for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned, or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. now through february 28th. only at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. good morning it is 8:00 a.m. at amazon's current headquarters in seattle. it's 11:00 a.m. on wall street "squawk alley" is live ♪ allow me to reintroduce myself ♪ ♪ you can call me ceo of the roc ♪ ♪ fresh out of the frying pan

and into the fryer ♪ >> good thursday morning welcome to "squawk alley." we're at post nine of the new york stock exchange. dow is down 91 currently the worst drop of the year so far. the big news today though, amazon announcing the finalist for the hq2. we have details. >> good morning, carl. and let's go straight to a map of the 20 contenders you'll see that most of the locations, they fall in the midwest, south, and east coast of the country away from amazon's current home of seattle and the west coast in general where most of the biggest tech companies are. the only city from this coast, the west coast on that list is los angeles. and the only city outside the u.s. is toronto, canada. it has tons of engineering talent close by. an interesting candidate given the current political environment. now other contenders include cities that already have ties to

amazon or jeff bezos like austin and washington, d.c., and where he himself bought a home last year the other cities on the list like boston, chicago, atlanta, philadelphia, they're pretty much the ones you'd expect they all meet amazon's criteria of talented workforce, good public transportation, access to major airport. at least one city though has already expressed disappointment about not making the list, michigan governor rick snyder issued a statement this morning saying, "it's disappointing that we will not be welcoming a new amazon headquarters to detroit michigan's spirit is unstoppable and so is our come back. this won't set us back we're accelerating to the next opportunity. so what's next in this process the project moves into the next phase which includes further proposal evaluation and amazon working directly with the candidate cities on getting more information. remember here the prize is $5 billion in investment and as many as 50,000 full time jobs over the next ten to 15 years. so expect more jostling and

wooing of amazon and bezos we heard from miami's mayor and he offered to go to seattle to pitch him personally guys >> thank you watching this competition out of amazon for more on this let's bring in michael olson from piper jaffray and henry bodget amazing the enthusiasm they built on this thing. >> it's great. amazon is playing this so perfectly. open up the united states. everyone jumps in. now it's down to a select 20 it's an honor to be in the finals now you go pitch to jeff personally with all the tax benefits they just could not be handling it better. >> what does it say about their growth ambitions, right? and the logistics that they'll have in which to operate in the years ahead? >> obviously, they're tremendously optimistic about the future and that's great and it's likely to be in the u.s. if they're making the investment, that's great so they're planning for the future but the way they're going about it, again, making everybody come

to them couldn't be smarter. >> mike, what can we learn from who's not on the list? there are a few cities that i thought might be, you know, cincinnati, northern kentucky not there. even though transportation hub wise it might be there aren't that many southern cities you have nashville, one of the smallest and do you have atlanta. does anything pop out to you as far as who's not there >> i think you mentioned they didn't choose the major centers. i think this is less about fulfillment logistics and more about just being geographically separated. east coast, if i was on the east coast and on that list, i would feel good. i would also feel good, you know, if i was a city like boston or washington, d.c., that has a great talent pool to choose from. i think those will be the key characteristics. >> henry, it's interesting that apple is also trying to build another campus but specifically not going about it in this auction sort of way you say that amazon and bezos

are playing this perfectly should tim cook thrown the doors open and said it's not over, detroit! you can still get in >> maybe they'll learn from amazon they'll certainly be in deep discussions with whatever cities they are and then we'll have the argument about whether tax breaks are a giveaway or smart for the state which to me is often silly. you get the jobs you're taking one form of taxes and sacrificing those for other taxes, creating jobs so i would have to believe that apple is in deep negotiations with many cities as they look at it they'd be negligent not to be. >> what was your overall take on the apple announcement yesterday and this mystery about how much cash actually comes home despite the tax payment they'll make >> i think it's good that we have reformed our corporate tax system it's good the cash is being repatriated. a lot of it is going to go to share buybacks and dividends and other shareholder friendly

things it looks like apple modestly increased what they spend in the united states and a good pr announcement any bid is good. but it's not going to be a radical change >> let's take you to the president. >> which could very well be the budget should be handled a lot differently than it's been handled over the last long period of time, many years but if for any reason it shuts down, the worst thing is what happens to our military. we're rebuilding our military. we're making us -- we're bringing it to a level that it's never been at. and the worst thing is for our military we don't want that to happen i'm here to support our military our military has to be the best in the world by far. and as you know, it's been depleted over the last long period of time and when we finish there won't be anything like it. we need that now almost more than at any time in the past i'm here for our military. i'm here to support our great,

great and very powerful military we're going to keep it that way. but we're going to make it much better that's what we're doing. it also means jobs you see what's happening with respect to jobs. you see what happened yesterday, apple. and now it was just announced that they're giving each employee a lot of money. so our tax cuts and our tax reform is far greater than anybody ever anticipated and i'm sure the democrats would like to blunt that by shutting down government. but again, the group that loses big would be the military. and we're never letting our military lose at any point we're going to fund our military we're going to have a military like we've never had before. because we just about, just about never needed our military more than now. thank you all very much. thank you. it could happen. see what happens it's up to the democrats

>> all right that's the president making some comments about the potential for a government shutdown. of course, government runs out of money on midnight friday night. there's been a lot of discussion in washington about the degree to which a wall is a requirement for this deal. this morning tweeting once again that the children insurance program should not be part of a 30-day solution. and now this >> yeah, that was an interesting tweet this morning from the president. today news comments the president playing sort of the washington blame game here, trying to suggest that it would be democrats' fault if there is a government shutdown. of course, democrats have been arguing just the opposite as you might expect saying it will be the republicans' fault that fight will continue but the tweet this morning from the president was that he thought that the chip program, the children's health program, shouldn't be part of a short term government funding deal, seeming to imply it should be a separate stabbnd alone thing or exist for a longer period of time folks i talked to on capitol

hill were confused by that and said the president might be confused by that he might not know that it is a multiyear extension that is being attached to the short term funding bill a lot of questions now whether that plan will be torn apart the president is attacking a program put in the bill in order to woo some democrats and prevent a government shutdown and politically embarrass democrats if they're forced to vote against one of the highest priorities in order to block the government funding bill. so it was designed to be a tricky thing for democrats to handle the president suggesting it shouldn't be in there at all that's thrown some confusion into this entire debate. we'll see where we go. one day here before a potential government shutdown. carl >> we got the pentagon rolling out the national defense strategy tomorrow. that is going to be very closely watched by folks in the defense and security world and certainly we've been hearing for a very long time now that the military needs to be rebuilt. one of the biggest things that's holding up all of this spending

is the fact that we have the sequester, the budget caps and we have republican lawmakers that want way more money than is currently allowed in law to go towards defense. how much is -- i mean, there's a lot of focus on immigration right now. but how much are these budget caps playing a role in the fact that we just can't get a final number >> republicans and democrats can't agree on a long term spending deal. they keep doing the short term deals. they get up to the deadlines, realize they don't have the votes for a long term deal and they decide they're going to punt it for 60 or 90 days. that's been the pattern over the past several negotiations here we're seeing that again in this case to do a broad deal that breaks through the sequester budget caps that you're talking about would require them putting together a bigger long term deal there just don't seem to be the votes for that or the appetite for that so they've been struggling along with sort of kick the can down the road strategy. and that works to keep the government open. but it doesn't change the

overall funding on a lot of the programs in a significant way. >> we're going to pay a lot of attention to what we think might be a house vote at 7:00 p.m. according to some reports today. and then, of course, we'll see what the senate does it's going to be a busy couple of days for you. back to the amazon news and henry olson and michael bodget here there is conflict between the number of companies that are giving bonuses, right? americans for tax reform says two million workers get some sort of short term benefit as a result of this bill. but we have a survey of the s & p 100 and only about 10 companies have specific plans to raise wages, structurally. >> yes >> whether is that coming? >> it's a small amount regardless that is what the economy needs to actually get cranking again it's getting money in the hands of people who spend it which is not, in fact, shareholders there are few shareholders

overall. whether is when is it coming wages are supposed to be higher and it has not happened to the extent that one would have hoped for sake of americans. so over time we'll see the fact that minimum wages are going up is helpful. the fact that a lot of companies are voluntarily like apple and others raising wages in the stores, that is helpful. so little by little hopefully. it's not coming from the tax bill >> mike, how important is it in terms of this apple news that they're looking to put $5 billion toward an advanced manufacturing fund i ask that because we heard complaints from apple and other tech companies over the years that the u.s. manufacturing base suppliers here that they've been lacking compared to competitors in asia. so to actually build up u.s. manufacturers longer term, how much does that signal apple's willingness to start make things like the iphone state side >> i think it is important it's critical that the company continues to focus on investment in the u.s. and i think that

they see that as a part of their existence is trying to enable that and using the tax break as a way to do that and part of these things, you know, these investments are certainly things they're going to be doing. so it's certainly positive that they have a good pr moment out of it and the president can discuss it but a lot of these things were already going to happen. i think a lot of the investment that they're going to be making in this, you know, innovative tech fund were things likely in the works. >> hard to separate those things and certainly the companies not going to do it for us. guys, thanks so much mike and henry, see you soon >> thank you >> whethn we come back, a lot me on amazon's hq announcement. new york city is one of them and francis suarez is the mayor of miami. dow down briefly 100 see that's funny, i thought you traded options. i'm not really a wall street guy.

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amazon narrowing the list of cities that could be home to the second headquarters. it's down to 20 this morning we're joined by the deputy mayor of one of the finalists, new york city alicia glen. >> thank you >> the last time you were here, you said we're not offering financial sweeteners for this kind of thing. we got too many companies in new york already >> right >> so how do you move forward from here touting the benefits of new york without giving way

the store or anything from the store? >> i think the theory of the case still holds true. we didn't need to offer a huge incentive package in order to make the short list. so our strategy is clearly working. we have a series of as of right incentives and the location that's we offered the company. but we're not going to be adding to that package. we think that it speaks for itself if you want to be the most innovative technology company in the 21st century, you want to be in the city that has the most diverse set of companies you can work with. we think new york speaks for itself and we want to work with them to create the environment they need and have the talent they need to grow. but we don't think you have to buy a company wanting to be here in new york. i think that's proven to be the case as of today's news. >> what about apple? they're also looking for another campus location, perhaps not quite of the same tier but, hey, who wouldn't like to have apple as well have you had any discussions with them? >> we have not yet we did have dialogue over the past couple years. i think the fact that they're in the market to also expand the

presence in the u.s. and want to be in cities that are innovative and diverse and talented and funky, i think again, we're seeing a real momentum around new york city's 21st century economy. and we want all of these folks to come here and really want it to be a boon for all new yorkers. >> what locations have you offered amazon >> we offered four different locations, long island city. we think it will be an amazing environment for the workforce. downtown brooklyn. absolutely everything is in brooklyn right now and then two terrific locations in our central business district the far west side of manhattan, a great transit location and hudson yards going up there. and lower manhattan, the center of global capitalism where else you would want to be except right here where it happens every single day >> they've been pretty opaque about their criteria, right? but does the selection, the list of cities, tell you anything about what you think they really want >> i think the list of the cities were not that surprising. they were clear they wanted to

be near an airport they want to be in cities that had some already infrastructure to support the needs i think they also want it to be geographically sensitive i think there are cities on that list that are not really contenders but they're also being sensitive. >> name one or two >> that sounds like fighting words. >> i think you're hard pressed to put a city like nashville exactly up against a city like new york look, i love nashville there are not 50,000 talented people with bas or phd in nashville. we have more bas than all pt cities combined. it's just a different scale, let's be honest. >> have you crunched your own numbers in terms of what the economic boon of having an amazon in new york city would be >> there is no absolute one number we know they're planning to spend $5 billion just on the real estate alone. that would have an extraordinary impact on our construction numbers, our construction worker numbers and again, those buildings will be paying taxes those folks will be living in new york city. they'll be buying a lot of food

at restaurants they'll be really be beiing par the city 50,000 high paying jobs for new york se yorkers is very interesting. >> it's been a huge story in new york the state of the subway system, dilapidated, underinvested. money has been wasted. to what extent do you need to explain to the likes of an amazon eventually an apple others what new york's concrete plan is to fix that? it's one of the biggest selling points for new york. >> i agree even with all the challenges with the subway, we're clear we need to come up with a smart funding mechanism to improve the subway system so we can continue to compete that said, one of the really exciting things about our bid is these locations are accessible by ferry they'll be accessible by the bqx in queens and brooklyn occasion locations. a lot of the folks in seattle on the headquarters bike and walk to work. and one of the great competitive advantages we have here in new

york is that people also have very walkable experience so look, there is no excuse about not fixing the subways we're going to engage with the state and companies as they come here to strategize about how to fund the mta but at the end of the day, the city is making smart other investments in transit that are really speaking to the workforce that these folks are trying to attract. >> it doesn't have to do with this competition for amazon. it thooz do with billionaires row and the local news reports today that this very coveted area of manhattan which has very high real estate prices that you are looking to convert one of those buildings that i would imagine could be a nice revenue driver and in of itself into a homeless shelter why? >> well, we were very clear that when the mayor talked about the need to address homelessness in the city, it's a citywide problem. and that all neighborhoods have to be part of the solution and this particular property is a relatively dilapidated hotel this is not a site slated for

develop. of luxury condoes. we think it's smart to take an existing facility and invest in resources in that building so that all neighborhoods are taking part of the solution. so i, you know, i think this is the kind of simenty we acity we want to have high income residents that have the compassion that we need to show all new yorkers and we want to make sure that not just low income neighborhoods are saddled with homeless. i think it's a really positive announcement we hope the neighborhood will welcome people >> last question of the list of cities, we asked the mayor of newark this, which is the competitor you fear the most >> i think i said before boston does have a lot going for it even though it's pretty mini version of what we have going for ourselves here i think pittsburgh is an interesting place. but again, you know, it's just hard to put the scale side by side and be able to say that amazon is going to be able to attract or keep the kind of talent that wants to work at a company like amazon when you have an opportunity to live in

one of the amazing neighborhoods in new york city and diversity of people and night life and funky things that go on here versus boston. >> the city that never sleeps with the delivery that seems to keep on going. alicia glen, deputy mayor of new york, thank you. >> thank you so much u.s. chamber of commerce is hosting a summit this morning with the top investors and leaders in business across the country. the agenda joud lining the recommendations for modernizing and investing in the nation's infrastructure system. apple pledges 35i $50 billion contribute to the economy over the next five years along with the creation of 20,000 jobs. joining us this morning to talk about that and the summit is carlisle's group glenn yunkin. good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> what a day to have the summit it does come on the heels of what apple hopes to contribute and now this news about amazon's hq how is the conversation changing >> well, the announcement today

from amazon is the perfect example it's too why the focus on infrastructure needs to put to the forefront of the conversation today here you have cities competing for one of the best new opportunities for growth and they're competing on talent and competing on location but they're also competing on their infrastructure and not just the infrastructure that currently exists but what is your plan for the next 25 years. what we do know and highlighted in the conference that american infrastructure is in a dismal place. last year they graded american infrastructure at a d plus so there is never a more important time to recognize that not only are cities competing for business like from amazon but our country is competing for resources around the world and what the chamber is doing today is really highlighting how important it is to now to kind of get going >> where is the chamber on the

type of funding mix we're likely to see out of a federal program? public and private and has that shifted since this began getting talked about a year ago >> yeah. i think what is clearly apparent is that the funding gap continues to grow and when president trump came out during the beginning of the campaign and talking about a trillion dollar infrastructure program over a ten year period, what's become clear is that it probably needs to be $2 trillion over a ten year berd period to close t gap. that funding cannot be provided by the federal government or state and local governments. and so private capital, the kind of private capital that is behind laguardia airport right now, the private capital behind lots of toll roads and the united states, our capital behind the renovations of all the service plazas in connecticut is the kind of

capital that is going to have to be brought to bear in much greater degree to meet this need >> we had a guest on last week and fortress has that bright line railroad coming on line in florida. one thing you told me is if you really want to jump-start private investment in infrastructure projects, you take a look at the financing and take a look at the debt and you find ways to make that more attractive what do you think? >> i think there is not a li limited amount of capital today for the projects the question is the uncertainty with which they're going to move forward. we discussed with the clachambe fact that carlisle has a exclusive partnership with a group of airlines that both have -- both own the long term lease and operate terminal one at jfk and what we have organized with them is to put a proposal into the port authority to revitalize and redevelop terminal one

that is a project that has defid defined scope and the fact that this project has a high degree of certainty of moving forward means that capital will flow there. the challenge with projects where there's very, very long approval process or the economic model is really unclear means that capital won't go there. i think therefore the big issue at hand for infrastructure is just certainty around project progress >> and certainly when you look at the investment landscape, many valuations arguably stretched or getting stretched whether it's real estate, whether it's equities, whether it's potentially energy. where are you putting money right now? >> to say that there are bargains anywhere would be wrong. i think you're exactly right the market is pricing in the

fact that the united states economy is in really good shape. i think the momentum that's going to come out of the recently passed tax bill will extend that positive momentum. and as a result of corporate initiatives and hiring of new launches like the amazon announcements is just going to underpin continuing growth in the economy. what that means is asset prices are going to stay high and, therefore, the opportunities to invest really do rely on the opportunities for value creation and that's where private equity firms really specialize. we're looking for the companies that have really interesting growth plans and didn't have access to capital because the parent company didn't think they were that important. and as a result, we can drive behind those opportunities our capital, our innovation and value add and make good companies great. those kinds of opportunities aren't sitting around on every corner and therefore our big

organization has to go find them we've been quite successful finding them over the last few years. but it's getting tough out there. >> in light of that tax environment, just one more quick question for you would you consider switching from that llc partnership model to an esquire to get the long only bigger investor base? >> yeah. i think what is pretty clear after the final resolution of the tax plan is that the compelling argument to move into a c-corp didn't materialize. i think that most of the past partnership firms like the llps and private equity firms and the other investment banking and asset management firms will conclude with the settlement of the tax package as it looks that there is not a compelling driving need to convert to a

c-corp we'll continue to evaluate it and see how things evolve over time but as of now, i think we're comfortable with our current structure. >> glenn, a lot to get to that we weren't able to but thanks for coming on and talking about this we'll see you soon i hope. >> great thank you very much for having me >> glenn youngkin, co-ceo of carlyle group. still ahead, miami, another city on amazon's hq 2 list the mayor is going to join us to weigh in and as we head to break, a look at cryptocurrencies this morning, stabilizing after that huge drop earlier in the week. we're gonna be sitting on an egg. i think we're getting close! make a u-turn... u-turn? recalculating... man, we are never gonna breed. just give it a second. you will arrive in 92 days. nah, nuh-uh. nope, nope, nope. you know who i'm gonna follow? my instincts. as long as gps can still get you lost, you can count on geico saving folks money.

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good morning once again, everybody. i'm sue herrera. here is your update at this

hour nasa ranking 2017 as the second warmest year on record, slightly behind 2016. last year's warmth was not aided by el nino that's the pacific weather pattern that is usually linked to record setting heat temperatures in the arctic soaring once again in 2017 pope francis celebrating the first ever airborne papal wedding marrying two flight attendants during aflight from santiago the two telling the pope they were married in 2010 but were not able to follow up with a church ceremony because of the earthquake that rocked chile turkey continuing to build up the military presence ahead of an offensive in sear yachyria and britain's prince harry and his fiancee greeting royal enthusiasts. they're visiting a cattle on the third joint trip to introduce

her to the four corners of the united kingdom you're up to date. back downtown to "squawk alley." carl, back to you. >> thank you very much, sue. markets closing in the uk and across europe. tech is the bright spot. goldman upgrades from neutral to buy saying the auto segment should benefit greatly from ev launches on the flip side, british foods falling on the quarterly results. abf and a stronger pound resulting in the ft-se's fourth straight losing session. and u.s. equities continue in the red down about 82 on the dow. and still ahead, an exclusive with the ceo of nasdaq why she says the ipo market is looking up in 2018 plus, another check on the major averages at this hour. the dow having the worst day of 2018 down about 83 points sending a record high shortly after the open

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welcome back to "squawk alley. amazon narrowing the list of hq2 headquarters to 20 cities. joining us is the mayor of one of the cities, francis suarez from miami thank you for joining us >> thank you for having me, it's a pleasure to be with you. >> so miami has some palm trees, really great weather

new privately funded railroad coming online and, of course, that hub for american at the airport. but other than that, what does miami bring to the table versus the other 19 contenders? >> that hub links six million people in the tricounty area we do not have a state income tax which after the federal tax plan means that our citizens do not have to pay additional taxes that would have to be paid in areas that do have a state income tax we were selected among over 200 applications which puts us in the top 8% and one of the 20 cities, there's only three that don't have a state income tax. i think that puts us in the top three at least we obviously have a highly skilled multilingual population which i think would put us in the top one. i think we're the only city of the 20 that can boast that and i think we have a new dynamic and young mayor that wants to emphasize technology to the city of miami. >> if you do say so yourself

>> by the way, by the way, that ceo of amazon is a miami, you know, is from miami. i think that gives us a little bit of a leg up. >> okay. this is true certainly his other company blue origin is in the state of florida. are you going to get on a plane and go meet with jeff bezos which i heard you offered to do? >> absolutely. i called -- we called him this morning at 7:30 as soon as their offices opened and we made that offer with my new city manager we used to be the airport director >> who do you see as your biggest competition on this list >> you know, i like to think we don't have any but certainly the two other cities of the top 20 that don't have a state income tax could boast something similar which is a 13% boost in revenue >> francis, when i look at the list of the top employers in miami and south florida,

american airlines up there with more than 11,000 employees but if i'm not mistaken, if you were to land this, it would make amazon the biggest employer in -- private employer in miami. how do you lay out the red carpet for that sort of a prospect and convince them if they are going to be that size in your city that you're ready for it >> i think it's not only that, i think the duel significance of not just the sheer size of them as one of the large environment employers, it's being an employer in the kind of industry that all cities are fighting for which is why so many cities apply. it's the knowledge based economy. i have a 4-year-old and i'm expecting in april a little girl and i think we have an obligation as officials to make sure all our cities are in the forefront of that knowledge based economy. so for us, it is comparative for our prenltz asent and for our f that we be as competitive or the

most competitive city nationally in terms of this competition >> mr. mayor, if you get it, if you are named the city, what instantly becomes your biggest challenge? >> well, i think the biggest challenge is just making sure that that promise, the prosperity that a company of this size brings filters down to every single resident in the city of miami. we're a city that is a tale of two cities like a lot of cities in the u.s we want to make sure that a company like this is something that will benefit every single resident in the city of miami. >> well, mayor suarez, thank you for joining us by phone today. and if you do speak to jeff bezos, we want to hear what the content of that conversation was. you'll have to come back on and tell us about it >> no doubt about it thank you for having me. >> all right certainly an important and interesting competition to continue to watch. moving on, the price of

cryptocurrencies edging higher after this week's steep selloff wiped out nearly 50% of the market value some of currencies. for more, we're joined by block chain ceo peter smith. good morning >> thanks for having me. >> so from the inside, how are you seeing people who have held bitcoin and other currencies from some period of time reacting to these price fluctuations are longer term people holding or are they getting scared, frightened by these moves? >> i think the vast majority of our customer base is holding across the industry, i think that's true. there's not nearly as much downward sell pressure as would indicate in the market i think you're seeing the market start to recover nicely. >> so that being the case, how much attention should we be paying to these price fluctuations and at what point if there is a point, do you think that we stop having such dramatic moves some we heard say, the ceo of

visa, saying that because of the volatility, that's a big part of the reason why it's not viable for visa to directly accept bitcoin in their system. >> yeah, i think at this point in time bitcoin is an investment it's not a payment system. and what is really important to remember is that while there is really strong demand, we have 22 million customers now. at the same time, it's a very small market still growing by the day and a lot of infrastructure that has to be developed. we're going to see that infrastructure d infrastructure develop over the next couple years. for now it's a volatile market >> peter, i feel like it's that old snl kit, jerusalem or an art choke when you talk about bitcoin. every day there is another analyst note out saying bitcoin, cryptocurrencies commodity, something else? how would you categorize it?

>> look, i think it's totally new asset class. i think that digital currencies are going to represent a huge change nlt win the way finance s i think it is going to be a major shift and major paradigm change the reality is that it's not a currency or a commodity, it's entirely new for us right now we're focused on making it easy for people and institutions to acquire the currencies, to use them and hold them this week we launched buy/sell functionality in the u.s we have 39 countries now and for us that's a big deal it will help millions of our customers in the united states access digital currencies easier >> whether you see companies like ibm and others partnering up to create sort of -- to create platforms based on blockchain, do you see that as a step forward for the broader industry >> sure. i think any application of the

underlying technology is useful. it's important to remember that the only widespread sort of at scale use of distributed ledger technology or blockchain technology is cryptocurrencies and digital assets generally i think that's our most heat in the market is. i think that's the most interesting part of the market to think about >> all right and, peter, when people talk about bitcoin these days, a lot of times it's regional there is concern that talk of regulation in asia in particular is moving the market what do you see regionally you've expanded into so many countries as of this point where is the most interesting action >> yeah. so a lot of the action is in europe and the united states but you're right, there's a lot of action in south korea, japan. even in eastern europe and in latin america i think the reality is the markets slow in those places you're seeing a lot more

announcements out of south korea. it's a new phenomenon in south korea this year whichmeans the south korean government needs to figure out how to regulate it and how to make sure that consumers are protected. that process took place in u.s. and europe and in a japan recently but then still needs to play out in south korea but that will mature over time >> all right peter smith, ceo of blockchain, that's how you know you got in early whether you get the name blockchain thanks for joining us. >> yeah. that's taken still ahead, an exclusive sitdown with the ceo of the nasdaq her thoughts on how tax reform will shape the rest of earnings season dow down 152 the worst day since november 15. "squawk alley" is back in a minute we call that the golden hour. evaluating patients remotely is where i think we have a potential to make a difference.

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i'm scott wapner coming up on "halftime," what a new dose of volatility says about stocks are investors truly prepared for what lies ahead? plus the retail stock goldman sachs put on its conviction buy list. and why two of our traders are on opposite sides of ibm ahead of its earnings tonight. we'll see you then >> we'll be there, thanks, scott. the 2018 ipo pipeline getting crowded. recode reporting surveymonkey is expected to make its debut sometime this year spotify and dropbox have already filed. yesterday as part of my fortt

knox pad cast, i talked about nasdaq's role in all this. >> u.s. capitol markets are the most diverse and deep markets in the world, they're incredible markets for companies that are looking to raise capital, no doubt about it we want to make sure we stay competitive globally and that we find an inviting environment companies today have many more options on raising capital they don't have to go public they can find other ways and means to raise capital in some respects we want to make sure from a competitive perspective that nasdaq and the u.s. public markets in general stay as competitive as possible so that every investor in the country has an opportunity to invest in these growth companies and not just those who have access to the private markets. >> she is spending a bit of time in silicon valley, as you might imagine, gearing up for some of those. we talked about a bit about some of the questions she's getting this year from companies looking to go public we also talked about her

background she got a pilot's license in college, which is a bit unusual. hear the full conversation coming up in a couple of weeks on the fortt knox podcast. >> great winner. >> a lot of fun. as we head to break, another check on apple this morning. shares basically flat, just hovering above the flat line, up about less than .1%, after announcing building a new campus, creating thousands of jobs and paying billions in taxes. taxes. stay with us how would i know? but i do know that first, qualcomm connected the phone to the internet. and now, everyone is posting and scrolling and sharing everything. yessir. qualcomm invents, then the world innovates on top of their breakthroughs. invention comes first. and a whole lot of it starts at qualcomm.

let's get to the cme group, check in with rick santelli and get the santelli exchange. hey, rick. >> good morning, carl. we're slightly shy of 261 with regard to ten-year note yields as we look at this intraday chart, i want to draw your attention to the scaling with computers, that chart is going to fit your screen but as you look to the scaling, we've basically been within a basis point and a half for most of the trading session at a time when the equity indices are all three down for the day. calibrating the growth potential for the economy, the rising prices of equity not only here but globally and looking at interest rates, we know there's a thumb on the scale. but this slow trade at these critical levels is significant, whether it's 260 for a ten-year

note, you really want to pay attention here i think the slow trade is very relevant nobody seems to want to challenge -- it's like walking on eggs. if we start to trade much higher, it will get exciting might not happen today or tomorrow critical level to get to the meat of it, there's several important conversations on our channel about global central banking taking a measured pace this is potentially a flawed strategy calibrating monetary policy to global growth is never easy. central banks always err on the side of overstimulus the reason it's critical, and the only person i can think of that really brings us to the forefront, is comments by the old ceo of citibank, chuck prinz. i'll paraphrase. basically as long as music keeps playing, i have to keep dancing. that's what i talked about right before the credit crisis central bankers should make that same statement but they should

think of it like musical chairs. should the economy continue globally to get the traction it loosely it's getting, not all central banks will be able to do a measured pace. as a matter of fact, the johnny come latelies, whether that's bank of japan or ecb, will be forced into things at a much quicker pace which will be much more painful this notion, when somebody important tells you, oh, we're going to keep a measured pace, i would start to perspire. i don't think it's a good strategy i don't think it's a possible strategy carl, back to you. >> all right, rick, thank you. our rick santelli in chicago back in new york, mayor de blasio announcing a homeless shelter. our contessa brewer is there, hi, contessa >> reporter: hi there, carl. this is like a bill "what! bomb going off in billionaire's row. most people say they had no idea the mayor was planning to open a homeless shelter right where

they live and work and shop. here is 157, a very posh condo building where a penthouse reportedly sold for $100 million, where pershing square's ceo bill ackman reportedly invested $91 million in an apartment. a local realtor tells us the square footage in this particular area can go as high as $10,000 per square foot, the most in the city and the mayor says, look, it's part of our plan to open 90 shelters around town, we are going to open up we park savoy hotel. it's a budget conscious hotel, just on the other side, the block on the other side. so right here, the park hyatt new york you can walk straight through, go out the back entrance, and boom, there will be a homeless shelter for 150 men, long term shelter. and this is, if you think this might sound a little crazy, why put it in midtown manhattan, you're not theonly one to thin that the realtor asked the question, how is this a good use of taxpayer dollars after all, that property, the

park savoy hotel, sold in 2006, so more than ten years ago, for $172 million but the mayor says, quote, if you go around new york city and ask people a simple question, would you like to see a homeless shelter in the neighborhood, the answer will pretty much be, no, across the board we have the authority to open these facilities where we deem appropriate. we do give the notice, and that's an opportunity for community concerns to be raised. so far, we're not hearing about that opportunity to be raised. we're waiting to hear more on that we have calls into the mayor at this point, carl but as you can imagine, it has set off a lot of concern and a lot of interest in billionaires row. >> absolutely, contessa. the plight of homelessness is a story not just in new york city but plenty of cities on the west coast as well. our nation's capital, it's been that way for years this will be a firestorm of sorts, local a story as it is. >> yes, indeed these are residents that have resources to help the men that

are going to be in that shelter. it appears nobody welcomes necessarily a homeless shelter to their neighborhood, but it will be interesting to see what they do about it to improve the situation about everybody. >> if you think valuations are getting stressed, $10,000 per square foot for prime real estate in manhattan. it's crazy >> it is boeing added a hundred points to the dow yesterday, taking away about 70 now let's get to the judge and welcome to "the halftime report." i'm scott wapner this half hour, why some say volatility is about to come back in a big way with us, steve weiss, jon and pete najarian, kevin o'leary, and with us on set, our senior economics reporter steve liesman. we begin with the markets today, what's already been a wild week. the dow traveling an astounding 1,500 points in the last four sessions, hitting a ne