>> you don't really need or want to have -- it's a little bit of a signal but not like the fold. >> it's actually pretty cool i know i'll want when it comes ou out. >> clip holder is much cheaper. >> exactly "closing bell" starts in about five seconds from now. see you tomorrow good afternoon very warm welcome to "the closing bell." i'm wilfred frost and i'm morgan brennan. we'll break its latest comments and get comment reaction from former fed governor mishkin. >> and jp morgan's joyce chang

joins us nasdaq is slightly in the red. that dip an hour ago wasn't so much off the fed minutes but rather due to that brief headline about possible tariffs on the eu. we shrugged that off again and are not too far off the highs of the session. sara has an interview with the ceo of kimberly clark in ten, 15 minutes time sara >> good afternoon, wilfred and morgan yes, i'm here in dallas. kimberly clark is hosting a leadership meeting and the brand new ceo will open up to us exclusively his first interview since becoming ceo we'll talk about everything from the brands like kleenex and huggies diapers, which ones need a turn around and what's really going on with pricing as far as what's being passed on to the u.s. consumer and inflation, macroeconomic environment and a lot more i'll see you in a few moments. >> we are looking forward to it, sara, thank you. we'll see you in a few minutes let's get right to, speaking of, the fed minutes that came out

last hour. steve liesman is in washington with the latest. hey, steve. >> hey, morgan, thank you very much lot of news in these minutes from the january meeting where it said almost all fed members wanted to reduce the balance sheet. and also the fed should announce before too long a plan to halt that reduction i interviewed the federal reserve governor last week, and she said she wanted to see the balance sheet reduction end last year we didn't know at the time she was speaking for a pretty big majority of the federal reserve for ending that balance sheet. a plan could come as soon as march. that's not in the minutes but more of an expectation from wall street the fed perceived that the markets felt they were too flexible on the balance sheet. they decided to be more patient and flexible that's why you had that new statement on the balance sheet that came out in january on the issue of rates, the fed

explained its pivot to a patience stance rather than gradual saying expectations were slower growth in 2019 and it saw softer business and consumer sentiment along with the government shutdown, also trade tensions were out there. outlook for foreign growth was weaker as well at the same time, inflation was muted. the fed saw little risk to going into a patient or a pause mode and then there was disagreement about whether or not the fed may have to return interest hikes later this year. some thought they might have to, some thought they might not. listen to fed speak and see if a return to hikes is possible later this year. but for now i would call it, morgan, a firm pause. >> steve, just quickly, what's the market reaction been that is suggesting in terms of where they are for rate hikes or even cuts for the year ahead? >> you know, what i saw in the fed funds futures market was a market that was oscillating

between the possibility -- call it even money chance of a cut down to a 75% chance that the fed remained on hold so it goes back and forth. what i'm looking at, wilf, is a january 2020 fed funds contract. there's a lot of volatility in that contract. you can also watch the two year, which kind of oscillates around that expectation of what the fed will do. and that's kind of an up and down in that zone. so right now, i would say the bet is no change to the remote possibility of a cut but i think that's still sort of -- you see 250, that's about the line that would be, i would say, neutral on what the fed does this year, wilf >> steve liesman, as always, thank you very much. let's continue the discussion and bring in economics professor at columbia university thanks very much for joining us, rick first of all, on the content of the minutes explaining why they federal it right to pause rate

hikes for now to increase their patience, macro outside of the u.s. and financial conditions inside the u.s.? >> yeah. i think there's also an issue about concern about what's happening in the u.s. as well. particularly in terms of government shutdowns, the issue of whether the trade war will get out of control all those things are weighing on them what i think was so interesting here was that they also actually are less worried about inflationary pressures and i think that's key, from their viewpoint, having an economy be very strong, if there's no inflationary pressures, which is just fine with them. given the uncertainty th, they e basically took a decision to pause. >> ric, weekly advisory writing while the fed i believe currently had room for the pause because of the economic slowdown going on overseas, it should also be clear to everyone that

they're mostly beholden to asset prices, both the market and credit spreads with that driving policy do you agree >> i think that's actually overstating it the fed certainly looks at what happens in terms of asset prices because it does feed into what happens with the economy actually, it's very bad policy for central bank to follow what the markets are telling them to do and the fed doesn't want to do that it's more that there's -- there's some concern in the markets but we also see that the fed is assessing the situation in terms of the geopolitics, what's happening abroad and what's happening here and they basically see the need to basically wait and see this doesn't mean they couldn't be raising rates in the future a lot of the uncertainty they're concerned about could go away. that would be a good outcome on the other hand, this could get worse and it would make it unlikely that they would want to start reversing direction. >> what do you make of the fact that it seems to be suggested that the balance sheet reduction

will be completed this calendar year >> i think that this is a technical issue for them this is not a monetary polish. very important in terms of discussions of the balance sheet is that they don't want to see this, at this particular point, as a monetary policy tool. if the situation is normal, they want to conduct monetary policy by changing the federal funds rate and talking about where it might be in the future that's the standard way of doing monetary policy. the only reason they would then want is if you do this nonconventional quantitative easing they did in the past. that's not what's going on what's going on, they've basically been doing an assessment of the best way to conduct monetary policy and the way to basically control the federal funds rate in the best way. and their conclusion from this analysis is that they actually would like to have a lot of excess reserves in the banking system they think that's a better way of doing monetary policy and they revised upward the amount of excess reserves to make this

work the best way possible i think it should not be interpreted as a monetary policy move but, in fact, much more as a technical move in terms of the best way for them to conduct policy. >> just to dig into that a little bit further before i let you go, if the fed does end quantitative tightening with $3.5 trillion on its balance sheet, what would that mean if and when we go into the next recession? >> i think it's an issue that from their viewpoint, as long as they have the amount that they want to have, then if they actually need to use the balance sheet tool and expand the -- exercise the balance sheet for monetary purposes, they certainly can do that. again i think this is an issue of they've really been having a reconsideration of the way of doing monetary policy. remember before the crisis, there used to be almost no excess reserves in the system, and a very different way of operating monetary policy. the fed saw having these excess reserves made their life easier.

that's changed the amount that they think is the optimal amount of excess reserves they need in the banking system that's really what's going on. i don't think it tells us very much about whether they will use this monetary policy tool in the future that's really if things start to go very badly. they start dropping the federal funds rate and realize that they're now getting back to the situation where they may not be tiebl drop it below zero in that case, if bad things happen, they would be willing to use the balance sheet tool which, by the way, should not be thought of as the balance sheet but in terms ofactually affecting the way credit markets work ben bernanke hated the word quantitative easing and used to say it's credit easing he's exactly right that's the way they're thinking about it at this particular juncture, this is all about monetary policy control it doesn't tell us about the policy in the future. >> frederic mishkin, thank you for joining us on the heels of those minutes. eugene profitt from profitt

investments and rick santelli. eugene, i'll start with you. >> i think the fed is exactly where they should be if you go back to predecember 24th, they were saying slow in economic growth and the stock market reacted to basically the fed being a friend and have the fed put in place i think that essentially the issue the fed is seeing slowing growth, uncertainty in trade policy and effectively, by stopping the raised interest rates i don't think they're done i think they've done exactly the right thing. now we have dislocation between stock prices moving higher and economic growth slowing. usually it works simultaneously that economic growth would lead to lower stock prices. >> rick, it's interesting to see where the ten-year, for example, sits today as compare compared to the start of the year whereas

the main reason is a pivot from the fed and yet interest rates haven't shifted quite as much. >> yes, yes. thank europe thank japan, china you're exactly right we're only a handful, about nine basis points away from trading in a yield, nine lower, that we haven't seen since the early part of 2018, over a year ago. so, you're exactly right here is the dow jones industrial average. really, within three sessions striking distance of all-time highs. and i think this is a quandary when you think about that dynamic, wilf, it's more than enough of a foundation to build a pause on everybody is so worried about the pause, what it means will the next move be a tightening will the next move be an ease? who knows? the balance sheet. they stop this year, they stop next year. nobody can tell you the real

effects of what the central banks have done with bloated balance sheets or the effects it will have in the grand scheme of things if they shrink them a bit. we don't want balance sheet and quantitative easing to be a third, second or third tool in any central banker's tool box. end of the day, it's a reason for concern about growth, in trying to define how lack of growth in europe, how much of an effect it's having on our sovereign debt market, skewing the relationship you just pointed to will be integral for investors because at some point, if we start trading under the 13-month low of 255 on a closing basis from the second day of january this year, you're going to see interest rates drop 15, 20 basis points probably fairly quick in the u.s. >> eugene, we've got the fed in this wait and see period being patient. you've got uncertainty around trade, be it with china as those talks continue, now europe, some of our other trading partners with possibilities of more

tariffs being implemented there. you've got earnings seemingly -- growth in earnings shrinking right now. a lot of question marks out there. where should investors be putting their money? >> you definitely have to take all of that into consideration we're paying more attention to stocks that don't have extraordinary exposure to china, just in case the china trade deal is not settled march 1st and you have tariffs increasing, which would be a negative for mostly your global companies we are also looking at sort of stories that have high dividend yields, strong balance sheets and we're finding without that, basically, you still can have exposure to the market we do think that the market will trend a little bit higher. we really think that the risk is to the downside, that the reason that the fed is at a pause is that you are seeing slow corporate earnings and that will eventually impact stock prices in a negative fashion.

>> eugene and rick, we'll leave it there thank you very much. eugene profit and rick santelli. battle for the bundle, a way to get new users and advertising dollars. shapie ining the way you view content. and michael hsu interview his thoughts on the trade war coming next. what do advisors look for in an etf? don't just track an index, help me meet a client's need. is the fund built to sell or built to last? etfs are only part of a portfolio. so make it easy to explain. give me a quality fund that helps me get clients closer to their goals. flexshares etfs are designed and managed around investor objectives. so you can advise with confidence. before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information.

read it carefully. that have made the rx the, crleading luxury suvhnology of all time. lease the 2019 rx 350 for $449 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. you mighyour joints...ng for your heart... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

welcome back to "the closing bell." increased tariffs and a stronger dollar, pressuring companies across sectors to raise prices on goods kimberly clark is raising prices in north america on cottonelle and other brands sara eisen is back with her interview with michael hsu. >> thank you, mike, for hosting

us here and doing this exclusive interview with us. >> welcome to dallas. >> it's good to be here. brand new ceo. you're taking over for tom faulk, ceo for 16 years. >> yes. >> what do investors need to know about you >> i've got to tell you, it is quite the honor to come into this role. maybe the biggest thing about me is that i'm a person who sees opportunity. and so because of that, i'm really excited to come into this job at this time because i think it's a great company and tom has built a great legacy, transforming the company over his 30-plus years with the company. but i still see a lot of opportunity ahead of us. >> so, let's talk about that the company is in a bit of a turnaround mode coming off a rough patch on sales with hope in the last quarter. where are you in this transformation >> certainly, we're not satisfied with our performance in the last couple of years, but we are making progress and solid progress in our fourth quarter, what we saw are net sales organically up 3%.

big, important thing was given the commodity inflation we've taken on in the past year, we started to get price realization. that's been critical for us. we're in that process and we expect to make solid progress in '19 both on pricing and business improvement overall. the big thing is on the market side, i think i'm seeing broad improvement across various markets in the consumer demand side. >> some analysts want to know whether there's a growth problem at this company. what do you say to that? >> i would say we have great growth opportunity i spent my career throughout cpg and worked a lot on the food side in contrast in our categories, we still have a lot of runway ahead of us. the reason i say that is our categories are big they tend to be -- consumers tend to use a lot of our product. therefore, they spend a lot of money in our categories and because of that, in developing emerging markets incomes have

not risen to the point where the consumer can be in the category. we still have that development ahead of us. if i use the baseball analogy, sara, in a nine-inning baseball game we're probably in the second or third inning of our lo long-term development. >> does it make it tougher for you that procter & gamble, a main competitor, is farther ahead and seeing the fastest sales growth they've seen in years? does that make it harder to respond? >> i don't know that it makes it harder to respond. you know, we're focused on what we can control and we're managing our business to try to drive category growth with our retail partners and we're focused on bringing the right sets of innovation and value to our customers. >> eknow you talked about the costs rising. >> yep. >> what's that environment like right now? how bad is it? >> i don't know that it's bad. i would say for perspective, 2018 was a year of record commodity inflation for us, the biggest in our history

however i think our teams have done an excellent job responding to it. we've managed our costs effectively. that's been a calling card of kc we have a great cost program and manage our business with strong financial discipline what we're focused on is how do we drive more market growth? we're seeing in the fourth quarter strong perform ans across our markets. >> are we consumers going to pay more for these everyday products like diapers and tissue? >> yeah. i think. you know, given the amount of commodity inflation that's occurred, we have to recover our costs and we are taking pricing and, right now, i would say our pricing plans for 2018 are on track. >> is that going well? what sort of response are you getting from consumers and retailers? >> so far we're making progress. for reference, in the fourth quarter our net realization was up 3%. volume was down a tick perhaps even less than maybe what that's because we've had strong

execution in some markets on other factors beyond pricing. >> foreign exchange is a big headwind for a company like yours and others macroeconomy generally, how would you characterize what's happening globally >> there are certainly some challenges in some markets and certainly the note that came out from the fed last week helped on the currency side a little bit or we expect that it will some markets, probably the biggest area where consumers are under a little bit of stress is in latin america where they've had significant inflation. in fact, we moved argentina, hyper inflation accounting last year brazil consumers are under stress as well the thing for me, what i'm seeing broadly is the consumer is very, very resilient. and our categories are very, very resilient you know, we -- our vision is we're going to provide essentials for our consumers to live a better life our products tend to be necessities. and so they're critical for our

consumers on a daily basis and we're ready for that mission. >> what about the u.s. in particular we've gotten mixed signals on consumer spending. walmart has its best u.s. comps in a decade but december retail sales were the worst in nine years. what's your read on u.s. consumer spending? >> well, in my categories, i will say i think we're bullish on the categories and we'r seeing some progress, especially compared to 2017 and as we progress through 2018, we saw broad improvement. our baby and child care business, huggies, pull-ups, had a strong performance, up single digits overall the very important thing, sara, and i know you being in the category as a user, the category has really rebounded -- >> my son is a user, just to be clear. >> sorry about that. the category really rebounded from 2017 where it was down mid single digits in '17 fourth quarter was up 3%. >> so what about china

i know you're very bullish on that market. are you seeing any impact of the trade war whether it's on the cost input inside or the consumer demand side >> i wouldn't say impact from trade war or trade issues from the u.s. or china. although there are some challenges in the diaper market in china, where we're a big player it's the largest category in the world for diapers right now. largest market in the world. i think we see that as a big opportunity and so does every other competitor so what's happened over the last few years -- and china has gotten much more competitive from a product and promotion environment. and so -- but over the long term, it's going to be -- continue to be the largest market it's about $8 billion today. it's going to grow by a multiple of that over time. there's 16 million births a year and so we're in china for the long haul and focused on having great products. >> you guys trace their roots back to the 1800s. you have storied brands like kleenex, like cottonelle

how do you get the new generation of consumers, that by all accounts, are not loyal, interested in your products? >> we're approaching our 150th anniversary. we're really proud of that we just spent a conference talking about digital. revolution is really transforming the industry and in some ways, i think, creating the optimal environment for a good marketer the reason i say that, i start mied career a long time ago in direct marketing and i think the data we have available is better than ever. >> and the consumer now goes to amazon to buy household products how big of a shift is that >> it mae be amazon. it could be walmart.com. it could be any number of retailers. the interesting statistic is in our categories, 70% plus of the

purchase decisions are enabled by either mobile or digital. so it's very, very interesting. >> >> so how do you rethink the approach >> our teams are running hard and making progress. we've shifted our mix. a lot of our categories we moved to 100% digital marketing. for us, it creates a real -- it plays to our category strengths where in personal care they're highly targeted. you being one of the 6 plus million mothers in the u.s. it's a small audience we're going after. digital can be much more productive than mass vehicles and we're optimizing how we communicate one on one with moms or dads to drive and improve performance in marketing. >> i covered a lot of these consumer products companies. they've all got new ceos, like

yourself a lot of the challenges people face is around culture and really shaking it up how do you do that what are you bringing to this company? >> the starting point is we've got a great culture. we're a bit of a throwback we still care and love our employees. we care about our communities and we really care about our consumers. that's the starting point for kimberly clark one of the areas we're trying to press on is we need to dial up our pace and our speed we spent a couple of days with our top couple hundred leaders talking about how we're going to move and move faster and really go for it. >> mike hsu, thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> for talking with us and having us here in dallas the newly minted ceo of kimberly clark. back to you, wilfred and morgan. >> thank you, sara and also thanks to kimberly clark ceo's thoughts, michael hsu.

the details on how the aftermath is hitting southwest airlines stock coming up wall street guy. i'm nota what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade

endla wealth of oil........ and riches beyond your wildest dreams. there's a place where you can find all of this. in a suite of commodities-based etfs from aberdeen standard investments. everything from field crops to livestock, and precious metals to energy. all of which may help you diversify your portfolio. it's a big, beautiful world out there. why not invest in it? learn more about the commodity-based etfs... from aberdeen standard investments. will it feel like the wheend of a journey?p working, or the beginning of something even better? when you prepare for retirement with pacific life, you can create a lifelong income... so you have the freedom to keep doing whatever is most meaningful to you. a reliable income that lets you retire, without retiring from life. that's the power of pacific. ask your financial professional about pacific life today.

welcome back shares of constellation brands, seema mody has details for us. >> constellation brand expects high-end market to grow mid to single digits and high single digits growth for a long time to come in the business

constellation issued a disappointing outlook for 2019, citing expected weakness in the wine and spirit business but these comments are around the beer market, a market that has been challenged by changing consumer habits and higher competition. shares are down 3% take a look at the longer term chart, down about 20% over the past one year. wilfred, back to you. >> seema, i'll take it thank you. time now for cnbc news update with courtney reagan. hi, court. >> hi, morgan. here is what's happening this hour president trump speaking to reporters from the white house where he was meeting with the austrian chancellor. he this to say about the release of the mueller investigation report. >> that will be totally up to the new attorney general he is a tremendous man, tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the justice department. so, that will be totally up to him, the new attorney general, yes. >> secretary of state mike pompeo says the alabama woman who left home to join the

islamic state group in syria is not a u.s. citizen and will not be allowed to return to the united states. saying that she made a mistake joining the group and has no right to return to the united states cameras will no longer be allowed in the outfield. only live feed will be allowed to each team's replay officials. cnbc news update at this hour. i don't know if you watch a lot of american baseball but it can take a lot of time to get through those games sometimes. >> it can but it's quicker than cricket. >> it is that's true. >> courtney, thank you very much 0.25% on the dow, s&p and nasdaq holding on to slight gains. coming up, as a deadline with china approaches, a new

report on the country's long-term ambitions to reshape the global economy. and later, questions swirling about elon musk's leadership amid another high-level departure at tesla. we break down the exodus ahead ♪ tear up ticket. find the cat. [ meowing ] mittens! make it rain. [ cheering ] [ singing opera ] change the music. ♪ when i move, you move beep. beep. use the rocket. [ sputtering ] if only everything in life listened to you like your new a-class. hey mercedes. [mercedes-benz voice assistant] how can i help you? change color. make it cooler. play my music. the a-class... ♪

♪ ♪ let's go from plans... to full blown production. with financing solutions from american express. chat with us today and let's make it happen. american express. don't do business without it.

>> welcome back. bearish sentiment in china, gaining 15% almost this year, adding $1 trillion of value to the index since january. joining us to talk about china's growth in the global economy, joyce chang. thank you for joining us. >> good to be here. >> long-term sort of vision in china, starting on a big picture question, do you see it as inevitable that the china will overtake the u.s. in size or not? >> by 2030 we think china will be 30% the u.s. economy. i think it will match the size of the u.s. economy one day but it's going to take a bit longer than a lot of people had predicted because growth is slowing in china. >> do you think the current trade debate between the u.s. and china can affect that or is

it inevitable either way >> i think china will continue to grow at a faster pace just given the stage of development they're at the trade issues are a bit of a side issue that's the immediate focus right now. it's the bigger structural issues we're looking at in china, how they proceed with their fourth industrial revolution, what they're going to do on the technology side and then in certain areas like artificial intelligence. >> what do you think they're going to do, especially in light of these u.s./china trade talks? there seems to be an expectation in the market right now that we're going to get some sort of deal, some sort of at least hold in terms of an increase in tariffs, but those structural issues are very challenging. >> the structural issues are very challenging as you said i think you get an extension, signs of progress on the trade issues that china will buy more u.s. goods. issues like technology transfer, cyber theft, the intellectual property rights, those are far more difficult issues. if anything, given some of the

tensions that we is seen between the u.s. and china, china is doubling down on its strategy to invest in technology. >> i wanted to ask you about the political situation at the moment in china. president xi seems, on the surface, all powerful. he just recently imprisoned a former army general for life is he doing things like that because he's losing power or because he is all powerful still? >> i think he is still all powerful but the key thing for ensuring social stability in china is their employment numbers and that they keep household income growing a lot of their focus, particularly looking at the demographics, how do they actually manage the employment situation as their population is aging? he does have control they've been investing in the military as well, particularly in the navy, in china. but i think they are really trying to strike the fine balance that they need to move their economic model to one that is away from the manufacturing sectors and into some of the more value-added sectors.

>> investments in military are key part of that technology debate and i.t. theft and these other issues between the u.s. and china. >> absolutely. >> the fact that china's economy is shifting out of a super cycle and moving from manufacturing to sort of the next industrial revolution, what does that mean in terms of global growth more broadly? >> we think that china's growth will slow down to about 4.5% over the next decade that will take about half a percent off the global growth. it will also raise a debate and question on whether you could see zero interest rate policy in china and you'll see the current account surplus move into more of a deficit. >> quickly on the short term of china's growth, whichever data we look at it seems to suggest a slower economy than china's own datea. japan's data showed a very clear slowdown of trade with china if you had to guess a snapshot of current trade is down close to 4.5 or is it truly 6% still

>> china is slowing down quite a bit from last year our official forecast is 6.2 from 6.6, even with putting the stimulus into place there. i think you see huge variation within china on how growth looks in certain sectors and that's what we're seeing in the global economy. we're seeing this weakness in manufacturing across the board and very mixed signals. >> joyce, we have to leave it there. thank you for joining us, as always joy chang. now the halftime reports ringin the closing bell, virtus congratulations on the decade since listing. you must be looking forward to ringing the bell. >> thank you, wilfred it's been a remarkable decade, that is for sure, since we first ipo'd what's been created here is more than a culture

blessed to be part of it wilfred there's been a conversation about active versus passive. certainly there are slices of your portfolio when you're looking at small caps, taxable fixed income and emerging mar t markets where you need that active management. it's been a great year and i'm blessed to be part of it. >> joe, i imagine you ipo'd obviously ten years ago, started pretty much at the bottom of this bull market. >> yes. >> a month or so away from it. what do you reckon the next d k decade holds presumably not the same level of returns for equity markets. >> no, no, certainly not i think the expectation is for somewhat more muted returns. that's where, wilfred, as you know, the alpha generation is important. that's where our ceo, who has been the common denominator over the last ten years, creating that fantastic family culture, he's mining for opportunities and looking in the areas where you're going to create that

alpha generation you look at small caps, talk domestically, think about the universe of small caps here in the u.s. and understand if you go internationally, emerging markets small caps you're talking about six times the amount of companies. so, i think you're right the next ten years muted expectation as far as returns, but you have to continue to be diligent in mining for the opportunities as well as being socially responsible at the same time from a corporate culture that's going to be so incredibly important. >> joe, what are your thoughts on the markets much more near term wi term >> the market has moved so quickly. can't we be very thankful that we've kind of taken that overwhelming pessimism we all felt around the holidays, and we're seeing stability and you're seeing stability in the places that seem to be so critical oil prices approached $57. think about the federal resolve. first and foremost they were

concerned about corporate credit you are seeing in the taxable fixed income space high yield, deals are rolling out again, investment grade that looks strong once again emerging markets have seen a modest lift. i think we need to be thankful that the pessimism has been evis rate e cerated. you have stability back in the marketplace, volatility below 50%, providing an opportunity for an investor to be making decisions without feeling the pressure from a highly volatile environment. >> joe, we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much. >> wilfred, thank you very much. thanks, morgan. >> congrats again on the ten years. joe terranova will be ringing the closing bell in about 17 minutes time we're currently high by 58 points on the dow. nasdaq holding on to gains and s&p somewhere in between. tesla's general counsel stepping down after two months we'll discuss if this is a bad sign for the company or not,

coming up. companies are growing apwsg oabout ad shoinupn inpropriate content on youtube. full details after the break obvious. sometimes, they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group - how the world advances. ♪

welcome back youtube under fire for inappropriate content and advertisers are taking notice. julia boorstin has details for us. >> morgan, expose of inappropriate content on youtube and the company's failure to police comments of pedophiles, causing advertisers to cause spending reporting youtube videos of kids being inundated with comments from pedophiles and advertising from major brands ran alongside that disturbing content. nestle and disney are among the advertisers who are reportedly pausing their ad spending. we've reached out and haven't gotten a comment back from either company the maker of fortnite tells us it has pausd all preroll advertising on youtube and has reached out to youtube as well as google. youtube saying, quote, any content, including comments, that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have policyies.

reporting digital activity to authorities and disabling violative comments youtube's parent, alphabet stock, is down to about half a percent. this is not the first time that advertisers have boycoted youtube. a number of major advertisers including pepsico and walmart paused spending on youtube after their ads ran alongside offensive content. youtube has enforcement of policies around content but based on these revelations today, it's clearly not enough. >> is this pausing the advertising or removing permanently, do we think >> well, youtube has had these issues in the past and they have been able to reassure advertisers and get those advertisers back on the platform so, based on that track record, it does seem like the company should be able to reassure advertisers and take more steps to ensure that ads for these

premium brands are really only alongside what's considered more premium content, more professionally generated content rather than this user generated content, which tends to be more risky, ultimately. >> julia boorstin, thank you very much. when we come back, shares of southwest are under pressure today. why it's new route to hawaii coulbeary bmed ptltola you should be mad at airports. excuse me, where is gate 87? you should be mad at non-seasoned travelers. and they took my toothpaste away. and you should be mad at people who take unnecessary risks. how dare you, he's my emotional support snake. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade, whose tech helps you understand the risk and reward potential on an options trade it's a paste. it's not liquid or a gel. and even explore what-if scenarios.

where's gate 87? don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. 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 is the true value of active investing. and around the world, you have a partner in that pursuit. pgim: the global investment management businesses of prudential.

the global investment management all of you. how you live, what you love. that's what inspired us to create america's most advanced internet. internet that puts you in charge. that protects what's important. it handles everything, and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi.

simple. easy. awesome. xfinity, the future of awesome. welcome back to "closing bell." ubs, swiss bank falling today after french court ordered the company to pay $5.1 billion overcharges of helping clients evade taxes between 2004 and 2012 ubs says it will appeal the verdict. morgan, they've had cases like this before. they settled for about a billion with the u.s., $300 million with germany. they didn't settle with france, which, of course, is why it went to a court case. it was expected to be bigger than those settlements but not this big basically total earnings for all of last year will take about 1.7% of their tier one capital below the target and might mean

they now have to pull back their buyback this year, which is about $1 billion, $1.5 billion share price down 3.5% only because they're going to contest this they'll try to appeal and get the size of the fine down. >> criminal fines and reportedly the out-of-court settlement would be 1.1 billion euros what is this, 3.7 billion? >> yeah. back-to-back european banks, hsbc and ubs today they are doing really well in europe as to others that aren't. but showing how tough the environment is. >> i've been watching southwest. goldman sachs downgrading that from sell to neutral, saying it could pressure profits in the near term. the airline is also falling today on news it underestimated the effects of the government shutdown, lost $60 million due

to the government shutdown compared to the $10 to $15 million loss shares are up 17% year to date in terms of airlines it has been the best performer in the dow transports year to date, the shutdown numbers also, just to put that in perspective, worse than expected. they did log $5.7 billion in revenue. there's a lot of profit-taking happening here. >> exactly they performed well. essentially coming into the earnings, low guidance and beat but then the shutdown had the added setback. after decent performance, up 17% still year to date. up next we'll be back with the closing countdown. six minutes left of trade. after the bell, cnbc interview with reverend jesse jackson, he will wghei in on taxing wealth and much more coming up on the closing bell. when you look at the critical issues facing our world, what do you see?

we see a billion more people breathing free. we see access to fresh food being the global norm, not the exception. we see homes staying cooler, without the planet getting warmer. at emerson, when issues become inspiration, focusing core strengths to create a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved.

we've done it! hah! great work old chap.

we'll be rich and famous. well i'll be rich, you'll be famous... at least amongst your digging friends. here's a thought, ever consider investing? e*trade has easy to use tools that help you get started. you like playing with tools don't you? 'course you do. ♪ don't get mad. start investing with e*trade. welcome back to "the closing bell." m macro terms that we were looking at, can you see dollar flat on the day. little roll tillity around 2:00 p.m. but essentially the market got what it was expecting. no real movement on the dollar index. s&p 500 intra-day for you

suggests we got a bit of a selloff and a bounce back. we got a story around that time we might see tariffs on the eu that's the fact that it saw a selloff more than the minutes. either way, whatever the factor, we recovered and as we approach close near zero. nasdaq is down and russell is up 0.5% i bring in bob pisani raw materials the real outlier today. followed by industrials. materials, outperformer. the only real laggerd, real estate and a few others in the red. markets kind of flat as we approach close. >> every day more advancing than declining stocks, 3-2. this has been going on since the december 24th bottom it's one of the main attributes of the market we've seen

we've also seen generally lower volume, the vick's collapse, the market is getting calmer and anticipating the market will go higher i think it's a little overbought the concern here is that you have issue with trade. they're now betting that this thing is practically a done deal i think the risk is the downside if there's any negative headlines. i think the good news here overall -- take a look at what's going on here, 2.2 billion to buy on the close, statistically significant number you start getting market on close orders above $1 billion, that's significant these are mutual fund orders remember, we had significant outflows from mutual funds in january, parts of the year i think this is a sign that some investors are putting some money back into the market a little more. >> slightly encouraged that the balance sheet normalization could be done by the end of this year >> positive headline from the takeaway from the fed minutes, yes. little more clarity on that.

>> little more positive there than the potential negative. we didn't see a big rally. 20 seconds left, as bob said market on the close not pushed us meaningfully higher, 0.1% on the s&p, russell, outperformer up 0.4 and nasdaq just negative.03% joe terranova, sis ten-year anniversary. morgan, back to you. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm morgan brennan in for sara eisen. wilfred frost will join me anyway moment here mike santoli is off today. the dow finishing up about 67 points, 25,958, up .25% today. s&p up slightly, 2784. nasdaq also closing right around

the flat line and the russell 2000, outperformer finishing the day up about half a percent in terms of what outperformed, cyclical stocks, and the laggerds, consumer staples, real estate cvs shares plunging after issuing a weak earnings forecast and now waiting on results from cheesecake factory, avis budget. earnings season continues on joining us, john percides. john, i will start with you. fed minutes today. stocks finishing the day higher. although really only modestly. how would you characterize trading? >> so far, no surprises. that's the key that's what we've seen the past

couple of weeks, earnings are coming in strong we're waiting with ba ining wit to see what's going to happen with the chinese markets right now it's calm. >> tony, in terms of what we've seen from the fed, the reasons they felt it was okay to pivot and become more patient, markets have rallied and already fully priced in that pivot can it go any further in terms of bullish sentiment >> i don't think so. not in terms of the fed itself the fed did say today, which was somewhat of a surprise, that it was going to announce by the end of the year that it was going to end the reduction of the balance sheet. it wasn't completely consistent. the fed also said at the same time that it wanted to be able to manage the balance sheet with as little assets as necessary. so it wasn't completely consistent i think that the upside for the markets in terms of the fed is if, in fact, it clarifies that overtime and does, in fact, end the balance sheet reduction by the end of the year. in terms of the rate trajectory.

whatever they say right now will be discounted by the markets if they believe they'll be data dependent, which is what we've been hearing from them. >> we're starting to hear about the increased possibility of a cut in terms of interest rates what would happen then >> the market would go off to the races at that point, if the fed were to cut interest rates i don't see that in the cards at this point the fed will use the reduction of the balance sheet more as its other tool here to deal with monetary policy right now and leave interest rates off to the side. >> tony, we were talking earlier with rick santelli about the way that markets have rallied in this pivot the ten-year note, for example, has not really budged, which you could take us suggesting, in fact, more bearish interpretation between the bond market and equity market or the fact that international rates are anchoring u.s. rates where do you stand is it missing something or not >> the credit market is missing

something. i think that you look at the spread between the u.s. treasury and the bund it's almost all-time right now it could be wider. the dollar is so strong it's difficult for foreigners to come and buy the dollar and hedge the foreign exchange costs future market is showing the dollars to go up so you would have a negative carriage rate that's not working right now. what you have overall is a number of factors that are holding down the long bond rate around 260, 270 and the bund is anchoring it you also have the fact that as mr. pisani was saying before you started, you still don't have that bullish sentiment in the retail space they're discounting that a trade deal does get done retail investor is not as that risk continues to build you get a higher rate overall on the ten-year bond. >> i hope you're right in that it's the credit markets that are wrong. flat yield curve never leaves to

a good thing, particularly an inverted yield curve so the flatter we are, i think the more convinced the market is that we're getting closer to recession. i hope it's the credit markets that are wrong. >> i would agree with that we don't see any recession for -- i think we'll be talking about 2021 in another few months as to when the next recession will start 2020 is about to come off the table. >> we were worried about the flattening yield but it's moved out of the rear view mirror when you talk about it. focus intensely more on global growth on that note, let's talk about china. state-run newspaper issuing a warning about the trade spat between thes and china if the u.s. were to implement new tariffs, it would be, quote, catastrophic strike to global stock markets. glad we went with the english translation there of that. >> i would have loved to see you try to take a swing at it, though. >> i don't think i could say a letter could you? >> absolutely not.

>> we should all learn mandarin. doing all well today if we had what's your interpretation of how much the markets have priced in potential progress of the trade talks? >> regardless of what language you translate that into, any increase of tariffs is bad for the fwloebl stock market and global economy but clearly the language, at least, is headed in a positive direction where it's not going to get worse we're hoping it gets better. the bottom line is this isn't going away, right? what we would love to see is that both sides take one step back maybe the u.s. cuts its tariffs from 250 billion to 125 billion. maybe the chinese go from 125 billion to 55 billion, something along those lines but neither side will concede all the way. >> to that point, tony, do you think it's priced in -- the possibility is even priced into the markets that we don't get some sort of deal and that tariffs do actually increase >> i don't think so. sadly, the chinese are correct actually increase tariffs and

will be pretty negative. catastrophic, i don't know but acutely negative what's priced in right now is that we get some type of understanding to which we don't increase tariffs and don't necessarily take off tariffs $64,000 question is when we have that understanding, can they remove the tariffs that's not priced in that's an upside catalyst. i'm not counting on that right now. maybe an agreement, keep things where they stand from a tariffs standpoint i think that's what's priced into markets right now. >> international growth last month or so has been increasingly negative data and headlines about that but i feel like that's all priced in now. we're all aware of the slowdown. do you think, again, that that -- >> particularly if you look at china, for example we look at the social financing in china they're stimulating this economy $2 to 5.5% of gdp. we think china is troughing right now. apple, lots of companies that do business, the semis. seems like demand is dropping in

china and will start to rebound largely due to that stimulus we get a little bit of relief on tariffs and the global economy starts to do better going forward and the negativity that we're feeling from the economists starts to wane and we start to have a better outcome, if you will, in terms of where forecasts are. >> yeah. i mean, china tariffs aside, my concern internationally is that the european central bank, there's a policy misstep european central bank is really bringing the veil that they're done with their quantitative easing, they're done buying bonds. particularly with italy it's not looking very healthy -- looking very good. you may have to go back into quantitative easing at some point. >> they're talking about targeted long term -- >> trtros. >> thank you very much they're talking about doing that again as well and draghi will be new leadership we know what happens inw new leadership in central banks. things get shaken up.

>> i think draghi doesn't want to hamstring his successor in october. the policy misstep will be what, if they don't do more qe >> if they end qe at the wrong time underlying economies are slowing faster than than what they're expecting or heading into a recession. >> germany was only just -- >> go back to 2011, jean-claude truchet was raising interest rates into the greek debt crisis that was the wrong time to do that and it took a year until the ecb threw a safety net into the system the market should be aware of that as a potential risk. >> i would agree with that whether or not europe is in recession is almost semantic they need some type of help, some type of stimulus. news alert on footlocker right now. seema mody has that news. >> declaring a first quarter dividend of 38 cents per share, 10% increase, 1.2 billion share

repurchase program and approved a capital expenditure program for 2019 it is up fractionally right now. guys, back to you. >> seema mody, thank you. cvs health the worst performing stock in the s&p today and bertha coombs has those details. >> cvs is now forecasting earnings of 68 to 6.88 per share for 2019, down between 3 and 5.5% from 2018 the problem? acquisition woes we're not talking about the $68 billion deal for aetna its acquisition in 2015 of omnicare, pharmacy unit that services assisted living facility and long-term care facilities and that section and unit has really been bleeding losses $2 billion last quarter after having written down another $4

billion earlier in the year and now it's written 40% of the cost of that deal, raising questions about its integration of aetna on the call they talked about the fact that the so-called cost synergies are a bit ahead of plan but so are the integration costs as well. they're a little bit stronger. makes people wonder how long it's going to take for that deal to come to fruition as they're dealing with that fire in the omni care and long-term care services macro headwinds of the trump administration wanting to get rid of rebates that weighing not just on cvs but it's peers. >> thank you for that, bertha. do you like health care at the moment, john >> cvs is interesting here, particularly that current valuation. stock is a cash flow machine this say transform active deal with aetna you need time to work through that very experienced high-quality management team. so i think health care is an attractive sector but i think

cvs is more attractive within that sector. >> i feel like we've had a lot of folks on that said health care is the new tech. >> i agree with that there's a phenomenon occurring across the entire economy, a bit of a mouthful called horizontal digitization the entire economy is becoming digitized and the health care industry is a poster child for that device companies, pharmaceuticals, gentech, the entire delivery system for health care, technology is having profound impacts and it's held back because of the policy concerns around, in particular, pharma, unfairly given the bredth of the opportunities in health care. we like health care a lot. >> thank you for joining us, john petrides and tony roth. another top executive departure at tesla is that a warning sign for investors? later reverend jesse jksacon tells us whether he supports calls for a wealth tax

how business gets done is changing. energy, success, the face of entrepreneurship is changing. see how we're changing. at bankofthewest.com/change bank of the west. the bank for a changing world. energy is changing. transpotation is changing. at bank of the west we're helping our customers drive that change. with lower rates on a car loan when you use it for an electric vehicle. find out how much you could save. at bankofthewest.com/ev

welcome back tesla shares under pressure after its general counsel announces his departure after two months phil lebeau has details.

hey, phil. >> when does the executive turnover get to the point where everyone is saying something needs to be done in terms of getting executives to stay at tesla. a new executive moving into positions that were previously held by aan executive who left late latest jonathan chang, new general counsel for tesla, he replaces the previous general counsel who was only there a couple of months how many executivors top executives have left this company in the last couple of years? by some estimates it's between 40 and 50 who have left the company under elon musk's watch the last couple of years more notable ones, general counsel today, cfo announced his retirement last month. in december, the previous general counsel left two general counsels ago i should say chief accounting officer leaving in september, vp of engineering leaving in july. these are some of the most notable departures in tesla from the last year on the executive

side stock under a little bit of pressure today but not as much as you might expect given that many people, investors are out there saying this is an example of why something is wrong at tesla. but others are saying this is simply elon musk being a tough guy to work for and executives saying i'm going to move on and do something else. >> phil lebeau, thank you. joining us now joseph osha from jmp securities and craig irwin from rock capital. good afternoon to you both joseph, i want to start with you. you need a spreadsheet to keep track of all these executive departures at tesla. doesn't that worry you >> it does look, we pointed out when we initiated coverage of the stock that the management style was a bit of a problem elon is a great leader, great innova innovator. i'm not sure he's the greatest

manager. i'm not going to sugar coat it. >> what do you put these departures down to, craig? >> tesla is probably a difficult culture to work in, high-performance environment, ceo is known for being exceptionally demanding. i wouldn't disagree with joe there are people that fit, people that don't. elevated turnover at this point in the growth cycle probably makes a lot of sense. >> yeah. >> joe, you have a market outperform rating on this stock. why and what would it take for you to, i guess, reassess that thesis >> yeah. well, i think tesla is succeeding in spite of these problems that craig and i agree on they still make better electric vehicles than anybody else we published a report last week, comparing tesla to the new jaguar i pace and you saw what our conclusion was there the products are good enough and the road map is good enough to allow tesla to be successful even though you have, let's face it, fair amount of chaos in

management. >> craig, do you disagree? do you think competition is catching up with tesla's innovation >> i do disagree executive turnover points to us having to do more significant due diligence. that's why i believe from my diligence, the data shows the battery price $240 a kilowatt hour i love the take on, i think the jaguar e will be interesting and most important thing for investors to understand is what is the actual battery price? it's a lot higher than the whisper number that the company likes to put out. >> yeah. >> joe, one interesting thing from the podcast that was posted a couple of days ago, quite detailed podcast was comments about how close they are to fully autonomous long-distance journeys do you take that as that being approved by regulators as well do you think that's how people took that? or is that still many years away

from actually being deliverable because of all those factors that need to kind of take place, first of all >> i think it's a good ways away from being deliverable it's certainly neat that tesla has worked so hard to advance that there are other companies we've looked at like peloton, doing some work in trucks. it's going to be a while before you have fully autonomous, long-distance travel i agree with you on the porsche. when that comes, i think that will be an interesting competitor. >> one of the other things in terms of news for tesla in the last 24 hours, elon musk tweeted not once but twice, the second time correcting or adding more details to his previous statement, noting annualized production rate probably around 500,000 or 10,000 cars per week, deliveries still estimated to be around 400,000 thoughts on that >> is that to me or craig? >> to craig. >> sorry

go ahead go ahead, craig. >> i think that the 500,000 number is sort of aspirational that's where he would like to be but we all know quite clearly they've got 300,000 to 400,000 cars this year could they be at the 500,000 unit run rate at the end of the year yes. that is an incredible annualized target one thing this does really raise a red flag for is his twitter posts are supposed to see some sort of oversight to stop the mistakes that have been made over the last couple of years a and, you know, this shows an obvious breakdown in the compliance and oversight mechanism in place hopefully, jonathan chang can work with him constructively to get something good in place. >> yeah. joe, quickly, your thoughts? >> again, don't really disagree. i think that the board has got some work to do here, to be honest but i will return to the earlier

point. they're still building better cars than anybody else and that, i think, is going to be what makes the difference. >> gents, we'll leave it there thank you very much. joe osha and craig irwin we have news on the uk seema has the details. >> uk's aa rating on negative watch, citing political uncertainty, surrounding brexit. since the last review in october 2018, the reducing amount of time until the uk's scheduled exit from the eu on march 29th makes a no-deal brexit more likely now uk is not really moving on this note, the pound holding on to 1.30 right now. back to you. >> seema, thank you for that and correctly phrasing it as a negative watch as opposed to downgrade, of course, which i wrongly said the key point there not really moving the markets because it's a slightly reactive update

no new factors changing its perspective. >> we will explain up next why irs audit rates for wealthy americans have been slashed by more than half since 2011. after the break, reverend jesse jackson joins us live at post nine to weigh in onhe sh for a wealth tax. we're back in a couple of minutes. you're searching for something more... ...red-blooded. right this way. you thirst for adrenaline, you hunger for raw power. well, you've come to the right place. the road is yours, dig in.

welcome back to the closing bell tax season is under way.

getting audited by the irs are getting lower and lower if you're wealthy. >> the new tax law is filled with loopholes and opportunity force what we'll call creative accounting the odds of getting audited by the irs are the lowest than they have in 15 years six in every 1,000 returns were audited in 2017. the irs did 6,030 fewer audits last year than they did in 2011. wealthy, audited the most, have seen the biggest reduction, making 1 million in more one in six who used to get audited. now it's less than one in 20 main reason? budget cuts, total sbunlth down 16% since 2011, the number yther of auditors has fallen to under 10,000, the lowest number since 19 1953 democrats say the agency is being starve for the record

funds and can't do its job of collecting revenue to fund the government many republicans say it's a blow to bureaucracy that became politicized under the obama administration and should be reformed or even cut further lingering backlog from the government shutdown and you have an agency that may be stretched during the biggest rewrite of the tax code in 30 years back to you. >> robert, thank you for that. one organization looking to close the wealth gap is the rainbow push coalition, kicking off its summit in new york, including sessions on closing the racial wealth gap. >> joining us now here at post nine, reverend jesse jackson, president and founder of rainbow push coalition glad to have you here today. >> good to be here again. >> these topics are getting attention right now. closing the racial wealth gap. >> the big guys are getting bigger and few and fewer are getting more and more. big tax cut went up, not down. they're getting less monitoring.

the big amazon first here in new york, $17 billion last year, zero income tax. $269 million in returns and the average working stiff makes less than 8% on returns and so fewer and fewer are getting -- some ways to democratize capital. >> amazon paying no corporate tax. what's your view at the rainbow push coalition as the best way to solve this? there's been some talk of wealth tax, other talk of higher income tax or corporate taxes do you have a view as to the best way to solve this issue >> they say bring in 25,000 jobs, 150,000 a year those people living in queens would not get those jobs there must be some process of training people. go into jails and teach them codes and how to do coding begin to teach -- our children

can learn but they must be taught i'm concerned now that the big tax cut, it all went up and less went down. 1% is getting much richer. and that gap is not good for democracy. >> what do you think about the fact that amazon has pulled out in terms of its h2q terms here in new york city, given the pressure on the company. is that a lost opportunity >> well, it could be amazon rather radically, rather unilaterally, rather quickly my concern is wherever they land, it should be compact with the community. people who live there should get training that becomes a fear. we cannot get jobs, we can't pay the rent, as is happening in san francisco and oakland, for example. and so they must take on more comprehensive ways to share the wealth. >> you've founded this summit 22 years ago and you've been campaigning on issues like this

for longer than that do you feel that progress has been made or has it got worse in recent years >> for example, in silicon valley a few years ago, 36 white women, two latino. now it's 26 african-americans. we've challenged them to expand their search he was in new york and is now here at -- >> former american express. >> facebook. so you have this vast real talent we didn't know how good baseball could be same thing we must let people play according to their own abilities. and access, inheritance matters more we must have something merit orrious in it than access. >> is board presence enough or would you like to see more

>> board presence and a pipeline to grow. and then procurement, lawyers and ad agencyies and marketing. the whole range of services. coming out of these schools and walk around unemployed with degrees and no job lack of access to capital. four stages of slavery, jim crow, third stage, right to vote fourth stage is right to capital, and these citizens recover from recovery. they were never allowed to recover from recovery. if you realign the red line zones, everybody will -- largest majority of black and brown poorest areas of the country market, money, talent, growth. we can see america through >> so should it be corporate

america that's taking these initiatives on their own to make these moves and build up that pipeline, a point where. or should the tact be taken in california where you have laws passed that are pushed for mandatory, having at least one female on the board for a company that's headquartered in that state >> comes to do it voluntary, they have to do it by law. they're brivg h1b visas from foreign countries. we've got 1,000 churches, putting emphasis on school teach them codes and how to program and develop and so -- but that must be a kind of patience with that growth process. >> i want to ask, there's a big spread of democratic candidates announcing their plans to run in 2020 some with very clear wealth

taxes in their plans do you support any of those plans and those candidates you've seen announced already? >> there must be some kind of wealth tax if you make more and more for fewer and fewer, then the bill must be at least as deep and as broad as it is high on one hand. on the other hand, people deserve medical care based upon need not just money. a sick body costs more to maintain than a healthy body, for example. if you work every day and can't afford student loans, student loan debt is worse than credit card debt. and so economic growth means not just having a job. a job can't get you through college, and then have the incentive to learn and to grow. >> reverend jesse jackson, thank you for joining us. >> you are david frost kid. >> im indeed i tweeted out a picture earlier of you and dad literally 50 years ago, 1969.

>> my, my, my. >> it's my privilege to sit here and interview you as well. my pleasure. >> good to see you. >> reverend jesse jackson. cnbc news update with courtney reagan. >> here is what's happening at this hour, president trump speaking to reporters from the white house where he was meeting with the austrian chancellor his summit with north korean leader, kim jong-un, won't be his last and commented on sanctions against the country. >> as you know, i haven't take en sanctions off i would love to be able to but in order to do that, we have to do something that's meaningful on the other side but chairman kim and i have a very good relationship i wouldn't surprised to see something work out. >> ecuadorian park guards have found a tortoise whose species was believed to be extinct for a century in one of the islands of the galapagos archapelago. and celebrities arriving

atty new york city hotel where meghan markle is reportedly having a baby shower among the guests, gayle king, bearing gifts, and amal clooney. the royal couple expecting their first child in late april or early may. >> i don't know which one of you is more excited about that right now, courtney or wilf. >> well, courtney is -- quite the guest list there, of course. >> what a guest list, yeah. >> courtney, thank you let's get to a news alert on lyft deirdre has the details. >> planning to launch for ipo in march according to multiple reports. dow jones saying it could make its ipo filing public as early as next week and plans to list its shares on the nasdaq both uber and lyft filed confidentially on the very same

day. if lyft gets it first, it would be the first u.s. ride share company to go public uber still needs several more weeks to priep for its ipo proceedings. lyft is reportedly valued at $20 to $25 billion in its debut, significant jump from its last valuation of $15.1 billion in private markets. we've reached out to lyft. the company has no comment we'll update when we have more guys >> fascinating race between lyft and uber for those ipos. >> oh, yeah. samsung unveiling new details about its foldable phone. i like the looks of this have you seen it >> i have but the price tag is sticker shock. >> it's basically an ipad and iphone in one. we'll discuss that and look at the details. google admitting it made an error not disclosing a microphone built into its nest security devices find out if there could be a

privacy backlash leader on the closing bell this is decision tech. it's screening technology that helps you find a stock based on what's trending or an investing goal. it's real-time insights and information, in your own customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology, for smarter trading decisions. and it's only from fidelity. open an account with no minimums today.

shares of avis trading higher after earnings. phil lebeau has the details. >> this was a big earnings beat for avis budget as you look at their fourth quarter earnings, the estimate 37 cents a share. revenue better than expected at a little over $2.05 billion. then their guidance is also higher than expected for all of 2019, both in terms of earnings as well as revenue that's why you see shares of avis up better than 8% if you are an avis investor and hung on to this, this is welcome news, guys this stock be was down 45% last year but getting a pop after doing better than expected with its last earnings report back to you. >> i was going to say, talk bay turn around story. stock is up 30% just since the start of the year, before this move phil lebeau, thank you. meanwhile the latest smart phone war, samsung

josh lipton has the details and how they unfolded today. josh >> we're in a samsung demo room. the keynote is over. people have come down here to check out this hardware for themselves clearly a lot of buzz about that new foldable phone, what the company is referring to here as galaxy fold. here is how this works when it's folded, 4.6" but then you unfold it, 7.3" two batteries, six cameras available april 26th why all the excitement this is a radical new form factor it is a big change in design though i know analysts have some questions, too they want to take this device for a test drive and see does the operating system and apps work as seamlessly with this device as advertised then, of course, the price it will cost you, $1,980 i would love to show you that device they're not making it available at this demo room. we'll have to wait sheer what you don't have to wait for all the other smart phones that

samsung is announcing today, s-10e, s-10 and s-10 plus will go on sale march 8th ranging to $990 from $499 camera technology. there were new features like this in-screen fingerprint reader, sensor embedded in display. it should make it easier to unlock the device. to top it off a fourth phone 5g enabled handset. no price on that yet samsung saying it should launch in the second quarter. back to you. >> josh, $1,980 for a foldable phone. i almost feel like apple should be saying thank you. it makes the iphones look more affordable who are they targeting with these phones >> samsung came right out, morgan, and began talking about this device and referred to this as a luxury device

they are aware of what they're charging it's interesting i talked to some tech analysts who were here today and recognized that's a high price they actually believe, though, there will be some segment of the community that will want to make a play for that phone it is different. the bullishness about that phone is can it revive some of what we're seeing in the overall smart phone in the industry? that growth ground to a halt, people keeping their phones for longer can a new design like that help generate a lot more interest from consumers in the quarters ahead? we'll find out. >> josh, who makes the components that allow this foldable screen? i know samsung has a very good internal department for screens. do they make it themselves is this something that for a couple of years, perhaps, could allow them to differentiate the quality of their hardware compared to their main competitors, like apple, if they hold those components back >> i don't know, wilf. they didn't break down yet all

the components that went into it samsung well known as a component supplier we'll have to wait and get a full breakdown to see who made exactly what they certainly took credit for the components on stage. a lot of what makes that device work is the actual hinge they took a lot about that we fold the device it lob doesn't look rough. it looks seamless. it's interesting we'll see what the reaction is to that and the other four handsets introduced today. >> josh, good stuff. thank you very much. >> we'll be doop digging into ts even more on "squawk alley" tomorrow even more. >> with the phone. >> that may be the case. stocks ground today as a result of the 35-day shutdown. >> google on our radar it says it goofed when it kept a secretive microphone on one of its home products. that's next. those obstacles

that limit a company's growth. i try to find companies that turn these challenges into opportunities. but by going out in the field, and meeting management, suppliers, competitors. in the end, it's these unique companies with creative business models that will generate value for our investors. that's why i go beyond the numbers.

that will generate value for our investors. wewithout the planet cooler getting warmer. at emerson, when issues become inspiration, creating a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved.

welcome back here are some of the stories on the "closing bell" radar today google may have made an error after initially failing to reveal that its home security system, nest secure, contained a built-in microphone. any nest users were unaware of the feature. the microphone was never listed as part of the tech specifications it basically added it into the

device for future capabilities but, i mean, even so, many people probably not realizing that they had this in their devices, this their home maybe they wouldn't have bought it if they had known. >> i totally agree this is not the moment for big tech companies to have another challenge to people's trust in them i guess there are two levels to this people worry it listens and can be hacked or more concerning would be that google did intend it to be secret and were listening in of course, they deny both. either way, not good timing. >> not at all. >> to have this story come out for them my story today, the walk and talk isn't just for aaron sorkin television dramas like the west wing anymore wall street journal reporting that more bosses are scheduling walking meetings outside on the sidewalk or even hiking trails, encouraging employees to be more active but many are complaining

of blisters, insects it helps if you're at home on a phone call, walking around the apartment but if you're in a meeting, the whole point is to get together, sit down, get the meeting done and then go on a walk if you want. >> i'm 5'2", wearing high heels right now. the idea of traipsing around, there's two reasons i would not be happy to do it. first i would feel that i would be running along to keep up with people taller than me and huffing and puffing, not great. >> kudos to the exchange team earlier for walking offset to put it into action anyw anyway, there we go. >> all right a long leader in low-price air fares, southwest saw the biggest dip in the sector today. we'll talk to a top analyst and the state of the airline sector next

welcome back southwest airlines falling today after lowering its revenue guidance citing a $60 million hit from the government shutdown that's far more than the around $10 to $15 million that had been initially projected. let's bring in david vernon, senior research analyst. thanks, david. is that the main reason for the stock decline today? >> i think it's part of the reason the yununit revenue cut is driv the stock lower. in a market that is not sure if it wants to go up, not sure if it wants to go down, any pressure against forward estimates -- this has been the best performing transport or

airport stock in the xli since the start of the year so i think you have profit taking on a negative data point. it included some news about the government shutdown but i think it's a little more than that driving the weakness in southwest today. >> yeah. i think the stock is up something like 17% just since the start of the year. the other airlines also traded lower today. how would you assess overall the state of the passenger airline industry >> so i think this data point is a sign that maybe things aren't great in the revenue environment. at the same time at the told you about the government shutdown, they also said close-in yields were actually very strong. so it's a little bit of a mixed message that i think the market is saying, yeah, maybe it's a little weaker so we'll trade the other airlines down as well. but the market is saying this is a stock that's run more than the others it's going to have a company specific markdown on earnings so we'll take the stock a little bit lower today. the read across, obviously, isn't going to be great. i think also when you think from a sector setup, we're at a time

when investors are very eager to find u.s. oriented earnings. southwest is a primarily domestic carrier the other airlines are widespread international networks there's concerns about global growth, there's concerns about trade. those guys have been on the sidelines a little bit as a result of that if we see some resolution on trade, you might see some rotation more into the international names than the domestic. >> so which is your top pick, david, for the year ahead? >> it would be delta airlines. american would be a close second american takes a little bit more risk because it's a lot more levered. southwest has been a great company, it's been a great stock. like i said, that attraction of domestic earnings has had people being comfortable being in that name for now i would be looking as we get through this year for the airlines all to be showing positive margin inflection and maybe a little rekindling of hope on the international traffic would help delta or american catch up to the year-to-date performance of a southwest. >> how closely are you watching crude and energy prices and the

expectation in terms of how that affects these companies this year >> so i don't think you can look at airlines without looking at oil. i think that the days of them being pure energy derivatives are lower, but obviously changes in oil price will change the economic earnings. i think united airlines is one company i would call out for having done a very good job trying to get investors to look through the unit revenue and look more to what they're telling you about earnings power. since the consolidation of the industry, the industry is getting better at passing through oil price changes to its pricing. the market is still very sensitive to this because it's going to drive quick reactions to volatility, so a unit revenue guide down of one point at the midpoint could be 5% earnings. fuel could have a similarly large impact if it moves quickly on you but i think the market is starting to get comfortable with this idea that the airlines actually can price up their commodity costs. there will be a lag. it will take a while for the industry to work that through

but i think the market is getting a little more comfortable the airlines are able to manage oil price and the commensurate risk to earnings. >> david, thank you very much. >> thank you up next, we will g athetnoer check on the stocks making the biggest moves after hours. stay with us tor. 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 is the true value of active investing. and around the world, you have a partner in that pursuit. pgim: the global investment management businesses of prudential.

thefrstill, we never stoppedssnt wmaking it stronger.e. faster. smarter. because to be the best, is to never ever stop making it better. the new 2019 c-class family. lease the c 300 sport sedan for $429 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your retail business. so that if your customer needs shoes, & he's got wide feet. & with edge-to-edge intelligence you've got near real time inventory updates. & he'll find the same shoes in your store that he found online he'll be one happy, very forgetful wide footed customer. at&t provides edge to edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & if your customer also forgets socks! & you could send him a coupon for that item. ♪ ♪ put your data to work on the cloud that drives business. the ibm cloud. the cloud for smarter business.

let's get a check on the headlines making news after hours. shares of rental company -- rental car company avis getting a big pop after beating on the top and bottom lines revenue grew 2% for the quarter and 3% for the full year. >> up 11.8%. footlocker announced a quarterly dividend along with a $1.2 billion buyback. and ride share service lyft could reportedly file for an ipo as early as next week according to dow jones that will be an interesting thing to watch the dow finished up 63 points. it was materials that led the way. also the small caps. the russell outperformed the big indices today, but essentially no real reaction to the fed minutes, which the markets took in stride. >> exactly we finished largely up modest gains today. turning to tomorrow, we've got

another big day in terms of earnings a lot of consumer facing names wendy's, domino's, nor wewegian cruise lines. >> hp and dropbox after the close tomorrow as well that does it for "the closing bell" today. thanks for watching. morgan, thanks for joining us. "fast money" starts now. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's times square, i'm melissa lee. tonight on "fast," the man who moves markets is mac marko kolanovic says we are moving higher from here. plus the parade of tesla executives marching out the front door continues what does that mean for the stock? we've got the details. first we start off with the material world materials. the best performing sector today and in the past week as the whole commod