for the derivative side. the stock is doing well because of the thingey hhe last few years up 32% bought monster today. schwa we. unusual activi, love that name >> thanks fowatching "power lunch" starts now. >> i'm sarah eisen, tyler mathisen, and melissa lee. you are looking at the white house, the briefing room, where the top economic adviser larry kudl is about to speak about the upcoming g7 meeting coming up in canada tension and anger among the group of the wealthiest nations in the world over the president's new trade tariffs. we will carry the bereaving live as soon as mr. kudlow begins. >> from washington to wall street stocks are rallying the nasdaq and russell 2000

hitting intraday highs the s&p 500 by the way, touching s highest level since mid march. financials the best. -- the best check out shares of tesla. the stock is on pace for its best day since 2016. musk making positive comments about the model 3 at its shareholder meeting yesterday afternoon. more on that story. >> we of course are standing by for larry kudlow to speak on the g7 summit. before we get to mr. kudlow let's get to kayla tausche at the white house for more on what we can expect. >> that summit is shaping up to be extremely contention between the u.s. and its six closest allies, including canada and many countries in europe, including the united kingdom, ital germany, france, and others normally, these would be allies that the u.s. would be working

behind the scenes to craft a statement for the end of the two-day summit to talk about what the countries all have in common and their shared areas of policy agreement of course, many of these allies have already seen some consternation with the white house because of the president's decision to withdraw draw last month from the iran deal now of the allies finds itselfn the opposite side of the tae from president trump because they have been targeted by steel and aluminum tariffs. each one of the countries has beenking an exemption from those, but last week the president decided to go forth with those now instead of crafting a statement about what they have in common those allies are trying to figure out how affirmatively to stand against the u.s. on that front we expect larry kudlow to address the u.s.'s stance going into the meeting, whether there are any areas of agreement or whether trade has been the issue that has been cleaving the

multilateral relations between the u.s. and some of those long standing allies. we'll see what he says on that front as well as talks on china the markets are watching closely. >> kayla, i think it's going to be interesting to hear larry kudlow again trying to defend the policy as we know, a long time free traderings not supportive of ffs. even another economic adviser of president trump yesterday really couldn't say what the impact would be on the economy because most economists think it's negative. >> mosdo there is disagreement within the administration about exactly whathe economic impact will be and whether this will be a long term policy. that's why it's so hard for them to actually put a fine point on whether it would have an impact on gdp and what the long term business impact would be because they are not sure whether this is a policy that will be in effect for a week, several weeks, or a year

that's being worked out hyped the scenes larry kudlow of course in is differing camp from many members of the administration who are advocated e tariffs and have t president's ear so we will see whether he has changed his tune on that and how he comes to the defense of the president on this. >> kayla, thank you, kayla tausche at the white house again, we will get to larry kudlow at the briefing room as soon as he takes his spot at the podium >> dow breaking above 25,000, up 230 on the day, the first time since may 22nd to trade above threshold the nasdaq and russel 2000 at new record highs despite mexico announcing tariffs on goods includinwhisy and cuts the currency market is saying trade colict matters the peso is continuing t

weaken the canadian dollar is under pressure again today, and brt a two year low it has put central bankers o a u ail the global growth story thatany investors have been banking on today, india raising rates for the first timen four years back to the stocks today j. morgan moving higher on higher rates boeing, dupont, and mcdonald all leading the dow higher tech continues to trek higher as well leading the nasdaq 100 today is tes tesla. comcast, and marriot be in focus. it's down 30% in 2018. analysts have been citing deteriorating sales. >> thank you seema my, fror of exchange stocks are rallying right now but wall street's biggest power

players are getting a little bit worried. leon cuberman on squawk box earlier today warns about this bull run. >> i'm sympathetic to the idea that sometime in the next 12 t 24 months there will be events that will catch the market i think inflation and interest rates will catch up to the rk as we normalize. >> he is not the only one worried. the world's biggest hedge fund also raising some concerns bridgewater associates reportedly getting bearish on all financial assets saying 2019 is setting up to be a quote dangerous yearfor the markets. what should you doith your money? let's bring in dan heckman, a national consultant. and doug butler, director of research at rockland trust dan, you say seemingly agreeing at least in part with cooperman and callio, that you think the degree of difficulty in the markets is on the rise what and whatpecifically are you

pointing to? why? and what specifically are you pointing to? >> pointing to valuation and interest rates mainly. and also the political situation d happen tfs through. but even thougre ctious here warl very bullish we have a s&p 500 target of 2900 earnings in this last quarter's reports were very strong and more importantly, sales growth at the top line was very tie wler, what we are trying to figure out for our clients is where are our pockets of unity. s s a few out there we are not totally negative. i'm glad to hear there is going speaking about thef issue with mr. kudlow. i take that as a positive without knowing what he is going to speak of. but i would think that he and his stance has been very clear that he thinks tariffs are very bad. >> doug, i warn that we may have to interrupt you about larry is expected to be on the podium in about a minute's time.

i want to get your comments here you are a skeptic, long term, on netflix, and amazo i think that's verying interesting. and you have reasoning why go ahead and explain. >> sure. a really, really hard timer have earning theihe current valuation. their earnings growth has been phenal or the last couple of years, and it's been a wonderful stock for many investors. i just think that if you look not six months down the road but six years down the road it's very unlikely that netflix will be making sort of verizon or comcast earnings to justify their sort of current valuation. i just don't ever see it trading atr outperforming for the next six years. >> the other stock market juggernaut has been am why are you a skeptic there. >> i think where we are skeptical is that we think that amazon has a couple of wonderful businesses we think the web sebts is a

phenomenal business and it earns incredibly high margins. again, looking back over time, cisco used to earn incredibly high margins you look, you kn or six years forward, web services and the cloud -- the cloud margins may very much shrink and that would have impacts for amazon much more than its dominant competitors in the space, microsoft and google. and that's really where they earn the bulk of their money again, that might first them to increase prime to $200 a year in five years just not sure that people -- there is a price point at which prime and netflix stop being a compelling alternative. >> yet, dan, those are thee adis market >> they are. >> some of the fang names, the high growth technology stocks, alone with small cap stocks? we like fable and google. in the fangs we are on board

with those two >> i'm wondering, dan, what you think that says about the overall environment then whether the rally can sustain itself given that the leaders are sort of becomi narrower. [ no aud we still like technology. we like ials we like owth oriented names. we like small caps here. a smaller sector of the market that we like a lot mainly on valuation and some other factors a transaction today e n. fact, where devon ended up selling their pipeline to a globalfrast. that's space for example, that's very cheap on a valuation standpoint fundamentals are improving and from a corporate structure >> gs, i'm going the cut you off. we are seeing larry kudlow at the white house. >> brief stuff on the g7 meeting in canada.

basically, the key points, number, growth. united states now has the fastest growing economy in the world, according to the oecd or at least the fastest growing economy among the industrialized nations. second, there will be trade discussions, as you might imagine. third, there will be some important bilateral meetings president trump will be meeting with prime minister trudeau and president macron important bilaterals and finally, i think one of the key points of course on the eve of the north korean summit in e, one of the key points will be shared surity issues among the allies and if may just perhaps becausee subject, united ates economy we are pushing through 3%.

some said it couldn't be done. it is being done and we areud of it and i think president policies of r taxes and major regulatory rollback are a key part of this a -- probably the strongest trade reformer of the past 20 years not only to protect american interests but to open up avenues of growthor our business and our workers and frankly to help open up world growth, the world trading system is mess. it is broken down. and so far as fairness and reciprocity and ultimately free adnk thiis contributing to our economic growth and our confidence. key point here on the economy is small business confidence, record high, or nearly so.

sentiment, guess 20 years at t and of course the jobs numbers have been superb a recently article in the "new york times" suggeste better could be written about the job performance. i loved reading that and unemployment rates are down across the board really, we haven't seen such low unemployment in many many decades for all categories, i might add. so i think the policies are working. and my great hope is that our friends at the g7 will take notice of these policies and work with us to extend and expand them so we can have a prosperous u.s. and world economy. so these are all come up at the summit let me >> thank you, mr. kudlow appreciate it. a couple of questions on trade with china, if i may first, have you reached a deal to lift the ban on zte

if so what can you tell us about it >> no decision has been reached by both sides as of now. and of course i received you to wilbur ross, secretary of commerce but as of this moment, no decision has been reached by both sides >> secondly, in terms of your s on chinad tariffs on china, there seems to be a dual lowering the trade deficit on china but also on structural reform portant se glsand what areouo to achieve the strorl reform in particular >> you know, they are -- the structurally form in particular? >> you know, they are absolutely related, integrated thoughts in other words, thgoations between the china regarding trad lower the trade deficit if it works out.

there are no dealsthe moment but the way you do that -- this is an important point. i'm not sure folks have sort of picked up on this, and i appreciate your question on this this is not a government to government this is not chithe chinese government buying a bunch of natural gas and soybeans from america. this is about reducing tariff rates and non-tariff barriers that will permit the increase in u.s. export sales to china that's the actual mechanism. and i don'think that's been a clear point. that's an economic point thatowou d that represents structural change, importanructural change issues here regarding transfers and theft of i.p. and so forth but in terms of -- and if you do that if you loir the tariff rates and if you lower the non-tariff

barriers, and permit increased u.s. export sales -- we are the most competitive economythe world so we will get thajo done, then the trade g will fa. that's how that will work. yes, please. >> going into the meeting, the finance minister's meeting over the weekend the french finance minister described the summit ads the g 6 plus one angela merkel sahere a g to be contention discussions about trade. are these a low point? how is the u.s. responding to the criticisms >> look, we are talking everything through there may be disagreements i regard this as much like a family quarrel i'ways t optimist. i lieve it can be worked out but you know, i'm always hopef t point. ths a g7 meeting, and the presidents and heads of state .

let me add one thought to that, though the president -- president trump is very cleath respect to his trade reformffortshat wewilo protect the united states, its businesses, and its work force so that we may have zb mave tactical disagreements, but he has always said, and i agree, tariffs are a tool in that effort. and pe should recognizhow serious he is in that respect. >> do you expect to make any changes to the tariffs onada eu in this meeting? there are some reports that secretary mnuchin pushed for changes with canada. >> i'm going to leave that to the meetings the meetings will produce that lots of hands. yes, sir, please. >> thanks a lot larry. you mentioned the president will

be having a bilateral during the g7itthe canadian prime minister trudeau how would you describe relations right now between the u.s. and canada are they better than have existed in prior administrations? or are they worse than exist in prior administrations >> i don't want to make comparisons with prior administrations. >> please, for my benefit. >> just beeen us i get it te it. look, president trump talks tosd continues to do so i think the bilateral meeting that's scheduled between the two and i think theywalkng through a lot of these issues. i have no doubt that the united states and canada will remain fi friend and allies, whatever short-term disagreements may occur. so i would say relations are very good. yes? >> what are the prospects for nafta being renegotiated this year >> well, we are still talking.

communication lines are open i don't want to make a prediction ambassador lighthizer has the play on that everyone is stiling. yes? >> yes, sir, could youalk a little bit about -- >> sorryit was actually the one behind you but please, feel free. go ahead work it out, fellows rding trade deficits, the president often talks about trade deficits as if they are their m and other countries aren't buying our goods. and i kn that you are saying at the issue is tariffs and lowering trade barriers will reduce t defic what happens when the tariffs come down, the barriers come downthe trade deficit what happens then, well, look, and demand in global markets is subject to macro economi factors, that stuff is pretty hard to predict. but i think it is reasonable to

assut if our neighbors and allies and who lower their ade barriers, we will export significantly more, frankly, across the board if i could expand on that thought, united states economy going through a very positive transforming aright now. as i said earlier, lower tax rates, rollback of regulations, the war against business is ovwar against success is over, the war against energy is over we have now freed up the animal spirits. you can see that by the confidence indexes we are rolling u.s. economy is rolling. so if you give us a chance, foreign countries, we will fill that bill. we will increase export sales in a significant way. now, i can't promise, nor would i predict future trade gaps, but i'm saying it is bound to have a positive impact. >> when the president talks about, for instance,

automobiles, he complains that for instance germans done buy american cars, and germany has a luxury car industry that's world renowned why would they buy our own cars? it's supply and demand right there. it sound often like the president's problem is that other countries aren't buying our goods, not tha not to sell them to other countries. that.and large, i don't agree but let meback up. here's the president's key thought on this, reciprocitreci. and one of the problems -- one of the reasons for the breakdown of the trading system, the world trading system as i described, which the president is trying to fix -- in the la 20-some-odd years we have seen a lack of discipline, tariff, riff barriers have gone up. there has been a lot of protectionism. the united states, by at this with a, we have the lowest you go down a laundry list of

industries you will see we are much lower, our tariff rates are much lower than our competitors. his point is we should all have a level playing field. he calls it reciprocity.init ist description. if you bring down the barriers and you equalize the level of e playing field then we will let nature take its course, we will let markets take their course, and we will see. but i think that the products we make here have improved enormously and will continue to improve enormously and that's really the message this economic recovery so we'll wait and see on that, but that's the mechanism as i said to the other question, you know, the way the lower trade gap, the way you increase your exports is lower the barriers again, i want to say, other presidents in both parties have paid lip service to this issue of the lack of reciprocity, and china's particularly bad behavior but nothing ever comes of it

this president has the backbone to take the fight, and he will ue to make the fight because he believes it is in the best interests of the united states, and also the rest of the world. >> is the united states committed to a framework that was set up at the worl [ inaudible is president trump bacng away >> no, n very important question don't blame trump. blame thons that have conditionsy from those very important point all right? i'm not here at the podium to call out countries and individual names and so fot you trump's trying to fix this broken system. it was a good system i agree with you and it lasted for a bunch of decades.

but that system has been broken in the last 20 years, plus the world trade organization for example, has become completely infectual. even when it makes decisions, even in the rare moments when it makes decisions, important countries don't abide by them so you areight about that framework from the mid-1940s on. init worked beautifully. infree world trade is a very good thing, indeed but it is broken and president trump is trying to fix i. and that's k point i've said before, i think he's the stronst trade reformer in many decades yes? >> president from france said it's possible if these frameworks break down it could lead to war. he said that. >> i won't comment on what the president said i will only say this each country has a responsibility to reengage the world trading system all right?

we are making requests i would like -- the president would like other countries to deal with our requests so far, they have not, in any satisfactory way that would help solve the problem, and hopefully, this g7 meeting which will take up trade in some considerable form, will move this along. yes. >> in 2002 we went through the same thing with the bush steel tariffs. and that was a disaster. we ended up getting fined by t wto. and we had to pull back those tariffs, which was 30%, not the 25%, two years earlier than they were supposed to expire. how is this different from that? the reaction from the world was the same eu, all our trading partners, same reaction, and there was a trade war, there was a trade war. >> i don't think there was a trade war. call it what you may i don't think -- i think what we are engaged with here is trade disputes that need to be solved. but i will come back to my point. no administration in either party has made this case in a

full-throated comprehensive way as president trump is now doing. i think that's the difference. yes. yes, yes, sir, i owe you yes, please. >> thank you since now are come up with retaliatory tariffs and taking their cases to the wto, will the this administration respect the decisions that come out of the wto? >> you know, the united states -- the president said this many times -- we are bound by the national interests here more than anything else. we are always interested in the world trade organization ambassador lighthizer in fact s d complaints in the wto with respect to chinese practices and the practices of other nations. so we are still working through the wto. but international multilateral organizations are not going to determine american policy. i think the president has made that very clear. yes. >> can you describe -- you talked about the summit, that

there is going to be a lot of conversations, bilateral and otherwise at the summit. is there some expectation within the administration of an actual outcome? is there some -- do you expect some kind ofther on some of es issues, on pushing nafta forward, on some kind of communique that would push either -- either on trade or on iran or any of the other issues >> we will see what comes of it. we will see. we are going to have all these it's early right now. >> it's not early. we are a couple ofdays days from the summit. >> for these kind of decisions, let them meet first. let them meet. let them discuss, and then we will see what happens. ayman? >> steven mnuchin recommended to the president this week that the president extend an exemption on steel and aluminum tariffs to the canadians? there was a report to that effect >> the report was incorrect.

>> he did not recommend an exemption for the canadians? >> he did not. >> did anybody in th administration. >> there was articles written about a meeting we had i was in that meeting. i talked to the treasury secretary earlier today. this is funny, neither of us said a word in that meeting. so that story is patently false. patently false. >> a quick follow-up thank you very much. i appreciate it. it's one thing to talk a increaseffs with say mexico onada, whose economies are much more dependent on u.s. trade than, say, a more nefarious actor like china. how is it in china's interests to have a meeting of the mindser even come to some sort of agreement to level the playing field considering the massive amount of trade that happens between our two countries? >> you mean the u.s. and china >> yes, sir. >> look, of course it's in their interests.

i mean, they do a lot of business here. we import a lot. >> why would they want to change don't know. are handlinthgsrea. from the u.sstdpoint it is an unbalanced picked and the president would like to remedy that that's a key point secondly, as we have said on a number of occasions, china has engaged in unfair and frequently wto-illegal trading practices. what's more, regarding ip theft, technology -- forced technology transfers and other matters, china has not behaved well now, this could be remedied if the two countries acreements in. thus far, we have not. but china sells a lot of goods here don't forget that. that's of course the source of our trade deficit. and president trump would like to balance that out and bring down barriers and make new arrangements and see if china will play by the rules

that's an important point. yes. >> you talked about ina's bad behavior, and you have acknowledged the tension between the other countries at the g7. are you concerned that that tension is going to affect your own negotiations with china? because you know it seems like you could really use these allies right now instead of presenting a western front against china, the u.s. is pretty isolated. and my second question is, we have heard a of the from president trump about his summit with kim jong-un and he has spoken very little about the g7 is he g to be too distracted by his trip to singapore. >> no, no, no. we are in the process -- >> we haven't heard of a proactive agenda for the g7. >> we are in the process of iesions as i said at the top, the outline here is easy growth, trade, important bilateral talks, and important sharedy talks. let me go to the first part of your question.

the whole world agrees with us regarding china's trade practices. the whole world. in fact, many parts of that world have filed their own complaints on exactly the same ground either with the government of china or with the world trade organization make no mistake about that our president is taking action, strong, decisive action,i said, i continue to refer to him as a trade reformer. and by the way, i'll ela ce more. he regards himself as a freetrar but until we can deal with these unfair practices and so forth, we will not have fair trade. ca relationships we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade so i think his cause is just and i think the rest of the world agrees with him. and it always has, from day one. >> characterize the president's mind-set going into this,

knowing that he will likely encounter some awkward conversations. does he want to go on this trip? >> the president wants to go on trip e esident is at ease with all of these tough issues. he has proven him to be a leader on the world stage and he has achieved great successes i might add in foreign policy i don't think there is any issue there at all we want to be fair yes. >> to your point about the president's mind-set, the allies, including british prime minister theresa may has called the tariffs unjustified and deeply disappointing her counter-part, justin trudeau called the national security rationale insulting. what does the president think of those remarks? >> there are disagreements he is sticking to his guns d hes going to talk -- talk to them. communication, the lines are open the negotiations are ongoing not at the presidential level but at the trade level again with ambassador lighthizer and commerce secretary wilbur ross, and treasury secretary zeechb

mnuchin. talk is the best remedy here we have different points of view in some cases. in some cases there are tactical view, we n get through this ave in the past. >> those tensions with stalwart allies won't give him pause. >> there is always tensions about something. there is always tension about something. last one yes. >> help us understand how to read the president's words he tweeted this week, best economy and jobs ever but employth tre is a good story to tell unemployment is n an an all time low, gdp growth is not at an all time high are his words hyperbole. >> it's factual. 3.8% unemployment rate is among the lowest on record. >> 2.5% in 1953. it is not the best ever. so it is hyperbole. >> he is stating facts

the facts stand on their own i am not going to gibl with you about such thing regarding 3% growth , virtually ever economist on the other side of the aisle and they are good friends of mine, many of them are good friends of mine said 3% growth couldn't be achieved we couldn't do betthan 1% to 2% you heard had it i heard it we debated and argued it we are moving into the 3% zone that is a huge achieve men e president's policies, pro growth, lower taxes, lower regulations, taking the handcuffs off business, telling people to be as entrepreneurial risk taking as they appropriately can, providing confidence, these things added up to a tremendous transformation of the economy which in my judgment is only just beginning so to me it is a factual statement. let me just say thank you to all of you appreciate it very much. >> we have been listen

kudlow, the president's top economic adviser fielding a lot of questions, there are a lot of trade spats to talk about. i think the messaghere is that in order to raise exports and to lower the trade gap that tariffs are the mechanism to do that, al non-tariff ways. >> he called president trump a strong trade reformer. and says he's not backing down despite the fact that it is going to make for some awkward and angry conversations some of our closest allies and trading parters. he also, which i thought was intesting, didn't commit to abiding by the w, the to rules that's the governing body that everyone is part of including the u.s. on trade and said they have been unfair to us. >> completely infectual was his adjective for them it is an interesting tactic to me that larry pointed out there that the way to lower trade deficits, increase american exports, is for trading partners to lower their tariff and

non-tariff barriers. >> right >> but we pick them up. >> so the tactical move is we raise ours hoping that they will not raise theirs but capitulate and lower theirs that's the play, it seems to me, and time will tell whether the play is calculatedrectly or not. >> it was an interesting articulation though of the strategy because we had been wondering for weeks what the game is in terms of putting these tariffs forth and seeing what the reaction would be from trading partners he also mentioned that at the g7 meetings there will be bilateral meeting with the canadian prime minister as well as france's esident ma so let's turn to jared bernstein, the senior fellow at t and jimmy -- a krrk nbc contributor. jimmy, to you first. did he sell the message to the american people? >> i didn't understand it.

i will be honest with th trade system is broken though we have seen an explosion in global trade since 1990 some of the president'so like peter navarro think that's a bad thing. would like to reverse globalization, would reich to repatriate global supply chains. that was a peter navarro message i think larry gave as far as the economy is going, we may be accelerating but most economists say if you inject a bunch of stimulus into the economy gdp will jump -- whether it jumps one or two years, whether we are into a period of higher sustainable gdp growth that's tissue. >> was this a miscalculation by the administration to put larry forth? larry was brought on he is a well-known kmot commodity on tv. you see him articulating pro growth policies and here he is and jimmy says it was confusing

he was dumbfounded. >> i'm still getting used to seeing larry if that setting it's gratifying seeing people throwing hard questions at him instead of him throwing hard questions at me. i don't think the white house did themselves a big favor with the press briefing on the other hand any white house would do what this white house is doing they have a 3.8% unemploym rate in those situations you put your economic advisors out to crow about the numbers. however you have to be careful because as jimmy absolutely correctly said, the message is very mulgded and confused. wne to lor their tariff so we are raising our tariffs. like you were just saying, that doesn't make sense in fact, the chinese are saying we arespon raising our tariffs. so look, you know, sometimes you just have to look at this more simply than thged strategy that larry said was ing on and clearly, when trump says that the global trading system is broken or when larry says it what he is really saying is that

the u.s. has a persistent trade deficit and they don't like that so they want the trade deficit to come down and i think they are going about it in a way that's going to backfire on them i don't think that starting a trade war is t way you lower your trade deficit. >> they talk about teaable momes. this was sort of like an unteachable moment where people are going to have to sort of unlearn the economic lessons they we because that is just bad economics larry was saying about trade deficits, that's wrong the global trading system has seen an explosion of trade that doesn't look like it's broke tony me. and the fact that the pele w are fighting with should be our allies. >> i think our point was more nuanced to that, jimmy i took it as more nuanced. he said the world trading system has broke u.n. done in terms ofe trade. that feels like an important cod sil to the blanket system that the system is broken he did say the system is broken and the president is trying to

fix but in his first iteration he said in terms of fairness. >> or maybe the president is he can braing it. when you are dismantling nafta which has been a plus for the united states which now we don't know if it's going to continue when you are talking about we are not going to listen to the wto, that sounds like you are breaking the global trading system, not that you are fixing it. >> i have been more critical than most about certain aspects of ross reciprocity within our trade system so some of what you are saying and whry said made sense disconnect between t aions of the administration and the path that they claim to be on. so i think their trade policy is just massively chaotic i don't think that you encourage global trade flows by what seems to be quite recklessly antagonizing your trading partners i also think that it's hard to make the case for a systematic breakdown of the global trading system given the fact that

global trade flows are on a continual g, thaglobaltariffs a someone. >> jimmy's point. >> i just don't think it is the most coherent argument that's all. >> the problem is that larry thinks we are a few tariff barriers from some ricardo tradn you have the president who focuses like laser on trade eve onomist in the world says he is wrong and then you have navarro who wants a perpetual trade war in china. you have all of these views. it ends up being muddled >> i think you are talking about the fact that it's the process by which the administration is going about waging the tradewar. not e criticism that countries have treated us unfairly when it comes to trade barriers. kayla tausche has been following this, the trade discussions carefully. kayla, on the factarry kudlow s

still talking but there is still no deal. i guess what he said is true the question s will there be one. you saw larry kudlow doubling down on manyf the president's positions saying he is sticking to his guns, that there are no deals on china at the moment, that there was no request to exempt canada from the steel and aluminum tariffs despite their being the host of the g7 summit later this week and that they want the end goal of this to be partners of the u.s. coming to the table to actually make those changes. but the most important thing that larry kudlow said in my view is when he said so far those trading partners have not done that in aningful way. so despite the fat this policy and this process and this strategy has basically been laid bare for the last three or so months the fact that this has not produced the type of results that the administration has been looking for would raise some concerns about what type of signs they would be looking for to asay this is working

at this point. >> let me just say, though, that that is not at all surprising. historically, if you look at trad over the last 30 years the way you have gotten your trade partners to lower trade barriersthrough trade deals. it's throughitng down with them either bilaterally or multilaterally and agreeing on deals. i agree that some of these deals have been unequal, especially from the perspective of working people but that's the way we have lowered trade barriers with all the countries with whom we have traded for decades instead, this gu doing it the opposite way he thinks by antagonizing our trading partners -- he is doing this art of the deal non-sense, t k n international trade. >> time will tell. we will see. >> guys we have to leave it there. great discussion thank you all for being here kayla, jar, jimmy. coming up on the "closing bell," council of economic advisors chairman kevin hassett at 3:00 p.m. don't miss that interview.

i'm sure trade will be thedomment theme as well and what that's going to do to our ecomhurchry. >> in new york city bob pisani is at a conference. lking about where all the es business is going. you were listening to larry kudlow react to that. he was saying president trump's policies are a key driver of economic growth. we are seeing 25% increase of earnings in the first quarter. how much do you think is attributable to the lower taxes the regulatory rollback that larry was just talking about >> you take a 37, 35 to 37% corporatdrop t 21, you give 14 points to ev y making money in america. they are all going to roll they are all going toearn more money. they are going to invest in plant and equipment. it's really -- that tax cut, people do not understand how strong that is for corporate america. and that creates jobs.

creates growth you double that down with the fact they are cutting regulation, letting banks do more business, and you are going to see a really, really nice economic pop from what people say is the end of the cycle. i think what could have been the end of the cycle was just given three more years because he just hit it with an adrenaline pop. i think it's great for the economy. >> people are trying to figure out whether there is a recession coming because we are at the natural end of this particular growth cycle but you are saying these policies could put off that recession >> correct, the concept of a cycle was never understood with respect to the easiest monetary policy in the history of the modern world on top of that there was this quantity taid tating easing where the government bonds which wasn't on the menu the fed buys 1 trillion dollar worth of stuff thattent wasn't even on the list you have the world's monetary policy and hit it with a tax cut. what you have got is the global

comey is growing if you were going to try to make changes and tryi to level the playing field on trade wouldn't you pick the time when the global economy is growing, all of the major economies are growing? if you are going to do it now is the time. >> larry kudlow was talking about getting the economy to grow for than 3% nk he took a of e owget it at it with the tut and the regulation decline i think it is absolutely in the cards as a reasonable outcome. >> you were slightly exasperate wars was going on here why do you feel that the president's policy is the correct way to go? >> i think that you have a trade deal where you have very low tariffs and they have high after thes we can't sell american cars into germany because they have a 20 mercedes coming in here.o tax on he is saying how am i supposed

to fix that. i don't know how many germans wobuy fo t now, to buy a ford you have to build it in america. why not build it in america and export it. it seems natural you have to get people to the table. hoou get them to the table without saying you are going to level the playing field. >> to jared's point, he noted there has been a global trend towards lower tariffs in the lest decades precisely because of the trade deals, bilateral and ltilateral that have occurred and his argument was it's absurd to raise tariffs now when there has been great progress made in these deals. >> remember, economic history said we had the largest economy in the world if we cut our tariffs, we wo grow the global economy. they would lean on our economy and we would grow the world's economy. and then they would see how well we are doing and they would move to our political policies and what happened is the te h they have all grown, but they have gotic policies china is not coming our way.

it's time the sort of level the playing field and let's see how we can help the american voter he wants to get reelected. he figures if he can get cars built in michigan and steel and aluminum in quoio and pens he is he would be reelected. >> we love having you on bith t. thaerch for your comments. howard lud nick the ceo of bge partners joining at the conference. tesla shares popping following the company's share holer meeting. what musk said that is driving the gains next my portfolio. since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. okay. i'm plugged into equities - trade confirmed - and i have global access 24/7. ing i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do.

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i'm josh lipton. brussels is getting ready to hit google as soon as next month for abusing its dominance through android. naltis expected, though they say the size is not know. but they note there could be up to $11 billion. it comes down to how google licenses google has always denied

wrongdoing back to >> thank you so much, josh google shares -- alphabet i should say is down a a 1.%. tesla shares sharply higher following positive comments thschedulegoa vote of confidence from shareholders phil lebeau has more on this story. >> we haven't seen shares of tesla at this level you have to go back toearly may. this is the biggest run for a stock in one day since 2016. and all becae of what we saw from tesla last night in term tsz of n of not only the financials, but also the model 3 and the company says they are currently building about 3500 a likely they will be 500it is ithe xt month combine that with the guidance he gave at the begning of the m said we are likely to be gaap profitable in q3, cash flow positive in the second half of the year because they will be at 5,000 per week in terms of the

model 3. there won't be need to raise capital. having said that, it was an interesting meeting because e e musk in a rare moment where he said this has been a rough go, >> this is like i tell you the . most excruciating hellish several months maybe i've ever had. but i think we're getting there. >> getting n there he thinks that they will be at 5 thourkts p ,000 per week again within the next month and they are also planning retively soon to announce their next plant which will be final assembly in shanghai >> and another one potentially in europe. >> he says ten uel that is pie in the skyway down the if they can grow. >> and also want to talk about

delta. there is a profit h seems shocking >> this is the impact of higher jet fuel prices.wh you look at s on wittesla, the company has cut its forecast in timterms of what to expect for the second quarter. it wasreviously $1.80 to $2. and you only have to look at what has happened with jet fuel prices all the aiine stocks are under pressure short term results because of what is happening with fuel prices it is up 50% in the last y you dohave to be a rocket scientist to figure out what is going on here. and remember, they are seeing strong demand and revenue growth, but not revenue growth that can offseimct on cot is where they have changed their forecast >> phil, thank y methe ar problems for facebook shares, it is under pressure on news about data sharing with chinese companies. julia boorstin has all of th

details. >> facebook has da partnerships with four chinese electronics companies includings a national security threat the new yoimes reporting that these deals among 60 partnerships and phone makers gives private usera companies for them to intee into their mobile phone systems. facebook says it controlled the integration and improved the social experiences that companies built with facebook data facebook saying that given the interest from congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with huawei was stored on the device not on huawei's servers facebook saying it will wind down its partnership with huawei by the end of thweek senator thune is now demanding that facebook provide congress with there data about those partnerships >> i have a question it feels like a drip, drip, driven every day when it comes to facebook and some of the scandals as it relates to what they have done with our data

how should we think about each individual one, which one is the most serio lead to really a crack out today and then the news out sunday night, those are really the same story. the news is that before apps were a thing, before people had social apps like facebook on their phone, it made sense for from your social network so you could access facebook on your phone. so this i think is a different category of thing inthe data scandal revealed by cambridge analytica because there is n dit these phone companies have actually downloaded this user data. >> this seems like incompetence in that thith huawei is still inso eveouongre talked about huawei as potentially engaging in state spoken are soared espionage for all this time, it didn't ring any alarm bells in the facebook

headquarters and there is no w to ensure that data is not transferred from a device to a server >> yes, and facebook says that the way thesrtsnerhips work is that there is no system to take the data frophones the server is about gette data on phones, only about giving people access to their facebook account on their mobile device of coursaws being investigated course do rai that red flag, but i think thaly is the reason hasns w apps is the primary ople accel network, before it was all about the integration. so we'ee s >> jul, thank you. when we come back, markets are in rally mode. it doesn't mean there are no potential trouble spots. a look at what is tonop of wall street's worry list with the dow up 200 points. (siren wailing)

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test the markets in coming weekinaweek weeki weeking and mondths. and retail is leading the market ridun > welcome to "power lunch. now i'm tyler mathisen stocks rallying right now. nasdaq hitting record highs and on track for yet another record close. the s&p 500 touching its highest level since mid march, 2761 right now. small caps also on the move. the russell 2,000 a new record intra day high financials, materials, health care, they are the best performing sectors >> and he is what else is happening. everything amazon. the e-commerce giant has reportedly held talks about offering home insurance. the nation's largest pet retailer has reportedly hiring

restructuring advisers to e ways to cut its $8 billion debt pile. and from cars to bikers uber ing its reach byric bicycle sha service in europe. trade one item worrying the markets ahead of the g-7 summit. economic adviser larry kudlow briefing the press a short time agand kayla tausche has the latest >> reporter: larry kudlow sought to deescalate some leof the rhetoric saying we weren't in a trade war, it was a trade dispute and that all of union are still open and that the president wants as to go to the g-7, that he is at ease and he wants to discuss these issues however tough they are but he did double down on the tariff policy that has been causing the division between the uts and its major allies that e on steel and you aluminum imports. he said that canada has not been

suggested to be excluded from faulther countries at it for breaking the global trading system, not the u.s. list >> the uni, and the president said thima times, res hereore thanthe national anything else. we're always interested in the world trade organization lighthizer in fact has filed complaints in the wto with spect to chinese practices and the practices of other nations so we're still working through the wto. but international multilateral organizations are not going to determine american policy. >> so fairly stunning admissio bylo the u.s. is looking inward and not planning to take the wto rules as the international governing principles any longer. that won't sit well at the g-7 with those trading partners, but kudlow said let them all sit

down and talk about it we'll see what comes out of it book to you. >> kayla tausche at the white house. near an all-time high same thi for the russell 2000. but it doesn't mean the markets don't have a lot to worry. mike santoli, you wouldn't think markets are worried about a single thing >> yeah, that's right. and i would not make the case that at this very moment based on what we see in front of us the markets aren't particularly worried and that is probably okay i do think that markets have shown some stability, they have come to terms with some of the trade issues and some of the other known challenges that have been out there for a few months. but i've decided to look at three potential things that become ae and maybe causes another excuse for a little bit of a setback or a gut check for markets in months to come one of these is what if gold goldilocks goes missing. we've had a run of data with

good economic growth but not necessarily the same overheating risk we saw in january is that changingight now we're talking about labor shortages and bottlenecks in logistics. and number two, if the fed decides to look at t tightness inonditions in the united states andaye still have a potential fourth rate like this year on the table, the market o pric o ia hurry last week,aybe price out third, that would be something we're not prepared for and then some kind of global funding mishap, some capital erseas probay in the form of a perceived dollar shortage which you saw inklings of earlier this year. that is always possible. so those are the big three and busy week next week. three central bank meetings, the tariff deadline, we have the north korea summit and at&t time warner so dekeep your guard up soe are seeing a nice rally right now. what do investors do from here

how much do you pay attention to those risks? let's bring in john vale and tim holland. tim, you saliy lean into the optimism is the market complacent ahead of fed, ecb, boj, north korea summit and the gmpt 7 th-7 this? >> brinker capital thinks a long term view and being optimistic makes sense. we've been in recession 12% of d the s&p has been up the last s 38 years but the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows, so we think rates could be a problem near term italy, oil and trade, trade has been discussed in detail we think the price of gasoline is up about 25ar oye so as you get into the summer driving season, if you wan think about a near term negative, that could print

consumer sentiment, but more good news than why >> so now tell me what to do >> sure. i think when we look at the markets and we look across as set classes, we still like small cap stocks you want to see the troops leading the generals and russells doing really well the interesting thing about the rates conversation, people aren't talking about fixed income from a performance perspective. it is off year to date so within fixed income, we think you you need to be pretty conservatively positioned, but we still like equities >> john, what about you? >> we're still bullish on global committees and one market that we are watching very carefully is the japanese market, valuations are very low. it is under 14 times forward earnings s l risingd earnings growth there has been a transformation in the country regarding corporate governance over the years anksnd dividends

are both doing very well we think the market is underappreciaunde underappreciated >> and what do you think about some of the sectors lagging behind financials have lagged along with the yield curve story within the u.s. market, do you find any spots >> obviously if interest rates rise gooe banking sector over the intermediate term. and maybe especially good for some of the brokers as well as their high beta plays on the stock market >> and people have been expecting those higher rates to help banks not as much so far, but we'll see what happens guys, thank you. ng hire after the company re ousted its ceo plans to explore strategic alternatives usually means a sale

better thrtha coombs has the de. >> the ceo stepping down also from the board pressure coming to a head over the last couple of weeks after ports of bush having struck his ex-wife more than a decade ago during their divorce for which he publicly apologized and also subsequent allegations of sexual harassment. but they have been under pressure for months the boarsays that th will now explore a possibly share elliott's offer is still on the table. and it has garnered support from two big stakeholders over the last couple weeks. but athena shares topped that for a new 52 week high at open today and analysts at piper jaffray are raising their price saying it could be a strategic acquisition for a big tech firm.

in a statement jonathan bush said he resigned because the very things that made him useful to the company over the last 21 years are now exactly the things that are in the way. >> all right, thank you. a city analyst just raised her price target on the stock to 160 fromd shexplores the reasony a prive transaction might make sense for the company. recei stephanie, take private, does that mean that elliott wins? >> it could be elliott or another financial sponsor. i believe elliott is the most likely as they have been closest to the name for the past must be about a year now i wouldn't bif there are multiple bidders >> so how high do you think the price tag could go >> my animal cyst i'm saying 160 to 170 makes sense for a financial sponr. anything higher, you need a strategic. but that is unlikely >> so if it is taken private,

what happens then? you say that is a way to really improve their business what is the ultimate end game? >> ultimate end game, you could either focus on the margin turnaround and then sell to another private equity firm, which is more growth focused and get athena to accelerate their top line again otherwise it could be another potential for an ipo >> could it find a home -- i mean youpredecessor c oig p city output out a note a year ago that it should be bought out by apple it has a unique place when it comes to digital health records anmee and th wa apple could benefit. did you see something like that happening down the road? >> as i noted, there is a lot of value in the data assets owned by the different ehrs, but the current there for this size. it would have to be something further along in the market. >> so an acquisition you see taking place at 160, maybe 170,

that is not that much higher than where the stock is today albeit has risen today >> i believe the market has a -- there is a lot of assumption by the holders that it will be taken out. >> so i can see that that is good for share hold everies. is it good for the company in the long run and all of its stakeholders, employees, so forth. understood. i think it makes sense for the company in the long run just because it has been a relatively volatile stock it traditionally swings about 15% on average with earnings, so on it could make more sense to manage outside of the public eye and focus more internally rather than focus on publict metrics. >> i know you think private is the most likely option on, but what aboutud company, what about a sales force or a microsoft, would they likely be suit toreor suitors? isn't athena a cloud company with recurring revenue >> it is a platform as a service

company more than plururely clo space. a financial sponsor just givene that it is in the middle of its turnaround >> all right stephanie, thank you here is upn power lunch. we're going back to the big wall street conference, the future of trading in the world frequency. plus the of duke energy preparing for hurricanes and much more. and ohio senator rob portman has a new report out on the iran deal he is also fighting against trade practices that he says rtteel workers in his state. but his point of vw ieis nuanced. lots of big interviews cup shortly. let's begin. yes or no? do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? do you want $4.95 commissions for stocks, $0.50 options contracts? $1.50 futures contracts? what about a dedicated service team of trading specialists?

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let's get back out to bob pisani at the global exchange conference with another guest. >> and we're here of course talking to heads of all the exchanges and some of the big trading firms. here is one of them, ceo of virtu. and now that you bought night trading, you own a big retail operation. 60% your stock up, and you were languishing going nowhere for years and suddenly the stock has popped up. >> not that we were going nowhere. nd suddenlyou're up 60%. what is going on >> one as you mentioned, we made the acquisition and i think we

showed investors that we couldi business sowas a eat franchise, great peopleand obviously volat friend for a couple yrs youould havend say doug will volatility come back and it came back in abundance. >> and we had february, h. april was a little better. may dropped off rather dramatically and everybody kept saying volatility was back and i said gee in may, it looked like 2017 again is it coming back or are we in a lull >> definitely felt like that i think people are taking a breather obviously there was a lot of tumult in february, march and april it continued and may i opped ofbetween the tweeting an wars and this and that, i think people are taking a breather an s going on here before i really readjust my portfolio >> tradeonfusion didn't seem to be dramatically affecting the

marknot killing really affecti thma >> i think it is a great question is people e waiting to s howning this all shakes out. i think we're in the middle of the art of the deal and there is debating back and forth and there is posturing and i think ultimately people think that this will be a good thing for the united states. but when you're in the middle of a negotiation, it is hard to figure out where it will end up. >> i know you didn't hear larry president trump's policies being a driver of economic growth, that lower taxes, regulatory rom backe scheme was a major factor in the booth we've sest we've s. tell me about your company, are you paying less taxes? >> our tax rate went down from the mid-30s to 23% we announced the stock buyback and it helped our results in the first quarter and going forward. so that was a positive the more important thing, we operate a highly regulated business both here and abroad and regulation has changed in this new administration from one of enforcementnd innuendo to

being more data driven, more logical and more collaborative you had chairman clayton on befoi vethus far in trying to understand the market trying to work with the participants all participants and try to make the marketacer all participants the trnfea nott you go, back to moving markets is it because we're all sort of getting used to a higher level of confusion, we're all getting inured to tweets that sort of come out of nowhere withtrange ideas. do you see where i'm gngg if th sort of becoming used to a new higher level of normal >> i think there is a gralg of uncertainty and i don't want to call them strange the tweets but certainly a new form of communicatio cef executive. one example when noreas shooting missiles over japan and the nikkei didn't move, i said something is going o people are desensitized if you will to these events and markets are

less affected by them. >> yeah, when you have all this noise, noise becomes the new normal essentially >> it does >> doug, always a pleasure thank you. guys, back to you. > shares of signet is sparkling. we have the story. and up 8% in just the past nth. it safe to get back into retail we'll trade those names coming up as investment management professionals, let's measure up. cfa institute.

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> talk about hot retail stocks lately signet is soaring after the world's biggest diamond retailer reported a pretty big beat margins were lower, but the results overall and outlook as well mark a big improvement for this company i spoke to the new ceo and she made it clear they are only in month two of a three year transformation t today is prove that she is starting to see green shoots she is trying to drive the business where you can book apa

appointments online. and she is also experiments with innovations in the products and that is also something we saw in the ffquarter as well. they also are coming on off very strong period. and signet own days, kay and so are trying to unload some stock. it was one of the short interest stories. so some of those are being squeezed pretty hard with the beat >> i would imagine that it is mostly domestic sales. they don't rely on tourism as much as tiffany. >> absolutely. and mostly bridal as well. >> what part of the market >> 6%. it ia temmented market. >> and i'm surprised it is not more given their public advertising. >> and they are the biggest and i think that the new ceo sees a big opportunity to grow that share and capitalize on their

dominant position given just how challenging the market is. but jewelry of all discretionary consumer products actually remains better growing thasay r. >> i'm surprised it is the world's biggest. coming up, an exclusive interview with the ceo of duke energy as she prepared her company for all the potential changes on the energy horizon. stay with us oh, and there's the closing bell. (sighs) i hate missing out missing out after hours. not anymore, td ameritrade lets you trade select securities 24 hours a day, five days a week. that's amazing. it's a pretty big deal. so i can trade all night long? ♪ ♪ all night long... is that lionel richie? let's reop market. mr. richie, would you ring the 24/5 bell? sure can, jim. ♪ trade 24/5,th td ame. ♪

hello, everyone. here is your update this hour. a service was held this morning at arlington nationace to mare 50th anniversary of robert kennedy's assassination former president bill clinton was among those who spoke. >> his message really no matter how dressed up in the finest poetry never changed we can do better >> details about why a scott air force base commander was relieved of his duty six months

ago have been released documents show colonel howard was accused of sexual assault, cruelty and mistreatment and condition duc conduct unbecoming of an officer. of thro orbit astronaut ie today. they were aboard a arussian spacecraft they will stay aboard the space station for more five months that is the news update. back to you. and checking the markets, we are higher across the board. nasdaq is hitting an all-time high today and it is not the only one the russell 2,000 index of small cap stocks also hitting a record check out shares of boeing, that ist gain today. financ also a nice boost let's go to jackie deangelis

>> crude prices fell again today. plus an increase in u.s. production 10.8 million barrels day. this is the time of the year you'd expect to see the opposite which suggests that either demand isn'ts stngs antipateor thais still excess inventory to work through. wti down almost 5%, brent about 3% and we're closing under $6a barrel >>ilities in the red tod down 5%. and one of the worst performing sectors this year. there are some big issues facing the sector, aging infrastructure, national security concerns, pushing for cleaner energy by the administration at the same time -- excuse me, trump administration easing regulation on coal and nuclear so where is that heading joining us is lynn good from duke energy. great to have you with us. >> thank you so much it is a pleasure to be here. i'm joining you from san diego

at the edison electric institute annual convention. >> i'm sure a lot of you guys there are talking about what is going on with infrastructure when the administration talk about infrasuctu spending, usually bridges, roads, tunnels, those things come to mind. are you getting signals that there could also be help when it comes to improving the infrastructure of the energygrin spending a lot on? >> we are in the infrastructure business whether electric infrastructure, the grid that you referenced, or natural gas pipelines. i think what is unique about our industry is we are capital intensive industry raising the capital necessary to make those changes. and really what we're looking for in terms of support from our state and federal administrations is permitting and citing support these projects are ready to go to everybody is our customers and we're anxious to put that capital to work. and i believe investing in infrastructure is important as we continue to grow e economy. >> it is your intent to invest $25 billion in modernizing the

energy system. how much of that have you deployed and where are some of the road blocks? you mentioned difficulties with permitting, et cetera. where could you use the help >> sure. so duke operates the largest segment of the electric grid around the seven states that we operate in and over the next decade, we see a business case to invest in our grid to enable a lot of the new technologies that our customers are counting on. so whether it is expanding capacity for renewables, whether increasing reliability and storm hardening, whether addressing cybeitskor improving the way we deliver the customer experience with better communication devices and meters, all of those things are and we think will deliver great value to ourtomers on the gas infrastructure side, that is the area where some permitting reform would be helpful. >> the stock has been an underperformer compared to your peers on a year to date basis and 12 month basis

and some analysts point out your capital ancatal need viously improving infrastructure requires a lot of money and you've already gone ahead and you've issued the equity that you plan to issue 1.6 of the $2 billion by march so this year where are we in terms of capital needs for the rest of the year >> duke spends about $8 billion to $10 billion of capital a yea ate the se in 2018 as well i think the stock performance this year is largely impacted by ronment and also the at wasresented early in the year around tax reform we've addressed the issue around tax reform as you you indicate with an equity issuance and a really hard at work putting capital to word ng se so we're optimistic about the remainder of 20 on 18 >> are you going to be adding capacity to your grid and/or converting existing maybe coal plants i don't know the mix of your

business so natural gas fired generation. because it has been a sensitive point with the companies that manufacture those installations like general electric and others or has that wave tapered off just ait >> we are pleased to orate a very diverse mix of generation and ov t last five or six year our coal capacity and replaced it with lower carbon natural gas. so if you think about duke energy as early as a decade ago, we had almost no generation from natural gas. any it represents somewhere between 25% and 30%. we have two or three plants under correction, one commissioned in april, two more under construction that will go in2019 and 2020. but we are also investing in renewable energy which is an important part oe mi solar in the southeast of course being the resource that we're investing most heavily in.

and we're a believer in a diverse mix of resources and that will beur objective as we continue to go forward >> at the risk of throwing something out there that you may not have expected to answer, is block chain on your radar at all in terms of the use of block chain in the electric grid or in payments >> sure, there is so much tech lodge kalg innovation going on as you know for every industry and there is a lot of discussion about peer to pere marquettes th markets that could evolve. so we are studying it. we have tes of people lookin at those technologies. it is really an exciting time to be in the energy industry determining how to put these tools to work for the benefit of our customers. but i would say it is very early stage understanding for us >> what do you think about the president's big push and effort to bail out the coal industry and try to bring back jobs >> we are still studying the

proposal that has been the subject of conversation over the last few weeks, really the last week i woulr duke energy, we believe deeply in the importance of restillness resiliency, but we'll be anxious to learn more and if there are resiliency issues that need to be pursued, we'll be anxious to work with the administration to identify and address them, but do so in a way that does not raise prices to customers >> but you're not going back in that direction, are you? >> i'm sorry >> younot going back into the direction of coal, are you >> coal has been a declining part of duke energy. increasing in natural gas and of course we're an important nuclear operator we're the second or third largest nuclear operator in the u.s. and so as i speak about there issue, i speak about the general topic of resiliency and reliability. as we add new technologies to

our grid, as we add renewable technologies, baery storage, we continue thtransition to nat introducing other technologies that perhaps we haven't even thought of today, we still need that you power system to be resilient and reliable because our customers are counti on it electricity is sitical to our economy. so maintaining an eye on resiliency and reliability is always a priority for duke and the industry >> lynn, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you a new report showing that there are more job openings in america than people available to fill them. the problem is, the skills don't always match up. so how do you close e skills gap? steve liesman went to louisville to see how they are tackling the problem there. oyers y they hrdout the country time hiring because workers lack the necessary skills

and they have a program in louisville attempting to address the problem. and it starts in high school here at this toyota dealership in louisville, a lot of the service bays are empty not because there aren't you enough cars to fix, there aren't enough mechanics to do the fixing >> these are cars are computers. they are n the change the oil, change the belts. they are hooked up to a diagnostic machine you have to know how to read the codes. sometimes you have to know how to write codes >> reporter: it is a local example of a bigger national problem. the government reports a record 6.7 million job openingsnd businesses complain they can't find the skilled worke to do the jobs >> it is a high class problem to have, but it leads to other issues our economtethan tworkforce's ap >> reporter: that sparked as in a al debate about education. should kids learn trades in school or go on to get a college gree >> nve will be a college student. and there are many other opportunities and we have an

aging workforce in the skilled trades area. so we'e opportunits understand this is a great field for you to look into >> reporter: the city is addressing the question through the academies, a partnership between local businesses, the public school system and city government that establishes trade schools in the higsc system >> with traditional education, you will be sitting at a desk a lot, not getting to do a lot of hands on i'll be graduating with my certification and knowing more about health care than many going to college >> reporter: 17,000 high schoolers of the 100,000 students can choose from 140 care paths ranging from welding and manufacturg to health sciences. manning one of the bays at the toyota department is this 18-year-old senior, he is learning a trade now, but plans to go on to get a college degree >> this is my favorite thing in doing. and also after i finish my career in here, i'm still going to be studying for an engineer, airplane engineering >> all too often the curriculum hasn't changed in a century but

our world has changed greatly. so we have to prkids with engaging opportunities in school successful in today's once they get out so they have to be successful in college, but also in career. and it is our responsibility as educators to meet those needs of r students >> whether there will be enough workers to fuel growth is such an important issue, the fed is involved in helping foster such programs in their districts as the price of college goes up, returns to trade along with the idea that there are jobs for people coming out, it is a big deon people have to make >> one oe other interestinsort k because all roads lead to me of course is what happens to aging workers who do not or cannot be outplaced because of something. and they don't have today's skills not a f whether they have a college degree or not, but that there is a skills

workers who may be outplaced >> it is definitely an issue you thi abouthe abi of a kid who grew up playing video games to fix a car today, that person is going to a leg up on perhngs an erho didn't have that experience on the couch in the basement, something i know you might be familiar with, other parents. >> i've had lots of experiences. >> the question is how do you train them, how do you get them ready for the e toy where the workers will come from and one place they are starting do it now, it is in high school. >> thank you very much another big intew coming up sa steel workers in his state are hurt by unfair trade practices, but he differs a little bit with the president on tariffs we'll probe that and more when we return in two minutes

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okay. quities ad - and i have global access 24/7. meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. visit learnfuturestoday.com to see we're sitting just about as. the dow is u 1and the s&p 500 is up by about 0.7%. financials clearly the leader. finally getting the participation on a day when interest rates are on the se financials up by.75% the whe outlining

its objectives ahead of the big g-7 summit in canada larry kudlow said the president's trade policies are heing to contribute to economic growth. >> also think his role as reformer of the past 20 years not only protect american interests,ut to open up avenues of growth if our business and workers and frankly to help open up world growth >> joining us with more on trade is senator rob portman of wio d representative under president george w. bush welcome, i want to leave time for us to discuss your important fi on ir sanctions at the end of the interview, but trade is really the topic of the hour and the day mr. kudlow referred to the president as the most significant trade reformer of the past couple of decades do you see what he is doing in trade as reform, how

significant, or is it regression >> tyler, i think it is reform in the sense that we are being tougher in terms of opening up othemaets, pushing for reciprocity, lefting the playve. and year a bwe're a big open ma our tariffs tend to be higher. so that is a good thing if the result is lowering tariffs because we're telling other countries hey, unless you agree to allow our products to go there and open up your market, then we'll do something to you the problem is that it could result in a spiraling of more trade barriers including higher tariffs. so that is the trick and i do think that the president's ultimate goal is the right one which is to shake things up and ensure that me a fair ake for our workers, our exporter, our farmers. but the in the process yo may end up with countries as canada and eu doinraising thtariffs and you get a

spiral that some call a trade war which of course benefits nobody but i think he is a reformer, i think he is trying to change it and the results are not yet in >> the use of the stick as opposed to the carrot i suppose. mr. kudlow said a couple other things he said that the world trade system has broken down, it is broken specifically in terms of fairness reciprocity and free trade. i want your reaction to thatandl >> and i'm glad that larry kudlow is down there because he does believe in trade.all. >> and i'm glad that larry kudlow is down there because he does believe in trade. he understands the importance of economic growth. so he is a good influence. second, with with regard to wto, he is right in the sense that the wto has had a more difficult time finding the consensus that it needs to be able to move forward. it is a con ensuccesensus based when i dealt with them

it has become more difficult with more division, ability to find consensus being harder. but i think that there ian opportunity with alle unpredictabili out there right now for us to take this and end up with a fairer tradi system in the sense of more recent process it reciprocity. but right now you see the risk glowing that there will be the on that is sit reaction which will be higher barriers that might not be taken down. and we just have to be careful and i'm glad larry kudlow is guiding that >> and the risk of spiraling, your fellow ohioan here, as you know, ohio is the ninth biggest exporting state in this country. we export everything from vehicle parts, aircraft and machinery, electric machinery, plastics, even grains. and our top trading partners are canada and mexico. do you think there will be a political cost to this president's strategy of impoediimpoed

i imposing tariffs forget if you agree on his strategy to be tough, but if it continues that the rate and more trade barriers and tariffs go up and other countries retaliate more, do youhink that will cost replicans >> well, it is a good question we'll talk about it separately in terms of the politics but first with regard to thepol on straight as is ery state, about particularly ohio with regard to canada mexico is number two so we want more exports. why? it is good jobs. they pay on average 18% more, better benefits. i have been someone who has taken this balanced position of saying let's be tougher on enforcement. we passed a level playing field act. it was my bill along with sherrod brown that is helping to proenkts j protect jobs but it is based on unfair trade. so we're saying we are doing it because you are dumping or subsidizing and that is unfair

under our laws and the wto so that is the balance you have to end up with a system where you actually reduce barriers overall so that is really important. the politics of it, you knowwe' politics of trade are complicated. most people believe that we're not getting a fair we're not getting a fair shake even farmers i spoke to last week who might be the group you would think is most affected by this in terms of other countries like china and the eu and canada saying they're going to put higher tariffs on our farm products from ohio to china anrs those are some of the people who believe we're not getting a fair shake and they're willing to see if the president can getsomethg. you know what? in many instances they're right. we allow more products in on the ag side at lower tariffs than other countries do the eu is a great example of that they have so many non-tariff barriers i think the politics of it are not as simple as it might seem

>> we'd love to have you come back and talk trade. but let me turn to your role on committee of investigations. and a report you've issued that indicates the obama administration secretly sanctioned iranian rt of converted from o mani banks into dollars as a way to free up those assets and that took place in contravention. could you explain what went on >> it's concerning because the obama administration said one thing and did another. and what they were saying is the u.s. financial system will never be opened up to iran including the ability to convert some of these assets that iran was given as part of this deal through dollars and through eventually they wanted euros. when in fact, they granted a specific license to iran to do just that with about $5.7

billion worth of their assets. now, at the end of the day, it didn't happen. although the obama administration based on our research -- this is a year and a half long study, by the way, and it was a bipartisan study. only the majority signed in the end, but it was bipartisan in t. we listened carefully and we got a lo e-mls people have seen yet until this report but it was very clear that they asked a couple of u.s. multinational banks to engage in this to be able to convert these omani dollars into the euro. they refused so in the end, it didn't happen. but the fact remains that the obama administration was telling congress and the american people we're never going to let this happen when, in fact, they did allow this to happen by granting that license i don't know why they did that i think they, one, shouldn't have done it in the first place. they could have consummated the agreement and kept it going without it although there was pressure from iran to do this. but second, if they were going to do it, they should have told

the american people. that's all we're saying. we're hopi with regard to future iran agreement or agreement with north korea or other other agreements, there is transparency and the american people are told of the licenses granted. >> all right senator portman, thank yourxplanation we appreciate it >> thanks, guys. switching gears now. let's take a look at retail today. for trading nation xrt retail etf on track for its best week of the year. bouncing 13% since the 2018 lows will the retail rally continue rich ross and boris schlossberg. first, rich, to you on rail. big comeback story >> yes the retail rally has room to run here, perhaps not every day as has been the case. but for the first time in ars, you are buying weakness, not selling strength let's go to the xrt and we'll show you why here's a chart of a beautiful run. nice base support. at the january highs that's a convenient place for a

pause. at 49. but our wo tells uat we break out there. keep in mind, short interest high, positions is low i'm going to give you one name i'm buying right now let's keep it simple, sara kss.thisne gets you to above $80 and you have a 16 year break we could be targeting $95, $10y broadly and kohl's specifically. >> all right boris, you do really have to zero in on specific names here when you're talking about comeback stories what they're doing right, how they're managing inventory, how they're innovating around a product. >> the bull's argument tweaks around the edges basically the story still stays the same that secularly we're going a much smaller business than it was before internet competition,

millennials just not shopping as an experience. and they're just not getting, you know -- i forgot my third reason i'm sorry. but my argument basically is i think this is a rally that is ultimately going to fade simply because retail itself is under a relentless assault and is after a few more quarters. now that we've reached all these levels, it ptty much fully valued >> i'm going to guess you were going to mention gas prices. >> i was goingo mention gas prices you're right thank you. discretionary income just still not there. gas prices, higher interest rates. growth is happening.s that are >> thank you very much and fomoinsights, head to tradingnation.cnbc.com "power lunch" back in two. and now the latest from tradingnation.cnbc.com and a

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to eamon javers at the white house with a news alert. >> yeah. here from brian schwartz rethe spial counsel's office is now asking w in the russia investigation to turn over their personal cell phones for inspection. the schwartz report is up on cnbc.com right now it says that robert mueller's team is requesting that witnesses turn other their personal phones. he wants to look at their encrypted messaging programs and view conversations between associates among the witnesses themselves he's likely to look at at conversations on what thesapp and confide and signal and dust. witnesses have complied with the request and have, in fact, turned over their phones this all comes after accusations fice that the ident's former campaign chairman was contacting witnesses and attempting to communicate withty so othatf ncern here to the spe counsel's office >> so this is part of th

ld assumnvestigation most inoff from the manafort situation. >> thanks very much, eamon >> you bet >> and thank you for watching "power lunch." "closing bell" starts right no this is "t clong bell. i'm wilfred frost. banks rally and tech stalls. we'll assess which areas of the market you can still make money in i'm julia boorstin facebook says it has shared data with chinese phone makers. what that means for facebook and the users. i'm leslie picker. how hedge fund management may ba health and i'm kelly evans. a new report says % of housing markets are overvalued we've got the details coming up on "the closing bell."