Skip to main content

tv   Squawk Box  CNBC  December 12, 2017 6:00am-9:00am EST

6:00 am
"squawk box" begins now. ♪ >> live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. yesterday you saw all averages closing at record levels once again. three-day winning streaks for the dow and the s&p 500. the nasdaq with its fourth day in a row of gains. this morning green arrows once again. dow futures indicated up by 50 points above fair value. the s&p would open up by 5 points higher. the nasdaq up by 5 points. let's look at what happened overnight in asia. you will see that the nikkei was down down by a third of a percentage point. also weaknesses for the hang seng, down by 0.6%
6:01 am
shanghai was off by 1.25%. if you look at what's been happening with some early trading, green arrows for the most part. but you're looking at fractional advances the dax is up, just barely cac up by a quarter percent, so is the ftse. look at crude oil. up by 1.1% yesterday settling just below $58 a barrel that was the highest level in almost 32 weeks. today we're at 58.36 >> that was the 67th or 68th new high yesterday >> of the year >> yeah. could be another one tomorrow. andrew is finally coming to the train. >> you're getting on >> the train left the station. we're on the bitcoin train now >> that train maybe left a long time ago >> where is the train that left newark he said sao paolo.
6:02 am
>> they offloaded it on to a boat, crossed the water -- >> heading to the south pole you did cop to that yesterday. >> i'm -- i wish i didn't have to but i do. >> calling the trump trade and everything else -- >> i do. a number of big stories to tell you about. we are continuing to follow a developing story out of southern california crews are desperately working to contain a string of massive wildfires. the thomas fire has burned more than 231,000 acres of land it could take weeks or months to fully bring that fire under control. a bit of corporate news to tell you about. our parent company, comcast no longer pursuing a deal for most of the assets of 21st century fox. they said last night when a set of assets like 21st century fox becomes available, it's our responsibility to evaluate if there's a strategic fit that could benefit our company and shareholders
6:03 am
that's what we tried to do we're no longer engaged in those assets we never got to the level of engagement needed to make a definitive offer comca comcast's decision not toed by leaves disney as the mai suitor for some of the assets, which includes its movie studio, cable channels and india's star network and a stake in sky that's what was so attractive to comcast. i can tell you sources are telling us we could see a transaction between disney and fox. the expectation is for thursday of this week what is holding up some of this is the role of james murdoch, and whether he will play a role, either operationally in the company. there's been reports that ultimately -- >> at disney >> he may want to become bob iger or whether he becomes a board member the argument has been that he has a lot of international experience, given these international assets and people in place under him that he might
6:04 am
be helpful the question is where will he land i think there's still some back and forth. >> disney was not uninterested in the foreign assets. >> disney will be -- >> they wanted them as much as comcast wanted them, presumably. >> more so >> even more so. >> disney has international operations, but this puts them in a different place this gives them an advertising piece, international piece, but most of all, the hulu piece. that's what this is -- if you're planning to build a true netflix competitor and you want to do it overnight, which is what they've said they wanted to do, they can take hulu and turn it into this powered by bamtech, the technology that they recently acquired that will support the back end of all this >> shazam. >> you saw that comcast shares were almost 1 upup 1.5%.
6:05 am
fox 21st century were down, but turned higher. >> by the way, comcast may benefit from this. >> it's up, too. >> but in a different way. because comcast owns 30% of hulu so the question -- the next question is how do they -- do they try to buy everybody out of hulu or does everybody go along as a free ride option. >> we still have regulators to think about. comcast, though it was foreign, are they still having a problem with comcast, do you think, from -- >> regulators? >> what about disney/fox >> it seems it would be a heavy left for comcast and for disney, too. >> i think this will be much easier for disney. >> everybody thought at&t would be easy. >> two totally different categories i do. >> really? >> yeah. >> it's hard to figure the media landscape at this point.
6:06 am
>> this is big and powerful. if it's about power and size, it's scary it would be just as -- >> because there's no real distribution platform, it becomes hard to argue. this one i'm less -- i'm less concerned about this >> you thought at&t would be fine >> the at&t deal on its face was concerning but -- >> really? because of the size. >> well, because you -- because there were people who could make the argument that there was the ability to use the distribution to affect content prices it becomes harder to make that argument in this instance. >> i don't know. people argue that time warner, if they could raise prices, they could raise them any way >> philosophically, i would approve the at&t deal, for other reasons. >> if at&t is watching, they may
6:07 am
use that they may go to the government and say we have sorkin on record father is an antitrust guy. >> i think you still talk. >> to my father? >> he knows anti trust law >> i grew up at a table where we discussed this stuff all the time >> still do, right >> i think that's where you get a lot of your stuff. that's fine, too >> valuable resource >> there's a pair of economic reports on the wall street agenda the november producer price index is out at 8:30 a.m. eastern followed by the monthly federal budget statement at 2:00 p.m. the fed kicks off two-day policy meeting today. an announcement is due tomorrow afternoon along with the fed's economic forecast and janet yellen's news conference and later, an interview with stanley druckenmiller at 3:00 p.m. alabama holding a special
6:08 am
election today to fill the senate seat left open by attorney general jeff sessions it's been a controversial race with candidate roy moore at the center of it all john harwood joins us from birmingham, alabama. good morning >> we're in alabama, deep red state. has not elected a democratic senator since 1992 that was richard shelby, who is still serving. he switched to republican after that you have doug jones, the democratic candidate, former u.s. attorney, not well known in politics before. prosecuted the klansman who bombed the birmingham church in the 1960s, but has been fighting uphill in this race. he has gotten help from roy moore, the republican candidate, former judge, booted off the alabama supreme court twice. been accused in this race of mo legsi i
6:09 am
lesting a 14-year-old and having romantic involvements with other teenagers at a time when he was in his 30s he's very conservative has the support of steve bannon. without certainty of who will turn out and vote, the poms are a the polls are all over the place. fox news showed jones up by 10 percentage points. you had a poll from emerson college that showed roy moore 9 points ahead then a poll from monmouth university showing a tie race. so nobody knows what will happen here you have unusual campaigns on both sides moore is mostly quiet, though he had a rally last night with steve bannon and others. doug jones has campaigned very energetically. he's gotten sort of below the radar support for get out the vote operation that democrats hope bears fruit today we'll all be watching. it has big implications for the
6:10 am
senate if the democrats win, they shave that republican pmargin in the senate from 52 to 51 not likely to affect the tax bill, because they hope to get that done before the new senator is seated. it will affect prospects for the senate in 2018 if they narrow that margin. even if they don't, if roy moore wins, democrats will try to attach him to all the republicans running in 2018. it's not the situation mitch mcconnell wanted, but it's the situation we find ourselves in we'll find out in a few hours. >> i guess if we had downs about polls, this wide array tells us what to expect >> exactly right >> bit of a mess thank you very much. for more on the bam mraalab election, let's bring in nick johnson. thanks for joining us. it's tuesday, election day
6:11 am
>> yep it takes a lot for us to go down the funnel and talk about roy moore. not something we usually talk about. from the perspective that the vote in a 52-seat majority in the senate for tax reform, it's something that finally becomes our -- >> we shouldn't be talking about alabama senate races this should be a lay-up for republicans. because it's roy moore, all of a sudden it's a close race the fox poll yesterday showing jones up by 10 i still think this race is moore's to win >> the rcp has them all -- it's 2 points >> the average of that is moore. i think john had it right, this is not something that mitch mcconnell wants. if you've seen some of moore's
6:12 am
rallies, he attacks the republican leader in his campaign rally >> which shows you how much you will still be dealing with wrangling cats for trying to get anything passed. >> there's no way he's a guaranteed vote for things mitch mcconnell wants to start doing >> but you figure to someone like president trump, even if he gets half -- the other gentleman, you get zero votes. even though it's not a consistent republican vote, they're willing to stick their neck out for this guy. >> that's true that's the conclusion they came to after waffling on engodorsin him, but he'll be a headache for mitch mcconnell. >> it's odd that mainstream republicans, to explain this, they'll say it's alabama i would feel bad if i were alabama. i would want to get out from
6:13 am
under that stigma. >> there's some tension there. >> george wallace and neil young wrote about it alabama. >> richard shelby, the other republican senator said i won't vote for roy moore >> he referenced we don't want alabama -- alabama has a lot of progress progressive great -- but in terms of moving -- >> forward thinking. >> forward thinking. >> state leaders in alabama don't want someone with roy moore's baggage. >> there's been articles written that said even if roy moore wins, the republicans lose because of what this means on a national level for having to explain it it means the issue doesn't go away allegations won't go away. >> and there will be investigations for how long? >> democrats will say the ethics committee should be investigating him since day one. fkts f
6:14 am
>> for 18 months or more >> until the next election how many more senators are facing situations -- >> there could be dozens more in the house and senate >> 20 million goes a long way of settlements. >> the news about congressman franks that came out last week, that caught me by surprise we expect there to be more >> there's another one where there was a couple hound thousand dollars paid out. >> that's something else people are not look at right now. you'll have maybe sitting members of the house and senate who may be implicated in this and you will see the process change for how this works out. it's byzantine how you would accuse a member of congress. >> it's bizarre they had like a slush -- we need that 20 million to cover the sexual harassment claims for members of congress >> there's a certain amount every year that we write off >> the cost of doing business.
6:15 am
that will change >> we are looking at the end of the year, we can talk about the roy moore election, but the republicans are hoping it won't matter for issues they want to get done with tax reform and with dealing with the budget and beyond >> for the end of the year, they'll get tax reform done. nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. but getting closer to everything being agreed to. looks like that will be done by next week. then the spending deal, they got a temporary thing until the 22nd they'll figure out another deal. that will kick everything into early next year, when we have a new list of things piling up we'll have the debt ceiling again. and other funding issues there was a seat change, i guess, when you saw flake and when you saw mccain and collins, and murkowski. i don't think that was baked in was that at axios? now people are saying it's
6:16 am
likely i've written down a lot of guests who have said no, it will not happen it will not happen the s&p will go here >> you have a list >> i know who they are. >> you're like santa >> don't look at me. >> you're like santa >> david bianco, not going to happen s&p going to 2450. that's going to be -- maybe he'll still be right at least he took a stand once that vote went through, did axios before that -- >> we had a sense that we knew who the list was that's how the bill changed to get those people back on board we were surprised by flake, he said he got a deal for immigration in the spring. >> what's the percentage 80% that it gets done now? >> somewhere between 51 and 99
6:17 am
>> likely and done >> i'm out of the prediction business until that moment john mccain walk the oed out on to the flood killed the healthcare bill >> you're right. i'm monitoring axios i'm watching you i got rid of politico. the beltway echochamber got -- you are surrounded by it you don't know -- >> we try to cut through it. >> i counted some stories yesterday. that one is definitely -- okay, but there's one that's not that's really definitely -- but this one isn't i got about -- >> i never knew you were such a guy -- a man of so many lists. >> i'm ready to unfollow at any moment keep an eye on -- >> nick @axios.com you can e-mail me any time
6:18 am
>> you don't want to hear from me >> try it. >> all right i will >> you realize you just told everybody. >> and you're an inbox guy >> i will be tested today. >> thank you nice to see you. we have more to tell you about. we'll do that now. coming up when we return, what are we talking about every day these days one topic. bitcoin. surging in the first full day of futures trading for the cryptocurrency, but one early investor sounding the alarm bell we'll talk about that when we return
6:19 am
6:20 am
6:21 am
♪ welcome back to "squawk box. topic of the day, what could it be bitcoin. the s.e.c. issued a warning to investors of the dangers of putting their money into cryptocurrencies the chairman said many platform trading in cryptocurrencies may be in violation of securities laws also saying if an opportunity
6:22 am
sounds too good to be true or if you're pressured to act quickly, use extreme caution. the s.e.c. yesterday stepped in to stop an initial coin offering from restaurant review app munchie after the company failed to register as a security. munchie planned to raise $15 million in capital but selling mun tokens they could be purchased or earned by users for writing restaurant meal reviews on its app. one of the earliest investors in cryptocurrency is raising the red flag listening to what roger ver said last night on fast money >> at this point i'm concerned about the future of bitcoin. a group of developers got in charge of it and openly say they want it to have high fees and unreliable transactions. if that's the case, people won't use it >> joining us now to discuss how
6:23 am
investors are cashing in on cryptocurrencies are michael n sonenshine the speculation continues. >> it does >> what do you think is going on now? >> so, i think what you're starting to see is that both retail and institutional investors are getting excited about bitcoin. the narrative has changed. the asset class came out of nowhere about eight years ago. it started with bitcoin, now people are diversifying into other assets the early days of bitcoin were often plagued by people thinking about bitcoin for money laundering, drug trafficking, but it's graduated from that the narrative on the street is that bitcoin is digital gold gold 2.0, here to stay and investors want exposure to it. >> but from a gold -- you're thinking of it as gold >> i think it's a digital store value. it's gold 2.0, because investors think bitcoin is more portable
6:24 am
and devisible. >> how do you think about that versus ethereum and e-cash an any one of these other forms >> i think when the dust settles, today you see lots of different tokens coming into the market ultimately there will be five to ten dilg tagital currencies tha matter >> tell us, for those of us who don't understand the stuff, what's the difference use case between ethereum and bitcoin >> so, bitcoin is really meant to be a transaction currency -- >> except it's not being used for transactions >> today it's largely driven by speculation. no question about that may not be the most popular thing to put out there, but certainly it's for transactions. ethereum, it was intended to be a substrate for the internet of things you're talking about a new layer of technology that can allow for smart contracts, connected devices. so, they can -- >> it's not digital gold
6:25 am
>> it's not digital gold. >> at all. >> ethereum was not intended to be a form of money what is ethereum >> i'm sorry >> i'm thinking about getting down into the rabbit hole, you say people -- i'm not sure that's the right way to say it it's get nothing more detail, but the rabbit hole is a difficult or complex situation for which you wish you had not gone that deep >> no, meaning people are getting obsessed with bitcoin. >> and they're going deeper and deeper into the understanding of it and the ramifications not getting themselves into a more -- which i think you may have been correct in the first place. >> i think what we're starting to see, those people who are starting to be naysayers about bitcoin and reject it are those that have not dug in and done their homework on it from our seats, our firm, we're the largest growing asset management business in the space, we manage almost $3 billion today, we run a bitcoin
6:26 am
strategy, an ethereum strategy and a z-cash strategy. people not only want exposure to the asset class but also diversification. >> but it's weird when you're in the middle of one of these -- maybe we're not in the middle of one of those situations, but you always wonder when it's over, you say why didn't people see it one sign is when your cab driver or uber driver, all they want to talk about is a certain thing. whether it's an internet stock >> or if you're skeptical of it and you say anything, you get attacked i've been attacked on twitter for saying something >> don't you feel some of that now with this? do you think buying it at 20,000 it will be at 60,000 in six months >> there's simple metrics that we could talk to you guys through, where bitcoin takes share of the gold market and appreciates from 17,000, where it is today, to 100,000 or $1
6:27 am
million of bitcoin >> do you have any case for it to retreat for any reason? course correction? >> every day that bitcoin doesn't head towards zero and is resilient and faces a lot of opposition is further and further in the direction that gives us conviction that it's here to stay >> and you mentioned z-cash. people think that may be the next currency that goes on to places like coinbase, and that's the next speculation, which is the next thing to buy. >> sure. z-cash is a coin focused on privacy. it allows the sender and receiver to focus in an anonymous fashion. we've seen demand for it it's -- as we continue -- >> like the snapchat of currencies >> i don't know about that, but it is a real world use case for a digital currency with a layer of privacy built into it. >> thank you >> thank you >> when we come back, the fed kicking off its final meeting of the year this morning.
6:28 am
we'll talk rate hikes, inflation and the market response. and net flick out with new data about our binging habits. system of it is bizarre. right now, a look at the s&p 500 winners and losers what's the value of capital? 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
6:29 am
nothey're not investing iney commoditiesies. or fixed income.
6:30 am
what people are really putting their money into is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there requires a real refusal to settle for average. because when you approach investing with a tireless desire to beat the status quo, something wonderful can happen. those people might just get what they wanted out of life. or maybe even more. that was just a'ight for me. yo, checi mean,t dawg. you got the walk. you got the stance.. but i wasn't really feeling it. you know what, i'm not buying this. you gotta come a little harder dawg. you gotta figure it out. eh, i don't know. shaky on the walk, carriage was off. randy jackson judging a dog show. i don't know dawg. surprising. what's not surprising? how much money lisa saved by switching to geico. wow! performance of the night. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.
6:31 am
welcome back you're watching "squawk box" live from the nasdaq market site in times square.
6:32 am
good morning u.s. equity futures at this hour, let's see what's going on now. we have a couple things going on dow opening up higher. another morning with green arrows dow opening up 53 points higher. nasdaq opening up 6 points higher and the s&p opening up 5 points higher. joining us is peter hooper, chief economist from deutsche bank he's also a former economist at the federal receive board in washington, d.c. greg fisher is the head of quantitative research and portfolio strategy at ger domingu stei fisher it seems like we're anticipating a rate hike what else might they say that could give us insight nfor next year >> they've been saying core
6:33 am
inflation is soft. numbers have started to firm up. does that word change, that would be a bit of a hawkish signal >> if that word changes and it's a hawkish signal would that anticipate three hikes next year versus two or four instead of three? >> four instead of three the second thing is do we get movement up in the dots. unemployment, the labor market still strong unemployment below where they thought it would be. inflation numbers starting to move up. i don't think there's enough to move the dots up to get to four but we could see moves there that, plus what kind of tone janet gives us in the press conference >> did you hear anything, greg that changes your opinion on how you're walking into this >> no the idea that rates continue to rise, it's been a set of slow crawls i saw confirmation yesterday from an investor who bought a
6:34 am
one-year treasury at 1.7%. i was excited about it in a strange way. it's hard to imagine i'm excited about a 1.7% one-year yield in the environment we're in talking about bitcoin and the markets. it was shocking. i had not seen something like that in a long time. that's a trend we'll continue to see. >> why do you like that? >> the idea you're getting paid a little something for keeping money parked on the sidelines versus the negative yields or the something closer to zero percent we're all familiar with in money markets and treasuries. the other thing is thinking about the dinnertable chat i've had with investment people that we could see yields more like historical averages at any point in the futures seemed impossible when you think about -- >> you're not talking about the ten-year back at 5%. >> i am, actually. is it possible we'll see that in the not too distant future
6:35 am
>> in the not too distant future or in our lifetimes? >> in our lifetimes. >> as a result you do what does that tell you it's time to pull back from stocks? if rates go up, that's been pushing stock prices higher and higher it's a better place to be than the yield market >> rising interest rates are the enemy to the financial asset stocks, bond, real estate, if we see a surprise increase or steady increase in yields, i think it would put pressure on competitive choices like the stock market here in the u.s. for sure >> for next year, where would you tell people to put their money? >> i have never been great at predicting the future. >> but if you were look at allocation >> look at relative valuations across your portfolio. >> if you're in the equity markets, you shouldn't bail out. but in every sector, in every country, in every asset class you see things where evaluations are extremely different. in the u.s. you look at some small cap value stocks thousands of companies whose
6:36 am
valuations look much less expensive than the big companies we continue to talk about. i would stay invested but be careful about the price you pay for profits, the price you pay for earnings, the price you pay for sales. as long as price is in the numerator, doesn't matter what you put in the denominator >> we can't invest in individual stocks outside of comcast. i'm almost 100% invested outside of comcast in s&p 500 index funds. would you be telling me i'm crazy for doing that >> not at all. that's a reasonable starting point, except you have to be a bit concerned about the way the market capitalization weighted indexes are created and this feedback loop of more buying, leading to higher prices, which leads to more buying, which leads to high prices i have five versions of netflix going in my home at one time, but paying 200 times earnings for that company, you have to ask yourself if that's reasonable >> peter, you said you want to
6:37 am
be listening to what janet yellen is saying does it matter w eter when we l jay powell as the incoming guy >> janet deserved to be reappointed. if she doesn't get the job, jay is the best person there jay is a capable fellow. has been a governor four five years. came to new york earlier this year, answered questions from a room full of wall street economists for about an extra 45 minutes, did a great job he'll perform well in press conferences. he knows his stuff he's not an economist by training, he's a lawyer, but learned really well. he has an excellent staff. he's going to have challenges, but i think he'll do well. >> meaning you don't think this is a complete reset? this is kind of carrying on? >> jay's coming in at an up popular time for the fed they're in the job of taking the
6:38 am
punch bowl away, doing it slowly with the labor market tightens the way it is, inflation likely rising more than people expect, more than the market is expecting, the potential for a bit of disruption along the way. remember, we're moving well below neru in unemployment when the fed seeing the labor market untightening, its job is to get back up to neru over the last 70 years it has never succeeded in doing so without causing recession along the way. >> there's a big vote of confidence >> this is a delicate task if anybody can do it, jay maybe. it's not going to be easy. certainly not in an environment with extra push from a policy in a fiscal cycle and people are not expecting
6:39 am
inflation. it's reminiscent of the 1960s. during the 1950s, inflation averaged 2%. first half of the '60s, 1.5% unemployment in the mid '60s went 2 percentage points below neru we got a spark, demand on the healthcare system, suddenly inflation went from 1.5 to 3.5 we won't necessarily see a repeat of that, but the potential for a substantial shift from the environment now -- >> sounds like it could be a quantum move one thing i'll tell you, we've been preached that the -- it's not where interest rates are, it's the inflection point. going from easing to tightening. that occurred a year ago and the market is up a third anybody in the past pointing to it's not where rates are, it's the change -- even if you're not
6:40 am
adding, you're tightening. if you're not doing qe, you're pulling back maybe it still happens that's 3% ten-year, neither thing happens. there's something else going on in the world that makes it hard to use historical conclusions. >> the issue to keep an eye on is not what happens, but if things happen differently than what we expect we all have a hard time imagining a change in direction in anything we do. >> the change in direction was from zero. people say it doesn't matter rates have doubled i still think it matters if it doubles from one to two, it's different than doubling from 6 to 12 >> we've again through four rate hikes, and financial cannonditi
6:41 am
have eased >> i'm not sure what's different. >> this is a question you could go back and answer we did research on this looking at what happens various asset classes when interest rates go up, go down, are more than what we expect. you can look back at this and say what should i have in my portfolio if inflation is higher than we expect it will be? it doesn't mean the future will be the same, but these are questions that can be answered looking back at data >> thank you both for being here today. >> thank you >> thank you coming up, chamath palihapitiya will be our guest host at 7:00 we'll ask him about all these things, bitcoin, social media his latest investments then senatorric pat toomey joins to talk tax reform. and breaking inflation data. we'll get november producer price index. at 8:30 a.m. eastern -- that's
6:42 am
at 8:30 a.m. eastern stay tuned, you're watching "squawk box. right. but you want to fix it. right. so who sent you? new guy. what new guy? watson. my analysis of sensor and maintenance data indicates elevator 3 will malfunction in 2 days. there you go. you still need a pass. there you go. you myour joints...thing for your heart... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.
6:43 am
flexshares etfs are built around the way investors think. with objectives like building capital for the future, managing portfolio risk and liquidity and generating income. that's real etf innovation. flexshares. built by investors, for investors. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully.
6:44 am
hello there friend! hi! hey there. i'm an imaginary friend of a kid just like you. you're going through a lot right now and i know you're scared. but you're stronger than you know. but look, we'll get through this together. and remember... we at the imaginary friends society always have your back! wow.
6:45 am
really stocks to watch today. france's unibail-rodamco -- unibail-rodamco. >> beautiful >> has struck a deal to buy shopping owner westfield you got this next hour, sorkin, for 15.7 billion the biggest takeover ever of an australian company >> i thought this show was unscripted >> the news came after the asian markets closed today westfield owns 35 shopping centers in the u.s. and the uk boeing is raising its quarterly dividend by 20%. the company is launching a new $18 billion stock buyback program. boeing says the moves are not in response to the republican tax plan which would cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. glaxosmithkline says it has generated promising data from the study of a potential treatment of multiple myeloma. that's a cancer that affects
6:46 am
blood cells in the bone marrow it is encouraged by the response rate in patients and is ramping up development of the drug i think it's a crowded field but could always use a better drug, obviously. some other stocks to watch, carl icahn plans to launch a new board fight at xerox in its attempt to shake up management icahn says xerox has potential but it will go the way of kodak if changes are not made. his representative on the board resigned yesterday clearing the way for icahn to nominate a new slate of directors verizon's ceo has stepped down from general electric's board. in an s.e.c. filing, he said while he's supportive of ge's ceo, john flannery, he no longer has enough time to serve on the board. iron mountain plans to buy the u.s. operation of io data centers for 1.3 billion. the deal includes land and buildings in several states. iron mountain will pay $60 million based on io's future performance.
6:47 am
small business optimism near an all-time high the index climbed 3.7 points in november to 107.5. this is the second highest level since 1983 when it hit 108 and the highest level since president trump took office. the biggest jumps this month were in those who expected better business conditions, and those expecting better job creation plans we have much more optimism due to small business owners believing the tax reform may truly come to fruition tax is one of the biggest issues in the survey followed by finding skilled workers. the group still acknowledged uncertainty and said there is still much uncertainty about healthcare and taxes, but it appears owners believe that whatever congress finally comes up with is an improvement so they remain positive
6:48 am
we will have more when we come back netflix out with a new report on binging habits stay tuned for that. at the top of the hour, we will talk bitcoin with chamath palihapitiya, he's our special guest for the rest of the show ♪ ♪ ♪ what we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. except that the next morning... it all makes sense. fedex powers global commerce with vast, far-reaching networks... deep knowledge of industries...
6:49 am
and, yes... maybe a little magic. ♪ wow! record time.s. at cognizant, we're helping today's leading life sciences companies go beyond developing prescriptions to offering subscriptions with personalized, real-time advice for life-long, healthy living. honey? you almost done? nope. get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital.
6:50 am
when this bell rings... ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected.
6:51 am
that's the power of and.
6:52 am
♪ >> netflix released trends -- some of them, anyway these are weird little anecdotal things it's a documentary called "american vandal." it's the show that users watched most in chunks of two hours or more i don't know anything about that >> they binged the most. the bingeiest. >> it's a mock-umentary. i haven't seen any of it i have seen a couple of these. i'm trying to get into it, but, i don't know >> the crown >> the crown >> it was preferred to watch the crown in installments. tell you why because you can't watch too many at a single time there's a top show that viewers watched in less than two-hour chunks per day >> i know why. because it's, like, moms who are watching it who don't have more than -- for one at a time.
6:53 am
one-off. >> there's a show that ladies in my house love everything about it the pomp and circumstance. >> me too. >> the clothes and all that kind of stuff relationships. >> you watch it too? >> yeah. i do i'm embarrassed to tell you that i need to quickly further notice on "cops" after i watch a couple of episodes of that. no one american user apparently streamed "pirates of the caribbean, the curse of the black pearl" every single day this year. >> johnny depp >> yeah. maybe that's -- that's a feat only rivalled by a canadian user who watched the third "lord of the rings" movie 361 times that would be "return of the
6:54 am
king." >> you created the program for example, you would want to know where, if you are trying to figure out what shows are more popular than others -- >> whether or not you should sell it to them for more money you mean >> that's one of the -- >> here's my question. i don't understand the joke here netflix is tracking how many times its viewers have watched its newest original movie "a christmas prince" and it's making fun of them on twitter for it the company revealing in a tweet that 53 of its customers who watched that movie every single
6:55 am
day for the past 18 days and netflix is tweeting the stat yesterday adding who hurt you. i think you need to know something about what the movie is about to get that do you understand that >> i don't get it. >> who hurt you? is it about -- it must be about someone who got hurt i don't know what it is. >> i think they're saying what's wrong with you to watch that 18 times in a row >> who hurt you? >> when you were younger, what's wrong with your psychological -- to watch this 18 times >> i don't know. >> maybe right >> that's what i took it for when i read it >> you are still in the middle of your -- you're on a fast track. i do watch -- there are times during the day where i'm free, and i will watch "unforgiven" if it's on. >> i'll watch that any time it comes up "lord of the rings" i'll watch any time >> big lebowski. maybe groundhog day. i feel like it's groundhog day >> a great documentary -- if you
6:56 am
have a moment to watch icharist. it's about sports doping it's really good >> i don't want to watch a documentary. >> it's really good. i'm telling you. >> really? >> yeah. >> just throwing it out there. >> you have enjoyed a lot of the recommendations that he has given you. >> when we come back, tech investor and bitcoin believer will be our guest host >> there he is >> right after the break >> coming in right there >> plus, it's special election day in alabama we've got the latest on the race between roy moore and doug jones. "squawk box" will be right back.
6:57 am
6:58 am
6:59 am
7:00 am
>> guest host is here to discuss the run in the crepto currency and why he says it's here to stay plus, his take on amazon, facebook, and other tech names that interview is straight ahead. stocks hitting record highs yesterday as the central banks kicks off the final meeting of the year today it's the release of the all exclusive first on never before seen results of the cnbc all america fed survey.
7:01 am
continuing to watch, what else, bitcoin following sunday night's launch of the -- bitcoin
7:02 am
futures this morning, take a look at this, folks, right now 17,810 that's on the futures cboe of course, the price is a little bit different depending where you look we talk about the various different exchanges and how some people are now trying to arbitrage those different. it's about $65 barrel a day. it's happened since 2015 it follows the shutdown of the u.k.'s biggest north sea oil pipeline, but oil is really risen quite substantially. just even in the past month i'm thinking back to that trip in saudi arabia meeting with the ceo of aramco, and there was a big discussion could you even stay between 50 and 60, and at the time we were at the low end of the 50s, and it was brent trading where it is today that it makes good things, potentially, if that ipo ever gets off the ground. >> comcast is no longer pursuing a deal for most of the assets of 21st century fox the parent company of cnbc said in a statement last night when a
7:03 am
set of assets like twenty first century fox is available, it is our responsibility to evaluate if there's a strategic fit that could benefit our company and our shareholders that's what we tried to do, and we are no longer engaged in the review of the assets we never got the level of engagement needed to make a offer. disney is the main suitor for some of fox's assets, which include the movie studio, fx, and national geographic cable channels also, india's star network and a stake in sky sources say a deal could come as soon as this week, but the stocks for all three are now trading higher comcast up by about 1.5% twenty first century fox up by two-thirds of a percent.
7:04 am
officials say the thomas fire, which is now the largest in the area, has burned more than 231,000 acres of land and it could take weeks or even months to fully bring that fire under control. more than 850 structures have been destroyed totaling $48 million in damage. voters are now heading to the polls today to choose a new senator. in a very contentious special election republican roy moore and democrat doug jones are boig vying to become alabama's next u.s. senator on the eve of the election, moore called into a conservative talk radio show and portrayed himself as the victim of the sexual misconduct allegations that have dogged him for weeks moore has denied all those accusations. polling places have just opened. >> want to bring in our guest host this morning. the founder of social capital, which manages more than $2.5 billion in assets. he launched a blank check public
7:05 am
company that began trading on the new york stock exchange in september. >> we're thinking of selling a sweater every month. we'll send it out in a box >> i would buy it. >> what would you pay? >> anywhere between $50 and $500 >> 50 and 500? >> it depends on the quality >> we almost said bitcoin. we have a lot to talk about and unpack, as people like to say in the news business. talking about this
7:06 am
i want to talk bitcoin, and then we should probably first start with this, though, because you made a lot of headlines. i know you made this comment just a couple of weeks ago, but it's gone viral now. your thoughts -- >> i've hearted it it's viral >> it just appeared in some of the blogs and other things you made some critical -- truly critical comments about facebook, really upending children and our society and -- >> let me set the context. so the context was i was at stanford, and they asked me to speak to the nba students. in it what i was talking about was the question was what do you think the long-term effects of social media in general are? unfortunately what happened was i think it's easy to characterize what i said just as a facebook specific thing because i worked there, and i was a key part of growing it the reality of what i was -- >> explain what you said at the time >> so what i said was i think the tools that have been created today are starting to erode the social fabric of how society
7:07 am
works. what i meant by that is the following thing. today we live in a world now where it is easy to confuse truth and popularity, and you can use money to amplify whatever you believe and get people to believe that what is popular is now truthful and what is not popular may not be truthful >> i can now take money to hunds of millions of people, and i can convince all of joe's friends and everybody like him of my opinion in very subtle and small ways he can do the same to me we can do that about vaccines. we can do that about gay rights. we can do that about bathroom laws and roy moore i think the question you have to ask ourselves is how do we live in a world where this is now possible >> so it's about the -- just want to understand i read parts of what you were talking about.
7:08 am
part of it seems to me about the ability to pay to manipulate people's thoughts. the other seemed to me to be the sort of a.d.d. society that liking and everything else has created this sort of feedback loop that you compared to drugs. we know for a fact that it exploits our own natural tendencies in human beings to get and want feedback. that feedback, chemically speaking, is the lease of dopamine in your brain it invades us in "call of duty," social networking sites. they get you to react. i think if you get to desensitized and you need it over and over and over again, then you become actually detached from the world in which you live >> you become callous and crude. >> you live in your screen >> let me ask you this
7:09 am
>> because of all of the companies -- i've seen them all up close they are the most frankly to be very blunt and honest, the best run and the most technically sophisticated. >> they are also e-mailing me if i haven't logged on to facebook for a while saying, hey, did you see the post from so and so, trying to lure you back in again, we can make those decisions as adults. as children, that is a different -- >> i think the product -- i don't know it quite honestly, but i think the way that product works, because of privacy laws in the united states, you have to give parental permission. the point, though, is and what you are bringing up is the most important thing. we all have never taken a step back, and actually asked ourselves how should we be interacting with these things now seven p years into it, and what should we be expecting of the internet at large?
7:10 am
the reality may be the entire business model of the internet may be fundamentally somewhat broken right? we allow ourselves to get interacted with in ways where we don't necessarily control the medium or the messages >> we are not putting up any barriers to ever give yourself any downtime on that either. >> exactly it may mean that we all collectively need to figure out -- not just individuals, but also the companies, also governments, quite honestly, how different business models need to exist so we can divorce ourselves from how -- >> what goes on in your household? >> there's no screen time whatsoever >> none. >> none. >> your facebook is not just off limits you're talking no ipads. >> none. >> none. >> i have three. 9, 7, 5. >> do they ask >> all the time. their friends have it all the time >> movies? >> a little bit if we have to. >> but no computers at all >> you know, here's the life
7:11 am
that i live with my children, which may not be for everyone. i said i do not like this co-dependency of they need to rely on me, and when they can't, i feed them a device because that becomes a baby-sitter you go figure it out go outside skin your knee fall on the ground play a sport lose at something. then come back to me and we can talk about it, and we'll talk about it as rationale human beings and i'll try to tell you why thatis a good thing that just happened to you versus here you are. i have something else to do. we've made these conscious choices. i have made these conscious choices, but they're conscious what i was trying to get across and i could have done it more articulately is it needs to be more of a conscious choice i'll give you a different example. adam pain, who you know and love, he and i go to the knick game you would think that it's amazing. we're sitting courtside. it's fantastic i took a picture he took a picture. we sweated the filter for 15 minutes trying to figure out which photo. i thought if adam bane and i are trying to figure out what photo filter we're going to use
7:12 am
because we're so craving the reaction, what must everybody else be going through, and aren't other people feeling this void that i'm feeling in this moment i'm just -- i try to articulate a sensation. >> in the meantime, you're not watching the game or paying attention to what's going on >> it's just a really weird place. >> who called you in the valley after -- >> a lot of people called and texted i owe those guys everything. they made me i'm sitting in this seat because, frankly, i was able to be a part of a company that did something really wonderful, and they're going to -- they're going to do more to fix this stuff than anybody else. i feel bad that guys there may feel like i didn't do right by them in what i said. it was not directed at facebook. i was trying to talk about something societially. i'm not going to back track on what i said because at some core basic level we have to start talking about this stuff how should our kids -- why is
7:13 am
anxiety and depression amongst our teenagers higher than they've ever been? >> yes it's a huge -- >> in a world that is safer, in a world that is more constructive, in a world that you slud have access to everything, what is going on we just have to figure this out and talk about it. >> when will you let your 9-year-old actually have a screen >> he can get a job. i worked at burger king when i was 14 when he gets a job and earns enough money to buy his phone, he can do whatever he wants with it up until then, i'm going to feed him, clothe him, and house him and send him to school and that's all i'm going to do >> i mean, i feel -- you yourself don't feel the urge to always check your screen or you do >> i check my screen a lot at the office >> you have your phone right there. >> even now i've actually morphed my behavior. what i do now is whenever i come into the office typically i actually put it face down because otherwise i feel all these notifications. my nell e e-mail notifications,
7:14 am
stalk alerts, et cetera. >> you can turn those off. i don't have those on. >> this is a pervasive trend that's -- >> i feel it >> this is something that's new. >> have you talked to sean parker about it. >> this is something similar >> this is why i thought a month ago really -- -- it was a month later now the whole thing has gone crazy >> it is chemically mediated in my brain whatever gets me to all of a sudden feel that need to do something -- >> it's true for video games and
7:15 am
television it's true for music. it's probably true for your phone. >> i do want to get just to bun other topic. we talk about it every day bitcoin. >> it is out of control. look, let's -- >> bitcoin >> let's talk bitcoin. 2012 i was introduced to it. i started to accumulate, accumulate 2013 i wrote an article. >> so you are -- just so we know to feel bad about yourselves you're accumulating it at what price? >> well, my dollar cost average is around 100 something. >> and you have held it, everything you've bought >> at one point -- i was introduced to it by a person i asked him if i could disclose his name he said no he, myself, and another person, all three of us relatively well known in the valley. at one point we owned almost 5% of the entire -- in 2013 we've sold, they've sold i wished we had kept it all. we didn't. it's fine.
7:16 am
i said take 1% of your net worth and buy this schmuck insurance >> that was at $100, though. i actually started hearing from people that i know very well who don't often invest who are asking me if this is the time -- >> buy the schmuck insurance now. >> this is now a confidence game, right? there is no real utility in this this is a fantastic fundamental hedge and store value against autocratic regimes and banking infrastructure that we know is corrosive to how the world needs to work properly you cannot have central banks infinitely printing currency you cannot have folks with misguided and misdirected monetary and fiscal policy
7:17 am
>> you're doing k on >> you just called it a confidence game. it's a con game. >> we've done okay the economy is built on central banks and built on currencies where you said how much better life is in every respect than it's ever been, and it's with that as -- >> we've seen the first few chapters of this, and we have to now go through the great unwind. we'll see what happens all i'm saying is to have the ability to henl that out in a way that isn't fundamentally correlated to the people and the infrastructure that made those decisions that we were not a part of fundamentally, i think it's a smart thing >> the point is if you haven't jumped on this bus or train or whatever vehicle you want to describe it as, has it left the station? >> no. here's what i would say. the same way that i said in 2013 for 1% of your fet worth in bitcoin, i will say this thing is $1 00,000 a coin probably in the next three to four years i think it is in the next 20
7:18 am
years a million dollars a coin there you have it. >> you are telling people to put 1% of your net worth >> it's a lot harder >> that's for people who have money to play with if you are talking to an average retail investor who is looking at this, somebody on who is trying to figure out should i put it in my 401k or should i put it in bitcoin, you would tell them what >> i don't think that's the actual trade-off in your 401k -- for example, in your ira, you -- >> i'm saying that there are people who have to make decisions about these things who aren't fully invested in the 401k >> i own a lot of bitcoin in my i.r.a. it is possible i did take a small percentage, and i approximate ut it in there. all i'm saying is there's a -- >> you have money to play with >> what i'm saying is you could buy the s&p 500 index. buy 99% of that. you have $1 00 to invest >> put $1. >> put $1. the reason that $1 is so valuable is that it is fundamentally not correlated to the other 99
7:19 am
just on the off chance that all the people that manage the 99 may not totally know what they're doing, the $1 may actually save us all when we come back, spacex going where no rocket company has gone before. the company preparing to blast off from a previously flown rocket for nasa. it's something that has never been done. we have the details and what it could mean for space exploration next and later, energy and technology leading the way in yesterday's trading session. this morning the futures are indicated higher dow furetus up by about 56 points nasdaq up by close to 8. s&p up by 67 mo 6. "squawk box" will be right back. the things you own? or the people that fill it with meaning? for 150 years, generations of families
7:20 am
have chosen pacific life for retirement and life insurance solutions. protecting what's most important to you. that's the power of pacific. ask a financial advisor about pacific life. i thwell wait. what did you meetthink about her? it's definitely a new idea, but there's no business track record. well, have you seen her work? no. is it good? good? at cognizant, we're helping today's leading banks make better lending decisions with new sources of data- so, multiply that by her followers, speaking engagements, work experience... credit history. that more accurately assess a business' chances of success. this is a good investment. she's a good investment. get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital.
7:21 am
7:22 am
welcome back spacex is poised to pull off another first. a launch of a previously flown falcon 9 rocket for nasa
7:23 am
>> it is now targeting that launch for late tomorrow morning. spacex saying it needs to "allow for additional time for prelaunch ground systems checks." the falcon 9, or really the main engine for that falcon 9, previously flew in june and preparing unmanned dragon castle that will also be making its second trip to the international space station. this launch will take place from launch pad 40, which is being used we saw it firsthand yesterday. it's being used for the first time since a fiery falcon 9 explosion in september 2016 that caused extensive damage to that pad and prompted a $50 million investment by spacex it's being closely wauchld this is the first time the government has done something like this with a commercial company. it's adding validation to spacex's reusability model also, speaking to the fact that as we've heard from nasa officials here and in light of president trump just yesterday signing that directive to send
7:24 am
americans to the moon and mars, future space exploration hinges on the ability to reuse hardware to drive down costs. that's going to take the private sector and spacex has been at the forefront. guys >> okay. thank you for that coming up when we return, the fed beginning a two-day meeting today. a bump in interest rates expected the latest cnbc fed chair and the professor will bring us the results when "squawk box" returns after this t-mobile covers your netflix subscription... best christmas gift ever! ...so you can binge watch all year long. now you're thinking christmas! and now when you buy any of this season's hot new samsung galaxy phones, you get a second one free to gift. that's one samsung for you. and one to give. t-mobile. holiday twogether. win an uncertain world?k predictable income pgim sees alpha in real assets.
7:25 am
like agriculture to feed the world. and energy to fuel its growth. real estate such as e-commerce warehouses. and private debt to finance transportation and infrastructure. building blocks of strategies to pursue consistent returns over time from over $120 billion dollars in real assets. partner with pgim. the global investment management businesses of prudential. so that's the idea. what do you think? hate to play devil's advocate but... i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! "we got a yes!" start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open.
7:26 am
nothey're not investing iney commoditiesies. or fixed income. what people are really putting their money into is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there requires a real refusal to settle for average. because when you approach investing with a tireless desire to beat the status quo, something wonderful can happen. those people might just get what they wanted out of life. or maybe even more.
7:27 am
still to come this morning, the results from the latest cnbc fed survey ahead of the fomc meeting which kicks off today. plus, much more from our guest host this morning from social capital. right now, though, as we head to a break, take a look at the u.s. equity futures they have been indicated up all morning. dow futures up by almost 60 points s&p futures up by six. the nasdaq up by seven wrrn this comes after all three of those averages ended at record levels once again yesterday
7:28 am
your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be.
7:29 am
7:30 am
>> the fed kicks off -- that means the results of the cnbc fed survey are here. steve liesman has the results. >> janet yellen expected to go
7:31 am
out on a high note, at least a higher rate note that's the expectation of the fed survey 44 economists, money managers, strategists surveyed here. let's take a look at the results. that third rate hike of the year, this will be the first year that the fed actually follows through on what its forecast was that third rate hike coming tomorrow three rate hikes expected in it 2018 67% of respondents say that first rate hike in 2018 will be in march take a look at the overall forecast for where rates go. you can see the fed and our panel of forecasters pretty close. they're offby one rate hike in 2019 one in 2020. they kind of make it up over the long run you see they're off together on 2018 we did a little questioning on poul versus yellen and what we find -- we asked about -- we're going to ask about the new appointees of president trump. 76% say powell will be the same as yellen. 22% say more hawkish look at the other appointees randy, who is now a sitting fed
7:32 am
governor mash every marvin who has been appointed. those are seen as more hawkish than the current federal reserve consens consensus, and we did ask about yellen versus powell if you move ahead. there you go eight different categories yellen won six of them, especially the economic ones, by quite a bit. powell is seen as better than yellen when it comes to regulatory expertise and market knowledge. >> we know it's something with monetary policy and expertise, and that makes sense what you have now is you will have a chairman who has a good amount of market knowledge we know he is a private equity guy. a guy who knows about the regulations. he stepped in for dan derulo
7:33 am
too. you have a number two person and plenty of other people on the fed that should have a good amount of economic news. >> all of your fed worship we found out today has been misplaced. based on the fed and other central bankers' unbelievable missteps, you should sell everything and buy bitcoin >> because it's been so bad so far. >> the world -- >> i mean, the dollar crashed like all the fed critics thought it was going to happen >> it was an absolute perfect judge of the future we would be all set. >> you didn't -- come on i totally -- you didn't say sell everything and put it in bitcoin. >> i actually didn't say that. >> you didn't. what -- >> i'm still going to argue with you. >> i know you are. you are always -- if there's the slightest chance that these guys are somewhat conflicted or clueless or not, you know -- have different irons in the fire for the way they manage
7:34 am
currency, you should have something that isn't affected by all that that's not correlated with what central bankers -- >> i think that's basically it i think you have to basically have a what if the sky falls strategy in any time -- >> the unwind is something you -- >> and the unwind is -- >> you don't know what bitcoin correlates or doesn't correlate with, right? let's go back to 2008 when we thought there were differences in correlations in asset values and what we found out in 2008 was as jackson brown said in the fury of the final hour, that all -- it's a great line it's a great line. it really describes the front edge of the crisis in any event, when that happened, all correlations went to one
7:35 am
it is uncorrelated to everything it is a belief system. that may scare people. that's really what it -- >> the correlation is determined by those who hold it, though, relative to the other assets people have so much money that they're looking for any opportunity the way that they might not have two and three and four years ago >> i think bubbles happen when there's a scale of importance,ing and i think it's very unfair to look at a market that's still measured in the few tens of billions of dollars and call, it a, a market to begin with, and then, b, that there's a speculative bubble maybe that can happen from time to time in such small scale. i think what's more likely is that there's just an overwhelming number of people who literally don't even know what bitcoin is.
7:36 am
>> it took me -- i would say other people if they took the time may come to a very different conclusion than what is the obvious negative nelly conclusion >> i think it would be really elegant if the bubble itself helped create the answer to what caused the bubble. in other words, the -- bitcoin is the answer to -- >> i thought the market was up
7:37 am
on the trump economy not necessarily talking about just -- >> hold on you can't have it both ways. it can't be a bubble >> the trump economy -- i'm just giving you a hard time >> we're talking about a bond bubble >> this is an unusual time where all assets seem to be inflated to a higher degree, and the question is whether or not the fed has inflated this. when you look at what's happened to the money supply, a lot of this extra liquidity in bank or excess reserves has not been reserved or created into either loans or money, joe. the idea that somehow there is this frot or bubble in the system from the fed is a little bit negated by the idea that it's not been turned into money.
7:38 am
>> you would think in in a case it would price in the forward plans of the federal reserve in that time period long paper has declined in yield. >> that's because of it's a global bond market now there are central bankers that -- >> maybe there's tremendous underlying demand for long dated risk assets, and it's not a bubble >> i mean, at the yield in which they offer, i just don't think that really is true. >> people are going out every day. you could almost make an argument that we have a deficit of long dated paper that the market desires >> that's because in japan you get 50 cents a year on $1,000. >> whatever the reason, private hands are going in, skps they're finding the stuff and they're -- >> we got to -- let's talk markets. jr, senior portfolio manager and
7:39 am
head of municipal bond investment group, et ceteraed. here on set hans olson, global head of investment strategy for the wealth and investment management business. still with us. we have a mun i bond guy in your world did you ever think that you would have to be an and expert on global debt instruments to figure out what's going on here, r.j., because you do, don't you? >> good morning, joe it's an excellent point. been listening in to your conversation here, and there's no denying that the united states fixed income market is global in nature i do find it interesting that we still debate whether or not the fed, in fact, installed a time bomb for years we've been talking about inflation is going to explode. the dollar is going to plummet it hasn't happened by continuing to extend our time frame waiting for that to happen, instead of inflekting the other direction, which, in fact, the fed has done the balance sheet is beginning to normalize chairman powell, more likely
7:40 am
than not, will be confirmed by the senate he will continue on a gradual normalization path i think in the end the debate about whether we have a bond bubble is certainly linked central bank policy, but it's also linked to our central banks pursuing monetary policy that is are at odds with global growth if they were, we would have exploding global growth and exploding inflation and that has not happened the bitcoin mania i think is a lot to do with the fact that there are skeptics to what i just said. people are looking for an asset. they don't believe it's linked to central banks i think they've been unduliy villified. you look for things not controlled or affected by a global central authority >> that's what -- >> these are all linked where. >> in a nutshell, yep. >> what about hans you look smart something about the tie. >> you know, look, i think bubbles are -- if history has shown us anything, bubbles have really formed tarnd an idea in new technology
7:41 am
right? whether it was railroads, canals, biotechnology, the internet you know, name it. you won't know until after the fact, but the fact of the matter is that we have -- what is different this time, what is unique, we have a generation in this business in investing that has known only one environment, which is a price of money at or near zero. or interest rates falling. people a decade into their careers, right, where we have some responsibility now, but they really have no idea what when you have a true price of money that is determined by the marketplace how that cascades through everything else. the fed's actions have had consequences, right? i mean, look at coin prices, look at art prices, look at stock prices, bond prices, real estate prices. it's leaked into the system. money has been pressurized well, when you depressurize money, what's going to happen?
7:42 am
>> i like the idea of the time bomb you don't think there is one you don't really think there is one. i hope there isn't >> ushlgly murphy's law would take over, and if something can get screwed up, it does get screwed up where you think the exit will be as clean as they've saved everyone, here we are at 3% growth, and it's clear sailing here and in europe >> well, we're optimist ek on the economy. both monetary and fiscal policy seems to be well calibrated for this point of the cycle. although one could argue maybe a revenue neutral tax cut at full employment would make more sense as opposed to one that may expand the def sit we can get into whole dynamic scoring arguments there. to your longer term point, i do think the fed is helped to build
7:43 am
a base for this prolonged discovery. so was the last recovery in an economy where demographics have shifted markedly from the 1970s and 1980s, the slow recovery, the jobless recovery phrase that we've used over and over each time we're coming out of a recession there is a reason for that there are all these people that were so skeptical of the exit, and yet, we are in the third largest expansion. i don't know when we crossed and go to second or the first, but it's the third longest expansion we've been in for a while. unemployment is declining. we do not have inflation i mean, asset prices are high, in part, because earnings have been in double digit growth territory. >> we haven't had enough growth for everybody to participate that's why 70% of people think
7:44 am
the country thinks things aren't great. >> inequality is a fed -- they continue -- >> i don't agree with that we come into this world needing others. ♪ then we are told it's braver to go it alone. ♪ but there is another way to live. ♪ a way that sees the only path to fulfillment- is through others. ♪
7:45 am
directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like wet grocery bags. getting a bad haircut. overcrowded trains. turnstiles that don't turn. and spilling coffee on themselves. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv.
7:46 am
and for a limited time get a $100 reward card. call 1-800-directv
7:47 am
our guest host is social capital founder and golden state warriors co-owner. chamat, the last time you were with us, you said something that got us thinking that amazon was a monopoly now, i know you didn't mean it the same way, but we just heard last week that lee cooperman said he was having dinner with president trump, and he asked him twice, twice, if amazon was a monopoly >> let me talk to you about what i was trying to say there, which is it is what i think about as a natural product monopoly what does that mean? you built something, and when it starts to work, what happens is the usage tells you what the trail of bread crumbs is you should follow. what amazon has done elegantly is they built a product that has such fantastic product marketship that they watch how people use it, and then they use that to distill what to do next. what to do next becomes slightly easier and easier every turn and every, you know, time they do it what you have, for example, this year is anybody went to amazon
7:48 am
reinve reinvent, which is their annual developer conference, 50, 60 odd thousand people flooded into las vegas. they overflowed multiple casinos, multiple grand ballrooms in order to -- you flew there just to watch it remote what you saw were tens upon tens upon tens of critical features that they had done in a year, and when you take a step back and say, wait a minute, the totally of what they did is unbelievable then you think they did that in a year then they did that at the velocity that you could imagine at a scale, at an impact then you think to yourself, well, what is next year going to look like. by the way, the things that they did probably wiped out about $2 billion of equity value of vc's putting money into ideas that frankly made no sense in the first place. >> because they jumped ahead >> they tried to jump ahead and not really think through the implications of an amazon. that to me is what i think about as the natural product monopoly. it is a thing that now compounds
7:49 am
every day slightly a little bit faster than the day before it's by no means a market monopoly because there are other alternatives there's google and microsoft you know, in china you have alibaba and tencent, et cetera it is a thing now that in my opinion just continues to run. every year gets a little bit cheaper, gets a little bit more complete, says and more things are available to you it's an incredible thing >> the president comes from a place of pop lichl, and his idea on the campaign trail and now he is in an office has been that sometimes big is just too big, and we can't allow that much power in the hands of a select group of people. that's not just amazon, but that's all of silicon valley that could be targeted >> when you think about amazon, they employ now, i think, more than half a million people they employ, frankly, you know, more vets than some of these companies have employees they are doing all the right things, i think. they are about to open a second headquarters i suspect you'll see it in a red or purple state. texas, maybe michigan.
7:50 am
on every dimension they are from a corporate responsibility perspective acting well. >> again, i'm shifting from amazon to, say, facebook, google all of the tech darlings that were given carte blanche and said we need to help them build up because -- i remember covering the internet back in 1999, and there was not going to be the internet tax on any of these things because we wanted these companies to flourish. >> we made a claim, and i think that it worked for a very long time that we are different, and as a result, we can self-regulate. people are waking up to a world that is slightly different than that saying, hey, wait a minute, we shouldn't have special exceptions we should probably treat all kinds of businesses the same independent of how you do it in that there is probably more government involvement than less over time in all of these strez and in all of these businesses.t
7:51 am
displace the actual inequity that you feel as a problem in the first place. >> tech companies have this mechanism and a capability to do a broad set of things, to employ people fully, to pay them well, to give them benefits, to do that all over the world. it doesn't always have to be cheaper, faster, better. >> it's easy to say that, though can you imagine trying to deliver that message to shareholders we've seen it with wal-mart. you know, they've come out and said they are tlerp employing to pay higher than minimum wage >> when i set up social capital,
7:52 am
i took a step back and said how do i want to define how success looks like there's progress there's impact one of the things that we said is we want our businesses -- that is the tip of the spear that says, hey, some different kind of full employment is going to be necessary. it's not all about making money. it's not all about doing it in the simplest way and impacting the most people it's also by polling through people >> come back to amazon for just a second if jech bezos were sitting at the table with us right now, he would say progress is getting the package to you quicker or cheaper and, frankly, if we could avoid human beings actually having to lift the boxes go through the street, that those are the kinds of jobs that we would love to upgrade them to do something else. that is progress do you agree with that i hope i'm not putting words in
7:53 am
his mouth, but he has talked about this idea of what progress looks like, and that you don't necessarily want people doing certain types of jobs that frankly would want to get away from >> i think warren buffett has had the most clarifying thoughts on this, which is when he contrasts, you know, america in 1917 versus america in 2017, and you think about the economy we lived in and then the advent of the tractor and what that did it wasn't that the inventor of the tractor all of a sudden said, hey, wait a minute, i'm going to basically be your salvation. it was the government. it was the social infrastructure, it was a path to education, it was a path to a gi bill it was all of these other things i zbrae with the first two things i do think that he and ceos like him who are thoughtful and honorable will go out of their
7:54 am
way to be slightly lessee efficient for the sake of bringing more people along i think that is -- >> interesting >> -- the right thing to do. he employs more people than any other tech company >> right, but part of what he would say is by doing it cheaper, by doing it faster, that's the spear then you are more successful so you can employ more people >> in one hand on the other hand, you are finding different ways of creating jobs that do all of the things that you need to do >> right >> he will be with us for the rest of the program. sflo coming up, senator pat too toomey will have an update on where things stand on the tax reform bill. you don't want to miss in a c nbsz exclusive today 3:00 p.m i know i'll be watching. stanley druckenmiller will be on stanley druckenmiller will be on closing bell today a world of new digital products and services all working together for you.
7:55 am
can i borrow the car when it's back? get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital.
7:56 am
swho live within five miles of custyour business?-54, like these two... and that guy. or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness... namaste. whichever audience you're looking for, we'll find them we're the finders. we work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. anywhere, any way your audience watches. consider them found.
7:57 am
(siren blaring) ♪ working as an emt in a small town usually means hospitals aren't very close by. when you have a really traumatic injury, we have a short amount of time to get our patient to the hospital with good results. we call that the golden hour. there's nothing worse than when we're responding to the hospital,
7:58 am
and the hospital doesn't have the right specialist. evaluating patients remotely, by an expert, is where i think we have a potential to make a difference. robots can do a lot in medicine these days, but they can't think. they're still machines. for nuanced decision making, we still need humans. we would save a lot of lives if we could bring the doctor to the patient. verizon is racing to build the first and most powerful 5g network that will enable breakthrough innovations to take place. as we get faster and faster wireless connections, it'll be possible to bring those capabilities to more remote sites, and be able to operate on a patient in a way that was just not possible before. when you think about underserved areas, you tend to think of remote locations. but the reality is, an underserved area is anywhere where the person that you need, who has the expertise for the problem that you have, is nowhere near you. low latency is crucial for things like surgery, because the response time has to be immediate,
7:59 am
it has to be real. i could put on vr goggles like these, and when i move my hand, the robot on the other side will mimic the movement, with almost no delay. who knew a scalpel could work thousands of miles away? (dr. vasquez) it's going to be life-changing, and life-saving. ♪
8:00 am
breaking economic news a key read on inflation and exclusive results from cnbc's fed survey straight ahead. getting a deal done on tax reform a live report from washington. plus, we'll talk to senator pat toomey our guest host investor chamat -- talks bitcoin. >> i think it is -- amazon domination and the next big thing in tech. the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪
8:01 am
>> chamat, founder and -- of social capital he is also a part owner of the golden state warriors. what else were we going to talk about? what do you think? what's on the horizon? >> we can talk tesla, some potential long-term shorts talk whatever -- >> oh. >> yeah? it. >> yeah. >> we can talk about the most exciting company in technology >> which is. >> which is kbrong >> a.i >> we can talk about a.i we can talk about all that stuff. >> we will good that's why i asked him >> this morning dow has been picking up ground as we've been talking through the course of the morning. right now it looks like it would open up by sechbl to eight
8:02 am
points above yesterday's close s&p 500 indicated up by 6.5, and the nasdaq up by about the same. 6.5. we've been watching treasury yields, and that same stubborn rate has been persisting we'll take a look at that in just a moment. take a look at the european markets. they are higher for the most part spain is a little below. the cac is up by almost half a percentage point treasury yields, as we've been mentioning, they have been stuck right at about 2.3% for the ten-year check this out ten-year is almost at 2.4% 2.394. >> the latest on the tax reform negotiations really listening closely because we have pat toomey coming on you can give me a question, and i'll ask him for you >> what's the corporate rate going to be, joe
8:03 am
no one knows exactly yet chairman brady telling reporters last night nothing final until everything is final. they are on track to reveal the final legislation by the end of this week and to vote on it next week now, how much these tax cuts are going to cost is still up for debate the joint committee on taxation released a dynamic score of the house version of the bill. it shows faster growth will reduce the price tag by $428 billion. the tax cuts will still clock in at $1 trillion over a decade republicans howe hope to make tax reform the centerpiece of the 2018 -- >> the tax bill found nearly half of americans opposed this bill compared to 31% who support
8:04 am
it >> cutting corporate taxes will -- the treasury department came out with a report that it would create $1.8 trillion in additional fefrl revenue over the next decade, and that's largely thanks to the corporate tax cut fueling faster economic growth now, this idea will also be at the heart of president trump's speech on tax reform tomorrow. guys, republicans are full steam ahead no matter what those polls say. back over to you >> all right thanks senator pat toomey, a member of the senate conference committee. actually, did a long-running discussion, senator, that connecting the dots between lower corporate taxes and economic growth is something you never get a majority in public opinion polls or a plurality i'm not saying that makes it --
8:05 am
that it shouldn't be done. i'm just saying that, i don't know, lower corporate taxes to the average man on the street is not something that you are ever going to have that becomes popular. the one thing i'm sure it popular among the people i represent is having a larger paycheck at the end of the week. this is part of the reason right? to marry individual side of the tax code reform with business reform >> do you think reckonciliation
8:06 am
tied in a perfect world -- do you think reconciliation tied your hands to some extent? just trying to do the math in my head that creates revenue that needs to be replaced when you do the individual side, it almost seems like a given that there are going to be people you can't do tax cuts on individual and on corporations zploog sure, you can >> it's a little over 2% of the revenue, but it did allow us to build in tax savings on both the business side and the individual side you are absolutely right the reconciliation is a tough box to have to live in believe me we've been living in this for quite some time now.
8:07 am
for instance, there's all kinds of policy changes we would like to make. they simply don't qualify for the alternative was the democrats would have killed this by filibuster. they have no interest in this bill we have no choice but to use the device that would allow us to pass it in the senate with a simple majority. >> you need salt you need to get rid of that to pay for things and i can just tell you that in new jersey and new york and california that these are people that probably have been higher than the 1%. they may be above that, but there are people whose taxes are going to go up significantly that are going to be for the greater good and maybe that's the right way to do it
8:08 am
if reminds me of tax proposals -- they can afford to pay a little more. you want to know some of the people in new jersey and -- >> believe me, i'm getting plenty of phone calls, joe >> hundreds of thousands >> some people are going to be paying 5%, 10% more in taxes, says and that's fine >> first of all, go ahead. you haven't seen the final product yet. hang on. >> i just ak nonled, right there are some people who will pay more because they live in very high tax jurs dixs, skps we are going to significantly limit the ability to take that deduction. that's not the entire story. we also move brackets. we lower rates we have a terrific tax reduction for people who have pass-through income you know, the business -- the majority of american businesses that are non-c corp.s.
8:09 am
>> i'll be honest with you everybody that's come in in the past couple of days to talk literally about can they turn themselves into a pass-through, everybody wants to be a pass-through there's a fundamental, you know -- part of the tax policy is not just about how much revenue you bring in, but there's a values piece to all of this in terms of how we think about fundamental fairness in america, how we treat each other. the idea that an employee of a company is going to be taxed at a fundamentally different rate than perhaps someone who is sitting next to them who has managed to turn themselves into an s corp. or llc or something else, doesn't that strike you as wrong? >> we have guardrails that will prevent that in a variety of ways it's not the goal to allow professional services folks who
8:10 am
are lawyers or accountants or consultants in a company to just incorporate themselves and get a big discount on their personal wages. the taxes, i should say. on their personal wages. >> what -- >> i think -- well, for one, professional services fifrmz do not qualify for this -- the pass-through discount. that's been the case in the house and the senate bill. >> i hope there are lots of new business start-ups, but generally new organic growth in the economy, i don't think you're going to see this migration. >> after all the rhetoric in the election, why the hall pass on carried interest >> well, so, first of all, we make one change in both the house and the senate bill, which
8:11 am
is a longer holding period in order to qualify for the capital gains treatment. my own view is -- >> one year. >> no. goes out to three years. >> if i partner up with a great chef and he works his heart out, when he sells that, he gets a capital gains treatment having put no money in, but having earned that through sweat equity i don't know why financial services should be treated differently and adversely. >> sweat equity means that i am often getting a fee by saying, okay, i'm going to -- >> and the fee is taxed at ordinary income rates. >> the fee should be at ordinary income >> and it is >> i don't understand why capital gains overall is not taken out. this is something the president campaigned on saying this was not going to be there. it is.
8:12 am
>> i have an example for you i'm a real estate agent, okay? i represent chamat here. i've been working him to try to sell his home. i spent five years trying to do this, right? at the end of the five years i finally convince him to sell the house. sells the house. i get the commission on the house and guess what happens i get taxed as income. now, i spent five years. sweat equity working this guy to try to sell this thing i finally get it there okay meantime, private equity guy on the ear side, he is doing his work for five years, says and they sell the property, and he gets to treat the gain, his commission in this case, as a capital gains. why are they different >> well, the difference is in
8:13 am
one case you had an appreciated asset, and the other you didn't. lots of people work very, very hard absolutely in our tax system we have long acknowledged -- >> that's not the way the game changed for the real estate. >> the question is should we make that distinction? should gains in value for assets being treated differently than ordinary wage income, and we have long said they should for a variety of reasons one is the capital gain is often a double layer of tax, right the asset often produces income. that's tax i'm an outliar on this >> very quickly, you said that we haven't seen the final bill we don't know what's different there are changes that are taking place, and i understand that, but it's 20 days until
8:14 am
this could potentially be law. could you tell us what's going to be different from the bills we've already seen >> i really can't get into that disclosure, but i will tell you we've made an awful lot of progress very recently working through the weekend, working to late last night, and we are getting down to just the final differences. i think we will hit our scheduled target >> we're going to have to go two issues you saw the headline about this 100% issue in ermz it of certain marginal tax rates too fixed 100% >> i don't think anyone is going to be facing 100% tax rate >> on the marginal tax rate? >> right >> first in, first out do you have a take on what's going to happen there? >> i very much hope we can fix that as i intend to do my best i think that policy should change >> right >> the most -- i guess the most ironic thing is that we're still hearing just rich people are doing so great with this i guess they're talking estate taxes and just corporations are rich people. i guess that's what they mean. the democrats, for as bad as a
8:15 am
lot of people are getting hit, to have to hear that too, that you are -- that when it's just -- >> that must be pretty galling, and they're not listening in on my conversations >> it is kind of galling to know u.at -- anyway, thank yo great to see you >> i think so that >> when we come back, our guest host lots more to talk to him about. we're right back in just a moment zar: one of our investors was in his late 50s
8:16 am
right in the heart of the financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets- i need to get back on track with my plan." the financial advisor was able to work with this client. he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor.
8:17 am
8:18 am
>> are they fundamentally misunderstood? one of the best bases where i think you can find really interesting companies is in sort of this machine learning a.i you have to take a longer term view, but there is just so much
8:19 am
activity happening what are called hyper scalers. in china tencent and baydu everyone is rolling their own chips. then you have companies like gronk which is a revolutionary approach to chip design. an order of magnitude improvement to all of that stuff. you are seeing an expansion of a market you are going into a multi-vendor environment today there's only one vendor, and that vendor is in nvidia, and it's a $200 stock. it's $120 billion market cap fantastic company. you have to ask one's self what has happened to intel, when all of these big monolithic companies can get into the game, you crush margin and crush vendor diversity and things get very difficult it's one of these areas while we as an organization are baking some really interesting private
8:20 am
companies, we're looking at the public markets and kind of scratching our heads and asking ourselves this entire ecosystem did. >> can we put up nvidia on the screen this has been one of the great darlings >> oh, absolutely. >> of the stock market over the past, say, 24 months it's been on a rocket ship of a ride you are looking at it right there. what do you think it's worth in reality then >> i think you have to ask yourself in three to four years when a.i. really hits its scale, how are the tasks done and where is the task running in terms of the hardware we know it will never be a single vendor environment. we know that conclusively. we also know that the big companies need to own a.i. as fully as possible. we have seen it play out at google they own their own chips called tpu. they're building these fpga's. amazon just released the ability to access that at the raw bare metal level. what do you think these companies are going to do?
8:21 am
they're not going to say, hey, sell it to me at whatever margin you like >> i'm thinking, by the way, broad com, qualcomm in the news right now. >> we're going to see a flattened market it's going to be thin margins and high velocity, high volume you have to sort of plan that into what your business model looks like the problem is the existing incumbents >> the whole space >> i would do quite monday stli, and this is what i will do, is once we land the next major technical release of our chip, once i know what the performance characteristics look like, which we know is in order of magnitude better than anything else, then i know that that product is going to work. >> what do you think about intel. every? they bought mobile i they're trying to i think we're going to get a comment like
8:22 am
watson and ibm in about a moment >> i have a lot of friends at ibm and friends at intel i will not say what i said there, but here's what i will say. intel is going through what i think everybody else will go through. you have a process room. it kind of works it's kind of semi-useful then all of a sudden these big guys get you into a room and say i'm amazon i have this much demand. i have google. i have this much demand. i have if anything -- i'm facebook, i'm tencorrespondent, i'm babba. here's the price i'm willing to pay. choose or don't choose thoefr time will be a contract manufacturer for others. that is not a great business from where they are. this is a 15 to 20 year presented e trend that is going to play out for them
8:23 am
sl there no more invasion to come >> when these innovations get baked now, there are folks like us, vibrant ecosystem of investors who can get behind them and fund them to completion you know, i have billions of dollars that i can deploy to make sure they are a vibrant long-living public business. >> explain to me how amazon and all these guys aren't monopolies if they can then determine whether an intel, a dow component, can actually compete and survive. if you say i'm so big that you are going to either work with me or i'm going to take my business elsewhere and crush you. >> because it's one of many businesses that intel is in. this company will get rerated. nvidi' will get rerated.
8:24 am
it is just the thing that will happen we're debating market cap. i don't think we're debating viability. >> different company tesla. where do you land right now? >> we are massively long the convertible bonds. why the convertible bonds? again, it's the safest and the surest way to basically bet on elan musk who i just fundamentally think is the most important entrepreneur of our generation >> but you don't like the equity you don't like the stock >> the equity represents tremendous volatility. if you put it on the screen, you can see it right there for our risk management, for the way that i want my capital and my partner's capital run, what i want is a mechanism to get 95% of the up side, zero of the says down side. literally, the bonds give you that you know, there's no need for me to sort of step out there, try to be a risk cowboy, to prove something that we don't have to prove because elan has said to the entire world, hey, listen, you can buy the naked ek equity or take this other thing which gives you the 5% of it, and no
8:25 am
down fall. when we bought it, it was yielding 5%. >> fefs willing to sell you a piece of the boring company, this is the tunnelling company which may be boring some people, but i think it's pretty exciting >> i think it's really exciting. >> you buy it? would you buy? >> absolutely. look, here's the thing with this guy. i have known him for a long time he is truly putting every single dollar where his mouth is. the guy is trying to make us an interplanetary species, get us off of oil, reduce traffic when pooch satisfy this company is a fraud, i don't understand what he is talking about there's nothing fraudulent about this guy or the technology this is just like people wanting to dance on failure, and i just don't get it >> can they call that?
8:26 am
to convert >> we own the ability to convert at a certain -- >> can he call it? he can't >> we happened to both be in agreement about elan musk. however, over time every time he has put out some type of expectation about sales of those vehicles, rarely, if ever, it hit them in fact, they seem to disappoint routinely. i think when part of the chanos story is he puts out these grand projections oftentimes raises money on the back of them, and then doesn't hit the number. >> here's what jim chanos and everybody else needs to parpt? building revolution things is hard you don't just walk in and invent the iphone. there's complexity there you don't just come in and invent facebook. there's tremendous complexity. you got to think about this in years, and even though we force companies like back to boil them
8:27 am
down, it doesn't move. >> i promise we have more in just a minute. thank you. "squawk box" returns >> it's hard to build -- t? up next, righ >> sweat equity. >> can't sell our -- >> breaking -- equitie their mono their mono is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there requires a real refusal to settle for average. because when you approach investing with a tireless desire to beat the status quo, something wonderful can happen. those people might just get what they wanted out of life. or maybe even more. what are the ingredients is it the places you go? the things you own? or the people that fill it with meaning? for 150 years, generations of families have chosen pacific life for retirement and life insurance solutions.
8:28 am
protecting what's most important to you. that's the power of pacific. ask a financial advisor about pacific life. wow! record time.s. at cognizant, we're helping today's leading life sciences companies go beyond developing prescriptions to offering subscriptions with personalized, real-time advice
8:29 am
for life-long, healthy living. honey? you almost done? nope. get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital.
8:30 am
>> if we look at year over year up 2.4, these are a smidge
8:31 am
more -- the 2.4 is the same assist been. it was also expectations it's interesting here's where the astericks comes in we've seen hot ppi numbers what we've learned is unless they're followed by hot cti, more retail oriented pricing issues, market tends to overlook it a bit there is an important dynamic today, though, gentlemen okay we're about 240. while we're about 240, bond yields are around 30 that means the spread is starting to get to around that 210 basis point mark, which is really a break-out the last i was around 205, 206 why should anyone care correlations because if we start to see a different line-up of how our markets align with europe, whether it's fixed income, sovereigns, equities, foreign -- all these things are going to be very key because for the most part over the last several years and especially during the global recovery, we're all moving together what's up, becky
8:32 am
>> rick, thank you by the way, what do you think about where we're watching the open this morning with the ten-year >>i think that should we continue to separate from the rest of the globe, i think we have more upside in yields as the rest of the world does at this point i do think we start to pull back >> is that necessarily not a technical number >> well, 244.5 is unchanged. that is significant. europe is going the other way. if we keep going higher and they keep going lower, i just think that's huge. it will offer a variety of trades for 2018 that might be a whole lot different than 2017. >> rick, thank you see you again soon >> all right, folks. let's get bah being to our guest host this morning. the founder of social capital. and co-owner of the golden state warriors we haven't gotten a chance to talk to you about your role as
8:33 am
an nba owner yesterday roger goodell was here on the set talking about the kneeling controversy and what that has independent for football does an nba owner -- as an nba owner, what's your take? how should teams approach this and how can the league approach it >> before i answer that as an owner, can i answer it as a colored man? >> sure. >> i've gotten pulled over by the police just driving i don't think it's their fault i've gotten on planes where i know that people feel uncomfortable because their initial reaction is, oh, there's a kind of brown bearded guy on the plane. i felt that. what i think that is worth realizing is that all different kinds of people can feel different versions of those things in the natural course of life when some of those people want to reflect that and then have a dialogue about it, i think the
8:34 am
first thing you have to do is quite honestly take a step back and say where are they coming from and is this the right place, and how should it happen? what i can tell you is i think as an owner, i think adam silver has done an unbelievable job they've earned the right to be able to start a conversation, see what lebron does, chris paul does, steph. i just wish that the nfl kind of embraced it in a little bit of a different way. you're putting 52 men on the field wrapped in metal to bang each other up.
8:35 am
adds an owner i have to say i'm glad i'm part of an organization that has enabled a very different kind of conversation >> to be fair, the n br a has a method of going second they got to see what the nfl kind of stumbled through along the way. >> i also think adam is a person, though, that's an empathetic smart guy >> the way of doing it, where you say the players have earned a right to express their feelings and let their voice be heard, is there a way to do that, and not politicize it to have it in a position where you are going to potentially alienate some of your fan base too to say maybe not during the national anthem? i think it wouldn't kr become such a divisive polarizing issue. again, even the modern world we live in is forced to go to their corner and now there is just absolutely no backtracking nobody can back track. the owners can't back track in the nfl. the players can't back track in the nfl. when you have these weird mixture of, like, oh, well let's
8:36 am
compromise by only doing it in the -- >> or not showing us staying in the locker room in between >> this is part and parcel of how we started talking in the morning. this is the kind of stuff where in a different era we would have just figured it out in a different way. we don't -- it's not set up well for that right now >> we asked roger goodell yesterday about colin kaepernick as someone who used to play on a team >> in san francisco. yeah >> and we asked him straight up do you think he is being black balled by the owners what do you think? >> yeah. i mean, isn't it obvious the guy went from a very, very lenl i want player to probably a pretty legitimate backup to there is -- he cannot get a job. >> is that blackballing or every orange saying i don't want to bring controversy into my house. >> there may not be a what's app group. i get that the outcome is the same. a legitimate human being who has
8:37 am
credible athletic ability who at one point was probably a top three or four qb at some point in the league, who probably has a functional role to play can never get that job again it's pretty clear. >> do you think there's an owner the next season that would potentially take a risk on him >> i don't know. to be quite honest with you, i haven't watched football in four years. it's just so past -- i just can't look at these guys beating themselves up. it really -- the sport frs frustrates me. i love basketball. it's incredible. the teams are amazing. the people are amazing they're well run alo long live the nba. >> you will be with us for the rest of the hour >> lived in san francisco. healthier to watch the 49ers >> i mean, oh, my gosh he is trying his best, but -- oh, my gosh.
8:38 am
g. a lot of oh my goshin >> up next, bitcoin mania. we're going to talk to another bitcoin bill, tom lee. that's next. >> e on, tom lee is great.
8:39 am
8:40 am
8:41 am
>> coming up next, when we return the bitcoin mania far from over, but how can the digital currency's underlying technology boost your portfolio? bitcoin bull tom lee is here and has a few stock picks for you. he will join us next
8:42 am
8:43 am
the surging price of bitcoin and the opening of fueling trading fuelling bets on crypto related stock. joining us now to discuss the equities that could benefit from bitcoin gains, tom lee, head of research at fund strat global
8:44 am
advisors you've been a bull on bitcoin itself, but now you have some ideas to bank shop how to do it in equity markets. >> yeah. this is probably more geared towards investors who either can't buy bitcoin directly because it requires them to open an account with an exchange or institutional investors who want to have some exposure, but they have to buy the equities >> okay. >> so it's definitely not the best way to get exposure to bitcoin. >> okay. give us some names on the smaller cap size there are mining and hive block chain technology and another way to get exposure is through the exchanges because these are profitable contracts cme, cboe an easy way for many of the viewers to get exposure is to buy the gray scale bitcoin investment trust gbtc and the good news system the -- >> how is that exactly >> it is an etm.
8:45 am
it's like an etf, and it's actually owned and physically custodians a bitcoin for you each cgbt share owns roughly 1/10th of a bitcoin, and -- >> is that in cold storage how do we know these guys aren't going to lose it >> we are one of the original investors. >> i can vouch for the quality >> yeah. it's a high quality organization i have spent time with them. it's part of the group, and i think -- i believe they're using zappo for custody. >> just so people who understand when we talk about cold storage, it's not on the computer it's actually literally on a key fob or something in this case it's in a key fob that's hopefully in a safe somewhere. >> in their case they're actually -- yes. you know, you could even have in some ways a paper custody. the issue in the past was that it traded at a premium brsh that
8:46 am
premium has shrunk it's less than 10% right now you're buying pure play exposu e exposure is that that's how i was able to buy bitcoin exposure into my ira. i was able to go and buy the e etm. >> it's a great solution it's liquid and it's $3 billion, and it trades like water >> trades like water when does it start trading >> we stood it up three and a half years ago we gave our bitcoins to barry in return for the shares. we stootd up the etf accident etn, and launched it, and -- >> one question. somebody wrote in about this you said earlier that early on you and two other investors, names that people we would probably know, owned 5%. >> at the time in 2013 much less now. unfortunately. >> somebody pointed out, look, if 1,000 people owned 40% of the existing bitcoin, don't they need to get other people in on this so that they then can play on a greater theory to unload some of the stuff? >> hopeful lits not the greater fool theory. i do think that what's happening
8:47 am
now is that you're chopping up the bitcoins not everybody can buy a $17,000 instrument you know, people can buy $1,700 or $170,000. we' -- $170 there's still a large concentration. none of us frankly matter as much as the one wallet that we believe is owned by the originator of bitcoin itself because i believe that is now close to $10 billion it's just enormous >> but, again, i think the boomers were 25 in 1982. what did the boomers drive from 1982 to the peak pop laegs of the boomers, which was 1999? the s&p 500.
8:48 am
>> are you just a believer of bitcoin or -- >> we also say to ourselves that maybe some people think they got left out of thebitcoin craze, but maybe there's still a way to get into etherium classic, which looks like a value play compared to some of the other relative stuff. >> people say it's going to be -- speculating it may be the next one that gets on board for some of the different exchanges. >> you know, block chain i think is a really important industrial revolution taking place, but bitcoin's use cases is pretty established now. right? it's a store value >> will there be pounds, lyra, yen? >> you don't they etherium
8:49 am
classic is -- >> never supplant. there will be long tail value, but you're fundamentally correct. >> the overwhelming majority of the value logical -- >> batman and robin on the crypto currencies this morning thank you. >> your buddy paul crugman -- okay >> my barber asked me whether he should buy bitcoin this is like 2000 when pizza joints had cnbc, not sports, on the tvs. someone retweeted this i do not follow. >> continue on remember, the fax machine was -- remember the internet was going to go. >> this is good for us >> yes exactly. >> i did that for you. >>. >> when we return what did the barber tell him? >> i don't know. it was retweeted >> you know what warren buffett says about a barber?
8:50 am
it never ask them if you need a haircut. >> this guy -- when we return, jim cramer joins us live from the new york stock exchange. woel get his take on today's top stories. as we head to break, he may have -- jim says he was lookingy he was looking for regulation and price discoveries. once that's satisfied with bitcoin may be a different g teieor biinrvw on cnbc. kelly evans, exclusive conversation at 3:00 p.m. conversation at 3:00 p.m. eastern on closing bell. draws youthful populations to mobile banking and e-commerce. trade and travel surge between emerging markets. everyday our 1,100 investment professionals around the world search out opportunities for alpha. partner with pgim, the global investment management businesses of prudential. another day of work. why do you do it?
8:51 am
it's not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. even love it. and today, you can do things you never could before. ♪ ♪ you're developing ai applications on the cloud. finding insights hidden in decades of medical documents. and securing millions of iot sensors. so get back to it. and do the best work of your life. ♪ ♪ flexshares etfs are built around the way investors think. with objectives like building capital for the future, managing portfolio risk and liquidity and generating income. that's real etf innovation. flexshares. built by investors, for investors. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully.
8:52 am
when trying to save for the big things in life... we tend to start small. less of this. cut back on that. but if it feels like a lot of effort for a little gain... change that. start with something that makes a big difference... your student loans. refinancing with sofi saves over $22,000 on average. it's an easier way to reach your life goals sooner. we've helped over 195,000 people. we want to help you too. find out how much you can save in just two minutes at sofi.com/save
8:53 am
let's get down to the new york stock exchange and kramer joins us now i think two of the things you were looking for with price discovery and a little bit of regulatory oversight with bitcoin. where are you now with -- keep in mind -- >> i think it's great we have got these features it makes it so that i feel there's one market i trust regulation has to do with the fact we talked about the founder. i'm hearing that north korea is mining and i think if we knew more about the governments hacking it or is there anybody really trying to just break in
8:54 am
and inflate it, but you know, that's going to come now that we have futures and there's futures when somebody, a regulatory agency and good future's contract, it makes me more comfortable. i just don't want to say listen, it's going higher, just go buy i want to know where it is, what it is, two-sided market. this is very good. it's very good because now it feels like a security. when you have two sides of the market. >> okay, jim, we got to go but thanks for that. >> okay. >> up next, a final call on big tech from our guest host we'll be right back. i think we should do that meeting tomorrow.
8:55 am
well wait. what did you think about her? it's definitely a new idea, but there's no business track record. well, have you seen her work? no. is it good? good? at cognizant, we're helping today's leading banks make better lending decisions with new sources of data- so, multiply that by her followers, speaking engagements, work experience... credit history. that more accurately assess a business' chances of success. this is a good investment. she's a good investment. get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital. you myour joints...thing for your heart... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.
8:56 am
8:57 am
. our guest host, apple, what did you say? you said it's no longer a tech company? the. >> it's sort of like it's in the migration to be a really interesting software business and luxury good business and trying to figure out how to navigate that and manage the brand and how to sell $1,000 devices that have certain capabiliti capabilities but when you take a step back and look at that phone and compare it to a pixel or the
8:58 am
next generation samsung, what you see is frankly the same product. what it has is brand it has a sense of differentiation and that's no different than louie vuitton if you look at the actual raw materials that go into it. they have to make a transition because they have to figure out how to land more iphone x's. it leaves behind a market getting consolidated more by folks like samsung on the low end. >> it's a trillion dollar company probably >> it bleeds into that category because now you're talking about another 15% increase from where they are what do you do with this money and this scale >> in ireland. >> that's all they have done what should they be buying if anything i still think tesla, netflix are
8:59 am
the businesses that apple should be in the business of owning just because it has so much operational leverage. >> once the tax policy shifts? >> i think -- look, they spent more on their building than they have in any feature or product launch >> we're talking about something between a billion and $5 billion? >> a $10 billion campus or something. they figured how to curve the glass. they're being stewards they need a generational transition where people that are further divorced from the steve jobs businesses can take over. we need that moment to come at a point. >> how do you judge tim cook's leadership >> he's been a great steward but operated as an outsider as not wanting to push the envelope too much by accidentally denigrating steve's legacy. >> probably the right thing to
9:00 am
do in that situation. >> frankly, when you look at microsoft it's the same thing where bomber tried the best he could and then you needed a transition to someone to look at the business. >> both look at the stock price, market share, the revenue produced over the last -- >> what i'm saying is has there been visionary product leadership and i think what instead they have done is managed a business well that has been given to them. >> love having you here. >> great to see you. >> make sure you join us tomorrow right now it's time for squawk on the street. ♪ two sides of the coin to choose from ♪ ♪ two sides of the coin i'm getting weary ♪ good morning and welcome to squawk on the street we're live from the new york stock exchange carl is on assignment. he'll join us in the middle of the show should be exciting

170 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on