too expensive are adding to the company. >> that's the problem. you haven't gotten one. >> i got out too soon. >> these big, high-flying sexy technology names. >> google fell 50 points. >> that's good stuff. see you tomorrow. "power" starts now. i'm melissa lee. facebook and apple hitting all-time highs. nasdaq had record levels, too. a trip inside the numbers straight ahead. one of the big interviews of the day here on cnbc ben bernanke doubts we can get to that magic 3% growth number. this as the atlanta fed says we could see a forehandle on gdp real soon. netflix soaring to new heights. this is the streaming giant becoming the latest victim of hackers. orange is the new black eye. "power" starts right now. welcome to "power lunch."

i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. we have a new trading month under way. it's been a narrow mixed session and then some volatility here in the last few minutes because of what president trump said. nasdaq outperforming the dow and the s&p 500 again hitting another record interday high. speaking of highs, check out these names. price line trading at an all-time high back to its i po in march 1999. yes, that would be an all-time high. electronic arts all-time high in 1989. dales force, ditto, ipo june of 2004. ceo marc benioff will join jim from san francisco tonight on "mad money." jim cramer, of course. melissa, check out shares of tesla up more than 3% today. so far the stock is up this year, get this, more than 50%. first, though, to dom chu with breaking news. what we are watching now is a move in the financial stocks, big bank-related ones on the

heels of bloomberg headlines saying that president trump is weighing possibly a revival of the 1933 act, xheshgs banking operations. he told reporters in the white house oval office at bloomberg, quote, i'm looking at that right now, referring to a possible breakup of the big banks. there are some people that want to go back to the old system. so we're going to look at that. those are the headlines. we did notice that in the spider financial etf, the xlf, the ticker, that was probably dropped around 20, 25 cents on the heels of those comments. we are seeing at least a pushback towards some of the levels. we've gotten back some of the losses. still, though, it's something to watch for as we see what will happen on those trump comments. now send it out to the conference where brian sullivan is standing by. we will be watching the

banks and financials on that. we are live at the global conference in los angeles, california, and have a stacked couple of hours n. a few minutes we will be joined first by the ceo of celgene. we'll talk about drug prices, something the president he has referenced, the biotech boom, and what is in his company's pipeline as well. we'll be joined by transportation secretary and real estate titan and trump infrastructure adviser richard lefrak. we have an interview with the ceo of chevron and the ceo of blackberry john chen. another big newsmaker speaking to cnbc, david faber sat down with treasury secretary steven mnuchin earlier today. david faber joins us. a very interesting conversation, and you tried to get him on what loopholes, what specifics on the tax plan, what did we learn? >> i wish i could say we learned

a great deal but we're still waiting on the details that we asked secretary mnuchin about, brian, because the plan itself is one page long. and beyond telling us that all of the deductions that are going to be contribute to making it a possibility of not adding to the deficit. we don't know much. what we do know is that the administration continues to say it's all about growth. >> our focus is really on creating middle-income tax cut and simplifications. and as i said, a lot of the reduction on the high end is going to be paid for by eliminating deductions. people's effective tax rate won't go down. this is about creating jobs. this is about creating economic

growth. >> people wonder, including ben bernanke, whether you can create as much as 3% growth the way mr. mnuchin is saying will be the case from rough by 2%. not one administration took over for another since 1981 that was able to get that much of an increase in gdp growth. why such a limited proposal, if you will, as opposed to more details being presented from the administration. i asked the secretary when we're going to get those details and how he sees the time line playing out. >> as fast as we can. we are meeting weekly at the leadership level, daily at the staff level at times. we're all committed. we share similar views of what we're trying to accomplish and are committed to work iing as ft as we can. >> of course, brian, it's not clear what that means in terms of timing but there's a lot to come here and not a lot of meat on the bone, as you know.

>> i know their tax plan is not going to be one and a half plans when it's done but the current plan is over 70,000 pages long. do you think they have the understanding of the true complex at thity of getting it h congress? >> they have it staffed up, they have the office of tax policy. they have a lot of people who spend nothing but their time looking at that. they did make an attempt and failed, not individual as much. we'll see. it's not clear either they know or want to share what their true views are on how to address the main criticism of what we saw last week, on the face of it it will contribute massively to the national debt as opposed to creating the growth. >> taxes are in focus because the president saying he would be open to raising the federal gas tax to infrastructure. gas taxes are focused.

great interview. thank you. the full thing is leading cnbc.com. we'll ask the ceo of chevron what he thinks about increasing a gas tax. that's coming up at the top of the next hour. the ceo of celgene will join us in a few minutes. >> to the former chairman of the federal reserve, ben bernanke sat down exclusively with "squawk box" weighing in on the president a's first 100 days, t chances for 3% growth and the critics. our steve liesman was there. he joins us here with more. >> wide ranging and interesting interview. ben bernanke just out with the paper back edition of his book "courage to act." expressed his doubts president trump's tax plan can make the economy hit 3% growth and sustain it. >> on a sustained basis, it's certainly possible but not that likely. i think if there's a big tax cut that lowers tack rates you might have a bump because of increased

demand. >> it gets you over 3 ps? >> probably not. i would take the under on that. >> bernanke agreed it's useful to try some of the things like spur business invest many, spend on infrastructure, make the tax system and the economy more efficient. he says the administration should focus on policies that boost productivity growth. bernanke is generally upbeat about the fed's ability to ease from the monetary policy saying its critics have been proven wrong in the past. >> it wasn't long ago people on shows like this were saying we would have super inflation and dollar collapse and all kinds of terrible things were going to come. it's gone pretty smoothly. the fed is in the process of easing money. the unemployment rate, inflation is close to the fed's target. all those things are on track. >> the atlanta fed is out with its first estimates looking at

growth, a strong rebound, guys, from the first quarter. >> bernanke says maybe not 3% of the. >> sustained we're talking about. >> you do the rapid update. historically who is more accurate? we get the actual numbers, the atlanta fed? >> we're a little bit ahead of them. we've prepared a chart for this. if you look at the average rate the last three quarters they've been about 76 basis points. we've been 23. we don't go off and go off only actual data that feeds in the gdp. we'll get that tomorrow when we get car sales. >> richard fisher now senior adviser at barclays. welcome back to "power lunch." >> thank you. >> two big topics to talk to you about, president trump saying he might return to glass steagall. the atlanta fed is saying 4% this quarter.

>> the atlanta fed index moves almost daily. steve will remember they were up in the mid 2s and ended up 0.7. i wouldn't put a lot of faith in that now. i think chairman bernanke, former chairman bernanke, is closer to where i see things going. maybe a 2% channel. this new administration offers hope to break out of the secular stagnation which we seem to have been bound by for many years now. we have monetary policy driving the ship and now there is high optimism and expectation that we'll see some fiscal policy that will complement the cheap money and lead to more capex, more employment and further top line growth and growth. but we have to see if it can be delivered and we've seen a lot of promise. we haven't seen any real action, and that's what the market, i

think, is priced in, hoping for. it has to be delivered and thus far has not. >> do you believe this new comment that's come out in the last few minutes where he's thinking about breaking up the big banks and maybe some new version of glass-steagall, would that help or hurt? >> secretary mnuchin has mentioned this before. it's tough to stuff the genie back in the battle. an enormous amount of change in terms of the way banks and financial institutions are regulated. so we'll have it to have this articulated. at the same time today he said he would sit down if it could be done with the leader of north korea. a lot of stuff has been thrown out there. it's very enthusiastic but i think we have to be careful to go on what is said. >> i'm just worried -- i'm focused on monetary policy and economic growth here and the financial market. >> it's a nice lane to stay in. if there is a modern version

brought back, that would, steve, favor a bank like goldman-sachs. if we can unpack that, separate trading and investment banking. >> you have to remember goldman sachs came to us at the fed when times were tough and hid under our skirts and became a bank holding company. they're subject to the same regulations, commercial banks. if indeed it's achievable i'm highly skeptical that it is achievable but this is the second time we've heard this declaration, again, secretary mnuchin said it first. now the president of the united states will have to see where they take this. steve, do you have a different view? >> what i was going to say is you're the artist when it comes to metaphors out there. what i would come up with is

that horse has left the barn and left the barn a long time ago, that it's way too late to put the current -- the existing structure of the financial system. what you can do is regulate it and separate it and, by the way, i don't think the lack of separation is blamed by any serious historian of the financial crisis with being a major cause. >> don't you feel there's conflation here -- so a new version of glass steagall is different than breaking up the big banks. jpmorgan has to be smaller and you have to be much more regional. >> they have to change the way they are regulating now, and i think that's the declared intention of the administration. they're not going to take away dodd frank or the volcker rule. it's how they implement things and i think it will be a softer touch.

the vice chairmanship or regulation, it's a very good choice, a very knowledgeable individual. if he decides not to take it, you could go to an existing governor, particularly one that will likely be there, powell. they understand how markets work and impacts the economy. they've been in the real world. i think this is what they're looking for. i wouldn't just say glass steagall and scare the hell out of people. they're looking to make more effective the way the capital markets work, the credit system works, and if they do that, my hat's off to them. >> i want to go back to this it growth story real quickly. i think bernanke is technically right. 3% is a hard number to achieve. at the same time the economic models used by the economists doesn't have an input for a president who is more pro growth

than the past president or a president with an upper limit how much taxation, a president that wants to deregulate more than regulate. i think there's an x factor here but i think there's an upper limit to the extent the economy can grow. >> yours is a good point, steve. look, we have -- whether you survey the national federation of independent businesses or the roundtable, they will tell you they felt constrained over the last many moons, decades -- at least the last decade in particular, by too much regulation and also by an uncertain fiscal policy. look at what the congress just did. big deal. they've reached agreement to fund us through september. >> wow. >> yeah, wow. how do you plan your capex, the expenditu expenditure, et cetera, that you have to do if you're a large corporation or a small corporation if you don't know what the government is going to ask of you, take from you, and what they're going to spend. the nice thing is there's an

opportunity to go just beyond monetary policy, the fed has been carrying the economy only on its own back, maybe gets some fiscal reform, cut back on regulation or restructure for growth and that's a positive. >> that would be a great recipe to improve that gdp number. we appreciate it. thank you. you, too, steve. let's get to bob pisani tracking the drop, momentary drop, in banks following comments from president trump. bob? >> reporter: we're just about back right now. highs for the day, just off the highs for the day, light volume. take a look at the s&p 500. melissa is referring to that little drop in the middle of the day as the president made a comment he was going to be interested in going back and breaking up the big banks. i do want to point out the big money banks dropped but take a look at citi group. i want to point out the regional banks didn't have that drop for a good reason. they wouldn't be as affected by it. vice president pence made a

comment under president trump, dodd frank's days are numbered. lower taxes, infrastructure spending, and less regulations. here he went right to that trump trade and you can see zion's not down as much. sun trust essentially dropped a little bit, didn't move much. a different kind of situation here. banks are still leading and some of the energy stocks are down and, guys, we're hitting 52-week lows on big energy names like petroleum. more on that later on. back to you. >> that is a really good segway to our next person, bob. let's get to brian in beverly hills at the milken conference. you have the ceo coming up. >> the ceo of chevron will join us at the top of the 2:00 p.m. hour. another hot the company stock up 20% in the past 12 months, celgene, marc alles is the ceo. he will join us and talk about

drug price transparency, probably about the president a little bit. are you ready? >> i am ready. >> he's ready. we're ready. ready. most etfs only track a benchmark. flexshares etfs are built around the way investors think. with objectives like building capital for the future, managing portfolio risk and liquidity and generating income. that's real etf innovation. flexshares. built by investors, for investors. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully. whether it's connecting one of or bringing wifi to 65,000 fans. campuses. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink.

hey you've gotta see this. cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. welcome back to "power lunch." amazon helping to push the stocks to new highs. on track for its best day since early january. only a couple bucks off its own record high. now let's head back to brian in beverly hills. brian? melissa, thank you very much. we're here live at the milken institute global conference in beverly hills with the ceo of celgene marc alles.

>> it's great to be here. >> there's a lot of political focus here because about half of the trump cabinet is at this conference right now. we sat down with treasury secretary mnuchin. the president himself has said we need to bring down drug prices. your main drug is one of the more expensive drugs. has trump contacted you? >> we're part of the big trade associations and we've been in touch with the white house many, many times, and we applaud what the administration is trying to do with health care reform because it is going to structurally provide access and affordability to millions of americans and in that framework of access and affordability we think drugs like some of the cancer drugs that have been called out as being expensive, the true value can be on better display in a reform system. so the idea that we would use a drug and if the outcomes were far superior to anything else that would happen for a patient the reimbursement would follow

that kind of a model of the pricing model is under assault. it's under discussion. >> and shouldn't it be? some say you want more access. in our interviews with the pharmacy ben the fit managers have really come into focus, come out of the shadows. are they a part of the problem? >> the issue of access shared across the whole system. at the end of last year we decided three of very large pbms in the country to go into manage the care agreements with them to create what's called step free access, patients don't have to go through one therapy before they have access to our drug. that lowers in our net revenue. in the plan itself, the insurer will establish the co-pay. so the affordability is set by the insurance scheme that sets the co-pay for the patient.

>> what would you do if your phone rings one day and it's president trump and he says, marc, you have to cut the price. if the president called you directly, what would you say? >> mr. president, thanks for calling. we're happy to talk about the topic. the second thing, the value of our medicines is price d into hw we sell the product in the market. we have a cancer drug, has drugs in the cancer space that have improved outcomes including overall survival and put patients in remission for years versus an incurable cancer that ten years ago median survival was two years. today it's not estimable. patients are living to old age. that value is priced in the medicine. here is the other point, if you look at the cost effectiveness of that price compared to anything else we could do to treat that patient with myeloma,

pancreatic cancer, the medicine's the most cost effective price. without dealing with the access and affordability doesn't change the problem. >> we say you have to charge "x" to make up r&d costs, we understand that, has there been a situation where celgene looked at a drug and said, you know what, the cost of selling this drug will be so expensive let's not even bother trying to solve the problem. has that ever happened? >> of course people think about that, brian, because in the context of the complexity of biology, the risk -- >> it's a rare disease. >> let's say -- >> billions, we can never make it back. >> just last week a drug approved for the disease that is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder for children. >> terrible. >> without a treatment they just die from this neurodegeneration.

they did the work. it's 2,000 patients in the world that we know of, maybe 20 or 30 are diagnosed a year with the disease. and in this context they've done something remarkable for a subset of patients with an ultra orphan disease. people will say the price is about $500,000 a year. what's the price and value of a life? and so i think that this is a cost effective way. every time we do innovative research, society learns about that therapy and learns about the disease. we share that knowledge across the whole biomedical research spectrum. >> we have to leave it there. we have a big interview after the break. i don't want to leave the transportation secretary waiting too long. and if president trump does call you, do not blame cnbc. thank you. coming up after the break, that interview, the secretary of transportation elaine chao along with richard lefrak together.

we will switch from drug pricing to transportation. will we get a trillion dollar infrastructure plan? melissa, it's a big question. we'll try to get some answers. >> see you soon. you've heard about "the wedding crashers." a billionaire who just popped in for dinner. a rock band who spiced up a prom. power lunch will be right back. stay with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and.

guess who's coming to dinner. mark zuckerberg. he dropped in for a surprise dinner with an ohio family. the moore family saying they got 20 minutes' notice who their mystery guest would be. the facebook executive reportedly asking his staff to find democrats who had voted for president trump. later identifying daniel moore who campaigned for trump. zuckerberg is on a nationwide tour to visit people in all 50 states. what do you think? >> did you see the fphoto he pu on facebook of him feeding a goat? >> no, he missed this. >> this whole thing just sniffs of a campaign. >> you really think he wants to run for president? >> i don't know. i think he wants to keep the option open. >> not having an innate curiosity about the united states and all 50 states? >> i'm sure. chain smokers crash a chicago prom appearing at a high school and giving a ten-minute performance. they got an e-mail from a student and reached out to the

school, the principal saying it was probably the toughest secret i've ever kept because i knew the kids were going to go crazy for it. wow. >> you have to give credit to the school for allowing it. you can see some pc principal would say, chain smokers, they can't possibly perform here. to the bond market, rick santelli at the cme. rickster. >> reporter: michelle, three, three and a half weeks ago was the highest yield close if you settle above 3.233. it's where we're at now. the point is rates are creeping up. they could be at a three-week high another basis point or so. the two-day chart you can see it's clear, low 2.30s on top, 2.27ish on the bottom opening to a one-week chart. the point gets hammered home more significantly. on a year-to-date chart, if you look at that pattern, the interesting notion is that we seem to be holding and the whole market seems to be consolidating. not too dissimilar on the dollar index although it has a weaker complexion to it. so say traders.

obviously there's a correlation between the dollar index. i can't tell you how much more attention is paid to the weakness in the dollar index. michelle, back to you. thank you very much. exxon mobil and sabik of saudi arabia making the port of corpus christi the site for their new petro project choosing this port over other sites in texas and louisiana. the project expected to come online as soon as 2020 and create near ly 10,000 jobs in te process. here to give us the latest on the deal and the pulse of the economy, john larue. how did you win this deal? why were you better than the other ports they could have gone to? >> we have deep water in our port. we have natural gas, the feed stock they'll use in the process. we're in air attainment which is

a big issue for petrochemical plants. they don't have to try to build their plants. >> i don't know what that means. >> it is air quality. most are in nonattainment, their air quality doesn't meet federal standards. if you're in that when you want to build a plant that will have some impact you have to meet a higher degree of federal standard from epa and usually what you have to do is go find another company that had something, they shut down, and they trade you or buy the credits. >> got it. and you have those credits. that makes a big difference. we have -- texas has a great work ethic and a very positive attitude towards companies like this. >> this could mean 11,000 construction jobs and be up and running by 2020. when you hear the president and others in the administration talk about a big infrastructure

spend, how you could are this sort of impact through a partnership of two private companies. >> we think there's so much more we could do. 52 feet. we've been approved since 2007, but we haven't been able to get any to fully fund the process. we fund the first phase of that $35 million ourselves. we put the money away and hope the federal government will see the wisdom of this because the extra seven feet to go from 45 will benefit almost all exports -- crude oil, grain. we have two grain elevators. it creates jobs.

>> he's been pretty good. some of the border issues. >> why? >> texas is -- has a unique relationship with mexico. if you look at any of the comments from senator cornyn or the texas members along the border they talk about that relationship. >> you mean immigration as opposed to trade. i think those factors could weigh over into trade but right now we have a very positive trade both with natural gas. for instance we're building -- not we but there's a company that is building a gas pipeline, $2 billion from corpus christi to mexico. they're importing all the ports, all the pipe through our ports. they're build iing it from core puss christie to brownsville on land. they go out and back in. it's a 40-inch gas pipeline. >> and that's good for your

business. >> it's good for us and the united states and texas. >> john larue -- >> seven feet. >> out of the port of corpus christi. still to come back to the milken conference where elaine chao sits down for her first interview since joining the trump administration and will be joined by richard lefrak. their plan to rebuild america's crumbling infrastructure. don't move.

hi, everybody. i'm sue herera. here is your cnbc news update this hour. u.s.-backed syrian fighters capturing more areas from isis in northern syria a. video released by the democratic forces shows fighters appearing to advance in recently liberated areas. it shows ammunition and artillery stockpiles that the group allegedly seized from isis militants. turkish police arresting dozens of people as anti-government protesters tried to breach a ban in istanbul. they wanted to mark may day. security was tight with 30,000

members on hand. lots of roads and school closings in eureka, missouri. floodwaters continuing to rise there. river levels will crest tomorrow at over 44 feet more than ten feet above the flood stage. and the wade quadruplets will go to yale. they appeared on the "today" show to announce their decision after the school offered them extraordinary financial aid package. there they are in their t-shirts. good luck, guys. we wish them well. back to you. >> quite a story. shares of boeing up, the company's holding its annual meeting. phil lebeau is live in chicago. >> reporter: the company stands on a number of its key

businesses following the meeting we had a chance to talk to him about the state of the commercial airplane market and those airplanes that will be eventually or at least the idea is they'll be sold to iran. still in the process of going through in terms of final steps being approved by the united states government with regard to the overall market mullenberg is optimistic about the state of air travel demand not only here in the united states but worldwide. >> the trend is 5% to 6% growth. that's what we've anticipated in our modeling. 8.8% growth in the first quarter is better than expected, frankly, and is an encouraging sign. we're seeing some moderate return of strength to the cargo market. while there's still some uncertainty there, it's heading in the right direction. >> reporter: the 747 and itsfy tour as you look at shares of boeing close to an all-time

high, guys. remember, it was, what, two or three months ago after president-elect donald trump tweeted out let's tear up the air force one deal and renegotiate some of these things with boeing and a lot of people said, whoa, there could be a real trump discount here with shares. that has not been the case. given a number of factors out there they could benefit. >> all those trump dips turned into buying opportunities. thanks, phil. >> reporter: you bet. >> brian at the milken conference, what do you have coming smup. >> speaking of the trump administration the secretary of transportation, elaine chao, along with real estate mogul and infrastructure adviser richard lefrak. they will do an interview together. will we get a deal? how big? what are the priorities? should we raise the gas tax? a lot to talk about. to talk abo.

welcome back. we're at the milken institute conference. real estate mogul and adviser to the president. >> thanks for having us. >> about an hour or two ago there were some headlines president trump thinks we should raise the federal gas tax to pay for infrastructure. should we? >> president trump has shown a lot of political courage, the third rail of one of the third rails of politics. 30 states have already bitten the bullet and raised the gas tax. the reason is to invest money in roads and the infrastructure of the united states. >> that's a hard sell politically, richard. you know that. >> it's a hard sell but we all have a crumbling infrastructure, the money has to be spent, and the user should have some responsibility for paying for it. >> is it something that would be considered? >> i bhev it's going to be considered but it's a political

hot poe tato for sure. >> will we get any kind of real infrastructure plan in the next year or two? >> absolutely. >> how big and what will it focus on? >> the president has made this his top priority and has said that he's challenging our country and his advisers he wants a trillion dollars of investment for the next ten years, and he has already laid down the down payment of $200 billion in direct federal funding. and with that we hope that it will leverage up to $1 trillion through partnerships of the private sector, with governors, with other programs such as perhaps sale of government assets the tax reform package. we're looking at innovative ways. >> what should be the priority, secretary chao, roads, airports, bridges, what?

>> possibly broad band, veterans hospitals, energy, water, so it is really an infrastructure proposal for the future. it will be a partnership and done with the states. >> when can we expect more details? >> pretty soon. >> soon? >> oh, yeah. >> the way the government is working very diligently the administration to put a package together, the advisory council is working hard to give suggestions to the government. as far as the money -- >> you run the advisory council. >> i want to say farce the money i can raise the trillion dollars here at the milken conference in about five minutes. there's no shortage of capital for the right project. >> this is private capital. what is the role going to be if you do a trillion dollars could you envision $500 million

private and $500 million public? >> that's yet to be decided. >> is private capital -- >> absolutely. the federal government can't do it alone. the infrastructure of counsel because these are leading -- these are leading leaders in our country. steve ross, bill ford, they are volunteers. they have given of their time and their life's experience and finding the best way to build our infrastructure. >> usage fees, higher tolls, is that on discussion? everybody wants this new stuff but nobody wants to pay for it. >> my joke is really everybody is hoping for divine intervention in the infrastructure business, but really in the end somebody has to pay for it. it's either taxes or user fees.

and there's a fair way to allocate both to make it happen. if you do it better, if you do it faster, more efficiently, the trillion dollars we're talking about will sound like $2 trillion under the old set of rules. >> for months it would be a tax reform package. >> no -- >> that's what people were saying, sources. is it then looking like we will have a straight infrastructure bill separate of tax reform? >> whatever is the most -- the best way to present the ideas. i think we have always talked about an infrastructure proposal coming forward in the third quarter. the president is a very impatient man and wants results right away. he is pushing all of us to come up with a proposal that can be presented to congress quickly.

>> the repatriation of overseas corporate dollars. >> this is all about the funding and the pay fors. so $200 billion will be in direct federal funding. we will leverage that through private/public partner shship a allow for profits overseas. that will be a portion probably as well. again, allowing the private sector to invest in public infrastructure which many places are not allowed. >> i want to say one other thing. without diminishing the characteristics of the prior presidents, this is the first president that is a real builder. this man is a builder. he loves building. he understands the processes of building, and he wants to get this done. and we owe it to our country to get it done and get it done now. >> i want to switch gears a little bit here. you will be here tomorrow, secretary chao, but you oversee the airlines. airlines, a lot of bad behavior

lately. a hearing on capitol hill tomorrow. what can we do about this airline behavior? what should we do? >> first of all, the airlines have a responsibility to remedy the situation, which i believe they are. . >> is i going -- that's what people are saying, sources. is it looking like we'll have a straight infrastructure bill separate of tax reform? >> we'll see waver east the best way to present the ideas. so i think we've already talked about an infrastructure proposal coming forward in a third quarter. that might be accelerated, the president is a have been impatient man, he wants results right away. so he's pushing all of us to come up with the fracture proposal -- >> have you talked about timing perhaps -- >> yeah this is all about the funding and the pay fours situa. coming up somebody that really cares about the --

michelle in about ten minutes top. >> looking forward to that. president say the u.s. is being hurt by unfair acts in canada. we sent contessa to new york state where the cow got a little too friendly with her. >> is it that it's too friendly or we're fast friends now. it's the dairy farm that's taking a look into the show. and we're talking about the way they hope president trump will lead a charge in a new milk war in canada. a used car,

hey you've gotta see this. tr cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about.

what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. the president picking a fight with canada over lumber but also milk. the u.s. say u.s. dairy farmers are fighting an unfair battle with producers. >> they're really hoping that donald trump can do something to get the canadians to come to the table and prep more for free trade. there's 1400 cows mixed every day. but he's bracing for a $200,000

lost because of of what canada's done. canada managing its dairy supply and lowers prices on the milk product. then the canadian products stop imported the expensive american product. >> we did not anticipate it going away as rapidly as it did and it went away where milk is traditionally long in the northeast. spring is coming, cows by nature produce more milk in the spring, it's the time they have their calves and produce more milk. >> now twin birch was operating at a low-profit mairj with operating milk. it is now expecting an operating lost or break even at best. it's a farmer that sent milk to be produced in cheese.

cayuga lost $30 million and lost the contract for skim milk powder to the canadians. >> i lost the deal by 12 cents which equates to 13%. >> and normally you would be competing on a 1 cent basis or 2 cent base? >> max. it's a loss feasible for anybody in the world except for canada they complete on that basis. >> cayuga says that ship has sailed but he's heading to washlt this week to lobby the nation's leader to do something from stopping canada from undercutting the u.s. on the world market. canada deny any unfair practices, they call this preferential treatment, preferential pricing treatment for domestic producers, and they say america has a real problem, it's appear oversupply problem, that has nothing to do with

canada. michelle, guys. >> thank you very much kon session sa. apple saw an all-time high today, over 3 quarters of a trillion dollars but a little more than 24 hours apple will report results. is there something the company can say that will end the rally. next on "power lunch." ddos campaigns, ransomware, malware attacks... actually, we just handled all the priority threats. you did that? we did that. really. we analyzed millions of articles and reports. we can identify threats 50% faster. you can do that? we can do that. then do that. can we do that? we can do that.

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. welcome to the second hour of "power lunch" i'm melissa carouso-cabrera. here's what we're watching this hour. apple and facebook in the all-time highs. apple up 20% this year. facebook up 30. both getting ready to report earnings this week, what could they say and the number one -- one number from apple that could blow in investors away. amazon on track getting higher to 1,000 an hour. and murdoch spocks planning a join tribune. the names you should be watching

very closely. >> let's check out some of the moves, branch up almost 2%. the serve serving potential for cash being returned to shareholders among other things. win resorts -- near 16% in april. and it's not just apple and facebook hitting new highs, auto desk, act vacation blizzard and humana also at highs today. brian. >> thank i'm brian here in los angeles. another big hour coming up on "power lunch." we're going to hear from john watson. he's the ceo of shef chevron. john check, ceo of blackberry will join us as well. the company undergoing a massive transformation.

what is blackberry and what could they tell us about the economy we may not know. we'll see you back in a few minutes. >> look forward to that brian. apple hitting an all-time high today as we count down the tech jet earnings tomorrow after the bell. apple helping the text fighter xlk to its higher level in 13 years. jas jason weir. gentlemen great to have you with us. >> thank you. >> also meed i'll start with you, this is a stock apple that's run up 14% in the past three months going into earnings. what has you worried if anything in terms of quarter in terms of becoming a sell-the-news type of event. we already have a notable agent out in korea saying the phone may not be available until october so that could be a

delay? what are your thoughts? >> i'll tell you what number to watch that could impede the stock over hoo is what's happened to the gross margin trades. apple could earn 11 to $12 of earnings in the last 12 months. broadly i think the stock should continue to work higher especially into the big iphone launch. >> jason you're a share hoerld so in terms of the cash flow that apple has, it's never been an issue for apple to issue debt at any price. so if there is some sort of repatriation is there something that could be done to prompt apple to use that cash? does it make a different for this particular company if the tax laws change? >> it's probably not a huge impact and apple has been using their cash, but you know it's like when you're draining the bathtub but the faucet's running faster than the bath can drain,

they have so much cash flow coming in they're spending it but it continues to pile up. there's so much flexibility they have with that net position and their access to cheap capital hill is a benefit as well. there's a huge number of opportunities out there that we as shareholders hope apple capitalize on and i hope they are making right investments to look forward over the next ten years. there's not a big investment i'd point toto say -- >> al meed what about you saying they should buy disney? and they could buy it and then some. would a tax cut hurt them or not make a difference? >> to do a mega deal like disney -- the reason apple hasn't done a deal over the the last few years is not because they don't have the money, but they believe all strategies work. something we think repatriation help do a larger deal i could

see tharks they don't need the money to deal it will be nice to have it though. >> you still think they should buy disney? >> i think there's a lot of logic for them to buy a big media outlet, disney might be a big outfit of it. i wouldn't say disney but it's great if they do a big deal that they've been talking about. >> al meed is it a concern of yours that there could be a supply delay to the iphone 8. we hear analyst reporting that in terms of the 3-d camera swuls the led screen. are you hearing things like that? >> you know, apple rarely talk about new product launches on a call, i doubt they do it but yes, we've been hearing some mentioning with 3-d cameras and the screen. i can't remember a single

product launch where sitting in april we weren't worried about things getting delayed. the other part is just because you don't get your hands on iphone x in september it's not that you're going to buy a samsung, this demand is exactly and beat other products coming up in september october. >> jason last question, that will be on facebook. what are your concerns if any on the facebook quarter, what are you listening for specifically? >> so facebook has been a beaten rays and wall street continue to try to catch up with this company. if you can say it's hung over the stock given the returns on the camp will be this issue. we're not concern about it but i think people will be focused on that. >> all right guys thank you. al meed and jason. >> thank you. >> thanks. a special edition of the cnbc fed serving now, what grade

does our survey give president trump on his first 100 days. steve alicia man in charge of the survey he's got the answer. >> our 43 respondent's including economist, fund management. give the president overall grade of c. his economics ideas get a c plus t execution of it get a c minus. so far trump has broken and kept all the right promises says another. we cannot perceive political in experienced matter one respondent says he's having an impact without getting what he wants says another. respondents give also broad thrust of his proposals. to cut individual taxes fell a bit in the survey but remain positive. healthcare and trade both rated

negatively by our respondent's. asked specifically about the president's tax cut, 86% it will increase growth. 90% says it will increase deficits with about a half saying the plan will boost deficits a lot. that's been the conventional wisdom among economist out there. it'll boost deficit but boost growth, the idea of not being age to pay for itself t tax cut. >> thank you. the wall street em embassy is giving trump a great grade. joining us is scott wind, guys good to have you here. what do you think about this market? fairly valued, would you add more money scott? >> our opinion hasn't changed

since 2017 wh1 when we released target. for us we're getting toward the upper stretches of where we thought the s&p 500 would trade. wouldn't surprise me if we tried to make a run for record highs. for us 22, 30, to 2230 is our year-end target range. >> it's 2390 we're showing people. >> it's a cycle over or not and if retrade down 5% from here and end the year there it'll be slightly positive and you'll have to see. the rest is policy-driven in 2018, '19 '20. we still want toluene towards those cyclicals. >> david at what price are the markets overvalued? we ask that because every single day we seem to be hitting record high after record high we see a

narrow leadership the biggest company in the stock markets of what is driving the markets high, and we see the pe and multiples getting bigger and bigger. >> it definitely can feel a little uncomfortable to stay in it at this point given where evaluations are. what i would say we're clearly in the latter third of the business cycle, so with people still feeling relatively optimistic and businesses feeling that way as well, i think there's good reason to stay along this market. id go a accept further and say we spent the first quarter bought about the day-to-day. although economic growth in the first quarter of this year was lackluster companies were making money forecasting year over year operating growth.

>> all right guys. thank so much. david and scott good to have you on. here's what's coming up on "power lunch." netflix shares hitting new highs but the company the victim of a hack attack. which will get they're first amazon or alphabet. that's ahead. first let's head back to brian and beverly hills what do you have coming up brian? >> an exclusive interview john watkins. talk become opec but president trump say we may have to raise the gas tax. what does the ceo of chevron think about that. after this short break. norse norse stay with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker.

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let's[ whimpers ] dog. find ping-pong. okay, let's go. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. that's amazing! hey you've gotta see this. cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about.

what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. . all right welcome back to los angeles on the milk and global conference. we're pleased to be joined with john watson. thank for having us. >> thanks for having me. >> the president today says he's open and willing to consider, that's a lot of qualifiers there, an increase in the gasoline tax to pay for infrastructure. would you support that? >> well i've supported the president's agenda to reduce taxes get the economy go again. so i support the idea of enhance

in infrastructure. i think the good first step to be to evaluate where existing tax revenues are going. in other words we have road taxes today, how are they being used? are they being put to good use in rebidding or infrastructure. we seen in california that a lot of road tacks are diverted to other things. so let's make sure where existing road taxes are being used -- >> our headline may be chevron ceo supports with qualifiers you want to make sure you know where the money is going? >> what ebs we need to evaluate infrastructure. leticia make sure we don't have existing funds from existing taxes. >> well,-on it you know it's sog we haven't thought about or i haven't, your role in infrastructure. we forget that petroleum products made the roads.

what would be the benefit -- we just spoke 20 minutes ago with secretary, if we get a trillion dollars in infrastructure package what does that mean with chevron? >> well it benefits every american. we're here in los angeles, traffic is severe here and in the bay area where i life and most urban areas. we need to be sure our roads with in good conditions so commerce and people can move. so it's about providing additional freedom for people. >> we focus on the builders we talk about infrastructure, i imagine you guys have done research, you will benefit as well? >> we benefit when the economy does welch. >> we build new road i got to imagine that's fwood fir economy use and as faumt. >> certainly. our economy is used in about making everything including the roads we drive on. there is some additional demand for our products but it's an

efficiency argument for the economy. when our roads aren't clogged and waiting in traffic people are free to do productive thing. >> i think people don't realize chevron is the highest in petroleum. have we defeated opec in some ways? >> well shell in the united states about 5 million barrel a day. so we're going to need all sources of supply. it's a gift that keep giving at this point. right now the perm yan base produce over 2 million a day of oil and it could grow from half a million to a million barrels a day per year. even with prices in the 15 and $16 range. it's a good story for world markets. >> opec made a big deal about this production cut agreement that expires, by the way next month on may 20th. but the price barely budge.

is that buecause of the u.s. shell boom? >> the mark is pretty balanced right now so we see supply from all sources that is increasing. we see supply creep up from the u.s. -- >> we're in the swing producer aren't we? >> for the short run we are the swing producer but in the due course we'll need sours from other clients around the world. so shell can help. between now and the decade it'll be a contributor to me and the demand growth out there. ultimately oil fields decline and we need all sources of supply, including the shells but also deepwater and other sources around the world. >> there is no other industry as regulated, as red taped, if you will than oil and gas and energy in general. what would that mean for chevron if we get meaningful chapg on the regulatory side? will you be able to add jobs?

is there a direct translation? >> certainly. the speed of business is slowed by ex sessionive regulation. so to the extent we can get permits in a timely basis, we can have cost effective regulations, that's a benefit that includes not only my country but the country overall. what we've seen in this country is the avilan. and regulation, so rolling back the unnecessary regulation can kick start the economy in a big way. >> we heard the r word, it's a big word. what regulations are we talking about that need to be modified? nobody want to destroy the environment? est no of course not. we made tremendous improvement in this country and we want to keep it that way.

we've seen ozone regulation that was reducing other zone requirements in regular parkts. we seen methane regulations, we've seen them decline as natural gas production is ricing -- >> they're declining -- >> in other words we're getting more efficient so we don't have the enflairing that we have in the past. so we're getting more efficient in how we do our work. regulations should recognize that. >> do you think that they will? has anybody really changed in the first 100 days of this administration? >> i think so. >> are you actually feeling it on the ground john? >> we have. there have been regulations and guidance documents that have been rescinded by the trump administration, so yes, there have been a response. it's been one of the magnificent things that trump has done so far.

>> can you grade trump so far? a letter grade? >> in area of regulation form he made progress and that progress continues. the work that's underway on tax reform i support, but these things take time. >> you're optimistic? >> i am optimistic over time. the u.s. is the envy of the world. we have to allow the private sector to get back to work again. we have routine regulations that are needed in this country we want those. but it's the overreach, without cost benefit analyze, without a really understanding of what the implications are they have hurt the economy. >> it was a real pleasure. thank you very much. coming up, it's not the final interview we got, the ceo blackberry guy is going to join us coming up in 20 minutes. you think you know what blackberry is but they may hold a secret to understanding the american economy more than you think. i'm going to leave you with that

tease. >> i look forward to that. >> ponder away. >> i'm doing it right now. can you tell? all right the good the bad and the ugly, down right ugly in fact in today's trading plus. amazon heading for the a record high. the alphabet hot on its tail, that stock up 7% in 2017. which one will get to a thousand first. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

welcome back to "power lunch." time for the good, bad and ugly in today's trade. twitter souring up by 6%. ceo jack dorsey stocking up thousands of shares in the media company. the bad, bradford down. the stock is at a new low for the year. the stock sinking after the first quarter loss. faces competition like eli lilly and to be down almost 11%. >> the oil market closing for the day we're going to have the final trade. plus media tight and rupert murder do you have makes a play.

we'll head to brian in beverly hills. >> we gunshot to change gear, we're talking oil and regulation. coming up after the break we'll chat technology. there's something about the company that i think is a great story about the u.s. economy, he may have in sight to where the economy is headed. we'll find out why with john chen after this break. stick around.

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hi everybody i'm sue herrera he's your cnbc news update. dallas police currently dealing with an active shooter position. they say a fighter have been shot and officer pinned down by a fire. shooting taking place in east dallas. no other injuries at this point. united nation human right's chief say president trump must delay -- about his lack of rights. after trump invited duterte to visit with him at the white house. >> so one hopes theme messages will be very clear and undiluted

from the president to the united states. >> and new york mets pitcher noah as i understa noah as i understand guard is out in definitely after a tear in his left muscle. he injured it on sunday, this after refusing to get appear mri, a sore arm cost him to start last week. that's the update melissa back to you. >> salt on the won of that terrible loss. thank you. we're 90 minutes from the the "closing bell" wall street. check out the highs today, apple, facebook, telecom, tesla. let's get to the commodity desk for more. >> the prices are on test today, another 1.1% climb. we're back on the 200 day moving average. the momentum clearly in the red.

part of the problem today, sot weak data coming out of china that's one of the influencing factor. the session lie 1.32, the session low 1.89. it still seatiems to be the mag. back to you. all right brian who's standing in the milking conference. brian. >> thank you very much. it's john chen with ceo of blackberry. welcome good to see you again. a lot has happened since last year that we spoke. i think i commonnfused our view when i said you hold the economic key and i think you looked at me sideways, where i was going with your business in logistics and transportation. your panel here is on the u.s. economic outlook. from where you sit, is the u.s. economy getting stronger, weaker or holder still? >> i think it's right it's

holding still but we have every indicator to say that we expect to be stronger and the consumer spending will be stronger and a lot of technology. the negative of that is our international trade and our policy may spoil some of our fund. but all and all we're looking up. >> do you have a window as an intersurprise? we'll talk about what you you are moving toward the enterprise side, are you a good indicator for the economy? >> well, there's a capital spending to most of my customers so yes. if the spending is up it'll drive our business up. >> but do they talk about -- do they spend money with you because they're growing or are they using technology to augment labor reduction? >> i don't think it's about

labor reduction. i think it's about new ideas and concept. so the big thing about us is economy-driven car and connected cars. and you can see all the manufacturers and ty won focusing a lot of that. so they're expecting the future to be different. so they're planning for growth they're not replacing anything. >> biggest question i've got for you on, what is blackberry now? you had a found last year, your out of the hardware game largely, what you are? >> we license for people to build hardware so our customers can continue to buy hardware. so we are an. stock company and specialize in security so that's where we were. >> when we look at hearevenue a they been in decline for years, where will they stop declining? >> well the software sector this

year is 600 million. we just finished 650 million. you can see the growth there and we expect that to drive to a billion in the last couple years. >> heavy news over all may continue to decline. >> we doubled our margin in three years. >> how small be l you get? >> minimally at least a billion. i hope that's the smallest number and we'll grow from there. >> you're your canadian company. the president has been talking about canada right now, you're a technology company do you worry about trade with canada, even software imports to the united states? >> a couple thing, number one we do a lot of in involvement in the united states. so on a lot of the security and mobile data software, so that's no one. am i concern on some part of it i am because i'd love to relationship to be great.

we are such a big part of the infrastructure in washington, i think that you are customers rely on us and expect us to do well. but i need to continue to pay attention to this. >> is software something that could be a part of the trade war given the nature? it's not a product you're not putting it on afraid, and somebody seeing it and put a tax on that? >> the good news about software is there are jobs every where j you could create a lot of jobs here and a lot of jobs in canada and anywhere in the world. it's not one that you lose your job over, this is not a zero something gain. that's the good thing about technology when it comes to software. manufacturing jobs make a difference as you know very well. so i'm not as concern about the software trade war so to speak. i don't think that's going to happen any time soon. >> does software kill jobs? automation? that's a big discussion we're going to have for the next decade john.

>> right. so the technology changes the formation of the job. when you create -- like intern. when internet came about did it kill a lot of retail jobs, probably did, but along more new businesses have been created every where including artificial intelligence, way to analytically get you to buy something so these jobs were never there in the first place. so i wouldn't say it kill jobs, it will be a different type of jobs. >> before i let you go, ask you this, because you before a deal maker in the past do you think blackberry about an in dependent company in one year? two years? >> i can't comment on that. >> i know but you know that i'm going to ask. >> yes. >> you been the subject of a few rumors, speculation. >> i always have the same answer, as a company, ceo, i

have my shareholder at heart and if it's a good deal for my shareholder i have to answer. >> we do appreciate your news. the enterprise company blackberry continued evolution. see you again. melissa. >> thank brian. dom. >> melissa tech sector over all today hitting its highest level since the year 2000 at this point. apple, of course the best performer here. both of them hit fresh all-time highs today. several other expected to release quarterly earnings. this week you got facebook, so certainly watching that xlk trade. back over to you. >> 90 minutes of trading left. amazon on a track record closing hi. so which stock will get there

first. a closer look next.

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press secretary shaens spicer finished all his interviews. he was asked to make a comment where he was open to embracing the gas tax. here's what spicer had to say. >> we did not express support for it. he expressed that a group that had met with him expressed support with it and he out of respect would consider their q. that's it. there was no endorsement of it or support for it, he was relaying what another industry group shared with him about how to pay for the roads and bridge that is need to be repaired. cthere was also asked about comments the president made in an interview with bloomberg earlier today which the president appeared to embrace the ideas of breaking up the big banks. here's what spicer said about that. >> he's looking at a 21 century glass steagall. that's sml we talked about in

the begin he mentioned this on a campaign trail so it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. >> i asked surpriser directly if the president favored breaking up the big banks. he didn't answer the question directly, he said that's something they'll consider but not to rule out in terms of that 21 century. it appears that nothing's emanant yet. is all this coming up today? i'm told at the community bank central here at the white house, the idea of breaking up the big banks was presented as part of ideals here today. it wasn't mentioned in the meeting but it was par of the the briefing concerns by white house if i weres today. become over to you. >> so as weather whether it's going to be policy about it as clear as mud? >> right. this is a nonanswer. no details to rule out means we

don't have an answer to that question. the president has a populous side to him and an idea of breaking up the big banks would appeal to that side. some of the trump voters in the mid western united states that have been hit hard and elsewhere, but also has a new york guy to him. it'll be exciting to watch. >> thank you. amazon and alphabet both set to close at records high. which stock will be first to a thousand door of share. jonathan. guys good day to have you with us. chad i'll start with you. the immediately cast of earnings is behind the stock, so now what? >> we favor google. as part of a fundamental perspective this makes sense. you're looking at earning per share, roughly $50 per share.

close to 120, to 130, that's going out two years. we favor this stock not only from a one-year perspective but also a five-year perspective. we do like a.m. zone don't get me wrong, but we'll take google. >> jonathan the charts are interesting because the past three months the stocks were up almost the exact same amount, 14%. >> choosing between amazon and google is kind of like picking your favorite child, it's something we wouldn't recommend doing. >> do you love them equally then jonathan? >> they're pretty close. if we have to chose one we'll go with amazon for the fact that when you look at the performance to the s&p, amazon recently posted at a new relative all-time high. google is still at its high a

year ago on the s&p. we're talking about one stock that's up 100%, the last two years, one's up 200%. >> all right guys thank you. chad and jonathan. for more market in sights go to tradingnation.cnbc.com. >> shares of tribune meeting right now. is this going to spark more merg earn mania in the media space? what about the regulatory hurdles do they still exist in a trump administration? all the details next. you always pay

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welcome back. shares of tribune soaring on news. 20th century fox is preparing a

join bid with milestone. also reports now, another major shake up with fox knew t. julia in los angeles with both stories. >> there's reports that box shine is out. th this this comes on the heel of firing bill o'reilly. we expect an announcement from rupert murdoch about bill shine leaving the company moment fairly. that's only the second story involving 21 fox today. a source close to the matter tells me that 21 century fox is in talks with blackstone of making a bid with media. with a deadline for the bids due at the end of this week, fox is looking to trump an offer by tribune for 123 stations. you see the stocks ultimate

nearly 6% giving a market cap of about $3.5 billion, sin claire shares are down about 3% and fox shares are down just a fraks of a percent. now either of these deals loose rules. my source tells me blackstone contributes cash and 21st century fox contributing its 28 owned and operate tv stations. in what a source calls a substantial amount of cash, plus, the advantages of new scale would allow fox to strike more favorable distribution deals and make the most of its investment in sports rights. fox would like to block sinclair from making it a deal because that would give it 28% of fox affiliates, making them more powerful to negotiate broadcasting fees. they are making the push to diversif diversify, of course, as fox news faces the departure of bill o'reilly and a new lawsuit

alleging racial discrimination, and it's awaiting regulatory approval for fox's proposed acquisition of the remainder of sky tv in the u.k. guys, back to you. >> julia, as you said, you expected an announcement while sitting there. they put out a press relief that bill shine, co-president of fox news, since august 2016, resign, leaving the company after helping transition over the next few weeks. there's a statement, this is a significant day for all at fox news. bill played a huge role in building fox news to its present position as the nation's biggest and most important capabble chal in the history of the industry. >> michelle, it's worth noting, he was only appointed to the role in august. he was appointed there because of roger pushed out at july. so much upheaval, lawsuits, and questions about how the company's going to fine leadership to push forward and move past the issues that have been problematic over the past

year. >> all right. julia, thank you. for more on this potential -- development, i should say, let's bring in larry, a fox and tribune shareholder, and we have the new york times columnist, guys, good to have you with us. in terms of you, what happened in the past few moments, what is your take on what's going on at fox news, and at what point they cleaned house enough? >> well, this is a huge development because this is someone who, you know, leaving, who has not actually been accused of any misconduct in terms of sexual harassment himself, but i've been saying for some time, i think this is a very important step for them. the murdoch deserve a lot of credit for this because these people, ales and o'reilly, they did not live in a vacuum there. people of their stature. this could not have happened, the things that that, settlement, sweeping under the

rug, without high level enabl s enablers. they want continuity at the network, but you can't have continuity at the same time you plan to change the entire culture. they have come down on the side of change, sending a message the bystanders making this possible are vulnerable and are chained to the culture. it's an impressive step on their part, and a wise one to be taking. >> jake abernathy remains president, and programming of fox news channel, jay wallace, executive vice president of news becomes president of news of fox news channel. jim, do you think this is going to be more to come? >> possibly. although, you know, this is not a g-- at some point, they'll sa, i did not condone it. i was taking orders. i don't know that you have to purge every single person. this is not -- you don't have to

debath the company to get the message across. i'm not there. i don't know exactly, but i think this will go a long way. i think a certain risk is, will some of the high profile talent, loyal to him, you know, threaten to leave or actually leave. sean hannity tweeted last week what a great guy he is. i think the answer is no. all he did for the network, he's not a household name, not the guy who made it what it is, and the network goes on quite successfully, i think, without him. >> larry, you buy that? your fox owners at fox. >> yeah, i think i agree with jim, and he's clearly a lot closer to it than i am. i think it's best to defer to his judgment. fox news is just a spectacular business -- >> is it going to be still? >> this is -- they have the audience, and i think i on rue

pert. fox news or the fact that he wants to buy tv stations? >> it's staph stations,ment game is played across the popd, and i think the key words are -- the british rules, fit and proper. what the deal does is take down the leverage of this company to make it presentable to do the deal. if you look at the history of murdoch in the media business, there's two things he likes. the first and most important, i think, are -- the satellite business. he start ed this in britain, becoming the monopoly, and now it's sky. he secondly likes control of sports rights, and these tribune stations give him franchises in the nfl, both in milwaukee green

bay, and seattle, and that augments the nfl franchises he already controls. >> got it. >> he's doing a friendly deal with blackstone. blackstone acting as private equity investor, an invester for a period of time. i think they'll guarantee their investors a nice rate of return. >> usually how it works with private equity, yeah. >> when the cash flow of the stations builds, and that's as sure as the sun coming up in the morning, when the cash flow of the stations builds, five years from now, blackstone sells back to fox. >> exactly how it works in private equity, yes, we have to go, really -- >> this is right by the book. >> thanks. check please is next. se is next.

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check please. >> earlier, oil was down by 1%, but other commodities, wheat, corn, and soybeans are rallying sharply because of the snow we saw in the midwest. wheat went limit up today, higher by more than 5%. you don't see that kind of move when it comes to commodities like that. >> quite a different story for the vix, volatility index, hitting the lowest seen in a decade, actually single digits, nine and change. that's one to watch as we see this bid for risk in today's market, selloff also notable in the bond market. >> another big day here in the conference tomorrow as well. one the biggest investors in the

world is going to join us, the cio, where they put the money right now. eric cantor joining us, digging into the political fighting seen, and hopefully hear from dr. oz on health care reform, and a bunch more guests. big league, i promise you. >> thank you. see you then. thank you for watching "power." >> "closing bell" now. welcome, everyone, to "closing bell," i'm sara eisen. >> sell in may, go away, at least for today, thanks largely to strength in text stocks, and we have a pair of money managers who say the biggest bet this year is to buy in may and stay to play. they join us in a moment with those strategies. >> glued to the bank stocks this afternoon, selling off around 1:00 p.m. eastern time after president trump said he would consider breaking