good morning it is 5:00 p.m. at nato headquarters in brussels 11:00 a.m. on wall street. and "squawk alley" is live ♪ good wednesday morning

welcome to "squawk alley." i'm carl quintanilla the president is budding with germany's angela merkel. he's expected to meet with chancellor merkel later today. aym eamon javers is keeping up with the latest for us. hi again, eamon. >> reporter: good morning. coming out sharply critical of germany, a u.s. ally, by saying they are, in fact, held captive by russia because of an oil and gas pipeline from russia to germany that the spth critical of and says that the germans are, in fact, sending money to russia at a time when they are asking for money from the united states to help defend europe militarily the president opening with the controversial remarks, sort of rattling the cages of a lot of the nato administers here in brussels today

but then we saw a few hours later the president side-by-side with angela merkel with a different take on the relationship here's what the president said on that occasion >> we have a very, very good relationship with the chancellor we have a tremendous relationship with germany. they have been a tremendous success and i congratulate you and i believe that our trade will increase and lots of other things will increase, but we'll see what happens over the next period of a few months >> reporter: so the president there saying he's got a very good relationship with angela merkel angela merkel also issuing similar sort of diplomatic platitudes in the session side-by-side with the president of the united states but what's happened today, carl, the president effectively criticized the germans for the very thing many nato allies criticized the president for, being too close and controlled by russia and vladimir putin of course, that meeting next

week between president trump and vladimir putin in helsinki, finland, is looming large in brussels here today. we'll wait to see what the rest of the day brings. we have a couple more events to see the president, we may not hear from him again throughout the day. it is 5:00 in brussels, belgium, carl >> it's 5:00 somewhere, eamon. we'll talk to you soon eamon ja eamon javers in brussels we'll tackle trade in a couple minutes, but secretary pompeo tweeted that all allies have committed to extend the success with increased defense spending are you noticing any real erosion in nato today? >> i think everybody is a bit rattled, but this is crucially important. i think president trump does have a point about this russian pipeline to germany because that

undermines a little bit of what nato is trying to do as well so i'm glad he pushed that forward. you know, when he stands next to chancellor merkel and says we have a great relationship and a great relationship with germany and he's rattled them so much, i think you just have to separate some of the noise and static from the truth of the relationship, which is that nato is crucially important and i think pompeo may be sending a signal to trump as well as to nato. >> walter, have we seen this before i mean, it seems like diplomacy matters or it doesn't matter the words that leaders use about allies and enemies matter or they don't matter. so historical precedent that you can look to for leaders saying one thing in terms of how they're talking about or treating allies and then saying a different thing and how it all shakes out in the end? >> no, we haven't really seen

this before because in the toolbox of american diplomacy, we have everything from, you know, missiles to trade. but we also have words and words are used as a tool in diplomacy. and people tend to use them carefully. i guess you can go back to ronald reagan calling russia an evil empire. but that was used very purposely. i have a friend who wrote a book about that very sentence almost. and people are using words carefully. and that was productive. i'm certainly a little bit unnerved as most people are about trump's blustery style, but i guess we just have to get used to it. >> walter, i want to go back to the pipeline that you just mentioned because it seems to me optics, noise, delivery aside, when you're talking about pushing nato members to increase their spending, that implies stronger forces, more military might against russia when you're talking about going after an $11 billion gas

pipeline to bring gas into europe, you're going after the heart of the economy delivery aside, that seems to be a much more hawkish stance against russia ahead of the meeting next week by president trump. >> well, that's the thing about donald trump, it's somewhat unpredictable, that is a hawkish stance against russia. i actually think it's a valid position, which is that if russia does control some of the energy supplies to germany, and more importantly, that pipeline allows him to cut out eastern europe or the ukraine others those type of things give russia an incredible leverage i'm sitting here in new orleans where export is natural gas. i would rather it come from louisiana and not russia and the german minister, i think

he's one of the leaders of the russian firm building this pipeline, i would rather trump focus like a laser on that rather than getting into a trade war causing bmw, a german company to take its production facilities out of south carolina, focus on the pipeline. that's not a good thing for the western alliance >> yeah. speaking of trade today in china, walter, i wonder if you think we're at a point where the chinese are running out of room to make reciprocal tariffs and they start venturing into other things like approving plants for german chemical giants and whether that means that it's more difficult now for either trump or him to back down. >> well, we talked about trump's blustery style i think trump can back down or tout some new agreements as being a big break through. so there's always a possibility this thing will deescalate at

some point these new tariffs don't really go into effect until september i do think the tariffs are a really bad idea. i mean, now we're talking about baseball gloves and handbags, what you're going to do is hurt the american consumer, hurt american companies and divide america from its allies. as you said, that could cause china to go into the -- go into stronger alliances with the europeans, including approving european companies like the german company, into a stronger alliance with mexico and canada. and we could get isolated here in the united states with trade. i was on a boat in the port of new orleans right behind me yesterday afternoon. and one of the ports of the new orleans boats, and we were looking at the bulk container ships and the bulk break ships losing soybeans, losing aluminum, losing steel i think one of the things that

is going to happen with this trade dispute is it will educate a lot of people in the united states that trade is actually a good thing, not something that we should be fighting against. >> yeah, walter, certainly we're seeing that play out in prices for things like soybeans, also some of the furniture stocks today and handbag maker stocks today. stay with us, because we want to get your thoughts on the other news of the day. 21st century fox raising its bid for sky as the company ramps up bid for comcast over control of the european broadcaster julia boor steen is joining us live from sun valley where the media moguls are meeting julia? >> reporter: good morning to you, morgan. the future of fox and the future of sky is very much in focus here in sun valley we caught up with rupert murdoch on his way to the conference this morning of course, this is fresh on his company's higher bid for sky with comcast now expected to make another counter bid for sky within the next couple of days this could, of course, start with a building war.

take a listen to what he said. how high are you willing to go for sky? >> that's it >> reporter: that's it not higher >> we'll see >> reporter: we'll see he is closing the acquisition of time warner. it's all expected to set off another wave of deals. a number of potential buyers headed into the conference this morning, jeff bezos, who wouldn't answer if i considered he was buying a media company. and we saw barry diller whose company is looking to buy groupon. and liberty media's greg methaye is here meeting with various companies and investments. it is not just media moguls here we have the uber ceo here along with soft bank's ceo

we were told yesterday that he's interested in artificial intelligence companies and not worried about the triple war with china the big panel this morning happening right now is with bobby kodak, michael bloomberg and barry diller it will be a busy day. we'll have lots more from sun valley. >> those arrivals never get old, julia. you can tell it's a little chilly there, too. julia borstein up early to bring us guests from sun valley. walter, allen and company is inconsequential, do you think it will make a ripple effect regarding disney and comcast >> sure. i would love to be out there with julia today because that's really, other than the nato summit, an amazing c conglomeration of people to be competitors or coop ray or th--r

the -- cooperators you have fox, disney and comcast, all who have leaders out at sun valley today. the leaders are very smart about bob iger or you can't divvy this up because you'll have enormous losses but as each says something publicly, perhaps if comcast gets sky tv, it will be less likely to have to bid for the fox asset. and it will be more difficult to bid for the fox asset. so that is in disney's interest. so even without any collusion just in the atmosphere, the charged particles out there in sun valley, you can probably see some virtual deal making happening. but being careful not to, in any way, cross the lines on collusion. >> walter, are we headed toward

an over supply of premium content? i ask because of the headlines earlier this week about at&t wanting to encourage hbo to produce more different types of content while still being careful about what they produce, but then we also have more distributors looking to get into this premium content game, perhaps goated on by netflix's success. at a certain point, are we going to find that the bottom falls out of this and it really starts to shake out >> i think so. there are only a certain number of eyeballs and a certain number of people in the day everything from amazon to netflix to disney trying to do a streaming service to hbo being kicked up into a new orbit by at&t to do more premium content. it seems to me that this is not a huge consumer of media and

content. so maybe i'm biased. but at a certain point, everybody is going to be in the business of supplying premium content and you'll have a lot more supply than you'll have demand >> eyes are focused on how this shakes out with comcast and disney, but julia just mentioned that you have liberty in sun valley looking to potentially strike more partnerships and make more deals. what are some of the other names and tie-ups we could potentially be looking for as well >> i think what we have seen with the atarou trkt&tat&t/timel as has been said on the show, do virtual full integrations. and people who control certain distribution systems will want to align with certain consent makers in this competitive world. so everything from, you know, amazon and netflix, which don't generally make deals like this,

to verizon and other distribution and cable networks. i think they are all going to look for certain new types of alliances. and because we have had this big megamerger of content-creating companies, i think we have to now say, hey, what is the next wave and i think that will be for people looking at 5g, looking at ways to distribute content we'll have a new break in ways to unbundle the old cable model. and there will be companies saying, i'm going to try to get content and send it direct to consumer >> walter, always good to check in with you. thanks for the time. good chat. walter isaacson talking everything from nato to trade to media. speaking of nato, there's a live shot of bruflssels. his week is not over by a long shot the european tour will continue with the state visit to the u.k.

and the meeting with putin in helsinki so the news marches on. >> it does coming up, escalating trade tensions hitting markets as president trump ramps up talk of tariffs on china we'll look at one sector that is feeling the pressure plus, brexit blues for theresa may after her foreign secretary boris johnson resigned in the latest high-profile departure. we'll bring you an interview with the former british secretary william hague. "squawk alley" will be back after this

welcome back technology stocks not immune to this morning's ramped up trade rhetoric a mixed bag as we look at the action just under two hours into the trading day. technology is still the top performing sector. year to date, though, joining me is guggenheim's mobility analyst robert sera with the latest on apple. and with us post nine, anthony declemente who wraps up the other names for us gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you for having me >> thank you >> robert, i want to start with you. among your coverage, you have apple, ibm, tesla that you follow, names exposed to china, have operations in china given the fact we are seeing an even bigger, broader tariff list here from the u.s. and now increased fears of retaliation, including quote/unquote, qualitative retaliation from china, how does this play out for these stocks

>> well, it's obviously worth watc watching, but there's a sense of optimism that things will work out in the end know i know that sounds a little polyannish, but the tech supply chain is so sort of mixed between the u.s. and china, i don't really think you can break it apart and so i think there's a sense that the -- sort of the tech supply chain is bigger than tariffs. >> anthony, you mentioned that you cover the other faang names, six stocks, all tech stocks, counting for 98% of the s&p's year-to-date return, including amazon, netflix, alphabet, facebook, are these overcrowded trades at this point >> well, i think as it pertains to the question that you asked, you asked robert, the trade war, these have been a safe haven for many trade-related concerns. like most of them don't have big operations in china. and so, you know, what i would

say is that, it is possible that because of protectionism that trump and the u.s. will limit chinese investment into silicon valley, into the bay area, but i really don't think that trade fears are a reason not to own the faang stocks i think the real -- kind of the bear case on faang is a couple are expensive like amazon and netflix, but i would be bullish on the faang stocks, facebook, amazon, they are still inexpensive and pretty cheap on the earnings multiple. but the stocks have outperformed industrials. they are not really -- when i talk to investors, they are not worried about, with the exception of e-commerce and e-bay, they are not worried about china and u.s. in regards to the trade war in regards to the fundamentals on the faang stocks. >> what's the right way to think about apple's services business? is it a counter weight to

concerns about the lengthening replacement cycle in iphones or is it kind of a lagging indicator of the iphone ecosystem overall? >> i mean, yeah, so i think services is becoming a bigger part of the narrative for good reason i mean, it really is important i think for two seasons. one is, if you look at just the overall smartphone market, growth has slowed. it's kind of slowed down to kind of no growth but services recurring are actually growing i think the model now for apple is to keep iphone units flat to up if they can they still want to keep people replacing iphones, trying to keep the replacement cycle shorter than three years they are raising prices to help revenue growth, but then the model really is to try the services and services are 15% of apple's revenue, but they are 25% of their profits. and services right now are growing 20-plus percent.

so i think that services growth allows apple to keep growing, even if the smartphone market is kind of flattish >> rob, what about the idea of an apple car i know you published a note on this late june, we actually got some more details about a car that is in the works with apple due to a criminal complaint that was filed earlier this week in court. how should wethink about that opportunity? >> yeah, so consensus is that apple is pulling away from developing a car, but i'm rightly or wrongly convinced that they are going to be pulled into launching their own car ultimately and the two biggest draws are, one is just this sheer size of the auto market. i mean, apple revenues are going to be $260 billion call it this year that's a really big number to grow you need big markets to go after in autos and they are a huge market and the second thing is, if you look at the auto market, between

lek tr electrification and autonomous driving, if you're apple, how do you not go for that biggest market it's the biggest technology disruption in the last 100 years. so i'm convinced they will launch a car ultimately. >> anthony, when it comes to video, it seems like youtube has really maintained the engagement crown despite all of these other players rushing in but now you have instagram, which has done pretty well at knocking snapchat down to size is it eventually going to make end roads there with long engagement, or is youtube an undervalued, even still asset of google >> i mean, youtube is the number one ad-supported global video platform the checks that we have performed on the research side just indicate that youtube is doing really well in terms of engagement and ad growth i think instagram tv has potential to kind of actually make an impact in the space, because they need content. i think they need content and

need to invest in more professional content i think instagram writ large is absolutely killing it, is the shining light within facebook. that's a big reason to own facebook right now despite the potential for deceleration for usage and revenue at core face but we are bullish on facebook going into the quarter and overall. i just wanted to respond to the comments about the apple car i just have the view that wamo is so far ahead in the space they have many more miles driven autonomously they have many more actual miles and are commercializing. so they will be live in phoenix as we get to the second half of this year. and i would just look at wamo as being within alphabet. we think the evaluation there could be certainly north of $40 billion within alphabet. and it's a key reason to own

googls >> eventually being best >> true, but this is where being first matters a lot. so for wamo, getting first to market, first to market with scale and then having just so much superiority around the technology and in terms of the investment i mean, i think for apple, it's all about the device i don't cover apple. but to me, strategically, they are more likely to just continue to more focus on the core. wamo has a big lead. >> we'll leave it there, gentlemen. thank you for joining us and pfizer delaying price hikes after being called out by president trump. we've got the latest "squawk alley" will be right back

drugmaker pfizer agreeing to hold off on a series of price hikes after the ceo spoke with president trump following a tweet in which he attacked the company. meg terrell is joining us with the latest hey. >> it was an about-face you don't see often from drugmakers.

pfizer agreed to reverse prices on 40 of their medicines following criticism from the president. after an extensive phone conversation between the ceo and trump last night, they agreed to delay the price hikes to give the president time to implement his drug hike plan some analysts like alex arfe say it garners goodwill and pr from the president who applauded the move in another tweet last night to say he hopes other companies do the same. but others like suntrust john boris say it sets a precedent for less drug pricing leverage for drug companies he says the roll back prices amount to $150 to $300 million in sales for pfizer. in looking forward, the question is will the president continue calling or calling out drugmakers that have implemented price hikes? if so, next to the cross hairs could be cell gene that raised the price of drugs by 5% according to piper jeffrey, this

price has more than doubled in the last decade. and pfizer announced the reorganizing into three internal units, one focusing on older medicines, one on newer drugs and one on consumer health they are evaluating options for the unit since late 2017 and they expect to do so with the decision coming in 2019. and stocks are ending a six-day winning streak the sell-off comes as the u.s. prepares to slap tariffs on another $200 billion worth of chinese goods as early as the end of august. take a look at the miners, take a look as the losers here. angelo-american is in the red. and bmw is under pressure

planning to move some of the production for the suvs overseas to offset higher costs of tariffs involving china. but bmw says it still plans to add 1,000 workers in south carolina shares down 1.4% politics now, president trump making headlines at the nato summit saying he had a great meeting with german chancellor angela merkel on issues like trade. his comments coming after accusing germany of being captive to russia because of the increased relicense on russian energy, specifically gas a new gas pipeline between russia and germany is being built called norstream 2 to transfer gas from st. petersburg in russia to reach germany of where it will be dispersed to european nations it also bypasses ukraine and is set to double russia's total export volume and increase germany's dependence on russian energy and it's worth noting, germany already imports roughly 95% of

its natural gas. there you go, guys, back to you. thank you, seema now we'll go to sue herrera also at headquarters with a news update sue? >> good morning, john. good morning, everyone here's what is happening at this hour thai navy s.e.a.l.s release video of some of the boys from the caves. they could have zero visibility that lasted up to 30 minutes in some places the boys were put in harnesses and ziplined across rocky caverns. israel launching a patriot missile at the unmanned aircraft that entered the territory from syria. the military is saying it will not tolerate air space i infiltrations that occurred. and a mudslide has demolished homes on a hillside in northeast india killing at least eight children and one woman. that's according to a government official some of the victims were swept away by the floodwaters. and first lady melania trump

and other nato leaders' spouses line up for a photo op at the nato summit. mrs. trump is seen between the wife of belgium's prime minister and france's first lady. the husband of luck ex emburg's husband was also in the photo op when we come back, the divide between china and the u.s. continues to grow we have details on the latest when we come back. the dow is now dn ow173 close to session lows "squawk alley" is back after this whoooo.

when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking.

tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices.

the president is speaking after the alliance puts out the giant statement to increase defense spending targets and the tariffs are ramping up as the u.s. announces new tariffs on chinese goods kayla tausche has the latest for us >> reporter: the republican congress on trade says he wants the two leaders of the u.s. and china to hash this out risking a multi-trade war. that was echoed by house speaker paul ryan this morning this comes after the trump administration took the covers off a new set of tariffs targeting chinese imports from handbags to fish sticks to toilet paper

the list is wide ranging and the trade associations have warned to see higher prices as a result but the administration according to peter navarro thinks that the tariff would blunt that impact navarro said that back in june when the white house first set sights on tariffs that would touch nearly all of china's imports is china retaliated. and then china did and it says it will again as the commerce ministry is pulling firm and forceful measures, but china has not said what they will be. with the tariffs teed up for this month, the question on investors minds is, why now? there are a few reasons. first, to get the ball rolling on a lengthy legal process to impose the tariffs second, to ramp up pressure on north korea rebelling and no trade talks on the horizon and third, to issue a warning to nato allies with whom president trump is negotiating as we speak. a senior administration official said that nato and this china decision are not related except

that the u.s. wants help from nato allies in pressing for fair trade. though john, you would be forgiven for thinking, given the combative tone of the president in brussels. >> absolutely. kayla tausche, thank you meanwhile, major indices falling on the geopolitical trade senses currently just off their session lows and joining us onset here at post nine with his take, ubs director of floor operations, art cashen art, always great to get your insight on this sort of thing. is there any safehaven from this issue overall? or are we still just in a mode of, eh, the market seems to think it's not going to get that bad? >> i think the market still believes it's pretty much a negotiating ploy but it doesn't want to overextend itself this morning i think what you're seeing here is more caution than panic people are saying, now look, he's over there in front of a microphone for the balance of the day.

so we don't know what may happen there. he will be in england for a couple of days and what may happen there. so it's kind of -- then he'll go to see putin so you've got several days here. where almost anything can happen so rather than say, okay, we retested the morning lows, now it's time to see if we can bounce, there's a little caution. they can still try to lift them, but i think they are cautious because they see this as almost the open-ended week. if we get past the putin week without anything too serious, then i think we'll begin to concentrate on earnings. i think they will be reasonably good and they will come in but you have a problem this morning in that the amount of dollars that the new tariffs will cover in the trade with china are greater than the amount of dollars that china trades with us on the reverse. so for them to retaliate, there's not enough dollars

around so that means if they want to fully retaliate, they have to do something else does that mean something with u.s. treasury bonds? does that mean some other item that we interact with them on? that's another reason that the market's cautious here. >> given in the near-term, which is more consequential? what the president does in his interactions with europe around nato, around trade, or the more detail we get around this china tariff situation >> i think the china thing is the bigger thing it's involved in multiple things it has to do with the korean negotiations that's going to be involved. china's got some issues on both sides. you know, it would like to see north korea cooperate. but it doesn't want it to turn suddenly into south korea. they don't want all that much instant prosperity on their border, so they've got to worry about that so this is -- this is not a b

binary situation this has multiple levels to it and will continue. but the china side is the far more important side. >> going back to the point you made about how china retaliates, could this possibly play out in the treasury market? one of the other things i've been hearing is the possibility of the juan devaluation, how it could play out in the currency markets. how much impacts could moves like those have on equities here in the longer term in the u.s. >> well, if they were to outright noticeably change the currency, that would be probably the most dramatic impact and then you would have to see how the u.s. decided to retaliate to that. because that would be much closer to an all-out war than anything we're seeing. so far it's kind of, you know, tit for tat, i'm threatening you this much, okay, i see you that and raise you ten. but if you go around and decide to devalue your currency, that's

a major move >> is 2800 firmer resistance than it has been all year? >> yeah, it's picked up. you have to the upper bend of the resistance just below it i had written in my comments that 2792, 2795, yesterday's high was 2795. the opening low this morning was around 2776. we re-tested that moments ago. luckily have not broken it interestingly, they tested just as europe was closing. so they are keeping one eye offshore, keeping an ear out for what the president says or tweets and where we are going to go but 2800 will be important if we get past some of the geopolitical stuff and through 2800, then we'll definitely be into earnings andmaybe even a better shape in treasury. >> but you don't sound as pessimistic as those who were saying that 2795 was a false breakout perhaps to the upside >> well, i don't think so.

i think it turned out to be perhaps stronger than a lot of people thought is there a chance we hit a wall and turned on a dime there's always that chance but we won't know that for days. this is not very bad action. if you hit a wall on repel, the action would be far worse than this. >> your diagnosis is an po important one. art cashin, thank you for joining us let's go to kate for the news alert >> we are seeing papa john's reporting a low after he used a racial slur on a conference call back in may. this was during a prevention for more issues. he made a comment partially blaming the league for slowing sales at the pizza chain papa john's said in a statement to cnbc, papa john's condemns

racism and any insensitive language no matter the situation or setting ty versety is an essential ingredient in our pursuit of providing a better product and service to our customers and the community where is we live and operate. schnatter is no longer the ceo the stock is down 4.5% back over to you. >> down 13% so far for the year. kate rogers, thank you, back at hq when we come back, a series of high-profile resignations for theresa may and her cabinet. we talk to william hague about the road ahead for brexit. "squawk alley" comes right back.

i'm scott walker with what is coming up on "the halftime report." the call of the day is a big one on the retailer as the space fights back against the amazon assault. and pete is joining us with unusual activity from minneapolis. that and much more when we see you at the top of the hour morgan, that means we are just over ten minutes away. looking forward to it, scott, thanks. in a major blow to theresa may's cabinet, her secretary of affairs boris johnson and the minister in charge of brexit negotiations david davis have resigned this highlights the mood around the brexit negotiations. president trump is set to arrive in london tomorrow wilfred frost is there now and he has spoke with former

secretary of foreign affairs, william hague. wilfred? >> reporter: hey, morgan yes, indeed. we started by talking about nato, of course, the nato meeting taking place at the moment and i asked lord hague whether president trump had a point in calling out germany's commitment to nato. >> i think he does have a point about the spending of european countries on defense, including germany. and, of course, it was agreed at the nato summit in wales four years ago that nato countries would aim to spend 2% of their gdp. only four of them do so, including here and in the u.k. eight of them are about to do so but germany is the big country that has the biggest gap there so he has a point. he's not always incredibly diplomatic about how he pursues these points, so it doesn't necessarily go down very well in

europe >> reporter: he did also say that the eu should try to be more energy independent from russia i then asked whether he would be concerned if this nato meeting ended in acrimony. >> it would be a great concern if the meeting with nato ended in acrimony because this is a ay because this is a vital. i hope it will always be appreciated in the united states that that's not the only aspect of this alliance that the important of the united states and the century, twice embroiled in a sats trosk war here in war because of a breakdown of european security. and the an alliance that maintains european security is fund mamentally in the interestf the united states. almost irrespective of what the individual members spend just one angle thon this. >> much more to come from this interview in closing bell include iing the fact he thinks

brexit now less likely following boris johnson's resignation that it would be quote a great -- to change downing street and his bheef italy will one day leave the ur o guys >> wilfred is going to help us navigate the president's next chapter through europe take a look at the markets here. down b dow down 183. this is getting closer to session lows 27.76 as we watch the key techcalelsn e p. ck in a moment so lionel, what does being able to trade 24/5 mean to you? well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so close. yes, but also all... night through its entirety. come on, all... the time from sunset to sunrise.

right. but you can trade... from, from... from darkness to light. ♪ you're not gonna say it are you?

we all want to know you know, the new, new thing. with xfinity's retail stores, you can now see the latest. want to test drive the latest devices? be our guest. want to save on mobile? just ask. want to demo the latest innovations and technology? do it here. come see how we're making things simple, easy, and awesome. plus come in today and ask about xfinity mobile, a new kind of network designed to save you money. visit your local xfinity store today.

welcome back rick santelli here on the cme floor. the inflation numbers are all hotter than expected many paid close attention to one in particular. year over year core hitting 3.4 basically six-year high. if you look at the fed's favorite inflation gauge, personal con semgts expenditure. if we look at other gauges, the fed has an underlyingen flags gauge. uig. it has hit a 12-year high in terms of inflation these are all big deals. but the big deal isn't showing up in the big arena. ten-year note yields hardly influenced. why? i'd call it manmade ibs. inflation is supposed to push up the long end get the fed tightening and slow down or reverse a business cycle. why flattening curves make every

investor anxious but manmade effects try to deal with the crisis, kicking the can down the road well now we're down the road and there's the can and we have flat yield curves the calibration for inflation has to be adjusted i had a gentlemen on this morning, we were interrupted by the president. jim grant of jim grant's interest rate observer he was talk about they had an exact dynamic. it's hard to leverage up the effects of inflation very actively r more of a buy side than a sell side. so how does this turn out? my guess is it puts this much more pressure on overseas rates. when you will the esktss on inf hit, in terms of trying to deal with them and deal with them,

mario draghi, mr. carota will at some point everybody's talking about what's going on with nato and trade and as well, they should i have some advice for the president. before he left office in 2005 to authorize -- fast forward. these are all pipelines so associated with giant oil companies, owned or majority owned by the russian government. gas prom rose ne. we are trying to hold nato accountable when the exchancellor is at in games with putin. back to you. >> see you in a little bit when we come back, more on the

sell off today dow's down sl 1. got another chance to contribute to a great charity the fund found ed by our former colleague and his wife this time, you can win the chance to spend the day at our san francisco bureau where you'll get a two-night stay, hair and makeup, record your own newscast, meet our san francisco team sounds like a lot of fun. to bid, go to charitybuzz.com. search for cnbc. he'll be right back. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any of these types of plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could really save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today to request a free [decision guide] to help you better understand what medicare is all about.

and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans... you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks and no referrals needed. there's a range of plans to choose from, too. and your coverage goes with you when you travel, anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans... endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan any time you want. call unitedhealthcare today. remember medicare supplement insurance helps... pay some of what medicare doesn't these kinds of plans could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to choose any doctor

who accepts medicare patients. and there are no referrals needed. so don't wait. call unitedhealthcare now to request your free [decision guide.] this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions.... and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you.

>> . all right, welcome to the halftime report. top trade this hour, the great weight why the run to new records keeps getting stalled. is it all about trade and will earnings season deliver in here to debate, jim, josh, let's begin with the markets stocks are under pressure as the trump administration is talking more tariffs against china comes in the mistst of a nice winning streak bank earnings, we get more