good morning it's 8:00 a.m. at intel headquarters in can't clar, california, 11:00 a.m. on wall street and "squawk alley" is live ♪ ice ice baby ♪ ♪

good morning welcome to "squawk alley." i'm carl quintanilla at the new york stock exchange. markets obviously the top story. the nasdaq closes above 7,000 on tuesday for the first time ever to kick off the year s&p crosses 2700 in today's session. for a moment we were within 100 points of down 25 k. for more bring in senior markets commentator who has switched seats here at post 9 big playbook, strategic thoughts, what are they. >> ongoing sweet-spot seems it has continued into 2018. pretty much all these things working for the market, low volatility advance, yesterday a little more energy in the nasdaq, obviously getting above 7,000 with a percent and a half move what's interesting is you have these forces of global consumer boom animating the nasdaq nasdaq composite also almost 14% of s&p 500

the top five stocks in the s&p are the top five in the nasdaq that's actually a newish thing so it's very new versus let's say 2,000. on the other side you have this cyclical reflation story working for the dow and working for global markets it's rare, i think, that you have these growth stocks you're supposed to huddle into when overall economic growth isn't great and cyclical is working. i don't know how long that sweet-spot extends but seems where we're starting 2018. >> jack joins us this morning, chief investment officer it is an interesting barbell that mike describes. cyclical, macro inflationary environment. the disinflationary environment this tech innovation is bringing us how long does it last and how does it alter your playbook. >> this tax plan is actually laying out what i'll call this kind of bimodal road map for the world. i think if other countries start

following suit, we could see this tech heavy low inflation, low interest rates, high productivity environment on the other hand we could see other countries kind of move in a different direction closed borders, closed ranks, protection a little bit. we could see higher inflation, kind of more lower growth, higher inflation environment i think that this tech heavy, growth oriented scenario is leading the way. the good news is it is broadening out the global growth environment and we are starting to see some other sectors, you know, leading the way this year. >> so mike, there's a lot of heat behind facebook, amazon, apple, alphabet. where are investors going to hedge against those? do you go geographically with asia what do you do

>> john, if you look at more groups recently picking up, look at the very small but material sector of the s&p. it's almost a polar opposite, right? it's stuff that does better with inflation, better with growth, hard stuff you pull out of the ground and make chemicals out of it, stuff like that. that's been working. this idea that both these things can be true at the same time is sometimes tough to embrace right here but i do think, look, you have to recognize the markets become more expensive, nasdaq become more expensive it's not as if this stuff is happening just because the world is a happier place risk taking has increased in the form of higher valuations. >> go ahead. >> i actually think that this tech boom could actually help commodities if you look at what going on in china. they are going headlong into electronic vehicles, battery power. we're already starting to see, you know, nickel, cobalt, other

components of that rechargeable battery skyrocket. that could broaden out quite frankly, china is not in it to make a profit. they just want to get it done. i think that's where some of these commodities could benefit. >> jack, you mentioned earlier that some of this tech strength is beginning to broaden out. mike mentioned material stocks possibly is somewhere we should at least be watching if you're not interested in piling into technology stocks, as those valuations continue to go higher, where else should investors be looking >> i think this could be a year for the industrials. certainly as mike mentioned materials, financials. you know, financials are going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this tax plan i think just the tax move alone is going to push their earnings per share up 10% or more i do think we're going to start to see a shift toward more of a value oriented leadership this year as the global economy expands. i expect china and europe to

respond to these lower tax rates with perhaps some lower tax rates for some other incentives of their own they are worried that a lot of this money sitting overseas is going to get repatriated and guess who is going to lose they are. >> we're not operating in a vacuum that's for sure. we'll see what the reactions are. jack, thanks so much mike, we'll talk to you in a little bit mike santoli. >> intel down 2 1/2% on a report that all processors pretty much made in the last decade have a significant security flaw, according to online tech publication, "the register" it it forced redesigns of linux and another. it will need an update because the problem is in the kernel in order to fix that you have to fix operating systems under

certain circumstances, data, software, to read parts of information the computer is storing they representative supposed to read things like passwords. look at intel stock. not down that much what are people going to do? they could buy amd chips, i suppose. but if you're going to buy a pc you're going to have to deal with intel processors. this could spur more, you need performance, cause performance of 5 to 30%. a lot of people think it's closer to 5% and for most applications if you need performance, you need security, you're going to want to be covered, people might have to buy new pcs. consumers who need basic performance, they might not be concerned but amd is audiotape bit on this. you see about 6 1/2%, intel down a bit. overall this could push people into buying more computers. >> an interesting take

how much newer do you need to buy to make sure the flaw isn't in the chip if it's been happening for a decade when do you know new and beyond? >> first they have to release the fix. it's expected out tuesday. then we'll see what the long-term solution is. we expect to talk to the ceo next week. >> point out some of the plogs cited in the piece were wrip in july it's not like it's completely new. we're learning what the register does and says. the input is evident lagging in the dow. the president talking nuclear war on twitter should world leaders be banned from that site the biggest cyber threats with 2018 with potential flaw and chips making headlines the ceo of mcafee will join us with a look at what to watch out for in the new year. spotify filing for ipo, but it's te way filed it could reshape

inhe future. we'll talk about that when "squawk alley" continues at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be.

got some news this morning, spotify filed confidential ipo documents. axios made a move for direct listing. spotify declined to comment on that report. joining us to talk about it, cnbc reporter and tech reporteder at the "new york times. gentlemen, good to see you both.

farh farhad, got to learn more about what this means but how likely is it they are on their way. >> seems likely. this has been talked about for sometime, they filed the documents. i think what's interesting about it, both spotify as a country is interesting. they are trying to bridge between multiple giants who also have similar services. i think they are interesting to watch. but the way they are doing this, a direct listing it's an unusual move for a company of its size to do that i think if it works it could open up a new avenue for long delayed so-called unicorns to go public perhaps an easier way, a way for employees to get some liquidity and to lower fees for them it could be an interesting move. i'm optimistic about its possibilities. >> walter, spotify as a brand is one thing. they kind of brought this

streaming idea as a business it's another it's up against apple, google, amazon if they decide to do video up against netflix in the streaming content business is this snap for streaming or has it got a shot. >> i think it's got a shot you've got ones like pandora, you should mention to me, the reason it has a shot, a lot of us, including steve jobs early on figured people would want to own their own music. you wouldn't want streaming or subscription services. turns out they work well for music. they are going to work well for video. i think soon they might work well for journalism. we have a whole new model opening up a new type of economy, which is people subscribing in ways you can get a broad array of music or videos and broad array of journalism

for one easy monthly subscription pea that's a sustainable business model. >> farhad we're not talking about one. how many pay how many subscriptions. can all these services exist and compete or who ends up being dominant does it end up amazon, spotify, amazon can they co-exist. >> obviously the giants who have their hooks in you have the advantage. i think one of the interesting thing about spotify, it does bridge all these companies you could have android phone and apple tv and various devices from different companies and still use spotify on it. that might be a benefit toyota that's the reason i keep paying spotify instead of apple music or other services, i like the flexibility of it.

also, they are really good it's their one thing and they are much better at it. their app works better they have better services and features than the other companies that do it because it's the one thing there's something to be said as we enter lapped escape dominated by a few companies the these companies that play nicely with everyone else, they may do well in the future. >> few disagreements on that poi point. >> the president has been active on twitter, he prompted to support iranian protesters last night he tweets north korean leader kim jong-un is on his desk at all times. someone from his depleted and food star jonesed regime inform him that i, too, have a nuclear button, much bigger and more powerful one than his and mine work iran leader blaming enemies for recent protests. it raised the question again in twitter's role policing content. atlantic posting, should world

leaders be banned from twitter walter, for sites who say they are all about what's happening now and making news, seems unlikely that's ever going to happen. >> well, it shouldn't happen in my opinion technology can be used for good, used for bad communication technology is not inherently in and of itself good or bad, it's the user. and the user is the one who should be blamed for using it badly. that's like saying world leaders should not be allowed to use the telephone. sure it's dangerous, and world leaders pick up the telephone and start saying things without preparing for it, but we can't ban telephones or twitter. we should have world leaders who have a little bit more responsibility than just to spout off in the wee hours of the morning whatever they may be thinking. >> farhad, where are we that so many people are calling for bans

in the types of speech they don't like, even from world leaders, who you can't stop them from speaking. they have these platforms. if you try to shut them off of twitter, they will get on facebook or tv. they will get on tv. there are cameras in the places where people live. >> right i think a few months ago, even a year ago, i would have agreed with walter, with what he's saying you can't stop these people from caulking there's an element of censorship here the atlantic piece was interesting. it makes an interest point for trump and others and regular people twitter encourages knee jerk reflexive responses to the news. that's the whole thing that's the reason people are on twitter. they are on the news and make some pithy comment about it. that's fine for you and me and walter and everyone else but it may be less than productive for world leaders. twitter is in a tough spot they can't kind of ban donald trump specifically, because, you

know, it will raise a lot of questions. if they ban world leaders in general, you know, that can be an elegant way out of this problem for them and for us, too. >> i agree trump should not be using twitter in that way. my view is you should tell that to trump, not to twitter. >> we'll see if terms of service change as a result of all of this, guys switching gears, the future of vice is in question as the edgy media company faces scrutiny for sexual harassment charges and big media companies have a lot at stake our julia boorstin is going to set that up for us good morning, julia. >> reporter: good morning, carl. can a reputation for vices, drug culture earn credibility in corporate virtues, $6 billion val waigs. that's wh -- valuation that's what they are hoping

following sexual harassment allegations. a male dominated culture, preparing for ipo or sale. media giants are watching this disney and fox invested in vice. though time-warner didn't invest its hbo is partnered with vise in an expansive content deal vice raised over $1.4 billion in addition to disney and fox, a&e networks and tpg invested $450 million just last june vice ceo shane smith telling me back then that bringing on tbg makes sense, would make sense for a company looking to go public around that time vice taking stock of its employee base that doubled in less than two years to 2500 fulltime staffers. a source tells me that vice surveyed employees and found demands for greater diversity. understanding the stakes especially if an ipo is on the horizon vice pledged to reach

pay parity by the end of the year and 50/50 gender rpgs along the ranks. sent a statement saying, quote, we're committed to making the changes necessary tonight sure the vice workplace is respectful and supportive in line with the work we do every day the ceo wrote to employees yesterday this is also about the bottom line saying diversity is fundamental to the company's ability to connect with its audience carl. >> julia boorstin in l.a. watching the vice story for us julia, thanks. walter, a lot of companies have had to respond to this how would you rate vices. >> very well i think shane smith and others have decided it's not just a question of getting rid or suspending certain executives who did things but trying to do a whole systemic change. i think that's the next wave of this important and good movement that we're in to change the culture of the workplace it's not just finding the

culprits and getting rid of them but saying we need to have a 50/50 workplace, male female by 2020 in the tech and media industry, that's huge. having a committee with gloria steinem and chan and trying to figure out how to make a better culture of the workplace those are the type of changes we have to get to in this next phase. that's where vice i think is doing a very good job. >> farhad, we heard some other female employees speak out they don't seem to be super impressed with what vice has put forward here just play devil's advocate to walter's thought is this just putting lipstick on a pig? does this really change the culture of vice? >> i think there is some worry with that i think it's a legitimate charge. they are promising a lot but they did so, you know, after a huge expose in the "new york

times. it's not like they were proactive about this changing a culture is hard the reason they are the company they are today is because of their culture and to kind of completely undo that and install some kind of new way of working is going to be difficult for everyone involved there, including the top executives i don't know that there are good examples of that working elsewhere. other companies have tried it. uber, for example. i don't know if it works. >> i've got one. apple. apple is one for a long time they were not great at all on diversity in the executive ranks at the board level. tim cook worked at that and it took years to get diversity at the board level, to get diversity at the executive level. certainly apple stores in retail helped them get it at the worker level. it's something i don't know if you can put out a couple of press releases or have outside advisory board really change a culture. it takes time. >> yeah. >> can i make one more point if

you don't mind, which farhad can't make it's been astonishing how good "new york times" has been leading -- >> i was just thinking that. >> i can make that point. >> if we're going to have a major change in our culture, we have to realize the importance of well funded, deep investigative journalism that changed our culture. with the "new york times," "washington post" as well in the lead i think you've got to give them credit. >> i was just thinking mike isaac on uber, jodi kantor and emily steel in this case, some incredibly impactful reporting by the times walter, farhad, thanks see you next time. is amazon crossing a line. a mirror that potentially dresses you and potential ads through alexa. jeron ni wl laeriljoin us.

>> i think you require policy change because there's not abuses under the current framework. >> we do have significant tax changes. do we change our stock strategy this year? amazon continues its reach

into our homes cnbc reporting the company is pushing the envelope in the advertising space, considering bringing ads to those in-home voice control devices. joined bring jaron lanier virtual reality pioneer, author of "dawn of the new everything." jaron, thanks for joining us. >> how are you doing >> i'm doing well. you've been critical of big computers, these companies with so much power that sometimes they can sideline humanity hu concerned about what amazon is doing possibly bringing ads to the software we're having conversations with more and more >> i'll tell you one way i'm less concerned that some other people might be andanother way i'm more concerned the reason i'm a little less concerned is we all know what amazon's business is, which is selling you stuff. that's what we do. so the ads will be for things, like soap. the problem i have is when there's a speaker talking to you, and you don't know who is

paying it to say something to you. we don't have to worry about, i don't know, like russian intelligence services paying amazon speakers to talk to you because they are -- you know, they are not selling anything on amazon in a sense, it's kind of a clear situation where you know what the game is and i like that. in a way that's fair enough. the thing i don't like that really bothers me is when people talk to a machine as if it's a person, i feel like inevitably they will start to think of themselves as being a little more like a machine. i think what the companies have to be careful about, potential backlash, almost a spiritual backlash people don't like feeling like there's something creeping into their identity think about parents who worry about vaccines si i think vaccines are marvelous technology, perhaps the best invented people are afraid somehow it's stealing something from their children and making them

autistic, which is ridiculous. think about the parents who have their kids talking to these speakers now in a few years for some reason they don't like something about their kids they are going to look back at amazon and say, what did you say to my kid i think there's a tremendous peril in this way of designing interfaces, you know so i think -- >> right. >> so it's both good and bad. >> so do you think there needs to be some kinds of guide linings? we got an echo for my mother and father-in-law. she asked me, should i say thank you when alexa answered a question i want to say yes. do we really want to get out of the habit of saying thank you. >> he's laughing >> personally i don't think kids should use these i wouldn't have kids doing it. i wouldn't even have tweens doing it that's my own take on it by the way, people in silicon

valley don't let their kids use a lot of technology. we're kind of aware of where the limits should be maybe other people should act more like us as far as you know -- as long as you're lighthearted about it remember what this is. it's a rather simplistic program. it's not a real person it's a company that sells you stuff. it's like walking into a store as long as you keep in mind what's going on, have fun wit. don't lose your self don't pretend it's a person. don't pretend amazon is anything other than a store that's what it is. that's what it says it is. don't get confused. >> finally jaron, what do you tell people had believe she's listening no matter where whether you're addressing her or not, that she's a passive listener in your house. >> i think what i worry about there is more malicious hackers than the companies i think the companies are sick of getting beat up especially by european regulators. i don't think amazon is going to be spying on your intimate

conversations, but a hacker might. we just heard about the intel chip issue it's really, really hard to stay ahead of this cat and mouse game of security. i do kind of worry about that i think that's a legitimate fear. >> all right jaron, i know you've got to go it's always great to have your mind and your presence here on "squawk alley." >> and your laugh. that was a good addition today. >> always a pleasure to be with you guys >> it is to me a bit of a concern that modern technology has us acting a little bit more like robots. >> okay. >> and robots acting a little bit more like people. >> yes. >> it's kerconcerning on both sides. do we know who we are and do we know what the software's motive is. >> if there's a consumer benefit, are you willing to let those fears go >> no. >> you may not but a lot of consumers are. >> yes. >> think about how popular these devices are. it's a top product every big holiday season we see, prime day, cyber monday.

>> we saw what the echo did. let's get over to sue herera and meantime get an update at hq. >> good morning, everyone. here is what's happening this hour iranian state tv showing pictures of pro government demonstrations today this follows a week of protest and unrest over the nation's economy. so far there have been more than 20 deaths reported music streaming company spotify has been sued for $1.6 billion wixen is accusing them of using thousands of songs without a license. holds the rights for songs like "free-falling" by tom petty and "light my fire" by the doors broadway hit it big. new figures show last week's sales beat the previous record "hamilton" led the pack with weekly sales at a record breaking $3.8 million. some bad news for people visiting paris today high winds have forced the closure of the eiffel tower.

storm battered northern france, delayed flights and left 200,000 people without electricity that's the news update this hour back downtown to "squawk alley." carl, back to you. >> thank you very much, sue. let's get to simi modi. >> carl, european stocks in the green amid implementation of eu financial rules aimed at boosting transparency. the new standards require firms dealing in stocks, bonds, derivatives to report detailed information on transactions. in terms of major indexes, look at german dynamics ending five-day losing streak meantime retailers among gainers led by uk chain next christmas sales beat forecast helped by colder weather and strong online sales. next also raising its full year profit forecast. you can see marks & spencer and

associated british food moving higher in today's trade. a lot of chatter surrounding bitcoin in europe, governoring councilmember saying bitcoin needs to be taxed since it's not a currency this comes as russia said to be considering launching its own currency called crypto ruble in order to get around sanctions. plus 500 trading 20% higher, you can see there, as more people bet on bitcoin courtney, back to you. >> thank you very much the biggest cyber threat of 2018, ceo of mcafee joins us in cnbc exclusive with a list of what to watch out for in the new year as we head to break and as sema tossed up, a check on bitcoin this hour. e-trade launching futures trading last night can you see it's higher by 3%,

above 15,0100. "squawk alley" back right after this d, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade

>> mcafee has been releasing top potential threats for 2018 take a look at what consumers may need to watch for this year, consumers and companies alike. joining us ceo of mcafee and cnbc exclusive thank you so much for being here, chris. to start us off, if you could run through the top five threats, and then which one is the most pressing for consumers and for corporations. >> yeah. the way we like to think about

this, the 2018 predictioners really guide post for things for people to look out for if i'm a consumer what i'm looking out for this year is we're coming off one of our most connected christmases ever in my own house i got a connected coffee mug that has an app that allows to you change heating settings to keep the coffee warm. so i'm reminded how connected christmas was. paying attention to privacy, paying attention to all the connected devices in the home and the potential for those devices to be compromised, to actually deliver viruses into the home that's a real issue. security in the home with those connected devices is going to be a big issue for us in 2018 i think that's only going to continue as we add more connected devices to the mix our house has become like a small business in many ways. >> in the last segment, just to follow up on that really quick, before we get to the corporation side, if you're aware of this, you're home is becoming more connected with all the devices from the coffee mugs to maybe

alexa enabled devices, what do you do as a consumer to keep safe, if you want to use this, you want to connect your home. >> i think the first an most important thing you can do is be aware these connected devices have risks you should absolutely use them there's great functionality, a lot of reasons to use connected devices. do things, for example, when you set up a device, make sure you reset the password don't use default password there's a lot of ways to protect your self but the most important thing to do is get educated. it's like my tool, any vehicle you use in your home, you want to pay attention to safety first. >> jump into the biggest threats for corporations going into 2018 we have the wanna cry attacks, that's the iteration to come in 2018. >> we see an evolution in ransom

wear wannacry was a worm that affected us large scale across businesses, et cetera. we see ransomware morphing and changing it used to be about extorting money from people to protect or unlock their sensitive data. we think ransomware is going to be increasingly used to try to disrupt organizations and hold organizations hostage for the gain of the attacker we see more of that happening. we see it moving across different industries we see a lot of ransomware in health care space. we see it moving into manufacturing and other spaces as well. >> chris, good to see you outside of the airport we bumped into each other right ahead of christmas, actually i'm wondering on your take from this intel chip flaw potentially affecting almost every computer purchased in the last 10 years, but the fix needs to come at the

operating system level is there anything consumers should or can do about that except wait for that update to come in the next few days and install it >> the first thing i would say, jon, wieber still learning details. much of it isn't out there in the public domain. there will be more to talk about and more to learn once the details become public. what i can say is it's a good example or good wakeup call for consumers as well as businesses that you've got to make sure there's security for all layers of the stack and that you're protecting your self across different platforms. i can't stress that enough, right? you can't just focus on windows. there's linux, cloud platforms, a variety of places where it matters. that's one of the reasons holistic security, security across the stack is truly important here. >> chris, you talk in the piece or the mcafee report details there could be potential regulatory consequences if some of these companies aren't

responsible with the collection of the data, particularly when it comes to privacy of individuals, children, when it comes to their future digital footprint. what kind of things do you suggest could be possible we should look out for or companies can actually get in front of before they become a regulatory issue? >> i think a lot of companies are getting in front of the issue. but you're going to have to pay attention to what permissions do you seek from the user i think making it really clear and apparent to the user, what are they signing up for and what are they not signing up for using the product or service i think reminding the user periodically like we see on social media sites, periodically they will pop something up and say have you looked at your security settings, do you understand privacy scenarios i think those are important approaches that not just social media sites are taking but actually manufacturers of connected devices where they may be listening for things going on in your home they should periodically remind

you what's happening what do we hear, what do we know and what settings do we have available to control and protect your information and what's known about you either in the cloud or out there in the broader internet. >> knowledge is power, read privacy statements, at least understand them and hopefully we can avoid predictions mcphee laid out for 2018. ceo of mcafee, thank you for joining us today. >> when we return. happiest place on earth bracing for cold weather and potential hit to tourism live to orlando. dow up 40 points rick santelli, what are you watching today >> the pits are the happiest place on earth coen on, carl. i'm matching foreign exchange which leads me to believe it's a big year in fx trade i'm going to turn to golf for returns. hitting the green with a big slice. tune in after the break, i'll explain. when it might be time to buy or sell?

with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today.

i'm scat wapner coming up today on halftime report, is it time to double down on the dow wall street seems to think so. six different upgrades for blue ship names is that your best strategy plus the one tech firm that's an opportunity, not a bank stock, our call of the day. see where they scored, whiffed, we'll bring quarterly report see you on halftime, carl, about 15 minutes away.

>> thanks so much. let's get to cme group,santell exchange hi, rick. >> hi, carl. many times we look at charts three, four years. sometimes we like the six month to one-year charts today we're going to go big, going 20-year charts and when i said hitting the green, i'm talking about money let's go to the white board. 20-year charts, first one is euro versus the dollar with a big slice back when i was a trader i used to like to call certain lines the big slice because they slice the action not only in terms of price but in terms of balance, symmetry, it's all important you might be scratching your head, what does this mean? time and price related, and the personality of a trader, whether today, 10 years ago or 20 years ago, there's certain aspects of that personality that never change emotions associated with positions. many would say, hey, computers kind of run everything now to some extent that's right.

who programs computers there's a lot of times where the dr. frankenstein effect takes hold, where many people who have algorithmic or computer-based trading systems like to tweak it, modify it, beta test it. that's the way it is lately right around 120. 120 is the slice now, this isn't an easy chart. my first impulse will be it's going to go through the line as we've seen as i've circled, there have been small failures there's also big cuts through the slice, big moves after and before that's a good thing. i would say this chart is 70/30 bullish. but the nice thing is you can look at a lot of charts. let's look at euro versus yen. their slice isn't as interesting but i think 130 just about does it you notice we're well through that this, in my opinion, considering they are all correlated, gives that last chart a boost. they are all going to move together in the end. finally i want to take the last chart, maybe the most important

in the big macro trade picture, euro versus yuan the japanese, chinese, europeans, especially chinese may not be happy with what's going on with all this foreign exchange against grain of fundamentals euro is strong, dollar is weak think about central banks. this one is really fascinating remember, it's slow moving as well if i think eight is the slice we're currently below, 780 what's interesting about this chart, how much time we've spent above the slice versus below it. this to me more of a sell than a buy. that negates it a bit, they will all move together. maybe trade, no matter which way it's a big move. volatility seems to be low now that might be the way the plate. ever heard of a straddle, long calls, long puts volatility is a wasting asset. you can watch it disappear into the air if time takes too long jon fortt, back to you. >> all right

thank you, rick santelli. coming up, it was a brutal year at the box office, especially if a woman wasn't the lead absenter of your film new numbers show where people are going instead of the movie theater. details next

the u.s. is in a deep freeze a short of arctic air bringing record low temperatures and sub zero windchills. florida may have the most to

loose. our erik chemi is in orlando braving sub 41-degree temperatures with that story eric >> reporter: that's right, jon it's all relative, right for orlando 45 degrees, that's as low as they ever really see it there's freeze temperature warnings and schools are being closed and universities are having a closure issue as well and the water theme parks like aquatico behind me, you can see they are closed for the day so there's nobody coming through the parking lot. they are just closed can't even get in, and if you can make zoom all the way behind me you see the water slides. today is not the day when it's 45 degrees and freezing cold and raining to let kids in for that. the other water parks in town that are owned by universal and disney, they are closed as well, but the real theme parks are open, so if you see behind me that's the regular seaworld. they are open right now. the same thing with the regular universal theme park, the

regular disney world so it's going to be some small impact to the corporate earnings, but these are global companies just having a few days closed in orlando won't be a big deal the bigger issue is for the smaller local businesses they see immediate suffering we talked to some of those people today >> nobody really wants to come out and like get out of their houses it's really cole it's really wet. >> while the weather bounces by, there's a lot of veterans around you can go take your family and everybody eats and you have a good time so there's a lot of things on "i" drive that you can do that doesn't have to be outdoors. >> everybody plans on watching netflix at home until the weather gets better. remember, if it's really cold, people have to go shopping and go to home depot and buy space heaters. home depot says they are sold out of space heaters a lot of people are buying firewood might think they will stream but if they are in stores shopping that will hurt some of the streaming numbers as well. that's the story here in orlando. the big companies will be able to weather the smaller

companies, maybe not 65 million visitors to orlando every year about about $65 billion in revenue for this week alone. back to you in the sunny warm studios here on the new york stock exchange. >> don't even, chemi we'll get you when you come back up believable. for people in the south and you know, this the ice problems, black ice is a real issue. >> it is. >> so when it does get cold, there's danger to be had. >> yeah. remember what happened in atlanta, what was that last year i mean, that was troublesome that does just look like a little rain though in florida which i think they are used to. >> problem with white ice in the south. not like that. >> you had to do it, triggered, automatically. >> as we go to break, take a look at the major averages of this hour. nasdaq sitting above the 7,000 level. oil above 61, interesting, it's been gathering steam as well all day long and we do have a hat trick or got a hat trick earlier this morning record highs across the board. isquawk alley"s ckft iba aer

iba aer th you always pay

your insurance on time. tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance.

well, 2017 was a bloke year at the box office. according to box office mojo theater traffic in 2017 was at its lowest level in 25 years

total tickets sold last year, 1.2 billion, that's a 5.8% drop from just the year prior in 2016, so increased ticket prices have offset some of the decline. analysts blame a weak lineup, the rise of streaming services and, of course, the ease of at-home entertainment. i don't know, i guess i'm an anti-indicator love going to the movies gets me out of the house not so much effort involved sitting back in a reserved seat in a recliningchair. kind of love it. >> netflix got above 205 today a nice little rally starting mid-morning and making a sequel to bright despite some of the negative reviews of the will smith movie and we talked about the intel news earlier and it's benefiting the likes of amd. >> if anybody is going to get a benefit, it's going to be amd. granted, this would have been a lot more painful for intel if the news had been at least more popular a month ago when people were buying their holiday pcs, but now people might be more inclined to go with this new amd

chip which is well reviewed. >> consumer discretionary stocks one of the leaders today, not the highest sector, but i would look at alta beauty, chipotle and under armour and, of course, under armour really under pressure in 2017. >> fed minutes at 2:00 keep your eye on oil which is hanging well above 61. let's get over to the judge and "the half. and welcome to "the halftime report." i'm scott wapner our top trade, doubling down on dow stocks while wall street is growing even more bullish on big names today. are the blue chips set up for yet another takeoff? with us for the hour today, joe terranova, stephanie link, brothers najarian here as well let's begin with the markets stocks coming off another day of closing highs, no fewer than six. dow components getting upgrades or positive comments steph, i wonder what you think about this this to me seems not only calls on these companies but sort of where wall stree