the show in terms of trade a very strong stance that the administration seems to have, is that channeling bannon is there a channel from bannon to trump i think it has to be a key question. >> i'll ask him. >> thanks for watching. "closing bell starts right now. >> it is time for "the closing bell". it is hard to say i'm sorry, but elon musk has issued an apology. >> the biggest investors are giving us their best ideas. i'll have the details. >> i'm josh lipton. ibm will report earnings in about an hour. >> google hit with a record fine over anti-competitive behavior. europe's top anti-trust

regulator explains her case. "the closing bell" starts right now. ♪ call me any, anytime >> that was one take. the one day you do a better walk because i have a broken toe. >> victory is victory. we will get to all those stories in just a moment. let's check in on the markets with a little less than an hour left of trade. the dow swinging more than 100 points. it is up 0.3% or 73 points. any positive close on the nasdaq would be a record. let's begin with the latest from delivering alpha.

>> what can you tell us? >> first i want to get you guys up to speed on some of the specific stocks discussed today. the benefits of goldman being touted not concerned about the management there. then she liked citi saying that stock could be worth $130 per share. he is a fan of pickup trucks and says ford is the way to play that trend. as for the best ideas he urged investors to short invasion health care and medmax. samantha greenberg picked take two interactive. one of the most well known edge fund managers is not too concerned about any type of slow down in the long run but says that there could be weakness in

the short run especially if trade tensions continue. >> the current prognosis next six to nine months is we are going to experience strong growth. so i think that in the short run absent a material catastrophe of the trade front i think we are looking at very strong growth the next six to nine months. i think we have pulled forward through the tax cut and the stimulus that goes with that, some amount of demand and cap x. it makes, for example, 2021 and late 2020 much murkier. >> even earlier larry kudlow said he believes gdp could be four percent for a few quarters despite trade tensions we are seeing. he believes dealing with trade now will be better for the long run.

>> i have been a long time critic of china. it is all a matter of public record on the tape. i think the president is doing exactly the right thing here. the world trade organization is broken. we just had this discussion at the g-7. the biggest culprit is china. >> kudlow added he doesn't believe president xi has any intention on following through on their discussions and until they do president trump will keep the pressure on. >> fascinating stuff. what did ken griffin have to say about the banks because he is often fairly outspoken about that. >> he has spoken about how he

would like to see the banks break up, become smaller. he reiterated that point today talking about how a greater number of banks is better for competition which would provide better value for the consumer. when he was pressed on citadel he said there was plenty of competition in that business. i think he was speaking specifically within financial services the banks. >>. >> we are going to hear on the google find, one of the big stories of the day. let's head over to dominic chu who has another alpha alert. >> right now what we have is alex denner on stage with this afternoon session of the best ideas part of delivering alpha. denner is the founder of surissa

capital. as you might imagine his picks are more health care oriented. first up when he is talking about on stage is bio jen, making the case that it is a leader in neuro science. they have a best in class multiple sclerosis franchise. he himself is on the board of directors at bio gen. those shares something to watch here. we will see if he has anymore more of them later on this particular presentation. for now it is his best idea. shares of united soaring after reporting earnings helping power the transports. phil lebeau spoke with the

company's ceo about the results and joins us now with more. >> this is the best day for united shares in almost three years. they beat on the top and bottom line. that was the headline yesterday afternoon. it is the guidance that the company gave for the rest of fiscal year 2018. they raised earnings expectation by 25 cents a share. the company also slightly trimmed its expectation for capacity growth through the remainder of this year. the one concern we hear more than any other from investors, what about jet fuel? it is up 43% for united in the last year. it's not just for united but all airline stocks. >> it's always an issue. we adjust whether capacity or

other cost. i think it is the way to manage. it is the nature of our life in this industry and we have to manage it rather than lament it. >> better than expected earnings from united is the reason that you see airline stocks moving higher today and that is why the airline index which has really been beaten up over the last three months also moving higher today. the key focus for a lot of people is demand. will it stay strong? we heard this from other ceos, there is no real dent in demand whether domestically or internationally and that is good news for the airlines right now. back to you. >> phil, we have spoken often about the demand topic and gdp is encouraging whichever way you look at it. does a pickup from 3% to 4% make much incremental difference to the airlines or is it more important that we are just in positive territory >> i think it is more that we are in positive territory.

the big challenge for these guys is adding the capacity to meet that demand while not adding so much capacity that it starts to weigh on fares and margins. >> at a time when fuel costs have gone up. phil lebeau. joining our closing bell exchange to talk about the market action we have renee norris. steve grasso and rick santelli from the cme group in chicago. so steve, a little bit of strength in financials again. i think that is the third day in a row off the back of morgan stanley earnings. >> finally some strength in financial earnings. something else besides tech has to do some heavy lifting in order to keep the market moving forward. yesterday i think it was all about powell. this morning we saw the powell pop, as well. we saw the markets rally. yesterday you had netflix and powell making bullish or, i should say, dovish statements.

>> it wasn't hawkish. >> it was definitely not hawkish. it was definitely not hawkish and it is understood to the market place as being dovish. that is what the market place needs instead of a robotic raise, raise, raise. they wanted to see a wait and see. rick talks about this a lot, the yield curve is at the top of everyone's mind. you have to compensate that. i know the fed keeps saying it is different this time. it looks like the market is convinced at least for today. i would say that griffin's statements today, the market is a forward looking pricing mechanism. is that six to nine months in the market place a ready that is what investors have to decide. >> we just heard about how airlines have to deal with the high oil prices. is that an opportunity to be

getting into the energy sectors themselves >> i think so. when i was on a couple months ago it was the day where the energy price husband reals had down the market. i think energy prices will rise up significantly. it will be interesting how they will effect the industry. the overall gas frukz is a great way to participate in the upward bound movement. it is already up 15% year to date. i am looking forward to being in that space and generally u.s. energy stocks is going to be a great space to be in. >> rick santelli, chairman powe powell, higher ten year yield today, disappointing housing starts and this debate about how long the better growth can last. >> let's try to deal with all of them. in terms of the growth what i find is most traders are

enamored with the notion of four plus gdp. most expect solid three plus for third quarter without forces that may act in the future. it is hard to get psyched up about a recession with those fundamentals. with regard to housing number i was there at 8:30. it was down over 12%. the main number was the best number in ten years. there is a bit of asterisk there. as far as the yield curve and jay powell, they are just glued together. most traders are just enamored with the pragmatism of powell and the fact that he will try to snug -- we need to snug up and get insurance -- but he will monitor what type of signal he gets back from market even though some signals may be impaired due to inventory of treasuries. as steady as she goes it will be the 20th session in a row that the note yields look to be closing in the 280s. >> thank you very much. we have a market flash.

did i say this wrong >> papa john's. >> what did you say? >> how is it spelled p-a-p-a. >> both are right. dow jones is reporting that papa john's founder had been in talks to potentially merge the pizza chain with wendy's. dow jones citing sources familiar with the company. talks had reportedly cooled off. he stepped down as chairman of the board of the company that he founded. both stocks were higher. it's not clear who would buy who but wendy's is the larger company. if we get more we will bring it to you as we hear it. >> wendy's is easy to say. >> it is a controversy.

>> thank you very much, kate, for that. i tried to correct myself. i knew i was about to get it wrong. >> but the fact that it was hard. >> very difficult, indeed. when we come back, more from our all star lineup at delivering alpha going on right now in new york city including an interview with howard marx. here is what he said about where we stand. >> after the global crisis which means ten years people have been asking me what inning are we in. now i would say we are in the eighth inning. i would agree with that one. however, we have to notice that this isn't baseball and we don't know how many innings there will be. >> another fresh interview with him to come. and later from delivering alpha, a big on stage interview former white house chief strategist steve bannon. closing bell back in a couple of minutes. ♪

a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia.

welcome back to "the closing bell." we are up 0.3% on the dow.

the high of the day was 95 points. the low was down. >> nasdaq is no longer bang on flat as you would say, for the record. just mocking you. >> and interrupting me at the same time. it was like a double whammy. we have just over 40 minutes left of close. >> let's go to dominic chu for another alpha alert. >> how about a triple whammy because just put on two more picks for best ideas afternoon session. he is going to conclude things he just finished up. he is looking at iron wood pharmaceuticals. this company has plans to split into different companies. and then one other company on pipeline drugs. shares are down due to downgrade. that is one of his top picks. and then there is a medicine company. he says the drug is in later stage trials. that company also down about

1.3%. that does conclude. we'll see what the other panels have in store for us later on today. back over to you guys. >> thank you for that update and names. howard marx just finishing his interview at delivering alpha. etfs were one of the key topics he had. >> no investment vehicle can in tough times be more liquid than the underlying. for example, we have high yield etfs which people assume they can sell any minute. if they know they had a portfolio of high yield bonds they would take time to work it out. where does that increment come from &answ . >> scott joins us now from the conference with howard marks. >> it's nice to see you again.

i enjoyed our conversation on the stage. expand on this deal with etfs. you think they have distorted some of the gains that we have seen in this market? >> i think that etfs have drawn in a lot of capital. one of the things that help them draw in capital is to hold the market leaders. they have been holding the stocks with the momentum. this contributes further through momentum. it draws in more capital. it looks like a perpetual motion machine. we know there are none. if and when it ends it will end worse for the stocks that have had momentum and for the etfs that hold them than for the rest. >> specifically you are talking about the f.a.n.g. stocks. so many gains -- >> and so many etf holdings. >> the gains are not worthy? that's where the growth is. >> that is where the growth has been. the question is not where is the

growth. the question is how is the growth priced? is it priced fairly or are people gagaover the leaders because they are so great. >> there has been considerable conversation recently about what inning we are in. you think we are in the eighth inning. jamie dimon has suggested sixth. allen schwarz said eighth or ninth, quote tremendous storm clouds are on thehorizon. >> i would not be so cavalier to say the sun is setting. everybody wants to know what inning we are in. nobody knows how many innings there are in a game. this is not baseball where we know it is nine. it could be nine or 11 or 14 and so there are good things going on. there are bad things going on. and you have to not ubsesz onob

about one or the other. >> what is the single biggest risk you see today >> well, i think that there is widespread agreement that interest rates will rise and higher interest rates will present lots of problems. it will make it hard for companies to service their debt. it will make it hard for the government to service its debt and fixed income instruments will present competition to equities. the ten year is at three today. what about four? would you rather have the ten year what about at five so you have to think that what investors are looking for is relative return and higher interest rates will present competition. >> you made the case in january that the, quote, easy money has been made. that was in your memo in

january. i asked you at the end of our on stage conversation at the end of this year where were stocks going to be, higher or lower than now you said about the same. >> i said about the same which is in part a cop out. i'm not a prognosticator. i don't think i know. as i say, there are pluses and minuses. i think, though, that if you think it willbe the same or a little higher or lower then that tells you should not have as much risk in your portfolio as you did x years ago when stocks were cheap. they are not cheap. they are probably fairly priced now. some people think over or under. i think they are not a give away. and you should trim your risk. >> is that one of the reasons why you said you like emerging market equities right here >> ilike emerging equity equityy

firm likes emerging markets because they have been unliked and loved. the real big money in the investment world, the dependable money, the safe money is made not betting that the things that have gone up a lot will continue, but on betting that the things that have gone down a lot and become unloved will rebound. >> it's good to catch up with you again. howard marks, guys, i will send it back to you. there is a lot more coming up on delivering alpha. certainly our conversation with howard marks was insightful as it always is. >> one of the many big highlights from delivering alpha today. we have 35 minutes left of trade. we are higher by 81 points on the dow. we are near the highs of the day which was 95 points on the dow. the nasdaq just positive. coming up shares of morgan stanley jumping after beating

wall street estimates for the second quarter. we will dive into the numbers behind that beat. that's next. and later we spoke with europe's commissioner who manages anti-trust that leveed that fine to google today. we'll tell you what she had to say about the decision and what changes she says google needs to ma nt.keex

welcome back to "the closing

bell." we are back in rally mode. the dow is up 75 points. s&p up. nasdaq not doing a whole lot. if we close up that would be a record high. russell 2000 up. yields are higher especially the ten year and the dollar is a bit stronger. >> sorry. my notes are in there from earlier. >> let's look at stocks to watch. the other is twitter downgraded to neutral. the firm says while product improvements are certainly positive they don't see it impacting its ability to attract new users. the firm had previously upgraded the stock siting lowered expectations and has had a monster rally up 80% making it the third best performer in the s&p 500. >> my stock to watch is morgan stanley. >> got your notes? >> got my notes. if you look at the investment

banking divisions all banks that reported the core parts are investment banking, equities trading, they beat all three. so definitely the standout performer. welt management division continues to perform solidly. it wasn't quite as strong a beat as other areas. up 2.5%. if you step back which ceos really performed they stand out. they had tough periods where they dragged out their restructurings. >> they changed and really come to their own in the last couple of years. i think it is probably a year or so behind and could be in that position. >> now that we have had all big banks reporting earnings did morgan do the best >> yeah. i would say. and you see in some retail banks some banks had a bit of trouble with how much they pay out for

deposit. morgan stanley doesn't do that. if you compare to investment banking departments. >> they have had a decent week. friday was soft. monday strong, tuesday flat. time for a cnbc news update. >> here is what is happening in a meeting with his cabinet president trump claims no president has been tougher on russia than he has been. he says russian president vladimir putin understands it and is not happy about it. >> we are doing very well and we are doing very well probably as well as anybody has ever done with russia and there has been no president ever as tough as i have been on russia. >> ford has recalled nearly 550,000 cars and suvs to fix a gearshift problem. that recall involves ford fusion sedans and ford escapes from

2013-2014. the issue can cause the vehicles to roll away unexpectedly. seven time pro bowl cornerback darrelle revis has retired. he thanks coaches and teammates and says he is closing a chapter in his life. he spent most of his 11-year career with the new york jets. the thing about reading sports stories is if you don't say the name properly everyone around you will let you know. darrelle revis. >> i wouldn't have corrected you. >> i wouldn't either. >> there was a lot of yelling going on back here. >> the european union hitting google with an antitrust fine for abusing dominance of the

system. i did speak to the woman who handed down the fine. she has emerged as one of the harshest critics of big tech and explained the rationale for the record fine and what google must do to comply with the order. >> this is an ongoing abuse. it's very serious. this effects so many devices and, of course, it is a big company. you see the turnover that comes in. this is the thing that makes this a very hard fine. >> the thing that google has to do is to stop, has to stop this behavior. it has 90 days to put an effective end to this infringement. and this will free up the market. >> otherwise google could be looking at bigger payments. the company does plan to appeal the ruling and argues the business model supports choice and competition. she pushed back on the argument that companies like apple and

ios compete with android. >> this is not about apple. this is not about android. this is about google behavior and behavior that is illegal for a dominant company because it is unlocking competition and disabling innovation and choice that we would all like to enjoy. >> clearly it's behavioral in the eyes of the eu and android powers 80% of the world be's smart phones so the argument that they pre-install the apps is what the eu is going after. to google's credit they argue all other apps can be downloaded. she said only one percent of other search engines get downloaded. >> and it makes the argument it is free. on simple market share perspective she has a point and other statistics like the fact that google is used to 95% of

searches on android phones. if you look at windows phones it falls to 25%. both sides of the argument you can get behind. but she is the one in the power seat. >> i think politics will enter the fray. this comes in the middle of the trade fight between the eu and u.s. i asked her if it was protectionist and she said we are protecting the consumer. >> you also probably wouldn't get many people in europe being against a bit of protectionism whether justified or not on this particular sector. five percent of the euro stock is tech. here is well over 25%. that is because the innovation of the u.s. tech companies is spread out all over the world. >> there is a criticism that she goes too harshly over u.s. tech because european tech can't compete. >> we can talk this in circles. maybe it can compete if the action works. >> still to come on the show we have much more from the

continued coverage on the delivering alpha conference happening including larry kudlow's reaction when jim cramer pressed him on china. >> you did say once that consumers were so happy about low priced goods. this is what you taught me sometimes it is better just to subsidize the industry that is in bad shape because you have always said there are 300 million americans that benefit prom no tariffs. that couldn't have changed for you. kudl kudlow's resnscongp tethbreak.mi u with public services apps without starting from scratch. it brings your business up to speed, doing more with systems you have in place. it can bring all your apps to life and run them within your data center. it is... the ibm cloud private. the cloud that's built for all your apps. ai ready. secure to the core. the ibm cloud is the cloud for smarter business.

this morning cnbc delivering alpha conference kicked off with opening keynote with jim crame and larry kudlow. here is what he had to say about trade issues with china. >> here is my solution and the president agrees with this. lower your barriers. i want to help american consumers in business, yes, yes, yes. if they lower their tariff barriers and lower nontariff barriers and open markets we

will export like crazy because america has become the most competitive economy in the world. give us a chance. i went to bay jieijing with ourm when china came to the usa i was involved in the conversations. i sat next to them. i think they are sincere. there is hopefelt on the other hand i do not think president xi at the moment has any intention of following through on the discussions we have made. and i think the president is so dissatisfied with china on these so-called talks that he is keeping the pressure on and i support that. >> would you put a tariff on all 500 billion that we trade with should we just ratchet it up >> we have to be careful there. you can put pressure on them which is what the president is doing. and he is a pretty good deal

maker, as you know. on the other hand, they will come at our companies in china. >> i know you talked to tim cook. >> particularly the joint venture companies. apple is not one of them. for example, hollywood companies, movies. chinese love american movies. i think our movie makers take home 25% of the revenues. china's government takes the rest. that's crazy. that stuff has to be fixed. we can't let china steal our technology. those are our family jewels. >> and jim cramer joins us now from the mad money studio. how are you doing? >> good to talk to you guys. i agree with you morgan stanley was best for last. >> great interview with larry, made lots of headlines and clearly not optimistic about what china and the u.s. can come

to terms with but pretty optimistic in terms of what the eu might be thinking about. >> this is an extraordinary thought that larry gave us which is that president xi basically used the term so-called talks as if it is just a charade. then he held up the idea that the eu could do something good and the talks could be a surprise to the upside. larry doesn't say anything i would. he is like reading the tea leaves and give them to me. i was very down about what he said about china because i had thought that there was progress and back and forth and that there might be give and take. nothing. i thought all the chinese stocks might be down. there is a lot of other good stuff about the economy that was i think void of the stocks.

i just loved it. it was just a lot of fun to hear a very straight story from a humble american who is proud to work for this country. i wish we had more people who talked like that. >> whose thinking really seems to have evolved on the trade issue. yes, he is working for the president. >> i was going because i have known him for a long time. i wanted to get the longer hits. i wanted to hear i argued and peter argues -- no. none of that. and i really respect peter and have from the old days when i was a union member. i do recognize that there had been some distance. there was no distance today. looks like we are get ag united white house saying this is crazy what the chinese are doing. they are really playing with fire. >> tax cut 2.0 and 3 and 4, as

well. >> larry loves a good tax cut. don't we have to have some taxes? we would have to break the kind of certainty of death and no taxes. >> he was saying that some members of congress want individual cuts to be permanent. i just wonder what kind of uphill battle they will face on that front with the deficit. he sort of brushed off. >> he said four to five percent of gdp is okay. i learned from larry so much. he understands budgets. he understands percentages and what it means. i felt good after he talked about that because the budget deficit is something i worry about. i have kids. they maybe have kids and we want a country. you can't have a country if you owe more than you should.

i feel good about the budget deficit and the eu, not so good about china. >> great stuff. who have you got coming up on mad? >> arsenal. >> i would love that. >> i would love it. >> i would love it if you stole them. >> i have ibm which i think could be making a comeback. and i have bryan jordan. ibm reports after the close. i will be interested to see how much is cognizant solution and how much is plain old tech which if they don't get all the lines doing the right thing then maybe the stock stalls yet again. >> great stuff. thanks for joining us. we will break the earnings live here on closing bell. you can see that interview on mad money here on cnbc.

>> appreciate it. thank you so much. >> always great to have jim with us. we have big earnings after the bell. am ex, e bay and ibm all report at the top of the hour. and later former white house chief strategist steve bannon will be talking about the economy, mid term elections, recent russian controversy surrounding president trump and a whole lot more. we will brg tyoli. inito u ve what do advisors look for in an etf? i tell clients, etfs can follow an index, but which ones target your goals? it's not about quantity. it's about quality. no trendy stuff. i want etfs backed by research. is it built for the long-term? my reputation depends on it. flexshares etfs are designed and managed around investor objectives. so you can advise with confidence. before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully.

12 minutes before the closing bell, dow is up 82 points. s&p 500 is up but almost a quarter of a percent. groups like financials and industrials are really leading the rally. it's the bond sensitive or defensive consumer staples and real estate which are the losers. elon musk issuing a big apology. we'll tell you what the ceo is saying sorry for when the closing bell returns. 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?

did you say yes? good, then it's time for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. looks like we have a couple seconds left. let's do some card twirling twirling cards e*trade. the original place to invest online. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any of these types of plans, they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today to request a free... ...[decision guide.] with these types of plans... you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... 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. so don't wait. call unitedhealthcare now to request your free [decision guide.]

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 wireless network designed to save you money. visit your local xfinity store today. elon musk walking back earlier tweets about a british diver who helped rescue a soccer team. musk called the diver quote a pedo guy after the diver called the submarine proposal to rescue the team a pr stunt and he can stick the submarine quote where

it hurts. musk tweeting an apology writing his actions do not justify my actions against him and for that i apologize. the fault is mine and mine alone. >> his apology followed a strongly worded letter from gene munceter saying tesla's ceo crossed the line with his comments. >> use this time to also just make a plea to my good friend elon musk, appreciate the efforts in thailand but if you really want to help out a charitable cause you should be helping out wall street short sellers. >> that was sort of a jab. tesla shares are higher by about a tenth of a percent, all of

this controversy on twitter. musk lashing out at everyone from short sellers to analysts on the conference call to the media has been a bit of a distraction and it has clearly weighed on the stock. >> it was an apology which was unexpected to take it from elon musk. it was a qualified apology. it wasn't an outright apology structured over two tweets. >> despite that -- he said the fault was mine and mine alone. progress, i guess from him. >> we'll see if he calms down the twitter attacks, the name calling. calling someone a pedophile is sort of a bridge too far flmpt and and particularly the heroism of the guys who saved the soccer plays is extraordinary. not regularly has he had that

tune. >> up next, we are coming back with the closing count down. >> after the bell much more from delivering alpha including a big on stage interview with the former white house chief strategist. we will bring it to you coming up later on "the closing bell. you always pay your insurance on time. tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what good is your insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect.

for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

♪ ♪ wake up early, o. ♪ slap on some cologne ♪ i'm 85 and i wanna go home ♪ ♪ just got a job ♪ as a lifeguard in savannah ♪ ♪ i'm 85 and i wanna go home ♪ ♪ dropping sick beats, they call me dj nana ♪ ♪ 85 and i wanna go don't get mad. get e*trade, kiddo.

welcome back to "the closing bell." we are right near the highs of the day. i want to start with morgan stanley. the highs of the session over three percent. very strong numbers this morning. probably the best of the big banks reporting and that report has encouraged the banks in general today to perform well. if we look at sectors, financials the outperformer. the industrials is really up nicely today, only two sectors performing well and dragging all markets higher consumer staples and utilities towards the bottom of the pack. what does this mean for all of the indexes. you have the dow higher by a third of a percent. the s&p by less than that. the nasdaq just positive as long as it stays in positive territory. just before i bring in bob pisani let's look at some of the

biggest individual movers off the back of delivering alpha. huntsman is higher. envision lower. take two interactive. these are market mover recommendations from the delivering alpha conference, something you must attend next year if you haven't this year. >> and i'm going to the cocktail party. >> you can't get into that unless you go to the whole thing. >> you can. we are in a slow motion melt down. i know it doesn't look very exciting. we are up eight out of the last ten days because the earnings picture has improved. look at the companies coming out that are not just beating guidance but raising guidance. we had granger, united airlines. they are talking positively

about going forward. that is what the market really cares about right now. we have had about ten percent of the s&p reporting. we have 25% earnings growth. remember we had the record last quarter 26%. the numbers are really holding up. thank mr. powell today, another second day of testimony. everyone is convienced it will b gradual. that was a great comfort. >> and dollar was stronger yesterday than today. that is not derailing things. >> the market is number one looking at the positive earnings outlook. looking at powell's overall comments, look at what is going on with the vix. trade concerns still flowed up there. we heard larry kudlow say -- however, if you look at the positive effects of the earnings with the economic growth that is trumping the trade concerns at

least for the moment. >> thin rally today. really two sectors propping things up. >> the big issue is can we beat the old record highs on the s&p 500. that is the target everybody has right now. >> there goes the bell ringing it here at the big board. we are 81 points higher on the dow. sarah, back to you at post nine. and welcome to "the closing bell." let's take a look at how we are finishing up the day on wall street. going out with a gain, the dow up more than three-10tenths of percent. and we ended lower.

0.01%. russell 2000, three big names getting set to report earnings. ibm, american express, ebay. all three stocks finished higher on the day. josh lipton brings us the results from big blue. seema mody is monitoring. see you in a bit. joining the panel michael santoli, stephanie link is here and carey firestone joins us. leading the dow was united health while mcdonald's was the biggest laggard. s&p granger a big winner, double digit. and clorox lagging that index. we usually talk about technology. for a change that was not the leader. it was financials and industrials. >> tech takes a breather. i wouldn't want to predict this

is the rule for the summer. if you lived through last year this kind of low drama, drift higher, some groups not participating. but today industrials and really transports was kind of seizing on the good earnings. and it was just enough to tack on a quarter of a percent. that felt like 2017. the vix goes below 12. does that mean the coast is clear or are we emptying the tank and waiting for the next catalyst in. >> banks rallying because of better earnings that could continue for the rest of the year. >> it was both really. i think powell's comments helped the banks. expectations got so overdone on the negative side. remember, we have 13 straight days of negative performance for the financials in the second quarter. it didn't take much. you have tons of de-grossing happening. no one really owned it. now we get buybacks. now you can paint a more

positive story. this is really when you want to own banks. >> are you owning banks or industrials? what are you making of earnings that have so far come out? >> the earnings have been fantastic for most of the companies. the only disappointment really has been netflix. that was so highly anticipated, watched as you guys did by the minute until the count down. most industrials, health care companies have been good. we own quite a few financials. we own schwab which reported yesterday. we own pay pal. they are ben fieficiaries of greater spending. consumer spending is strong. we are seeing numbers for s&p companies up 20% or higher and revenues are also up on average i would say we expect nine percent growth in the second quarter revenues which is really

a stellar performance. as long as we can look at earnings, not worry about trade, nuclear program development and other geopolitical rifts i think we are in pretty good shape right here. >> just a quick note on the financials, berkshirehath away was up. it is the largest waiting on s&p financials. that alone gave a half a percent. core banks were up, too. it was interesting how that gave a little bit of an umbrella effect for gains. >> it has been a long time with that insurance outperforming the banks. >> and of course they say they will buy back a lot more stock. that was the catalyst today. >> ibm earnings are out. josh lipton has the numbers. >> ibm reporting e.p.s. up $3.08. revenue coming in at $20

billion. it does mean this is the third consecutive quarter of revenue growth for big blue. strategic imperatives. just looking at the business divisions, cognitive solutions 4.6 billion. global business services 4.2 billion. technology services and cloud platforms 8.6 billion. systems is 2.2 billion. gross margins a bit below where the street was looking for at 46.5%. looking ahead ibm reaffirming guidance looking for $13.80 for the year. >> slightly ahead. looks like the stock jumped initially but is kind of flat at the moment. >> i think it is largely in line especially if you have a margin pressure story in there. $20.00 billion on revenue.

this company has to labor for every bit of revenue growth. in a world where technology is showing really tremendous top line growth and gdp is going up at six percent you have to look at this and say they have to fight for every bit of revenue growth. i think it is pretty much on expectations, not necessarily blowing you away especially in the growth areas. >> of course, the first comment in the statement is on the high value segments of the i.t. industry. she uses the cloud word, deploying ibm cloud, block chain and security solutions. those were the buzz words. the core business is kind of the hottest i.t. environment out there. >> it is very much like oracle and red hat. certain companies are getting it done and certain ones are not. >> cloud revenue up 23%. is that enough to get excited about in. >> it's good.

it's not bad. i don't think it is good enough when you can get other cloud companies that are growing twice and three times the amount. >> i think if you look at the history of the companies that are trying to transition, that cloud revenue, the new businesses, the growth platforms have to get to a certain percentage of overall revenue before the market feels you can value the stock on that basis. it is going in the right direction. >> what is your take overall revenue for the whole company up four percent but it comes in currency only up two percent. >> that is still a big improvement. they changed the narrative from how ever many string of quarters. >> is that enough of an improvement to want to get into the stock? >> it's hard to make a strong case for it. i know the stock sells for ten times earnings but there is this sense in the market place that perhaps that e is a little high on next year's numbers. you can own apple for a multiple

that if you exclude the cash isn't too far from ibm's multiple. facebook and alphabet are slightly ahead. you really are to push it. you have to really believe in order to buy ibm here and say i would rather own this than one of the other stocks that earn a lot, have a lot of free cash flow, generate a lot in product revenue and development and are not very expensive. so i would say that it's fine. it's not enough. >> we have another stock to talk about now. it's american express. seema mody has them. >> american express reporting 1.84 versus expectation of 1.82. two cents higher than expectations. revenue is a miss at $10 billion. this is despiteseeing higher loan volumes and an increase in card member spending. one topic that investors had

been discussing is american express's capital allocation strategy. it did announce it was planning to repurchase over $3 billion in common shares after passing that stress test. we will look for more details on american express's capital return strategy. that conference call kicks off at 5:00 p.m. eastern. we are looking at the stock down more than three percent right now. >> that is a mess. >> e.p.s. is fine. >> i think expectations were that numbers were going to be good. american express reports kind of their monthly credit losses because they have bonds backed by the revenues. they were very good in june. i think transaction volumes were good. everyone was prime for the numbers to be okay. a quick reflex sell and the news responds. >> ibm is interesting in contrast with everyone else. so is am ex. >> it's amazing and the multiple

differential between visa mastercard against american express because visa mastercard are a little different businesses. revenue miss it's disappointing but i think the stock being up 15% year to date has really been resilient relative to other financials. i think this is a story for the long term. we have a new ceo in there and has a lot of great initiatives in terms of how to grow the business and all other digital efforts, as well. i think this is one you want to buy. >> which of the financials is your top pick of the moment? >> so i think -- i added to two, i thought it was the best of all the fines. i think bank of america has a lot in terms of cost initiatives. >> let's move on to amazon. market cap today hitting $900 billion for the first time threatening to unseat apple as wall street's most valuable

company. amazon announcing prime day was the biggest ever despite the glitch. prime members purchasing more than 100 million products during the event and more new members joined prime they say than any other previous day in amazon's history. amazon or apple which i think is about 930 or so billion in market cap. who hits the $1 trillion mark? >> i don't know. i own them both. i own both in size and thank god because they go up a lot. amazon has had such an amazing move even in the second quarter. i favor apple because maybe it is a little more contrar yn. amazon is a tough one to value. i can give you margin assumptions and all kinds of things. it's the secular winner. apple is the one -- >> apple numbers are bigger, the cash flows and profit. >> it is a different type of story. obviously, amazon is all about

the size of the ultimate market and how much they can get. apple is about the earnings that they are booking. >> which is your favorite of the two stocks >> we currently are overweight amazon and under weight apple. i think that tells you. and as was pointed out they are very different because amazon is an enormous multiple stock. it is all about the future growth whether it is in sales in every single aspect of human buying or cloud computing. you have to say that amazon has done an incredible job and it is hard to bet against them. apple we know what we are buying. we see the product and all use it and have to replace it. here is the steady reliable stream of huge earnings that supports it. we like them both but i guess we are betting on the growth of amazon. >> amazon has the momentum and

raises the question about the outlook and the guidance that we are getting. clearly the numbers are good. what are you getting in terms of the future and what the concerns are around tariffs and other events, currency snz. >> i think the number one question on the conference call so far is currency. i thought it would have been trade. we'll see th. that might shift a little bit as we hear from the industrials. it has been all about currency. the question i had was are people going to look through it. abbott labs reported but if you adjust for currency it was better than expected. and i think 2% to 3%. i think that all of these companies will have to deal with currency. i think people will look through it. i feel like people never look through it when it helps them but they do when it hurts them. >> that is why it is such a hot topic. this is where it stops being a tail wind.

going forward it is always -- this is why. it has real world implications for the businesses, for these exports. the dollar was super strong lately. >> this is around the time of year when the market starts to pivot towards the next year's earnings and whether you can bake in double digits. i think you losing several tail winds. you will be lapping very strong earnings numbers from this year. i think all of those things are going to be where we go from here as opposed to kind of just wallowing in the great numbers that we are getting. >> we get four percent gdp growth probably in the second quarter. we are not going to drop down one or two percent. we could say about three percent that is supportive of earnings. >> if we get there. >> i think right now the market looks cheap because we are assuming 20% earnings for every quarter of this year. >> mike is worried about the yield curve.

>> that's the last thing i am worried about. >> we are going to have to leave it at that for now. thank you all very much. e bay earnings are due out any minute now. up next we get instant analysis when the numbers hit. plus we get fast money traders on how you should be playing that particular stock. >> we have much more from delivering alpha still to come including one hedge fund manager whose best idea is to buy shares of video game maker take-two. >> and then steve bannon gives us his take on president trump's summit with vladimir putin and his outlook for the mid term elections. n'gonyer dot awhe. we all want to know about the new thing.

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 wireless network designed to save you money. visit your local xfinity store today. welcome back to "closing bell." >> it's worth noting that this is the first major metal producer to report earnings since tariffs went into effect. alkoa beating street expectations. 1.52 adjusted versus the analyst expectation of 1.32. revenue came in at $3.58 billion

versus 3.46 billion. the company did lower its e.b.i.t.a. guidance citing increased costs. the company is projecting deficits for aluminum in 2018. the ceo saying while markets and trade dynamics are likely to remain fluid we will continue to remain focussed on value. that stock is down more than four percent. back to you. >> thanks for that one. alcoa sliding four percent. we have another earnings report just hit, e bay. >> shares of e bay are down about 3.5% or so. revenues at 2.64 billion. that is a very slight miss of 2.66 billion. e.p.s. 53 cents a beat of 51 cents analysts were projecting.

the company was light on guidance which could be driving shares down. q 3 guidance was light. so was the full year revenue guidance for 2018. full year e.p.s. guidance was slightly above submits. another critical number is gross merchandise value. that came in beating expectations at 23.6 billion versus estimates of 23.5 billion. and also active buyer, a company focussing on their marketing efforts. that number is also a beat, 175 million. we will look for any color on the supreme court decision recently on state sales tax collection. >> back to you guys. >> thank you. let's get reaction on this one from the fast money traders. joining us from the asdaq. good to see you. tim, how do you feel about e-bay

after the numbers? the stock isn't taking it too well. >> the medium term are the company is chief relative to the peers. they are buying back stock at a rapid pace. the fact that they cut their deal with pay pal and have a payment solution that will get 75% i think is creative. i think the stock is a value play within a high multiple group. i think it is interesting here. i think the guidance is fine. i don't think you need to run in and buy it but i think e bay is cheap. >> q 3 looked a little light on guidance. >> what is your take >> i think it is weaker guidance. when everybody else, the majority of what we had so far in the first couple of earnings reports and you have about ten percent of the s&p reporting, when you see ten percent beats when it comes to revenue and then e bay disappoints there i think that is something the people are focussing on. obviously from a value play

perspective but that has been the problem for quite a while. this has been a stock lagging the rest of the market. and it is no longer just amazon. they are in competition everywhere. because of that it just makes you scratch your head. i think at some point in time e bay will get this figured out and start moving to the upside. right now it is 14 times. i don't think you need to buy that because i think there are other places you would rather have your money. >> down nine percent. >> it has been in the penalty box because of the supreme court ruling. cheap e-commerce stocks. likely buyers are the growth investors. it is amazing when i look at it and the market cap is a third of pay pal's. it shows you it is a little bit going up directly against amazon. >> thanks very much. just down 1.5%.

it was down 2.5%. a little bit of encouragement from your guys. fast money coming up at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. some of the biggest names on wall street will be talking bit coin taking place at the delivering alpha conference. fast money will talk to two of those most prominent bit coin experts. >> bit coin getting a boost here. shares of take two interactive jumping after hedgefund manager called it her best idea today at delivering alpha conference. she lays out her case for why the video game maker could see a big pop. >> we will get reaction to ibm's earning report and whether this beaten down stock can bounce back. wl bk aoue minutes. tering) that was awful. why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math. ooh. so, why don't traders have coaches?

who says they don't? coach mcadoo! you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum- just to help you improve your skills. boom! mad skills. education to take your trading to the next level. only with td ameritrade.

the biggest names in investing have been giving their best ideas at the delivering alpha conference all day today. samantha greenberg revealed hers. >> she named take two directive as her investment idea. that stock ticking higher on the news. samantha joins us now. good afternoon to you. thank you for joining us. talk us through some of the statistics before we get to take two itself about why you like a video game manufacturer over other forms of media companies. >> sure. what we like about the sector is

engagement continues to grow. 60% of teenagers play video games. they are playing on average 3 1/2 hours per day. 50 colleges offer video game scholarships. the viewership of twitch is larger audience than live viewership of major television networks like cnn. engagement continues to grow. the video game developers' business model is evolving to a recurring revenue model. it used to be a very hit driven business tied to game released. because consoles are connected to the internet video game developers can offer extra content like expansion packs, special events and tournaments. that means that the initial purchase of the game is just the beginning of a game's monetization. you have a more predictable earning stream. you have numerous free options

around e-sports monetization, industry consolidation, live streaming of video games. within a few years it will be a commercial reality that the technology will exist to play video games using your controller on a smart television by passing the console. once consumers don't have to buy a $400 console that opens up the addressable market for video game developers from today's current base over 100 million households to hundreds of millions of smart televisions. >> for some of the reasons the stock has already been a pretty big winner up more than 60% in the last 12 months. yousay there is potentially another 60% to go? >> yes. so that is a very good point. take two's earnings have grown 70% over the last year. so although the stock is up, that move only captures the appreciation in the earnings. but when you buy take two we

believe you are getting best in class content creation, the company's gains have the highest of any studio. you are also getting industry leading growth. take two over the next few years is seeing the largest content slate in the history so combining with their recurring revenue base they will see the highest growth in the industry. finally the stock trades at a discount to the pure group because it is a small player in an industry where there are economies of scale so that is the bigger players of higher margin profiles. we think you have upside. take two to trade at just the pure average multiple on our 2019 earnings estimate. that is an $176 stock which is 40% higher than the current stock price. >> something i stumbled on earlier this week, if you put into a google search box who owns the first suggested phrase

is who owns fortnight. i wonder how you think about the idea that a small game owner can create this phenomenon. >> it's been fascinating to watch fortnight. they hit on what appeals to tweens and teens whether the cartoon look of the game. it doesn't look like a violent shooter game. it incorporates elements of pop culture whether dance party or hunger games. fortnight for the other players has more positives than negatives. it has brought a lot of new gamers into the category, younger, more female. it's training an entire user base on in game monetization and continual purchases even after you have downloaded the initial game and it is a format that can

be applied in other games. so on balance there is more positives than negatives. the negative being that it does draw engagement away from other names. the only other thing i add is it was five or six years in the making. epic games sold a 40% stake in the company to the world's largest gaming company to get that game developed. so there are some people bearish on the industry that look at fortnight as an example of how industry barriers are coming down. we actually believe that the history of fortnight, how it came to be and who its backers are doesn't proof that out at all. >> thank you very much for joining us. samantha greenberg, fascinating take on take two which was revealed at delivering alpha. the stock up off the back of it. let's take a look at how we finished the day on wall street. the dow up about a third of one

percent or 79 points. the s&p up two-tenths. the russell up just shy of 0.3%. >> just want to check in on names moving here after hours on earnings. american express is down almost three percent. the others are up. ibm posting revenue growth and profit growth up 1.25%. ebay has done a turn around reacting negatively to the results on slightly lower results. >> tim seymour said it is was good value. time for a cnbc news update. contessa has it for us. >> here is what is happening. mixed reaction from the senate about president trump's backing off of the comments he made when he seemed to side with russia over u.s. intelligence during his meeting with russian president vladimir putin earlier this week. take a listen. >> this notion that he somehow

slipped on a word and we took a whole press conference wrong it was clear what he was doing from the start and what he had to say. when he saw the fire storm of opposition even from fox then he had to say something. >> it wasn't a perfect meeting. obviously, what happened in helsinki was especially nonperfect. i thought yesterday was a step forward. a former british commodities trader has invented a jet suit that he says anyone can learn to fly. robert browning took an air flight down the street in london where you can buy the suit. it only costs $443,000. >> i would have expected a display to be sort of in a field somewhere safe. >> so confident. >> do you think that your

neighbors might confuse you with the nemesis of batman if you were to buy one? do you think you can get a bargain on groupen down the road like maybe a quarter of a million dollars? >> i don't know. people buy this stuff. this is way cooler than a car. i'm not sure i would be able to fly it myself. i think it would be a bit dangerous. >> thank you very much. still to come ibm shares reported earnings earlier and they are a little bit higher at 1.3%. we will get reaction from the buy rating. >> we have another big interview coming your way from delivering alpha. former white house chief strategist steve bannon talking mid term elections, the economy and more in an interview you do not want to miss. be sure to tune into a special edition of squawk box tomorrow starting at 6:00 a.m.

jam packed lineup including wilbur ross, ivanka trump and more.

welcome back to the closing

bell. take two interactive popping. that was the big pick today. it is up a percent after hours. her bull case for the stock is $202, a 62% increase from where it is. base case $176 up 41% from where it is or 40% now. >> like the value of the stock and the gaming trends. shares of ibm are higher after hours. big blue slightly beating estimates reaffirming earnings. here with more on the numbers. he has a buy rating on this stock looking at the strategic imperatives revenue section which includes cloud up 15%. is that good news? >> that is the linchpin of growth here for ibm. they are sort of betting the farm. i view it as a small step in the right direction. you look at last quarter, the continued head winds in the

mature business. we are starting to see sort of signs of positive customer feedback. you saw this quarter it is really about can they make the successful move to the cloud now they are growing modest rather than declining. we are starting to see remnants and it has been a slow turn around story. >> it's not a really inspiring tone that you are giving us. this is a kind of bounce back story as opposed to something that you are particularly bullish on. >> last quarter is a nightmare quarter. this is one where you want to see it march slowly positive. strategic imperatives is the reason. i view it as one where i think you can be more positive given what you are seeing in the field and given the cloud. i view this as one, another few quarters i think you can see the multiple expand. that is where the fork in the road moment is for an ibm. >> obviously huge blue chip turn

arounds are rare in this market. i wonder, the stock has really failed to perform given the fact it is one of the hottest in memory. you had computer associates get taken out. it kind of has overlap. you have multiple on comparables like dell. they are consuming a lot of cash flow. >> the major strategic move that they made which was a miscalculation was not being more inquisitive. if you look at the consolidation in big data they try to do more organically. that is something where you look at names like oracle. ibm it has been one step forward and two step back story. >> just one word here ahead of earnings which is your top pick? >> amazon we continue to think that is a table pounder. consumer could be by three to five percent. >> it was good. so it is worth it.

>> thank you very much. former white house chief strategist steve bannon is set to take the stage here in new york city. we will bring it to you live when it happens. back in a couple of minutes. your brain changes as you get older. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

yes or no?gin. 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? did you say yes? good, then it's time for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. looks like we have a couple seconds left. let's do some card twirling twirling cards e*trade. the original place to invest online. welcome back to closing bell. we are awaiting steve bannon to take the stage at our delivering alpha conference. former adviser to president

trump, eager to hear what he says not just about the mid term election and the russia putin summit and trade. >> he is a bit coiner. very interesting despite the headlines it didn't derail the markets. following that kudlow appearance we have the prospect of good trade news next week and a perspective on that. >> the tone of that visit by the president was very much seen as if bannon was back in his ear. the market is not really sure what to price out at that. it doesn't really change any relationships that are economically significant in the short term. i think that is why we are able

to absorb it whenever it seemed -- the market did get a little bit -- the year end rally began when bannon left the white house. >> i was a little surprised that there wasn't market reaction to the kudlow comments on china, really pointing his finger at president xi saying he is not coming to the table and he doesn't show willingness to make a deal when it comes to lowering barriers. >> i agree although i wonder to what degree investors feel that they can take any comment from any individual as representative of what really is felt and thought inside the white house. >> only the trump tweet. >> we will hear more about this. white house chief adviser steve bannon has taken the stage. >> former. >> not a mogul -- >> and i never thought -- and i bet you didn't either, that you would be an adviser to the white

house. >> or that we would end up here. >> it is great to have you here. let's start with what is the big news of the week. how did you think the president did in helsinki? >> i think the president did fine. i think the full melt down missed the big picture. david ignaceous had an article in the "washington post" and said up until the last part when he talked about the meddling and the collusion it was fine. the president's got a lot at stake in russia vis-a-vis china. i think the president has done a terrific job particularly vis-a-vis all the previous presidents. i thought the press conference was fine. i would like to be a little stronger maybe about the meddling. at the end of the day and the democrats will have to embrace this, the meddling is on the margins. it's just not that big a deal. the russians always trying to do

something absolutely just like the chinese, just like other adversaries and allies. i think the president -- what i didn't like was yesterday. >> find is a strong word. >> find is a weak word. >> fine i think is a strong word to describe it. i saw him in singapore. he was very much in command. >> command presence. >> he was not in command on monday. that wasn't a fine performance. do you really think that >> singapore and helsinki were two different things. i think it was fine. was president trump in his normal command presence? you can argue yes and no. the topics they discuss and the output getting now particularly vis-a-vis china and what the president is talking about i think is quite strong. what he has done he goes to warsaw and gives a speech and

talks about the central part of his administration and he says at the time he calls him out for the natural gas deal. that would be the most provocative thing in the universe. look at what the last presidents have done vis-a-vis russia. obama allowed that. bush looked the other way. all of these super patriots are the first to throw treason at the president. where were they when they were on watch about this? president obama stood down. i think his cyber security guy testified. i don't know where the super patriots were. look what donald trump has done. was his command presence as strong as it was in singapore? the answer is no and i think you could say the same thing. he is dealing with a different guy. here is the point. the mainstream media points on

the marginal optics. they are right on the trigger. it is treason. he didn't support the intelligence community. let's talk about the intelligence community. all these super patriots, clapper and brennan that were jumping on the president. the president sometimes conflates the enabling aspect with collusion. >> he always conflates it. when asked about meddling he jumps to the accusation of collusion. >> financial times of london had the front page. they are two different things. the meddling is wrong. we ought to monitor it. they shouldn't do it. we should tell them to shut it down. president obama kind of stood down. those guys on watch didn't get on it. the indictment on friday which president trump said put the indictment out. the indictment didn't talk about the rnc or five or six campaigns that the russians went after. if clapper's book he is saying it changed the election.

i think it was 100,000 dollars worth of facebook ads. the meddling was on the margin. and the collusion they haven't found one shred of evidence. the democrats wanted a do over. they have yet to embrace the reason they lost. the reason they lost is they eme reason they lost the reason theylost is they forgot about the working men and women of this country in wisconsin, in michigan, in pennsylvania, ohio, iowa and places where donald trump never should have won and they wanted a do-over from 2:30 in the morning on the 9th of november of 2016 when we won. they wanted a do-over and they've whined and they've bitched and they wanted a do-over. >> would you have advised him to go to helsinki and advised him to sit down with putin >> i would the nato visit to the united kingdom and the visit to nato could have taken place on

november 7th. >> after the midterm. >> there's plenty to do there. i thought his trip to nato was fantastic and we'll get into that in a second and trying to save nato. donald trump has done more than any president of the united states, not to have happy talk and actually try to make it a real alliance and not a protectorate they want to do it fine it's going to be fine and the deplorables will be plenty jacked up and that visit, if you take the whole total of it, look what he did with nato. i mean, donald trump is trying to save this alliance. what he doesn't want is a protectorate remember, the problem we've got ourselves into this liberal post-war rules-based order and you go from europe to the persian gulf, to the south china sea, to northwest pacific. it's a series of commercial relationships, capital markets, and trade relationships and american security guarantees we underwrite the whole thing if

you want to know why we have a structural deficit of $1 trillion a year is because we underwrite the entire thing and none of the allies kick into the till, and the europeans are the worst, and germany is the worst of the entire lot so they can't sit there and tell me what a big threat they think russia is. wants 15% of the german people don't want to pay 2% and this is very important about nato. he's been talking to stalt anberg and he has said that trump is the biggest reason we now have people putting in that 2% of 2024. trump is a business guy and says it's got to be 2%. it's got to be now because we're spending essentially $1 trillion >> past due interest and like a landlord, hey, if you don't make the 2%. you have to make an arrears, and they're going crazy. the readiness initiative that trump initiates to say what's the interoperability, where is the equipment because trump

looks at the numbers under the hood and he says, hey, this 1.2% and the use of proceeds is on global warming, health care and where is the equipment and the interoperability and they have 128 combat aircraft. germany can put up one brigade of combat troops and he has an initiative he comes after the afternoon meeting and says, hey, how about this 2% now and no ten years now and 4% total we're 4% we can't continue this, and here's the reason. we're not an empire. we're looking for allies we're not looking for protectorates. europe is a protectorate right now. what donald trump is trying to force him to do by having a partner's conversation is to say you've got to be a partner you have to be in on this thing, and so -- and i think it's very logical. you've seen the globalists over there push back on it, but trump is the guy trying to save this alliance >> i want to exhaust helsinki because i want to get on to

china. >> by the way, helsinki, the stultenberg breakfast. he lightened him in the morning saying you're not paying 2% and thee starts talking about the natural gas deal he said they sign the natural gas deal they will have 70% ultimate control of their energy and he said what we trade with russia all of the time and trump it is it's not about trade and this is about geopolitics, and remember, merkel never wanted to bring that up when this deal was going. so he is so hard from an alliance point of view, vis-a-vis rush a the hardest i've seen since i was in the pentagon back in the '80s. >> explain this to me, then. i think he likes putin it appears he likes putin. >> i think he gravitates to personalities that are strong personalities. he likes president xi. he likes erdogan who i think is the most dangerous guy in the world, and i think he's attracted to putin because i think he looks at those people as strong leaders of countries,

they're nationalists and they put their countries first and they get on with it and they don't care what other people think. >> does it bother you that he's attracted to those people? >> no, it doesn't. >> why not >> i'll tell you why because he has his own style. if you look at what he does. he leads from strength people criticize, this guy doesn't know what he's doing and he doesn't understand this, if you see what he's doing around the world to re-orient this rules-based, post-war liberal order that could not continue on and has essentially worked to de-industrialize the united states it's on the backs of the deplorables and it's their kids and the hindu kush and it's their kids in the south china sea and their kids on the 38th parallel and that's the deplorables speaking and trump has a very strong vision of what america first means and the other thing about engagement all of the liberals and all of the guys talk about isolation, and he's the least isolationist president if you look at not

just the inaugural address and the riyadh summit where we actively engage our sunni-arab allies and if you look at the warsaw speech which to me was one of the most provocative speeches against russia ever, i think this is the last guy of being the isolationist and we ought to keep russia in perspective. russia's an annoyance. china is our great challenge, as you heard today with folks talking about china. russian's economy is the size of texas or new york state. it's got a lot, but in today's modern warfare, okay, when you talk about cyber and you're talking about information warfare, economic warfare and kinetic, guns up, and weapons have taken less and less, and trump puts it in perspective and that's what he's doing and what he's trying to do is end the cold war

he's trying to end the cold war and the geniuses of local parties blue the opportunity in the 1990s to bring this thing to an end and we've had to pay a price ever since then. what donald trump is trying to do and the korean war and the korean peninsula and the cold war and all he's getting is grief from the globalists. >> let's talk about china. we've talked about china all day about whether or not there will be a trade war what we see happening? game this out for us where does this go and how does it end >> this thing of a trade war >> they've been in a trade war. >> i get that. >> we're at war with china we're at war with china. there's three types of war the chinese look at it, information war, economic war and guns up, kinetic war they've been at economic war with us for 25 years

the no great power, we spent $7 trillion and brown university and the watson center, we've spent $7 trillion in 17 years on this war and terror and the war in the middle east, right? with very bad outcomes and we've allowed the rise of china, in fact, many people in this room, the elites of our country has exacerbated the rise of china and we were told time and time again until donald trump got here that it was the xerable right of china and this was the law of physics in the world. the kissingers came up with is based on the rising power and declining power. we're the declining power. that's the same theory they had before ronald reagan got here in the 1970s, that russia, and he was on the rise and we were on the decline. that's what they taught and was about. that's what the arms agreements were about ronald reagan changed that and said we can defeat these guys. it was supposed to be 40 years and it happened in eight or ten

years. same thing with donald trump and he's mocked and ridiculed of not being some foreign policy expert he's got enough understanding of the world and the way the world works to go after this, and quite frankly, we're winning they talk about the chinese haven't come back to us with the response in the trade thing. for the first time in the last 25 years, they don't know what to do. they're seeing an opponent that's standing up for themselves it's not just the trade. trade is the scale and depth of the trade and the way trump proposed it, he says it's 50 -- it's 200 it's supposed to be 100, and it's another 200 if you retaliate, and by the way, if you even retaliate again it may be another 500 he's talking about half a trillion dollar, but 301 is what silicon valley came to us about. it's not the technology stuff, it's the forced technology transfers and the third part of the zte where we could basically implode these companies.

>> i'm trying to get this out. >> right now, we're converging on a point and they understand this we can take the whole thing down >> we can take the whole thing -- >> what if they devalue their currency. >> they're going to flood more dollars out. they get $3 trillion of reserve and that's what their own people think about their economy. we've allowed these guys to push us around and we've allowed these guys to take the south china sea, and when we were in the navy, it's central of the south china sea to be free and open navigation. the bush administration and the obama administration looked the other day whether they militarized it and we want to talk about where in the trade war is going >> how it ends -- how it ends is in victory donald trump is not going to back off this. the chinese are going to blink >> what is victory >> victory is when they give us full access to their markets and victory is when they stop.

remember, th