another type of d day for all of us that need to get the gifts ready. "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ >> live from new york where business never sleeps this is "squawk box. >> good morning. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. we are live in the nasdaq market site in times square why are we playing this song from "the lion king? >> that's a good one >> it's a good song. >> is it because of the potential disney deal? >> maybe that makes sense >> good morning, i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we're watching the u.s. equity futures. this is uplifting music. >> disney, no worries. >> dow futures indicated up by

60 points after the dow closed at a record level yesterday. the s&p closed lower yesterday all the major averages moved off the highs of the session this morning the s&p is indicated up by 5 points the nasdaq up by 10. this came after the fed's decision and after if looked clear that republican leaders reached an agreement, at least in principle, on where they're headed with the tax bill we'll talk more about that green arrows across the board this morning in asia, the nikkei looked like it was down by a quarter percentage point similar declines for the hang seng and shanghai. this morning in europe, with some of the early trading, you will see that there are some declines across the board. the biggest loser is the dax down by a half percentage point. cac in france is down by 0.4%. we have the bank of england and the ecb going to be releasing some policy statements today

check out crude oil prices which were lower yesterday crude oil at 56.59 >> couple of big economic reports on the agenda. at 8:30, weekly jobless claims at 7:45, the ecb decision will be made. we'll monitor mario draghi's news conference at 8:30. on the earnings front, adobe systems, oracle and costco all report after the close today. the big news of the morning t happened in washington senate finance chairman orrin hatch saying yesterday negotiators have reached a deal on a tax plan. ylan mui has the details >> good morning. not only do republicans say they

have a deal on the tax bill, they also think they have the votes to get this passed as we've been reporting, the corporate rate would land at 21%, but i also confirmed that it would take effect right away, not be delayed until 2019. another change is the deduction for state and local taxes would be capped at $10,000 but you would be able to apply it to property or to income taxes. republicans are still vetting this deal with rank and file members, and several swing state voters told us they are still undecided. the full text of the legislation will not be released until later this week, but kevin brady told us he's encouraged by how far they've come >> the final agreement won't be done until committee -- conference committee report it

filed at the end of this week. we're making very good progress on all the key issues, driving the rates, tax cuts for middle class families, making sure businesses see tax cuts and become competitive worldwide right away >> for republicans passing this bill would be huge, so huge that it deserves its own holiday. they're not calling it christmas, they're calling it taxmas >> it looks like they got rid of the more controversial issues, things like the waivers for graduate school tuition that had been potentially going to be taxed. also medical deductions, they look like they're back in. those are some items that were stirring people about what was going to happen to the middle class. >> sort of where we are at the stage is a lunch of smaller provisions beyond the headline pieces that individual senators and individual lawmakers are now

gunning to have put back in or to have taken out. so, that is why lawmakers are saying there's not a final, final deal because there are those negotiations taking place. the medical deductions is extremely important to senator susan collins. she told us yesterday, she feels her concerns are being addressed in the negotiations. >> i haven't heard taxmas. i heard resistmas. i know you have heard that. >> speaker ryan, his office put at a whole poem called 'twas the night before taxmas, and all the reindeer were renamed to committee tax members. too much time on their hands >> all over hollywood there are resistmas trees.

you have a christmas tree. >> i do. >> is it resistmas tree? >> i resist things all right. jpmorgan's ceo, jamie dimon weighed in on the tax reform plan yesterday he talked about the ways companies would use their new-found tax savings. >> on the corporate side, the benefit is not going to be immediate. you do have the reduction of taxes, companies will retain more capital, they'll start to use it over time you will compete away the advantage. some will raise wages, some will buy companies, some may do dif vends and buyback. that's not a good thing. that's their money it gets recircumstanr recirculated into the system >> you think that -- that's what we heard with the low interest rates, buybacks, corporate, you

know, shenanigans -- not shenanigans, but -- >> financial engineering >> financial engineering if this continues, these guys will probably do some of that. >> a lot of that >> but they don't have to wore borrow it now. >> good thing with these high interest rates >> no, but they used to borrow it now they have more money to work with in that sense you're not straining. >> jamie's right it's like qe4, additional stimulus comes in >> it's private sector money, not balance sheet fed money. >> i will say this about qe 4. we said qe is one of the great -- >> that's when it's from the fed. you don't have to unwind this. >> in terms of where the money goes >> to help -- >> it's for the inequality >> the whole argument about qe is that it is creating greater

inequality >> which is why maybe jamie was talking about increasing the earned income tax credit >> if you do increase assets, one of the effects is people get wealthier, but it builds a bridge to the economy doing better >> i used to make that argument and you said we shouldn't have qe >> no. i am saying if you believe it's a bridge to where you pass the ba doton off, but one complaint, richard fisher used to say, we have this huge balance sheet, we primed the pump, now we need the engine to run. no more priming the pump if you get lower rates and more business activity, you can use some of the money in a way other than for -- >> business have said we'll do it when there's demand >> right you can't really see -- here's --wages go up, demand go

up >> what is my most fervent desire because i didn't have anything in the market, remember the mid '90s, what did i say could it ever happen again three years of 30% gains we have one under our belt you cannot deny, the market is up a third there's good things happening. merry christmas, happy holidays, hanukkah just started, didn't it >> two days in >> so you get 11 christmases or something, right then you do christmas -- >> eight >> eight, 11, i grew up in ohio. >> you're thinking of the 12 days of christmas. >> with the sorkins you get eight days and christmas would take all the holidays, too. >> festivus, like seinfeld >> including festivus. >> cnbc confirmed that delta air lines is planning to announce an

order for 100 airbus planes. this is a big win for airbus and a loss for boeing which hoped to land the order the purchase comes amid a trade dispute. boeing complained that canada's bombardier sold planes to delta at below market prices and received unfair government subsidi subsidies. >> talking bh ing more about al stuff with john silvia from wells fargo, chief economist have you always been chief economist? >> i've been chief economist at wachovia and when wells fargo took over, they kept me on as chief economist. >> amazing like a reverse pacman. they bought wachovia, you ousted the guy who was already at wells fargo? where is he? flipping burgers >> i was lucky enough there was not a person who was chief

economist at wells fargo at the time >> there was a chief new accounts guy at wells fargo. also on set is brian levitt from oppenheimer funds. both you guys have now pored over the comments from fed and co yesterday you're not chief economist, are you? >> senior investment strategist. >> we'll started with silvia then john what did you read into both the move and the forecast and the comments from the fed? >> they anticipate keeping on the path in terms of the dot plot our route look is we will get three fed increases next year, as the inflation numbers continue to rise and finally the interesting point that you were talking about just a few minutes ago, when companies do get a corporate tax cut, they do get

the profits. that's actually what you said earlier, joe, in economic terms, the cost of capital is lowered, now they have cash we also discussed how they'll use the cash that's the key when janet yellen was talking about, will we make a difference in terms of longer economic growth? is this cash going to be used to buy equipment and improve productivity that was interesting to hear you discuss this earlier and apply it to janet yellen's comments. >> brian, you agree with that? >> i think the fed will be able to continue to raise interest rates in the early part of 2018. what we have now is a synchronized global expansion. most countries around the world are growing above trend. you have easing monetary policy. it's a nice back troop for risk assets federal reserve will continue to normalize policy i would watch the ten-year what you saw yesterday was equity markets up, bond markets

rallying, we are still flattening the yield curve some. if we don't get a significant pick up in inflation, federal reserve will have to back off in 2018 >> a lot of people, john, are saying stimulus now. what do you think? i guess the proxy they use for how strong an economy is is the 4% unemployment rate yet you still got these low bond yields around the world. and you have the notion, i think, that a lot of these jobs that were created in the last ten years, maybe people, some of them maybe are part-time other ones, maybe people would like better jobs the other know, is that maybe if you had a choice of two or three jobs, you might be able to hold out for more money if you had eight years of 2% growth, is it a bad thing to try and stimulate the economy where we are now there's never a bad time to try to make the economy better, is there? >> to make it better, to make it

more efficient, never a bad time i'll go back to janet yellen's comments you do get a short run stimulus here we have only 2.7% growth for 2018 that's not a big push in the economy overall. longer term, back to the same issue. unless you're improving productivity and labor force participation rate, there's not a sustained stimulus going forward. >> it's almost like republicans figure there's never a bad time to try to stimulate the private sector honestly, i'm not being negative here, but democrats think there's never a bad time to redistribute you redistribute in bad times, redistribute in good times, redistribute in average times. never a bad time it's like the two ways of looking at the world you think it's a bad time to stimulate the economy? are we already at maximum output with inflation where it is >> i don't think it's a bad time

to try to stimulate the economy. but i think to expect a new higher sustainable level of growth is probably overstating >> why we had it through 45 years, through ten recessions, grew at 3.5% >> some of it is demographics. to john's point, you need growth in the labor force participation rate, and you need big productivity gains you have a boom to corporate earnings, so they can retain more of what they generate, will you see significant investment in the economy to create productivity >> let's say we get three or four years of 3% plus. how will you go back and explain that happened when you basically said it's impossible >> i didn't say impossible >> what do we need, more kids? more immigration >> no, we need to invest if productivity >> why are you so skeptical that we do that you don't think -- you think we're stuck at 2%,

demographically we can't go above that the reason i've got skepticism, we've been in an environment where businesses are flush with cash for some time now >> this is what we're talking about, waiting for demand. businesses will do anything to satiate demand the question is when does demand spark, maybe wages have not gone up that's part of the reason why. >> the most important thing for investors is this backdrop has been fine for the equity markets. that's likely to continue. to joe's point about why we haven't had those years, consecutive years of big gains, we had a fantastic environment -- >> from 1999 to where we were a couple years ago, we doubled in 17 years it was not a huge run. we only had a huge run up in the last year. when it went down to 666 on the s&p in the middle of a financial crisis --

>> we had a secular bear market, that ended in 2009 we've been in a secular bull market with a significant advance in the equity markets. i heard earlier talking about 1987, $100,000 in 1987 investment today is 2$2.2 million. we had to move through -- >> if you take 1999 when we were at 10,000, and go to 20,000 in 2016, how many years it took to double like 16 years it took to double, it's like 4% a year. >> we had a prolonged period where we came out of high valuations, we started to rebuild, we were overlevered -- >> we need to go back to '82 >> one point that i just make -- not on his behalf, but in your camp for a second, given the wealth effect that you could argue is taking place over the last year, if not actually frankly the last five or six years, you would think if everybody was so wealthy in spending this money, that that would -- the whole policy

approach, the trickle down approach is create a wealth effect, it will work what i'm saying is look around, you tell me whether you think it's working >> we don't know what twould hae happened without -- >> we are in good shape, but rich people consume, but not -- >> they don't use 100% of their savings. >> you just made the point for me rich people don't consume all the money they're getting. >> you have a choice of nobody -- that's the argument about trickle down you don't grow the pie because it stays at the high end or grow it on hopefully you see demand -- >> you have to find a way to reasonably grow the pie at the bottom and middle ends >> it won't be through legislation. we tried that for eight years.

we tried forcing it down, that didn't work. >> i think -- >> no wage gains and 2% growth let the economy do it. >> i think jamie dimon had an eloquent one, lower the -- >> unleash the private sector, watch what happens >> we're coming back in a minute guys, thank you for being with us. when we come back, the force is strong with disney. the company could announce a deal to buy key assets from fox. we will be back after this ronoh really?g's going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms... again.

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welcome back it's a big day for disney with the opening of the latest "star wars" movie and a potential multibillion dollar deal in the works for the assets owned by 21st century fox joining us is dan primac from axios. what does this mean? we anticipate a deal will be announced, one where 21st cen 1 century fox would own a part of

disney what does this mean >> for rupert murdoch, it means he will refocus on news, which is how he started his career >> people keep saying rupert murdoch has been an acquirer, now to the point where he is willing to sell. i started thinking of it as a reverse pacman getting in, taking owner shp of dship of di especially if he can put his son as the next ceo. >> i think there's some truth to that i'm stunned this is happening at all. i get why it makes sense for 21st century fox >> i understand wanting more content. >> i understand wanting more content, i'm not sure why they want more live sports content, given their spns sespn issues. i thought when doj sued to stop the acquisition of at&t and time warner, that this would be put on ice

so i'm fairly stunned this announce mtd ment is coming >> you think this will face issues with regulators >> we don't know randall stephenson, the ceo of at&t said he thought there would be so much uncertainty off of that that these talks would be put on hold. i agree with that. the issue with doj is that we don't know what their playbook is so i'm kind of surprised that disney would take such a major move which can disrupt their own operations and fox's operations while there's so much uncertainty out there. >> i wasn't surprised to see that there wasn't more done with comcast, because they've been kind of the foil in all of that. i guess i'm not surprised to see this happen if the timing works for rupert murdoch and if is something ig wore like er woulde

accomplished >> that makes total sense to me. i look at what happened with at&t and how surprised they seemed to be with what happened with the doj one argument doj was making is one about distribution, particularly over the top distribution i understand at&t's distribution with the pipes and directv is more than what disney has and potentially hulu that's a big transaction it speaks to the arguments that the department of justice made against at&t, which is controlling both content and distribution >> do we think the hulu piece will be allowed? i'm not sure with the other shareholders, that they can take a majority stake the way they have >> my understanding is that they get -- again, you're right the devil is in the details. >> the question is whether the terms of their ownership structure allow for this it also raises a lot of questions about bamtech, because

they just bought bamtech, if they're going to continue to run hu hulu, did they just waste millions on bamtech? >> disney said the reason they launched bamtech is because they wanted to launch their own streaming to complete with netflix, do they merge hulu and their streaming or kill their streaming? these are things we assume we will hear today from disney. the other thing interesting to look at in the details when we get them is what the termination graemt lo agreement looks like >> okay. thank you for joining us today >> thanks a lot. check out the shares of lululemon. they're rising after deutsche

bank upgraded the stock to buy from hold. the price target was increased to 89 from 72. do you see this tie, sorkin? >> i see it. >> what are the university of pennsylvania colors? this is kind of similar. isn't it blue, red and white >> any reason for that. >> we'll talk about that later fine institution you have family that went there. >> my kid -- my sister my kid sister went there >> great place >> good place. >> great school. >> awesome in chairs, we have a segment coming up. i'll break it to you fresh >> i don't know. now i think i know coming up, a report out this morning forecasts a bleak 2018 for opec producers as u.s. shale production continues to ramp up. right now, a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers ♪

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welcome back you're watching "squawk box" live from the nasdaq market site in times square. good morning u.s. equity futures are again in the green. dow jones up 71 points after a big session yesterday. these dow milestones are coming fast and furious we'll see whether this

continues. some day there will be a sell on the news, i guess. i don't know they think they have the votes, it's been hard to imagine it would be done before christmas and they're on track tot today is the 14th. >> i think some of the questions that might come up, the individual senators who have to make sure they're on board with this john mccain back in the hospital you don't know what bob corker will do. he voted no last time around susan collins has been concerned about medical deductions we'll see. new this morning, the international energy agency says it expects the rise in u.s. shale production to continue putting pressure on opec joining us is matt smith are they right >> they are. >> they are. are they ever wrong? >> they are. but there's a consensus across the monthly reports. this week, we had the oil

reports, opec expect u.s. production will increase 1.1 million barrels a day. eia, 800,000 barrels a day, and iea, 800,000 barrels a day the key take daway no one knows what that value will be, but it is going to be a sizable chunk >> you have a stat for us. >> i do. >> it's a quiz for us? >> it is a quiz. we're talking about u.s. production here. >> yes >> u.s. imports, net import for oil and products in september reached 3.44 million barrels a day. that's down to the lowest level for many, many years it was at 13.44 million barrels a day there august of 2006 we dropped 10 million barrels a day of those net imports because we're producing more and exporting more as well the last time that was at that 3

million barrel a day level, beverly hills cop was on >> my favorite movie did you know that was my favorite movie eddie murphy with that great song can beget that song? you know what i'm talking about? ♪ >> okay. not only that. >> john is fast. >> careless whisper was at number one by wham so what year was that? beverly hills cop, number one. >> 1985? >> i'm going with '85. >> february 1985, that's when net imports of oil and products were last below 3.44 million barrels a day. >> i was eight years old >> i still don't think you're

mature enough to see that movie. why did you like it so much? it's okay, i guess 2 and 3 were horribliblehorribl. >> aramco ipo what do you think happens? will this happen at all? >> i think it will happen. the saudi oil minister tells us they'll keep production low, exports low, that will support prices until the point of the ipo, which will come through late next year >> you're a believer >> yeah. >> despite all the other things happening now in saudi and questions whether you would want to be a minority own ner a compaowne in a company >> everything they're indicating shows they're trying to support prices ahead of that. >> "trading places" that was a couple years brfrmt. before. >> '81 or '82.

in the meantime, russian president vladimir putin is holding his annual news conference in moscow right now among the areas that he's covered so far, again, rejecting accusations of russian interference in the u.s. election >> translator: all of this has been invented, made up by people who are in popposition to president trump with a view to shedding a negative light on what president trump is doing and for me it is very bizarre. it's as if they were doing that without understanding one simple fact, by doing that, the people who responsible for that are dealing a blow to the entire political environment of the country. >> we will continued to follow

put put p putin's news conference. coming up, it's peak season for the shippers u.p.s. is already experiencing delays we'll check in with fedex after the break. our guest host at top of the hour, walter isaacson. and later, investment ideas from mario gabelli stay tuned, you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc

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neighborhood." i loved him. >> it's peak shipping season, morgan bren nan is at a fedex facility in the bronx. she joins us now with an update. >> that's right. this fedex express facility in the bronx may look quiet now it's already done its sort and sent out the first wave of packages that are destined for homes in the new york area in just a short while it will do the second wave of packages. like u.p.s. which expects 750 million packages this holiday season, fedex expects another record setting holiday season. they expect 380 million to 400 million packages by year-end it's unclear how much growth that represents. so, how is it handling the rush so far fedex like u.p.s. has invested billions of dollars into its network. it opened a new ground hub

it has expanded to others on the express side it added more aircraft as well as technological upgrades to some of its fleet it rolled out partnerships with retailers like walgreens, which is something we'll get into a bit more later this morning. so far ahead of christmas as well as earnings next tuesday t says the fedex networks are performing as designed and we're well positioned to meet anticipated record demand for our customers around the world we're still a little more than a week out from christmas. if the past previous peak seasons are an indicator, the real crunch time, the biggest sort of wave of package volumes is still yet to come so we're in the final countdown here back over to you >> when is the last time you can order something online and hope to get it there in time for the holidays >> from a fedex ground

perspective, tomorrow is the cutoff >> if you express shipping, pushing it to the 18 th or something? >> yeah. so you're looking at the -- i can remember the date right now, it's later next week what fedex does say that they are right now not planning to do package deliveries next sunday, which is christmas eve, or on christmas they just told me it's the 21st. >> great >> that's pretty late. you can push it. >> there's people coming to my house in rental trucks >> eight times a day >> yes >> they rent them out? >> amazon, they have no idea where they are is this 50 is this 30 >> you have not read some of the worst stories about what's been happening because they don't have bathroom breaks built in. >> i did read that they have to keep doing it god. i guess that depends >> so all the companies, you

will see rental trucks for all the companies. we've seen a couple in here this morning as well. keep in mind, companies like fedex on their busiest days are handling double the average daily volume all that capacity, you have to bring in lots of additional workers, trucks, all kinds of resources to handle that >> it's amazing. >> hundreds of millions of pack canals >> all right thank you very much. we have some stocks to watch today. lonmin agreed to be bought by sibanye-stillwater for 382 million in stock shares of nordson are at a 52-week high after better than expected fourth quarter results.

they were helped by surprise increase in organic sales. pier one imports third quarter earnings missed forecasts on lower sales and closures during hurricane harvey and irma they say while they had a solid start to the holiday season, trends have dropped considerably in december. check this out that stock is down by 28%. it's a stock trading at $4.20 now. down by $1.64. a few analyst cams of note tiffany upgraded to a buy at citi group fini fini finishline upgraded this morning. when we return this morning, fed chair janet yellen weighing in on bitcoin. we'll tell you what she said about it afterthis right now as we head to break, a quick check of what's happening in the european markets. we have seen some pressure on stocks right now the dax is down by over a half percent. some declines also for the ftse

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this is weird, the way things sneak up on you it's kind of sappy, but we've talked about the new set, we had a party for the new set. it was two years ago, we had a different party for for the 20 anniversary for "squawk box. if it's 20 years for "squawk box" -- >> 22. >> 22 now. if you had a child at any time during that 20 years, viewers have seen her grow up and sooner or later no matter what they -- one of the great things about having kids is at least there's a reason to get old because eventually they go to college. and, andrew, you've had a taste of this when you were trying to get into these tony nursery schools in new york. you were going on interviews, you were skipping "squawk box," you were leaving early and you're there trying to do everything you can to get into the top-level schools. get used to it

it doesn't get easier. blake early decision at penn. >> i wish i could see her face from the video. >> everything's on video there's a happy penn quaker right there after we heard -- but i'm not sure the way this is done, there's no other way to do it you know it was going to be exactly 7:00 p.m. -- >> >> she got an e-mail? >> i was a wreck we're at the table i described it as god i feel like i'm waiting for the guard to come to take me off -- i mean, waiting those last few minutes i was so agitated and anxious i was looking for medication i'm not kidding. >> i'm stunned i thought they would just mail it and you get it eventually. >> remember you used to get the thick envelope and the thin envelope >> you have to look to see the envelope. >> i tried to get into med school and it was like i got a lot of envelopes, none of them

were -- they were all thin they were really brief but watching that last night, we have a video and i don't want to describe. >> it i teared up looking at it this morning, you can feel the palpable -- >> she said 15 seconds to go and then it hits and it's a letter and you sort of see where they're getting but you're not sure they're saying it. >> but they send you a note beforehand telling you it's coming at this time. >> a down o'clocountdown clock. it's a lot of pressure for kids. she's hearing from other kids and not always everybody -- doesn't always end well. for a 17-year-old, we put a lot of pressure. >> congratulations to blake, i'm so glad she got the news before the holidays. >> so am i. >> so is the whole family. >> i want to apologize, andrew, i've been stressed with this lately.

>> that explains it all? he's been stressed for the last seven or eight years now. >> i told you, you had a similar experience, which one was it it was like some horace mann or something? >> the boy is going to collegiate, that's the best school. >> it's a grade school called collegiate we're already like -- >> on track. >> we're working on it. >> a trajectory. >> we can only hope. we can only hope we have the same success blake does. congratulations. >> thank you a couple other quick stories for you, during the fed news conference, janet yellen weighed in on bitcoin. we haven't heard her talk about this yet in a response to our question by our own steve leaseman, what else would he be asking about >> bitcoin at this time plays a very small role in the payment system it's not a stable store of value and it doesn't constitute legal

tender it's a highly speculative asset and the fed doesn't really play any role any regulatory role with respect to bitcoin. >> yellen said the risk was limited even if bitcoin were to drop in price. one of the big questions, right now you're looking at $16,566 on a week in which futures begin trading on bitcoin one of the big overhangs on boink has been whether either the fed or the government would decide, central banks would decide to put bitcoin out of business for their own reasons so she's not making a sort of attempt to go there. >> it would be weird if she did as she's ending her term >> if someone asked you, you see these questions, we're going to have to answer this tomorrow the biggest business thing this year or the one that shocked you the most, bitcoin is not available.

>> bitcoin was the biggest surprise. >> i know. i'm leaving that for you to use for that. >> that's stock market. >> i'm using 35% because i never thought it was possible. >> you take two big stories and i have to find something else. >> i want to claim it right here. >> i said it before you put your stake in it. >> well, you think. >> i can talk taxes, we deal that. >> oh, yeah, we don't want you fired up again tomorrow. carried interest. >> carried interest. >> medical deductions, that's huge if they allow that for people who need it the most. >> different bitcoin story, in miami, a penthouse condo hitting the market with a big catch. its seller is only accepting bitcoin as payment the one bedroom home listed on red fin for 33 bitcoin that's over $544,000 at bitcoin's current price so -- >> that's weird. it's not currency. it's not currency. so he's thinking wow, i can get a million dollars.

how much >> $544,000. >> you can sell it for a million without raising the price. >> or you can sell it for $200,000. >> i'm going to look over here, over there what are we doing? i'm going to look over ere we'll talk media, taxes, and the economy with our guest walter isaacson and later, investor mario gabelli will be here at 008: a.m. eastern time. "squawk box" returns after this. see that's funny, i thought you traded options. i'm not really a wall street guy. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you

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good morning, everybody. we are awaiting an entertainment

earthquake disney is expected to announce it will buy 21st century fox what this means is straight ahead. the dow soars to an all time high after the fed raises rates and signals more hikes are yet to come. can. and we have a deal in d.c. lawmakers reaching an agreement on a sweeping tax overhaul plan. we'll talk about what it means for your money and for the markets. the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪ it's a world of laughter, a world of tears ♪ ♪ it's a world of hopes and a world of fears ♪ >> announcer: live from the beating heart of business, new york city, this is "squawk box." good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc we're live at the nasdaq market site andrew ross sorkin along with becky quick and joe kernan we have some green arrows again. the dow looks like it will open up at 62 points higher nasdaq up about 10 points, a little over nine points, s&p 500

up about 4.5 points. we have news it's crossing officially right now. disney buying fox films and its tv business. really a reshaping of the murdoch empire in what a remarkable way we're going to try to bring you the details of this deal right now what you're looking at is a deal after the spinoff, what they're calling is a $52.4 billion deal in stock. of course, the big networks that will come along with this, ifx network, national geographic, all of those and in the movie business, "x-men" "avatar" all joining the disneyworld. let me give you a quick line from bob iger -- actually, before we do that, let's go through the exact terms of the deal 21st century fox and its shareholders will receive .2745 disney shares for each 21st century fox share they currently

hold the ratio will be set on a 38 volume weighted average price. a little complicated disney will be assuming $13.7 billion of net debt from 21 century. the big question is the role james murdoch may play in this i did a search through the document and the word "james" not appearing in the this press release. >> but he was supposed to go there for a while and help run international. >> that had been a big question about the role james murdoch might play in a potential deal like this. that's walter a isaacson who we haven't properly introduced just yet. >> that's all right. you don't need to. >> we're going to go to julia who has more details julia? >> i think it's worth noting here it includes in this

announcement that at the request of both 21st century fox and the disney board of directors bob iger has agreed to continue as chairman and ceo through the end of the calendar year 2021. so his contract was set which had been extended multiple times was set to expire in mid-2018 so this is effectively a 2.5 year extension of bob iger's contract and this was expected with the expectation that this would be a way for iger to who seems to enjoy his job and even though he said he wanted to retire could oversee the integration of the two companies so worth noting that, andrew. >> are you seeing anything am i missing something on th james murdoch issue? that had been a big social question. >> that had been a big question. i had heard that there wasn't going to be anything announced now. that if james murdoch did take a role or have a role, was given a role at the new company that it would not be announced immediately. i don't think he necessarily will be. i think it could be something still in motion but i don't see

anything here about that and i had not been expected to see that as the announcement i don't think it's a surprise iger is staying on but i think it's notable for investors and the other two big things to notice are bullet points in the announcement which is how this expands disney's direct to consumer offerings with the addition of fox's entertainment content capabilities in the american, europe and asia and the hulu stake, controlling hulu gives them a bunch of options in terms of how that i'ey'll turn into their direct to consumer offering so basically everything other than disney content. also extensive international properties including star in india, fox is 39% ownership of sky across europe and from what i understand they are going to continue to complete the rest of the acquisition of sky. >> i knew you'd raise questions about whether the hulu stake could be a controlling interest

but in the press release, one of the headlines, they are saying the hulu stake becomes a controlling interest so the other parties may not be happy with that but they are asserting that. >> it's going to be a controlling interest there's a consent decree that prevents comcast from being a voting member. i think that it will take probably a year for this deal to get done once that year expires the consent decree is off, they become a voting member rich greenfield wrote about this yesterday. it becomes very difficult for disney even as the controlling shareholder -- >> well, so much paternity -- >> from a structural perspective, to change the structure without permission of everybody else, it also may change the dynamic in which nbc universal and others would provide content. you might see them be forced to sell hulu off. i'm also looking --i don't see any breakup knees this transaction. the reason i ask is, i've heard

there are a number of tech companies and others who want to see whether there's a possibility of ultimately jumping this deal. you could see an amazon, a google, an apple say to themselves okay, now that i understand what's at play here and possibly even want to divvy up the assets, i've always thought they should partner with an amazon or somebody else they take the international assets which -- >> you mean a hostile bid? >> that's exactly what i'm saying. >> i don't see any details in here yet but it does say disney will be conducting an investor conference call at 8:00 a.m. eastern today which will be web cast so i expect that to be a question that comes up but back to hulu, what's interesting here is if you have all of the disney content and the fox content that is two-thirds of what hulu is

effectively. hulu is 10% owned by time warner but there is an opportunity for disney to run hulu as a big direct-to-consumer content play without needing nbc universal if nbc universal were decide to pull out though it could be in their best interest to stay in so i think disney won't sell off its stake in hulu. i think it wants that as a key part of this strategy. >> do you sell bam tech? do you say that was a mistake? if you -- >> no, i think -- >> you won't have google powered by bam tech. >> i think it's two different plays here bam tech is powering to direct to consumer espn service which is launching earlier next year then you have to disney-branded app which is scheduled to launch in fall of 2019. if you think about what the portfolio of direct-to-consumer products is that disney will have, you could have espn, disney and everything else, and that's what hulu is. and all those shows from fx,

movies produced by fox search light, all of those could go into that hulu service as disney does compete with netflix not just with the disney app but hulu as well remember, hulu does not have exclusive original content as netflix does and this deal answer this is question. >> let me point out an interesting part of this they are saying this acquisition is expected to yield at least two billion in cost savings from efficiencies that they realize, they expect to realize through the combination of the business. they think will be acretive to earnings before purchase for the second fiscal year, however with so many things swirling in washington, a tax bill we anticipate getting past, this is interesting, too they say the initial exchange -- i'm sorry. the adjustment for the tax liabilities could increase or decrease the exchange ratio depending on whether the final

estimate is lower or higher than the initial estimate however the final estimate of the tax liabilities is lower, the first $2 billion of that adjustment will be instead made by a net reduction in the amount of cash dividend to 21st century fox from the company to be spun off. so 21st century fox is going to be taking the risk on this if their tax liability -- they have $8.5 billion of a cash dividend paid to them. they will be taking the risk on that. >> we want to properly introduce two of our guests here walter isaacson is here, the outgoing president of the aspen institute. we can't call him the president anymore but i think he's happy to be the outgoing president tom rogers is also here, executive chairman at winview, former tivo ceo, former president of nbc cable, an architect of cnbc. you look at this transaction this morning and you think what? >> very tough statement about traditional media and where it

is in the world right now. fox was probably number two worldwide in terms of advertising when you look at the picture global ly had the fastest growing affiliate fees of anybody out there, i think they grew by about 11% but they did not think they could make it in the future world and to do a transaction this big felt it needed to if it was going to be able to make it going forward. clearly a tough statement about the future of the media world. tough statement about how traditional media has scoped out where we are it was only a few years ago where the ceo at time warner was calling netflix the albanian army and we have seen that internet has basically so disrupted the media world. >> why do you think no tech

company -- i always am fascinated to see whether someone tries to jump a deal like this. why have we not seen a technology company like an amazon, like a netflix, maybe more of an amazon or apple or google want to buy these type of assets. >> well, i think we may still. i don't think the consolidation and the musical chairs on this is over. >> on this particular deal >> possibly on this deal but certainly there are other assets out there. what this does not necessarily speak to is netflix and amazon have clearly shown that it is investing in original programming that is driving those services netflix to the tune of $8 billion of investment, $4 million of investment by amazon per year in original programming. this speaks to acquiring a library. hulu is a good asset the fox library is a good asset. but what has to follow is some

massive additional investment in original programming and my guess is some tech players are much more focused on that leading-edge element than necessarily building the library block right now. >> what does it say about the murdoch family. >> it's interesting how much of this is driven by disney saying, hey, we need to create direct to consumer streaming services and how much is driven by the fact that rupert murdoch has now got to sort out the next generation of his empire and that the sons, lockland and james, aren't looking into getting direct consumer streaming that will be this next wave they each have things they want to do and so this is the best way to break it up i would think that murdoch is keeping those things that he most cares about including news and sports and other things so i

wouldn't be surprised if the murdoch sons, meaning james and lockland, take the scaled-back version and build what they want for their generation. >> to tom's point about -- >> i think we have the convergence of three stories here the at&t/time warner story, net neutrality being repealed today presumably and 24 deal and it -- they all show a lack of coherence in terms of government policy when it comes to what are the rules of the road going to be when it comes to media. at&t/time warner being blocked, time warner may be representing 15% of the affiliate fee base of cable channels yet here we have something that if it goes throughputs two studios together that may have

40% market share and the combined affiliate fee market share of the disney and fox services is with retransmission consent coming out of abc probably 35% or more and so that's a horizontal merger with a lot of issues to look at versus something being blocked and on the 235face of it looks like it has potential. then net neutrality, the government saying, hey, when it comes to how carriers treat their program services, that doesn't matter, preferential treatment and all, let it go. >> guys, let's listen in for just a moment. bob iger discussing this deal on gma, obviously his network listen to why he says this bill makes sense. >> this gives us the ability to marry the great content of fox with the great content of disney it gives us a much larger international footprint and enables us to use cutting edge technology to reach consumers in

more compelling ways and we now hoe important that is in today's world. >> bob iger the disney chairman and ceo will join david faber. what do you think about that. >> using cutting edge technology to reach consumers in new ways that phrase, he's said it before, it is a tsunami that's about to hit an industry that for the past 30 years has been based on transmission by cable of certain properties. if wasn't as if disney made products that could be streamed directly to consumers but amazon did and netflix did. that disrupted things, bob ieger is very smart, smells which way it's going and wants to have his own services >> you brought it up, are they looking at the past and trying to slow things down there and missing bigger issues here >> they're missing some of the bigger issues when 90 cents of every dollar on mobile advertising is going to two companies, facebook and google

and it looks like that's not getting looked at at all i think we are looking at past issues but talking about the past, walter will remember this, it was a time when all three networks looked like they missed the cable boat when we started cnbc people said "networks missed it. but look at today. the question is, given where we are today can disney make that transition looking at where netflix and amazon and the streaming world is it's a much tougher thing. we had to chase ted turner, which was a pretty weak company. they have to chase amazon, google, players that are massive compared to what we have to worry about when we were making the first transition. >> let's get back to l.a. with julie who has news on james murdoch. >> to answer your question about that, bob iger saying on gma a few moments ago, he said "james

and i will be talking over the next couple months, he'll be i integral to the integration process and we'll be discussing whether or not there's a role for him. >> my understanding, by the way, on the iger extension was that rupert murdoch said straight up and down at the beginning, if you're going to do this deal, you need to be there for the full on integration. we don't want to sell you this company and your deal is up in '19 and whoever is the new ceo isn't invested emotionally. >> that's because murdoch doesn't want iger to run for president in 2020. >> the political machinations are about this is that iger was speculated as a potential presidential candidate and that by signing this he effectively had to say to himself if he thought he wanted to do that this he's not. >> the more interesting political mash nation me is while this is still a little farfetched and we have the former head of cnn at the table

here with a company with this kind of capability to think about how it bulks itself up, meaning the remaining fox, news and sports company where the at&t transaction is going to be slowed down by the government considerably i don't think the government will take that to the distance because i don't think they can win it if that settlement does involve spinning off cnn, it's hard to think there would be a more aggressive bidder on that property than fox. >> you'll get a very weird situation if sinclaire for ideological and emotional reasons starts bidding for cnn and abc -- i worked with abc 20 years ago when we were thinking of trying to put together abc and cnn. >> randall stephenson of at&t has been very clear that they won't do it because it would look like a first amendment -- >> i always thought the buyer -- >> the question is how far does that go before they say look, we have to get this done.

>> the natural buyer i always thought -- and you know more about this -- was les moonves at cbs. >> when i was there, we had negotiated basically new co-mergers of equals with cbs and abc. that rarn inn into ted turner's. but that would have made sense and would still make sense. >> i was thinking about you. that's all you've got. you and wright back then it's like the world is passing us by so we'll start this from scratch, consumer news and business, we're squeezing grapefruits. >> we tried to do a deal with turner to own a major chunk of turner and we scrapped that plan and started our own thing but we were chasing the likes of turner and viacom. >> the future looked daunting but as an old salt, you're not up to this, are you? are you the guy that could do

this now >> remember what disney has in front of it, it has netflix and amazon running at 100 miles an hour this deal probably won't close for a year then the issues andrew is talking about in terms of hulu and a bunch of other things that have to be sorted out. in the meantime, the amount of growth you're going to see, netflix has gone from 32 million subs to 50 million subs. this is a daunting task. they've paid a premium for a bunch of assets that are in structural decline yes, they're good assets and yes, bob ieger is as capable a guy there is out there but this is one hell of a chase they've entered before they can implement this. >> can i read one more thing i think this really raises -- it has to be done in the context of net neutrality these are streaming services that if they get into a fight and they can't get carriage it multiplys the old cable carriage

issues and this is coming without it being thought through that we will do these things and get rid of net neutrality. the upside is people could be building more capable and laying for might beer because they just need to be assured they're going to get distribution. but having one of these new empires, this disney/fox empire in a time when at&t is controlling too much of the fiber to the curb -- >> you're right. the net neutrality issue is sitting here where the future is all about carriers possibly favoring content and we're focusing on directv and time warner cartoon network. >> thank you so much for your perspective, especially as this news is just breaking. we're going to talk to mario gabelli about the price and everything else. so much more to come we should also tell you david faber is going to spend time with disney's chairman and ceo bob iger that's going to happen on "squawk on the street" so maybe questions we're asking he will

answer directly. when we come back, the fed hiking rates and raising its forecast for gdp stocks moving higher and the dow notching another record close today. this morning, the futures will indicated higher once again. 'lta mke iju a moment is this a phone?

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welcome back, everybody, the dow closing a record high after janet yellen holds her final scheduled news conference as fed chair. joining us to talk about the markets is the head of investment strategy and chief u.s. equity strategist for ubs wealth management americas and mike lippert from the baron opportunity fund we set this up with the fed chair but what may be more important is what we're hearing out of washington in terms of a tax deal looking like it is a more likely scenario they have agreed in principle and if you start looking at next year, you can say one thing in terms of what you may expect you may not look at market multiples to expand but what will happen to earnings if this

tax plan passes? >> it's a clear positive the bulk case for equities for 2018 is we get tax reform, corporate tax rates fall from 35% to the low 20s, looks like a 21% rate that should boost corporate profits for s&p 500 companies in the 6% to 10% range. so without tax reform earnings were likely to be up in the mid to high single digits anyway so we could be looking at a 15% to 20% earnings growth. >> how much of that has been baked in and how much is something that needs to be processed? >> that's always the million dollar question. if you asked me six weeks ago i would have said very little was priced in for tax reform passing. clearly over the past few weeks not just the market has gone up but the leadership has been centered around those segments that would benefit the most so small cab companies, more domestically focused companies, value stocks in general. so about half of it has been priced in, i don't think the full effect has been priced in, we think that broadly the way we're thinking about it is that

we're looking at the market ending around the 2900 range next year if we get tax reform and i think if we don't get tax reform we'll probably range bound in the 26 to 2700 range. >> michael, what do you think? >> i think jeremy and i were talking about that before. i'm not a market strategist, i'm an investor. yeah, this will produce higher earnings, i think the market can take that into account, it will happen quickly because it doesn't change the growth scenario unless it changes consumer behavior or industrial behavior it won't change long-term growth so i think the market will get this relatively quickly. then the question is where will the market come back to? the market needs growth and i believe it will come back to the secular growth trends we were talking about in your last segment. the world is going digital, we're using data more intelligently and businesses want to go to consumers. >> what type of reform could have dope long-term growth better >> i'm not a politician, i have my own particular views. i do think at the end of the day

putting more money in the hands of people really truly matters we could have lowered tax rates overall to more people i do believe our corporate tax rate hadn't been upgraded in 40 years so we needed a clear upgrade, what i think is we were doing too much picking and choosing which type of income we're going to favor and i wish our politicians didn't do that and made it more even. >> fair to say both of you are looking at this and saying okay, we're positive for next year based on everything we anticipate happening now >> i think that's right. this is positive the markets wanted this. looks like it's a 90% chance it will happen unless something strange happens in the next week i think the market will end the year on a positive note and probably start that way next year. >> i'm not sure what you're saying are you saying redistribute income to the lower end? >> absolutely not. >> what about deregulation and what about now it's -- companies can bring cash back here, they can stay here, why won't that be

a long term positive >> i didn't say it's not long-term positive. >> no, it doesn't change the growth characteristics of businesses, which businesses will grow more than others unless it changes to consumer. >> so you don't foresee gdp going to 3%. >> i've read everything that every person on wall street said they have much lower numbers so what does that mean they're going to be right? >> even if gdp grows 3% or 3.5%, the digital trends are growing 20% so what will lead market more. >> he's saying he's not changing his pick. >> but you -- is it possible to shift into the gear we were in for 45 years rather than the gear we were in for the past eight? >> i think that would be great but you have to think of a number of other things, one, we're a mature country how much are workers growing we have to do it through productivity do you think we'll get back to 3% productivity growth i think it will have to be more of an investment in technology and education. >> mike, thank you, jeremy, thank you. coming up, much more on the

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back to the deal of the morning, disney buying parts of 21st century fox julia has been digging through the press release and finding more details she joins with us more julia, good morning again. >> good morning, becky after lots of speculation, it's official disney acquiring fox's entertainment assets for $52.4 billion in stock that includes its film, tv and cable networks the acquisition is expected to yield $2 billion in cost savings. disney's ceo bob iger is extending his contract as part of this deal for an additional two and a half years no he's staying on through the end of calendar 2021 he just spoke on abc's good morning america about the advantages of the deal

>> this gives us the ability to marry the great content of fox with the great content of disney it gives us a much larger international footprint and enables us to use cutting edge technology to reach consumers in more compelling ways. >> iger making comments about how this deal will expand disney's direct-to-consumer offerings. it will give disney a controlling stake in hulu. it lays the ground work for disney to become a bigger player in the direct to consumer streaming business. >> we'll launch an espn direct service in 2018 and a disney-branded service in 2019 this clearly will jump start those efforts, give us more content, more producing capabilities for those services. and we're not really looking to necessarily reach the scale of netflix quickly, but we certainly aim to be an able competitor to theirs >> interest comments there to

hear him take on netflix iger is saying in the gma interview that james murdoch will be integral to the integration process and that they'll discuss whether there's a role for james murdoch to play at disney, but nothing firm for now. joe? >> julia, thank you, stay tuned for more on disney and fox we're joined by porter bibb, managing partner at media tech capital partners david faber is with us here. we just had -- just for a second let me talk to faber, porter so faber, we had tom rogers on do you remember the days -- we were the answer, cable nbc didn't have cable so -- we were there, remember cnbc, we were new, we were new media. now we're the problem. did you see it happen? did you feel it happen as we got old and our kids are going to college? what the hell happened

>> whoa, whoa, whoa, holy cow. what road are you taking me down here, my man, this is existential stuff. >> you're old and time is going by very quickly and we went from a new media to old media that needs to be -- they were just dea dead. >> it's hi-def, too. >> we are strong cash flow producing assets think about what will be left at fox, for example and our world to a certain extent. $2.8 billion which will be what is left, so to speak of what we've been calling spinco which fox shareholders will get a new share of this company. that's a significant business, joe. rupert murdoch saying -- you don't agree with rupert, he says listen, i have an important lesson born of all of i've learned namely content and news are relevant to viewers and will always be valuable

so don't worry so much, joe. >> just facebook and google. >> i want to know, what is the chance this deal gets jumped on a morning like this there are all sorts of executives. people have been watching this trying to understand what it means because over the past several weeks nobody has understood what the dynamic is at play. where are the tech companies in all of this? >> you're putting on your old hat here there's no shortage of concerns about -- amongst the bankers who put this together wondering could it ever happen, would apple ever say wait a second, with ef-to take a shot at disney because soon it will be too big in a sense though nothing is too big for apple. or our parent company. you know the complexities of trying to do something like that. >> i want amazon and comcast to bid together to take the international assets for comcast, the other stuff goes to amazon.

>> right, the domestic asset which is -- this is about internation pool in a large extent as you know we talk about so often given star, given sky you know, i don't know, andrew, one thing i will tell you is the murdochs -- required a shareholder vote on both sides, they own -- what their economics are is 18%, 16%, 18% somewhere in there they can vote their economics but they can't vote supervoting shares they can only vote one for one like everybody else in a merger so they don't have the ability to say absolutely not to any other potential bidder but this was born out of a personal relationship between iger and rupert murdoch we'll give you more background on it as we go along today in terms of when this began but it began at the end of the summer yeah, you can try and jump it but there's a lot you have to deal with to think about doing that i would sail the likelihood is very low. >> david, i just remember reading -- i'm old, i remember reading "three blind mice" and

"desperate networks. that was child's play compared to what these guys are facing right now. >> the untold story is why did rupert at 86 years of age change his mind from being a buyer to a seller. >> 86 might have something to do with it. >> he's planning his estate, his legacy. >> yes, it's a question of planning >> there's an unspoken issue, too, called approval of parliament for his trying to take over ky that was increasingly looking like it was not going to happen and i don't think rupert wanted to be the one guy in the media business declared by british parliament an unfit and not proper person to run a news organization so that is all off the table now. disney is going to get in the a breeze the thing that really is important to disney and where james murdoch will play a big role is the international side disney's footprint is in theme parks and cruise ships but not

media. >> you say james will play a big role but bob iger has made zero commitment if there was a true commitment you would have thought you would have read about it in the press release. >> well, everybody floated the idea he was going to become the next iger. james is not and none of the murdochs are going to be on the board of disney but disney has no real international management in the media side and that's what james' expertise is he took star and hong kong and took it over in the uk and india and the rest of the world that disney is getting with star and sky, that's a huge, huge market. >> i can see lots of campaigning for that role. what i'm suggesting is without even a quote from him in the press release, there's no james anywhere, you can't even find the word james what does that say to you. >> this is rupert's deal that's why. >> you notice the picture on the press release is a picture of rupert murdoch and bob iger together in london.

>> faber, what do you think? >> what i hear is that james has been very helpful in terms of sort of working this towards the finish line, that he will be a part of helping with the integration but there is no defined role for him, the idea that he is going to be anary to iger's ceo role -- >> but what about him running the assets >> andrew, i think that's possible but i don't think they've made a decision and they've made no commitments whatsoever another part of this, of course, is the family dynamic that goes on at fox, right and the relationship between rupert and james and what that has been like and why that has resulted in what may end up with james working at disney. kind of hard to imagine in some ways >> have you heard the conspiracy that rupert didn't want iger to be president so he's tying him up opening the way, rupert's

opening the way for howard schultz, god help us eight years of virtue. i'd rather have kanye. >> where did you manage to take this to politics unbelievable. >> we talked about it earlier. that rupert wouldn't want iger. >> can we go back to a question you were asking, andrew. >> believe it or not, that was not joe making the jump. >> someone else made it earlier. >> whether tech companies should jump in. i'll ask david faber what is the complex relationship between apple and disney given both the ownerships -- >> well, look to there was speculation one day maybe they would come together. >> what is the ownership complexity now. >> you probably have a good idea. >> there isn't much. >> a couple pieces, largest individual shareholder in disney is laurene jobs for whatever that is worth but beyond sort of

those tangential connections you have tim cook obviously on the board of disney so there are things -- but i don't know is that something you -- >> no, you're right. but the big issue here is that bob iger, as good as he is as a manager, has been talking about the digital and the internet for ten years and he's been slow to make a move and this is his move and i'm not sure it's going to work out as well as a lot of people are saying. >> what do you think about the hulu piece of this that's the other next asset either up for grabs or not, whether comcast from a structural standpoint once this consent decree comes off in a year says you guys can't do what you're doing over here or you have to buy us out or we'll not give you new content. >> let's wait and see how justice ends up against at&t and time warner. justice will lose that case and the field will be wide open for all kinds of new plays and we

will hear from google and amazon and microsoft. don't write microsoft off. they have the money they need and no real content. the other thing that's interesting, verizon cut a deal with nfl, $2.5 billion deal to put nfl games on your cell phone. they're opening it up to any cell phone company so they're going to suddenly swamp espn's nfl broadcast. >> all right, faber. so we're okay. we're still -- there's value in news, still. and even though we're cable -- what is that >> cable is over >> we're okay for now. >> just admit it. >> keep looking over your shoulder, joe. >> porter said cable is over, just admit it. thanks for coming on, porter we won't be seeing you again. >> you're digital. you're looking good on digital. >> thanks,porter we have more coming up i want to thank everybody for now. but we will return in just a moment we should tell you, bob iger

will be hanging out with mr. faber in just a little bit in "squawk on the street. you don't want to miss that. coming up, $30 trillion expected to pass to millennials in the coming decades and wells fargo has a new program to help families transfer wealth we'll hear about that. plus the ecb leaving its key interest rate unchanged. check out european shares at this hour. you're looking at red arrows across the board we return in a bit 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.

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$30 trillion expected to be transferred to millennials in the coming decades many families are turning to money therapy to help them make important decisions around wealth transfers joining us is catherine dean, head of family dynamics at wells fargo. what do you mean by "therapy" catherine? >> well, when people hear the term "family dynamics" they often think of distrust, dysfunction in the family and that's not how we define it. when you look at why this work is so important. there was a research study done years ago that showed globally 70% of wealth dissipates by the third generation for three reasons, and those three reasons are 60% lack of communication

and trust in a family, 25% not properly preparing heirs and another 10% not having a shared purpose in the family so to me that's fascinating because when you add that up, it's 95% of why wealth is not properly transferring across generations. it's all about people. it's all about getting at the heart of what matters most to us, families and the impact that our decisions can have on those people we love the most. >> what's the age you're supposed to have the conversation and when is the money supposed to move it used to be people said i'll give the money at 35, give it at 25, set up different trusts, now often times they don't have an age stipulation but they have a second trustee who's supposed to look over the shoulder. >> yeah, the answer is it depends. it really depends on the capacity of individual family members and their readiness, so

one of the focal points this work is preparing heirs. and what i would stress is that generational transition is a process, it's not something you're looking to flip a switch on, we often help families stage and sort of test the waters with that next gen to determine readiness so we can factor in what age or point you might want to empower the next gen. >> there are some wealthy families that talk openly about their ealth. there's other families that are quite wealthy who try as much as possible to pretend they're poor what's the better strategy >> i think it varies family to family and what's right for you is what you need to determine but what i would stress is that you need to be intentional whatever approach, into intentional and purposeful

it's amazing how in our families we're not as intentional as we are in the business context. in the business context we spend this time doing leadership development, mentoring, getting people ready for the next role why are we not as intentional in our families in building that individual and collective capacity. >> final question, estate tax. gary cohn says only morons pay the estate tax how does that change your business and do only morons pay the estate tax >> no, i wouldn't say that but that's pretty funny. you know what? i don't know that it will change the business my team is in around family dynamics every family regardless of size, regardless of net worth has dynamics, it just came up in your last segment with the father/son relationship in disney that is really important to factor in, how are we as a family going to create cohesion, communication and trust going

forward? >> catherine, appreciate it. >> let's get to steve leishman who has more on the ecb and the fed. i saw something on my twitter feed it was like janet yellen and kind of a shot from behind her and you were like front and center, leishman you looked like prosecuting attorney or something. were you sitting right there >> the peter principle you hang around long enough -- >> rise to your level of incompetence that's slater, right >> let me talk about the difference here. you have different things happening. ecb leaving rates unchanged. confirming the zero rate, the minus .4% on the refi rate my mic slipped off, one second talked about plans to reduce qe to $30 billion from $60 billion in january and continue to say it will keep rates low you can tell the difference, guys, between what's happening on either side of the atlantic look at the spread between the german two year and the u.s. two

year 255 basis points of spread a minus .7 on the german two-year and a plus 1.81 on the u.s. two year. there's the differential between the two and it's rising as the fed raises rates so that is a differential that is going to continue let's look at what the fomc did yesterday. raised its 2018 forecast to 2 p. 2.5% unemployment rate below 4% now still see inflation coming back towards 2% and saying three rate hike this is year. what about what it said about the tax cuts the way to characterize it is the fed sees a tax cut bump, doesn't see a boom it did raise the gdp for next year but kept the long-term average growth unchanged at 1.8% even both of obama's -- sorry, trump's appointees, powell and quarrels are not on board. so we've got these two

differences on either side of the atlantic, becky, coming to you. >> steve, thank you very much. when we come back, more on the big deal of the morning. the media deal of disney buying part 206s 1st century fox for stver $52 billion. "squawk box" will be right back. what is the power of pacific? it's life insurance and retirement solutions to help you reach your goals. it's having the confidence to create the future that's most meaningful to you. it's protection for generations of families, and 150 years of strength and stability.

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a megamedia deal disney buys 21st century fox assets for $52 billion in stock. reaction from value investor mario gabelli straight ahead. the house and senate reach an agreement on our tax plan our special guest, white house budget chief mick mulvaney plus ecb president mario draghi holds a news conference after the central bank's latest rate decision. we'll bring you the highlights and market reaction. the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪ i just can't wait to be ki king ♪ >> announcer: live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." >> wow, disney stuff we can pla play i'm joe kerr anyonan along h

becky quick and andrew ross sorkin our guest is the outgoing president of the aspen institute. breaking news, two central banks are out with rate decisions, both the ecb and the boe leaving rates unchanged. here are the futures indicating more new highs for the averages. the dow up 56. s&p indicated up four and the nasdaq up about seven. same with asia, you can see mostly red, though. >> small losses. the dollar will take a quick look, i saw 117 versus the euro and i have 118 now and then on the ten year we were down under 240 so it didn't break out to new highs in yields. >> you have the ecb deciding and the bank of england deciding not

to do anything >> good morning, again, andrew, disney is acquiring fox's entertainment assets that includes its film and tv studios, its cable internet. networks, including fx and national geographic; its businesses including sky in europe and star in india the company expects $2 billion in cost savings and bob iger is extending his contract for an additional 2.5 years bob iger stressing how this deal which gives disney a controlling stake in hulu will bolster the company direct to consumer offerings and enable it to compete with netflix. >> consumers want access to

entertainment that is high quality but they want access to anywhere, any time anyhow and it requires new technology to deliver in the that fashion. hulu provides that so the controlling stake is one way to provide that another is the fox international footprint has high end technology to deliver consumers in more modern ways. >> iger saying james murdoch will be integral to the integration process and they will discuss whether there's a role for him in the country. disney is hosting an investor call starting right now. we'll listen in and bring you big headlines. >> joining us on the squawk newsline to get his perspective, mario gabelli, chairman and ceo, someone who has watched the murdoch family and the fox

empire for a long, long time what do you make >> i basically is something that we're talking about for a while, consolidation in the entertainment business driven by globalization. that's 4.5 billion mobile phones in addition you'll hear more about net neutrality and you'll hear about -- you've already talked about cross ownership so it's a terrific deal iger learned it well and he's been -- has another acquisition in his pipeline. >> is this a done deal is there any chance this deal gets jumped? >> come on, we're arbitragers. we run $5 billion of arbitrage money and we like to think about being in new york the big apple coming along or someone to buy disney that would -- what do you do you assign 2% probability, 5% probability.

do you think -- i don't think it's i can't believe or ten cent. >> we were talking about whether technology companies -- not necessarily on disney but the fox assets where's amazon, for example? >> i think rupert will figure out what he wants to do there and look at the fox assets from his own. but it's globalization you have to have access to the global consumer and with the sky india and sky networks -- >> is hulu, do you think, ultimately operated by disney in the future the way bob iger has described or given the unique structure of that and the comcast, parent company of this network's stake? does it become a chess piece in a larger chance? >> 60% is owned by the combined companies, isn't it? >> it is, yes. >> last time i looked 60% means you control it and i don't know -- >> it doesn't mean you control all of the content licensing >> i agree if you want to get into the

weeds, disney is going to go from $18 billion to $19 billion to $25 billion they're going to increase cap x by $100 million so you have a significant cass generator you're going to globalize the world with disney. you're going to basically have direct to the consumer, my colleagues tell me both direct sports and direct entertainment. this is a powerful array of -- and they're a small company, pro forma with 2.1 billion shares. you're talking about a company that's a fraction of the market cap of alphabet, google, facebook and all those guys and they have a long way to go and iger is going to do it and rupert is basically buying a company in which he's going to own 4% or 5% of a real powerhouse. >> is there any chance regulators are going to give this a closelooking at is there any concern that anybody who's trying to get bigger these days is going to be shut down.

there. >> there's no question you will always look at horizon mergers andrew and i look at these from an arbitragers point of view and you have to say there's an element of that, becky from my point of view the one good news is that the administration is in the united states and more friendly to fox than they would be to cnn. smile. independent of all of that, you have in the uk part of my concern is -- well, not concern but my math is $25 billion if they buy the minority and disney is assuming there's no mandatory from the uk regulators with regards to buying 35% of a company or 39% and not having to buy the balance. i'm assuming they buy the balance and they have to pay up for sky. that's down the road. >> in terms of owning the stub, i don't know if you can call it the stub, the stub that means 21st century fox, how do you think about that as an investment

>> from my point of view i have to work through the math on section 355 and why they're paying the toll tax and it's an obvious issue and newco, that is spinco, which is fox, will have about $3.3 billion i'm talking about into the year 2019 when it will be first trading as a public company. you put a ten multiple on it, knock off $8 billion of debt and very dim minute me minimus cap stock will trade at 20% on the market, i get $11 to $12 and get the balance on the part disney is getting. >> you think 21st century fox remains a publicly traded company? there's been speculation -- personally i don't believe it -- that somehow the family tries to take it private, merge it with newscorp and take all of it together. >> once you start doing and your dna spinco, buyco, you can look

at all sorts of options, you have optionality but it's three years away from that one let's praise the virtues here, we're not here to bury spinco. we're here to praise newco. >> if you wake up this morning and you're an exec at the big tech companies, who are the winners and losers as they're watching you talk about this >> basically you're going on a globalization, you have 7.5 billion people, 5 billion mobile phones how do you get to gen y, how do you get direct to the consumer then you have content. then the wireless players, companies that have connect and connectivity and the mating game will start, particularly if this tax bill goes through next week. 21% corporate tax rates at least you have visibility at the corporate level for a period of time to start doing transactions. >> what do you make of comcast, parent company of this network, or verizon

does that change that dynamic? obviously comcast had at least a passing interest, maybe more than that. >> anybody that is a 101 in the business is looking at any deal sun so to them and has to focus on the merits and verizon has -- look, verizon has a market cap of $215 billion. i hate to the say this but amazon is 560, microsoft is 660. and so it needs to take its powerhouse in the wireless world and figure out how they go global on that and do they need to go global and that's an issue they'll deal with. >> walter isaacson has a quick question. >> what do you think this does to sports? it seems somewhat disruptive when you're going to put all of the fox regional sports things with espn and how will that affect deals with the major sports franchises and leagues? >> goodell is good at doing what he does.

football is good, cricket is great so now i have cricket on the horizon, i have u.s. football, global football an sports is live entertainment when gen-z and gen-y want is sports as a dynamic and it will continue to increase the bidding wars i don't think it slows down. i think facebook was bidding on something in india recently, so they want to go global walter, how are you? >> fine, thank you. >> mario, always great to get your perspective thank you for dialing in on such a business dinews day. >> i think you're going to see great merger activity in 2018 and it's just starting now thank you. >> thank you a quick programming note you don't want to miss this. bob iger is going to hang out with mr. faber on "squawk on the street" at 9:00 a.m. in just a little bit a lot to come on "squawk box. up next, a live report from washington after the house and senate have reached a deal on tax reform, at least among the leadership

we'll be talking to omb director mick mulvaney at 8:30 a.m. eastern time pl plus ecb mario draghi holding a news conference in just under 30 minutes. we'll monitor that for you then later, the deal news of the morning, disney buying parts of 21st century fox. we'll check in with david faber. he broke the news of this deal and we'll have more coming up. stay tuned,ish watching "squawk box" right here on nbc ♪ ♪ ♪ what we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. except that the next morning... it all makes sense.

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welcome back to "squawk box," shares of teva pharmaceutical pharmaceutica pharmaceuticals down they suspended their dividend and it's part of a global restructuring designed to restore the company's financial stability. up almost 15% on that news a little bit ghoulish. >> for the one year, down 51%. >> but laying off 14,000 people and stock up 15%. >> yeah, the view from main street versus the view from wall street. >> not all here, i'm sure. >> no. >> the house and senate have reached a deal on a tax plan president trump just tweeting "republican tax cuts are looking very good. all are working hard in the meantime, the stock market hit another record high." at least if you were watching the dow yesterday it did

ylan mui joins us for more on this good morning again. >> all signs we've got season that the white house does support this deal. we've been reporting the corporate rate would be 21% and multiple sources also confirming that it would take effect in 2018, not delayed a year but 20% had been president trump's red line and over lunch at the white house he did tell reports he's still thrilled with 21% and the house ways and means chairman kevin brady told us the president has been an important champion. >> he's been involved in this all the way through and calls regularly to discuss key items of this. so as the president both making the message across the country, selling the case but also engaged in the individual provisions, he's been terrific. >> other key details, the alternative minimum tax wouldg away for corporations but there are several reports that it would remain in place for

individuals at though with a larger exemption included. another change is that the deduction for state and local taxes would be capped at $10,000 but you could apply it to either property or income taxes democrats are staging last-ditch efforts to stall the tax bill. they had massive protests across capitol hill yesterday they're calling on republicans toedly any vote until alabama's newly elected senator doug jones takes office guys, republicans are not waiting around here. there are reports vice president mike pence is going to be delaying his trip to israel in order to be in washington for the tax vote so republicans clearly still forging ahead. back over to you. >> all right, ylan, we will talk more about tax reform. mick mulvaney will join us at 8:30 a.m. eastern time up next, we'll check in with david faber, he broke the news of the fox disney deal a couple of weeks ago and then he fixed it stay tuned

"squawk box" will be right back. alerts -- wouldn't you like one from the market when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today.

today's top story, disney's deal with 21st century fox here's disney ceo bob iger talkitalk talking about potential regulatory issues. >> we're hoping the government looks at this from a consumer

point of view and what we are aiming to do, as i discussed, is create more high quality content on a global basis and to deliver it to consumers in more exciting ways, in ways they demand and ways that deserve so we believe from a regulatory perspective while it will go through a considerable amount of scrutiny globally that this should be viewed as a positive combination and because of that we think regulators -- we hope regulators will look at it kindly. >> i can hear the gma viewers going "where is thes re recipes christmas? but i hear he's finally coming to talk to actual people that care in the next hour. is that true, faber? >> yes, 9:00 bob iger will join us here on "squawk on the street" to join us right now he's on the call sharing their thoughts behind the deal as well with their investor base. but plenty to ask, probably won't be enough time to get

those questions and answers in looking forward to hearing something. >> i said in the the intro, you broke the story, i'm supposed to stay it again, you broke the story. far be it from you to ever emphasize that. >> i have you. i have you you can do it for me which you have always done for me through all these years. >> who did you call on this? >> when? >> to get it who give you the info. >> just reveal your sources now, david. >> andrew asked me to ask. >> so many phone calls, you know, that joe. >> so little time. i don't know why i'm fascinated with what's left over. i am fascinated with the other part, too. comcast and disney, i don't think there's love lost between the companies or the people that run the two operations either and i would like to kick their -- i would i'd like our theme parks to do better, our studios. i'd like everything to do better but the stub is what i'm

interested in. where the hell does fox news go? >> fox news is part of, as you know, spinco, what is going to be left of fox as we've said, the company as it's structured, that is fox, what we're calling spinco, fox news, fox business, fox sports, the big tenet work the o & os, that will have about $2.8 billion that it generates each year. it's going to be levered at a much lower number. it's off loading all of its debt, taking on about $8.5 billion of debt to pay the taxes, however, that could be lower given the tax bill, it could be as low as $6.5 billion worth of debt. that would leverage the company at two times epta, that's low for fox.

they're going to go out and buy something. get this, they'll probably look to buy a studio. i know, aren't they selling a studio so keep an eye on lion's gate and other things out there they're going to need to acquire and they'll be in a position to because they will have a low debt level. >> david, do you think it would make sense to put spinco back together with newscorp, including the "wall street journal" and other journalism assets >> that's been speculated about but i'm not sure it makes that much sense given their ambitions and what's going on at newscorp. >> the argument in favor that's not financial is that what's rupert murdoch is most interested in, all those assets that come with both owning newspapers and news and sports

channels >> but he has the ability to be involved in all ways anyway. i don't know that it benefits them financially by putting it together or that they feel as though it would almost be a weight around what will be the new fox's future if they were to do that. you know, it will be interesting and some of these decisions may eventually be lockland's to make it appears he will be the person who runs fox into the future as james goes off to perhaps do something at disney, maybe run those international assets i wouldn't rule it out but i don't think it's job number one. my sense is they will be more focused on trying to acquire within their area, namely perhaps studio, digital content as well and things of that nature at the new fox. >> you've got a good cash flow, though, even with weird things like book publishing. >> yeah, that's true you do it's a good cash flow generation. >> those of us who like book publishing >> not many but they like you.

>> so many things -- in the news, net neutrality, we talked about how there is a backdrop in what's happening there to this as well. i don't know, it's been taunting for years. i remember when we talked about that, too, when netflix came along and here they are. not just -- i tried to order a dvd in the mail and they didn't know what i was talking about. it's not quite the same company at this point, is it >> it's changed a little bit. >> how did they get good at content? that's why i don't know if you need to buy content assets, sometimes you get a fresh look from doing it yourself. >> i know, and they have in many ways disintermediated the typical studio process, joe, where -- at netflix and amazon going to the producers of the content and arranging these deals. it's a different world that's why all this started,

it's rupert murdoch starting to opine and think about the constrains on his business late last summer apparently in conversation with iger and iger going hmm, anybody there's a chance to do something here. >> as jonathan taken the a. c.t. or s.a.t.? when does that happen? >> not yet, tenth grade. >>s where he now >> we're not there yet you're deep in. >> i know. it gets scarier and scarier. >> we have one more year. >> all right, get ready. strap yourself in. thanks, faber. micong up, we have breaking economic news. hopefully we won't break it too badly. 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.

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welcome back to "squawk box," rick santelli live with a litany of breaking news. jobless claims move down 11,000 from 236 to 225, continuing claims moved slightly lower from just under $ 1.91 million to 1. millions this is three times what expectations were and it's exactly four times our last look which was up two-tenths.

in terms of inport prices, they were up 0.7 exactly as expected but that is on the heels of up 0.2 which is our last look the reason i jump to that data is there's issues with data releases so they're coming out in drips and drabs if i look at retail sales, autos just popped up, that's up 1%, that's almost double the expectations of up .6 and i like this one because x autos is also up one-tenth, last month moved up to four tenths so a nice revision of three-tenths and a more solid number. now i'm seeing -- so we had import prices, don't see export yet. import prices up 3.1%. that follows a revised 2.3%. even though that is hotter it matches expectations all the other data points, exautos and gas, i don't see other ones out there so we'll

have to show those on the bottom of the screen because this process could take a while andrew and the gang, back to you. >> we want to get to steve leishman but first we want to break some news. we've been talking about the disney fox transax could somebody jump the deal, could somebody come in and try to outbid disney for these fox assets a source telling us -- and this will be filed shortly -- the breakup fee for someone to jump in would be $1.525 billion which is a substantial breakup fee in this case. really putts a big hurdle on perhaps we talked about whether a tech company or even an old line media company would want to jump into this now this is probably more important. a $2.5 billion regulatory breakup fee. so if regulators are not cool with this transaction, and there's big questions about the

at&t time warner deal, disney takes the risk of $2.5 billion this morning we'll talk about that but we want to get back to steve leishman for some reaction i apologize for interrupting there, steve. >> no worries, andrew. this is a big retail sales number, much better than expectations but what's important, this is the first of the two months of the holiday selling season, the all important one for retailers and a big number when you look at it, motor vehicles were down 0.2 but i can't find any other negatives rick didn't have the details a lot of discretionary places like clothing up 0.7, sporting goods and hobbies 0.9. non-store retailers, that includes online retailers up a whopping 2.5%. i don't know if i can find a monthly change like that any place. we paid more for gasoline but we found a way to buy almost everything else. food and drink up 0.7%. >> then the number that feeds

into j.d. pea a strong 0.8 i believe later today we'll get upward revisions to gdp for the rapid update which was running 25 so we'll talk about q-4 gdp number closer to three for what i believe will be the third time, we've been waiting for consumers to show what we thought was the strength with somewhat better salaries and more jobs. the one caveat is you can imagine sales in november if they're strong taking away something for december you need to put together two months to have a strong holiday season but we've off on the right foot here, joe. >> that's true got stuff that might be permanent here to all these things, steve, and this is this deal house and senate reaching a deal on the republican tax plan and votes are expected some time early next week.

i don't know something weird is happening, it's happening on time and and on schedule. murphy's law may be ready to assert itself. joining us now, office of management and budget director mick mulvaney. you've been there long enough to know this is impossible. >> such negativity it's the mass season what is that all about >> well, it must be gratifying to see it happening in a time frame that most people said was impossible. >> when you step back and look at how quickly this has progressed what you're seeing is the pent up demand from the republican party we've wanted to do this for a long time and it took the election of president trump to get us over the hurd sol we're cautiously optimistic. there's great news coming out of the hill in the last 12, 24 hours. everything we've seen today -- it's not final, the committee report is not final but we're hearing it should be before midday today if they stay on that schedule we

could have a vote as early as tuesday and a vote as early as wednesday and that would be the end of it as far as the legislative process goes. >> unbelievable. at this point the -- it's not done until it's done, you've heard that and you've heard about predictions, that ie ear particularly difficult about the future i'm told so what about the senate i'd do them first because there's where you're going to find -- >> here's how i look at it the stuff that we think they're still working on is the minor stuff. it's the equivalent i draw from my own raeld estate practice if i want to buy your property and you don't want to sell it for me, that's a hard deal to close. if we're arguing about price, there's the good chance the deal closes, that's where we've been for the house and senate we're cautiously optimistic in the white house that we will be seeing an announcement today because the last couple of details seem relatively minor. >> what about the thing such as the taxing of university endowments or the student things that's caused some younger

people to be upset how do those get resolved, do you think? >> a couple things we try to stay back out of this and watch the legislative process work one of the thing i this i so many people have been surprised by how messy this process has been is they haven't seen it happen like this this is how it's supposed to work, things get hashed out so details that ordinarily wouldn't see the light of day, people are saying my goodness gracious, this is going to fall apart over this issue, that person. no, it's not if you're a young person, one thing you should think about is that it looks like -- and you saw this in one of your lead-in stories -- is that we are looking at three consecutive quarters of 3% economic growth that's a healthy american economy. if you're under the age of 30, you've never had a job as an adult in this country when the economy is healthy the things you can do as a young person when the economy is growing and healthy is dramatically different than what we saw during the previous administration so that's what i encourage young people to look

at don't get drawn into the details. look at the big picture. the big picture is you are better off in a healthy american economy. >> director mulvaney, some reports i've seen suggest that what walter was just talking about, student loan provisions, some of the medical expense deductions, those have been put back in, some of the more controversial items are actually going to be things that won't happen is that your understanding of where things stand right now, too. >> i've heard the same thing. but even if they are, as a young person, do you really care about that specific deduction that you're getting or should you care about going to work in a healthy economy what that means to our overall career and earnings capabilities over the course of your career i'm hearing the same thing but i'm encouraging people to look at the big picture 3% economic growth for a sustained period of time means a dramatic -- that's a wealth-create magazine that the american economy can be, has been in the past and we hope this tax bill gets us further

down that road. >> we've -- we talk to people all day long here director about the economy, about the stock market it's pretty amazing to hear the attribution and how it's changed. we have a 35% gain in the stock market, a couple of 3% gdps and with forecast for maybe the third in a row which hasn't happened for a while, i read your regulatory-- your deregulatory czar's op-ed piece today. why is that message -- it just gets lost, doesn't it? i have people tell me straight-faced that no business -- businesses haven't changed anything based on deregulation and then all this other good stuff is synchronized global growth finally kicked in on november 8, it's weird the way it kicked in on november 8 but there were huge -- obama in the last eight months, your czar says $15.2 billion in new regulations as far as costs and

a secret list of more than 600 regulations all of which didn't go into effect, right? >> look, the proof is in the numbers, right we're hearing the fed is looking at revising up its growth estimates for the country, seen y -- cbo may do the same. but people are more confident, there are more jobs, jobs are paying better, which is what a healthy american economy looks like so i don't look to the press to tell me what the attitude of the country is, i look to how folks are spending their money. folks are more comfortable spending money investing in themselves, investing in their business because they recognize the fact that this is a different administration the dereg agenda is imblem mat i can of what we're doing. we are getting out of the way. we are getting the federal government back to its core business and not inject it into your life or business where it's not supposed to be i think businesses appreciate that even if families don't recognize how federal regulation touches

them a rare way -- and it does -- they know the impact they know it ease easier to buy things so i think you're seeing the proof in the numbers, the numbers are good we'd love to take credit because i think our policies have a great deal to do it but people are better off now than they were a year ago and they'll be better off a year from now. >> i wonder how that sinks in, the polls -- i don't know how that works i would think people would be a little bit more positive about -- it's only been a year though it hasn't maybe shown up necessarily in people's lives yet and now we hear jamie dimon and others saying corporations are going to be corporations, a bird has to fly, fish got to swim or whatever and they'll buyback stock, do things that benefit shareholders not necessarily employees. but if you increase demand, sooner or later it seems like down the road you should see it. >> if you're a teacher, your pension is invested in those

companies. if you're a state worker -- if you're a federal worker your pension is invested in those companies, you will be better off. the way it flows through individual families to hardworking americans, there's 15 different ways this tax bill will help families, but they will all help families and that's the critical part i hear the naysayers, but the bottom line is people are better off and you'll see this as this tax bill moves forward. >> it's walter isaacson again. can i ask a very specific question which is the extent to which you're taxing university endowments which to some extent can be popular in its appeal but ends up cutting back research and development that would be there for future growth, you don't tax the money being given to hospitals to do research but when it's a university it does and also access for students because most of the endowments go to scholarship. is it really necessary in order to make this bill work to

actually tax university ebb doumts >> walter, a couple different answers to that. number one, we're working on our budget and you'll see a commitment to this administration to university research we're deep in the details right now. aside from that. keep in mind, that was never a specific from this bowes the white house had two primary pillars. two primary principles involved here, ordinary hardworking families would pay less and it would be easier for them to pay and the corporate rate would go down we allowed the legislative process to work. we allowed the house and senate to fill in the details between those two guardrails as much as i may agree or disagree, that was not a white house initiative we're interested in the big picture and it looks like the picture is coming off -- >> i'm hearing you say the white house doesn't necessarily support that. >> well, what we've said from the beginning is that we want the best bill that can pass. it looks like that is this bill. if what we're hearing today is true, it's what the house and senate saw fit to put in there,

we can live with that. >> director mulvaney, thank you. thanks for talking to us we appreciate it, thanks. up next, global progress in 2017 the gates foundation out with its year in review we will talk to ceo dr. susan desmon desmon desmond-hellmann right after the break. 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. and for a limited time get a $100 reward card. call 1-800-directv

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2017 saw the fewest cases of polio ever, this is one of the

achievements touted by the bill and melinda gates foundation in the year in review joining us now is the ceo, dr. susan desmond-hellmann, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> the idea of potentially eradicating polio looms large it it's hard to come up with a better goal. tell us about where we stand and what you thinks happen in 2018. >> here's up with way to put it into perspective in 1988 there were 20 cases of polio every 30 minutes in all of 2017, there have been less than 20 cases so far. so in our sights is the end of this terrible disease that cripples children. that will be a massive accomplishment for the world so 2017 very optimistic on the polio front. >> where are the last stubborn pockets of those polio cases and what has to be done to eradicate it from the planet >> well, this is a

vaccine-preventable disease so we have to get the vaccines to the kids who need them to prevent polio. afghanistan, pakistan, and northern nigeria are the last pockets of polio -- wild polio in the world. >> and the odds you think of that actually being wiped out in 2018 >> will, here's the way the world looks at polio you have to have three years in a row. so we won't declare victory by the end of 2018 but we're on our way to zero. that's the number we want, and we feel optimistic about that through rigorous science, great heroic efforts on the part of vaccinators and a terrific collaboration with rotary, who, cdc, unicef. it takes a village but we're on our way. >> sue, one of the other pillars of the gates foundation that you've been involved in has been education, especially kindergarten through 12th grade education in the united states

that seems a little minimized in the discussions you've put out now but i know you say you're going renew focus on the school itself tell me what your thinking is on education in america. >> well, we know so much of education is driven locally so our goal in k-12 is to set up networks of schools where we can tap into that local energy, that community passion for great schools and education. what we did highlight in the report is something worth celebrating and that is as you know so many students need financial aid. we estimate as many as 2 million students in the u.s. don't even apply for financial aid so 2017 saw the greatest number of students ever applying for financial aid for higher ed as a result of simplification of what's called fafsa, which is how you apply for student aid.

you can use last year's tax returns and populate them into the student aid request. that's incredibly important for our future work force and good for the economy. >> so if you had to pick one other huge issue that you think you've made a lot of you're goi targeting in 2008, what would that be? >> well, let me mention family planning family planning is so important, especially for women in low-resource areas 2017 saw the greatest number of women ever, an estimated 300 million across 69 poor countries, who had access to contraception. the greatest number in history and we know that women want to plan their children and space their childbirth, so this is a great, great accomplishment and more to come >> dr. desmond-hellman, thank you very much for your time. we hope to get to see you again soon >> great thanks for having me >> thank you also, coming this march, the

crossroads of health management and investment comes to cnbc it is the inaugural healthy returns km s conference this is a cnbc special event that hosts investors and sbr entrepreneurs all talking about the business of health care. you can mark down wednesday, march 28th, 2018, in new york city if you want more information or to get tickets, go to cnbc.com/healthyreturns. and when we return, the ecb keeping rates unchanged. mario draghi speaking now. steve liesman has been monitoring his comments and we'll check in with him, next.

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welcome back to "squawk box. some breaking news, headlines from ecb president mario draghi, who's upped the forecast for 2018, up to 2.3% from 1.8%, following in the footsteps of the fed yesterday, which also raised its forecast to 2.5%. and draghi is saying further growth surprises are possible. the ecb also seeing little change, though, in the inflation outlook. very similar to the fed, up to 1.4%, just up 0.2% for 2018. draghi says the area still needs an ample degree of monetary policy support so, joe, higher growth on both sides of the atlantic, underscoring one of the themes of this year, which is

synchronized global growth, and hopefully a theme for next year, joe. >> we can only hope, steve yeah, that's nice. that's good growth in the spring, there will be growth you remember that. john c. gadner, in the spring, hopefully, watering the roots. up next, we'll wrap up our two-hour, or our special two hours with walter isaacson -- i'm a little -- it's bittersweet, outgoing. is there an incoming >> yes, president -- but not until june so i'm going to be a long outgoing -- >> yeah, glad to hear that yeah i would delay that, if it's anything called -- that has to do with aspen, that's where you meet, too, isn't it? >> yes, up on the hilltops minutes away from this, big cnbc interview, disney ceo bob iger we'll be back, squawk ont street even love it. and today, you can do things you never could before.

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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. >> reporter: the second half of december tends to be strong for european stocks, with the ftse 100, euro stocks 50, and dax ga gaining more than 2% each. >> welcome back to "squawk box." big deal of the morning, this disney/fox transaction bob iger will be speaking with david faber in just a little bit. but i wanted to update you on one piece of news we brought you about a half an hour ago about the breakup fee. there's been lots of questions about what that would be sources telling us it's a $1.5

billion breakup fee if there was someone who would try to top this transaction $2.5 billion if regulators were to try to block the transaction. but here's the important part. there's a question, at least among some of their rivals and competitors about whether, actually, 21st century fox could now effectively be in play and here's the reason. fox, 21st century fox, the rupert -- the murdochs, the murdoch family, concerns 39% of the vote currently but if the company were up for sale and there was a transaction, a sale transaction, they actually only control 17% and all of a sudden, that $1.5 billion fee doesn't look as big as it did before so there's a lot of questions about whether this is all over but, of course, david faber will talk to bob iger about that and more in just a little bit. i want to get some final thoughts, though, from walter isaacson on what feels like an historic day in media. >> well, it's transformative, because whatwear seeing we're a move to a whole new model, which

bob iger has focused on, which is, we're going to stream content directly to the consumer, to this device and everything else. and this whole way of doing either regular television or cable television, that's going to dissipate, and you're going to subscribe to things like hulu and netflix and everything else. and they, disney, wants to lead the way in streaming direct-to-consumer services. >> the one and only book, go out and get it for christmas and leonardo dicaprio has bought the movie rights thanks for joining us. "squawk on the street" starts right now. ♪ >> good thursday morning welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with david faber an