>> did you get one >> costco has a 90-day return policy >> just makes a mess in the apartment. i love christmas, but you don't need the tree. i was home like eight days before christmas >> you need a wife and some kids >> i do. one day. yeah >> wilf, thank you for being here >> they're all doing it, wilf! >> make sure you join us tomorrow now it's time for "squawk on the street". good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with david faber and jim cramer at the new york stock exchange. busy morning as walmart, the nation's largest employer raises wages, issues bonuses on the back of tax reform yields back to 2.56 as the chinese push back on reports of a policy shift and the ppi runs

cool our road map begins with walmart's minimum wage hike. raising starting wages to $11, handing out some one-time cash bonuses. >> plus, bitcoin tumbles one of the world's biggest cryptocurrency markets is considering a trading ban. >> and delta's tax boost the airline raising earnings guidance by 20%. first up, though, walmart's making moves in the wake of tax reform the company announcing it will increase its starting wage for hourly workers in the u.s. to $11 an hour beginning next month and pay a one-time cash bonus to eligible employees those with at least 20 years of service will qualify for a $1,000 bonus walmart also says it will expand maternity and paternal leave benefits not breaking down the numbers, but there's a good chance more than half of their million employees are going to benefit somehow in these bonuses >> this is unprecedented and i think it's a lot to do with why the market keeps rallying i mean, largest private employer in the world that's doing this i mean, david, i know that you

were the age of walmart, it's time to do the age of walmart three. this is pretty amazing >> listen, i think -- and the minimum wage increase is much more significant than the one-time bonus, even though they're only talking, frankly, about a $300 million incremental increase in terms of costs to what was already included in next year's fiscal plan for the wage increase. but 11 bucks an hour, that's an important number and will mean a lot to a lot of those employees. let's not forget the $400 million, which total cost of this, $700 million by the way, to put into perspective, they did announce a $20 million buy back over the next two years back in october of the shares. and they earned $14 billion a year so it is $700 million bucks, think of it that way but the thousand-dollar bonus, guys, is only associates with at least 20 years qualifying. and then down from there, depending on your length of service. not insignificant, for any of these people, of course not.

but let's put it in some perspective. >> but it is important to note that millions of people work there, so i mean, it can't be small. and it's also, i think, one of these things that once again, walmart started doing better when they could retain employees. when they raised the wage. one of the things that the great jim senegal told me at costco, the reason why they could always clobber these guys is because costco pays more so you don't have to train. when you train people, it's deadweight loss for three to six months i think mcmillen keeps making right moves. this is very good. and when we see jet.com come on strong this year, you're going to pay 110 for the stock it's not done. >> 20 years seniority sat walmart sounds like a long time, but not 80,000 workers have 20 years at walmart and should qualify for this full thousand bucks. of course, they raised the minimum wage to nine in 2015 to 10 in 2016 we talked to doug mcmillen a couple years ago, as the company now appears to have seen around a very big corner.

>> we want to provide a great customer experience. and we want our associates to know how much we value them. and the changes that we're making include structural changes in the stores, wage increases, training programs, and this company, as you probably know, has always been a people business. it's a people business today, and it will be tomorrow. and so our associates, their pride in the company, the ownership that they take, those things are vital to running a good retail business, and today we're investing in them and we want them to know how important they are >> does this need to -- does it collide with the idea of low prices the lowest prices? >> that's a great question, because it is -- they've done everything they can to drive down prices. what i think it's done for -- i don't know if you guys have been -- i was at a couple of walmarts in the last four months, geez, they look so different. they are kind of beautiful they have racetrack where the fresh food is. now, they do serve too much of what i call junk food.

but they have to meet whoever's there. but i think what it really does is make the stores look better man, i went to one four years ago, and i complained, i just cannot believe, i walk in, i said, i want pants, the greeter sends me to washing machines, i finally found the pants and there's nothing below a 38 waist. i mean, that's changed 38 waist can you believe it it was in louisiana. nothing to do with louisiana, but i'm just saying, they're better looking, and therefore profits are higher because the stores are able to have return visitors >> right >> it's working. >> and they do say here, of course, that they're in the early stages of assessing the opportunities tax reform creates for us to invest in our customers and associates, further strengthening their business all of which, they point out, should benefit shareholders. that does include what you're talking about, continued capital expenses and improvements in this area. you know, years ago, you mentioned, of course, my first documentary back on the age of walmart. and one of the key criticisms of this company for many years, as

the largest single employer in this country by far at the time and before amazon had asserted its dominance was how it treated its employees. they certainly have come a long way. i saw how some of those people live, on 9 bucks an hour it's not easy. and you're talking about millions of people so 11, you know, that's a big -- you're coming up a lot over a fairly short amount of time. by the way, don't scoff, as well, that now they're going to actually give you ten weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of paid paternal leave those are significant things for the workforce we're talking about, jim but whether all of it is going to be enough to continue the momentum as they compete with amazon is still a key question >> right no, i mean, amazon, the death star is not going away, but a lot of retailers started to beat it is nordstrom going to do a buyout again kohl's, they're really crushing it and one of the things that just historically, i think that bill must know is when henry ford

raised wages to $5 a day, the number of employees that bought cars actually moved the u.s. gdp. i am wondering whether walmart can play a similar role. and if the president were to stop talking about the fox guys that he watches and started talking about this kind of thing -- i know he's done a couple of them but waste management last night, that's a lot of -- >> waste management is big >> i think of the biggest employers, the ten big ploi employers, wal-mart's's the only one so far >> we're all waiting for easter brook. that's a franchise model >> what do you say to those who are frustrated when these announcements come out that the ratio of wage hikes to buybacks, wage hikes to dividends, is 90-10, right what's fair. what's appropriate >> wait until we get to these conference calls yesterday, there was a beautiful conference call by k.b. holmes last -- k.b. holmes, they're talking about what can happen.

they're just talking about huge -- i mean, they're talking about 35% tax rate down to 21. they don't even know what to do -- because it happened so quickly. no one seems to know what's going to happen. but, these are the first two calls. lenn lenn lennar, k.b. holmes, i'm not on the delta call, but what's incredible to me, these changes in the tax law are incredible. including, they get to deduct the interest past 30% ebitda not international companies, but home builders got a special privilege. >> that's right. >> i mean, it is interesting, most of the companies we've heard from so far in retail, for example, i refer to target and this is what you've heard time and again is, companies have not been capital constrained and not been held back on investing, previously. it's not necessarily going to change the way that you allocate capital. and even in other industries, alex gorsky the other day when he joined us -- >> that was a good interview >> -- i was asking about that. and essentially it remains the same box in terms of how they're

going to distribute and allocate he did say, it gives us more freedom, i guess, more flexibility is the word he used. and it's true, but it is important to put into perspective what we're talking about, 300 million or 400 million versus $14 billion profits and a buyback recently >> i'm reading that it's all that, bonuses added up are really about $1 billion. so you could say, wait a second. it's a little cynical. i spoke with some people who got a bonus and they don't think it's cynical >> no, it's not. did you get yours, by the way? >> no -- >> we didn't get ours. >> i would be surprised if we're eligible >> we're not >> not yet >> stocks are looking to rebound after the s&p and nasdaq posted their first loss of the year treasury yields in focus china rebuffing this report now, which says officials in china are looking at slowing or halting purchases of u.s. treasuries they dismiss it as fake news

and ppi, as we said, surprise decline, down 1/10 we were looking for 2/10 up. >> that's sterling the one thing that has been in the way you keep hearing is, wait a second, this is going to blow the lid off inflation on these two great home builders, kb for lennar, they said, listen, the mortgage rates are still so incredibly low, and these -- you get a number like that and suddenly you realize, maybe get the spring selling season, mortgages don't go up and you get a blowout number of houses lennar, biggest home builder in the cup now, after some acquisitions which they made in october, before knowing about the benefits of the tax bill it's an important industry look, we're going to focus on jpmorgan tomorrow. we're going to focus on wells fargo. but when you have the largest home builder saying it's all systems go, it does matter and when you have k.b. holmes saying, look, you have no idea how good things are. these are industries that people gave up on eight years ago -- what are you smirking about? >> i'm just thinking about the

fake news, the way the chinese news agency used the term "fake news" to describe this report. the way this has now entered the lexicon, in a sense that anything you disagree with -- >> anything you disagree or don't like, it's fake news >> it's unfortunate for us we do real news. >> we do but we are journalists and we can be termed fake news like that, even if it's true. >> diddo you know in the federalist areas, there were papers that were right and left. >> hamilton had a newspaper, they had a lot of fake news on both sides maybe this is really, yeah, maybe this is a forefathers situation. >> by the way, happy birthday, alexander hamilton today >> us with it really >> that guy could sing he was like a triple threat. >> i think he was a quadruple threat >> did you know how good he was? >> i didn't fully appreciate him. >> he would have his own show

now. >> totally >> when we come back, delta shares get a boost this morning. there's a big reason why the airline is raising guidance for 2018 we'll fill you in. nest ceo tony fadell, the co-creator of the ipod, in a tweet storm, he says, device addiction is real. you'll hear who he says is responsible. take another look at the premarket. gains for january are already dwarfing that of december. more "squawk on the street" from more "squawk on the street" from post nine in a minute.a coach i. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math. ooh. so, why don't traders have c who says they don't? coach mcadoo! you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum -- just to help you improve your skills. boom! that's lesson one. education to take your trading to the next level. only with td ameritrade.

bitcoin is under pressure again. south korea's government says it's preparing legislation to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country's exchanges. in china, authorities have ordered the closing of an operation that creates a large share of the world's bitcoin supply morgan stanley had a note yesterday, talking about the power consumption eequivalequivo the power used by argentina this year >> i think, by the way, if they really want to do some mining, dominion is very low-cost power in virginia. that's why alphabet has picked that >> fascinating, michelle's report earlier on "squawk box. she'll be back a number of times throughout the day that area in washington state, very low power and the enormous

usage that is required to mine bitcoin, these pharmacy. >> she said it's chinese chips, but nvidia and amd chips that are principally used and both of those companies are trying to back away from it, because they don't want to be linked to a possible decline although, look, they have great technology, but bitcoin clearly under pressure those who buy bitcoin related items, you know, this is not what you want. it does feel like it's going to test some level. i don't know >> what do you mean? >> well, i mean, if you bought it at 20,000, what are you thinking >> did it hit 20 >> close, yeah >> 19. >> are you a buyer of the eastman kodak company now that it's block chain >> i like palm palm's good. >> palm is good. >> right who else are we investing in that -- bunch. you know, barrows, univac. >> the power of two. >> i'm all over controlled data as a possibility how about bell and howell,

they've got -- >> they've got some serious -- >> there are great brand names that are avail >> singer sewing machine company. >> they investigated the singer family >> remember paul belzarian, remember that guy. >> yeah, these are all -- not to be too facetious, because the cryptoids will come after us, but there is a notion this thing is coming down i wonder if whether the more the government comes down, the more exciting it is for the cryptoids. >> it appears to be working in countries where currencies are already unstable, right? >> right >> that's where a large part of the interest is. >> venezuela will have a couple million barrels of oil offline >> but they're trying to create their own asset-back eed crypto- with their oil production.

>> do they have block chain? >> yes >> they have block chain in venezuela? >> yeah, maduro block chain. >> it's on tv all the time >> it is >> according to michelle's report they talk about it constantly. >> really? >> constantly. >> i do they teach it in school? >> if i knew spanish, i might learn something. bull unfortunately, i would have to learn that too. >> we're going to be blasted -- you know who's really under a lot of fire by the cryptoids >> who >> buffett they're all saying buffett missed amazon, missed google and now he's going to miss this. what does he know? and i come back with that 20% lifetime performance but they are not -- they say he missed it. one guy says he's got to get on the bus or else. what is that >> he's lost his touch has 304,000 a share or something like that.

>> buffett, he was great at one time >> delta is up positive in all five region for the first time in five years and raising guidance for the year, citing additional benefits from tax reform, which is an interesting discussion, because they say it's good for the corporate spend. the airlines themselves don't pay high-cash tax rates, but the expensing is obviously a big deal >> yes, it is. but the other thing about delta, by the way, see their operating cash flow? these are companies, we're all used to them having no money now they have a lot of money and they can start buying equipment. do you ever wonder why boeing is up every day, like a buck and a half before the market begins? do you see that? >> i have seen boeing for a long time, we pointed out, this is the airline industry that couldn't earn its cost to capital anywhere near that a number of years ago, it flipped. maybe helped by anti-trust or lack thereof when it came to basically becoming what four airlines in the country. >> i wonder if it's whether

because on monday night, the consumer confidence, we had a plane of 728, regena gilligan, and then they called us, had the flight to tampa. maybe it's another way to make money, is to do that incredible inconvenience. >> mm-hmm. >> delta and jfk, how'd that do? these companies are making -- i understand how bad service was when they were make nothing money. it's more hard now >> it's now, a hundred bucks if you've got four suitcases, you're in for $100 additional. obviously, no service whatsoever by the way, they're not including tv screens any longer, because of the weight. they're facing those out >> first class has gotten so bad, i got a cheese and meat plate. >> i wasn't in first class recently >> i told them it was a novel dinner, and they said, thank you. >> when we come back, we'll get cramer's mad dash and count down to the opening bell. take another look at the premarket. more "squawk on the street" from

the nyc is back in a minute.

♪ all right. we got about, what, 6 1/2 or so minutes before we get started trading on this thursday mad dash time, my friend where are you headed >> you know something, my wife was in janpoor over the weekend in india she made some tandoori chicken last night and while she was away, i bingeed on "the punisher."

i binged on something that is as big as the shift -- this is incredible -- from the steam engine toward electricity. barclays, 52 pages, talking about that that's really the equivalent that's what you have to go back to, to try to figure out the evolution. industrial revolution, netflix the new industrial revolution. 52 pages about how this is a great company. >> okay. >> interesting, they're new to it are they early >> you know, really, this streaming thing is for real, you mean >> they said aggregation versus segregation is important retail versus wholesale. there are some insights you could only glean from waking up in the morning technology heavy sillset versus content heavy skill set. it's the twilight of the idols and this is bigger than a steam engine david, they're bigger than u.s. steel! >> a hundred times bigger than u.s. steel >> this is a remarkable report, david, because what it says is

that netflix is the winner everybody else -- >> doesn't people start from shorting the stock ubs puts out a list of crowded longs and shorts number five is netflix on the crowded short list tesla is number one, but number five is netflix. >> it's pretty crowded >> it is crowded >> what are you doing on this three-day weekend? binge? >> might do a little bingeing. >> did you even know you were? >> you know who's buried next to alexander hamilton right down the road here? fulton >> fulton kptofulton?! >> he's saying, are you kidding me?! are you kidding me?! we've got the opening lljube, st a couple of minutes away

you're watching cnbc, "squawk on the street. live from the financial capital of the world the opening bell in 90 seconds on this hursday, as we pay attention to walmart's wage hikes and tax-related bonuses. a big question this morning is whether the treasury sell-off was a blip yesterday bill gross this morning in his

note says bonds, like men, are in a bear market sees 27 by the end of the year >> geez. hey, boo boo >> best time to start is now >> can we please just accept that this -- that if this is the bear market in bonds, you're going to need a microscope to look at it you'll need a hubble telescope honestly, we're making too much of this. shouldn't we have a little inflection, anyway what would be so bad if we had a little steepness in the yield curve in terms of what's going to happen tomorrow when you hear jpmorgan talk. what's he going to say >> i do not know you've brought it up a number of times. do you have some expectation beyond what's out there in terms of what they're going to say >> i think he's going to say, it's a new dawn. it's a new dawn in america >> really? >> yeah. >> in what way as a result of tax reform, specifically >> yeah, i think it's going to be really, really big.

and i've got to tell you, he is -- people are just telling me that it's going to be through the roof, bullish. >> he has been very positive he has been very positive. >> there's the opening bell at the bottom of your screen of the big board, it is norwegian cruise line holdings, celebrating its fifth anniversary. we'll speak with the ceo in about 45 minutes over at the nasdaq, drama series "the brave" on nbc actress ann hache doing the owner owners >> that was bob addlenkickrk >> we'll hear more from him tomorrow as the post goes into nationwide release starting tomorrow >> that's a big deal >> dow is up 55. ge doesn't move the index a lot guys >> that change at the top there on baker hughes' ge, which is

obviously is so important. that's going to make the bears -- men and bears, they're going to have to run for cover if he gets a good price. if oil keeps going higher, it's better to be lucky than good this might be bailed out because of an asset. schlumberger has been going up pretty much nonstop. and i think that this is a kind of a cats and dogs thing that jeff immelt put together, but maybe there's -- >> $64 in wti. that helps >> it is the best -- it is -- but it is -- >> nobody's talking about -- ge? >> no, baker hughes. >> there seems to be a lot of -- that they will sell their majority ownership although not right away. >> can you sell it back? how does this structure, david -- >> not sure. >> i understand it's prohibitive to them. but everything's on the table. by the way, the chartists are telling me that it's out of this

world. yesterday, warren buffett said it's still a great american company. >> it is the best performer on the dow. >> you know buffett would know he always understands the structure. >> he has a pretty good sense for what makes a good company. >> except he's missed the kr cryptoid move. >> but some would say there was a determination at ge that was marked >> it could be behind them, david. it could all be behind them. it could be in the past. >> really, youn think so? >> no. but you're going to hear that. >> the worst performer last year by far and now this year, up almost 10% in just less than two weeks. >> how big is that conference call going to be when he lays things out >> flannery's conference call? >> yes, they've got to talk about how the dividend is not a problem, talk about the cash flow, put the bears back into jellistone national park i don't know it's going to be a tall task. >> it will be. >> not just your average bear.

>> those health care costs, too. remember -- >> they got some of those legacy problems yeah, you're talking about the long-term care >> yes >> the asterisk for this >> yeah. >> that's going to be difficult. >> oil did get above 64. you got to go back now to 2014, december of 2014 what do you -- what are you looking at are we talking 80 in a year or two? >> venezuela goes offline. if you listen to schlumberger's last call, the ceo was saying, listen, the international companies, the countries, they've just not been drilling nearly enough to be able to replenish their coffers. they'll have to do it real soon. the way a well depletes itself, i think that's important obviously, i think world demand is a little bit stronger we're at an inflection point, but i think, look, we're pumping the most ever, from russia to brazil, did a piece about how the bakken is back online. so i think that there's -- look, there's money -- here's what

we'll have to see. like koriso did a big deal, much, much lower i'm waiting for the oil companies to be issuing shares again and getting more liquefie and start buying other oil companies. and that will be the sign that things are really healthy. most of the analysts aren't there. >> but you're not -- when will we start talking about it a as a tax on corporate profits, corporate margins, gasoline year on year, jim >> look, i think a lot of people bought -- they've sold their guzzlers it is going to happen. it's going to be one of those worries that you're going to hear about i was so worried about all the banks that were on the hook. only a couple of years ago, we had bank of america say, don't worry about criticizing our loans. no one's criticizing those loans. >> do you worry about the growth of the electric vehicles china reading about it today it's still a small part of their overall sales. there are 28 million vehicles a year in china. >> gm sold 4 million

>> but electric is taking up a larger and larger portion overall. it's growing fast. >> it will not be small five years from now why did gm and ford have such a hard time? listen, svolvo is all electric. i'm a huge believer at a certain point you want to be in power. >> there is also the autonomous vehicles that are coming and the thought you'll have a lot fewer vehicles bought as you get fleets of autonomous vehicles roaming the streets. that will change, so many things, when we get full autonomy for automobiles being ubiquitous i don't know how many years away it is -- >> oh, it's close. i was speaking to the retiring ceo of domino's. and i told him, i'm surprised you retired for what i think will be a real boom for them self-driving cars for dominos. >> you think that would be helpful for them >> you set the gps they're always like, where are

you, mr. cramer? they don't know. but if you have self-driving cars with gps, you can be able to have maybe three or four more deliveries per, per drive. and that is where the gross margin is going to go up for domino's >> you have a lot of investors now trying to understand what it is going to mean so thinking, three to five years that we'll start to see a lot more awe ton mutonomous vehicle road people will say, all that parking space that you're out of urban center malls have, or that -- no longer needed it's going to need to be -- >> parking garages in urban centers, but even outside -- it's all going to need to be re -- is there an opportunity there? and you get to things like hospital vehicles from accidents and trial attorneys. insurance rates, we've talked about. >> it's all real look, the number of miles th thatwthat way moe has logged >> not to mentioned teslas, that

are logging a lot of miles, too. >> although hackett was the only auto executive at ces. >> i know. i would have thought there would be more. but i do think that when you get these trillion of -- look, chips that can calculate a trillion inputs you know that's safer than what we are do you think that if we were to invent the car now, would we really have it be driven by humans why would you do that? humans sleep, human text i had a guy texting the other day when he was driving me back from the airport and he was -- i said, what are you doing? he said, i'm going to brooklyn he said, i'll back up. no, you can't back up! like, why -- he was worried about the georgia game there is really -- we need humans away from the steering wheel. drunk humans versus smart computers, who do you want to be in the car with? >> i'm ready >> you are >> i'm totally ready put me in that backseat, give me the big screen, take me to

whatever you want to go. >> you want to be back there -- >> yeah, i want to be back there relaxing with my netflix >> again, saved adavid and his vaping -- >> i saw a guy vaping on the subway yesterday some guy sitting there and all this smoke is coming out >> i can't see him for 20 seconds. i'm like, what are you doing you're doing what cramer says i do >> jim, we saw some crazy price action yesterday on these nafta concerns especially out of the canadians. and again today, officials in ontario, chances of u.s. leaving nafta must be taken seriously. >> my charitable trust with the great rob sands, an unbelievable performer. and people abandoned that stock instantly when they heard it, because they import mexican beer can i remind you, one of the single greatest gross margin positives for constellation, is

the fact if the peso goes down, they can bring in more beer. it's fabulous for them people got this wrong. they're going to have to start realizing that like phil lebeau says, that they are going to be -- they made 5 million cars last year. it's bad the talk about nafta and pulling out is bad for our country >> did you add stz to -- >> i had to. rob sands talking about a $3 billion buyback, and recognizing because a couple wines didn't sell that well, i think constellation is a juggernaut. $3 billion being put to work right here don't forget, pacifico is going to be the number one beer soon that company is responsible for all of the growth in the total spirits -- the total beverage category just amazing >> another company that was created by anti-trust enforcement, by the way. >> totally true. >> charged about three to four

for pacifico, why don't you try seven, eight bucks the millennials love it now. millennials like to pay more for things that are cool i'm starting to figure out the millennials. >> are you >> yeah, they're stupid as wood, no insult to plywood, which you know is made of strand board and has some real gusto. >> it does worth mentioning that walmart, while in a very important story is not much of a stock story at least today, the stock is not doing much of anything, it is down despite the fact that they are increasing the minimum wage for their employees from 10 to $11, also instituting a $1,000 bonus, at least if you've been there over 20 years and goes down from there depending on length of service, increasing their paid maternal leave, paternity leave. >> an impact was robert fulton, the steam engine, the next industrial revolution led by netflix. what an economy we're going to have >> netflix is up 1.3% and is

already up 12% this year >> netflix >> yes >> i mean, do you remember when it was ridiculous they were bigger than cbs. do you remember that >> they're four times the size >> and remember when the original content, people said, that's going to be bad and too expensive. >> and now you've got hulu adding 40% -- 17 million users now on hulhulu >> it's incredible as people start hopping -- >> hulu obviously will be controlled by disney >> and then yesterday, you had that story, what are people doing in terms of rabbit ears and the antenna. >> what about it >> well, i'm saying that the regular networks are having trouble, but netflix, no >> no. >> no. right. but we were also talking about, it's this offer surfing, where people are using the opportunity of a few free days to switch so they never have to pay i can go to cbs all-access for a free trial or -- >> but go back to what you said,

david, about that shorted list people at home have to recognize that the bet against netflix, which has been going on forever, is becoming a bet that is crushed. >> oh, my god, absolutely. >> the only stock that has been a better performer of f.a.n.g. than what patty doyle did with the 2,000% domino's, 2,000% since he came in and said, our pizza tastes like cardboard, the box tastes better, is netflix. >> by the way, that is one of the most crowded short names, domino's, jim. >> oh, i know, they always raid that stock >> is that because, look, it's number three on this list. >> a lot of this -- there's an outfit that was measuring receipts, saying that -- now, they do have a big conference next week. i think they get domino's. look, let me just advise people. if anyone were to bet against domino's and try domino's, which they don't, because they're such snobs, they would know like i do that it's delicious. >> if you look at the number of overall shorts and bears in the

ai survey again today, they're struggling for ideas >> oh, they have to be they have to be. when does a bear shoot in new jersey that we participate in? >> that's over, i think. >> it is calling of the bears the hedge funds, where do they hide >> a lot of them aren't really shorting anything. you know that. >> they can try. >> long only >> how about that guy buffett, who shorts -- wants a five-year put on the cryptoid thing. >> you like baiting those cryptoids, don't you >> anyone who paid $13,000, 14,000 is an idiot that's my view okay >> okay. >> all right >> all right >> so you can see, we got s&p naz up for the seventh time in eight days let's get to bob pisani. >> good morning, carl. happy thursday another strong open and a very narrow pre-market trading. didn't quite seize the this kinf move to the upside europe's down fractionally

whatwe we're seeing is what we used to call the reflation trade. banks are up, but materials are up, energy is up, oil is comfortably over $64 and what's lagging is the consumer staples, the more defensive name semiconductors are finally making a move positively they've been doing largely nothing for the last couple of months see that reflation trade got to mention the airlines. new highs for delta and american you saw that strong commentary of jetblue and delta's guidance yesterday from united. and american, these have been really on fire recently, and pushing the transports to new highs. earlier, of course, it was the railroads, now it's the airlines here's that rotation we keep talking about. now we're going into earnings season tomorrow with the banks starting this will be a big one and a very, very important one much more important than normal. here's what's going on earnings will be up almost 12% compared to the same period a year ago this was the fourth quarter. but what's really important is all 11 sectors in the s&p are going to be up

that very rarely happens here's the other important thing. revenues are going to be up 7% in all 11 sectors are also going to see revenue jumps now, remember the big complaint about earnings a few years ago it's just cost cutting, it doesn't matter there's no top-line growth that's wrong, it's not true anymore. and this is one of the reasons the rally has been so strong, because top-line growth is now a major contributor to the earnings growth that we have been seeing. another reason the rally is continuing margins are not deteriorating. the great fear last year was somehow we would see margins, which are now close to 10%, record highs, suddenly fall apart because people had to engage in some kind of dropping prices sore some other thing was going to affect the margins overall. that's not happening we're holding up on the margins. another reason the rally is going. a third reason the rally keeps going is analysts are raising estimates, going into the first quarter. i want to show you financials and energy this is for the first quarter, the one we're in now, october 1st, they had financials up 10%.

now they have them up 18%. on october 1st, analysts had energy up 27%. now it's up 53%. look at the differences. they have almost doubled the estimates for earnings growth in this quarter compared to just a couple of months ago that's a huge boost up, and that's, again, one of the reasons that we're continuing to see the rally so strong. so, we have record highs we have margins not deteriorating, we have analysts raising estimates. are there any risks? yes. there are several. the most immediate risk that we are seeing is some kind of guidance disappointment. so, remember, a lot of these companies are going to be taking one-tame charges due to deferred taxes, things like that. some of them may be very reluctant to give very broad, positive guidance that everyone is expecting to hear i think that may be the most immediate risk less immediate is an aggressive fed, because the economy is overheating. that may be an issue for the next couple of months in march, but it is not immediate. not immediate at all, certainly not in the first nine months of the year, in my opinion, and

most everybody else is the risk of recession remember, recession, aggressive fed, those are the two things that historically kill rallies finally, you're going to hear a lot of reports tomorrow about massive outflows from bond funds. i anticipate these three, these are the big three, barclays aggregate, which is a combination of all the bonds, total bond, and vanguard another big one. and there's the corporate bond that's lqd on the bottom you'll hear about outflows they're down this week i think i would note that the rate yields on these are still very good. almost 3.5% for the corporate bond, that lqd and i don't think people are going to abandon these wholesale. here's where a lot of people will make a big mistake. you'll hear about outflows from high field funds, like the hyd for example, you'll put that up. that's a typical one here. i would point out that in high yield, the risk is not generally interest rate risk it is credit risk. and credit is going to be excellent. and you're going to hear this from the banks tomorrow, and i think that's going to validate

the idea remember something, the yield on these high-yield funds right now, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4%. still pretty good, overall just off the highs here, carl. 54 points on the dow >> thank you so much, bob pisani let's get to the bond pits as well rick santelli the pit. >> bob's on to something we pay close attention to the barclays high-yield spread, and he's absolutely right on the credit risk. but do keep in mind that it has been under pressure as of late and many times, when you get a nervous credit market, you get a nervous hyg market they cross-fertilize each other, for exactly that reason. if there's credit deterioration, it's also going to affect the equity side of the ledger. but right now, it seems as though the hyg, even though it's given up some room, is more a function of rates moving up and you know what, china has been a story yesterday that was mostly debunked. but i will tell you, debunked or

not, what's going on in treasuries is a long process it isn't about one pop-up story, whether true or not true that's almost the biggest story here two-day of two-year, yes, we've eased off the gas pedal a bit. it has been climbing like a staircase to heaven for quite a while. but it seems to have shifted to another two-year. the two-year shot in europe. it really, minus 56, minus 57 doesn't sound like a high yield, but it's zooming pretty quick, as you see on that two-day chart. as a matter of fact, if you want to get some perspective here, go big! let's go january 2015. you see that this level right around the mid-50s, minus mid-50s is very key. we could be breaking through here you want to watch it i'll tell you, our central bank is going to have a big impact on all the other central banks and it's going to be a reversal of current policy now, if we look at what's going on with our ten-year, you see a two-day, look at it since march. that's the last time we were here listen, this 260 to 263 area is going to be formidable

i don't expect that we're going to slice through it like a hot knife through butter finally, let's get to foreign exchange all i need is the july chart of the euro versus dollar i could show you the dollar index. the difference would be, we're playing on theyer with 92 on the dollar. don't fool yourself. this is a big trade. what's fascinating is how hunkered down it's been. listen, all things considered, you want less volatility, it's better for the global financial system carl, jim, david, back to you. >> thanks so much. when we come back, a lot to talk about with magazine editor tina brown including the media landscape in the age of donald trump. dow's up 62 points, s&p 2754 now. back in a minute (siren wailing) (barry murrey) when you have a really jury,

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wti gets above 64, now 6440. go back to december of 2014 is, actually before that when it was veound the same lel. we're watching that closely. dow is up 72 back in a moment

let's get to jim and stop trading. > kb homes, on their conference call the economy is growing, labor market is healthy and consumer confidence is high that's the key look what that stock is doing,

this is all about tax reform the fact that people want to buy homes. they've got the land this is a juggernaut people were short this thing at 12, 13, 14, 15 this thing's killed more bears than what was that movie where they got the kodiak in the net >> "the edge." what's on mad" tonight. >> denny's a grand slam you can make your own grand slam now there. jon miller is a great executive. they've bought back a gigantic amount of stock. the stock goes higher. the mill stk shakes are very real. 60 m.asrnney":0p. ete time dow is up almost 80 on this thursday thursday don't go away. and the nx hybrid. experience amazing, at your lexus dealer.

boeing soared in 2017. can it remain a dow leader or is it heading for touch excellence in squawk in the street" today cnbc ♪ >> good thursday morning welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla ma lis la lee is here. sarah is off today dow is up 87 s&p up to 2757 oil on a tear of its own up above 64 our road map responding to tax reform walmart and delta making big

announcements on the heels of the bill. >> china casting doubt on a report it is considering trimming its u.s. treasury holdings we'll go live to beijing. >> cryptocurrency getting slanged as the third largest cryptomarket prepares a trading ban. >> first, walmart responding to the new tax bill announcing it is raising starting wage, giving some employees bonuses our courtney regan joins us with more. >> so the world's largest retailer and largest private employer giving employs a wage increase and enhanced benefits thanks to the new tax reform bill eligible associates get a bonus. they will cost walmart approximately $400 million in the current fiscal year ending january 31st in february, walmart will increase the starting wage to $11 an hour in addition to wage

increases already planned in the various markets. so the starting wage is currently $9 for the first 90 days after that and cop pleasing of a training program, it's bumped up to $10 they say once the increase goes into affect, hourly pay will range from $11 to $24.70 the increase will add an additional $300 million in labor expenses into the fiscal year. that wasn't previously included in the guidance because we didn't have thetach reform bill. beyond the bonus and pay increase, full-time hourly associates will be eligible for ten weeks of paid maternity leave, six weeks paid parent leaf at 50 to 60%. no parental leaf so it puts it the full time hourly associated and searle employees more at a part for these benefits walmart is introducing a new adoption benefit $5,000 per child to help cover expenses like agency fees and legal costs. the retailer says the combined

wage and benefit changes will benefit the company's 1 million plus u.s. hourly associates. the ceo says it's assessing other opportunities that the reform creates for the retailer. we'll learn more on february 20th it sounds like this isn't the end. carl, back over to you. >> courtney reagan we should note delta is also making changes based on the new bill we'll have more on this with phil lebeau. >> stocks are bouncing back this morning. all three in the green with the dow hitting a fresh record high. bonds making a comeback after the china jolt yesterday brian belski investment strategist and alan russ kin good orning. brian, markets going your way. how long is that going to last >> i think it's not over yet i think everybody continues to try to forecast in this mythical pullback and correction. the fundamental construct of the

market remains pretty good and we're going to see great earnings we think to the tune of 11%, 12% in the fourth quarter equating to double digit increases for fiscal 2017. so maybe we see a little bit of a slowdown in terms of the price momentum on the upside following earnings this january performance portends to stronger performance into the year. it's about the fundamental construct of the market and investors becoming increasingly confident in believing the fundamentals of the u.s. market. >> some of the skeptics point out that the dollar had a lot to do with performance in '17 worst year in ten years. equivalent to 100 basis points of easing. if that reverses in '18, you might see offset is that not true >> it could be true. i don't think we're going to see much offset. what you have is a rerating of the euro rather than anything particularly negative on the dollar because the euro is the strong

sort of anti-policy, other side of the dollar, it's tugging the dollar down. that's still going to be a story, probably more the second half of the year than the first half. >> you don't expect corporate guidance to be colored with headwinds, currency headwinds? >> no, i think the currency story will still be a bit of a lag the effect on the earnings side earnings will still say we've got tail winds from the currency. >> how concerned are you if at all, brian, about interest rates? the action in yesterday's session based on the initial bloomberg report that are beijing is backing away from bonds, that rattled the market and gave you a glimpse of how concerned invests are about rising rates at what point do you start getting concerned? >> it's a great question because if you think about it, interest rates have been going down 35 years in particular since the credit crisis. you've had an investor group in the last ten years all they've seen is the momentum on the upside in terms of bond prices

of course, they're worried about bond yields heading higher and bond prices heading lower because they've never seen that and haven't invested in those types of markets that's why we remain exquisitely positioned we believe in financials where we still think that the majority of our institutional clients around the world are massively underexposed to financials. you've seen what's happened to the yield proxies with respect to telecom, utilities. we still think from a longer term perspective, there's too much utilities and even growth accounts in america. so the key thing with respect to interest rates is how you look at valuations. we're hearing and seeing a lot of people downgrading stocks we think that's the absolute wrong thing to do especially given the fact that valuation doesn't necessarily portend future performance we're going to see over the next two years we think multiples

flattening as earnings grow more than price performance that's the trend we believe will dilute interest rate fees. >> alan, specific to china, not dealing with their holdings of treasuries but something that may not be much of a focus for u.s. investors, trade and what, if anything, is done in terms of the trump administration and various threats made following through on potential sanctions do you think the market is accounting for that possibility? is it an overall concern >> it should be a concern. i think we're watching the nafta story very closely because the filing that canada has done an the wto could apply, as well to china. china could climb on the back of some of that initiative in which case you could have a few countries ganging up against the u.s. i think the trade story is, you know, one that's very important obviously for mexico, canada, but particularly with china because china is a story of trade on the one side that the u.s. is going to be banging on about, and then china on the

other side saying look here, we do hold quite a big stick here because the financial elements are important. they can actually do as per the fake news story say look here, we don't have as much interest in your bonds. admittedly they don't have much choice out there the european bond markets are hardly the place to go at this point. >> tina, there is no alternative in some cases. finally, brian, i wonder how you respond to people who still argue that while the market may not be expensive, we're a late cycle. the savings rate went from 6 to 3. unemployment from 10 to 4. what more clear signals do you need >> well, i would say that the more academic you are with respect to looking at this market, the more you fail. macro investing failed, quantitative investing failed. i can make an argument frankly that we're early cycle because now we're starting to see earnings accelerate. i think we spend way too much

time drying to diagnose the cycles from a macro perspective and not looking at companies anymore. companies' fundamentals drive markets longer term. i think we're trying to be so right, we don't want to be wrong. that's the key thing with trying to call these cycles i can make an argument we've seen five cycles since 2009. we're early cycle with respect to where earnings are going where fundamental momentum is placed in the united states stock market. >> a final thought on that >> look, i think it's the easiest macro trade seems to be equity is higher i wouldn't fade it at this point. that's still the way to go i would say final thought, bond yields backing up. all about an oil story right now. if oil continues to chug higher that, could become disruptive for bond market abc for the equity markets watch that one more closely. >> we definitely are thanks, guys good to see you. >> we spend time talking about china there. another story we're following is

china's response to the reports it could trim u.s. treasury holdings eunice is in beijinging with details on that story. eunice. >> reporter: well, china has been denied that it's backing away from buying u.s. treasuries the country's 4x regulator put out a statement on its website today saying that the report by bloomberg may have quoted wrong information and they suggested that the news story was fake news now, the regulator went on to say that china manages and invests its foreign currency reserves with a principle of diversification to ensure the overall safety of the assets and that its investment in u.s. treasury bonds is market driven. now, we in china here have heard time and again this concern and fear that china could be changing its position of its holdings of u.s. treasuries. but for the most part, the holdings have been more or less the same currently china is the largest

holder of u.s. government debt and it stands at $1.19 trillion. now, most people who i've been speaking to say that it's nearly impossible if not outright impossible for china to be significantly change its holdings because of the fact that beijing runs a current account surplus. it has massive currency reserves it has a lot of that in dollars, and it has to put those dollars someplace, maybe throw some of that money at sovereign wealth funds but mainly it has to keep it very, very liquid that forces the chinese government to then invest in u.s. treasure pripz now, chinese government doesn't necessarily like this whole idea because we've seen that the government has been trying to push this diversification strategy over a number of years. it hasn't had a whole lot of success as it tries to promote its relationship with other central banks and currency swaps and try to appropriate its own currency, as well. so far it, hasn't made a ton of

progress on that front so we're seeing that the chinese government definitely wants to make some of these changes but is forced to really deal in u.s. dollars because the global financial system still mainly deals with the greenback guys >> yeah, echo of what our guests were just saying thanks, eunice yoon from beijing. dea a look how the financial sector is set up heading into tomorrow and media and magazine legend tina brown will join us for her take on the state of the industry, harassment and more. record highs for the dow, transports, russell and the nasdaq dow is up 90 when this bell rings... ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business,

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80s 2018 guide sns largely due to tax reform. phil lebeau joins us with all the details. >> big day for delta look at fourth quarter earnings. they did beat the street earning 96 cents a share, eight cents better than expected the fourth quarter we've talked how the global airline market is improving. that came through for delta. passenger revenue up 4.2%. it was positive in every region of the world first type that's happened for delta in five years. but the news that's moving the

stock today, the guidance for 2018 it's a big increase. up 20% in terms of earnings they expect in this year. the guide sns up primarily due to the benefits of the tax reform here's the new guidance, 635 to 670 per share what delta expects to earn this year. a $1 increase from what the company was expecting just a month ago when met with analysts the consensus this morning before the guidance was at $5.94 a share. no doubt we will see that number increase and notes from analysts coming out throughout the day. the call has just begun. we're listening in ed bastion, the ceo said this is the best earnings momentum they have seen in five years. we'll hop back on the call we have more updates we'll give to you. >> a quick question. at that meeting, dealt at that time indicated that tax refor could benefit them by $1 to $1.25. is this on top of -- did they put that into the guidance when

they raised it, or is this the $1 to $1.25 they were talking about then. >> that they were expecting. so in other words, they were down at $5.35 to $5.70 when they gave guidance in december. a lot of analysts said we think they're going to get benefit here that's why the consensus was $5.94. $635 to $6.70 is what they're setting for this year. >> all right, thanks, phil. >> big banks getting ready to report jpmorgan and wells kick things off tomorrow before the bell for our spotlight, how segments of of the financial sector are positioned going into earningsings with mike. >> people expecting pretty good things out of the banks obviously. one of the favorite sectors since the election and has been an outperformer. what's interesting is how the different segments within financials performed in a stop/start way if you look at the best known

etf, the xlf, the financial sector of the s&p 500 outperformed the broader market and it's not been the banks that have done most of the work the bank index, the kbe right here, has been slightly -- somewhat worse over the last year in the past year, tracking interest rates for most part in the past year, it's been the nonbank financials that have led. that kce is the capital markets etf. brokerage firms, things like that that's been the clear leader out there right now. i think one of the interesting things to note about the xlf, a lot of people don't know this berkshire hathaway is more than 11% of that etf. most people don't think of that as purely as a financial, less than half of the xlf is banks. 44% or something like that so that was the performance over the last year. year to date though, it has been the pure banks winning if you look at the kbe, that bank index, kre, regional banks

have picked up the pace year to date that means seven sessions so far. it's interesting that's when bond yields started to lift a little bit maybe that's what the trade is right now. what i struggle with is how consensus and how easy the bold case for financials and everybody seems to be talking about it can it be as six as lower taxes, lower regulation and maybe rates go higher. that's beak the sum total. so i keep asking, it's a game of checkers and you're going to win, not chess. >> what happened to lone growth in the last four weeks of the year crazy drop-off. >> exactly then the big bulge in revolving credit going up. i think it's worth asking. i don't know if there was a freeze as people waited for tax reform all that stuff will be interesting. maybe it's going to get more textured as we find out exactly what's going on in the businesses >> you said 44% of xlf is banks. balance are insure hers. >> it's asset managers, as well.

>> interesting the last few days of this coverage to understand the composition of some of these etfs you're not get whaug think you are. >> it's not always intuitive berkshire, it has been a great stock. half a trillion dollars in market value but you would never say it moves in tune with what the general traditional banks or investment banks do. >> we don't cover it on bank earnings day, for example,ing. > mike, thank you. coming up, cryptocurrencies getting hammered we've got all the details and hear from former cmiior omssne bart chilton "squawk on the street" will be right back don't go away.

norwegian cruise line holdings ringing the opening bell celebrating the fifth anniversary of its ipo and recent listing here at the nyse. joining us is the president and ceo of the cruise line frank del rio.

welcome, congratulations on your anniversary. >> great to be here. >> how are things these days you're just telling us how strong it is everywhere in the world. >> it's been a very strong booking environment. it's been that way for the last six months -- six quarters or so i think it's going to continue unemployment rate is the an all-time low interest rates are low the wealth effect of the stock market this morning we hit an all-time high on the dow s&p the same thing today now with the tax cuts, people are going to have more disposable income to spend on discretionary items like a cruise we're excited about that. >> have you raised your guidance on the back of the impact of tax reform whether it be just from lower corporate tax rate for you or because of the wealth effect you expect consumers -- >> we're not going to talk about guidance today that awkward period in between quarters >> you sound pretty positive on the impact. >> i'm very bullish on the cruise industry. in our last earnings call, we said that we were better booked

at significantly higher prices than weigh ever had been that trend has copied. and therefore, i feel very, very good about the industry and about our particular company. >> you got your eye on what oil is doing >> yeah, yeah. but you know, oil represents 8%, 9% of costs. we're well edged >> it's behind labor in terms of costs? >> absolutely. we'll well hedged. and we don't see that as a significant headwind or tail wind we managed that pretty well. >> all the stocks are doing really well. royal caribbean, carnival are pretty much sitting at or close to record highs. you're a few bucks from your all-time high. how competitive is it? it seems like everything is doing very well across the board. do you have to cut prices in order to get people on your boats as opposed to letting them go to royal caribbean? >> ships. >> sorry. >> i'm anti-cutting price. we have a different philosophy

of how to attract customers to our brand. we market to fill. we provide greater value the consumer wants value, not necessarily lower prices that's why we lead the industry in yield growth and in absolute yield. so luckily, as i said earlier, business has been very strong. pricing is very, very strong, as well and that's why profits are hitting all-time highs >> we were talking about demographics during the commercial break i've never been on a cruise. my two colleagues have at least. you're bringing it down. are you going to get to the point where you appeal to those very important millennials that seem to be the focus of everybody? >> a quarter of our guests on board today are millennials. the fastest growing both in percentage terms and absolute terms. so it's no longer your grandfather's cruise line. >> why is that. >> do they buy the tickets or are they brought on the ship by a grandparent or somebody else >> everything. grandparents buy cruises

parents buy cruises. boomers, don't forget the boomers. they're still the largest percentage of those who cruise but the generation xeres and millennials are fastest growing. you have not been on a ship. they're fantastic these days it's not just one big buffet line we've got a brand-new ship coming online in early may here in new york. we'll get you on that one. think of a thousand foot long racetrack. double-decker eight turns, two of the turns are banked and cantilevered over the side of the vessel ten race cars can race at 35 miles per hour on top of the ship it's incredible. technology is allowing these kinds of things. i've done it several times now with my grandkids, my family i haven't had that much fun since i learned how to ride a bike it's off the charts. so those kinds of things dining on board is still important. this vessel will have 24 dining outlegs. everything from mexican to

barbecue to french, italian steakhouse, seafood. a great casino spa shops. don't forget on a typical seven-day cruise out of new york where you go to florida, bahamas, you hit three different destinations >> you should go into sales. >> i'm ready book me up right now what do you gottliebing? something tomorrow >> you had him at racetrack. frank, thanks for your time. great to see you frank del rio. >> when we come back, the regulation debate. prices of major cryptocurrencies are down this former we'll check inning with bart chilton on that issue next a quick check on stocks. dow and transports and russell hit record highs dow is up 9 points don't go away. we could go down this waterfall, honey... dow is up 89 points. whooo! yeah! don't go away. wa dow is up 89 points. it's good, it's refreshing. ♪

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good morning i'm sue herera here's your news update at this hour

hundreds of rescuers continuing their search for survivors in the wake of the devastating mud slides that hit southern california the death toll rising to 17 with 48 more still reported missing at least 50 people have been rescued by helicopters. the los angeles times reporting that five women have accused actor james franco of sexual misconduct. four were students in an acting film school he founded another said he was her mentor franco has denied those accusations. a clean-up operation underway at the ritz hotel in paris following an armed robbery just a day earlier the thieves stole about $5.6 million worth of jewels and other goods from the hotel boutique three suspects were arrested but two are still at large. and fire fight package vessels resumed attempts to put out a blaze aboard an oil tanker in the east china sea. chinese officials warned that tanker could explode and sink possibly triggering an

environmental disaster. that's the news update this hour i'm going to send it over to jackie deangel lis for the inventory report. >> good morning. you can see natural gas prices are spiking this morning on this report a drawdown in inventories of 359 billion cubic feet larger than expected remember, it was very cold over the last couple weeks. so this kind of draw would be expected because of the weather. it's almost twice what we saw last year. almost twice the five-year average, as well this is significant. you can see we're trading at about $3.04 right now. just over that $3 mark the thing to watch is the ten-day forecast you can see those temperatures are starting to warm up especially on the east coast you could probably see traders say this price go back under the $3 mark if that pattern persists back over to you at post 9. >> thank you very much, jackie bitcoin is down morning off of reports that south korea is considering a cryptoban in what is currently the third largest

market the minister of justice saying in a press conference that crypty currency trading looking similar to gambling and speculation while reeighting the country's great concerns trading down by about 5% for more, we're joined by former commissioner bart chilton. great to have you with us. >> good to be with you. >> since the last we spoke, bitcoin futures have launched. we're still seeing volatility. what's your reaction in terms of how bitcoin futures have unfolded, especially with the backdrop of the volatility we have seen in bitcoin from that late december drop to the wild gyrations on the back of south korea potentially stepping in and regulating >> right well, i mean, they are somewhat mellowing out. they're still crazy. you'll see a change, i think yesterday it might have been 1200 bucks in a day from the high to the low. remember, bitcoin back when we were talking i think it might

have been december 18th, the first day that cme launched their bitcoin futures. prices had been up before that to 20,000. it went down to 11,000 there's still a lot more volatility than you would see in the markets that you guys cover every single day and look at in minute detail. but it's mellowing out in my opinion from what it has been. i think as the volume increases and we do see increasing volume, that there will be more sort of leveling out of these prices it's still sort of the wild west outside of the regulated funs markets. that's the underlying. the underlying is so volatile it's got to be reflected somewhat in the futures price. i think the futures works as a governor on all the prices and that's a good thing as you might messenger. >> but this goes back to the core, i don't want to say complaint but the core concern that the underlying is not

regulated and that we're still in a very wild west sort of market where we're not sure whether regulation is going to come down and we've got investors jamie dimon backing away from his comments that bitcoin is a fraud, warren buffett sticking by his comments that thing are going to end badly. the underlying is unregulated. the underlying is what's volatile you have this regulated market built on top of that that's not reason for any concern? >> yeah, i mean, it's a little bit i've cluster right? but the thing that you have with opinion leaders like mr. diamond and olympian buffet, putin and others is opinion leaders have opinions you expect them to say something. it's just like what i know you all reported last week about merrill lynch telling their 17,000 advisers they couldn't trade in bitcoin there's a shaking out going on here in the digital currency world. and you know, the reason i've been calling for regulations since 2012 on cnbc for the first

time by the way on "squawk box" was that there is this craziness going on and people are getting into it. there is a story yesterday about dough coin this is a coin based upon a people about a dog cartoon it's got a half a billion dollar market cap there's a lot of craziness out there. as we go for the and cme and chicago options exchange is a first step to regularizing, the professionalization of digital currencies in my view. it's going to take awhile but we're getting there. >> we're getting there what sorts of data are you seeing and how do you think the flows are so far when it comes to institutional participation in the futures market for bitcoin? >> they are investing in it. one of the main reasons is something people hadn't thought about doing much before and that is they can go short you need to be able to go short. if you can get in and out of

markets easily, rapidly, readily, then you can be in this game the bitcoin game contrary by the way to in south korea, it's a lot of individuals. that's how we started the top of the segment. there it's more like gambling, more like ki gow poker they've go the a preem, the kim chee preem bitcoin over there right now is trading at like 17k when the u.s. it's like -- there's like a 17% or more preem there. but i think overall, we're getting there. i'm looking at the data. institutional investors are investing primarily in futures and i think money managers as we go forward will want to offer this to their investors. >> are you invested, bart? >> very little bit very little bit. i wish had i been investing when i told everybody be careful. i got a lot of my friends who

said don't invest. they would be millionaires >> are you in bitcoin right now? >> a little bit, yeah. >> any other coins. >> ether and bitcoin and ripple is the one really moving up. ripple took over ether with regard to market cap so the four market caps are bitcoin, ripple, etheeriam and light coin hose are the ones really moving and have been moving a lot this year, particularly ripple. >> all right, bart, great to get your thoughts. appreciate it. bart chilton. >> when we come back, magazine legend tina brown is with us for her take on harassment in the workplace, the state of media and a lot more we're over an hour into the trading session. dow is up 80 points, s&p awfully close to a record high back in a minute we offer our price match guarantee too. and if that's not enough... we should move. our home team will help you every step of the way. still not enough? it's smaller than i'd like. we'll help you finance your dream home.

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berkshire hathaway board >> it's part of a movement towards succession over time they are the two key figures. >> the owners should be very happy about it these people do some things better than warren does. >> yeah, a lot better. >> they're both got berkshire in their blood. it's very good for berkshire and even better for me >> blackstone's byron wien says there's one area of the market that looks overvalued right now. find out at trading

nation".cnbc.com more "squawk on the street" coming up.

harassment in the workplace remains front and center it was the central theme of the golden globes on sunday highlighted by oprah's speech as well as buzz about that potential presidential run joining thus morning, tina brown is the founder of women in the world, former editor-in-chief of "vanity fair" and the author of the new book "the "vanity fair" die roys." good to see you. what a week for women. >> it keeps going, doesn't it? had explosion. >> is this week a turn or not? >> i think it's really cutting through. you know, we're seeing a sustained initiative really which is not being dropped this is not turning out to be a flash in the pan it is being truly taken out by the women in entertainment who have a big voice in our culture clearly. >> hollywood reporter had sticks of the top 200 movies last year,

the percentage of male directors, producers, it's 80%, 90%. it's going to be generational getting those numbers closer to pair night this is the major issue which is the fact that it is so stalled. this is really in my view, this is the sort of origin of the rage i mean, the sexual harassment was like the fire work that went up actually, it is this absolute lack of opportunity that women have had in entertainment, they're being excluded constantly from the rosters of directors and producers and so forth that has made the women so furious. i noticed it a couple years ago when i was there just how bummed out. there's no other word, women felt that young, inexperienced male directors who had an okay movie that didn't do that great were then offered another huge picture whereas a woman she wasn't even on the list. and i think it's really become something that has cut deep and i think they're say nothing more what do you think is the next

chapter in this movement does it -- is it fund-raising and helping people wage lawsuits and things like that >> it may get to that. i think it's interesting that on the michelle williams front, for instance, she suddenly discovers that she's paid 80 bucks a day scale and mark wahlberg is paid $1.5 million i mean, you could argue that's her agent's fault. it's also because agents, too, don't ask as much frequently for women. they know they're going to get knocked back so i think the next step is going to be such pressure on the deciders on the money people, on even the other male actors, too. i think a lot of male actors are realizing that if they want to have keep their reputations, they need to say look, what is my co-star being paid? is she being paid the same as me it's about keeping up that pressure that we need. >> you've had some experience outside of entertainment in the broader corporate world. is it your sense it will move

there in a more robust way, or is this movement going to be confined largely to entertainment media? >> i'm very skeptical about that we're about to go into the world economic forum in davos end of next week. year after year, i've been in davos and seen the teeny amount of women that are there. all of these men, frankly, male executives congratulating themselves how well they're doing at promoting women they always talk about we have so many women in our pipeline, right? to which i just want to say your pipeline has gotten pretty jammed because why are you on the stage? there aren't that -- i've even been to forums which have four men on the platform discussing how well their company is doing for women. so i think there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the corporate sphere. >> you don't seem to think that's going to happen. >> it won't happen without the pressure so i think that hats off to the entertainment women who have put

on the pressure. whether or not women in the corporate sphere have quite the same amount of boldfaced leverage is to be seen but i think if the women do band together and do get noisier, then i think it might happen. >> do you think women historically have been competitive with each other because they realize the number of spots for whatever reason given to women will be limited >> i certainly think that women competing for fewer spots makes for a far less collegial atmosphere, put it that way. i do think that networking groups of women are fine and dandy but men have to get involved in them we produce women in the world and i am encouraging many menton attend and be on the stage because otherwise, we're talking to ourselves so the men need to kind of truly get engaged not just as sort of lip service but as believers they ought to be believers they're husbands and fathers and

daughters and they ought to be championing women in the work space. they have to break their own cultures down. we're not going to break down their bro cultures they have to. >> all of the examples of women coming out expressing their experiences with harassment have happened in mostly media and entertainment of late. do you think the same goes on in corporate america and we haven't heard it yet or do you think corporate america was a little bit ahead in terms of stamping this out because of what happened in the financial services industry in the early '90s when there were a lot of lawsuits about boom-boom rooms and being discriminated against? >> it may be less obvious but i don't think it's gone away at all. i know women working in the financial services industry who tell me that they have been tremendously harassed or marginalized and don't feel they can protest because they do believe it will hurt their careers. i think one of the things we've seen in a lot of the sexual harassment discussions is that hr is not your friend.

right? i mean, hr is there to protect the company. that's one of the issues is that you have to break out of that hr spot of course, what the entertainment women are able to do is break out into the public sphere because people pay attention to them. >> a couple thoughts on media. it's been a crazy news flow for media. new editor at "vanity fair" and "glamour," "s.i." going biweekly any thoughts how challenging it will be for magazines? >> it's tre challenging. an editor today has to create a whole ecosystem around other things of what they're doing which is demanding an editor has to be a multimedia entrepreneur these days rather than a person who cares about stories and pictures and editing. which is a very, very demanding thing on editors i think you have to have a business that goes around it, whether it's tv show, conferences, you know, an entire sort of bouquet of other stuff because the media itself just

sort of the so vertical is not going to make enough money. >> how do you think you would be responding if you were stay at "vanity fair" or "new yorker" today? the power of facebook, the publishing leverage they have? >> it's appalling to be quite honest what i would be lobbying for is an industrywide pressure on both facebook and google to give back something to journalism. these companieses have massive foundations. i would like to see the facebook foundation putting aside a tremendous amount of money to fund journalism, real journalism they have in a sense undermined the whole profession of journalism. >> because of the news feed. >> they have taken away the business model the advertising now is just so one-sided that real journalistic enterprises are struggling to get any advertising. it's all going to facebook and google my vote is for facebook and google to decide we're going to give back to journalism. >> i don't think that that's

going to happen. >> well, i'm still going to say it. >> well, you're plenty able to say it but they do seem to at least, the sentiment seems to be changing a bit in terms of how we view the companies or how they're more broadly viewed. not quite as positively. >> right it's high time one of the great big scams, frankly, of digital platforms is they've been able to kind of pretend that they care about the human good, while at the same time taking all the profits and all the revenue away from people who are actually doing the work and then they use all that great work on their platforms and don't give anything back so i think it's been a great scam i'm glad they've made out like bandits, but i think it's time they were viewed in the manner they should be >> last question, oprah going to run? >> she could she could. the great question there is, are we going to return to a model where sort of public servants run for office, or are we now

deciding, okay, the president's best resume qualification is a huge, you know, tv media presence if we're going to stay with that model, then oprah's the best candidate. >> have you read "fire and fury"? >> i have. >> what do you think >> i think it's fascinating stuff, you know. >> is it journalism? >> look, he got a great interview with bannon. that was the major thing that he got. bannon letting him sit on that sofa for that long was a great gift to journalism i don't think it's the deep-reported story that we long for, but it's got some very, very revealing things. and if it's brought down bannon in a way, it's a great service, you know, for the republican party. >> tina, we hope you'll come back >> thank you >> congratulations on the book, very nice. >> thank you >> tina brown with us at post 9. >> let's get a look at what's coming up on "squawk alley." john >> david, tony fidel, one of the fathers of the ipod, fathers of

nest, says that these digital devices, smartphones in particular, got too much influence and control over our lives, it's time to take some of that back. we'll talk to him about exactly what he prescribes when "squawk alley" comes back. heir money into equities. they're not investing in commodities or fixed income. what people are really putting their money into is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there requires a real refusal to settle for average. because when you approach investing with a tireless desire to beat the status quo, something wonderful can happen. those people might just get what they wanted out of life. or maybe even more.

welcome back to "squawk on the street." rick santelli live with rebecca corbin, corbin adviser if it's earnings season, it's rebecca. let's get to it quickly. your investors have been hot many quarters they've been optimistic, wallet shows they've benefited. what are their expectations this earnings season? >> 2018 is going to be a big year 72% are expecting sequential improvement in earnings, 95% are expecti expecting meets and beats. >> any reason? are they pro trump policies? did you have any questions regarding what do they think about what's going on with this administration >> sure. continuation of global optimism around economic growth, absolutely, 80% say the policy that's come out is important >> your investors are ignoring tweets, paying attention to policy, and their bank account represents it. that's been the right decision what sectors are preferred >> financials. financials increased by the most bullish sentiment.

73% are bulls, followed by technology >> if the water gun of capital is shooting around the globe, where's it spraying the most water? where are investors putting their dough? >> euro zone for the third consecutive quarter is going to be the most optimistic, followed by the u.s. and brazil >> i was shocked, brazil is number three last and not the first time is who? >> china >> which is really cool. you said feet on the ground. people seem to be in the know, although in china that's questionable they are optimistic. >> yeah. we're hearing channel checks indicate there is strength in china. >> not the investors you have surveyed >> i think it's media. >> here's something that blows my doors off you can put this long in the tooth expansion into a museum, but yet your folks are giving it more time, are they not? >> 55% think we are in the mid to late cycle, but 2018 is expected to be another very strong year. >> okay, almost out of time. you know my favorite topic, interest rates you gave choices, 1.5, two, three quarters where would trading be the last

day of the year? >> wishful thinking of 2%. >> 2% at the end of the year boy, i find that difficult, but i'm not going to question your respondents. they are doing well. rebecca corbin, thank you. carl quintanilla, back to you. >> tnkhas so much, rick. "squawk alley" is coming up next ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ what we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. except that the next morning... it all makes sense. fedex powers global commerce with vast, far-reaching networks...

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good morning, it's 10:00 a.m. at walmart headquarters in arkansas, 11:00 a.m. on wall street, and "squawk alley" is live ♪ ♪ good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk alley." i'm carl quintanilla with john fortt. >> doesn't this make you want to go like this >> at post 9, sara is off. top story this morning, walmart is making moves, the company announcing it will increase its starting wage for hourly workers