and i think like there's another earnings season coming. >> it's not that far off. >> another on friday keep coming. >> anyway. it gives us something to do. >> it does. >> something to look forward to. in the meantime, make sure you join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" begins right now. ♪ good monday morning welcome to squauk on t-- jau"squawk on e street." the dow up seven days. a lot headed our way including high-level trade talks, retail earnings, crypto and more. a stock rally heading into the second week. futures pointing to ahigher ope.

>> plus, sanctions against the chinese company president trump pledging to help zte get back into business fast is it the art of the deal or did we back down more head winds for tesla. another senior executive jumping ship first up, though, stocks are poised to open higher with the dow in the middle of the longest win streak of the year looking to post the eighth straight day of gains s&p coming off the fifth positive session in six and the nasdaq is leading the major indexes this month up almost 5%. speaking of 5%, s&p within 5% of the all-time high. >> this has been an incredible rally. i think some has to do with feel better about the tweet this weekend from the president about zte. bringing some thought that perhaps the nxp semiconductor deal could be done with qualcomm i like the fact that we're being landed by the semis and by the

transports this morning we've got an upgrade of ups by merrill lynch i like we got a vehicle from csx from goldman. these companies have a huge amount of business now some is e mers and a lot is intermodel for railroads it means it's free and all kinds of things are in those talks on intermodal. i think there's a belief that the economy is good. employment is good sales are good so we're kind of running out of reasons, particularly with this is not an earnings week other than retail. running out of reasons to fight. and it creates a powerful. >> interesting volume friday was not robust. >> no. >> does mean we take a breather soon >> i think that honestly i think the hedge funds are under

invested they need a tweet just as i thought things were good but it turns out things aren't good they don't have enough to hang their hat on one of the reasons why the price turnings the has come down as prices for stocks have gone down and earnings have gone up. so there's a belief that give us something to fight give us something we don't like otherwise i guess we have to come in and start buying that's going on. >> interesting. >> it is i mean, i can think of a lot of hedge funds that had a difficult time lately. whether it's blow ups like we watched at nxp and we'll talk about it in a minute now it's coming back they've had a difficult run of it and nowhere near the performance overall in the s&p so to your point, maybe we start to see the -- >> yeah. >> yep. >> trying to chase performance again. the same old thing. >> right. >> i sit here 20 years into the

hedge fund world and being a big thing and wonder why it exists at all the 20 is gone, by the way. >> i think there's going to be a fund that gets you lights out. a fund that bought a lot of oil. suddenly that guy is a smart guy. a fund that sold -- >> flip cart for $3 million. >> yeah. right. >> you can hope their guy or the girl is the one. >> from that business you have a hot quarter. how did you do it? i'm very good. no, you happened to be the guy short nxp at 125. >> i think we have a 20-year track record to assess the industry overall since the days of just when it was just signhart and a couple of other guys. >> yeah. >> you look at their performance versus the s&p look how many lost more money than they made even, by the way, the greats

like robertson they get so big and then they -- >> yeah. you can go on and on none of them made a lot of money or had a lot of money. >> it will be interesting robin hood tonight there will be a lot of glum people robin hood foundation has their annual -- >> yes. >> you know i think they do a -- i think there's a charity auction to benefit the hedge funds. >> and they can -- they are very generous they are as is the man, of course. >> oh, my. he's generous. i know he's not -- does not handle himself as a master of the universe he handles himself as a charitable person who is a very good guy he doesn't need me to say that that's been my impression. a good guy. >> one reason that the market may do well today is apple up fractionally. might open close to 190 tim cook, of course, spoke over the weekend giving the commencement

address at duke university and talked about apple's policies regarding privacy. take a listen. >> we reject the excuse that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy. so we choose a different path. collecting as little of your data as possible, being thoughtful and respectful when it's in our care because we know it belongs to you. >> sort of ties in with the zte story. one of the quotes in the times today from someone saying the last thing we wanted is images of iphones being smashed in the streets of china if it got out of control >>well, i think that the idea that there might be a boycott was always in the air but they're such a huge employer in china. look at the president gets involved with zte 70,000 people. so apple is huge there huge here. one of the things that apple is

priding itself in is trying to get the best and the brightest the best and the brightest may feel that facebook is tainted. i don't know facebook pays a lot of money so does apple. >> by the way, have you seen those latest facebook ads? when you're watching the game, if you're watching the nba game, you see the wells fargo we're starting anew. and then the facebook also kind of not quite the same but we had started out with this great idea and it got things got a little messed up and now we're back again. >> and one of the benefits of philadelphia is the facebook ads. facebook is trying all of these facebook, alphabet, they're trying to get the smartest people. apple wants the smartest people. ibm wants the smartest people. if you can say, listen, we don't take your data people will say, you know, i feel more comfortable going to apple than facebook. facebook is considered to be out there a bit of a bad actor. >> right. >> that's an interesting point and the battle for talent

continues at a rapid rate. there's a shortage. >> yeah. >> and you speak to these guys in so many industries. >> how about the fact the immigration laws are so tight. everybody from just regular factory jobs that would have been filled by the -- from immigrants to the people who want to go to the great colleges and universities here who are immigrants they perceived to be going back to their countries. >> there's the president's tweet saying that he and xi of china are working together to give zte a way to get back into business fast too many jobs in china lost. commerce department has been instructed to get it done. we've fined them a billion dollars and banned them from sourcing u.s. companies. what do you think the u-turn is all about? >> i think this is a belief that perhaps intellectual property come here may be a little bit more protected

i just don't think that the president caved on this. but we have to -- i mean, there are people who will say the president caved. i think the president has been very hard lined and this is -- if the zte execs that were involved with giving the technology to iran, which was really the crux of what caused them to be in trouble. if they're booted out, as opposed to being given extra compensation, i think it would send a strong signal play by our rules. remember, they execute for white collar i'm not calling for that. >> no. and it's a good time to point out that chairman wu, i didn't see this, i was e-mailed over the weekend chairman wu got 18 years. did you see that >> yeah. >> talking about not execution, obviously, but 18 years is a long time. one of the, if not the single most prominent businessman in china for a period of time maybe after jack ma but certainly one of the most

powerful. >> and not a lot of parole there. >> we're talking the summit with north korea is less than a month ago. china is vitally important to that relationship. this, also, would seemingly help on that front. >> definitely. and i know david wants -- i say said that the president would be nominated for the nobel peace prize. this is -- >> you said that on march 8th. i happen to remember because i tweeted the quote as you said it march 8th. >> that's right. complete man yak, more than a maniac and now, i mean, i was over the weekend over a mezcal mule you could -- because people have a hard time saying it. i don't. the chinese, though, would be the people who made this happen. because the chinese the state of china for heaven's sake because they don't get any food. what a bankrupt regime.

>> as you know, of course, the impact in the stock markets of that tweet was really most felt by shareholders of nxp it was up about 10% this morning. the d.o.e. has been talking about it for so long here. from the earliest days when i first reported, actually, that the 110 deal won't get it done because shareholders thought it was worth more to the battle that took place. 127.50 to caqualcomm got to the final regulator. now they have a different acronym. >> yeah. >> the anti-trust regulators and this morning's bloomberg reporting they reopened the investigation. they're currently engaged in review again and that, as you see, has nxp up over 10% qualcomm up, as well i don't have much right now on that it did seem to be a fairly well sourced report out of bloomberg. this is a stock that was $92

we talked earlier about hedge funds, i mean, there was a couple that went out they had to close down or reorganize at the very least because of a losses they took on nxp. and that's why it went down so far, perhaps. >> yeah. they really just kind of gave up the ghost. broadcom upgraded -- not upgraded but i good piece i read this morning there's citi upgrades. >> yeah. >> everything back mo you'll see all these percolating. you'll see skyworks percolate. you'll see micron percolate. western digital with a nice piece how they're ready. these are right off this come on. and strictdirectly involved wite

this was a leadership group until february is back and that is going to be one of the reasons why i think that the market could have a, again, a bit of a run here. >> uh-huh. >> i know it seems ridiculous eight straight days but, wow it was the tweet heard around the world by the president. >> you saw reports that zte workers cheered china upon the tweet. >> that's incredible >> they like the president over there all of a sudden, huh that's interesting and they like him here. >> and in jerusalem as he gets a standing ovation as the embassy opens there. >> how many countries is he solving problems or creating problems -- you're more sectarian. >> david, the answer >> huh, yeah i don't know the answer. >> you have to state it in the form of a question. >> i know. i failed elon musk loses another executive. is he, quote, "untethered from reality" we'll keep our eye on the jerusalem ceremony

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more head winds for tesla. almost two weeks after elon musk's contentious earnings call the director of field performance engineering has left the company for waymo. tesla announcing the engineering chief is taking leave of absence. vanity fair is out with an article. the engineering chief who left is one of only four executives mentioned in the most recent approximately. these are high-level guys. >> very high level this morning ron warren talking possibly about tesla he's a great fundamentalist. it's interesting to see the stock not down on what would be news that you would think would have taken it down maybe at least 10 points. but baron bolted and i think this remains a story where if they can do 5,000 and don't need money, it goes to 500. if they can't, and need money, i think it goes lower.

but it is still has this cult following. that's one of the reasons why i fear saying, listen, it's the best thing in the world. >> one of the most heavily shorted stocks out there. >> oh, my. >> yeah. >> ron baron was on squawk and repeatedly defended tesla. talked about his average price point in the last few years around 217 here is what he said. >> i think tesla we're going to make 20 time ours money. >> because >> because the opportunity is so enormous and people are saying, gee, you're spending a lot of cash. of course. they're building factories when you build factories you're not making that much. >> he said he doesn't think he'll need to come back to the market for more money. >> i don't think so either. >> see this is the issue, he didn't say -- i think it can move up 10 or 20%. he said 20 times that's the kind of thing when you hear it and you're at home and you're retail investors, you

say you call your broker and buy 200 shares i don't like that. i think that 20 times -- >> i would love to understand a little bit more behind that. >> he said that for years. >> literally. >> yeah. i don't like it. look, i think it's fine to say it'll go up. if i said 20 times, okay, i want in i work for cnbc. if i said 20 times and the stock went down 15% i would be pillared you will not see him on our network down 15% because we're going to go to another rotation when we come back it's 20 times. i can't do that. i can't do that. because i have point-blank responsibilities >> and you're on tv evidence. >> ron baron -- >> he's been fabulous. >> i don't know his track record. >> he has a great track record. >> i've known him from '80s. i'm saying that 20 times is --

now he could say, jim, 20 times you said apple is going to be up big. up big i like up big. up 20 times has a connotation that is, you know, let me call my broker. i heard a guy say 20 times i can keep buying it. >> that would get it to a trillion. >>well, we may not live long enough to see it go to a trillion i think in the end there's a responsible level of how you can say something. now i was, at one point, when i said google is going to be worth more than when it came public. i said multiple. i thought it could go up three times and there were questions whether that was responsible it did and i'm just saying i thought it was ridiculously priced i think 20 times makes people too excited. and i don't like that. >> is he talking because he's in it at 20 >> no, he believes he's a believer. >> i need to understand more. >> okay. >> maybe we'll have ron call in. >> yeah. after his hour long appearance

this morning >> yeah. we have questions. >> how about 15 times. >> i'll go with seven times. >> all right we should move on. let's take a break so we have time for cramer's mad dash and the opening bell don't go away. the sun comes up, the sun goes down. you run those miles, squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom and floss to set a good example. you fine tune the proposal,

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minutes. >> we'll get started hot. >> i think the compelling call goldman sachs upgrades fmc, which is the old machinery corporation. the interesting thing about the call, lithium, which is what everybody got excited about, that's the tesla side. they make lithium batteries. it's the crop side in order to get the dow dupont deal done, it's an important deal, they had to spin off their crop unit. now, i mean, dupont. i think people don't recognize how important that unit is i think it's going to be a fantastic for them. >> for fmc. >> right corn pricing, new high crop protection is good. i like this. i think people are underrating how important it is. sometimes when a justice department allows a deal to get done, they force a giveaway. and fmc got it.

>> your friends at consolation brands are perhaps the poster child. >> could you be more right. >> i think people have to the recognize the company has a lot of optionalty. they should be focussing on the crop business not the lithium business, which is just not nearly as booming as crops. >> all right. >> all right. >> fmc up almost 3%. it. >> the most underappreciated story. >> at lot of stories to get to this morning including the shake up at xerox. they stop the deal with fuji we'll have an inghsit on that for you. i had a spanish teacher in high school who knew i could do more, and so she pushed me and pushed me and pushed me, and she was right. they don't only teach me

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in an effort to essentially dilute their voting interest from about 89 to 17% >> i know it's david's -- >> what are you talking about? >> it's -- i think people are going to say that maybe cbs can be independent and, therefore, it's more on fundamentals. i find, by the way, the media media stocks have been horrible. they've been horrendous. they have not participated at all in this rally. >> to our point a moment ago, because investors have been looking at game theory the chess board as opposed to fundamentals. >> too many companies brought up in too many deals. it's been a negative not a positive as we go over the nxpi this is your world, david. this is your world [ applause ]

i find one of the themes of the rally is the rotation. it was the inductions and the facts. and it's semiconductors. [ opening bell ] there's the opening bell and the s&p at the bottom of your screen louisiana pacific. celebrating its 45th anniversary at the nasdaq texas-based game shares. >> really interesting you mention it because the commentary wells is bullish in the set up for home depot and low's but they talk about the weather. as someone who is a planter and gardner, this weather has been

horrendous it was too cold to start early and the weekends have been too wet. what they're betting, both guys, is somehow we'll look through that historically that is not been what happens people freak out one of the things that keeps happening they found is people freak out on things they already know the freak out that crypto is down beware, home depot, there's a chance they may have to say, look, it's been a slow start to what is basically our christmas season. >> yeah. for the quarter i think one of the top ten wettest quarters. >> we didn't plant this weekend and it's like this weekend is the make or break so you have a great harvest in august. >> and, guys, i had an opportunity to make a couple of quick phone calls and i'm reviewing here the lawsuit from cbs's board of directors this is nothing short of absolute all out warfare between

cbs, its directors, and the controlling shareholder national amusement. all going back to what is now an unlikely, if not impossible situation for them to ever negotiate a friendly transaction between both viacom and cbs. let's back up for a minute i sat here for the last couple of months talking about what has been an attractable problem, namely between shari redstone and leslie moonves chairman and ceo in terms of their differing views on the management of combined company not to mention, as well, what have been differing views on value from the special committee of viacom, the special committee of cbs board of directors in terms of what cbs should pay this is nothing short of extraordinary this morning

they basically filing a lawsuit trying to -- i have some of the language here. but saying that you can no longer national amusements load your 79% we want to reduce it with a dividend that we would issue, dilute you down to 17% and that would be what you can vote at a special meeting the special committee, they say, have grave concerns miss redstone would use to control to interfere to rewrite the decision of the dually instituted special committee they think redstone will follow through on threats exprezzed in t -- expressed in the media and seek to replace cbs' independent board members and make other changes to cbs i reported any number of times one of the key options, i said it was likely a number of weeks ago, because of the attractable

nature of the disagreement that she would move to replace directors who are would move to replace mr. moonves as the company's ceo. they're getting out front of viacom now with this lawsuit which i'm going through here, but had an opportunity to at least speak to couple of people very quickly we're tired of her threats we're trying to work with her. these companies are supposed to operate separately that was the agreement all the threats about challenging -- changing the board, this would align the voting structure, and, yes, this is more or less all out war. so you guys can figure it out. we talked about it many times. shareholders can, as well. cbs, for its part, is up because shareholders may be thinking or believe the idea they're not going to necessarily acquire viacom i would come back and simply say redstone made it clear this is going to happen one way or the other. they're getting out in front of her now with the lawsuit it goes to the courts now.

>> why isn't this, like, nordstroms well nordstrom, i like to call the family wanted to do a buy out and a special committee said no the price was too low why don't they do that why all out war? >> they have two special committees in that case, it was one company that is controlled and it was the family trying to buy it. in this case, it's two companies that are controlled by the same shareholder. so you're not even have a change of control and so it's a different situation. they do have special committees. jim, they've been trying to get to a deal as we reported many times, they made some progress on the economics cbs felt that viacom -- viacom was particularly optimistic in many of the projections over time and was not willing to pay a number that the viacom special committee thought was reasonable but the key problem has been what they would do in terms of management redstone had been willing, it would seem, to accept bob backish as number two, she said,

in making clear she wanted, at least on the board moonves made it clear he wants no part of mr. backish in any way, shape, or form that's been the key problem. they're now going to the courts, potentially, with this special meeting, as well