♪ live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and mike santoli. a mixed day for the markets yesterday. the dow was down by 88 points. s&p off by 1 point the nasdaq up by close to 30 points this morning modest declines s&p down by a point. nasdaq off by a point. dow futures down by 7 points we'll continue to watch as we are in earnings season, a few stragglers reporting in asia, the nikkei up by 48 points the hang seng ended down half a percent. the shanghai was up by a third

of a percentage point. those markets are closed at this point. trading taking place in europe in some of the early markets there. it's a mixed picture things are relatively flat across the board dax is down barely cac is up a bit. >> i don't know why we're flashing these numbers on the screen and different names >> it's that new music for the computer >> fancy i'm told it's a glitch hard to read boards when they flash like that. the yield on the ten-year is 2.826% look at crude oil. oil up by 3.1% yesterday to a two-week high. this came after a drop in crude stockpiles wti down to 67.70 a barrel >> i saw that 2.81 on the

ten-year i thought where is the german bund >> where is it >> 0.38. >> yeah. >> how long is that german piece of paper 0.38 >> ten-year. >> can you explain that to me, santoli? >> you will get some euros back in ten years >> and they're euros, not even dollar dollars. >> so you wonder why we're at 2.80 >> a big reason. scarcity of yield in the world most of it coming from this country. and by the way, as the "wall street journal" noted today, all the professional investing world thinks rates are going up and is positioned that way and has been betting heavily that treasuries will fall and yield will go up >> for how long? >> most recently at a record that trade so it could be a phase where you have positioning that's in a

way, and the fed on friday, people are like wait and see what powell says >> seriously 0.35, 0.38 it is almost like the laws of the physical universe no longer apply -- >> for us, but the situation that puts the german yield that low is like -- i don't know. you need to go back to the drawing board for everything you ever thought about >> why is it because of -- >> the ecb is keeping it there deflation was the big risk if that's the rule for ten years, that's where it should be >> go back 10, 15 years talk to the smartest men in the world and describe that scenario >> you would point to japan. >> i guess >> what happened, did the market -- the longest bull ever? after today's trading. >> every day the story getting more true because it's getting

longer there's semantics involved here. we didn't close above the january high >> brian ross had a report -- i don't know where he is now >> he got picked up somewhere. >> home and garden network, but the market sold off 500 points when they thought there was something before the election. is there a constitutional crisis yet according to the market? i can't tell whether the market takes this seriously >> of course not if i look where it's trading >> but the market went up 30% during the impeachment of bill clinton. >> i don't know what the market ought to be pricing in in a practical way. which ever direction you want to follow these links down the chain. >> that's what i'm trying to figure out, if there is smoke versus fire. >> even if you want to say it will radically change the

electoral outcome for the midterms, okay will we be in a gridlock moment? >> even if you know that the -- that the democrats are going to take the house, they're playing down -- they're saying, no, no, nothing yet for impeachment. they don't want to run on impeachme impeachment. >> even if you played that out to logical consequences and it wasn't the same way that the clinton thing did, impeached by the house. >> the market was sensitive to this type of stuff when the president seemed vulnerable back in the comey stuff >> that was before tax reform and reforms. >> it's a hard line on trade they don't like it that's not necessarily something where the market will get twitchy about every one of these headlines especially when there's nothing specific to start to discount. >> right especially when earnings continue to come in so strong. >> absolutely. >> the greatest place in the

world, hawaii, following developments out of hawaii hoping for the best there. residents there bracing for a rare hit from a category 4 storm. hurricane lane could slam into the islands as soon as today winds exceeding 100 miles per hour the slow movement of the storm increases the threat of prolonged heavy rainfall which causes a lot of the damage and flash flooding here's a look at the video of the storm shot from the international space station. it's a big one saudi arabia is denying reports that it's scrapped plans for an saudi aramco ipo. earlier reuters reported that the ipo was called off an advisory group works on the listing was reportedly disbanded. the chairman of saudi aramco said in a statement that the government remains committed to the ipo of saudi aramco at a time of its own choosing when

conditions are optimum a recent rise in oil prices has made the ipo less urgent hard to believe it wasn't that long ago we were at 40 the timing will depend on favorable market condition the and a downstream acquisition which the company will pursue in the next few months. sources say the saudi crown prince still wants to take saudi aramco public at some point in the future shares of l brands falling after the parent of victoria's secret cut its profit outlook for the year last month victoria secret warned weak sales during its semiannual event forcing it to extend the offer that stock down by 2.8%. shares of williams-sonoma is up about 7% today. second quarter earnings and revenue stopping estimates on

strength in online sales and broad growth across brands the company also raising its full-year guidance. nordstrom up 2%. the upscale department store launching a $1.5 billion stock buyback program. last week nordstrom reported better than expected earnings and raised its outlook for the year president trump was up and tweeting at 1:00 a.m he wrote no collusion, rigged witch hunt let's get to eamon javers with a look at today's political stories. have not heard ambien and not being able to sleep. that's weird at 1:00 a.m your fingers are twitchy for tomorrow do you have something that you press that says weekend? >> i type it out i like to do it the old-fashioned way. >> you do. >> very strange. the president's tweet last night.

he does not normally tweet at 1:00 a.m obviously the president was awake, this was on his mind overnight. we'll see where we go this morning with this. yesterday the white house sort of struggled to find answers to a lot of questions that the press corps was bringing sarah huckabee sanders came into the press briefing room, her line that she repeated again and again was that the president has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him the white house emphasizing that point repeatedly throughout the day. there was an interesting exchange in the briefing room yesterday between a reporter and sarah huckabee sanders over the issue of whether or not the president has ever lied. >> can you stand here and say the president has never lied to the american people? has he lied? >> that's a ridiculous accusation

the president has done nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. >> the trouble that the white house is having now is the president said yesterday in an interview that he was aware of the stormy daniels and other payments, but not until after they were made earlier he had denied ever being aware of them in that air force one commentary also michael cohen, the president's former lawyer who has now pled guilty on eight counts he has released audio tapes of what he says is himself and the president discussing the payments before they were made that would imply that the president knew about them all along. all of those things can't possibly be true at same time. the president is in a difficult position explaining what happened here. and reporters are asking questions. we'll see what impact is on the president, the presidency, and also the prosecution as we go forward of this special counsel investigation. >> we have to wait for that.

you try to figure all this out, eamon, and there's -- you look around, a lot of noise a lot of non-lawyers with opinions there are lawyers -- >> lawyers have opinions, too. >> we've seen this before. you were talking about the market impact on this. the american governmental system has been here before we've seen the resignation of the president of the united states, the impeachment of the president of the united states who ultimately was not convicted in the senate. we know the system with handle these stresses that's part of what gives the market confidence here to mike's point there is no element of the trump agenda that markets want as badly as tax cuts they already got that. there's nothing left in the cupboard here of the agenda. the trade agenda is something they don't necessarily like. if you play this out in terms of what the market wants, the

market is probably relying on the idea there will be an orderly transition, if there is a transition if not, the system handled that before as well >> i don't know if they're thinking transition yet. >> i'm just playing out the string you either have an early end to the presidency or you don't. in one case or the other we've seen both of those before is my point. markets know that. markets know the history of it there's no element of the trump agenda that markets are looking forward to in a way that they were looking forward to those tax cuts >> everything is like a snapshot of a point in time at this point i don't know who to listen to necessarily but if it were -- if the mueller investigation at this point, if this was everything, manafort, cohen, payoffs to stormy daniels, if the additional stuff that cohen is talking about and lanny davis, who knows whether you can prove it, too.

>> you have a problem because lanny davis is out there floating the idea that michael cohen, the president's former attorney, knows something about the president's advanced knowledge of computer hacking by russian intelligence >> mueller, until he presents things, we have no idea. it's tough to make any type of prognosis about the overall thing. but where we are now, i'm getting the feeling that this doesn't rise to the level of even the house -- maybe. we don't know about the generic points, it is 11 points again, i thought it was down to 3 democrat versus -- did you see that >> yeah. there's a lot of polls out there. step back and look at the moment where we are we saw this tweet from the president yesterday about paul manafort, the president praising paul manafort the day after he had been convicted on eight counts, praising him saying he's a good man with a good family.

praising him for not cooperating with federal law enforcement for not breaking so that's something we're not used to seeing from presidents, encouraging people who have been convicted of crimes not to cooperate. >> he did define breaking in his tweet as making up things. >> yeah. >> right >> i don't know. would wait until after the election any way that would be suicide to do anything -- tofrnlgt pa >> to pardon him >> yeah. >> the question is what would republicans in the house tolerate could that be spun could you spin it? could you get away with it >> the ones in the senate matter if they take the house, they could do the impeachment easily. >> i'm talking about before the election if the president were to issue a pardon today for paul manafort, the question would be what would house republicans want to do about it >> i have the priceline ceo

coming on. i love shatner, playing that music. >> that's right. >> don't you 88 years old >> i'm a star trek nerd. >> did you know he's 88? >> shatner >> yes >> 8ye8 years old? >> not like the amazing race >> he's still punching plastic aliens in the face >> going across lagoons, stuff like that. >> that's great. he talked to someone on some other -- in some other world about life and extending it. i think he did spock wasn't there, i guess. maybe it doesn't work on vulcans. right? >> i wasn't listening. >> i know. >> thanks -- i said shatner must have talked to someone about eternal youth when he was on one of those travels to different worlds, brought this back with him. >> i think vulcans do have -- >> he's dead already >> that was an unusual

circumstance, because he got stuck in the -- he gave up his life to save the rest of the crew you don't watch star trek enough >> i'm talking about leonard nim nimoy. >> i know. the united states latest round of tariffs on chinese goods kicking in overnight drawing immediate retaliation from beijing. the ufrs .s. imposing tariffs $2 billion worth of goods the chinese retaliating. when does the delegation get here >> they're already here. >> how are they doing? >> didn't stop this. >> didn't stop it. they're described as low to mid level. >> the president himself said he doesn't have high expectations >> that's lowering expectations. >> could be. >> what about nafta? is that done >> u.s. commerce secretary wilbur ross says he is

optimistic about striking a new deal with mexico on nafta. >> we're trying to get to a deal we're making progress. we don't have a deal just yet. but i think a deal is very likely within reach in the very, very near future >>s are ross also said he thinks the u.s. in his words is way ahead of the game. let's get you caught up on the broader markets. joining us is jeff corzenat and jay jacobs gentlemen, we've been talking about these huge political headlines. market doesn't seem to care. jeff, should they? >> there's been too much sky is falling talk along the way i think the markets are used to this we're taking a wait and see attitude with the latest developments at this point we don't think the markets should be overly focused

on that. >> jay >> i think markets need to think about how does this affect the bottom line for these companies. there's so many degrees of separation between what we see in the head leans and how theads and how that effects earnings. >> let's talk about the trade issues those are front and center it does seem like we've made progress with both mexico and then canada being able to come in with nafta. what would that mean for markets? >> i'll jump in. this impacts a lot of the customers we bank across the industrial heartland there's good news that we seem to be rolling out on on nafta and making progress there. we think the china issue is much more problematic and won't lend itself to easy resolution. >> what's a bigger issue for your clients >> mexico and canada are so

intertwined with the midwestern economy, fundamentally that's more important but it's also one where there was not as much doubt about the outcome. the china issue is to some degree one where i think the markets and our customer base may be too optimistic about a resolution that's a bit of a mixed bag. what we're watching most closely with regard to political impact and trade impact is business confidence that's the big driver of capex, that's the next leg up of economic growth and the driver of productivity. >> business confidence has been strong >> it's stayed strong. the business community by in large is giving the president the benefit of the doubt that he is looking out for their best interests. >> jay, we had strong earnings that have come in, at least for most companies we've been watching that is hard to ignore how long do you think that will

be the issue that drives markets ahead? >> when you see earnings like we've seen this quarter where it's 25% year over year growth, it's hard for the market to discern a company that got 16% growth or 24% growth in q1 2019, when we've seen a full year of tax cuts and jobs act, that's when earnings numbers will come down year over year, you'll see them in high single digits. so a company can have a different impact on that stock >> so you're saying it's not a stock picker's market which we hear from just about everybody who comes on >> but it will be in six months perhaps. i come from the massive investing world, so we are thinking about where people want to allocate. if you see a situation where earnings come down and people are discerning about where will we see earnings, people will look at sectors and industries

rather than the s&p 500. coming up, americans are increasing their retirement savings, and the fastest growing group of savers, the older millennials. details ahead. maybe they're working part-time, dabbling in the work force, some of them. the new survey is out next as we head to break, the biggest winners and losers in the dow.

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according to a new study from bankrate.com, 28% of employedamericans are saving

more for retirement this year compared to last year. of those polled, millennials took the lead for prioritizing retirement savings joining us is greg mcbride from bankrate.com you've been doing this for a while. we have some historical numbers. that's a good number in terms of increasing it's one of the best we've seen. only 17% or so are saving less this year. is that right? 18%? >> 13% >> 13% >> and that is down sharply. that's the lowest we've seen positives on both ends of the equation not only more people saving more, but it's gaining momentum because more and more people are in that camp each year fewer and fewer are saving less. a flip-flop from 2011. 2011 the people cutting back were outnumbering those increasing retirement savings by a 2-1 margin >> what determines that, would you say? we see consumer confidence numbers and the economy is doing

better or is it wage increases? expendable income? inflation? what goes into the ability to save >> i think it's the wage growth. that pushed it over the edge we saw a real mentality shift over the financial crisis. people realized how important it is to save for emergencies and retirement they knew they were behind they weren't able to move the needle and how much they were putting away despite the recognition of how important it was. once we started to see wage growth pick up and become more broad based, now the needle is moving, we're seeing more people following through with actions backing up those good intentions >> the millennials that are -- that was it? they're the older ones 28 to 38 or something? what's the cut off for an older millennial >> 28 to 37. they were leading the way. nearly 4 in 10 of millennials in that age group have increased

their retirement savings contributions in 2018 over 2017. that's positive. to the only that people are starting young, but that they're increasing the amount they're doing each year. two big steps in the right direction. >> and some of them are entering the work force, which is good news i didn't know that was -- when did that start >> this labor market, if you want a job, you can get one. good news is a lot of people getting jobs -- >> that's not the kind of experience i'm looking for sorry. i did see that earlier on twitter, a lot are leaving high-paying jobs to travel or are on safari or something no >> they before nwere in the no . >> older boomers, 64 to -- they're unable to. they need it, but they don't

have the disposable income they're lagging in terms of retirement they're the ones closest to retirement >> yeah. more than any other age group they're pointing to stagnant income as to why they can't boost contributions. one question we asked was for people not increasing, what's the main reason why? a lot of this centered around the limited dollars that households have at their disposal so stagnant income, household expenses going up, other financial priorities, unplanned emergency. again, times are good now. we're seeing people increase retirement contributions those numbers tell us when tough times come again, retirement savings is likely to be the casualty >> all right greg, thank you. we'll leave it there that's -- so many positives. seems like all these data points we should enjoy it >> yeah. that's in our nature to think when will it end >> i know it is.

>> you know, yesterday target saying best retail environment i've ever seen i wonder who that's been colored for 15 years that's been such a struggle >> house is not burning, media types. we can't help it when we come back, today's top stories including new details on a dramatic showdown between two of the world's top golf golfers. and alibaba set to report in the next half hour we'll tell you what to expect straight ahead. as we head to break, a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers you always pay your insurance on time.

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welcome back you're watching "squawk box" live from the nasdaq market site in times square. good morning among the stories front and center, hawaii on high alert as residents brace for a category 4 storm. hurricane lane could slam into the islands as soon as today with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour this could be the strongest hurricane to hit hawaii in a quarter century. the latest round of tariffs on chinese goods kicking in overnight drawing retaliation

from beijing the u.s. imposing 25% tariffs on $16 billion of chinese worth of goods. china responding with 25% tariffs on an equal amount of goods. and saudi arabia is denying reports that the kingdom is scrapping plans to list aramco u.s. equity futures at this hour now in the red. down 18, down 9. down 818 it's down. >> down 9. >> it's in the red you can see the s&p off a little the nasdaq down about 7. apple removing facebook's onavo security app from the store. they say the app no longer complies with the privacy rules. it's a free security app that lets users access vpns to browse and download other apps with a

greater degree of privacy. facebook saying we've always been clear about the information that is collected and how it is used as a developer on apple's platform we follow the rules they've put in place alibaba is set to report any time now this morning. joining us for a look at the numbers is ivan feinseth from tigress financial partners these numbers are going to be big, but the question is how much the company is reinvesting at this point, right >> the expectation is for strong year over year revenue growth. i like companies that continue to invest in growth, especially when they grow as fast as alibaba is >> let's put a finer point on this when you say strong revenue growth, we're talking about revenue expected to grow over 50%. >> yes >> 81 billion yuan up from 52 billion yuan a year ago. you're also talking about profit numbers expected to come down

about 60%. >> profit is not the near-term focus. it's similar to amazon alibaba is an e-commerce and logistics company. they continued to expand their capabilities and their presence. like amazon they are also getting further into the merger with e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail. they continue to invest and enter partnerships with mall operators and retail stores. they're expanding their advertising platform and their cloud hosting platform >> how do you read the weak action in the stock? along with the chinese markets, stock is down severely obviously alibaba is not a big exporter it's not directly touched by the potential for tariffs or a pinch on exports from china, is it just capital flowing out of china, risk appetite how do you interpret that? i guess if it doesn't have much to do with alibaba's business, is this a buying opportunity >> i think the selloff from the recent high of 210 to 180 is a

buying opportunity the chinese stock market as measured is down over 25% since its peak in january. when this whole tariff war started. tariffs i don't believe directly affect them, i also don't believe we'll see a significant amount of tariffs. i believe president trump's strategy is to eliminate tariffs by fighting with tariffs >> but if the path is to take advantage of the fact that the chinese economy seems wobbly, that doesn't sound great for alibaba. >> i think it is good for alibaba. the chinese economy is strong. they're growing year over year gdp at 6%. alibaba continues to grow their business and continues to partner with companies globally. >> if the economy weakened, would it be a problem? >> if the economy anywhere weakens, it will be a problem for a company that focuses on

retail and ultimately connects with the consumer. >> describe how big alibaba is we say it's a mirror image of amazon, but it's quite a bit bigger when you dig through what they have. are they the only player in town when it comes to china >> the leading ones are tencent and alibaba. the amount of yuan equates to 11 billion u.s. dollars so they're doing 11 billion a quarter, close to a run rate of $50 billion a year still sizable. they still have a lot of growth ahead. i think their plan is to continue to expand outside of china. >> you have a buy rating what would make you change your mind >> a significant deline in return on capital. my mow cuss is on companies that earn above the cost of capital the more a company increases their return on capital over time or creates a bigger economic profit, it leads to a larger share price

that's the key driver. doesn't matter to me gross margin on sales, sales growth. it's the return on capital >> ivan, thank you for coming in. >> thank you >> tigress brings me to tiger pair of golfers taking a page out of boxing playbook tiger woods and phil mickelson will face off in pay-per-view. check this out check this out tiger is holding a left-handed club i think that gives phil the advantage. it must be a left-handed match, using left-handed golf clubs i flipped the image to make it look cool in the ad. >> not sure what happened there. i saw one of the guys on the pga tour pointed that out. if guys played left-handed,

check this out you want to see a pure -- that's the sickest thing i've seen. it looks like his right-handed swing. >> maybe it wasn't just an ad. >> i wondered. tiger hit some recovery shots left-handed. it's thanksgiving. the two men will play for 9 million purse and winner take all golf duel in vegas it used to be norman versus faldo. >> this is the match everyone wants to see >> now although they may not -- tiger is 42. phil is about -- >> 45, 46. >> maybe -- >> 48. >> is he 48? >> no one has won a major in a while. phil is different. he's in great shape. it will be great to watch it

the fedexcup and this playoff has gotten more and more exciting this year is big with koepka they're all out in ridgewood >> we're supposed to go today. >> that's what i heard i heard you're going they're all there. people want to win this. a lot of money involved there. tiger's back i bet the tv ratings will be good this weekend. >> you think >> yeah. >> you think they'll talk trash? >> phil and tiger? in november? >> at the weigh-in >> like the rumble in the jungle >> that would be good. that would be fun to watch $9 million why wouldn't they do it? play a round of golf they always had a good rivalry tiger has mellowed a little. i think he's a nice guy now. in the old days -- if i was tiger woods -- >> wouldn't want to deal with people >> i heard some nice stories from people who saw him out and

about. >> the guy that passed away, tiger was really emotional on the interview. okay ohio state is suspending urban meyer without pay forgames of tn this in response to his mishandling of abuse allegations against his assistant coach. the board also decided that athletic director gene smith will serve an unpaid suspension. the board said neither man condoned or covered up abuse but failed to take sufficient management action. coming up our guest host at the top of the hour, walter isaacson, former editor of "time" magazine. >> wasn't he with the clinton news network for a while we'll talk politics, trade and social media security and more and central bankers are gathering in jackson hole for the annual economic symposium.

esther george speaks to steve liesman at 7:30 a.m. then tomorrow on "squawk box," we'll hear from james bullard, loretta mester, stay tuned you're watching "squawk box.

time for the executive edge. we'll start with bitcoin news. the u.s. securities and exchange commission rejected applications for nine bitcoin-based etfs. the proposed funds were filed by pro shares, direct shares. the s.e.c. expressed concern about fraud and manipulation of the bitcoin markets. bitcoin is in the mid 6,000. 6,417 today. up a little. also keep an eye on the australian dollar. it's been under pressure as additional pressure mounts on the australian prime minister to step down. this comes after three of malcolm turnbull's top cabinet members resigned and threw their support behind his main rival.

we'll keep an eye on this developing story and bring you more as we get it. when we return, summer vacation season is drawing to a close. if you are looking for trip ideas for labor day we have you covered. right now as we head to break, a quick check of what's happening in the european markets. dax weaker both the cac and the ftse up a bit. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your manufacturing business. & so this won't happen. because you've made sure this sensor and this machine are integrated. & she can talk to him, & yes... atta, boy. some people assign genders to machines. and you can be sure you won't have any problems. except for the daily theft of your danish. not cool! at&t provides edge to edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on.

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its almost labor day. if you haven't already planned a trip for the long weekend, our next guest has a list -- any way. i'm going to ask you about one of them, the hottest spots. joining us more with brett keller. becky, buffalo is -- all right. sell me. sell me on buffalo. buffalo, new york? >> yes, this is the buffalo of today, not the buffalo of ten years ago. >> what's your interesting -- >> i'm from idaho. in connecticut now. >> sun valley or buffalo

i'll take buffalo. >> absolutely. >> this labor day it is the national buffalo wing festival, drawing in consumers from all over the world, i'm sure buffalo's a great city. great place to be outdoors. >> i've been there. >> nice places to eat. niagara falls. >> what you like, you go around this city, you know there was a lot of money, industry and arts 100 years ago. there's a lot of these great old buildings -- >> absolutely. >> i'm only kidding. i have heard its a good place to be from. >> the millennials love to go there. new hot spots. >> minneapolis i can see that. >> ten thousand lakes. >> great time to be in the midwest or slightly to the east there. interestingly, over labor weekend, we've got taylor swift performing on friday and saturday night, which is clearly pushing that into a top trending

market. the taylor swift effect, absolutely. >> st. louis, they finished recently that area around the arch -- >> beautiful place to be outdoors especially over labor day. great weather that time of year. >> i don't think you need to put orlando on there as someplace new, obviously. new orleans is back. boston's the greatest city in the country. >> these are always in the top places to visit. we also have trending cities and minneapolis is one of those but madison, wisconsin is another. they've got a lot of great restaurants. farm to market trend is really pushing there. >> barcelona's hot, paris is hot. >> europe is very hot right now especially when you package your flight and hotel together. >> that's what priceline recently did. i didn't really understand it. what's different now about how you're packaging things? >> the most important things to consumer when booking travel is getting the lowest price and a

little known secret to a lot of travelers now is packaging your flight and hotel together is the very best way to get the best prices in travel. the reason the best airlines, hotels and rental car companies in the world will give to us highly negotiated very low prices only to be used in a package scenario. i saw this a couple years ago as a ceo and we need to rebuild our packaging engine to be faster, lighter and to work on a mobile device. people are not planning three or four months in advance. they're booking at the last minute. >> one issue i've had when i've booked through a third party service if there's something that goes wrong with your flight if you have to change it, airlines in particular are a little less willing to work with you, saying, you didn't buy it from us, go deal with the people you bought it from. >> some may give you that impression. most airlines want you to have a great experience especially the best airlines in the united states and we are always behind

our consumers' back. if you've got an issue, call us directly. we'll work with the airline directly to resolve whatever issue you have. >> if i don't use priceline, what am i using typically? who is your -- who do you worry about? who's trying to take your business >> a lot of consumers will go direct to the source themselves. if you're a frequent flyer you'll book directly with the airline or hotel itself. you never want to talk about your competitors, but expedia is one of the best in the country as well. they're a direct competitor of ours. we're always trying to find services and businesses that outflank them. >> when you talk about packaging these trips, is it traditionally hotels i wonder if there are preferences towards an airbnb type lodging sharing kind of arrangement? >> absolutely. we've seen consumers are very interested in booking what we call nontraditional hotel accommodations. so priceline and our sister

company booking.com have been building and amassing a very lorj portfolio of condos, apartments b & bs and we've got millions of listings of actual room listings available on our site to bring consumers into that property as well. >> they tell me we've got to go. i'm very predictable. there's no chance of him coming -- a new ten year contract with priceline for us. >> william shatner is still on contract. he's one of the most amazing people in hollywood. i've been working with him directly for 20 years. he negotiates all of his own contracts. he has yelled at me for doing an imitation of him and -- thank you. >> we'll be joined by walter isakson. stick around.

markets are focused on three areas of the world this morning. in washington, waves of political news. in beijing retaliation as new tariffs kick in and jackson hole, where fed heads are gathering for their annual summit. we'll break down all three areas of the world and what it means for your money. apple unfriends a facebook security app. it doesn't comply with privacy rules. we'll get reaction from our guest host walter isakson straight ahead. and the big island is bracing for impact, a rare hit from a category four storm with winds exceeding 100 miles per

hour expected in hawaii tonight. the latest on the storm's path is straight ahead. the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. announcer: live from the beating heart of business, new york. this is "squawk box." good morning, everybody. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick. the u.s. equity futures at this hour we've been watching and they've been a little bit lower this morning, but you're talking about some pretty modest declines. dow futures down. the federal reserve is in the spotlight for the next two days. the kansas city feds gets under

way. an ipo by saudi arabia may not be dead after all. saudi arabia's energy minister is denying a reuters report saying an initial public offering had been called off. if and when market conditions are right it remains committed. the government will be out with its weekly jobless claims. that comes at 8:30 eastern time with a very slight increase expected. at 10:00 a.m. eastern we've got new home sales for july and economists on that number are looking for 2.2% increase. earnings just in from china ecommerce giant alibaba. these numbers are in yuan, not in dollars. earnings of 8.04 a share. slightly below the estimate of 8.15 though up 33% from a year

ago. however, revenue was above wall street forecasts and jumped 61% from the year earlier. cloud revenue is up 93% while digital media revenue was up 46%. monthly average users on mobile platform totalled 634 million up by 17 million from the prior quarter. how did you hoist this upon me >> i didn't do it. >> you've been looking for it all morning. it landed in your yep. >> foist is a good word. >> i didn't think of it. i did laugh when i saw it. >> when you read you divide by -- why didn't you do that realtime >> i'm glad they just had percentage moves. i can do that. >> the stocks in dollars. >> all right. good. let's talk some more about the legal troubles surrounding two of president trump's key allies. they've been weighing a little bit on market sentiment.

eamon javers joins us with more. we may say its weighing on market sentiments but the market seems to be doing pretty much okay. >> we were talking about that in the last hour. the president is talking about that right now, actually. fox news recorded an interview with him yesterday, they've been rolling out chunks of that during the course of the morning this morning and one of the segments that they've just rolled out, the president talks about the prospect of impeachment and what it might mean for the market. here's that moment. >> i guess its something like high crimes and all. i don't know how you can impeach somebody who's done a great job. i'll tell you what, if i ever got impeached, i think the market would crash. everybody would be very poor. >> the president there saying that if he got impeached the market would crash, everybody would be very oor. the president also on fox news talking about the idea of the department of justice and fbi investigation in to some of his

former associates. this coming in a week in which his former campaign manager was found guilty by a jury, his former attorney pled guilty in new york and now the president expressing some frustrations with the way prosecutors investigate these crimes particularly the idea of flipping. here's what he said. >> if you can say something bad about donald trump and you'll go down to two years or three years which is the deal he made, in all fairness to him, most people are going to do that and i've seen it many times. i've had many friends involved in this stuff. its called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal. >> that's when prosecutors persuade a lower level witness to turn over evidence in order to protect themselves in order to advance an investigation into somebody higher up the food chain. the president himself is much higher in the food chain than either paul manafort or michael cohen. the president expressing some frustration that prosecutors might offer deals to those

people lower than him in order to advance an investigation. we'll see how that plays, but we've been talking this morning about the idea the market be sanguined despite all these headlines. the president suggesting the opposite. suggesting the markets would crash if he was impeached. >> thank you. joining us right now to talk about the legal drama our guest host for the hour, cnbc contributor, man of many hats, walter isakson. he's an advisory partner. >> thank you for having me. >> we're also joined by former assistant u.s. attorney for the district of new york, ali hoenig. >> thank you. the idea of flipping, it almost ought to be illegal. your thoughts? >> that is a really problematic notion to a former prosecutor. you know who hates people who flip is corrupt ceos and leaders

of gangs and leaders of the mafia because the way that we build cases against the leaders of closed, corrupt, criminal organizations is by flipping people up the chain. that's the best way to build a case. if it wasn't for cooperating witnesses, we never would have convicted john gotti. so the notion of outlawing cooperating witnesses is problematic. >> i understand your point, to the president's point, why wouldn't you if you can go in and say i'm going to knock several years off my term, the question comes down to how reliable of a witness and credible of a witness is michael cohen? >> that's exactly the battle that plays out at most every trial. the defense lawyer as we just saw the defense lawyer will argue, look at this person's incentives. he wants to please the government. he's trying to get himself a better deal and the prosecution typically will respond, you're darn right. he's in trouble. he's a criminal right alongside this defendant and he's best

interest now is to tell the truth and that ultimately ends up in the jury's lap. >> i mean, following all this playing out, the market we've been talking about not paying attention to that. i don't know if that's because its too long of a road to try and figure out all the different directions this takes or if the market doesn't care about what happens at this point because we've already got taxes, tax reform and regulatory reform in the works. what's your take on what happens next, particularly now that new york state as subpoenaed michael cohen too or wants to talk to him? >> i'm no market expert, but if you had asked me what i expect out of the mueller investigation, i think ultimately will see a report from mueller that will go through rod rosenstein and then to congress. we'll all see it. it'll become a political question. what does the congress do? does the house vote to impeach and if so, does the senate convict which puts all the more impetus on the midterms. michael cohen is a big x factor now. it looks like he has not

cooperated with the southern district of new york, it looks like the plea he took is what we call just a straight plea, meaning there's no cooperation attached. now, his lawyers sort of advertising -- come subpoena him and he'll talk. i guess it'll be up to those respective bodies whether he's telling the truth. what he's trying to do is back door cooperation, in other words, the southern district doesn't seem like they want to sign him up as a cooperator and so i think what lanny davis wants to do is go in front of the judge and say, they didn't want mr. cohen as a cooperator but he was out there giving testimony to anyone that wanted so he should be a benefit. >> i don't know about the collusion side of things and this cohen -- with what lanny davis is saying, he's at least advertising maybe there's something there that cohen knows or will try to move. >> yeah. >> but just with the manafort conviction, i saw that you said that the -- anyone who called it a witch hunt that they're now being -- that its being refuted. you know when trump says witch

hunt, i know you know exactly what he's talking about, so how does manafort being convicted of things that happened years ago in his own -- as far as the irs in his own situation, how does that vindicate that it hasn't been a witch hunt in terms of collusion? i don't see how that's related. >> what you're saying is when the president uses that term witch hunt -- he means coordinating with russia on hacking the election. >> right. when manafort gets convicted, why do you say 8its a bad day fo the witch hunt >> it was a contested case. manafort -- >> how does it relate to the collusion side >> it does not relate to the hacking of the dnc. no question about it. >> specifically about witches we haven't -- >> also, look the conduct goes into 2016. one of the -- >> the next trial could be interesting. >> yeah. even at the virginia trial, one of the bank loans at issue,

remember, manafort sends an email into jared kushner saying -- >> that's $60 million from pro-russian ukrainian entities. there's smoke all over the place. i'm just looking -- i don't know whether its there. >> these cases are in these jurisdictions because mueller kicked them out because they don't have nothing to do with russia >> i don't know about that. manafort's was mueller's own people. that trial was done by the special counsel's people. he kicked michael cohen over to southern district. there's millions of documents. that i believe may just be a forced multiplier. he needs these folks. the other thing i would say, there are plenty of crimes on the books other than, you know, conspiring with a foreign country to hack an election. i don't think the books closed on that yet. i still think we need to see what mueller comes out with. it's still a great concern if the president's involved in other crimes as well. >> walter, you're a student of history. how do you read this >> you got to let it play out.

to go back to joe's point, i don't think mueller has proved anything yet about collaborating or conspiring or colluding with russians on the -- >> what if he did? >> if he did, it becomes a political question. >> let's say that lanny davis knew before donald trump jr. meetings there was going to be something, he had heard that there's going to be -- maybe even guccifer, is that a high crime to know that if nothing came out of the don jr. meeting does that rise to the level -- >> probably for the republicans in the senate really to -- the founders of this country would -- were either clever or made mistakes. they used phrases that are really malleable. high crimes and merchandise. why would you throw merchandise in it? it becomes much more of a political issue. it was that way with clinton and with andrew johnson. it'll be that way here.

what it comes down to in this case is if you feel there's a big culture of corruption that's been supposed then you'll end up voting perhaps for democrats in the house, the house gets to decide whether to impeach on these. >> that's when you were saying that there are other crimes. you remember that when we did this -- when it happened with clinton, his approval rating finally went up. he finished it out. he hurt the republicans to do it with the linda tripp side. i wonder if it wasn't directly related to the trump -- whatever, would the american people want that to be grounds for removing if it wasn't what the whole thing started with. >> its an interesting question. thinking back to bill clinton. remember, he was impeached for committing perjury in a civil deposition -- >> which might be happening now too according to -- >> right. we have the ag's case going. we have other cases.

on the other hand, i was on a panel yesterday with a democratic congressman and he expressed some reluck tants. he's aware of the same history you just mentioned. efforts to impeach are rarely successful. its very unlikely you'll get 67 votes in the senate to convict and they're aware that have backlash with bill clinton 20 years ago. >> it would mean politically, though, already you're seeing pushback in terms of approving kavanaugh and other issues -- >> you're also seeing pushback with some republicans on the trail now who are in general elections as opposed to finishing their primaries, trump won largely on an idea of draining the swamp and as joe knows better than anybody, there was a big perception there was a swamp in washington back in those years. i think this hurts him politically and that's all that really matters. we're not going to have a trial of trump in a federal court and we're probably not going to have

a trial in the senate of impeachment. the voters say, hey, this is just a mess. >> we've got people on the left saying that, i mean, saying things like he could 10% of trump voters -- he could kill their parents and they'd still vote. they're saying insane things -- i don't know whether his really strong supporters think that manafort is a swamp versus what they think that deep state, they think that steele and comey -- that's what they think the swamp s. they're not calling manafort the swamp. >> correct. >> they think the people behind this whole thing are the swamp. >> i would say that's 20% of the 35% that are part of his core base. all you have to move is 5% of the people who support him, you get him down to the low 30s. like-wise, they can still sort of like trump's attitude, but say, i'm not going to vote for republicans now.

its just too corrupt. >> some of his numbers even in normal polls -- not rasmus kin but some of those are above 40. >> i thought 35% was the average but you may be right. >> wishful maybe, but no. >> walter's going to be with us for the rest of the hour. trade tariffs, the president's legal whoas, the fed all giving wall street a lot to think about. as we head to break, here's a look at the biggest premarket winners and losers on the dow.

let's get straight to our 7:00 a.m. markets roundtable. here on set is jason draho. our guest host is walter isakson. he's just rich from all the books he's written so he has asset allocation as well, right,

walter >> i wish i did. so thank you so much for putting me in your category. >> jason, i love talking to asset allocation when the german fund is 38 basis points because i don't want any bonds, i just don't. do i need some still just to insulate my portfolio from what happens with the equity exposure >> its always good to have bonds in your portfolio. -- >> you can get your money back. >> the thing you have to think about what's it doing to your portfolio. if something happens, you go from 2-8 or 2-5. you might lose equity. given that we're at 2.8, its not a great return, you get a little bit of money at least on your cash. it gives you that defensive protection. >> what exactly are you

recommending how much cash would you say? >> it depends on the investor. we always advise clients to have essentially enough cash on hand or liquid assets to cover their expenses for three years. what is your long-term strategy? how much equity risk are you willing to take? it depends on how close to your retirement, things of that sort. >> one of your quotes is finally, fixed income market participants are back in the game, back in the game. they finally have something because rates are above zero. really i know you've been waiting a long time, but should i be excited about what i can get with either short-term equivalence or bonds right now if bonds are going up, it doesn't matter if they're going up from low levels, they're still going to be positive >> that's correct. in our estimation, will continue to see them going up for the rest of this year and into 2019

despite some discussions in the market potentially otherwise and its better than zero. we're approaching two, 2.5% depending on what your duration is in those short-term securities and likely to continue rising as we go forward. >> so as far as, you do have opinions on stocks you think we're in the seventh inning stretch, is that a fair description? what does that mean? we're singing "take me ott to the ballgame -- take me out to the ball gaim," is that right. >> we're not looking for extra innings at this point. it's a long game whether you're in regulation time or extra innings. we're still overweight our equity position. we have drawn back a little bit. we're also overweight credit in our fixed income position. so both of those lead for an outlook that continues to be an

economy growing at a fairly steady pace. from a duration standpoint, we're shorter just given what's been happening from a yield curve and our expectation for rates. >> if i wasn't sitting at home -- i guess i just stay where i am, basically. nothing's really changed recently >> not much. you want to stay invested. the outlook is still really good in the global economy and the u.s. economy. we're probably past the midpoint of the cycle. there's no sign this is coming to an end in the next 12 months and it could go on a lot longer than that. the worst you can do is try to be too cautious. its better to be invested than on the sides. >> one of the areas is t seems like -- you have seen this tee ver jens -- dever jens on how the markets behave -- >> the past few months has been

one of the most extreme in history which means you'll get general mean reversion. the big move in rates has probably already played out. the question mark is, how does the tariff and trade situation play out if this escalates, its bad for the rest of the world. if it doesn't, the rest of the world can catch up. >> let me ask you about china. the stimulus, they seem to be trying to keep their markets alive, but if china starts to recede and it goes into a problematic economy, how bad is that for us? >> its obviously indirect effect because china is one of the bigge biggest marginal to growth. we're not going to be completely unaffected. what china does is one of the

biggest question marks do they bring something to the table or do they still have a hard line? >> we'll find out tomorrow some of that. >> debbie and jason, thank you. mike, i had a thought. >> thanks for warning me in advance. >> well, you look shocked when i said i had a thought, though. i know that economic expansions do not die of old age. >> right. >> do bull markets die of old age? >> everyone's saying no and that's true. >> i think they can. i think sentiment can kill a bull market and i don't think sentiment -- maybe i don't think that kills an economic expansion. >> nobody dies of old age. so in old age you become more vulnerable to smaller challenges and that -- >> you know what i mean? the economy shouldn't necessarily -- we have to do something wrong. usually there's a mistake or something. >> you run out of the ability to put resources to work in a profitable way after a long

time. >> stocks if they're overloved and everyone is acting on their bullish -- >> self-defeating, yeah. i wouldn't say that's eminent right now. all right. i went through the last time so now we have another minute -- >> that's okay. i wanted to ask walter this, any way, just expanding on your point. >> you have the trade talks with china, them trying to get a framework in the next two days -- >> you think we get a framework out of this. >> no, i don't think we are going to. i think they are trying to and that framework if it included things like the evaluation of the chinese currency or some -- if they just had some sense of an agreement, it gets back to what joe says which is the emotions get better. people start loving things better. where i come from, new orleans, we're seeing a really bad effect of the trade, soy beans are down

30% going out of the port of new orleans, aluminum and steel -- so its tough. >> i want to ask you about -- >> its now late august. when we come back, apple removing a facebook security app from the app store. 'ltawel lk more about that in just a moment. aflac!? no-good break. gooood break. i'm so sorry we can't make your barbecue. i'm just sick about it. aflac!? different kind of sick. if i can't work after surgery, how am i gonna pay my rent? all these bills? aflac! oh, aflac! and they pay you cash in just one day. see how aflac helps cover everyday expenses at aflac.com.

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the federal reserve in focus this week after president trump criticized fed chairman jerome powell. now fed heads are meeting in jackson hole and it could create more than usual volatility for the markets. steve liesman, another cushy assignment here. he joins us perfect jackson hole. he's got the jacket on. the famous jacket. he caught up with ester george. you dog. its great. its nice to be out there. >> obviously since you and i last talked, there's been fiscal stimulus. we've seen the most recent quarter come in considerably higher and it looks like for this year i think we could see a

3% gdp year. >> 3% gdp for a year. can that continue into next year as well? >> i'll be looking at my forecast with my staff before we go into the next meeting in september, but that is well above what the economy can operate at in a steady state and so i don't think that i see that continuing out for multiple quarters. >> when you increase your gdp forecast, do you increase your inflation forecast >> when i think about appropriate policy, where i think the economy is going and the natural rate of unemployment might be, i'm not forecasting much higher inflation, although i do see it going higher. >> could you tell us what your view of a neutral federal funds reserve rate is? >> we're feeling our way there when you look at the forecasts that are out there, you know that -- some where in the neighborhood of 2.5% to 3%. unless something dramatically changes between now and our next meeting that seems reasonable to

me. >> can i ask if your long run forecast sees the fed going above your view of neutral >> if we see unemployment continue to fall and inflation continue to rise, you could argue a case for going above neutral. but those aren't the conditions i think wee see today. >> the next rate hike, the one in september could invert the curve? >> maybe. i don't think we know that, though. right now the curve is flatter and the question is how much of that comes from short-term rates, how much of that comes from the pace at which we're going, the balance sheets around the world in terms of the stimulus that's still coming out at the long end. so it will be a factor that we discuss and we discussed it at the last meeting as you'll see in the minutes. >> reporter: i will be back in the next hour with what she thinks about the president commenting on fed policy, what she thinks about tariffs and

just a quick word on the conference guys. this is the more interesting and more controversial conference titles, they're looking at market structure, whether things like the size of firms and their technology is one of the reasons why wages are low here and there's a bunch of interesting papers being presented and we'll have full coverage including an interview this afternoon with bob cap and lots of other dignitaries and lumen nairries from fed land here. >> we would've talked to you at the top, did they tell you your mic wasn't working. >> reporter: they did. >> they weren't trying to not let you answer -- they weren't trying to censure. >> reporter: i heard you really like my jacket and the way we look. >> but -- and then when did you get there, i need an update on your activities, when did you get there? >> reporter: okay, so i arrived wednesday afternoon. i hit the stream at approximately 11:00 in the rain

and then we came out a couple hours later and did the interview with ms. george. two hours of fishing so far. >> the rain's not a bad thing for doing that. >> reporter: the fish are already wet. people don't understand that. it doesn't really matter that much. >> clearly, proving his a father. dad humor. keep track of hours spent fishing versus hours interviewing, okay >> reporter: i will do that and i will come back as to an accounting whether this trip was worth it for cnbc and they can evaluate that. >> depends on what you can write off. >> i don't know whether -- for some reason i just thought that maybe it could actually be better -- that makes no sense. they don't care one way or another, the fish. >> reporter: they feel the pressure in the water, joe. >> i think it would be harder to see your lure hit the water if all the rain drops are hitting

too. >> reporter: when they evaluate whether or not this trip was worth it, is this conversation you think positive or negative >> this can go towards -- this is on air -- >> reporter: we talked about federal reserve policy -- >> don't do that. no, no, no, no. we want to keep viewers. steve, any way -- >> reporter: a lot of them are interested in fishing, joe, more than you think. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> reporter: there's a balance. we have fishermen and fisherwomen and golfers. >> i wish you had seen tiger's left-handed swing. he's a phenom. thank you, steve. we'll be back with you. >> reporter: i'll see you in an hour. >> i'm excited about bullard and some of the other guys for tomorrow. >> reporter: that's tomorrow. when we come back, your latest corporate headlines including apple's move to pull a facebook security app off of the apple app store. take a look at the u.s. equity futures. we're still in the red of the

dow futures down by 21 points. s&p futures off 2.5, the nasdaq down by 8.5.

welcome back. let's get you caught up on corporate headlines. shares of food producer ormel taking a hit. its earnings 39 cents a share. that matched expectations with revenue essentially in line. however hormel cut its forecasts as a reason for caution and that stock is off just off by 4.4%. shares of alibaba are higher. revenue beat forecasts and jumped 61% from a year ago. alibaba also saw an increase in the number of users on its mobile platform. that stock up by 3.4%. jpmorgan chase is expanding its sapphire high end brand to include checking accounts. its hoping to attract more millennial users. apple removing facebook's security app from its apple store. it no longer complies with the

privacy store. its a free security app that let's users access virtual private networks or vpns to browse and download other apps with a greater degree of privacy. >> downloading apps you don't want other people to know about? >> downloading apps you don't want to get from apple. >> whoever controls the customer, whether jeff bezos o apple or facebook wins. >> this is more than meets the idea here. >> a lot more than meets the eye and apple can cloak it rightly in that protecting privacy, but certainly a facebook says, we want to have a direct way to send things to the user without having to go through the apple store, we want to protect our relationship with the customer. and those of us in the media business, we kind of want our relationship with the customer too and that's a big fight in this day and age. >> that's a big fight and i

wonder if it's the type of behavior down the road that would eventually get the department of justice somebody to pay attention. if you look back at some of the previous moves -- >> it falls right into that category which is levering the dominance you have in one field in order to try to gain a market or change a market in another field. >> i don't know who is the aggrieved party in any of these situations. >> priceline, the guy on early this morning, he's talking about his competition. his competition now is i decide to go to seattle for some reason. i'll go to google, google tells me what hotel, what plane flight, how to do my uber and so google is taking its platform and moving it into things like yelp or priceline. the aggrieved parties are people who are finding that they're services are being overwhelmed by the big platforms.

>> among the big guys, whether that's facebook, an apple, an amazon, a google, those are the guys who may be complaining in one situation but they're doing the same thing in another. >> the biggest of the fights early on was apple versus google when steve jobs was still alive and he said i'm going to go thermal nuclear on it and it wasn't all that different from what we have here which is who gets to really control what's happening. apple, which doesn't depend on advertising the way facebook and google tend to, is much better at preserving your privacy data instead of selling it to advertisers, but then again they get into a fight with the google if google wants to suck up some of the information that's coming through my iphone here. >> right. right. >> you are quite -- do you have an instagram are you -- i just follow you on twitter. you think i blocked you. >> facebook releasing a statement saying we've always

been clear about the information that's collected and how its used as a developer on apple's platform. we follow the rules that they put in place. you seem to have a pretty good feel -- you and andrew. andrew knows all about -- >> this is a big thing in the digital age -- >> you have a facebook account >> yes. >> but you have it to sell books? >> yes. does that offend you >> if it has a reason, no, no. if you're just not sharing vacations. >> i have no vacation shots. >> mine has a picture of leonardo dicaprio. >> and he has a picture of you. go figure. when we come back, scott spurlg will join us to talk deals. then at the top of the hour, former commerce secretary will join us to talk nafta, china and much more. a lot happening potentially with these trade deals right now. stick around. quk x"ilbeig back. are you done yet?

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. welcome back. u.s. m & a activity cracking a trillion dollars at the mid-year mark according to thompson reuter data but despite possible storm clouds like rising interest rates and china trade

tensions, our next guest says he's optimistic on the 2018 deal making landscape. joining us is scott spurling. and scott, great to see you as always. >> thank you, becky. >> what are you expecting from the second half of this year >> one of the most important things that affects all of us as investors is the strength of the economy, both in the united states and i think globally. there are obviously storm clouds all around us in terms of the various tariff battles, in terms of the geopolitical conflicts with places like turkey, but the more important driver has been the strong fundamentals of the consumer in the united states and again in many parts of the world including china and the ability of business to see expanding revenues and margins. and that all contributes obviously to the strong gdp growth we've seen over the course of the last 12 months and

that is expected to continue for the next 12 to 24 months. so given the growth -- go ahead, becky. >> finish your thought. >> given the growth that we're seeing, the ability to find interesting transactions at price that's reflect the growthiness of those companies is something we're optimistic about. >> so putting a fine point on it, that's your way of saying that prices aren't too expensive in the market, that private equity guys can still look at these things and say they're attractive prices, its not out of our realm of where we'd like to be playing? >> there's been an evolution in our industry over the course of the last decade. we put a whole fund, so we've had to be able to create our own deal flow. its not that we don't like auctions. we'll participate in them but the reality is, if you go through a plain vanilla auction process, you often are paying a price that, at least for some of us, may seem too high.

>> okay. that's what i want to get to. >> you really have to look for other ways to find transactions where you can acquire a company at a price that we believe gives us the ability if we improve the operations of that company to see both financial acceleration and the financials of the company but also the ability to sell it at a higher multiple than the multiple we entered at. that's where you really have to build your organization to do those things. >> that plays into what we heard from warren buffett the last time we spoke with him. he doesn't think the market is overly expensive or too rich, but he does think that the premium you pay for buying a company and taking it private is an incredibly high levels. he looks around and doesn't see anything he really wants to buy if you're talking about buying the entire company and that's a premium you pay. >> i think that's generally true. so what we're looking for are

really interesting industry subsectors where we think that there could be strong growth tailwinds and assets where we can take our own operating expertise and help the management team improve the fundamental operating processes of the company in a way that allows them to accelerate both revenue growth and improve the key business models such that they can generate higher levels of profitability. we have to do a lot more work for the higher returns we're looking for than we did when i started in this industry 37 years ago. >> its not easy money. would you say the people who are buying these companies at auction prices right now are paying too high prices and you're worried how they'll work out? >> the answer is yes, because we haven't paid those prices, but let me just say that many of them have worked out. its not that we're necessarily right. we just have to stick with what we believe is the right model for generating strong returns,

but there are folks out there who are buying these companies and they very well can work out quite well. >> all right. scott, thank you. great to see you. >> you're very welcome. take care. enjoy the rest of the summer. >> thank you. when we come back, we'll wrap up our hour with walter isakson and check out what's ahead on squa"squawk box." we'll get the latest on trade talks with carlos gutierrez. jeremy segal will join us. your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown

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simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. walter isakson, what do you want to talk about right now we've touched a lot of areas. what else has your attention >> one thing that has my attention is facebook, twitter, social media and the question now when they said we're just neutral platforms. we'll let everything happen. after a while, you can't do that because too much is on and they've reached that tipping point and jack dorsey, who's a pretty good person and mark zuckerberg, who's trying to work this through, we're not a publisher, the law defines that publisher's are liable for everything they say, we're not a total neutral platform under the

communication decency act or utility and so the law and our common way of doing things doesn't have this middle ground of people who curate content but try to be open. so whether you're taking off alex jones or you're trying to say we'll have some decency on twitter or whether you're trying to enforce some accountability and nonanonymity, we're in unchartered territory here and what's interesting, there are good people trying to do it. i don't want to criticize them, but in our current, political divisive state, its hard -- we even have the president weighing in on twitter for taking down alex jones. its hard to have a reasonable discussion of on this show you curate it. if you have somebody that said something totally outrageous, you would say wait a minute. we don't have a way to deal with

social media. its allowed trolls and anonymity and even now when i don't think the trump administration was that fervent about getting to the bottom of the russian involvement, now we see iran is going to do it and that's going to work the other way. i think we have to hold foreign countries accountable if they mess with our social media and we should make social media companies responsible. >> we're almost out of time. can you still be a global company if you're one of these social media companies do you have to take sides? >> its hard. google's going to have to figure out, do i go in china and play by rules of china? that's another difficult issue, but they don't even know how to play by the rules of the united states civil discourse. they're trying but -- these are new things. >> walter, its a pleasure having you here. come back for two hours next time, please. >> whatever joe says. >> bring something, though, like something -- >> from new orleans. i notice you played "house of the rising sun".

>> i mean something spicy. >> crawfish aren't in season at the moment. >> that's weird. >> its late summer. they go on vacation. >> like corn. can't be too spicy for me. >> corn, we could boil it in crab boil. >> bring them both. thank you, walter. i wished you'd go back to cnn, honestly. >> i could watch it when you rewe on it. >> we'll be right back.

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trade war. new tariffs between the u.s. and china taking affect overnight. carlos gutierrez is here to talking trade, china and nafta negotiations. betting big on sports. we'll talk to the ceo of mgm resorts about the push into sports gambling first on cnbc. not canceled, but not happening any time soon. that is the latest from saudi aramco on its ipo. the final hour of "squawk box" starts right now. announcer: live from the most powerful city in the world, new york. this is "squawk box."

♪ good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and mike santoli. andrew is off today. >> he's out a week and a half. >> the futures -- what a week for him -- yesterday i thought he might come in, honestly. >> they're asking me if we separated you two. >> i was doing the college scene. and i checked last night when i got home because i dvr'd just to see whether he made an emergency parachute day in here just out of pure giddiness on the news from the day before. any way, the futures right now are indicated a little bit lower this morning. down not too much. down now just a point on the s&p 500, down 12 on the dow jones

and the nasdaq down a little over seven and i saw treasury yields -- it wasn't attributed to a rush of safety, it was contributed to germany, just to the german ten year is a .3%. >> that's been the case for quite a while. its why we've been tethered to earth. >> they're in jackson hole -- >> the central bankers, yeah. >> we're on track, the economy's cranking. brian cornell says its the strongest consumer he's ever seen. >> target ceo said its the best consumer environment he's seen in his entire career. >> one of the guests on this show the other day said, if you're not getting big pop and measured inflation this year when the conditions are all in place, maybe it is it not take flight. i don't know if the markets kind of thinking in that direction. you missed your window to have inflation be a problem. as we've talked about before, so

many big money bets against bonds basically betting on higher yields and that's being essentially up ended right now. the market does that which is going to hurt the most people in the short-term. we are following a developing story out of hawaii. residents there bracing for a rare hit from a category four storm. hurricane lane could slam into the islands as early as today with winds exceeding 100 miles an hour. forecasters say the slow movement of the storm increases threat of prolonged heavy rainfall, which could cause dangerous flash flooding. also saudi arabia is denying reports that he has scrapped plans for an aramco ipo. it had been called for and advisory groups working on the listing had been disbanded. the energy minister said in a statement, the government remains committed to the ipo of saudi aramco at the time of its own choosing when conditions are

optimum. he said the timing will depend on favorable market conditions which the company will pursue in the next few months. few stocks on move this morning. alibaba shares are higher in premarket training. revenue beat estimates and jumped 61% from a year ago, although earnings were slightly below forecasts. you can see the stock up in the middle of its range for the year but up about 3.3% today. the producer of spam, spamming the global, spam eggs and ham. it cut its full year sales forecast, it was cautious because of the tariffs, also because of industry dynamics. new tariffs between the united states and china kicked in overnight and commerce secretary wilbur ross says that the u.s. is close to striking a deal with mexico on nafta. joining us right now to talk about trade is carlos gutierrez.

he's the former commerce secretary and former chairman and ceo of ankle logs who is now the national foreign trade council chairman. secretary gutierrez, thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> let's run through these different discussions taking place. first of all, china, these are lower level talks but they started yesterday and i think the chinese may have assumed that those latest sanctions might not go into place as these were taking place. didn't happen? >> yeah. i think so. i think the fact that they would send lower level folks suggests that nair not talking about the big things that we should be talking about so its all about tariffs and its about the trade deficit but the big issue with china is china 2025 and their plan to locate data inside of china, to not allow it to go out -- >> which most companies don't

know -- >> that's the hard part. that's the part that is conceptual. we have to negotiate it. its not as easy as adding up deficits and surpluses. and that's where i don't see much progress. >> is that really a key issue for the administration its never in the tweets. >> that's true. what the administration is hearing from business is that's the issue. >> right. >> you may have some companies saying, you get slapped with 20% tariffs. but generally speaking, the marketplace, the companies are worried about what's going to happen to my ipr, what's going to happen to my data do i have to leave it in china and lose the benefits of scale all those things that i think are the real issues, that's what we should be talking about with china. they want to get nafta done and focus on this issue. >> i was going to ask about nafta. what do you think about this approach of potentially having some kind of at least structural deal with mexico initially and maybe we'll have canada come on.

>> its odd. we don't have an fta with mexico to start with and its not nafta if you don't have the three countries. i've heard all week that the canadians will be here to save the day and we'll have an agreement by tomorrow. i just don't see that. i think its a lot more complex. there are things that canada doesn't agree with and regrettably its turned personal. so i think this is a little bit of punishment for canada. the deal needs to be struck by friday in order for amlo to get it in before he -- in order for it to go in effect before he takes office. >> okay. >> that's december 1. but then we also have the november elections. i don't think president trump wants the midterms with a cloud hanging over nafta because that's what really impacts his base is nafta. agriculture, the midwest,

manufacturing, autos. so i think there's -- there's a better story in having china be the foil than having nafta cloud hanging over all his constituents. >> that's an argument for get to go a faster -- >> exactly. exactly. there's no question they want to get to a faster deal. they want to start with mexico, but the canadian variable is the one that that can hold things up. >> you're optimism may not be that we have a deal tomorrow, do you think we have one in the next -- >> i think we have a handshake tomorrow or today or whenever and they'll be discussions about canada coming in and the canadians will make a statement saying we're looking forward to it, but again you have this personal cloud hanging over the negotiations, which in business that shouldn't be allowed. >> getting back to china. the scenario you laid out, do you think we could have a

situation where the administration feels like its reached a victory but american business feels like its lost >> that's very -- that's probable. on the ground businesses are feeling this and the president will declare victory. he'll declare victory on nafta. they'll be a list of 20 things, whether they be small or large that he'll say, look, we achieved that and what he's looking for with china is to achieve some sort of agreement that allows him to say, i took on china. the problem that businesses will be saying is, no, you haven't because the issues china 2025 and you won't be here for that, so that's where the issue is and its not -- >> is that any different than previous administrations, though, because i'm not sure that we've made any progress on that front any way this is something that was going to come to a head.

>> i think that we have made progress steadily since 1979 and we continue to make progress and ten years ago, ipr was out of control. they're protecting alibaba and ten cecent and all they're all brands so they see the rational -- >> bringing them along is the way to win that battle -- >> i think the ipr environment, the idea that somebody steals your brand and product and you find iton the shelf, which i ran into 15, 20 years ago. that's not as common, because the chinese have their own brand -- >> ask microsoft. they may have a different point of view if you ask microsoft. >> true. and microsoft was one where ten years ago we had it solved. so any pc you buy has to have u.s. software embedded. where did that go? that's the issue of striking a deal on china 2025 today is, you

know -- its -- its a long time in the future but that's the issue. its not the testify sit or the surplus -- deficit or surplus and we should get nafta john, pivot to china, do it right and focus on that. that's the issue. >> mr. secretary, great to see you. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, the bull markets record run. we'll talk to wharton school professor jeremy siegel. we'll talk to the ceo of mgm on sports gambling. many small businesses, from kitchens to factories to contractors, rely on their equipment to serve customers every day. when equipment is broken, it means lost revenue. trusted choice independent insurance agents offer special protection that could help replace or repair damaged equipment and provide lost business income. they represent multiple insurance companies and customize coverage

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lack back. we've been watching the futures this morning. even more modest now h. dow futures down by 3.5. nasdaq off the same. s&p 500 futures down by a point. ester george expects gdp growth to come in for 3% and she told steve liesman that a 2.5% 3% neutral rate say reasonable one. currently the target range is

1.34% to 2%. the yield curve say factor in determining fed policy. we'll have more on steve's talk coming up at the bottom of the hour. that is beautiful scenery. >> it is. this week makes it official, we're now in the longest bull market ever. joining us now for more on where it started and where it ends is jeremy siegel, professor of finance at the university of pennsylvania's wharton school of business. maybe you didn't get my email, professor, but did you not get my invite to come over and help out or what happened there >> i don't know. i was in new york all day -- >> that was it, maybe. >> that was probably why. sorry, joe. >> still some stuff that has to be done -- i don't know if you get a chance just stop by. you've been right the whole

time. are you -- are you feeling good about yourself >> i mean, i think -- when we go all the way back to 2009, i thought that was one of the easiest calls i made. we were the most undervalued that we've been and we've -- we've had nine great years. i think one thing that's important for listeners to note is the previous longest bull market ended in march of 2000 with the price earnings ratio at 30 for the s&p. we're looking at 18 right now for -- looking at this year's earnings, so we are much less so to speak overvalued and beside that, we were in a much higher interest rate environment than we are today. i feel, you know -- when people say, does it look like the last bull market and we know what happened after that and i say no, it doesn't feel like that

last bull market. it feels pretty reasonable. >> if i take next year's s&p earnings and multiply it by 30 is that what your forecast is? >> oh, no, no. that's too high. 18 -- even 18 to 20 low interest rate environment stable economy, i don't think is too large. so i think -- i certainly think we could go higher. we have a lot of challenges. trade is still not settled. the fed looks pretty aggressive out there. we have midterm elections. odds makers are saying that the democrats are going to take the house and so, my god, what's basically going to happen there? so, you know, i still think the next few months are going to be a challenge, but if we can get china, nafta settled, i see a

10% pop in the market because i think that's the 800 pound gorilla that's keeping the lid on prices now. >> how did you factor the corporate tax reform or tax reform into your outlook and is the -- is the midterm -- what would be more -- the market could be troubled by -- you don't like constitutional crisis, obviously, the market doesn't. i think the market wouldn't be that happy about reversing the tax reform bill either or trying to. >> it won't -- it can't be reversed. the odds makers are saying three to one, the senate is going to remain republican, so that's not going to be reversed. that was the most important -- the most important plus of the trump administration was that corporate tax reform. that really was, you know, a good 10%, 12% of the earnings

growth. two-thirds of the earnings growth this year is due to that tax reform. there's no sign that the democrats get a hold of the house. the second thing is a better regulatory environment that the trump administration has provided. obviously the democrats control the house, they can slow that deregulation down, but a lot of that is already been accomplished. so some of the main points of the republican agenda have been enacted. they can't be shot down until the democrats get both the house, the senate and the presidency, you know, and the absolute earliest for that is another two and a half years on. i think its mostly just, you know, investigations, writes of impeach -- writs of impeachment.

standstill deadlock is not the worst thing in the world and given the major reforms of the republican party have been passed, i would say there's some truth to that. >> do you think that -- that democrats can run on the tax reform only benefiting the wealthy and that it was just crumbs -- i still hear that. does that resonate do you think with voters? >> i mean, you know, senator warren is going on another pitch towards what's called corporate responsibility. you guys have talked about it, any firm with more than a billion dollars has to have a national chart or public control, who's going to be on the board of directors. i think they're looking at more of that runaway big corporations that i can see rather than just the tax reform.

its pretty hard to run against an under 4% unemployment rate where gdp has accelerated to 3% in business and consumer optimism is at or near all-time highs. you have to be very careful about that, because that's the biggest plus for the republicans going in to november. >> there's a segment -- there's a whole segment. i see stuff ob-twitter. with everything you just mentioned that tell me this is the most dire situation that the republics ever been in and i've given up sending unemployment numbers and gdp and stock market quotes or consumer confidence, i've just given up. some people -- it has nothing to do with those things, i guess. >> that's a plus. trump still is in the negative popularity range. >> right. >> and all -- the elections we've had -- does tilt toward

the democrats which gives them the house but not enough of a tilt to give them the senate. >> obama was at 40% -- you saw what happened to the house and to local -- and all the local legislatures and governorships and everything else. they got absolutely decimated during that eight year period. that could happen again. that's historically what we see. professor siegel, thank you. maybe next time i'll use snail mail -- >> sorry i didn't get to see you there. >> its all right. thank you. when we come back, one of the top rated shows on television is calling it quits. we will tell you which one next. plus, will tell you which actor pulled down the biggest paycheck last year. here's a hint for you. check out the screen. to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts

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welcome back. the upcoming season, season 12 of the big bang theory" will be its last. it was often at the top of the ratings during the previous 11 seasons. sources tell variety, timing was a factor in the decision to end the show. the lead actors contracts expire after the next season and there wasn't much appetite for another

round of grueling negotiations. several of the actors had also signaled that they were ready to move on. and george clooney tops the forbe list of the world's highest paid actors but not from acting. its the sale from the tequila company. he earned $39 million last year but they sold it. they started -- dwayne "the rock" johnson following up. followed by robert downey junior. he should be so happy that he got clean, right 81 million. that's awesome. >> he's an awesome iron man. >> he's just a great actor. coming up, i said -- i read -- i did a -- i put that on

twitter and someone said, man, that would be a stretch for you to play nina fosch. breaking employment data, weekly jobless claims just weeks away. then we'll hear from ester george. i'm april kennedy and i'm an arborist

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all right. its time for weekly jobless claims. let's get to jim. the numbers please. >> reporter: we just got the jobless claims number and its 210,000, slightly better than the expected 215. continuing claims is 1,000,727 slightly better than what was expected as well. its interesting to me, if you look at just this data point -- its hovering around lows we haven't seen since the late '60s. if this was your chosen data point, you would think we'd have the best economy we've ever had. they gained about a quarter tick

in the s&p. the ten year was at 282 and it stays there. this market is more concentrating on jay powell's speech tomorrow than these numbers but another solid beat for jobless claims which we seem to have every week. back to you. >> what does the market want to hear from fed chairman powell? >> reporter: we don't want to hear too much hawkishness. that's what -- you know, the problems the stock market has had this year, although not many, the biggest one has been the fear of rates going up too fast. we want to see jay powell remind us that, yes, rates are going up, but they do have an eye on the data, probably do have an eye on asset price even though they want to hear that implicitly. what we're worried about is, if the pressure that came from the administration, if his psychological response to that is to lean in and pride takes over and him talk hawkish more than he normally would, i don't think the stocks would like that

at all. >> jim, great to see you. let's get back to steve liesman in jackson hole and he has a special interview. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, becky. sun coming up. i don't quite have mountains for you yet. just in a little bit, though. there's tariffs and there are issues of the feds independence. i got a chance to talk to kansas city fed president ester george about both of these issues. >> in my bone region wrrks i tend -- in my own region, where i tend to talk to people, farmers that grow soy beans are concerned about the implications. businesses that have some part of the supply chain they think could get disrupted are raising questions of uncertainty. the way i think of it is to watch this carefully and to judge how much uncertainty that could flow through the economy and ultimately slow the trajectory of growth. >> reporter: you see more

negative outcomes from these tariff battles than you do positive ones? >> i would call it a downside risk at this point primarily because we don't know -- i know uncertainty can be a negative for the economy, but on the other hand, if this wraps up sooner and we do have businesses that say, i'm not worried about it. >> reporter: higher interest rates have created from the federal reserve have created problems in some global economies. how much are you watching that >> we always watch that. obviously our mandate is looking at the domestic economy but for the risk to that economy, you have to look at what's happening internationally and it is increasingly a global economy h. we want to know how that could transmit back to the u.s. or what contagion effects we might see. today, i don't see anything that would cause me to deviate from my forecast, but that can change quickly. >> reporter: one sort of new dynamic is the president commenting on monetary policy. how do you think about that? >> expressions of angst of

higher interest rates are not unique to this administration. we know higher interest rates cause adjustments in the economy. what's important to remember is congress anticipated this kind of attention when they designed the central bank and they put firewalls in place so that the central bank could be independent and carry forward with its decision making. the public's been well served by that. i expect they will continue to be. >> reporter: ms. george gave me a flat no when i asked her whether or not the president's comments would effect her making a policy. we have a lot more to come here. we have the dallas fed president tomorrow afternoon. and that will all come just before -- we have rajan and stephen poloz from canada as well. that all comes from jay powell who is here and his first

jackson hole conference as fed chair. he'll give a speech tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. becky? >> steve, i'm not sure if you heard jim euro describing what traders want to hear from general powell tomorrow. they don't want to hear anything that's too hawkish or to hear anything that sounds like he is posture to go make sure he signals that he's not going to be influenced by what the president has said. what are the odds on any of that >> reporter: i kind of expect jay powell to give a nod to this independence issue. i sort of think he has to at this point. now, luckily for him he said it several times in the past, i think going all the way back to when he was first took office. he's made a point of talking about fed independence several times. so i think he'll give a nod to that. of course, the topic of the conversation is completely different. he has the ability to avoid it. its about monopoly power and the

affect of monopoly power. he may avoid all monetary policy to begin with, but usually fed chairman at least give a nod to what's going on with the economy. one thing worth watching, becky, is the probabilities out there. if you want to take a look at the next three meetings or the next -- when those rate hikes are priced, you can see its over 90% probability for september. december's getting to be pretty baked in at plus 60%. you've got to go a long way to june to get 50% probability for that first hike of 2019. those are really the two outlying ones are the ones to watch. september very much baked in but we'll watch the probability in the wake of jay powell's speech to see how the market starts to think about future rate hikes. i think the tariffs, those sorts of things are the ones that will be the ones that could influence the outlook for probabilities. >> enthusiasm. we'll see -- thank you. we'll see you soon.

casino operator and resort operator mgm is betting big on springfield. there's a springfield -- >> there's a springfield in every state. >> in this case its massachusetts and contessa brewer is there and she joins us with a special guest. contessa >> reporter: yeah. so that's one of the big questions that i have because across america people might not think of springfield as a big casino destination because they're like springfield where springfield, massachusetts. with me now is the head of the global mgm resorts, jim murray, great to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: why springfield >> this was the first springfield. there are a lot of them but in the city of springfield, mass. this is a very affluent area. we're in western massachusetts. its a city that was down on its luck for many years.

we've developed something here a real urban renewal project and we put 3,000 men and women to work. we'll get a good return, but i'm really gratified by the fact that we're helping the city pull itself up. >> reporter: this is a small city. fewer than 200,000 residents. sort of at this intersection of connecticut and western massachusetts, albany's only about an hour away and as you say, down on its luck, but you also got one of the first casino licenses, you're the first full scale casino resort to open up in massachusetts and yet there's still a lot of opposition here. in 2014 more than 40% of massachusetts voters said they didn't want legalize casinos. how do you turn the critics into believers? >> here in springfield, those critics are believers now because the amount of enthusiasm all around here, people are literally crying with joy that they have these jobs, they can move back to the city that they

grew up in and i would say that public opinion here is great. it was very poor early on and its improved. >> reporter: how do you stave off this intense competition you've got big casinos nearby in connecticut, you've got big new players in the catskills in new york and up near syracuse. you'll be competing against wynn resorts next year if that all goes as plans. how do you stave off the competition and make this the destination? >> we're used to competitive markets and we have a track record. its almost unfair for people to compete against us. because we're the biggest entertainment company. we're the market leader every we go, market leader in atlantic city, very competitive, market leader in detroit. >> reporter: are you overextended on the east coas analysts have said to me that mgm is overextending itself on the east coast. >> we don't feel that way.

the ability to cross market between these properties is very high. the data we have in this market from our database shows that these customers are not going to our other properties today. we believe that with our regional jet service that we have, we'll be able to move people all around the northeast. in fact, the yonkers casino you're referring to once sports betting is approved both in new york and in massachusetts would be a great linkage between these two properties. >> reporter: joe, you want to jump in? >> i do. you watch closely -- you saw brian cornell talking about the consumer and how great the environment is and we talk all about unemployment and gdp, stock market and everything else. so the economy is pretty strong, does that translate to mgm and how your business does do people come to the resorts more they gamble more and i have a follow-up question, too. are things good for you?

>> sure. first, discretionary income improving is always good for us. we've weatherered some really rugged times since i've been at the company. but even during the bailout of the autos, mgm detroit did well. it made about 150 million a year. we did okay in tougher markets but we definitely benefit if the consumers healthier because this is a discretionary purchase. we're pleased with the macros. >> its a solid time and you've always been a republican and its a solid time. in contrast to the past, you were -- really, i talked to you about it and needled you a little bit. you were an outspoken supporter of hillary clinton in the last election. so now that you've been able to see everything and as a republican you probably like deregulation a little i guess and maybe the tax reform bill. do you still wish your -- the candidate that you backed had

won in 2016, jim >> i do, yes. >> okay. >> reporter: quick answer. lodge question, quick -- long question, quick answer. >> do you think the economy would be as healthy or doing as well or are your shareholders benefiting i guess the follow-up is why >> so obviously the economy is expanding, going into 2016. i can't tell you what it would look like under a different administration, but what i was talking about to you then and i talk about now is what we care about, what i care about in terms of trade, in terms of immigration, in terms of diversity and inclusion, i just felt at that point in time the more qualified candidate was secretary clinton, but those were my personal views. i represent a company of 80,000 people, the majority of my employees are minorities and i

felt strongly that the more qualified candidate at that time was secretary clinton. that said, look, we're doing well as a company. i like deregulation. the tax code benefited me and our company and, you know, i think that the economy certainly is on the right track. i'm proud of what we're doing to contribute to that as a middle class job creator. >> reporter: what about the economy in las vegas because you and mark at caesar's talked about the third quarter being tougher because of a lack of scheduled events. you know, july and august are hot months that people question whether they should go to las vegas. what do you do to try and lift that third quarter annually? >> i've been out there 20 years, contessa, and the last two years i think made me and many others very complacent because last summer we did well and the year before we did well. this year's more like a normal

one. what we do is get into the fourth quarter, we have a lot more convention business, we have the triple g fight next month, we have ufc fights. i think you'll see a much better fourth quarter. >> reporter: i only have 30 seconds, mgm has filed a lawsuit naming the victims of the october 1st shooting at mandalay bay as defendants. why? >> first, its a despicable act by the man. we don't want a nickel from anybody. what we're trying to do is consolidate cases. there are hundreds of cases and put them into federal court. that's what congress intended when they passed the safety act after 9/11 and if we can accomplish that, put these cases into federal court, these -- all these cases will be adjudicated, the victims and the families everybody affected will get their money quicker and that's

all we want to do. i know the headlines were awful. it made me sick to look at them. it was never our intent to hurt anybody. our intent is to, for my own employees, including my cfo who was at the concert that night, we want everyone to be able to get their day in court as soon as possible. >> reporter: thank you so much for being candid with us. appreciate that and congratulations on the opening of the new casino tomorrow. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: guys? >> thank you very much, contessa. when we come back today, retailer l.l. bean is partnering with the national park foundation. both ceos will join us next to talk about the importance of the outdrs quk x"ilbe right back. my digestive system used to make me feel sluggish

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welcome back, everybody. l.l. bean is announcing a new multi-year $3 million partnership with the national park foundation. joining us right now with more on this joint effort to encourage enthusiasm for the united states' national parks is l.l. bean president and ceo steven smith and national park foundation president and ceo will shafroht. welcome to both of you. >> we're really excited to announce three year, $3 million partnership with the national parks foundation. we've been working a lot on our brand focusing on our mission around inspiring and enabling people to get outdoors. the national park foundation is

a logic partner for us. their mission is to get people outside and its just the perfect connection as we want to expand our brand relevance to become a more national brand. our teams have worked really closely on a really exciting partnership that we can give more details around. >> well, what will you do with the money? >> we're going to invest it in the national parks around the country, becky. one of our jobs on behalf of the national parks is to connect people to these great places, not only the well-known places like yosemite and yellowstone, but some of the lesser known places around the national park system. i just got back from a week long camping trip in northern minnesota and that's a great place that not many people know about it as is little rock central high school in little rock, arkansas. so we want people in this country to learn more about these places and l.l. bean's support will allow us to do that. >> you saw a record number of visits but it was also 100th anniversary of the parks and promotion built around that.

how are things going this year >> even better. there were 330 million visitors the last two years. we're hearing from the national park services that visitations up even more this summer. that's manifesting in crowds in a lot of the big of the purposer grant is to spread that visitation out around the system so people can enjoy these parks even more than they have right now. >> yesterday we had the ceo of atari on he's never seen a consumer environment like this at any point in his career. >> retail has been strong this year our results are up over last year we are a little below expectations but we are up over last year. we see consumers being particular about what they're buying they are looking for durable rugged goods the throw-away economy is moving away we feel good about our products

that are active-oriented, purpose-driven we see our customers shifting to experiences. we have an outdoor discovery school program and we see that growing really strongly for us as people are investing in learning how to do things outdoors >> i could never believe the return policy at l.l. bean about the most generous policy anywhere i know you guyshave cut back o that as some customers were kind of abusing that. what's the situation you've heard back from your customers on the changes there >> we didn't take that change lightly. we did a lot of work with our customers prior to the announcement in february and we have had overwhelming support from our customers recognizing that the returns policy that we've moved to is still one of the best in the industry and a recognition that it was being abused so we've had a tremendous amount of support from our customers and we feel confident in the change >> steve, will, thank you for your time. will, i wish we had more time to talk about these parks but i do believe it is america's best idea thank you for your time. hope to see you both again

>> it really is. and they've really helped our economy, becky >> big supporter fantastic places when we return, jim cramer live from the new york stock exchange i hear the futures are right now sshe fractionally acro t bod.we'll be right back. every fire department every police department

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let's get down to the new york stock exchange where jim cramer joins us now. jim, i didn't see you -- didn't hear any of your comments yesterday. i saw one of your good comments. can't remember what it was it was about one of these stocks i didn't talk to you yesterday what do you make of the political backdrop i know it drives you nuts when that's all we talk about throughout the day but what's on your mind today? is ryan cornell was pretty interesting yesterday just in terms of the environment, i think. >> look, i think that the president focuses on manufacturing, bringing jobs back two-thirds of the economy is consumer spent in our country. that's what you need to focus on because that's the real driver a lot of things that we talk about obscure the fact that that's what it is all about. when you get american companies that have great ingenuity and try to figure out how to get around the tariffs which they're doing and figure out how to be like amazon, which they're done, that's a much bigger story than

cohen and manafort on other stations i would disagree with my analysis. but i'm busy focusing on two-thirds of the economy which is very strong that's neither fake or real news that's actual news >> exactly any data points that we saw today? any earnings that gave you an inkling as to another useful thing for investors to think about, jim >> i know that i'm looking at a niche company calls williams-sonoma. but more than 50% of its business is online they figured out and are figuring out how to get around the tariffs. they've done a remarkable job at making their brick and mortar be a weapon against the amazons it just shows you, i know that cornell said that. he did point out, he said, listen, everybody's doing better but i care about companies that are beaten amazon. i know i should care more about manafort and cohen i got to i guess this weekend i just got to focus on it i got to get myself down

i'm too happy about the consumer >> i think i'm reading sarcasm there. >> well, i got to get more gloomy i like these numbers maybe i'll focus on jcpenney and l brands my life is here... [telephone ring] ahoy-hoy. alexander graham bell here... no, no, my number is one, you must want two! two, i say!! like my father before... [telephone ring] like my father before... ahoy-hoy! as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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on "squawk box" tomorrow, big lineup from jackson hole we'll hear from st. louis fed president james bowler i like all those names make sure you join us tomorrow right now it is time for "squawk on the street. ♪ good morning and welcome to "squawk on the street. i'm david faber with jim cramer, leave from the new york stock exchange carl quintanilla has the day off. a look at futures as we open for trading in a half-hour from now, you can see -- what do you think that is? >> mixed >> how about european markets, you ask? were they mixed, a