimistic than really where the numbers are for the industry. the answer is almost $50 billion. this is new analytics coming to us from idea works. they track this internationally. and the numbers for 2014, the airline industry is expected to bring in $49.9 billion in ancillary fee revenue. that's a 17% fee increase compared to last year. and if you factor in all the people who are flying around the world, average it out.
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it comes out to all of us paying in ancillary fees when we are taking a flight. but here's the numbers that you really have to pay attention to. look at how much ancillary fees have jumped over the last four years. in fact, over the last five years it's more than doubled. it's staggering to think that it was basically $22 billion back in 2000. $32 billion in 2011. and it's ratcheted up by double digits every single year. and most people think this is going to continue over the next couple of years. because the airlines are becoming better retailers and the international airlines, they're now getting into the game. that's why we saw the jump up 17% in the last year. people look at it and say they're benefitting because of lower jet fuel prices. it's not just because of jet fuel prices. the airlines are becoming better retailers. particularly at the front end when you are booking a ticket. i know this because i was booking a ticket last night for my daughter.
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boy, they are getting much more sophisticated. and much smarter about selling you fees and services in advance. and that's why we're seeing record revenue numbers when it comes to the ancillary fees. >> when you said it's only about $15 a person who flies, that shocks me. i pay 25 bucks for a bag one way. 50 bucks to go round trip. if you want to get upgraded to economy-plus, that's another 35 to 55 bucks depending on the flight you're taking. >> keep in mind, becky, that's just averaging out worldwide. there are millions of people who are taking flights where they're going from one destination to another and they don't have any bags. so they're not paying anything. they are offset by most other people who are checking a bag, paying for the fees. i understand what you're saying. but that's the worldwide average when you take the number of people who are flying this year with the revenue number. >> all right. let me ask you this. if we're talking $50 billion,
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that more than the net income of the top ten airlines in the world? i mean, would these airlines have any profits if it weren't for this $50 billion? >> this is where their profits are coming from. they generally -- the general feeling is that they would be slightly profitable, probably around break even to slightly profitable. this is what makes them profitable. when you look at e the numbers they racked up in the third quarter, almost all of that could be attributed to the fact they were doing much better when it comes to the ancillary fees. >> and how much angrier are consumers compared to ten years ago? >> nobody likes it, but we buy it. >> it's like buying a car. just tell me the price. >> well, okay. you will say that. but these guys are in the business of bringing in greater revenue. so they're trying to become retailers. and you may not like it, but you're going to pay it. what are you going to do? if you're going to fly -- >> i would just pay it if it was
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the price. just tell me the price. don't trick me into things because that makes me madder. >> well, i understand what you're saying. but their answer is going to be here is the price. here's the airfare and here are e the taxes. now would you like something more? it's going to cost you. >> nickel and diming. phil, thank you. >> you bet. stocks coming off a flat start to november. joining us is mike ryan, chief investment strategist at ubs. and head of ubs wealth management research america. that was something to watch. and i don't know whether it's calming down about ebola or earnings, but that was an incredible snap back from down 10% on the s&p. did we engender enough? did we shake out the complacency enough to go higher from here? >> i think we did. look, joe.
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i think when we go through the periodic growth sars, we're around geopolitical issues. but what do we see in profits? the trend is higher. as long as we continue to see an environment where the concerns about global growth don't wind up triggering slower growth in the u.s. then i'll see as a better outcome in terms of u.s. equity markets. >> today we decided that oil we view it a little bit more half full than empty right now because it's related to supply than to a slowdown, a global slowdown. more related to demand which would be positive, i think. do you view it that way? or is it still part demand, part supply? >> i'd agree with you. i think it is more supply than demand. we're not only seeing this is, but we're also seeing energy sources coming from the past where we would see costs.
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usually when prices begin to break down, saudi arabia cuts production. they're not cutting production now. when i look at it globally what i see is what you're seeing. it's more of a supply story than a demand story. here's the issue is that when oil prices fall, at least in the past, we've gotten a huge benefit from that. it's like a consumption tax in the u.s. we're less energy intensive now than we were. since we're now the marginal producer than consumer of oil, it doesn't have the same positive effects it did. >> it could be negative to our -- although the integrated oils are benefitting on the downstream stuff, but for the first time since we're, you know, more involved with the production, lower oil prices almost start hurting us. it's not purely good news for the consumer. it hurts some of our earnings in the s&p. >> again, i think it's going to be sector by sector. there are certain areas that will be vulnerable in lower oil. but i would say aggregate when
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you look at it, is this a a positive. >> are there other -- have you rejiggered the type of companies that you think will benefit from all these -- i mean, things are a little different than your forecast a year ago. what makes sense now to own? which sector? >> first of all, in terms of it's not just purely tied to energy, but i think if we tend to get the growth that we're looking for and we're looking for the economy to kind of hit this higher growth point, in the 3% range than the 2% range we've been in. i want to be in the mid-cycle stocks. i want to be in the areas that are levered to growth, that are less vulnerable to fed tapering. so that includes the cyclicals. so it is going to be the technology industrials. it's going to be consumer cyclicals but also the small caps that are benefitting from more domestic growth. >> all right. mike, thank you. what do we do next year?
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do you think we add another double digit advance? or we've already had our day in the sun? >> i think the gains next year will be much more measured. i think they're going to be much more despaired. we're looking for earnings growth at 8%. that's our view. and i think we've seen the rerating of stocks. we're no longer going to get the fed providing massive accommodations. so i think we're likely to see the gains in the upper markets will largely be by the growth. looking for high single digits. >> okay. thank you. we'll see you later. you're not running for anything today? you're not in any elections or anything? >> no, no, no. i'm keeping my day open for the markets. >> okay, thanks. see you later. coming up, attention walmart shoppers. a new wine offering hitting the shelves from an e! news star. giuliana rancic is making her way to the set right now. she brought some of her new vino with her. we'll talk about it when "squawk
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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. we've been watching the futures this morning. they've been under a bit of pressure. the dow future still down by only by 17 points. nasdaq down by ten points. and the s&p down by three points. alibaba matched estimates in its first report. came in with earnings 45 cents a share. revenue came in a little better than expected. if you were looking at the size of the user base also and the gross merchandise volume. those numbers both better than expected. stock had been up by $4 earlier. right now still higher but only by about 30 cents. juliagiuliana rancic is expg her brand's portfolio with today's release of a wine.
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i'm holding it here in my hand. it's a stackable wine and comes in a pack of four and was just launched in 1200 walmarts. giuliana rancic is founder. she joins us more with her entry into the wine industry. >> xo, g. that's how you sign you have. >> you love everybody? come on. >> i really do. hugs and kisses. >> men can't do that. women can do xo. we can't. >> it's geared towards women, so it makes sense. >> tell us the history of how you got involved with wine. >> someone sent me the technology. and i thought this is the coolest thing i've seen. it's four tackable cups. they're shatter proof and it's a bottle of wine. it's for women who just want one glass of wine. if i go home and bill maybe wants a beer and i want a wine. and i don't want to uncork a nice bottle.
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>> can we show people how this works? if i undo this zipper here? >> all right. i'm undoing the zipper. >> you just peel the packaging off which by the way is cute. and it's little xogs. you just snap one off. >> this seems like it's perfect for the beach or something. but the question with some of these wines has been the wine itself. do you want to drink the wine that's in it? >> it's delicious. we created it to be a $15 bottle of wine. and when we took our very first meeting ever with anyone which happened to be walmart, and walmart the next day not even 24 hours passed and they said we want this in 1200 stores. we were able to offer the wine at under $10. >> because of the bulk? >> because of the bulk. what's inside is a $15 bottle of wine. >> do you tell you the price?
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you went down there with your husband bill, friend of the show. >> yeah. we went to corporate headquarters and we pitched just like everyone else does in a room. it was bill and myself and our team. and, yeah, they bought it pretty much in the room. and they just loved it. they got it. they're very savvy. they're trying to attract millennials. they've got a great wine selection to begin with. but they want to really boost it and get some of the younger people in. >> what do you. to -- >> by younger i mean 21 and over, obviously. >> right. i went on the website, they ask you if you're old enough. >> that's right. >> because you have some younger viewers, i'd imagine. >> i do. >> so what do you want to put this brand on next? >> that's a great question. thinking about it. bill always says i'm a big dreamer. i always come up with big ideas. like this, for instance, this was only nine months in the making. when i saw the packaging i mi
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immediately thought this solves a problem. women want to take it to the beach or a picnic or a concert or a portion control is a big thing too. so i found kind of a solution to a problem that was in the market place. but i don't know. we'll see. >> would you -- i mean, ryan seacrest just came out with clothes. >> i do have a clothing line on hsn. >> i like the design. i like splitting up the cups. i will go $30,000 for 10% of the company. >> wait a second this isn't "shark tank." >> have you gone? that's an idea. do you need any seed money? andrew has got a -- >> not right now. you know, we're sitting pretty -- we're looking good right now. sitting pretty right now. but we'll see. i would -- >> so my offer was way too low? >> your offer's a little low.
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talk to bill. >> would you do liquor? >> no. i think the idea is maybe food. yeah. >> you have restaurants too. >> we have restaurants. so if anything, i've been thinking about this recently. maybe getting into some sort of a, like a skinny type popcorn and snacks with the xo, g label. that hopefully could be at walmart. >> wine does kind of go bad when you put the cork back in after you open it within a week or so. >> exactly. you come home at the end of the night, have one glass. you almost have to commit to having a glass every night. >> or one bottle and one glass. >> for some people. but it's nice to not have that orphan bottle in the refrigerator that you just end up pouring down the drain. so this really, it's great. it's great packages. we source everything from france and italy. >> and you're marketing this on
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your social media accounts like crazy? >> absolutely. >> how much time do you spend on social media? >> a lot. >> how much do you have to think about what's going out on twitter? >> a lot. >> is that a huge part of your life? >> it is. we have so many young viewers who rely on social media. and so therefore i rely on it as well. that's how i communicate. but i do all my own tweeting, all my own instagraming. i have 3.5 million followers on twitter. >> that's what started it, right? an instagram of the packaging. >> that's right. >> do you spend an hour a day doing that? two hours? >> on my way out here, the last thing i'm doing is tweeting to tell people that i'm going to be on. so it's just a constant thing. taking pir which you ares of things. showing my outfit. i do look of the day. it's engaging people. i'm not just constantly promoting things. that's not the way to do it either. but i'm engaging people.
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i'm asking what do you want to know. if people ask me questions about celebrities. >> and the instagram about the packaging here got a huge response. >> 10% of the people who saw my post felt the need to comment say b i love this. wrote do i get this. and that's why i reached out to the company. the company didn't reach out to me saying do you want to do a private label. i reached out to the company and said is there any way you would do a private label. we created this to be in just a few beverage stores. we never anticipated it to be in something like walmart. and like i said, it was our first meeting and it was a dream come true. i moved to this country when i was a little girl from italy and i watched my father achieve the american dream. i'm trying to contain my excitement here. it is very exciting, though, to be in the largest retailer in the world. i mean, i still can't believe it. i can't believe i'm sitting here
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talking about it because it just happened. we're rolling out this week in walmart. >> well, congratulations. >> thank you. >> we will all drink a bit of vino. >> i'm being told that reds are more fragile too. even overnight. >> see. they can go bad overnight. >> and you can get them in a mixed pack too. great hostess gift. >> thank you. >> $35,000 for 10%. >> talk to bill rancic. >> are you moving to chicago? >> all right, i'm out. >> i am moving to chicago in the summer. >> i watch the reality show. >> chicago's a great city. >> thank you for coming on. >> thank you. when we come back this morning, you won't believe what some of the unusual domain names michael bloomberg just bought. and in the next hour of "squawk box," tenant health ceo trevor fetter. and senator ben cardin of
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maryland will join us. "squawk box" will be right back. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. can you start tomorrow? tomorrow we're booked solid. we close on the house tomorrow. tomorrow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often, that day arrives by train. big day today? even bigger one tomorrow. csx. how tomorrow moves. you know how fast you were going? about 55. where you headed at such an appropriate speed? across the country to enhance the nation's most reliable 4g lte network. how's it working for ya? better than ever. how'd you do it? added cell sites. increased capacity. and your point is...
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related to his name. some are official but some aren't as flattering. like mike bloomberg is a dweeb. many others were vulgar. a spokeswoman said they only plan to coop the straightforward addresses. >> if you buy them, it means nobody else can use them. >> that's why you buy them. >> i'd keep all of them. >> i would keep every single one of them. that's what i think. i think after the show we should probably buy some. we should get in the market. >> that was an idea. of our own, you mean? >> correct. when we return, alibaba or amazon? who's going to be winning the global e-commerce war? plus we'll run through alibaba's report.
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and trevor fetter joins us in just a moment. (shouting) location. here's the location that matters the most. here. or here. or here. it's wherever this is. to get customers to come here and stay here, you're going to need an app that connects to all your systems. so they can bank, shop, do what they need to do, and you gotta do it fast. before the competition does. it's t here; you better be on the right cloud. today there's a new way to work. and it's made with ibm. so ally bank really has no hidden fethat's right. accounts? it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates.
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twhat do i do?. you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it. now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable. the e-commerce war is heating up. alibaba now worth more than ebay and amazon. we break down jack ma's success and what it means for investors.
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tenet's healthy outlook. trevor fetter talks about life with the affordable care act and soaring revenue. and it's midterm mayhem. senator benjamin cardin joins us as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin. it is election day. it's tuesday, november 4, 2014. some have already voted. some key races are taking place around the country that's going to decide who stays and who goes in washington, d.c. we'll have updates all day long on cnbc. the futures at this hour have been marginally weaker through most of the session. that's really sort of what they
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looked like yesterday. and sort of a race as the day went on. let's check out oil. these -- that should be up based on this. 76.35. but as we have pointed out, it's a lot of s&p companies and others that are in this business now because we've increased our production so much that it actually affects us in some ways negatively when oil prices go down. not just about the consumer. >> exxonmobil is indicated down after closing at 95.26. that's a dow component. >> just so hard after all this not to take some satisfaction in saudi arabia having to cut prices to get market share. and what that does to all the other guys that really don't like us all that much. maybe they like us a little bit more now. >> much cheaper than we can. the people hurting the most are american drillers. >> we have to think about it. we should stay even. just not take too much
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satisfaction. we'll talk to an analyst about it. you don't really care, though, on gas prices? >>time trying to drink this. her wine. >> you're going to open it? it's 8:01. >> it's the red stuff. and you got a tough name coming up here and you've already started drinking. >> today's top corporate story, alibaba reporting quarterly results for the first time -- >> you'll relax. >> i'm so relaxed. since the e-commerce giant's first day closing price. stock up about 9%. revenue above forecasts. the size of its user base also topping expectations. jon fortt joins us now with the numbers. we have the analyst later. >> yeah. just got off the call. they're going through q & a right now. there are two major takeaways from this call. it would be that mobile is working when it comes to
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monetizizatio monetizization. that was way up from what was expected. they had been just below mobile. how much money are they making on people who went up on mobile. the blended m ee eed monthtiziz rate. taubau was more popular and a lot of that is free. not as much money coming in. but the other big takeaway besides mobile growth was alibaba is starting to sound like amazon in a way. they're all about the top line. they say we're not managing, we're giving numbers now. by the way, we're not managing to margins either. they're good, but we're not managing to that. what we are managing to is gmv growth. total value of the goods that are being sold that are transacting through their network. and also use for growth as we mentioned off the top when those
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numbers initially came out. very strong. up above $300 million. and they're continuing to try to push those numbers. that's why you see the marketing expenses up in terms of capital expenditure. they're spending on building out their cloud. they are clearly being aggressive. >> is that why -- i was trying to figure what they were saying on the call. this point it's up by 15 cents. is that the message of growth before profit that you think trickled out to wall street? >> i wouldn't be surprised if that's what it is. because we've seen a numb of stocks this earning season respond to that. when companies have said like facebook did, we're going to spend money to pursue growth. we're going to invest in the business. >> not popular on wall street these days. >> not as popular. >> okay. let's stick with the alibaba theme. does the e-commerce giant represent a new wave of online
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shopping. joining us now is the director of the center for tech and innovation at kellogg school of management. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> so the real question -- we set this up as an amazon versus alibaba question. i guess there's a larger embedded question is do we actually think that alibaba is really going after amazon? >> well, i think you made a comment now on the show that alibaba is starting to look like amazon from a top line perspecti perspective. that's true but it's a very different company. it represents the next generation of e-commerce companies that don't have to biltd out as much of the infrastructure as they did. connects buyers and sellers. that's why their profit margins look very different. that's the interesting question. now what happens is what should alibaba do? should they continue to focus on
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china or build out their business in the u.s. and the western europe market? >> how do you feel about when you hear rumors and speculation that jack ma is looking to buy a film studio or he's trying to get involved with some of these other businesses, clearly that makes it look a little bit more like an amazon and takes away on the margin. >> absolutely does. in fact, i would say growth is very seductive. because there's so many opportunities before alibaba. they've got a stock that is very valuable currency. and they've got their eyes on the global price. but they've got to be careful. because getting into unrelated businesses to that part of china is going to be a different ball game. the i was alibaba i would be focused like a laser beam on the core chinese market which has a lot of head room to grow. if they take their eye off that ball, then our competitor, that may take away from market
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shares. so i would be really focused on the core market in china. >> glad you mentioned that. what would you say to the argument that we have in fact seen this before in the u.s. e-commerce market when it was first taking off. we had ebay. we also had a number of e-commerce mork networks. then amazon which looked less interesting because they were spending money on logistics, on building up the warehouse networks. how is that different from what we're seeing with jd now in china? amazon trying to build out infrastructure in china. and alibaba looking like its model is better because they aren't doing that stuff. won't they have to do it in the future? >> yes. i think at some point they have to build that infrastructure. the good news of the alibaba model is it's light and enhances the profit margins. the bad news is they have limited control over the customer experience. amazon has built an excellent
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customer experience. so they are to play this game carefully. they really have to think about balancing their profits and their margins with their growth and the customer experience. i think as -- and i met jack ma and i think one of the things i like about him is he is focused really his number one priority is the customer experience. from a customer experience standpoint, they may have to head down that route. they'll take a hit on margins at that point. at this point they have built a strong model. >> professor, as american investors, should we have any worry about the accounting of a company like alibaba? >> it's a good question. there are -- you know, there's some opaqueness with respect to the books and there's also a strange ownership structure. you can't see that even at facebook and google. so i think there is a little bit of uneasiness with businesses
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operating out of china. but i think investors can look past that. and really focused on the growth opportunity. alibaba finds itself in the place of sitting on the largest market in the world. >> professor, thank you for joining us this morning. >> it's been a pleasure. later on "squawk on the street" david faber will have an interview with alibaba vice chairman joseph tsai. let's look at other stocks on the move this morning. a lot are stocks under pressure this morning. online coupon company retail me not is announcing the cfo has resigned. the quarterly forecast also falling short of forecasts. that stock is down by 23% this morning. sprint also announcing 2,000 job cuts as it tries to trim costs. that stock down by 12% this morning. and herbalife stock down by
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about 13%. you can catch the company's cfo coming up on "half-time" later this afternoon. trevor fetter on the latest obamacare ratings. obamacare helps this company, this hospital company. we'll have much more. then later, midterm elections, that's today. we're going to speak to senator benjamin cardin about the possibility of the democrats losing control of the senate or keeping it. and the republican agenda. "squawk box" will be right back.
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tenet health care out with results. revenue soaring 74%. admissions continuing to improve. also stocks up 37% year to date. here to take us inside the numbers, trevor fetter, president and ceo of tenet health care. there was an acquisition, right? even obamacare can't do 74%. >> that's right, joe. good morning. yes, we made an acquisition. a material acquisition last year october 1st. sop that's in the numbers. but still on an apples to apples basis, we've had a terrific quarter, strong growth across the board.
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>> and is it that simple, trevor, that it used to be it was difficult for a hospital to collect payment from certain patients and now there are more people coming in with insurance and you're able to collect, it's that simple? >> it's not quite that simple. we've had a material shift. in this quarter the admissions in the states that expanded medicate are down 59% and the medicaid in additions up about 24%. but we still have a hard time collecting from people with insurance. they have huge deductibles and copays and that's not changing under the act. >> that's interesting. you're in dallas and you have hospitals in dallas, trevor? >> we do. >> so you need to give us an anecdotal idea of what's happening.
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we all realized how difficult it would be to mobilize when you haven't seen it before. but having seen another hospital going through that, i imagine you had a couple of meetings about your hospitals, didn't you? >> there were more than a couple of meetings. we had that activated and -- really we're proud of the team. at another hospital presbyterian medical center. and we -- within a very short period of time we doubled all of our training efforts. whe secret shoppers go into our emergency departments, you know, exhibiting symptoms and being able to answer questions about traveling overseas. of course, none of them had illness. we had protective equipment staged all over the country, stockpiles in different places.
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what happened at presbyterian could have happened at many medical centers in the country. it was certainly a wakeup call for the entire industry. >> and the industry is awake now. you would tell us that we should take solace in that? we're ready now, do you think, as a nation? >> you know, you never know whether you're completely ready and you don't know what exactly you're going to get. but i think because of the incident at presbyterian, the industry is so much better prepared. some of the weaknesses that wouldn't have necessarily been expected have been exposed. presbyterian is an outstanding hospital with a great reputation locally. and all of us in the industry are very sorry it happened to them. but they were transparent about what was going on in some of the mistakes that were made. and that helped the rest of the industry be better prepared. >> trevor, you know, since the affordable care act and i'm calling it that. because it's election day. >> i know. i'm surprised. you're feeling charitable today. >> i am. i'm feeling very down the
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middle. but this affordable care act, one of the reasons that people say costs have at loost for utilization have sort of stabilized or stayed low is because of a weak economy. not necessarily because of the affordable care act. the economy is getting better. is utilization going up as far as you can tell? >> well, the economy is getting better. this quarter in terms of patient volumes was the best one we've ever had. certainly across the board. a little of that is the economy. about 40% of it is the affordable care act. so 60% of it is not. we've been making substantial investments in our facilities. we've had all sorts of strategies to build volumes. i don't think it's just an environmental factor, joe, that's driving this. and the fourth quarter is the
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one that will give us greater insights. they tend to consume more in the fourth quarter than any other quarter. >> health care there's a lot of differents a p aspects to healt care. i think that, you know, your answer might depend on that. . but if the republicans win, should they try to fix this law? is it fixable? is there something -- you wouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. there's a way to make it positive for the country in the future? >> of course i think it's a positive for the country to have more people have access to insurance and have good quality insurance. so if you were the republicans trying to strategize about this, it's a little late to try and pull it apart. we've seen a substantial increase in the number of insurance companies that are
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participating on the exchanges. the enrollment is up. the prices are reasonable. the quality of the insurance is very good. the remaining question is what about medicaid? and we have some very substantial differences across states. there is interesting math in "the new york times" yesterday showing the differences between adjacent states. texas and new mexico, for example. that's what really remains to be seen about the implementation. >> there is a -- there is an individual, i'm told, on your board named jeb bush. any relation to the former florida governor? >> one in the same, joe. >> same guy. >> for more than seven years, yes. >> and is he running in 2016, trevor? >> you know, i don't know. >> i know. let me ask you this. he said he won't be on the board anymore in 2016. has he indicated anything to you that he might be tied nup the next year or the year after
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that? >> i can't say. we're having a board meeting and he's on his way. >> you'll know then. give me a call tomorrow. let me know. >> he has been an outstanding director. he's a person of the highest integrity. smart, authentic, genuine. i hope he runs for the sake of our country. >> here's a different way to slice that question. at what point would he need to tell you or you need to tell him that he needs to leave the board? >> that would be after he would declare his intentions to run. but until then, it's a private matter he's sorting out with his family. he's been very open and transparent about that as i would expect. >> thanks for playing along. we appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up today, oil now sitting at a three-year low. actions by saudi arabia yesterday pushing prices lower. that trend is continuing today with wti down another $10.15.
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we'll find out how low it will go right after this. as we head to a break, check out the markets in europe at this hour. "squawk box" will be right back. see things in a whole new way. it's in this spirit that ing u.s. is becoming a new kind of company. ing u.s. is now voya. changing the way you think of retirement. there was no question she reminds you every day. but your erectile dysfunction-that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach,
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the u.s. in an effort to fight the -- fight for market share. on the phone now is steven schork. we knew the saudis could do this, but it's different thinking of it happening and then seeing it happen. how low could oil go at this point? >> at this point, becky, we see that prices in oil typically trade in $5 buckets. we crashed below $85 a barrel in the prior three weeks. that was holding. of course until this news broke overnight and now we smashed through $80. so we're now in that $75 to $80. so if you're trading, if you are long $75 hold, best to hold. at this point, becky, if it's -- who knows what -- first and foremost, who knows why the saudis are cutting their price. because they raised their price
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to asia. they raised their price to europe. they cut their price to the united states. >> it seems like it's obvious. they're trying to make these guys who are fracking who cost $65 a barrel to get it out of the ground, trying to make them reconsider before they put more money into long-term projects like this. >> i could appreciate that rationale, but let's consider the saudis cut price on the oil for arab light oil. because we have such a supply, it's light but it is sour. it does create that nice blend. but essentially, yes they are trying to compete for market share. at the same time, demand is also picking up. >> when we fell below $85, that's when i started noticing sop some of the u.s. producers getting nervous. talking about it, trying to make a show of looking like they weren't nervous but at the same
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time it was easy to read those signals. you would think the guys at opec would have read the same signals and figured why not push and pressure now when we have them running. >> that is absolutely a possibility. look. conoco phillips was the first company. they blinked early on last week and announced they were cutting back some of the production. a lot of the analysis you read now is $80 is not the real number. but in the low 70s. that can certainly -- that is certainly going to be a signal that producers are under the strain. but once again, saudi doesn't want to wipe out u.s. production. they want to maintain that market share. so if saudi is really going to engage the united states is a price war, i'm fearful more if it's a signal of concern for the global health of the economy. not just there but elsewhere. >> just because there's pain for producer doesn't mean it stops going down. >> yes. >> and they've stopped.
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they do stop. you don't see the supply all of a sudden turning up. there was a time when oil was just stuck in the mud with isis and all this stuff happening was just sitting there not going up. and it looked really heavy. we got to run. >> the genie is out of the bottle right now. and. >> we're going to talk about the state of small business when "squawk box" returns. in a worldg faster than ever, we believe outshining the competition tomorrow requires challenging your business inside and out today. at cognizant, we help forward-looking companies run better and run different - to give your customers every reason to keep looking for you. so if you're ready to see opportunities and see them through, we say: let's get to work. because the future belongs to those who challenge the present. i wish... please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all...is health.
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welcome back to "squawk box." we have breaking news. the september read on the trade balance which of course is the deficit. minus $43.03 billion. so we'll call it minus $43 billion. what were we expecting? about minus $40 billion. the last time we were under $40 billion was the first month of this year. and minus 39. a high read for the year so far is $46 billion from april. we see interest rates after toying with one-month high yields yesterday have reversed a bit.
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the nikkei was on terms of equities. and of course it's election day and in chicago we say go dig up a friend, vote early, vote often. back to you. >> thank you, rick. we are going to change subjects and talk a little bit about michael kors. they had their earnings and revenues come out and topped expectations. but it's sales guidance giving concern. here to break down the numbers is courtney reagan. >> so looks like on first blush at least investors should be happy with kors. the top and bottom line, improved. plus the $30 billion buyback. but the sales forecast isn't quite as bullish as some had hoped. kors had been dominating the luxury space for some time. kors has strong international growth, north america makes up more than 3/4 of total sales. that growth is slowing. comparable sales in the region improving more than 10% for the quarter.
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that's quite short of last quarter's growth rate. ceo said north american traffic was slower than anticipated. michael kors handbags are still the top choice with gaining share for a year and a half at that group. but there's a fine line when it comes to popularity for high-end goods. ahead of earnings, his team is concerned about the risk of over-distribution. you want it to be cool but not so cool that everybody has it. >> and does everyone have one now? >> that's what the fear is. >> do you own one? >> i don't. >> becky? >> i think i do. >> okay. >> i bet joe's daughter wants one. >> yes. >> see. >> is that why the stock's down? >> it's the sales growth guidance and the sales growth is really slowing. and so it's this idea that is michael kors potentially a bubble. the sales growth is stronger than other players.
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>> cleaner, crisper isn't it? the beer? >> coors. i got it. >> don't drink it if the mountains aren't blue? >> exactly. >> thank you, courtney. >> you got it. we've got some other numbers that are out too. paychecks out right now with the latest small business job index. it's showing that small companies continued to hire last month. joining us right now with the details is marty mussy. marty, what are the exact numbers and how much it grew last month? >> we're about 100.84. so we saw very little change from september. but we're maintaining momentum. we feel there's still sustained job growth. >> i guess that's good news considering how much turmoil there was in the markets last month. if you were looking for anybody following what was happening here, that's when we had sars. there were a lot of awful
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headlines that came out. stock market dropped almost 10%. if you were going to see a lag in hiring based off of the nervousness of just a few weeks ago, would that show up last month or expect that to show up november or december? >> i'd actually -- i think it would have showed up in october. we didn't really see that. so we're continuing to see steady job growth. higher than last year. and certainly higher than the index rate. it still seems to be centered around the middle of the country. and it's around energy. which with the oil prices now will be interesting over the next couple of months. >> we've had some people on the show, some producers here in the united states, some of the shale and fracking guys that say this wouldn't at this point with the oil prices being at $75 to $80, that wouldn't cause them to shut in the wells, but they might keep themselves from adding additional jobs down the road with additional wells. is that something that if we get below, you might expect you lose jobs in those regions? >> i think you might see the growth slow. we haven't seen it at this
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point, so we'll be watching that. the east coast in particular still slows job growth. but in the central part of the region, both south and north have the highest change in job growth for those businesses under 50 employees. and of course washington state looks good in the seattle area with high-tech jobs giving a higher growth rate. >> why do you think the east coast is struggling a little more? >> well, i think new jersey in particular, you know, between atlantic city and the gambling sues there, the change and decrease in jobs, it just has not seen a housing boom either where you've seen housing start to come back in the south and in the west coast a little bit in certain areas. they just haven't had had the push for jobs that have come back. >> okay. marty, thank you for your time today. >> thank you. coming up when we return, voters heading to the polls today for midterm elections. the balance of power in the senate at hand. we're going to speak to democratic senator benjamin cardin when we come right back after this.
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welcome back to "squawk box," everyone. oil prices dropping again this morning. check this out. you'll see right now wti, it's down by about 2.25%. that gets it down to 77.03. we've seen it down to 76 and just a little bit of change. so we'll see where things head through the rest of the day. also shares of the nation's biggest energy companies. exxonmobil and chevron, they're
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each down by more than 1%. conoco phillips down by .9%. it's election day. democrats are hoping to maintain control of the senate. history has shown regardless of which party comes out on top, the markets have faired well post-midterm elections. returned an average of nearly 18% the calendar year after there. thank you for joining us, it's great to see you. >> it's good to be with you. >> we had someone you've worked with in the past on earlier. senator rob portman. and some of us are counting on senators like you two gentlemen. to maybe bridge the gap that's been missing for the past couple of years. is that possible if your view regardless of who wins the senate? >> we need to do this. regardless of who controls the united states senate, democrats and republicans need to work together. we have a divided government
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under any other scenarios. yes, i'm proud the record that senator portman and i have had had on pension reform and energy issues. that's what we need to see. we need to see democrats and republicans recognize it's in our national interest to solve problems and work together. i think there is that core view among many of the republicans and democrats that we have to do that in this coming congress. >> because i was thinking that, you know, even if the republicans do win, the president's still got the veto pen. so nothing really changes that much. so i've heard vice president biden say if the republicans win, we'll compromise. i don't know why you couldn't do it either way. since the president can stop it anyway. both parties got to grow up and, you know, do some -- there is common ground on corporate tax reform, isn't there? >> absolutely. i agree with you. and i hope we'll use some of that time during the lame duck session to get some of these issues done. look, we need to deal with these
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national problems. and i think most of the members of the senate recognize that. so, yes, we've missed opportunities in the past. let's not miss opportunities in the next congress. look, i'm hopeful that the democrats will control the united states senate. but whatever happens in the united states senate, we still need to work together, bring our policies into the center where most americans are and give us some long-term predictability on our tax code, on our budget, on our transportation programs, on our energy programs. if we do that, our economy will take off and americans will do much better. >> it has been something to behold, senator. i guess you got to admit. and do we ever get just so, you know, just so discontented with the whole process? you're watching some of the things on both sides being said in individual races. i mean, every issue you can bait in some way whether it's race,
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sex, everything is being used as a last ditch attempt, you know, to try to eke out a couple of votes here and there. can we really come back and start working with the people that did this to each other? >> the answer is yes, we can. i'm smiling a little bit because i'd rather be here in america than any other country in the world. i'd rather have our political system rather than any of the other political systems around the world. and yet we know we can do things better here in america. and we must do things better here in america. >> i know that there has been a -- lots of polls show dissatisfaction with government in general. okay? with washington. and i know that, you know, your side likes to blame the republican house. but on the other hand, the president has largely not been invited to any state that was the slightest bit conservative. i mean, he had very safe places to go. what about the policies that
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we've seen over the past six years has the country at this point where it's not safe for him to go to a lot of places in terms of helping someone win votes. >> well, i think you got to look at the record. we've seen now 55 consecutive months of job growth. >> so why don't people -- then why can't he go to a -- >> i think he can. i think he can go anywhere he wants to go. we had him in maryland. >> candidates didn't want him to come. he's only -- you -- that was one of the things i was laughing about. they said he's only got two years left. he's irrelevant. that's half his term. how can people in his own party be saying that? >> oh, i don't think we are saying that. i'll tell you what this senator is saying. i spoke last night about president obama's agenda and that it's important that what happens in this election will affect his ability to move this country forward. absolutely. i agree with you. i'm proud of the record we've been able to achieve. should we have been able to do more? yes, i agree with you. the democratic party is proud of
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our heritage of supporting the middle class. that's why we've made our priorities investing in affordable college education and gender equity on issues to deal with matters of a tax fairness. all that's important for growing the middle class. president obama is our leader and will continue to be unified in that regard. >> i'm just surprised. you said you were proud of what you achieved. i wouldn't be dismissive of that. there are certain things you did achieve over the past couple years, but there's not much anyone in the house or senate has achieved at all to a large degree, no? >> well, look at the bottom line. the bottom line is 55 months of job growth, 10 million new jobs. is that enough? no, but that's the right path we're going down. we are moving in the right direction. yes, i am proud of our record. i would like to see us do more. i'm disappointed we weren't able
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to help the budget. tax reform. all that needs to get done. i'm disappointed we haven't accomplished more. but i think under president obama's leadership we're on the right path. >> senator, one last thing just to pause at the question. you said in certain cases you wish you had done more. i think maybe that means certain programs that the president had put forth for -- but growing government even more than it's grown already. do you think any of the notion that the country has that we're on the track, maybe the wrong track, the 70% numbers that you hear. do you think there's a feeling that we've grown the government too much at this point? and that that might be part of the backlash you're seeing right now? that some of the idea that government is the answer for everything, that this might be a little bit of a reaction to that? >> i don't think the democratic party today is for growing government. we're for smarter government.
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we're for priorities and setting priorities and investing many the right type of programs for our future. that's why on the budget agreements we're seeking to reduce the growth of our budget deficit. we want to bring our deficit under control. but we also want to make sure that we invest in the programs that we have a growing middle class. so, no, we're not for growing government. we're for smarter government and priorities that help the growing middle class. >> okay. all right. senator, we appreciate your time today. we're going to watch for little pictures of you and portman walking around together and talking. >> absolutely. >> okay. we look forward to that. thank you. up next, we have jim cramer from the floor of the new york stock exchange. we'll get his reaction to alibaba earnings and other moves as well. tomorrow on "squawk box," your money, your vote. reaction to midterm elections. former house majority leader eric cantor in his first television interview since leaving office.
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bonds in euros for the first time. the tech giant will raise about $3.5 billion from a two-part sale with debt maturing in 8 and 12 years. the company is expected to borrow the cash at some of the lowest rates in history. apple will use the including share buybacks and dividend payments. >> and a memorial to apple founder steve jobs has been dismantled in st. petersburg, russia. this comes after tim cook came out as gay. the monument was built back in january 2015 by a russian group of companies. they said they removed it to comply with the law that combats gay propaganda. >> are you kidding? >> remember there were questions what would happen after? would the whole world embrace it. we want the world to embrace it. >> that's comical. >> i think there was a comment a russian politician made about it. globally, we've moved far.
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>> it's not even tim cook. >> it's steve jobs. >> pretty uptight over there in that country. i'll tell you. what's the text book thing going on now? putin? >> that was a fascinating story in "the new york times." basically, they shut down all the other text book companies to funnel the money to his friends who runs another text book company. >> that's a good job if you can get it. and this man, if you could get this man's job, you have to know what the hell you're talking about. jim cramer joins us now. it's the election, as you know. that doesn't necessarily affect stock prices, i don't think. how about that oil at $76? >> i think it's confounding people. people want to say it's the saudis wrecking our fracking and they should pump less, but the numbers we are getting out of
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the united states are back to where we were in the 1980s. you are seeing a huge flood of oil hitting our market from domestic. look, i'm no fan of what the saudis are doing. it's like a tipping point when the united states got to this 1986 level of 8.68 million barrels a day. it really is just a storm of oil coming our way. >> jim, if it was 80% positive ten years ago because of the consumer and that the tax cut for consumers, how much is positive now for our country given that it's the consumer, but also we have producers that will get hurt and it will hurt their earnings? 50% positive? >> 34 states have no exposure to it. they are pure consumption states. 16 states are producers which probably about half are definitely impacts employment. texas is a big state and that's one of them. i know we can sit here and say this industry is going to be
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hurt. a lot of companies have a $70 level where they still pump. i still think this is fabulous for retail. natural gas is going to collapse, by the way. when you have heating bill down and gasoline down, i'm not going to say this country is going to be worse off. i do think we obviously don't have an energy policy, which doesn't help. >> how about alibaba. take it at face value? do you have a much higher target? >> alibaba, i wanted to know more. they put in this one -- finally they say there is a page in the release which says we don't care basically about margins. everyone says we've got another amazon. amazon wishes for that profitability. a lot of people in the end are going to say maybe we have to readjust the idea these guys are going to blow away earnings and revenues. the revenue growth is amazing. if you own it, you didn't want
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to see that. that is very bezos like. >> i don't know if you bet, but i now you love sports. >> i don't bet. >> i'm not going to ask you. do you have a long shot political bet today? do you have a prediction that no one is thinking will happen on it? do you follow any close enough? >> i think the problem is this is not the nfl. i think the favorites win in this game. it's just like -- it's not like the old days where you say, holy cow, how did that happen? dewey defeats truman. these are etched in stone which changes the coloration of the election. >> remember the college vote whether they would pay athletes? we wouldn't hear -- they don't tell us for four months? we may not know for months.
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>> no, we don't. colts giving three to the giants and cardinals -- there are some strange lines going on, but they are not in politics. >> all right. see you in a couple of minutes "squawk on the street." >> thank you. >> not only jim cramer, but also alibaba's executive chairman vice chairman joe tsai. plus we have news from the magic kingdom coming up. disney's cloud base movie service expanding purchases made through google. disney movies anywhere launched in february. it allows users to buy disney, pixar, marvell films through the app or website or the itunes store.
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welcome back. we want to bring your attention to a worthy cause. tonight at the museum for the city of new york, the lulu fund is hosting a benefit to the art of healing. some items up for auction include set visits to shows like "the black list." you can attend all three triple crown races, come to our set and
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watch "squawk box" and have breakfast with us. visit jim cramer, matt lauer and the "today" show team, a private gymnastic session. all to benefit the lulu and leo fund which helps foster creativity and build resilience. check out the auction and enter your charity bid at charitybuzz.com/lulu&leo or if you want to donate go to the site itself, lululeofund.org. >> it's an awesome event. they had kids come who sang were amazing. they would make you cry, make you laugh. it's amazing and a great cause. >> it's an amazing organization. >> near and dear to cnbc,
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obviously. there it is. >> that does it for us today. have a great day. see you back here tomorrow at the same time. right now it's time for "squawk on the street". good tuesday morning welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla, jim cramer and david faber. alibaba earnings are out. ten-year yields steady. crude oil is anything but, below $77 as the saudis cut prices on oil sold to the u.s. we are closing in on a 30% drop from crude's high back on june 13th. our program begins with alibaba's first earnings report as a public company meeting expectations.
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