good morning it is 8:00 a.m. at alphabet headquarters in mountainview, california it's 11:00 a.m. on wall street, and "squawk alley" is live ♪ ♪ good friday morning, welcome to "squawk alley. i'm carl quintanilla with mike santoli, morgan brennan is with us at post 9 of the new york

stock exchange joining us this morning, a former chief digital officer of new york city. great to have you here at post 9. we should mention the president has signed the $1.5 trillion tax bill into law. we will see that in just a few moments on tape playback, so keep that in mind. dow is down 29 bitcoin hitting a record high on sunday from the peak, recent peak at least, bitcoin has lost about $121 billion of its total market value in less than a week, although, mike, you say along with plenty of others that comparing market cap and this instrument to other things isn't necessarily smart. >> just a snapshot, so clearly, you know, you wouldn't want to say that much value was wiped out. you didn't exchange that many dollars for that much now lost, but still a big number, big decline. >> i have to know where you're coming from on bitcoin right now. >> well, it's one of those things people are not sure where things are going, and i just tweeted someone who said everybody's talking about bitcoin the way in the world of

media they are pivoting to video. now everyone is thinking about bitcoin, blockchain. i'm not sure if people know where this will all end up, but people have to pay attention to this >> are you a fan of the underlying technology? we have this discussion all the time bitcoin aside. >> i think the idea that there are new ways in which secure cryptocurrency can be available on a wide scale, i think that will make a difference >> how long until we start seeing that in, like, concrete terms? practical use? >> that's a question some people are using it in a very practical way already, but this is not something that the layperson, i think, should be jumping into >> certainly, just to sort of jump on that, we're seeing it in the trucking industry, there's a growing consortium in transportation, including companies like ups looking to do blockchain in trucking certainly in 2018 it will be interesting to see how that goes given the muay in the cryptocurrencies, experts saying for weeks now that anything can move this high, this fast, can

move down just as fast are we going down to zero with bitcoin? >> i don't think zero is what people should worry about, but the way it's fallen shouldn't be a surprise to anyone you have all kinds of people jumping on the bandwagon right now instead of thinking about this as part of their portfolio in a serious way >> the common distinction people want to make is between the underlying blockchain technology, that kind of software process and protocol, right, and this as a currency or asset, whatever bitcoin is the issue, though, is bitcoin is the raw material of the blockchain, right? blockchain doesn't get built unless people are incentivized to own bitcoin how do you disentangle those things >> you've identified the key problem there. part is people making sure they are not confusing those two things, and it's a chicken and egg problem, doesn't get built until that happens i think you're going to see major players take a stance, and when they do, things will start to move. >> do you think it's healthy

that institutions like goldman start trading desks? >> yeah, let's tell them about that that's amazing to see. >> reports out of bloomberg they are working on doing something by the summertime, we'll see hard to resist the interested clients, right if they want to be served. >> i think if they call and say we want to know how this fits into everything we're investing in, you've got to at least have a way to show them that you care, otherwise there's going to be more nimble players that will come along and take your clients away >> not to mention the fact you have so much volatility in these contracts and if you're a trader, that's probably really attractive right now but just how much is the move and sort of the focus on bitcoin overshadowing some of these other cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency platforms i hear in terms of the bitcoin technology, that could potentially have one of the biggest opportunities out there. >> there are many others other than bitcoin, but people are focused on bitcoin i think we'll see the evolution this year and the way in which people will come back to figure

out the fundamentals and what makes sense. it will be key >> keep our eye on at least today's price action meanwhile, alphabet has news, eric schmidt stepping down as chairman as of the next board meeting in january, and will remain a board member. a lot has been written not just about why he may be leaving now, but sort of what he brought to google in the very early days. >> when he joined google, it was a relatively small company, had a few hundred employees and wasn't the giant company it is today. he was brought to be the adult in the room, and i'm a fan of eric's i've gotten to know him a bit because he cares about two things that i care about he was involved in the journalism world media world, big supporter of journalism and in the art world when i worked as chief digital officer of the metropolitan museum, he came to the m.e.t. and gave us ideas about the future of culture, and i think that's the kind of broad mind he has. he's also interested in

politics, especially democratic politics he's not really run the company on a day-to-day basis for a long time, so makes sense for him to move on. i'd be fascinated what he does next that's a picture with me and my colleagues at the m.e.t. and there he was talking to us >> certainly, quite a transition from google to the adult in the room to earlier this year google was fined, what, $2.7 billion in europe for abusing its internet search monopoly. talk about a major transformation, but in terms of that culture, got some reports surfacing from "the new york times" and others that potentially he's notnecessaril the person who should be the figure head of google anymore because of quote, unquote, womanizing and potentially being separated from his wife, et cetera do you think there's meat to that >> i don't know about that part of the story, but i would say that he has been someone who made such a difference in the company. you cannot, you know, underestimate what he did for not just the company, but also

the culture around silicon valley, and that kind of leadership i think you have every company following google after they brought him on to see what a difference it makes that founders have someone who is an experienced, wise person in addition to being a hot shot helping you, helping the founders, make kind of the next step >> he didn't hold a position where you have to find a direct replacement, obviously, but does google at this stage need somebody out there that can be the more ambassador to the rest of the world, to regulators and everybody else he was there from zero to $750 billion in market value. >> not bad, right? >> people say it's a one-product company and there's vulnerabilities to that one product. >> but they are involved in so many things and google itself has a great leader, but what about the other things that they are doing, involved in multiple moon shots and thinking about everything from driver-less cars to other things. and having someone who can talk to washington and talk to

european leaders is important, and someone who isn't just heads down only working on the products the way sundar is or the founders are, i think it's the wise man in the room, wise woman in the room, who can bring people together and isn't polarizing will be useful in a company the size of google >> well, to mike's point, though, a lot of people argue they are going to need somebody to be the face that schmidt was, regarding european regulations and heed on capitol hill i remember when they opened their first lobbying office. that was a big deal. >> it was. >> might not be -- this is probably the most critical time for an office like that going into '18 >> absolutely. with everything coming down the pipe in terms of scrutiny by regulators, it's important that you have someone who people trust and can be the face of the company, and i'm sure they'll find somebody. maybe there's somebody inside we don't know about, but most likely it will have to be an outsider >> just out of curiosity, your

former chief digital officer in new york city, you have an inside look at tech here in one of the greatest cities in the world, and we were talking about google, sort of this idea of smart cities and the expectation is lawmakers are going to start focusing on infrastructure do you think 2018 is the year of the smart city taking root >> we're seeing that already in so many places new york, sidewalk labs, part of the alphabet family, has helped build kiosks that give free wifi and data that people can use to kind of improve their lives, you know, they replaced all the phone booths in new york, that used to be a thing, pay phone booths with these towers, so we're seeing in many, many cities the importance of infrastructure and this is something we'd hope the federal government would pay more attention to. there was talks of a trillion dollar infrastructure deal still waiting.

>> still waiting, but might be getting closer to that point, eamon javers in washington as we expect to see pictures of the president signing the tax bill eamon, good morning. >> that's right, the president is buttoning up 2017 at the white house. the continuing resolution will continue to fund the government through january 19th and the other one is the tax cut bill. they did let cameras into the room after backing and forthing all morning, so we will see pictures of that we will hear the president take a few questions in just a few moments, but this is a big moment for the president this has been a year unlike any other i've seen in my lifetime of covering politics we've seen dramatic developments at the white house throughout the year, but it ends on a relatively familiar note a president signing a major piece of legislation with historic sweep that's what the president was aiming for all year. he was frustrated earlier in the year when he couldn't get the obamacare repeal and replace across the finish line

today he gets the tax bill across the finish line something that the white house says will rejuvenate the u.s. economy going into 2018, good for corporations and, of course, good for the middle class, so the president is leaving on a high note here we'll see what he has to say and whether he says anything to reporters on his departure, but the helicopter is on the south lawn it's gassed up, rotors are turning. he's ready to go on vacation, carl >> we are expecting some comments according to the pool report, eamon, he gives a shout out to the likes of at&t, boeing, and comcast for the commitments to capital spending and wage increases, bonuses that we saw in the first 24 hours but your point, some have written about the so-called triple dip in the bill, the ability to cut the corporate tax in an historic tax cut, truly. the elimination of the individual mandate, the things it does with amwar, on top of the judiciary appointments, executive orders we've watched all year, the degree to which

we've gained ground against isis it is a remarkable term. >> yeah, and the president said himself that gutting of the individual mandate in the bill gets rid of a core piece of obamacare, something that bothered conservatives and republicans for years. the president says that amounts to effectively repealing obamacare. there are democrats on capitol hill who will dispute that, but the president feels like they've been chipping away at obamacare this year, and that was a very big chip that they took by getting rid of the individual mandate, but with this continuing resolution, they also get the government open through january 19th, so they avoid that government shutdown that would have been embarrassing for republicans controlling both houses of congress and the presidency at the same time to have a government shut down. they'll pump that fight to january 19th, so he'll come back after new year's with legislative battles ahead of him, trying to figure out how to keep the government open on a more long-term basis than just the two-week deals carl >> eamon, here is the president

>> good morning. good morning, everybody. thank you very much for being here and merry christmas, happy new year have great holidays. we are going to sign some very important things today one is a continuing resolution that very importantly gives us the right, and we are ordering $4 billion worth of missile defense equipment and missiles themselves, very important, top of the line, best in the world we make the best military product in the world nobody is even close

so we're ordering $4 billion worth of missile defense, and that will be done by signing right here and also by notifying the speaker of the house and president of the senate, designating the missile defense as emergency defense funds it's $4 billion for that and $700 million for various other military forms of equipment, and i'm very honored to be doing that our military has been doing a fantastic job in so many ways with isis and everything they are touching lately has been working out. so we're signing that. this is the letter to mitch mckorm mcconnell and separately to paul ryan authorizing that having to

do with missile defense. okay very important so that's being done today, and that's going to be sent out. and then when i watched the news, as you know, we had the largest tax cuts in our history. and i was going to wait for a formal signing some time in early january, but then i watched the news this morning and they were all saying, will he keep his promise, will he sign it by christmas you were one but will he sign it by christmas, and i called downstairs, i said get it ready, we have to sign it now we were going to wait for january 7th or 8th and do a big

formal ceremony, but every one of the networks was saying will he keep his promise, will he sign it for christmas, before christmas. so i immediately called. i said let's get it ready. as you know, $3.2 trillion in tax cuts for american families, including the doubling of the standard deduction and the doubling of the child tax credit the typical family of four earning $75,000 receives income tax cut of more than $2,000. many much higher than that, slashing their tax bill in half. and they are going to start to see that, because we're signing today, they are going to start to see that in february. the numbers will speak one of the big things that happened, you have some great companies. i want to thank at&t, who actually was the first out of the box, and boeing and sinclair and wells fargo and comcast, even though they own nbc, which is not so nice to the presidency

or the president, but comcast also they all have made tremendous contributions to their employees and tremendous contributions to spending money in this country because of the tax bill. and they all said it's because of the tax bill. so they are making tremendous investments. that means jobs. it means a lot of things and we're very happy so that's at&t, boeing, sinclair, wells fargo, comcast, and now many other companies in fact, just this morning i see three more companies came on friend of mine, bob kraft, called me last night he said this tax bill is incredible he owns the new england patriots, but he's in the paper business, too. he said based on this tax bill, he just wanted to let me know that he's going to buy a big plant in the great state of north carolina, and he's going to build a tremendous paper mill

there or paper products plant. i've had many calls such as that, where people who are entrepreneurs, people in business, are going out and going to buy, frankly, factories that are closed, abandoned, and now they are not going to be abandoned any longer this is having an even bigger impact, faster than i thought. the corporate tax rate, as you know, will be lowered from 35% to 21% that means that more products will be made in the usa. a lot of things are going to be happening in the usa we're going to bring back our companies. they've already started coming back i think they had a certain confidence in me, figured we were going to get this done, but they have already started. something very important to me, the family farmers and small business owners who lost their business because of the estate tax. most of them won't have any estate tax to pay. it will be a great thing for their families you can leave your farm to your family you can leave your business, your small business to your family not even so small, because the

numbers are pretty big here, so they'll be exempt from having to pay estate tax, will be tremendous they'll keep their farms and businesses in the family businesses will be able to deduct 100% of the cost of their capital investments in the year the investment is made that's called expensing. and to do one-year expensing, i think, is going to be one of the biggest things in the bill, frankly. i think people are going to go out and absolutely go wild over expensing. bob kraft mentioned that last night in his telephone call. the fact that they can expense, one-year expensing, is a fantastic asset. historic small business tax cuts and pass throughs now are made really, really good for the business owner they are hiring people i see it on television, i'm reading about it all over, where people are hiring a lot of people right now to go to work the small business tax cut and the pass throughs are now really incentivizing people we're going to bring back probably $4 trillion from

overseas nobody knows the exact number, but it's massive it will be over $3 trillion, could be $5 trillion, but it's a tremendous amount of money that was caught overseas that the bureaucracy, plus the tax laws, didn't allow it to reasonably be brought back into our country, so we think at least $4 trillion is going to be brought back, and if you look at that, it's going to be brought back right under the code this is something that republicans wanted for years and democrats wanted for years, and yet it never got done. who would object to trillions of dollars being brought back into our country? nobody but it never got done. now it's being done. and the bottom line is, this is the biggest tax cuts and reform in the history of our country. this is bigger than actually president reagan's many years ago. i'm very honored by it in addition, we have anwar, hoping up anwar for drilling

they tried to get that for 40 years, even during the reagan administration they could never get it. that alone would be a big bill if that ever happened, but that's even part of this and we have, of course, the individual mandate, which is a very unfair and very unpopular provision, as you know, in obamacare. essentially, i think, it ultimately leads to the end of obamacare. essentially, i think, obamacare is over because of that. we're going to come up with something that's really going to be very good, but the individual mandate was very unfair, because you're basically saying, pay for something in order to not to have to get health care, so you're paying, you're paying not to have to have health care. it was very unfair many people thought it should have been overturned in the supreme court. didn't quite make it almost, but didn't quite make it now we're overturning the individual mandate most unpopular thing in obamacare. very, very unfair.

so this is the bill right here and we're very proud of it it's going to be a tremendous thing for the american people. it's going to be fantastic for the economy. it's going to keep companies from leaving our shores and opening up in other countries. they are very disincentivized to do that. there's not a lot of sense to do that you do that and i don't think you're going to be running your company very well. so what's happening is, we're going to sign this this is a little picture of it it fits nicely in the box. i said take it out of the box, because people have to see and all of this, everything in here, is really tremendous things for businesses, for people, for the middle class, for workers, and i consider this very much a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs. and jobs are produced through companies and corporations, and you see that happening

corporations are literally going wild over this i think even beyond my expectations, so far beyond my expectations so i'll sign this today rather than having a very big formal ceremony in two weeks when we were going to do it, because i didn't want you folks to say i wasn't keeping my promise. i am keeping my promise, i'm signing it before christmas. i said that the bill would be on my desk before christmas, and you are holding me, literally, to that. so we did a rush job today it's not fancy, but it's the oval office, it's the great oval office and just to conclude, our country is doing very well we've tremendously cut regulations. legislative approvals for which i'm given no credit in the mainstream media we have, i believe, it's 88, which is number one in the history of our country, second now is harry truman. harry truman had more legislative approvals than any other president, and a record

long held, and we beat him on legislative approvals, for which i get no credit. a lot of people say he needed this because he's had no legislative approvals. well, if you look at the va accountability act and so many other bills having to do with the va, the military, many things, we have more legislative victories than any other president. not including this, but this is the capper, because this is, again, the biggest tax cut, biggest reform of all time so it's an honor to have you with us, and we will sign this right now. this is something i'm very proud of great for our country. great for the american people. thank you all. so, we won't do the whole thing,

but this is basically what it is that's your bill and i want to thank some people in particular that aren't here, because again, we expected a formal ceremony in two weeks, but mitch mcconnell has been fantastic. worked so hard we would speak at 3:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning, and we would speak whenever we had to speak, but he works so hard and the exact same thing could be said for paul ryan. they are very proud of this, and we're already seeing the results. and as i said, long before -- long ahead of schedule paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, thank you very much. orrin hatch, the chairman, made a beautiful speech the other day in front of the white house. absolutely brilliant, beautiful speech, and we appreciated it

and i appreciated it hard working kevin brady, i don't think he slept for months almost like that's all he did was this mike enzi, senator diane black. rob portman. the group of rob portman rob worked so hard so knowledgeable on the subject. pat toomey, likewise john scott, likewise pat toomb, i don't know if they are given the proper credit. and the whole senate, when i say the senate, unfortunately, the republicans in the senate. democrats don't like tax cuts. they want to raise your taxes. they don't want to lower your taxes. they want to raise your taxes and they want to spend money foolishly on things that we don't need in many cases, so we're cutting taxes, we're taking care of our military, and we're taking care of people. and we're really doing a job on jobs so these folks have been so fantastic that i had to call

them out and plenty of others, believe me republicans in the house and republicans in the senate have been incredible. so this is what we had, it was all set to go as soon as i got back from christmas, where we'll be working in florida. i'll be working very hard during that christmas, because we have many things we're talking about, including north korea. including a lot of things happening in the middle east, as you know we've made tremendous strides, obviously, in syria with isis. we've taken back virtually all of the caliphate, all of the land same thing in iraq and we're making tremendous strides. it's sort of the unwritten story right now, but since my speech on afghanistan, we're making tremendous progress, tremendous strides. we've opened it up and it's a whole different world in afghanistan, i can tell you that so i'll be working very hard over the holidays. again, i want to wish you a very merry christmas. i have some beautiful pens over

here, and because all of these folks are either continuing to work down the road or getting ready to leave, and i'm sure they'll be working very hard also, i think i'm probably going to hand some of them to the press. does the media -- would any of the media -- look at these camera guys. i think we'll do that. so we have them. many of you have worked very hard many of you have worked very, very fairly, and we really appreciate that. so, here you go, folks you want the box with it or not? huh? >> mr. president, can you talk about how much you'll travel to sell this tax -- >> i don't think i'm going to have to travel too much to sell it i think it's selling itself. it's becoming very popular but i think it will really -- you'll see something on february 1st when they open up the paycheck that's when you're going to start to see it, because by signing it now, it kicks in for this year. remember, if we didn't make a certain date, it wouldn't kick in until next year, meaning the

following year '19, and i wasn't happy with that so we worked very, very hard to make sure it was this year even language originally said the corporate could kick in in '19, but we didn't do that but we had to sign so i don't think we're going to have to do much selling. i think the corporations that are giving billions and billions of dollars away to their workers and many more are coming, i think that's really what's selling this maybe better than anybody could, including myself. but i think come february when they open their checks and see, wow, what happened i have a lot more money in here, i think that's really going to be something very special. so have a great holiday, folks some of you folks take -- in particular like the boom holders, they were so nice to me the other day, right and the cameramen, and the cameramen. >> thanks, everyone. thank you, everyone. thanks, everyone >> i think the democrats will really regret -- the democrats already regret it.

you know, they have their typical think it's for the rich. that's not true. and they've been called out on it by the media, actually, but the democrats very much regret it they wanted to be a part of it doesn't work out i really do believe, and i said on social media today, i really do believe we're going to have a lot of bipartisan work done and maybe we start with infrastructure, because i really believe infrastructure can be bipartisan we've spent $7 trillion in the middle east, not to mention all of the lives and all of the heartache. it's so sad. $7 trillion. it's time for us to rebuild our country. thank you very much, everybody >> and there you see the president of the united states wrapping up the bill signing ceremony, the president saying he was hoping to do the bill signing officially in january,

but decided after seeing some of this morning's news coverage that he should fulfill his promise to sign the bill before christmas. the president ending on a grace note there in terms of the media, offering some of the pens to the boom mike holders and camera guys in the room. we'll go back to the president still talking. take a listen. >> republicans and democrats, we're going to have tremendous democrat support on infrastructure, as you know. i could have started with infrastructure i actually wanted to save the easy one for the one down the road so we'll be having that done pretty quickly thank you all very much. i appreciate it. one thing i really learned and got to know and became very friendly with the people in the house, the people in the senate. both republicans and democrats when i came, you know, i didn't know too many. i was very politically active, but didn't know too many

i think the fact i've become friends with so many of the names i've named off and so many of the senators, so many of the congressmen and women, i think that's a huge factor i can call any of them now i know every one of them now and i understand the legislation very well. it's been a process. it's been a great process, really beautiful but i do believe that the fact that i have gotten to know so many of these people, and many of these people, i have to say, not saying all, but saying many of these people are great people that truly love this country so i think that helps, and i think you'll see that in this legislation. thank you all very much. thank you very much. >> and we see at the end of that tape national economic council

chair gary cohn approaching the desk at the oval office. what a victory for gary cohn, whose tenure earlier in the year was very much under suspicion, but that's a huge finish line for him, as well eamon, we'll see so many unanswered questions about the impact of this bill regarding wages and cap x and inflation and corporate earnings and tax complexity, but by most accounts, 80% of american households are going to see a tax cut in 2018 and might start to be noticeable in just a few weeks. >> carl, that brings 2017 to a close, but the president ending there on a reflective note, talking about what he's learned in his first year in the presidency, saying that one of the things he's learned is to build a relationship with lawmakers on capitol hill. and boy did you hear him heaping the praise on two people, mitch mcconnell and paul ryan. people he'd been at political

logger heads with earlier in the year, some of his political advisers going into open political warfare with mitch mcconnell in particular. today, though, an entirely different story. you saw the united republican front on the lawn of the white house earlier in the week and the president heaping praise on the two, saying mitch mcconnell and he took phone calls back and forth working hard on this legislation. that's the kind of party uniting effect that a big legislative win can happen the president clearly feels he had one of those today and offering some thoughts here on what he learned in the first year of the presidency not often we see the president in that kind of a reflective mood as we saw him now that buttons up 2017 from here at the white house, carl >> did not, i don't think, mention corker or toomey, but even mcconnell, earlier in the week said this bill would not be possible if not for the original agreement in budget to allow for the $1.5 trillion. fascinating how this works thanks to you, eamon javers, at the white house.

when we come back, what's crushing the cryptocurrency today. plus a rare look inside uber deirdre bosa sat down with the app's head of north america as a turbulent year comes to a close. we have your holiday weekend completely covered two days from christmas. a check on the last-minute packages when "squawk alley" comes right back she's nationally recognized for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. but to help others, they first had to protect themselves. i have afib. even for a nurse, it's complicated... and it puts me at higher risk of stroke.

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european stocks heading into the long christmas weekend in negative territory spain, as we've been discussing, the big decliner following the regional election where pro independence parties in catalonia retained a majority of seats in catalonia's parliament. the separatists celebrating after winning a slim majority. the outcome is a setback for spanish prime minister rajoy, who was hoping his plan to call for a snap election and oust the region's president and government back in october would solidify his party's lead. now, according to the catalan government, the strongest support for the pro independence parties came from the northwest and northeast sections of the region with more than 60% of the vote now, take a look at taragona, separatists won under 50% of the votes there and in barcelona, 44%. despite this election result, barclays is not expecting this vote to lead to an escalation in the catalonia crisis, as only one of the three separatist parties is actually focused on

unilateral independence. catalonia's former leader says he's ready to meet with promise rajoy, but adds those talks must take place anywhere in the eu but spain, where he's facing arrest for treason in madrid, rajoy responded by saying he'd hold talks with the catalan government, but did not commit, including theregion's disposed leader. meantime, stocks spanish financials declining as a result of the election results, the biggest exposure to the region both banks moved their headquarters from the region, catalonia, after october's independence referendum. take a look at bonds the spanish ten-year note yield holding steady following yesterday's results. we finish with the euro, currencies responding to this political uncertainty with the euro trading around 118 against the u.s. dollar.

there you go, back to you. seema, thank you very much we're coming to the final countdown now, just about two days to go until christmas courtney reagan is in new york, queens, hey, courtney. >> that's right, hi, mike. actually, the stores have only been open for a couple hours, but the traffic is picking up. i don't know how much you can see in this shot behind me, but it's going to be nothing compared to what you're going to see on saturday when almost 126 million americans are expected to hit the stores. that's about half of the u.s believe it or not, it's down from last year because so much shopping got done earlier in the season, but certainly not all of it we caught up with more than one procrastinator take a listen. >> i just started, because i work all the time, so today's my first day of shopping and i'm not close to being done. i'm stressed i refuse to do it on christmas eve. i'm going to try to get as much done today, tomorrow morning, and that's it. >> so, she may have just

started, but others have certainly been shopping. first data has new transactional data that shows sales on stores and online combined up 6.6% november 1st to december 18th. electronics, appliances among the higher categories, those up 12% year over year specialty retail, though, also up stronger than 7% so far this season several firms also getting a little more bullish going into this final weekend crush for the holiday season we have an upped price target on american eagle, boot barn, kohls, urban outfitters. pepp mkm partners says five below has the best traffic he's seen, but he also calls out walmart and dollar tree as winners going into the final stretch i was in this macy's here behind me and there was a decent line at the order online pickup in store about nine or ten people

in line there before 10:00 a.m all four of the cash registers were open. macy's says they do see a pick up in that option before christmas, which makes sense if you want to do a hi drid order online but make sure you can get it in time by coming to the store and picking it up. back over to you guys. >> thanks, courtney. certainly, with the last major deadlines come and gone for ups and fedex for the last-minute package deliveries, not surprising to see mall traffic pick up right now. courtney, merry christmas. all right, so for more on holiday retail we're joined by stacey woodletz and patrick mckeefer, senior equity analyst. stacey, let's start with you right now. talk about a reversal. you look at the retail stocks, we went from retail rec earlier this year to major rebounds in the past two months. how much is the anticipation around tax reform and the tailwind to create the sector,

versus what could be better than expected holiday sales >> sure, yes, we've had a 20% rebound since the q3 number, so that's a pretty big move here. two things go into it. obviously, the anticipation of tax reform, so, you know, we have to ask the question what's in the stocks here, and, of course, november numbers were very good. the government data was outstanding, even up for department stores, so business is a little better, we've had seasonal weather and, certainly, there are some trends out there that are working again, as we look into 2018, look for the continued transition to omnichannel and expectations >> and just to sort of dig into that a little deeper, patrick, it almost seems in the age of amazon retailers, it's not just about selling the goods, but them becoming logistics companies, as well who's getting that right in terms of being able to handle the rising tide of e-commerce

right now? >> yeah, i think certainly walmart has a phenomenal distribution network i think target is doing pretty well and will do better. they are acquiring shipped to help sort of bridge that last mile and by this time next year they are planning to be doing same-day delivery across their entire store networks, so target is doing well. it's really the bigger companies, kohls, the companies that don't have the logistics advantage would be the smaller names across retail. >> stacey, actually, i think you also were thinking target might be in for some continued rebound potential next year. i wonder if you have any concerns about them using their stores as this kind of fulfillment space, if it might actually impinge on actual shoppers there there's some worry, i think, among some analysts saying it's not the optimal way to do it, but you think target can figure it out >> you know, mike, that's one of

the biggest points i think going into 2018 to watch here, and we have to watch the retailers that have this big shift that people order online, but pick up in store. target has said that 80% of online orders are picked up in store. that causes chaos with labor in stores and inventory management, because if you pick from the shelves if you need to, you have out of stock for the customers coming in to buy stuff the old-fashioned way. so it will be interesting to see how the retailers transition, but i do like target for next year they remind me very much of where walmart was two years ago. they are starting to invest, and i think at 15 times versus walmart 21, it's a more interesting story here >> and, patrick, certainly we've seen it. look no further than the shares of nike today, which are under pressure as margins have shrunk and sales in north america have fallen again this past quarter, but this idea of deflation and sort of this competition to get

more people into stores and to sell more apparel. we've seen it in apparel, but are there other segments we're seeing a similar sort of cost crunch or price crunch and who's positioned to handle that >> yeah, i mean, you certainly see it in sporting goods with dick's sporting goods. i've been in a lot of stores the past several days and there's some pretty steep discounts there, even on winter jackets, 50% off. you would think they'd hold the line there a little longer, especially with plenty of winter ahead of us, but sporting goods has been going through some structural changes, sports authority is gone. there's a scramble for the big brands like nike and under armour are going more direct to the consumer amazon is certainly a force, so you've got the traditional retailers that are really fighting it out aggressively on price. there's a lot of good pricing out there for the consumer no question about it but it seems like, you know,

just overall there are enough sales now and enough traffic to offset that, you know, to create a fairly decent earnings picture for the fourth quarter >> patrick, there's a line of thinking that a lot of the retailers are going to be big beneficiaries. do you think investors are going to see any kind of a direct payback off the lower tax rates? >> yeah, as stacey mentioned, you know, some of it's probably already priced in, the s&p retail etf is up about 17% from its november lows, and a lot of that is. some of it is better holiday tone, but a lot of it is the tax bill and retailers, as a lot of us have been talking, retail people have been talking about, retailers do stand to benefit the most across corporate america, because they have tax rates that are 35% or higher,

and they do most of their business aside from, like, walmart, they do most of their business in the u.s. so, but there's still probably some room, because of the flow through now to the consumer, which we'll see as companies start to share in some of their tax savings and as the economy gets a little bit of a further bump here. >> right well, thank you both, stacey and patrick, for joining us today. happy holidays, merry christmas. >> happy holidays. >> thanks. when we come back, uber bounced from scandal to scandal this year, as you know can they turn things around? our deirdre bosa spoke to the company's head of north america and we'll bring you a rare look inside as we go to break, look at bitcoin after the front-month rng.ract down at the cme this 12,939 "squawk alley" is back after this

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welcome back to "squawk alley. it's been a rough year for uber. can the company turn things around in 2018 deirdre bosa joins us now. >> reporter: certainly the stakes are high. we sat down with rachel holt, head of uber in u.s. and canada as they get ready for new year's eve, one of the most important nights of the year part of the small team that ran uber without a ceo, and said that period of time was a critical moment in the end that set them up well for 2018. >> that period really created an

environment that actually made it easier for someone new to come in, because, you know, a lot of, you know, before maybe people had been sort of working on their own projects and working much more in silos and forcing 15 people to come together, and i think that really paid the way for us to have someone new come in and come in, youknow, in a really productive to a really productive team. >> now, that someone was, of course, was dara chosrowshahi and we asked him how his style differed from his predecessors. >> i think we've seen in the last through months is a very humble approach and one that is recognizing that everything hasn't happened, you know, in -- in the -- necessarily in the right way in the past, and i think what -- what we have is a

leader who is really focused on doing the right thing going forward. >> the guy is humble, i think, being a key word there of course, there are plenty of challenges there in early 2018, including that lawsuit, fallout from the hack and who else knows what else is out there from uber's past that's yet to be uncovered and its evolving team will have to confront. back over to you. >> that's going to be a story to watch in '18 for sure. thanks so much for that. get a check on what it's looking like at the -- at the markets. dow is down 38 points. we're back in just a moment. are we going to break? no, we're going to go to bitcoin here that's a share -- a look at bitcoin's chart and the dow down 38 points. back after a sho bakrtre ...don't know if you can hear me, but [monica] what's he doing? [lance] can we get a shot of this cold front, right here.

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dom chu is here with more on the most of the today and all week. >> reporter: a little scary given the price action in that people not able to get out of positions, and take a look at some of the price movements because on an intraday basis

we've seen dark movements overall. 16% just today 12,961 the coin-based numbers, an exchange very much in focus right now. those bitcoins down about 15%, 16% as well, we'll also check on the futures because we have seen over 10,000 contracts traded on the cboe futures one bitcoin per future on that exchange here. we see some movements here 15% to the downtown and 13,090 for the futures contract and 1,700 contracts have traded so we've seen an acceleration in terms of the overall volume on futures. we'll see if that carries through. this is the first time we've seen stress in the bitcoin market and in the futures trading era. back over to you. >> dom, we know you'll be on top of that for us dominic chu. a look at what it's like with the airports with holiday travel in full swing. eric clemi joins us from newark.

hi, eric. >> reporter: the lines are better than they were, 20 minutes ago they were bulging closer to me the good news is the weather okay according to data from flight aware you're not seeing a lot of weather-related problems, delays, cancellations, and what you're seeing is a lot of traffic volume it's 26% more flyers this weekend than a normal weekend a couple weeks ago and 3% more flyers than last year because airlines are squeezing more people in. already at newark airport 30-minute delays getting out and that's getting worse that's happening here early this morning, and that's not even weather-related. that's traffic-related so you're seeing much more delays good luck on sunday and monday when a big snow storm is going to come through the rest of the country, so people are getting through right now, the calm before the storm it's going to be a lot worse on sunday and monday, christmas day itself back to you guys. >> eric. thank you very much for that gives us a chance to sort of take stock of what airlines have done this year mike santoli, not uniformly higher by any means. >> they are not.

it's been this question as to whether they were getting too good for consumers, right? they didn't get religion the way they promised, but the transports in general have done fine mostly the shippers and truckers and rails have been more the beneficiaries. >> yeah. a fun little factoid for you i realize it's comparing apples and orange but 51 million passengers expected to travel on the passenger airlines over the next two weeks ups, fedex, the two weeks coming into christmas will move 650 million packages. >> wow. >> so it's busy in the air for both cargo and people. >> got it. >> and then, of course, next week tends to be a little kwai fret a news standpoint, but as you said at the top of the morning, if you're interested in santa rally theory. >> yes. >> this is the time -- >> you'll be hoping you'll get the upward drift not foolproof, but, boy, this has been a year when the only seasonal patterns that everyone points to that didn't work were the negative ones.

the positive ones have all followed through so we'll see if that bears out. >> did crazy here which fundamentals in the end, nuclear turmoil. >> the it's lines did not tell you how to trade the market. >> have a great long weekend merry christmas and happy holidays let's get to "the judge. >> and welcome to "the halftime report." i'm scott wapner, our look ahead to 2018 after a stellar year for stocks how far into the new year will the rally continue, and where are the best places for your money? with us for the hour, jim dantial, jon najarian and j.j. kinehan, the chief market strategist at t.d. ameritrade. >> thanks for having me. >> the final stretch of 201. under way and investors are starting to look ahead into the new year what a year it's