tv Squawk Alley CNBC May 21, 2018 11:00am-12:00pm EDT
11:00 am
god bless you. and god bless the men and women of the cia god bless america. and i just want to thank everybody in this room for doing such an incredible job, and for giving gina that unbelievable support that she needed. it took courage for her to say yes, in the face of a lot of very negative politics and what was supposed to be a negative vote but i'll tell you, when you testified before the committee, it was over. there was not much they could say. there was nobody more qualified than you and you are going to do a fantastic job, gina. thank you very much.
11:01 am
so, with that, i would like to ask our great vice president to administer the oath of office. thank you all very much. thank you. >> that is the president in langley cia headquarters as the vice president swears in gina haspel, the first female ever to lead the cia and pointing to her confirmation hearings, she was confirmed 54-45. eamon javers is at the white house on a busy day. >> reporter: the first woman to head the cia, gina haspel and someone he had dinner with privately at the white house residence saturday night along with the vice president and the second lady, mrs. pence, all attending a dinner arranged by the president with other leading officials to get their temperature on a range of issues
11:02 am
across the board and to break bread in a friendly and low-pressure situation so the president there lauding the cia as well as an institution, thanking the rank and file members of the cia for their support for gina haspel's nomination and their support for her going forward. this comes on a day -- sort of a split screen moment here the president spent at least part of his morning this morning really criticizing cia director previous to gina haspell, john brennan, the president saying that brennan had disgraced himself, retweeting comments that had referred to brennan as a disgrace, cia as a disgraced institution that has lost the faith of the american people and raising questions about whether or not the cia had been unfairly politicized under the previous administration this is a president who has been extremely critical of these intelligence agencies, even as he's taking steps to put his own stamp on them and his own people in charge. mike pompeo, former director of
11:03 am
the cia, now secretary of state participating in this. warm relations with the cia even on a day where he is bashing publicly some of gina haspel's predecessors. >> eamon javers, thank you very much for that. dow up 351 352 now. nearly every component is in the green on those trade deadlines it is a little after 8:00 a.m. in mountainview, california, and it is 11:00 a.m. on wall street and "squawk alley" is love ♪ your love is lifting me highe than i've ever been lifted before ♪ ♪ so keep it up quench my desire and i'll be at your side forever more ♪ ♪ you know your love your love keeps lifting me
11:04 am
keeps on lifting me lifting me ♪ >> welcome to "squawk alley. i'm carl quintanilla with jon fortt, post nine morgan brennan is on assignment. tomorrow 11:00 a.m. eastern time she'll talk to spacex president and coo gwynne shotwell earlier, larry kudlow commented on the markets and the strong dollar. >> strong dollar attracts investment domestically, stay in the country and from around the world. now, i don't want it to go up 15, 20%. i don't want to get into a dollar discretion. we don't have targets and so forth. we don't do that we're aware of it, obviously from the way i look at the world, gold is soft, the dollar is strong. that's a good thing. >> looking at the market impact of all that, we're joined by
11:05 am
morgan stanley's head of u.s. public policy and oppenheim chief strategist good morning to you both are we removing any paths, any bricks in the wall >> i don't know that we're exactly removing the bricks from the wall but we have a little bit of space to move here and some relief. we don't have a trade war about to ensue a very positive thing with the incredible degree of interlock i interlocking around the world. all the different economies and businesses in terms of production, delivery and services a trade war is just impractical. what happened over the weekend, i believe, shows that what we have is a situation where that's recognized publicly and au gechlt rs well for the outcome of the talks with china.
11:06 am
definitely progress. hopefully, we'll get something better coming one nafta soon and the market could have a nice lift here. >> michael, how much more insight do we have into the trump administration's approach to tariffs as a tool larry kudlow went into some detail, with carrots being the stick approach how do we interpret that as we continue to navigate these trade waters >> the administration follows the same playbook that officials used in the '80s and '90s before you had multiple trade agreements they used the tariffs as sticks. this is more cease fire than it is peace treaty. there's still plenty of execution risk here. how do you get to $200 billion of deficit reduction without touching some of the purchases
11:07 am
that the u.s. want to avoid as you know clear to us it certainly is good news in the sense that it breaks the escalatory cycle we were in. and it tells us that negotiators are focusing on a clear and easy path out of this, which is the trade deficit where the u.s.'s narrow focus was probably the cause of this dispute and the most likely way out of it. that tells you that the most constructive path is the one being followed that's good news for getting out of this eventually. >> so, we can see what the immediate market impact is today, michael but how do you expect it to play out over time and what information do you expect the market to have to process to get there? >> yeah. so, this all fits into our base case, which the idea of a temporary trade dispute, right, which by the way is not totally foreign to the u.s. experience it's something we experience under both the bush and the
11:08 am
obama administrations. it could take a year or couple of years for this to fully deescalate meantime the question is what damage has been done in our view it's something that creates a lot of uncertainty, part of the reason that markets have been range bound but ultimately it's a relatively neutral market and economic factor for example, if we're just focused on the trade deficit by having china increase purchases of agriculture and other commodities, all we're doing is kind of rearranging the pipes of commodity trade as opposed to meaningfully changing the economic structure of the u.s. or china we kind of get to a neutral outcome that is space saving on both sides. >> jon, for tech, one of the main issues will be the structure of ventures that they want to have in china. right now they can only own 49%. very often they have to give up a lot of insight, intellectual property
11:09 am
you have to take on how likely that is going to change in a meaningful way and what the market reaction might be, particularly when it comes to tech, if that comes to pass. >> it's highly likely that it will come to pass, technology will get a better opportunity in developing operations in china likely what will happen is similar to what will happen in the automaker space where the jv is not the key element involved in american companies doing business over there. china is very much aware that it is no longer a struggling, emerging market but that it is a world power, and it has to give up some of the handicap it has been given in terms of trade, leeway, in terms of violations and problems related to theft of intellectual capital china is coming of age and we think that's a very advantageous point for both sides in negotiating this, as
11:10 am
both countries recognize their strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities. the instrictionacy of trade and manufacturing processes, delivery of services, we are one world today. that's not like a hippie dippy kind of isn't it a wonderful thing? it's from a practical point. technology is relentlessly lowering the barriers of competition for all players on a global basis in a myriad of businesses the outcome of this almost has to be positive but in a process of progress not perfection it's don't expect perfection. >> has to be positive. we don't want to think about what it's like if it's not. >> really quickly, michael, if you had to pick an area where this news is going to benefit a sector relative to the prior standoff, is it tech financials, ag, oil, aerospace, something else >> right now all we think we
11:11 am
really know is that china will be buying a lot more of u.s. commodities and the biggest potential growth area there is in beef. so we'll definitely look to see if there are any commodity price changes to reflect that. again in our view we think we're more or less looking at things be rearranged than an uplift in ag demand. >> michael, john, thanks guys. busy day appreciate it. >> thank you. when we come back, global regulators on google's power and size and how the company does business, next. later, the man who could stand in the way for elon musk's vision of tunnels underground to ease traffic
11:12 am
dow up 344 points. stay with us cks.com! no more lugging your clubs through the airport or risk having your clubs lost or damaged by the airlines. sending your own clubs ahead with shipsticks.com makes it fast & easy to get to your golf destination. with just a few clicks or a phone call we'll pick up and deliver your clubs on-time, guaranteed, for as low as $39.99. shipsticks.com saves you time and money. make it simple. make it ship sticks. when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today.
11:14 am
11:15 am
>> that's what you feel has gone on >> we mean that. we can prove it. >> for more on this, we're joined by ricoh's executive director kara swisher and walter isaacson. >> hi. >> walter, jon and i were discussing why it took so long to get a piece like this to air. but now that it's here, let's talk about google's response and do you think policy changes as an influence to this >> a company like google is able to leverage its dominance or monopoly, you could say, in one field, which is search, in order to crush competition or potential competition in other fields now the anti-trust laws have two-prong tests. one is good for consumers and the other, is it good for competition? sometimes those are aligned. google would argue it's kind of good for the consumer that when
11:16 am
i -- i'm here in new orleans and if i google french quarter restaurants, it sends me to yelp, open table but now the first rankings are google's own maps showing me french quarter restaurants they would say -- google would say correctly, that's kind of cool for the consumer. it's easier. but it does mean that if you're yelp or open table or you're doing any other shopping or travel or restaurant site, you're going to be likely to be disadvantaged and maybe even crushed by google. when we look at the old microsoft anti-trust case, that notion of bundling and tying in a way that suppresses competition is considered illegal and it's bad for the whole economy. i've got students that would love to start up start-ups but they have to think, could google
11:17 am
crush me. >> kara, this would have been a different story four years ago they could have done this four years ago. >> yeah. >> testifying about google for a long time. >> yeah. >> in a way you've got facebook. >> yeah. >> that has its own ambitions, its own search internally. instagram, amazon's echo does search siri does search is the argument weaker now about google's monopoly power to connect people in businesses than it was four years ago >> well, you know, yelp has been banging this drum. margarethe a lot of people have talked about t we've had jeremy on, luther lowe, who works for yelp. this is not a new topic by any -- it's sort of steve mnuchin who has nothing to do with anti-trust flapping his lips about it. it's fine. what's interesting is that now there's more of an anti-tech bias by politicians here in this
11:18 am
country who have essentially done nothing to do anything about as this power grew every time they had a chance to regulate these companies, they never d i think the real problem is regulators, that they didn't take the chance as these companies were growing what's happening now is interesting. microsoft was alone, if you recall, jon. it was by itself you have google, facebook, apple, and all kinds of players that are powerful in their own way but they also compete. it makes it harder -- i can't imagine them being able to mount a case against google that would stick at this point. although they do dominate in the search area just as amazon is dominating on commerce so you've got a lot of things that feel like monopolies that are also competitives. it's harder for regulators to make the case for sure. >> interesting point you have this blood battle, gladiator fight, walter, among the giants that still doesn't answer the
11:19 am
question of how upstarts get their beginnings if even though they're competitive at the top the players are so large. >> exactly you have to remember that google wouldn't exist had there not been the anti-trust against microsoft, tying a browser to the desk stop operating system but bundling and tying all sorts of services, including search. it was a complicated case. it's hard to know who was winning and losing at any point. it did mean that microsoft had to embed lawyers in every product discussion they had internally which meant that they didn't force the search engine that they were developing to be totally bundled into the operating system early on, which meant google got to. it's important to allow some oxygen for innovation. you've had not great innovation in this country even though we think we have, for the past
11:20 am
decade it's partly because of some new social product or some new app has to say, hey, i could get crushed. even snap, which seemed like it was going to do it, is now having real problems against competing against facebook. >> arguably, google had problems competing against facebook as well kara, you made the point that it's hard to make the monopolistic case against google now but at the same time might it make sense for google to say, okay, you've got us. we'll reorganize the way we show search results at the top of the page is it less central to google's business now, what's at the top of the search page than it might have been in the past? >> it's interesting. they've flown under the radar of this dpails book stuff even though they have issues around privacy and everything else. it's very difficult becauses they regulators -- i did a
11:21 am
podcast with scott galloway and we talked exactly about this, his premise that these things need to be broken up the way at&t was in order to create innovation these start-ups, they sell to google snap chat is a perfect example facebook is did he secimating t business small start-ups have a much harder time now. there's not one dominant company. there's six, or five and they're so big they're like mini states or their own sovereign countries. no regulator will go against them or will, at least in this country, the only ones have been in margarethe vestor here in this country, i'm waiting -- i heard cory booker be negative a little bit about google you heard camilla harris do t
11:22 am
the democrats more than the republicans and every now and then donald trump lobs an attack at amazon but there's no action to really make anything happen i just don't see where that's going to start. >> that will be interesting to see if we take europe's lead in any way regarding this kara, walter, thank you both when we come back, hawaii facing yet another potentially deadly new hazard. the latest from the big island when we return. >> plus the ceo of the hawaiian electric company, the utility firm that provides power for 95% of residents will join us to weigh in on the devastation. the dow hitting 25,000 today for the first time since march 16th, near session highs, up about 339 points "squawk alley" will be right back demise, mr. billingsley! do your worst, doctor. i will. but first, a little presentation.
11:23 am
hijacking earth's geothermal energy supply. phase 1. choosing the right drill bit. as long as evil villains reveal their plans, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. 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, change the water jug so no one else has to, get home for dinner and feed the cat. you did a million things for your family today but speaking to pnc to help handle all your investments was a very important million and one. pnc. make today the day.
11:24 am
need a change of scenery? the kayak price forecast tool tells you whether to wait or book your flight now. so you can be confident you're getting the best price. giddyup! kayak. search one and done. i'm not really a, i thought wall street guy.ns. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman?
11:25 am
hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade hawaii is facing a new
quote
11:26 am
hazard after an eruption has sent lava into the area. >> this is one of those fissures that has opened up, about 20 of them we can feel its heat and power now destroyed more than 40 homes, the reason that 2,000 people are evacuated many of these lava rivers are pouring into the ocean, miles away that's creating concerns over air quality. there's also been another explosion at the crater, sending a plume of ash into the air. certainly a very dynamic and volatile situation here on the big island back to you. >> nbc's miguel almaguer, amazing video. joining us from honolulu, the president and ceo of the electric company that provides power to 95% of hawaii's residents. alan, thank you for your time. it's hard for us to get a handle on the damage that results from
11:27 am
things we saw in that video. what's happened to critical infrastructure, utilities included >> thanks. thanks for having me and aloha critical infrastructure has not really been affected we're keeping our eye on it, working very closely with civil defense on that island you have to remember that this part of the island is relatively remote and we have about 86,000 customers on that island, less than 2,000 are really impacted by this at this point. we have some transmission lines that connect up to that part of the island so far, they're not affected we have plans in place to restore them, if needed, and we're preparing, you know, other kinds of situations in case the lava takes other directions. so, so far, so good. >> what kinds of preparations are you making
11:28 am
is there a playbook for this sort of thing? is there any expectation of at what point it would become mover a concern? sounds like you're saying you have it in hand so far. >> sure. this island has had volcanic activity for a long time so the residents of hawaii island are very aware of the dangers and where lava is most likely to go so, in terms of preparation, in 2014, we had another flow of lava that approached the town of pahoa, which is nearby that was a different situation it was a slow-moving lava threatening some of our infrastructure and then it stopped short of the town. this one is moving in a different direction, towards the ocean now. and it's now a fast-moving lava
11:29 am
flow but there aren't many homes in the area where this lava is headed toward the ocean. we have some infrastructure there. we're preparing things like microgrids in case areas get cut off where we can move in generators, solar panels or batteries to handle the situation for affected residents. but we won't do anything without civil defense saying we should do it. because in some cases, they may order people out due to the noxious gases. >> it does sound like you're saying the likelihood of the lava moving meaningfully toward more populated areas is a bit of a stretch at least for now, we hope. >> that's correct. i'm not speaking for civil defense, but if you look at the fissures and where the flows are headed, they're headed towards relatively sparsely populated
11:30 am
areas and toward the ocean, which is where hawaii is growing and has grown over the years if you look at the state of hawaii, our oldest populated island is kauai and farther south in the chain the big island of hawaii is the newest island and it's still growing. none of the other islands have active volcanic activity and in our case with 95% of the electric supply for the state, we serve five islands and all of them are not connected to one another. so what happens on the big island does not affect power supply for oahu, for example, or maui. >> does remain one of the most beautiful place on earth, even as we look at some of the nature we're seeing today alan, appreciate your time thank you very much. alan oshima, ceo, president of the hawaiian electric company. >> they say they're not making any more real estate but that's
11:31 am
11:33 am
i thought after sandy hook, where 20 six and seven year olds were slain, this would never happen again. it has happened more than 200 times in 5 years. dianne feinstein and a new generation are leading the fight to pass a new assault weapons ban. say no to the nra and yes to common-sense gun laws. california values senator dianne feinstein
11:34 am
good morning,everyone. i'm sue herera here is your news update at this hour secretary of state mike pompeo issuing demands to iran, including stopping the enrichment offure anian and ending support for yemen rebels, hezbollah and syria. threatening strict sanctions if they don't change course. >> these will, indeed, end up being the strongest sanctions when they are complete after our sanctions come in force, the regime will be battling to keep its economy alive. >> the 14-nation lima group including argentina, brazil and mexico refusing to recognize the result of venezuela's presidential election in which nicolas maduro easily won. they've threatened to reduce the
11:35 am
amount of relations. and kensington palace releasing the official wedding photos of harry and meghan at windsor castle following the carriage procession. such a happy event and a beautiful one. carl, i'll send it back downtown to you. >> so nicely done, sue. >> it really was. >> let's get to seema mody at hq and get the european close this morning. >> a mixed session in europe, including a record high for the ftse 100 as the pound continues to fall against the u.s. dollar, amid signs of easing trade tensions italy, a big political situation brewing there. you're seeing the market respond, the italian ten-year yield. parties due to meet today about
11:36 am
their choice for prime minister and according to italian media it's a law professor with hardly any political experience we're talking about bonds. take a look at the spread between between the italian ten-year yields. ryanair, results overshadowing somewhat downbeat guidance due to pressures and higher fuel costs. germany among the european markets closed today for a religious holiday. back to you. >> thank you, seema. meanwhile, markets and tech stock surging with the s&p tech sector, leading the indexes gains. we are joined now by rbc's lead internet analyst mark muhaney good morning. >> good morning. as "60 minutes" is turning its eye to google and anti-trust
11:37 am
issues, seems a bit late perhaps. these were the headlines four years ago. you like alphabet/google versus amazon why? >> our top three picks would go facebook first, expedia second and google jumped ahead of amazon in part because amazon has had a nice rally year to date but risk/reward more interesting on google. we just had the peak quarter, that their cost also start moderating the company has said that and people should be able to expect it the biggest regulatory headline is something called gdpr out of europe and goes into effect may 25th so this week increasingly based on channel checks we have done, these companies are set up well for that we'll not see material impact on expenses or revenue for names like facebook and google as that overhang gets removed, it can serve as something of a catalyst for google shares. >> what should investors do with
11:38 am
all of this -- i don't know what you want to call it. hand wringing, grousing of big tech companies and there are a lot of them. if gdpr is the main regulatory risk, should investors view that as noise and ignore it completely >> the obviously, don't ignore it completely. it's been in the works for some time these are powerful companies what google has done with search and amazon and commerce, relative to the markets they're going against, they're still single-digit shares. google is 10% of all global advertising dollars. is it really undermining growth in other areas is the question and is there damage to consumers? i think the last point is very hard to prove for a free service. so the question is, are they undermining growth in other areas? look at the investments in the private market
11:39 am
vision fund, $100 billion. and maybe there's another one after that i've had a sense that they feel a strong need to invest a way that certain parts of the economy are cordoned off yes, they're tough competitors but they aren't eliminating the ability for new investments. ubers, lyfts, airbnb shareholders can still find value in emerging growth stocks in the area where you still have strong tech companies. >> i don't think anyone is making the argument that they're obliterating the landscape what would be available or possible in the absence of this sort of ginormous market power you know what i'm saying. >> yeah, yeah. yelp was featured in "60 minutes" last night. i've covered them from the beginning. there's no question that they've been materially impacted by these google changes, so have other companies. google's algorithms, just
11:40 am
because they impact other companies, doesn't mean they're wrong. i'll leave aside the legalities of that. the business is still growing 20% year over year there's even the ability to grow i can't think of companies more powerful that their respective space than amazon, facebook and google the question is how to regulate them at some level i think they're feeling that pressure and being relatively cautious in their steps. at least we won't see any large acquisitions with those names. >> yelp two-year highs despite those problems with google mark, thank you. >> thanks. annual list of disrupters is tomorrow first, though, we'll take a look at the past companies that have gone public and been on that list dow coming off the session highs of 261 "squawk alley" is back in a minute ♪
11:41 am
feel that? that's the beat of global markets, the rhythm of the world. but to us, it's the pace of tomorrow. with ingenuity, technologies, and markets expertise we create the possible. and when you do that, you don't chase the pace of tomorrow. you set it. nasdaq. rewrite tomorrow. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide
11:42 am
to help you better understand what medicare is all about and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. there's a range of plans to choose from, too, and they all travel with you anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. ♪ call today. remember, medicare supplement insurance helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. expenses that could really add up. these kinds of plans could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs.
11:43 am
you'll be able to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. and there are virtually no referrals needed. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. i'm scott wapner here is what's coming up on "half time." icahn and meister with back again. we'll tell you what the two are up to when carl icahn joins us at 1:30.
11:44 am
when "half time" begins at noon. see you in 15. >> we won't touch that dial, scott. thanks we will go over to the cme group where rick santelli has the santelli exchange. >> thanks, jon italy and its effects on the market, specifically some of the interest rate markets of the german curve sovereign, things like shots are being affected in a large way. now normally this may be an issue that we've experienced many times, as various conditions of financial condition and health of any given economy, of course, affects the interest rates this time it's way different you know, whether it's this country and the tea party, the uk and brexit, ultimately trump make america great, italy for italians, the movement that's been expressed over these many
11:45 am
years as populism, when you're in an individual country and you're part of the experience, you as an individual may use a word more associated with a positive like patriotism versus populism populism has a bit of a negative connotation to it. what's going on with italy really expresses the reason why. brussels wanted a certain outcome just like all central bankers wanted a certain outcome. trying to avert what they thought would be a larger disaster by keeping this policy and debate as to whether it was the right medicine or not at the time, so long has created a real problem against time in mario dragi's case he is looking to catch up with the u.s. federal reserve in terms of trying more normalized conditions in the credit markets and financial landscape. it's proving very difficult for our fed, going very slow with
11:46 am
the huge balance sheet not to make too many disruptions and also playing chicken with inflation. but for the ecb, think about the timing you have italy, a very indebted country, the ramifications of leftover greece, trying to become a reform academy but it will run into the same timing schedule as mario dragi trying to normalize the reverberations could be very much contagious to other markets. the central bank was able to do and implement its strategy what it cannot do and implement is decide how markets react as politics, patriotism and qt may all hit. jon fortt, back to you. >> rick santelli, thank you. cnbc will unveil our list of
11:47 am
fast-growing startups to watch julia boorstin joins us with a look at how those on last year's list are doing julia? >> our disrupter 50 list over the past five years and of the five from last year's list, four are in the green here is a look at the performance. blue apron is the only one that's had a rough go. its stock plummeting 75% since its june ipo meal kit delivery company is hoping that teaming up with costco, airbnb and cookbook model chrissy tiegen will drive growth the database software company beating earnings expectations and adding more than 800 new customers in the first quarter alone. >> this market is literally one of the biggest markets.
11:48 am
>> dropbox raising over $750 million in march, biggest tech ipo in over a year. >> investors are excited about our model. we have scale from our consumer roots. >> file sharing and storage company giving up some gains after its first earnings report. >> spotify has opened. >> since spotify's unconventional direct listing in april, its stock is up 20% way down after its earnings report and its ability to paying subscribers. docusign has gained more than 50% as the e-signature giant grows subscriptions and investors see the potential to grow overseas and disrupt adobe. >> a sixth company from the 2017 list is scheduled to start training on thursday that's atlanta-based online vendor green sky looking to raise some $750 million in an ipo on the nasdaq. who could be on next year's list of ipos?
11:49 am
11:51 am
sure. what's up son? i can't be your it guy anymore. what? you guys have xfinity. you can do this. what's a good wifi password, mom? you still have to visit us. i will. no. make that the password: "you_stillóhave_toóvisit_us." that's a good one. [ chuckles ] download the xfinity my account app and set a password you can easily remember. one more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. welcome back elon musk has been drumming uppiclic interest for his
11:52 am
proposed tunnels beneath los angeles. promising $1 rides to ease congestion not every town, though, is convinced the boring company has their best interests in mind joining us now is culver city's mayor, thomas small, whose city is on musk's map as a proposed station stop for the proof of concept tunnel mr. mayor, thanks for being with us >> it's a pleasure to be here this morning >> so what's not to like i mean, elon musk wants to dig underground and ease traffic everybody in l.a. or visiting l.a. hates traffic is it just the paperwork he wants to get around environmental issues a little too quickly? what's the problem here? >> that is one of the problems i mean, culver city is right at the heart of the west side of los angeles. and we're very excited and -- about alternative modes of transportation they're very important to us, but everybody has to go through the proper environmental review, and we would like to understand the transportation plan and the
11:53 am
business plan for this project which i don't think they understand yet, and they're working it out, and we're eager to see them move forward on that >> by business plan, you mean the way they're going to finance the construction or operate it or finance the operation what specifically? >> you really hit it on the head with the operation if they're going to have $1 ride program, how is that going to work if it's a private company, how are they going to make a profit at that. we're concerned that sometimes when things sound too good to be true, that they turn out to be that we would like to understand that better >> what about the issue of digging underground, underneath areas where, i don't know, maybe not where people live, but certainly there are other things going on above ground. is your concern more with environmental review that involves what's happening beneath the soil or what's going to be the impact on what's happening above? >> really both
11:54 am
you know, this hasn't been done in this way before and it needs to be checked out from an environmental standpoint you know, we have quite thorough and elaborate environmental laws here in california, with the california environmental quality act. everyone follows that. and so we believe this project needs to as well >> assuming some of your questions get answered, i wonder how optimistic you are on the concept of mass transit underground, because i mean, something has to be done about congestion, not just in california, but cities all around the country >> absolutely, and we have mass transit underground. you know, l.a. metro is digging tunnels all over los angeles and you know, the boring company often points that out to us. and so both approaches could be wonderful. and we definitely need to have transportation underground, but we need to see that it's done right and that it can work >> is there room for fixing the
11:55 am
red tape that exists in california, the bureaucracy, as a former california resident, the billions of dollars that gets spent in transportation schemes that don't end up coming to fruition, i mean, i'm familiar with that so is there something that can be done here to make it at least easier for the elon musks of the world to get to the starting line and see if their idea is really going to make things better >> i think we're all eager to help make that happen. we also need to assure that our citizens are safe and that we don't end up with abandoned assets that we're responsible for. >> yeah. big abandoned tunnel underground could pose problems, i imagine >> exactly >> yes thank you. mayor thomas small of culver city in california >> great pleasure to be here thank you very much. when we come back, fortune releasing their brand-new fortune 500 list we're going to tell you how big
11:56 am
tech fared when "squawk alley" is bk aine.acin mut your company is constantly evolving. and the decisions you make have far reaching implications. the right relationship with a corporate bank who understands your industry and your world can help you make well informed choices and stay ahead of opportunities. pnc brings you the resources of one of the nation's largest banks, and a local approach with a focus on customized insights. so you and your company are ready for today. with tripadvisor, finding your perfect hotel at the lowest price... is as easy as dates, deals, done! simply enter your destination and dates... and see all the hotels for your stay! tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites... to show you the lowest prices... so you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. dates, deals, done! tripadvisor. visit tripadvisor.com
11:58 am
11:59 am
500 list is out today. tech companies dominating this year apple, amazon, alphabet, microsoft, ibm, and dell, among others, all in the top 100 interesting note, amazon made its way into the top ten for the very first time. landing at number eight. >> i saw today that only three companies have held number one in the entire existence of the index. walmart, general motors, and exxon. fascinating, right >> held number one >> only three have ever held the number one spot. >> wow i used to work at fortune. i did not realize that >> amazing you think it would be more watching the markets, meantime, micron continues to lead the s&p, up almost 4% on that better than expected guidance some of the names, boeing, although up 23% year to date, best dell component for the year, not able to get over some of their prior highs >> tesla having a nice day for once, it seems it's been a string of rough
12:00 pm
days up better than 4%. also, as far as tech is concerned, intel doing pretty well this morning. >> all right, we'll keep our eye on that. a big day tomorrow in washington, as south korean president moon meets with the president. in the meantime, though, let's get over to the judge and the half >> and welcome to "the halftime report." i'm scott wapner our top trade this hour, big cap battle, as trade tensions ease and stocks surge, is the s&p, which is underperforming, once again the place to be? with us for the hour, jim lethenthol, steve weiss, josh brown. stocks are jumping the dow crossing 25,000 for the first time since march 16th. a treasury secretary suggesting right here on cnbc that the trade battle with china could be easing many stocks directly related are higher all of it, though, happening while the dollar has been ripping lately what, steve, is an
134 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CNBC Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on