to keep growing that business. at the end of the day that was really the objective. >> interesting discussion with flannery everything under the sun, including the makeup of the portfolio. got to trade issues and whether or not they're evaluating portfolio shifts in production because of these threats not yet. interesting discussion. >> absolutely. also thought it was interesting when david faber said are you done is this it is this sort of the last of the big news and he said yes. i thought that was very telling from an investor standpoint. we have gotten so much news from them over the last couple of months also the decision to have aviation and power together. technology sharing, ceramics, materials. deeply global infrastructures and it made sense to keep those together and spin off health care so more value could be realizesed in that specific company. >> one wonders, really, when a company of this size is going

through a transformation of this sort with a new ceo, when they say it's over, it's not always actually over. especially when you have the sort of global economic shocks, concerns that we're having here with tariffs and how that's going to influence various industries morgan, you cover this space closely. do you think he's factoring all of that in and just feels like he's taking so many hits that it's only up from here or were there enough caveats when he was saying that the changes are done >> i mean, this is what's going to make a market in the stock, right, moving forward? >> right. >> just how blunt he was in terms of this is it, trade will be a big issue certainly we're seeing it play out with harley davidson right now. the fact that he's not changing investment strategies or where they're doing production, et cetera, at least not at this

point in time, i think, is very telling. and i think you heard that commentary from other big industrial commentaries. fedex made comments on their call about worries around trade but fred smith also said basically this is the best time he has seen for his company. there seems to be a lot of wait and see where the trade story is concerned for these bigger companies. >> meanwhile, let's dig in deeper scott davis is here with us, justin bergner at cobelli and company. good to see you both flannery says they have the fire power to work this insurance issue down, he sees the pension liability coming down the next couple of years. does this justify the move in the stock today? >> yeah. stock should be up more, 20, 25% easily we could dial in now we know the value of the assets, we don't totally know the value of all the liabilities with long term care but i think we're getting close. >> why do you think it's not up more then? >> people are skeptical, right

this is ge they've done everything they can to trip over themselves for two years now. it's complicated there are still a lot of moving parts in this thing. i got off the phone with a portfolio manager who was coveri this stock for 13 years and he was confused still. it's a complicated story it will get better in a year and a half when these spins are done, though. >> justin, as far as the portfolio competition, is this how you would have done it >> yes, thank you. this announced strategic update this morning is in line with what i envisioned as a extstrati path for the company, to separate health care by the way of an ipo not only raises much-needed cash to deleverage the balance sheet. and i agree with scott that the stock should be up more and will probably go up more as people gain confidence on all the moving parts and the execution

therei therein. >> scott, how much longer do you see this period lasting? is it another six or 12 months before we see ge get out of this nsive crouch and start to get more aggressive again? >> i think it grinds higher over the next year. honestly, there are people who analyze this stuff for a living. fundamental analysts can't figure it out, they'll figure it out. the stated value of each of the assets are there it's not that complicated. it's worth a heck of a lot more. >> how much of that is contingent on power and energy doing what it's done >> it's not contingent at all. power is at 6% margin. i guess it could get a little bit worse. that should be a 15% margin business and baker hughes should probably be a $40 stock. i just don't see a lot of downside in any of the scenarios we look at now. >> justin, how should we be thinking about ge capital? we got comments on it from flannery on set a short while

ago, the fact that they're looking to streamline that next year but certainly that has been, to this point, very much an overhang on the stock and on the story in terms of how to think about value and liabilities. >> sure. ge capital remains a concern for investors. you know, we think with the $3 billion capital contribution, ge capital is better capitalized to reach the credit metrics that the rating agencies want sooner having capital cushion should ge find an attractive option to reduce or eliminate its long-term care liabilities there are a couple of things that remain to be clarified on ge capital but i think we are reaching the end of that uncertainty process and, as we reach the end of that uncertainty process, the concern about a negative poll there will evaporate. >> david faber is back on set with us. led the conversation with flannery a few moments ago

there's also, david, the issue of the dividend. >> yeah. >> out of the dow, i'll be curious to see how the shareholder base changes over time. >> one thing we didn't ask was specific to the dividend they'll be fairly straightforward. i did ask mr. flannery as i walked off about that. the dividend overall is going to be lower than it is currently. that is, when you become a shareholder of the new health care company and old, so to speak, ge. but we don't know what the differential is going to necessarily be the dividend for health care is going to be priced appropriately to its peer group, and then ge will do the same will that be a lesser number yes. will you have a new security in the health care company that eivably will be a faster grower that's certainly what they hope as well. so i think they answered this on the call we did want to ask him specifically because i didn't do it during the interview itself. >> and on those comments, as somebody who is invested in ge stock in the past, how are you

thinking about the dividend and how does that play into your thesis going forward >> we have it about a nickel or so on a pro forma basis if you will i don't think it's a huge change you know, look, if health care n grow faster and have a different investor base that's willing to pay a higher multiple for it, it doesn't matter, it's just noise. >> goldman said they would have advised ge to suspend the dividend for 18 months to give it some cushion. would that have been the smart idea >> no. you don't need to, right this company should be generatigenerat generating $11 to $12 billion in cash if it's run properly. when you look at how it should be run, versus how it's being run right now it's apples and oranges. i think this is a step in the right direction, that's for sure. >> scott, what are the geopolitical issues you're watching as you consider how ge is going to do at this recovery?

aviation, transportation so many of these businesses that ge is sticking to are ones where there's uncertainty in the tariffs. >> chinese need airplanes, right? they don't have much of a choice they need the airplanes. and the chinese don't buy a lot of power turbines. it's stolen most of the technology around it anyways it's a huge issue for industrials in general but certainly not outside for ge. >> the other piece of this -- and i think more will be reve revealed -- is going to be the role that digital and additive play in the production process and i know this was something that was addressed on the call this morning as well and certainly before today we've seen steps from the company to streamline its footholds within the digital space and 3d and additive print iing. i would imagine when you're looking longer term at margins and ways to get cost out of these businesses that, will play

a bigger and bigger role and that's not even being looked at. >> no. you try to centralize it and create lots of markets around the consumer once you refocus, predates down into the business. additives is the most exciting thing. aircraft engine that doesn't fly is a power turbine, right? if you can create additive and cut costs out, spare parts, et cetera, there's a tremendous amount of upside power is 6% of business. it should be 15 or 20. aerospace could be higher. a lot of upside hasn't been run well for quite a while. >> we went back to look at the last day it had a move higher than this. 10% move in 2015 that's the day they announced the sale of a bunch of finance and real estate assets closed that day at 2851. sounds like you think it's going to make its way back there.

>> i do. i was asking guys on the drive down here, if power is zero, you get to $16, $17 value. worst case some of the parts is. we get sum of the parts and if the assets are being run better it could be high 20s it's not going to be overnight it will take a couple of years. >> flannery isn't even talking about some of the parts but this is the new ge you're going to have and we're going to run it better, to your point, and we're going to create value. it's going to take time. >> yeah. >> do you believe him? do you think this is the management team that can get this done? >> we have a lot of faith in larry. he's a fantastic leader. i think he can help john now that you've gotten rid of some of the noise and john can focus in on fiking the businesses that are explicitly needing fixed, it's going to help it run better overall. >> more will be revealed thank you for joining us, scott.

thank you to justin, as well, and to david we've got the other big story this morning president trump admonishing harley davidson in a series of tweets, criticizing the company that it will move production overseas phil lebeau is covering the story for us and has details. number of thems, there were a they were point blank in terms of the president's feelings to curb u.s. production and shift it overseas. one of the first tweets from the president this morning, when i had harley davidson officials over at the white house i chided them about tariffs in other countries like india being too high companies are now coming back to america. harley must know they won't be able to sell back into the u.s. without paying a big tax another tweet from the president, a harley davidson should never be built innother country, never their employees and customers are already very angry at them if they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end

they surrendered, they quit. the aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before. little unclear what he means by that last sentence, being taxed like never before. whether he's talking about other countries or here in the united states the relationship between the president, the trump administration and harley daeally, almost from day one when he took office, he was lauding them as an example of a company that builds in america, employs in america and said this is a strong company. not strong enough that it doesn't need to shift some production overseas. the company says they're making this move because eu tariffs will have an annual impact between 90 and $100 million for the company because it's adding on to the price of the harley davidson that's sold in europe if it's shipped from the u.s., sold over there, guys, it's going to add another $2,200 on to the cost of a harley davidson which the company said they're not passing that on to customers and retailer they will eat that cost until they can figure out some way to

supply that market from other locations outside the united states guys, back to you. >> phil, how does this shift the ceo calculus on how to deal with the president and his tweets sure surely, the president understands that not every harley davidson buyer is in the usa and that this company has got to stay in business, that it's not moving all its manufacturing overseas. >> right. >> what do you do if you're a ceo, not just of harley, but any car manufacturer that has to operate? >> first thing you notice, jon, you rarely hear from ceos about the trump administration it's a no-win situation. separate from all the issues what was going on at ford and why he was ultimately replaced as ceo he was in the middle of a trump tweet storm. he attacked them for deciding to build in mexico and ultimately changed their minds because of the pressure from the trump administration i've talked with mark fields a

number of times and he made it clear, you really are in a no-win situation you're trying to do what's best for your company if it runs counter to what the white house and president trump think, you are going to get blasted. you can't really respond and come back on twitter and say, you know what, mr. president this is why we did this. then it's a vicious spiral downhill. >> phil, you're making a key point by bringing up the automakers when you look across the industrial landscape, manufacturing landscape, these companies, most notably the automakers, have diversified production into many regions of the world and have been doing so for years. the argument could be made that harley has been somewhat slower to do that and is just sort of getting into it after the fact. >> right. >> on the heels of -- >> and, as you know, morgan, they need to make this decision. the growth markets are asia and europe u.s. is sort of -- you know, it's not a huge growth opportunity in the future. they're strong here. this is their biggest market.

>> yeah. >> but in terms of growing sales it's asia and in europe. if harley is going to do that, it needed to diversify the argument you'll hear from the president is oh, they're using the tariffs as cover for making a business choice that they should have made or probably had to make a long time ago. that said, there is this discussion about if you are harley davidson, you need to diversify and move that manufacturing footprint around the world. >> the whole point of turning to europe was to offset declining ridership here in the states, phil after daimler's warning on the year, now hog, it will be curious to see this quarter if any other big manufacturers announce similar changes or at least guidance. >> and i think july 6th is the day to watch if you see china come in with those tariffs and shortly after that you see more retaliatory tariffs from the eu, watch the auto manufacturers, the suppliers, because they're going to get whip sawed by this.

wherever they're building in the u.s., asia or europe in some fashion, they will be hit and i bet that's when we hear about it. >> phil, thank you phil lebeau in chicago ge stock up about 7% has it found a bottom? plus, will you be able to use uber in london the company waiting on a court ruling on a ban to order uber out of the city. much more on "squawk alley." thrr 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.

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tech stocks turning around today. netflix, rallying about 3%, after its worst day in two years. apple, twitter and stitch fix also among the gainers this morning. but are tariff concerns going to continue to weigh on the sector moving forward with us now, paul meeks, portfolio manager and dan morgan from synovus trust good morning, guys. >> good morning. >> i want to start with you, dan. when you look at the impact that the headlines have had on a lot of these stocks lately, i mean, is it the trade concerns is it tariffs, or is it some of these earnings concerns we've seen out of the likes of oracle and red hat, suggesting that some of the software mojo in the

cloud might not be what it was >> it's interesting, jon, because we went on a witch hunt in the semi conductor space, everybody who had 25% more sales in china, we sold down and that was the big thing when i kind of take a step back from there -- you're bringing up bigger issues. you start to think about well, what's really impacting the thought process of the technology sector, the market going forward? i think what it is, if you think of the third quarter, probably be peak and earnings in terms of growth and you think of all the things that have happened to get to this point. and then you start to wonder well, what's ahead if you think in terms of the fed wanting to raise rates, flattening of the yield curve and start to think about tariffs. that's what the market is mostly spooked about. how is it going to impact gdp, which then impacts i.t. spending i think there's a bigger secular issue than which chip companies are going to be impacted.

>> speaking of chips, paul, how big is the supply chain issue when you start thinking about tariffs, say, in semis >> yeah. actually, i think semis are pretty interesting i'm always contrarian. i'm a value seeker, which makes me a different breed of cat in the sector i take micron and lam research and the thesis is even before the trade rhetoric escalated that we were at the top of the cycle. i'm not so sure. meantime, these stocks have come way back i think there are great opportunities, relative opportunities within that industry in the overall tech sector. >> paul, when you see a stock like netflix drop 6%, which is what we saw yesterday, it's doubled year to date, right? how much of this trade fear and the headlines we're seeing, how much of this is sort of an impetus to do profit taking?

>> i think that's a great point. savvy point. netflix has done well. even at a lower price i wasn't comfortable with the valuation, but i was comfortable with the fundamentals i think you are right to say this is an opportunity doesn't really impact fundamentals that much to take profits off the table and find some values that haven't had the big rise such as netflix >> where do you see value right now, paul? >> so i do think there are some interesting plays in semi conductors, as i mentioned, particularly since i think that the memory cycle is more robust. there you have micron and lamb research i also think where is the other place stocks have essentially faced their own bear market? those are some of the asian techniques i continue to like ten cent. naspers is one way to buy t i continue to like alibaba and through altaba, aaba is a

way to buy it. >> apple and especially microsoft. valuations have been getting a bit richer for a number of these stocks but not as much for apple. how much does that valuation issue come into play for the tech sector to put money going forward? >> it trades 15 times earnings, projected growth is 25%. there may be concerns about their exposure to china, 19.5% of sales or maybe some sort of tariff on some sort of relation to building their phones that stock frrks a valuation perspective, to me that would still be very attractive we'll have to kind of wait and see how this plays out, as we mentioned, with the ecosystem and apple. that is definitely a stock that should do well going forward so we'll have to see.

>> all right paul, dan, thanks for giving us some insight on what to do with these tech stocks and quite interesting geopolitical environment. >> thank you. >> coming up, the future of uber and its second largest market. a judge deciding the fate of the n de-hailing company today i london we'll bring you the latest "squawk alley" will be right back

time line on when we could see the iranian imports be cut

trying to get sanctions reimposed. we could see iranian production be reduced that's been part of the conversation that opec was talking about in its meeting in vienna as well if those barrels or that oil came offline now opec countries and members could make up for that production shortfall. wti is trading over $69 a barrel and ice brent crude over 75. >> thank you, jackie europeans are about to close over there let's get to seema mody. >> top session where they closed in positive territory, pockets are emerging as we await further details on whether the u.s. administration will unveil a new round of tariffs warning of the consequences for u.s. companies, citing harley davidson's decision to move some production out of the u.s. to avoid paying eu tariffs.

it's the latest response from europe on this transatlantic trade dispute, underscoring the risks associated with this at this time -- tit-for-tat approach still down from its recent high getting very close to entering crux territo correction territory morgan >> thank you, seema. let's get over to sue herera with a news update. >> good morning. a 5-4 vote, the supreme court upholding president trump's ban on travel from several mostly muslim countries, rejecting a challenge that it discriminated against muslims or exceeded his authority. president trump acknowledged the ruling on twitter saying, quote, wow, end quote senator rand paul has filed a civil suit against his neighbor for assault. it seeks compensatory and punitive damages from rene boucher who he says caused him physical pain and mental

suffering. ident rouhani promising his people that they will be able to handle new u.s. sanctions. it comes a day after protesters gathered outside of parliament, protesting a sharp fall in the national currency. and the pope welcoming president macron to the vatican. the encounter comes amid european tensions over accepting migrants you are up-to-date that's the news update this hour back downtown to "squawk alley." carl, back to you. >> sue, thank you very much. sue herera the ge comeback story, shares up on announcements it will spin off the health care unit we'll dig into those details, having spoken to john flannery in the lt as30 minutes dow is up 36 "squawk alley" is back after this , 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.

>> welcome back to "squawk alley. eamon javers is outside the white house. >> reporter: the president putting out an official statement, really relishing this victory from the supreme court the president saying supreme court ruling is a tremendous victory for the american people and the constitution the supreme court has upheld the clear authority of the president to defend the national security of the united states in this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country he concludes by saying as long

as i am president i will defend the sovereignty, safety and security of the american people and fight or an immigration system that serves the united states and its citizens. our country will always be safe, secure and protected on my watch. the president, carl, involved in a very different fight about immigration right now. but clearly seeing this win on the travel ban issue as part and parcel of an overall immigration agenda going into those november mid-term elections that will put the wind in the sail of the president and his gop counterparts ge's ceo john flannery joining us exclusively in the last hour, explaining what the moves mean for the company's turnaround strategy. take a listen. >> are you done? is this it >> we're finished. >> this the ge you and i are going to be sit here, talking about two years from now

>> absolutely. part of the analys was inside/outside and part of it is these businesses have a lot of commonality that the other two businesses didn't. >> such as >> heavy sharing of technology, jet engine comes from a gas turbine. certificate a.m. beings and materials we've used across -- there's very common business model, deep technology, installed base, long-term service and deeply global infrastructure businesses. i like that combination of businesses, especially with the right capital structure, so they can continue to invest. >> our next guest has been making a bold case for ge for some time now. david martin runs the cnbc index in which ge remains listed, even though it's no longer in the dow. you're here with us at post nine thavengs for joining us today. >> lovely to be here. >> how they're breaking apart these different pieces of the company, is this what you expected >> listen, we've looked at their

innovation for a very long time. i think that protepelled the future, which i should be their new logo it's about ways in which propulsion can be adapted. i think the sleeper that you didn't hear about today is a lot of the military contracts and the marine >> yes. >> the marine systems are things that, i think, they should be talking about. if you look at the next 10 to 15 years, service vessel and submarine will be a huge market. if you look at france, you can see how big it's getting and ge has compelling innovation in that space and you're not hearing about it it's something that will drive a very strong case forward. >> and certainly when you're talking about aviation on the investor call this morning you did say there was strength not only in commercial, but in military. >> yeah. >> where that business is concerned. the fact that you are keeping ge in your list, is it because of this technology and some of the ip that the company more broadly holds? >> there's no question that we

are very committed to what happens. we think the research arm of ge has been actually neglected in the wake of capital markets issues that they faced if you look at core technologies, one of the things we're concerned about is actually what's happening in the health care side one of the things that health care has, which is a lot of microfluid -- things that make bio chips and bio sensors work, diagnostic on the bedside and diagnostic on the chip is something that ge already licensed to a lot of parties, including international parties. when we think about this, the bull case is still there from a core industrial and propulsion space. wenk that the health care piece needs to get some deep examination. there's great intellectual property in that space and they've got great patent protection but that future is going to rely on getting into some of the places ge is not known for they're known for the heavy equipment, annuities, cat scan and things like that they're actually not known for

some of their best technology. we think the bull case is there. it takes management to tell the right story. and that's where i have to say the jury is out on whether we'll get the right message out in the marketplace. >> are you saying then you think health care -- it was right to remove it from the core portfolio? >> there is no question the fact that propulsion systems in health care are tough to manage together i think that the argument to separate them makes sense. what i think is really critical, though, is ge has to look carefully at how they bring leadership into health care. if they're going for the mri, ct, x-ray, contrast agent, end of the rainbow, i think it's going to be a disappointment if they can actually look at their core technologies and bring some of those next generation diagnostics and therapists online, i think the health care opportunity is great. i believe this is not going to be an innovation based win or

loss it's going to be a management base based win or loss and, as i said, i think the jury is out on that one. >> what worries you? what could disrupt your bull case for ge? >> since we built the index we've been looking at a trade war index that would essentially be a companion to this i think ge's position with partnerships in china is an insulation against the broad macroiss issues we've got. there's some safety there. flannery's comments on your show a few minutes ago were remarkably positive and good i think my concern is when i hear about large equipment and large annuity-based businesses, i'm not hearing the appropriate leveraging of that cutting-edge innovation i think that's a legacy of the jack welsh be big or go home i think what it's not doing is focusing on where the future may be going i think that's the biggest risk.

proprietary positions th have are good and all the segments they're keeping. one of the strong bull cases you have but not necessarily an aircraft i think it will be helicopters and marine propulsion. i think there's a lot of stuff there. and i think that the market needs to take a closer look. i still think the headline on ge is probably about 80% right, but i still think there's room to go into more precision. >> i'm glad you brought up the annuities. definitely been an overhang on the stocks for months now and certainly something that john flannery discussed on call and on the air, that they're looking at how they can bring that down, scale that down, potentially eliminate it how would you anticipate that process to go? >> i think what they're doing right now, obviously, is just focused on short-term tactical execution. what they're not doing necessarily is linking those core assets that ge has that are not corporate. we think of assets, we're thinking health care, baker

hughes we're thinking large corporate what we need to be doing is getting more dpranlar and think of business opportunities and business units that actually allow them to re-enter an industrial sales-oriented approach that builds that long forgotten heavy days of the dividends that used to be what made this so attractive. i think there is a way back. i just don't think that, you know, it's too early to say. are we going to get there or not? >> before we let you go, where do you see the stock trading you talk about a bull case where do you see it going? >> i think we're very safely up into the low 20s i think that we've got an ability to get there and i think that what will happen, as you start to see the derisking, there's going to be the opportunity for people to go back to the core thesis. >> yeah. >> i think ge got penalized for being a bank and it shouldn't have been a bank it's an industrial company it should stay industrial. and we see its innovation core as something that supports the

thesis. >> thank you for being here. >> great to be here. >> as we go to break, take a look at the markets, dow up 54 ge the best performing component, almost up 8% and cut its year-to-date loss to 21%

is the coast clear in markets coming back after the sell-off on monday how traders are positioning

today. plus one stock that surged 45% over the past year analysts will join us and our call of the day. jon najarian, one bull stock down 12% this year how he's playing it and much more on the "half time report" at noon. carl >> melissa, we'll see you in a bit. melissa lee. stocks are busy as we gear up to close the first half of the trading year outlook on trade barriers and policy obviously uncertain, to weigh in on how this will all affect the market. we're joined by the vice chair of private wealth byron wieon always good to check in with you. >> good to see you, carl of the. >> you see no recession until at least 2021 you said you see the cycle going on for a couple of years as long as that's the case,

volatility will remain low and there will be corrections along the way. >> right. >> has anything the last few weeks done anything to shake your confidence? >> no. i always thought we would go back and test the february lows. i don't know that we'll get all the way down there but i think the summer is going to be dull i think the market is going to mark time until we get to the election in november and i think the year -- we'll end the year up for the s&p 500. but i think it's going to be a boring summer so plan your vacation. >> i think some are already planning on that what you're saying echoes what, for instance, paul jones said on our air a week or two ago, that we go into a summer lull but the back half, q4, will be a fairly exciting time to trade in a

bullish way. are you going that far >> i am, yeah. i'm consistent with his view that's sort of the way i see it, too. >> what's going to drive that? >> well, what's driving it lower is the -- we have confusion on every level. democrats against democrats, republicans against republicans. united states against the world on trade, the united states not participating in geopolitical agreements so, there's -- the world is looking inward and i think that's bad for the financial markets. >> so, byron, what's your base case as far as what happens with the balance of global trade where the u.s. is concerned? is it that it stays roughly the same or are you assuminghat the trump administration is going to be somewhat successful in pushing other countries to, i guess, make things, as they see it, more fair? >> yeah. i think trump is going to be

successful, but i think it's going to vary. i think we have a very small -- i don't think we should go to war against europe one place i would be tough is china. and trump is taking a tough stance against china right now and i think that's the right thing to do. >> byron, in light of all the comments you're making, where would you be advising clients to put their money investing right now? >> it doesn't hurt to have a little cash right now. i think technology has had a correction i still like technology. i like biotech i like energy. i think the price of oil is going higher. >> and, byron, given that you

don't expect too much to change tradewise, global tradewise, you talked about some successes here and there, how much upside is there the way you see it if the trump administration is a bit more successful than you assume in perhaps even specifically this china fight that you say, indeed, they should be having? >> look, i think the market -- the upside of the market is that we can get to 3,000. and i think that's realistic because earnings are coming through very powerfully. the second quarter, i think, is going to show year over year earnings improvement of 25%. and i think we're going to be plus 20 for the remaining two quarters so i think the earnings thrust is there i'm not too worried about this year i'm more concerned about next year, where i think the comparisons are going to be more difficult.

>> byron, before we let you go, want to get temperature on corporate debt i've got 11 trillion in global corporate debt, ex-fnginancials. you've got large companies like at&t and today it's ge talking about deleveraging targets in the year ahead in an environment of rising rates. is that a big deal for you or not? well, it's i don't know a big deal, it's a deal. but as long as interest rates remain low and corporate cash flows are positive, i don't think it's a major problem >> assuming the cash flows that you say are going to be steady >> yeah. when we get federal funds up toward 3%, when the ten-year is at 4%, then i think it becomes a problem. >> yes

going back to tepper's famous call me when we hit four from a couple years ago thanks for the time today. always good to check in with you. byron wien >> when we come back, a new cnbc report on women and finance who are still facing promotion and pay inequity what are the solutions the latest in cnbc's closing the gap series is next

>> i share in every sense the

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welcome back cnbc and linkedin out today with the first in a series of surveys focusing on the gender gap in the workplace. julia boorstin is here on set in new york with more on the inaugural closing the gap women in fnls survey what are the results >> we teamed up with linkedin to survey 1,000 men and women women see a bigger gender gap than men see the gap does not seem to b closing anytime soon now, 37% of women and 56% of men think men and women are equally

likely to become leaders and success does not make women more optimistic about opportunities in general female managers are only slightly more optimistic about the pace of change than women on average. the issue, respondents say men are simply promoted faster, less than half of women, about three quarters of men, say men and women are promoted at an equal rate our survey followed top u.s. banks reporting in march that women are paid about half as much as men in the banks of jpmorgan, morgan stanley, and bank of america. our results identified perceptions of a similar pay gap here in the u.s. 40% of women and three quarters of men agree men and women at the same level are paid the same so what will it take to close the gap? respondents say fixing corporate culture, promoting more women in leadership roles, and putting an emphasis on mentorship would make the biggest difference. and guys one thing that's really nota notalable, despite a lot of talk

about women opting out, almost no one says opting out is a reason we don't see more women in leadership roles. >> i think it's rhee that it's not just women who were surveyed but also a sizable chunk of men who believe there's this inequality in the work place it's going to take not just women but men coming onboard as well >> absolutely. women see a bigger gap, but men still see gaps they see women are not paid as much and women are not promoted as fast, although not as many see that bias as women see fwl interesting that this survey is about perception, which the reality at every company is going to be different, but perception is important because it affects morale. itaffects the way people talk about a company, talk about opportunities. so i take it part of the takeaway here is that companies really need to er be more transparent or more visible in other ways of how they attack that perception. >> absolutely. there are obviously a lot of financial institutions making a big push to try to increase the

diversity of their ranks one thing was interesting is survey respondents say a lot of them don't know if their companies are doing anything about sdiversity companies who are taking steps would benefit by being vocal about it >> thanks, julia banks getting a bit, that's helping the tape let's get to melissa lee and the half >> welcome to "the halftime report." i'm melissa lee in for scott wapner our top trade this hour is the coast clear with stocks slightly higher after yesterday's big selloff. when should you get back in? do you pick up the stocks sore sectors that got slammed the most here to debate that, jim, joe, jon, and also with us here on set, lindsey bell, investment strategist at cfra research. first, we have to get to the move in oil. we have seen oil