names more than apple and noting it hit a new intra-day high. final trades. 15 seconds left. >> ctn. >> apple. bask in it. >> e-trade. love it today. >> joey? >> stay with financials. >> we'll leave it there. markets once again, highs of the day. "power lunch" starts right now. >> januaet yellen giving the markets a wake-up call. stocks meantime, hitting all-time highs on those remarks. the latest ahead. moments away from one of the most important press briefings of the trump white house. lots of questions remain unanswered after the abrupt departure of michael flynn. that briefing to you live in mp minutes. we're continuing to follow the tallest dam on the brink. more than 200,000 people forced to evacuate their homes.

a very busy "power lunch" starts right now. >> it is a happy valentine's day as investors remain smitten with apple. that stock remaining high. tesla, costco, marriott, even yahoo!. nasdaq up 7% this year. that's as much as it gained all of last year and more than it gained in 2015. all this, as crude oil moves higher and treasury yields are rallying on the tesla strategy. >> everything is up today. i'm tyler mathisen. 46 stocks in the s&p 500 hitting new 52-week highs. many of them are hitting all-time highs. in addition to apple, home depot, visa, l3 technologies, harris corp, marsh & mclennan all trading today, folks, in

record territory. michelle? >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera, the epicenter of all the action on wall street today. fed chair janet yellen made clear rates could go up next month. bonds sold off. stocks did not. record highs, you've heard. moments away from what should be a fiery press briefing as well. steve liesman and john harwood are both with us. john kicks us off as we await white house press secretary sean spicer. john? >> reporter: michelle, we've got a lot of interest in this white house press briefing. the white house replacing the national security adviser, mike flynn resigned under pressure last night. we still have unresolved the question of how they're going to respond to the appeals court ruling blocking the travel ban and threats to the legislative agenda that republicans in congress and the business community have been so interested in, repeal and

replacement of obamacare and passage of tax reform. mitch mcconnell, senate republican leader, paul ryan and their teams waiting for guidance from the white house on issues like do they support the border adjustment tax in the house plan that is so critical for raising the revenue that they need to get tax rates down in the corporate system, perhaps in the individual system as well. so how the trump white house can get its act together and begin to move legislative priorities is a big question. we'll see what answer sean spicer has. >> where do we stand on the cabinet appointments, particularly labor secretary? how big is the risk that he doesn't get approved? >> significant risk. i would say that he is now in the betsy devos category as somebody who is right on the edge. of course, steven minuchin was confirmed with one democratic vote and all the republicans, putting a critical legislative player in place for the administration.

of course, the attention to minuchin. four republican senators who have indicated that they are not yet prepared to support andy. if all of them turn against them, they'll have to pick up two democrats. they don't have any right now. or that nomination goes down. we'll see how he does. there's increasing attention, not only to his tax issues but also the issues involving his ex-wife, the initial allegations of domestic violation that she has now pulled back. senators have seen a tape from the oprah winfrey show of the ex-wife having appeared in disguise and talking about these incidents or alleged incidents. so, that nomination is very much in the balance right now. >> john, thank you very much. the other big story we're following out of d.c., of course, is fed chair janet yellen, wrapping up her testimony on capitol hill. her message to the market, loud is clear, rates are going to go higher. let bring in steve liesman with

details. hi, steve. >> fed chair telling congress it would be unwise to wait too long to hike rates. she would not let on was it coming in march or june. >> whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with these expectations in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate. >> bonds heard the fed chair's message rising 120 to 124. stocks didn't hear much of that message. fed funds probability still relatively low at 18%. other gauges are a little higher, goldman sachs bringing their probability to 20%. she agrees with the principles

of president trump's executive order, which talked about changing and reducing regulation as well. but she did back up a line of questioning from senator warren, interesting note, contradicted that neither profitability nor lending has been hurt by the dodd/frank regulations. i'm hearing more support for lowering dodd/frank regulations on the small banks not so much the big banks and the fed chair declined to say she would up her forecast because of fiscal stimulus saying it was too early to incorporate them into her forecast. brian? >> actually, steve, i have a question for you. >> sure. >> the bond market heard what yellen said. the stock market didn't hear her. maybe it did hear her and didn't mind what she said. >> it absolutely did. >> that they wouldn't mind a rate hike at this point. >> taking my weak metaphors too far. you're right. i'm sure that's the case. i'm sure the market heard what yellen said and doesn't mind.

that's really what it amounts to. what i think the stock market has been trading on is better economic growth or at least decent economic growth and, of course, the prospects of fiscal stimulus in the form of tax cuts and greater infrastructure spending. >> look at financials, went off to the races. >> that could be the dodd/frank. >> so you're not double counting, be careful. the market is up in part on the idea that interest rates are going up and that tends to raise it. interesting to look at, taking out and seeing how the rest of the market did apart from the financials. >> i think she said exactly what most market participants are expecting, which is a slight chance of a rate hike in march. but not, you know -- >> we can speculate. i like to listen to our viewers and listeners. >> sure. >> they are the smartest viewers and listeners out there. i did a little twitter poll, if anybody cares.

tax reform/trump, fed improving or normalization. so far, 32% said it's because the economy is improving not because of yellen or trump. but they all go together, i suppose. >> she left the door open but didn't put a lock on it. >> larry is here. >> and i think she crafted it pretty well, okay? not a lock. that's what she's saying. a lot of this has to interact with the trump republican fiscal policies. >> larry kudlow, by the way, is here, obviously. another guest is here to say that there is a tea party movement growing. but on the left. he calls at the herbal tea party. they moved past anger to denial or denial into anger. chris krueger, washington strategist, who says the real chances that we could get a federal government shutdown, yep, on april 28th are growing. larry kudlow is obviously here.

do you really believe that the democrats are laying some kind of trap for the gop that will force them to have a federal government shutdown on april 28th? >> absolutely. i mean, look, april 28th is the first action forcing event, the first catalyst for the trump administration where they're going to need democratic votes. this is not budget reconciliation. this is a 60-vote threshold. if republicans want to walk the plank on funding the wall and defunding planned parenthood, there's growing consensus among democrats that that's a fight that they're more than happy to let republicans take. >> you're shaking your head, larry. >> look, if -- this is debt ceiling politics, right? there's no way that the republican party is not going to get the debt ceiling passed. or if democrats want to run a filibuster, that will be a major political problem for them. poisoning the political water in every case. this is not going to work.

democrats might try it. it's a nutty case. a bunch of years ago, we were talking -- my show, your show, i yelled at eric cantor one night for even suggesting we could get by -- the former house majority leader, that we could get by without passing a debt ceiling. sure enough they all backed off. if the democrats want to run with that ball it's political suicide. that's all. and it's quite a part from reconciliation and fy17 budget. quite apart. >> a legislative vietnam, you call t i think i get what you mean. >> they're looking for an exit strategy, right? >> now there's no real plan b, trying to figure out how to break the impasse of the log jam. right behind that is tax reform, what everyone is waiting for. it's not a scenario where you

can say we're going to find something on obamacare, on tax reform. bin bing, bing, bing, bing, bing and it gets done. they're trying to figure out a strategy. >> is the agenda at risk here? everything that the republicans wanted to get done. are you telling us that the chances are less than 50, more than 50? what? >> we're on day 25, day 26. they haven't really moved the ball forward on capitol hill on any of the big reconciliation packages. that's a big problem. momentum begets momentum. >> now comes the hard stuff, right, larry? >> wree wee just started. day 25. and confirmed treasury, steve minuchin, so forth. the players are in place. i agree that the repeal of obamacare is not going to be near as hard as replacement. i agree with that point. gop has a lot of splits. this stuff can be worked out.

for the umpteenth millionth time whatever they do in the first reconciliation, instructions for fy17 which will probably come up some time this spring, i believe they must put the business tax reform package in it. split it off and get that business tax reform done today. ms. yellen, i love this. it's great. we need fiscal measures that will improve productivity. we don't want aggregate spending demand. she's right t doesn't work anyway. slash the business tax rates, easy repatriation, easy expense for new equipment. that's just what the doctor ordered and productivity will start jumping within a year or two. i don't know what she's trying to get at but said the exact right things that will make the trump campaign, trump administration happy and make the republicans happy. >> chris krueger, larry kudlow,

you're both going to stick around. we'll take a check of the markets. dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 hitting new levels in today's session. live picture of the white house press briefing room. as soon as mr. sean spicer walks out we'll bring that to you live. more power lunch straight ahead. the classes, the friends, the independence. and since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, i'm glad she'll miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. ameriprise

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welcome back. still with us, chris krueger and larry kudlow. the testimony janet yellen gave today, it sounded like the goldilocks market. she left open the possibility, which is exactly what the markets think. she was a little bit hawkish. actually, the press conference is starting right now. let's listen in to sean spicer. >> the department of treasury office of foreign control designated venezuelan national tarik al asami as a specially narcotics trafficker pursuant to the kingpin destination act for playing a significant role in narcotics trafficking. al sami's primary front man was

also designated. these destinations follow a multi-year investigation into al sami's criminal activities. and president trump appreciates the hard work put into this case by the department of treasury, department of state, national security council and many people throughout law enforcement. following the signing of the executive order last week designing to break the back of criminal drug cartels this action demonstrates the president's seriousness about fighting the scourge of drugs in the united states. in addition he wants to send a clear message to the people of venezuela that america stands with them. with that, i'm happy to take two or three questions specifically about this. >> sanctions are directly relevant, obviously, to the treasury department. can you talk a little bit about

plans to sanction russia and keep obama sanctions against russia? >> our current sanctions programs are in place and i would say sanctions are an important tool that we'll continue to look at for various countries. it's a very important tool within the treasury department. the existing policies are in place. >> sir? >> yes. >> additional sanctions against iran and can you tell us what you think the bottom line of these particular sanctions announced yesterday? >> this is as a result of a very long effort -- yes. this was under way. this was a very long effort. but the implication is quite significant. we expect there will be tens of millions of dollars and, again, that sanctions are a very important way of us sending a message that we will not stand for elicit activities, whether they're drug trafficking or

terrorism. >> secretary, including sanctions, what other tools are you looking at? >> i can't comment on all the tools but, again, let me just reinforce that sanctions are a very important tool within the department and we will use them as appropriate. [ inaudible ] >> in this case we did freeze assets, tens of millions of dollars of assets. and that will have a very impact on this. so i'll take one more question, please. yes, in the back. >> during the campaign the president had made comments about janet yellen and whether basically inferring that she was being too political and she should be ashamed of herself. do folks at the treasury department within the administration feel confident with mrs. yellen at the helm and, you know, to be able to set monetary policy going forward? >> let me just comment i'm here again to talk about the venezuelan situation. there is a tradition of the

secretary of treasury having ongoing meetings with the head of the federal reserve and i look forward to that now that i'm in office, doing that and spending time with her. thank you very much, everybody. it's a pleasure to be here on my first day. >> thank you. >> all right. let's get back to the fun. we've been reviewing -- i want to address the events of last night, first and foremost. we've been reviewing and evaluating this issue with respect to general flynn on a daily basis for a few weeks, trying to ascertain the truth. we got to a point, not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue, with the level of trust between the president and general flynn had eroded to the point where he felt he had to make a change. the president was very concerned that general flynn had misled the vice president and others. he was also very concerned, in light of sensitive subjects dealt with by that position of national security advisers like china, north korea and the middle east, that the president must have complete and

unwavering trust with the person in that position. this is what led for the president to ask for general flynn's resignation. immediately after the department of justice notified the white house counsel of the situation, white house counsel briefed the president and group of smaadvis. during this process it's important to note that the president did not have his attorney general, jeff sessions, who he trusts immensely, approved by the senate. when the president heard the informati information, he instinctively thought that general flynn did not do anything wrong and the white house counsel's view corroborated that. it is not uncommon for the national security adviser to speak to their counterparts about issues that are of concern

to them. as charles krauthammar said yesterday, it is, quote, reasonable to do so. it got to the point where the relationship was misleading the vice president and others or the possibility thhad created a critical mass and unsustainable situation. that's why the president decided to ask for his residengnation a he got it. the president has been incredibly tough on russia and continues to raise the issue of crimea, which the previous administration allowed to be seized by russia. his ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, stood before the security council and strongly denounced the russian occupation of crimea. as ambassador haley said, the, quote, dire situation in eastern ukraine demands clear, strong condemnation of russian actions.

he expects the russian government to deescalate violence in the ukraine and return crimea. at the same time he fully expects to and wants to get along with russia unlike previous administrations, so we may solve many problems together facing the world such as isis and the threat of terrorism. the president is currently evaluating a group of very strong candidates that will be considered to fill the national security adviser position permanently and is confident in the ability of general kellogg, a decorated and distinction veteran of the united states army, until that person is ultimately chosen. before i get into the president's schedule for today, a quick recap of the president's activity over the last few days since we haven't had the honor of sharing so much time together, the president has been keeping a close eye on the oroville dam situation in california, working closely with california's first district where the dam is located and other state officials to help people who have been impacted. the situation is a textbook example of why we need to pursue

a major infrastructure package in congress. dams, bridges, roads and all ports around the country have fallen into disrepair. in order to prevent the next disaster, we'll pursue the president's vision for an overhaul of our nation's crumbling infrastructure. we hope everyone remains safe as the evacuations continue and we'll be working alongside with fema, and appropriate government entities to make sure we're doing everything we can to attend this matter. the president was honored also to welcome the prime minister of japan last week, from their first official meetings at the white house to their joint press conference and their time together at mar-a-lago. they had a productive visit, reaffirmed their u.s. aye japan alliance and economic relationship. at mar-a-lago, the president was proud to stand behind prime minister abe to convey the u.s.'s unwavering support for

its allies in the face of the latest north korean launch. yesterday the president had an incredibly productive set of meetings and productions with prime minister trudeau of can a canada, focusing on our shared commitment, challenges facing our two countries and problems throughout the world. our countries share a profound economic interest with more than $2 billion in two-way trade flowing across our border every day. the president was pleased to launch the canada/united states council for the advancement of women entrepreneurs and business leaders by holding a roundtable discussion here at the white house. together with prime minister trudeau, his daughter, ivanka, the president discussed unique challenges that women face in the workplace with an incredible group of successful female business executives from both countries. a full list of participants is available through the pool. in addition to in-person meetings with prime ministers of

japan and canada, the president also had phone calls with the leaders from tunisia. he met with the republican national committee. in the afternoon the president participated in a pinning ceremony for major turner, one of his military aides. the aides to the president are mid-grade officers and provide direct support to the president in his role as commander in chief. and their primary responsibilities are to serve as an emergency action officer and ceremonial aide. it's a longstanding tradition that one of the aides is promoted to the next grade. major ricardo turner was recently promoted to lieutenant colonel and promotion was held in the oval office. the president also spoke with mari maureen scalia on the one-year anniversary of her husband's

passing. they discussed her husband's legacy and how the president is hoping to continue it on by nominating judge gorsuch. he obviously hosted the swearing in of secretary mnuchin in the oval office. world class financier, who makes him the ideal person to spearhead the president's plan to develop a dynamic, booming economy that works for all americans. we're glad to officially have him on board. this morning, the president and newly confirmed secretary of education devos held a parent/teacher meeting from public, private, charter and home school this is morning. the president opened the meeting by congratulating secretary devos for staying the course throughout her confirmation process and urged all americans to climb the ladder of success, starting by making quality education to every child no matter their zip code. under the current system, the

president believes too many children are trapped in failing schools especially in the african-american community. the president told the group to begin addressing this problem that he views as a civil rights issue. the group launched into a wide-ranging discussion that included public, charter schools, home schooling, drop out prevention and the bases school program, and the current state of the u.s. department of education. the president's ultimate goal is to create safe communities, great schools and well-paying jobs. he believes each of these goals is linked to the others and the trump administration is taking concrete steps to achieve them all. the president also spoke on the phone with prime minister may of the united kingdom. a readout on that call should be coming soon. the president then had lunch with new jersey governor chris christie and his wife, regarding combating drug use. at 2:00, the president will sign house joint resolution 41 in the oval office.

harmful obama era regulations, which have cost the american business consumers a staggering $890 billion. >> and any key questions related to things that will be of interest to the cnbc audience we'll bring you that, of course. steve mnuchin coming out, taking questions from the press very specifically on the sanctions imposed on the president of venezuela, being accused as being a huge drug trafficker. he was asked about janet yellen and what kind of relationship they would have. he declined to answer that except that he looks forward to working with her. the other thing we noticed was the phrase "the return of crimea." steve liesman highlighting this. this is different from what president trump said on the campaign trail. recognizing russia's control of crimea and he said i'll think about it. he didn't seem to know a lot

about it at the time and wasn't high on the agenda. now it appears we're getting closer on standard policy when it comes to russia and crimea. >> also referred to it as the ukraine. we learn aid few years ago. >> they don't like that. >> no, because it refers to it as rather a region than a nation. certain member of the medias will pick that up as i just have. >> i hate to offend russia. >> spicer did say the irony is that trump has -- >> i would just hate to offend -- not crimea but they have about half of the ukraine. >> the ukraine. >> i'm sorry, ukraine. and what about georgia? >> yes, they still occupy parts of georgia. >> maybe we're toughening up on russia and putin. that's a good thing. >> and on general flynn he said it was a trust matter not a legal matter, the other big event that's happened the last 24 hours. >> i'm sure that's right for the moment. i'm not here to attack general flynn. i know him a bit.

i'm just saying i think there's a whole lot more information coming out here. he did mislead the vice president. again, i don't think that's the story. these discussions with the russian ambassador to the united states and general flynn, lot of people are calling for a release of the transcripts. that may not be possible for national security reasons. i just think there's a lot -- >> we're going to go back to spicer. he's taking questions, larry. >> now, today, can you still say definitively that nobody on the trump campaign, not even general flynn, had any contact with the russians before the election? >> my understanding is that what general flynn has now expressed is that during the transition period -- we were very clear that during the transition period, he did speak with the ambassador. >> i'm talking about during the campaign. >> there's nothing that would conclude me that anything different has changed with respect to that time period. >> if the president was notified 17 days ago that flynn had misled the vice president and other officials here and that he was a potential threat to blackmail by the russians, why

would he be kept on for almost three weeks? >> well, that's not -- that assumes a lot of things that are not true. the president was informed of this. he asked the white house counsel to review the situation. the first matter was whether there was a legal issue. we had to review whether there was a legal issue, which the white house counsel concluded there was not. as i stated in my comments. this was an act of trust. whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue. and that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of general flynn. that's it. pure and simple. it was a matter of trust. we went through a very deliberative process, very thorough review. the first part of it clearly was to understand the legal process of this. there was no legal aspect. then what happened was the president evaluated the trust aspect. major? >> the president was asked on air force one yesterday -- i mean on friday rather traveling down to mar-a-lago about reports of communications with the

russians and sanctions. he said i don't know about it. i'll look into that. was he being truthful? >> what he was asked specifically was he aware of a washington post story. he hadn't seen that at the time. of course he was involved. i just said he was aware of the situation right after the white house counsel informed him back in january. >> and his inquiry to the white house counsel was strictly about the legalities involved not the proprietary of the conversations between general flynn and the russian ambassador? >> initially, just to be -- >> the merits of those conversations about sanctions before the trump administration had been inaugurated? >> just to be clear, the acting attorney general informed the white house counsel that they wanted to give, quote, a heads up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the vice president out in particular. the white house counsel informed the president immediately. the president asked him to conduct a review of whether there was a legal situation there. that was immediately determined that there wasn't. that was what the president believed at the time, from what he had been told.

and he was proved to be correct. the issue, pure and simple, came down to a matter of trust. and the president concluded that he no longer had the trust of his national security adviser over -- >> for the incoming national security adviser, not part of an administration, to be discussing an issue as sensitive as sanctions to russia? >> his job is to discuss issues with his counterparts. charles krauthammar put it perfectly. that's his job. we would constantly weed out who he was speaking to, how he was getting ready. the president was receiving congratulatory calls from around the world. the job of the incoming nsa is to sit down with the counterparts and start that dialogue. that's exactly what he did. the question isn't did he do anything improper or legal. the question is, could he be trusted further? that trust or that erosion of trust was frankly the issue. >> did the president instruct him to talk about sanctions?

>> absolutely not. no, no, no. but that -- no. and that's never -- [ inaudible ] >> the president had no problem with the fact that he acted in accord with his job. that or the 30 other countries he spoke to, that was part of his job. as has been noted by many people, that's what the national security adviser and, frankly, other positions do. they begin the process of preparing their incoming job by talking to counterparts, people who had previously held the job, et cetera. had he not done that, there would be questions as to whether he was properly prepared on day one. the issue is not whether or not -- what he discussed. there's been a complete legal review of that and there was no issue with that. the issue is whether he properly informed the vice president, or be honest with him or not remember it. that's the plain and simple issue. when he lost trust with the president that's when the president asked for and received his resignation. >> yesterday kellyanne conway

said that the president continued to have trust in general flynn. >> right. >> what happened between yesterday morning and yesterday evening that led the president to lose confidence in general flynn? >> i'm not going to get into the specifics of what the president's thinking was. as i noted in the opening statement, it was an evolving and eroding process. at the end of the day, the president made a decision, as he does on all subjects, and asked for and received the national security adviser's -- he is one of those people we noted before, when he is ready to make a decision, he makes it. whether it's hiring somebody or asking for someone's resignation. once he is determined he has made a decision on any subject, that's when he informed the staff. going into the day, it was an evolving situation. he made a decision late in the day and executed on it. alexis? >> general flynn, was it a difficult decision for the president to let general flynn go? >> sure. general flynn is a dedicated public servant, head of the dea.

an outstanding member of the army both as an officer and then as a flag officer. he has served this country admirably. and i think the president appreciated his service to his nation, his commitment to his campaign and his service to his country so far. but at some point the decision came down on whether or not that trust had eroded. the important matters, as i mentioned, that are before the president when he's dealing with issues of world matters, of all the issues, friends, allies, foes. hot spots. he needs to rely on a national security adviser to give him sage advice. i think at a certain point that guidance, that trustee roded and the president, as he does on all matters, ultimately decides when he's ready to make a decision, he executes. alexis? >> does the president believe that anything he discussed with general flynn during the transition might have been construed by the general as encouragement to discuss

sanctions with the russian ambassador? that's question number one. >> so -- work in a pause. so on the first, again, as i made clear, there's nothing that the general did that was a violation of any sort. he was well within his duties to discuss issues of common concern between the two countries. i will say it again. what this came down to was a matter of trust. the president was glad he was out there, conducting his job, preparing for his job, going back and forth with his counterparts throughout the world, much as the president had done, with all these world leaders calling the president, congratulating him, looking to set up calls for him once he was inaugurated. that was never of a concern to the president. from day one that he was briefed from the white house counsel. the issue, plain and simple, came down to a matter of trust. >> the president is not -- does not believe that any discussion

that might have taken place, as we know from intel, it did, on sanctions, creates a problem for the president in any way? that that is not a problem, that general flynn discussed sanctions with the russians? >> no. i can't state it clearly enough. there was nothing in what general flynn did in terms of conducting himself that was an issue. what came down to, plain and simple, was him misleading the vice president and others and not having a firm grasp on his recollection of that. >> lawmakers on capitol hill from both sides of the aisle would like to investigate a probe or ask more questions about this. does the president hope to cooperate with those investigations? would he instruct members of his staff who work for him here and in the administration to cooperate with those investigations? >> we're going to comply with the law. i think the president feels very confident the review conducted by white house counsel was very

thorough and concluded very conclusively as he had first come to -- instinctively come to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong. people are free to do what they wish. i think they will find what the president first believed and what the white house concluded and, frankly, prothere was not issue of law. it was an issue of trust. george? george? >> when do you expect to have a replacement in place? secondly, on another topic, there was a report yesterday that one of your colleagues said the white house is keeping do dosiers on reporters. can you say if that is true or not? >> that is absolutely not true. just a binder i put together. that's about it. that's a joke. hold on one second. and then i'm sorry, george, first part? >> timetable on a replacement. >> as soon as -- i mean, just like the way he handled this situation, the president will meet with individuals and when

he's ready to make a decision. and he feels as though the person is qualified and can properly advise him on the issue he will make the decision. as all decisions, rest with him. i'm going to go to my first skype seat, john huck out of las vegas. john? >> thank you so much. on behalf of our viewers here in southern nevada for the opportunity to join you today. las vegas has suffered terribly, more so perhaps than any other city in the as the administration moves forward with repealing financial regulations and possibly rolling back dodd/frank, what guarantees can you make to nevadans that those actions won't banks to re-engage with the behaviors that tanked our economy the first time? >> thanks, john. if you look at the intent of dodd/frank it was to make sure we didn't have institutions that were too big to fail. frankly, it has actually crow

ated institutions that are now too big to fail. dodd/frank actually did exactly the opposite of what it intended to do. when you look at the regulation that the president signed today, this is another example of the president taking decisive action to roll back regulations that are frankly creating more of a burden on our nation's banks and businesses than helping them. i think the president will be very clear with making sure that we do things that build up the goal of what dodd/frank actually intended to do. but right now we actually, through dodd/frank, put taxpayers more on the hook than we let them off. we've created more institutions and more guarantees for the federal government to bail out some of these institutions if they exceed their authority. john roberts? >> you said the white house counsel's office reviewed this and determined there was nothing illegal. what evidence did they look at in making this determination? secondly, democrats up on the

hill say that they want an investigation in this. they're looking into what did the president know and when did he know it. can you tell us what evidence the white house counsel office looked at and what did the president know and when was he aware of it? >> the first day the department of justice sought to notify white house counsel was january 26th. the president was immediately informed of the situation. as i said, based on the information that was provided at the time, his view was that this was not a violation. he was proved instinctively correct. and white house counsel at that time undertook an extensive review. they had an exhaustive and extensive materials provided to them to review. i'm not going to get into the details of that. i will just say that there was

an exhaustive review. again, the thing that's important to note is the vice president, myself -- in fact, the first time i brought this issue up was january 13. the department of justice didn't notify the white house or white house counsel at that time in the transition phase until 13 days later. it's important to understand something very, very important. this idea of why did it take so long? the first question should be where was the department of justice in this? they were aware of this. we were making statements based on what general flynn was telling us starting january 13th. the vice president went out on the 15th, right? they didn't notify the white house counsel's office until january 26th. at that time there was an immediate -- the president was immediately informed of that and then asked the white house counsel to conduct a very thorough review. the first part of that review was focused on whether or not there was any legal issue. that's it. once that became the issue, then it shifted into phase two, which is whether or not there was

trust still maintained. and that -- then that became a separate set of issues. >> speaking to the actual evidence, did the fbi -- >> we'll squeeze in a quick break there. white house press secretary sean spicer, vast majority of the questions are related to general michael flynn's resignation as national security adviser. a local reporter from nevada, skyping in a question to the white house press secretary. never seen that done before. don't move. we'll talk to representative nunez on the other side of this with ways and means. we'll talk about the increased pressure to not include border tax on tax reform. retirement rabbit, from voya.ey i'm the money companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion.

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meanwhile some of the nation's biggest retailers are heading to capitol hill. tax and imports will wipe out profits and lead to higher prices for consumers. joining us, one of the big advocates of border adjustment t t tax. sir, good to have you here. >> good to be back on again. >> before we talk about the border adjustment tax, i don't know if you could hear what was going on with sean spicer, vast majority of the questions relating to general flynn having to step down from the position of national security council. you are in charge of the intelligence committee. house oversight committee has said they are not going to -- senate oversight committee is not going to investigate him. are you going to investigate what's happened with general flynn? >> we have an ongoing investigation into russia. we have for a long time. russia has long concerned us. right now the biggest concern that i have is that general flynn, an american sit sten, had

his phone call tapped and recorded and then put into a transcript and leaked to the media. i can imagine that any american should be concerned about this that's out there. and so -- >> clarify your concern for me. your concerned that the transcript got leaked or concerned, like the wall street editorial page, the fact that the intelligence community listened to general flynn at all as an american citizen? >> actually, that it would be -- there's two major issues here. one, it's illegal to -- for intelligence agencies to listen be in on american phone calls. we take the privacy of americans very seriously on our committee. and that raises a very, very big concern. secondly, you have -- let's assume that they had some type of warrant of some kind that i'm not aware of. but if they did and legally obtained these phone calls then you have to ask, how was it that the transcript of these phone calls leaked out?

this is really unprecedented, in my time involved in these issues. >> all right. we'll move on to the border adjustment tax at this point. front page. now officially against the border adjustment tax. you'll face a deluge from those that don't want it. will ways and means stand strong on the final tax bill? >> there won't be a tax bill if that's not the case. we looked at all the options over the course of the last eight years. the this is the only way to leapfrog the united states tax code in front of all the other tax codes around the globe. i find it -- the irony of europeans being upset that we will put in a border adjustment tax when they have one the height of hypocrisy.

>> it strikes some, including yours truly, a little unusual that gop would favor any kind of new novel tax. >> it's actually not a new tax. so, i think we're moving into a consumption-based system. >> you take their income minus their expenses and at the end of the year they pay a tax on that. if you don't have imports into this country being border adjusted, then effectively, you're subsidizing imports coming into this country. everyone would be on the same playing field. all the plan says is that everyone will be on the same playing field and anything consumed in the country will pay the same amount of tax. >> congressman, are wu hearing you right when you said that there will be no tax bill without this? no kind of broader tax reform

package if it does not include a border adjusted tax? >> yeah, i do. that's what i'm saying. look, i don't know any other way to do it. so, we've long looked at this. we've had exhaustive hearing after hearing after hearing for eight years. we've looked at all different ways to do this. the only way we can actually get our tax code into the 21st century and make america the most competitive place on the planet is to move to a full consumption-based system, which would be, quite frankly, very simple to implement. i find the irony that people -- >> congressman, this is all or nothing, essentially? and so do you know if the president would be willing to give up a major centerpiece of his agenda, tax reform, period, because of the border adjustment tax? >> look, i'm always open to new suggestions. i'm just saying that after eight years of looking at this,

including speaker ryan, the chairman of the ways and means committee, kevin brady, we have evaluated every possible way to do fundamental tax reform that does what the president wants to do, which is make america great again and make america the most competitive place on earth. >> does the head of the ways and means committee agree with you? do you have other republican leadership on board? this is big news that there will be no tax reform bill without border adjustment tax. have you caucused? >> what i would say is this. i'm speaking for myself. i'm not speaking for anyone else. but all i'm telling you are the facts here. the facts are unless someone has a better idea, i see no way to actual actually fix the tax system unless we move to this consumption-style system. if people wanted to drop it from 35 to 33, maybe 30, we could probably do it. several years to where we just

were doing that, the goal was to get to 25% and every lobbyist represented every major corporation in this country, the tax rate was automatically all the way back up to 30 once you put everybody's special loophole in. >> and what would be the point of that? thank you for joining us on this busy day. >> i agree. >> with everything going on with your agenda. we'll be right back. don't move.

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never get too much of led zeppelin. welcome to the second hour of "power lunch." two hours before the closing bell. here is what we're watching this hour. president trump will sign a bill to roll back regulation on energy companies. the oroville dam spill disaster, highlighting america's crumbling infrastructure. how bad is that infrastructure? the numbers will shock you. and pharma declaring civil war over the battle of soaring drug prices. their prescription, straight ahead.

stocks hitting new highs on this valentine's day, dow, s&p 500 and nasdaq hitting new intra-day highs. treasury rallying on the back of yellen's testimony, ten-year yield topping 2.5% and the worst stock of the s&p 500 down 25% but today under armour getting a rare upgrade. class c shares up. one of the architects of the gop tax plan spoke with us a few moments ago. if you missed that interview, here is what he said. in his mind there will not be any kind of tax reform bill without the inclusion of a border adjustment tax. we pete, they will not get any tax bill done unless a border adjusted tax is in there. he did walk it back and say that is his view but still a powerful view in congress.

meantime press secretary sean spicer wrapping up his daily press briefing moments ago. john harwood with the highlights. spicer said a lot. those headlines from nunes really caught our ears. >> very good point that devin nunes makes. revenue from a border adjustment tax, $1 trillion or so, is vital for getting those rates down. here is the problem. first of all, president trump himself has been equivocal about that idea, initially calling it too complicated. senate republicans don't like it very much, orrin hatch, the senate tax chairman is not enthusiastic. neither is rob portman, who worries it might violate our commitments under the world trade organization and senator purdue from georgia released a letter saying it would cause senior's retirement savings to evaporate and a whole list of other complaints. long way to go to get that through. this is one of the reasons it's very important for president trump to get his treasury

secretary in the game. of course, he was confirmed last night. he appeared at the briefing today. sean spicer's briefing so far, he spent a lot of the time saying that michael flynn, the ousted national security adviser, did nothing wrong by talking about sanctions to the russian ambassador in december. what he did wrong was misleading the vice president about doing it. that created an issue of trust and that's why mike flynn had to leave last night. the president selecting a new national security adviser. that gets in the way of other elements of his agenda. however, the congress has moved ahead on some issues under dodd/frank. there was a regulation that the securities and exchange commission was implementing that required extraction companies, mining companies to report payments to foreign governments. the industry objected to that. republicans in the house and senate passed under the congressional review act an elimination of that regulation.

the president signing it today and sean spicer says here's why. >> dodd/frank actually did exactly the opposite of what it intended to do. and i think when you look at the regulation hjr-41 what the president signed today, this is another example of the president taking decisive action to roll back regulations that are, frankly, creating more of a burden on our nation's banks and businesses. >> reporter: the key takeaway, though, is that passing something under the congressional review act and targeting regulation is one thing but repealing and replacing obamacare, getting tax reform very steep legislative task. and the turmoil within the white house over the last few days has not helped that process, guys. >> john, thank you. john harwood. even with all that going on, the markets continue to rally. bob pisani, just off record-session highs.

>> stocks really didn't rise that much on the yellen testimony. s&p 500 was fairly quiet. a bit of initial drop 10:00 eastern time as the testimony came out. but there was really the bond yields that move in. you can see most of the stock market gains occurred after her testimony was over, 12:30 eastern time. ten-year yields. didn't react immediately. as soon as we got headlines on her testimony at 10:00 here, why did that happen? my sense is that the fed saw what traders were pricing in for march and probably didn't like what they saw. they wanted to keep march alive and the headline statement moved yields. banks rose. you can see they're sitting near their highs today. michelle brought up a great point. maybe the stock market heard her and didn't really mind. i think that's a good point. bonds tend to be a little more sensitive. wage quote disappointing with the jobs report, bond market

moved. stocks didn't. commentary overall from the fed policy meeting, came out in january and it was dovish. bond market moved and the stock market didn't. sensitivity on the bond market is par for the course. stopping the rally here. three or four things here, including the fed hiking too aggressively on my list, and that could be an issue down the road. guys, back to you. >> bob pisani, thanks. let's dive into this idea. what might, if anything, stop this rally? paul christopher, head of global market strategy atwells fargo, and shannon soccocia, a new face to cnbc. she dragged herself down to new jersey. we will go to you first, shannon. welco welcome. the nasdaq is up 7% this year, about the same as it gained all of last year, % more than it gained all in 2005. instead of asking what will stop it, how about i flip it? are you surprised by stocks strength in the last couple of

weeks and months? >> given everything we've seen from an economic perspective as well as expectations for fiscal stimulus and tax reform i'm not all that surprised. coming out of last year we expected to have a decent year in the equity markets. some of that has been pulled forward with spending expectations at the fiscal level. >> have we made our gains for the year already or will there be more? >> realistically, we're probably due for some sort of correction. you talked about tax reform. any continued delay on tax reform, if there is a specific delay on fiscal infrastructure spending, all of those could potentially bring us to a place where we see a little bit of a correction and a little bit of a pullback. >> don, what do you think? have stocks gotten too much anticipation baked into the cake here? >> i don't think so. i think that the story board is really positive for what's coming. we have infrastructure spending,

corporate and personal tax cuts. these things are probably going to be wrangled about in congress as, you know, political dysfunction continues to reign. what we're going to see is a better tone for the markets throughout the year. we could get a pullback based on disappointment. i think the stock market ends significantly higher than we are here. >> how do i participate that in the best way possible? what's going to drive the rally higher? can i buy anything or are there better sectors? >> i think though things that are related to infrastructure, faster spend by consumers, all those things are going to work in our favor. i think the consumer is going to help. so those consumer discretionary areas are going to be good. i think capex spending will come on very strong. i look for those areas where companies are investing on technology and infrastructure and those are the sectors that will be really well impacted.

the industrial sector, as we reindustrialize the united states, will be a good place to invest. broadly, we're going to have some pretty good opportunities across a number of sectors and i think that we're going to end up with a good year for the stock market. >> paul, i don't know if you got a chance to hear our interview with congressman devin nunes and his need to see border adjustment tax as part of a broader tax reform. it sounds like this is becoming a contentious issue within congress. we're fully priced for corporate tax reform call it 2018, but we're fully priced for something to happen. yet here we are, still debating what's going to be in this thing with deep fissures within the same party about this one piece of the tax plan. >> yeah. i would disagree a little bit and say what we've seen in the stock market so far this year, especially within the last several weeks, as been about the economy. not about policy. there's no possible way that anyone could know how all these

many details are going to work out, including the border tax adjustment. as we get more details on that, there is room for stocks to move higher or lower as those details are positive or negative. >> if for some reason it comes out that corporate tax reform is off the agenda, you don't think there's going to be market reaction to that? >> very very much, yes. this is about the economy and the policy is not yet completely in the market. >> i'm very confused. the market has rallied because of the economy? >> the economy. >> not related to any expectations about what kind of policy changes we're going to get? >> you've had some expectations about the corporate tax reform in a broad sense. and we have some contours in terms of lower rates being expected. >> hold on. i'm going to interrupt you. i apologize on interrupting you. the day president trump came out and said two to three weeks we're going to have a plan, market rallied really hard. didn't it, shannon? >> phenomenal plan. >> i disagree. i think it's absolutely in the market and i think it's the catalyst for potential pullback.

we continue to see delays on these reforms that everybody is asking for and could be beneficial for almost all of the electorate. >> our audience, shannon, very intelligent people. they know that d.c., a, always takes longer to do anything it says and, b, if they get anything done at all. if it's pushed back to 2018, do you short the market or are you holding on and not adding? >> you want to be really conscious about what you're adding to. there's still stocks in the market that are growing. there's still opportunities for additional earnings growth. there's still areas of the market that you can buy now that are unaffected essentially by some of this fiscal stimulus because of the economic growth we're seeing. think about the way that the company can be impacted outside of the chicago of fiscal stimulus. can it grow on its own? does it have good prospects going into 2017? >> give me an example. >> a global growth story not all

that impacted by what we're talking about of fiscal growth stimulus. not going to be affected by foreign tax on imports. >> don, paul, shannon. not only a great band but pretty good guest lineup as well. here is what's coming up on "power lunch," threat from the dam in oroville, california, exposing a much bigger problem about infrastructure. when is this stuff all going to get fixed? who's going to pay for it? despite all the stuff going on in d.c. they're at record highs. a warning about where they may be headed. unloved -- unloved stock gets some love on valentine's day. very appropriate. i'm going to send tyler a candy heart during this commercial break. i'll be right back, after this. say carl,

we have a question about your brokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $6.95 per trade? uhhh- and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $6.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab.

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welcome back. the oroville dam in northern california, officials warned 12 years ago this might happen. just the latest example of crumbling infrastructure in america, something that president trump said he will

address. aditi roy is live in san francisco with more. aditi? >> just moments ago at that press briefing, brian, they came out with more rain expected this week. workers are furiously trying to repair the spillway as well as the emergency spillway. the fear is that a 30-foot wall of water could gush downstream. close to 200,000 people have been evacuated so far. at the moment, the california department of water resources says lake levels have dropped and officials are hoping to lower them further before the next round of storms hit. the story even getting the white house's attention. press secretary sean spicer just spoke about the oroville dam situation during his briefing. >> it's a textbook example of why we need to pursue a major infrastructure package in congress, dams, bridges, roads and all ports around the country have fallen into disrepair. >> newspapers recently reported list of infrastructure projects

on a national priority list compiled by the trump transition team, three dam projects. the oroville dam is not on that list. governor jerry brown has asked for federal funding to help with repairs. back to you guys. >> we'll see if he gets it. thank you, aditi. president trump has promised to repair america's crumbling infrastructure considered in dire need of upgrades. of course, those repairs don't come cheap. estimates it will take several trillion dollars to rebuild all that. more now from construction lawyer -- yes, there is such a thing. his book is called "too big to fall: america's falling inf infrastructure and the way forward." welcome back. you have been, for years, talking about this issue. give us a couple of stats of how decayed the insffrastructure is >> when the i-35w fell in august

2007, we focused on it for a few weeks. came back to this a few years later when the i-5 bridge fell. but nobody has a long-term interest in it and we've lacked the political will and political leadership to address this problem in a xrecomprehensive w >> why is that? everybody knows there is a problem. and yet nothing gets done. that tells me the transmission mechanism for funding is flawed very deeply in some way. because we want to spend the money on it and yet we don't. >> when our politicians, when our leaders get into the subject in depth, it's a process of what i've come to call mego, my eyes glaze over. political, social, economic, transportation and global issues that really almost requires a

global czar. united states infrastructure czar. >> it ain't sexy. it ain't sexy. >> the problem is, somebody coming to my house and telling me i need to repoint the inside of my chimney. and i have to spend 10 grand there or the 10 grand redoing my bathroom, that really doesn't need to be redone. what am i going to do? i'm going to do my bathroom. >> ignore that first leak on the roof, which could cost $500. come back a few years later and it's $15,000. >> so how do we turn the corner and get people to think that way as opposed to the stuff that is sexy, that gives -- there's a new school that i can put up. >> with a name on it. >> with my name on it. >> right. >> i have tried to address this in a different way. i put out a website called saveourbridges.com, which shows 8,000 bridges in our nation that are capable of falling,

according to all the engineers involved, at any moment. i put that out so that anyone could see in their area in the country, just by entering their zip code, what bridges there are that could fall at a moments notice and mobilize on a grassroots level the communities to go to their politicians even on a one on one basis and say do nothing else but our children on our buses. please address this bridge. >> bring up that video of the george washington bridge again. the george washington bridge is the newest, the youngest crossing from new jersey to new york. and it was finished in 1937. that is the newest of our infrastructure. here is the problem, barry. i hear what you're saying. everyone agrees with this. i've spoken with construction company people. we've had them on the show. they don't think they can find the workers. millions of people don't have a job but they've been out of the workforce for years. a lot of this construction stuff is high tech now. do we have the workforce to get the stuff done if we did a

spending bill? >> you have to understand that after the 2008 great recession, we lost over 1 million construction workers in this country. today, most of them have not come back. and there's a great shortage in construction workers. >> come back from other countries or come back into the workforce? >> back into that industry in our nation. however, if we put on a large scale infrastructure program that was dedicated over years, that was going to happen with a steady cash flow to construction companies, those workers will be identified. they will be found. they will be well-paid jobs. >> well-paid jobs. >> and we will have an addressing of this issue. somebody has to take responsibility at the political level and provide the leadership and the willpower. >> i want to highlight one bridge. one of the worst bridges that you highlight, barry. this is just eye opening. the anaheim bridge to disneyland, 221,000 cars plus cross every day and that's one

of the worst bridges in america, ready to fall? >> i spoke before 1,000 transportation officials in southern california at disneyland a year and a half ago and they were shocked to find out that they had cross aid bridge that could collapse at a moment's notice. >> at a moment's notice, you say? >> i'm just guessing, based on your voice that you've ridden on the cross bronx expressway. >> i have tried not to. my most advocated, strong opposition has been to anybody going over the current tappanzee bridge. >> that's the one they're rebuilding? >> they're rebuilding one next to it for two more years. if you can avoid that do not, by any imagination, think it's safe. >> it's true. why would they choose, if there weren't a serious, serious problem -- that's the newest bridge, right? 1955. >> '57. >> why would they do that before doing zbl ining --

>> other bridges. >> that must be in horrible shape. i'm going to take my helicopter. >> let's not forget, oroville dam came within a foot of over flowing in 1997. in 2005 they talked about reinforcing it and nothing -- because 75,000 different government agencies are involved in making the decision and that's the video you've got right now. it's sad, barry. something is going to have to happen before anybody kicks it in gear. that's the way d.c. works. >> 18,000 high-risk dams in this nation. 4,000 of which have severe cracks in them that could flood downstream communities at a moment's notice. we are ignoring that problem as well. >> at our peril. >> happy valentine's day, barry. his book is called "too big to fall." >> apparently not. >> or not. >> we'll be right back. thank you.

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not buy the company after all according to a new york post article. popeyes spiked yesterday on initial reports of a possible takeover and it is an ugly day for flowers foods down almost 9%, plummeting after the producer of baked goods missed fourth quarter revenue expectations. tyler? >> thank you very much, melissa. the fight over drug prices have caused a rift in the industry. pharmaceutical civil war, next on "power lunch." ♪ heigh ho heigh ho ♪ ♪ heigh ho heigh ho it's off to work we go here's to all of you early risers, what's up man? go-getters, and should-be sleepers. from all of us at delta, because the ones who truly change the world, are the ones who can't wait to get out in it.

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is that all customers are satisfied before they leave. ♪ hello, everybody. i'm sue herera. here is your cnbc news update at this hour. north korea rejecting the u.n. security council's statement on its weekend missile launch, declaring all of its tests were defensive in nature, designed to protect its people. >> the successful test launch of medium to long-range missile is a part of self-defense measures. in this respect, my delegation totally resents the greatest statement of the u.n. security council and all u.n. resolutions against my country. >> the iraqi army has begun deploying its units to the western side of the tigris

river. eastern side of mosul has already been taken from isis. ivanka's clothing line will not go on sale in japan as expected. licensing agreement with the japanese apparel company has not been completed but the company said it has nothing to do with american retailers dropping ivanka trump's line. cnbc news update this hour. michelle, back to you. >> thank you, sue. 90 minutes from the closing bell on wall street. new record-closing highs? apple hitting a new record high as well, $135 a share. oil market closing right now for the day. crude is up fractionally by 26 cents, gain of half a percent. fight over drug prices sparked a civil war in the pharmaceutical industry. it's the big brand of companies in one corner, generic makers in the other. meg tirrell joins us. meg? >> some of the biggest pricing scandals of the last couple of years have involved makers of

generic drugs, valeant raising the price on two older heart medications and mylan for the epi-pen. one of the biggest makers of generic medicines. the whole industry is under fire for practices, new campaign emphasizing the cost savings they bring to the system, the slogan keeping medicines within reach. a name change now the association for accessible medicines. its message? generic drugs are about 90% of all prescriptions filled in the u.s. each year but account for a quarter of drug costs. and brand drugs could threaten much cheaper alternatives. trump met with branded pharmaceutical companies and trade group pharma a couple of weeks ago after pharma rolled

out its own campaign. the message from generic drugmakers today, don't lump us all in together. brian? chip davis, ceo of the new ly rebranded association for accessible medicines, the group representing the generic drugmakers. chip, thank you very much for joining us. you heard meg's excellent report. where do we stand? where is the proper balance between making sure that the companies who spend and create these drugs have the ability to make their money back and making sure that older drugs are cheaper and, thus, more available to the mainstream? where is that balance? >> great question, first. thanks for having me on. the most important thing to recognize is that we always strive to get the balance between innovation and access correct because as important as innovation is, and as you referred to earlier, innovation without access equates to medicine on a shelf. medicine on a shelf doesn't help advance a patient's health. the reality is that if you look at where the generic and now bio similars industries are today in

terms of providing a level of unprecedented care to patients in the u.s. all over the world at a fraction of the cost of what's available in the branded market, we actually think we need to equally focus -- >> i'm going to interrupt, if i might, as we watch president trump rolling back regulations pertaining to the regulation of commodity firms and energy companies. >> disclosure of payments by resource extraction. it's a big deal. and i want to thank speaker paul ryan for being here. he has been tremendous. representative bill heisin gechlt r and peter, all of my friends are up here. really appreciate it. this is one of many that we will sign. we have many more left. we're bringing back jobs at the plant level, at the mine level, the energy jobs are coming back. and you see what's going on with

the stock market. they know we know what we're doing. it's going up at record clips. so i think what i'm going to do, if i might -- can i ask you to say a few words? >> my pleasure, mr. president. >> this is bill heisinger. >> this is the first cra signed by the president, and very pleased to be the author of house joint resolution 41. over 21 years there's been 56,000 rules that have been put in place with very little legislative input or oversight. and it's time that changed and i'm very thankful to the president, the speaker, our chairman, henserling, for making that happen. thank you, mr. president. >> i'll sign it. we may have to give him the pen. i don't know. >> we're going to have to fight for it. >> we're not giving up that pen. >> congratulations. great job. >> thank you. >> you have done a fantastic

job. lot of people going back to work no now. >> great job. >> mr. president. >> the president in the white house signing a document that basically rolls back regulations on commodity firms. more specifically, and this has been, obviously, more controversial, guys. it also disallows or at least, i should say, ends the rule that would require certain payments to foreign governments by oil and gas firms. some opponents of the rolling back said it's sort of a license to make payments to foreign governments. the u.s. oil companies have suggested that they cannot compete with international oil companies with these rules in place. michelle, i think we understand the reasons the way certain

business gets done around the world. >> completely prohibited by u.s. laws. >> now it's gone with the swipe of a pen. let's get back to our desk, chip davis, newly rebranded accessible medications chair. >> i understand your industry overall has been maligned because of mylan. you're probably in a great position to say our industry lowers the cost. your message to the administration, what would that be at this point in terms of increasing the alcohol'sability of generic? patent protections, what exactly can be done to increase this access? >> sure. there's a number of policies that the administration, which has touted the importance of competition to lower overall costs in the prescription drug market could consider as well as the new congress, including everything up to ensuring that generic manufacturers and bio

similar manufacturers get access to branded samples so they can do the necessary clinical testing upon which to file applications to the fda. subsidized markets in terms of tweaking incentives to get the utilization rate in certain programs up to the national average. we have a great value proposition as the association for accessible medicines in our members in that we're almost 90 prs of all prescriptions in the u.s. this year, doing it for less than a third of the cost. we're the solution to increasing drug care costs not the cause of them. as policy makers are considering different options as ways to constrain the increase overall price of drugs, look at meaningful solutions to advance gener generic propositions is a good way to go. >> sir, when president trump met with the drugmakers, he very specifically said that trade policy also had to be involved.

prioritize that foreign countries paid their fair share for u.s. manufactured drugs. most of the countries in the world, even if they're rich, have price controls. their populations get very, very cheap drugs, even though they're very well off. we, the american people, pay for the r & d of the world. would trade policy help if other people, germany, japan, other rich countries, were actually paying more of their, quote, fair share to use the phrase that some people like to use? >> it's an interesting question. it really reflects the different die nam you cans in the pharmaceutical marketplace between the branded market and generic market. as an example. that is a very prominent issue that the branded industry through their trade associations is engaged in. the reality is that if you think in terms of america first as a new mantle in this administration that generics are more affordable in the united states market than they are in all other major developed markets across the world already. when you hear things such as importing drugs from canada,

that discussion is always limited to branded drugs. >> why are they more expensive overseas? >> yeah, why is that the case? >> because they don't have the level of market-based competition that drives the prices down significantly as they do in a majority of the therapeutic classes in which generics compete here in the united states. >> interesting. okay. >> chip, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you for your time. it's a great day to be part of the generic and bio similars industries under our new identity. thank you for your time. >> we'll see you again. >> and thanks to you, meg tirrell. s&p trading around a new all-time high. what happens after that? our next guest tells us.

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time for trading nation. here to break down the charts on the s&p 500. we hit a high today. how much higher can we go? >> we're getting accustomed to those record highs not justify

the s&p 500 but the major indices. we're seeing a momentum-driven take. that's what we have to be mindful of. >> let's get right to the charts here. >> last summer we saw breakout from a trading range right here. the resistance was around 2135. when you looked at the width of that trading range, customary way of discerning an upside target from a technical standpoint, it projected to about 2400, timeframe of several months, which puts us to where we are now in 2017. that was a reasonable target based on the width of this trading range or basing phase, if you will, for the s&p 500, corrective period for the market. >> does that imply once we hit 2400, we hit some sort of resistance level and, therefore, the next level is where in this range? >> it's not technically resistant. just an upside gauge. that's the before the we have really. new all-time highs, of course.

we can look at the other major indices around the world. at less than 3% at this point, which is amazing of the we assigned the price target, it was about 12% upside. getting close to that, that's about where why aye would expect overbought conditions to catch up with the market. momentum is still quite strong. i don't think we're quite there yet. it is an overbought market. not until you see that did you knowtick in momentum do i take issue with that. >> technically, are the markets in better shape because we've been at these record levels or closer to record levels for a month now? we haven't really given up, only moved, grinded higher slowly. >> it is a momentum driven tape and we have to be mindful of that and use those moving average based tools to follow the market and just stay on the right side of those moving averages. >> katie, great to have you with us. katie stockton. go to tradingnation.cnbc.com for more insights. robert has a news alert. robert? news on the whole issue with

ivanka trump and nordstrom and kellyanne conway, going on air, encouraging viewers to buy ivanka trump's products, office of ethics issuing a letter to the white house, saying that her actions violated a clear therefore the office of government ethics recommends that the white house investigates mrs. conway's actions and consider taking disciplinary action against her. oge coming out here very firmly, saying her comments which many say were innocent comments time-outing ivanka trump's products were a clear violation of her position. they are recommending that the white house investigate and take disciplinary action. it is now up to the white house and ultimately donald trump as to whether he will take any action. guys, back to you. >> robert frank, thank you very much. more breaking news in the

markets, involving shares of cigna, the health insurer, halted for news pending. interesting timing. earlier today, their merger with humana -- aetna's merger with humana had been nixed. the whole sector has been under the spotlight. and cigna's shares have been halted. >> to add a little bit, earlier a judge had also ruled against the tie-up between cigna and anthem. it was expected that these parties would appeal that decision. perhaps this is news on that front. remember, this whole sector has been involved in a wave of consolidation and each and every judicial opinion has really been watched very carefully. under armour, one of the most unloved stocks this year, down 25%. one analyst showing the stock a little love on valentine's day. we'll speak to him next on "power lunch."

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another stock making headlines today. >> we're just learning about a number of ceo's meeting with the president at the white house. there's a lot of talk -- >> best buy, target among them. >> it will be a topic of discussi discussion. >> now, let's get to that other stock. morgan stanley upgrading underarmor from equal weight to underweight. the company cut the price target from 25 to $20. let's bring in a retail an lift at morgan stanley. >> you upgrade the stock, but you cut the price target five dollars to below where it is today. can you explain that? there must be a reason.

>> the reason is, that underarmor gave guidance which was well below consensus a few weeks ago. we adjusted our number lower, what's happened, the market's expectations have come down even more than ours. right now, our expectation is in line with the street, that's why we upgraded the stock. >> and yet the price is higher than your price target. what do you do, do you buy it? hold it? >> what do you do? >> the interesting thing with underarmor, there's the a shares, which is uaa. and the other ticker is ua. our market view on what the size is the same really, as to what the market is saying right now. there's not a difference between our price target and the actual stock price. >> let's go to the business end. their growth has been pretty good. is that sails growth costing them too much. >> they plan a loot of investment spending.

they're experiencing some leverage. what we think is going to happen is their sales growth will continue to be solid. a lot of companies would love to have double-digit sales growth, and eventually, the investment spending will grow at the same rate as sales. we won't see the margins decline like we have. that will help the stock move downward. >> that's why the margins have suffered the way they have suffers. you think it will go back to the more normalized level? >> over the long term we think it will. we expect margins to remain in the 6 to 7 cent range over the next five years. footwork companies tend to deliver operating profits in the 11% range. >> is there any risk sustainable brand damage from the political comments that the ceo made that apparently got him into some kerfuffle with among others, seth curry? >> i think it's too early to

tell. these kinds of things have happened to many companies. and, you know, sometimes they become bigger issues and sometimes they blow over quickly. i guess we'll find out, but it's too early to tell. >> thank you very much. >>. breaking news. >> cigna saying that it has filed to terminate its merger agreement with anthem. it's asking for $1.85 billion of the termination fee that they agreed to in the deal, as well as an additional $13 billion in damages. cisco says in light of the courts ruling last week, cisco -- cigna believes the transaction cannot and will not achieve approval and the terminating agreement is in the best interest of cigna's shareholders. it doesn't come as much of a surprise, although anthem said

it wanted to pursue an appeal, and wanted to try to get some sort of expedited ruling on that appeal before their extended merger of april 30th. cisco had never really -- cigna had never really agreed to that, cigna's ceo in recent weeks in fact, has talked about a post merger strategy, and the fact that he has a lot of cash, and would pursue a deal, perhaps. >> anna, a lawsuit, damages? >> it's one of the things that's not unexpected. these two companies have been at odds since the beginning, cigna was a reluctant acquisition, and they have fought throughout the process. in fact, the judge said, that they're elephant in the courtroom throughout the trial. so it's not unexpected. they would file suit, not just for the termination fee, but for damages as well. >> thanks very much. we'll be right back.

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smart tv's. facebook invests in content tailored to its platform. >> can we do something that's unique, that plays into our strength that has this community aspect, where there's conversations happening around the content. >> rose also talked about how facebook is tackling fake news with its new journalism project, partnering with news outlets and third parties. you can find out more about our interview on cnbc.com. >> we will check that out, jewel where. end of the show, we want to highlight what's going on with apple. as we talk about the markets. ditto for apple. >> all time high. >> the ceo is going to the white house tomorrow. the retail ceo's, best buy, target, joanne stores, tractor supply, all the ceo's will be heading to the white house tomorrow. that should be an interesting

meeting. >> we do not know how president trump feels about the border adjustment pact. >> i was worried -- luckily my dreams came true. >> you're welcome, brian. thanks for watching power lunch. welcome to the closing bell, everybody, i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. >> stocks on track for another record close today, that's as fed chief janet yellin testifies on capitol hill, and our new treasury secretary makes a surprise appearance. i should say your new treasury secretary. more on what he said coming up. >> who said telecom stocks are boring. another shot fired. we'll have the details for you coming up. >> gm shares hoping they'll be able to sell their european business.