good monday morning. joining us is ed lee, managing editor at reed code who joins us here and good monday to you. >> to you guys too. >> with us as always john fort. let's start with apple. a new report says interest in the apple watch continues to grow. it does say consumers are his to buy the first generation of the watch, but the device itself will create a quote, positive awareness of wearables. they think the company is probably working on a car. he doesn't know for sure. but he does say with self-driving cars, this is the

future and it might be huge. there are so many openings here and it is perfect territory for a company like apple. john, the report specifically talking about the watch and how a lot of people do say they would at least explore buying one. about 50% say they'd explore it and that iphone demand is larger than they expected. >> it reminds me a lot of the reception to the ipad. maybe i'm interested but i'm not so sure. the question for apple is whether they have learned from the ipad and are going to be able to keep this e crcosystem moving forward. are they going to be able to make the basic tweaks and create an ecosystem that keeps momentum going beyond the early adopters. we've seen the ipad stall out and apple trying to get an enterprise in other things.

>> the other thing to note is that with the watch -- there was always apple was the first one -- created the pc market, tablets. this time around, samsung had its foot in the water beforehand. so they're kind of following a little bit in terms of this has already been out there. what they're presenting is going to be a lot more robust. we'll have to see if it takes off with consumers. >> they found the pain threshold for consumers was about $500. that's what they said they would potentially spend on a time keeping device. >> it is expensive. that's a sweet spot for a lot of watch buyers and watch makers. apple figured that out. it starts at 350. there's plenty of watches that fit that range. >> that is amazing to me. the surveys out six months, a year ago, had people willing to

pay nowhere near that much. there are very few things we pay that much money for outside of pcs and televisions. you're going down to ovens and refrigerators when you start talking about people paying $500 for. >> the survey was 3,000 people. 1,500 people who already own the iphone 6 or 6 plus. 1,500 people who said they intend to buy one of those devices. but on the iphone itself, interestingly, the majority of the new demand was coming from people who were either first timers to apple or switching from android. that's pretty newsy. >> that's really strong. apple has been seeing this for a while. it's just that people didn't want to believe them that they were getting android 1wiswitche. they're going to be able to get meaningful share because apple

has all this momentum. the question is can they get this into other products. >> that's important statistic as well. the iphone is really their trojan horse product. that's the thing that gets people into other things. >> maybe their car if steve was right. >> what's with the cars now? self-driving everything, everyone's doing it now. all the car manufacturers themselves. i guess it seemed like the next obvious leap. how far it's going to take before it becomes a regular consumer thing. >> in this interview he cites all the people that apple is hiring for the car, so of course they're headed in that direction. eddie q said this book was the best pro trail of co-founder steve jobs in his words. the author will join us in just a few minutes here at post nine, so stick around. >> one of two authors.

>> next up, according to the financial times, universal music is putting pressure on spotify. apparently they're beginning to question the freemium model. right now a paid subscription costs about $10 a month. the ceo publicly stated his concerns last month saying it's not going to sustain the entire ecosystem. of course these companies make more money from paid subscriptions. was it only a matter of time? >> i think it's been gradually pushing the boundary and giving more and more away for free, now the creators and backers are saying, hold up, you've gone too far. i was thinking about this this weekend. we were fortunate enough to see

broadway. and to have the person right there doing the art in an analog way has a certain type of value. i feel as a consumer, music has gotten cheap both in the writing of it and the distribution of it. you have to protect some of those things and the premium or else you end up like online newspapers. >> that's the other thing to note. with the free model, it's free to consumers, but there's still revenue coming in. the margins are just far too low for universal or any other artist for it to be meaningful for them. they're getting 50 cent paychecks. they're like, what's the point of doing this. we want people to pay into a subscription, even though it means you might have a lower volume of customers doing that. >> when i was a kid, you bought music and they were liner notes and there was a smell to it and you have the artwork and you could put it on your wall.

right now, it's hard to get a high quality music experience even if you're willing to pay for it. >> don't tell taylor swift that. sometimes the optics are just as important because you think about in her interview with "time." she said, look, let's beats and pandora, they're premium service actually makes it look like it's something that is rewarding us for true art rather than something like spotify where the free part of the business looks pretty all inclusive. >> that's actually important. what taylor swift did, she pulled her tracks off and said other artists could do the same thing, force their hand. and then opportunities for companies like apple. they're going to try to support the artists. >> do you see spotify caving here? >> yes. i do. apple is going to come out and start promoting the paid service

more. they're going to have to fall in line. they're going to lose the artists. >> finally, live video streaming at meerkat continues to gain buzz. according to tech crunch, they're raising $10 million largely from gray lock partners. post money, $512 million. they have more than 300,000 users, 200,000 of which come from its ios app. >> tried to ask them when they were on last week if he was raising more money. the valuation seems kind of modest given the buzz. maybe that's a good sign, i don't know. i'm personally getting meerkat fatigue. live video i think is best when there's a unique experience being shown. most of the stuff i've seen on there i wouldn't watch reported. >> also, there's no vetting of this stuff. you don't know what you're going

to get out of it. there's a brewing ed cat around live streaming. >> what is the etiquette? >> i think that's a good way to start. it's going to become a crowded space. twitter bought pair scope. we'll probably see more about that in the coming weeks. live video streaming is definitely a part of social media platforms going forward. valuations are all over the place. >> as far as series bs are concerns, $12 million would fall roughly between what twitter and linkedin raised. wouldn't seem like they're trying to stretch what other companies have done. do you see them being as strong a company and a brand? >> what really helped it take off is a lot of people engaged

with it really quickly. it was intuitive enough that people jumped in and started playing with it. anything video is always sort of attractive to advertisers. just that promise i think is what's driving the valuations part hadly. >> still a ways off before we're talking about it as a unicorn. >> that's not what we want. >> didn't they hire a reporter to cover unicorns. >> yes. she comes to us -- she was at panda before that. she'll be covering the unicorns for us. ones that have real businesses and more scrutinizing ion these things. >> i'm tempted to make a c.s. lewis joke about those kinds of writers who can write about unicorns. i'll leave it at that. >> with humor and grace, but also with scrutiny. >> we preaappreciate you coming

we also want to get a check on the markets. the dow and s&p on back to back gains for the first time since the middle of february. the nasdaq is the only major average in the red today. it's the only that's positive for the month of march. apple's eddie q has called it the best portrayal of steve jobs. one of the authors will join us live. plus, the future of the film business lies in china of all places. liongate will tell us why. and how has tv changed since the first season of "madmen"? >> eyetunes was barely in existence. any streaming was probably done illegally. so over the course of our show, this whole new pathway to

content delivery evolved. >> we'll have plenty more of our conversation with john hamm who's rocking a little 5:00 shadow. "squawk alley" is back in a moment. to actively uncover, discuss and debate investment opportunities. which leads to better decisions for our clients. it's a uniquely collaborative approach you won't find anywhere else. put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without collaboration.

now with the you can watch live tv anytime. it's never been easier with so many networks all in one place. get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you

purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. welcome back. apple executives are known for keeping quiet about thing things, but they've broken their silence to help shape the legacy of steve jobs. it was written in cooperation

with jobs himself. some of apple senior leaders offering praise for the book "booking steve jobs." apple senior vice president tweeting his endorsement last week. book well done and first to get it right. joiping us now here is one of the book's authors. fast company executive editor. rick, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> there was a long relationship with steve jobs over the years, every since the early '90s. had recordings of some of their conversations. what exactly are people going to learn from this book that they might not have learned from the many that have come before it? >> i think they can see the way that steve changed over the years. the young man who failed at a l originally and compiled from apple could never have

engineered the amazing 15-year rise of apple after he returned. >> i get the sense that maybe you're a little uncomfortable with the level of embrace that apple executives have given this book now. when you first approached them, they wouldn't help you. >> right. they didn't want to -- i think that it was still -- we started in summer of 2012. it was a few months after his death. they had cooperated with one book. i don't think they were ready to cooperate with another one. but in the spring of 2014, we did finally get some interviews. >> what was it about your pitch to them and what type of story telling that you brought to them to get them on board? >> i think it was really that brant had worked with apple for 25 years. he had covered steve for a long time. brent understood the technology

well enough that that helped his friendship with steve. but it was a friendship bordered by, you know, a journalist source relationship. so steve called him friend, introduced him as his friend. but i think that, you know, brent was uncomfortable with that sometimes. >> it's interesting that on the one hand you have walter isa isaacson who was not close to steve jobs, but who jobs brought in at the end to give extraordinary access. then you have brent who walked a long journey with jobs but jobs kept at arm's length toward the end of his life. how much does that arm's length relationship they had toward the end of jobs' life influence the way brent remembers and expresses about jobs now? >> i think we learned a lot about brent's relationship with steve through the reporting of the book. we came to understand that steve

had a close circle of friends. he had apple and his family. those were the three great priorities in his life. if you were outside of that, he would always have those three priorities in mind first. so he decided that he didn't want brent covering fortunate anymore, but they still had a relationship, they still had a sort of friendship. >> for an executive with as much depth and as complicated as steve jobs has become known to be, how much material do you think that type of a persona could offer for the years to come? >> i think there's going to be many more books written about steve. >> really? >> yeah. apple must have all kinds of stuff related to steve.

there's so much more i think to be -- to be learned. it's a fascinating, fascinating life. i could not imagine working on a book that you weren't fascinated by for -- because it's a three-year project. and i'm still trying to learn about steve jobs. it's great. >> it is fascinating. there will be many more books written, but there won't be anymore people that can say they had that relationship with jobs and so many experiences with him. this is truly an important work. just as we close, tell me how do you think the perception of jobs has changed over these years since he's been gone? >> i know my career is -- i view through the lens of steve jobs and apple. it was one of the first companies i covered. how has the legacy been shifted since then? >> i don't think the legacy will be defined for many years. i think we're still in the process of figuring out what it

all meant, what does it mean that we all carry these devices around in our hands and that maybe now we're about to switch to watches? it's -- apple has done a very good job, i think, overcoming steve's death and continuing that legacy of innovation that he brought to the company. >> wow. okay. co-author of "becoming steve jobs." that book will be available tomorrow. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. up next, why the latest in auto security and its effecti effectiveness is in the eye of the beholder. >> plus, ahead of the "madmen" premier. more when "squawk alley" comes back. barbara just bought a bike. she wrote a tweet about it. you can't learn much from that. but take data from millions of tweets,

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sure the person who's supposed to be driving the car is actually the one behind the wheel. we explain live in chicago. phil? >> john, this is all about scanning your iris. i know a lot of people will hear this and say, seriously? i have to look into the visor or look into the dash board. eye lock incorporated gave us an ex-slewti e e exclusive look. in new cars coming up in about four or five years. you look into the visor, it scans your irises. not just one, but both of them. the odds of a match being one in more than a trillion, in other words, that there's somebody else with the same iris as you. new cars will include this technology within probably four to five years. and the insurance companies are also greatly interested in the eye lock technology for a variety of possibilities when it comes to ensuring who's driving

the vehicle. >> as we all know, if a 16-year-old is driving or a with 17-year-old is driving and driving at night, there's a much higher risk that you're paying the premiums for. if you incorporate this, you know with certainty and in turn the insurance company knows who is driving the car at what day part and what their driving habits are. >> and it's not just for teenagers. imagine if you have a trucking firm or a fleet company and you want to ensure that the people who say they're driving the vehicle are actually driving the vehicle, that's where eyelock's technology comes into play. you can say, okay, bob smith, you were driving. and only bob smith can drive that truckload or delivery vehicle, whatever it might be. we also saw seeing machines a few months ago where they scan your eyes, this is the future of

technology in vehicles and we will see it within the next four to five years. >> what do you do about valet parking garages? >> you can turn it off. look, you go to a restaurant and you want the guy to go get your car, you can turn it off for that. the idea is that if you want to ensure that only your teenage son is driving, you turn it on. that way, his buddy doesn't climb in behind the wheel. >> interesting technology there. the final episodes of "madmen" began on april 5th. the show first premiered in july 2007. the iphone had just launched. netflix still focused on dvd mailers and twitter had just spun off to its own company. i sat down with jon hamm to talk about life in the content business then and now. >> the reason that television i think is so democratic at this

point is there's something for so many demographics. it's not only run by the 18 to 34s. it's not only one by the 12 to 17s. there's something out there for everybody. and a way to get it and access it that's inexpensive or free. >> does it make it harder or easer to stand out as an actor? >> i think there are definitely more jobs that people can see. you know, there used to be this thing called a pilot. and you would get a first episode of a show and eventually some tribunal would determine whether or not that's going to go to series. there were only four channels doing series television. now there's probably 400 outlets producing original content in some way, shape, or form. is it harder to constant out in that landscape? absolutely. and of course who determines that is generally the media.

there has to be a critical mass of positive, you know, sort of attraction and positive attention to -- to make up an "orange is the new black" or to make a "house of cards" or whatever the latest, you know, it show is. >> there are a lot of people sad to say good-bye to don draper. >> i'm one of them. >> people would like to think of what would don draper be like in the world of social media today. >> well, i mean, i'm 44 and i'm pretty lost in the world of facebook and everything else. i have no social media profile. i'm hopelessly beyond that curve sadly. and i don't -- i don't mind it. it's actually an incredibly freeing. once you realize you're out of the -- out of the sort of

running in a cultural sense, it's kind of delightful because you don't have to kind of try anymore, i guess. i don't know. it's very interesting to be 44 and irrelevant. >> irrelevant. hardly so after quite the run that "madmen" has had. he was talking about when netflix picked up "madmen," how it was one of the first shows to go onto netflix and be syndicated there. everyone was scratching their heads and try to figure out what that meant. ultimately, it was a good thing. but certainly for a sign of the times for "madmen" to be one of the pioneers, but then also one of the first movers on netflix too. >> did you get a sense whether he feels like he has more leverage or less now in this digital age? >> it seems like he will miss

the role. ifts was a break out role for him. they have a lot of products -- projects in the pipeline. i think he's trying to take both, as an actor and producer as well. i think he likes the comedy as well. >> well, if he is culturally irrelevant, then the rest of us, there's no hope. the final season of "madmen" is on april 5th. normally at this point we have the european close for you. because of daylight saving time, that close still happens at 12:30 eastern instead of right now. we'll have that close for you in the next hour and it will be back at 11:30 on monday. up next, shares of apple in the green today. we'll tell you if you should be buying or selling that stock ahead of the watch's launch in april. the house that the video

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good morning. he's your update at this hour. it's official. texas republican senator ted

cruz declaring his candidate dizzy for president. he is the first major candidate to throw his hat into the ring. at least 19 people killed, 36 wounded when multiple bombings rocked baghdad today. the attacks came as israeli forces continue to prepare for a large scale operation to retake tikrit. du pont embroiled in a proxy war sawed it would hold its annual shareholder meeting on may 13th. they want to add ceo nelson peltz to the board, but that has been rejected by the company. >> today's marijuana is a lot stronger than it used to be. scientists found levels of thc were close to 30% which is more than three times higher than 30 years akboe. that is your cnbc news update

this hour. back to "squawk alley." thank you, sue. we're only a few week ace way from the much anticipated launch of the apple watch. they could follow with a apple tv announcement in june. so what's really next for the tech giant and what does it mean for the stock? colin gillis is a tech analyst. >> great to be here. >> end of the year, you had a hold on apple and $103 price target. stocks up 25% since then. were you wrong? >> here's the key can apple. it's got a tremendous franchise with the iphone. but it's highly dependent on the revenue and high margin they receive. and that market is slowing down. that dependency -- it's a great company. they have a tremendous ability

to generate cash. but will they be able to sustain that given that the dependency on the hardware unit in a market where it's declining, that's going to be a tricky thing. the market cap is twice the size of the number two company. no company has ever been able to sustain that over time. >> you were right until you were wrong. apples asps are going up. why can't they go up more? >> they can go up more. they run the risk of running hiebd the broader market unit growth. that means you're serving the high end of the marketplace. if competitors are able to close the functionality gap, you're going to see slower unit growth. that's the risk that happens particularly after this current upgrade cycle. you may see the longevity of the phones last longer than two

years. >> i think we've already addressed the fact that the phone is the core business. >> it is. >> the fact that the watch not only could -- maybe it won't be the revenue center that the iphone was, but it will be profitable because of how expensive some of the units are. >> that's a great point. they continue to want to maintain their profitability. i think the asps for the watch are going to come in higher than people initially expected. even in the best case scenarios for the watch, it's going to be around 7% of revenue. if you're looking at as apple investor, you care more about high phone inventory increases, in the june quarter, how is the iphone going to maintain unit shipments. >> one thing to call for a temporary dip in apple shares. it would be another thing to share i think the growth is out

of this company. which one are you saying? >> i think that longer term -- longer term, if you have a ten-year look that you will not see the same dynamics in the iphone. what gets me excited is, can they build up recurring revenue streams. having a subscriber base for tv, that is mildly appealing. if they can use that customer data and build up a targeted advertising stream to go along with that. consumers view apple as a trusted guardian of their data. health care and home automation if they can build up customer data and maybe leverage a better advertising stream longer term and reduce the dependency on hardware devices, that's a great company. >> always willing to take a controversial stance on apple. when we come back, is china the future of film making?

lionsgate inking is big deal overseas. we have an exclusive interview. what are you watching? >> watching what everybody on the trading floor is watching. the foreign exchange markets. seems the best clues of late with the recollection of the euro versus the dollar. are we conditioned to follow it up and down forever? or is there going to be a break in the current correlations? that's what we're going to discuss after the break. hey, girl. is it crazy that your soccer trophy is talking to you right now? it kinda is. it's as crazy as you not rolling over your old 401k. cue the horns... just harness the confidence it took you to win me and call td ameritrade's rollover consultants. they'll help with the hassle by guiding you through the whole process step by step. and they'll even call your old provider. it's easy. even she could do it. whatever, janet. for all the confidence you need td ameritrade.

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coming up, with stocks again near record highs, could the fed derail this rally? we hear from stanley fisher this hour with comments that could be market moving. >> and today begins contrary january week on the halftime show. we have a great lineup. today we get stock picks. plus, the call of the day. it is a red hot biotech stock. not so much today. we'll see you in 15 or so. >> thanks scott. is china the future of film making? lionsgate inking a three-year deal with nearly $400 million with a chinese media company. let's get to julia live with their vice chairman. over to you. >> thanks so much. michael thanks so much for coming to talk to us today. before we get into the big news with china, i have to ask about

the big movie you opened this weekend, insurgent. it was down from the original movie in the franchise you made a year ago. how problematic is this considering your big franchises tend to gain steam? >> only hollywood would somebody mention a 50 mlt plus opening not being great. we're actually very happy with how the movie performed. we're particularly pleased to see the uptick from friday to sad night. i think it's going to have great legs. >> so as big as hupger games and twie liegts? >> that's like asking what's your favorite child. >> so i have to ask you about other big news this week. john malone's stock swap is going into effect this week. this puts malone on your board.

what does this mean for sort of partnerships or strategic deals with some of malone's companies? >> i think if we could pick one media mogul to be in business with, it would have been john malone. it's exciting for us. i think if -- again, i don't have a crystal ball. i think you'll see us do more and more interesting things. we're excited about what chris albrook is doing with original programming. we'll look at where our library could fit internationally with them. we'll take a look at what we can do with david and discovery. all things in the world john malone. somebody said to me the other day, i'm pretty sure he didn't do this to be a 3 houston, texas 4% owner in lionsgate.

>> i think starz has talked about that. i think we'd look at partnerships. we think they're smart. >> interesting. now you mention malone, he controls now 3.5%. what does his new ownership stake mean, do they get along? >> they're going to get to know each other pretty well pretty soon. i've been asked about mark's stake and john was asked about it recently in china. it's totally mark's call what he's ultimately going to do. he could sell a block. he could hold. he could do a lot of different things. again, it's mark's call what he's going to do. he's a great investor. >> in terms of china, $375 million deal, what does this mean for your future? is lionsgate doing this deal to

get around restrictions? >> absolutely not. china is the biggest growth market in the world for the film business. it's had bigger box office on weekends than north america. this is a market that $1.4 billion people. we think we're going to do a lot of business with. the idea that we can have a great partner in china investing in our slate, that's good news for us. >> are the types of movies you're making going to be targeted more at that audience? will we see a difference in films here? >> we're not going to change the way we make movies. we just shot the last few days of a see quell. that was a surprise hit. and we think the second one will do very well. we're not going to have chinese centric films so to speak. obviously where we can figure out collaborations and figure out talented people around the world, that makes a lot of

sense. >> you have a tv distribution deal in china. there have been reports that they might be interested in buying a stake. what can you tell us? >> back to the rumor mill. they're our partner in china. obviously with lionsgate world or universal world. we spent a lot of time with them launching this channel with our set top boxes. we're excited about the prospects. we'd like to be in business with a lot of the big chinese players. it's the greatest growth market in the world for our content business. >> really appreciate it. certainly a lot of growth opportunities in china. back over to you in new york. >> thanks so much for that interview. now, our newest season of secret lives of the super rich premiers tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. eastern here on cnbc. we're going to give you a sneak peak inside the massive home of

one of the biggest names in video games. >> the most expensive home ever sold in beverly hills is 23,000 square feet of over the top luxury. is it a home theater door cov covered in lizard skin. we got an exclusive tour from the home's builder. >> my mission was to build the most beautiful house in southern california. >> this mansion is one of the biggest bets ever made in beverly hills. our cameras were the first and only allowed inside. >> this is about a $500,000 furnished dining room. look at this shower. you can fit nine people easily inside here. i spent a million dollars on this living room set. you can fit six cars in here. >> he build the home on spec, meaning on speculation, without a buyer and the price is

shocking. >> the reason we're showing you this is the house was sold to marcus person, the founder of the mine craft video game back in december. price tag, shocking $70 million. everything was included in the house from the wine and the silver wear to all that or the work, even the $200,000 worth of candy on the wall. the only thing not included was bruce's $3 million bugatti. he's working on another house. we'll see which tech magnate buys that one. >> wow, talk about multi-player. a nine-person shower. coming up on second thought, never mind. why star bucks is ditching the race to gather coffee cups. just one week after their campaign started. plus, the gender biassed trial. the latest in the ellen powell

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now with the you can watch live tv anytime. it's never been easier with so many networks all in one place. get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more.

let's go over to the cme group where the santelli exchange. over to you. >> thank you. well, anybody who's been paying close attention for the last several months has seen a boat load of extra volatility in the foreign exchange markets. we all know the reason. the leadup to european qe is a

very large reason, as is the tapering of u.s. qe. now, if you look at charts, this can't be anymore important because foreign exchange is really kind of the canary in the coal might be of late for the directions of many markets. the first chart is a year-to-date chart of the euro versus the dollar versus the dax. we can see an inverse correlation here especially as of january 22nd. leading up to, the weakness of the euro definitely pro poled the dax. it may be retests at above 110 level on our fed day, wednesday chltd if we look at another chart to give us the second part of the information, will be the s&p 500 on an overlay on a relative value chart of the euro versus the tlar.

just look at today. the euro's up, the s&p's are up. we can fly back and forth either way. obviously the stronger dollar is an issue to some. weaker euro an issue to others. it's all about exporting. my guess is they're much more responsive for a while with a weaker euro. now, granted, they haven't fallen far from recent highs, but this is an important dynamic. the central bank maneuvering is all trying to build exports. from the german standpoint, it's succeeding rather dramatically. they've had a budget surplus since 2013. it's getting bigger every year. they will have a surplus at least out until 2018. all of these issues are going to come home to roost of course given the timeline of our own fed.

how the euro trade changed when the potential normalization or tightening for our fed was delayed a bit. you want to pay attention to the early morning direction. long-term traders aren't around, but all the snappers are around and high frequency and all the fast trades are going to make this an important indicator for the next several weeks. back to you. >> thanks so much, rick santelli in chicago. a judge has ruled that former kleiner junior perkins partner can sue the venture capital firm saying, quote, there is sufficient evidence from where a reasonable juror could conclude that they engaged in intentional gender discrimination. closing arguments in the trial are expected to tomorrow. >> up next, why starbucks is going back to writing just your misspelled name on its cups. we'll be right back. organic food stocks, schwab can help.

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and that became our passion. to always build something better, airplanes that fly cleaner and farther on less fuel. that redefine comfort and connect the world like never before. after all, you can't turn dreams into airplanes unless your passion for innovation is nonstop. ♪ starbucks announcing they will no longer be asked to write race together on cups to customers. they did say the coffee chain's move is, quote, far from other

and they will continue other aspects of the campaign. we were talking about how this was a great idea, but perhaps the execution wasn't the right way to go about it. >> i think they're saying they never intended for the coffee cup part of this to have real long life. there's some conversations you have with a stranger over a cup of coffee and some maybe not. certainly an important issue they're raising. >> and then there were customers wondering how much longer is my line going to be to get my morning cup of coffee. one story in tech we haven't talked about today is ebay. we're getting two new members of the boards of director. tony bates from gopro. that stock up about 1.5% today. >> tony bates i know a little bit. he's an interesting guy from a

management perspective. >> and with that we're keeping aen eye on the markets. nasdaq still into the red. dow and s&p in positive territory. that does it for "squawk alley." let's send it over to "fast money" and the "halftime" crew. ♪ thanks. welcome to the halftime show. let's meet our starting lineup for today. joe is senior managing director. josh brown is ceo of rid holt wealth management. and ben willis is with us today as well. our game plan, against the crowd. we kickoff a week-long series today, what they like and why and the art of taking the other side of the trade. straight from the