be a number of people. >> the rock. >> all right, continue to watch market reaction to those comments from president trump about fed and fed independence meantime thank you for watching "power lunch." "closing bell" starts right now. it's time for "the closing bell," everyone. president trump about to announce a new jobs training program plus an interview with the man himself. an update from washington coming up >> i'm josh lipton in san francisco. shares of microsoft are on a roll this year, but can the ceo keep the bulls happy a full preview of what to watch when the company reports earnings after the bell. >> with the latest slice in the ongoing papa johns saga, shares rising on some deal chatter yesterday but taking a tumble in today's session. we will explain why.

>> a huge development in the battle for fox as the future of comcast, disney and sky come into focus "the closing bell" starts right now. welcome to "the closing bell," everyone. we'll get to all those stories in a moment but first a check in on the markets the dow low for the first time in six sessions, down 0.4% we've got the s&p down 0.3%. the nasdaq could suffer its first back-to-back losses of this month >> a little hideout in the small caps today >> we are off of the lows bust just barely. a slightly different tone today, and i think the reason that's happening is because the earnings and more particularly the guidance is a little more mixed. the commentary for the markets

terrific in the last two weeks overall, but today a bit different. we had a few companies raising the guidance that's a big helper for the dow and american express affirmed and several actually lowered their numbers overall. ebay gave mixed but particularly lower guidance for the year. when you look at what's going on in terms of the reaction generally it parallels but if you look at ibm, up, that's a big help to the dow up 30 points but all down notably and of course they're the ones that gave the negative guidance that's the important thing we're seeing right now as far as the major trends, we've got some positives and we're up eight of the last ten days going into today. solid earnings and the trade fears have lessened a little bit. but we still have concentrated leadership we talked about that faang

leadership leading the market. trading sentiment right now i'd say it's neutral, which is interesting, guys, because right now we're 1.5% from that historic high. you'd think sentiment would be a little more euphoric, a little more bullish, but, no, it's rather subdued right now and frankly that may be the best help the markets have right now. >> meantime kate rogers is up town at the nasdaq >> we are down around 0.3% right now. as you mentioned the biggest loser today in the nasdaq 100 is ebay after the company reported sluggish growth in its earnings report and also citing concerns with its marketplace business. as bob mentioned lowering its forecasted revenue for the remainder of the year and analysts also noticing issues with its stub hub business

it did report those weaker than expected subscriber numbers in the weak but also reports out this afternoon from variety that wal-mart is planning to launch a subscription video service that could be a competitor to netflix. apple is higher. among the leaders in the nasdaq 100 ulta beauty. that stock up and along with comcast ending its war with disney that stock higher by nearly 3% over to you. >> kate twlarn, thanks for that. we have another guest en route any moment rick, i'm going to start with you. these comments from the president in terms of interest rates, what do you make of it? do you think chairman powell will listen to it in any way,

shape or form? >> no, i don't and i don't think the president is going to make any actionable meaning he's going to get j. powal to raise rates the president talks to the public in a much different way than other presidents have in the past and i know that makes some people craze but it's a position he's held for a long time. even as a developer he doesn't like high interest rates, i get it but in this case he needs to consider all the moving parts here he talked about europe at great length but not necessarily about the currency and that's an issue. the fact that j. powell continuing with janet yellin did to try to unravel it all and get something back to normal it really is a good thing. granted we don't want j. powell to move rates too quickly. i don't think he will. he really seems to have his pulse not only the job at hand but how the markets are reacting

and investors are thinking about many of his moves. it's hard to disagree that there are issues but raising interest rates and grab some insurance, should we at some point have a secession, i think it's a good plan and i certainly hope the fed will stick with it. >> i'd like to jump in there a lot of times i agree with rick, we're mostly on the same page on this one it doesn't really matter whether or not the chairman is going to listen to the president. he heard the president, and when he was appointed to that role he knew where the president was on rates. so i do think that whether or not he does it overtly, he has listen today the president i do believe he's going to go with the tact of being a little more dovish. we heard that in the last couple of days whether it was a reaction to knowing what the president wants or not doesn't really matter to me. >> we're going to continue to debate this. we've got a former fed president. let's talk about this market today and also joining us is

chris to talk about what stands out here looks like markets are taking a breather there is the president's comments but we're also knee-deep in earnings season >> sure, and i think the trade war and interest rates are what keeps looming on this. and certainly you've got to be concerned about the dollar because as the dollar strengthens any bit of tariffs are completely overwhelmed by the amount of the strengthening dollar, so it's going to have little impact. >> is that why the small caps are outperforming today and is that where you go? >> sure, that's where you go because you want more domestic trade than foreign trade and to not influence your overall portfolio. i thinkia go to cheap stocks, stocks selling at real bargains. >> like what >> i think ford is selling at an amazing bargain. it's stel selling at 5 pinge and

got a tremendous dividend yield. at least that's a great place to hang out for earnings while you're waiting for this to blow over >> when you look at retailers, some some credit card data was out, it assumes that we're taking on a little more debt it's a tail wind for the retailers and a lot of these names are sort of caught in the swoosh of the amazon prime day so i think they're benefitting from the retail sort of aura they put over their retail sector coming a bit out of finances and technology space when you really look at the finances, even dedicated financial guys aren't excited about buying financials. if rates are staying the way they are or not increasing the way we thought, financials are not going to be the place to be. the yield curve is the overarching thing and message

that pms look for when they buy financial sector technology is probably going to be where you see the gains mostly going forward and we do have a market that needs to have a draw down at this point we do have a market that wants to sell-off before it ratchets up to new highs. i am bullish, but i would not be surprised if we sell-off 2 to 4% >> 284 is the ten-year we've got better low record jobless claims today and the data is comming pretty hot >> some of the philly was pretty good as well, rebounding from last month i continue to believe it's several turnstiles of buying activity one is tax reform at the end of 2017 that will carry on and make large funds, institutions like pension funds be buyers to about mid-september of this year of course, there's the ongoing issue of the competitive nature

of interest rates and the fact that here versus europe where they're still negative or lower japan does continue to draw more sponsorship in our curve keeping it flat. and finally i do think there's questions as to how much horsepower the u.s. economy can hold onto if the rest of the world is going through an economic hiccup. i think that's keeping buyers coming in and prices up higher than they would normally be. at some point i do think that's going to end >> chris, earlier you mentioned you were a little concerned about the stronger dollar but at the same time you like emerging markets. how does that add up in. >> emerging markets are so cheap. certainly emerging markets are a concern in the trade war, but there's a lot of trade into the emerging market. and i think that's such an

overlooked sector. their earnings growth are still going. so far we're not really in a trade war. we're throwing rocks at each other. >> another interesting call you have is an alphabet, parent company of google. >> as a value guy you don't get to buy google too often. and there's revenues are picking up, less likely to be influenced by a trade war, and if they're selling at an cheap enough price that a value guy like me would get interested in. >> what's your evaluation into the all their earnings in the next week soor so. >> google has always been a value prospect amazon was never a value prospect >> amazon i've never looked at

goog google has gone in and out of my portfolios >> i've been lucky enough to be long square for quite some time, so it's been very good for my portfolio. it plays a bunch of different roles and has a services business everyone thought was a processor. i think this is one if you could turn back the clock, and i've been bullish on amazon if you could turn back the clock and get a second bite at amazon alibaba is that. netflix for me, a technician who's a good friend that if you have an event that takes place, whether it pops up or drops down dramatically, you want to wait it's called a three day roll

it has as far as i can see on the charts this would be the day aiostart to look at netflix for that pop going forward >> okay, guy have to leave it there because the president is speaking. >> president trump is hosting a pledge to workers event at the white house that involves an executive order and summary. let's listen in. [ applause ] >> that's a good group that is a very good group, i will tell you. i'm looking at these people. i see them on the cover of the magazines every week, every

month. hi, fred that's great well, thank you ivanka, very much and for your incredible leadership of the white house work force initiative. you really have done an incredible job, and you've worked so hard and i want to just tell you we're all proud of you everyone here is proud of you especially these folks back here because that's the future. so i want to thank you, honey. i'm thrilled -- [ applause ] i'm thrilled and honored to be here today to launch the national council for the american worker. joining us for the announcement is secretary wilbur ross secretary, good. secretary alex acosta. betsey devos, everybody knows education. acting secretary peter arork

director mulvaney who has worked so hard on those budgets that are coming along linda mcman, jared, fantastic job, chris, incredible what a group, this group nobody knows kellyanne nobody knows all stand up please stand up. really great thank you. i want to thank you also, we have some very special people here, house education and work force chairwoman now we say chair woman, right? we like it better. virginia fox and we have representatives rick allen, jamey herrera butler. thank you, thank you shawn duffy, my friend

jim -- and claudia we have some very special other folks here in a very high administrative capacity. we have a favorite of mine, governor scott walker. a job he's done. thank you, scott and montana state auditor matt rosendale. you're doing good, matt. i hear big things from matt. we're really especially grateful to be joined today by the top ceos, union leaders, trade associations and educators from all around the country these are the biggest, these are the best, these are the most talented among those -- and i'm going to be introducing them and going around the table with them as they sign their pledge -- but we have a friend of mine from a long time, really the founder and creator. and i heard he did a report at

his school and he got low marks because they said it couldn't work and he ended up getting high marks because it's a company called fedex pretty correct that professor didn't know what happened i think we'll have to give that professor low marks because it worked out it worked out well for you home depot ceo doing a fantastic job, craig maneer. lockheed martin ceo. good job ratheon ceo tom kennedy. cathy warton >> president trump in his ceremony there planning to sign an executive order and spurring

new investments for training american workers, trying to address the skills gap he's naming some of the ceos that are joining him on this partnership that was largely spearheaded by his daughter, ivanka trump, whom he thanked at the beginning. giving a special tribute there to fred smith, ceo and founder of fedex among the other companies involved here, ibm, general motors, microsoft, wal-mart and lockheed martin. >> a few defense companies he mentioned there. >> we'll continue to monitor the event and bring you any headlines from the president in the meantime let's bring in eamon javers >> that executive order is going to create what they call an interagency council in the administration that's going to focus on these issues of the work force of the future part of the concern here that technology changing, robots coming into the work force,

companies are having a hard time finding workers because the unemployment rate has come down so far this is about retraining and retooling the work force to get them ahead for the work for the future the white house says they're going to get about 500,000 new opportunities for workers. not necessarily new jobs out of this, but retaining opportunities for people who have been displaced or abilities to get their skills into another field entirely so all of that very much a focus of ivanka trump. as you mentioned she introduced the president just the president had some thoughts on the federal reserve, and their raising of interest rates. here's what he said. >> i've been a very good man in the fed. i don't necessarily agree with it because he's raising interest

rates. i'm not saying i agree with it and i don't necessarily agree with it. i must tell you, i don't i'm not thrilled because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again. and i am not happy about it. but at the same time i'm letting them do what they feel is best but i don't like all of this work that goes into doing what we're doing. you look at the euro, what's going on with the eu, and they're not doing what we're doing and we already have somewhat of a disadvantage although i'm turning that into an advantage last year and for years we've been losing $150 billion for the eu nations, with the european union. and they're making money easy and their currency is falling. in china their currency is drop like a rock. and our currency is going up, and i have to tell you it puts

us at a disadvantage my views haven't changed i don't like all of this work we're putting into the economy and then i see rates going up. i see china, i mean look at what's happening with their currency it's dropping like a rock. >> the president there expressing some extreme frustration with the fed he says he feels like he's putting in a lot of effort on the economy and then he sees the fed raising rates. he says that's frustrating to him, but he also said in that sound bite he's going to let the fed do what they think is appropriate to do here so that comment attracted a lot of attention immediately after it first played on cnbc this afternoon. and the reason is because there's predation of fed independence there's been instances in the past where presidents have been extremely frustrated with the fed again and again. generally speaking presidents

don't speak about the fed. after that reaction the white house put out on additional statement saying that the president of course supports the independence of the fed. he was just reiterating here they say his long-standing views, the things he said before running for president and after on the campaign trail. so the white house saying here the president respects the independence of the fed. >> we're going to have a lot more of joe kernen's interview with the president be sure to tune in 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning on squawk box >> the president speaks very cohesively and coleerntly about monetary currencies. which he's right, the chinese currency is falling right now. and number two he seems to

understand he's not supposed to talk about the fed and currencies and he does anyway. >> there's been a lot of reaction since this played, but i go to what he mentioned there, that line. i'm not happy about it, but at the same time i'm letting them do what they feel is best. that's not interference. he is unconventional, so wetient be surprised but let's get more reaction and analysis from those comments jerry joins us and former fed vice president, and also steve liesman. steve, let's start with you. i heard your commentary on this on "power lunch. i think i disagree, that line, i'm letting them do what they feel is best kind of takes the sting out of it somewhat >> i have the opposite feel of that which is the president saying he's letting them implies he has the option of not letting them

there are reasons why no president up until this time has made explicit comments like this about the federal reserve. and the problem you get into wilf, i think think of a couple. the first is let's say the fed were to pause the first time around wouldn't it appear that the feds were giving in to pressure and the second thing is what happens the next time around it if you get into a situation where they're tightening or going the other way. it could become a political issue in congress. i think there were reasons why things have happened the way they did in the past there's conservative reasons why central banks are independent all over the world, and it's served most of those economies very well. >> it's sacred, the fed independence i totally agree with you, steve. and i think no matter what it has to factor in in the back of their minds when they're making policy >> i want to respond to that because one of the reasons why

is because is the president setting up the fed to be the fall guy for what could happen to the economy from his trade tariffs? and you just said, sara that it's weaker. is it weaker because of the federal reserve or the trade policy this is an issue here for the fed becoming the fall guy for perhaps errant policies. >> are we right to be concerned about its independence >> well, this is the plecresidet this is how he operates. he's unconventional. he's done this and other things. but on the substance of what he said i agree, the fed has been very aggressive about raising rates. they're announcing it ahead of time, and i think they're ignoring things they should pay attention to like the flattening yield curve, the strong dollar and i don't see the case for this impressive stance >> do you agree with what the

president has said in this 90 second clip we just played >> i agree with what he said whether he should have said it or let someone else say it, that's a different issue as everybody says this is not a normal president >> jerry, we're expecting a 4% level. you don't think thaegs be raising rates? >> well, they say they want 2% inflation, and now that it's finally hit 2%, they say they want to tighten. and i don't see what's wrong with strong economic growth and a low unemployment rate. i just don't think that that's a problem. >> joe, weigh in here. >> totally agree with what gerald just said the markets are basically discounting another 75 basis points of hikes between now and

the year end 2020. the fed is saying they're going to go 150 from there while they sathink they're moving gradual my guess is what will likely happen with the dollar, none of those developments to my mind are gradual hikes. it's relatively aggressive, and the president -- the markets back the president on this >> joe, do you think that powell will take what the president said today >> i hope so subconsciously. look, i mean the fed has generally called many recessions it's this very popular in the macroliterature. let's not make it that these

folks can forecast things with precision. they can't and i'd argue part of the political discussion is getting involved in a pockets of the market that the fed may still someday pay a political price for and that could be well beyond the trump administration. >> but that is different from the president telling the fed what to do i think some perspective is needed here. yes you mentioned there's a long tradition of the fed staying independent and sort of not blurring that line but there are moments in history where presidents have blurred that line. thinking of president h.w. bush and green span >> sara, i'm sure you were born when those comments were made. >> i studied enough history in monetary policy. >> i'mina not discounting your

history. i'm saying you have to go back to the defeat -- >> now you're saying she's old >> wilf, help me out here. you have to go back to george h.w. bush where he said after i was defeated he said i -- and there's been a consensus about the executive branch not talking about the dollar and the federal reserve. it seems like joe and jerry and a few other people like you guys are fine with it so i guess let's let it ride. i'm a little concerned that everybody saying it's okay might encourage the president to go the next step. i think they were being very conservative ability these things good reason for presidents not to talk about it and as far as i'm concerned those reasons remain >> i don't think everyone was fine with it

it was a good balanced debate there. thank you all very much. that interview is attracting a lot of attention >> already larry summers form treasury secretary, already saying you've got this double standard now powell could hike even more aggressive just to prove they're not influenced by policy, and that could actually hurt the economy. >> we've got another clip coming up in the second hour of this show and the full interview on squawk box tomorrow morning. bb & t stock was down 4% what's your view on the yield curve in the general at the moment >> thanks, wilf. it's nice to be with you i agree mostly with what's been

said, cleary the federal reserve policy should not be politicized. they get plenty of input from people that are economically or otherwise independently in a position to give them input. for example, the federal reserve council i served on five years meet with the federal reserve four times a year to give them independent input. so they get a lot of input and not political. so i think they should be left alone to do their job. i think powell is smart and understands economics. i think they're doing the right thin this notion that they're raising rates too fast and it's going to stifle the economy is inappropriate. the economy as sara pointed out is doing quite well. we have good solid growth,

impending upper increasing on inflation, and it would be counter productive if they did not. >> if the economy is so strong, why did you need to lower your four-year revenue guidance today? i think that's one of the reasons we're seeing the shares down at the moment >> that had more to do with a little bit of, you know, temporary softening in our mortgage business, which will likely rebound very shortly. and we had some timing with regard to some capital markets, interestingly most of which have already closed in the third quarter. so it was a small adjustment and temporary, so it was not meaningful >> talk about loan growth which did jump but didn't change the guidance as it relates to what you're seeing in the overall economy. >> our long arch was very good,

it was 3.5%. and a number of our portfolios which we have been optimizing, restructuring the growth versus the yield, they have now started growing. so aggregate loan growth is strong and likely to get stronger we and the industry are facing stronger competition in the marketplace from the bank system and shuttle banking system so margins aren't going up as fast as you might expect the rates going up so you aren't getting quite as much revenue growth out of it. if loans are growing, the economy is good and ultimately revenue will grow at the banks and bank profitability will be good >> i always ask the question, if the fed did learn mediation for small and mid-sized banks, would you pursue consolidation

you've always deny td but today you changed your tune on that topic. >> some of that has to do with mn & a. basically our view of the m & a has not changed. i've been saying for a number of quarters while from a long-term point of view we're interested in mergers but economics of mergers have changed a lot over the last 30 months or so so we have said we're not interested in market mergers we would be interested in market mergers but only when it makes sense for our shareholders we're interested, frankly in

mergers -- the way i think about it is when a merger is done the day after the share of the price of companies should go up. our view has not changed at all. it was bis understood, and yiitl go away in a bit of time >> great stuff >> that stock decline helping to drive down all of the financials today. here's what's happening at this hour, a bipartisan resolution backing the intelligence community's finding that russia interfered in the 2016 election and must be held accountable was blocked in the senate today gop senator john cornyn says the resolution was unnecessary >> my concern with the resolution is that it is purely a symbolic act mchb and wh

and what we need to do is not just offer symbolic resolutions on the floor we need to do the hard work that senators have to do through the regular order. >> amc theaters and facebook are teaming up to provide a new service for ticket purchases they'll be redirected to the amc theater's page to complete their trance action. rubex cube enthusiasts gathering in spain for the 2018 championships. the event attracted participants from various countries the 15-year-old holds the world record for solving the puzzle in less than 17 seconds with his feet that is a feat and that is the cnbc news update at this hour >> that's impressive but also a little bit gross >> how do you train your child

to start doing that? >> i certainly wouldn't. broken toe or not. we've got 44 minutes left of trade. the s&p, nasdaq down 0.3%. and the s&p holding onto the gains. larry kudlow when he called out china's leader over trade and today cha'ins foreign ministry hitting back with some strong language. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia.

welcome back to "the closing bell." trade tensions between the u.s. and china show no signs of easing anytime soon. white house national economic director larry kudlow voices doubts of a quick resolution happening between the two countries yesterday. >> i do not think president xi at the moment has any intention of following through on the discussions we've made and i think the president is so dissatisfied with china on these so-called talks that he's keeping the pressure on, and i support that >> china's foreign ministry pushed back today on those comments from kudlow saying, quote, that the relevant united

states official unexpectedly distorted the facts and made bogus accusations. shocking and beyond imagination. the chinese foreign ministry went onto say, quote, the united states flip-flopping and promise breaking is recognized globally. joining us now to discuss more on this is joshua at a brookings institution and beth, president of american phoenix trade advisory services. thank you boelth for joining us. joshua, it doesn't appear we're making any progress on trade negotiations with china. in fact, it looks like it's getter worse is that true >> i think what's absolutely clear is that china and the united states essentially are not talking about this in any constructive way in fact they're really playing a pr game in terms of public opinion. you see china making the point consistently whether it's the clip you just played, there was

an exchange where essentially china is saying, look, the u.s. is a bully, they can't be trusted, they change their minds all the time, they're inconsistent and they're the ones to blame here and president trump has made tariffs basically his key policy response to the challenges china presents the u.s. and we just see trump doubling down on this ongoing trade war. >> beth, who can outlast who in this particular dispute, particularly if it escalates >> i think that's a really good question i think the president maybe didn't do us any favors when he said trade wars are easy to win or not easy to win i think something like the zte sanctions showed us the degree to which we can actually cripple the chinese economy if we intend to do so so to me it's less about the tariffs than the other tools in our tool kit if we choose to deploy them. >> although i guess the question is how much pain the u.s. is

willing to endure and how far is president trump willing to take it even if he does have the leverage larry kudlow said you have to be careful when jim kramer asked him should we just put tariffs on all >> including usa allies which would be effective in trying to get china to changemism i think trump is bidding on the fact that once the economic cost of these really sink in, possibly the economy slows kniin 2019 as of the stimulus and tax cut comes off, that the political pressure is really going to ramp up on trump to back down >> beth, if some kind of progress was made between the eu and u.s. this week, would that be a big blow to china, not just

a big bonus to the u.s.? >> well, there has to be follow through and this is always the issue which is everybody wants cooperation. but in my opinion people have been free riding off the u.s.' willingness to be a free resort. we saw the eu doing its own tear frfes on steel to protect its market >> what does the administration need don't they need a successful example of their strategy whether it's europe or there's some talk mexico talks are going better under the new president i mean, beth, don't say need to show something for all of this effort and pain they're inflicting on american exporters? >> the pain as i've said before, it's as if we think tat the status quo would have meant no pain, that the status quo

ante -- so there needs to be a global solution. i don't think it's going to happen quickly and i would say this, the president likes tariffs. he thinks they're clean and that's what he did in steal and aluminum and that's what he's doing in china >> okay, guys, we'll have to leave it there thank you very much for joining us >> when we come back we'll talk to a ceo who's cashing in and unexpected places to invest. >> and tomorrow we mention this already and we'll mention it again. already making headlines we will have that full interview for you tomorrow on squawk box, 6:00 a.m. eastern time and another exclusive clip from it coming up in the next hour of the show don't go anywhere. s? 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?

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president trump today offered a rare criticism of the federal reserve saying he is, quote, not thrilled about interest rate hikes. joining us now to talk about how the fed interest rate policy may impact the business is chris good afternoon to you. thanks for joining us. >> happy to be here. >> clearly he's always articulated he likes low rates

does everyone in the real estate industry agree and would it be crippling for the real estate industry if we see rate hikes? >> in current history our focus since we founded the business is really been on student accommodation, senior housing and self-storage and these asset classes are very resilient. and one of the things we wanted to do was invest in asset classes that could perform ipeconomic shocks or policy changes or interest rate changes. one thing we will see is if rates continue to rise, which we'll probably see a few more increases this year, we can reprice our real estate. so senior and student housing we can reprice. if we continue to see inflationary pressure, we can benefit from that. so we like these asset classes versus traditional sectors

>> what is happening with pricing based on what you're paying and charging? >> what's happening is we invest not just in-housing but senior and economic and storage and we're able to reprice and keep constant with that inflationary pressure. >> raising prices. >> yeah, we're able to raise prices and there's going to be an impact on what you can do to re-price those assets. >> i saw student numbers in the u.s. kind of peaking out or plateauing is that something you're seeing as well, is university peaking here in the u.s. >> i think the big picture is housing in the u.s. they can only house about 20% of the kids on campus.

and we're seeing high school graduation rates, 30% all-time highs. the public universities just don't have the capital for housing. so we're certainly seeing an increased market we recently put together a portfolio of student housing assets and sold that for over a billion dollars. but you're right we're moving into europe and literally we're the first mover there. it's like it was 10 or 15 years here in the u.s. up next we will head to sail convalley for a preview of what to expect in microsoft rulests the stock is near an all-time high "the closing bell" will be right back you might take something for your heart... or joints.

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after the bell, the headliner will be microsoft. we are expecting earnings. >> cnbc's josh lipton joins us now with a review what to expect in those numbers hey, josh? >> wilf, microsoft stock ron a roll, up more than 20% so far this year. the street is going to be looking for q4eps that would represent gains of 10 and 18%

respectively the focus of course is on the fast growing cloud computing business looking for commercial cloud to beoon roughly $27 billion run rate, with gross margins in the mid to upper 50s range >> josh, thanks very much for that we look forward to those numbers. there's been some tech movers this week. after the break 've wegot five minutes left of the trade. we'll be back with the closing count down

welcome back to "the closing bell." two minutes left to the close. there's the intraday s&p for you. not very good-looking chart. but off the lows which are right near the open, down about 0.5% as we uh-uh proach the close s&p coming into the day up 0.5% so eradicating the week's gains. the nasdaq just shy of 1%. so those small caps managing to find a bit of strength the sector performers were backed very clearly with 1.4% for the financials telecos and materials really down just look at the ten-year treasury note as well. because we have seen yield slip. that's one of the reason utilities are up and banks are down >> and i love your interview with the ceo of bb & t

business is good don't get freaked out. it's people like us who are saying when is it going to get a bit better it's not terrible, but it's okay the regional banks were to the down side. at any rate here, just not enough energy here today and the guidance wasn't as strong today as it was previously then you have people who lowered the guidance today we didn't see a lot of that. so we had philip morris, ebay gave mixed guide nsz for the year we haven't seen it recently. ibm as i mentioned good. travelers very specific of course with all the issues of the catastrophe losses they had

>> small caps doing well >> overall as i think you pointed out we're flat for the week given the fact we had generally been in an up cycle. at least the dow is down 135 opponents at the close ringing the bell at the big board h.b. fuller. sara, back to you. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm sara eisen in today for kel kelly evans. let's take a look how we're finishing up the day on wall street lower for the dow. this is the first loss we've seen in the last six sessions. the dow closing off 0.5% despite some strain. s&p 500 closing down 0.4%. only spots were green were

utilities. financials were the biggest loser. small caps did show strength up 0.5%. let's talk about the nasdaq and t technology going to be in focus today. the stock finished the day lower. we'll bring you the results as soon as they hit, and we'll have more from you from joe kernen's interview in the hour. and we've got kevin o'leary and also joining us is chairman -- travelers was the biggest loser. and over on the s&p 500 nap on was the winner and ebay the biggest loser. >> i do think you're playing an

expectations game with earnings. really stocks up 4% by the s&p in 12 sessions this market does get fatigued really easily. >> we're going to discuss markets with all of the panel more in just a moment. but let's turn now back to that big interview in washington. president trump criticizing the fed and its plan to increase interest rates talking with our joe kernen today the president said, quote, i put a good man if the fed. i don't necessarily agree with it because he's raising interest rates. i'm not thrilled because we go up and every time they go up they want to raise rates again i'm not happy about it, he said, but at the same time i'm letting

them do what they feel is best mike, your take on that particularly -- >> mike had to calm me down earlier. >> i really like we had lindsey on reacting to this earlier, the former cea chief and he said on a trump adjusted basis this is not that remarkable a comment and i think you have to essentially adjust to the fact this president, he constructs everything as great things are happening if only for so-and-so. if only this would have allowed me to be even better and that's what he's casting the fed as, someone pushing against his economic agenda. i do think it's a breach of protocol and not a welcome development he would implicitly pressure the fed however, i don't think the market is going to take it there's going to be explicit policy >> just out within the past couple of minutes sarah huckabee

sanders tweeting new news that the white house is going to invite vladimir putin to the white house this fall. here's the tweet from sarah sanders just a few moments ago she said in helsinki -- president trump asked ambassador john bolton to invite president putin to washington in the fall, and those discussions are already under way. so no indication here from the white house that president putin has been invited or whether or not he will accept that invitation so this is all very much a potential situation. but at least the white house now saying there's a potential that vladimir putin will visit the white house this fall. that is just ahead of these very contentious mid-term elections you can imagine there will be political ramifications from such a visit if it does in fact happen and this coming a week after the helsinki summit on monday where the white house had to walk back or clarify statements the

president made about russia in terms of its ongoing efforts to interfere in those elections it'll receive a lot of attention both politically and in the intelligence world as well >> a lot of attention, no doubt about it do you think this is in some part an attempt to recover from the damage done in helsinki? >> that's a good question. i don't know i think what this is the white house confirming an agreement that's already out there that ambassador john bolton has started to work on and so the white house presuming here that this information is going to become public at some point, so figuring now is the time to make it public the question is exactly what the impact of that will be >> in that tweet you said in the fall the fall is a very important time is that pre-mid-term elections or post-mid-terms? >> just all they're saying is in

the fall i'm assuming and maybe i should never assume, right, in journalism that would be september, october, early november time frame. but i guess the fall could refer to late november and after the mid-terms. that could be another possibility. >> we'll see about the political ramifications. >> no details of course coming from the white house >> great stuff thanks very much i'm sure we'll hear from you throughout the show. meantime microsoft earnings are out. >> microsoft reporting eps of $1.13, revenue of $30 billion. and productivity and business process, $9.7 billion, an increase of 13%. they say within that office 365 commercial revenue growth 38%. intelligent cloud revenue, that

was $9.6 billion and increased from about 20% with that azure revenue growth 89%. and revenue in prnl competing $10.8 billion, an increase of 13.7%. >> josh, thank you very much for that mike, clearly strong growth. 89% in cloud computing business. what are all the shares thinking >> it looks okay i think what we're dealing with here is a stock very much priced like a gross stock again it used to be cheap several years ago. and it's a matter of really the entire world expecting this to be good. i think it's about the fundamentals growing into the valuation. >> it's one of the best performers, john, in the dow this year. trading near a record high still showing pretty much double digit growth in all the hot

spots like cloud >> yeah, we do see good growth there. we like the stock, microsoft our strategies hold the stock and that beat of $1.13 looks like what it's been doing the last three quarters. so we're good with it. as you said up over 20% this year >> kevin, what's you're view on microsoft? >> these are great numbers it's a core holding of mine. it has been for a long time. 80 plus percent growth on cloud. to become a ubiquitous platform globally in gaming is a potential nobody talks about and yet the company continues to move in that direction i think that's why this stock will actually expand its pe in the next year. it'll start to trade to

something different than a dineo tech than it used to be. remarkable change, incredible change in the last three years by management. amazing transition >> linked in revenue increasing 37%. they've got some great pockets of double digit rate hike. and i'm sure they'll be asked on the call about get hub, teaming up to go against amazon. >> they're using their advantage and cash to sort of assemble these mini empires the linked in deal was first announced and nobody really saw how it was put together. i think that's what's happening in a lot of these areas. when it comes to gaming i think that's becoming more of a surface story.

it's really now i think getting talked about more. on the other hand, many, many companies are saying they're going to be the netflix of gaming >> the stock is now back to flat when the numbers hit more broadly whether it's microsoft or the other tech companies that have reported so far, will you feeling for earnings season and some other big names that can have come >> it's very hard to find a sector that has growth in 70% ear 80% in any other sector of the economy. we were waiting for the transition of leadership to go to financials since january. that has not happened. i think i'm going to stay the course in tech and small cap to get the full benefit of deregulation and the new tax reform cash flows which actually haven't been calculated yet because the tax code is still being developed for those small cap companies. so for me nothing's changed. and we talk about a lot about rate hikes, look at the ten

years. it's exactlywhere it started a the beginning of the year. i think we can have a pretty good end if we stay the growth in tech and small caps that's my plan >> microsoft shares, by the way, up 0.5% right now after hours. ebay not so much, finishing lower by 10% today making it the company's worst day since 2016 ebay reported slow growth in its marketplace business and lowered its revenue forecast for the year is it all about competing with amazon, mike >> you can't grow at just a didn't rate while you're in the same zone as amazon. i think they get punished a little bit just in the wrong areas. amazon has taken over a lot of that

yes it's expensive and i think reasonably valued right there. the international exposure is very big in the u.k. and germany and people don't talk about that as much. >> the pound sinking like a stone. squau john, do you like ebay at this price? >> not yet we think it's caught between amazon and the brick and mortar retailers, so at this time we're not using that stock in our strategies >> we've got another earnings alert, guys. this one on sketchers. >> and sara, i'd like to draw your attention to shares of sketchers which are now down about 25% in which was a disappointing report earnings came in at 29 cents analysts were looking at 41 cents on its bottom line but guidance also very weak for the third quarter. ceo robert greenberg, though, remains confident saying with

the resurgence of retrolooks and sketchers delights we are the originator of one of the hottest trends in footwear but perhaps consumers think otherwise. you can see the stock is down now just about 21% and you can see heightened competition in shoe wear >> a volatile one. looks like it's going to be ugly >> it has these enormous moves on earnings. it got really destroyed last quarter after its report there's a bit of a fashion content element of sketchers that's really not in a lot of other footwear companies it's a small enough company that can get swung around on a short-term basis >> consumer discretion you like at the moment? >> not a tiny vertical like this the problem with these tiny

companies they're half exposed to art and science, where if you don't get the trend right on fashion your product gets uncool and i think with sketchers the stock gets absolutely slaughtered. i'm starting to look at the larger old names that have had a tough couple of years that have great cash flow. sketchers is just sheer volatility in a bottle >> like what you're talking retailers >> yeah, i'm starting to look at, you know, retailers that have started to survive. you know, you think about big names. obviously we take about wal-mart all the time, but target to me looks like a survivor, too if you look at the management changes everyone in there is in their early 30s. a complete change to what they said before. amazing online business. i feel safer because at least i'm betting on these cash flows. it just adds volatility to any

mandate you're working on. >> it is a $5 billion stock. sketchers or maybe take your pick, underarmor reported earnings next week and in the dow if you want to stay in footwear where do you go >> it's caught between adidas, underarmor and nike, and that's a tough place to be right now. we prefer in our stock the larger cap in these spaces, the adidas, nikes and underarmor >> if we look at the performance today, again we do start to see consumer stocks holding onto gain whether it's the discretionaries or staples >> in general do"morning express" was okay today. the small caps were up again and you had that really very small

unemployment claims. things exposed to exports and even industrials have struggled a bit. i don't think it was necessarily speaking to the overall trend. >> the consumer discretionary stock of the year is netflix >> we'll leave it there with you. up next on the show we will get much more reaction to microsoft earnings and how you should be trading the stock following these results. the stock initially dropped and is now up 0.5% plus a major supplier is cutting its revenue guidance we'll get the fast money trade on whether that's a red flag for apple. and president trump speaking out to cnbc's joe kernen about his special relaoniptish with russia or his relationship i should say we've got highlights straight ahead.

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shares up. microsoft trading higher after reported earnings moments ago. joining us now is kevin landis and scott kessler. gentlemen, good to see you both.

kevin, you were looking at the azure cloud services revenue ended up 89% is that going to do it in. >> you know, it's a great lesson just when you think you've got it all figured you need to check your assumptions we're used to seeing big tech companies just turning into big steal companies. and every once in a while a company surprises you and makes you rethink things this is growth story and who knew >> what's your take on these numbers? why do you think the initial reaction was down and now the stocks up? >> thanks a lot, wilf. i think a lot of people are trying to figure out if in fact this it going to peak in terms of microsoft's operating and financial purchase over the near to intermediate to long-term as kevin alluded to, the results were better than what i think people expected. but i highly doubt that people should be thinking that 17%

revenue growth on a largely organic basis is sustainable >> i guess that's the question, hike, when you talk about such an amazing stock purchaserformae >> the question is with a billion dollar market cap company, what does that imply with their ability to grow with these very fast rates? they've accessed totally different markets. it's not unthinkable they can continue to grow above i think that's what's going to have to be sorted out over the next couple of years, if they can deliver that >> kevin, what's your view on the git hub acquisition? >> in one sense if you're just looking at next quarters earnings and next quarters earnings it's largely cosmetic but the core to success for a lot of these companies is will

independent operators work with them or do they have to do everything on a sort of go it alone basis? that ends up being really important. pay attention to the activity on get hub and see how healthy that platform remains if it does that's really going to show up in all the other numbers on microsoft so i think it was a good move and let's hope they're able to keep it thriving >> and scott, where do you come in on this question of whether microsoft can continue to grow at these rates, that really its valuation is in a league with some of the other mature faang type stocks and can the relates actually justify that for a while? >> yes, so michael i completely agree with that supposition. we think microsoft is valued right here because eventhough it's seen accelerating revenue growth over the last couple of quarters and 17% is very

but i largely think that's going to be a peak it's trading comparably from a pe perspective but the growth rate, if you look at revenue it's roughly let's say significantly below what we see from those companies so my sense is that this is a company that's been executing well they've transformed the company, but they still have the issues to address with exposure to the pc you guys were talking about gaming, for example, earlier that's like 7% of revenues that's not going to drive this stock higher in my opinion >> okay, guys. we will leave it there >> we'll be watching that price target, scott, at 101. already trading above there. we've got learnings on intuitive surgical >> intuitive surgical best known for its da vinci surgical

device compared with 166, the same period last year just another sign of how robotics are playing a very important role in the operating room and that stock is up more than 3.5% wilf >> yeah, talk about good performance. the stock is already up 62% fum last year. >> it's doubled over two years it's really been one of the more -- it used to be a battle ground stock no one was sure if these hospitals would pay up for these robotic giess and clearly now delivering on this idea they can expand into newer procedure and all the rest of it right now it's kind of one these up and away high flowing growth stocks >> okay, we will discuss more of these earnings including microsoft again. but specifically up next the fast money traders tell us whether they're concerned about apple after one of the key iphone suppliers warned of slowing smart phone sales. we heard this before, the stock often reacts and the earnings

come through >> no big deal, true and but this different just over a week after the company's founder left following that racial sluron ctroversy, we'll give you all the details coming up laerlt on "the closing bell." duncan just protected his family with a $500,000 life insurance policy. how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually,duncan got his $500,000

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cut -- brian kelly joins us now not necessarily on the crypto mining, but whether this is a red flag for apple we've seen this movie before and every time it seems investors get schooled on this issue >> absolutely. the wrong thing to do is panic on apple when you see something like this happen the market certainly doesn't believe this cut is forward looking. it's all backward looking. and even on the crypto currency minors you're talking perhaps crypto currencies have bottomed here >> what are you thinking more broadly about apples upperings >> we've gone through this big

upgrade cycle so now they have to show how that ecosystem is going to pay off >> mike. >> it's a loose link but it's there. the semicap companies have backed off quite a bit i think a lot of people are concerned whether it's about the cycle itself is maturing i don't think it's going to give ow a clear read through. >> do you agree it's about services. >> i think people wish for it to be all about services because you can justify a much higher revenueoon apple also a lot of the services when it comes to apple are things like apple care. it's not kplaekt texactly the s monthly subscription for

netflix. >> don't forget fast money, 5:00 p.m one technician will give us his reaction to the microsoft earnings let's get another earnings >> sky works solutions the stock was up on what was strong earnings support revenue at $894 million, which also beat expect eggs. it's raising its dividend by 19% to 38 cents. q4 guidance is looking strong. of course this company specializes in wireless chips and technology that powers the internet of things the support coming ahead of apple's earnings report which is on july 31st >> let the tea reading begin in all of these we've got a news alert now in microsoft that's not related to the earnings the company just put out.

>> so a microsoft executive is saying that in conjunction with the government that the company detected and helped to block these phishing attacks >> earlier this we he had discovered that a fake microsoft had been established and we suggested that metadata was being directed at three candidates who were all standing for election in the mid-term elections. >> he's not saying who the targets are exactly. he's also not specifying where these attacks originated from. he did say they're not seeing the same level of activity by the russian activity groups leading into the mid-term elections that we could see when we look back at the 2016 elections, he said guys, back to you.

>> josh lipton, josh thank you very much. i wonder how these phishing attacks. >> and you also have another source of, you know, information for how prevalent this activity is, right. >> and either way microsoft has recovered from its earlier lost after those earnings let's take a look more broadly how we finished the day on wall street the dow was down 134 points or 0 pa .5%. >> this often moves in line with the dollar which went up

>> mike san tolly in retrospect says its van's fault >> there are three pair of vans with my daughters. market share play and it's a similar type shoe i think. >> microsoft as i mentioned earn itted around and intuitive surgical up 4% i wear vans, so they're in >> there we go we've got a news updatenow >> here's what's happening this hour speaking in st. louis vice president pence says he accepts the intelligence community's conclusion russia interfered in the 2016 election and also says the administration is taking tough new actions on russia. >> after this president's leadership we've issued tough new sanctions on russian officials and businesses we've excelled 60 russian diplomats and agents from our nation we deployed nato forces to

russia's doorstep in poland. and the united states is making missile defense systems available to our allies on nato's eastern flank meanwhile russia itself has been broadcasting this series of videos showing the testing and operation of a new generation of nuclear and conventional weapons. the footage was of many of the new weapons that president putin unveiled back in march supreme court nominee bret kavanaugh continues his meetings in washington. the two shook hands, posed for a photo opportunity with reporters. wouldn't you love to know what corker said to him on all of that they're going to the world series, again, don't you think >> all right, put it in the

books. >> don't ask us. when we come back, comcast ending its pursuit of fox assets allowing disney to move forward with its bid but first vladimir putin making new comments about putin and you may be surprised what he had to say reaction coming up with tripadvisor, finding your perfect hotel at the lowest price... is as easy as dates, deals, done!

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president trump sitting down with kprf with cnbc's joe kernen and he had a warning for the russian leader watch. >> i have been far tougher on russia than any president in many, many years maybe ever even the big fight i have with germany over the fact that they're taking natural gas, they're taking energy from russia, paying them billions of dollars. i say, wait a minute, we're supposed to be protecting you from russia and you're paying them billions of dollars what's that all about? now, do you think that's a positive for russia? i'm talking them out of things where they're giving billions of dollars. it's ridiculous, by the way, that's happening and on top of that germany pays

a fraction of what they should be paying for defense. so they're paying russia and we're supposed to defend them from russia? so just look at that point but look at the sanctions i've put on look at the diplomats i threw out. look at all of the things i've done nobody else did what i've done obama didn't do it obama was a patsy for russia he was a total patsy look at the statement he made when he thought the mics were turned off, okay the stupid statement he made nobody made a big deal about that getting along with russia is positive, not a negative with that being said, if that doesn't work out i'll be the worst enemy he's ever had, the worst he's ever had. >> don't forget tomorrow on squawk box joe kernen's full one-on-one interview with president trump at 6:00 a.m.

eastern time let's get reaction to those comments we just heard from the president relating to russia what do you make of that >> well, a lot of that is stuff we've heard the president say before what he's emphasizing there is this idea he really wants to have a good relationship with vladimir putin and russia. he resents the fact he gets criticism for it he feels he's getting treated differently enterms of how president obama was treated. and all this coming and we just heard from sarah huckabee sanders that the president has extended an invitation to vladimir putin to come to white house this fall. in helsinki the president agreed to ongoing worker dialogue between the two security councils prchl asked investor john bolton to invite putin in the fall and those discussions are already under way. not clear exactly when that will happen i've been talking to folks in

the white house to get a sense if that will be before the mid-term elections or after the mid-term elections so much controversy the president said this week in terms if russia is trying to manipulate right now the 2018 mid-term elections meanwhile we're also seeing some other news developing this afternoon at the aspen institute's security forum director dan coats took a very different line on russia in term of his interview with cnbc or earlier in the week in helsinki. here dan coats just a short time ago. >> it's undeniable that the russians are taking the lead on this basically they are the ones that are trying to undermine our basic values that divide us with our allies they are the ones that are trying to break havocover our election process we need to call them out on

that >> wilfred, i can tell you andrewa mitchell asked him, dan coats, the director of national intelligence, whether or not he considered resigning at any point. and he said that's not something he wants to talk about publicly. also an astonishing moment there, andrea mitchell informing the director about that sarah sanders tweet we just played for you and coats appeared not to have known about that and simply said, oof, that'll be special. >> that's a good reaction. stick around if you would. we're joined by the former ambassador to russia in 2001 and 2005 also this tweet, what would a visit from vladimir putin to washington mean, and how would it go down >> well, another visit by

vladimir putin would i think be a mixed event. on the one hand there's a lot that there's worth following up on from this helsinki summit in terms of limiting the nuclear arms competition, addressing problems like syria where there's a risk our forces could get into direct conflict with each other but at the same time what i'm still missing from the president is a real recognition that russia is actively trying to undermine our democracy, that's it's still engaged in an open aggression against one of its neighbors, ukraine he didn't even mention ukraine at his press conference in helsinki still not entirely clear the president is the hard liner he's portraying himself today >> ambassador, did the last three presidents whether we're talking about president bush, obama, or trump did they underestimate putin at the start

of their term in office? >> i think that's the case we didn't appreciate certainly when he was relatively new that he was very much a throwback to kind of soviet times he's kgb in his dna, he's very hostile to the west. he's authoritarian in terms of how russia needs to be ruled and especially since he came back to the presidency since 2012 he's been actively trying to weaken the west because he's ult late afraid of western ideas infecting his own people and putting russia back on the path of democracy, which he's definitely trying to avoid >> what happens next is the fall out still continuing on capitol hill? the details are so sketchy from that meeting because there were no aides there, there were no note takers there, and so the president finds himself having to reaexplain all of this. >> the real question is what if anything else did the president agree to with vladimir putin,

and we don't know the answer to that there was an american translator in the room for that meeting, but not clear whether we'll ever get her version of events or a full account from the president his version of events. but vladimir putin has suggested there were some agreements made behind closed doors, perhaps this idea of this putin visit to washington was one of the things discussed. we don't really know and one of of things i'm going to be looking for this afternoon is what's the reaction of republicans on capitol hill of that visit just before the mid-term elections >> that will be key. thanks for joining us. shares of comcast and disney both trading higher today after comcast dropped its bid for fox assets this morning. the next steps for that fox fight coming up. so you just walk around telling people geico

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fuels that go further so drivers pump less. improving efficiency is what we do best. energy lives here. cnbc parent company comcast today announcing it is no longer pursuing a bid for fox assets, which leaves the road open for disney to complete that deal >> what's still up in the air, however, are sky and fox's regional sports networks which are not included for the bid for fox. how will those deals play out? joining us now is jonathan chapman and lee burke, president and ceo of lhb sports. jonathan, i'll start with you if i may. is this good news for comcast, that they're not going to pursue the core fox assets? >> this is great news for comcast. the biggest risk for comcast

equity was some crazy bidding war that would have driven up the price to really unpalatable levels and if comcast won in that situation it would have been an awful outcome. the fact they're walking away in a disciplined fashion at this point is a great outcome for the equity >> what about sky, though? are they overpaying or overchasing on that as well? should they walk away, too >> in my view they're overpaying a bit. i think sky is worth 13 pounds with the synergies they're paying 14.75 at the moment the magnitude of overpayment is worth about a dollar of shares of comcast stock it's a really bit of lost value but it doesn't matter. even if they bid up to 16 pounds, which i think is the limit where they will go, it's very inconsequential in the grand scheme of things

they've done that sooner than i would have expected at a lower price. i actually thought the fight could go higher for fox, so this is big relief, and it's why the stock is trading up today. >> yeah, it's been sort of reacting and then another boost today. so, lee, that leaves the original sports networks of fox. >> that could be a number of candidates you have the usual suspects and comcast for one with nbc sports and they own a number of rsns. at&t and they own several rsns and you have a lot of other media companies that have sports relationships and discovery owned euro sport could make sense and sinclair with the tennis channel and then you've got potential private equity who may be interested in it, and these do throw off cash flow and have multiples of 12 to 17 times cash flow and then you have potentially the otts that are out there and anybody from directv now to sling tv, all these virtual mvpds are putting

rsns on their distributor, and distribution channels over the top. there's potential interest from the yankees and buying back yes network which is 80% owned by fox. so potentially teams could be involved and buying back these rsns >> with that many potential buyers, does it seem like the valuation will stretch to a level where they will bring down the net cost to disney for the fox assets or is everyone pretty much looking at the same numbers and feel these networks are worth what everyone else thinks they're worth? >> everyone is looking at the same numbers and it is going to be the competitive marketplace and the variety of buyers and apparently disney may offer these networks to a number of buyers as compared to one single buyer and in that case, with a number of interested parties and a number of interested in different strategies they may very well drive up the price >> jonathan, what about disney are they overpaying now and is this a good deal for them and the fox assets that they'll walk away with? >> they're paying less than they might have, if the fight could

have kept going and we thought it could have gone up to $45, $46 a share and to walk away at $38 is a great outcome for disney relative to where it could have gone. if you look at the forecast they put in the latest -- in the latest proxy, they're not -- it doesn't seem like they're overpaying it. it seems like fox is getting full value for these assets plus most of the value of the synergies. so the economic value will go to fox shareholders the strategic value of putting these assets together over the next five or ten years is tremendous this will end up, i'm sure, being a good deal for disney >> and disney's stock is trading at a near high >> just quickly, if comcast were to get sky ultimately, is comcast done or are they going to be looking at other big continent. >> so what comcast showed by walking away in a disciplined fashion is it's not some crazy land grab to get assets at any cost what they characterize this deal as is a once in a lifetime

opportunity to pick up phenomenal assets that they never thought would trade. it's about these assets specifically so, no, i don't think they're -- i don't think they'll be on the war path for other assets just because they didn't get fox. >> okay. jonathan, thank you very much. lee, also thank you very much for joining us >> a few more layers revealed today in the controversy surrounding papa john's and its founder. two words you can't pronounce. controversy and papa john's. >> you said it's p.o. >> it's not papa as you said [music playing] (vo) progress is in the pursuit. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during summer of audi sales event. show of hands. let's get started. who wants customizable options chains?

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the controversy at papa john's getting wilder by the day. kate rogers has the latest details. >> hi, will. the stock closing on the alleged toxic culture at papa john's claiming it was run like an old boy's club, with schnatter installing loyalists to keep it that way it accused schnatter of multiple incidents of sexual harassment resulting in settlements it was just as bad and sometimes worse under the new ceo of the pizza chain. papa john's pointed to the audit the company is currently going through adding we take this matter seriously and if anything is found to be wrong we are determined to take appropriate action schnatter and his attorney patricia glaser denies the statement. the board and now the special committee have repeatedly acted without an investigation of the facts and contrary to their fiduciary duty to the shareholders it's the perfect example of red,

shoot, aim i talked to schnatter's lawyer yesterday and she said she's been asking the agency, if there was audio recording and he was saying it wasn't a racial epithet. she told me if there is a tape, let's hear it. back over to you >> kate, thank you very much for that and that does it for "the closing bell". >> see you tomorrow. "fast money" starts right now. "fast money" starts right now live from the nasdaq marketsite overlooking new york city's time square your traders are pete najarian and guy adami. the company reporting earnings moments ago. and we'll bring you the latest headlines and tell you what the street is saying right now, plus bitcoin back in the saddle and the crypto holding steady above 7,000 after a massive breakout, but arthur hayes, mr