good bye. have a great day. it's time for "squawk on the street." ♪ >> good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." david favor is off today. an exclusive with underarmer ceo and president patrik frisk. that is coming up. big upgrade of ge from one of wall street's biggest bears. ecb leaves rates unchanged. claims 206,000, biggest beat since april close to the lows of

the cycle. our road map begins with the g.e. bottom. china trade optimism resuming purchases. the currency up after draghi does say the bond buying program will stop at year end. ge is up. steven tusa upgrades g.e. to neutral from under weight, a rating on the stock since may of 2016. he says he sees a more event-driven balanced risk reward and what he calls known unknowns are better understood. tusa is maintaining the $6 price target saying a material equity raise could be necessary. we have been waiting for this. >> first i want to praise this guy. this is some of the best research i have seen. a lot of it is reporting research. it is like this is a pulitzer prize winning journalist.

i sent him congratulations. they still need to raise capital. he has a neutral one. that does not mean a buy. he would go to a buy. i think you have to buy the stock like america wants to buy the stock. we all love the company. i think it is not emphasized enough in the piece. i think he likes the transparency and likes to think that going to walk before they make me run. i like it. this is just quality research. congratulations. >> i like the line. it's possible the company can execute its way through an elongated workout. that is the kind of thing you have been waiting to hear. >> i think he's going -- he's approaching this with the level of rigor and also with an outside set of eyes. he likes what he sees. he knows he has a lot to do. he knows he didn't get a great

hand. he is an optimist and a realist. i think tusa felt some of the confidence. >> on a day we get this, you get ubs trimming their target from 12 to 13. you think there is consensus building here in the single digits tusa does have down side risk. >> he is saying that they do not have the horses, is the way i look at it. they are not as good as the other industrials that he follows. it is discounted and they do the equity deal. this is where we differ from the bulls. therefore it shouldn't be in the double digits. there was an overwhelming fear that he would let this thing go to two or three and then it would be past time. the fact that he went to the devils numbers 666 and upgraded it shows me the tenacity that

this man had, that he knew he did not have the $100 billion. it's a liability number. that's a lot. culp is confident and has a path. look, if you were short you would cover. if you own it you would not sell it. >> if you don't own it. $7.54. this thing is up from the low. i think america wants that deal. america would like to buy that deal. it would solve a lot of problems. i worry about long-term care. i don't think anyone can get around long-term care.

if tusa says it is no longer going broke then it ain't going broke. >> can the market rally around this or is it too specific? >> it depends whether larry comes out and says we have enough. we are going to accelerate our sale of health care so we don't need to raise money. maybe tusa buys that. the best thing larry can do is equity. they need to make it so that the liabilities are less daunting for big institutions to come in. maybe he doesn't. culp is really good. this is a very good situation. >> to that point t has been on a list of companies that are being closely watched because of their leverage. this is what culp told us about leverage. >> whether it is an equity analyst or what we send ourselves, we need to bring leverage down. i think we have plenty of opportunities through asset sales to do that.

in the last six weeks, it's six weeks on the job. i heard from lots of people across our markets, people who have interest in g.e. assets. i think that is confirmation that we have quality franchises and that we have options. >> so i guess my question is, we got an upgrade at g.e. and at&t the other day. so these companies that obviously have been out on the limbs are finding support. >> yes. at&t does have good cash flow. do you swap out of verizon i have the reach for yield. you went yield, you want it to be rock solid. the cash flows are good since time warner. you still have much more risk than you have in at&t. but if larry sells that health care division -- and he has to and he will not get the great price that he deserves.

if he offers it then i think tusa will say maybe they don't need to do the equity race and you wish you had bought it at six or seven. that is a little too bullish. i think you are absolutely right in terms of we are knocking off the black holes. we checked off at&t and g.e. those have come on air and tried to get people scared that there is too much leverage in the system. i look at it and say show me the money. show me the losses because if we get g.e. out of ntensive care and get rid of the do not resustate designation -- i was waiting for tusa to go buy hold sell dnr. >> that brings us to yesterday's rally. stocks are on track for a modest gain today after posting gains yesterday on optimism about u.s./china trade negotiations. one sign of progress is the

purchase of u.s. soybeans. the intraday rally was driven by credit to our discussion about leverage. >> yes. i think that we had a couple of things happen yesterday. it's absolutely true. china needs soy. you take credit issues off. by the way -- the fed can move and get that interest rate hike just on the unemployment numbers. >> yesterday, we talked about whether or not they uncover not to hike next week, claims at 206. >> i'm not against hiking. i'm pro waiting. i think what really freaked the market out was that you had this all-knowing, all-seeing wizard, jerome powell, who sees through all 2019. and then you go behind the curtain. he is just a guy. he's a good guy. he's a smart guy, but what he did wrong was to say -- and i

see what 2019 brings us and i have to slow down this freight train. what i think that a lot of people have recognized is it is a little more mixed. there is no sin to doing one and going more data dependent. he has great cover. he does one. the president gives it a hail storm. he's got to put a couple of umbrellas over him. the fact is he has covered one. >> you think maybe not only do they hike next week, but the dot plot changes >> yeah. i think he is going to get away from dot plot. that works, but let me tell you what i see also happening if we have big tariffs. it's going to slow down the economy. you want to see what happens in january when you have a lot of retail. the aggregate retail numbers will be very strong. it's a one-two punch. i have to because of the

unemployment things. i'm saying that these may be the last really strong ones because we are getting a number of retailers saying things got promotional and competitive again. taylor brands is too small to take a reaction to it. >> we will hear from plank later this morning. >> i think that plank -- i went through everything that plank said. there is no way this market was right being as negative as they were. it is better than that. >> we will get adobe tonight and costco. >> that's going to be fabulous. >> so points of reassurance. and then do we need -- do banks need to somehow find a way to lead here? >> i think they have to stop going down. >> i saw that. >> goldman sachs should be a buy. someone should buy goldman sachs. you have to get employment agreements because you don't want the best guys to leave. i want him to stay.

i want the hitters to stay. we have a number of guys who can be happy today. i got like 400 who should stay. the problem is this. there are no takeovers in banks anymore. the concentration got too great. the government is still regulating them so they can't give the dividends that you want. they are defenseless animals. they are like the white snow shoe rabbit in the great national geographic. they live to play another day. they can't buy back. we want the yields to go up through dividends. we want to get back to 1992. if we have all the banks wiped out and you started buying them. if the fed were to sell the treasure-trove of bonds, bingo. >> you have been arguing for that. >> the argument against it is to basically say i'm stupid.

>> i know you seem -- >> i know you have seen we are on pace for the fastest rise in government debt since 2012. >> still no inflection. what the fed is doing, what jerome powell is doing is saying we are doing a run game. even at third and nine we are running. you know what, that's stupid. i want belichick on the fed. i want people to do their assignments and get their job done. and then i want coach peterson, no prisoners taken. the fed is like we're fine. they got to step up. they have to step up. it's almost playoff time and they are on the bubble. >> the playoffs start next week. there is no doubt about that. when we come back, the road ahead for underarmer. sarah will have an exclusive with chairman and ceo kevin

plank and president patrik frisk. more "squawk on the street" from post nine in a moment. what do you look for when you trade? i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale. mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. no hidden fees. no platform fees. no trade minimums. and yes, it's all at one low price. td ameritrade. ♪ at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your healthcare business. so that if she has a heart problem & the staff needs to know, they will & they'll drop everything can you take a look at her vitals? & share the data with other specialists

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this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... 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. after surviving a vote of confidence teresa may faces

challenges as she tries to get parliament to back her brexit deal with the eu. >> she survived that vote of no confidence against winning 200 votes for her versus 117 against. the focus now, of course, turns back to brexit where the math for her deal in parliament remains challenging. she is in brussels today to try to improve the terms of that brexit deal which is going to be very hard and it won't lead to immediate results. >> i recognize the strength of concern in the house of commons. that's what i will be pushing to colleagues today. i don't expect an immediate break through. what i do hope is that we can start to work as quickly as possible on assurances that are necessary. >> reporter: back on the domestic front, will the 117 conservative mps that voted against her now fall in line the answer to that is no. the former brexit secretary who

resigned in november and was thought to be a military more moderate said this morning, quote, it looks very difficult to see how this prime minister can lead us forward. that said, her ability to now threaten brexiteers with the prospect of no brexit at all when her deal returns to parliament, that threat has been enhanced with her victory last night. for that reason, morgan stanley says today even though no deal is the legal default, we see it as a low probability. goldman sachs also see the probability of no deal brexit falling from last week. they do point out there is a risk of a 30% fall in u.k.-centric stocks if it did come about. it's that risk and the ongoing uncertainty about the shape of brexit that means the pound is still down despite a jump in the last 24 hours.

>> great to see you, as always. doing fantastic work over there. need to ask you, if you are morgan stanley, do you have secret plans to do frankfurt, milan, paris these are big companies. they have thousands of people. they must have some sort of secret game plan when this happens. >> reporter: they certainly do have that game plan. as i have discussed with brian moynihan a couple of weeks ago, those plans will start to pea put in place as soon as january because they know brexit is happening on the 29th of march. they don't want to wait until the 28th to put the plans into action. the delays do have incremental effects. as i said the other day, the u.s. investment banks, one of the senior ceos told me they are

prepared for this. they are all set up with alternative options as we get closer to the 29th of march. the actions of moving jobs and business will increase. >> i guess in the short term the question is does the tension shift to macron and blowing out the budget as he gives into some of the demands. should we send you straight to paris? >> reporter: i think that is a very big question. there are big challenges that remain for europe. first and foremost, when we see the ecb unwind, what will that do to bond yields that have been so incredibly anchored here in europe will italy solve its political crisis and france big question marks. all of which may come to a boiling point in may next year. european parliament elections will get a real taste for whether the populism and anti-eu

sentiment remains high and whether it has settled down a little bit. >> as draghi headlines continue to come in. amazing work all week. we'll see you soon. we'll get cramer's mad dash count down in a couple of moments. one more look at the premarket on this thursday. we're back after a break. the future of technology investing

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♪ seven minutes to the bell. let's get cramer's mad dash. >> apple is an endless source of news, whether it be the new headquarters or issues with quaalcomm. and this morning piper with a very comprehensive report saying domestic iphone trajectory appears on track. international weakness -- we felt it is possible that is going to be great sales. here we start worrying about china and what it is -- whether china will be bad for services. we begin to think this is the buffet level. perhaps it is too cheap when you add the services. they talk about services. shares reflecting in iphone

weakness and negative sentiment around reduced disclosure. it's time. it's time. of course, they said it is time because they never went down. i don't think that is wrong. people have been trying to stick with apple. if you get off it and on it it's been a loser ever since it was in 25. >> regardless of what may come out of more chinese courts. >> i think so. you were talking about the possibility that the chinese court -- that is ordered by the communist party. we do have the 2025 refeudiation so to speak and the idea that maybe we will spare apple. this is really saying china, let's just say china is not going to be that good. you have the service stream and the rest of the world, u.s. showing up very well. i actually like this call because i don't think there is any sense of panic. >> running out of down grades. >> price target cut. >> you think the timing of the

announcement of the new austin campus is intended to build some good will at a time where the president or the white house -- >> i think that when you had xi said we would have allowed that deal to happen. you know what? i think that the president loves jobs. so the president could make the case to apple we are going to do our best to exempt you from whatever tariffs. and the president says isn't this the gem of everybody? let's let apple go and do what it wants. apple is a loved company in china, from what i can tell, from the pictures apple sends me. >> exactly. we'll get the opening bell in 4 1/2 minutes. don't go anywhere.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the difference between possible and impossible? it's a person who believes they can, surrounded and supported by others - by us - who believe it, too u.s. bank - the power of possible. the opening bell is sponsored by u.s. bank, the power of possible. you're watching cnbc's "squawk on the street" live from the financial capital of the world. busy morning. watch the upgrade of g.e. we'll see how shares trade once we get the opening bell. talked about may's confidence

vote and whether the reinvestment announcement reads dovish to you. >> i thought so. he is talking about the down shift worldwide. everyone is being pulled by china's down shift because europe has so much trading to do with china. but i also thought he is talking about, they have to start figuring how to make it more stream lined and less regulation. they have to figure out how to supercharge all those economies. it's amazing how weak they are. they have been weak with lower interest rates. some of it is structural. the companies have to do more. spain didn't work. spain is doing well. i think that spain is a good model for the rest ofeurope. >> i think we are going to get european auto registrations tomorrow which has sort of been the wildcard that makes some people not trust the numbers. >> i have seen technology doing well in europe. it's amazing all companies

involved with customer relation and cloud. >> we'll see what adobe may say about that when they report. there is the bell and the s&p 500 at the real time exchange. ceres nonprofit organization. >> there is an interesting piece out. tesla target up to 465. remember when musk was joking about the illusive number that is connected to cannabis we are now seeing price targets that are above. those who are saying it is outrageous he wants to take it private, maybe they are being vindicated. >> 420 was that number. it comes after oppenheimer took their target to 418.

>> i think that what this feels like, you have these banks. they don't do anything except the shares go down. then you have financial tech. this is the auto fin tech. the dividends -- nobody really wants them for that. tesla is fin tech for cars. >> yeah. i think still the only oem up for the year which is incredible. g.e. will lead the s&p up 11 right now. >> the clout of one analyst. this man, stevetusa, is so powerful that a wildcard is -- i would bring him in for two-day offsite. i would go to jamie dimon and

say i would like -- you are head of m&a. i would bring tusa in for a weekend retreat with the board and the operators and let tusa just go right through. >> that would be an unprecedented level of influence from one analyst. >> sometimes it happens and it is right. fasler is at xpo logistics. he moved from goldman. i'm not asking tusa to join the g.e. board. i think his integrity and knowledge of the company exceeds everyone i have talked to at g.e. including many board members. you bring tusa in and say tell us what to do. we are not going to do what you want, but tell us what to do because we need a cultural repair. >> caterpillar will lead the dow not just on china/u.s. optimism.

asia pacific up 15. latin america up 14. i think global is up 16. >> there is strength. caterpillar did have an amazing quarter. it has been footballed back and forth. this is a tweet fest. the tweets are more powerful. i believe caterpillar should be valued upon its own. it's not all china like people think. there is some slowing. u.s. orders are holding up. those orders are double digit. caterpillar is not -- i know you recommend recommended -- didn't he know the justice department is going to indict huawei. >> got interesting sell on coke. prior rating was a buy. >> there was an upgrade oday. that is more in keeping with what i'm seeing using these

tactics as all relative proxys. coca-cola is doing quite well. i think if you sell that stock -- coca-cola, mcdonald's, proctor are stocks you don't want to sell here. proctor reacting to a piece saying they are going to do four percent organic growth. i like the term. there we have the board. i think that nelson is pleasantly surprised with the trajectory here. they made changes in grooming. i like the stock. i wish this fellow upgraded. it's a 95. look at kraft heinz. colgate didn't work. there's like five good ones. if you think that resident costs are coming down and the price increases are going to stick --

then you have margin expansion. that is pretty good. you just need the dollar to stabilize and you will have really fabulous numbers. >> you made this point yesterday on clorox. i was looking at plans to raise average selling prices. 29% as commodities come down, if they can make those stay. >> clorox would be a $200 stock. coca-cola i see that going up. there was a neutral on it. these stocks, the money is plowing towards them for the same reason we listen to draghi. that's why i don't think coca-cola hold call is right. i think you have to buy that stock. i think that stock is doing very, very well. that company is doing very well. >> we have some sentiment. >> did you see that? >> since februaryof '16.

>> is that a clear signal here >> i would say mark bennyhoff had the new time. people there are -- i like to poll people all the time. people want to talk stocks at all. michael colin. >> that was the other big story. >> and no one wants to talk stocks even as sales force, which is the ceo, just keeps going higher and higher. those stocks are coming back. you mentioned adobe. i think adobe is going to be smashing tonight. these are companies -- everyone is moving to the web. one thing he can do, the crm, it is so good. when you go through the elson,

unbelievable analyst, what they lack is systems. it was -- he is a titan. he said probably want to talk about artificial intelligence. no. we are so far behind. we've got -- before we take the icing, we have to bake the cake. what a great quote. he said he is from tennessee. they have to fix things. they have so much that needs to be fixed. i think it is a buy based on the fact that he is so rigorous to fix it. he talks about going into stores and people not knowing what they are doing. i tweeted that -- my wife tweeted a picture of a tire in a parking lot. elison said where was the tire. the plants were dead. she goes to lowe's three times a day. she is drilling things and putting up things. so she is like telling elison

who is this guy? that's the ceo. i thought that was the store manager. >> she doesn't like our show. she likes you. >> you mentioned lowe's. we did get the big capital return announcement yesterday. >> that was a fabulous analyst day. it's 9:38. 175,000 shares have traded. in the old days it would have been 1.7 million shares. nobody gives a darn. it's etf, etf. it's really good companies to buy. this is about rehab. it's not just about new homes. nobody believes that. part of the reason is because j. powell says we need the interest

rate hikes. he really needs to wait and see after this. tell me under what world that is dangerous. let's wait to see. >> with every meeting live next year it does change things. >> don't you think you can just do it. maybe there is a little more guesswork. if the numbers get weak then we know she should relent. if the numbers get strong then we know he should hike. he just has the ground game going right now. it doesn't matter. we see the problem with that is that it is ten yards you got to go. just pass the ball and get the hike through and then let's see what happens. he's in the red zone. he knows he is in the red zone. dow is up 132. the ecb president has wrapped up his news conference. annette, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to

you. it's a new story day for the ecb because it is the official end date of the asset purchase program. they have confirmed that they are ending their a.p.p. as they call it program at the end of this year officially. but they keep on reinvesting a sizable jump each month so it's not over yet here for the e.c.b. interest rate hikes are far away on the horizon. at the same time mario draghi was stressing the risks to the economic outlook. given all of the uncertainties we have seen incoming data being weak for the eurozone. ecb was quite optimistic but now apparently has changed track. we are seeing the euro reaction being sharply lower on mr. draghi being dovish. to sum it up, compared to the states we are behind the curve

in terms of monetary policy. it will still take quite some time until we see the first-rate hike provided the economy is not going to head south substantially. >> thank you very much. let's get to bob pisani on the floor and see what is moving. >> happy thursday. two to one advancing the declining stocks. nice action at the open. not a lot of energy. not a lot of high volume. they are not buying big as we move to the upside. there is a lot of caution out there. we have had a good week. industrials are up. banks doing nothing unfortunately overall on the week. health care is up two percent. i really can't emphasize enough how indifferent the banks are acting. we are on an up day. the regional banks, nothing here. no bounce at all. they are down two, three, four percent. many of them just a percent or so from 52-week lows here.

that is a major issue. there are some market negatives out there. maybe new ones are floating around out there. i think the biggest issue still is the known unknowns we have out there. the extent of the global slow down, very difficult to model 2019. seems to be some, but not a lot right now. the national enquirer story came out at 2:00 yesterday. i don't know to what extent it will be a real issue. and then the stimulus going away at the european central bank. it's not clear how much this is going to impact u.s. profit expectations in 2019. i bet there is some impact somehow. i think the positives outweigh the negatives right now. i think clearly the most important thing is what the fed has been doing. they are signaling fewer rate hikes. i think that is the most important thing that has been happening. we have the opec agreement and

tariff talks and negotiations ongoing. god knows it is going to satisfy the trump administration. we have had stories about high level contacts reported here. put up all the tariff headlines seeing here. we have promises to reduce auto tariffs. this all seems like pretty positive headlines for me. heaven knows this will satisfy them. certainly the tone is a lot more positive than it has been in a long time here. another market sentiment positive indicator, guys were talking about it a few minutes ago. i don't normally follow market indicators. it was comically bad, the survey. normally the surveys show about 40% bullish, 30% bearish and 30% negative.

when you see bulls down to 20% that is the lowest since may of 2016. when you see bears at almost 50%, the highest since april 23023 2013, these are real significant levels. often they signal a market top or market bottom. the important thing here, that is a good sign. steve liesman's survey indicates high levels of negativity. >> bob pisani. let's get to rick santelli at the cme group in chicago. good morning, rick. >> good morning, carl. one week of tens, we are consolidating off of lower yields. yields we really haven't seen since basically the end of august. however, having said that, we are still at a mode where many traders are paying very close attention to what is going on overseas. if you look at a february chart of our tens you can see there is plenty of action for the beginning and mid part of the year.

that's right about at the levels we held. now, as you switch to a one week of bunds there isn't a lot on the one-week chart which speaks volumes. the rates are in the mid 20s. if you look at bunds from june 2019 which is kind of the zone we are trading in, the market must have not expected a lot different. that was dovish with respect to how everybody reacted to mario draghi thus far. the market isn't shocking but i don't think it shocked the market. if you look at the intraday, no doubt there is volatility. open the chart up also hovering in a range from june of 2017. like the dollar index, the last five or six weeks really have been in tight ranges with some volatility but tight ranges. remember, the issue of what's going on with our premium interest rates is negated in

large part by currency hedging and some of the expense. the longer -- the cheaper it will get. carl, jim, back to you. >> rick santelli. amazon has been facing criticism from new york city council members over the hq 2 deal. council speaker corey johnson said the city is not in the business of corporate welfare. >> amazon is a $1 trillion company. is that accurate you are approximately valued at a trillion dollars. why should we give you this money? >> these incentives are performance based which means we will not receive any money until we create jobs and make these investments. >> why do you need our $3 billion when we have crumbling subways, crumbling public housing, public schools are overcrowding why do you need our $3 billion.

>> it's hard to separate the politics here. >> it's so hard -- no doubt about it -- when you get this gem of a company, the multiplier effects is rather extraordinary whether it be for schools in the area or what they bring in terms of the resources from outside, what it does for the educational system, higher ed and science in the city. it is just a gem. i know many cities are regretful that they didn't do more to get this because of what amazon can do. >> a lot of cities offered more than what new york did. >> absolutely. people bring up the flaws that we have currently in the system. amazon is an amazing company.

they can change a school system. they can. i look at what mark bennyhoff did in the school system in san francisco. >> and the homeless. >> you want amazon -- i think people don't understand what it means to have a great company like this in your town. >> invested in your town. >> there are people who would never get jobs who will get jobs. amazon will have them. it's easy to get a job if you have a -- a lot of people will not be comp side amazon. >> we will watch it closely. and see to what degree it changes for the focus of their arrival. dow is up 1.09. take a look at the top performing names in the s&p.

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starbucks ramping up its growth strategy, getting ready to open a new roastery in new york city. jim will be there tomorrow and he'll have ceo kevin johnson on "squawk on the street" later on "mad money." >> he's done a remarkable job and the roast erery a brain chi of howard schultz. he's making it so technologically they're superior i always thought their coffee -- this is a triple cappuccino -- i would say kevin has this thing this engine is about to roar it's been stabilized we liked it starting in' 5254. this roast rery is signature because it's like we can do

craft. i just think this is another rallying cry for this stock. >> 70? man, 49 in june, remember that. >> johnson is doing a great job. >> look forward to that, jim, that will be big we'll get stop tdirang with jim in a moment. dow is up 70 this isn't just any moving day.

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let's get to jim and stop trading. >> this is amazing sienna, this is another area that's great strength, cien with a big buyback. ciena. gary smith doing a good job. i wonder if they'll be a beneficiary of the fact that we're reluctant to use chinese telco equipment. >> the tech element of the china show down. >> they don't realize, they play with fire -- huawei, it's possible to boycott their stuff. it's our stuff we don't need their stuff so to speak. we meaning u.s. companies that make stuff that huawei does. now, by the way, they make it cheap. there's companies that always will sacrifice they should stop sacrificing in order to create patriotism. >> jim, what's on "mad" tonight? >> okay.

>> you got adobe. >> there's nobody bigger he's the man of the hour shantanu narayen he's taken this company to levels that nobody ever thought when we were doing acrobat this ain't no acrobat. this is game, set, match. >> see you tonight, jim. >> absolutely. >> "mad money," 6:00 p.m. eastern time when we come back, the future for under armour sara eisen with kevin plank and president patrik frisk

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♪ why don't you come over good thursday morning, welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintinilla with sara eisen and mike santoli at post 9 of the new york stock exchange david faber has the morning off. dow is up 47 banks have gone red but we have a key upgrade on ge. >> and our road map starts delight with general electric shares soaring on the upgrade. is this the ge bottom? >> apple's expansion the tech giant announces a new billion-dollar campus in the lone-star state. we have details.

volatility reigns supreme. stocks higher, just barely, as investors look at the latest developments surrounding the ongoing u.s./china trade war. >> and a big interview that you will not want to miss, the ceo of under armor kevin plank along with his number two, president patrik frisk will join me on the heels of their investor day and 10% stock slide. the street was disappointed with targets that sent shares slower, they are slightly lower again this morning we'll talk about what they spelled out for the future and what kind of innovation they have. >> the major averages are slightly higher. positive developments in the china trade discussions boosting sentiment but investors seem to be holding fire. what comes next? let's break that down with mark

zandi and jeff mortimer. jeff, seems like you've turned more cautious on the equity markets. what are we going through? does it seem like just kind of another direction? some kind of an adaptation to a slower outlook or there a bigger transition happening >> mike, we would say a bigger transition is potentially happening. certainly we've gone from the bear market in 2009, the hanes bottom, as it's known. most of the pullbacks along that way should have been bought. we were recommending clients lean into those. we've taken assets off the table this summer. the volatility we've had we've pulled back to a neutral allocation this is a much more major transition from an accommodative backdrop, easy monetary policy around the world to much more of not necessarily tighter monetary

conditions but let easy and you'll get less issues on profits and pe multiples that's the key we've had incredible earnings growth but multiple contraction and that's what the market will wrestle with in 2019 as well. >> so you're saying even with the major indexes down 10% with the forward price earnings ratio of the s&p down to roughly where it was in early 2016, that's not cheap enough yet to make a further commitment to stocks >> we are not leaning in at this juncture we are neutral so it's possible you get a rally from these levels if trade talks and a fed pause comes our way but we'd much rather battle that from a neutral allocation for a couple years. this is a wait and see the left tail risk, as we describe it, the down side risk of a trade and tariff war becoming -- even rhetoric becoming more robust and a fed

which if inflation continues, if wage pressure comes a fed which may want to stop hiking rates but can't because it needs to combat inflation would also put potential downward pressure on markets going forward. >> mark. the big call is when we might see recession? is that talk getting overblown we have another strong unemployment claims print. ism has been strong, too where do you see us going in this glide path along some slowdown next year >> i don't see a recession next year, mike there is a lot of fiscal stimulus left that's definite financed tax cuts and more importantly next year deficit-financed increases in government spending so that provides temporary juice to the economy so recession seems unlikely but i thing thinks are coming together and suggest an

economic downturn in 2020 will be quite high. the stimulus will go away, imbalances in the economy more serious so a 2020 recession seems like at least even odds. >> to be clear, mark, would you characterize it as a man-made recession given some of the tariffs and the trade drama? the fact that you mentioned we have this deficit-fuelled tax cut stimulus could we have avoided it >> yeah, i think the fiscal stimulus was a bad idea. you had a full employment economy, an unemployment rate at 3.7% and then throw on top of it deficit-financed massive tax cuts, deficit-financed massive increase in government spending and then you throw into the next trade war which is just the wrong policy and on top of that very significant anti-immigration policies in a

world where you get unemployment very low, we can't find construction workers to build home so, yeah, i think the policies are bad and contributing to the odds of a recession down the road. absolutely. >> jeff, if we can't agree on recession in '19, at least we have this reuters poll on the yield curve. strategists expect trends to go negative in the next six months. can we go there? >> i don't think we'll be inverted or flat in that short time period. i think the fed would have to move assertively but it's possible the 10-year comes down if global growth continues to slow so it's certainly a possibility and certainly 2-5 flattening that took place, the two-year to five-year, may be an early warning signal but we have to wait and see.

the research that i've used throughout my career is the three month to the ten-year. that's where we'll continue to pay most attention and even if that does flatten, it has a lag time for ultimate recession so market knows that so they may discount that going forward but we're monitoring yield curve dynamics >> i think the yield curve is measured by .7 percentage points positive but if you do one with one next week, three/four next year, an inversion seems highly likely by mid-next year and if history is any guide, that suggests an

economic downturn some time in 2020 financial system banks can't make money when the yield curve is inverted. theystop lending and that's a problem for any economy. >> so if everybody including the fed sees that coming, mark, what does that imply for what the fed will and should do >> i mean, they know this and you have fed members indonating that they won't vote for a rate increase if they think they think it will intonate the curve. so you have unemployment headed into the low threes which is a place we've never been except for world war ii and the korean war and wage and price pressures developing so it's a very difficult thread the needle. historically they've tried to thread the needle but never have they've always not landed the plane on the tarmac, we've ended in recession so maybe this time we get it right with deft policy

making and luck to pull that off. >> some would say they did it once in the mid-'90s but the odds are against them no doubt mark, jeff, thank you for your time this morning. shares of ge up sharply. j.p. morgan's steven tusa upgrades the company from neutral to underweight, a rating he's had since may of '16. tusa says he sees a more event-driven balance/risk reward and that what he calls known unknowns are better understood tusa is maintaining a $6 price target he says a material equity raise could be necessary that's a big call that morgan brennan will help us dig into. morgan >> a couple different things going on with ge today the thing moving the stock up 10.5%, which is only a 70 cent move is this note from steven tusa they was original bear on the stock in may, 2016 and said

there's issues with cash flow, earnings, things aren't as healthy as they seem everybody balked at that but they were accurate so with him to come out with this, upgrade to neutral is considered a really big deal the other thing is that this company announced plans for digital assets you remember the whole industrial internet of thing, jeff immelt saying they want ge to be one of the top ten software companies by 2020 things have changed on that front and this company looking to turn itself around. they'll create that stand-alone wholly owned independent company for ge digital assets and they'll sell the majority stake of service max to silver lake. so getting clarity on that as well. >> what does he say has changed

the most f you had to summarize >> the line that styx out the most in this report is, quote key to the story is the outcome of the known unknowns which is better understand as the debate is balanced as opposed to being overlooked by most bulls in the past he still believes that they may have to sell new shares to raise cash although the company and larry culp, the new ceo said, including on cnbc in recent weeks, that $20 billion in december with which you ares they don't expect to have to do that but just the fact that he's saying perhaps the bottom is in or near is a big deal for the stock. >> saying that extreme scenario of balance sheet stress and kind of a zombie financial situation may be reduced in probability right now. if you had investors who didn't know if the bottom was anywhere above zero, frankly. so i think -- and now the stock is getting back to where it was early this month so 70 cents or

something like that is just taking that scenario a little bit off the table. >> of course this is after shares hit $6.66 which we called out earlier which was the closing low during the financial crisis so stock was down 60% since the start of this year. >> and adding zero points to the dow as peter said this morning thanks, morgan. >> no longer. when we come back, shares of under armour getting hit hard yesterday on the heels of the company's investor day disappointed by the retailer's financial targets, particularly in north america under armour still up 35% this year ceo kevin plank along with under armo armour's pat patrik frisk will join me on "squawk on the street." place, the xfinity xfi gateway.

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past anything that stands in its way. ...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. check out shares of under armour, slightly lower this morning. they drop more than 10% after the company posted its investor day. some disappointing revenue guidance first investor day since 2015. the company hired veteran apparel executive patrik frisk in hopes of a turnaround the stock is up 35% so what is next joining me now first on cnbc, welcome back kevin plank, the founder and ceo of under armour and patrik frisk, first time on cnbc welcome. >> thank you, sara. >> what were you thinking when you saw the reaction you were ready to open up to

investors and analysts and the stocks drop sharply on your guidance. >> i think people took a look early on the good news about yesterday is we talked to over 100 institutional investors and laid out a five-year plan which is it's complete, transformational and something which covers everything from structure to strategy to culture and we're proud of the progress and when you talk to those who got a chance to touch the projects for a comprehensive review, when you look into the fundamentals, they're there and we got a clear play now it's a matter of execution so that is on us and time will tell. >> and partly on this guy. two big sources of disappointment i'm reading about, number one on the near-term outlook in terms of a turn around and on the longer-term expect nation for north america growing mid-single digits which is less than nike. >> as we came out of 2016 into

2017, we had an inventory situation that was building, we've been working through 2018 to get that under control and as we turn the corner into 2019, we're building back into more of a full-price brand what we tried to lay out is how we were going to go through this time frame between '17 and '19 in a low to mid-single digit range and as we exit that into 2020, more of a mid to high single-digit range then the out years, returning into a double digit range. >> were you purposely trying to be conservative? >> it was more also about thinking through holistically the entire company so we're moving from this north americancentric company to a global entity where we're going from a 25% share in north america and moving into 42% international over this time frame. and what we were trying to talk about yesterday it was eps we're giving a 40% cumulative eps over this period of the next five years and a 20% ryc at the

end of it. generating more than 2.5 billion of cash flow in that time frame so that was the story. so we're a growth company and turning to stronger growth in the out years and becoming more of a global company and giving much, much better shareholder return. >> clearly international is the growth story but what was the problem in north america this was the market you dominated, led to your growth in the early years, why are you asking sflubl. >> this isn't about the market, this is about under armour when you look at the transformations, we've gone from head of apparel and food watwean accessories, we want to get close to the consumer. empowering to make sure this isn't about one person but cultural across the organization we've done the same thing from

an international standpoint. we say becoming a global grand, north america is central to that so we want to do that through innovation, things like steph curry wearing the new curry 6 last night, it's products like the hover upgrade. so innovation will be the game of the game. the financial metrics are a by-product to make sure we're delivering for the consumer with an expectation of product with things they wonder how they live without them. >> you're declaring yourself on a global company at a time where we're in a trade war with the second-largest economy in the world. you get 18% of your product from china. doesn't that make you vulnerable >> i think in terms of a sourcing strategy, our sourcing strategy that took us to that 18% started five years ago our industry has a whole has been balancing their sourcing strategy for ten years we'll continue to balance that --

>> moving to vietnam. >> it's part of a national progression, not current politics it's two things that are happening. one is the balance strategy you want to have you want to make sure you're positioned from a global perspective. the other thing is speed to market so you have to get prepared for making sure you have an ability to go faster into the market and the third thing is local for local some parts of the world you have to produce product in market like in china to supply the market so it's a combination but sourcing strategy have to develop over a longer period of time where we were today was thought of like two years ago because our calendar has a certain length to it so we're not reactive to the current marketplace. we're thinking about it long term we have to we make 270 million pieces a year. >> is it hard to think long term in an environment where there's so much political instability in places like europe you're pinning your hopes there

and who knows what will happen with the u.s. and china, the narrative changes everyday, every tweet, every photo opportunity. how do you think long term in this environment >> transformation is getting it away from any one thing. we're a business that was built on a lot of forces of will and personality. the ability to bring a partner like patrik on where we can systemize what we're doing and get it away from i have a great idea that's the maturing of our company that we are proud of and we can present that's what yesterday was. it wasn't about what does one individual think but how do we demonstrate we have a complete process talking about going from structural, from strategy and into cultural. making sure entire business isn't waiting for the force of will of one individual but it becomes a balanced approach so that's the new operating model that's the category of management and that will manifest itself in a product that 16-year-olds will say

that's the greatest thing in the world, i want to participate because that product makes me better >> and we were trying to convey the message of 4% op0% eps endi with a 20% ryc generating $2.5 billion in positive cash flow. >> but this is a stock that still trades at 60 times earnings and ran up more than 50%, why is it such a controversial name >> controversial controversial? >> the battleground stock. >> well, i think you know ultimately to answer that question earnings need to go up so for us short term we are focused on that. because you need earnings, you need cash to be able to invest and that's how we think about it so for us the next period we're going through here from 20 to 22 is an investment into capabilities is an investment into innovation, is an investment into our people, is an

investment into our regions to make sure we stay competitive, become more competitive as a global brand. >> i heard you mention the world cultural changes a number of times. clearly there have been questions. first of all, how do you have a policy up to february, 2018, that lets executive charge strip clubs on a corporate card? >> an e-mail from our cfo that's clarifying a lot of different policies doesn't define what that is so we want to be clear is that we want to have an environment that is diverse and inclusive, that every teammate feels like under armour is a great place to work. no one would ever tolerate that. i want to make sure i set the record straight on that. what we have is we want to make sure our team feels like we're building something that they're moving toward that they can be proud of so the environment that we work on in under armour, it's like -- we put a lot of metrics in place we put our new structure in place. we put a lot of this work over the last two years and we're in year two of a three-year transformation so these things coming out, it's difficult

we're in our 14th year as a public company that much time in the arena means you have to retool the machine and we had to do what we were doing 100 miles an hour trying to change tires, now we've slowed down to 30 or 40 miles an hour. so it's something happening and we're evolving and looking forward at the under armour we're about to become and proud of what we've done to get to this moment. but there's work to be done. >> so when you read about the fact that under armour is having a me too moment, is that an exaggeration or are you doing soul searching >> i don't think there's a company in the world that would say we've got the metrics that we want. the one thing i know is as we look to promote and includes diversity and inclusion across the organization, that we make sure we have women in leadership, people of color helping to drive because we're looking for a management team that reflects the constituency we're selling to we're not starting from zero we have an amazing base so the way a story may play out isn't exactly the facts so it's our job to communicate that story. that's what we had the

opportunity to do yesterday to a slew of investors and the reaction from those who were there and saw it was positive and talking about things like a 40% eps growth, talking about the free cash flow. >> talking about your relationship, therewhich a lot f investorswanted to see, with some of the management departures still happening as recently as last week, or have been reported, they want to know what this is like. and we saw on instagram you guys are matching clothing. there was a big question you're the founder, kevin, you're the bold personality. you're the ceo and the leader of there company, how much room you would give him to change the operating focus? >> he's given me a lot of room the manifestation of that was yesterday. that was a joint effort to brent that plan. you saw more of our leadership stepping up and one the feedbacks from the investors was that they were appreciative of

getting insight into the strong bench that we have. >> is there anything that you want to do that he won't led you do >> not that i can think of. >> we get together for an hour twice a week we sit down and sometimes we eel sit with somebody else between us patrick has a point of view, i have a point of view how we meet on the bridge is part of what that partnership is it's the finding of what quote/unquote evolved under armour is meant to look like. >> if you ask me about how i feel about right now today, i feel we're at the point where i hoped we'd be and that's really a -- an exciting time for under armour, exciting time for me and our relationship because we're stronger. >> what's been the biggest change you've made in 18 months. >> i think focus, alignment, process, discipline. >> margin improvement? >> all of those things

under armour is a great brand. when i get really excited is when i come into a brand that's bigger than its business and that's where under armour is right now. there's a lot of consumers that long for this brand out there and that's what makes me excited. so where we're at makes me excited. the improvements you see makes me excited and the plan we put forward yesterday should give shareholders a good sense of -- in terms of shareholder return going forward. >> you also have steph curry who is a big asset in the cultural issues you've been dealing with. you mentioned the new curry 6s which came out this week what do you have planned when it comes to girls' shoes and what is demand like >> i think everybody fell in love when little riley sent stefan a message and said why can't i find my shoes in girl's sizes? so as a brand that's had a brand in the ncaa championships with

women, most notably with the fighting irish, we want to make sure she feels represented so we corrected that we make sure girls' sizes are there. i don't think we've been as clear and this is an opportunity to make sure she always fell feels represented. we don't want girls dropping out of sports and selfishly, it's a massive market and the right thing to do. we think about diverse tirks it, inclusion, if you're doing it because you think it might help business, you should do it because it's the right thing to do so when those are in line it gives us great opportunity so stefan, it's very important to him. and you'll see a little tease interint into international women's day as well. >> as someone who bought size 4 boys shoes their whole life i'm excited to have a women's size. >> we'll have that thank you. >> patrik frisk and kevin plank,

the president and ceo of under armour >> sara, thanks so much. still to come, we're talking financials former wells fargo ceo dick kovacevic is with us and we'll lkta to the ceo of robinhood on "squawk alley." the future of technology investing lies beyond the tech sector. it's about technology transforming every sector. ♪ at pgim, our bottom-up approach uses a technology lens to identify long-term winners. from energy... to real estate... to retail. finding such opportunities for alpha

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. good morning, everyone, i'm sue herera here's your cnbc news update at this hour. european leaders gathering for a summit in brussels to discuss the latest on brexit british prime minister theresa may seeking support for from her european partners to help sell the deal to the uk parliament. eu leaders say they won't renegotiate the deal but they are willing to provide reassurances about how it would work turkish authorities say the death toll from a train crash in ankara has risen to nine with 50 injured. the high-speed train hit a maintenance injured and crashed into a pedestrian overpass. back at home, amazingly,

rescuers found all three people alive who had been trapped inside an inactive west virginia coal mine since last weekend they reached the two women and one man last night after traveling more than two miles into the mine. and an early christmas present for motorists in arizona. multiple circle k gas stations were selling gas for, take a look at that, two cents a gallon the company blaming a computer glitch for the rollback. but that drastic price break allowed drivers to fill up for as little as 30 cents. merry christmas. that's the news update carl, i'll send it back downtown to you. >> that's a good one, sue. financials taking a hit over the past month as you know s&p bank etf kbe down over 50% sector falling into correction levels, down more than 18% since a 52-week high weighing in on what's coming for the financial sector, former wells fargo chairman and ceo richard kovacevich

dick, good to have you back. >> good morning. >> it's been quite a week. we have a big downgrade at kbw, loan growth, credit carnes, you're positive, right >> i am. i think there are concerns and there's legitimate concerns. but i think the market is already compensated for that because of the low pe ratios that exist today and it's the worst-performing sector, certainly one of the worst performing in the whole market so that's in the market today. some people think the economy will slow so much it can go into recession. there's concerns obviously about trade wars, inverted yield curves, et cetera. i don't think they're going to happen i think there's massive stimuli going on by central banks and governments around the world so that recession doesn't occur i think that there is going to

be/come decontamination done with china on the trade situation and if the yield curve does invert, it will do so if those conditions exist for a short while. so the question is what do you do in this situation and i believe the market is oversold the pe ratios are very, very low. the dividend yields are very, very high, over 3% banks are buying back stock. it's time to get in because i'm a value investor and a value investor expects to be investing when times are bad for a particular sector, not when times are good. >> is your appetite most whetted for big-money setters or regionals or what within the group? >> well, i think both. i think the benefit of regionals is primarily a domestic market so if you're worried about things overseas, you may want to invest a little more in the regionals. if you think that the -- it's

oversold because of concerns of a dramatic worldwide type economic decline, then i think you -- that favors the universal banks so i'm in both i think both are good and i think it's time. the bottom line is this. i believe that warren buffett loves this environment i bet he is buying banks with both hands he's buying apple with both hands and that's what a value investor does. >> dick, you said you bet he's doing that you probably have spoken with him. do you know he's doing something like that given he's such a piece of wells fargo >> no and if i didn't know i wouldn't tell you. >> we can connect the dots i guess if all the issues we've listed that seem to be weighing on the sector were the only ones

that were affecting things, when the banks are so weak for so long, the obvious question is what is the market trying to hong kong or sniff out about disorderly situation in the global financial system. do you think there's a risk of that whether it's in europe or something else that we're not seeing >> it's this legitimate concern and it's going on in the market today. look, the whole market is down a lot from where it was but it particularly hurts banks if, indeed, you have great reduction in economic growth if there is a trade war. all of these areas affect banks because we're basically in the world and domestic economy there's kind of a herd instinct in wall street and once everyone

decides or thinks something is going to happen. but the fundamentals have been good bank stocks are -- the bank earnings have been terrific and the benefit of the new tax law, benefits to a great extent one of the reasons loans have been less than what people wanted is because of this increase in cash flow occurring in corporate america because of a low tax rate they're spending that. they're spending it on capex, buybacks, dividends. and they will need loans in the future because of the benefit they got in 2018 because of something no one expected before so there are reasons, i think, that won't continue of why banks have been less than popular with investors but i think that's going to change. if i'm correct, it's overdone and i think banks are oversold at the moment. >> richard, we got a nice turn to the upside in the middle of

trading this morning we'll see if it holds. thanks so much, we'll see you soon richard kovacevich joining us on banks today. when we come back, look at apple. shares rallying. the company is also announcing a new billion-dollar campus in austin, texas. what kind of jobs will be heading to the lone star state and we've had a couple upside stabs here the dow is up 149. s&p up a smaller percentage, about a third of a percent the market trying to get back some of those losses in the last couple hours of trading. "squawk on the street" is back after this

apple saying it will invest a billion dollars in a new campus in austin, texas. the campus will be 133 acres and will accommodate 5,000 employees

at first with the capacity for 15,000 in total. it will be located less than a mile from apple's existing texas facilities and make it the largest private employer in austin apple says it will have a range of jobs in engineering, operations, finance sales and customer support the company is expanding its operations and adding more than a thousand jobs in seattle, san diego, and culver city, california though they didn't host a competition like amazon hq 2 and maybe after the publicity amazon has got than is the right way to go. >> i think apple already had 6,000 employees there. they've had some kind of an r&d engineering center there but it's impressive if they become the biggest private employer, dell is still there. dropbox has a big center there so they're gravitating to an alternative silicon valley cluster. >> young people. and bachelorette parties that's what i think of when i think of austin. >> a lotz of discussion object howe they didn't fit cities

against each other. >> no municipal cage match. >> the attention came to how many tax breaks they were getting. >> and remains a debate, at least in new york city as we talked about with jim last hour. >> and amazon and long island city as we head to break, look at coca-cola getting a downgrade at ubs from neutral to -- from buy to neutral the firm notes that coke has stable earnings growth but adds it is in the middle of significant changes and that issues with any one of them could prompt management to back away from prior growth target. the stock is higher by a third of 1%. here's the top-performing stocks on the s&p 500 the dow is up 100 and there you go little mix, including general electr a ticndhat upgrade from j.p. morgan. we'll be right back. so lionel, what does being able to trade

24/5 mean to you? well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so close. yes, but also all... night through its entirety. come on, all... the time from sunset to sunrise. right. but you can trade... from, from... from darkness to light. ♪ you're not gonna say it are you? ♪ (whistles) ♪ come on. come on, squirt. (dog barking) whatever your financial goals are, a u.s. bank wealth management advisor can help make them a reality. talk to one today. u.s. bank - the power of possible.

one economic forecaster says the fed is ignoring a key chart that could have a major impact on future rate hikes fis t atndouwh that is on tradingnation.cnbc.com

more "squawk on the street" coming up.

let's get to chicago and the cme, check in with rick santelli and the santelli exchange. >> good morning, carl, i'd like to welcome my guest. richard, things have slower not only in our economy but in the global -- particularly in the ecb. more political turmoil lots of uncertainty. but at the end of the day, it's dovish as all of this was for mario draghi and company, they are doing less it seems incongruent they'll break out of the prison of easy money only to find out that building their next store that they're breaking into is a lower security prison for easy money your thoughts? >> they are at the margin doing less but they're still going to buy 160 billion euros worth of bonds next year, rick, because they have to because italy is a mess and they know it.

that's the short answer. i can give you a longer one. >> now, with regard to the reinvestment, i understand that you can't go cold turkey and i understand they're doing a lot, but in the end, the timing couldn't be worse why do central banks have a timeline to the inputs that they see >> it's a great question, rick you're dealing with academics and in the u.s. fed we have jay powell who is willing to say the facts change, i'll change but central banks around the world we're dealing with academic policy and we know you should never do that in the investment community. >> now i'm worried about this in the ecb but all central banks, including ours there was something in there that said quite plainly we could always do this qe over again in

the same way or bigger than before should conditions make that necessary that's a very scary thought when they're still knee deep in it. your thoughts? >> oh, rick, well that works fine and well and good until your currency doesn't hold up and inflation takes off and some places -- you know, we're lucky in the u.s. looks like inflation peaked for now a couple months ago but china is having some inflationary issues, there's only so much they can print money and affect their currency so they're going to play the game until the game punches back and right now with oil prices coming down, the game isn't punching back so it gives them room to talk up the qe again, rick, unfortunately. >> you know, if you have a building that's taking on water and there's a door, eventually the water in one room will find a way to seek an equal level into the next room the biggest issue of all to me as an americanis how are these

very questionable policies and their continue situation going -- continuation going to affect the u.s. i think global vibrating we're see is exactly that, sent from other countries whose economies the right policies to improve them your final thoughts? >> if rates come down and oil comes down, the u.s. will remain insulated. i am worried about s&p earnings, international earnings, exposure to china rick, u.s. exports to china are down 30% year over year. think about that that's going to be flowing through the u.s., s&p earnings for sure. >> richard farr, this is how the u.s. economy perseveres. it will be something of a great discussion thank you again. mike santoli, back to you. >> all right, rick santelli.

that's rhtig we'll keep asking those questions. "squawk on the street" will be back after this.

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." stocks are trading higher this

morning, but pulled back from session highs, real estate, utilities, and tech leading the s&p higher today consumer discretionary and financials are the laggards. industrials are flat despite higher at the start after more positive trade headlines came out today. some stocks making the biggest moves in the sector, you can see general electric up 8.7% united rentals up and caterpillar up almost 2% back downtown to you >> i'll pick it up thank you very much. we have a few movers to point out. carl, you're watching some retail names. >> hard to find names doing well best buy, ralph lauren, under armour, and macy's, a seven month low back to may. we get retail sales numbers tomorrow, hoping it will be strong. >> tough to pin it on something

in particular in terms of recent economic news flow it seems as if the market kind of finds another group to worry about every once in a while. >> some of the names have been winners on the year like macy's. and under armour, down 3.5%, moved lower on the interview after hearing from kevin plank and patrick frisk. not sure they were able to give investors anything to turn the narrative after yesterday's disappointing longer term forecast they seem very focused, my impression of the interview, telling the story they're in transformation and don't expect anything huge. it will be another transition year as we get focus, maturity, execution in mind, lots of words like that to describe the situation going on at under armour i guess, mike, for a company valued so highly, you need something else to hang your hat

on >> valued like a hyper growth consumer brand name. i think there was not a lot of specificity, what are we doing that's going to offset the impression stepping down to slower rate of growth. i do think that was the reaction you're right to talk about how it is a battleground stock >> are we going to hear more on closing bell >> going to hear more on closing bell i taped another segment, talking about the focus on the holiday season and this afternoon, a number of big interviews famed short seller, what kind of opportunities in this market turmoil. bob diamond. former ceo, mark fields, speaking out for the first time since he was ousted from the company last year. he is a consultant now for tpg his thoughts on the auto sector, on the company he used to run,

tesla. no shortage of topics there. nigel travis, chairman of dunkin brands >> see you this afternoon. when we come back, we talk about apple's new campus in austin and qualcomm. s&p went red, but now up two points

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