elon musk made the same joke and they connected the rest is history. >> new world. >> swipe left. swipe right. who knew. >> yeah. who knew. >> anyway. thank you for hanging out. >> my pleasure. >> becky will be back from omaha tomorrow morning in the meantime, make sure you join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" begins now ♪ >> good tuesday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber we get the white house decision on the iran deal at 2:00 the first multistate primary day of the year. a lot to watch in media. europe is just below the flat line oil appears to be ready to settle on the news of monday comcast versus disney. cnbc's parent considering an

all-cash counter bid to buy the fox disney marriage. president trump is expected to scrap the iran nuclear deal today. and reimpose sanctions oil is falling back to below $70 a barrel after hitting a three-year high. >> in the first tv interview since leaving the white house, top economic advisor gary cohn will join us live. cnbc's parent comcast is planning a $60 million all-cash bid to top disney's offer. it's important to know the comcast plan is in the early stages comcast will make the bid if the government approves the at&t time warner deal, which we don't expect to hear a lot about until the middle of june. >> right june 12th. this is not a real surprise for those following it closely we talked about the fact oftentimes in fact day one of the announcement of disney and fox's

deal we discussed how aggressive ryan roberts has been, could be and the likelihood comcast would try to come back if a possibility. the key part of the possibility, as carl said, is the ruling from judge leon on the 12th if the government wins the case against at&t, and time warner, well, it would seem highly unlikely comcast feels it has the regulatory ability to pull it off all cash frankly there could be some stock in there but let's go back just not that long ago first of all, take a look at comcast stock price which dropped dramatically we talked about it here since the request to buy sky or the 61% sky not already owned by fox. that's like a deadweight on the stock. leading mike kavanaugh last week a couple of weeks ago to say when it comes to potential acquisitions, it's our job to continuously evaluate whether there are opportunity for us to

create value should we pursue anything while the stock is at the levels, circumstances could change, it's unlikely we'll use comcast shares as a transaction. not a big surprise if they were going to follow through and try to buy or make a competing bid for those fox assets, they would do so with largely a cash bid by the way, the stock trades about zen times now. the by they would put on the table for the fox assets were to be far above what disney has bid. somewhere around 13 or 14 times. that's not a great triade-off. >> no. if you buy your own stock that's with the value would be conceivably. i think they like to get something out of it. can they get a portion they wanted in order to be able to go away >> you know, there's a part of this that i think a lot of it is applying pressure, posture not that i question the desire of brian roberts and comcast, our parent company, to own these assets the tv production assets, the

movie studio, in particular the international assets all of them are attractive including some of the regional sports networks they could own to comcast but, jim, there has always been this element, and it worked in the past for mr. roberts, shake the tree. >> right. >> hang around for the lay-up or the rebound if something falls your way and perhaps by applying continued pressure, disney reports earnings tonight what are shareholders going to think about the possibility it's not just going to have to compete on sky, which as i reported, it's going to. i've heard no backing down whatsoever on the disney camp from the willingness to compete against comcast's current offer for sky and therefore have fox raise the offer. but, also, going to have to compete here pressure the stock price create the idea that perhaps this shareholder vote will no go fox's way. remember the murdochs can only vote their economic stake for the m & a situation. roughly 17%. is it possible with the higher bid on the table, fox

shareholders will turn down the disney deal and maybe something comes your way in these fashion. they don't want to be in business together. they don't want to own sky together they don't want to own hulu together the way the deal is, they will because comcast owns 24% and disney owns the remainder. >> why doesn't murdoch want the most money >> there's a lot more that comes along with this than just money. yes. >> some sort of extension issue thing? >> he must like bob iger. >> yeah. originally they asked for the bids to be all stock or largely stock because of the tax ramifications. that has been minimized as a result of tax reform it's still a significant amount of money we're talking about in the differential that you have to pay in taxes in an all-cash deal would he accept a bid from comcast that was far higher than the 28.50 that disney is

currently paying >> yeah. >> yeah, he would. you need regulatory protections. and left side time around, let's take a look. we got this from a proxy there were none from comcast the original bid about 11 times. it was above disney's. also 50% of total synergies. they wouldn't take the divestiture risk on the regional sports networks. we'll buy them, but can't keep them, we'll put them back to new fox and therefore the overall assets they're paying a premium for keep coming down that was a concern tothe board they wanted new fox to bear the first $2 billion in regulatory remedies again, regulators say, hey, you got divest that's all you, fox. you take the risk and they wouldn't agree to a reverse determination fee. if it gets stopped, we'll make a payment to you so the question is, how high can

you go with all cash given the performance of your stock price you don't seem to care about near term. >> no. >> and paying. what regulatory protections will give in a new bid, and what is the willingness of the murdochs to accept that and/or the board to accept that and put pressure on murdoch to do the same? you can force -- you can get -- you can potentially win a negative vote on the fox shareholders on the disney deal. you can't force the murdochs to sell this to you. >> that's it. >>well, no you can't have the board say -- >> i like saying disney. listen, disney, you got to come up. >> right. >> and at that point, is it just making a more painful for disney world versus universal -- >> yes. >> theme park? >> yes unless there's a deal to be

struck somehow. >> right. >> and you get into things you can't collude. let us buy all sky and we'll back down. i don't know. >> do these guys hate each other? >> yes yes. >> yes >> they do >> yes. >> they hate each other? >> yes. >> no love there. >> no. red sox/yankees? >> yeah. we can have a cage match. >> yeah. >> okay. not good. >> not good. >> two have and oenter and one s >> could be. >> maybe we'll hear more tonight when disney gives the earnings. >> this was poorly timed from the point of view of the disney earnings call. >> yeah. none of this is a surprise. >> no. >> but thursday rather than today. >> right again designed, perhaps, to put pressure on disney stock. >> yeah. >> you think so? >> meanwhile, it's possible both

deals even if you were to get a positive determination from judge leon for at&t time warner. there's issues with both deals i mean, disney combines the two studios. they have enormous market share. >> right. >> the rsn and the espn is still a question mark. not to mention the rsn and comcast in particular markets is a no go. and the studio there is potentially an issue some say neither one of the deals is right. >> right. >> then you got the president who called to congratulate murdoch. >> right. >> but hates nbc. >> true. true the tweet. got to watch twitter. >> you tell me what is going to happen. >> you're paid the big bucks to know this. i'm supposed to figure out why hertz is down. >> apparently because nondrugs will be a bigger part of the business. >> yeah. >> and joe will beat the numbers. that's easier than this thing that you got going over there.

>> don't look at me. >> i'll be looking to you all the time. >> don't look at me, partner. >> right you have papa on tonight. >> yeah. >> thank you for the segue. >> papa on tonight >> yeah. >> valeant having a good morning, as well oil prices are pulling back in as we await the president's decision on the iran nuclear deal 2:00 eastern time. many expect him to pull out of the deal together. some allies who have signed on to the agreement are urging him to try to change it instead of withdrawing completely live coverage of the president's decision this afternoon on "power lunch." it's being called, perhaps, the most consequence foreign policy decision of his administration so far. >> yeah. i see that you know, i read that and i said how come north korea is not -- this is one that i think everyone kind of knew. how many times during the campaign did he say listen i'm

calling this up. he's blowing it up like nafta how many times did they say that they raised wages it would make it so you can keep plants in america. >> what are your thoughts on oil? >> the russians want it higher the saudis want it higher. they can't have it too high because we start pumping more than our problem is there's no pipes. we have a lot of oil at least there's pipes from the north dakota but there's not -- every pipe is jammed we can't do much more than we're doing. we make ton of money right here. >> iran will take 500,000, right? 700,000 barrels out. >> yeah. venezuela -- look, the saudis have the ability to pump enough million a day. the aramco deal -- >> is it clear if we back out

what the implications are? >> no. >> everybody else will have the agreement in place. >> yeah. it's not clear what happens other than we can make trouble. >> right. >> it's not clear at all what will happen. >> they'll buy the oil. >> right. >> that's why i think oil could run out. look, the demand for oil does not justify this price the saudis are pumping enough to keep it. the saudis don't want it to go to 89.90 we'll lay plenty of pipe in this country if it goes to 89.90. we'll find a way overnight there's so much oil in this country. we have so much natural gas burning. we have more gnat gas than kuwait and saudi we have no way what to do with it we flare it at night the epa they care about, you know -- >> the epa. >> they have a maxwell smart code of silence at the epa.

>> yeah. they care a lot about expenses there. expenses they are very -- look, there's a guy running it in west virginia that was in jail. >> yeah. >> find out what happens tonight. >> extraordinary time in politics. >> i think that's a fair statement. >> right extraordinary time in politics even in new york even in new york it's an extraordinary time. >> yes, always in new york. >> how do you mean, jim? >> why don't we do a little role-playing during the commercial [ laughter ] >> that's a dereference. when we come back, elon musk upping his stake in tesla and as a red carpet moment. gary cohn will join us his first interview since leaving the white house later on this morning another look at the premarkets got some news on snap and still low and more

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elon musk expanding his own stake in tesla his biggest purchase since march of last year increasing his stake in tesla to about 20%. first buy since march of 2017. >> look, the guy is -- that conference call he kind of apologized for it after kind of created his own opportunity to be able to buy stock and took advantage of it got a good bargain there because of tony -- >> yeah. but, you know, this is a fascinating story over the next six months what is going to happen to this company their ability to get up to the 5,000 a week they need to for the model 3. whether the cash will come down dramatically just so many other things. i mean, he's such an iconic figure, mr. musk, in so many ways i can't say there aren't any number of people rooting for him. can you really make an automobile that is this good and

do it profitably >> i don't know. why is there always a belief that there is some billionaire out there that wants to write him a check? you know that's the undercurrent of a lot of bulls. because on the face of it, this company should not be able to continue without a huge amount of money >>well, that's the story of the auto business, right he was having this back and forth with buffett about motes it's enormous amounts of cash needed. >> 15 years ago, you might have said the big three had a mote. if he did, he crossed. >> i think about jay leno, mr. car, saying who else has got ton this point what other car company he threw down the gauntlet, i don't know why, that they don't need to finance. then he buys stuff that encourages you they need to finance. >> if they need to and they do,

do you think they would raise debt or equity which do you go with how badly would the stock price react if they had to do a dilute of equity. >> i think he would never giveaway stock given what he just did he would do a debt deal like netflix. you know, some of these deals being done are, you know, 5 or 6%. >> netflix can get that. musk cannot get that. >> no? >> no. [ laughter ] don't you think he would buy some of it he does that, have you ever noticed? he takes down 500 billion. >> he's already got some stock as he uses collateral already. i think at 225 it's got to go. he's got to sell it. >> he did feed the personality last night at the met gala he appeared in a dinner jacket along with grimes, reportedly

his new flame. and the sec filing was it yesterday. we continually evaluate cap x needs. no timeline. >> is that a dinner jacket what can i say he's confounding how many times a day do you get that from a short? >> is the bonds or the stock a better tell? because the bonds are trading in the 80s. >> bonds are always right. stocks never raise coming on. when have the bonds been wrong tell me. when have bonds been wrong smarter people in bonds. the guys who work on that for the s&p are smart guys they're smart. >> yeah. >> they did expect him to have to raise two more. >> there are people that are furious saying it's not bankrupt now. i don't want to do that because the guy has ninelives. he goes to the met that's a hard ticket, by the

way. >> you're invited and then after that you have to pay. >> one day i'm going. >> i'm not going that's not my universe. >> alternative universe. >> you and lisa will look great. >> okay. >> when we come back, cramer's mad dash and the opening bell. another look at the prart.emke more "squawk on the street" ahead.

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about six and a half minutes until trading gets underway here you want to talk a little hain in the premarket it's not looking good. >> they're using a word "challenging." we saw it with tyson yesterday remember protein we got the word "challenging" and irwin was talking about he expects the divestiture of hain pure protein during the first half of 2019 they are doing everything they can to be able to expand, you know, get the growth rate back david, this was a one-time the way to play. and a lot of people did it remember they had an accounting issue. >> yeah. >> they did clear up. >> he went through a lot of stuff. they cleared up all those things now many people think it's a sale candidate. >> i think it is down here

they announced in february if seems like there's no buyers. maybe it's a longer auction. people like irwin simon and they like the brands. and everybody knows that natural and organic is the way of the future why? because if you look at the imf purchase yesterday of the israeli company for $7 million, there was a natural, organic flavor company, you know that natural and organic is alive and well the problem, david, the stock ran up not a big premium. and then a lot of things went wrong. whether it's accounting, raw costs, and then irwin, i think, maybe was like a bridge too far. >> yeah. >> very tough. >> it is tough we'll keep an eye on hain. we got a lot more, of course, coming your way. an opening bell. a lot more stocks to watch,

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well, it's earnings season once again. >>yeah. lot of tech companies are reporting today. and, how's it looking? >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him? >>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better. yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. one estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade.

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you're watching "squawk on the street" live from the financial capital of the world the opening bell in just over a minute's time. waiting for the iran deal decision this afternoon. of course, primary day tonight in ohio, indiana, north carolina, west virginia. caterpillar is speaking at the wells conference today and the head of ir said the high water mark comment was not meant to suggest that the market is peaking. >> no. oh, okay it was the head of ir that went and -- after the conference call, if you parse the conference call, the head of ir came back and when asked did you mean to say high water mark? he said yes, we meant to say high water mark. they raised numbers. but, you know, that was the clencher i don't know the chart looks good >> we'll watch that. >> yeah. that's raising eye brows this

morning. the s&p at the bottom of your screen and the amplified atf a recent listing of the transformation on datasharing. >> i see what they said. honesty this wrecked the move. now they're walking. they're not walking it back. they're running it back. you know, they said, there is a strong quarter thanks for nothing the recovery pieces. they wreck the reciprocal recovery pieces? yes. yes. everybody has been walking back. i was out with a major industrial yesterday for lunch i'm not going to reveal. >> you were out to lunch with a major industrial. >> ceo. >> oh okay, i thought maybe you

went with the company. >> i said how did this peak cycle stuff happen he said are you kidding me >> the call. >> yeah. are you an idiot cat. cat defined the earnings period. knew for them to walk it back, maybe too little too late? i don't know peoplepoint to sales or class engines peaking. no. >> i think was class a i tonight think it is. i do see china still being strong i do -- i think europe is back and forth and back and forth our country is very strong i look at the utility companies. two out of the three utility companies tell me that things got better and better. the bank shares last week this is just better and better and better first horizon better, better,

better jamie diamond saying the interest rates could go to 4%. the high water mark didn't work. it didn't hold water. >> there's a hole in the bucket. >> diamond in beijing did say you can easily deal with 4% bonds, and i think people should be prepared for that which is exactly what he said. >> yeah. it's jarring he's bullish who is more regularly bullish? warren buffett or jamie diamond? in terms of regular bullishness. >> in terms of american progress >> yeah. best economy genetic lottery. >> by the way, bezos their health care partner is optimistic, as well. >> yeah. >> i was looking at the return

of jpmorgan versus citibank. i thought it was interesting i don't know if you've been looking a the performance. there's a stir up trouble for michael. they bought, what kind of fraction of shares value >> just 1.2 billion. >> yeah. and they wished them well. they're not activists. >> they're not. >> no. they're pass viss. >> they are. >> they're cordial suggestive. >> look when buffett did buy that citi service that was a secular low there in terms of the fall, it was a great interview. becky did unbelievable work. she's not being praised enough becky did unbelievable work. i thought it was -- i was wrapped. incredible. >> and now as a result of the

new cnbc service, you can listen to him 20 years worth of annual meetings. >> there you go. >> yeah. >> it's pretty cool. >> yeah. alex griffin our in house buffett chronic is amazing becky gets it done. >> she's amazing they go apple and then look it's not easy to say, yeah, alphabet. >> speaking of getting it done takeda got it done for shire. >> let me tell you why i got up at 3:00. >> yeah. you always get up at 3:00. >> and the "wall street journal," you know, they did one of these whoa! whoa it was special bell. at 3:00 a.m. they announced the deal and that was it zblopt get in there and turn your notification alarm thing off. >> really? >> yeah. that's adjustable. >> this went off like it was, you know, like there's a flash flood in my house. >> the shareholders were waiting

for this zblim a going to t-mobile. >> you can see it reversed today. it's down double digits since they first came. i'll tell you where it ended up. .839 new takeda. they're talking about a first half 2019 close. and there's going to be a big spread here. as there often is in these deals these days remember yesterday we saw a bid for athena but no trading near the implied price. you have a done deal but expect a big spread the cross quarter nature of it long shire, the flowback issues. there's a two-thirds shareholder vote needed. it went take place for awhile. it presents another risk people are concerned about how much debt takeda is taking on to

get the deal another concern. drug pricing worries will something happen on that front? for any number of reasons, a big spread there, guys throw in china >> they combined them into a new acronym. >> nxpi. it's down today because of the deal with toshiba going away or not getting approval everything i hear we'll see on nxp. it's 98 now. and the zte being able to resubmit. >> we don't know. >> i know. i don't know people are taking the toshiba chip flash buy out not happening. i'm not sure you should for nxp.

>> i'm not sure we know anything what they're up to everyone is speculating and it's a bad game and i'm not playing there. >> financial not doing too bad city story on the front of the journal today. >> there was a great goldman note, i mean, wells fargo with a note saying the ceo meetings, head of goldman sachs reinvested our views that revenue should show the best growth this decade when you interview gary cohn about goldman, we won't give you an answer. okay >> i'm over here. >> sorry i would not ask him about goldman. i have an upcoming faber report. i'm getting ready. >> i have a faber report. >> you're not allowed to do faber reports. >> i can't >> no. >> snap cfo is out. >> when i read he was out for

valero he wasn't that great on the conference call. it doesn't work on android we have beer ads perfect for the 12-year-olds that use snap this fellow came from amazon i don't care if he cleans the floors of amazon that's a step up you can get a guy from amazon and it's like he can be the guy that puts it in the box! it's a better move tim stone. tip stone is from amazon >> as long as he was in the building for some period of time. >> yeah. i think he walked by amazon. he was a member of amazon and now he's a part of the snap team. >> foods up 14%? >> thank heaven. >> they beat revenue ace head. they affirm and things like true moo and the initiatives they say are working.

>> finally. >> i felt bad for dean moods that's hapless it was cleveland brown like. joe papa coming up it's worth mentioning that valley is up 14%. >> i'm doing a faber report right now, david. >> we gave papa a hard time. >> not me. okay pretty bad i admit. my wife heard about it she never watches. >> they are moving in the right direction. >> it was bad. >> look are we going give them a free pass? >> no. there's no free passes. >> there's no free passes. he delivered the number and dplifred it more and delivered it more. i'm a big joe papa backer.

he wanted the name change long ago but was afraid he has the debt maturities pushed down. a chance to get it rolling. >> yes. >> he's just done a fabulous job in terms of stabilizing. and value issue is great brand and it's a stock price up. >> yes. >> there's my faber report. >> all right i'll do mine now. >> yeah. >> yeah. your me too faber report oom going back to media but i'm not talking about comcast, which is down. >> oh, my god. probably cbs then. >> i am. yes. i'm doing cbs. last week we reported on a meeting between redstone and moonves. they met last wednesday in new

york i reported at the time they hadn't made any progress. >> right. >> subsequently on friday reuters did a story talking about an offer that had been made by redstone naming backish and what his role would be in a combined cbs viacom miss redstone has offered him be on the board of directors of the company and not number two as she desired. ru reuters didn't have that many people thought progress no no progress. that continues to be what i'm hearing was what i heard after the meeting and what i'm continuing to hear at this point. in terms of the two sides coming closer together on resolving the key issue. it's not about the exchange ratio. i hear on that they're moving a bit closer together. but not on this. but what i continue to hear from people familiar with the thinking of the special committee at cbs and the management is they want -- they

do not want backish to be a part of this deal in any way, shape, or form, including being on the board of directors of a combined company that moonves is adamant. the way it's been explained to me there's no real progress at this point there's a feeling that backish would be looking over the shoulder of management and potentially a successor two years down the road. and there is is a feeling on the special committee part, they don't have a shared view with viacom how best to mitigate the risks of execution of this deal? clearly you feel like your guy has to be in charge. and have free reign to do whatever he wants without anybody looking over his shoulder viacom and its controlling shareholder redstone seems to feel differently about that. they still haven't made progress on the one key thing they've got to deal with if you told me, by the way, jim

this would be a surprise, i would have said, yeah, that sounds right it sounds like a concession made to get the deal moving along the right road creating momentum. they have to deal with an exchange ratio they're not making any progress. no momentum. wanted to share that. >> yeah. >> unlike comcast and disney all right. let's head to the bond pits now. change it up a little bit. check in with rick santelli in chicago. good morning, rick >> reporter: good morning, david. one thing we can say about interest rates they're sticky and they're sticky at the top of ranges looking at 24 hour two-year note yields extending back to 2 1/2 beyond look at the 10-year note yield for 24 hours, we move from the low 290s up to 297

keep this in mind, in february we had 22 sessions closing the 280s and extended. now this could be the ninth session for the closing yield. there's going between 295 and 298. very tight range 298. >> the 303 is the currently high yield close. we'll continue to monitor. jamie diamond said 4%. i can tell you acting as though interest rates when they move, seem to want to move higher. if you open a chart up to the 25th, so that's from the 303 you can see how you flat line at a lofty level. dollar index continues to be a stellar performer. 24 hour you see we're trading 93.25. this hasn't been a fast march, but it's marching, nonetheless you see it on the one week

chart. the model of higher highs is something you can lock into and finally the 26, the day after christmas, the last time the dollar index was at these levels on the closing basis we'll continue to monitor that and all the collateral issues associated with it think emergingmarkets, think about dollar positions, how they're more expensive and it goes hand and hand. and maybe some of that capital that is leaving some of those other sectors affected by the strong dollar might be making their way toward american markets. carl, jim, david, back to you. >> all right, rick we'll talk to you in a bit hey, bob >> reporter: good morning, carl. 15 annual charity day. $45 million raised in the last 15 years going to raise another 3 or $4 million. here is the founder. for ten years i've beencoming

to this. you bring volume and volatility with you. >> right. >> we were here for the flash grab in 2010 the important question on everybody's mind is earnings have been spectacular. not only is earnings spectacular, the guidance has been spectacular and the market seems to be basing head winds and doubts what is going on where is the market going to go from here? >> we're going higher, that's for sure we may have had a little bit of fourth quarter got a little ahead of itself earnings are good. global growth is strong and the threats seem to be a positive. >> how is it that the bulls have lost control of the narrative? in the beginning we were talking about earnings in records and we're talking about peak earnings a global economic expansion and a bit of a slow down it's your opinion that the economy is not slowing down. >> it's not all the macro, you know, all the macro noise it looks like it's positive all the evidence says we're not going into recession and there may be a little bit of head wind from the fed taking

some liquidity out of the market but everything feels like we're higher. >> yeah. speaking of the fed and a lot of people mentioned that the head major head wind is the federal reserve removing with liquidity. three rate hikes this year and not four is that an issue >> i think it's priced into the market, to be honest volume and volatility was slowed in march and april what is your expectations? you live and die on volatility you hear what is going on. the volume on the trading desk, you live and die by the volatility what is your anticipation for what we'll see >> i think volatility will pick up we seem to be in a little bit of a trend. i'm sorry in a little bit of a bend here. we need to break out of the band julian emanuel, our strategies who went positive last week very constructive on the market, we

break out of the triangle in the market i think in the low 2700 should have a big kick to the upside. >> the specific story today, our parent company, comcast, there's reports out comcast will make an all-cash bid for most of fox's assets if the time warner at&t deal is approved your man has been vocal about this recently. any new thoughts rich has been talking about this deal for probably five or six months he's been vocal on it. he thinks that, you know, they make, you know, premium bid. and, you know, more than what disney can do. they think they have the financing and cash to get it done. >> we'll be here all day more on the economy. gary cohn will be with us in the next hour. mike bloomberg is here he wants to talk about guns, climate change, and in particular, he wants to talk about trade wars and, of course, the usual parade of all-stars including shaquille o'neill and ludicrous later on

today. back to you. >> i have to watch you interviewing ludicrous, bob. i can't wait. >> me took. >> gary cohn is in the next hour dow down about 60 points financials doing okay here as we get started on this tuesday. don't go away! this is a tomato you can track from farm, to pot, to jar, to table. and serve with confidence that it's safe. this is a diamond you can follow from mine to finger, and trust it never fell into the wrong hands. ♪ ♪ this is a shipment transferred two hundred times, transparently tracked from port to port. this is the ibm blockchain, built for smarter business. built to run on the ibm cloud.

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♪ good tuesday morning. welcome back to "squawk on the street." plenty to watch today. dow down waiting for the decision on the iran deal out of the white house around 2:00. in the meantime media m&a. road maps begin with breaking news. comcast considering all cash offer for 21st century fox assets. >> the world is waiting. president trump getting ready to deliver his decision on the

iranian nuclear deal. what leaving the deal may mean for markets. >> his first tv interview since leaving the administration. gary cohn is going to join us. first, though, comcast preparing what would be a largely if not all-cash bid to try to buy the assets for sale from 21st century fox. assets it has already agreed to sell to disney. it has been raising financing and, of course, as we have said many times since the deal first announced comcast will only do this if a green light is given to at&t's takeover to time warner by judge leon who will rule on the 12th of june. let's bring in burnstein senior analyst and long time media investor who just launched his

own firm, ljh investment advisers. as somebody who has been around for a while, seen your share of takeovers, watched build comcast into the company it is through many acquisitions what is your take here? do you think as you watch comcast stock down 21% this year that he'll keep going regardless of what the market may say >> i think the market will have some discipline on brian, but history of this company has been aggressively using leverage. remember, brian they were cable guys and nothing for them to be four to five times levered debt to cash flow. they are well below that even after they would do disney for all cash. as a consequence i don't think this is scary at all.

surely the cost of financing will be a lot lower. brian knows the assets of fox. they are superior assets and well managed. they generate a lot of free cash flow. can afford to go up very significantly. i think he wants to ensure that this asset, fox, does not go to one of the technology companies. if you are comcast or disney getting amazon into this business is just your worst nightmare and probably getting google into it is your second worst nightmare because these companies at least in the short run for google and long run for amazon aren't motivated by generating cash flow. you better do something. interest rates are low enough so that the price here can go a lot higher. i think we are in a parallel situation to qvc, paramount, vicalm in early 1990 and we are

in the first inning here. this is going to get real, real interesting. >> bringing me back to '93. we can relive that at some point. that was a lot of back and forth. comcast stock is down again today. one reason why they can't use it as currency despite that being what rupert murdoch had wanted for fox assets, you can go higher in cash, high enough so that it makes up difference in terms of losses on taxes. what do you think it means for disney if they are forced to compete not just for sky where reported they will compete for current bid but also for fox, as well >> i think the way i frame that question and how i interpret what might happen is i think about why are comcast and disney both seemingly so intent on making company-defining

decisions at this moment in time on fox. i think my own read on it is the answer about googles and amazons of the world. i don't think the fear is about worrying whether google or amazon will get into the business. i think they already are or i believe will be and unnamed was netflix. i think disney and comcast are looking at the future of the video entertainment business. concluding in five or ten years there is probably a handful of companies left that are the global scale providers of the way consumers will access entertainment in the home which is subscription video model. i think they both view this as their one chance to claim the stake as being one. amazon, netflix, google, facebook. haven't mentioned apple yet. that is already five fingers. i don't think there are that many more to go. i think that is why this is

happening. i completely agree with larry on leverage situation. i'm not a fan of leverage. i don't think larry in his heart is necessarily, either. with the comcast business model the issue i think is you are still buying an asset that has lower multiples, has some troubling as well as good virtues. you also have a massive investment ahead of you even if you succeed acquiring this company in terms of building the future product that you seem intent on building. >> not to mention buying something at a much higher multiple than your stock is currently trading for. murdoch made a hyperrational decision as i reported about the plan to sell to disney because they didn't think they could compete. you and todd seem to be in complete agreement that the world changing rapidly in terms of the ability to compete. if comcast doesn't win or disney doesn't win are they both

penalized as a result? >> i think disney is going to win. i think the stock is going to go up a whole lot. i think brian is just more less throwing a hail mary pass now. here is the reason why. june is an interesting month because you have the time warner decision but you also have the supreme court making a decision on sports betting. and most of the observers think that sports betting is going to become legal. brian understands the ramifications of this because he is sitting in philadelphia and the suit is in new jersey. once this happens the states, new jersey will lead the parade and will legalize sports betting. what that is going to do is it is going to escalate the value of espn because the times watch are going to explode particularly on thursday, saturday and monday when the

college football games are played. espn is going to become worth a lot more money very, very quickly if this happens. brian has got a very short window to compete because disney has stronger financial position right now, a stronger multiple but the multiple is only going to increase if the supreme court does what i think it is going to do. >> larry, that is interesting. i had not heard that take before. we are out of time for now. certainly a story we will be joining along the way. thanks to you both. don't miss first on cnbc interview. disney ceo will join as company enjoys earnings after the bell. getting record high job openings let's get to rick santelli. >> really stellar number. jolts began in december 2000. you will see on that chart there is no higher read on the job

openings portion of that number than the 6550,000 that just printed. why is it such a big deal? it's not a metric traitor tradea big zone in. it does give us a glimpse into the notion that there is a side of the economy that is still quite strong. thank you. when we come back the dow's three-day win streak in jeopardy as investors await the iranian nuclear deal decision from president trump this afternoon. dow is down 41 points. and david kostin is here to discuss where to find value in this market. his first tv interview since leaving the administration. former chief economic adviser to president trump gary cohn will be with us this hour. "squawk on the street" will be right back.

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every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey! let's basement. and thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. so sophie, i have an xfi password, and it's "daditude". simple. easy. awesome. xfinity. the future of awesome. stocks have been lowing. oil prices also lowing ahead of the announcement although closed above 70 yesterday. joining us this morning david kostin. good to see you. a lot of talk about moderating economic survey data, ism, cap goods, non defense. you think those fears are exaggerated. >> i think they are exaggerated in the sense that the core profit growth that you are

seeing was excellent and in particular with 23% increase in earnings per share growth. if you take away the tax impact pretax earnings were up 14% which is a very strong number. all the focus on profit dynamics which are likely to continue for this year and into next year. certainly that is a concern a lot of clients have asked about. >> earlier in your last appearance you said revenue would be the metric to watch. >> revenue is up 11%. if you want to think about various drivers you have revenue up 11% so far. we have almost 90% of companies reported first quarter results. revenue up 11%. you have pretax earnings around 14% and then bottom line around 23%. those are strong results looking backwards. if you are looking forwards expectation is now we are in may. typically portfolio managers would wait until around july to

start focussing on 2019. the last five years or so fund has been waiting until much, much later. i expect this year more focus will be on growth trajectory into 2019 and forecast from an economics point of view at goldman sachs is the economy will continue to grow this year and next year, part of the forecast on the earnings. we have earnings growth, sales growth and that is positive. i think the area that is maybe not focussed on so much is the financial sector because there is really no major dislocation from a valueuation perspective in the market. we look at some of the drivers, we have financials. the results will come out in about six weeks at the end of june. last june had 40% increase in the amount of capital that the banking industry returned to investors, combination of dividends and buyback. now we are looking for 20%.

you have net interest margins rising. those are the key drivers of the financials. >> you are looking at the stress test. the problem with what you are saying is that everything it sounds like is positive yet the markets barely move since the start of earnings season. if you look at some of the sectors that are most hard to impress, banks was at the very top. >> think about the forecast for the end of this year is 2,850 for the s&p 500. that is the forecast and has been there all year. that would be about a seven percent rise in the level of market between now and the end of the year. that is kinlt with the kind of profit growth we are looking at until the end of 2019. really the market is driven by profit cycle. where is it we are likely to get more drivers behind that higher interest rate environment. it has been good for the banks historically speaking. we are looking at loan growth. >> what do you think is holding back that growth in the market despite double digit profit

growth and sales growth? >> those concerns about some of the marginal dynamics of some of the earlier sickle indicators, ism, rising interest rate environment, higher labor cost with wages, increased commodity prices. there are questions about revenues, margins, about valuation in terms of -- those to me are the issues that have been front and center in macrodiscussions. the business activity is still pretty strong. >> dimen says four percent is doable and handleable. >> forecast three percent would be a constraint. ten year bond yields going towards four percent. this is a discussion we have been having with a number of corporate managers is it is not all else equal.

the concept that if bond yields go to four% management is not going to respond is a -- effectively they need to spin off the division in order to enhance revenue growth whether it is invest more in technology this year. there is a response mechanism. our forecast is that rates are likely to be going higher and that will limit the valuation expansion which means earnings, revenues are key drivers for the market. >> second and third order effects interesting to watch. >> good to see you again. we are getting news out of washington. let's get to kale lu. >> the white house is asking congress to cut $15 billion in spending. it targets programs like

electric vehicle loans and overallotment to fund children's health insurance. what it doesn't do is it does not touch the 2018 spending package. those senior administration officials say there will be a separate package targeting that omnibus bill and the president has a scene interest in the package but they want to see if they can get this one through first. the white house says it has been working closely with the white house but leadership has been dismissive and they say they need to start having a conversation about potentially moving this. we will see where it goes. certainly an historic ask of $15.4 billion. guys, back to you. >> trying to chip away at that deficit. when we come back president trump getting ready to announce his decision on the iranian nuclear deal this afternoon. a look at what is at stake for the business, oil market and more. with the dow down 55 points.

the president speaking with french leader right now. our michelle caruso-cabrera joins us now. >> the iran deal was signed in 2015 along with six other countries called the jcpoa, joint comprehensive plan of action. to understand what is happening today important to know the way the u.s. implemented that deal through a law passed by congress. that law temporarily waives many of the existing sanctions on iran and that same law requires the president to decide every few months whether or not to keep the waivers in place which allows iran to export oil and allows international financial institutions to finance those sales. that u.s. law is why this week

matters. the next deadline is may 12, this coming saturday. the law also gives the president enormous flexibility as to what he could do. you talk to washington pundits in the last week and the permutations of possibilities they raise are endless. a key focus from a market perspective would be effect on the oil market. the president could announce something today that means the u.s. will demand other countries reduce purchases of iranian oil within the next six months and if they don't sanctions will be placed oen the banks that finance those purchases. biggest buyers, south korea and japan likely to go along with what the use wants cht what can hold them back if they can't find a bank to finance the deals. we'll have to wait to see at 2:00. >> there are multinational companies involved here.

boeing made a deal to supply planes to iran. would that have to be killed a lot of european companies as you know have plowed in. >> the biggest name out there and the most at stake would be total, the french energy company which had gone into a large deal with the chinese company for the largest gas field in iran in the world with the iranian company there. boeing actually never happened. they were supposed to get licenses. they never came out of ofec and never delivered a plane. i spoke with one individual from bo brookings and he said that deal is dead, dead, dead. >> thank you very much. we'll see what happens this afternoon on power lunch. for more on how the oil markets are reacting we are joined by rbc head of global commodities strategy. guys, let's game this out.

can you explain why wti is sitting below 70 and down more than a percent into the decision if we thought that this would be bullish for oil the president pulls out? >> buy the rumor, sell the news. that is what we got last night when the president tweeted that he would make the decision today. i think what will happen today he will announce he will pull out but then have kellyanne conway try to explain the details after that. it is so nuanced from here that the president will have a lot of latitude to do maybe basically nothing beyond pulling out of the deal. that's why i think oil is lower. i think that is what the market is expecting to a great degree that we will not lose iranian barrels anytime soon. >> a soft pullout of the deal. >> check campaign promise for the pull out of the deal and let status quo remain. >> what are you telling clients

as to how it changes the supply picture for oil? >> we have an expectation that he will be out of the deal but possibly have a great period. the obama administration had a grace period for sanctions. they had 180 day grace period before they forced foreign countries to reduce imports. we expect some grace period in order to avoid pushing gas prices higher into the summer. i don't think you appoint john bolton as national security adviser if you are not prepared. i think we will intensify our efforts. i would watch the iranian response. are they going to continue to comply or will hard liars resume nuclear activity i think a lot of things are in question. i can see a scenario where the middle east gets a lot more rested as a result of the pullout. >> michelle mentioned some of the unpredictable follow on effects. how do the russians and saudis

respond sth. >> there was a statement if the deal is dead if u.s. pulls out. the unknown here is other reactions to other countries and to the extent that i'm wrong and president trump goes full throated on reimposing sanctions and alienates the iranians. i don't mean to alarm anyone but the risk of war is part of the equation going forward. there is a lot of speculation about that. israel seems to be spoiling for a show down. that is worst case scenario. that is where you see oil prices rocket higher. >> you have embassy moving to jerusalem. the pot is getting stirred. you can definitely say that. >> i argue people keep saying trump is going to disappoint allies. he is going to thrill benjamin netanyahu if he pulls out of the deal. i think there are forces in the middle east that would like to see a regime change in iran and look at the economic situation in iran and believe that the time might be right for regime

change when enough economic pressure is applied. i would not rule out that we take a tougher approach on iran going into the fall. >> just to be clear, john, what happens to oil this afternoon? you see a scenario where it continues to go lower because you don't think those sanctions will be reimpose d. >> i think he pulls out, whiffs on the sanctions. i think he is nuanced. he will sell off thinking he won't risk for losing iranian barrels or supply. we can't afford to lose him right now, either. >> we'll see what happens this afternoon. thanks for coming on to discuss it. if you want to learn more about what may happen if the president pulls out of the iran deal you can head to cnbc.com. and make sure to leave it here. market reaction 2:00 p.m. on power lunch today. our etf spot light will focus on all that is going on in the media space.

michael santoli has that. >> part of the story of looking at etfs is that none capture what we consider traditional media. they are doing it at a position of weakness or defensiveness. s&p media group is down. pbs and iwc do vaguely track medias. pbs is the power share dynamic media. it looks like it is outperforming. this is i-shares consumer services. this is without goods. that is a lot of media. amazon is top holding. disney and comcast are three and four. i want to highlight part of the evolved sector etf series using ai to actively manage this portfolio. it listed in march and it does have traditional media as top holdings. top four, disney, comcast, cbs,

fox. whatever you believe of black rock's artificial intelligence stock picking algorithms they are settling on some traditional media spots that are involved. keep an eye on it. >> very cool. michael santoli. when we come back in his first interview since leaving the white house president trump's former top economic adviser gary cohn is with us. dow is down 60. don't go away.

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good morning. here is your cnbc news update. investigating allegations of physical violence against women by new york attorney general eric schneiderman. he resigned from office late monday. in a tweet this morning

president trump telling former secretary of state john kerry to stay away from iran nuclear investigations as president trump prepares to announce his decision of whether or not to pull out of the deal. >> we find ourselves today with certain individuals who are talking about a new arms race, who are talking about a new expenditure of the amazingly important resources of all of our countries that should be going to health and building schools and infrastructure. chinese president xi meeting with kim jong-un. the meeting is the second between the two following kim's visit to beijing in march, his first since taking power six years ago. of course, it comes ahead of the summit between the north koreans and the u.s. that is the cnbc news update this hour. i am sending it back to you, carl. >> thank you very much. sue herera. let's get to bob pisani at

btig's 16th annual charity day sitting with a very special guest. >> gary cohn, former head of national economic council. you wanted me to say you are here to represent the dream which is a charter school in harlem. >> absolutely, bob. that's why i'm here today. we are here for charity. we are here to raise money for all amazing charities in new york. an amazing lineup of people coming to raise money for people in need in the city. you have the day to day. you have robin hood next week. this is something that new york is spectacular at. >> are you going to get more involved in philanthropic issues >> i have been involved in some philanthropic issues. that is something near and dear to me and my family and my wife. we have been involved. i am looking at other opportunities but i'm taking my

time and seeing what is out there in the world. there is no shortage of opportunities. >> must be a wonderful feeling having served in the white house and so many prestigious jobs. do you feel freer? >> i feel freer. i feel more rested. i feel happier. i said to someone last night at dinner for the last 36 years i got up, showered, shaved, put my suit on and was sitting at my desk by 7:00 in the morning. not having to do that has been interesting. i don't have to put a suit on every day. >> you seem very energetic. you said there are opportunities. tell us whatopportunities ther are. what do you want to do next? >> i am looking at a variety of opportunities. i have been talked to by a bunch of different companies about working with them whether at a ceo level. there is an enormous amount of board opportunities. i'm less inclined to do board work for existing companies. i am much more inclined to get

involved with younger companies. one of the things i really enjoyed was the time i spent with young entrepreneurs working with young entrepreneurs whether it was uber, spent a lot of time with elon musk and drew at drop box. i miss working with the young entrepreneurs. getting involved with companies earlier is something that i can see myself doing but i wouldn't rule out getting involved with a more mature company, as well. i wouldn't rule out philanthropic work, as well. there is always the chance of just running money or doing something like that or i can do nothing. >> it sounds like a lot of opportunities. it sounds like you would potentially be the ceo of a startup. young entrepreneurs. >> i don't know if i would want to be ceo. i would much prefer i think at this point to really work with entrepreneurs or work with a couple of entrepreneurs. i do have an idea for a company,

as well. there is a company that i'm spending a little bit of time with, lawyers right now looking at the possibility of a company to see if it makes sense. >> can you tell us who this is >> i can't. >> i had to ask. >> of course, you had to ask and of course i had to tell you i couldn't tell you. it would be an interesting concept playing on the knowledge that i know from the banking world in running a regulated bank but in a digitized world. >> what about a big ceo job? mike mayo wells fargo analyst promoted you as next chairman of citi group. any interest in a high level job like that? >> mike is entitled to his opinions. i am interested in seeing what is out there. i'm interested in talking to people. i have made absolutely no decisions at this point. >> let's talk about the economy. your old boss president trump said he wants to make tax cuts

permanent. that is a controversial issue. chance of happening? >> remember, the corporate side is permanent. when he says he wants to make tax cuts permanent the one thing that we regret in not having been able to do in the original tax bill was the personal side expires. we would like to go back and make the personal side permanent. we believe that the individuals deserve a personal tax reduction and we need that to be permanent. we do not want that to expire. when everyone runs the tax an t anletics they run it the year after the expiration of the tax reduction that we just put in because it is temporary. we need to go back and make the personal side permanent. that is something that president trump wants to do and something chairman wants to do. he is talking about tax 2.0 where he wants to make that

permanent. chairman brady has an interesting idea. he thinks we should do tax modifications every year. the world is always changing. tax law is changing. we in the united states should not stay stagnant. he thinks that this year's tax bill should be to make the personal side permanent and every year we should get used to making the changes we need to make our taxes the more competitive. >> tax cuts have resonated in the stock market. doesn't seem to have resonated much. how far can this idea advance in this environment >> i think the idea of making personal cuts permanent can resonate with everyone. who can be against making personal income taxes lower and making it permanent? who can be against the fact that we increased child tax credit and personal deduction to $24,000. those are basic concepts that allow hard working middle income

families to keep almost 100% of what they earn. those are concepts that we believe in this country. >> you left after the president unveiled steel and aluminum tariffs. the president's economic team just came back from negotiations with china. has the threat of a trade war increased or decreased since you left office? >> i don't think anyone wants a trade. no one wins in a trade war. i think everyone understands that no one wins in a trade war. what we do need in america and what i think everyone believes in and we talked about this is free, fair, open and reciprocal. i think what the team was talking about when they were in china is opening up more of the chinese markets to u.s. goods, u.s. services, u.s. businesses. today u.s. businesses in china can only own a minority of their businesses, have to have a chinese partner. chinese businesses in the united states can own 100% of their

business. we need to level the playing field where american businesses in china can own all of their business. they can have 100% of proceeds and repatriot the proceeds back into the united states. we need to open up the chinese markets. on the reciprocal side we need to get tariffs to maybe not exist. they would have no tariffs for u.s. products so products would freely move between country and country. we wouldn't have protectionist tariffs. that is what the president is trying to get to. that is what i believe is in everyone's best interests. let the economy thrive and let them sell to the world without an artificial tariff. >> on the knowledge that you differed with the president on the tariff issues. where did that come down where did that issue get resolved you left as a result of that. if you were still advising him would you continue the course of actions on the negotiations as currently happy with china. >> i made my position very

clear. i have a strong view of what the u.s. economy looks like. i think we are a dominant service economy in the united states. 80 plus percent of job creation and gdp is in the service sector. we are good at creating service jobs. what happens in our economy here is u.s. consumers take their paycheck, they pay their taxes and owe taxes and they owe less and less taxes. they buy what goods they need to buy. the remainder of their paycheck they spend it on services or savings. we need them to buy goods as cheap as they possibly can, to spend their money on services or savings. if we artificially raise the price of goods because of tariffs we are hurting our service economy. that's not in our best interest. so putting on input tariffs is not the objective. i really have a problem with input tariffs. i have less of a problem with

finished good tariffs because you are not really effecting all the down stream production. to me really going after input products is not the way to fix a trade deficit. >> you were known for your defense of free trade. when you look back at your time in the white house. >> i am a free trader. that is not a general comment. i am a free trader. i am not protariffs. i am pro open economy. i am antitariff. when you look back at your time at the white house obviously you are associated with the tax cuts. what do you see is your biggest contribution how did you influence the national conversation and effect the outcome? >> i think the tax cuts was the big accomplishment. we started working on the tax plan prior to inauguruation. january of that year before the inauguruation we were coming down to washington to move the

ball forward on taxes. the history of the tax deal was quite extensive. we started with a house that wanted a border adjustment tax. we had a senate that would not support our border adjustment tax. secretary mnuchin and i worked for a long time together to get the house and the senate in one place where we can agree on a framework upon which to do taxes. we worked for a long time to get that framework. then we let the tax writers and senate finance committee work on drafting tax legislation that could get passed through the house, passed through the senate and the president signed. we didn't get 100% of what we wanted in that tax legislation. the house didn't, the senate didn't, the president didn't. that's why we are talking about tax 2.0. can we fix the things we would like to fix like making the individual side permanent. >> i thought it was interesting that the president in thanking you for your service described

you as a globalist what does that mean to you >> i was going to ask what it means to you. >> generically it is someone who believes we live in an interconnected world. the concept of change, i guess the question is, where do you find a balance between acknowledging that we live in an interconnected world and the demands of some conservatives who favor some form of economic nationalism? i think that is the crux -- >> in your definition i'm a globalest. i believe we live in an interconnected world economically. we live in a world of allies where we have ally nations that when we go to war they are attacked and we are attacked. we have treaties and agreement where we defend each other. we are interconnected on the military side. we are interconnected on the economic side. we are interconnected on the intelligence side. we work together as allies in

all of the major spheres that make the world a better place for us and including economic growth, including helping out under developed economies, helping out those in need around the world through different forms of aid. >> the president made a point of describing you as a globalist and seeming to position himself in a slightly different atmosphere of economic nationalism. i don't know what the appropriate phrase is. i think you understand the point. >> i am a globalist. i believe that we are very good at doing certain things in the united states. other countries are very good at doing different things. we should buy from them what they are good at. we should sell to them what we are good at. there is competitive advantage. i believe in competitive advantage. i don't believe that we can manufacture, make and produce everything we need in the united states for ourselves at the most efficient and effective price available. i believe that we need allies.

i believe we need trading partners. i believe we need an open economy and we need to share with our allies and developing markets around the world. >> let me move on to where we are on the economic cycle. markets have been fluttering. in january everyone was talking about record earnings. now the phrases are shifting towards peak earnings. everyone was talking about a global economic expansion, a wonderful phrase. a lot of people, some are talking about slower global growth. where are we in the economic cycle and what do you think will happen for the rest of the year? >> i am pretty bullish on where the economy is right now. i think everything we thought would be happening is happening. i think earnings if you look at q 1 earnings this year 20 plus percent growth in earns. you look at employment data it continues to be strong to very strong. you look at wage growth still slow which is something we have been talking about for a year

and a half that wage growth is slow which will allow the fed i believe to take a more moderate approach. we may see flattening of the yield curve. i don't think we have run away interest rates in the united states. you take the tax plan that has been implemented, we are just starting to -- we are stimulating through having the deductibility of capital expenditures over the next five years. corporations have to plan for cap x. it takes quarters to expense it, hire the people and do what they need to do there. when i look at the economy i am pretty excited about where we are in the economic cycle. i think that people are confused about corporate earnings and think this is a one off. tax cuts on the corporate side are here to stay. what i think there is a little bit of worry about is are we going to get commodity price

inflation. you heard about steel prices and aluminum prices going up. i'm concerned about that. i don't like the tariff. i don't think we want steel prices and aluminum prices going up. remember, we are a big down stream user of steel and aluminum. we have many thousands, tens of thousands of more people that are employed in using aluminum than in manufacturing aluminum. it doesn't matter what we do that is the u.s. economy. the car business is a big user of steel and aluminum, much bigger than the steel manufacturing business is ever going to be. you are starting to see those worries trickle in. last year you had a stock market implementing tax reform. this year we have earnings growth up over 25 and a stock market that is flat. i think people are concerned that the economic policies of washington are not as clear this year as they were last year. >> i agree. i think peak earnings are a bit of bogus argument. we are getting global growth for sure. you mentioned flat yield curve.

people have been curved about the fact that the fed may have to get more aggressive. three rate hikes priced in. what do you think of the performance so far >> i think the fed is doing a ta great job. the fed is independent they do what they're supposed to do they have better data and more analytics than all of us combined i applaud their independence, what they're doing my personal opinion here is that i think those people that think we're in for, you know, a lot of interest rate increase and the curve is going to get very steep and rates are going to run away, and the ten-year is going to be substantially higher, i don't really agree with that look where the ten-year has been there was a lot of hype when the ten-year went 3% and, you know what the sun came up in the east and sets in the west we've been hovering around 3%. i think we'll see more

flattening than runaway yields in this market. >> gdp, obviously, first quarter was disappointing. there seems to be some anomaly. >> i remember the last four first quarters have been low so, i don't understand the anomaly either we've been trying to figure it out. we talked to all the economists in washington to try to figure out why that first quarter is an anomaly. when you're 2.3 in the first quarter, that's pretty good momentum with the tax incentives kicking in there was a bunch of things moved around between q4 and q1 because of the expense at the high tax rate and invest at the low tax rate. >> how do you feel about david sullivan >> he's a good friend of mine. i wish him nothing but success and good luck. >> a quick question on bitcoin, how do you feel about it your old firm, they've got a

desk or will start a desk and be facilitating future bitcoin trading at goldman how do you feel about it >> they can do whatever they want, whatever is in their shareholders' best interest. i'm not a believer in bitcoin. i am a believer in block chain technology we will have a global crypto currency at some point where the world understands it and it's not based on mining costs and costs of electricity and things like that. it will be a more easily understood crypto currency, probably some block chain technology behind it it will be much more easily understood how it's created and how it moves and how people can use it. >> you can understand how goldman sees an enormous activity there they've been the first ones to take risk on a risky business. >> they should do what's best for their shareholders. >> still hold goldman shares

>> no, i'm not. >> none at all >> nope. >> gary cohn, thank you for stopping by. always a pleasure. please, let us know as soon as -- first on cnbc. >> today is about charities and help the needy in new york city. >> of course you'll let us know when you get the new job? >> i will. >> first on cnbc. >> i don't know about that but we'll let you know. >> former head of national economic council under president trump. charity day will be here all day, many, many others coming on board. thanks to you guy. >> very nice bob pisani, thank you very much. self described happier and more rested gary cohn, giving his pretty candid opinions, guys, on everything from the tax cuts he called himself a globalist. expects a global crypto currency, wants those personal cuts to be permanent there was a lot there. >> economically, militarily around the world some of the criticisms of input

tariffs. you can imagine, from what he told us, what those conversations must have been like in the white house. >> between him and peter navarro or lighthauser and the president. and gave us an idea of what he's going to do next. >> shopping around. >> digital bank. >> possibility of a company. interesting concept playing on the knowledge i have of banking in a digitized world some of us take notes. >> i like to take them right here doesn't work out that well sometimes. >> for more on reaction of what we just heard from president trump, former economic adviser gary cohn, let's bring in john howard and kayla tausche all in washington eamon, what did you hear >> clearly, a gary cohn much more willing to highlight differences on policy between himself and his former boss, donald trump, than the gary cohn we saw working in this building behind me. saying i am a globalist, free

trader i believe we need allies, trading partners, intelligence cooperation, highlighting the difference between himself and the sort of more -- the faction inside this white house as more of an economic nationalist mindset. that's not something that gary cohn would have been able to do as strongly as we just saw there. and, of course, there's people in this building that might have been watching what he was saying about being happier and freer, not working in the white house, than he was when he was working in the white house the white house has produced a lot of turnover, possibly more to come. you wonder what those figures inside the building are thinking when they see that. >> john, on tax cuts 2.0, this notion of making the personal side permanent, there's been some discussion heading into the midterms the gop is running less and less on a tax cut message. does this get renewed? >> i doubt it. bob pisani put his finger on it, in questioning gary cohn he talked about how the tax cuts

have been underwhelming. remember, the tax cuts are in effect or taking effect now. and so the expiration isn't an issue for the public the public, if you look at polls, doesn't even seem to be aware that they're getting a tax cut. the other thing that gary cohn did not mention were the words budget deficits, head ed up to $ trillion that's the reason why they didn't make the personal tax cuts permanent and why they're not likely to make them permanent, because republicans are concerned about trillion dollar tax cuts -- excuse me, trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. >> kayla, on trade, i'm a free trader, i'm proopen economy, doesn't want to go after input tariffs. he says nobody wins in a trade war and i keep thinking of president trump who said trade wars are good and easy to win. >> gary cohn trying to make those arguments publicly that he

try ied to make behind closed doors at the white house in the roosevelt room i don't think for the economy we want steel and aluminum prices to go up he firmly wanted to state exactly what his positions were, even though they were well telegraphed and well reported, he wanted to put himself out there. i talked to some people in new york social circles who say they do believe gary cohn, at some point, will re-enter the financial services industry. although those conversations, they say, are still very early. >> guys, appreciate the help on recapping what gary told bob good stuff from bob pisani on charities day.

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