>> crushed it in the holidays. i think you can. i think the aws is the real story. >> okay. >> they are buying all the way up to the 955 strike right now, judge. that's 120 bucks out of the money. >> bullish there. >> would not buy it, not with the volatility and price. >> depends on who wins the super bowl. who's that going to be? >> oh. >> patriots. >> scoffing again. >> that's a scoff. ♪ hog in the white house today, meeting with trump, latest iconic brand to meet with the president. we're talking big plans for big business. also ahead, a sign of the times. literally. what it's like to wake up every day and go head-to-head with the president, the ceo of the new york times will join "power lunch" exclusively, and going mall in on shoes. why one firm says, calm down, the mall is not dead yet. i'm brian sullivan, lace up

because "power lunch" starts right now. ♪ putting on the high heel sneakers, brian, i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. action on the wall street, s&p 500 between gains and losses. right now, in the green. barely. up not even one point. decline on the s&p today would be its fifth and sixth sessions. gold holds up, though, two and a half month high. show you what's beginning on there now. higher by $9 per ounce, 12.17. melis melissa? >> thank you, i'm melissa lee, big news with talks of consumer goods maker, deal could be valued at $16 billion. costco higher, 7% jump in sales last month, way above expectations. and merck, quarterly profit of 89 cents a share, in line with

expectations. revenue falling short. deutsche bank, bigger than expected loss for the final quarter of 2016 and shares down by more than 4%. >> thank you very much, melissa. i'm tyler matheson. another day, another president, meeting with the top brass of harley davidson. eamon is standing by. >> we've seen a lot of ceos at the white house to meet with president trump in the first few days of the administration, but none arriving with quite the style and swagger of the harley davidson executive who roll up on motorbikes to the south lawn of the white house. the president and vice president walking out of the whaus to meet the executives. a chance to talk to reporters for moments, nothing substantive, but responded to a question about whether or not the president would get on one of those harleys and give the reporters a test drive. here's what he said. >> boy, would you like to see me

fall off. [ laughter ] would that be thrilling? would you promise to cut it if that happens? >> reporter: the president asking if the media would promise to cut it if he got on a motorcycle and fell off on camera. i promise you the media would not cut the tape. that would make newscasts around the world if he did that. showing discretion not getting on the harley davidson, we'll see other ceos presumably not riding motorcycles here at the white house tomorrow, including jamie dimon of jp mori dan, and ibm and daniel eugen and a long list of ceos expected here at the white house tomorrow. we'll trying to figure out exactly what's going ob on the table for discussion, but you can imagine taxes, trade, and immigration will be on the list of discussion for the president

tomorrow. we could see some more tension between the ceos and the president than we've seen in some meetings so far because now this administration has done things that some of the ceos disagree with. wait to see how it plays out tomorrow, tyler. >> thank you very much eamon on the north lawn. >> digging in more on that, the president assembling his dream team of corporate titans he'll call on from time to time for regular an candid advice. worth noting, some of the big names were not supporters of the president-elect's campaign. let's bring in head of public policy and mike allen, executive editor, good to have you here, mike, the meeting tomorrow, strategic and policy commission as it's call, what is his relationship with business at this point? >> well, it's rocky, and a lot of the people who are going to be there tomorrow tweeted and wrote about how unhappy their employees were about him winning, and some of them including uber's ceo signed a

letter calling for resending of the executive order. it was going to be an awkward first date anyway, but now that they are topping the agenda with immigration, it's going to be tense and we're told some of the ceos are going to be candid and push their points. >> how important is it that this meeting go well or not go well? as somebody trying to talk to people investing in the market at pimco, how do you view it? >> corporate america welcomes having a formalized channel of communication to the white house, so i think that this is, you know, very good olive branch from the administration to serve corporate america, but when we talk to our credit folks at pimco, talking to ceos all day, what corporate america mewants a friendly regulatory environment, which donald trump seems to be making some, you know, some advancing on. they want tax reform. of course, that's going to be

predicated on congress. they also want political stability and certainty, so that is the big question with president trump, not only his twitter habits, but also some of the things he does on the weekend. >> you don't say. >> mike, take us inside the meetings. is it the president looking at the business leaders and saying, ladies and gentlemen, what should we be doing? or is it the president looking around the room saying, ladies and gentlemen, here's what we're doing? >> well, there's a little of both, so this is a panel that was put together by steve schwartzman of blackstone. you don't say know to steve schwartzman. he got a lot of yes when he put this together. but we're told it's a way for ceos to get right and on the side, idea of the direct ak says to the president and hoped this would be a chance to soften some of the views on china, mexico, on trade, so that's why they are going to be aggressive when they go in there. we've talked to ceos who have

been there. the union leaders, manufacturers, the car folks who have been in there, and they say these meetings are refreshing. they a lot of people who were opposed to trump or not for trump, and they've been going in to white house meetings for years and years and years and say they are not the usual talking points. there's not the usual script, just a couple -- >> how many times have they met before? a couple times so far? this may be the true test of the relationship because, for instance, elon musk solicited amendments to the executive order on immigration saying i'm going to bring these amendments to the policy counsel and speak consensus and present it to the president. i mean, you want to be a fly on the wall when that's presiden d -- presented to the president and there to see that. >> the first meeting is likely to get to know everybody around the table. this is the initial meeting, but i do think it's promising that

at least from initial indications, that this is going to be a regular meeting, maybe a monthly meeting. if that's coming into fruition, it's going to be viewed as a very welcoming sign from the corporate america. >> mike, what are you hearing about insiding within the white house? >> we knew there was going to be -- >> always is. >> right. this white house in particular, we knew there was going to be a lot of centers of gravity because that's how donald trump operates. you know him. he likes to get a lot of different opinions. now, by having a chief of staff who is technically in charge and steve bannon, "time" magazine asking if he's the second most powerful man in the world, and number two at goldman saks in the white house, and the son-in-law, called the supreme court, because he is the last word on so many questions. you have conway, all these centers of gravity in there. trump loves that because he gets

to hear different positions and he gets to be the decider. the staff says they like it because they know the president trump seeks lots of opinions. they want it their opinions than out calling around. we know he still has his phone -- we thought the phone was taken, turns out he has the phone with the 917 number, what you do now if you're one of the people with the number, you call, leave a message, and if he wants to talk to you, he calls you on a secure back phone. >> do you have the number? >> we're not giving that out on air. >> i knew it. >> mike, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, y'all. treasury changing russian sanctions put in place by president obama. john harwood is live in washington with the latest, john? >> reporter: guys. the treasury department put out a statement today altering some sanctions in place against the fsb, the russian federal security service, that were put

on by president obama. now, everybody's been trying to figure out what that means. spicer and the white house briefing minutes ago said it's a matter of routine. >> the treasury department, from what i understand it, a fairly common practice for the treasury department after sanctions are put in place to go back and look at whether or not there needs to be specific carveouts for different, you know, either industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth. >> reporter: now, that statement about specific carveouts made it appear from the white house podium that this is no big deal. i can tell you that staffers on both the republican and democratic sides, on both sides of capitol hill, are examining this, trying to figure out what it means. i just got a note from a senate democratic staffer who said we don't share the conclusion that it's no big deal. don't have a detailed analysis yet. we'll pass on as we get more. >> sean, i covered this for a

long time because of cuba, and something like this takes awhile. i mean, the process is likely started under president obama. what is confusing there's app ordering of a hold regulations and changes et cetera, how did this get through is a question i ask. >> well, i don't know what the process is after the treasury notification. the treasury posted this on their website today whether or not this has more hoops to jump through before it becomes effective, i don't know. again, waiting for more clarification from experts on these sanctions and russia in particular. >> got it. >> thanks, john. >> all right. there's market moves on the back of the russian sanctions headlines. chu is tracking it all and joining us now. dom? >> russia etf, the ticker, seeing that flash quite a bit. spiked as much as 2%. now pairing the gapes as you can see here. the etf is a percent or so higher. the dollar tumbling, 1.5%

against the russian ruble as well. what e we mentioned, trading 17 to 18 million shares so far right now on an average day over three months, trades 10 million shares a day. back to you. >> thank you, dom chu. failing fake news and dishonest, some of the words president trump used to describe the "new york times," so how do you respond if you're "the new york times"? straight to the source, exclusive interview with mark thompson coming up. first, three big things about facebook that will surprise you straight ahead. you're watching "power lunch" with melissa lee, michelle caruso-cabrera, brian sullivan, and tyler matheson on cnbc.

l?atca th(c tom valaln cacata l?atca

yesterday, staggering stats around apple's cash horde. word on the street is you like it. a deep dive into facebook users' numbers. companies say there's a stunning 1.86 billion active users. those are separate and distinct log in. put that number into perspective. it is six times the numbers of every man, woman, and child in

the united states. it is also the same as the entire population of america plus the next nine biggest countries after the united states combine, brazil, mexico, japan, et cetera. comparing to something unrelated for fun, facebook's monthly ak sieve users are the same as the total number of cars and trucks sold in america each year for the next 106 years. wow. talk more about facebook's corner and bring in jason, managing director of equity research. he raised his target price on facebook to 155 from 144. stunning figures, jason, but i'll say this. we know people that have two or more facebook log-ins. how sure are you of the 1.68 billion number? do you care? >> we don't -- we use numbers that the company gives us, but there's other third party data we use to track the company, and what set up the quarter so well was engagement with a instagram

going up dramatically. while there was not direct revenue from the presidential election spending, we think all the controversy around the election caused a massive increase in time spent on the platform. really, they turned around and sold that time to other advertisers. >> the reason i bring it up not because it's been amazingingly massive number, but it's basical basical basically 20% of the global populati population, but advertisers rely on these users, determining ad rates. they want to see the views. i want to make sure you're confident they are not people logging in under different log-ins, whatever it is. >> again, we measure time spent. it's not a met trick they gave out, but we have third party, and that's gone up. look at revenue per hour. right, think about the composition, number of people amount of time spent and how many ads you showed them and the

price per ad. the company gives some metrics, but you do your own work. based on that metric, time spent was much better. they sold more ads. they had an increase in ads, basically the driver, not price. price was only up 3%, and which is why we're still bullish, ultimately, this is an auction model, and it means the demand right now is actually behind the supply. >> what about the continuation of the demand? the controversial election drew the revenue increase. the election's over. do you think we're going to have that much -- >> again, so the -- it drove -- it was one of the drivers of time spent, right? and the advertisers were there to take advantage of that time spent. from here, the question is, can facebook e evolve to using more third party data measurements, add verification? one of the things they were clear, cheryl talked about it, they have to do a better job proving to advertisers, they saw the ad, bought the product. it was a viewable ad. it was not the same person

across multiple websites. it's early in the measurement cycle, so the fact that you saw this type of growth and you still talk to madison avenue and say, well, we want more data from facebook tells you there's more money to come. >> is that why the stock is down? >> the stock is down because it ran up. i mean, the stock when we did the preview, it was 113-114, but it ran up as people got enthusiastic about the quarter and rotation back to technology. >> got it. >> typically, you know, what we'll reach from here, people go, do homework and decide the next level in the stock. we think it's higher. >> could be priced in. thank you, jason. >> thank you. halfway through earnings season, and results have been positive. take a look. according to thompson-reuters, it's above estimate, 12% on the button, and 20 miss missed. a lot of uncertainty, though, in the market for investors, almost always is. bill miller earlier today, lmm

chairman and cio was on "squawk box" this morning pointing out good opportunities, nevertheless, still out there. >> we tend to go either the absolute valuations look very attractive to us, airlines, for example, where there's controversy. things like specialty pharma, and the two areas are attractive in the overall market. >> so should investors, overall be bullish on u.s. equities? the next guest says yes. global head of strategy at jpmorgan private bank with a trillion dollar in assets. that's not an inconsiderable amount. thanks for being with us. you see the buy based on an earnings growth target of 7-8%, right? >> core earnings view. i note that does not include some of the pro-growth trump policies we're hearing about. >> which is where i want to go. >> sure. >> what would the inkreecrement profits be if trump and the

administration are able to reduce regulation in the meaningful way? >> sure. >> which sectors benefit the most? >> a lot of moving parts. the biggest piece is corporate tax reform. lower the corporate tax rate to 20-25%, you're talking about 10 percentage points of upside to the happ7-8%. >> meaning high teens. >> offset is border adjusted tax that's getting attention because you have to offset the 1 trillion in deficit that lower corporate taxes brings. if the border adjustment is passed, and we think there's a probability of half, lessening with every day in terms -- >> sorry so interrupt, how do you walk through it? in serious stronger dollar, protectionist policies justify set that, and then on the other side, stronger dollar's a head wind for multinationals. >> moving parts. depends where the costs are sourced. how much of your exports come from goods that you import. it also assumes what happens to the dollar.

economic theory suggests dollar strengthens a lot, 50% or worse. >> taping it back together. if you get a straight tax reform, could get 8, 9, 10% increase, bring in the border tax and factor in the matter of the appreciating dollar. what does it -- how does it change that 7% earnings growth? >> brings it down to 2-4% upside. looking at potentially low double digits if it comes together as a package. >> i asked what's the increment to that number with regulatory reform. another couple percentage points? >> that's the hardest. look what it costs the bank in taking it down. >> right. >> a couple points to the overall growth, but there's a business confidence aspect. how does that less regulatory environment going forward get ceos to spend more and investment. >> which sector of the market has most to gain from the trump administration, and which sector might feel that border

adjustment tax if it comings through? >> sure, cyclicals in general, everything from financials to technology companies, we like what we are hearing in the earnings, i think, benefit the most. >> lean there? >> yes. from a regulatory perspective and yield, what to avoid? consumer retail. that's what -- that's going to be the biggest brunt of the border adjustment tax if they come through. >> consumer retail. >> consumer retail. >> all right. thank you. >> great to see you. >> fantastic. steven is with jpmorgan chase private bank. >> president trump meeting with harley executives at the white house. it's not the first time harley davidson has been involved in presidential politics. we dug into the cnbc archives showing you what happened in the 1980s. that's next. onllhaelel

s ♪eeeainsts veisouting 'schvilidad ghct aloe stl l jthks president trump meeting with harley davidson executives union representatives at the white house. within the past hour or so, the

white house press pool was al w allowed in at the beginning of the session. we are awaiting that tape, and we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. >> you know, this is not the first time harley davidson has been in the news. lathest sound bite -- do we have it from ronald reagan? not that either. >> take our word for it. back in 1983 you're referring to. >> right. >> let's play it. >> we have it? >> stare at me all day, that's not a terrible thing. >> depends who you ask. >> the so-called harley tariff -- >> yes. we got the tape, go straight to it -- >> thank you for all the votes you gave me in wisconsin. some people thought that was an upset. i thought we were going to win it. from the beginning we said we were going to win it. harley davidson is a true american icon, one of the greats. your motorcycles have carried american service members in the war and the wars. they take care of our police officers, and i see it so often

whenever i go, whenever there's a motorcycle group, oftentimes it's a harley, and the sound of that harley is a little different, i have to tell you. it's good. thank you, harley davidson, for building things in america. i think you're going to even expand. i know your business now is doing very well, and there's a lot of spirit now in the country that you were not having so much in the last number of months that you have right now. you see what's happening. i'm especially honored to welcome steel workers and machinists to the white house. who is a steel worker here? you all are, essentially, right? you folks have been terrific to me. sometimes the top people don't support me, but the steel workers support me, right? a lot of people were going to lose their jobs, but we're coming around getting them. the workers supported us bigly. we want to make it easier for businesses to make more jobs and more factories in the united states. you're a great example of it. that means we have to make

america the best country on earth to do business, and that's what we're in the plo sesz of doing. we're redoing nafta, redoing a lot of trade deals, and negotiating properly with countries, even countries that are allies, a lot of people taking advantage of us. a lot of countries taking advantage of us. really terribly taking advantage of us. we have one incidence in australia, i have a lot of australia, i love them as a country, but we had a problem where, for whatever reason, president obama said they were going to take probably well over a thousand illegal immigrants who were in prisons, and they were going to bring them and take them into this country, and i just said, why? just a question. i can ask that question of you. why? 1250, could be 2,000, could be more than that. i said, why? why are we doing this? what's the purpose? we'll see what happens. you know, previous

administration does something, you have to respect that, but you can also say, why are we doing this? that's why we're in the jams we're in. you guys, especially the steel workers, i understand what i'm saying, right? i just, you know, we have some wonderful allies, but we're going to keep it that way, but we have to be treated fairly also. we have to be treated fairly. this administration, our allegiance will be to the american workers and american businesses like harley davidson. we're very strong. the 1980s, i remember this, you were victims of trading abuse, big trading abuse, where they were dumping all sorts of competitors all over the place. ronald reagan stepped in, and he put out a large tariffs, and you wouldn't be talking about harley davidson probably right now if he didn't do that, but we're going to help you, too, and we're going to make it really great for business, not just you, but for everybody. we're going to be competitive

with anybody in the world. we're going to be doing taxing policies very soon. it's going to be coming out. i know health care's a big problem for every company that's now suffering with health care because of the tremendous cost. that's one of the things that we're working on hardest. that and tax policy and tariffs and trade. i think you will be very happy. it's an honor to have you at lunch. i really appreciate your support. you've given me tremendous support, workers in particular gave me tremendous support. i want to thank the people of wisconsin, in particular, it's been amazing what happened up there. that was a big shocker that evening when they went, wow, wisconsin just went for trump, said all of these people, especially that guy right there. no, but then they said, what's going on? wisconsin just went for trump. then michigan went for trump and pennsylvania. it was -- it was great. just great people. these are amazing people.

they get it. so, again, to all of you at the table today, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it greatly. thank you. >> thank you. >> military action off the table in iran? >> nothing's -- >> russia and sanctions -- >> nothing's off the table. i have not eased anything. [ inaudible ] well, i have not eased anything. >> that last question, if you could not hear, in reference to er iran, that nothing's off the table. eamon? >> reporter: they are trying to get a couple questions in, you're right. saying the president nothing is off the table, presumably military actions when it comes to iran, officially put on notice by general flynn here at the white house yesterday. you also heard the president responding to a question about this issue of russian sanctions. he said, i haven't eased

anything. i have not eased anything. what that is in response to is the treasury department today issuing a license that authorizes certain transactions now which were previously banned between americans and the fsd, the russian security service,s successor to the kgb. those have been banned under sanctions previously. sean spicer, the white house press secretary, asked about that today. he capped it as simply a routine update of the sanctions regime that's done by the treasury department, but, of course, with so much intense focus on the issue of russian hacking into the election, russian intelligence's role in the u.s. election over the past year, and -- between the trump administration and intelligence community over some of the assessments about russian intelligence roles, anything the treasury does here regarding the fsb is going to gets a lot of attention. we need more reporting to figure out exactly what the licenses authorize and what they do not

authorize, and where exactly this move came from. michelle? >> all right. get to it. thanks so much. >> reporter: you bet. >> being the target of the president's tweet storm, the "new york times" knows exactly what it feels like to feel the heat from a tweet. our exclusive interview with the "new york times," ceo mark thompson, straight ahead. you do not want to miss that. the cnbc trend tracker live data boar is brought to you by the cme group. cme group, where the world comes to grips. t rnpoteia piome itrlco o y s y,fincesreth itrlco ow, gogithk al os y,fincesreth

ths,e nn fth s s one m . atle expse iptht.etesanannetiarararenti me e vnd a invr in ves

hi, everybody. here's the update at this hour. president trump attending the national prayer breakfast in washington this morning. the annual event draws politicians, faith leaders, and other dignitaries. he commented on his contentious phone call with australian prime minister turnbull. >> when you hear about the tough phone calls i'm having, don't worry about it, just don't worry about it. they are tough. we have to be tough. it's time to be tough folks.

we're taken advantage of by every nigation in the world. it's not going to happen anymore. >> russian president putin speaking in a news conference in budapest accused ukraine of being unwilling to keep to the terms of the agreement, fighting between pro-russian separatists and ukrainian troupes entered a fifth day. netle challenges the definition of sushi unveiling chocolate sushi to attract visitors. rather than tuna, it used raspberry and pumpkin puddle kit cats atop sugar puffed coated puffed rice. i don't know. maybe. that's the news update this hour. melissa back to you. >> blech is my reaction. >> i know. >> thank you, sue. >> welcome. >> the relationship between president trump and media at an all-time low with the president calling unfavorable reports fake news. the biggest target is the "new

york times" the company he tweeted about 14 times since election day. on november 13th, wow, the new york times is losing thousands of subscribers because of the poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the trump phenomena. something the times refuted. today's earnings shows the company added 276,000 digital subscriptions, best quarter since 2011. stocks surging since election day. it's up overexclusively, what i feels like to be the news, rather than just reporting, it mar thompson of the new york times. mark, great to have you with us. >> hi there. >> how much of the 276,000 net new digital subscriptions is because of trump? >> wake up every day secretly, thank goodness there's a president donald trump? >> the answer is, we don't know. we were -- our model was accelerating, growing number of

subscribers, added month by month, many, many months before donald trump came on scene, but, no doubt, we've seen a surge in the last quarter and even as we speak. i mean, in q1, the first, beginning of 2017, we're also seeing very, very big numbers coming. i think it's donald trump, but it's also -- it's a bigger story about controversy and division in this country and across the western world. it's brexit. it's app uncertain europe. it's a world which feels politically and economically very unstable. >> leading up to the election, you said there was an increase. day after the election, the media writer made a reference to it came in the form of cancelled subscriptions because of the complaints you had gotten by not getting the election right. did you lose subscriptions? >> understand that every day of the year, election or no election, there are people turning out. there are people moving from print to digital. you got a run of cancellations pretty much all the time.

the numbers we quote are net numbers. when you take the cancellations and additions and add them together. what do you get? the answer is an enormous increase. a few cancelled because they were sick of the news. some people felt we'd been too hard on hillary clinton and had been too favorable to donald trump. some people thought we were negative about trump. >> people thought you were too hard on hillary clinton? >> there are people -- there are hillary loyalists upset we broke the story about the private servers, for example, and there was a feeling amongst some of the readers that we'd been too hard on hillary. millions, 220 million people came to us in november all together. you'll find 220 million points of views in that group. >> do you know where your added subscribers, whether digital or print, are coming from regionally and where you are losing them? what i'm driving at here is are you picking -- the people you're

picking up, where are they from, and did you see a rejection of the times in those state -- in the center of the country largely, and the south that went for trump? >> firstly, i think the rejections are so small statistically relative to the increases, there's not much to be read into them. >> where do increases come from? >> pretty much across the country. if you said we're seeing quite a bit of younger people coming to the times, but also we're seeing a very significant increase in international subscriptions as well. so people, and the rest of the world, who are looking at what's happening in this country and europe and elsewhere, they want to know, want to get to the true form and understand what's happening. they come to us as well. >> the president said the failing "new york times," you disagree? >> it's fake news, even the president of the united states can be taken in by it, saying things that are not true. we're not failing. we're growing audiences and

subscriptions. >> revenues are down year over year and advertising revenue is down, print advertising down 20% year over year. >> understand we got a mature print business, which we recognize it. in fact, our print circulation, hand deliveries are growing at the moment. for the first time in many quarters. actually, we got more people coming to get the physical print newspaper. digital business is going well. you'll see we got very strong growth in digital advertising, and spectacular growth in digital consumer, so do you expect to grow? michelle's point is correct. >> we're in transition. i said repeatedly on earnings, we are completely committed to growing probability of the company, absolutely. >> you're 200 plan, right, you were going to invest $5 million to cover the trump ads mrgs specifically. you anticipate some based fourth quarter is a sustainable bump is not a trajectory? >> very much so.

the reason we -- profits were down because we're investing. i said on the call this morning, we're going to invest in more marketing. we think we got an opportunity because of the intense interest and intense news cycle. there's an opportunity to market and get new users to come and become paying customers. >> can we talk editorial? any conversation internally where you sat around and said, we've lost touch with america? i understand you are the "new york times," but i would imagine you consider yourself a national newspaper, correct? with the internet -- >> a global news provider. >> global news provider. has there been conversation looking around the table, go, we lost touch. >> well, all i can tell you is we have the biggest audiences of our history. we have more -- >> all the same person? >> we hit 3 million subscribers, biggest number in our history.

we're not losing touch. on the contrary. people in the millions are coming to us. now, if you asked me another question, how do we want to -- how do we want to cover trump? my colleague, editor was here -- >> i'm not talking about trump. >> i think what they would say is we want to cover america and the world objectively, independently, truthfully -- >> do you think you're doing that now? >> i do believe that and that's why people are coming to us in such numbers. >> i hear that, that's great news. we want journalism to succeed. we're in the same battle. >> sure. >> we need people to pay for content. but 3 million people could be boston, new york, san francisco, beverly hills, whatever. have you guys thought at all you're not representing people in texas? >> we got subscribers in every at a time state of the union, in korea, every part of the world, we have -- what distinguishes our readers -- the thing that really distinguishes our readers is curiosity and desire to learn

more and understand what's happening. it's -- >> i don't mean the readers, but what's on the front page? do you feel that does not reflect the entire country? too far from the liberal point of view? i don't know. >> i don't. >> you don't feel there's a liberal point of view? >> there's no question -- >> talking about the front page. >> i want to be clear that in our news coverage, we aim to be objective and tell people straightforwardly what's happening, so the news without bias without fear or favor is the quote. >> ultimately an arms race between your company like "new orleans times" and "washington post" with a deep-pocketed investor in it in jeff bezos? i mean, in the 2020 report, you indicated you would be laying off people as well at the same time you're investing. what do you foresee -- >> our business, as i said, it's privating. we're building a digital business at the same time we're managing clients and print

business. we have the biggest newsroom in north america. we're completely investing where we need to in great original journalism. our whole pitch to our audiences is about having more insight, more depth. we have, as you know, we have bureaus around the world. we have reporters across america. you asked about covering america. we, you know, we're the only general interest newspaper in the country which covers the entire country. >> i've heard the following criticism logged, and i'll say it again. >> so i can answer it again. >> for the public. the window for the stories, whether it's the front page, business page, the arts page, the style page, even the sports page, race, class, gender, sexual orientation seems to be the window for a huge number of stories -- >> add to that national politics, national security, add to it, you know, classic cultural coverage, add to it

great lifestyle coverage. the "new york times," you use the word "page," but understand the overwhelming majority of people coming to us come principally on smart phone at the story level rather than front page or section pages, and in a way the times has become in its coverage far broader than you're suggesting. >> two questions. because, obviously, this is a fun conversation here, and i'm going for two. one, what's it like to be in the room with trump? what's it like for the team to cover mr. trump? that's number one. number two, talk to me a little bit about what has happened to truth. >> okay. >> how you look at when there are people saying, there are alternative facts, there are people saying, we just don't believe you because it's you, statements of objective fact are turned artfully into questions of motive. >> two straightforward simple questions there. first one, in the room donald trump, you know he came to the

"times" just before christmas. he said that morning, tweeted out, he was not coming because we changed the terms of the meeting. >> you did that on the record with him. >> which was not true. we said the principle part of the meeting should be on the record. to be fair, changed his mind, came, and remarkable, hats off, gave a 75 minute on the record, had not been asked questions in advance, cracked every question asked and attempted to answer. i asked about whether he was commitmented to the freedom of the press given what he said about tightening libel laws and the rest of it, and he said, exact words, you'll have nothing to worry about. >> so talk to me about reporting in an era where truth is questioned because of the perceived political bias of the institution that's delivering it, whether it's you, fox, the journal.

>> sure. >> whether it's us. >> to state the obvious, it's not a new phenomena. during the american civil war -- >> exactly. >> incredibly divided media. >> first effectively started the spanish-american war by -- >> so the idea that the press should be themselves, the media should be held to account and challenged, i think is part of the free society. what i want to say, though, is there is a difference between striving for the truth, striving to understand, professional journalists and editors doing their best to understand and convey that to the public, which i'm honestly believing the "new york times" news room tries to do and people literally just making it up. i have to say, as well, politicians who either state or retweet and spread manifestly false assertions, they are not opinion, but alleged assertions of fact, which actually are not true, and i think what is striking, not just here, because it was true of the brexit debate

in my country, the u.k. last year, is the more reckless statement of falsehood, political leaders, faithfully pick up by bias media. >> the -- to your point, excuse me, michelle, do you ever feel there's a misconception in the country of being free and fair? like manufacturing. look at the narrow prism like america's a great manufacturing country. actually, we were low cost, child labor, stole jobs from the u.k. after world war ii, we had a manufacturing renaissance. oh, we're a great manufacturer. do you feel the same is true about media? a narrow lens, but reality is media has been ben franklin wrote under pseudonyms, that, perhaps, media is not what we think it is? >> i think we've got all the classic issues we've talked

about them about media. overlaid on that the fact as an industry we're wrestling with an astonishing digital revolution, and it's trying to make sense how you do great reporting when the news and those reporting on has a direct line to the public via twitter and so forth, and our audiences, i think, are figuring out how ways to connect to the news. i feel excited about there's temperatures and tens of millions of people coming to us, from smart phones, spending a lot of time with us, and they are figuring out new ways of kind of working their way through. the public is more hungry today than ever been for the real information, for the real facts, and we provide them. >> covering donald trump, new york times magazine ran a cover story early in the election, and the author said it was refreshing to cover donald trump. unlike hillary clinton, using the words straight jacket, two minutes if lucky. he had unlimited access to donald trump. >> yeah. >> what's it now after the election? >> sure, still, i believe, my colleagues and others say, it's still astonishing how open -- we

have a president who literally answers his phone. ring the mobile with a question, he answers himself rather than 15 layers. invited times journalists into the white house for interviews with him and the team. you have an astonishingly open, open president, on the other hand, manifestly, one of the points for the times and for other media has been repeatedly having to point out to the public that statements which have come from the president and white house are not actually true. great openness, but there are -- we've been reporting this extensively, many examples, including, by the way, what he said about "new york times" as a company, where he's made statements which are not actually true. >> i have one last question for you. that has to do with your message of repositioning the company. does repositioning mean that the "new york times" gets smaller? there are fewer people working at "the new york times," fewer

sections and pages printed? >> there's a lot of different things there. >> yeah, sure. >> we're going to have -- we're committed to a gigantic journ journalistic operation. big as 20 or 30 years ago. how the operation unfolds, how many people -- colleagues talked about making some reductions in the news room, and but -- but you can hear in results, we're continuing to invest in the company, and my long -- my ambition is for a company which returns to great profitability. we are profitable now, but we want to be more profitable than now, and i believe it's going to be a bigger "new york times" of more influence in america and the world. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> what do you think of andrew? good guy? >> he looks good. >> thank you very much. we'll have you back. we ran through so many stop signs, but a worthwhile conversation.

hi wor qu wor aroalal

welcome back, the countdown to the super bowl li, what are people paying, is the question, and jane wells is live in houston, the site of the super bowl. hi, jane. >> reporter: hey, tyler. you know, you can imagine the game's success, how much people pay outside the game and how much inside. good news and not good news. good news is outside. the patriots expected to win and lady gaga at halftime, advertisers pay a record $5 billion for 30 seconds, and estimates betting, a half million more than last year. not good news, it's not the matchup commanding top dollar for tickets. compared to last year with manning on top against an exciting team led by cam newton. stubhub says retail prices are $1900 to $15,000, and average price of $4400 had and change is

down 12%. now, former ravens coach says the ticket market is competitive. >> there's a matrix, good deal, bad deal, playing the market here in the super bowl right now, started at $4700, dropped to $3100. get as low as $2400. it's a matter of, like, any game, play the market. >> reporter: of course there's a market for anything. my top sports picks has bets like both teams score on the first possession 75-1. less likely dan wears a hairpiece, chance of gronk playing, 1,000: 1. who is the one? odds are lady ga did's first halftime song is bad romance. we got out of the media briefing and would not tip the hand, but threw a football. pretty good. >> jane, always getting to the bottom of it. thanks so much, jane, for the preview. >> all right, we are on deck, online retailer out with earnings in a few hours. what's wall street watching for?

m macy's up for sale? what made ralph lauren's ceo leave the company? t pll d bing booa conv t pll d bing

trslarksan. tscddarkets mcen. coes conv ex t pll d bing

there will be some hiding meaning in the song, whatever it is, i don't know what the song is or hidden meaning is, but we'll explore it here. the fab four is here today. how about that? >> i'm fab five now. >> five now. fab five. >> my pleasure. >> lair's off. >> melissa, michelle, brian, and larry here. this is hour two of "closing bell," and this is what we're watching at this hour. ceo of harley davidson at the white house meeting with president trump, a slew, a slew -- how many is a slew? that's a lot, i guess, and they will be meeting with him tomorrow. we'll talk about that and pro-growth and protectionism and balance they're in and the fight in the white house. amazon out after the bell. that's today, earnings, two hours, stock already up 12% this year. how much higher it could go from here. alexa knows. the black swan in the oil market, iran on notice following ballistic missile test and

president trump said nothing's off the table. house speaker ryan said he'd back additional sanctions on iran. fallout is ahead. showing you movers this hour, shares of estee lauder 3%, but revenue missed the mark. the full year falling short, but stock is higher. macy's 5% soaring on reports the store is looking for a buyer. ralph lauren, though, look at that, plunging 11% after the departure of the ceo. more on the two big retail movers just ahead. ryder down 6%, a profit miss there. 2017 forecast below expectati s expectations. >> meeting with harley davidson in the white house today, and we have the latest, eamon? >> reporter: a fun moment at the white house as harley executives rolled the hogs up the south lawn of the white house, south driveway there, the president and vice president coming out to meet with them and talk about

the motorcycles and talk about trade policies. once back in the white house, we had a chance to send cameras in to record some of the meeting, and the president talked about how harley davidson has benefitted from tariff policy in the past using harley davidson as a corporate example of his own trade philosophy. here's what he had to say. >> you were victims of trading abuse, big trading abuse, where they were dumping all sorts of competitors all over the place, and ronald reagan stepped in, and he hut out large tariffs, and you wouldn't be talking about harley davidson probably right now if he did not do that, but we're going to help you too. >> so that's just one company. tomorrow, we're expecting more ceos here at the white house and expect everybody from jamie dimon and elon musk to talk about taxes, trade, immigration, presumably, a subject coming up in the meeting tomorrow. we'll talk to as much ceos

tomorrow as we can here in the driveway, and, of course, bringing it to you on "power lunch" and "closing bell." >> looking forward to it. thank you. larry kudlow is here on set. getting to him about the seemingly strange fellows at the white house eamon talked about with union leaders, et cetera, but first your take on this developing story, republican donor anthony frequently seen on cnbc, not getting a senior role in the trump white house. larry, you said if news reports are correct, scaramucci should be furious at the shabby treatment by the white house, effecti ivive emissary, hard wo eric loyal. >> they are treating him shabbily. i don't know the details of the story, and maybe it's fake news. it's been covered by a lot of reporters, charlie started this, and "politico," i see maggie hammerman in the new york times.

look, the story, as i know it, reinec ca reince said your job is off. scaramucci did a great job in davos with the left wing ceos and bureaucrats representing trump. it's off. according to the story, called back later, wait a minute, it's on, but it's not on. >> why off and on? because of him selling business to the chinese company? concerns maybe that would lead to conflict of interest, chinese buy it, then they have somebody in the white house. >> white house knew all about this. let me make that point. poor anthony, goes out, sells his company, working every day in the transition and doing a fine job. i'll just read you -- okay, this is from the "new york times," maybe it's fake news, but this does not seem to me to be a clear disqualifying factor, that is the chinese investment. not a clear disqualification, said the chief white house

ethics lawyer under george w. bush, and then he goes on to say, another possibility is they decided not to keep him for political reasons and are using ethics conflict as a cover. now, you know, gosh darnit, clear this up. as i said, anthony worked his tail off. he sold his business. he's been loyal. he's raised a lot of money. if this is the treatment you get -- >> who doesn't want him? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> what would -- >> i have no idea. >> what is apart from questions over ethics and conflict of interest having to do with his business sale or untied up loose ends, what would be the issue that would cause him to be blocked by someone very powerful and clearly close to the president? >> as you know, there's a lot of power centers in the white house early in the game. as we talked, it's a horizontal structure, power centers, maybe somebody blocks it because there's somebody else in mind.

i don't know. i'd like to know. look, again, if this is all bologna, i'll take it back. >> in a different -- >> hang on. it's not being denied by the white house. that's what i'm waiting for. sorry. >> the reason i say it, you worked in administrations. >> right. >> forget reinc, and scaramucci, does a chief of staff have the power to say you're fired to scaramucci? any chief of staff have that? >> has to come from on high? >> well, good question. it ought to come from on high, but it might not. this is not the senior most position. it's an important position. you know, anthony would be the liaison to a lot of financial groups, wall street groups, did a great job in davos with the left wingers as i said. ultimately from the president, but it might not. a strong chief of staff, strong counselor, somebody is blocking the arteries here, and my point is this.

don't treat scaramucci so shabbily. he's been a loyal trooper for almost a year. no way to recruit people. >> do we know he was offered a job formally by the white house? was there a presumption of a job? >> he told people, but doesn't mean he was formally -- >> you're right. fair point. >> do you have insight on that? >> i don't know for sure. acknowledge that. however, the news reports are saying that reince said no, so there must have been a yes at some point, came back to say yes, and then maybe. look, i'm not here for character assassination. i'm just saying, please, treat my pal, scaramucci, better. the guy's been volunteering and helping and whatnot. it may not be his -- >> i want to come back to something -- >> it's important. >> i want to talk about the day before yesterday and get quick thoughts on it, and i i asked the question in a not completely clear way. you have been pro-growth, and there's a lot of this

administration that's all about pro growth and pro business, but on the other hand, there's proprotection. >> that's right. >> how do those things exist and coexist? >> tough question, tyler. there's going to be disagreements about this. you already have seen certain personnel decisions regarding these disagreements. i'm not going to name any names. it's going to be very difficult. can i make this point? i hope it relates to you. it looks like the counsel of economic advisers is not going to be filled. it's not going to be filled. you know? i'll just leave it there. >> talk you were going to lead that at one point. >> there was. actually, my pal from aei, i supported him strongly. nothing happened. you need a macro economic strategy to help the president articulate his policies. for example where they got a flaw right now. the president is hinting at a weaker dollar. the president is hinting that he wants to reduce trade deficits

as well as the trade guy, peter. look, they need a counselor of economic advisers that works with cea, treasury, and omb, somebody to say, look, sir, if you get your tax cuts, if you get your regulatory role back, including health care, these are major progrowth initiatives. if you raise -- >> and pro-dollar. >> hang on. >> that's where he's going. >> if you get the growth rate up to 3 or 4, guess what happens? interest rates are going to go up. economic growth's going up. trade deficit's going up. >> and the dollar. >> and the dollar's going up. somebody's got to say this to president trump. he needs to have the benefit of experts who understand how these economic and financials work. so far it's a piece here, a piece there, and a peen theiece. >> layer in the border adjustment tax. >> oh. >> even the dollar is stronger. >> don't believe that. don't below that stuff. the dollar goes up because real interest rates go up.

he's out there blaming germany for the cheap euro. >> can we talk about that for a second? this is the point i tried to make -- you're the guy to ask -- >> not blaming them, but said they get a cheap euro if they had a deutsche mark, they have a stronger currency. that's the argument. >> he blamed germany. germany doesn't make the euro policy. >> exactly. >> this is the ecb. >> what i tried to make yesterday, ten seconds for, for years, right, you've. to greece, i have been, talked about it for year, greece's debt problem, they will be bringing down the world, but now greece is artificially helping germany reducing the value of the euro. you know, he can't have it both ways. can't be greece is a benefit to the eurozone because it weakens the euro when greece is considered the number one problem for the eurozone for five years. >> fair enough. >> called goldman sachs fake

news. half the administration is goldman. >> the ecb is going to stay too loose for too long because of what you just said. that's fair enough. you know, can i just make this point? you want a trade surplus? let's have a deep recession. the flip side of a trade surplus is capital outflows. >> you mean that facetiously. you don't want a recession. >> i am. >> that's how the math works. >> if, on the other hand, you want america to be the world's number one investment destination, which is what president trump said many, many times to me and publicly and whatnot with the business tax reform, which is what we want, kmal co capital comes into the country, huge, not just american cash, but cash of all over the world. capital will be put to work. american growth will be higher. american incomes and wages higher. guess what. we import more, our trade deficit will be higher. that's a good thing, not a bad

thing. somebody in the administration has got to sit down who understands this, not my friend, peter, my friend, but he doesn't get it, and explain it to the president before the president gets in a lot of trouble with this because they are inconsistent. they are contradictory. you need a macro strategy to pull things together. >> growth means higher trade deficit don't sweat it. >> yes. yes. do you want capital inflows or outflows? >> inflows. >> right. >> i want people to invest here. >> what's the flip side? >> we have to go. >> trade. >> larry, that was fun. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> now to john harwood in washington, john? >> brian, just a little bit more information to the discussion that's been ongoing for a couple hours about the treasury department's move on russia sanctions. there was speculation about this being a significant easing of sanctions, then sean spicer brought a comment earlier came out in the white house press room saying, no, it's routine.

i wanted to let viewers know, i talked to two different obama administration white house aides saying sean spicer is right. this is routine. it's not particularly newsworthy. that affirms that message from the white house earlier. everyone's watching this closely, of course, because of the russian election hack, the intelligence community's assessment of the motivation to help trump, things trump said about putin, but in this case, the white house officials or former white house obama officials said current white house officials are right about this. >> this is not a weakening of sanctions or it is? >> that it is not a weakening of sanctions, but routine adjustment, technical fix, that sort of thing. >> got it. thank you so much, john. all right, what's coming up, a soon big for sale in macy's windows? the company, not the clothes. disagreeing about the company's

feature, tossing out a ceo, more on rl's tough day. plus, can chipotle continue the comeback? finally, how the super rich take kids to disney world. i got a hint. it's not in a honda oddesey. back after this. >> you're watching "power lunch" with michelle caruso-cabrera, brian sullivan, tyler mathison, and melissa lee.

lots of retail news. could someone buy macy's? what? >> it's possible, right? anything's possible. so shareholders are certainly jazzed at the idea. shares up 6% on a report that macy's ceo is open to entertaining potential friendly buyers to head off an attempt by activist investors to mess around with the board. one member is stepping down as ceo in 13 years in march, but remains board chairman. starboard owns less than 1% of macy's shares beginning that position in june 2015. this is at least what we know according to the latest 13 f filing. we wanted macy's to form two separate real estate ventures you remember about this time last year. macy's has been working on unlocking value of the real estate, but has not done what was suggested. macy's board laws may prevent

this, however, a lot of moves pieces. >> this came out at delivering alpha two years ago where starboard individual made the investment thesis or case for breaking the company up. >> yes. >> because of all the up locked value of real estate. >> they did a deal earlier this year. this is a huge real estate company we don't cover much, but it's massive, a lot of power. >> it really is. there's an alliance with them, working on a number of other joint veptures. they are selling off some of the stores, so they are actually working through unlocking the value of the real estate portfolio, what but st starboardmestarboard me wanted was two ventures, one flag ship store and the other mall based. they have not done that. they are working through it. >> it's been a weird week in the cfo underarmor leaves and know ceo of ralph lauren is out. >> yeah.

this is a difference of opinion when it comes to creative things. >> looks good in chaps, i don't know what it was. >> we don't know the details, but creative differences are the cited reason. i do believe it. investors are showing dislike. shares down sharply, they were up sharply when larson was named ceo in the fall of 2015, though, the day after he was named and leaked internal memo from lauren himself to the employees saying he's not stepping down, but stepping up as executive chairman. he has a big say in the company, and on the earnings call, larsson said it was differing decisions on product, marketing, and shopping experiences saying both sides worked hard to find commonground but couldn't get there. >> amazon, numbers out after the bell. what are you looking for? >> a huge one, of course, a big, big interesting player in the world of retail online and offline. amazon is huge. there's a lot going into the results from retail operations to its cloud services and more.

in december, though, amazon said it had its best ever holiday season, shipping more than 1 billion items globally, the words used, top selling devices were echo devices. total revenue, all of amazon, expected under $45 billion. that's 25% year over year. electronic sales should be $33 billion up 27% from last year. slice intelligence says that amazon took 38% of all holiday online sales, and that's a result of combing through millionins of receipts. huge share. >> thanks. >> joining us now, senior media and internet analyst, anthony, good to see you. i feel like going into the print amazon sets up like facebook. i say that because there's facebook shares right now close to session erasing gae ining gains. it ran into the earnings.

amazon already said in the third quarter that fourth quarter profit would be low expectations spending a lot of money in 2017. come on the call like facebook and reiterate plans to spend. could we see the same results in terms of stock reaction? >> i agree with you. i agree with that. i mean, i think that people are expecting this, again, great holiday season, a lot of the dots that connect here in terms of macy's and what's going on in terms of disruption and retail space is because of amazon. that's why people want it for long term pools of markets that amazon is disrupting. the thing is in the near term, we think that all this spending, whether it be in india, new fulfillment centers, getting into logistics, leasing airplanes, there's a baring on expense growth in 2017, and to the point, like facebook, we think that inhibits, holds back margins and operating income in 17. not for aws where margins continue to expand. that's a huge part of the stock story. >> that's the cloud business. >> if you look at the numbers

and pull out eight of the u.s., which is not really fair, but i think we're beginning to see a down word earnings revision for amazon. again, the pushback is, look, bezos reinvests profits into growth, and if you have a long term view of retail being a 24 trillion dollar market, you just stay long. stay long all day. that might be true. i have -- you know i cover media. i think that amazon is knowingly overpaying now for media content, for video. they know attach rates, activity for prime members on amazon, there's a multiple there. they tend to buy three, four, five times as much, you know, retail product on the amazon platform, but right now i think it's hard to see those returns. we, you know -- >> at what point, though, are you concerned about the level? the air hub alone is expected to be $1.5 billion. great to say invest in growth

for the long term, but what point does investing become alarming in the immediamedium t term? >> i hear you. pick stocks here. i found in the last couple years in the space it's hard for stocks to work with downward earnings revisions. with amazon, it's more complicated. you isolate aws, there's upward earnings. does the revenue outweigh investments here? does the upside outweigh investments in e-commerce? i would say, you know, it could be a series -- a situation here where the first quarter margins are below expectations, stock could tread water, maybe consolidate a little bit until people go back to the drawing board and stock pushes higher. >> do you buy it for a three-year hold? a three year horizon, buy here? >> for a five year hold, yeah, five or ten year hold. the markets are so much bigger. i like facebook more near term. i like google right now.

alphabet, more near term. more upside in terms of advertising. that argument about the market, the global ad market is $600 billion. global retail market is 25 trillion. the market for enterprise cloud where aws -- >> bill miller made that point this morning. >> that's right. that's the bull case for guys like bill miller who have, you know, a very, very long term time horizon with different octoberives. >> thanks. >> thanks for having me. baby formula, the good, the bad, and the ugly is next.

welcome back, time for the good, the bad, and the ugly. first, the good. johnson nutrition, british do you remember consumer goods company considering buying the baby food maker $16 billion. it's higher by 22%. ryder systems is in the bad. this is the truck rental company. stock drops after earnings missed estimates and guided lower as well, lower by almost 8%, almost ugly. it is an ugly day for edwards life sciences, although it beat earnings and sales, but btig

downgraded the stock worrying growth the key heart valve could slow off 9.5%, brian. >> wow. meantime. chipolte earning after the bell. tough times for them over? plus, iran put on notice by the trump administration, are we just a headline or a tweet away from $75 oil? more after this. stick around. wh wi toee councon,

a a ur ly'ss.'lwetal and.

i'm sue herera with your update at this hour. a senate committee advancing scott prewitt's nomination to head the environmental protection agency. the unanimous vote came after republican suspended committee rules following a two-day boycott by democrats aposed to the nomination. rex tillerson began the first day on the job pledging to make safety of staffers top priority after remarks to agency employees in the atrium and added to be successful, they needed to work as a team. >> i know it was a hotly contested election and we do not all feel the same way about the outcome. each of us is entitled the expression of our political believes. we can want let our personal

convictions overrealm our ability. >> a funeral service held for three men shot, and justin was one of the speakers. the funeral took place in montreal because quebec city does not have a place to bury people of the muslim faith. that is the cnbc news update this hour. back to you, brian. sue, thank you. >> the trump administration puts riern on notice following a ballistic missile test and said nothing is off the table. house speaker paul ryan saying that he would back additional sanctions. also, today, rbc capital markets have a new note saying highlighting the impact that trump could have on u.s. oil investments. joining us now, our managing director and head of commodity strategy at the aforementioned markets who had, i tried to add in there and failed, iran reportedly backi ining militant

yemen firing a missile at saudi arabia. things are heating up. what's the end game? >> it's not a black swan scenario. look at trump's statements on the campaign trail and flynn, there's a hawkish view of iran. if we have the tests continuing, if you have more problems in the straits of hormuz, confrontations between vessels like we've seen throughout the year, you could have a situation where there's sanctions. >> another way, why is oil only at $53? >> because people are not taking on fully what this looks like. some people say if u.s. sanctions snap back on, european countries do what they want, no countries stops importing. they are extraterritorial. people are not thinking about the clear risks of the sanctions coming back. >> border adjustment tax, a lot of the refiners are frightened of it because if you import oil, there's a tax on if it it goes through with the house gop bill. >> yes.

this is something refinders do not like, but key gulf allies do not like. it's an issue for saudi arabia. the government is happy with the trump administration, and the gulf states -- >> other than -- >> this is the one issue. >> just one. >> where i think that you could really see a problem in the u.s.-saudi relationship. >> a carveout for commodities? what's the sense as to how the border adjustment tax could be adjusted because things like commodities, you know, this is completely different, but the mccormick ceo said you can want move production to the united states. >> think about what refineries run on the gulf, they run heavier crude. it's not a situation with a u.s. substitute for the saudi barrel. is there a situation where rex tillerson, matthis says for national security reasons we cannot afford to antagonize saudi arabia and gulf states looking for a deeper partnership on isis. that's where you get a carveout. >> in the name of balance, supporters of the border

adjustment tax, repetitive, saying the dollar strengthens so much that, in fact, those who import will not have to spend as much money. their costs will not go up because that same dollar will be buying so much more product. it sounds like the people you talked to do not believe it? >> well, they are skeptical, but, again, on the national security side i talk about in terms of tillerson at state, they say, we're trying to repair this relationship with gulf allies. we need them for the partnership on isis. why would you do something like this that potentially sets that relationship back, so not only do we have this hostility with iran, but we have no friends in the middle east. >> now or won't? >> with the border adjustment tax. >> no, but if we do, be clear, if we sign this bat border adjustment tax, you believe it will make -- hate to use the term, builds a wall between us and middle east semiallies. >> source of antagonism with

saudi arabia. we're trying to get the relationship back on track. if you go for their major export, financial lifeline, by doing something like this, i don't think they'll take it particularly well. >> all right. another angle to the aforementioned -- which people confuse with border tax, which is completely different. thanks. >> thank you. >> could there be a carveout for guac and avocados? that's the question. chipolte up so far, earnings report keep it going? joining us now is nicole miller-reagan with an overweight rating. what do you expect from the company on earnings and do you think this nice run they've had can continue? >> so they did prerelease comps around aria5.53. what we look to talk about how december comps are positive and

year over year basis, january is more of an easier comparison. we want to see what they have to say about counterquarter to date trends. >> how they do in same store sales? >> it's important. it's for the turn around. we believe that, you know, turnarounds and e recoveries of the nature take time. i think four to five quarterings is very prudent and realistic and they are basically getting to the end of the timeline where people want to see things be a lot less worse. >> what percent of chipolte's ingredients, cost of goods sold, comes from overseas or nonu.s. suppliers? >> their produce is in the, ewe know, low double digit range basically, items that would be most impacted by a lot of the ad min straitive conversations that are happening. >> do you think, as michelle pointed out, and we're all inclined to point out, that a stronger dollar will offset the punitive nature of a border adjustment? >> possibly, but i think for

them the most important thing is a sales issue, not a cost issue. so it's easy to take them in the darkest of days and isolate one more issue and layer it on to the already mounting issues. the fault of the matter is they need to address -- they need to address revenues, and when they do that, they sustain -- they sustain this and they sustain so much more because of the unit level productivity model. >> are you a buyer? >> i am a buyer. we do believe -- yeah, investors should buy and be patient. >> get the sense they should wrap up on the discounts this year and wean customers off the buy one get one, for instance? >> i do think they will and they should because the brand is, you know, aspirational nature and they need to get that element back. that's what drove demand in the first place and not discounting. if they stay on a prolonged period of discounting, that changes the message perm naently. >> thanks. >> thanks. >> i'm starving.

i'd give anything for a burrito bowl. that's aspiration. that's the pique of my dreams. question time. which of these people is more important for the direction of the u.s. dollar, is the donald j. trump or janet yellen? answer next on "power lunch" -- let's put the lunch in lunch. bd

time for street talk, recommendations on stocks we tell you you need to know about. first stock, raymond james with take on the quarter called solid. we don't talk much about it, but they are in the process of buying for 110 all cash deal. trading below the price. some investors this is a play of spreads, the difference from today's price and deal price. no update on the deal, but planned diverseture cleared approval. things are on track. rj does not think another offer comes in because they want an all-cash deal. this could be good news for

investors in it hoping for 110. >> stock two is foot locker, ticker fl. what's going in going "mall" in. >> that hurt so bad. >> i'm tongue tied. a shoe joke. upgraded from hold to buy. worries of mall traffic and operation results give them entry points, stock down $1% from the high. mall traffic worries are overblown because foot locker tends to be more independent than retailers. you go there for a reason and adds you, quote, can't dispute long term track record of management, especially the ceo, dick johnson, target on fl is 85. stock is lower than that. 14% upside. >> alcoa overweight. better position now to weather commodity prices with the separation, and both winters past month north of 30%, and there was a boost this week on music for elliot management,

shaking up the board, oust the ceo, but for today, alcoa is the outperformer. >> smaller cap call, accea communications, acia slammed over the past couple months, morgan stanley defends the name. upgraded overweight from equal weight and boost the target. they believe the opportunity in the multiyear upgrade cycle and ability to maintain gross mar gyps outweighs concern over customer concentration and volatility. target stays at 80, but given the drop it's now 35% upside to communications, small cap call of the day. the dollar index fell to the lowest level since november. let's get more of the dollar's next potential move with the trading nation team, and, today, that's max wolf with 55 capital and we have brown brothers, welcome to "trading nation," starting with you, currency guy, where do you think the u.s. dollar is headed, not the dollar index, but, again, say the euro

or pound or yen. >> yeah. obviously, the talk in markets is that the trump trade may be in trouble. our feelings that it's just correction. the markets right now are still a little skeptical of the fed's tightening intentions. we saw that reaction yesterday. this is a correction within a dollar bull move that's alive and kicking. >> it is. you remain bullish of the u.s. dollar? >> yeah. bullish on the u.s. economy. mr. trump has not given -- >> different things, economy and dollar can sfiometimes go oppose directions. >> possibly, but the driver now is u.s. interest rates. we are bullish on the u.s. dollar. stimulus in the pipeline, inflation going up. we take the fed at their word, hike three times this year, maybe more. that's bullish for the dollar. everywhere else, ecb, boj, bank of england, they are in easing mode. monetary policy differences

really very bull iish for the dollar. >> max, asking another way. 2017 the year for the first time in, what, 15-plus years, where the euro and u.s. dollar trade one-to-one? >> it's a possibility. we're not constructive of the dollar. we agree monetary policy looks good for the dollar, but the global, instability and the trump trade is negative for the dollar. looks to us like the world is protectionist and nationalist direction, and in that environment, it's not good to have strong currency. people don't want it, and if they do, they may not get it. >> wouldn't that also, then, flip it, bring capital and buyers into the u.s. dollar? >> yeah. i think we've seen that already, though. i think most of that is done. it's a gloenl economy. part of the weird thing that happened here, which we don't think is great for the dollar is that there's been a lot of folk buying in the market, feeling like the united states is the place to go to weather the storm

in the united states is narrow and selfish to change the globalization trade. there's really -- much better to not be narrow and selfish and change the trade. once you do that, all bets are off. simple experiment shows where we get the idea. if you're the top deck in a deck of cards and shelf those cards, you'll end up in a lower position 51 of 52 times, those odds we don't bet against. >> all right, max, interesting analo analogy. we appreciate the views. bullish on the dollar, thank you, both, very much. for more "trading nation," go to tradin tradingnation.cnbc.com. when you go to disney world, you spend a few hundred or thousand dollars a night. especially on a hotel room. coming up, we're going to show you what disney could be like if you had $65,000 to spend. got to see this. stick around. and now the latest from

tradingnation.cnbc.com and word from our sponsor. >> for entry to a breakout, some buy buy stop limit orders placed against resistance order. buy stop limits are limit orders to buy when triggered, not market orders, thousands it's if the stock closes below the stock price one day and opens far above the limit price, the trader does not buy the stock.

th rit a'thy yrgip i betind thybyb nlmas eto th

welcome back to "power lunch." many of us have been to disney world, but the super rich really know how to do disney in style. editor robert frank shows us how. >> reporter: when the super rich do disney world, a day at the happiest place on earth, they retire to the most fabulous hotel in orlando. high atop the four seasons and just a stone's throw away from the magic kingdom, ultra wealthy guests don't blink an eye when they book the entire 16th floor. price tag, $65,000 per night. the lux hotel calls all 18,000 square feet and 21 bedrooms the ultimate suites experience. >> by the way, they have had guests rent that room for more

than ten days so that's $650,000 just for the hotel. and, by the way, that does not include your ticket to disney. now moving a little further south, a miami car buff is turning his love of expensive wheels in a rare dining experience where the vip list includes not celebrities but lamborghinis and maseratis. check it out. >> reporter: the guy driving his more than $1.5 million 1935 delaje is a former model turned megasuccessful high end car broker who also owns one of the most impressive collections of vintage vehicles in the world. he goes by just one name, elo. once a month elo is offering a one of a kind gourmet dining experience alongside his classic rides transforming the parking lot just outside his automobile gallery into a vip dinner club called the miami super car room.

elo bought the muscle truck built in the movie "fast and furious iv" and turned it into a pot stop for cocktails and turned it into a d.j. booth. the chef was flown in from london, so was the smoked eel which came all the way from harrod's. the revved up restaurant runs 3 grand per table. >> once a month members only and he's booked every single month. brian, you know this because you follow the world of cars, but these collectible cars have become so expensive and so sought after that the buyers are just trying to figure out what they can do with them other than put them in a garage. so we have auto galleries, we have showcases, we have private museums and now people having restaurants built around these cars because they're not just for driving at that level where there's $1.5 million car that he was driving, you want other people to see them, to enjoy them, they are works of art. >> you're showing my favorite car. that was the '58 or '59 mercedes

go wing. they can always give them to me if they're -- >> good to know. >> meet somebody. >> tripled in value over the last ten years. this is why people are just thinking of new ways and new forms of what to do with all these cars and so it's not just for the garage anymore. but the fact that people are willing to dine next to cars in miami just shows you -- melissa is -- >> so the hotel in orlando, that is a four season's hotel? >> that's right. >> it's the whole top floor of the four seasons. >> so i could call them and say i want to reserve that room? >> the 21 room. >> they'd need your credit card. >> they'd need my krad. >> exactly. >> the wealthy saudis or royals, they bring their entourage so they fill up those rooms. >> somebody take it for 10 nights, maybe after nine nights they throw in a night for free. >> they might give you that extra sixty-five, for $650,000

not including the disney ticket which is getting up there as well. >> that's chump change. >> great stuff. you don't want to miss there is a brand new episode of "secret lives of the super rich" premiering tonight at 10:00 p.m. on cnbc. don't miss it. check please is next. wevll i oolesod, bric .

anem, fahealgrr alitinies,hers t spprand cook.causeryocr.

check please.

>> larry kudlow the trump team taking them on. if we get a better economy, the dollar will get better. that's contrary to what donald trump has been saying. if they do pro growth policies those are the inevitable things that happen. how do they square that? going to be very tough. >> makes it harder for u.s. exports with a stronger dollar. >> i am watching amazon. of course, the big report coming after the bell. the conference report coming during "fast money" at 5:00. amazon sets up like facebook. negative territory right now. ran up ahead of earnings. they're going to talk about higher spend, but more importantly will be the conference call and whether or not they address trump. they made nice by saying they are going to add 100,000 jobs over the next 18 months in the united states, but at the same time they said they will work with u.s. lawmakers to oppose the executive order. >> our most interesting

conversation was about "the new york times." we were engaged with mark thompson, the ceo. we asked him a variety of ways how he responds to the criticism that they are left leaning and therefore biased, not just on the editorial page but in their news coverage. how they -- you asked him how did you feel about missing a big part of the country and how did they feel? he didn't have a particularly pointed answer there. i think because it's not good business for the president of a media company to concede in any forum that they are biased, not fox, not "the wall street journal", not nobody. >> i thought he said it like he was in denial. >> not just a river in niche. >> de nile. >> the editor of the wall street jous journal would give you the same answer. >> mine is much more light harded. thank you for not throwing it into my face that the cavaliers

crushed in basketball. steph curry, watch this. that's his dad. pulls up, banks it in! >> the best basketball player to ever come from virginia tech. >> thanks for watching "power lunch." >> "closing bell" right now. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm sara eisen in today for kelly evans here at the new york stock exchange. >> and that would make me bill griffeth. we have a lot to cover. earnings coming all over the place. amazon will be focusing on that, but we will also be talking about donald trump's day in washington. he met with various business leaders, this time executives from harley-davidson to talk about manufacturing, but we have details on why harley may actually have a unique perspective