oil above 30 not a lot happening in the -- on the yield curve but a lot happened on the show today coca-cola, walmart, united who am i leaving out you guys were on the show. >> we had lots of good guests today as we have recently. >> good day. >> it was a good day thank you. have a great night, everybody. we'll see you tomorrow make sure you join us. "squawk on the street" is up now. good wednesday morning welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer, david faber coming to you live from various locations. futures are green as investors watch the number of new covid cases continue to drift lower, more lockdown restrictions easing in states like connecticut and michigan retail earnings from lowe's and target oil above 32, the ten-year about 71 basis points. jim, when we look at the retail numbers, you made the point a few moments ago it's about

basket size and looks at the issue of what happens when you are able to open and a lot of your competitors are not >> right i think doug mcmillan has the four stages of, let's say, the opposite of grief and acceptance it's more like acceptance and euphoria at the beginning they're stocking up. by the end they're buying tvs. he laid out a course that i felt was very, very optimistic. but not that optimistic for anybody who competes with him. when you hear what he's winning in, it's every category that the small business guys do it's the bicycles. they have the good tvs going boutique games owns all of that now he owns video games now. there wasn't anything that i heard that did indicate that you go to walmart instead of a small business david, doug was very interested in the fact that you bought your

pull-up bar there, that you might have gone to a gym, but you took that order from a small business guy and you gave it to the king >> yes, i guess that is true the power tower, it wasn't cheap. but it's difficult to find anything in which to do exercises at home as you both probably know. everything was sold out. we talked about how this crisis will change behaviors and what this will look like as we get to the other side not just in the workplace but overall. certainly how engrained is it going to be for people to go to walmart.com or target.com. you look at that, 141% comparable digital sales increase at target for the first quarter. or walmart to the point you've been making, how much has traditional retail lost and will be losing more as

they get to the other side of this given the changing behaviors. >> obviously people like this idea of ordering and then coming to target and having a guy put it in your trunk you never have to touch anything you're at home rather than next day amazon, it's right there it's one of the ways to get goods. but what is the little guy doing? the little guy is closed sudden will you you have this new allegiance to target online. some are worried that the apparel, they didn't make a lot of money on apparel. what apparel store that's closed can compete with someone who has good private label apparel for good prices when you're not going to work and needing good looking clothes. this is the moment for these stores it will never be this good again. what they'll do because of the way that nonessential stores had to close, they will be able to leverage the fact they sold food at target and they're crushing it i know some people think this is

not a good number. to me, they are building on this this is q2 he spent a fortune on making this work. it's working those who don't like the stock like the last time when he reported stock at 112, people didn't like the margins, it went to 106, then where did it go it went to the moon because who can compete against this if you want something that day? maybe walmart? that's it? that's it. how do you like being deemed nonessential >> mcmillon talking about the level of hiring they've done a lot of that hiring coming from people who worked at a hotel he said but also from other retailers. jim, when you think about the costs that walmart's paying in covid-related expenses, this number from target, which is not exactly comparable given the different timeframe, and given the less competition, what's to

keep them from completely controlling pricing and categories where it's hard to find goods any way >> nothing nothing. special payments, you're getting employees who are compensated well costco, which probably has the best of the compensation, but very few people can keep up with these prices you can't. this may have ended up happening one day, but there were always boutique stores that could survive. now those stores lost a base of customers. as you say, a base of workers. they were the people who might have known the customers the big guys won it's not the fault of the government unless you think like i do that this nonessential tag seemed very wrong to me. but it happened. it's over. the big guys won fortunately they're fun to shop

at i like going to lowe's i have a good lowe's near me it used to be not great, then marvin ellison fixed it. he must have gone in there personally it's so good. walmart is a great place to shop now. i like it. i just bought a tv at target right in the trunk no touch no touch i like that. >> to what extent as well are these retailers in position given their size to take on the additional costs they have to make their stores safe and employees safe we're looking at that 5$500 million commitment that target says extended benefits for team members and safety measures put in place, and home depot what was the number, 800 million yesterday? these are significant costs that not every retailer is in position to bear >> you want to put -- i once tried to buy a piece of plastic at lowe's. i told marvin they weren't that helpful, marvin ellison on "mad

money," and he's on tonight. but if you want to buy plastic, plexiglass, you are in control if you're walmart. the price you can get is probably the lowest imaginable if you're a retailer with four stores, i would rather go to one with plexiglass. it's about protecting me a four-store guy trying to put in plexiglass will wipe out that month's profits. this is scale winning. the people at home may not understand the changes these companies made for you are simply too expensive for the smaller guys to do one more reason why the smaller guys will be buried. they have to have an online presence, a facebook shop in order to be able to bring in some money >> the mcmillon interview covered the gamut. he talked about sporting, crafts, the hiring process in

this pandemic and also talked about liability protection and what needs to be afforded to businesses as they do reopen take a quick listen to this. >> i think that debate should happen and some level of suppor should be provided nobody in this country wanted this to happen it's a virus that has spread across every part of the country. we just need to work together to try and create a safe environment for businesses to come back online in every way. i think some form of liability protection for them is a piece of the puzzle. >> it sounds like this will be part of whatever mcconnell, schumer and pelosi can put together if there's to be a phase four rescue package. >> mb docdonald's got sued yesterday, workers too close together this is a going to be a common refra refrain. this is going to be a remarkable personal injury bull market. that stock will probably have a 40 pe or a 50 pe.

those guys will make so much money. how did you know on february 23rd unless you were me and crazed that you would have to change the whole world because of something that happened that you can't see? the lawyers have to make it -- they have to try i don't know how they did the last couple of months, how else will they make the money i have to admit, the big guys to some degree, they were exceptional during this period they sold -- one thing that doug mcmillon said is they sold in two, three hours what they usually sold in two, three days for disinfectants, grocery staples, surface cleaners. the little guys could never do that at least they helped you as a consumer they brought prices down as a consumer you have to love companies that brought prices down, competed against each other for lower prices, against amazon, which we have not mentioned. if they're going to get sued for doing what we want them to do, i think they do deserve

protection david, you pro plaintiff bar there? not talking? >> no. no i think you're right to point out it will be a point of contention in terms of phase four and whether you get it. the democrats are in support of a $3 trillion bill that will bring a lot of needed and necessary aid to the states, which are obviously yelling and screaming about huge budget shortfalls but this idea of extending a measure of protection to businesses when it comes to litigation is an important one it's one that would be embraced by the republicans will we get there? that's the key question in terms of additional aid being apportioned particularly for the states, guys, which continue to say if you don't get it to us, there are going to be a lot of layoffs coming in our work forces >> the states are pretty broke

the hospitals are totally broke. i was speaking to mr. sperling at mass gen. hospitals weren't allowed to do the surgeries they made a lot of money on, the so-called elective did you know brain cancer was elective in the end at mass gen? brain cancer that's how badly this scourge that a lot of people seem to forget in the south impacted the north. there was a -- there was a big annual beach party in texas, not only did people congregate, but it was like they were trying to distribute covid people feel if you're under 30, covid is not a disease it's something shoe read about i don't know >> yeah, you're talking about galveston? >> yeah. i didn't want to mention it by name then everybody in galveston will hate me

then we'll get into a logan's run issue. you know that, right >> i remember that >> you do? i think you were a toddler >> the elective surgeries rely on the big profit margins, those disappeared, and many people put off things they need do for their own health so there is a question as to how many people will be negatively impacted by not dealing with those things >> there was a 30% decline in the number of cancer diagnoses in boston. do you think cancer declined by 30%? no, they didn't go they were afraafraid >> big implications for huge medical giants like j&j which is in the news for other reasons. we'll get to that. a lot of airline news. we'll cover what united told phil lebeau this morning and vaccines as we got that reality check there stat news.

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there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us. . welcome back we're keeping a close eye on efforts to develop a vaccine for covid-19 as that race continues and intensifies, drugmakers are forming partnerships to combat the pandemic meg tirrell joins us now she has more on that story meg? >> hi, david

if these companies are successful in developing a safe and effective vaccine for covid-19, the next challenge is going to be manufacturing it on this massive scale enough to potentially supply the world. in order to do that they are forging these partnerships look at what some of the biggest companies have done so far j&j partnering with emergent bio solutions and plans to get to a billion doses next year. moderna and lonza partnering pfizer and bioentech getting together a lot of these companies are depending on a segment of the market we almost never hear about. contract manufacturers this is a large and growing portion of how our medicines get made in 2018, pwc estimates they brought in about $99 million in revenue as an industry, but predict that will grow to 160 billion by 2025.

these are companies like emergent bio solutions and lonza. i was talking about these challenges, and they pointed out a couple of questions. one is that a lot of these vaccine technologies are brand-new. they'll be building the scale as they figure out the technologies the second are supply chain concerns our ability to manufacture at scale is only as strong as the weakest link in the supply chain. we talked with lonza's ceo about what keeps him up at night this morning on "squawk box." here's what he told us >> what could go wrong and create some delays is having access to the equipment. we are building new plants, new manufacturing plants with specific treatment, and this is the main reason why we could be delayed in our plans >> though they do have funding from barta to moderna, almost a

half billion, and moderna did that stock offering on monday of more than a billion dollars in stock which they say they will apply towards manufacture ing a distribution, the lonza ceo said they will still need more funding. >> moderna, 1.25 billion raised for that company yesterday in the markets itself as the stock shot up monday what do you make of sort of the focus on that eight-patient study? are we seeing things that we typically wouldn't see in drug development because this is such a unique time and therefore we have to kind of give them a little more room, a little more wiggle room in terms of what they're seeing >> we are definitely seeing things we wouldn't normally see. this situation is just fascinating.

that small number, the eight patients, that is earlier than we would see for phase one data. scott gottlieb this morning on "squawk box" brought up the timing of the operation warp speed press briefing on friday where the leader of that operation, who at the time was on moderna's board, indicated he had seen data that made him even more confident we would have a vaccine by the end of 2020 so there's some speculation including cited by gottlieb this morning that moderna had to report the data out because there was that illusion made to it on friday maybe it was earlier than they normally would report. guys, i did reach out to moderna's ceo upon seeing this stat news article yesterday to get his take on it one of the points in the article was that it was a small number of patients, eight patients. he acknowledged that and he said they pointed that out as well. the other question that's come up a lot is why the national institute of allergy and infection diseases, dr. fauci's organization, has not

acknowledged the data. he pointed me to a tweet from vice president pence who did say he talked with fauci about the data in a briefing and he was very excited about it. so, there are so many questions about this, guys it's not a normal situation at all. >> meg, i think the biggest problem and what offended most people was that -- a lot of younger companies like moderna do this, it's a curious disease of premature explanation something that said they don't really deserve to be able to put out anything that was promotional, or be promotional, because they did blanket the airwaves i believe it would have been good for them to say you know what, i want to be clear to everybody, we need the money to go to the next level the fact that they didn't volunteer it -- a lot of people are mad we didn't pry it out of them sure, i like to ask these questions -- all these young companies what will you do for money? typically they say, we can't talk about it or, you can

imagine what we have to do i would have preferred if they provided that information too. but i think you just can explain to us that it's not necessarily when they say 8 for 8 that they had to do that, but it would have been good when they did 8 for 8 which is way too small means nothing. for all we know, they're all 23 years old and cherry picked, it would have been good for them to say, hey, our stock is up a lot. they are the largest now in that particular index remember, we have to fund our company, had they just done that people wouldn't begrudge them so much >> yeah. though -- i don't understand all the financial disclosures, but if they -- could they have said in advance that they were planning on raising money through a stock sale based on the data i think they're in a complicated position a lot of us were probing why haven't we seen the phase one data yet when we knew they got

the go ahead from the fda based on safety to start the phase two. then they did report what they had, now they're being criticized for reporting so little data. >> it's just very hard for these companies to know what to do one of the things that when you're in doubt, just tell -- just say we passed phase one there was no need to give more detail once you give some detail, you have to give all detail. >> meg, thank you. we'll be following it closely. we're back on "squawk on the street." ayitus derek, seems like your team is operating just fine remotely. yeah, everything is running smoothly with the now platform. (bling) see, incident resolved.

how did you... gotta enjoy the small wins. you keep being you, derek. keep being you.

lost steam going into the final minutes of trade but looks to get most of that back this morning. futures indicate a 300-point pop at the open.

all right. three minutes until we get to the opening bell let's squeeze in a mad dash. analog devices on the radar today. why? >> this is a $40 billion company, david i created this cramer's covid index, it is trying to replace so-called s&p 500 because there's so many zombie companies now in the s&p 500 analog is a company that makes

devices that go into everything, not just -- they're not cell phone. they're not focused on that. they have a robust business that they do in medical equipment they also do a lot of lighting a lot of sound their chips go everywhere. industrial chips they had an amazing quarter. a great supply chain, they could produce everything they need the diversification made it so they did far better than people think. once again, here's a company, you would have expected them in a recession or depression that they would be doing badly. they have a great book of business, they had a fantastic quarter. fantasti fantastic. >> yeah. important parts of the economy, no doubt about it. how many companies do you have in that covid index of yours there's a lot. >> a hundred >> it's a hundred. >> yeah. we wanted to -- look, the s&p, we all know, is filled with

companies that have incredibly high prices to multiples when we look at the earnings, nothing is there there are no earnings. companies are cutting dividends. you heard some retailers yesterday, come on, they're not going to make it david, i'll go to you with the pier 1 liquidation sales and we'll things for our homes. will nordstroms make it? will kohl's make it? i don't know but analog devices is set up for this moment. they are nessential, they produc essential chips. so we have to focus on them, not just retailers you didn't do hump day, david. >> no. happy hump day >> this social distance does ruin the camaraderie, you know >> it doesn't ruin it. it changes it.

>> it's an introverter's paradise for you, david, right >> i'm not really an introvert it's a complicated situation you can feel the love coming from me. >> you keeping your numbers for viacom here? >> carl? save us. >> there's the opening bell. interesting session here i wonder, you know, we're looking at we're sort of in no man's land seeing states reopen, not knowing the impact on new cases. overall new cases are down 45% from the highs 25 days ago that's a nationwide number i wonder if you think if this continues to work where we see a continued drift lower, does the emphases on a vaccine get lessened and we think more about therapeutics and testing >> totally i think you'll get a cherry on

top for the vaccine right now if this trend continues we've seen this trend in other countries. we're much more looking to see what happens two weeks from now. we still have a lot of cases if we got you something out of the hospital faster than a remdesivir cocktail and you take off the table, say, the people who are 65 and under, as opposed to just 30 and under, you say, you know what? this is a disease for older and pre-existing and for the unlucky. i don't want to say that because so many people got sick, it's a terrible thing it's not front and center unless there's a spike. it's just not. instead we think about how much money the federal reserve pumped into this economy. it's incredible. >> we have not yet talked about powell and mnuchin yesterday but to your point on reopening, connecticut is the first new

york tri-state to start opening hair salons, outdoor dining. upper michigan will start yellowstone national park and disney springs, today is the day. we've been talking about it for a couple weeks today is when you will be able to go to walt disney world, maybe not ride a ride but get some pizza and go shopping >> people do that. when they're lining up to get into a casino, don't you have to go buy the stock of penn national gaming? people line up for things you never thauought they would linep for. they will line up for hair cuts. when planet fitness opened up, people were unsure if they would come back. they provide paper towels and disinfectant, people come right back are people fearless or stupid? i don't know i know four weeks ago these would have been unthinkable things we did go to the abyss now we have to understand that there's still a lot of stores

closed and lots of companies that can't do any selling. so we keep defaulting to walmart. target is down today target will go down four, when brian cornell is on tomorrow it will go up five. these big retailers have the run of the joint the little guys, as they open up, i hope they have customers >> yeah. you know, jim, i've heard that we see the pictures, i don't know if you caught tillman yesterday when he was on "power lunch. landry's is his company. landry's, they have sort of high-end and the casinos listen to what he said it's not about necessarily figuring out how to reconfigure your restaurant, he's still talking about people not showing up >> it's not just a social

distancing, believe it or not, that has not been as big an issue as 15% to 20% of america is unemployed. 15% to 20% are scared of losing their job or holding on to their money, 15% to 20% are damn scared of going out in public yet. we're really not turning away the business at this point, but the business isn't there >> wow jim, that's a little bit different than the world you're discussing now he's a straightforward guy >> yeah, he has that big payroll, too but i'll give you the other side of the equation that people come on air that we know. look at the marcus lemonis's company, camping world holdings. you get a camper, you don't have to worry about staying in a hotel room it was interested with robert kapl kaplan, the federal reserve official, talked about staying in hotels as somehow brave

yes. i think there is an element of the lost job, but that cuts in walmart's favor, right the lost job cuts in walmart's and dollar general's favor the scare factor is for people who are 50 and over. obviously from the places we see, like people on the beaches and lined up for bars, these are people who i think basically feel like they're not rolling the dice so there's a lot of different businesses that are doing better but fertitta is right, he comes on and says my businesses are hurting. a talent survey came out and said people at restaurants, down 60% year over year that's just people who don't want to risk it. they would rather go to chipotle and take it out. >> but if we're going to sequester older demographics from economic activity, we don't

need to tell you what percentage of consumerspending comes from older people they are the people with the money. >> the baby boomers like to spend. they like to go out. they feel like eternal youth, the disease has proven that they don't have eternal lungs the fear factor there is still very high. they have taken a tremendous amount of money out on the market i think a lot of it is the boomers who said who needs this when the dow went from 28,000 to 18,000 this is too crazy a place to put money. there's enough people who realize maybe that was a big mistake. but, yes, you can't lose the whole -- you can't lose everybody from the baby boomers and still think that business could be good. especially because they made the money, they're not afraid of losing their job because they may be retiring. you get extra if you're 65 and over at some of these stores make a little extra money. >> interesting to hear james

quincey this morning saying the economic impact of all of this is just starting it's -- it's mid-may right now come august one we'll talk more about what happens when stimulus checks and unemployment run out. come october 1st, when these airlines are free to start making permanent layoffs, what happens then summer is a bit of a bridge, we still don't know what's on the other side of that bridge. >> no, and that's a key consideration. with the s&p down 8.3% as of this very moment for the year, there are those who seem to believe, guys, that the economy will rebound more sharply than most of the people i think we speak to believe given what carl just said, you'll have a large amount of people unemployed at the end of the year, that consumer spending, which drives our economy, is still not going to be there in the way it had been previously in this year or

in 2019. i don't know 20 gets a pass, but is 21 going to be the same as 19 will we be waiting to 22 or 23 >> look, i think that one of the things that we have to start talking about is what we're looking at what has nothing to do with the economy. the economy is not the economy, it's not facebook, it's not google, it's not amazon. that's the new economy we are not trading luncheonettes or pizza parlors we're not trading the 70% of the economy, we're trading 30% of the economy. there was a health care recession, that's ending as the elective surgeries, the botox generation comes back. we are not trading in things that got hurt. we never realized how different

the stock economy is in 1929 the stock economy fell apart. in 2020 the stock economy soared it's just incredible >> they say the stock market is not the economy, and we seem to get reminded about that fact every day. as for airlines, you have southwest yesterday talking about load factors going up. same thing out of delta. then the new head of united airlines with phil lebeau this morning talking about continued optimism on a small bounce, and this partnership with the airline and cleveland clinic and clorox to try to convince fliers that the cleanliness is priority number one take a listen. >> we're confident we'll get through the other side we have to get through the crisis, get through to a full recovery we like everyone we're confident the virus will be defeated there will be a recovery

while it's too early to say we see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, it's certainly a lot less dark in here than a few months ago >> it was hard to be -- come on. how could it be darker they were flying planes where there were two people on them. you get down to one person then there's routes that are too filled one of the major areas where they make big money is travel and leisure coopted by zoom and another is travel and leisure so when you get there you're quarantined. if you want to take the week off in america and then you go to a country where you're quarantined for two weeks, where is your vacation a lot of the great routes that they have, i think they're still not coming back. doesn't matter, treasury owns a lot of them any way.

didn't treasury replace warren buffett? just kidding >> buffett doesn't seem to be buying much of anything. >> no what do you think of that? >> yesterday mnuchin indicated they fully expected boeing to need help, but then he said the help the bond market has gotten from the fed's actions, even though they had not done much in it in terms of intervening were enough to get that $25 billion deal done. interesting hearing him say that they expected they would have to help boeing. >> i think that was the bottom i remember greg smith talking about how we didn't need the government that was tremendously important. you had that carnival cruise not needing big pe, then you had boeing doing the deal. after that the discussion was wow, i see what will happen. they won't let 2007 happen they'll expand the money supply at the same pace they did over a

five-year period, they'll do it in three weeks they won't let anybody fail, it's going to be the 70% of the small business and they'll piece it together with the ppp i think ppp is great, but if you're getting ppp in a deblasio world, we're not allowed to open great, we pay employees, thank you secretary mnuchin, now the next thing, we would like to open >> that's got to be pushed out >> that's great. >> i'm reading -- i said people in the south, you have to be fearless or stupid people say hold on, no, it's just people don't know anyone who got sick that doesn't make them brilliant. i think you can read the paper every day or the 24 how yesterday that the cdc said in our country, 24,000 people got this thing yesterday i know about the flattening curve, but we don't have 24,000 people getting sick of some illness every day.

i would love to think it's over. it would be great. i don't want to wear this n95, it's very hot. it has this thing, you can't get through there because in the clean room, the semiconductors, that's what it's for i wear it. i wear it because i don't want to give somebody whatever the hell i have. one thing the government did wrong is they didn't think during the first three days when you were asymptomatic that you could make anyone sick but that's when you were super spreader i hope the south doesn't run into super spreaders, but they should go back and read the biogen article, they had their convention and everybody got it. if biogen had the convention in a southern town we would be speaking differently, they didn't >> we might. >> we might have >> we're watching closely but it appears the openings will go ahead. >> i hope so we want that we don't want anyone to get sick >> the case count may rise but

we have seemed to have made the decision in those parts of the country. real quickly, not a lot of deals to talk about here don't have an update for you on grubhub and uber, the one deal out there at least things have gotten quiet there not clear if it means it's getting close or they have been unable to agree on price what we are seeing more of is deals falling apart. yesterday it was this advent that was supposed to take private forescout. today advent gets sued by four scou forescout. they said why are you saying we're not going through because of the pandemic? it was carved out in the

agreement. so they say, hey, forescout is bringing an action for specific performance in delaware saying you guys, it was a 1$1.9 billion deal, by the way the company's market value now about half that, 9$900 million rather than containing a standard material adverse provision, the merger agreement here executed after covid-19 was declared a global public health emergency allocated the risk of any impact from a pandemic to advent they're going to court that is what we're seeing more of jim, you brought it up many times. will there be other deals in companies that have been severely impacted that try to get out of them? we will see. >> there has to be there has to be. that retail world is so hard, right? why don't people buy -- one of

the great shortages we have is space for amazon i'm waiting for amazon to buy up one of these zombie retail chains so they can have the distribution centers that target and walmart have, which is the brick-and-mortar stores, which are amazing. >> yep a lot of speculation about what they might have their targets on, jim. 2,964 here we have the ndx up 8% for the year, basically within 3% of an all-time high on the nasdaq, and a 20-year bond auction today let's get to rick santelli >> absolutely. there is a 20-year today first time in decades. let's look at week to date of tens we prepare and try to handicap how it will go we escalated up a bit from the mid 60s to the low 70s but all in all, the ten-year is half and half. half the rest of the world just enamored to get a positive yield. the other half comes here on a flight to safety with major concerns about how all this may

turn out if you look at a 3 1/2 year of another combination on the yield curve, 30s to 10s, it's steep. in 3 1/2 years, it's as steep as it has been. when you look at the 20-year, the reason i wanted to bring up how the long maturities are distancing themselves with the 30-year the most aggressive, the 20-year is smack in the middle the yield will come in today in the low 1.20s. that's how it's trading before it gets its coupon at 1:00 eastern. i'll cover that auction. i'm sure demand will be good, especially considering it's a longer dated instrument. finally 3.5 billion pounds of three-year notes were auctioned at a slightly negative yield in the uk pound versus dollar since march 1st. doesn't make much sense to go into negative yields considering all the information out there, but it's amazing, if weakening

the currency is one issue to lower an instrument, it doesn't have an effect on the pound at this point in time jim, carl, david, back to you. >> rick, about izzy dat' busy d. we're not that far from the 200-day moving average of 2,999. crossing that would be the first time since march 5th

today's the first day that all 50 states have at least a partial reopen as a result of the coronavirus. and markets continue to ride this wave of optimism on the return of economic activity. dow is up 343. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪

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another, 60 years old. they both are in the boston area they are awaiting extradition hearings they were arrested at the request of the japanese government they've not been charged by the u.s. government. the u.s. has simply picked them up and they're facing an extradition hearing because arrest warrants were issued in japan for both men along with peter taylor's father, michael taylor, although we don't know if michael taylor has been arrested at this point all accused of helping carlos ghosn escape the country, avoid immigration checks which he was not supposed to do so that is the latest in a story that, guys, it gripped our attention, and everybody at the time said how could they do this how could they get away with this now the japanese authorities are saying these two people should not get away with it and they're facing an extradition hearing. >> phil, we'll look for details on the story we all remember that press conference ghosn gave. we'll take a quick break

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let's get to jim and stop trading. there are restaurants doing well, notably olive garden, only down 26% last week oppenheimer says it's the best house in full service dining base target to 90. when you talk about restaurants that are sit-down, they're the only one that's going to have a boom everyone else is trying to figure out how to sit people there will be a couple restaurants that survive in that casual dining but almost all of them won't make it

>> interesting, jim. you see any parallels between large fast casual getting bigger at the sense of independence as the walmarts are getting bigger at the sense of small business retail >> absolutely. i think unless you deliver and have a great takeout like wing stop, i think you can't make it work if you have 11 tables, you're only going to have four tables the bar isn't going to be there. that's where the money is. it's hard for any restaurant that's not a chain to make it. you can't tell distributors what price you'll take when you're small. >> right and then you have lowe's tonight. i guess you'll delve into this 11% comp number. >> everyone is going to lowe's it's remarkable. marvin ellison said it was going to take a couple years he said don't get excited. he said one day i'll come on tv, he'll be on mad money and talk about how it's back. it's so back it's incredible. the stock was up big at the beginning of the day

there's been profit taking for the retailers and then they roared later on. don't sell it. don't be silly look at the line yum cramer has. >> man, i was looking at it saying you're annoying me, you are. >> get big or go home. >> really? >> get big or go home. >> sheyrl sandberg >> oh, she's going to drop by. it's like carson she's going to drop by >> like don rickles? >> yeah. i'm going to put it on the couch after it's over. i have to make room. she's in town. i'll put her on. >> just scoot down the couch we never got to the memo from facebook limiting 25% capacity when people go back to the office >> well, they're making so much money i guess they can work anywhere they want they can work for the four seasons for the rest of their lives. room service putting it out >> that's the lineup we can't wait. >> well, you know, always try to

best david, that's the game. right? >> you're doing it you're doing it. >> stop it you're my partner. you're my partner. you're just not next to me i can't go like this, and you can't go like this like you used to like jim, that's right, jim. >> i can try, though all right. i'm done with you today. >> wow >> someday soon, guys. we'll see you tonight. mad money, 6:00 p.m. eastern time good wednesday morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with david faber and sara eisen coming to you live from separate locations. what a strange last i guess couple hours of trade if you count going into the close yesterday and the open so far this morning we're basically back above 24500 as we continue to get at least more commentary about positive linearity out of the airlines.

and lowe's and target, more discretion y discretionary spending >> reopening news also continues to drive it. georgia, hospitalizations for covid-19 now below 1,000 people. we've seen a 34% decrease in georgia hospitalization since may first. the data look at there fl the positivity rate including miami county with the higher number cases is 1.9%. and the moderna news shows you, and that was a dramatic close, is medical information continues to be a major market-moving driver here. people look at the economic data and think, well, why is the market so cheerful in the face of dismal economic data that doesn't look set to turn around any time soon? it really is the vaccine and the treatment and the reopening data that is in the driver's seat with this market, david, and the

only other thing i would add is we heard from chair powell not news, but a continuation of the theme that the fed is there, the credit mark is very much open more new issuance for corporations, and because of that rush of liquidity in a $7 trillion balance sheet, the positive news tends to be more reinforced in the market when it comes to medical news. that's why we saw the best day for stocks on monday and why stocks are able to climb this worry and the questions and the skepticism brought on by moderna. that had them looking at it and how i'm talking to folks in the market about the advances and why we continue to follow them to carefully >> yeah. and the credit markets, your point about them is well-taken as well. i mean, the fed has not really done much except talked about

interveening to some extent, but that was enough. we're talking when you talk to capital markets, bankers, we can see as much as $2 trillion in investment grade issuance before the year ends. now, there is also a rush to get out in part because there is an expectation that pricing may change as we get sort of into the summer but we'll see. but we've counted up the deals, and they keep coming fast and furiously for the companies that issue straight debt and for those who can't, you're seeing a lot of convertible preferrers, counted off as equity on a company's balance sheet as opposed to debt but gets them perhaps out of near-term trouble. and that's the key right? liquidity first and then they'll worry about solvency after that. >> that's where the fiscal conversation comes in. that's front and center. it doesn't look as sure of a bet as the fed stimulus. i mean, secretary mnuchin

sounding more optimistic and the republicans don't seem like they're in a rush. i mean, senate leader mcconnell saying they're looking at options but they're not in a rush to put out the next phase of relief. and i think that's going to be the question when it comes to solvency goldman sachs said the market is banking on some type of extra money getting put in from the government to help bridge the economy into the reopening whether that's state and local relief, more potential stimulus in the form of checks or consumer relief. that that's in the market, he said, and so the republican -- watch the republicans carefully on this. a lot of them have mostly dismissed the heros act from the democrats as a wish list for them, but yet to put out anything concrete as far as moving the needle forward on what and how big the next size of stimulus is going to be it's something the fed chair has pushed for without endorsing legislation and i think treasury

was more cautious on going there. >> yeah. i know goldman has been looking at the percentage of rent paid in april it's not that far big of a drop considering what we've been through, but a lot of it is because of the stimulus support to households. some tried to frame the hearing yesterday as mnuchin arguing for further reopening and powell arguing for more policy support. it's probably a little simplistic, but it does seem like mnuchin representing the executive branch was saying hey, let's continue to do what some of the states are already doing. >> absolutely. and the white house line, and the hey, let's wait on stimulus to see what we need and when we need it. and then there's the retail earnings they're out there. there's a number of big winners. target, lowe's, both out with results this morning walmart's ceo was on "squawk box" earlier here's mcmillen on some of the

recent buying trends walmart has seen since the start of the outbreak. >> it's clear that people have been at home and they look around and they think, you know, i want to replace that lamp or i want to replace that office desk, and then they started thinking about the outdoors as they got into the backyard and the front yard and realized they needed to do landscaping we've certainly seen those categories take off. right now people are starting to think about in some cases going back to work, and we've seen the trends in the health and beauty aids categories and footwear >> ubs retail analyst michael lassar along with the ceo of the national retail federation join us now matt, trying to figure out here as far as investors are concerned, whether these shifts that doug mcmillen is talking about and the numbers from target and lowe's and home depot yesterday, whether it's permanent or if it goes away once states reopen in a meaningful way >> sara, david, carl, good to

see you. i think that's the big question. i think one thing we know for sure that we can see is this rapid transformation in retail, this accelerated innovation as you see new methods for fulfillment, new ways of customer engagement, the way we rethink logistics. all the things i think will continue, and the trends will accelerate we just don't know to what degree i think as we think about how we get the rest of the economy to reopen, talking to retail industry leaders to other programs, you heard doug, marvin, i was in touch with them this morning listen, they're optimistic they found a way, the economic first responders to serve their communities, their customers to do it while safely protecting their employees and everyone in their stores and that's a road map for how we go forward, and i think that's where we all want to go. >> michael lassar, who's the

winner >> i would argue there's going to be several winners and a lot of other players in the retail sector as trends unfold over the next couple of years with that being said, there's been about three years of transformation in retail in just three months so who is going to be the winner it's going to be the leading player like home depot, lowe's, walmart and target are going to be on that list as well. those who can supply the so omnichannel needs of consumers those well positioned to offer good value and those who are really agile in this environment, because one characterization of what's happening right now is things are changing fast. as a retailer, they need to respond quickly, and stay ahead of the competition >> you guys have quite a headline here at ubs, expecting 100,000 retail stores will

close? how do you get at that number? that seems shocking and likely to have a major negative ripple effect across this economy >> absolutely. major ripple effects across commercial real estate, employment, technology, the way we get at that number is by taking where e-commerce penetration is today, around 15%, 16% of retail sales and projecting out where that's likely to be over the next five years at around 25%. and the way the math works is for every 1% increase in e-commerce penetration, it would equate to about 10,000 retail stores closing so as i said before, we've seen this compressed period of the transformation pull forward. we need to get to 25% e-commerce penetration even before that five-year period is up just

given the behavioral changes that have been occurring over the last few months. >> matt, you've applauded the work that the fed and treasury have done, the main street lending program, other things the treasury has done to put money behind the fed's efforts, but you've also said in a may first letter, that you wanted them to do more. more to support a broader swath of retailers further down the credit spectrum, for example, with a variety of the different programs at their disposal have they been able to do that are your members getting the credit support they potentially need at the rates they can afford >> well, david, and you and i have talked about this a couple times. we are encouraged, especially by the comments that secretary mnuchin made yesterday about a willingness to think about their funds to take some losses in the portfolio which would indicate they're going to extend

themselves further and we understand there's a desire to be thoughtful and balanced they have to stand the programs up the right way they worked very diligently to do that. they pushed out an enormous amount of relief in a short period of time, and we think there's more that can be and should be done while they have that money, the $450 billion, our view is that money wasn't give ton them to go bury in the backyard under a rock and return investments. that was given to them provided for by congress to be put to work across the economy to save jobs, to keep american families working. so we were encouraged, and he spoke positively going back to the comments about what happens in the future of retail, the transformation will continue and there will be winners and losers the math is the math that's true, but some of those assumptions, you know, retail sales have grown almost 4% for five years and the 100,000 store assumption

is only 2% growth. and dollar per dollar transfer, when you talk to target and walmart and lowe's and the companies that are doing new fulfillment, it's not a net zero sum proposition that stores go away simply because customers behave differently and there's no guarantee it's going to be 25%. we don't know. it could be 20% and you might need 1,000 more stores there are a lot of unen thoughs, but directionally we're headed in the right place and it's going to accelerate and we need the support to preserve the jobs and help american families >> right, but you really don't think the behavioral changes that perhaps have taken place during this period will be cemented and that the bigger will not just continue to get even bigger than this, reliant in part on their ability to deliver digitally? >> i do think that some of this will be very sticky and this behavior will persist. we don't know how much we don't know will it be 25% or

30% that moves online? will it be 20% that moves online in a permanent or nearly permanent way? and so that's why the innovation is so critical that's why the execution is at such a premium and having thoughtful leaders, you were talking to jim cramer a minute ago about the work that marvin ellison has done and marvin said we don't have an e-commerce strategy, but watch this space, and you've seen them transform, brian and doug as well, at target and walmart so i think certainly there will be winners and losers here, and the acceleration in the gap between who wins and who loses is going to be pretty dramatic, and that's why there's a premium on thoughtful leadership, on the right kinds of investments and right strategies the things that when walmart bought jet, that was in 2016 when target bought shift, that was in 2017. so some of the things that are coming home now in terms of performance, this wasn't an investment they made two months ago. these are years ago and thinking

long-term, and the companies that did that, that had the strategies in place are going to be winners there's no question about that i agree with michael on that part, but we don't know to what extent, and we don't know how others can keep up that's why we need to get relief to those in the near-term and we need to reopen the economy in a thoughtful, safe way, and we can't do it, and retail leaders have shown us there's a way to make it happen >> michael lasser, matt shea, thank you both >> thank you, nice to see you. want to get more on these arrests reportedly of two men who were accused of helping carlos ghosn escape japan. phil has more on that. >> carl, a clarification earlier reported the names of two people arrested in boston. we want to make sure we're correct on these it was michael taylor, age 59 and his son peter taylor, age 26 who have been arrested by u.s. authorities in boston that happened yesterday at the request of the japanese

government they now face potential extradition to japan where they are going to face potential charges over in japan. we earlier reported that george zayak also suspected of helping them out, has been arrested. but we should clarify we have no information that he has been arrested so again, michael taylor and his son peter taylor both arrested in boston. they face a first hearing in court this morning guys, back to you. >> all right phil, thank you for that we'll take a quick break here. dow is basically gotten all the losses from yet back up to almost 400 the ceo of air lease is joining us in a few moments. oil approaching 34 and the vix at 28. back in a minute

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reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us. welcome back dow is up 380 points let's get to phil who joins us with a special guest phil >> sara, let's bring in the ceo of air lease corp. john, you are at the heart of seeing what's happening with the airline industry give us a perspective in terms of a, how bad is it right now for airlines around the world, and are you optimistic in terms of what you're seeing as far as an up tick in modest up tick in demand >> sure. phil, i would liken the industry to someone going into the hospital emergency ward, having

emergency surgery and now moving to a critical care recovery phase. about 26,000 jets comprised the western fleet today. andof that, about 60% are grounded 62% are grounded today but having said that, i think the airlines now are very much focusing on their liquidity and cash management. now announcements over the past couple weeks for sure, flights are increasing passenger load is creeping up globally now it's all about the recovery and how fast, how to induce passengers to get on aircraft and make them feel more comfortable. that's the entire focus of the industry right now >> with about two-thirds of the world's commercial airplanes parked, how soon do you see them come back, or is there a chance that older ones won't be brought back >> a couple comments there

it's hard to speculate we're not speculating how long, however, to your point, there's about 3500 of those units which are about 20 years of age or older. and so it's fair to say that probably most of those aircraft will not come back what we're seeing on a global scale is on a much larger scale, what we've seen before and that the airlines are going to focus on operating their youngest most fuel efficient fleets. you've already seen major airlines, american, delta, now it's major retirements of major aircraft the older 747 s, a lot of wide bodies, the old 380s that's taking massive capacity out of the marketplace from your perspective, a couple things, good news, airlines are under huge financial stress, and in times of financial stress, they very much turn to leasing aircraft so they don't have to finance it themselves and we can provide the aircraft for them. number two, huge environmental pressures continue and that means that the airlines

are going to continue to focus on getting the youngest most technologically advanced aircraft some of the bailouts in france are depending upon air france refleeting and continuing to modernize the splefleet. that bodes well for us that plus the shift toward leasing. so it's hard to say how long for us we do see that green chute both in the forward outlook and particularly in asia, now 65% of the flights are returning to china domestically. >> john, one of the things that you're hearing about and we've talked about this in the past. you have people like representatives saying the middle seats should be blocked other people are saying hey, commercial airlines, they should

just strip out that middle seat completely is that even feasible to block out the middle seat long-term and physically could they strip the middle seat even if they wanted >> the short answer is it's not economically feasible long-term. i understand that's human reaction for sitting too close together, and the second thing is it would be almost impossible to strip out the middle seat those seats are called triplets and triples. they're built as a three-seat unit so you would have to reseat the entire fleet economically over the long-term, it doesn't make sense to block out those middle seats now, as an interim measure, yes, i think you'll see airlines attempting to block the middle seats. other airlines like delta saying that it's going to add more flights when 60% of the load factor is reached. that's still not enough. the industry needs about 77% load factor to break even.

so long-term it's not sustainable. short-term, i think you're going to see the measures until passengers start returning and/or we see more confidence in a vaccine that will prevent this virus from happening >> john, a lot of aviation geeks are curious as to the thought process that goes into exiting an entire flight like delta did with the triple 7. can you explain how they decide if that's the one that needs to go >> it's a lot of what i've been saying a lot of them are 200 models which are well beyond 10, 15 years of age they're not as fuel efficient as aircraft age, they have higher maintenance costs. you look at the totality of the fleet and say to yourself, does it make sense to continue operating that aircraft at this time you look at the long-term economics. it's not surprising that, in

fact, delta would ground the older 777, 200s. >> john, about a week ago, the ceo of boeing was on the "today show." he said look, he could see when asked this question, he could see one of the u.s. airlines going out of business. what's your sense of a, is that likely, and b, is it also possible that we could see some consolidation, perhaps more mergers within the u.s. of certain airlines >> it's hard to speculate. i'm not completely sure about that i'm sure that's david's feeling, but globally for sure, we'll see some more airline bankruptcies air lease corporation, we've avoided the last couple large ones, including one in australia and bianca, but globally we'll see some as well as mergers and consolidations >> how many of your customers

have said we can't make our lease payment on this particular aircraft, and when do you expect the lease payments to pick back up >> yeah. as we discussed in our last earnings call, just under half of our customers we've given deferral requests. most of our customers have asked for lease rate relief. we've given partial lease deferrals. for several months we've given an airline relief on some of the payments most of them are scheduled to be repaid back by the end of the year fairly short-term. some are going beyond the end of the year into next year. but so far these are actually referrals that we've been -- we and all the rest of the leasing industry, in fact, have been providing our customers. all eyes are watching on that, and we're confident over time that with the accommodations we've been able to make, we'll help the airline industry recover. >> john pleuger, ceo of air lease corp. joining us exclusively today giving us perspective on what we're seeing

not only with the airlines in the u.s. but around the world. >> phil, thank you let's hit our etf spotlight. today the nasdaq, ibb on the move higher. this is hot, up 7% since the start of the month, but one of the group's biggest holdings, moderna extending yesterday's losses on concerns about the company's monday announcement regarding the covid-19 vaccine candidate. according to stat news, some experts say moderna did not provide data critical to assessing the vaccine. stocks down another 3% it's still up more than 250% for the year we're going to take a quick commercial break here on "squawk on the street. stay with us we're looking at a market up 50 points. almost 2%, 1.7% on the s&p 500 383 points higher on the dow this is decision tech.

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president's been active on twitter, threatening to withhold funding to states. now rights about the g 7, i'm considering rescheduling the g 7 on the same or similar date in washington d.c. at camp david. the other members are also beginning their comeback it would be a great sign to all normalization. this was scheduled for june 10th through 12th that's a few weeks away. in march the white house said they would move to a video conference, maybe backtracking on that? >> that would be something if

they were able to get other countries involved to come as soon as june, but the data continues to slowly look better. not just in the united states but around the world i saw somewhere that looking at some of the european countries that have reopened, the transmission rate is lower so we have to see. it's still early, but obviously that's a positive sign is all the international gatherings have been shut down. it's hard to know. so much could happen in the next month. >> yep let's get a virus update with sue herera at hq >> hello good morning here's what we know at this hour likely voters in swing states have sharply different views on the pandemic a new cnbc change research poll shows 93% of democrats expect a second wave of infections but only 21% of republicans share that view. you can go to cnbc.com for the full story and to see which

presidential candidate the swing state voters prefer. the oscars aren't until next february, but some of the event's organizers are already considering postponing it. it's reported it may be pushed back though it's not been formally proposed. in britain, another honor for the 100-year-old war veteran who raised $40 million to help fight the pandemic by walking laps in his garden he has already been promoted to honorary colonel, but now he's been knighted. moore says it hasn't changed him. >> i'm still tom moore it's nice -- i think sir thomas sounds very nice, but tom hasn't changed. >> makes you get teary david, back to you >> okay. yeah that was a nice way to end that segment. thank you, sue keeping an eye on shares of

auto makers with plants beginning to open up you can see how ford and gm are doing. tesla, that's $151 billion market value on the other side of this break, we'll talk to the former ceo of ford

as of this morning, all 50 states have at least partially reopened their doors we're taking a closer look at how states are faring as they find a balance between reopening the local economies and protecting their citizen's health since reopening on may first, let's check out ohio it's seen a 61% increase in cases and a 45% increase in hospitalizations an average of 83 new patients per day. testing is also increasing a big part of the story, 107 % with 10% of tests returning positive week over week. however, cases in ohio are down 14%. how about michigan since reopening on may 7 th, cases are up only 16 %

an average of 552 cases per day. testing increased to 81% with 12 % of tests returning positive week over week cases have increased 21% in that state. carl >> all right as everybody knows by now, auto production largely back in detroit for the first time since the outbreak we want to bring in mark fields this morning, former ford ceo, now a seniored a v-- senior adviser at tpg global. >> nice to see you >> it seems like used car pricing is holding up. people want personal space when they commute to work or anywhere else it sounds like you don't believe some of the forecasts we're going to be down 25 for the year >> no. i'm a bit more optimistic. i'm optimistic for a couple reasons. in the short-term, as you mentioned, first, i think people

are -- the spring selling season is the biggest selling season in the car industry i think the coronavirus probably deferred it. it didn't extinguish it. you saw the results in april which were better than expected. the industry was down about 40%. trucks were actually doing relatively well. and also there's very jennous deals out there by the auto makers, and more longer term, i think beyond the next couple of months, i think people are going to put a priority on hygiene in having their own personal vehicle, almost thinking of it as personal ppe, if you will and when you combine that with people not wanting to make take mass transit, less taking airplanes, i think that bodes well, and i also think one of the first indications that we'll have on that is this summer when people are looking to take their vacations or travel, i think you're going to see vehicle miles travel go up significantly

across the country with people not deciding to take planes and maybe taking a vacation within a day's drive of where they live >> yeah. i mean, certainly international travel is a nonstarter it's going to be sort of an american vacation season for sure but i wonder, though, i mean, when i talk to people who are interested in car buying, the first thing they talk about is the incentives and it's certainly permeating the advertising. do you think those are going to be around for a while? >> i think you're starting to see it moderate, particularly on the truck side you have manufacturers like general motors when you look at the inventory they have at the dealers, it's getting tight. the reason is they were still recovering from the strike they had last fall. so the dealers didn't have a whole lot of inventory now that's less. i think you'll see a pullback on that to a certain degree when it comes to cars, there's plenty of cars when it comes to small suvs,

there's plenty of viability there. i think you'll see manufactures continue to offer good deals the most important thing for them is to get the plants up and running when they build a vehicle and ship it from the yard, they recognize the revenue. it brings the cash in. i think you'll see them for quite some time, but it will depend on the segment. >> mark, it's david. what about production itself i'm curious as to your thoughts on how people are going to work in the plants, whether they can work closely together, if that's not an issue supplies of ppe which i guess the auto makers need to provide and even the supply chain itself, all of this i would think could add up to more expensive costs. >> when you look at the challenges, i think the industry is doing a terrific job bringing up the industry. right now at the same time there's about 200 product

programs that the manufacturing is starting to get going right now. that is huge i mean, even when you launch just one product, it's a big deal for the oem as well as the supply base. i think you'll see a couple things the oem will face deshrining productive when the workers come into the plant and the new health protocols in place, and the new dividers and the way they have to work and even ways in which they change shifts or hand tools to each other, they have to get used to that the analogy is think about the first time you went recently to a supermarket down here in florida, publix, you have to go down the one-way aisles and you have to social distancing to get into the store you're a little bit confused at first. i think that's why the oems are gradually starting production. the line rates on the line will be slower. but the other challenge they face is within the supply base

and it falls within two things first, the liquidity challenge for the smaller suppliers. because if you think about it, their receivables have all drawn down over the last two months. now they're starting up production they have to front up the cost for the people and the materials. they're going to have money going out for two months and no money coming in. so that's one challenge the auto makers have to watch out for the second is mexico 40% of the parts for vehicles assembled here in the u.s. come from mexico. and you know, you have to wonder not so much about the big mexican suppliers but the smaller ones, whether they'll have the ppe available, whether they'll have the social protocols, hygienic protocols in the plants or the testing available. i think you'll see some fits and starts but the industry i think is taking a rational and gradual approach which i think is prudent. >> so mark, it's sara. i get you're calling for a cyclical rebound here off pent

up demand and reopening, but what about the structural problems that were plaguing this industry and also making their stocks not the best investments going into the crisis even before the pandemic, the fact that tesla was trouncing them in market tap, the technological changes, the questions about car ownership and ride sharing what happens to all of that? >> well, i think sara, it's a good question. put it into perspective. the profitability of the major auto makers, we're still healthy. we're coming off of five years of 17 million units industries which is a record. but i think what this pandemic will do in my view it's going to prove to auto makers that you can start to reset or reframe the business, and ask the tough questions of what product lines, regions to be in, should we pool resources with competitors for some of the future technologies?

and i think some of the ways they've moved really fast like, for example, ford and gm converting their plants over to do ventilators literally in a nano second in terms of the auto industry, maybe it will give them more confidence to move quicker and innovate and push the boundaries further in terms of getting their businesses structurally sound going forward. i think it's going to be a positive in general, but again, keep in mind the industry is significantly healthier going into this crisis than it was back in the great financial crisis >> talk about irony. finally, mark, the president is going to go to ford tomorrow and was asked at a cabinet meeting yesterday if he would wear a mask take a listen. >> i don't know. i haven't even thought of it it depends i mean, in certain areas i would. in certain areas i don't but i will certainly look at it. it depends on what situation am i standing right next to

everybody or am i spread out and also, you look, you know, is something a hospital is it a ward what is it, exactly? i'm going to a plant so we'll see where it's appropriate, i would do it, certainly >> questions really not about the mask or not, mark, but the relationship that the auto makers have with the white house. he has smacked mary bar around a couple times in the last couple months how would you characterize it? >> i think the president understands the importance of the auto industry to the more than economy and the american people first off, it contributes about 4 % of the gdp so if the economy is going to be doing well, the auto industry has to do well i think he recognizes that secondly, i think it's positive he's coming to visit an automotive plant and a ford plant to demonstrate that this industry is alive and kicking but more importantly, it's also taking proactive actions to help

society and to help us through this crisis. it's a little bit unfortunate that the story right now is around whether he's going to wear a mask or not versus look at the wonderful things that ford did at the plant to change over to making ventilators but overall, i think the president very truly understands the importance of the auto industry to the american economy, and the support of that is absolutely necessary going forward. >> yeah. especially in a state like michigan that's for sure. mark, it's going to be fascinating to watch tomorrow. always great seeing you. thanks for the help. >> thank you with the dow up just about 400 points, coming up later on "closing bell", an interview with kelly king at 4:00 p.m. we've also got anna wintor on the show, she's going to talk about fashion. high fashion in the age of

pandemic and a new partnership with amazon and designers more "squawk on the street" when we come back "close enough or nothing." mercedes-benz suvs were engineered with only one mission in mind. to be the best. in the category, in the industry, in the world. now, get 0% apr financing up to 36 months on most models and 90-day first-payment deferral on any model. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

zoom is not the only recently listed company to see ofs stock takef. we debate some of the biggest winners on trading nation. more "squawk on the street" coming up.

s&p 2975 that 200-day moving average not

very far at 2999 it's been talked about as a key test for several months now. hasn't crossed above it since march 5th. we're back in just a moment.

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and work with partners. comcast business is right there with you. with a network that helps give you speed, reliability and security. and enough bandwidth to handle all your connected devices. voice solutions like remote call forwarding and readable voicemail. and safe, convenient installation. when every connection counts, you can count on us. get the connectivity your business needs. call today. comcast business. welcome back to "squawk on the street." stocks are higher today with every sector up led by energy and industrials. communication services are also outperforming the broader market facebook and twitter are two of the leaders in the sector with facebook hitting all-time highs today. media companies like dish and discover also higher today and live nation up 5%. the stock got crushed in the lockdown as events were cancelled but optimism around

reopening has fulled a rally in the last few days, live nation is up 18% this week. sarah, i'll send it to you. >> eric, thank you let's look at the broader markets. the dow, we've got 29 out of 30 dow stocks higher right now. a more than 400 point rally. home depot the only one in the red. n'sdaq up almost 2%. dot go anywhere, "squawk on the street" continues in just two minutes.

let's get to rick santelli and the exchange, hey, rick. >> good morning.

and thank you, carl. i'd like to welcome professo ken rogoff, thank you for joining me, these are trying times, of course. >> indeed, thank you for having me >> listen, today's a big day we reintroducing after decades of absence a 20-year bond but it underscores the notion of debt last thursday, the fed's balance sheet was approaching $7 trillion, i believe the exact amount was 6. 3 trillion on their balance sheet. and we learned when we had treasury secretary steve mnuchin on, the cares act, only 8 to 9% has been spent and we're hearing for the need for more. as a man and a great economist who's written much about debt, even with the coronavirus issues

are we ahead of ourselves? are we over the skis on debt >> we're only two months into this, and it's probably going to get a lot worse. i think we have to support americans, we have to support the economy. i don't know where this is going. but we're down 25 or 30%, we're hoping we're coming back now, i don't know how much. and this isn't quite the time to worry about that i mean, there are costs, there are long-run costs to having debt way higher than it was. but what we're going through right now, it doesn't really get a lot worse than this. so i think we should plunge ahead. but, you know, it's not an excuse for bad policy. you want to have sensible policy, restructure in the economy going forward. >> believe me, i am with you there. i don't want to sound as if we don't need to help these businesses we shut off the main circuit

breaker, i understand that but we haven't spent on some of the programs that have been allocated to i guess is my point. the focus is getting more than using what's already been appropriated >> it's very hard to turn up government this fast i remember in 2008, people in the obama administration getting the 2% going, they had trouble getting the 2% going but there are plenty things to spend money on, like giving to state and local governments, but plenty of the programs we can't do overnight we wish we could. >> we want to make sure we do our best job but instead of taking the worse case scenario approach, which many are, let's take an optimistic approach like the equity markets understanding the equity markets in the economy

rhyme but they're not necessarily the same should we do better and should science and medicine help us sooner rather than later you and i both know the appropriated money most likely is not going to be used, it's going to be used and i'm saying as rating agencies watch this global explosion of debt, how do you think they are going to be looking at some of these numbers at this point in time? >> i think the united states is in a unique position because the dollar rules the global financial system a lot of other countries are going to run into troubling with the rating agencies quickly. and not just the rating agencies, the markets. at the moment the u.s. can borrow you mentioned at the outset 20 years. yeah, borrow long and that reduces some of the risk it's not a free lunch, but i don't think we're ready to start -- stop serving lunch. >> i understand. i understand now, when we look specifically at today's 20 billion of 20 year

bonds, the yields look like they're going to be somewhere in the 120s i guess my big issue is, ultimately, are we going to get enough bank for the buck with regard to this debt, of course, to continue to be able to find buyers around the globe as we end up competing not only with corporate issues but other global issueance >> yeah, well that is a question going forward. that is a risk that we take. the dollar accounts for roughly half of all the debt in markets of advanced economies of government debt. and we're expanding it faster than anyone else and i think both history and model show it can get fragile when it gets up there, but i think it's a reasonable risk at

the moment looking at the two sides of it. but we want to have good policy and running up debt shouldn't get in the way of good policy. but the fact that we can borrow certainly shouldn't be an excuse for bad policy and there's a limit to how fast things can get done in washington, it's very political. i don't think debt is the issue so much as struggling over what's the way forward how much restructuring is needed, how are we making a long-term shift towards inequality i have to tell you at the end of this, taxes are going to go up for wealthy or higher income people, not right away but that was inevitable it was probably true before this and it's probably more true than ever. >> you should know more than anybody that growth certainly suffers when it's coming under a pile of debt professor, thank you for joining me today carl, back to you. >> thank you rick, thank you very much.

good morning, everybody, welcome to "squawk alley" i'm carl quintanilla with jon fortt, morgan brennan coming to you live on this wednesday from various locations. pretty good market day as we get losses back from tuesday, all 11 sectors are higher on this day where all 50 states in america have some level of reopening markets on pace for their best week in about six weeks. and, of course, a big day for retail earnings out of target and lowes. for that we start with courtney regul reag reagan. >> the split between essential and nonessential in these numbers is probably not surprising if you were essential you probably picked up sales others lost but we did hear from two essential retrailers, let's start with target. they posted full results this morning including comp sales of 10.8%. online sales gre