lost productivity. it's monday, august 21, 2017 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ blinded by the light good morning welcome to "squawk box." i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernen and michelle caruso-cabrera becky is off this week take a look at equity futures as we try to figure out which way the market will open up after the weekend. dow looks like it would higher about 8 1/2 higher, s&p 500 and nasdaq both slightly off in asia, a little bit of a mixed picture there. and then if we go to europe, we

have red arrows pretty much across the board and wti crude, right about now you can trade it for 48.49 >> here are the big stories we're watching warren buffett's berkshire hathaway was outbid for oncor. senpra will buy it for $9.5 billion in cash. hedge fund elliott management which is the biggest creditor to oncor had opposed the sale to berkshire and arguing that it undervalued the company. berkshire said it would not raise its offer. in another deal, maersk agreed to sell its oil unit to total for nearly $5 billion. the transaction is the latest sign of consolidation in the oil and gas industry which has been dealing with a do you know t.u.r.tur downturn the deal is still subject to rely laer to approval. and jeff immelt has become the frontrunner to take the helm as ceo of uber

the report says uber's board is expected to vote in the next two weeks. i immelt has the report of several directors. developing story, ten sailors are missing, five injured after a u.s. warship collided with an oil tanker east of singapore the navy said the guided missile destroyer was heading to a routine port visit when the excellent happened this is the second collision involving a navy destroyer in just less than three monthses. and u.s. and south korean forces are beginning computer simulated military exercises today amid those tensions that continue with north korea. south korea's president says that the joint drills are purely defensive and do not aim to raise tensions on the peninsula. the drills will continue unand i will until august 31 and president trump will outline his strategy for the war

in afghanistan tonight it will be the third primetime address of president's seven month old presidency and aim monday jobb and i mondds is joining pups. >> reporter: no word on what his new afghanistan strategy is, but it is expected to involve more troops in that country over the next several months or years we'll wait and see what the president has to say on that front. meanwhile more turmoil inside the trump administration as carl icahn, special adviser to the president, sent a letter to the president that he was resigning from that position icahn saying i choose to end this arrangement with your blessing because i did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration that announcement coming a little bit before the new yorker posted this article about carl icahn's roam at the white house raise being ting the question o

whether he was using the position in on order to benefit himself financially. icahn says that he has done nothing wrong. meanwhile over the weekend, steven mnuchin treasury secretary defending his decision to stay on as treasury secretary after the president's behavior last week. mnuchin writing in a statement to his fellow college classmates who had written him saying i don't believe the allegations against the president are accurate and i believe that having highly talented men and women in our country surrounding the president in his administration should be rea assuring to you and all the american people. as long as i am treasury secretary, i will do the best job i can for the american people and provide the best advice i can to the president. so a strong statement there from mnuchin that he is going to stay on board so much speculation about mnuchin and gary cohn in particular, whether they would stay or go the white house has said cohn is staying and now mnuchin himself on the record saying he is staying.

steve bannon however is not. you saw friday that the presidential adviser has left pn unclear what role he will play outside the white house. he's gone back to breitbart will he will begin his career again as a right wing commentator. we'll see what role bannon plays outside the white house after several months inside. back over to you >> before you go, let's walk through the carl icahn situation a little bit more because the charges in the article to some degree are explosive we've known some of the issues before, a lot of it evolves around a refinery which he owns and whether he may have been helpful in terms of the things that he either directed or encouraged the administration to do there is a quote from a bush administration ethics lawyer who says that carl icahn is walking right into possible criminal charges. what is your take on all this? >> well, its dramatic stuff and it will have to be left to any

investigators to figure out whether anything that icon oig did was in-preept. but there was criticism of the icahn appointment early on if he was going to be a special adviser, why wouldn't he be required to divest position of his various holdings there was a question of conflict of interest from day one and now icahn leaving, if you look at the statement that icon oig put out, it read to me in the first few minutes of just looking at it that it had been parsed fairly well by a teamtal lengthed lawyers, very clear that icon oig want ' icon oig wt that he did nothing wrong and minimizing his role with the president in terms of any advice, how often they met but he did have that relationship that was very vifsible to the president. >> and when the story roke, th assumption was that he was doing this because of charlottesville,

but now it appears that it's different than that. >> oh, absolutely. and it was clear when the statement came out it wasn't to do with charlottesville because he doesn't mention any of that in the statement it seems to be a question of a conflict of interest and whether or not icahn overstepped any legal or ethical boundaries. but we'll very to see if there is any investigation of this >> a lot of the traders assumed it was charlottesville >> and one other thing i thought was fascinating, a piece in the "times" about bannon leaving, just how much advice he still is taking from his old pals in the real estate world. steve roth apparently called and said you have to get rid of bannon tom barrack. how much counsel is he keeping >> that's a good question. i wish i could tell you the

answer hard to tell who has the president's personal cellphone number, but we do know that he does talk to his old friends in business on a regular basis. that is the first time i've seen them actually listed in a public article and laying in exactly what they said to the president. that is usually stuff that they keep very quiet. but clearly those three individuals wanted it known or somebody close to the president wanted it known exactly who was weighing in and what they were saying there but yeah, he is somebody who does take advice from his associates in the business world. and some of that drives the white house staff nuts because they can't control what kind of advice he's getting and what kind of input he's getting from the outside world. >> and then the other question is how does he feel or react to the fact that there are so many people now inside the white house defending their role in the white house but defending it in such a way to suggest that we're effectively the sanity caucus i think one of them described themselves as. and that without us, it would be that much worse and things would

go off the rails completely. i mean, that this is way -- i understand why they would say that, but it's also not very defensive of their boss if you will >> it's tough to take if you're the president of the united states i think ben white had a good point in politico writing that the president will likely have seen the background quotes from gary cohn suggesting that he was offended by the brd's president behavior not what you want to hear from a top aide who is angling for a high powered position such as federal reserve chair. so does this sort of rift between the staffers and high policy aide and the president continue to widen is something that we have to watch. but clearly if you are the president, you don't like those statements you do like the fact that they are staying, but the president is always wary of anybody who he

sees as getting too big for their britches >> okay. eamon javers, thank you. in the meantime, adp fighting back against bill ackman's management. in a news release moments ago, adp announcing that its board has voted unanimously not to nominate of the board candidates the interviews determined that none bring any additional skills or experience to the adp bhord pershing owns not just all equity and has called for the ceo to be replaced let's get to the broader markets. joining us is oliver pliiver peh good to have you here. we started to see cracks in the market last week two weeks in a row we've seen declins even though they are not

huge is this the beginning of something good in- -- >> fundamentally, it's still very sound the economy is doing well. corporate earnings are strong. interest rates are likely to remain low with the possibility of the fed pushing the rate hike maybe even into next year. so i think fundamental basis there is a lot of reason to be optimistic but there is a lot of geopolitical stuff happening that will likely cause a correction but let's keep in mind, we haven't seen new in quite some time and that is a normal market cycle. >> are you predicting one? >> i don't know if i'm predicting one, but we always tell our clichbtss that you should be prepared for a short term correction anytime. if you're fully invested, look at what has sold off more than others because things don't sell off evenly and if you have positions that you really like be and they sell

off 14%, 15% for no valid reason, you act to those >> bob, what do you make of the markets? >> there is slon piness technically. and i agree fundamentals are still good, but average stock is down 6% from its high. and most of them may have seen their high for the year. so i thinks easy money was the first half and second half will be bumpier do yo s i don't see big down side. i think it will just get a little boring. >> do you delve in to certain sectors and try to pick and choose if the low hanging fruit was first half of the year, do you have to get more selective >> you do. second half will be an alpha year >> what does that mean >> you have to own stocks that are going up and avoid ones going down >> isn't that true all the time? >> when the market is going up, you can own most things. you have to be more selective.

financials, technology, health care are our favorite areas. >> and part of that has to be because interest rates don't seem to move >> and in-fligs hasflation has f people scratching their heads. >> and utilities, one of the -- the only sector last week that actually went up because with the heavy exposure to interest rates. >> at the moment that is the case after a horrible second half of last year. i think that they will run out of steam again >> do you buy stocks that have a lot of over seas exposure? we've started to see already -- >> there has been a performance divergence if you look at international versus domestic. i wouldn't use that as the sole criteria to buy. i think you need to dig deeper and is ittic istick to fundame,

strong balance sheets. total that was mentioned earlier, you know, is a great name but we want to own total because we think that it's and attractv company, not because it's a french company and they happen do more business this north america than chevron which is an american company so you dig deeper. >> either of you doing any pickings over the wrecking in retail home depot earnings report was pretty darn good but it's getting hammered >> i agree buy more home depot it's not particularly cheap. earnings report was brilliant. same store, margins were pretty good but stocks as we just said don't go straight up and this one is taking a breather. >> 2425 on the s&p now

we have an actual technical analyst will be coming on. fundamentals don't help when you're talking about down 2.5% and the advice that i told my investors to be ready for a correction at anytime, we could have you on anytime and you don't have to say anything different. so we'll have her own and actually here stuff about near term, whether we go 5% or 10% or here is the chart, michelle, compared to these other -- i'm looking at about a two year s&p chart. i don't know what happens. maybe we go to 5%, 8%, i'm not sure but i know at this point we're at 2.5%. >> if you're an etf investor, it's time to go to being a task cal investor and that means that you look at

momentum, at price moves and you recognize that some sectors are just going to go down more than others because the market is breaking down a little bit technically but we've seen 2%, 3% moves before >> what part is breaking down technically? when we have -- so what you're saying then is an underpinning shows more than a 2% decline right now. >> yeah. not horrible, but sloppy >> you've been ready at anytime for -- how long have you been saying that items probably the highs for the year you said that last time you were on >> i'll send you our stuff, joe. you're so wrong. >> all right so you've been -- until today, you're been 100% bullish >> i'm still 100% invested calling 5% and 8% xreks iscorre a possibility you just have to be aware >> but you're still bullish that

most stocks have seen their highs for the year >> correct >> but most stocks have seen their highs. >> let's suppose 650 of the 1,000 have hit their high for the year i got 350 to play with >> so now we need guys like you that can pick the stocks that will go up >> well, guys who try to we always try to but it's a little harder and amouna little more necessary. >> thank you guys. bob will be sticking around for the rest of the hour i'm sure he's thrilled about that >> so your market troubles are over bob is going to stay >> wow >> thanks, oliver. coming up, when we return, the wait is almost over, the great american eclipse will happen it will happen this afternoon. jane wells is camping out in oregon, and she will tell us -- join us next with great images and on wednesday august 30th,

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in new york the eclipse begins at 1:23 p.m. and peak of totality will be at 2:44 and the event will be eeover at 4:00 p.m we'll see wiabout 71% of the sun obscured but jane wells is in the path of totality in oregon >> reporter: this will be one of the fist places where the eclipse hitsductivity will dropt $700 million as everybody goes outside to look please wearing the proper safety goggles.

it will be one of those things that i say they are not including the dollar is made from what i call apocalypse tourism. there are 12 million americans live management path of totality the population of that area will double across the country today. when i got into madras, oregon, traffic here to the camp ground was backing up 20 miles out and the last two miles, i bailed out of the car and walked. i left the producer with the car. took him four hours to go two miles. locals are hoping that revenues will eclipse expectations. one woman spent $5600 to get porta potties and she's charging up to $150 a spot on their farm. >> i think that is one of the beautiful things about america is that you can do things like

this if i could charge less, i would, but i have to break even with the port-a-potties >> reporter: all right now, at&t and verizon are rolling out what they call sales on wheels. cows to provide cell service in the area it wasn't working so well last night, but do you know what was work something those portable toy lets, they are taking a beating. they are still working gu guys, that was technology around in the last total eclipse in 1979 this was not around. this is iffy, those still working. back to you. >> thank you, jane >> she'll be live during "power lunch. are you going to watch my show with the total eclipse >> i have to be outdoors >> but you can watch it multiple times as we'll cover the path, i love the phrase, path of totality it sounds almost cult-like >> reporter: i cannot wait i feel very blessed that i got to be on this assignment because while the rest of you have to --

>> because you love camping? >> reporter: if you are in -- well, not so much. i didn't getfully sleep. but if you are in totality, in that two minutes, you can take these glasses off and look at it but only if you are directly under it and only in that two minute period. that is going to be something i will never for get >> and the reason this is so important is because when just the edge of the sun is popping out, that glare is so strong it can burn your eyes, right? >> reporter: yes because people think for some reason that they can look at the sun because it doesn't seem as bright it is. it will. and you won't enfeel it, your retina doesn't have nerve endings. you won't know until later that you've damaged your eyes but if you are in that moment of totality, the two minutes, all you see is the sun's corona and it is safe to look at it but you guys in new york, don't. get these. >> let's say that there is a normal day and you look up at the sun, if you look quickly and look away, i mean that is not

long enough to get burned, right? >> reporter: right, but not long enough to register the eclipse if you do this, you know i've been trying to find out about pilots flying east this morning. if the faa has issued some sort of, you know, warnings to them because in the cockpit, you know, ite's just all glass. i haven't gotten word back >> did you read alaska airlines has offer a special flight for the best customers, don't worry about cloud cover, we'll bring you on a special flight so you can see it from above any possible cloud cover that is cool >> reporter: yes, they are chasing the eclipse. but it's funny, there will be a lot of flights, southwest has listed all the flights that will be flying through. >> did you put that tent up or did you just show up and the

chair was there and the tent was there? tell me the truth. >> reporter: okay. the sleeping bag is mine that thing has been around the world. mike got the tent at wall plart for 30 bucks dan provided the chair and the lovely blanket and the nbc truck has provided the coffee so it takes a village. >> what is the weather like? are you going to have sun? that is critical to this whole thing. i remember seeing the eclipse in the uk and it was cloudy and it rained. it was a real problem. all these people had gone to view this thing and then it was raining outside. >> reporter: the weather is supposed to be perfect, but even if you're somewhere where there is cloud cover, if you're in totality, you still experience that all of a sudden it is dark as night and animals will act like it's nighttime and the temperature will drop. >> jane wells, always in our

path of totality thanks, jane coming up, mark grant has a message for investors worried about political in-certainty so plan accordingly. he will explain next no splashing! wait so you got rid of verizon, just like that? uh-huh. i switched to t-mobile, kept my phone-everything on it- -oh, they even paid it off! wow! yeah. it's nice that every bad decision doesn't have to be permenant! ditch verizon. keep your phone. we'll even pay it off when you switch to america's best unlimited network.

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good morning u.s. equity futures at this

hour, depends on which oompg av you look at. actually now all green dow up almost 30, nasdaq little over 4 if everything were to open at 9:30 wrigright where wee july new home sales are on us on wednesday, thursday look for jobless claims and existing home sales. and friday durable goods and we'll hear from janet yellen this week we'll hear from lowes, pbh, tiffany and abercrombie we'll get results from sales force and toll brothers and hp and it's the dog days of summer at the box office as blockbuster movie season wraps up the hit man's body guard earned an estimated $21.6 million in its debut. it's an r rated action comedy take stars ryan reynolds

annabel creations slipped to second with $15.5 million. markets closed friday down for the second straight week mark grant, hilltop security, good morning to you, mark. >> good morning to you how are you? >> i'm good, thank you i want to understand where you think this is all going. you wrote all the campaign rhetoric, all the publicity and agenda is either not going to happen or not happening anytime soon gridlock is upon us and my expectations are just this side of zero for taking place in the next 6 or 12 months. given that, will it impact the market >> yes, i think it will impact the market i want to take one second first to say happy birthday to cnbc contributor dennis gartman, happy 67th, my friend.

the answer to on your question is i think a lot of the buildup as you'll recall i was on your show saying that president trump would win and buy equities i think a lot of buildup has been an expectation that the tax cuts, the cutting of regulations, something with health care was going to map and i see it being pushed out another 6 to 12 months now if it happens at all so i think that is a determent for the overall market >> was that a miss in terms of how you think you thought about it i mean it was right clearly to buy equities on this expectation, but was the expectation itself wrong you seem to suggest in some of your notes, you write what were you thinking, not necessarily you, but what was everybody thinking that this was going to happen this way. >> i think that's right. we elected a president there was an outsider.

he's a republican president but certainly wasn't an insider republican and i think that we've got insider democrats, insider republicans, lobbyists, economists, attorneys, whoever you can think of that are pushing back against the guy because he wants to as he says drain the swamp and i would say because he wants to have a new order in washington, d.c. and there is a terrific amount of resistance >> and therefore what? you quote an unnamed money manager, an insurance company in one of your notes saying he has not bought bonds in two months >> draw, they bought some private bonds, but nothing in the public sector. the thing on the other side, andrew, that i've been setting quite carefully has been what the central banks are doing. i don't think anybody is focused on this, but the central banks are now at $19 trillion in assets that is basically the size of the u.s. economy so the central banks have

virtually created a whole other country and even while the fed is talking about cutting slightly maybe the number is around 300 billion, the central banks have increased their a assets by 1.5 trillion this year alone and i think that is what is moving equities higher and what has held bond yields down >> so given all the different various sides of that this you've laid out, what do you do about it >> well, i think there are a couple strategies that work. one strategy for institutions that i think is interesting now is buying bonds with short calls. some have yields of 40, 60, 70 one, items an agency bond, federal foreign credit has a bond with 170% yield to the call i'm in for that. i think interest rates are going lower. i think we're going to see 2%. i think a lot of those bonds are going to get called.

i think that they are callable corporate bonds are quite interesting. and i think closed end bond funds. i like nine currently. they have an average yield of 10.23% >> does that make sense to you >> makes a lot of sense. let me turn to earnings. they have been off the charts for the last couple quarters does that continue in your view? >> i think earnings will continue to be relatively good i think the dollar is helping earnings i think the economy is doing relatively well. we've had very high equity valuations but i think that -- you recall the line from all the president's men, follow the money. the central banks are creating such a giant amount of money, it's pushing equities higher, yields lower, and i don't see that stopping.

so i'm optimistic on higher equity prices still but i think you have to watch what you're doing and i also think yields are going lower because a of money flowing in to the system >> so when you made what was an important call at the time when you said, you know what, now trump won't get anything done, i'm worried about equity prices, do you still feel that way or now you're thinking they will go higher anyway? >> i have revised it i learn as i go just like you do and i think -- >> and you admit it. >> yeah, i admit it. >> so you're bullish again then? >> yeah, i'll bullish again because of the flow of money i think the flow of money overcomes the detriment of trump's agenda not being accomplished as soon as anybody

thought or maybe not at all. >> all right yeah, seems like we did okay with gridlock at times in the past, didn't we? when we heard from an ivy league professor in management that has an expertise in management that the market would crash if gary cohn left, did that make sense to you >> no. i mean, you and i have been -- >> it led drudge >> somebody is allege telling us the market will crash. i think it's the money that is important and that is what i'm following. >> i thought that was willie sutton that said that. you said it was robert redford >> well, they had different initiatives in mind. >> you know what, i'm going to remember so you're back.

you're back. what about under 2% on the ten year >> 1.9% was predicted. so yeah, i think we're going lower just because money has to go somewhere >> and it's not because the economy is bad >> i think it's the money more the economy. >> got it. >> mark, thank you always great to see you. >> thank you, everybody. coming up, trouble blueing in the housing market and this time you can't blame the millennials. we'll tell you why the boomers are at fault and white house adviser steve bannon is out, and this could be a boon for us because they are saying he might start a conservative business network -- or conservative network to compete with fox think about that bidding war for talent for people who are -- am i right or am i right he could be the pulse. in the 8:00 hour, we'll talk about the shakeup of former rnc chairman michael steele and

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welcome back we'll start with the housing market where everyone in the dog days of summer, there is strong demand but there is very little to buy and one generation may be making matters worse. diana olick joining us with more do you wish you were on an eclipse assignment skran well jane wells gets all the good -- >> i want to be in housing all the time what is an eclipse no biggie. i'll talk about baby beerms nbos now because they are not moving at the rate previous generations did. they are staying in their big houses longer causing a jam up some boomers are staying put because their empty nests build back up again, but the biggest reason seems to be what else money. lorain and her husband bought this five bedroom home almost 40

years ago xwh, rateised their to boys when you kno but now she's divorced and could sell easily but it's cost prohibitive. >> it's less expensive to stay here and metro in to the city than move into the city. so i'm stuck, but i'm in a neighborhood by myself that really i don't belong in >> trulia found baby boomers own almost 3.6 million emts rooms. boomgers have been ageing in place at a much higher rate that be previousovating more to suit their needs. so that is the bright side back to you. >> all right thank you. she's going to immediately run to go outside, i know that >> i got time. >> you're right. because it has to come across

the -- >> and i couldn't get the glasses. >> yeah, i tried to buy some last week. and certain well-known delivery company failed me. coming up, markets in focus. the dow turning in its second consecutive weekly decline we'll talk technicals. and right now a quick check of european markets they are mixed flat generally 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.

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is. welcome back katie is technical strategy at btig the overall market, s&p down about 2.5% from the highs. what is the underlying story of that is that masking more weakness or is that about where we should be for the technical underpinning >> i think it's about that what i would look for is a 3% to 5% pull back something that is healthy and constructive and most importantly in july what we had was an overbought condition that was widespread, but also overly bullish sentiment.

and that to me was the greatest risk to the market at that time. with this shallow pull back, so let's call it 2.5%, we've seen full relief from the overly bullish sentiment and now we have an overly bearish reading which is actually pretty prett surprising the speed with which that happened. that's either really good or really bad my guess is that it's really good and we should start to look for a low within the next couple of weeks. >> so as long as this has been happening, as long as this market has been heading higher, for people to become less complacent so quickly is pretty amazing, isn't it? >> it is, i think so you know, it might have to do with the geopolitical events i think that could be factored into it. the breadth behind the market is still quite healthy so we've seen a pullback but no big diverges it's just a pullback, not a negative divergence. >> how about the blimp crashing,

the hindenburg and ge going to 24, any of that got a problem? >> i think that's not a big name -- >> we all know what happened. >> we could talk about the eclipse today. that doesn't factor into my analysis i think it's more about momentum, overbought/oversold readings and about sentiment we had these extremes that are being registered we could see a bit more this week and the next week, after which we're getting into a situation that reminds me of the march to april correction which matured very -- in an orderly fashion. >> so then at this point what's your objective for this year on the high >> 2640 was a measured move projection from a previous breakout in the s&p 500. i think that's still very reasonable for q4. on the downside there is some support very close by around 2400 if we were to take that out decisively and a couple of closes below that level, the 200

day moving average is rising near 2350 so it's not like the bottom drops out below 2400 so i think we're in pretty good shape to see a low not far from current levels. >> what do you make about the fact the s&p 500 is up a mere 1% in the last six months and the average stock is down 5% since then the average stock is back to where it was in december does that concern you at all >> i would call that narrow leadership if it was also narrow breadth, then that would concern me so we've actually had broad participation even if the bulk of that performance has been dedicated to a few names in the marketplace. of course that's really the technology sector that's been exhibiting that leadership and even still it's surprising to see that the tech sector hadn't exhibited downside leadership during the pullback so it's just a testament to the strength behind that sector so i don't see it as a negative as long as there's one or two sectors to pick up the slack if tech were to fall out of favor, i think we'll still be in

good shape. >> so do you think we'll see more narrowing or some broadening >> i think we'll see shifting. i'm bullish on financials and industrials as one alternative to the tech sector. >> you do the ten-year too we were just talking about it. you had some good calls on that when we've had you on in the past too. >> there's some support around 2.13 for the ten-year treasury yield and it's a level towards the preservation of the up trend launched in 2016 as long as that level holds i think we defer to the uptrend and that could help some of the financials if we see it get going right now. right now there is short-term downside momentum. >> when i look at this chart, i think the best trade over the last ten months, you just sell that at 2.2 and buy it when it's above 2.4 and just do that over and over again for months and scraping nickels the whole way. >> it's a trading range and there's great tools to identify the swings within these ranges,

the overbought/oversold measures, things like that so we're using those more for the ten-year treasury yield rather than the equity market. long-term risk is very much positive, short-term has faltered. >> do you predict any breakout from that trading range any time soon >> i think so. i think we'll see it above 2.4 this year. the secondary resistance beyond that is about 2.65, just very commonly based on peaks on the chart. >> where's 3 no 3 >> no 3. i think that's somewhat unrealistic based on the momentum that isn't there. >> should i buy it if it goes back to 2.4 or 2.6 >> it depends. it depends on how the indicators set up at that time. there's obviously resistance there but 2.65 might be tougher. >> what's the upside on the euro in your view >> it's amazing, that massive base breakout that we saw. in my note from last night i'm

calling for a pullback in the euro against the dollar to 1.17 or thereabouts on the upside, that base breakout targeted about 1.25. >> gosh. >> over the long term. >> can you do a chart on gdp are we breaking out? >> i can >> you cannot? >> i can but i don't typically. >> would you >> i'd be happy to for you, yes. >> what support -- is support now 2.5? >> i don't know. i'll have to get back to you on that one. >> but do you think the gdp can be analyzed technically the way a stock chart can? >> it's up for debate. as long as you have a price you can analyze it using the same tools. is it as valid i'm not so sure. things do move in trends, and that's important but should we take gdp and nuance it with other indicators, i don't think that's a great use of card. >> do you have a card? can you give bob a card? do you have a technical analyst there? >> yes, we do.

>> have i heard of him who is it? >> call him up >> what's his name. >> i'll send you his card. >> you don't want -- you just stay in-house, you don't want katie's card >> i'll listen to anybody. you've got to learn from everybody. >> take her card not for nothing, bob thanks to katie and thanks to bob for sitting in and staying with us for the entire hour. >> now i wish i had a card on me. coming up, when we return, president trump will address the nation tonight to outline his plan for the war in afghanistan. we'll talk to former cia director james woolsey coming up at 7:30 a.m. eastern time. later, former rnc chairman michael steele will join us to talk about steven bannon's ouster to the white house and what it means to the economy "squawk" returns in a moment farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see.

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good morning the bannon era is over billionaire carl icahn stepping aside as the president's special advisor. a rundown of what's at stake in the trump agenda ahead of his primetime address tonight. a familiar face to cnbc viewers, apparently a front-runner to steer uber as chief executive. plus today is the day that the sun disappears at least for a few seconds. you won't believe the big bucks behind the great american eclipse. get your glasses ready it's monday, august 21st, 2017 "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ >> announcer: live from the beating heart of business, new york city, this is "squawk box."

good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market site in times square we're taking requests, anything with the sun in it i think beatles have a lot of things with "here comes the sun, " "the sun king," if you have any ideas, we'd entertain them it's eclipse day total -- what is it? >> a path of totality. >> i love that it sounds like a band. >> i think it sounds like a cult >> i'm joe kernen -- >> oh, that's a cool effect. you don't have to look outside you can see it here. becky is off today we've had some insect problems lately here. i got that one too. >> good job. >> let's get a check on the futures. was that friday, sorkin, remember when i got the fly?

>> they're doing construction in this building and sometimes construction can bring all kinds of -- >> unwelcome visitors. >> this hour up 27.5 points. the construction is for us too, isn't it >> some of it. >> so you can move downstairs. >> 27.5 points the nasdaq up 2 and the s&p up 1.80 i'm going to check the lighting out. what are you hearing about the lighting at this point >> it better be good. >> the lighting? >> yeah, downstairs. >> oh, i -- you know, i mean -- >> as talent, that should be your concern, the lighting. >> he's young, he doesn't care. >> it all looks good to me. >> here's what's happening at this hour. adp says it will not nominate any of pershing square's candidates for its board they say none of the candidates bring any additional skills or experience to the board. pershing has a significant stake

in adp and has called for its ceo to be replaced. jeff immelt has emerged as the front-runner to be uber's chief executive. previously it was said he was on a short list here's something that seemed almost unfathomable a few years ago. an upgrade for greece's debt rating fitch has upgraded its rating of greek debt fitch cited reduced political risk and sustained economic growth for its decision. as you can see from this chart, greek debt yields have dropped significantly over the past few years. only 5.6%. that's pretty amazing. >> are we supposed to learn that kicking the can down the road is an effective policy tool now it worked. >> yeah, you know, i did hear that i did hear time heals bad finances and heartbreak, right

so you got to the point where even if greece leaves or defaults or whatever, it's been so extracted from the european financial banking system -- >> what happened >> so what would you like to happen >> no. kicking the can down the road worked you didn't need anything more drastic than what happened we hear the reason that the market is going up because it's a global recovery. >> definition of work. if you had let that process actually work in a way that distressed investors are used to, would you have gotten much more rapid improvement in the european economy you never know. >> when you say kicking the can down the road, you're implying that you're only delaying something that is going to come back and haunt you maybe it doesn't come back and haunt you. >> are you changing? for years -- >> was i saying something wrong? >> yes, for years. for years. raise interest rates -- >> i didn't know it would give you an opportunity to do a quid

pro quo. >> a central banker posed that same question and he said, listen, time heals finances and broken hearts, right the two things, so wait it out serious position. >> you and paul krugman are on the same page now? >> who me and jack klugman maybe. a developing story overnight to tell you about. ten sailors are missing and five were injured after a u.s. war sh ship collided with a ship. the uss john mccain was heading into a routine port visit when the accident happened. this is the second collision involving a navy destroyer in just less than three months. also some stocks to watch, fiat chrysler denying a reuters report that it is drawing interest from china's great wall motor. an unidentified well-known chinese automaker had made an offer but the automaker said it has not been approached by the great wall and is fully

committed to its 2014-2018 business plan. nike downgraded to hold from buy. cutting the price target to $60 from $75 the analyst cited intensifying u.s. competition and barron's making a big call on starbucks. it could raise 20% the coffee giant is creating buzz in digital payments they have made a deal with tencent in china. >> but barron's is focused on the notion that starbucks had managed to get people to change their behavior when it comes to payment behavior far more effective than apple when it comes to apple pay. >> that would bring it back to where it was a month ago it was up to 65, down to 50, but it doesn't seem like -- it's just at 65. two oil deals to tell you about. warren buffett's berkshire hathaway was outbid for encore

sem per energy will buy it elliott management, the biggest creditor to encore's parent group opposed the sale to berkshire. berkshire said it would not raise its offer for encore. marist agreed to sell its oil unit to france's total the transaction is the latest sign of consolidation in the oil and gas industry which has been dealing with a downturn. the deal is still subject to regulatory approval. joining us now, vene pend e and jim kierney. both of you guys, concentrated growth for you, right? >> yes. >> short-term investment opportunities for you. these are very specialized skills that both of you bring to the table today. >> i hope so

>> what we do is own 15 to 20 stocks, growth companies, great businesses, operating around the world. so very, very select portfolio. >> do you care at all about the overall market >> we do we want to see the overall market going up, obviously,but i think if we're in a period where we're just churning around, that's the type of stock picking environment we can do really well, so i'm enthusiastic. >> time frame in your world? >> is six months and under the options we look at are the kind that dovetail into a long-term strategy. >> that's hard sometimes when they ask you to do that and said here's your job requirements -- >> the last time i was sitting next to you, you were talking about golf, i was talking about sailing. the most efficient way to sail into the wind is to tack and that's what we do. >> so you're working around the edges to some extent with that in mind, what does the

six-month horizon look like? >> positive. let's see the small correction we've had in context both for the s&p as well as stocks and dollar terms we are 2% off the highs in the face of pretty severe provocation. two factors have withbeen suppod one has been policy but another is synchronized world growth you know, it appears to us to be reaching a point of being self-sustaining and not just driven by policy what are the risks the risks are the same we've been talk about for months, mainly external to the market. first geopolitics, like korea, second, politics, and third is the policy error we'll discuss that in jackson

hole this week after the ecli e eclipse. >> we just heard 2.40 on the high for the ten-year, inflation doesn't seem to be a problem any time soon. >> that's good news. >> if you just look at everything on face value, geopolitical risk when it's nuclear or something like that, it seems -- you almost worry about inflation more than the nuclear risk because you don't really think the nuclear risk -- >> well, if the risk recedes, we'll be up again. what people focus on are, a, cuban missile crisis. we had a 20% down move in s&p. that was a very serious risk, obvious obviously. in my experience, saddam invading kuwait as 17%, 18%. but the more appropriate comparison was when china went nuclear. i was quite young but we were all very excited this was supposed to be a rogue

state. they used to spew venom just like the north korean leader. >> i don't remember that when was that? >> '63 the bomb went off in '64 but when kennedy was president he was contemplating attacking china and we had a focus and correction. >> so can i have a couple of your stocks or do i have to go -- >> absolutely. >> get you some money? >> priceline, mastercard, ulta salon or ulta beauty they have all corrected a little bit. barron's talked about starbucks earlier. if i said i have a company growing its top line 10%, 10 to 15 and trading at 22% earnings with a 22% dividend field, would that be interesting? >> and you're talking about starbucks? >> starbucks. >> europe is pretty darn healthy. and this is a company that is taking a whole lot of share. we're worried there just isn't enough economic growth it's better but it's not great, so you need companies that really are taking a lot of

market share and have these great secular tailwinds and starbucks has it, ulta has it, priceline has it. >> so what do you think it is? 2, 2.5 you don't think 3? >> i think it's 2, 2.5 the productivity is not good enough in this country to drive 3 plus gdp. >> do you think ulta forgot the r and said let's just keep it. every time i see it, i thought it should be ultra have you looked into that, sorkin when you see it, is that not confusing to you >> by the way, the company has been on buy. >> where did you get in on it? >> if you look at where it was, it's coming back. >> i think it's coming back. >> do you think it gets all the way back there >> i do. you look at where is the beauty customer going she's going to ulta, she's going to sephora and leaving the department stores. there's still a whole lot of

share to be had. that customer is still buying and ulta has been putting up really strong comps. >> where did you get in at the stock? >> various points but we've owned it about a year. >> did you enjoy it or no? >> we enjoyed the ride up. the last couple months has not been fun. >> did you lighten up at all >> we actually bought more. >> do you agree with the growth being only eh at this point? >> it's about 3.5% and that's good u.s. growth not impressive >> wasn't it 2.6 and then the atlanta fed is at 3.7 or something. >> yeah, that's what i thought. >> but if you add the 1.4 or 1.6 from the first quarter, we've been right at 2 for five years. >> i know. so if we do over 3 this one and then we've got to look at the next one you need three points to make a trend instead of two you need three >> i think so. >> all right, we'll see.

optimistic anyway, guys, thanks. >> thank you. a lot still ahead on "squawk box. volkswagen is reviving its iconic microbus, this time, though, it's electric. we'll tell you when it's expected to hit the road, next. and royal caribbean is cashing in on the eclipse craze with a total eclipse cruise. they're going to take you straight to the path of totality we'll talk to the ceo at 7:40 a.m. eastern time. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc these days families want to be connected 24/7.

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all right, welcome back. president trump will officially swear in woody johnson as ambassador to the uk today the new york jets owner is set to live in the uk while serving a three-year appointment i don't know what that means for the box at the meadowlands. >> more space. >> it means it's open, it's available. >> you think the owner's box is -- and what does it mean for the jets good or bad? >> anything could be better at this point maybe >> i like woody. but it's tough to -- you know, the owner isn't necessarily someone that can dictate the fortunes of the -- i mean to some extent maybe he can. >> yeah, well, i think they can

a little bit look at the knicks. >> quarterback problems. >> the owner of the knicks it's all complicated. >> i think there's quarterback problems i just read -- you know, i don't follow it that closely where they say if your phone doesn't ring, it's me. if i was going to not follow a team, it would be the bengals. they're the ones i'm currently not following. so i'm not really following either. in the meantime let's talk autos. volkswagen's bug-eyed hippy bus is making a comeback phil lebeau joins us with this story. >> this one is for joe because he remembers driving around boulder in a microbus back in his college days take a look at what volkswagen showed us over the weekend in pebble beach this is the id buzz. if it looks like the microbus, that's the whole idea here when they first unveiled this concept earlier this year in detroit, people said build it, build it, build it, so they are. it will go on sale in 2022

this will be all electric. it's part of volkswagen's goal of selling 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 the idea of tapping into the nostalgia of the microbus is one that volkswagen has toyed with for some time. for a long time people said you've got to do more with the microbus, it had such an iconic image, it was so popular in the 60s and the 70s. a lot of people always say there are millions sold. top sales, 574,000 in 1970 the krechceo says they're hopino tap into some of that iconic history. >> it is a brand which has a basis here everyone knows the microbus or the beetle from the old days, so basically i think people basically they love volkswagen from the old days. we made many mistakes here, but now we tried to make it right from the start i'm quite happy with the

development over the past months and i'm quite optimistic about this year and next year. >> well, their sales are up. you heard him mention mistakes yeah, they have made a lot of mistakes since 2015. this chart goes back to september of that year that is when the diesel scandal blew up in their face, has cost them billions of dollars it's really battered the volkswagen reputation. that's what shares of the adrs are doing since then sales up 5.9%, but sales are way down relative to where they were just a few years ago as they continue to try to recover from the diesel scandal. >> is this thing going to compete with minivans and suv and sort of three-row suvs for families or what's the thought? >> that's their hope that's their hope. the minivan market is shrinking. it's a shell of what it used to be and if you look at that market, you're really down to maybe three or four legitimate minivans that get most of the market share but that market share continues to dwindle

it's losing out to the suv market and in the suv market, yeah, people want functionality and that's what you get with the id buzz but it's a completely different look i'll be curious how many suv buyers will say yeah, i'll go electric and go volkswagen. >> what about the safety of this vehicle? it's big but it's small. there's no front. >> are you thinking about buying this >> i'm just looking at it, thinking >> put your order in now, andrew look, i think safety -- you know, it's -- i don't remember ever seeing a safety test done on the old microbuses. a lot of those were on the road before those tests really were popular. look, they're not going to be able to sell it if it doesn't pass those tests. >> hey, phil is the new tesla -- could i have seep one of those? >> on the road you mean? >> yeah, on the road. >> there's a very limited number

that have been sold so far a few have been sprinkled out to some of their galleries around the country, but it's very, very low numbers. so if you saw it, that's a rarity, especially out on the east coast >> did you see they're going to open a flagship store in germany coming right up to face off against companies like porsche >> yep smart move. >> phil, does the -- i think it's ugly that suv that they already have out there it's got goal wings -- on the doors at the front and bag doors? >> no, no, no, it's the second row. it's the falcon wing doors these have two joints so you can go out and up. >> i don't like those. >> i like your blunt critique. it's ugly. i like that. >> the prius, who would -- i wouldn't be caught dead in one of those things. it's like a cheese wedge they do that on purpose.

i want everyone to know that driving a hybrid, we're going to make it so ugly it couldn't be anything else. >> no, it's also for aerodynamics, but i get your point. >> okay, thanks. coming up, if you thought that you were an eclipse maniac, think again. royal caribbean is hiring bonnie tyler to celebrate the eclipse by singing this song on the total eclipse cruise we're going to talk to the ceo when "squawk box" returns. we'll be right back. with at&t you can get your entertainment right here. right now, when you get the incredible iphone 7 from at&t you can get unlimited data and live tv. the channels you love. your favorite shows and movies. making your iphone into more of a... oh my tv is ringing. hey...i'm in the middle of a...a second iphone from at&t? okay! right now when you buy a new iphone 7 from at&t you'll get a second iphone 7 on us. and power both with unlimited data and live tv.

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welcome back to "squawk box. packages could soon be delivered to you via a blimp-style aircraft walmart filed a patent for a flying warehouse and a team of drones the carrier would be between 500 and 1,000 feet in the air controll controlled autonomously. so not just a fight on the ground, but a fight in the skies when it comes to retail. >> i'm the only person here today that says patent. >> yeah, probably. >> manhattan. >> both you guys are going to go with a patent. >> i don't pronounce my ts and i

didn't know that until i met you. >> i didn't know a lot of things. coming up next -- >> unfortunately you still don't. >> the path forward for afghanistan. president trump set to unveil a new strategy tonight in a primetime address to the nation. we'll talk to former cia director james woolsey right after the break. ♪ it's time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable.

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good morning good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market site in times square among the stories that are front and center this morning, electronic arts and the nfl are teaming up to create an annual video game tournament. ea is the company behind, of course, the madden nfl game which is about to come out with its 18th annual edition. most of the competition will take place in living rooms, but finalists will get to compete in matches in stadiums in front of a live audience. also samsung is planning to unveil its galaxy notes 8 smartphone this week that will take place at an event

in new york on wednesday this will give samsung one last chance to impress consumers ahead of apple's release of a ten-year anniversary iphone later this year. and "the hitman's bodyguard" topped the weekend box office. it took in $26.1 million in north american sales considered a solid opening for what's a slow month for movie ticket sales. and paul allen has found something, tweeting we have found the wreckage of the uss indianapolis he is leading a team and it was found at a depth of more than 18,000 feet. the heavy cruiser was torpedoed by a japanese submarine after delivering components for an atomic bomb that helped end world war ii a few years ago an allen --

>> joining us is former cia director, james woolsey. thanks for joining us. >> good to be with you. >> the situation with the uss mccain, the missing ten sailors. there's starting to be a lot of buzz about four different warship collisions in 2017 alone and whether or not there were issues that the navy -- you were undersecretary of the navy any thoughts on this >> if they were collisions involving foreign ships, usually it's because the ship, often a russian one, maybe some other, is coming very close to an american ship that's following the rules. as a way of asserting themselves that happens with some frequency and it's happened this year. this last one sounds as if it was a collision between two american ships. >> liberian flagged merchant

vessel on its way to singapore when the ships collided at 5:24 a.m. local time. >> flag of convenience flag, not a foreign warship. i don't see much going on except an accident. >> got it. let's move on to afghanistan the president will address the nation about what to do with afghanistan. we've been there 16 years. he had a meeting at camp david last week to try to figure out what the plan should be. there's been a lot of dissention in the white house what do you think he's going to announce tonight >> i don't know and wouldn't try to forecast. mr. trump is not easy to forecast, as i imagine you find out in the journalism profession the record of afghanistan and keeping foreigners out in one way or another goes back centuries. it is very difficult to deal with that country. it has now built up something of

an infrastructure, people, military structure and the rest who do not want the taliban there, do not want to be subservient to essentially a totalitarian movement. and i think the timing, although everybody is tired of dealing with afghanistan, i think the timing here may not be too bad i think there may be an opportunity to rally much of the country behind dealing with the taliban and having some success. what would i put the odds? 8-5 against. >> in terms of u.s. troops, one of the arguments has been that if we withdraw, the taliban will take over even more of afghanistan than it already has recently and that once again it will be a hotbed for al qaeda to form. >> that could well occur we've had reasonably good success at not taking the place of afghan fighters but rather advising them, calling in air

strikes to support them, providing them intelligence and doing a number of things that take a few thousand troops as opposed to tens of thousands of troops i think that if we pull completely out, we are likely to lose our way and afghanistan to have a very serious fallback into an earlier and very unattractive situation >> others have argued that actually the weak link when it comes to afghanistan is actually pakistan and that they don't deal with terrorists in their country. until that's taken care of, afghanistan itself actually doesn't get solved to whatever degree it can be. >> pakistan is not the only weak link there are a lot of weak links in that part of the world when you're trying to accomplish something. but the situation with the son of the pakistani ethnic groups and some of them terrorist

groups has been just extremely hard to deal with. and it's a question of part of the borders and trying to deal with the situation where we really can't violate pakistan's saufr t sovereignty, but on the other hand we have to work very hard with them to deal with a serious home that some of their terrorist groups have and operate against the pakistanis who want to work with us and against us. >> is there any way you thought of mike pompeo's comments where he talked about venezuela. the cubans are there, the russians are there, the iranians are there, hezbollah are there this is something we need to take seriously this is right in our hemisphere. >> well, we do need to take it seriously. that doesn't mean we need to use military force there

i think that venezuela has lapsed almost all the way into totalitarianism. it has a terrible situation that it has to deal with, and it may not coudo it quickly and it mayt do it well we are seeing some of the consequences, i think, of president obama's, quote leading from behind philosophy if you tell the world that the syrians are not to cross a red line and under no circumstances can they use chemical weapons against their own people, do not do it, syrians and then the syrians do it and the obama administration shrugs and hands the problem over to russia that doesn't say to the world very thoroughly and very effectively that we are going to do a good job of bringing peace to our own hemisphere. it says basically we don't know what we're doing

>> when you sort of look at all the risks out there, where does north korea factor in relative to the things we just talked about. >> especially with the war games starting today. >> i'm most worried about north korea compared to the other countries, like iran that will have a nuclear weapon before too many years, maybe months is up but north korea has a nuclear weapon and it can orbit satellites that mean it can put into orbit a nuclear weapon and it can be a small, simple nuclear weapon if it should detonate, if north korea should decide to detonate that up in orbit, up 50, 100 miles, simple orbit, it could severely take out our electric grid. >> steve bannon was quoted late last week as effectively saying that they got us meaning from a strategic perspective they have us do you agree with that >> well, that's, i think, overstates it, but the existence of the capability in the hands

of north korea to knock out our electrical grid is not fanciful or crazy. >> but his reference that millions of people in seoul would die. until you can eliminate that possibility -- >> separate issue. millions of people, at least hundreds of thousands in seoul may die from artillery. >> why did you say iran could have a nuclear weapon within months. >> because the agreement that was signed two years ago is so totally ineffective, i think it's the worst agreement the united states in international affairs has ever signed. >> but we're under the impression that it lasts ten years before -- >> the terms of the agreement sort of last that long anybody that thinks -- anybody who thinks that the iranians are going to observe the treaty and cleave to it because they signed it doesn't understand iranians. >> they got a lot out of it,

they got billions of dollars. >> they got a great deal out of it and they are cashing it in right now. >> but they could have one within months in your view >> i think they could. months -- a few months to a few years. >> wow that's pretty extraordinary. >> i wish it weren't so. >> what do you do about that >> chanting death to america and death to israel. >> thank you, director good to have you on. >> come on back. that's a longer conversation coming up next, a prime destination for eclipse enthusiasts might leave up to 1 million visitors disappointed. contessa brewer is live in columbia, south carolina what do you have coming up, contessa. >> all eyes are on the skies and it's not just because of the eclipse. everybody is wondering whether the clouds will move out and give us a clear view a million people converging on the state of south carolina and no lie, a warning about lizard men.

an uncertain forecast is clouding eclipse excitement in columbia, south carolina contessa brewer is there and she joins us now with more hey, contessa. >> reporter: listen, i want to

be the bearer of good news, okay the forecast is improving. we're down now to a 15% chance of rain this afternoon and lots of clouds in the sky according to the weather channel that might actually interfere with our ability to see the eclipse in columbia. apparently eclipse tourists were not taking that into consideration when they booked their travel here to columbia, because flights sold out a 254% increase in flight searches according to cheapflights.com hotels here at 100% occupancy. airbnb says this is going to be its biggest weekend ever in this state. in columbia, it's 570% over last august and the rentals here, get this, guys, they're pulling in ten times what they normally average in august. columbia, the city as well cashing in the city's baseball team is auctioning off glow in the dark jerseys. the top bid here already $1500 for a jersey there's eclipse themed t-shirts,

there's artwork, there's jewelry, cocktails on sale the festivities over the weekend. but not everybody gets the day off to go see this >> i might peek my head outside, but patient care always comes first. >> oh, come on i got josh some glasses just so he could stick his head out with his patients. >> reporter: i was talking to a coo who said they had a big company party planned. they said wait a minute, with a million visitors in south carolina, traffic will be a nightmare, we'll have to pay overtime to our employees for staying at work. then their lawyer warned them a company-themed party, everybody looking at the clipse, if there's eye damage, the company is liable. they said we already because of the the moon pies. oh, forget about it, they have closed down for the day. the festivities getting started. there's more than 100 events that can hold from 3,000 to

10,000 people. the museum here in columbia, south carolina, is one of them and people lined up to get inside so exciting. i've got gifts a fan, matching t-shirts for the children, becky, jewelry, joe, mug? eclipse stuff. >> are you bringing this stuff back >> if you want it, i'll bring it back. >> bring it back bring it back. i saw an eclipse when it was raining outside and it was quite something, so you can still -- the whole world gets very dark very quickly. >> reporter: hope springs eternal. >> you weren't here 99 years ago. >> no, he went to london to see the whole thing. >> i saw the full thing. >> oh, that's right. >> in 1999 i went back and found the article and i quoted -- i was a cub reporter i quoted a woman who had gone down there who worked for the coca-cola company they time. i remember it was a great quote. she said, quote, it's like god left to go to the toilet for two

minutes. i'll never forget. so there you have it >> okay, thanks, contessa. >> it is what it is. contessa, great to see you. >> there's something not right about that. >> i wanted to go back to find the article because i remembered this toilet quote. much of america will look skyward to catch a glimpse of the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years, but one very lucky group of people will be getting a total eclipse of the sun joining us is the chairman and ceo of royal caribbean cruises good morning to you. >> good morning. good to be here. >> what are you going to be doing this afternoon >> well, our ship is sold out, so i'm heading to south carolina myself as soon as i leave the studio here. i intend to enjoy it we're seeing all of our guests looking forward to it. so yeah, this is an important day. >> so how does it work you said you have a ship that's

sold out explain. >> well, we had a ship that was due to be heading down into the caribbean and we realized that if we changed the i ttinerariti could shift it and be in the umbra of the eclipse so we shifted the itinerary. we did arrange for bonnie tyler to come onboard and sing her famous song and everybody will watch the eclipse from the ship, which will be just off the coast of the united states in the point of totality. by the way, the ship is not only sold out, it sold out at much higher prices than we've ever done before. >> that's what i wanted to ask you about. when did you start marketing this ship? >> we started marketing it in june and we announced that we were having all of this just for the eclipse. one of the things that was interesting was how much younger our guests are the people who have chosen to go on this cruise are five years younger than our average

cruisers that's a lot in our demographics. >> that speaks to the whole idea that millennials love to be experiential, right? >> it's not just millennials i think this is the dynamic affecting all of tourism people have done it. they have bought their wide screen tvs, they have bought their cars, they bought their stuff, and people are demanding something that has memories. i want an experience, i want an ad adventure. and so that's what they're going for. this is a perfect example. >> richard, ugyou said the price tag higher than typical. when did you realize that you could charge more, and how much more >> well, we knew frankly even before we opened, we knew what our passengers wanted, what our guests demand is all these experiences. so we raised our prices fairly early on, or stopped discounting them, and overall we've gotten about a 20% increase in our per

diem that's a huge difference. >> and just so i understand, this particular cruise, it's a multi-day cruise so are you on for the whole time or can you just jump on? >> no, it's a one-week cruise, as our normal is we've just had to shift the itinerary to stay along the path of totality. and then we carry on with the rest of the cruise so the whole thing will be an experience, but you will have both the experience of being in the total eclipse and then you'll have the experience of talking about it amongst your fellow passengers. we have at least seven weather meteorologists onboard, so there will be a lot of discussion about what it means, it goes back to einstein's theory of relativity and why it helps prove the theory, et cetera. it's just a great experience for our guests and they'll have a week of it. >> richard, you always have your pulse on the consumer, especially the traveling

consumer these days. how do you think the economy is feeling and looking? >> well, you know, i must admit i'm very surprised the economy -- the attitude of the consumer is very positive. we've had a horrendous week of bad news, so i'm really surprised that we're not seeing more people depressed by that. but people seem to march on, and at least as far as our guests are concerned, we've never seen as bullish an attitude people are really buying vacations, buying experiences. >> okay, richard it's great to see you. have fun down in south carolina today. >> thank you i'm looking forward to it. >> you bet coming up, this morning's biggest movers and a programming note on wednesday, august 30th, warren buffett will join becky quick live in new york at 11:00 a.m. eastern on "squawk alley. set your dvr now "squawk box" will be right bk.ac plan d water damage... soon, insurance companies won't pay for damages.

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. elon musk is taking a stand against killer robots. thank god, because somebody needs to the billionaire joining forces with a group of well-known artificial intelligence researchers in calling on the u.s. to stop development and use of robotic weapons they're claiming that using autonomous weapons could usher

in, in his words, the third revolution in warfare. let's take a look at stocks to watch. semra energy is going to buy encore it beat out berkshire hathaway which had bid $9 billion but declined to raise that, which is typical. they don't like bidding wars, warren buffett does not. the container store cut its full year earnings outlook 27 cents to 40 cents. i guess down to 27 from 40. >> 27 to 40. >> okay. from the prior 37 to 49. a lot -- if you're wondering the current consensus is 37 cents. it comes from increased interest expense related to the amendment of one of the retailer's debt agreements and nike was downgraded to hold from buy at jeffries which

said increased pressure put its current premium valuation in question. coming up, bannon is out, but what does it mean for the trump agenda the president set to address the nation tonight we'll talk to former rnc chair, michael steele we'll do that next. later, former ge chief jeff immelt could be close to a new gig in silicon valley. stay tuned, you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc

what's critical thinking like? a basketball costs $14. what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley

white house shakeup. steve bannon ousted. we'll talk to former rnc chair michael steele and the reverend jesse jackson. a meeting of the minds that could have a big impact on tax reform the senate majority leader meeting with the treasury secretary in kentucky. details straight ahead and the great american eclipse is almost here >> have you ever seen an eclipse? >> yeah, i've seen many. >> you know, if you stare at it head on, it will burn your eyes out. >> we'll tell you when it's coming and how to protect your eyes. >> i once took a pair of binoculars and stared at the sun for over an hour. >> plus we'll get a live report

from the path of totality. the third hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪ >> announcer: live from the most powerful city in the world, new york, this is "squawk box. good morning and welcome back i only want to be -- actually i only want to be with my wife welcome back to "squawk box. what brought me here to this, every light i missed, every rejection letter i got brought me here, so i'm happy. i love -- anyway welcome back to "squawk" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market site in times square becky quick is off today but set your dvrs. why at 11:00, andrew that hurts me a little bit. >> she's doing the lunch

>> can't we tape it and play it on "squawk"? anyway, set your dvrs. what day is that >> the 30th. >> warren buffett and becky. the futures right now, they're up treasury yields -- up 27 on the dow, the nasdaq up 4 treasury yields are 2.18 2.185 on the ten-year. here's what's going on we have corporate news for you first, warren buff fet's berkshire hathaway was outbid for texas utility provider encore sempra will buy the company. elliott management, the biggest creditor at encore's parent company had opposed the sale to berkshire arguing it undervalued the company. berkshire said it would not raise its offer for encore one of the things that's amazing about warren buffett, when he

says this is my offer, this is my offer that's the deal. in other deal news, maersk agreeing to sell its oil unit to total for $5 billion the transaction is the latest sign of consolidation in the oil and gas industry which has been dealing with the downturn. the deal is subject to regulatory approval. adp bitifighting back. in a news release that came out, adp announced its board has voted unanimously not to nominate any of pershing square's three proposed board candidates they interviewed each candidate and determine that none bring any additional skills or experience to the adp board. pershing owns 8.3% of adp and has called for its ceo, carlos rodriguez, to be replaced. rodriguez will be on "mad money" tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern time by the way, one of the three

that they interviewed, i imagine, had to be bill ackman >> would you have like to have been in that room? >> they clearly don't think he has the skills there you go. news just in -- >> oh, from herbalife. it's announcing a $600 debt auction to buy back its shares the company says this is the most appropriate way to return money to shareholders. herbalife was in discussion with an investor that could have resulted in a going private transaction but that those talks were not successful. >> that's a big deal, right? big storied stocks we talk about endlessly. talking about bill ackman in fact. >> and the fact they were talks to go private, there will be a lot of investigations to figure out who might have been the investor behind that. >> and where are they getting the money for this are they going to raise debt have they got cash >> i don't know.

>> all right a developing story overnight. ten sailors are missing, five were injured after a ship collided with an oil tanker east of the singapore the uss john mccain was heading to a port when this happened there have been four accidents in 2017 total. in other global news, u.s. and south korean forces are beginning computer simulated military exercises today south korea's president says the joint drills are purely defensive and don't aim to raise tensions on the peninsula. the drills will continue until august 31st. two of the most important players in the battle for tax reform are meeting today treasury secretary steven mnuchin is in kentucky, the home state of senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> reporter: well, those big two will be speaking here later on this afternoon this is really a chance for them

to show the business community, to show investors and to show the public that they are on the same page after all of the drama that went down last week now, treasury secretary steven mnuchin said that he is standing by the president he issued a very personal statement over the weekend after coming under pressure from some of his classmates at yale to resign mnuchin said that he is honored to serve as treasury secretary and that president trump deserves an opportunity to advance his agenda now, in that letter, mnuchin listed tax reform as his top priority, but mcconnell has said that he is unwilling to commit to the white house's timeline for getting tax reform done, signaling that getting this done by thanksgiving is essentially unrealistic. mcconnell haseven not committe to getting this done by the end of 2017, as house gop leadership has promised to do now, here in kentucky, i talked to business leaders who say they

want to look past the turmoil and just get some points on the board. >> at the end of the day, the business community is just eager for a win in tax reform and we're anxious to see the momentum that occurs from that win. >> reporter: mnuchin and mcconnell again have an opportunity here today to show that they can work together. guys, we'll see if they take it. back over to you. >> you can see why mitch mcconnell doesn't want to promise anything he's got burned promising things. >> reporter: that's certainly right. i mean he had said that he wanted to be done talking about health care by the end of the summer it's the end of the summer we're still talking about health care they're worried that putting artificial deadlines on these types of complicated legislations will end up just biting them in the future. >> all right, thanks, ylan. the treasury secretary will be the keynote speaker at the alpha conference on tuesday, september 12th, in new york. >> mnuchin, that's awesome that's good. sticking with politics,

let's get to the fallout from friday's white house shakeup and the departure of steve bannon from the trump administration. former rnc chairman, michael steele, he is an msnbc analyst i've already noticed, what do we call you now do i call you mr. chairman anymore? >> that works, or michael is good too. >> i follow as many different news organizations as i can, but i've already noticed breitbart seems to have grown, i don't know, how many teeth do we have? 32 or something? they got -- they have grown a few just in the last two days again. >> yes, they have. >> and some of the targets are similar. mcmaster and i already can see bannon taking the helm at breitbart again. it is a little bit of a change, a little bit. >> yeah, it is and theyplan to use those teet over at breitbart. this fall is not going to be pretty for republicans and it wasn't going to be just from the reporting you just did showing

that the tension is already there on some big ticket items like tax reform and health care. that the senate is of one mind, the house is of another, and the white house is on a completely different page you put into that mix the idea that you have steve bannon, who was not happy by the way he was squeezed out of the white house, pressured out of the white house, plans now to use the media and all of its weapons to go after those in the deep state like mcconnell and others who have made the president's agenda in their view a compromised agenda >> yeah. that's one word for it because not compromised enough, obviously. i don't know if that's the right -- i just figured something out. i've got a calendar out and i looked so if it's not by thanksgiving and if it's not by this year for tax reform, is next year 2018?

i've got that right, don't i >> yeah. >> isn't there an election in 2018 won't -- if things haven't improved, will some of these guys start distancing themselves from the president wouldn't it be better to do it in 2017 if you were mcconnell? >> well, if you're going to get something done legislatively, but the problem is this, the president is sitting at 36% or less in the polls. he's enjoying 80% support among republicans, and that's the problem. the broader public is in one space. the party faithful are in another. they're behind the president so the expectation in terms of pressure on mcconnell is great that he gets the president's agenda done. but that's just not realistic in the sense that you've got -- just take the debt ceiling just what's on the table for the beginning of september you've got republicans who came into congress with the idea that they were not going to vote for any increase in the debt the president has already made it very clear he wants a clean

vote he wants a clean debt spending bill increase on the table those members want to cut. so you've already got a problem on one big issue before you even get to tax reform. this is the problem that's going to require a lot of negotiation. the white house does not seem to be in the mood for negotiations. they just want to get it done. that's not how the process works. you know that, i know that, but the expectation is we came here to drain the swamp, we came here to not do it the way you've always done it, so get it done mcconnell is in a pickle because he doesn't want to have this subject on the table going into next year's election, particularly when he's got senators that are going to be on the ballot >> so we had a guy that knew everyone in congress we had -- the president had priebus, knew all about legislation, knew how to do all that stuff now it's a general, who on the one hand you would think knows all about discipline and giving orders and people taking orders

and, you know, just keeping things in line how does that factor into the upcoming tax reform or debt ceiling or any of that stuff is it an advantage or does he not know the terrain as well as priebus? >> well, i would argue that priebus didn't know the terrain that well. he was not from government he had never served in government he had a relationship with the speaker, but that's not the same as understanding the process and translating that into the west wing as chief of staff with general kelly, a similar situation. he's not that familiar with that aspect of the hill process that's what the political shop inside the white house is supposed to be about, and its legislative shop the combination of those two arms of the west wing working the hill, working the members has been the traditional way to do this. to get ahead of the president a little bit and smooth out the road for him so that when he comes to the table, there's a

lot less negotiation involved because you've already done that that's not been the way this white house has operated, and, therefore, the relationship on the hill is about where it was with barack obama, interestingly enough, in the sense that it's very tenuous working with the leadership they're not necessarily on the same page in terms of what they want to do next. and then of course how to do that and so the issue for kelly, as he said, is to look at the staffing he's going to look at the process, the trains run on time, things like that whether or not he's going to be behind pushing on the legislative piece as well as the political remains to be seen. >> michael, you obviously have connections all over the republican party do you still talk to people in the white house? do you have connections there? and given the events of the past week, if president trump asked you for whatever reason to help further his agenda, would you disqualify yourself from what happened last week or would you

lend your support? >> well, look, i want the president to be successful, but the president has got to show me that something that is very basic and fundamental to the core of who we are as americans, that he stands with that and the language last week, the flip-flopping back and forth, the hesitation and the lack of clarity in dealing with those individuals who were involved in the charlottesville protests to me is problematic. and i would have a very hard time going inside an administration that could not be clear on issues of race. that is very simple. >> michael, i don't know if you saw the response from steve mnuchin to some of his fellow alumni at yale over the weekend who had called for him to resign what do you make of what he said do you agree with him? >> well, look, the interesting thing about those types of decisions is they're very personal he has a relationship with the president, he's inside the

administration, and he -- you know, he's about getting the business done. he wants to do the best that he can not just on behalf of the president but on behalf of the american people. that there are those who really fundamentally believe that the agenda still matters, despite all the distractions that we've had for the last six months, that getting something substantive done on the economy is crucial for laying down the foundation for a full recovery and i think that steve mnuchin is very much committed to that i can understand the pressure he received from his colleagues at yale, but at the end of the day, he's got to ask himself am i in the best position to actually get something done and to achieve a goal he believes he is and, thus, he's staying. >> all right, mr. chairman, thanks we appreciate you coming on. you left our sister network to appear on cnbc today. >> all in the family, baby, all in the family. >> all right, thank you. >> all righty. >> thanks. coming up, we're going to talk about jeff immelt may be

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welcome back to "squawk box. jeff immelt could be heading to silicon valley the former ge ceo is now the front-runner to become the new unber chief. joining us to talk about is ed lee. it's great to see you this morning. >> good to see you guys. >> what do you think the chances are that he gets the job i say that because we had a conversation on the set about three weeks ago where i said i thought it was very, very unlikely in part because the composition of the board as it was then and the view about him -- >> he's not a digital guy. he's sort of an sold school management -- >> but he has clearly won them over is this a combination, he won them over, they can't kind

anybody else travis has created -- >> it's more they can't find anybody else. >> what's happening here >> look, the board itself is under turmoil too. they're not necessarily aligned on every aspect. travis doesn't help matters by any means in how he's interje interjecting himself into the process here immelt seems like the choice where most board members say okay, this didn't i could be our guy. >> and it's your sense travis is on board with this >> that's a big question mark. as far as our reporting goes, he hasn't weighed in and he's lukewarm on anybody else running the company but him. so whoever gets the job, he has to manage travis in addition to the company and board and everything else. >> one of the questions is tras wants to have a, quote unquote, partner in this process and project. has jeffrey immelt reached out to travis to say i want to be your partner, i want to work with you

is that the way jeff immelt wants to run a company >> so we don't have any reporting on whatever kind of conversations immelt had directly with travis we do know immelt has talked to the board and said here's my approach you know me, i've run multi billion dollar companies through crises before so i know how to do this. i think that's what appealed to the board right now is that he can steer ships in crisis. >> but what you said hardly sounded like an endorsement. oh, we're all exhausted, let's just -- he's like last man standing it didn't sound like they embraced whatever discussions they had about whatever he's going to do. >> so the board discussions change day to day in terms of where people are heading meg whitman was top of the list for a while and i think that was something someone who a lot of board members backed but she backed off when she saw how they managed that process. >> who are the other two, mystery candidates. >> yeah. we haven't been able to nail down those names

but immelt was the biggest bold-faced name on that list. >> what do we know about the plan, what he would do do we know anything about his pitch as to why he'd be good at this >> the pitch is basically the company is in turmoil. we need to get the company moving in the direction it needs to be moving in terms of making sure that they're getting into all the markets they need to get into, and then there's the big pressure of china's homegrown ride service around the globe they are putting a lot of pressure on uber an snapping up markets left and right. if uber is going to expand beyond big u.s. markets, they need to get into international much more quickly. they think that's a big part of the push as well ge is an international conglomerate so that's something he knows something about. >> these other two, the mystery two, much lesser names >> the sense we've been getting from reporting is they are lesser names or lesser known names. we're not 100% on that. >> what does uber have to give

up in terms of stock to mr. immelt for this responsibility >> well, he's looking for a job, right? he's looking for a job it was one of those things that just aligned at the right time in terms of uber wanting sort of an outside leadership person and he's available after things didn't quite work out at ge for him. >> okay. fair enough. >> ed lee, thank you good to see you. china cracking down on foreign investments. we'll tell you which industries are prohibited next. then, later much of the country will be watching the great american eclipse today we'll get a live report from jane wells, who's on the path of totality she'll tell us how much it will cost companies in stlo productivity "squawk box" will be right back. , helping keep shoppers safe. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see. this is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently.

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china is tightening its rules on foreign investment. the country has a list of what it considers outbound acceptable investments as the government continues to crack down on overseas spending by chinese companies. the new rules prohibit investments in core military technology and anything that endangers national security. that's from fdi into china they're also forbidding investments in the gambling industry not sure why that's related to national security, maybe not outbound deals in property, hotels, entertainment, sports clubs and film studios will also be restricted. but the chinese government hasn't specified how those will be monitored

china's great wall motor company has reportedly asked to meet with fiat chrysler. reuters says the aim is to make an offer for all or part of the automaker. automotive news reports great wall is interested in buying the jeep brand great wall is china's laurmest maker of suvs and pickup trucks. shares of fiat chrysler and great wall, fiat wrote last week as well based on earlier reporting by automotive news that great wall was interested. coming up, white house shakeup. advisor steve bannon is out. we'll talk about what that means and the president's response to last week's violence in charlottesville with the reverend jesse jackson as we head to break, take a look at u.s. equity futures, higher across the board, but marginally

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♪ good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc. we are live at the nasdaq market site in times square among the stories that are front and center, herbalife recently held talks to go private with an unnamed investor but those talks

ended without a deal being struck the company has now announced a dutch tender offer planning to buy back $600 million in shares at a price between $60 and $68 it says it's determined this is the best way to return money to its shareholders. >> you think they just got tired of being talked about on cnbc? we just can't take it anymore and so we go private and they'll leave us alone >> we'll see we'll see about all of this. fiat chrysler is denying it's been approached by great wall motor about a possible buyout. an earlier reuters report had quoted an unnamed great wall official as saying the company had made an offer for fiat chrysler earlier this month. fiat chrysler says it is sticking to the business plan it has in place. another drug controversy in the news the subsidiary of hicma pharmaceuticals raised the price of a drug 400% it increased five other

medicines 237% among those six drugs they are either the only u.s. supplier or one of two. >> by the way, automotive news says they got an e-mail from somebody at the company at great wall saying they were going to make an offer. so it's very, very strange chinese m & a is always so -- >> i would say -- what people say in china about deal making is always a little suspect that's a real broad brush to paint and i'm not sure it's fair. >> they're newer to it. >> we've had a number of situations where people said one thing and they have done another. steve bannon is out, following outrage of the president's response to the violence in charlottesville. joining us is reverend jesse jackson. good to have you here, sir. >> good morning. >> i want to ask you, in terms of moving forward, you're on record saying that all the confederate statues should come down in the united states. how should that be done? do you think that should be dictated at the federal level? is that to be decided at the

community level? how would you proceed on that? >> robert e. lee never should have been up in the first place because they sustained the pain of the war he did not want a flag on his gravesite. these confederate soldiers or generals represent the attempt to overthrow our government. they represent secession and slavery and segregation. and to sustain that legacy is a bad thing. there are no swastikas in the statues of that sort in germany. they wanted to heal the wounds of war >> so the federal government should decide and dictate rather than having communities decide whether or not -- normally this would be a community decision about whether or not they should stay or go >> it could be community in baltimore, the mayor simply moved by night and removed those statues. they should be removed everywhere becauseit's an insult to america's dignity. if they had won, we would not be the united states of america

we would be hooked up with britain and france and another country to the south -- to the south, the 13 southern states. they lost in an attempt to overthrow our government you cannot be more insulting than that. >> would you go, for example, to the battlefield at gettysburg where there are commemorations to every state where they lost soldiers >> well, i think there's a combination here one is that we want to heal -- the reason why lincoln pardoned so many was trying to heal the wounds of war. if lincoln would pardon us, lee said we should not try to put it in his face by having statues to this war which had no legitimacy ultimately and i think that these statues and the flags and even the electoral college legislation should all come down we should go forward -- i think that heather heyer represents the healing of the union robert e. lee represents secession. her statue should be up.

>> you're on record at how displeased you were with the president's response let me ask you a more direct question do you think president trump is racist >> no, i think he's pitiful. i think we deserve out of him better the white house is in chaos and while we focus a lot on president trump, i think the real issue now is jefferson sessions his attempt to undermine the voting rights act by choosing voter fraud over voter suppression, his focus on privatizing prisons, his focus on using moneys designed to chase down militarized nazis, to anti-affirmative action, the agenda of anti-civil rights, anti-planned parenthood. the agenda continues even though the distraction is around trump's tweets. >> reverend, a number of ceos as you know last week effectively abandoned the president may way of these councils, at least

publicly, and the new question has been whether members of his staff might feel compelled to do so as well steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary, under a bit of pressure from the alumni at yale, part of his class sending him a letter telling him to resign, he says that he has no plans to resign, doesn't believe the president is a racist and needs him. a couple of other reports, people inside the white house saying that they feel they can't leave or won't leave because they effectively are helping the president and that things would be much worse without him. would you be recommending that they leave or not? >> at some point they have to make that existential decision my concern is that when you reduce this just to race, you know in '65 blacks got the right to vote. white women couldn't serve on juries 18-year-olds couldn't vote though serving in vietnam, they couldn't vote. even in slavery time, blacks were enslaved but white women

could not vote, workers could not organize, youth could not vote, so this is really the abolition versus the slave holders. it really is two big ideas, slavery and freedom. so the legacy of slavery and secession, that legacy must be wiped out. >> sir, if people google right now jesse jackson and donald trump, the first thing that comes up is a youtube video from 1999 where you praised him for a lifetime of helping african-americans. i'm assuming he has sponsored your wall street project conference. >> he changed. president clinton was there and a senator. he came with the clinton group at that time he gave us some office space and then he went from that to the birther movement, which was strange. it seemed like a strange twist as far as we knew. and then the central park five, wanting those kids executed.

they were found to be wrongly convicted. he left what we thought to be a rather progressive, inclusive position to one that's very divisive, very ugly and very limited. >> reverend, i was just thinking in terms of -- i'm from cincinnati, we have a great museum in cincinnati, the underground railroad museum, but there's a lot of things that remind you of that horrific time as well. that -- i mean that obviously since it was an answer in trying to help overcome that slavery at the time, i guess that should stay but it still brings up all the painful memories as well but i would assume that those types of things would not be things you'd want to get rid of. >> well, that's different, you know. >> no, i understand. >> those who -- i mean there's a difference between lincoln's side of history and jefferson davis. republicans in '64 when blacks got public accommodations and the right to vote, they changed

from being jefferson davis democrats to being reagan/goldwater republicans when the lincoln republicans became kennedy/johnson democrats, a big switch took place. so these guys were not in the tradition of abraham lincoln, they're in the tradition of jefferson davis who sought to overthrow our government, and fortunately he lost. >> did you see this op-ed that was written back in "the new york times" in november that said in recent years american l liberalism has slipped into a moral panic about racial gender and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism's message and prevented it from becoming a unifying course capable of governing. do you think identity politics has gone too far >> no, i do not. the country is built on identity the identity of native american extinction, genocide 246 years of legal slavery another 100 years of -- 5,000

blacks were lynched between 1880 and 1940 we had to have members of the constitution define our humanity from slavery to jim crow, for example, today the issue is not voter fraud, the issue is voter suppression. the issue is not voter fraud, it's consumer fraud. so we keep piling lies on truth and somehow they will not survive. >> you bring up obviously terrible parts of the american past, but is that how you see the totality of the united states there's a lot more to our history than those awful, awful trends, events. >> well, there's a lot more because the side of history to make us a unified country, a more perfect union, lincoln's words, has prevailed we are steadily getting better as a country when trump talks about making america great again, we're the best we've ever been when i look at clemson play alabama in the big football

game, we're getting better when i look at the makeup of southern legislatures, blacks and browns and whites and women and men, we're getting better. but there's stubborn resistance to change. it's today's challenge we are in many ways better than we've ever been before, but we have a long way to go. >> reverend, do you foresee that we'd be in this place after the country elected barack obama twice to be president? didn't it seem like that at least proved that we've come a long way it doesn't feel like it right now for some reason. >> it was a high moment. i mean the fact that we had gone from the balcony in memphis, tennessee, to the balcony of the white house was a big deal, a big moment for american history. the night that president barack obama won, the day he was inaugurated with a real crowd, i might add, republicans said let's have one word on whatever these, no. there's been a net gain of jobs

ever since, that to be congratulated. 25 million americans have health insurance who did not have it before so you adjust the cost but not the care we're reconnected with cuba, have climate change. >> but here we are, here we are. what happened? i thought that things were going to get in terms of relations, you know, it seems like we've gone backwards. >> well, in some sense it's because of leadership. i saw people with whom i met in cincinnati and kentucky who are really against obamacare because they had the label obama on it, but they wanted the affordable health care. they wanted the affordable health care but not obamacare. it does not make sense they spent realtime making him an object of hate. it was unfair to him and not good for america. >> reverend, thanks for joining us this morning. good to have you. >> thank you. coming up, if your office is a tad bit emptier today, we think you know why eclipse mania.

jane wells is live -- it reminded me of raising arizona the way she was sitting out in that chair next to that crappy looking tent anyway, expecting hundreds of thousands -- now is she in the -- oh -- >> reporter: hey, guys, just taking a little nap here, about three and a half hours away from the eclipse starting and the campground starting to wake up it starts in oregon. up next, oregon has some unique things it selltoasinn ishewe come back

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♪ the wait it's almost over. just a few hours away from the moon's shadow touching down on the continental united states. jane wells joins us now from madrus, oregon that was a sight, seeing you climb out with those glasses on, jane. >> reporter: nothing will stop me from getting on camera, not even a stuck walmart tent zipper yeah, yo about 5:45 in the morning here now. at 10:19 local it will go back to being this dark, maybe even darker madrus is only a town of 6200 people but it has grown to ten times that we've met people here as far away as the british virgin isles

all wanting to be in oregon because this is the first place the eclipse will begin its trek across the country, cross more than a dozen states until it passes through south carolina. the first coast-to-coast eclipse since 1918 and people here in oregon are learning a lot more than just astronomy. >> so this is the one we have the special on, the train wreck diesel. >> reporter: all right so recreational marijuana is legal in oregon, and people are exploring that madrus has three pot shops and sales are, in a word, dope >> i'd say wednesday was one of our highest grossing days in history. and then as of about 2:00 this afternoon, we have doubled that. at this point i don't think we'll run out, but i think we'll come close. >> reporter: all right this is one of the big sellers, a specially made $60 bong with all the phases of the eclipse on it

of course you can't use this year in this campground because it's a public area, so edibles have become very popular let's hope people don't overindulge and forget to put these on when the eclipse starts back to you. >> yeah, i didn't even think about the intersection of all of -- of pot and the eclipse i guess that makes sense experientially, whatever it is these millennials love anyway, jane, thank you. you're allowed to have the paraphernalia, though, is that okay i wouldn't even be sitting there holding that thing. >> yeah, i'm not sure how i'm going to expense this. >> okay. all right, jane. joining us now from nashville, tennessee, right on the so-called center line of the eclipse is scott holly, associate professor of physics at nashville's belmont university you know, i don't really know -- i guess this will probably happen today, scott. i mean are we sure

>> are we sure that the eclipse is going to happen >> it's a joke, it's a joke. >> i'm hoping we don't have clouds. >> exactly but i have people conflating that all science is -- because of this that all science is -- even pseudoscience is true is what i assume. but this is fairly exciting and it's also, i guess, the coolest thing is when you think about some of the effects of the corona that you can actually see. as long as you have the glasses, though, right? >> absolutely. it's going to come right out during totality and it's going to be beautiful. >> can you get a lime with that? >> yeah, that wasn't bad, andrew that wasn't bad. we need a -- it's called a rim shot, right? am i allowed to say that >> what is your problem? >> she did that one other time thought it was some dirty expression that's when you hit the drum thing. scott, what else, in terms of --

i heard someone say that because of relativity, i don't know whether it was special or general, that we understand this a lot better how does relativity play into all of this as a physicist. >> well, interestingly enough, back in the early part of the century, when einstein put out his theory of general relativity, he predicted that gravitation should bend light. and one of the first experimental confirmations of general relativity, sir arthur eddington led an expedition to africa during a total solar eclipse so they could look at the stars where their light passed near the sun to actually measure that gravitational lensing, as we call it, and they were able to measure that lensing. that served as a real bolstering influence for the acceptance of general relativity. >> that's really amazing, because it doesn't make sense. the duality of light because it's a wave and not -- well, it's both, i guess but why does gravity affect a wave

that's very strange and to this day i don't understand it. >> gravity actually affects the geometry of space time so light travels in straight lines. but those straight lines get bent as they would on a curved surface. >> so when peopl when people tell me to get bent they're not talk about that are they so i'm a special relatively guy. i understand a couple of things about special relatively general, forget it. >> my ph.d. is actually in general relatively so hi to learn quite a few things about it. >> can i have your phone number? maybe you can explain the stuff to me. >> absolutely. so as a practical matter for the laymen that's out there watching to appreciate the beauty of this and the awe inspiring nature of it, what is it we should focus on as it's happening. >> well, if you're in the path of totality don't be fiddling with your cell phone or other kinds of equipment just enjoy the eclipse when we're in

totality you don even need the glasses. you definitely need glasses before an after totality but during totality it's safe to take the glasses off and just experience this wonder of nature. >> i didn't get glasses. i was going to watch it on my iphone i guess that's stupid isn't it i watch fireworks on my iphone i'm actually watching them -- >> you can damage the ccd with the partial eclipse light intensity so if you're going to use your phone wait until totality or put a filter or eclipse glasses in front of the lenses. >> that was a general dig at all millennials. i'm really not going to do that. but thank you scott, we appreciate it. it's a little bit quick to learn general relatively in he three minutes but thank you. >> okay.

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a lot of people were thinking we would have another big decline and it didn't happen maybe because bannon left or because things were overdone on thursday but, you know, they just come out on any day where you're down more than .5%. it's really amazing. >> right i don't know how long ago it was. you can just intellectually seem

smarter. negative since 800 but still felt fine at 16,000. still felt fine intellectually being short, you know, being out in the market the entire time and people are still like that it seems, you can -- you'll never get fired. boy if you're wrong once as a bull. >> one of the things that bothers me is you'll have a stock like boeing. that has to be the most hated stock in the dow and then the stock goes all the way up and the guys are like hey, you know, it was fine. >> or put out a new call put out a new call to sell it. here i'm really negative and anyway, thanks, jim. >> never changes. >> ridiculous. >> we'll see you in a couple of minutes. tonight don't miss our exclusive interview with clos druearroigz at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. squawk box will be right back.

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final check on the markets which are being positive for most of the session but marginally the s&p up a little over 20 on the dow. nasdaq up 8. michelle will be here tomorrow. >> make sure you join us to recall squawk on the street begins right