single day record. i happened to catch him the night before last when he had like $40,000 going into final jeopardy it's really fun to watch >> i will. we'll watch "jeopardy. i'll play long >> "closing bell" starts right now. it's the final hour of trade. bank ceos getting grilled on capitol hill we'll look at whether the focus on the banks could negatively impact the stocks. steve mnuchin breaking news on cnbc this afternoon about the china trade deal we have all of those details and lyft shares getting crushed again today as details about uber's ipo emerge. if the t "the closing bell" begins right now. >> that, of course, was morgan brennan. i'm brian sullivan welcome to the "closing bell."

great to be here we've not seen a market that's moving much today. one of the rare days so far this year with the s&p up about 17.5%. the averages there are mildly higher the dow fractionally lower i mean 0.04% so one of the rare days we've had this year with a little bit of calm out there. >> markets may not be moving, but we're moving a lot of news to bring to you today, including some stuff out of d.c sara eisen is in washington with a big interview with steve mnuchin. and we'll start there. sara >> hi, morgan. the news of the day, trade talks continue between the u.s. and china. this was the first time we got to hear from u.s. treasury secretary steve mnuchin on how his call went with the chinese premier liu last night here's what he said. >> it was very productive. ambassador lighthizer and i have been conducting these meetings on an ongoing basis. and i think he and the entire ustr team have been doing a great job.

we have an enormous amount of staff at ustr and in the interagency process working on this we went late into last night we have another call scheduled for tomorrow morning we're alternating between nights and mornings and i think we still have some important issues to address, but both sides are working very hard on this agreement. >> what are the sticking points right now in getting there >> i wouldn't say any one sticking point as we've talked about. this is a 150-page document that goes through multiple chapters some of the chapters are close to finish. some of the chapters still have technical issues we've pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism. we've agreed that both sides will establish enforcement offices that will deal with the ongoing matter this is something that both sides are taking very seriously. >> that agreement on the enforcement mechanism, news as those talks continue he wouldn't commit to any time frame. when i asked about whether three weeks is realistic, last week

the president said four weeks from knowing whether there was a deal he says we don't want an arbitrary deal we want the right deal i also had a chance to ask the treasury secretary about the escalation on trade fights with europe and he refused to sort of go there as far as an escalation. he characterized the new threats the administration is putting on european exports like cheese and olives just part of an ongoing dispute that they have had that has been governed by the wto with airbus subsidies as far as those threats against europe wouldn't really comment on whether they were starting a whole new trade front or not but did ultimately say that the end game here with europe and china is tariff-free everyone just plays by the rules which has been the administration's constant refra refrain. >> i think enforcement mechanism does seem to be the key issue. that's everything. you can say all you want you can make promises if you are china. but until you have a legal enforcement mechanism to actually hold somebody

accountable, you don't have much it sounds like we know that and the two sides are getting closer on that. >> yes, and on that specifically, he did say there would be enforcement offices set up on both sides that was some new information as well but didn't give me an answer when i asked, does that mean the tariffs would stay in place or go away when there's a deal? remember this idea the tariffs would stay as a method, a tool the trump administration has to enforce some of these rules on china opening up he said he didn't want to comment on that specific point which as you know is very important for the markets and for businesses and executives that need to plan and look ahead in terms of growth and the whole issue around tariff visibility remains key. >> sara, thank you very much we appreciate that tomorrow, of course, another big interview on "squawk on the street." she'll be speaking with incoming world bank president david malpass. that, 9:30 a.m. eastern time tomorrow the majority of fed officials expect to leave rates

unchanged for the rest of the year let's get to cnbc's steve liesman for more hey, steve >> morgan, yeah, minutes from the fed's march meeting show the majority of the fed think the economy likely to work out in a way that no change in interest rates is warranted for the rest of the year. several members think the current level of rates is around the range of neutral that is where the fed's benchmark rate doesn't stimulate or slow the economy. because of several mostly global uncertainties out there, trade being one of them, fed officials warn that their views on the right level of rates could go in either direction, up or down but one smaller group inside the fed thinks groeths is going to rebound from the current bit of weakness if they're right, that could warrant a rate hike later this year there was broad agreement on the uncertainties faced by the u.s. economy. they include brexit, the waning effects of fiscal stimulus from the tax cuts and trade tensions. european central bank president mario draghi responded to

president trump's recent threat of new european tariffs saying just the threats undermine the global economy >> even the fact that these threats are being vented with some frequency is certainly und undermine general confidence >> for now, depending upon how these big global issues evolve and resolve themselves, the march minutes, guys, make clear the fed is firmly on hold. >> steve, it's incredible, whether it's the fed minutes today, ecb as you highlighted this morning, imf with their cut global forecast that came out yesterday. it would seem it's these global issues, these trade tensions and the fact that no one seems to know which way this could go that there's such divergent ways that these bankers, these central bankers are looking at the potential outcomes in the second half of the year, right

>> so morgan, everybody but the trump administration seems to acknowledge that these trade tensions are undermining global growth sara asked mnuchin about this, and he doesn't seem to acknowledge it or at least can't publicly that this is one of the main causes of the global economic weakness. obviously, there are specific issues in specific countries but this idea that trade is declining was a big part of the imf's recent decision to downgrade its forecast for global growth. trade tensions runs throughout the march empminutes from the federal reserve. and mario draghi was very clear about his concerns about trade tensions and threats >> steve, thank you. see you soon let's get analysis and insight and bring in michelle meyer from bank of america/merrill lynch and joey laverna. is there -- when you go and use the big brain and break out all the excel spreadsheets, is ther

any way to model for the trade tensions that we're seeing, or is there always going to be a variable where you can't quite pinpoint it? >> i think the challenge of the trade tensions, when you look at the direct link into the economy it doesn't look that big specifically for the u.s we were at more of a closed economy. where it does matter is in the uncertainty. so if these trade tensions are lingering, if tariffs are still in play or getting larger, it can change how companies are planning they may not invest as much. they may be more cautious in terms of how they think about economic prospects in the u.s. and globally when they are thinking about their plans >> are you hearing indications >> yeah, that's been the story now for some time. if you think about the ism surveys, the headline number still looks fine if you look at the components, companies are saying there's uncertainties. we're not sure how we can plan ahead. that's a big factor. >> joe, how would you expect this to play out as the rest of 2019 unfolds

do you think we'll see a reigniting of economic growth in the second half of the year contingent on some larger trade deal or do you think it could be worse than investors are anticipating in. >> it's more of the latter because, to me, the weakness or projected weakness in the economy is coming via significant monetary tightening. the fed has taken rates up significantly more than any other central bank that's what's biting housing and will slow growth this year and probably keep growth weak in the second half. last year growth was 3%. i don't see any trade effects in the data to me, this is always about monetary policy, liquidity and risk taking. and unless you're looking for a full-blown trade war which is extremely unlikely, this is just jockeying. it's trump laying out the negotiation. why draghi would talk about termer is absurd if the global economy can't handle some tweets by the president, that's just crazy so my guess is this is, if we slow this year, and that's my forecast, it's because the fed

went too far. >> michelle, your thoughts >> yeah, so i disagree a bit i don't think that it's as much to do with the fed tightening. the fed tightened throughout the course of last year. we saw financial conditions respond but they've eased back you think about the interest rate sensitive sectors of the economy like housing, we're now seeing some really good data so i think into q2 and q3, the cyclical parts of the economy are going to benefit from the fact the fed effectively eased after tightening last year q2 is going to look stronger home sales will be better. auto sales are starting to rebound. we've seen the fed respond to the fact that financial conditions have tightened and now loosened >> i feel like a cut is not a cut is not acut. if the fed cuts rates because they feel like they went too high on the up side, that just is bringing it back to where they were. if they cut back down to zero, then that's clearly a warning sign there are different types of cuts, are there not? >> no, there are

i am looking at the tightening relative one to other central banks which can't do anything on policy normalization and where the atlanta fed shadow rate was. and markets have recovered equities have had a tremendous recovery but that was entirely due to the powell pivot and the reason mortgage rates have come down is because, as of last week, it's come off a little bit, but the market was pricing a reasonably high probability of a cut by september. if the fed does not validate market expectations, i'm going to guess we'll see lower equity prices in the back half and won't see the interest sensitive sectors which are showing some green shoots we won't see that continuation of that mild improvement >> joe lavorgna and michelle meyer, thank you both. bank ceos grilled or lightly flambed on capitol hill today. but one big topic was executive pay. >> i'm just asking that if it seems fair to you, the ratio of

the amount of money that you are making compared to the 49,000 average employee is making >> my compensation is decided by our board and voted on by our shareholders >> just unbelievable >> all right on deck, wilf is going to speak with patrick mchenry >> i would say sous vide, not flambed. plus, disney getting its second upgrade in two days why wall street is so optimistic on the stock when we talk to an analyst behind the call. "closing bell" back after this break. the latest innovation from xfinity

isn't just a store. it's a save more with a new kind of wireless network store.

it's a look what your wifi can do now store. a get your questions answered by awesome experts store. it's a now there's one store that connects your life like never before store. the xfinity store is here. and it's simple, easy, awesome. welcome back to "closing bell." let's take a peek at the dow winners today with 45 minutes left in the session. cisco, walmart, caterpillar and goldman sachs which is trading near the highs of the day. shares of delta also trading higher today after reporting earnings this morning. phil lebeau has more on those details. phil >> and this was one of those quarters where it confirmed the company raising its guidance and really eased some of the concerns people have about the airline industry

in the first quarter, delta beat the street earning 96 cents a share. 6 cents better than consensus. revenue coming in better than expected at $10.4 billion. and the thing that moved the shares higher today, the revenue p per available seat mile. it turned out to be better than expected q2, heading into the busy summer travel season, they are expecting earnings to grow by 15%. here is ceo ed bastion talking about the one area where they're seeing choppiness, transatlantic to europe. >> the spring period looks good. summer looks good in the trans-atlantic it's a seasonal market strong summer demand weak winter demand i think when we look at delta for this current year, trans-atlantic is going to be fine we'll see what our competitors do >> speaking of competitors let's look at jetblue. it's expected to announce this afternoon that it will begin trans-atlantic between the u.s.

and europe this has been pretty much forecast -- >> phil, we've got to cut you off. we've got to cut off phil there and go to capitol hill where aoc is beginning to grill some of the bank ceos. >> i was really going back and reviewing these last ten years, and i have concerns about how much things have really change ed i did an assessment and, year-by-year, let's go back to 2013 2013 at chase had to pay out $720 million in fines to the fed, s.e.c. and uk financial conduct authority for failing to oversee its trading practices, including what is known as the london whale. 2014, bank of america agreed to a $16.5 billion settlement to the doj and others for misconduct related to mortgage-backed securities and $20 million penalty with another

$727 million in consumer relief. 2015, bank of new york mellon, $714 million to settle claims that it defrauded customers when it promised to exchange at best rates but instead used the worst rates and pocketed the difference 2016, wells fargo entered into consent orders for fraud lently opening millions of accounts in customers names without their consent or knowledge 2017, state street, seven months after installing the fearless girl statue paid $5 million in backpay and interest after department of labor audit found that state street was systematically paying female employees less than male counterparts and black executives less than similarly situated white executives. my colleague from illinois highlighted some troubling connections between morgan stanley and puerto rico's illegal debt load. 2018, goldman sachs began facing lawsuits from doj, the fed, foreign governments in relation

to funding bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials relating to raising funds for malaysia's sovereign wealth fund. timny leisner, the goldman southeast asia executive pled guilty to various charges and forfeited $43 million. and just last month, march of 2019, citibank fined for $25 million for violating the fair housing act for failing to offer benefits to all eligible customers, namely on the basis of race, national origin and sex. and so i'm concerned here about the potentiality of fines related to misconduct just being incorporated as the cost of doing business mr. corbett, is the cost benefit analysis that weighs the cost of government fines versus the potential financial up side of potentially breaking the law, does that factor into controversial decision making around misconduct at your bank >> absolutely not.

>> okay. in my district, i represent rikers island. i represent kids that go to jail for jumping a turnstile because they can't afford a metro card do you think that more folks should have gone to jail for the -- for their role in the financial crisis that led to 7.8 million foreclosures in the ten years between 2007 and 2016, mr. dimon? >> i don't think people should go to jail for jumping a subway. i think we put too many people into jail, and i think if people broke the law, they should go to jail >> okay. do you think that the failure to hold more people accountable for the 2008 crisis is a failure of our legal system >> look, you have to talk to a lot of legal experts about why more people didn't -- whether they deserve to, whether they

broke the law, what's intent what's not intent. but you have to talk to legal experts about that >> on that note, mr. dimon, i do want to commend you in your decision and chase's decision to pull out of financing for private prisons. i think that that has led to some changes, particularly with wells fargo as well in making sure that we begin to divest from some of the troubling things we're seeing, particularly when it comes to the caging of children at our border i have one last question with respect to -- that's more future looking. the federal reserve board decided not to activate the countercyclical capital buffer this year. but banks are very profitable making billions in profit. is this not the best time for banks -- is this not the best time for the fed to build more capital so they can be in a position position to weather a future downturn? >> as i stated earlier today by the fed's own measurement, they are measuring 23 or 24 different

types of capital we're welcome on a holistic approach of which the countercyclical buffer is one, but rather than pick individual, look wholistically at the situation. >> the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes >> thank you, madam chair, mchenry, all of our witnesses who are here i represent a district on the east end of long island. the 1st congressional district of new york. there's a lot of strong representation on both sides of the aisle from our home state of new york and i see that a majority of the witnesses are here from companies that are headquartered in our home state. being -- >> all right we're in hour six, i guess i should say hour seven of big bank ceo testimony in front of the house financial services committee. what we were just showing you was the line of questioning from congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york talking about a number of things really more statements than questions. >> a long statement, two questions.

basically, should more people go to jail for what happened ten years ago? jamie dimon saying you shouldn't go to jail if you jump a turnstile but if you break the law. relatively sedate, i think, back and forth. >> yeah, although in general it seems to have been a somewhat tense six-plus hoursof q&a not necessarily a lot on actual bank regulations and sort of the state of the financial system here in the u.s. really the questioning throughout the day has been sort of all over the place. a lot of different topics. >> yes and there's been some confusion around who provides student loans. there's been some name confusion issues but either way, they're getting through it regular sous vide, if you will we'll keep bringing you the headlines for this as it unfolds. in the meantime, we've got about 45 minutes left of trade right now basically a mixed picture but a narrow trading range. the dow is slightly lower

trading around the flat line down two points. the s&p is up slightly, 0.3% the nasdaq is the big outperformer led higher by tech stocks investors are excited for uber's ipo which could come, the filing, as early as tomorrow find out if the ipo mania will live up to its hype after lyft's troubles and a clear the deck event that's what one analyst is calling disney's investor day. why his expectations are so high and why he referenced the pennant of dr. strange in his analyst note coming up stick around since my dvt blood clot

i was thinking... could there be another around the corner? or could it turn out differently? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot... almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. ...and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures.

what's around the corner could be surprising. ask your doctor about eliquis. i'm going to step out on a limb here. >> we've been waiting for this >> i don't think we're at the bottom >> this isn't because -- this is your opinion >> according to my research, the key to me is the 200-day moving

average is the day it's a real nice place to get a bounce i think we'll have a rally i think it's going to carry. i think it's going to have life. >> there we go all right. welcome back to "closing bell. i'm brian sullivan about 34 minutes before the closing bell the dow literally is flat. the s&p almost flat. doesn't take a look at the entire story a lot of stocks on the move. we're going to hit some coming up the overall market is about equal up and down. up next, we'll look at the hot ipo market with a cfo who has ushered in the public offerings of three names you know. >> and the possibility of filing your taxes electronically with irs software has been free or for free, has been killed by congress ahead we're going to explain how and why it died. 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. your daily dashboard from fidelity. a visual snapshot of your investments. key portfolio events. all in one place. because when it's decision time... you need decision tech. only from fidelity.

you need decision tech. 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.

time now for cnbc news update with contessa brewer. >> hi, morgan. vice president mike pence addressed the u.n. security council about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in venezuela. he says the u.s. has drafted a resolution calling on the u.n.

to recognize juan guaido as the country's true leader. >> for the peace and security of our hemisphere, the world and the united nations must stand with the people of venezuela to that end, the united states is preparing a resolution recognizing the legitimacy of the government of interim president juan guaido, and today we urge every member of the security council and all u.n. member states to support this resolution >> prime minister benjamin netanyahu's main election challenger, the blue and white party, conceded defeat in israel's general election. although both parties won the same number of seats in the 120-member parliament, netanyahu looked to stay in power with the support of religious right parties. one person was killed, 15 more injured in a gas explosion in downtown durham, north carolina a nearby school and businesses were evacuated several streets in the area were closed off as firefighters worked to get the situation under control this morning that's your cnbc news update this hour. i'll send it back to you, brian.

>> contessa, thank you your big corporate story, possibly the biggest technology ipo of all-time. uber gearing up to file its ipo tomorrow leslie picker joining us with more on -- i don't think it's hyperbole. >> excitement won't stop after tomorrow but we'll be speed reading hundred s of pages of uber's ipo prospectus. they decide whether or not participate in the biggest tech ipo in five years. a source close to the company says uber and some free ipo holders are looking to sell about $10 billion worth of stock. that would make it the largest deal in this sector since alibaba sold a $25 billion offering in 2014 it also would employ a valuation of $100 billion. uber has been releasing financials every quarter for a few years now so investors won't

be too surprised by its lack of profitability or the fact that growth has been gradually slowing over time. but the business has become increasingly complex as uber expands into food and freight. uber will stress this complexity is a differentiator from its rival lyft some of today's moves may actually be the result of investors making room in their portfolios for uber amid these reports that the bigger ride-hailing company's filing is quite imminent, guys >> here's a question, which is, sorry about that, morgan, which is lyft is way down. can we bring up lyft $61.50 now anything to the theory that people are dumping lyft to raise money to buy uber? >> certainly the possibility of a pare trade that was something that a lot of investors were looking into.

with uber coming down the pike you could have a situation where investors don't want exposure to both ride-hailing companies so they might short lyft and buy uber or vice versa so you'll see a little bit of portfolio management around these two deals since they're so close together >> the fact that lyft is trading so much below its ipo, new lows today since it went public a couple of weeks ago, how such that, i guess, factoring in and coloring where these companies are looking to value themselves as they go public? >> great question. >> it sounds like a lot of money but not acs much as earlier reports would indicate >> that's a huge factor in what uber is looking at in terms of how to price its ipo lyft, while it's not the only comparable to uber because it's in all of these different businesses, lyft is a key component as to how investors are looking at the multiple and the price they're willing to pay for uber technically, the worst that lyft does in the public markets, the

lower valuation uber will have to accept as it makes its debut. now it could follow the strategy of pinterest who set a valuation that according to investors we spoke with yesterday believed to be quite fair, which oftentimes if you do that optically, set expectations kind of on the lower side you can help bring more investors in the door and potentially raise more money later. >> leslie, thank you we'll keep you busy with all those hundreds of pages of filing tomorrow. our next guest is no stranger to the ipo market he's the chief financial officer of yext which celebrates his second anniversary of listing today. stock up more than 45% since the start of this year also took autodesk and pandora public he joins us at post 9. >> good to be here >> you have -- you are no stranger to this process what do you think some of the board room conversations are at these so-called tech unikorns?

>> they are going to be challenging. as you know, private investor valuations are much different than public investor valuations. that's why i'm a big supporter of getting companies out sooner rather than later because i think the public market gives you the right value. yes, they'll have some tough conversations in those board rooms. >> the fact that we see this title wave of all these more mature companies going public this year, you don't see that as a market top you see that as overdue? >> i think they're overdue they are clearly consuming a lot of cash. they need to find other markets because the private investors have a lot but they're out of cash to invest in these companies. the public market is always the best place to go >> we always hear that company went public too soon they weren't ready to go public. 1990s. you know that. is there anything like waiting too long their growth rate is slowing to 4% >> i agree there's a point in time you should go

and i think it's about sharing with the community, with retail investors and institutions and your employees to experience that growth. at salesforce and yext, both companies have had sustained great growth and everybody has benefited. if you wait too long, the private equity investors put a lot of cash in and get return but everybody else in the community doesn't get to participate in that. >> what do you make of this trend we're starting to see in terms of direct listings >> i'd love it >> why >> because there is a lot of process in going public. i think that the guys at spotify did an interesting thing they have a lot of investors involved but i also think you're trying to get to market quickly and make sure everybody has an opportunity to participate >> spotify stock is down over the past 12 months, though >> it's not like investors have just eaten it up >> i think that becomes part of how they view the market opportunity and what spotify is

doing. i know some of the people there because i worked at pandora for a while. there's a great opportunity. once you get public, that's a whole other journey. you have to keep your business going and running well >> leslie was just talking about this idea of a pare trade where lyft and uber concerned in general to see so many of these companies going public all the anticipation around them right now. is this something that's, if they do well, is this a tide that lifts all boats, or do you expect to see a rejiggering of where folks are investing in the market and putting their money to work? >> it's probably looking at a little of both there's new technologies uber, lyft, pin terroriterest there's other opportunities to keep growing the business over time and smaller businesses as well >> i've got to say this. your team here with yext is here you're up 47% year to date so you guys, that's a reason to cheer. there you go >> and they all brought us here.

this is a team that made it happen thank you all very much. >> he just said you did it so, therefore, you get his pay >> thank you both very much. great to be here >> thank you red hot, first solar is soaring. why one major firm has gotten even more bullish on the name. >> and later -- a read on retail shares of bed bath & beyond up around 65% year to de.at they'll report earnings. that's coming up on "closing bell." your daily dashboard from fidelity. a visual snapshot of your investments. key portfolio events. all in one place. because when it's decision time... you need decision tech. only from fidelity.

your but as you get older,hing. it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall.

thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

welcome back 3:41 it's that time of the show where we look at the most interesting stock moves of the day you ready, morgan? >> i'm ready >> first up is first solar goldman sachs adding fslr to their conviction buy list. they like the improving fundamentals and their expansion in malaysia. first solar getting a nice pop on that news up about 7%. >> this stock has just rallied it's up 42% year to date even though it's down 15% over the past 12 months and does seem all of this talk around tariffs on solar products is largely being shrugged off and the growth is solar is reignite chicaing whics something kate rogers has been reporting. levi strauss

shares trading higher. levi's, american revenue up 9% year over year and when the ceo came on "squawk alley" this morning, he said growth is broad based across regions and those shares are up about 4% right now i also asked him if amazon was friend or foe because they're building out omni channel, more investments, more straight to consumer, et cetera. he said both >> i learned this morning in your interview is 80% male is their base and they have to broaden that out. and they have had more revenue coming from female shoppers. they can keep doing that there's a lot of growth runway there. >> and that's a big area for them also expanding their brand presence in china is a big opportunity he talked about. up next -- a top asset manager telling us why he thinks that the health care sector may be a good place for your money >> plus, disney receiving its second upgrade in two days we'll talk to one analyst who says tomorrow's visitor day

could be a, quote, dk-eangecclri event. we'll explain coming up on the "closing bell. e*trade core portfolios is an easy, automated way to get invested. we'll save you time by building, monitoring and managing a portfolio for you and provide all hands-on deck support when you need it- helping you become top dog. ♪

the latest inisn't just a store.ty it's a save more with a new kind of wireless network store. it's a look what your wifi can do now store. a get your questions answered by awesome experts store. it's a now there's one store that connects your life like never before store. the xfinity store is here. and it's simple, easy, awesome. 14 minutes to go until the close.

here are the losers in the dow trading right around the flat line boeing is down dow, united health and home depot are the biggest losers >> just about, i don't know, about 14 minutes left to go in today's session. joiningous the "closing bell" exchange is eugene prophet as well as that guy, cnbc's own rick santelli. rick, first i'm going to start with you the theme of this year was stocks hot, bonds hot, everything was hot, including oil. things have tapered off. what's the market waiting for in what's the next big catalyst >> i think the next big catalyst, of course, is twofold but both involve trade trying to get, of course, congress to take up and maybe pass some of the deals we already have with respect to mexico and canada. but, of course, maybe sewing up all the loose, frayed edges of what looks to be at least if you take secretary mnuchin at face value, a china deal that's getting closer and closer. and to be clear, you are

absolutely right, but let's also point to the notion that the questionable deleveraging that occurred in october and november certainly ended abruptly in the first quarter. had a lot of horsepower considering that throughout that entire period there's probably some deterioration in the domestic and global economies. >> eugene, what do you think of stocks here after the double-digit rally we've seen since the start of the year? >> i think we have to take a pause here i do think that basically there's been a lot of news that's come out, slowing growth rates. you have the trade issues that rick just mentioned. you have corporate debt expanding as well as government debt expanding and i think that, although profits and corporations have looked strong with the headwinds out there, we're starting to look for companies and sectors that are a little less conservative expecting a little pullback here not anything oftenceibly but all the geopolitical risk, we think the risks are more to the down

side than positives to the upside currently >> rick santelli, should we be talking more about corporate debt and government debt for that matter? who things you have been talking about and the fact those levels seem to keep ballooning. quite a number of officials have highlighted that on our air even just in the last couple of days. >> well, i think the remarkable thing about looking up interest rates, looking at the security spreads with respect to investment grade high yield against treasuries and monitoring all those relationships, it would be very difficult to tell lately that we have so much debt to service and that we have growing amounts at auctions and we're not the only country doing that and, of course, in the macro picture over the next several years, corporations have to lock and load they are maturing debt it's definitely a question but it also shows quite clearly how ill logical markets can be here we sit under 2.5% well below the 3.25% that topped

us out in the last quarter of last year. all of the time, everything you asked really is getting significantly larger so there's only two things we could take for that, and that is the relative interest rate pressures that the u.s. is feeling globally, and, of course, there's quite a pool of investors and institutions and pension funds and insurance companies that seem to have constant demand on the buy side keeping rates capped a bit in the u.s. you can't fall in love with that relationship, and it can change ever so quickly. >> you know, eugene, we say every earnings season is, quote, the most important earnings season in whatever length of time but this one does seem to have a different ring to it we came back from the terrible december we've gotten -- it's all on multiple expansion investors have priced in decent numbers and decent guidance. do you believe, are you confident we will get that >> i don't really think so i think that we just had good earnings from delta as an example.

when you see american and southwest, you are going to see the impact of the 7 -- max 8 issue coming into play with some of those seats not being filled. when you look in the technology sector, great performance across the large cap names -- apple, cisco, for instance. but i think you'll see a little bit of margin shrinkage and investors have been optimistic about all the good news in the market but the slowing global growth rate is coming from somewhere. brexit fears out there and i think that you're going to see a lot of corporate ceos and cfos actually tamping down expectations on the upcoming earnings calls >> yeah, eugene, the house financial services committee hearing with the big bank ceos just finally wrapping a few moments ago. and earnings season does really kick off in earnest on friday with some of those biggest financial names reporting results. where do you stand on the banks? >> i'm neutral i think they've had a great ten

years as they highlighted today. and relative valuations are actually pretty decent but i think that the geopolitical risks i highlighted at the outset, banks are economically sensitive to the overall economic environment and my sense that while the economy is okay, we are facing some headwinds that are going to start to visualize and so i'm not as constructive on the large-cap banks i think if you are going to be there, morgan stanley is a good place to be. bank of america is okay. goldman has some issues. but i tend to look toward names that are not so economically sensitive. sort of more health care area, consumer staples >> thank you both for joining us eugene profit and rick santelli. we have a news alert on brazilian mining giant valet >> prosecutors in brazil are reportedly planning to file criminal charges against vale over that deadly collapse of a

dam in january the lead investigators, that's what lead investigators told "the wall street journal" now. reportedly investigators had gathered enough evidence to affirm that vale employees were involved in the operation of the mine and knew the dam was unsafe as soon as this report hit we saw shares of vale move lower. now trading around the flat line but we should point out since that dam collapsed in late january, shares of vale are down about 9% certainly a developing story, brian. for now, back to you >> we are watching that. seema, thank you up next -- we're coming back with your closing countdown. >> after the bell, a read on the consumer with earnings from bed bath & beyond. we'll break the numbers as soon as they're released. "closing bell" will be right back

i'm off to college. i'm worried about my parents' retirement. don't worry. voya helps them to and through retirement... dealing with today's expenses ...while helping plan, invest and protect for the future. so they'll be okay? i think they'll be fine. voya. helping you to and through retirement.

- i like to plan my activities before i take trip, so by the time i get there i can just enjoy the ride. with tripadvisor, it's easy to discover over 100,000 bookable things to do, from walking tours in rome to wine tastings in tuscany, and if you like what you see, you can book it with ease. just another way tripadvisor helps you make your trip a masterpiece. ♪ hoo - read reviews, check hotel prices, book things to do. tripadvisor. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

you should be mad they gave this to homeguy a promotion. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade, who's tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad. get e*trade's simplified technical analysis. welcome back time for your closing countdown. we do it at the end of the

3:00 hour. we're going to talk about oil. oil just continues its march higher gasoline inventories were drawn down we're starting to see the opec strategy work. venezuela, of course, continues to come offline. iran sanctions, you name it. it's in there. oil continuing its march the second thing is related to oil. and that's the oih that's one of the bigger oil indexes. a lot of oil etfs. you can name your etf. the osx. the xle. anyone with a lot of big integrated and midsize it's done well and conagra foods. one of the better performers the company coming out with numbers the market liked but bob pisani, what your doing here >> i was just walking by >> with conagra, they love the fact the company gave guidance they didn't expect them to give guidance not only did they give guidance, but it was pretty good >> we're going into earnings season we're going to have cautious

guidance, companies beating a lot stronger than people think and we'll be positive for earnings in the first quarter. brian, six and a half hours of bank hearinging ins today. a hearing in search of a headline that's exactly what happened here a few interesting things congressmen questioning people they weren't even sure who they were talking to. >> who are you with again? he said i'm the head of bank of america. >> and one of the -- and another guy, might have been the same guy kept calling brian moynihan monahan. you know two things, the name and the company and everything else is gravy. >> at least spell the name right and get it right the hearings wound down. remember banks tend to get weaker going into earnings season and the yields have been down a little in the last couple of days. there's reasons the bank stocks -- they all turn positive big pressure on the day as a result of the industrials. boeing another drag.

they all improved throughout the day but generally caterpillar, 3m all to the down side today. we did see the yield down the last few days and as it got better, markets improved so yields moving up helped the markets in the last week and a half generally been a bit of a problem. >> finally, i want to talk about lyft we're watching uber carefully. there's that yield curve versus the s&p 500. the last two weeks look how that's correlated lyft, $60. that is -- when that broke $72, when you drop below your initial price on a big ipo like that, that's a very bad sign and the volume has been very heavy today. yes, you can say uber has come quicker than anticipated >> quickly, a comment and a question the comment is -- i do wonder if oil continues to rise, does it become a net negative?

do you think, and leslie talked about this, people are selling lyft to buy factor >> i think that's a factor we have three big ipos tomorrow. >> all right and there we go. the closing bell is here on a very busy wednesday. the talked about the bank hear,s didn't define the markets. a lot of big movers inside of that steven cakebread i didn't know he was -- he's cakebread winery i didn't know that i'm bitter about this. also churchill downs charles town, west virginia and the lucky lady at nemacolin woods founded by the owner of 84 lumber you didn't know that, did you? welcome to the "closing bell." i'm morgan brennan brian sullivan will rejoin me here at post 9 in a moment along with mike santoli. sara eisen and wilfred frost are

in washington, d.c here's how we're finishing the day on wall street as stocks settle, it's really a narrow trading range today everything finishing, though, in the green. the dow finishing really at the flat line up about 9 points. the s&p 500 finishing up about 0.3% 2888 the nasdaq also finishing up about 0.7% and the big outper former were small caps the russell 2000 finishing up. consumer discretionary and energy stocks among the best performers here are the stories on the radar. steve mnuchin discussing the fed's independence with sara eisen. lyft falling further below its ipo price, and the big bank ceos just wrapping up their almost full day of testimony on capitol hill joining us to talk about the market, charlie, vice president

at ariel investments welcome to you we will start with mike santoli. how would you characterize the trading today? >> steady. i think it was sneaky strong all day, even when the major indexes were a little negative three stocks up for every one down it seems as if yesterday that little bit of a sell-off, kind of just a mini stutter step was not necessarily the start of a bigger pullback. at least doesn't seem so right now. you still see the very stubborn strength in things like software which have this defensive feel to them and some of the yield beneficiaries. it's a lawyer stosimilar story. we have to see if that's really the case, whether we can withstand what may be a noisy earnings season. >> earnings really kicking off in earnest on friday with those initial bank numbers what are you expecting from this season and does that matter as much as the outlook for the rest of the

year given the fact there are so many macro things uncertain right now? >> i'm glad you asked about earnings i do think that's the big issue. the market went down a lot in the fourth quarter because of expectations with some people calling an earnings recession which would be two quarters of negative earnings both we think expectations are low for this first quarter and will be beaten. we think that more than half the companies are going to beat the estimates out there. we think guidance will be fine a lot of people are calling for earnings to be down in the second quarter we don't think that's going to happen and this is a short-term problem that we're going to get through and the market is fairly valued. >> sticking with the banks, bank ceos testifying in front of the house financial services committee. asked about potential risks to their industry, here's what they had to say >> what do you think the biggest risk to our financial system is today? >> our ability to talk ourselves into the next recession. >> i think i -- the cyber we

already mentioned is the biggest. i think the growing nonbank segment. i don't think it's systemic but growing rapidly and should be closely monitored. >> global growth is slowing. u.s. growth is slowing a little bit. global growth is slowing and ultimately that will have impact on ability to service credit around the world and that impacts the financial system >> cyber certainly first i'd also say slowing growth around the world, but in particular the difficulties that lie ahead in the relationship between the u.s. and china >> let's get to wilfred in washington he's with patrick mchenry, the ranking republican it's been a busy day for you take it from here. >> morgan, thank you the hearing just wrapped and congressman mchenry, the ranking republican, is here with me. thanks for joining us. seven hours. what was the aim of today's hearing, and was it achieved >> the hearing was much more

about getting headlines about having big banks in. the key takewaraway is they are giving consumers more choice than i think a lot of folks expected what i do know is precrisis we leaded had over 700,000 banks and now under 5,000. dodd/frank has had an impact on financial institutions so the clear takeaway here is there is no clear takeaway there is a search for circus-like atmosphere on the hill that was not achieved. >> overall, dodd/frank has had a negative impact? the general theme from most of those ceos was to commend overall, for the most part, the regulation that took place >> i don't blame them. they do have a privileged place in our economy the demands on them have been put to a greater extend. they have to have more capital and everything else as a result

of this. but they are in a good position financially. and are doing well for their shareholders i don't think they came in with a great deal of complaints about the current system >> the issue of capitalism and executive pay came up. do you think it's an example of capitalism gone wrong when a ceo is paid 486 times the median salary of their workers? >> no, i think what we have here is boards of directors and shareholders being able to make those decisions rather than politicians. politicians allocating capital is a horrible, horrible mistake. when that happens in a country, they are doomed to low growth or no growth, and they destroy their economy. this debate over capitalism versus socialism is real it is fundamental to our politics right now at this stage. and today was only a bullet point to that larger value of that big debate. >> congressman, thanks for your time, particularly after a seven-hour marathon hearing.

>> a quick comment you can say what you want. have these exchanges about executive pay. we can talk about climate change and all these things here's what investors care about. the xlf, the big bank etf is up 11%. not bad, but in a market that's up 6% more they've underperformed >> by almost any definition, they've underperformed the valuations of banks are lower than they've been historically certainly the only chief group, and i don't think it's because of concerns that were aired today but these are companies playing defense at a point in the cycle -- playing defense at their overall business at a point in the cycle when no one is quite sure if they can capitalize on this environment in terms of extending new loans, credit, all the rest of it it's more emblem attic of how investors were already viewing the banks which is they're more boring, more safe. on the other hand more boring and more safe so why do i want to own them right now. >> charlie, what's your take on the banks and financials overall. and where would you suggest

investors be putting their money? >> financials are interesting in the sentiment moves harders in this space than in almost any other. anybody bought the story that higher interest rates were going to be great for banks. everybody was convinced interest rates were going up and that was going to be great for banks. higher interest rates are not necessarily great for banks. secondly, interest rates didn't go up. so it's been -- sentiment has moved hard against them. they're now much cheaper we love goldman sachs here trading at nine times earnings and financial institutions, we love kkr and blackstone. great businesses trading at 12 times earnings >> guys, sit tight i want to head back to d.c go to wilfred frost who has maxine waters. >> hi, brian as you say, i'm joined by the chair of the house financial services committee, congresswoman maxine waters. thank you for joining me i was just speaking to your ranking member, congressman

mchenry who said the only reason you called this hearing was to try and grab some negative td li headlines for the big banks. >> absolutely not. as a chair of the financial services committee, i have the responsibility for us to carry out what is mandated for committee chairs and for committees we have to do oversight. we have to do investigation. we have to make sure that we are representing the people of this nation and so this is our ordinary business it is not something extraordinary. and we will have them back every year >> there was a point when one of your colleagues asked them if they were capitalists or socialists all seven said very clearly they were capitalists do you think they represent the views of the nation 100% response there >> well, i think it was a silly question you don't ask bankers whether or not they're socialists or capitalists by virtue of what they do, they're capitalists so i think that was a throwaway question >> in terms of the pay dispute

that came up, i just asked the same question to congressman mchenry. one is paid 486 times the median pay of his employees the lowest 151 times is that an example of capitalism gone wrong >> it's an example of the financial services community, committees and organizations who make extraordinarily high salaries and when you take a look at what the interlevel salaries are, the midmanagement salaries are, it's just too big a gap. they are overflowing with profits, the banks they've gotten a lot from the tax reform that the president did. and so, yes, they should do better by their employees. they should be increasing the pay and, don't forget, when they got all of the benefits from the tax reform, they said they were going to take that money and invest it. and so we expect them to reduce costs. we expect them to create more programs we expect them to have more

branch banking on and on and on. i don't know if all of those investments are there, but we have to ask those questions. and we have to follow up with what people say they are going to do to make sure that we understand what we must do to correct it with legislation. >> you said you'll have these ceos back in the future. all seven ceos of course today were male, white males is that a problem? would you like to see more diverse irk diversity, and how soon would that happen? >> we have institutionalized racism in the country and we have to face it. of course, all seven of those bank ceos were white and this is typical of what goes on in this country that's why i created a new subcommittee on diversity and inclusion. so i can begin to open up opportunities for others, for women, for minorities, et cetera >> all these ceos outlined in their prepared remarks they submitted, and if they were

asked questions today, the great lengths they're going to rectify diversity issues do you believe them that that's what they're working on? you just suggest there's institutionalized racism >> well, no, we believe we have a responsibility to help them to become more diverse. what we have discovered is there are many companies who have someone is assigned to do diversity and inclusion work but they don't have resources. they don't have support. and so what we're going to do is take a look at best practices. and we're going to have both in the public and private sector for businesses to have real diversity programs >> in terms of the size of banks overall, that debate came up you asked a question about whether smaller banks, viewer business lines help them manage their banks better other colleagues were asking if they were made smaller, that business would go to overseas rivals do you fear too much regulation could help with chinese or europeans or whatever? >> i don't think a good case was made for too much deregulation

what i talked about was reducing lines of businesses that you don't manage very well and if you can recall, when i asked a question, if they had reduced lines of businesses, and if it helped with the management, they all said yes. that it helped them to be better managers >> this was a different setting for a hearing than the one last month with tim sloan of wells fargo. would you say these seven ceos are ultimately doing their jobs and doing their jobs well in a way that perhaps did not apply to the tone of the hearing you last had >> well, i think you are absolutely correct with wells fargo, they were off the scale of having -- basically created accounts in consumers' names they didn't know about forced insurance on people they didn't need. absolutely foreclosed on homes that did not deserve to be foreclosed on. so they were the worst all of the banks need to make correctionses.

all of the banks need to stop paying fines as a cost of doing business all of them have areas that they can strengthen and do better in. >> were you pleased tim sloan left his job after that hearing? >> i think he knew that his time was up and that he had not received any support from his colleagues and from the members of congress and he knew that he could not be successful if he stayed. so he did the right thing. >> do all of the seven bank ceos in front of you deserve to keep their jobs >> oh, well let me just say this, those banks understand what our members are saying, representing our districts we don't want red lining, we don't want exotic products that people don't understand. we don't want homes foreclosed on we want them to work to keep people in their homes. we want them to do a better job with training and developing services we have the responsibility to deal with loan modifications and so if they do all of this, sure,

they should keep their jobs. but if they don't, they should not. >> we talked about regulation. do you think ultmetly that america's financial system is safe >> i believe that we have to be careful. we went through a big meltdown in this country in 2008. and everybody thought the financial system was safe then little did we know that we were on the verge of a depression we actually had a recession and so we have to be careful never to get in that position again. >> chair waters, grateful for your time. you had a heated back and forth with treasury secretary mnuchin last night have you spoken to him today have you both put -- let bygones be bygones >> no, i have not spoken to him today. and you have to remember that these discussions are not petty little discussions because you don't like somebody. this is about public policy. this is about what i am elected to do, someone representing the people of my district and of this country as the chair person, i have not

only the responsibility but the duty to make sure that we know what's going on in the treasury. we understand whether there is money laundering we understand whether or not sanctions are not being implemented in the way that they should we need to understand whether or not there's a conflict of interest, and we have someone who is a treasury secretary who may be in conflict with some of the deals that they have made personally and so i don't see that as, you know, a little unfriendly thing where we can get back together it's not about whether we're friends. it's whether or not we respect the constitution of the united states of america. and we respect the laws of this land nobody is above the law. and so if that means that we don't really talk to each other, that's okay. do your job. i'll do mine >> okay. congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. really appreciate it guys, back to studio >> great stuff

sara eisen is in washington with a big interview with treasury secretary steve mnuchin. sara >> well, morgan, certainly the president has not been shy about recent criticism of federal reserve chairman jay powell in tweets, at rallies, in interviews so i asked the treasury secretary whether it was a mistake and whether he picked the wrong person to be fed chief. here's what he said. >> i don't feel like i picked the wrong person, but i respect the president'sviews and his views of the economy where he's had tremendous insight >> what would you say to people who are now actually worried about the independence of the federal reserve with some of the proposed nominees very close political allies to the president? >> i don't think there's any reason whatsoever to be concerned about the independence of the fed it's the president's right and obligation to nominate people to the board. >> so you're saying, cain should be confirmed based on his past and all the questions that surround him >> again, i'm not going to make

individual comments on individual people. i know steven moore well i don't know cain very well. but i have every reason to believe the president supports him and feels strongly so, yes, i would think he should be confirmed >> secretary mnuchin there on some of the controversial proposed picks of the fed nominee. so you just heard wilfred ask maxine waters about the fiery exchange she had with the treasury secretary >> i thought it was respectful that you let me leave at 5:15, which is the -- >> you are free to leave at any time you want. >> okay, please dismiss everybody. i believe you're supposed to take the gravel and bang it. >> please do not instruct me as to how i am to conduct this committee. >> so, of course, i had to ask the treasury secretary about that exchange and just what happened there here's what he said.

>> really unnecessary ending i offered that i'd be more than happy to come back to the committee and answer all their questions. so i look forward to seeing them in may i think it's important that all the congresspeople have the appropriate time that they have their questions answered and i knew we weren't going to be able to do it all in concession it was really just a silly ending >> do you feel that you were treated without respect at that hearing? >> i'm not going to go there on that i think it was an unnecessary ending i was prepared to come back and spend as much time as they wanted and i had been there for over three hours and 15 minutes, which was longer than any secretary had been in a very long period of time. and i would also just comment, i was really there to talk about the nac report i didn't get one question on that report. >> political theater >> a little bit of political theater as you saw >> and, guys, as we've been watching, hours and hours of the bank testimony there on capitol hill from the same group, the

house financial services committee, i did ask secretary mnuchin a question that some of the bankers got at that hearing which is, what is the biggest risk to the financial system right now. you heard most of the bank ceos said cybersecurity threats a little bit of global growth. the secretary said he agrees with them, cyber is front of mind and, in fact, to that point, he's meeting with those bankers right now as soon as they wrap up their hearing they were scheduled to speak to the treasury secretary about this issue of cybersecurity and the threat that that poses to the global financial system. morgan and brian >> sara eisen, thanks. >> you and wilfred will get to meet up and have drinks or a meal while down in d.c >> i think he's taking the train down, but, you know, we did take the train up together. we were looking for bank ceos. thought they may be on the train as well. we heard they were going to go with amtrak instead of private

jets >> we trade up you went from here to d.c. >> okay, down last night, brian. that's right >> if you're going to go to bad saint, get in line now thank you. charlie, listen. i want to get the investment angle on this. any change in any way that you feel about the banks or financial stocks after seven hours of congressional testimony. seven hours of testimony >> one of those no news is good news no headlines is good headlines banks always have more to fear from washington, d.c., than they do usually from any kind of positives. so it's good news if they didn't lay a glove on them. >> stocks acted that way as well as the meeting basically wound down small cap banks, if you looked at just those, up 1% so they weren't getting grilled. small caps in general were strong i feel as if the fact it was such an unfocused set of

questions meant there was really no specific concern that was going to get crystallized. >> first of all, treasury secretary mnuchin got off easy with only three hours versus nearly seven hours today just have to say but the key question to me, mike, is, okay, chair waters just said she didn't think the case -- that a good case was made for deregulation today, but is the case made for future regulation just based on the questions lawmakers put in front of these ceos, would you trust them to actually write new rules as needed in the future >> i think it's going to just be consistent pressure on things like fair lending standards and all the rest of it, which i think is something we've had for a long time. >> we've waited ten years for this could we have had this -- this could have been a replay with a hearing seven years ago. bank pay, should people go to jail, housing, mortgages, the topics did seem to be a bit

recycled from the past >> that is true, although i think one -- what that means in part is that the issues still resonate -- >> true, but i guess, charlie, you chime in on this my point in saying that was rather this. if congress is focused on five and seven and ten years ago, the guide way going forward for banks, i don't want to say appears open, but we didn't get that big gotcha moment where you can say they're going to go after them for this down the road the regulatory scheme may not change >> yeah, i think we -- mike and i were saying the same thing they're focused on old issues. they're going over old ground. so that's generally good for the banks. the issues that are dangerous to the banks are things like nonbank banks. nonbank lending. institutions that are outside of the fed's control. there are issues and risks to the financial system, but, frankly, i don't think jpmorgan is one of them

>> yeah, and i think cyber is clearly going to be one of those key areas to watch in terms of deployments and developments there as well. charlie, thanks for joining us >> thanks for having me. coming up -- why another analyst, another analyst has turned bullish on disney think chewbacca, dr. strange and fox. we'll speak to him coming up on the "closing bell. kets, the rhythm of the world. kets, but to us, it's the pace of tomorrow. with ingenuity, technologies, and markets expertise we create the possible. and when you do that, you don't chase the pace of tomorrow. you set it. nasdaq. rewrite tomorrow.

...or trips to mars. $4.95. delivery drones or the latest phones. $4.95. no matter what you trade, at fidelity it's just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade.

welcome back one of the hottest stocks in retail in all of america is out with numbers bed bath & beyond. let's go beyond the numbers with seema mody >> this has been a stock to watch. this stock was up about 7% on better than expected earnings, but as you can see just dipped into negative territory. here's a story earnings beat $1.20 adjusted versus estimate of $1.11 revenue came a bit lower than expectations at $3.31 billion. it also saw comp sales in q4 decline 1.4% so it did see strength in digital sales. also increasing its dividend by a penny to 17 cents. the company is updating its transformation plan which includes a number of initiatives, including near-term and ongoing gross margin

improvements through changes and assortment mix this is a stock that has received activist interest three hedge funds own a 5% stake in the company urging them to change their board the company says it's undergoing a comprehensive review of its composition of its board shares, though, down 0.5% here the conference begins at 5:00 p.m we'll get the full story back to you. >> seema, thank you. this stock is up 71%, mike, since the start of the year. the truth of the matter is it had been largely left for dead because of the declining numbers and so slow to e-commerce. its prices higher than competitors says homeowner in the suburbs. >> the stock was beaten down of a value, basically as if it were going to be in perpetual decline. the forecast for top line was down 10% you can see the stock is cheap if it keeps going in that

trajectory one-third of the stock sold short before they got -- so it really was a poster child for death of bricks and mortar >> morgan brennan channel checked herself as the analyst source according to this suburban mom, the towels are more expensive. >> i can tell you all about -- >> what is overpriced? the bed, the bath or the beyond? >> well, okay -- >> coming up >> the beyond. >> we're going to find out if lowered inflation expectations will keep the fed in play and will keep stocks running and avengers "end game." it's smashing records and it doesn't even hit theeaters for another two weeks. details ahead.

the gains weren't big but they were gains. the s&p 500, up nine of the last ten sessions yesterday broke that eight-day win streak but we finished higher the dow up a whopping 6.5 points today, but they were gains nonetheless. the russell 2000 also up a little more. we'll call that 1.4% small caps continue to get along on down the road

>> yeah. and along and along. tomorrow, squawk box will have an exclusive interview with vice president mike pence and the white house's call for a rate cut was just one of the topics discussed. >> there's no evidence of inflation in this economy. >> so it's inflation >> we really do believe that, you know, what the president was saying was the quantitative tightening has not been the right approach that he has spoken out against the policies of the fed over the last two years, like many presidents have before him >> let me -- >> this is a president that really does believe that this economy is only starting to grow you look at nations around the world, nations we compete with every day. and the president really does believe that 3% is a starting point in this economy. >> you know, brian, and mike, the comments from jamie dimon, the ceo of jpmorgan said at an

event that, you know, name a president or an administration that doesn't want to see lower rates. we look at politicization of the fed and the fact you have a president and vice president talking about the president wanting to see rate cuts or qe4, for example, but if you historically think about it, what president -- >> it's always fair, although the question in return, though, is the tax cuts were supposed to be this juggernaut and so we got short-term rates up to barely positive on -- in real terms, right, after inflation barely positive. and all of a sudden that's supposed to be too high. that's the debate that's going on >> the only reason we focus on interest rates is because there's so much debt interest rates didn't matter that much. unless you're in the revolutionary war selling script to pay for the ships, that's it. we never had this level of debt

so rates matter more the average american was not naming the fed chair 30 years ago. >> more financialized economy and higher rates have more of an impact >> correct there are 300 million credit cards in america >> you can catch the rest of that interview with vice president mike pence tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. eastern on "squawk box. time for cnbc news update. let's get back to contessa brewer >> here's what's happening right now. democratic presidential candidate senator bernie sanders unveiled his medicare for all health care plan today he introduced new legislation on capitol hill he's calling for the elimination of private health insurance to be replaced by a government-run system >> health care is a human right, not a privilege. together, we are going to end the international embarrassmen

of the united states of america. >> the acting director of immigration and customs enforcement is leaving his post friday according to an agency spokesperson the trump administration yanked his nomination for i.c.e. director last week he had continued to serve in an acting capacity. the central figure in "scandals of the late 1950s" has died. charles van doren who won a $129,000 on the show "21" later admitted in testimony to congress he had been given the answers in advance van doren was 93 when he died. that's the cnbc news update this hour back to you, brian >> contessa, thank you very much another news alert in retail this time on costco. let's go back to seema mody with that >> let's continue the discussion around retail. costco same-store sales numbers are out, up 5.9% in march. it saw e-commerce sales rising 20.6%. this has been a trend across the

retail industry as a number of these brick and mortar retailers try to emphasize growth in digital to fend off competition from amazon. the stock is falling here but it's up about 21% so far this year hitting an all-time high last week back to you, morgan. >> seema, thank you. up next -- inflation expectations around the globe are on the decline we'll explain how that could impact stocks and bonds, straight ahead in and the new star wars theme park and new tv strategy just two of the reasons for another big upgrade of disney. the analyst behind that bullish call will join us later on "closing bell. when you look at the critical issues facing our world, what do you see? we see breakthrough medicines getting to patients in record time. we see harnessing natural gas unleashing the promise of clean energy. we see engineers simulating the future to improve today.

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.

- (phone ringing)a phones offers - big button,ecialized phones... and volume-enhanced phones., get details on this state program. call or visit

and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit welcome back the imf cut its global growth outlook and global inflation expectations are dropping among major economies. mike santoli has more at the telestrator. quite a chart. >> the trend is clear here on inflation expectations going down this is market-implied citigroup economists put this chart together the left and right scales are slightly different depending on

which company we're talking about. the uk which have a relatively steady expectation of 3% plus inflation in part because of brexit concerns, the rest of the mature economies are seeing a decline. especially here. that's the eurozone. the green line there the u.s. not far above it but it's holding above the lows. a couple things here in terms of implications we saw a lowlike this in 2016, 2015, the last time the global economy had this industrial and earnings slowdown. so what it means is, obviously, it explains the low bond yields and also supports equity valuations so long as it doesn't really mean we're tipping into true deflation risk or global economic downturn to as opposed to a slowdown. this is something you have to keep on watch, obviously, as we're talking about what the fed is going to do one reason they think the fed can afford to have its patient policy right now on deck, a major box office milestone. avengers "end game" just did

something that four other blockbuster marvel hits could not do combined. plus -- cashing in cashierless amazon go stores are making a big change to how you shop we'll explain. and don't miss david malpass in a first on cnbc interview. that is tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. eastern on "squawk on the street." d 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. ...or trips to mars. $4.95. delivery drones or the latest phones. $4.95. no matter what you trade, at fidelity

it's just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade. no matter what you trade, at fidelity whooo! want to take your next vacation to new heights? tripadvisor now lets you book over a hundred thousand tours, attractions, and experiences in destinations around the world! like new york! from bus tours, to breathtaking adventures, tripadvisor makes it easy to find and book amazing things to do. and you can cancel most bookings up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. so you can make your next trip... monumental! read reviews check hotel prices book things to do tripadvisor

does your wealth manager a cfa charterholder does. you've worked hard to grow your wealth. make sure you're working with a wealth manager who can grow with you. cfa charterholders have the investment expertise to unlock opportunities other advisors might not see. learn what a cfa charterholdr can do for you at therightquestion.org welcome back here are some other stories on

the "closing bell" radar today ticket sales for "avengers end game" shattering another box office record. the movie has sold twice as many tickets as aqua man, the last jedi, infinity war and captain marvel combined. "end game" sales also beat first hour and first day records when tickets went on sale last week we have two more weeks until this movie is in theaters. the hype is incredible and again, it shines a light on disney who has their investor day tomorrow and is expected to debut its disney plus streaming service. it really speaks to the brands they have. >> for how many years have people been saying they've exhausted this marvel thing. the comic book movies. we already did it. here we are. it's obviously a social thing to show you have your prebought tickets and all the rest of it it feeds into the whole thing. >> i'd love for somebody to do an analysis on comic book valuations >> actual books? >> i own a lot of avengers comic

books. a lot of peter parker, a lot of -- i have the value of those -- >> i did a story on this a couple years ago, but there were record sales and there have been in recent years of comic books special editions i don't know where we're at. meantime, if you sell comic books at a profit, you have to pay taxes. the house paying the taxpayer first act. a bipartisan bill that would ban the irs from offering its own free electronic tax system the irs currently has a memoranda of understanding with h&r block and turbo tax that it will not offer its own online filing system in exchange for them offering free filing services to taxpayers who make less than $66,000 a year the bill is awaiting a vote. a lot of people complaining that despite the name, the taxpayer first act, this is really a way for h&r block and turbo tax, owned by intuit, who have

lobbied hard to maintain their duopoly on online tax filing >> i'm going to take the flip side and say i don't know if either of you have been on the irs website recently -- >> not good. >> exactly i don't know that i need to see another government agency trying to build out its own tech platform which i would suspect could hit hurdles, delays, issues maybe this is the best of both worlds let the private secretary tor du you make it more straight forward for folks that fall below that threshold to file their taxes freely >> maybe change the threshold at some point we'll see. amazon go stores are no longer going to be cashless. a spokesman for the company confirmed with cnbc the stores will now accept cash, but didn't give a timeline for this change. the move follows criticism that amazon's cashless policy discriminated against consumers that don't own a bank or credit card it's a broader issue beyond

amazon some cities have outlawed cashless stores. some other chains have gotten into a pr mess with this idea that basically being exclusionary by going cashless >> we think about cash being dead here's the reality there's more cash, u.s. dollars, outstanding than ever before now a lot of that is offshore. >> $100 bills. >> correct you have to use dollars in venezuela and other places but 10% to 15% of the economy is estimated to be under ground it's a cash economy. >> absolutely. >> i like being able to use cash >> sure. you want the option. >> my data being tracked every single which way i like that option >> but not at bed bath & beyond. >> how about your avengers tickets? >> all right, up next, betting big on the house of mouse. disney scoring his second upgrade in two days. we'll dig in on what's driving the positivity ahead coming up on "fast money," one top strategist will explain why the u.s. market is still

stk uresbe icaround can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. ifor another 150 years. the fire going ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪ to treat every car like i treat mine. ♪ at adp we're designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what you're working for. ♪

welcome back shares of disney higher today after getting second upgrade in just two days as the launch of the highly anticipated streaming service gets ready to launch doug croit from cowan downgraded to market perform and he is behind the call. what were the catalysts for this upgrade by you yesterday >> yeah, so for the last year, year and a half since they announced the fox deal and made a push to streaming video the foremost question on everyone's mind is how much is this going to cost in the near-term and how will this hurt earnings in the near-term to get to what will hopefully be a better business

in the long term i think tomorrow they'll find answers and they discussed their streaming plans in detail and once those answers are known, whether they're good, bad or indifferent they're known and no longer a question mark and you can focus on other things like the extremely loaded content slate disney will have for the next year. >> doug, it's interesting how there's been this brightening of the mood toward the disney story following the fox deal and it seems it's more a matter of what invests on can now emphasize and focus on, right? because essentially espn is now an even smaller piece of the company in terms of earnings and revenue, and you actually have about flat earnings expected for the overall company for the next year or two, and yet it's going to be all about exactly what direct to consumer does and what the studio does. do you think that's going to actually be a winning way of viewing that stock can the stock perform in a flat earnings environment just because of progress on those

other fronts >> yeah. narratives drive stocks, and -- and after the information we get tomorrow it's going to be -- they're investing all of this money in direct to consumer and it will give the company a really bright future whether or not that actually turns out to be the case in the near-term is almost irrelevant and people will say that and the news again with this content slate they have with the movies, avengers, star wars, frozen and star wars things at the theme park, that's all going to be good news. they're going to launch the disney plus service. i suspect it will get off to a very strong start because of how powerful their brand is, so you can look through the near-term flattish earnings to what people will argue is a much better earnings position in three, four, five years >> you know, doug, we were just talking about the new "avengers" movie coming out and the early ticket sales that were broken by this and we were discussing -- recalling, i guess you could say when disney bought marvel for $4

billion and the fact that the market was so skeptical about that move at the time. at this rate, do you think it's safe to say that it was a really smart bet? >> it may have been the best deal in the history of entertainment. i mean, they have done a phenomenal job, and i think thia lot of the credit has gone to the fact that they've managed to churn out an almost uninterrupted stream of great movies had the movies come out and been sort of not very good, if you had some fantastic fours in there and x-men and wolverine in there we'd be sicking a very different song, but man, they've gotten great casts they've gotten great directors and they've gotten great scripts and they're executed magnificently and deserve a lot of credit for that >> we'll be watching that investor day quite closely tomorrow and we appreciate your thoughts on that today. investors shares stuck in reverse all ahead of the ipo

filing more details on that in a moment and bed bath and beyond shares now down sharply as the retailer issues weak first quarter earnings guidance. we're coming right back. um, you guys are just going for a week, right? yeah! that's right. can you help with these? oh... um, we're more of the plan, invest and protect kind of help... sorry, little paws, so. but have fun! send a postcard! voya. helping you to and through retirement. tthis is where i trades. and manage my portfolio. since i added futures,

i have access to the oil markets. and gold markets. ok. i'm plugged into equities. trade confirmed. and i have global access 24/7. meaning, i can do what i need to do. then i can focus on what i want to do. visit your online broker today, to learn more.

let's take a look at how we finished the day on wall street. the stocks finishing slightly higher the dow right around the flat line up 6.5 points and the s&p finishing up 0.3% and the nak finishing up 0.7% and the russell 2000 up 1.4% lyft shares plunging 11% as investors prepare for a rival uber to follow its ipo as early as tomorrow. lyft shares have fallen almost 17% since going public late last month and you can see the shares right there finishing around 60.12. certainly going to get more focus, guys, i would imagine when we do get those numbers and we do get that updated filing from uber. >> and this price decline today from lyft brought it below the original offering range. so 62 to 68 is what they were annes it pating and they priced it to 72 and mid to high-80s and

$6 million shares trading on the opening price on the first day in '83 it seems to just exhaust the hype-driven driving. >> if you look at the growth rates, it's 4% the market wants growth. >> you have to also buy into this multi-stage story for how this company was going to develop and mostly with semiautonomous cars and something like that. so uber, i don't think it's necessarily uber hogging all the oxygen, but if you're going to own one maybe you would choose the dominant one and, you know, again -- >> although if you're a believer in the u.s. economy. lyft is entirely u.s. focused and they do not have an international business at all. >> ipos take a while to shop around, go lower. >> amazon did. >> happens all of the time >> yeah. tell us what's going to be on tomorrow >> we have a guest tomorrow,

criston ailman the cio of the largest teachers folk cused peno fund tune in >> looking forward to that brian, it was great to sit with you today and with you as well, mike san tolly >> that will do it for "closing bell". >> "fast money" begins right now. fast money overlooking new york city's times square tim seymour, brian kelly, mike tefor and guy adami. wall street believes in the disney magic and the stock getting a slew of positive coverage ahead of the streaming service. is the stock heading for a big breakout the traders weigh in plus check out shares of lyft and the ipo falling 10% today alone hitting its lowest levels as it approaches 60 bucks a share. we'll tell you what it means for uber as that stock gears up to go public itself we start w