less deductions. that was the formula, simple as that. >> sell your house, move out of new jersey, buy in florida. >> that was much more focused on individuals rather than businesses. this feels more on business. >> last hour of trading should be interesting. see if it is a sell the news kind of event. thanks for watching "power lunch." >> "closing bell" starts now. ♪ >> welcome to the "closing bell." i'm sara eisen in for kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffeth. so far no sell on the news. >> still buying. >> holding on to gains here so far, althougher woo 'off the highs of the session after the white house announced details of the highly-anticipated tax reform plan, calling it the biggest tax cut in u.s. history. investors like the sound of that, but the market did pull back from the highs after it was revealed all deductions except mortgage and charitable giving would be eliminated. we'll get the details coming up on that in a moment here.

>> we also will find out how the tax plan will impact small business when we speak to two of the best-known entrepreneurs out there. pawn stars rick harrison and bar rescues jon taffer. that will be a good one. that is not all. from washington, chairman ajit pai outlining plans for the future of regulating the internet. he will join us in a cnbc interview. >> you can answer if you want. could tensions with north korea spiral out of control and affect the markets? we have former defense secretary. he's had so many jobs in washington, but that was one of his most recent. leon pa net ah will join us, get his few of that. we will ask about the tax proposals and other things coming up. let's begin with the trump administration's proposed tax cuts. we have eamon javers wither more details from the white house. the president is meeting with the entire senate behind you right now. >> reporter: yes, the white house press pool is in with the president right now in the roosevelt room. we seconds ago got a notice from

the press pool that said they asked him a question about how he would pay for his plan on taxes. the white house press pool putting out a note saying he said it would be a great plan and it would put people to work, but he didn't directly answer the question of how he plans to pay for all of this. that's sort of what we got from his treasury secretary and from his national economic council director gary kohn in the white house press briefing room earlier this afternoon. kohn though gave us a break down of exactly where they think the tax brackets should come down. here is what he said. >> we are going to cut taxes and simplify the tax code by taking the current seven tax brackets we have today and reducing them to only three brackets. a 10% bracket, a 25% bracket and a 35% bracket. >> reporter: one of the key pieces of information we're going to have to have about that is exactly what income levels trigger those brackets. that way you will be able to get a sense of what all of this will cost. another missing piece of information here that people

will be anxious to get is the white house is talking about a one-time tax break for corporations bringing revenue back into the country. what that tax rate will be very key to how much revenue that generates. of course, how politically popular that is and how popular it is among companies that are considering doing that, guys. so a lot of unanswered questions here even though we now got this one-pager indicating sort of the general direction of where the trump administration wants to go. >> clearly the focus, eamon, will shift to the congressional republicans for some reaction. the question of how to pay for it is one thing. how about the fact that they are planning on eliminating most deductions, including state and local? >> yeah. >> i mean what is the lobbying efforts and the congressional push back going to be on some of these? which are the hot button ones to watch? >> reporter: well, look, every single one of the deductions has a fan club here in washington d.c., an industry group or a trade group that defends it like it is an absolute prerogative. you know, they know here at the trump white house they are bracing for a fight on eliminating all of those deductions which are so popular.

i asked one official about that today, and he said simply they're just bracing for the political fight over that. where we end up here is not likely to be exactly where we're starting here. consider this an opening bid from the trump administration in terms of broad parameters of where they want to go, and this is a big high-stakes negotiation from here on out. >> bearing in mind, very quickly, that there are no income triggers itemized and other big questions, this kind of feels rushed. doesn't it to you? steve mnuchen was talking recently about how we wouldn't see reforms for a while, but it was the president himself who said last friday, you're going to get something by wednesday. it feels like he said to them, get something out there by wednesday so they can hit their 100-day ted line. what do you think? >> reporter: bill, that's exactly what happened. i can tell you my sense is of what happened here, is that the president was frustrated getting close to that had 100-day deadline without being able to unveil his signature tax proposals. it was a key element of his

political campaign, something very important to republicans here at the white house and up on capitol hill. the president wanted to get that out there. he made that announcement on friday as you mentioned. that caught a lot of people over at the treasury department and here at the white house by surprise. they didn't expect that they were going to be having to put this out as quickly as they were. they've spent a lot of time on this since friday, i can guarantee that. today we have the announcement, but it clearly came from the president about's insistence they show their hand on taxes, where they're going, what they want to do and he wanted to do it before the 100-day lead line. >> gives us a lot to talk about, eamon. thank you, eamon javers outside the white house. to the other big focus on wall street, corporate earnings. bob pisani running through all of this. >> a bunch of stuff, taxes and earnings, but earnings have been good. look at united technology goes, affirmed their full-year guidance. that's important. nobody is bringing numbers down.

here is another one, industrials, northrop grumman, they raised their full-year guidance. that stock is trading up fractionally over here. i will show some other industrials. ingersol rand came out with numbers yesterday, today they raised lie end of their guidance. that stock is up nicely as well here. let me show you an unrelated group here. twitter here, look, up 9% here. low bar for twitter here. they allayed concerns. they reported sales weren't as bad as some peopler with afraid of. sale revenue is still down 8% compared to last year but better than expected and they had 9 million new active monthly users. best in two years. good news in twitter. haven't seen it a lot. finally, keep an eye on the s&p 500, look, 2395. we get over that, that's a new historic closing high. guys, the thing that matters this week, lower geopolitical risk, lower earnings risk important the full year, and also tax cuts now in play? three of the four big risk factors a little lower this week

and that's why stocks are sitting near historic highs. back to you. >> all right, bob. thank you. we will see you later at the close. let's get to our "closing bell" exchange for this busy wednesday. joining us, hank smith from haverford trust, stephen guilfoyle from "the street.com." sarge, doe spite the pundits who worry this market is overvalued, it is showing no signs of pulling back, especially on a day like today which could be vulnerable to whatever comes out of washington after two big up days we've had monday and tuesday. what do you make of the market action recently? >> let me tell you about being over valued, which by most metrics we are, but largely stocks are trading at 18 plus times earnings, next year's earnings. now, if you were to cut the tax rate like they're proposing down to 15% from the 27% that those estimates for next year basically assume, you're basically adding $1.31 for every

single point, for all 12 of those points to s&p earnings for next year. so basically you're adding somewhere between 13.2% to 14.8% to next year's earnings. so basically we're trying on a shirt that's too large for us, but if these tax plans come to fruition in the way they are presented, we're going to fill out that shirt. >> all right. >> so, hank, that's certainly a bullish view. how do you think investors should view what we saw from the white house today, an opening bid, but how skeptical should they be around actually getting it passed through congress? >> well, sara, i think we're going to get some sort of tax cut at a minimum, whether it is real tax reform we don't know. but taxes are going to come down and be best if it was made retroactive. if they can do it, it would have a turbo charging effect to the economy. i would say the market is fairly valued in here, not egregiously

overvalued, certainly not undervalued, but given the low levels of inflation rates, the low level of interest rates, stocks are till the place to be. there still is no alternative in this low interest rate, low inflationary world, and i think there's a ton of tail wind that can help keep this momentum going in terms of all of the money that's gone into bond funds over the past eight years, and still goes into bond funds even though we're in the ninth year of a bull market. >> yeah. hey, rick, i'm sure you want to comment on the tax proposals and the market response, that i also highlight the five-year note auction. i know you were talking about that yesterday. it didn't come out as strong nearly as was anticipated, especially with how well the two-year note auction went yesterday. >> no, and i think that gives us actually great insight into the markets. as much as i love auctions, bill, they rarely give you good insight into the markets. i think that some of the buying that pushed rates down towards the end of last week -- and, you

know, there's a lot of reasons why it happened. put the reasons aside a minute. when they pop back, i think many investors anticipated it is the bounceback in rates that would be short lived and we were going to revisit some of the lower scale, maybe make a bee line to 2% in the ten year, maybe make a bee line to 1 3/4 in the five year, but it wasn't meant to be at this point. that's the insight of the five-year note auction. in terms of the tax plan, i heard the word skeptical. i'm skeptical anybody could not vote for this. i think whether it is repeal and replace about or the tax plan, they're going to morph, they're going to morph as they make their journey from the house to the senate, and they'll morph a little bit and all reconciliation process will occur after that. but i don't think there's any doubt that both of those in some form or fashion will pass. the thing i'm most skeptical about is how much of this is in the markets. stephen guilfoyle, sarge, 8 plus. you described it. now the main issue is has that

13% to 15% really been priced in. everybody says it has. i will still go on record that the day the tax bill passes, whenever that is in the future, i think we're going to get a very large rally because i think very little of it is priced in. i still contend we don't have the last administration, we don't have a hillary clinton administration, and that's what most of the positive move in equities has been in my opinion. >> and, sarge, the stock market, the s&p at least is up 11% since the election, the nasdaq is up 16. so what exactly is priced in, in terms of policy action? >> well, you know, earnings are running about about 11.4% higher year over wreer, right? so we're up 11% since the election. earnings are up 11.4%. revenue up 6.9%. both of those are pretty well above what we consider average here in these markets. i think that we're going to have some volatility. obviously every headline -- once they get this to congress and they start talking about tax cuts and healthcare reform and

knocking down certain parts of obamacare, saving other parts, we're going to have volatile markets that are tradeable, but the general trend like these other two gentlemen i'm on the television with right now is going to be northerly in my opinion. >> we have to go at this point because there's only so much time on television as you know. thank you, guys. we'll see you later. >> thank you. and we're heading into the close here. we have 48 minutes left in the trading session. no pull-back, no profit taking. >> we're on record-high closing watch for the s&p, nasdaq and russell 2000 right now. >> there you are. that tells the story as we head to the close today. >> former defense secretary leon panetta is weighing in on the conflict with north korea next. that is as top trump administration officials are actually briefing the entire senate at the white house on the korean peninsula situation as we speak. >> yep. also ahead today, we got amgen, las vegas sands, paypal among

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well, it is not quite the eye-popping 200 plus point gains we saw in the last two sessions, but stocks not only holding gains but adding to them today. the dow is up 38 points. s&p 500 is bar elling toward a record. if we close 2 points above where we are, that is a new all-time high. the nasdaq also in the territory, and there's the russell up 1%. a lot of the domestic small-cap companies, thought to be the big beneficiaries of lower corporate taxes, they pay the highest, and it is up the most of the group. >> a couple of movers to tell you about on wall street. wyndham worldwide among the best performers in the s&p take with the hotel chain announcing an earnings beat and better than expected four-year guidance helped by lower share count. gross vacation ownership interest grew by 3% year on year. meantime, edwards life sciences

higher is well, quarterly profits blew past street estimates thanks to strong sales of the valve it sells. the company raised earnings and revenue guidance for the year. that stock is up an even 10%. as you know, the trump administration is moving forward with tax reform today, but the plan still has to make it through congress, and the administration has yet to achieve legislative success on capitol hill during the first 100 days almost. our next guest knows full well what it takes to move a proposal from concept to law, both as a rm to former white house chief of staff, member of congress. >> many others. joining us is leon panetta who served as secretary of defense and cia director. we will get his take on the white house's meeting right now with the full senate about north korea. but first taxes, that's our top story. one of the many hats you have worn in washington is also omb director. so welcome, secretary panetta. so the president, his team is

proposing a sharp reduction of taxes both at the individual and corporate level. how much of what we heard today is realistic? >> well, you know, it has obviously been rush to judgment here as part of the 100-day in office kind of scenario. you know, i wish for a major tax reform and tax cut bill, that a little more thought went into it in terms of its various elements because this is going to take a lot of work. you have to work not only with the republicans but with the democrats on capitol hill, and work through a number of very sensitive issues. tax reform is never easy in the congress, but obviously if they take the time to negotiate this, to work with the key members on capitol hill, then there's a good chance that some kind of tax cut could be passed. >> what do you think of how they've done the first 100 days,

which will be up at the end of the week, both domestically and foreign policy? he has bombed syria, he has imposed these tariffs on canada, the failure to repeal aca, now the north korean situation, the tax reform. there's a lot going on here. >> there is a lot going on. you know, i think the 100-day thing is kind of an arbitrary measure and doesn't really kind of establish whether or not the presidency is going to be a successor failure. there are some indications as to strengths and weaknesses, and i think the president's greatest strength is on national security issues. he's got a great national security team. he's been willing to listen to them and he is willing to change positions if necessary on china, on syria, on nato and some other areas. so i think that's a strong point. i think the weak point is the problem in dealing with the congress, not getting any major

legislation through the congress. that's a major point, particularly for the promises that he made. he think the tweets that he's made also undercut some of his credibility. so he's run into a number of problems on the domestic side, but on the foreign affairs side i think he's got certainly his strong suit. >> one of the biggest challenges the north korea. as we mentioned, those senators are at the white house right now getting briefed by the administration. as best as you can tell, does the white house have a clearly defined and workable solution and strategy when it comes to north korea and china? >> well, hopefully that's what they're working on. this is obviously a major security threat to the united states in the sense that north korea is a rogue nation with a very unpredictable and unstable leader, and they do have the capability to be able to develop

an icbm, and then also have the capability of developing a miniaturized nuclear weapon. so they really are a direct threat to our national security. but it is also a complicated issue. that's the reason most recent presidents haven't pulled the trigger. it is going to take a lot of continuing work because of the consequences of direct military action. i think the best course is to continue to increase our presence, support our allies, put pressure on china to try to see if they can get korea, north korea to come to the negotiating table. >> well, a big complicating factor in all of this is china and our relationship, not only politically, militarily, economically. we have all of these different fronts we're trying to maintain some sort of a relationship with them. with's their motivation here? i mean are they the key to solving this north korean crisis and do you think they're willing to do that?

>> well, i think our strategy has to be one of containment and deterrence. in other words putting pressure on north korea but at the same time making clear to china that this is not a blank check, that they just can't continue to play the same games they have in the past, that this is serious, we consider this a serious national security threat, and i think we have to continue to pressure president xi to ensure that north korea backs off of missile testing and nuclear weapons testing. that will be the test of whether or not china truly has been effective in dealing with north korea. >> and finally, secretary panetta, i wanted to hear how you're viewing all of the strayed action from this administration. clearly this was a big campaign promise, a critical issue for candidate trump and now president trump. some of the executive orders -- and there's a report in politico

today they're looking at a new one to possibly withdraw from nafta to get better terms. what's the big risk to all of this, or is the president pursuing a sound strategy to get a more competitive, fair trading regime for the united states? >> well, i'm concerned. i don't see an overall strategy here for dealing with our trade agreements and our trade relationships. i get the sense that a lot of this is being done on a hit-and-miss basis. canadian tariffs are increased. you deal with steal, you deal with other issues but i'm not sure there's an overall strategy and there should be because trade is important to our economy. it is nice that we can do -- if we're able to do tax cuts, but the fact is that our economy depends on trade. this is a global world. so while, yes, we should be trying to develop tougher terms, trying to protect u.s. workers, there's no question about that,

we still have to have an overall trade strategy that ensures we are involved with trade agreements with our allies and with the rest of the world. i just don't see that larger strategy for dealing with this issue. >> i'm out of time but i got to ask you a little follow-up on that. the president says the canadian government has taken advantage of us when it comes to lumber and dairy and that, you know, the mexicans have not lived up to the terms of naflt ah. that's why he wants out of nafta. do you agree with those presumptions? >> well, look, there have always been concerns when it comes to trade agreements. this is nothing new. every time we've had a trade agreement with mexico, with china, with canada, with other countries, we've always had disputes. we've always managed to deal with those various disputes without going into a trade war. so i just think it is better to follow a process here than to just simply try to shoot at these issues as they appear,

because, frankly, the world then gets a very mixed message about the united states and our willingness to participate in the global market. >> all right. leon panetta. always good to see you. thank you. appreciate your time. >> you bet. >> thanks. all right. a little over 30 minutes to go before the closing bell, and the dow is still firmly higher, up about 40 points. there are earnings winners and losers, pga at the bottom of the list. s&p trading around the closing high. >> going to tease us there. >> 2395.96. that would be a new record close. we're in record territory by the way for the nasdaq and the russell 2000 as well. >> changes to internet speeds and charges may be on the way. we're going to talk about controversial plans just announced by the fcc chair in a first on cnbc interview coming up. >> up next, highlights from our exclusive interview with pepsico's cfo and vice-chairman on the back of earnings this

morning. we will be right back. ♪ hey, i've got the trend analysis. hey. hi. hi. you guys going to the company picnic this weekend? picnics are delightful. oh, wish we could. but we're stuck here catching up on claims. but we just compared historical claims to coverages. but we have those new audits. my natural language api can help us score those by noon. great. see you guys there. we would not miss it. watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. i love to learn. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be.

peps ee coreporting earnings beating the street estimates on top and bottom lines thanks to higher pricing and demand for its healthier snacks and drink, plus strong sales in key emerging markets like mexico and russia.

cfo spoke to me about health in the u.s. >> tax refunds for certain payers were delayed until february 15th and we saw it in the business in first six weeks of the year. as we're about to exit april, the business has really bounced back. >> johnson also said the company missed the mark with that commercial that it had to pull following a social media uproar. he said that the company has since put a process in place to prevent a repetition of that incident. i asked him, bill, whether that actually hurt business, if there's been any change after yard. he said no, we handled it quickly. we got out in front and apologized. >> i'm not picking on pepsi, but the tax refund thing, other companies used the same example. i don't buy that necessarily. >> we have heard it this quarter specifically from pga, a lot of the low and middle income consumers that rely on it. it was delayed. >> the problem with coke and pepsi as we talked about yesterday after coke is they tried to migrate toward a more

healthy offering of products. now they're competing with other companies that have been there for a while that consumers trust more. if you're going to go for healthy eating, are you thinking pepsi and coke? just like when you're thinking about a more quality item in fast food, are you thinking of some of the legacy companies like mcdonald's and burger king or are you thinking of the newer offerings out there? >> i will say though that pepsi has been early on the trend. this is something we've been talking about for years and they have brands like aquafina water which fits into the healthier trend they've had. juices and have been sort of innovating on snacks. they like to think of their portfolio as the indulgent part of it and the better for you part of it. and it is one reason why the organic sales at pepsi have outperformed a lot of the other food companies like general mills and kellogg and the competitor on the beverage side as well, coca-cola. >> let's move on. we have the cnbc news update

with sue herera. hey, sue. >> reporter: hi, bill and sara. what is happening at this hour. french police holding a nationwide protest today in paris. they want better protection and recognition. it comes less than a week after a police officer was shot and killed. the shooting was the latest in a series of attacks by islamic militants in france. maria sharapova returning to professional tennis today. the former number one ranked player took the court at the open in germany after a 15-month doping ban and won her first match. she tested positive for the banned substance mildonium last year. cellphone video showing today how serious the flooding has been in arkansas. a portion of the road collapsing near fayetteville and there are multiple road closures in parts of that state. and starbuck's creating a new mystical drink. baristas are whipping up the so-called dragon frappuccino and there are photos all over social media. it is set to replace the

colorful unicorn frappuccino which was a limited edition drink that went extinct a few days ago. the ingredients are up for debate. some believe green tea and vanilla bean powder is involved. it is reportedly less complicated than the unicorn frappuccino which caused an up rising by baristas. there you go, you're up to date. >> i don't know whether it falls into indulgence or healthy. >> i think it is indulgence. >> i don't know. i think so. i think that's safe to say. thank you, sue, very much. 28 minutes left in the trading session with the dow up 27 points. i'm here on the floor with matt chesslock upset about the demise of the unicorn frap. >> my kids never had one. >> it is too late now. >> typical. i missed the boat. >> is it too late to get in this market? >> that's an interesting question. you know, we were so surprised at the beginning of this week. we got caught off guard. last week looked like we were going to turn over, roll over. this week surprising. today strong day after two

strong days prior. earnings, despite some large misses, this market held up resiliently. i don't think it is too late, especially if we get all we are expecting out of d.c. >> what's the catalyst here? i mean we didn't get any fireworks after the tax plan was unveiled today, for example. >> no, the rumor was out so we already knew it. >> we had a sense of what was coming. >> the fact we didn't sell off on it i think is more important. this market is showing resiliency in earnings and i think that's the important part. the economy is picking up. business sense is strong. i think what people are expecting out of businesses, at least for the second quarter because the forecasts have been good, that's what is holding the markup. that's why you can still get in at least for the next couple weeks. >> great. thanks, matt. try the dragon frap, i guess. it is still around. sara. they all work on instagram. that's the whole key. thanks. less than half an hour to go before the closing bell, and we still have the dow up 21 points. just actually cutting that gain in half. groups like telecom are out on performing today, consumer

staples bottom of the s&p. a key group of taxpayers may take an especially hard hit from the president's proposed tax reforms. we will have details on that coming up on "closing bell." a ,

the white house reportedly

considering an executive order to withdraw from nafta. elon moya is in washington with the latest details. big reaction to this? >> reporter: you're right. the white house considering that order and that's according to nbc news. right now it is unclear exactly how far this directive would go and how much authority the president has to the act alone without support from congress. a white house official has told cnbc that an order is not imminent. the administration is already putting the wheels in motion to renegotiate this deal. they've drafted a letter to send to congress that would give them 90 days to start these talks, and there's some political hurdles that must be cleared before they can send it, that includes getting nominee for u.s. trade representative confirmed by the senate. his nomination did move out of committee this week and it is likely the senate could take up this matter in the next week or so after we get through with funding the government. in the meantime, we've seen lots of other actions from this administration, trying to show they are tough on trade, which is so important to his base.

they've been launching reviews of trade deals, and just this week they imposed duties on lumber from canada. wilbur ross has been the administration's point person on trade, so expect to see more actions from him as the president looks to score big wins before his 100th day in office. >> all right. very good. >> having a terrible week. the peso dropped to a one-month low. of course, the idea is if the u.s. withdraws or renegotiates it is bad for their economy, or at least harmful. >> absolutely. >> that's why their currencies are hurting. >> that would be the looney. >> looney, up hum. >> i learned something. 22 minutes left in the trading session right now. losing some ground here. the dow now just up 11 points as we head toward the close. the s&p pulling back from the possibility of an all-time high here. about 5 points away at the moment. president trump said his tax reform plan would not be welcome by the likes of hr block. we will talk with jackson

hewett, the outcoming ceo about what tax reform means to his business coming up. >> look at the impact of tax reform on small business owners. coming up, a conversation with reality tv stars and small business owners rick harrison of "pawn stars" and jon taffer of "bar rescue." that's coming up next on "closing bell." ♪ ♪ welcome to holiday inn! ♪ ♪ thank you! ♪ ♪

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. we have a news alert on the threat of a government shut down. kayla tow in d.c. with the latest details. >> reporter: well, there are a lot of moving parts here in washington, bill, but the news i'm going to bring you is actually the fact the white house has told democratic lawmakers on the hill it will continue making payments funding the affordable care act cost sharing reductions. had is a sum of about $7 billion, $10 billion next year that they pay to insurance companies to basically subsidize the plans of low to middle income americans. that had been a pawn in this spending battle. the white house wanted funding for the border wall. democrats wanted funding for these payments. the border wall funding has since been dropped in the spending bill, but the white house has now told democratic lawmakers according to a source familiar that they will continue making these payments. this is very crucial for insurance companies and for

states with the rates for affordable care act plans due in the coming days and weeks. so having that certainty will be very important for them as they figure out whether they'll participate and at what price going forward, but this is certainly an interesting development as the white house had been trying to drive a hard bargain on this very issue. guys. >> all right, kayla. thank you. kay kayla touche in washington. >> news coming from d.c. unveiling what the white house has called the biggest tax cuts earlier today. there may be winners and losers and robert frank has been digging through the numbers and joins us with which groups get a big benefit and which don't. >> a lot of cross currents here. everyone wants to know how it affects them, are their taxes going up or down. let's look at the winners or losers. if you are a hedge fund partner, a doctor, a lawyer, a real estate developer anyone that owns a partnership or llc, the trump plan probably will cut your taxes maybe by as much as half. big for them, but high-wage earners, especially on the

coast, their plan, it could be a big tax hike. look why. pass through income is taxed at 15% under this plan. higher standard deduction so the middle class gets their tax cut. the big unknown, the top rate is 35% but we don't know what the dollar brackets are. capital gains tax looks like it could come down a little bit. this is the big one. deductions basically aside from charitable and mortgage get wiped out. so here is why the winners are the winners. if you are a business owner or partnership, you get that pass-through income now at 15%. that will be a huge gainer for them. now, if you work for a company and you get a paycheck and if you're in california, new york, any of the northeast, you can no longer deduct your state income taxes. so that is going to be huge. now, one study said there would be, quote, a massive tax shifting if this pass-through rate comes through because you could form the bill griffeth llc, call yourself a contractor and get a 15% rate. so what we don't know in any of

this on the cost or pluses how much of that is going to funnel through under pass-through income. a lot to keep track of. who knows how much will pass. >> exactly. it is very early at this point. >> how about the congressional republicans from new york, california, new jersey? >> the republicans? >> yeah, a few. >> a couple of them. >> thank you, guys. >> with president trump's proposed tax policy, one industry that seemingly could be hurt are tax service companies. in fact, president trump said as much back in february. >> we're going to simplify very greatly the tax code. it is too complicated. we're going to bring down the number of alternatives, and i think it is going to be just a much, much simpler tax -- in fact, h&r block probably won't be too happy. that's one business that might not be happy with what we're doing. other than h&r block i think people will love it. >> he might have also mentioned

jackson hewett, who is a competitor of h&r. joining us right now is the outgoing ceo of jackson hewett, david, thanks for joining us. you're note worried, you're leaving the company, but do you think tax preparation services should be concerned if there's a true simplification of the tax process? >> no, and i'm not -- i mean going to our board and we just finished an amazing year, but we're for simplification. you know, what i think a lot of people are for, what was outlined, you know, less brackets, lower rates. while that's simpler, the tax return for most americans is their biggest financial transaction. so we're bullish on simplification. we would like to spend more time on planning and making sure people get the biggest refund, you know, that they deserve. we're for simplification. >> let's get into the nitty-gritty a little bit. we know that the administration does want to double the standard deduction for comes. would that simplify the process if millions of people opt

instead of itemized breaks go toward the standardized deduction? >> yeah, i think it is interesting. you know, going to 24,000, about a third of our numbers, about a third of people itemize. i don't know if it will cut that in half by going up to $24,000. the there still will be other credits, earned income credits, iras, while people play not itemize there still will be complications on the tax returns. one of the things on the 24,000, it says to trump's core base, you won't pay taxes if this goes through on the first $24,000 of income that's made. so that, you know, seems to be playing very hard to his hard-working american base. >> and the small businesses that would benefit by not having their company taxed at their owner's rate but at this 15% corporate rating, to you think we will see a rush to start these llcs and other types of businesses that would on benefit from that rate? >> on the surface it would seem so. i think gary cohen today said they were going to work hard to shut down that loophole, you know, in a little bit of the

press conference that i saw. but on balance, yes, being a business owner, it is better to be a business owner under this plan than a worker. >> all right. well, as we said, it is still very early. >> you guys have to create a post card. that's what the treasury secretary keeps saying. >> heard about that. >> americans just need a big post card to file their taxes. >> that's what steve forbes want heed. thanks for joining us today. appreciate it very much. >> good to be with you. >> outgoing ceo of jackson hewett. >> 12 minutes before the closing bell. we have seen stocks come up. the highs on the dow just slipped into negative territory here. see if the nasdaq ends positive. it would be a new record close, same with the russell 2000. that maintained a gain of almost three-quarters of a percent. >> maybe spryingly, maybe not, the utilities sector has been up about 6% since the president took office in january. can it go higher? we have a bull-bear debate on utilities coming up. >> cnbc sector sort is sponsored

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. two of sara's favorite animation now. a moment ago the market close orders came in with a buy, the buy -- is to the buy side, $200 million to buy heading into the close? >. head, make or break, positive. >> we're seeing selling coming into the market. s&p utilities sector one of the top performers so far this year, almost as much as the s&p matter of fact. >> is there still room to buy the group right now? joining us, we have a bull-bear debate. from gug enhypothetical securities, he is bull issue on utilities. and travis miller who is bearish. how much of your thesis has to do with the fact the 10-year treasury yield has barely moved, and that keeps the high-dividend paying utilities, the rate sensitive stocks, in doe manned? >> sara and bill, thanks for having me on. i think interest rate fundamentals is one factor impacting the sector. our viewpoint is similar to what

you are looking at in history. the utility space can trade outside of forward interest rate expectations when you sort of have a bunch of external impacting the market. we have a big base of nervous investors, whether you are looking at geopolitical, global macro, u.s. policy inertia. as you highlighted, lower bond yield expectations coupled with a broad market that's trading at a relatively high valuation. i think investors will continue to look for utilities, at least in the near term. >> travis, you are our bear. you're looking at low commodity costs that keep bill flat, a rise in gas prices that squeeze profits. do you think investors are looking at that or they just like the fat dividends they can get if they invest in these companies? >> it's been all dividend play. you look at valuation here, the story is valuation, valuation, valuation. yeah, yields and cash, that's going to continue to come from utilities, but you look at some of the nose-bleed valuations,

numbers we haven't seen in decades if not more. the yields are low, the pe multiple is up 19 times plus the price to book up. these things are going to come down. even though cash returns might be good, investors, they have to sell stocks at some time. when they sell they're going to realize capital losses when these multiples come in. >> are they more expensive than staples and telecom, the other ones that go up when rates stay low? >> yeah, we think they are. we've got the sector about 15% overvalued. again, when you think about the slow growth long-terminature of these utilities, if investors are investing in them like bonds, these yields are not good enough and the growth is not there to support the capital losses we think will come when the multiples come in. >> all right. >> two sides of the story. >> wish we had more time. thanks for joining us today. appreciate it very much. >> up next, we are coming right back with bill's closing countdown. >> we are. doesn't look like we're going to get an all-time high. after the bell, sweeping

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resilience of the market after two straight days of 200 plus point gains for the dow. first time that's happened since the election last november. but now we are seeing minus signs as we go into the close here. for a time the s&p, we were talking about the possibility of an all-time high close. we already had one for the nasdaq and the russell. the s&p we were watching was 2395 and change, almost 2396, but that's out of the question right now as we see the selling come into the market here in the close. something else we're seeing a lot of selling, the mention kae peso, bob pisani, in light of all of the trade talk, the president talking about maybe pulling out of nafta. so the peso against the dollar has been getting slammed today, and canadian tlar has been down weekly as well. but that's been a tough time. we are looking at the dollar now versus the peso, that's why it is going up, not down. >> the stock market is doing well though. about our little fade here, we have this nice thing going for 4:00, a new high on the s&p, historic high, had a nice story

ready and of course it fell apart. some comments out of the white house might be having an impact. senior white house officials say china now ses north korea as a threat to chinese interest and security. of course the president is having a meeting with the senate, senators today to brief them on this. that is coming out of this. that came out on just around the time we started drifting south. maybe it is having a little bit of impact on it. tomorrow, bill, big day for the tech earnings. so, remember, banks have generally been reporting good numbers, decent guidance. the industrial names came out, good numbers and very good guidance for the years. they've been affirming or raising the numbers, allaying a lot of the fears that the market is too expensive, earnings will not keep up with it. this is one of the reasons the markets move forward. now we're going to get some of the big tech names reporting in the next few days, and we will see how they do. we got ibm, now we will get a lot of the other names and that will be a crucial component. if they do it, if they say things are better, the market is going to definitely hold up. risk could be the upside right

now. no new highs here. >> not today. not at least for the s&p, and we're not -- we have more earnings coming your way in a moment with the dow down about 15 points as we head to the close. stay tuned for the second hour of "closing bell." ♪ and welcome to "closing bell." i'm sara eisen in for kelly evans. bill will be rejoining us here onset in just a moment. let's take a look at how we're finishing up the day on wall street. a little bit of selling into the close, leaves the dow, the s&p and the nasdaq all negative for the day, just barely. look at the russell 2000 though. it has a gain of a little more than half a percent. that is a new record closing high for the index of small-cap stocks. it is going to be another busy earnings hour for you. meeting terrell covering am again. we will get the results from

paypal. susan lee will have buffalo wild wiengs and dee dee roy all over las vegas sands. joining us fcc chair ajit pai, proposing to roll back international regulations put in place by the obama administration, and he is joining us first on cnbc. coming up, telecom stocks by the way the best performing group in the s&p today. a lot of the internet service providers trading sharply higher. joining me on today's pant, mike santolli. also with us jack atlin of bmo private bank and jeff kleintal from schwab. the fact that the market moving into this has moved on any width of any corporate tax reform, barely budged after we got the administration's proposal, was that a sign there were no big surprises? >> no big surprises. i think it is one of the things if you were waiting to take profits after this nice little one-week move we had, until we saw this tax outline of

principals really kind of blew you away, you certainly didn't get it with that announcement. i would argue the market is disenfwaged to some degree from policy headlines largely. it has been comfortable with the idea earnings are pretty good, global growth is working, global markets are rallying. i feel we didn't come into the run to the old highs on the s&p 500 with with all that much of a head of steam. it was a nip and tuck toward the close. i wouldn't make much out of it. >> as a matter of fact, jeff, you say the biggest risk for investors may be putting too much emphasis on political risk can, right? >> absolutely. there's been an obsession with political risk. >> are we overthinking this thing? >> maybe we are. there was an interest in election in europe. this year the emphasis on tax reform, which by the way is not just in the u.s. merkel is proposing tax cuts, teresa may in u.k. is proposing tax cuts. macron, the leading candidate

for french presidency is talking about tax cuts in france. that's not new news for the market. i think invest wrors have been putting too much emphasis on this. it is about better economic growth, better volume gains and i think that's the key. we are seeing that. >> on the flip side, jack, if we do get a 15% corporate tax rate, if the administration can accomplish that or even something lower than it is right now, one-time repatriation tax, a more territorial tax swrurs dix which we learned today, i mean wouldn't that have a material impact on corporate earnings? >> it certainly would. and i think it would be certainly positive for the u.s. mid-cap, small-cap, negative for the large countries like ireland, singapore, hong kong that have had 15%, 17% corporate tax rates and have had massive foreign direct investment over the last couple of decades. so, yeah, i think that we will see -- probably be careful what

we wish for. we're going to get that reinvestment back here at home. we're going to get that growth. we're going to get the capital investment, but we're going to deal largely a lot of the production with technology, with robotics, not necessarily with people. >> we have first earning mover out, las vegas sands. dee dee roy has those numbers. >> reporter: hi there, sara. it is in line on top and bead on the bottom. revenues at $3.1 billion, in line with estimates. earnings were 66 cents and the street was looking for 62 cent, sos of so it is a four cent beat. investors were watching the mccow properties and on most of the properties was a beat. the parisian was a miss. gross gambling refuse news in all of macau rose in all three months of the quarter so a tail wind. the numbers are coming one day

after steve wind came out with strong numbers for wind properties. the stock is moving up right now, about 1% right now, and the earnings call will be up in about half an hour. we will be on it. back to you guys. >> thank you, dee dee. as she pointed out, you know, we talk about wind resorts yesterday. it is all about macau right now. >> it is, and the las vegas sands. >> that stock closed up 6% today. >> exactly. las vegas during the regular session was up more than 1%, well up more than 10% in the last two months. i think there's a lot of positive sentiment, people feeling momentum to that story. i think it is basically part of the same story from wynn. >> jack, do you like the gaming sector at all? it is high lick cyclical, highly economically sensitive but it seems to be coming back. >> certainly cyclical and consumer oriented. i don't have strong feelings for it. it is not really an area i track that closely.

it is a china play certainly with macao and chinese trying to get money out of the country. perhaps that's one way they're doing it. >> fair enough. more earnings. this time amgen. meg terrell has results. >> reporter: it looks like a beat in the first quarter, at least on the bottom line. eps at $3.15 on adjusted basis versus analyst expectations of $3, however revenue slightly missing at 5.46 billion in first quarter versus estimates of $5.6 billion. they are bringing up guidance by 20 cents at least on bottom of the range, now seeing $12 to $12.60 for 27 adjusted eps. some of the lightness on revenue looks like it may be coming from big rheumatoid arthritis drug which declined about 15% year over year for the first quarter to $1.12 billion versus consensus of $1.38 billion. the company saying they're seeing weakness across that entire class. amgen up about .3% after the

close. and those results may have some implications for ad v who reports tomorrow and has a big drug in that same class. we will keep digging. back to you. >> i don't know if the stock held or not, but it is not moving at all. up a third of a percent. >> amgen doesn't slow down with age. the stock has been basically kind of side ways, one of those biotechs that doesn't get much of a multiple anymore. we have been talking about the landmarks with the nasdaq, up 6,000, 5,00017 years ago, that has doubled since the former top of the nasdaq, but nothing in the last 2 1/2 years. so i think it is more of the same. it is a mature story now? >. and it is moving now. now it is heading lower after these results. >> we have another one for you. earnings alert on paypal. deidre bosa has those numbers. >> reporter: hey, guys. this is a beat on top and bottom line. eps of 44 cents versus 41 cents, forecast revenue up 17% in the quarter to $2.975 billion versus

2.94, which was forecast. also want to note shares are popping nearly 7% in the after hours, and that will bring paypal to all-time high since it spun off from ebay in 2015. also, the company raising its full-year guidance for eps to $1.74 to $1.79, slightly higher than previously. total payments volume, this is an important metric, that is in line at about $99 billion. also more people are using paypal more frequently. active customer accounts who are -- grew by six million in the quarter to 203 million, and paypal continues to gain traction in mobile payments. volume was up 51% in the quarter to $32 billion. also just a quick note on venmo, payments processed about i this service more than doubled in the quarter, and shares popping by more than 5% in after hours.

>> also looking at expanding its relationship with google, paypal and the android pay wallet and announcing a partnership agreement with wells fargo. >> digital payments very competitive but very hot right now. >> exactly. a crowded space, but i think the story with paypal as it's been an independent public company is it solidified its position near the center, especially with venmo which has been excited. it will be two years since that spin off. i think coming this summer, that's when formerly spun-off companies, you start to be able to think about whether they can reconsolidate into something. i don't think that's necessarily imminent, but it has always been part of the thesis with paypal. >> you know, technology broadly speaking, jeff, with the nasdaq hovering around the 6,000 level heading into what are some key earnings, you just wonder how high the expectations have gotten and how high the valuations have gotten as we await results from the biggies like microsoft, amazon and alphabet this week. >> yeah, you know, bill said something interesting about paypal, is that margins are

compressing. but, look, volume growth is there. that's going to be, i think, what makes the winners and the losers, not just in tech but the entire earnings season. do you have volume growth or not. look, all of these companies reporting, amgen, paypal, we will hear from buffalo wild wings in a little bit, the difference is they're not seeing much in terms of pricing power, though some have volume growth and others don't. i think that will determine how well they perform. the reflation theme is largely over. it is all about volume gains now, who has them and who doesn't. you will see now paypal popping i think because of those secular volume gains as online payments continue to grow. look, there's no margin story anymore. costs are actually rising now, and businesses are unable to pass that along to the final consumer. >> yeah. >> speaking of paypal we got more -- >> i would agree -- >> hang on, jack. deirdre has more on paypal. >> reporter: also want to mention another possible reason for enthusiasm in the after hours. paypal announcing a $5 billion share buy back plan after

announcing in the last quarter $2 billion in share repurchases, guys. >> all right. it is off ties, up 4.7%. what were you going to say? >> i was going to agree with mr. kleintop's point in an environment where corporate debt and leverage is so high, you need to build that top line in order to expand your margin. so certainly looking at revenue growth -- and i will say first quarter revenue growth was pretty sound, over 6%. but we do need to see all of those companies come through with top-line growth. >> all right. now buffalo wild wings. they've been in the news recently. reluctantly so. our food owe correspondent susan lee has the result. >> reporter: i love it when you call me that. let's run through the numbers. might be more ammunition for our capital as they're engaged in proxy battle with buffalo wild wings. buffalo wild wings a miss on the bottom line. earnings per share and adjusted

$1.44. way below estimate. revenues in line and when it comes to comparable sales, a meager .5% in the quarter, ahead of estimates, but it gives more ammo to maguire who is engaged in the proxy buyout with buffalo wild wings. they called last week for ceo to step down. they want four directors nominated including meeting maguire and they have the proxy vote in early june. let's see how it goes. again, they complained buffalo wild wings has underperformed on virtually every metric including foot traffic and increasing costs. back to you. >> and the stock is down 1 3/4% after hours. >> it is an ugly story, but you can speculate it would be down more if you did not have the activist in there with a 6% stake and a vote coming in early june about the activist slate from directors and maybe a change of strategy. >> june 2nd is when that showdown is set for. activist pressure right now, jack, as an overall theme, we

talked a lot about it with our conick yesterday, buffalo wild wings today, you also had pg&e coming out with under performance today, that's another one that got a big stake. has that been lifting some of the stocks that otherwise had had weaker results? >> i think so. i mean, you know, certainly buffalo wild wings is struggling at just about all points, you know, no bones about that. but we are seeing a lot of pressure on top of the traditional low growth story in some of these staples names, and the activists are coming in. that's helping shareholders to some degree, certainly putting a lot of pressure on management. >> all right. we got to go, guys. thank you. appreciate your thoughts on today's market. >> thank you. >> thanks for joining us. >> all right. a big reversal, of course, of the fcc chairman ajit pai announcing plans to roll back

regulations governing the telecom industry and internet competition. one of the big stories of the day, and up next he joins us here to layout his vision on a first on cnbc interview. >> later we're going to talk to small reality tv stars. their businesses are small. they're small business owners. >> big stars. >> they are. rick harrison and jon taffer is who we're talking about. they will talk about president trump's tax reform plan and how it will affect their businesses and main street overall, still to come. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. >> this cnbc program is sponsored by -- let's go, she's a dog.

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we have a news alert on weight watchers and susan lee, the market appears to like what it heard so far. >> reporter: the stock is up 6% after hours and that's because mindy grossman has been announced as new ceo, chief executive officer of weight watchers effective july of 2017. we know the stock has been surging this year, up 76% year-to-date. would have made 100% over the past six months and the third largest shareholder in weight watchers is oprah winfrey. right now the oprah winfrey came out with a statement in support

of mindy. she says mindy is a proven and successful visionary. oprah winfrey, of course, owns 9% of weight watchers, and active board member and some would say responsible for the turn around we have seen in the company and in the stock. back to you. >> wow, mindy grossman. that's interesting. >> home shopping network ceo, widely regarded as one of the most powerful women in business. >> yes, ma'am. >> and nike as well. >> so that stock on the move. meantime, president trump's fcc chairman proposing a reversal for internet service providers today, changing them from utility like telecommunication services to information service providers. it is a classification isps had until 2015. this switch back would leave isps with less federal oversight, designed to ensure all online content is treated the same by the companies that deliver broadband service to americans. it is technical. >> it is highly technical, but it is very contentious at the same time the.

joining us in a first-time cnbc interview we welcome back fcc chairman ajit pai. welcome back. >> great to be you. >> i can imagine, you've just been waiting, biding your time until you could reverse the net neutrality rules imposed two years ago, yes? >> well, not so much biding my time but trying to figure out what the right way forward is for americans online, and to me, at least, if we want to prioritize instruct investment, we want more competition in the broadband marketplace, if we want to give more consumers better, faster, cheaper internet, getting rid of the heavy-handed economic regulations inspired in the great depression is the way to do it. >> as consumer we don't want some of the internet service providers, at&t, our parent company comcast to block web traffic or slow it down or charge higher rates. so how do you answer some of those consumer concerns that felt protected by net neutrality rules? >> i couldn't agree with them more. the best evidence that a light touch regulatory framework that started in the clinton administration works is that we

didn't see companies blocking access to lawful content in the 20 years prior to the fcc's imposition of these rules in 2015. going forward, i laid out an aggressive agenda for incentivizing more competitors, smaller companies to enter the marketplace, to deploy infrastructure. that's the best way i think to promote consumer welfare, not pretelltive rules that presume every single company is in a monopoly. >> what would be some of the examples, if you can get specific about what you consider outdated rules creating these economic situations with some of the competition here, and it is retarding innovation? a lot of people see it as already being a bit of a free-for-all with some of the legacy companies saying they have to move fast to keep up. >> just give you one example. the fcc has a lot of rules on the books that require telephone companies to maintain the copper line networks almost at all costs. it makes it really difficult for them to upgrade. when i talk to consumers they

want more fiber and net generation technology support to their homes. by definition, every single dollar the company has to spend maintaining yesterday's network is by definition a dollar they can't spend laying fiber and tomorrow's technology. that's one of the mmm examples we're trying to address during my time as chairman. >> what's the timeline here? when do you hope, expect to begin the process of rolling that back? >> we will be voting on what is called notice of rule making on get rid of title 2 on may 19th. this coming month the public will have a chance to comment on the proposal, and at some point after that we will take stock of what's in the record and make the appropriate decision important the american people. >> have you talked to facebook about this or google or some of the other big technology internet sites that are on the other end of this? >> i have. just last week i was in silicon valley, i spoke with facebook, a lot of internet companies that are the pride and joy of the internet economy, and rightly

so. what i told them is what i'll tell you, is that all of us believe in the free and open internet. it has been good for everybody. the internet is great foreign trupp nears to consumers. we don't want heavy-handed regulation standing in the way of building next generation network. how to preserve those values going forward is something i'm going to keenly focus on. >> speaking of facebook, on another topic here, you know, lately -- i mean we all know that live video is becoming very popular and it is a growth area for a lot of these social media companies, but we've seen some horrible things on these videos recently, murders and suicides and things. do you even have jurisdiction over that? if you do, what can we do about that to try to control what these live videos that come from the grassroots? >> these are really distressing tapes. just yesterday i read a story about a father in thailand who filmed himself dropping his infant daughter from a multi-story building. it was really disgusting. as a regulator we don't have

jurisdiction at the fcc to tell facebook what it can and can't broadcast. that's something that's beyond the scope of our authority. >> and your deregulation push, everybody is wondering what the environment will look like, the spectrum auctions are finally up, a deadline for deal negotiations for the telecom giants can start thursday even onning. i know you can't comment spskally on thasps specifically on that, but part of the assumption is it will be a much friendlier administration when it comes to allowing deals, is that true? >> i can tell you that speculation might be out there. but what i can tell you is that my consistent view has been that the fcc should evaluate any transaction that comes before us based on the public interest standard. if it is good for consumers and competition, we will approve it. if it is not, we won't. that's something that is highly fact -- we need to see the papers in front of us and look at the economics and the law and make the appropriate decision. here in the vacuum i can't tell

you one way or the other how we might come out in any given transaction or series of deals that might be presented. >> would a company, a broadband provider that owned a content business, weighting that proprietary content at zero and being good for customers, is that something along the lines of what you think is desirable? >> it depends on the facts of the particular case so i can't speculate. again, if i were presented with a transaction that involved questions like that, i think a fair and full view of the issue, what the record develop, let people on both sides have their input and then administer the law as best i can. >> all right. mr. chairman, good to see you. thank you for your time. appreciate it very much. >> thanks for having me. >> let's send it to susan lee. quick earnings alert. >> reporter: i want to show you f5, down 7% in of a hours. this is a network software provider, and pretty much missing on all metrics in the earnings. so top line. bottom line, missing on guidance was pretty weak for the third

quarter. another guidance, 201, 204 for the quarter. back to you. >> thank you very much, susan. . twitter shares soaring today after those strong earnings we talked about. up next, we'll discuss whether this comeback for the company is sustain theable. >> and tesla's ceo elon musk has been a top adviser to president trump, but now one silicon valley investor is launching a million dollar campaign to convince musk to dump trump. we'll hear from that investor later on "closing bell."

shares of twitter surging today, up now 8%. it was up more than that earlier after the company beat on earnings, but the bigger surprise, the big jump in monthly active users to 328 million. that was 7 million more than expected, and 9 million more than last quarter. and then today in an attempt to attract more users they announced a plan to air live video 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. are we ready to declare victory here though for jack dorsey? >> i think if you look at the longer term chart you would see this was a pretty sizable pop off a very depressed base. close to 52-week lows. i think it was the user numbers that told people, okay, fine, the user base is not eroding anymore, it is not as if they're back sliding. the revenue is down and all of the rest. >> you could argue maybe some is attributable to the political climate.

we have a president that uses twitter a lot, we all know that, and maybe it attracted people back. >> maybe. >> how did the anthony know -- he called them the returners or something like that. >> yeah. >> they come back to twitter. >> in theory it is possibly true. the company does not like to lean on that idea very much. they don't want to make it seem like this is kind of a gimmick-driven thing, plus it is a very global user base. >> true. >> usually more than most of the social networks. really the big issue is on a relative basis it continues to shrink in terms of the ad pool versus the rest of the advertising. i think the ad proposal is not all that clear. >> you mentioned revenues. it is worth pointing out, yes, this was a surprisingly good gain in monthly active users, but sales fell 548 million. it was the first year-on-year sales klein fdecline for the co since it went public. they have to figure out how to make money off it. >> you remember when the company was set to be in play, and perhaps some people were looking at acquiring, we were talking about $20 a share, maybe a

little more even if there were a couple of people interested. so you are still talking about something that's almost seems like a call option on them figuring it out. if you take out the net cash, it is under $10 billion in enterprise value. it is not a big economic entity for the size of the voice that it's platform has. >> as julia boorstin reminded us, instagram came out with user numbers, 700 million. that continues to grow exponentially. >> you're right, it is not a big deal right now, but they can't not do it, right? >> that's right. >> everybody else is doing it. could you imagine the hugh and cry if jack dorsey didn't add that to their plate, right? >> and they have the capability and might as well do the experiment as everybody else is doing. it is kind of a utility on some level. the day they start paying a ton of money forex cluesive content over and above what they're doing right now might be trouble with the investors. >> dorsey did say a significant decrease of abuse on the platform. >> they have focused on a lot. >> all right. time for cnbc news update with

sue herera. hi again, sue. >> reporter: hi, sara, hi, bill. here is what is happening at this hour. a senior white house official says the u.s. may place north korea on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. it comes as the u.s. military helps south korea install the core parts today of the thad missile defense system. there is growing concern that north korea could eventually launch a nuclear missile. security forces clashing with protesters in occur auk usa today. tens of thousands of venezuelans are demonstrating against the president. they are blaming him for triple digit inflation and rising crime as well as food and medical supply shortages. researchers finding evidence of human-like behavior at a site in southern california dating back 130,000 years. it it has been widely estimated the first humans arrived in north america 15,000 years ago. the report appears -- in today's journal "nature." amazon is trying to use tech to help you dress better.

amazon promoting its new echo look camera as a style assistant, if you will, one that will judge your outfits and catalogue them. it is capable of snapping full-length photos and short videos so you can see yourself from every angle. i'm not sure i want to do that. there's no official release date for that camera. >> is that what -- >> every angle. >> this morning, i didn't see what that was about. that's all i need. >> it also gives you advice on style, which obviously is a revenue driver for amazon. >> we get plenty of that around here, don't we? >> reporter: we get plenty of advice on style. there are certain angles you just shouldn't see. >> bill has a style guide, wear the same problem as me. >> prom night on "closing bell" every day. thank you, sue. >> there you go. >> one of the questions of the day, how president trump's new tax plan will impact main street. we are talking small business. up next, we will hear from two of america's best known small business owners and

entrepreneurs. >> look at them hanging out. >> and they're friend, rick harrison of pawn stars and jon taffer. you don't want to miss this interview. >> also not a great story, the face of espn is literally changing. we have details about big lay-offs involving familiar reporters announced here a little while ago. we have it later coming up on "closing bell." ♪ because those are the best rooms. because they have tvs in them. and when we're not in those rooms? we want our shows to go with us. anywhere? you got that right, kid show thing. get a directv all included package in four rooms and on your favorite devices for $25 a month when you have the new at&t unlimited plus plan.

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. if you're just joining us, take a quick look at how we finished the day on wall street. a steady eddie day until the close. we had been up 20, 30 points. in fact the s&p was threatening an all-time high for much of the day, but near the close we saw minus signs as the sellers moved in, the dow, the s&p, the nasdaq lower on the day. the russell 2000 is another new all-time high. checking on the earnings after the bell tonight, you can see amgen lowing right now. paypal is up 6 1/4%. buffalo wild wings down 2.7% as it fights a proxy battle. las vegas sands down 1 1/4% right now. >> president trump reforming blueprint to reform today.

eamon javers has the highlights of what we learned today. >> reporter: hi, sara. it was gary kohn, the economic director and treasury secretary steven mnuchen briefing reporters on the details of the president's plan. they put out a one-page proposal, outlining significant tax cuts and changes to tax deductions. among other things, secretary mnuchen gave us his gdp growth forecast. here is what he said. >> we believe we can get back to 3% or higher gdp that is sustainable in this country. the overall economic plan consists of massive tax cuts and tax reform, regulatory relief, and renegotiating trade deals. with that we will unlock the economic growth that's been held back for too long in this country. >> reporter: in an event here at the white house earlier today, president trump was asked by a reporter about his views on the plan and we had the first opportunity to hear from him directly about what he thinks about all of this. here is what he said.

>> mr. president, do you think [[ inaudible ] question]. >> get people back to work. >> reporter: so he was asked how he was going to pay for the plan. the president there saying it is a great plan, it is going to put people back to work. we will see if the reception on capitol hill is as good as the president wants it to be. i just talked to press secretary sean spicer a few moments ago here at the white house, and he told me that among the other things that still needed to be negotiated is exactly what percentage the tax break will be for companies that are repatriating income from overseas. he say's that's going to be left to a negotiation with lawmakers on capitol him. you can imagine the starting gun for that negotiation was fired today, guys. >> that was one of the questions. >> yeah, that's for sure. eamon, thanks. another busy day. let's get more on how small businesses may be reacting to the president's tax proposal here. we're joined by two of america about's best known small business men, reality tv stars

themselves, rick harrison owner of gold and silver pawn and star of "pawn stars," of course, and owner of taffer dynamics consulting, the star of "bar rescue," mr. jon taffer. both of you best friends i gather before the show started here. welcome back to both of you guys. it is great to see you. a long-time-no-see. i guess all i have to say to you both is 15%. rick, if that becomes the new number, the tax rate for small businesses out there, that i would think would be a big boost, yes? >> well, it would be a massive boost. i mean you have to look at our federal government with all of the unfunded liabilities and everything else going on. the only way we're ever going to pay for that is a lot of growth for a very long time, and right now -- i mean i didn't -- you know, i'm a serial business opener. i just -- i consistently open up businesses. sometimes they fail, sometimes they do well, sometimes i sell them. i didn't do nothing last year. it is just getting to the point with our current tax system, it is the whole risk-reward model

is not there. when i'm giving over 50% of what i make to the federal government and then dealing with the regulations and everything else like that, it is just like do i really want to do it anymore. you have lower taxes, get rid of some of the regulations, i'm all back in the game. >> jon, we have been talking a lot on air today about these pass-throughs which is how a lot of the small businesses in this country are structured. is that how yours is done? if so, what's the current rate you pay and what would a 15% rate mean? >> you know, a 15% rate is huge. you know, the greatest regulation upon growth is a lack of capital for business to reinvest. if we can reinvest a portion of th that 15% to 20% of what we're saving in taxes, think about what it does. this impacts everyone. to me the three big winners are small business owners who about 50% are families, charities because corporate profits go up, the charitable deduction remains, so events like power of

love in las vegas tomorrow night, suddenly a huge charity earns more income. when you think about the first 24,000 being tax free, think about a family who makes $48,000 a year. their tax savings is 50% right out of the gate. i think we're hitting all cylinders here. i think we're hitting it on a large corporate basis, a family-owned small business and the family itself and charity. >> all right. i know both of you have been trump supporters. so i know where you're coming from but you're small businessmen and the 15% rate would be very attractive. let me bring up this topic some people are asking. how do they pay for it? they haven't answered that question yet. are you concerned, jon, about what this will do to the budget deficit that continues to grow in this country? >> well, you know, if you take a look at growth from 2% to 3%, all of the research i'm seeing increases federal revenue by about five trillion dollars. most of that employment related.

the trick is not what we pay, it is the total revenue model, and i see us increasing revenue when we start getting the 3% to 4% growth. >> so, rick, we keep talking about the surge in confidence, especially at small business. is it actually yielding more investment, more hiring? are you taking that big boost and putting more money to work as a result? >> well, you know, we all know government. i just want to make sure this actually gets done, and i will reinvest more. if we have more growth, if we can -- it just boggles the mind we have, you know, the senate and the house arguing about how much should we tax repatriation of money. that's trillions of dollars. if it was 0% and that money came here, just with the velocity of money, with that money going through the economy over a few wreers, that's a couple hundred billion a year right there. >> yeah, but, rick -- >> let it be business --

>> it doesn't happen in a vacuum. if you're going to cut revenue, government revenue somewhere by cutting taxes, you have to make it up somewhere else. you got to -- either you cut back on some of the deductions that are out there or you have the repatriation tax that they're going to have to charge at some point as well. you're a businessman, you know how it works. >> i know how it works and sometimes you have to spend money to make money, and we might have a higher deficit for a few years. but if you free up the entrepreneurial spirit in this country, i think we can -- we can easily have 4% growth for years. >> so, jon -- >> and that money -- >> sorry to cut you off. >> 600,000 small businesses open in america every year. currently 740,000 are closing. if we can reverse that trend and start opening 740,000 small businesses every year, a lot happens from that. there's a lot of revenue in this model to be found. >> very quickly since you're both trump supporters, rick, i'll ask you first, first 100 days, are you frustrated we haven't seen any of this come to

fruition in major legislation? >> he has a lot done with what he has to deal with. you know, he took a new job, there's a learning curve. don't worry, he will get it done. >> jon? >> you know, i think -- i'm very pleased with his performance. when you consider the opposition he's been against, he's been a fighter and he's fighting for what he promised. nobody can argue when a man delivers on his word, and that's what i believe he's doing. >> i'm waiting for harrison to start a bar, open a bar so that taffer can come tear it apart at some point. >> i do have a bar, he helped design it. >> that will be fun. >> there you go. >> i do, i have a bar that john helped me design years ago. we've been friends for years. >> i'm late to the party on that one. rick harrison, jon taffer, good to see you both. >> bye-bye. >> elon musk is certainly serving on trump's business council, been to the white house a number of times. one silly con investor is willing to pay big bucks if musk

dumps trump. he will join us with the story coming up. >> first, changing reality, television is forcing espn to layoff 100 of its on-air anchor and reporters including well-known names. we will get to that story coming up. you are watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. the whisperer? why do they call him the whisperer? he talks to planes. he talks to planes. watch this. hey watson, what's avionics telling you? maintenance records and performance data suggest replacing capacitor c4. not bad. what's with the coffee maker? sorry. we are not on speaking terms.

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broadcast. yule y julia boorstin with some of the ugly details. >> reporter: espn plans to layoff about 100 people according to a source close to the situation. that includes tv and radio reporters as well as writers, to amount to about 10% of what it calls its forward-facing talent. now, some surprise reactions on twitter to some of the big names that started to trickle out, including long-time reporters and ed werder and jason stark, nfl analyst trent dilfer and jay crawford. this following the lay-offs about 300 employees, most behind the scenes, in october 2015. espn president john skipper is saying, quote, dynamic change demand an increased focus on versatility and value, and as a result we have been engaging in the challenging process of determining the talent -- anchors, analysts, reporters, writers and those who handle play by play, necessary to implement those demand. according to sports center, it is an example of how espn's

content is evolving, noting the debut of more digital-only sports center content. the source telling me it is not only about cost cutting but shifting strategy to work with employees best suited to new multi-platform content. higher sports programming cost and viewer declines have been putting pressure on espn. in the most recent quarter disney acable network reported 11% drop in operating income. bill, over to you. >> the change in our business. it is -- it is still going on. all right -- >> this is one investors sniffed out a while ago on disney and it has been plaguing the stock. it started to come back lately. interestingly. >> but still having to cut back there. julia, thank you. $1 million, that's how much one silicon valley insider is offering to give to charity if elon musk can will dump trump, as he puts it. the gentleman will join us coming up next. >> and coming up later on "fast money," pimco's head of public policy has a warning for wall

street. she will reveal what has her so nervous about trump's tax plan at the top of the hour. that's coming up, 5:00, "fast money" on cnbc. that's a great idea, but why don't you just go to thinkorswim's chat rooms where you can share strategies, ideas, even actual trades with market professionals and thousands of other traders? i know. your brain told my brain before you told my face. mmm, blueberry? tap into the knowledge of other traders on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade. it's a very simple procedure, mr. diaz. we're just going to make one small incision here, then we're gonna go in and remove your '67 corvette. my vette!? it's just a gall bladder! you don't have.. aflac! paying you cash, so you might have to sell that sweet little muscle machine just to cover your rent. more funny juice. but my papa gave me...that...car. what do you wish you had? aflac. ohh, i love doing that.

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>> silicon valley needser dug irwin calling for elon musk to dump train, writing on his website, quite, elon musk has become one of trump's most prominent supporters, despite the fact that trump's policies directly contradict musk's core values, core values, shared customers. help us convince him to resign from donald trump's business councils. if he does, we will do nate $1

million for charity. >> we heard tesla's comment. their entire reason is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. he believes those that want a more sustainable future should not have a seat at the table. we obviously disagree. we tracked down doug irwin, he's here to get his side of the story. thanks for joining us today. >> thank you for having me. >> why are you picking on elon musk in particular on this one? >> well, i was a tesla customer and an elon musk fan. i was on the way list for one of his cars. i hope that car would symbolize some opposition to donald trump's climate change policies. so i was outraged to find out that musk not only was not opposing donald trump on climate change, but he was actually providing support by participating in the photo

sessions and in addition that despite the fact that musk has a very large platform and a lot of people pay attention to him. he has not and still has not said one word in public in of situation to donald trump's climate change policies. he didn't speak out when trump appointed a diner to e. he did not strike out an any time since the election up until now. >> that out raged me and i decided i could not buy his car. >> it's a lack of public statements. isn't it someone said better as to engage and have a seat at the table. to actually voice their opinion and help shed policy t. word is president trump listens to his ceo advisers. >> well, he keeps listening to you on musk what has happened? every single thing that donald trump has done, including executive orders has been

contrary to values. if elon musk is whispering in trump's ears, he is accomplishing absolutely nothing. again, trump has undertaken the most anti-environmental program in i believe the history of the united states and he has been, he has attempted to cut every single climate change program that the federal government has undertaken. so if elon musk if its seat at the table is accomplishing something, it's not very obvious. >> well, doug, in that case, if he were to repudiate president trump, what would that actual lay accomplish, if he's not having astant five effect at the seat -- stnttive standtive subsubstantive effect, i want to make sure i build a better mouse trap down the road for alternative energy. >> if elon musk were to simply decide to withdraw from all of this and stay silent, i would be dispinted and one to accept that. that's not what he has done.

he has par tis prated in the trump business council. he has allowed himself to be used in photo ops for donald trump. he has not spoep out. the question is, what can he do? he can come forward with tweets or press releases or whatever and ask americans to oppose donald trump's climate change policies. elon musk is a recognized figure and his voice would have some impact. >> i got to go. have you ever known elon musk to do what somebody else told him to do? >> it's not me telling him to do it. it's his customers. honestly, if he is not going to listen to his customers on this subject, then there is very little anyone can do. i'm asking his customers to speak out t. whom who are his fan, not his enemies, his fans. >> doug irwin, thanks, appreciate your thoughts today. >> stating your case. tech names out after the bell tomorrow, we will bring you those results for you, get you ready for them next. >> i can't wait.

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fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $4.95 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 $4.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab. >> slrt remember there's the earnings coming out tomorrow. i don't have time to read them. which one are you watching most? >> alpha-zon i think. alphabet and amazon will be a test of that nasdaq performs we

had so far this year. >> you are watching for under armour. >> i remember last quarter it was very ugly. this stock was down 30% in the last three months. 60% in the last 12 months. >> and what will you have tomorrow? >> there is a lot. the expectation is it's going to be a disappointment. that's what the channel tech show, adidas is resurgent. >> all right. >> we'll see. >> that will be tomorrow. meantime, "fast money" starts right now. >> "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's time's square, i'm mellissa lee. our guys on the desk, tonight on "fast," las vegas sands, am gen and buffalo wild wings, those conference calls were just getting under way. we will bring you the latest headlines as they break. plus, twitter surging after a jump in user growth. finally the worst buying stock, ceo jack dorsey found his groove again. we'll explain. later, a make or break moment,