logging the second best debut weekend. we'll tell you how much the last jedi brought in home and abroad. monday, december 18th, 2017. "squawk box" begins right now. live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we are looking at triple digit gains for the dow right now. gain of 136 points s&p up by 13.5 we heard more senators who used to be on the fence or voted no who have said they are on board with the tax cuts. primarily bob corker who says he will vote yes and marco rubio who says his concerns have been addressed as well.

check things out today because we have now seen already 69 record closes for the dow this year if there is another record close today, as you would indicate if you see these gains again, this would be the most record closes we've ever seen in any year for the dow. last record watts set in 1995 and that was a record of 69. the s&p is already in record territory. we've seen 61 record closes for the s&p and that's compared to 18. >> the dow indicates almost $24,800. you see what i'm looking for. >> i can't see your screen. >> it's a map of south america because the train -- the sorkin train was -- >> oh. >> no, no. you said san paulo. >> i was down in san paulo where am i now >> you're down across from the falklands. >> the train is. >> you're still here you're here -- >> i missed the train, as you know >> you're still in jersey, i think, camden or something

>> not even. >> i haven't left the island of manhattan. >> seriously. >> i'm stig thinking -- i'm like just hanging outside of penn station. >> the sad thing is, i had to look to figure out which one -- i knew -- you know, i get chile and peru mixed up. that's west. argentina. you're past buenos aires definitely, the train. i don't know how we got across the -- >> make the jump -- >> -- panama canal maybe there's a bridge >> it's the imaginary train. >> it is the polar express. >> let's call it that. take a look at what happened overnight in asia with the major averages the nikkei was up sharply. gain of 1.5% the hang seng was up .7% in europe this morning with the early trading that we've already seen, it looks like the dax is already up by 1.5% the cac in france is up by 1.2%.

you also see gains with the ftse and with stocks in italy and spain. if you want to check out crude oil, crude was relatively flat it closed the week at $57.30 wti trading at 57.61 a barrel. we have a travel alert for those of you trying to travel over the weekend power has now officially been restored at atlanta's heartsville jackson airport. it forced more than 1,000 flights to be delayed or canceled the timing could not be worse as we head into one of the busiest times of the year. georgia power said it was linked to a fewer underground serving that area. we'll get an update from phil lebeau. the latest addition of the "star wars" franchise, "the last jedi" brought in $450 million. it fell $28 million behind "the

force awakens. the movie's three day take totaling $450 million closing in on half a billion. critics of course liked the movie giving it a 93% rating the audience score as of this morning is a disappointing 56%. >> did either of you see it? >> i didn't see it i'm going to see it over the holidays i have a correction to make. saying we were already in record territory. we are not there are 61 closes for the s&p. that is the third most in history. if we close at another record level today, that will be 62 times and that will tie the second most. the record is still held back in 1995 and that was a record of 77 times and hat tipped to peter shacknow for that. thank you. >> unbelievable. we know appotex, we know that company. these two strangle -- the founder and ceo and his wife.

>> you're talking -- >> appotex we know that company worth $4 billion founded that company we know the company. was a generic clavix it was supposed to be murder/suicide. >> the family is disputing that. we don't know. >> unbelievable. what were you just talking about, andrew? >> talking about the jedi. >> jedi. jedi rotten tomatoes. >> i pay attention to rotten tomatoes. >> can you -- >> what? >> critics >> not rotten tomatoes. >> it would be important -- is that a -- okay, so that's all -- >> browsing. >> how do you -- why 96 versus 50 >> the critics are 93% those are the critics. >> individually. >> more likely a little bit. >> then 56% of the audience, which is the sort of crowd source version of this >> that doesn't surprise me with "star wars" because you're going to have die hard old fans who are never going to be as happy

with the first three installments that were 4, 5 and 6, talking about myself, but it doesn't surprise me. people have so many expectations that they're walking into a series. >> i pay attention to rotten tomatoes when i'm looking for something to watch >> me too. me too >> and i see -- >> i don't care. >> you look at the crowd the critics or the audience? >> i generally look at rotten tomatoes. >> i hit info on xfinity it comes up. >> this is a rare example where i don't care i'll watch it anyway. >> yeah, right, with this. but you remember the old days -- >> some people say this has ruined the movies. >> yeah, right >> it gives you a preconceived notion the ability of a studio to market a film becomes -- >> god forbid we let the audience -- >> no.

>> the music -- >> they think some of these things are manipulated. >> when you wanted someone to play your music. >> harvey weinstein and the oscars. >> i think it's a good thing to have crowdsourcing so there are not as many things -- >> this article over the summer about how the studios were hurting over the summer and they were blaming rotten tomatoes. >> blaming the fact that people can tell each other about what they think about the movies. >> maybe it's terrible movies. anyway, bitcoin. >> yeah. 20,000. >> bitcoin futures launched last night on the cme, that is the world's largest futures exchange dom chu joins us with more on all of this. dom, do you own any bitcoin? >> i do own -- i do own some bitcoin. it was acquired over the course of the years just kind of understanding what the crypto currency market is, but i guess in essence what we're trying to figure out is whether or not this is going to be a little bit more mainstream, whether people are going to use it like a currency, whether or not people are going to start traveling and

businesses use it. we're seeing the institutions given the fact that the cme group, the world's largest cme group has launched bitcoin futures. a couple of differences that we had launched last week and the cme. the ones that launched last night are much larger in size. each contract that trades on the cme is worth 5 bitcoins as to the cboe which is a one-to-one margin if you go on to cnbc.com and check on the tool bar, you can search for bitcoin futures it will show you both the cboe and the cme mark right now 657 futures have traded on the cme. a little over 3,000 contracts. that puts the total contract of bitcoin trading so far on the cme around the 63, $64 million mark that's about the same amount of dollars that we saw last week when i was onyewu guys for the first day of cboe trading.

you get the feeling like a lot of these institutions are just dipping their tows perspective we know this isn't apples to appleless, futures to futures. the oil market, which is one of the more liquid markets out there for futures trades around $145 billion with a b on a daily basis versus around $63 billion with a b for gold markets. so as we talk about futures training for comex, nymex, wti crude, bitcoin is not in the same league. they need to see more liquidity and smooth trading before they get back in on the action. >> dom, if you've been building this stake up over years, how much is it worth now >> i haven't been building up a stake over years. >> playing around. checking things out. >> yeah. >> it has to be worth a lot more

than when you started? >> it was. it is now. i have a bitcoin. >> wow >> you're a player. >> quite a bit more than it has been. >> we were going to toss it. he's not going to be sitting there. >> i'm not retiring any time soon, guys i'm still coming to work i still need the paycheck. >> we're not allowed to invest in stuff did you clear this >> i did i have a cya e-mail from our legal department. >> cya, that's stand for a legal term >> it is a legal term. >> it is amazing that they tell us we really aren't allowed to -- it's like we have to -- >> yeah. >> got to ask if i can scratch my -- i know who i feel like i feel like the duke of edinburgh. have you been watching the crown? >> i have. >> he wasn't allowed to do anything. >> look what happened to him as a result. >> but she -- >> classic line where he goes, my son out ranks me. she goes, well, of course.

he's the heir to the throne. >> i haven't seen that part. >> he goes, but i'm his father he out ranks me? he's 6 >> little hard to live with. >> they didn't invest in bitcoin. >> no, but we're -- i'm going all in. >> in the meantime -- >> thanks, dom. >> can i buy yours >> you should pay attention to this segment since you might be a potential buyer, right >> i might be. >> okay. nkts ask my kids >> want to talk to mike harris this morning he is the president of campbell and company. good morning to you. for joe here who's -- >> thinking about it thinking about it. >> currently thinking about it, he wants to know if he should get in he clearly missed the early train. is there still a train to get on >> i think there's absolutely a train to get on. we're a very interested watcher this morning

we're looking at a number of factors. the first is what is the correlation to the other markets? interestingly enough, it's had almost 0 correlation in most of the mack control markets that we trade. that makes it a very exciting market i think about some of the investor feedback that we've gotten has been pretty polarized. people are really excited or they're nervous and don't understand it. we've gotten more calls on this market than we have on a new futures market in quite a time >> if you were to see a down side, just tell me, for those out there who are bearish about this, who look at this and say this is funny money, this is completely crazy, you see what just give me -- if you were going to be wrong, you think you would be wrong in what way >> well, i think that there's some regulatory uncertainty. certainly we know the futures have been launched and the cftc and we'll keep an eye on those the cash market is a very unregulated market across the

globe. i think that's one of the concerns that many people have about this market. i mean, there's a number of factors that we're watching before will start trading the futures contract the quality of the data. whether or not we can use the spot data in order to be indicative with all of these market participants getting in. liquidity, volatility, trading cost spreads are somewhat wide but obviously it's fairly new. we'll have to find that. you have to find an fcm that's willing to help you execute and clear the trades there are only a number of fcms that have green lighted bitcoin futures. most banks are in wait and see mode like we are. >> how many people are literally arbitraging what's happening every morning, meaning you look at these different exchanges, you look at the different futures trading now and there's clearly a discrepancy in the price? >> i think there's a huge opportunity there in the market. i don't think based on the spreads that we're seeing that

there is a lot of arbitraging happening so far and that might just be the newness of the futures contract as i said, the inability to define an fcn. some of the models certainly trend in short term version make a lot of sense think about the carry opportunity. there's no fundamental carry via the cash flows there is a fairly sizeable convenience yield when you think about the spread between the spot and the futures some of our strategies could definitely take advantage of that if they stay at these levels going forward. >> final question. if we had this conversation in five years what would the price of bitcoin be? >> well, you know, we're a trend follow lower, not a trend predictor. i have no idea where it will be. in all honesty, no matter what happens to crypto currencies, i think the real trade is in block trade technology we're seeing that improved settlement in some of the markets. we believe that's going to

unlock the new markets. >> before you go then, give us the macro bet on bitcoin without -- macro trade on block chain without touching bitcoin >> i think there are a number of companies that are improving upon the block chain technology. i think there could be some plays there. i think overall i'm very bullish for liquidity in the various macro markets that we trade because i believe the settlement process will be greatly improved going forward. >> mike, thank you >> thank you so, you know -- >> appreciate it what's that? >> they call them the moustaches on "the crown. these are the guys that are telling -- what he can and can't -- the moustaches are telling me you can buy bitcoin but you can't trade it it's not going to move just like gold or an etf, have

you to hold it for six months. >> right >> here they are our corporate tax -- they're watching and telling us. keep your bitcoin. i'm he going to stay where i am in the money market. >> your money market making lots and lots of interest there coming up, republicans in congress say they expect to pass a tax reform bill this week and send it to the president's desk for his signature. we'll get a live report from washington next and we're going to talk to axios executive editor michael len broke a lot of stuff off those 10,000 e-mails we'll be right back. keep it here i think that she's a very nice girl... you never got the brakes looked at? oh yeah. no.

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8% for illiquid assets and the holding time is three years and the first in first out provision that would have limited investors flexibility to sell stocks is not in the final version of this legislation. speaking on "meet the press" yesterday white house legislative director mark short said the real win here is taking the corporate rate down to 21% >> keep in mind what's most important, chuck, we've lowered the corporate rate from 35% to 21% to bring back jobs to our country. a 40% reduction. >> reporter: the house will vote on the bill on tuesday followed by the senate. senator john mccain will miss that vote. he was back in arizona convalescing after he was in a hospital for the past several days over the past week. there are a few republican senators who have not made a final decision

it is worth noting that all three of those guys voted for the senate version of the bill so barring any major surprises here the next few days should be a victory lap for the gop. back over to you. >> ylan, thank you for joining us mike allen has been breaking news let's talk taxes and then we'll talk mr. mueller how about that do you want to do it in that order? >> sounds good and good morning. one week till christmas. >> one week till christmas it does look like we will, of course, get a plan the question i have is whether you think that this plan -- i mean, you've been a good prognosticator thus far. look out to 2018 how does this change the game one way or the other >> andrew, it keeps republicans in the game. they were so worried that if they did a belly flop on this, that they would be so behind the curve as they tried to ramp up their mid term campaign. so republicans would have looked weak

the president would have looked weak now they stay in the game but you're right about that long game when they get to 2018 is this really going to help them? what we've seen over the weekend is a lot of mostly unintended consequences of the tax plan by people voting for them as you and your viewers know, they're well-intended by the people who slipped them in so this morning we're seeing provisions that help the real estate industry, help the president. we're seeing provisions in there that mean that taxpayers could move up in their brackets faster how this moves out when we start to pay taxes is something republicans aren't quite certain about. >> mike, there was a report over the weekend about bob corker and his determination to switch and how there was a loophole, let's call it, put into this bill which would be helpful to him. he said he didn't know about it. you look at situations like that

and you say to yourself. these were just great coincidenc coincidences >> something was done specifically and there was a great term in that story so bloomberg broke that story senator corker said that he was going to write to the chairman of the committee, senator hatch, and ask him how it happened. this is a great term that i had forgotten from capitol hill. they talked about how this provision was air dropped in there, ninto the conference committee. so you have an air drop on capitol hill >> i actually believe bob corker in this situation. in fact, he's calling on the committee to release how it got air dropped in there >> i'm not doubting him. i'll saying -- >> i'd like to know how it got dropped in, too, though. >> the way it got in is a great behind the scenes term of art on capitol hill some of these provisions that are going to cause heart ache for members but they were

deliberately put in. figuring out who did what, who shot john, will be the fun deconstruction of this bill. >> i look around the world and it's not just here, there are political divisions, whether it's nationalism, i don't know what it is, great britain, denmark, finland, people going in the eu wanting to come out. so i understand that we are -- we're like this. you can't see it on the camera i'm reading "the journal's" piece about democrats against tax reform i know that now polling for the mid terms have the democrats up historically more than they've ever been. so people are -- maybe they're mad at republicans i'm trying to figure out what democrats stand for. i'm going to play devil's advocate "the journal" says after the slowest expansion and tepid wage growth, americans should want to see this succeed and it's a shame democrats want it to fail. the fed is at a quarter.

markets are at new highs there are positive things happening. democrats are against that they're going to shut down the government if there's any talk of actually building that wall, of actually securing our borders. what are they really for slow growth and aly open borders where everybody gets in? what are they running on exactly? >> well, joe, i'm so shocked to having you play the difl's add voe carrot >> fwhou that i'm over my surprise about that i can try to answer the question. i'll point out that this is one way that this is one way that president trump miss played his hand a couple of democrats should have been for these tax cuts h when you're giving stuff away you should be able to get democrats to join you. whether you're joe manchin or a couple of others, they could have gotten a couple of democrats. it would give this plan so much more insurance for the long run. it would be so much harder to

portray it as a give away, but they didn't do that. you're right >> wait a second if they had given away more to democrats it would be tougher to portray it as a give away? >> tougher to portray as a one-sided corrupt bill. >> down the road, exactly. exactly. >> and you're right that there is a lot of good news in america. democrats will admit that that complicates their plans for 2018 you don't find those democrats sincerely projecting that they're going to take the house, they're going to take the senate one of the reasons that they know that that's the case is that there are strong economic indicators in america and the tax cut is going to help psychologically at first and at least partly in reality. >> all right as long as we don't actually secure the borders i've got to draw the line there, sorkin >> guys -- >> got to come in. >> i have a question for you, joe. you read about all of these loopholes thrown in over the weekend.

>> yes sausage, sausage. >> when you're talking draining the swamp. >> sausage. >> but he's right. >> no. the whole thing -- the whole thing about the president putting on the postcard, it would be simple, it would be fair weren't going to be -- >> you're acting like you're naive. you have exactly 52. so marco rubio wants child credits. you have this other guy wants this, he's going to get this remember obamacare we had the nebraska purchase, we had the -- >> doesn't make it right though. >> i'm not saying it -- i'm saying it's the status quo in swamp land which is not ever going to be drained. go ahead, mike. >> it is true that it adds complexities i love it on the winners/losers list on the bill had winners tax lawyers. i have to tell you something real quick about securing the border very close trump adviser told me this over the weekend be this is a huge problem over the weekend. there's no way there is no money

for a wall get over it. as the president starts to think about 2020, and he lr is, that is something they have to figure out. it's the most visible symbol of what he promised during the campaign. >> right >> he goes back. they realize inside he has to find something to say about that it ain't going to be the wall that you and i pictured but they say they have to find a way to finesse that. >> illegal immigration had tapered off and now it's back to where it was suppose sitly >> you know that i try to take this side, i take that -- >> all sides >> take either side like a sociopath. very little true beliefs about anything. >> he said it, i didn't. mike allen, thank you, sir. >> have a great week. >> squawk square he jumped on that. >> i know. we have a little -- >> yeah. squawk square. >> when we come back from squawk

square, we have some new data on growth from cnbc's exclusive all america survey steve liesman has numbers on the trump economy. 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, everybody. welcome back to "squawk box. let's take a look at the u.s. equity futures they've been sharply higher this morning. gains for the dow of 150 points above fair value. >> global growth. >> picking up through the morning. s&p 500 up four points, nasdaq up 14 points they will vote yes on the tax bill people are looking at this week as almost a done deal for the republicans and the tax bill and that is certainly helping stocks by the way, we mentioned earlier this morning that the dow has closed a record -- or has closed 69 times at a record level this year if it closes today at another record level that will be the record for all record-setting years. last time was 1995 when it close at 69 records. in the meantime, pharmaceutical distributor mckesson is out to"y

that story accuses mckesson of widely distributing opioid medication without doing due diligence. a substantial case was built and not sued they deny any criminal behavior and say the story was what they call sensational journalism. very busy week ahead for economic data. home builders survey at 10:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow november housing starts and third quarter current account. on wednesday existing home sales. thursday the philly fed survey friday, look for durable goods, personal income and new home sales. there are a few notable names reporting earnings this week as well take a look. we have darden restaurants coming up, fed ex, micron, general mills and then joe -- i don't mean to leave becky out, bed, bath and beyond.

>> kind of like you guys's thing. >> our thing to check out the vaporizers there. >> duvets. >> the heavy duvets. >> didn't you get one yet? >> is the new brita water thing out? >> got to check that out. >> what else are they selling these days that you like >> you can get a grill scraper there. >> okay. >> for your little -- that little -- >> the one that the water -- >> he has a little hibachi thing out on your terrace? >> no, but i've always wanted to find a hibachi that attaches to the windowsill >> that's what you need. >> that sounds safe. >> that would be a product, right? invention. you have one is that what you're saying, steve? >> you have one. >> for your kayak? >> no, for my -- it goes on the side of the boat. >> what about one of those pillows that's supposed to stay cold all the time? how many people out there this morning had a tough night's sleep last night. >> who are you, the my pillow guy? >> it's an issue. >> there is some new data out

this morning on the trump economy. it comes from cnbc's exclusive all america survey steve liesman is here as you now know. >> i was here a quarter ago breathlessly talking about the rise in optimism i don't know what the next step is up above breathlessly because we have done it again. we've sur passipassed the old - >> hyperventilating. >> i don't want to hyperventilate it appears to be helping the approval rating of president trump. take a look atthe numbers here for the first time in the history of the survey, folks, we've been doing this for more than ten years now, 51% of the public says the economy is good or excellent we have not been at 51%. you can see it rose steadily under president obama but it absolutely surged under president trump. >> by the way, this is the life of the survey, right >> the life of the survey that we're looking at, absolutely. >> then 41% of the public says that the economic outlook is good or the economy will get better in the next year.

you don't see it here. 50% of the public said it's a good time to invest. upbeat on the outlook for wages. upbeat on the outlook for housing. take a look at the next set of screens and we'll show you how this may be affecting the approval rating of president trump. you can see that his approval rating went up by 4 points and his negatives came down by 3 points this is the approval rating, by the way, guy, is in line with the recent trend you can see in some polls 40% over above getting the 3 handle, getting the 4 handle. >> still having half the country disapproving even with eke no, ma'am -- economic numbers like that >> he's performing better. the next screen, his economic levels, those are better he was already net positive in our poll, 43, 41 now he's positive 47/43. a little bit wider people approve of his economic -- handling of the economy. less so the overall.

the trend here is it the next screen the net approval. we do approval minus disapproval. you can see he had a very bad summer and then it's come back to where it was. he's minus 7 and on the economy he's plus four right there what you don't see -- the question is why is this happening? one thing we know for sure, republicans have come back home. they've dug in they have abandoned him a little bit. his numbers, the republicans, were not as high as they should have been. they're back where they are. independents, a touch more positive democrats a touch more positive. it doesn't seem to be the tax bill i'll tell you, the tax bill does not poll very well just 26% approval overall of the 800 americans we polled nationwide and it's even tepid among republicans. just 56% approval among republicans. hold on, let me just tell you the other side of that there's a large don't know. >> okay. >> there's a big 30% don't know in our poll.

>> we still tonight kndon't kno the final details. >> i think that's probably it. what we're seeing here, the economy really helping out the president. we'll see what the up side here, how far it can go. there are other things that keep people from backing the president. >> they said people vote in the stock market. >> right >> so i know global synchronous growth has to do with the tax bill. people voting with the feet to control the money and they're voting in favor. you'll never get a tax bill very high as far as the approval rating for trump, what do you think, becky, the maximum approval rating what do you think his solid negative number will never change >> 45 minimum. 45 45 would be impeach him. >> i don't think 45. >> i do. i think 45 at least. just with the tweets and the, you know -- >> if you took -- i'd love to see if you took twitter out of this. >> or just in general.

>> we asked that question a while ago. people want him to stop tweeting >> yes. >> republicans want him to stop tweeting. >> everyone want him to stop tweeting taylor swift, god bless her said, wow, 2017 was a great year couldn't have been any better for me i hope 2018 is great she is absolutely getting hammered on twitter. if you just were to look at gdp, stock market, optimism, consumer, it has been a good year. i saw the people -- some of the comments of the people that were just like taking her down so hard it was, i don't know, white supremacists are everywhere. there's -- everybody hates everybody. we're divided. they came up with all of these things, but it just depends on, you know, others would say, well, they like the deregulation, they like -- you know, it's just, again, which side you're sitting on is 2017 -- how was 2017 for you, steve? i think it was pretty good, wasn't it? >> yeah.

yeah good year. caught a lot of fish music. >> you're going to get -- >> i sat next to you successfully >> yeah, right >> you're going to start trending on twitter by saying it wasn't apocalyptic. >> i didn't think it was going to be apocalyptic. reporting that less of the public believes it's apocalyptic. >> thanks, steve >> it didn't kill me at all. >> for more let's bring in the chief economist at steeple financial and ryan dietrix i think, guys, honestly that the market could double from here and maybe trump would get an uptick of one more point on approval what do you think, lindsay >> i certainly think there's some up side potential for the market, particularly if we do see tax reform come to fruition. as we've heard from many ceos, a lot of that cash going back to balance sheets will be used for reduction in debt, stock buy backs which is very positive for

the market other ceos are talking about putting that cash in terms of the traditional investment cycle, growing investment which is great for the equity market near term it does seem like it's a win-win, but of course we do have to look at the broader sense of what's happening in the economy, which to steve's point, yes, we have taken steps in the right direction, but we're still on very moderate footing if we take a longer term view and not just a narrow view of the last six months which has shown above trend activity so i'd like to be talking about a stronger labor market. i'd like to be talking about stronger wage growth not just optimism supporting the economy at this point. >> are you above 3% for this quarter, lindsey >> i don't think we're going to see another 3% quarter i do think we're going to see an above trend growth rate for the final fourth quarter of the year. >> the atlanta fed is wrong at 3.3 and the new york fed is wrong at 4 >> well, remember, they consistently revise those

forecasts. they've been revising to the down side. i do think as we see some of these additional figures come in for the end of november retail sales for december, i think the risk is to the down side certainly to those forecasts coming in closer at around 2.5%. >> that would be a surprise. ryan, do you get into gdp forecasts or are you just -- is that not as important to you >> no, i mean, joe, obviously gdp forecasts are important, but when we take a bigger picture look at what's going on into the next year, we just released our 2018 outlook when we think one of the big themes we have is this move from monetary to fiscal policy, we've talked about a great rally is the economy really there? no more fiscal policies, tax reform, infrastructure, deregulation, we think that's another juice for the economy next year that will continue this overall global bull market to continue. i want to touch on one more thing. global earnings.

we've touched on it all morning. fourth quarter, 10% year over year earnings on emerging markets and developing markets we haven't seen anything like that since 2010. next year supposed to see growth again. synchronized synchronized u.s. growth. >> that good old global synchronous growth. >> people woke up and said, wow, feeling this global sink cloe news growth. thank you, lindsey and ryan. >> other stock splarkts out performed us. >> that's not all. >> did you look? >> yeah. >> i looked. i tried -- i looked and there are many that haven't. you know, we'll just say it -- >> i didn't say everyone has >> okay, folks we'll continue to look at the various markets. they'll have a little debate privately and we'll bring it to you publicly meantime, new shopping data.

verizon out with new information on ecommerce data that i promise will surprise you. the great emperor penguin migration. trekking a hundred miles inland to their breeding grounds. except for these two fellows. this time next year, we're gonna be sitting on an egg. i think we're getting close! make a u-turn... u-turn? recalculating... man, we are never gonna breed. just give it a second. you will arrive in 92 days. nah, nuh-uh. nope, nope, nope. you know who i'm gonna follow? my instincts. as long as gps can still get you lost, you can count on geico saving folks money. i'm breeding, man. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

welcome back, everybody. some stocks to watch this morning.

procter & gamble is adding nelson peltz to its board. this comes after a lengthy proxy fight between the activist investor and the consumer products giant procter & gamble said it shows peltz fell short of a majority but because he received shoch shareholder support he will be given a seat china's tencent and j.d..com will be investing $863 million vipshop up by 45%. coming up, new shopping data verizon out with new data on ecommerce data "squawk box" will be right back.

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. >> usc kmersz traffic to the top 29 onlean retailers grew by over 100% on black friday this year that's according to a new report by verizon enterprise solutions. for more on its e-commerce this holiday shopping season, let's bring in michelle dupree, group vice president at verizon enterprise solutions it's good to see you >> welcome good morning it's great to see you. >> great to see you too. tell us how you come up with this data. you are measuring traffic across all of verizon's broadband networks >> yeah, that's correct. we measure broadband traffic across theu.s. top retailers, and we compare that data year-over-year and look for trends and indications of volume either increases or decreases.

>> we know there was a big increase in black friday has that kind of worn out through the rest of the holiday shopping season as well? >> no. it actually, i think, good friday -- or black friday kicked things off and we saw an 1 1% -- 111% increase year-over-year, and then that carried through the weekend with 24% on saturday, 29% on sunday, and then cyber monday actually saw some really strong growth at 84%. it continued over the weekend, and then we've seen steady growth from that point forward this past weekend we actually saw a 15% increase on friday and a 17% increase on saturday >> much more modest advances, but much more modest gains for some of the other dates outside of that, that one big weekend right after thanksgiving >> yeah, absolutely. absolutely i think that that was to be expected when you think about promotional activity and what retailers, you know -- their strategy for such a long season. they had an extra week

they have to think about how do they stretch out their promotional activity and really continue to, you know, get consumers engaged for that very long six-week period >> yeah. >> they've done a great job. >> we usually would think about on-line shopping basically being just about finished at this point. you're already talking about the 18th of december that makes it tough to get things here in time. this morning i saw additional deals from amazon, something i paid $129 for last week is now on sale for $99. is that what we can expect even more of a push even in this final week >> yeah, absolutely. so we got a couple of days you know, you have standard shipping, which is tuesday is the cutoff for that, and then you lead into super saturday i think you'll see a lot of promotional activity for the retailers there's a lot of procrastinators out there that have a lot of shopping to do between now and the 24th, and i think you'll see it just the volumes increase this entire week and lead up to the actual holiday. >> if you are looking at all this traffic and actually monitoring where people are going, you must know who the big

winners are in terms of the on-line retail players >> yeah. we actually look at that at a macrolevel we don't look at the individual, you know, location or the website that the consumers are hitting. we look at the macro level, the total volume, and look for those trends year-over-year. >> anything else surprise you from the data this year? >> you know, i think the one did surprise us is cyber monday because this is the fourth year that we've done the holiday retail index by verizon. cyber monday proved to the retailers that it's still -- it's still an event, and it's something that they can absolutely capitalize on >> okay. michelle, thank you very much for your time. it's great to talk to you. >> thank you when we come back, our guest host for the next hour is an investment banker who specializes in media and telecom

deals. big player in the industry aryeh bourkoff joins us next here on set. plus, we're talking about the gop tax deal that's up for a vote this week squawk l"squawk box" will be ri. 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. that's the power of and. flexshares etfs are built around the way investors think.

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back up to speed this morning after a massive power outage grounded flights and right at one of the most hectic times of the year as the second hour of "squawk box" takes off right now take a look at the futures right now. we're going to show you what's going on this monday morning dow looks like it would open up, yep, green again 147 points higher right about now. the nasdaq open about 50 points higher s&p 500 looking for another big open about 14 points higher perhaps on the back of expectations we will get this tax bill along the way. here's what's making headlines csx chief executive officer hunter harrison has died

now, this is just days after taking medical leave the operator says that harrison died of severe complications from a recent illness. acting ceo will continue in that role you saw that stock fall on thursday and friday when that first announcement was made that he was taking a leave. this has taken a terrible turn for about $50 per share. about $4.9 billion then take a look at procter & gamble, this is activist investor nelson peltz after all that time following a very long and contentious proxy battle with both sides had claimed

victory. procter said it decided to hold talks with pelz about a board seat because the election was so close because a large number of shareholders wanted pelt zbr on the board. we've been saying it for months. he had won even when they said he lost. >> you have a whole different situation. you have a good story. >> hopefully it's accurate we have more with ari in a moment meantime, a developing story this morning power has been restored at atlanta's heartsfield jackson international airport. an outage there forced more than 1,000 flights to be delayed or canceled phil lebeau joins us with the latest, and, phil, even though the power is back up, this is going to take a while to work out.

>> you have to figure out how to get people on flights over the next couple of days. it is going to take a couple of days power has restored shortly before midnight. basically shut down the airport for 11 hours what caused it there was a power substation that caught fire and then that fire, the heat from that fire, then caused the redundant or the backup station to also fail. here's some of the travellers who were stranded in atlanta snoo lack ofcommunications was probably the number one complaint. more than 1,100 flights canceled that's yesterday as well as some today. inbound flights, as i mentioned, they were held at airports, so

they didn't come into the airport because some of the planes that were there were stuck in the tarmac for several hours. delta and southwest are most impacted you take a look at shares of delta. keep in mind that this is an airline that dominates atlanta heartsfield jackson airport. the second biggest carrier, if you will, is southwest airlines. i've talked to both of the airlines there is some wiggle room in trying to bring back capacity in order to help with the backlog of people who were stuck there or may have had flights canceled

cnbc did an earlier report about the deal being in the works, and penn national was also buying pinnacle entertainment in a deal worth $2.8 billion in cash and stock. i think this is enough deals on a monday morning to call it a merger monday. wedding wednesday. throwback thursday that would be something else let's get to washington again. washington news. back with the news >> good morning again, joe barring any major surprises, it does look like republicans have votes to pass the tax bill the house is going to vote first on tuesday, and the senate will follow suit. one new development, however, senator john mccain. he will not be there for the vote he is back in arizona after spending several days last week in the hospital with the side effects of his cancer treatment. on a missouri positive note,

however, senator thad cochran tells us that he is in washington and plans to be here to vote for the tax bill and on a government funding measure he had been dealing with health issues as well mike lee tweeted this is a big win and is still reading the bill and will hopefully vote for it susan collins applauded several changes to the legislation, including expanding the deduction for state and local taxes in medical expenses and getting rid of the first in, firts out provision that had been in the senate version of the bill now, assuming they all are on board president trump made it clear yesterday that he is ready to sign the bill >> we are just days away, i hope, i hope -- you know what that means, right?

from keeping that promise and delivering a truly aumazing viktsry for american families. we want to give you the american people a giant if tax cut for christmas. >> guys, the next few days should be a victory lap for republicans. perhaps the best christmas present ever back over to you >> all right, thank you very much our guest host this morning, as we've mentioned, one of wall street's top technology and media bankers, areh bourkoff he is ceo of lion tree he served as the head of american investment banking at ubs. thank you for being here >> thank you for having me >> you are sitting here at a really important time for media and technology deals we've been talking so much about these things

you are positioning the marnl players. you have the technology players, which have a direct to consumer offering around the globe. we all use google, facebook, et cetera, amazon, of course. netflix. then you have the media industry and the telecom industries and the cable industries trying to realign themselves to compete directly for that consumer we don't yet have national broad babtd in this country. we're dealing with tax reform now, which i think is huge, but next year, 2018, i think you'll see more focus on broadband connectivity as well, which is essential. the pieces are getting set here. >> from your description i think i know, but who do you think is in the best position are you talking about the old line media players, or are you talking about the new technology companies, the new giant >> i don't think anyone is properly positioned.

the technology companies are beautifully positioned to distribute content most efficiently around the globe >> they have lots and lots of money in their coughers. >> they're going to get more >> potentially $2 trillion of cash will flow back in >> we've been saying for years that apple or amazon or google or facebook or somebody is going to have to do this thus far, the only people who seem to be rearranging the deck chairs are the traditional media guys who do you think among the fangs is prepared to make the first

move >> i think it's clear that amazon and netflix have a huge head start against the other companies and technology platforms. one move begets another. >> if there's been a $6 billion, $7 billion $8 billion a year on content, they don't need to make a merger they're building their own you could argue gents that >> or they look at disney and fox coming together and saying now we're going to face another robust competitor for direct to consumer i would still be thinking of the original genius jerry. that was going to be so great, wasn't it? he had the right idea, didn't he the biggest destruction of shareholder value in history, but amazing, though, right >> timing is everything, right

i think the essence of that -- >> has that day come >> i think that the day has come there are questions in washington whether they're politically motivated or want on the at&t time warner deal. by the way, if you have problems with that deal, and i'm not sure you should, but if you do, you have to imagine you probably should have a problem with fox disney or at least hulu or some of the items within it i think it is very difficult to predict precisely what their grounding principles are okay on one hand, going on net neutrali neutrality, and that makes a lot of sense, although there's probably middle ground long-term. they like deals with disney and fox, and not at&t time warner.

>> do we know that >> we know the president >> just because they said that the press conference >> assuming that >> we know that they really like fox can -- >> that make him come out and say this isn't kosher. >> anything could happen unpredictability is a function of this administration and obviously the times we live in however, it's a function of the fact that there are new seats being placed on the table. right? i think it's too early to say this can't happen or this can't happen i think anything is possible right now. even who would have thought the murdochs would have sold i think the government will largely watch this play out. would you say let's go do you a deal and announce it now, or

wait until after april 22nd and hopefully they'll have an answer one way or the other on that deal >> i would not wait. clearly, disney and fox did not wait i would not wait because i think there are a few things you have to demonstrate consumer friendly behavior look at amazon-whole foods that deal was approved and done in 70 days the government doesn't necessarily like amazon either, but that deal had a good narrative. >> i think there's more uncertainty about what can get done and what doesn't get done the overarching forces at work about the realignment of the industry are so powerful that no one is sitting still and waiting until next april everyone is getting and going and seeing how we realign today, and that's where we're seeing a lot of thefrenetic activity we're talking about. >> areh is with us we have a lot of other issues to talk about >> in the meantime, when we come back, if the dow closes at a record high today, we'll smash another milestone. this time for the most record closes in a year we're going to talk about the

drivers of that rally next stay tuned you're watching "squawk" here on cnbc i think we should do that meeting tomorrow. well wait. what did you think about her? it's definitely a new idea, but there's no business track record. well, have you seen her work? no. is it good? good? at cognizant, we're helping today's leading banks make better lending decisions with new sources of data- so, multiply that by her followers, speaking engagements, work experience... credit history. that more accurately assess a business' chances of success. this is a good investment. she's a good investment. get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital.

>> want to bring in keith banks, the vice chairman of the global wealth and investment management bank of america. also, tobias is here he is chief u.s. equity strategist at citi, and areh is

also here. let's talk about the tax plan and what you think is going to happen not this week. i think we all think it's going to happen. the question is how do you think the markets are going to react >> i think the markets should react positively this is a big deal in our minds. you've got about a -- over $200 billion impact from this which represents about 1% of the gdp, which makes it bigger than the 2003 pro-growth tax cut and second only to the reagan tax cut in 1981. we think it would be very positive >> not baked into the cake >> some is what people came out with recently is more pro-growth than with both the house and the senate came in

>> i'm not saying run away, head for the hills. >> down from where it is today >> down from where it is today again, valuations, though, not great, but it's okay it's not going to bloi us up the key is earnings growth the question is how much is baked in i think a fair amount is >> as your team has looked through the tax plan over the weekend, and a lot of people have been looking for either new loopholes or new provisions that were not expected. >> not hugely. i think people are going back to this idea that domestic companies took the benefit of domestic earnings companies get the benefit. you haven't seen it in small caps where you would arguably see it more. i think that's more about the kind of global synchronized growth story that's also in the cake here and that the large caps have more exposure. >> tech companies have been the big winners this year. does it stay that way?

>> on our books? no we think inflation emergence is an issue whatever blind yields go up, growth tends to fall to value. same thing if there's inflation changes. >> i keep looking for the factors. i read about inflation coming back >> coming back >> now it's been going down the other way. ty think while the market has been hitting highs, i think 25% of the trading days this last year we all want to think it's priced in, and you're the expert to my knowledge, technology companies or even the tax paying distribution companies and media and technology, i mean, we haven't even seen that what they're going to use the cash for yet. i think one thing that's not being discussed enough right now is what the investment is going to look like to bolster future earnings that could give you a billion support for future growth, which is obviously sort of the market continuing to go up.

you said something that makes cents. we've watched people say that multiples have continued to go up there are now at 23 or 24, as interest rates have been going up maybe that's not what's -- look, it has been what's happening, but maybe it's because the 10% earnings gain is already in -- >> part of the -- >> and when we do get the 10%, the multiple just comes down to a more -- >> there is the treasury, and there is the equity reskriening. as people get a little bit more faith in growth, your ten-year yield can come up, and your risk premium would come down offsetting, and i would say if you get the 3.25% or so on the

ten-year, you probably are out of that risk benefit probably it's much more challenging for multiples. >> we'll be down to a more normal multiple with higher earnings eventually. >> probably. >> what's more normal? 18 >> over long-term? i would say -- what are you thinking >> i think we're above a normalized level of pe multipled, but we're the view that we can maintain that 18, 19 times multiple i think with the lift that we're expecting and most people are expecting in earnings, most people say our range is 2760 to 2,860. when you add dif debds on top of that, you can see another 8% return next year on top of 22%

this year. not too bad. >> if you stay at 19 times, you get about 2,830. >> oh, you do? >> yeah. >> multiples could even come down in the middle and still be did. >> get a positive return and a pretty good return when you add in dividends on top. >> i think bourkoff is much more bullish. i believe you because you're -- now you're like a buy side guy you are putting your money where your mouth is. you left that just like talking about things so you're not wrong, right >>. >> we walked in with a surprise election and want ping what the market is going to look like,

and now we like to talk about a lot of uncertainty, but things are starting to fall into place going into 2018. there's a tremendous amount of certainty walking into next y r year. >> we think companies should be investing where. >> if you are doing a deal, would you tell them to use cash or use their own stock >> well, in m&a land, the multiple m&a is at a 20-year high, about 11 times on average. in media technology there's a lot more of a pace, but overall, the media that they -- the m&a environment is getting topee i would say use the stock. you're all in it together. i think -- every case is different, and then in media land obviously there's a lot more together. >> okay. tobias, thank you. thank you. areh is going to be sticking around >> if areh is right, we're going

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washington is preparing for a vote on the tax bill as gop leaders rushed to get the job done before the end of the year. we'll talk about the implications for businesses and investors with the former top aide to senator mitch mcconnell. first, though, as we head to i abreak, take a look at the u.s. equity futures. the rally is building this morning. we are now talking about the dow futures indicated up by 170 points above fair value. thp futures up by 14 e nasdaq up by 50. we will be right back.

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good morning welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. among the stories that are front and center this morning, several takeover deals announced just moments ago. hershey is buying amplify snack brands for $12 a share amplify had closed at $7 a share

on friday. the company specializes in healthier snacks like skinny pop popcorn. two gaming companies are also joining forces penn national is buying pinnacle entertainment at a deal that's worth $2.8 billion in cash and stock. that deal is valued at $32.47 a share. that compares to pinnacle's friday closing price up $30.95 a share. campbell's soup is buying -- behind snyder's pretzels and other snacks that deal is worth $50 a share or $4. billion in all. cnbc had first reported last week that snyders had hired an investment bank to investigate a possible sale. think of snyder pretzels >> yeah, but those -- >> what about lance? you know lance cheesy crackers. the little red, white, and blue

sort of -- i like them, but they're high in calories and -- >> there's cheese on them? >> i don't really think it's cheese, but they call it cheese. >> i don't know. that actually was a pretty good guy, i guess low teens. okay house and senate participants preparing to vote on the republican tax bill votes expected as early as tomorrow, starting with the house. joining us now is p.w.c. tax policy services leader kumar

it's good to see you a couple of things to get added. on margin, positive for corporations >> look, this is a significant development. one of your earlier guests, i think, echoed that really on the business side it's more reform than relief. this is architectural change to the code it brings us in line with the rest of the world in terms of the way we tax multinationals and their income it substantially lowers the headline rate, which benefits multinationals and domestic companies and provides reform, although temporary, on the individual side, although i suspect that in the long run we find that even the individual forms end up becoming permanent.

>> we have many people saying the effective rate is 23% already. 23 to 21 doesn't do anything how do you explain that there are plenty of places at 35, and because they're at 23 they have moved things off shore to get the blended rates down to 23 >> or they're at that rate because they found a bunch of oversea earnings that they're not bringing back to the united states under the old regime or the regime as it exists as of thork if you are a u.s. multi-national, you have profits generated overseas you pay local tax. one of the few developed countries in the world that had that regime. as a result, a lot of that 2.6

trillion dollars for u.s. companies is the latest estimate stays overseas, and now under the new regime there is no sort of second layer of tax of bringing that money back to the united states. the same people that would say, oh, this is no big deal, this is sort of a weak, soft reform are the same people that are also saying it is the end of the world as we know it. >> 10,000 deaths a year, but it really doesn't do much >> no big deal >> yeah. i think can be andrew or you could be andrew. the estates, the states, new york, that's where you want to go to school they got, you know, the big buildings and, you know, they got all this great stuff, and

there's a reason that move there. it costs money to do all these great things in new york they pay more federal income tax than anywhere else they deserve a break it's new york, and they're the best, and -- sfo everything else is a fly-over state, and anyone that lives there is a rube anyone who lives there say rube, and i need to deduct my -- why is that okay when they pay so much in federal taxes? they basically are subpoena c y cityizing the rest of the country, new yorkers new yorkers. now they don't get their state deduction anymore. >> yeah. so whether you are a donor state or a recipient state is a function of a burj of other programs the policy rationale and the underlying, they don't eliminate it completely.

likewise there's no one in new york that's -- >> new york subsidyizes texas, right, andrew? >> that's part of the federal system right? we all kind of throw in together, right? we have national defense, and we have national government we build roads across state borders. >> there was a republican in congress who was speaking out against this this weekend who said, look, i'm opposed to this because it's federalism, and you shouldn't be paying taxes on money that's already been taxed. >> what about the federalist part of that every congressman said it's my job to vote in favor of my constituen constituents, whatever you might think about it >> that's what you are going to see. you're going to see 218 largely house republicans and 50 senate

republicans vote for this bill maybe 57 senate republicans because net-net they think this is good for their constituents i think this is one of the -- i don't know if it was a foreseeable side effect, but it was a side effect of the representatives from the states that are disproportionately care about the deduction for state and local taxes deciding if they weren't going to -- >> what do you think is going to happen to -- let's call itab bl states that are going to be affected by the salt deduction >> do i think a buvlg of people are going to leave >> do you think individuals leave? do you think businesses leave? >> we've seen varying degrees. >> what do you think happens to the state budgets themselves what do you think happens to education in those states? >> all of that is derivative of whether or not people decide to leave or not if they continue to stay and pay the tax, those things stay fine. i think there's some data to suggest that while taxes have a role in the decision about where you live, it is not -- no one is picking where they're going to live or where they're going to

work purely on tax considerations it helps maybe at the margins, and, you know, if you are living in a part of the country where you can live on one side of the border or the other, and your commute only changes by five minutes, it may change that. look, it is clearly going to put pressure on states to be, you know, more circumstance pect abw they raise income. >> the country's values eventually are supposed to be encompassed somehow in this tax plan, right? that's how -- there has to be some semblence of fairness you look at the real estate provisions that were thrown into the last minute. over the weekend you look at the capital gains rate issue you look at the estate tax issue. how do you think americans will look at this you can see how i'm looking at it, obviously. >> i can imagine i get a sense of what your perspective on this might be i this i tend of the day most people are going to judge this by what happens to their paychecks, and they're going to

see starting in february withholding tables will adjust they will see a bump up in their take home pay. that's how they're going to judge it i remember on any number of occasions pieces of legislation that were either popular or unpopular when they were being passed, but the way the political industry judged them is what happened after the bill was enacted into law and who did the aboutest jo job of telling the rep electric of what they did and why they benefitted from it if you win the report, you don't have to win the political argument or the polling argument during the vote. you have to win it enough to get it passed. what ultimately determines whether or not a bill is successful or popular is what happens after it's enacted, and i think republicans understand they can't walk away from that >> i don't think it inequality one way or the other you're talking order of magnitude for the economy. it's not equality or inequality shifting that's determined by much larger factors in the economy >> okay. if you're switching to a

pass-through doesn't work out, have you checked in to, like, the scarborough method maybe you could move to florida and we can do it on a remote -- put an office in your house or something down in miami or palm beacorh something and just -- or do you think you need to be here have you looked into it? the moment a fish is pulled out from the water, it's a race against time. and keeping it in the right conditions is the best way to get that fish to your plate safely. bacteria can multiply to high enough levels that even cooking it will not destroy all of them. it's definitely the most important thing in my business. how fresh is the fish? where it comes from? how it gets here. the more i know, the better. sometimes the product arrives and the cold chain has been interrupted, and we need to be able to identify where in the cold chain that occurred.

we took our world class network and we developed devices to track environmental conditions. this device allows people to understand what's happening not only with the location of that asset, but also if it's too hot, if it's too cold, if it's been dropped... it's completely unique. we ship fish, beef, poultry, vaccines, insulin. this is about monitoring and protecting everything we ship. i catch all this amazing, beautiful fish and then once it's out of my hands, i have no control over what happens to it. if you have a sensor that can keep track of your product, it keeps everybody kind of honest that way. it's really all about the network. you are looking at trillions of transactions a year. not too many companies in the world can even scale to that type of volume. who knew a tiny sensor could help keep the food chain safe? food has to be fresh.

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welcome back disney's acquisition of fox assets comes as the industry is shifting gears to try and battle cord cutting just how big of a threat is it julia borestein joins us right now. she has more on the story. good morning, julia. >> good morning to you, becky. well, cord cutting and cord trimming have more momentum than ever a new report from pwc finds that the number of respondents that subscribe to pay tv is now down to 73% it's down from 76% last year and 79% the year before. a remarkable find of the rise of streaming tv alternatives, the very same number of respondents has subscribed to tv 73% subscribe to netflix another trend to watch is cord trimming people switching to smaller lower cost bundles 27% say they're cord trimmers, which is dramatically up from just 18% just two years ago. it appears that sports is glue holding the tv bujs u bundle together

82% of sports fans say they would end or trim their pay tv subscription if they no longer needed it to access live sports. in fact, the average sports fan would pay around $23 a month for unlimited access to live sports on any platform. that could continue to drive sports costs higher. an interesting nugget, as we watch netflix and amazon pouring billions more into content every year, says having a wide variety of content is more important to subscribers than access to exclusive content. andrew >> okay. julia, thank you for that. >> the fact that now one entity controls 60% of it as you know, hulu has competed in the s5 market with netflix.

now in this virtual bundle at $39.99, you now essentially replicates the -- >> fox owned 30% disney owned 30% they owned -- however, parent company of this network, comcast will still own 30% time warner, which may or may not go to at&t will own 10%. my question to you is does this turn into disney's over the top platform, if you will, or does it become a chess piece in some larger dance with all of these other players where comcast and time warner said we're not going to give you any more content, we don't want to play with you, we want to effectively force you to either buy us out or sell the whole thing to us? >> the chess game i think is better for areh, but what you are getting at here is that, you know, can disney now use hulu and use it as its over the top strategy to potentially compete.

>> you have to do it separately using the bam tech thing that was the path they were going down just six months ago >> look, the media companies realize that the world is shifting to internet video they've got to have a direct to consumer product probably it's hard to put the jeannie back in the bottle because they've licensed a lot of those rights to netflix over time >> what happens? >> i don't think it's bad for netflix. >> i think that -- i don't think disney is going to put all their chips into the hulu basket just yet. i think it could be a second offering until they resolve the time warner stake. >> you think they're going to go

all in on a disney oriented ott product and an espn ott product powered by bam tech? >> that's my assumption. >> do they ever merger >> down the road >> we talk about cord cutting and streaming. that is clearly the trend. as much as made on disney and fox as solidifying the bundle. it's so difficult to balance both you have the pure innovators dilemma where the fact that you are worried about cord cutting and the affiliate fee stream that you have on this side of the ledger is really hurting your ability to go to market quickly to innovate, and i think that puts you on your heels instead of on your front foot.

>> they may be guessing internally >> you have to both factors. you are missing alignment of content spend and consumer take-out netflix spends $7 billion a year customers go up every quarter around the globe they hold technology distribution engines and spent $70 billion a year on content. subscribers go down. >> when you look at the content spend at netflix, do you say to yourself that's the right number do you say it's way too much look, there's a lot of people who say they can't surface enough of that content to actually make it worth it right now, but given the growth that they're having, they're saying,

you know what, let's throw the spaghetti against the wall they say they need that content, and they are surfacing it perfectly because you're seeing different content than i'm seeing and you're seeing different content than she's seeing >> i think that now you have a huge statement of competition against netflix and amazon by disney-fox, and you'll see others as well, and net flick has subscriber growth and net flick has content, but not a lot of cash flow then. if they're going to get pressure on competitive factors, they're going to have to reinvest more of that. >> final word. >> the market for netflix has been incredibly competitive, and they've grown through it for a long period of time. i think you'll see more rationale spend in certain areas for fnetflix, such that it improves globally. >> final, final. what's the cost of net neutrality for these guys? >> i think for netflix it's a nonevide nonevent from a business perspective. they have arrangements with the isp's. it's okay for them to be very

pro net neutrality, but also they'll be okay without it it's really bad for start-up oorz small companies that can't afford to do those pay periods >> over the long-term, everybody will be paying a fortune or no in. >> it's not a fortune. it's not what you think for a big well capitalized company like netflix >> thank you, guys market forces. when we come back, 2018 predictions from our guest host, areh bourkoff. check out the futures this morning. in the green all morning long. powering through right now with the dow up 172 points above fair value. s&p futures up by 14 the nasdaq up by 48. stay tuned you e tcngsqwkoxarwahi "ua b" right here on cnbc

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>> we just briefly touched on net neutrality you saw -- we talked about the tax bill and the world, people dying, apocalyptic that didn't happen after net neutrality, i set an alarm early to see if the sun would come up, and it did that day, which according to a lot of people on the left, that was not going to -- the ones that were calling the bomb threats to the fcc. what -- where did all that come from it does cost money t infrastructure of the internet, doesn't it >> we're talking big ticket

items like tax reform and the open internet, the broadband in a few minutes. i think net neutrality has become a political jump-off. >> it has. people use -- they demagogue it and don't really talk about it in realistic terms, do they? >> it should have never been over-regulated during the obama administration, and now we are rolling it back probably to an extreme degree, which is obviously a good dynamic for a commercial application of the fact that no one is really ab e abusing it today the reality is in the future there should be settling in to appropriate net neutrality rules and regulations. >> can market forces hajd that -- hangds thdle that or not? >> i applaud him as regulatory humility practices that he is employing right now to roll it back from the government to commercial enterprises, and we have to monitor it >> what do they do if they do something that was not fair? how would they -- how would they do it? how would they hide it how would it benefit them?

how would other players not get in there and undercut them to make it impossible to do that? >> i think the ability for one distributor to lock your content versus another piece of content presupposes there's not a competitive dynamic at play. if you are going to block my content from one distributor, i'll switch to another one you have a technology platform you have cable companies or telecom companies, satellite companies. i don't really see a dynamic in play here where you are going to be monopolized by providers anymore. you have choice. >> murder is against the law is it still hapsz, unfortunately. >> yeah. >> i don't know whether will laws help here, or isn't it -- the bottom line eventually is that markets --

>> >> i think you are getting a lot of content every day >> if you do it in a way that is free and unfettered, it should take care of itself, should it not? >> the competition at play right now will allow it to take care of itself. over time we'll have to see where it shakes out and get them under regulations. >> you can't stay until 9:00 you have somewhere to go >> we're doing push-ups at the company right now. we do every day at 4:00. >> thanks for having me. happy holidays >> we have more of this morning's top stories. plus, games they will play a new paper out this morning from a dozen law professors on how wealthy individuals and businesses will figure out how to get the best tce omouomfr the new tax bill stay tuned

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snoo stocks higher open as the gop is on track to pass a tax reform bill this week. >> new this morning. breaking deal news campbell's soup buying snyder's lance for $4.9 billion plus, broken bonds >> we will not print and give them our stress analysis we don't want it going public. >> did ubs ignore early warning signs that cost some people their life savings that exclusive cnbc investigation is straight ahead. the final hour of "squawk

box" begins right now. >> good morning. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market site in squawk square i'm joe kernan along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin triple digit gains on futures this morning based on the increasing likelihood that the tax deal actually does happen. maybe tomorrow up 166 points now on the dow jones, which is closing in on 25,000 the s&p indicated up another 14. that's closing in on 2,700, and enthen the nasdaq up 46 points

>> $4.9 billion. cnbc had firtsd reported last week that snyder's had hired an investment bank to investigate a possible sale. >> the deal is valued at $compared to pinnacle's friday closing price of $30.95 a share. as part of that deal boyd gaming

is buying some of pinnacle's operations for $575 million in cash huma is reportedly in advanced talks to buy kindred health care in partnership with other equity firms it would provide acute care at $9 a share reports say that huma would get kindred's -- and pe firms would get the hospital and the rehab centers. >> bitcoin futures now trading on the cme the price right now, you can take a look. 19,585 dom chu is tracking down all the bitcoin action this morning. dom. >> all right so the bitcoin action is this. we do have contracts traded on the cme with regard to the futures. remember, the difference between the cme futures that are trading for bitcoin and the cboe that have been active for about a week now is that the cme futures, the ones you see currently on your screen there are the ones that are going for five bitcoin per contract that

puts it in lean with total bitcoin underlying for 3,500 bitcoins in total. that's about what we saw with the start of cboe futures trading last week. dollar amounts around about 66 million, $67 million mark in terms of dollar volume by no means a large futures volume you still get the sense that a lot of folks are trying to get a feeling for what the future's triegd will be like. for right now the difference between the cboe futures and the cme futures in erterms of pricei about $110 still relatively wide. not on a percentage basis, i guess you can say, for such a young asset. still, trading volumes as they pick up will start to see if people can actually do enter the workplace in ermz it of the bitcoin trading type of the situation. not a lot of brokers let you do it right now, and the margin requirements, guys, are still

pretty high. around 44% for the cboe futures. around 40% there for the cme futures as well. guys, back to you. >> all right, dom. let's talk tax reform. the gop expected to pass an overhaul bill this week. robert frank joins us now with the details of a new study that says the tax bill is right for gaming any of the numbers you gave us on the break -- is that part of your report? >> i'll add those. >> you'll add those at the end >> first, let's go through -- the bill is complex. it was quickly written it's built around vastly different rates for companies and individuals. it is right for gaming an academic paper written by 13 prominent tax law professionals called games they will play says the bill would allow new tax games and planning opportunities for well advised tax payers that will arrive in unanticipated consequence and cost for every else, including the treasury now, let's go through the top three. first of all, pass-throughs. now, accountants are already creating ways around though

guardrails they need to prevent people from shifting income into pass-throughs. law firms, for instance, they could create subsidiaries where the associates are the partners in those subsidiaries and allow them to deduct 20% -- 23% of their income as long as they make less than $315,000. you can go passive the plan favors passive business owners, rather than the people who own and run them owners can split the businesses into different lines to make sure they don't participate in any single line. family companies are going to make sure that no one family member spends too much time running the business none of them will be now you can stuff the c-corp people are going to push their salaries and investments through corporations not pass-throughs. they would create and generate income in the form of corporate profits or dividends at the corporate tax rate there are fewer restrictions on the forms of income allowed under a corporation than a pass-through get this, about 95% of america's 26 million companies and businesses are structured as pass-throughs because that rate

was lower than for corporations. now the equation is flipped, and that could reshape >> that's right. >> everyone is talking about pass-throughs. it's the corporation creation that's going to -- >> you look at it, and we've already talked to people about this the answer from republican lawmakers with a question about this is, yes, you will see a lot more corporations kracreation n year, but we're -- how will it be seen as a legitimate new business and what is something that is just a tax plan? >> the proof will be at the economy is growing as strong as it is now, and treasury collections are down or not in keeping with the economy we'll know that that was income shifted on to the lower rates. >> we'll know through the treasury i looked over. you were wrapped andrew has a column that he writes for every tuesday, right? normally on mondays he is working on the entire show and doesn't hear a lot of -- when you started talking about some of these -- he looked up and --

i mean, there was a look on your face >> the irony >> it was so focused >> irony is this was supposed to put tax preparers out of business this is tax cuts and accountant's job act >> let's get to the numbers. so you say that you figured out the number of new jersey tax payers that see -- an increase >> senator toomey said your friend is an outliar your friend would he so a tax hike well, let's talk actually, it's 13% of all taxpayers in new jersey. 14% of all taxpayers in new york state. are going to pay higher tax. >> let's do the math mitt romney told me 47% don't pay any taxes at all 47 plus 13, is that of 0 >> yeah. >> so 40% of the people are getting a tax cut then basically. >> that's right. >> okay. >> so can we say that some people that -- >> they're outliars. >> they've taken one more the

team can't they just -- >> 40% are the out liars >> they're the out liars >> the 13% can you tell them take one for the team? it's gooed for corporations? it's good for growth take one for the time. >> all of this sun stable and will change in ten years >> certainly this is going to create -- it's terrible. >> we just heard areh say everything was totally certain for 2018 >> they're going to get on this table a lot. for 2018 is certain. for years after that -- but taxes change behavior, skps we' and we're going to see a lot of changes. >> now, president of the tax foundation scott hodge and scott, go ahead. tell me. take one for the team, joe if you say thank you, i'm fine with this. or my friend i'm talking about thank you, sir, may i have another. scott. >> there will be some people who will pay higher taxes because their lives are wrapped around the tax code, and the whole point of tax reform is to remove a lot of the incentives that

people build their lives around the tax code, and that's going to happen. some of that is -- >> by moving to new jersey, i wrap myself around the tax code and try to exploit the loopholes in the tax code by moving here >> that's the case where local politicians have wrapped themselves and the local tax code around the federal tax code >> it's different. it's not any better. >> i think there's a lot of simple fiction, especially for lower income people. we'll see an increase in the standard deduction you have millions of people that won't have to itemize. that's great simple fiction for them >> their ability to game the system was limited to begin with

>> economist advisory complained since that was first introduced. it's a big mistake to do that, but the good news is the lower corporate tax rate that's going to create more economic growth, make the u.s. more competitive that's the kind of thing that we ought to be cheering yes, as a consequence of this major overhaul, we're going to see some opportunities to game the system there are opportunities in the current code as well it's going to create lots of opportunities for tax lawyers and accountants to make a lot of money. i think at the end of the day we have just completed our macroeconomic analysis of this plan

we find it's going to lift the long-term level of gdp it's going to create a little over 300,000 new jobs. >> what's it going to cost, sko scott? >> a little under $500 billion under a deckated we see between economic growth and repeeling the aca mandate will lower the cost by over $1 trillion and if you compare that to the amount of new economic growth you'll see, i think it's a pretty good trade-off. >> i'm going to play devil's advocate a lot this morning. let's say the heritage foundation designs its own tax plan, or think about the tax plan that railroad wouonald read have designed. would it have included all these

o outliers that have large tax increases. you remember when president obama talked about what to do with the tax code, he said people at the high end should pay a little bit more to subsidyize tax cuts for middle class people and people at the low end. that's effectively what's happening here this is almost an obama tax plan in that it raises taxes on a lot of high-end -- the weird thing is that the left is saying that it's a big tax cut for the wealthy. when, in fact, a lot of these outliers are funding the corporate tax cut. that's not the way you would have designed it, is it? >> well, the personal income tax system, i think, will become more progressive look, thanks to -- >> it will be. definitely will be earlier tax plans like the

blueprint that paul ryan had and even the earlier version of the house and senate plan were far more pro-growth fan that,ing and somehow throughout all the sauceable making they've actually taken out some of the good pro-growth things that should have been in there, but, unfortunately, a lot of this is due to senate rules. it added a lot of complexity to what could be should be a simple system >> you seem grateful at least. we had -- who was it we had on last week? roscom was just yelling at us that we weren't thanking -- >> clup when we return, the latest in the star wars franchise brings in big bucks

for the second biggest opening ever, but was the audience satisfied? we'll talk to fandango right after the break. interesting rotten tomato numbers. more than the forecast, the company holiday sales forecast exceeding the national retail federation estimates by as much as $4 billion. we'll talk to accuweather's founder at 8:positive a.m. eastern time u' wchg ted yoreatinsquawk here on cnbc it's all yours. wow! record time.

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this morning take a look at futures we are in the green, and in a pretty big way, actually, as it happens. dow looks like it will open up about 170 points higher. nasdaq up about 46 points higher s&p 500 up about 15 points higher all of this, of course, on the back of expectations of the likely passing of this tax reform bill. check out shares of twitter this morning. higher after an upgrade at jp morgan the analyst citing skbrooue inid products and improved growth there is a little bit of speculation even that maybe 2018 will be the year of the

take-over whether it comes to twitter. we'll see. also, a big weekend for the latest in the star wars franchise. the last jedi. had the second biggest opening ever bringing in $222 million that's just in the u.s falling $28 million behind its predecessor, the force awakens close to half a billion dollars when you account for foreign viewers as well. eric davis, managing editor of fa fandango here. the big question this morning, we were talking about the rate -- the ratings or the rankings of this obviously did very well. rotten tomatoes critics, 93% love it. >> yes >> audience, at least on rotten tomatoes not so much 53% say they like it what's going on? >> let's take that with a grain of salt. first of all, the cinema score exit surveys, the official surveys gave it an a people coming out of theaters being surveyed got an a score. rotten tomatoes, metacritic is down some people are saying that's trolling we've seen this in the past with

films. especially more female-driven films like goss busters. groups of people getting together, fox coming together because there's some kind of other agenda at play >> how do you think it plays for the holidays >> what's your total take for this film? >> well, i do think -- >> let's say by the new year >> keep in mind, the force awakens had 30 years of anticipation baked into it >> yeah. >> all the last jedi had was the force awakens. i think it's going to perform well i don't think it's going to be

the force awakens, but right now we're seeing it's, like, that $20 million off. >> what was the budget on this one, do you know >> i do not know probably high, i imagine >> very much the reason i ask is the last film was very expensive. for some reason i don't think this film was as expensive i know the phrase is going to throw certain people what are called adult flimtz. not in that kind of way, but films like "the post," for example, something that's the new movie about the washington post

they have clout to them. those films will do well films that get awards nominations will continue to do well other films will have to see they'll have to find their ought yends. >> has something happened in the past year. people talk about whether netflix is killing the movie theater, but are there lots of flimtz like that that might be described as smart adult films where people see the ad and they say to themselves, you know, i'm going to wait to watch that at home >> you can use that as -- >> there's a number of services now that are like what i call the netflix for movie theaters where people are buying subscriptions, effectively, these membership-based systems where you pay $15 , $15 for the month, and then you can go to as many films >> that's crazy. i don't understand how that makes sense. you go to two films, and you have made -- >> is that the sort of new model? >> it's definitely a new model from what i have seen, though, it's better for people that are

really close to a theater. i think you have to be, like, within 100 yards of the theater for it to work >> have day we're seeing something that i didn't think we would see. anything is possible at this point. i would imagine. >> thank you great to see you >> thanks. >> appreciate it >> when we come back, top executives at ubs have direct knowledge that brokers in puerto rico were selling risky bonds causing many to lose their life savings. we'll bring you that story it's coming at 8:30 a.m. eastern time "squawk box" will be right back. , causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain

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when we come back, broken bonds. an investigation found that ubs executives ignored early warning signs about risky bonds in puerto rico causing many to lose their life savings that story is up next. right now, though, as whaed to a break, take a look at the u.s. equity futures big up day for the markets dow futures right now indicated up by 175 points s&p up by 15 the nasdaq up by 44. quk x"ilbeight back. ♪

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live from the nasdaq market site in times square i'm joe kernan along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin among the stories that we're following front and center -- is it because i said times square >> no. >> i slipped i slipped and meant squawk square i went back to times square. gasoline prices are easing into changing the name of -- >> maybe we can fool isis and -- they always mention times square, right? if it's squawk square, they might not even -- oh, that's squawk square. >> never mind. >> it's not. >> i'm not joking. you do see it a lot, though. i mean, right? they always have eiffel tower, times square power has been restored at

atlanta's airport after an outage that led to hundreds of flight cancellations heartsfield jackson, atlanta, international airport is the world's busiest airport. the problem likely resulted from damage to an underground electrical facility according to georgia power. csx ceo hunter harrison has died the railroad operator says that harrison died of severe complications from a recent illness. csx had announced friday that harrison was taking medical leave and the chief operating officer jim foote had stepped into that role he was instald as ceo at the urging of activist investor paul hilliland. there was second guessing about the board that had a pretty good idea when they were bringing him into the country and had some health problems. didn't seem to dissuade them from making that move. >> or to making more announcements more public.

>> where does the expectation -- >> he was working from home a lot too, supposedly, but he immediately moved apparently to close down some of the profitable lines and to get rid of some, you know -- i just don't know he was doing a lot of pairing back >> he has been an amazing operator, and that means why the stock had risen so dramatically under his reign there. >> folks, in recent years thousands of puerto rico residents lost their life savings. many blamed ubs whose broker sold them funds that were over concentrated with puerto rico bonds that blew up as the island's economy crumbled. cnbc investigation found that within ubs some brokers raised red flags early on leslie picker joins us right now with part of her story "broken bonds. >> hey, becky. that's right we've reviewed thousands of confidential documents, including internal emails

showing that employees at ubs were worried about the risks from selling bond funds to clients in puerto rico instead of fixing the problems, brokers were pushed to continue selling the funds. >> years before the funds imploded, a branch manager in puerto rico compiled a list of 22 concerns in an e-mail that his brokers had. among them, excessive lefrmg, instability of prices, it excess supply, and geographic concentration. several years later ubs puerto rico chairman miguel ferrara wrote to his bosses in april 2013 that financial advisors were requesting a risk analysis of the total puerto rico bonds held on margin to understand the worst and probable scenarios over the next 12 to 18 months. that prompted a sharp response from the second in command at ubs americas we will not print and give them our stress analysis. we don't want it going public. he was even more direct the next morning. the request, he wrote, he is absurd and you should know that.

ferrara dough clieeclined to cot >> ubs declined to make anyone available for an interview, but a spokesman wrote in a statement to cnbc that concerns about the puerto rico economy and its prospects have been the subject of wide public debate and press coverage for many years. no ratings agencies or analysts predicted anything like the drop in bond prices that occurred in august and september 2013. he added, there were no undisclosed issues with the funds and that the funds generated tax free returns greater than 12% in 2010, 2011, and 2012 guys >> i think that's kind of telling, though, the idea that they thought it would be absurd to have a risk analysis of the bond portfolio >> exactly they were very redicent about sharing details with the brokers who were raising their hands as early on as 2011 saying we're concerned about selling these funds to you are on clients. in hind silent these brokers do have hundreds of complaints racked up against them on their public profiles over this

product, over selling these funds to their clients, which have subsequently imploded and resulted in the losses of life savings for many residents down there. >> we already hear it's a strong shopping holiday season. how much has the weather impacted that, if anything >> well, the weather has been favorable, and it will continue to be right into the holiday season we had a touch of snow early a couple of events that got people in the mood that's always important to start buying winter gear and winter type things.

a storm in the middle part of the country, but most of it will be north of the cities, and the same in the northeast. some fog will slow travel. there will be some usual nuisances, but no severe storms that have gone to interfere with the shopping we're expecting sales to be well ahead of last year 4.2% how far out can you predict these weather patterns what were you guys saying before thanksgiving >> we were saying before thanksgiving this is our prediction, and we're sticking to the same forecast you know, we predict that day by day out through 90 days on our

website and so the forecasts have turned out pretty well as expected >> lots of them. absolutely true too. >> no, accuweather you know, ac kruweather only goes out 90 days day by day brsh. >> that's pretty tough >> that's pretty hard. >> yeah, i know. tomorrow is pretty hard. >> they should, but -- >> go ahead. >> go ahead. i'm sorry. the accuweather forecast is the most accurate. clearly, the weather forecasting, nothing is 100% you are right. >> we've seen a lot of extreme weather this year.

particularly i'm thinking of the fires in california. how has that played into what that might mean in terms of shopping predictions too >> well, there's no question that that has interrupted shopping to some small degree of california it's a big deal in california, but as far as interrupting and really having a major effect on shopping for the nation as a whole, it is a small amount. >> joel, want to thank you very much for being with us we appreciate your time. >> my pleasure glad to be here. have a great day >> you too >> up next, ceo call we'll talk to the chief -- the ceo of a new jersey-based commercial bank. just one right near my house pete pack lab stone. it's a community bank. d x folaoning about reguti antarerm stay tuned we'll be right back. most etfs only track a benchmark. flexshares etfs are built around the way investors think. with objectives like building capital for the future,

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>> welcome back to "squawk box." the futures right now taking a look at where they've been all morning. up -- it's almost as high as they're seeing 178 now on the dow nasdaq indicated up 41, and the s&p indicated up 15. in europe there were some green arrows as there were especially in japan earlier

>> has the environment not been great the last few years >> i think that the great recession was such a horrific event for the country, and i think congress sort of held the regulators, all of them, to task the reaction to that has been to take a lot of what was intended for much larger institutions, ones that would be systemically at risk, and many of those have been viewed as best practices and then sort of pushed down and filtered into smaller institutions on the residential lending side, there's still a quarter of the counties and the country are not

occupied with the national player community banks are extremely relevant >> it takes that local understanding of the market to be able to support that economy. the rules that were put in place sort of overreached beyond that, and sort of it was a one size fits all i think what we're seeing now with legislation both in congress and what's coming out of the committee in the senate is a sort of back that up a little bit, and i think that will be good for the community >> from the stroke of a pen, has trump done anything in the first year that has helped >> really nothing tangible the way that rules are interpreted by regulators, the various agencies, what it really comes down to is the notion of how they want to apply that and interpret it on a case by case basis. i think really the bigger thing event is powell coming into this job and him being able to sort of affect sort of from a top

down what the tone is going to be >> are you ready to feel tonally from a regulatory perspective that there's going to be more leeway >> no. >> none? >> none. >> that is fascinating >> you are a bank and a sector of the marketplace that is affected by these low interest rates in a flat yield curve i guess too. that hasn't helped either. how is the operating environment about been for the past five years >> i think our businesses, like every business, including yours, for example, technology has changed it flat yield curve we talked about regulatory and the adoption of technology for the consumer the folks that we do business with all of that is sort of culminated into sort of a total shift of the banking business. when i started my career, there were 16,000 banks. today there's 6,500. there will probably be 3,500 five to ten years from now those factors, the consumers, what they're looking for and what they want from their institution combined with sort

of the underlying economics of spread compression is forcing institutions to scale, get larger to adomtd every do not technology, and having said that, the industry is not dead if you have a well defined niche you're going after, it's either geography, like i just mentioned, or in our case really went after the wealth segment. we operate in three of the top ten most affluent counties in the united states. that is -- we could not get scaled out through technology, but to be able to support personally >> and i remember a time not too long ago, maybe four or five years ago when somebody came in and said there are going to be no more banks under $1 billion they're all going to be bought up how much has the industry shrunk over the last seven or eight years? >> so over the last seven or eight years i know in new jersey we've lost half the banks. community banks. if you went back eight or ten years we had about 1r50. we're down to 85

that's the market that i operate in i still see additional consolidation. there's clearly scale that's relevant, but, you know, it's not in the context of as the b of a's and the wells were being sort of built, if you get to somewhere around $5 billion to $10 billion, if you look at how those banks trade as a multiple, it's a sweet spot. it actually trades better than the mega banks better than the smaller banks. there is a sweet spot of somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion. >> it used to be the old model was you grew a community bank to the point where you could sell it to bank of america. >> right >> is that over? do you think that's going to return under powell? meaning, do you think that the big guys will be allowed to get bigger, or is it just going to -- how is this going to play from a deal perspective? >> i don't know that -- the deals are going to happen and that's really sort of a short-term fix to be able to take costs out of the company, and that's going to be done at lower levels it will not be done by the national players if it is, it will be, you know, so sort of small that you won't even see it. i think banks like bbnt who have grown are going to stay inside

the areas they're at the problem i have is i look at consolidation from my perspective. there's a lot of down side to it number one, if i'm now evaluating that i ma i have too many branches, why in the world then would i go out and do a deal, dilute four or five years worth of a recovery on tangible book, and to go buy a bigger problem than what i already started with >> the $4 trillion, the fed does all this we've had richard fisher say they've primed the pump, it's out there, and now it needs to be loaned out. the question has been that the community banks work -- have you turned down businesses that wanted loans have you turned down -- >> no. i can tell you that in terms of access to capital -- >> it hasn't stopped you >> it hasn't stopped it was really overblown. when we were in the heat of the recession, that was absolutely true >> not anymore >> over the last five years there's been really no challenges at all. >> are you more like -- are you more like mr. potter, or are you more like george bailey in terms of like when people come in, do

you say, you know, your money is in joe's house and his money is in your house. are you -- you say you're more like george bailey, do you think? he has been very unprofitable. potter was very profitable for shareholders wouldn't be it better to be like potter than -- >> unwinnable. zblou take your clients. you take care of them, and you that i care of your employees that are taking care of your clients, and the shareholders will benefit from that every bit of smile that goes away at doing something short-sighted or undercutted towards their clients, wf, i'll give you a couple of initials, that's not a strategy or a model that will work over a long period of time to deliver shareholder value. >> what do you think the implication of this mortgage tax deduction will be on your business >> the tax deduction -- if i

look at new jersey, the answer is it will have an impact because we live in a very high cost area. i think capping it at $750,000 is problematic just because of the cost the salt deductibility -- >> that's probably -- >> it's a big issue. we actually did a survey over the summer before the tax package even came out, and it was really an effort to gauge, you know, because we have this wealth practice whether or not our clients -- it was whether it was relevant for us to be with them down in florida or georgia or wherever they ended up retiring to. would that be important? >> do you think theres going to be a huge exodus >> i don't think so. we redid the survey, and we got results last week. >> okay. >> so it did show an uptick, and it did show a preference towards texas or florida there was a jump i think it's too early i think it's built on emotion. tend of the day for me my taxes will go up, but my grandchildren, they're five doors up the street. am i going to move for a tax

motivated reason probably not >> essex county. what are the three counties? essex, union >> hunter don, morris, and -- >> you have a branch in essex? >> right >> i got it. >> he thinks that. what's the sn arizona? everyone talks about florida and texas retiree -- >>you've got to google it. >> certainly lower than new jersey. >> i love arizona. >> who doesn't, it's great i was curious where everyone is going to move. great to see you you're going to watch this year? clarence and all of that i will. >> it's the best. >> what did you say 4.5% it rafrpg -- not bad. >> and if you have the $10,000 -- when you -- when we return, jim cramer live from the new york stock exchange. we'll get his take on today's top stories. look at the futures before we go dow jones opens up 177 points higher in a moment

let's get down to the new york stock exchange, jim cramer joins us now there are important business developments, but i couldn't help thinking what your thoughts

were yesterday you gave up a lot of points to the giants and some people are saying, you've got to tighten up the defense if you're going to go far in the postseason, right? >> i have to agree i was surprised, it's one thing to give up a lot of points to the ram, seattle did that. but another thing to give up a lot of points to the giants. giants were playing for pride and manning had a fabulous game. he could be a hall of famer. i don't know, but absolutely, we should have shut them down and we didn't. we have a lot of work to do even though we'll be home field advantage, we know we've got the bye. >> you know what everybody is talking about, jeff hostettler, right? >> it doesn't seem like fols is the problem, to beat colton at 4 touchdowns, i remember him during that season where he had just a huge number of touchdowns and two interceptions, you've

got to be hopeful. we're a franchise that it's time it's time for us. >> and then did you see gronkowski and brady, that combo. >> there's a lot of people who are kind of just saying, steelers fans out of nowhere. >> right, that was a weird call but that one catch that was that gronk made where it was that far off the ground -- >> he's amazing. >> those guys are fired up that was so great to watch that makes me have faith, a little faith, a little more faith. >> the crossing pattern, you can't defend the crossing pattern. steelers' d is a little weak but that was at home and they didn't show just ran out of gas. >> we'll see whether brown comes back and roethlisberger, that would be a great camp meet in the super bowl, you have to worry about those teams as an eagles fans.

>> one comes out and they are pret pretty powerful. >> anything in the markets interesting? >> food deals. food is supposed to be dead, amplify longs like conagra's popcorn business and this campbell's that they are in and make changes is really, really important. to me this is lance snyder, all about snacks that sell you know who eats snacks millennials. >> they do they don't eat lance cheese and crackers, are you kidding me >> they like the snyder's pretzels. >> okay. >> i like those. >> me too. >> we're going to leave. we're going to go but another 180 points this is just like a freak show. >> it's like the old days and get in front of this thing seems like a real dangerous thing to do i never buy -- chase an opening like this but there's -- you look for stocks that are for sale and there are not that many. >> jim, we'll keep you in a couple of minutes. you won't believe the reason why ambulance usage is down.

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

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an uber in an emergency rather than an ambulance. in cities across the country, per capita ambulance volume has fallen by at least 50% often times, you can look and say they'll be there in four minutes and ambulance, certain cities takes much longer join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" begins right now. ♪ >> good morning, i'm david faber. carl has the day off let's look at futures as we start a full week. keep having to remind myself i keep thinking there's a day off. five straight days we'll start -- when we get started with a strong open, european markets generally had been fairly good. let's see if the gains are