problem, but you know, the thing i always keep many mind is facebook has worked very hard to grow this big. they've hired the smartest people in the world. this is just one more unintended consequence. it's on o them to fix it >> thank you so much that does it for the exchange today i'll go join tyler and melissa in a moment for "power lunch" which begins right now >> thanks, we'll see you shortly. i'm melissa lee. new u at 2:00, the fed trade fears. trump's summit with kim and tensions between two nuclear powers the five big stories we're following. plus, disrupting the big banks paypal's ceo and one stock up more than 630% in just a past six months. we'll hear from the ceo and stocks are trying to claw their way back off session lows. the dow was down 180 points earlier. "power lunch" starts right now

>> welcome to "power lunch," everybody, on a very, very busy wednesday. let's get straight to those five big stories that are tdominating this day robert lighthizer csignalling a china trade deal is not a sure thing. kayla covering that for us fed chair powell on the hill again. steve liesman with the key take aways there. eamon javers is in hanoi at the president's north korea summit and elan is following the salacious hearing of the day can michael cohen. sima on the growing political tensions between two nuclear powers let's begin with kayla >> president trump's top trade official took three plus hours of friendly fire from the house ways and means committee where he received largely bipartisan praise tr taking on china and reveal ed a few details about a hypothetical deal. he said it would include agricultural purchases for

several years and subsidies on products in oversupply like washing machines and solar panels those would end. although he said he thinks china is doing the opposite now and he said there would be a regular enforcement dialogue at all levels of government, but despite progress in these areas, he said there's much work to be done >> i'm not foolish enough to think there's going to be one negotiation that's going to change all of the practices of china or our relationship with them i don't believe that now i believe otherproblems will arise and they're going to have to be dealt with. i view this as a process >> he said the process is the result of leverage that was created by president trump and amid reports of tension between himself and the president, he repeatedly credited his boss with inspiring and empowering his trade agenda guys >> thank you one of the other big hearings on the hill today, jay powell facing a new round of questions

from lawmakers about fed policy and much more. steve is watching that for us. >> powell is going further than he has in the past about plans by the fed to end the run off of his balance sheet. he confirms the fed is working on a plan to end the runoff later this year. >> i think you know, we're i think we're going to be in a position we're work ong a plan in fact, to stop run off later this year. >> the fed is working on that. somehow, i always think the plan could be as soon as the march meeting of the fed he said they're only changing communications around its target and they've said the fed doesn't want a lower capital for the biggest banks. defending patient on policy and the u.s. economy is in good shape except for it faces risk from abroad and domestic issues. facing a democratic controlled committee, he fielded several questions about bank regulations

which showed the concern among democrats and the effects of bank mergers on local communities. >> thank you steve liesman. to vietnam now where in just a few hour's time, president trump will have a one-on-one meeting with kim jong-un eamon javers is live in hanoi for us >> yeah, melissa, it was all u smiles and handshakes for the first day of the summit between kim jong-un and president trump at their meeting in hanoi. the president hoping the setting here, hanoi itself, will set an example for kim jong-un, a country embroiled in a brutal war with the united states, but has since opened up its economy, embraced global markets and has add an economic turn around. you see it on the streets, throughout the city as we walk about. the president making an economic pitch that this is the same thing that could happen in north korea. if kim jong-un opens up that country. the white house says that tomorrow, there will be a signing ceremony, but we're not

sure exactly what they're going to sign. the white house says it will be a joint agreement, but we have no idea what the details of that will be. so far today, we heard very little in terms of specifics about denuclearization, but maybe we'll hear more about that in the press conference the president plans at his hotel tomorrow we may get more detail on what's tra transpiring here >> thank you president trump's former attorney, michael cohen, testifying before lawmakers as well today, accusing the president of committing crimes in office. let's get to elan. >> it has been a bitterly partisan and confrontational hearing for michael cohen. telling congress he lied for trump for ten years and it ruined his life and damaged the country. >> i'm responsible for your sillyness because i did the same thing that you're doing now. for ten years.

i protected mr. trump for ten years. the more people that follow mr. trump as i did blindly, are going to suffer the same consequences that i'm suffering. >> meanwhile, republicans were on the attack focusing on cohen's character and credibility. >> his remorse is nonexistent. just debated a member of congress saying i really didn't do anything wrong with the false bank things that i'm guilty of and going to prison for. >> that's not what i said and you know that's not what i said. i pled guilty and i take responsibility for my actions. shame on you, mr. jordan that's not what i said shame on you >> another republican asked cohen, you call donald trump a cheat in your testimony. what would you call yourself cohen responded a fool

back over to you guy us. >> thank you so much on capitol hill. and a potentially serious flaring up of tensions between two nuclear powers india and pakistan s ir sima is coffering that for us. >> pakistan and indian jets slashed overnight after india targeted a pakistani terrorist camp experts argue not an isolated event and could have ripple effects impacting u.s. interests. one being afghanistan where the u.s. still has troops on the ground and second is the ability to take a broader role in affairs. mike pompeo urging caution, asking both countries to exercise restraint and avoid escalation at any cost >> seema, does this date back to an attack by a radical terrorist group on indian military

officers suicide bombing a cowell of weeks ago? >> it took place about two weeks ago in the disputed region that resulted in 40 indian soldiers being killed and that's what really triggered this larger dispute we're seeing take place between these two countries that have a long standing rivalry that dates back to 1942 when india claimed independence >> how can this change elections? is there somebody who's more mill tar aitaristi militaristic >> it will bring out the issues in this campaign m we were thinking the economy would be front and center, but it seems to be security >> quickly, is china's role in this for stabilization, especially with everything else going on right now with north korea talks, what do you think their interest is? >> i think china wants a stable situation because of their vested interest in pakistan. they've been building out ports and dams across pakistan so of course both sides, whether it be the u.s., which sees india as a strategic ally, they want

to see stabilization >> and when are the indian elections? >> india elections oaf the course of six weeks. starting in april, ends in early may. >> let's break it down, bit by bit, piece by piece. we'll kick it off with trade ambassador lighthizer had strong words for china, so what does that mean for the ongoing negotiations let's bring in chief investment officer and cnbc contributor john, what do you think? what kind of deal do you think might come out of the china u.s. talks? >> i thought bob did a good job today describing the situation which is it's very complicated we're not going to pull a rabbit out of a hat, but both sides must make a deal now because the world economy is slowing dramatically so it will get dope. it will get a no what will it will have is buy ing a boat load of stuff to

reduce the goods trade, which means soybeans and steel and things like that that's easy to do. there will be some intellectual property protections because the chinese are doing things we can announce they're passing a new law. they've recently increased penalties for local officials. allowing local companies to steal trade secrets from americans, so there's a lot of progress there being made. >> before you go farther, let me ask you something. would that progress that is being, that is already in play you say, would that have occurred but for the stance that the president has taken in imposing tariffs on chinese goods and taking a stiff line with them? >> the new law was already in process before this all started. the penalty increase happened in november, december so maybe that wouldn't have happened but remember, inside china, the big growth is in technology.

think about alibaba and wa way and companies like that. those are the same companies whose value is driven by intellectual property protection if a company gets charged with a violation, the case is heard in a local court in the city where the mayor might or might not be taking kickbacks from the, the company who did the problem. so enforcement is everything here and bob knows enforcement is not going to happen in one day. it's going to happen over time but i think this movement is in the right direction. state owned companies, forget about it that's a huge employer they're not going to change that mi magt announce some subsidy decreases. won't make them do it. but the one where the real worry is is in changing their industrial policy. china doesn't want to just put together iphones anymore they want to build stuff with brands and to do that, they are

subsidizing, helping promoting technology companies >> right >> that's going to continue. >> i wanted to really focus in on what you had just said because it seems like for a lot of the different points in the trade discussions, the u.s. and the chinese interests are actually kind of aligneded i mean for china buying stuff from the u.s., they're just shifting it from buying it from elsewhere, europe and other countries in terms of intellectual property, you hit it on the head, in terms of their own industries wanting those protections, but it when comes to state owned sbr ee eeen the u.s. walk away and say this is a victorious trade deal if those subsidies, barriers are not broken down for u.s. companies who are still knocking at the door. china, it's amazing that a company like visa and mastercard, they're not in there to the degree they should be >> now remember, we still might

hear something about those companies in the whatever announcement is made because that's easy. china's already approved ubs for majority's sake. it would be a stroke of the pen for them to do is same for jpmorgan or the credit card companies. so we might see some progress there. that's easy also for them. but in terms of industrial policy, they, they have to find a way to bring china into world standards and being a developed country. that means they are, they are going toen continue to do things to promote trade in, trade and production of technology wa way's the point of that spear because their government is also using them as foreign policy because when they build a telecom system in africa or latin america and china loans them the money to pay for it, china has a chip and they can use that chip. we are aligned economically in

certain ways not really align ed politically but what my view is, both sides have to be able to announce that they win >> so that's my question how does the united states fi nerks sse that last point? in other words, you say they're not going to give in on subsidizing in a meaningful way. their state owned enterprises and we're insisting they do that >> i think they'll give some i think there will be enough to announce i think they'll make big purchases. we'll be able to say something about stabilizing the currency that's also -- >> i get that. i get that you can declare vktry on those points, but it's on the specific thing of the subsidizing of state own ee eedr prizes where you seem to think there's less common ground and more intransigence on the part of the chinese, i don't mean that in a value judge mental way. >> there's a difference between

what they do and what we announce they do and what people don't realize is that if you read the press conferences after one of these, read the chinese version and read the u.s. version. they're quite different. it's easy because we speak two languages and most people here don't know how to read mandarin, but they will announce they've won and we will announce we've won and the truth is this is great progress from where we were a few months ago so i think the markets were right to take this as progress why do we need it? not only china and the u.s., japan, taiwan, cokorea, fill fin germany, everybody is starting to shrink because the supply chains are being shut down we have to solve this. >> thank you very much good to hear from you. >> coming up, walmart making a deal with payment app, affirm, giving its customers a new way to pain. the latest brain child of max levchin. is he disrupting payments again? we'll ask him, next.

we'll also be joined by the ceo of this coanmpy. the stock is up some 600% in six months all that and more coming up on "power lunch."

shares are near their session lows they've spiked lower

this after credit ratings agency moody's has downgraded the credit rating to a ba1 from a baa3 it is now a junk rated company this is on the heels of the dam collapse we saw u from them month. moody's says they could see considerable uncertainties and the credit outlook reduced to a negative as well fallen angel dom, thank you walmart is partnering affirm to give customers a new way to pay. it will let shoppers take out loan and pay it back over monthly installments it will roll out across 4,000 locations. with us now, max levchin great to have you with us. >> thank you for having me >> you're known as the cofounder of paypal, which disrupted payments overall how do you think this could disrupt payments in terms of how customers pay for their big ticket puchlss >> i think it's the trend that

is involved, folks are very quickly last couple of years, are realizing there there is a petter alternative than a credit card, which is is a power tool with no safety on if you're not careful, going to revolve for the rest of your life and pay more interest than you ever bargained for. the simple, predictable affirm loan is a great way the pay and own things and we're very proud of the relationship with walmart. >> sounds like you're trying to disrupt the credit card industry >> you know, i think that's a, putting it very boldly we're just trying to create an alternative that puts regular people who are not experts in consumer finance in affirm control of their finances. >> are they in firm control if they're getting charged 18% in terms of interest? isn't that the arverage on an affirm loan? >> that's a number that is appropriate for someone.

the more important thing that people get are the tricks and the gimmicks than the credit card industry that has built its entire profitability on. one of the things i can tell you, if it says 0% apr, unless offered by a firm, it is not a 0% apr there's a hidden fee in there somewhere. that's how credit card companies make their money the one thing we made the stance on our brand, our promise, when e we tell you price is x dollars and x cents, that's what it's going to remain no matter what that's what's important to us and our partners >> max, i'm curious how you bet this do you guys build into the business model a certain amount of losses or do you have technology or a way of evaluating the interest rate for everybody should be? >> every transaction is priced to the risk that it represents and it is an individual loan that's created for that customer for that item at that location

obviously, part of what we do is forecasting, so we have to predict what our losses will look like, but given my background and my team's past, you mentioned paypal, but what we try not to do is make money on people's mistakes or misfortunes, which is things like late fees and deferred interests are designed to. >> what's the average rate on these loans? >> on this, it's just launching, but we will charge folks as low as 0% when sometimes the manufacturer will subsidize the interest rate and it will go up to 20 plus percent we'll never lend above 29. that's a challenging thing to do >> that wasn't my question i didn't ask about the range i'm asking about what you expect the average loan rate to be for most of the customers who use this you must have it in a model somewhere. >> i think it's really dangerous

to speak of these thing of averages because that's when you start saying that people paying really high rates or people making profit for r those who are paying low rates that's how the whole card industry has made the whole thing work rich people are getting subsidized by poor people who are getting charged high rates every loan gets the rate that particular customer should be paying >> so what's different if your rates are going from zero percent to 30%, what's the fundamental difference then that i'm missing here in the model that you criticize the credit card companies for using where some pay a very high rate and others get a less high or low rate >> great question. several very fundamental differences. we don't charge late fees. if you're late, we don't make money. we don't compound interest these are simple interest loans. we don't charge a penny more of the number in dollars than we promised you at time of the

puchls in order, there's 100% predictability the consumer gets at the time of the loan being priced when they see the terms, they know that's all i'm going to pay and that's it. when you borrow money with a credit card, the number one thing that's happening is you're being encouraged to keep your balons on and revolve. you're owing more and more as the issuing bank would like you to do. >> that's how they make money and that is one of your criticisms how do you make money then if it's not encouraging people to hold balances, how do you make money >> we are doing the honest way we tell you here is $1,000 of interest, of principle, $50 of interest, please be on time, we'll remind you, go out of our way to make sure you know when the payment due, but we'll stop short of doing but that. it's really important to us that folks try to be on time and

we've been operating for b sese yearses. so far, it also gave us the highest consumer satisfaction scores in the industry >> max, i come at this from a slightly different point of view i can understand why it would be helpful for somebody to say okay, i can spend $400 on outfit ing a new bedroom at walmart and pay back $500 to you over a period of months as i get my paycheck it has become very politically unpopular though, how high these interest rates are and people are concerned about the abuses we've been talking about how do you make the case that this is something that helps the u.s. consumer instead of harms them. >> i'm extremely passionate about that topic so i just said it before, but i'll repeat it revioolving is the root of all evil in consumer credit. that's the problem where you borrow $100 and think you owe 20, then you owe another 20 and

another 20 this ability to drag out and renan this debt forever, the ability to refinance your own debt, and payday loans, the notion of unpredictability, wha you owe and when, is what is fundamentally drive iing this country into the debts that it kay iries. the ability to know when you're done paying to feel like you're in total control is the most important thing that the firm stands for and we're very, very proud. >> and do i set the, do you, working with you, do i set the term of the loan so you evolve that >> you do. >> you evade that revolving status this loan for this amount with this amount of time. that means my payment is x and never anything but x >> that is exactly right >> there are things you won't allow people to use this on. food, personal care item, pharmacy because you can consume those. there's nothing for you guys to claim if you need to, i don't know if you'd be in the business

of trying to claw anything back, but why are there certain categories, you can't use this for? >> we don't claim, claw back or whatever you want to call back any items that you're late on. that's not the purpose of the product at all the reason we chose some categories is that's where we feel walmart shoppers benefit from a product like affirm buying groceries is something people generally do with their cash flow and not sure there's a lot of room for financing that but buying something like a bed or a tv or something that's a lot more considerate purchase, that's where this installment plan is really, really powerful and that's the category we chose. >> max, great speaking with you. hope you'll update us on this new partnership. >> good to know because you see these and sometimes i think is this just a new way of checking out. it's a whole new ball game and it's interesting they can do it

that quickly for somebody at the point of sale. >> right, apparently, they do look at their credit profiles on the spot to determine, but i think that you raise an interesting point. show this better than the credit cards now. does this put a consumer in a better spot. i think the consumer is smart enough to figure this out. i like to believe the consumer can read about this, understand it and make their own choices. >> there's a simplicity that's appe appealing. i think the one thing that people who use credit cards and carry balance, that's the killer you made that point, if you pay the minimum, you're ending up paying more and i'm always amused by people say wouldn't i save x on this sale at home goods. z >> because i got a credit card >> they're getting no bargain. >> paying much more than what they saved >> anyhow. interesting subject there. with max levchin

shares of best buy are soaring today. leading retail higher. the trade iing nation team will tackle this one next and shares of weight watchers slim doung today. oh, that was unavoidably good. those year's resolution sign ups were not enough. wait until you see what one analyst said abo tuthe stock it will be coming up on "power lunch. who says our bank isn't tech enough? everyone, look at your phones. the design thinking, the digital engineering, security, blockchain, and we will be first to market! yes. when we do we launch? unfortunately, in 2 or 3, hours. why the delay? cognizant is helping banks use digital technologies at scale to advance speed to market.

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welcome back to "power lunch. it is time for trading nation. best buy surging today leading the rest of retail after beating on earnings on sales over its holiday quarter. this is the rest of the group. 20% off last year's lows is it too late the chase the retail rally let's bring in bill and stacy to answer that question bill, like a lot of charts, this sector is well off its highs from last yore some 12, 13% it has good momentum in the short-term what do the charts tell you? >> today's strength did not go unnoticed. in the first chart i want to highlight, momentum is out above the 50 and 100 day moving avrei

average. in the second chart, what you want to see is this ascendi ini wedge pattern and the market needs to close out in order to garner that momentum and i'm worried or won't get bullish until it does that >> so still something to prove on technical basis stacy, this xrt, it's about an equal weighted basket of retail stocks is this the way to play the consumer discretionary in your view >> we don't believe so when we look at the xrt, what are we seeing that's most notable? it's the fact that the correlation is near multiyear lows that's going to happen when you have a name like wayfair versus macy's down 16%. amazon didn't kill everybody it's really incredibly important to know your names and pick the appropriate stocks this year more so than ever because there

are winners and losers here. so for example, a name we like in the space covered by our footwear analyst is foot locker. this is a name he covers with a positive rating. just needs improvements in product flow, customer engagement and operational discipline not to mention they're a key partner with all the footwear brands, so we like this name this is a name we want to own and would rather own specific names that we know the stories where we see the growth rather than the basket as a whole >> all right for sure always winners and lose ers in retail bill and stacy, thanks a lot for your time today. for more, head to our website or follow us on twitter melissa, back to you >> thank you ahead, stocks struggling today we are off session low, but one bright spot, oil, up nearly 3% we'll bring you the closing numbers. plus, we'll reveal today's mystery chart. it's up more than 600% over the hapast six months. find out what it is when "power lunch" returns >> and now, the latest from

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hello, i'm sue herera. here's your cnbc news update michael cohen delivering his long awaited public testimony before congress. he went right after the president in his opening remarks to the house oversight committee. >> mr. trump is a racist the country has seen mr. trump court white supremacists and bigots he told me black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid and yet i continued to work for him. >> turkish president erdogan meeting jared kushner for talks expected to center on cukushner planned middle east peace initiative details of the plan will

reportedly be unveiled after the april 9th israeli election rise flood waters forcing people from their homes near san francisco. rescue crews using boats to reach people in sonoma coup. one community there registering nearly 21 inches of rainfall just since monday. and they're expecting more rain. that's the news update this hour ty, back you >> sue, thank you very much. we got under 90 minutes until the closing bell now major averages off their lows, but there are some big movers. let's start with weight watchers ww the stock plumeting, the company says its early season membership push didn't go as well as expected going to $23 a share from 137. that's a loss of financial weight and palo networks, i guess palo alto.

up 7.5% and finally, versum materials. getting a takeover over for $48 a share. up nearly 18%. let's go to dom at the commodity desk >> oil prices are moving higher for the second straight day, but wti and brent. you can see wti around $57 per barrel $66.36 a big reason why came by the energy department's weekly report that showed stockpiles fell by 8.6 million barrels this past week forecasts were for a build of 2.8 million barrels. today's report showed production moved higher to a record 12.1 million barrels per day. that's helping the the s&p energy sector outperform on a modest day >> thank you a lot of head license out of washington for us to chew on not only is it day two of testimony from jay powell, but

lighthizer had tough words for china. welcome to you both. >> thank you >> the lighthizer hearings kind of dominated the markets this morning when he talkeded about the original details wouldn't be enough to reach a big agreement with china and maybe he's trying to make the president toughen his stance little bit. we've come back, we were down about 150 points then. what's significant to you about that >> what's been amazing, it's been true for most of this year. when we hear from two different voices, the market has two different reactions. we've heard from trump things are making good progress, but lighthizer has the ability to bring us back the reality, our goals are bigger to accomplish, but trump gets to decide what we are going to do here we are close to making a deal. it's going to happen sometime in the front half of this year. my biggest concern is he priced that in. or large part, priced a lot of

that in. it's going the take something new in terms of the catalyst like the chinese economy stabilizing because of this. >> anything from powell catching you today? >> i think with powell and the fed in general, they're saying we're going to explain how this balance sheet management is going to work and just as important as the callus behind the management is the psychology they're trying to control. because if the fed could control all parts of the curve, they would. tha what they're trying to do. but the psychological aspect of it is really important i think that powell's done a great job in testimony this week of explaining everybody where they stand say iing we have a plan i expect we would see it certainly by the march meeting, but i think generally, that's given investors a lot of confidence, particularly with the trade talk stuff because i think we'll always see something that says we made a deal what we're at risk of is seeing that deal doesn't have a lot of teeth. we're asking a lot of china and that's going to be hard for them to stomach i think it would be hard to for them to expect we're going to

that place >> how do i invest in a market with no other visible catalyst, that's up 12% this year. just call it done and go home? >> brings it possibly being a catalyst venezuela being negative india, pakistan being negative i think the china trade. >> only given me negative catalysts though >> i think we get a deal that's good enough to stabilize both the chinese economy and the global economy in the near term. i think the stabilization comes from the fact that deferred decisions by businessmen will be made we know where we stand i think that's going to help a lot, but that's going to take a couple of months that's why i think getting to 2800 is going to be a journey. >> art mentioned that probably the idea of some sort of outcome may be baked into the stock prices already is most of the other good news similarly baked into stock prices and is now the time to get more cautious?

have i made my best money for the year >> we've had explosive growth in stock market returns from christmas've effectively to now. i'd say where valuations and certain sprinterest rates and we the risks lie and the fact that the leading economic indicators, a number are deteriorating i think you have to have a plan this place for understanding we could be near the end o f the business cycle not necessarily to say that any recession is as bad as the last one. often time, recessions happen and they're over by the time it's been called but yeah f you don't have a plan in place for a downturn, this is a time and i certainly think you need to be reaching out to your adviser, talk iing to them abou those things because if we look out ten year, i would expect returns to be lower. that doesn't mean -- >> they were >> lower than they were, sure. i think we can look at starting valuations and where yields are. it's hard not to think of scenarios where returns are below historical averages. as we look to the next 12 months, 10% downturns, 20%, those are pretty normal.

what's going to cause them, i don't know, but there's a lot of opportunities that people could latch on to start that sort of selling. >> nice plug thank you for being here appreciate it. >> and take another look at our mystery chart. if you own it, pryou u b probaby know exactly what its cae iuporthan 600% in just the past six months. if you don't own it, stick around to find out what it is. the future of technology investing

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to the bond market we go hi, rick >> hi, tyler you know there's a lot of factors purrpushing rates up toy heading for corporate issue wans on top and of course what's going on with regard to trade and even some of the data points have been b buoyant. others haven't like housing, but look at a two day of 30s up five basis points loading the charts matter of fact, it's a perfect curve steepening day 30s are up five. look at a year to date of tens minus twos really steepening but not a lot. just a little bit. now look at 30s minus 10s. approaching 40 steepest since 2017. and finally, the dollar index. what you're looking at there is

a nine-day chart we haven't settled under 96 since early february we'll call it a month, but the interesting thing is it settled right on it yesterday and it's bouncing a bit we want to pay attention to that level. kelly, back to you >> thank you, rick rick santelli. last chance to guess our mystery chart today. we told you the stock is up 600% in just six months it's higher today even after a missing on earnings and the ceo is about to join us. stay with us we're back in two. we see harnessing natural gas unleashing the promise of clean energy. at emerson, when issues become inspiration, creating a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved.

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welcome back to "power lunch. time to reveal today's mystery stock. it's amarin. the pharma company focuses on cardiovascular health. it did miss on profits it did reaffirm its 2018 guidance. >> most people are excited about your triglyceride. >> i only know it because i have high triglcerides.

>> oh, you do? >> yes so this is an important conversation. >> analysts are concerned about the study which could increase greatly the total for this drug. >> we think we're just getting started. we've been focusing on t triglycerides. with our drug you can lower that cardiovascular risk by 25%, it's also improving flaminflammationt cetera we'll further expand our sales force. tens of millions of patients could potentially benefit from this therapy gl i'm sure a lot of people are affected by this, or would be. this is a study that's taking a look at the use of vascepa in patients who are managing their

cholesterol using traditional statins. this could improve heart health even more? >> that's right. cholesterol management lowers cardiovascular risk by 25 to 35%, swi great it still leaves 65 to 70 prs of the risk for those who have their cholesterol well managed, we can lower that risk by another 25% and lower the risk of death by 20%. so, this is a new paradigm in cardiovascular health management new england journal of medicine published it last year and listed it as their top cardiovascular story for 2018. we really think we're getting started just like statins took a while really over more than a decade to grow but now treat about 40 million patients. there's about an equal number of patients who could potentially benefit from vacepa. >> there was a hearing just yesterday on capitol hill about

this issue that said the pharmacy benefit managers are pushing up the cost of drugs the trump administration is looking at getting rid of them entirely. >> relative to our pricing, we've taken a bit of a c contrarian approach. about a fifth of the cost of what recent launches of new products have been in the cardiovascular market. >> which means >> by making it affordable, more and more patients can use it most patients, if you have insurance, can get it for about $9 per month the discussions in washington, of course, are interesting it does seem economically wrong. for example, a wholesaler, if they're chipping a drug and it's a vial and they're getting 10% more for shipping a vial of something that's more expensive when all they're doing is shipping it. looking at that middleman's cost does make a lot of sense and trying to look, overall, at what the value is that's being

delivered. we think with relative to our drug the more people look at it and look at the economics of it, cardiovascular death is really expensive. getting into preventative medicine, which was also talked about yesterday, is very important and that's consistent to what we're working on. >> what are triglycerides? aren't they subject to improvement by diet alone? >> triglycerides are a different form of fat in your blood. they can potentially improve based upon diet and exercise alone. by diet and exercise alone if your triglycerides are high, your cholesterol can go up with our drug we can lower them without the cholesterol going up what we're trying to address is patients who have had, in many cases, decades of deterioration within their body.

and for those patients, often diet and exercise is not enough. you need a drug with a significant enough effect to sort of smooth out the endothelial cells, reduce the amount of plaque that's forming and try to reposition these patients to offset years of damage. >> good to see you, john keep us uptedad. >> i will. >> thank you. >> check please may or may not be next. comes risk. and to manage this risk, the world turns to cme group. we help farmers lock in future prices, banks manage interest rate changes and airlines hedge fuel costs. all so they can manage their risks and move forward. it's simply a matter of following the signs. they all lead here. cme group - how the world advances. we segetting to patientscines in record time.

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fire works today in washington. >> we might be able to have an agreement that helps us turn the corner in our economic relationship with china. let me be clear, much still needs to be done. >> we actually don't know what the equilibrium will be and my gut is we'll be announcing something very soon. >> i am ashamed because i know what mr. trump is. he is a racist he is a con man and he is a cheat. >> meanwhile, in vietnam -- >> your country has economic potential, unbelievable,