to town ♪ good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kenner and mike santoli. andrew is off today. let's take a look at the u.s. equity futures what a difference a day makes. things are looking different today than they were yesterday right now dow futures are down about 30 s&p 500 up by about 3.5, nasdaq up by 42. but yet at this time, the dow was off by more than 500 points we were watching things slide rapidly. and that is not the way the markets closed the day yesterday the dow actually ended in positive territory and that was a comeback to kind of watch and keep an eye on mike santoli will talk more about that in a second we did close well off the session lows, the s&p 500 and nasdaq were lower, but barely. it was an average selloff given where we started the morning let's take a look at the treasury yields. you will see right now it looks

like the ten year seems to be yields at 0.938% and mike, that was an incredible turnaround yesterday >> and as a matter of fact the bond market in a sense gave clearance for stocks to rebound. the ten year went done below 0.9% and then bounced right back up applying timplying that theye a big risk from the new virus strain or anything else. and the market came into the week a little bit off balance after we had talked about the index reshuffling with tesla entering and all the options expir wra expirations. but yesterday, it was that the emerging growth stocks, tech stocks, the big pinkts story names that continue to have all the energy to the up side, the overall market did fine, but really you start to see a lot of the fast moving speculative names you can call them, but that is where the action is at the moment

>> so much for the grasping at what was calling the selloff we should have just said let's go a little longer before we try to -- >> you can never attribute it specifically, but i do think that you can say that we had the conditions for the market to have some struggles. >> i like the idea that you are using the ten year to decide on moves. we're really talking about ten basis points giving us an all clear. and that is 10% now of the total yield. so i understand it but it is amazing that difference between 0.95 and 0.85 can give an all clear to the economy. >> the world we live in. >> it is the fact that we didn't see continued urgent buying of treasuries that was forcing the yield lower. >> what has the range been in the yield?

i ichunderstand what you're say, but it is funny. you know, you have to like kind of laugh that five and ten basis point moves are either telling us that the covid virus is serious or not, the new new tants new tants. >> although i think that it was concern about what was happening in the uk, those stock are markets that were selling off. if you look at the stocks here, remember, we were looking at the cruise ships down 10%. airlines were off 8% you could say that that was like the robinhood traders jumping in on a panic and running with things, but those were the stocks leading things lower when we were at the weakest points yesterday. >> and we also don't know if, you know, we're in the clear so the market -- the s&p has been kind of hovering in this area for a little while now. so we'll have to see how it all plays. but now to the big story out of washington this morning, the house and senate passing the covid relief bill late last

night along with legislation to fund the government through the end of september diana olick has the latest >> yeah, after months of end l s debate, congress just finally cleared the package and with it a $1.4 trillion bill that funds the government through the fiscal year. the final vote was 359-53, senate passed it 92-6. two senators missed the vote now, it should be on the president's desk at some point tbd in the coming week, but in a statement yesterday, the white house said president trump has pushed hard for months to send americans badly needed financial relief we look forward to congress sending a bill to his desk imt nently for signature the bill puts an end to the uncertainty facing millions of unemployed workers whose benefits are set to expire and to troubled representers who could have faced eviction. and also a lifeline to small

businesses that have been waiting on another round of ppp. the airline industry gets $15 billion and $9 billion goes to the cdc and the states to help distributes the vaccine. now, many of the relief measures in this package expire in the spring and democrats have already said this is just a bridge to the next administration. so stay tuned. >> yeah, exactly and i was going to pick up right on that because we can argue about the size of this package relative to perhaps what was available before the election, relative to either sides hopes but democrats pretty clear saying that this is just a step and there will be more to come but unclear though given how difficult it was to get this done, obviously we have a senate runoff to worry about in terms of figuring out the game plan here but it is really unclear necessarily if there is going to be a lot of follow-on, you know, appetite for more stimulus down the road >> i think that it will depend entirely on the trajectory of the virus, what we see with the vaccine rollout, how many people

can get vaccinated and how the economy is fairing when we get to the spring. but you can get that there will be likely more on the table when the biden administration takes over >> all right, diana, thank you very much. >> in corporate news, we could talk about this until 7:00 easily apple reportedly trying to produce a passenger vehicle with its own battery technology by 2024 shares of the company rising on the news that yesterday other names moving on the report like velodyne and luminar mean time shares of tesla dropped 6% yesterday was that company's first trading day as part of the s&p 500. so many different facets i hope that it is not based on si siri because i'd tell her i want go somewhere and i'd end up 80 miles out of my way because she would misunderstand what i said. and are they really going to make their own cars?

we always thought that apple would maybe get into this business, but not necessarily set up assembly lines based on its own battery technology that is amazing. do it by 2024. the most amazing thing that i thought was so brchltbmw, merces electric, tesla goes up. apple raises an eye bruh thbrow they might make a car, and tesla goes down? will. >> tesla shares were off yesterday before this news hit they were down like 5%.ill. >> tesla shares were off yesterday before this news hit they were down like 5%.ll. >> tesla shares were off yesterday before this news hit they were down like 5%.. >> tesla shares were off yesterday before this news hit they were down like 5%.. >> tesla shares were off yesterday before this news hit they were down like 5%. >> tesla shares were off yesterday before this news hit they were down like 5% they were up on getting put into thesome. >> but is this the competition finally? if you don't think that legacy guys have the technology to take

on tesla, i mean, tim cook is great, but if steve jobs was still there trying to do this, i'd sell tesla maybe i'm exaggerating, but in a guy got into this and put all of his brain power, remember the late steve job, you'd think this door would bdoor -- this car would be unbelievable >> it has to be an enormous pie. if $600 billion makes remotely any sense at all, it has to be vastly higher for everybody. whether apple makes an operating type system. i don't think that anybody can stand aside and say this isn't a market that we need to at least consider getting involved in i think that it is a very ambitious four year lead time to

try to become a manufacturer we can't know tdon't know the dn anything but i don't think that it is apple ver is tesla as much as it is everybody in a gold rush. >> if anybody has the money to do it, apple has plenty of dough. >> and that is the interesting part tesla's massive advantage is incredible low cost of capital given how it can sell stocks at these levels and raise debt. apple is maybe one of the few companies that has vastly cheaper capital available to it. so we'll see >> and you just one der if they are looking at the app ple ecosphere and one more way to invade your life

>> apple music >> right, it would be so easy. >> like i said, siri, i don't want her -- like do you ever dictate? she comes in -- >> no, i don't >> i say something that would be the most obvious statement to make to anyone and i see what she comes up with and it is look you really got to work on this ai i mean, you aren't even close. that does -- those words together don't exist anywhere in the universe where it would make sense. >> maybe siri is a democrat. >> i mumble i guess. people know that it is not siri's fault probably. all right. >> not going to see eye to eye with you anyway, let's talk about peloton shares they have been jumping this morning. the company is buying fitness maker pre-core for $420 million to help meet delivery goals. peloton has been struggling to keep up with surng in demand for its products during the pandemic and the shares were actually up

on the news. right now peloton shares for the year up by 450%, but you k scane up after the acquisition makes a lot of sense to get control of this, but will they need it once they get through the pandemic >> they have all the other types of -- you told me you had a peloton, didn't you? >> yeah. >> you still have it >> yeah, i do. >> easy to sell. i'll tell you -- >> i actually went on it for about five minutes yesterday >> we sold ours. sold immediately huge lines for people trying to get it it was brand new we had took the clothes that we were hanging off of it, but i want a treadmill i do i just prefer that i mean, those people made me stand up and when -- i tried it once and they put me through the ringer i guess >> if you get a big treadmill, you can hang a lot more clothes

off of it. >> and the ones that you maybe just used on it. maybe that will work anyway, i guess we got to go we only have a three hour show need to move, we need to groove. >> we talk a lot when we can back, we'll talk about the big market swings from yesterday. what is really driving the action, got a few ideas that we'll get to first though, as we head to a break, check out the biggest dow winners and losers

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dow reversing the huge losses in the morning to eek out a marginal gain. check out futures this morning, you will see that the dow is indicated down by about 42 poib points, s&p and nasdaq up slightly head of thematic strategy at jpmorgan private bank is here. and we were watching yesterday, what were you thinking as things started to selloff, did you think it was weird or something that would stick >> definitely not weird because i think that fundamentally the single markets fear most in 2021

is that the virus mutates and will evad the vaccines and that was the headline out of london be yesterday morning so that is why the markets were jittery. and the the second fear is that the vaccine causes side effects and severe reactions and we have that in the market as well so those are the fundamental reasons why the markets were pulling back in the beginning. but i would say from the technical side, almost as if the market is looking for an excuse for a selloff. because if you think about this rally, it has been a record rally and yes, cash positions are still high, but they diminished quite a bit and money has been finding its way into the equity markets so you have the flows that are really flowing in, you have the hedge fund, you have the momentum traders that havebeen in the market. so i would say short term things are looking a little bit overbought and a little bit stretched. so when that is the setup, if the right catalyst comes along, whether it is vaccine jitters or mutations or something else, the

market is likely to at least consolidate pause and maybe even pull back. and so that is what we have playing out right now. >> for 2021 though, you think that there could be more up side potential, that the market is not quite anticipating that we could see a thirdtrant into the market >> i think the market consensus is because of pfizer bee on tech a biontech and hod vaccine, we could have 50% plus vaccinated by the givenbeginning of summer. but that is not taking into account if the j & j trials are also successful public if that is as effective as moderna and others, this could mean an additional hundreds of

millions of doses for the u.s. market and in fact globally it means over a billion doses and by the way, this is also a single shot vaccine versus the other two that are double shots. so what i'm saying is that this is not yet being reflected and priced into the markets. vaccine expectation bites ey ofe end of summer is baked in, but the potential for j and j to come in and a large portion of the population to get it q1 and 2, that is not yet in the market and if that is the case, that is why we're looking at some of the cyclicals. >> forget about the markets though, it would be great news for new hannity ovumanity. i know you have big ideas for twin robot iics at the top of the lit does that have to do with 5g >> yes, and a lot to do with the automation because robots don't get sick, they don't spread the

virus and they do boost productivity we've talked about 5g for the last three years and 5g is here for some of us and clients and investors are increasingly looking for this killer app for 5g. one of the killer apps that is enabled by 5 xwchlt is entg is technologies and robots that can be untethered from the traditional cables or slow wi-fi and they can move around because they are 35are 5g enabled so this is technology coming of age. and even before the coronavirus pandemic, you had a number of factories looking to convert to smart factories that are run by 5g robots. but especially after the covid pandemic, you have 76% of the ceos saying that they want to invest in automation because of the productivity boost something around 8.5% cost savings and 20% productivity boost is the potential for automation and that is why companies are looking to it.

>> an that thank you very much and happy holidays and coming up, cnbc investigation flying blind as covid-19 began to spread across the country. the trump administration added hundreds of screeners at u.s. airports, yet they called it quits months after discovering it wasn't working. and dozens of screeners themselves got sick with the virus. that story when "squawk box" comes right back ♪ ♪ digital transformation has failed to take off.

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sxwer nationg international travelers became familiar with a healevaluation and the administration deployed as many of as 750 screeners to find sick passengers importing the virus potentially to the u.s. but cnbc found that it was a failure that put federal employees and contract torsz at risk kayla tausche reports. >> it is irresponsible, it is murder and just undignified >> reporter: yvette williams lost the love of her life, omar palmer, to this spring to covid-19 for 17 year, palmer served as a customs officer at new york's jfk airport. he was also a body builder, a foodie and in williams' words a protector. but by the end of march with palmer donning protective gear it screen passengers arriving

from overseas, they wanted to protect him. >> i said i think this is a matter of life and death and he said i'll be good >> reporter: as the virussurge outside the u.s., the white house task force established the first line of defense at airports, assigning nearly 700 screeners from the departments of homeland kurt and health and human services to check international passengers for covid symptoms arriving from a growing list of companies. >> these prudent targeted and temporary actions will decrease the pressure on public health officials screening incoming travelers, expediting the processing of u.s. citizens and permanent residents, returning from china >> reporter: the only problem? it didn't work joe grogan led domestic policy until may. >> we weren't finding anybody, like zero people so it became pretty clear relatively quickly that it was from a public health perspective

as far as identifying people who were covid positive, it was a failure. >> reporter: the centers for disease control and prevention says between january and september, 776,000 passengers were screened. only nine cases of covid were detected that is one out of every 85,000 screens. and as travel bans went into place, bottlenecks formed at customs and jfk terminal 4 where palmer worked. in dallas, chicago, the risks rising for workers on these front lines. basically no travelers were dedekd texted to hatext defectsed to have doefd. how many screeners ended ingetting sick >> more than people we identify is what was reported in the task force. i think that it was a few dozen is my recollection, but a pretty stark data point when it was relayed that not only are we not finding anybody, would he getting more cdc and dhs

employees infected with covid. >> the group discusseded multiple times removing the screeners from their post and ultimate plly they decided thate role youxrou outweighed the cos. one official says the debate was not about the screeners themselves saying we were aware that we were getting circumstance but it was a question of whether the testing was fepgts difference. another official says that it was a running discussion no a couple months. ken cuccinelli represented dhs in the early response. >> there is always risk no people another front line, but what we have found including with our own frontline folks is that those individuals, the ones who have caught the virus, have done so at rates similar to the communities in which they were working. >> reporter: the cdc ended the screening program september 13th, eight months after it

began. six months after the task force first knew it was not effective. a november study acknowledged the program was resource intensive with low yield of positive cases because they were only looking for people with symptoms so how would you respond to allegations by other task force officials and some employees and some unions that this program was more dangerous for them than it was effective for the country as a whole >> well, i find it hard to believe that, you know, there weren't people just missed who had the virus that we were trying to screen for with the only tools that were then available. >> reporter: for omar palmer, passenger operations would be his last assignment. he went home april 1 after being exposed at the airport and died one month later at 40 years old. now williams wonders what could have been done to save him

>> to know that so much was known at the highest levels of government and that that information was not shared and that those that care was not given to frontline workers, people as collateral damage, and it is disgusting they were disposable >> reporter: hhs defended the program saying that early cases in the u.s. were indeed tied to travel and blaming china for obscuring information about how the virus spread task force officials tell me that they believed that the measures and the screeners would make people feel safe to travel and dissuade advisably sick people from getting on planes. but they learned that positive covid cases can be invisible

>> you mentioned the task force had discussed for several months whether to dismantle the program. when were those discussions and do we have a sense of what difference that might have made? >> well, these screenings peaked at the end of march. so that is when the task force began receiving the bulk of the data when this program so they were learning that despite this wide net that they were casting, it was catching nearly no people so these discussions i'm told bay multiple officials began as early as late march and continued through july i'm also told by my sources that it was the cdc who was an early advocate in the meetings of reallocating some of the resources to nursing homes and other hot spots. so perhaps what shifting some of the resources could have done in two parts is number one remove hundreds of the workers from the frontline risk where they were not normally staffed and redeploying them in areas where they could have potentially served a greater need.

>> kayla, thank you very much. and coming up, the latest on the new covid strain and the rollout of the vaccine we'll talk to mecaexrta dil pe ? our new virtual classes were designed for you and millions of seniors like you. you can now choose from thousands of live virtual classes every week. get moving wherever you have an internet connection. and when you're ready, enjoy access to thousands of locations nationwide. with silversneakers, you're free to move. enroll today at no additional cost by visiting the website on your screen. that selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's

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for a look at the latest on the covid-19 vaccine distribution in the u.s. and around the world, and other issues too, let's welcome dr. patel, a primary care physician brookings institute fellow and nbc news contributor she formerly served in the obama white house as director of policy for the office of inter-governmental affairs and public engagement. doctor, welcome, good to see you. concerning news yesterday that we had, which actually i guess there have been multiple mutations. this was more specific and a larger i guess number of mutations that caused this increasingly contagious virus. but i don't think that it came out -- i mean, we knew about it about a week ago, but i guess how contagious got, that anecdotal evidence started coming out more and more how concerned should we be

>> yeah, i think there is reason to be concerned, but only because we know that this is a much more transmissible virus. meaning that it is much easier to pass along and it is much easier to receive. and that is exactly why the uk is in a lockdown the other reason that i'm saying that we don't have to be as concerned is really because the vaccine, we do believe that at least the three leading vaccine, pfizer, moderna and likely astrazeneca with in their vaccine design the ability to fight these mutations, this variant that is under investigation. and i think that is critical but this could be devastating in an environment like nursing homes where we've seen the virus go around like a wildfire. >> crazy that you can almost see

it as almost a race right now. because, you know, that is over there. hopefully it won't come here but it is hard to feel very confident that we can keep something like that out even with travel rye strikess so we're trying to vaccinate everybody in the nursing homes with the worry that maybe that it could emerge over here. kind of a dramatic thing to consider >> yeah, i think that it is fair to be cautious and i'll be honest, i can tell you, every scientist around the globe is trying to make sure that variants like this one that are in the uk and some evidence that we see it in south africa and australia by the way, but mostly in the united kingdom, that this could cause some sort of disruption worldwide i think that the bigger issue is that we'll need to continue to watch these viruses globally over a much longer period of

time it has been a while since we've seen such a significant set of mutations. so that actually is good news. that means that we probably are going to have a lot of coverage from the vaccine but to your point, it is a global race to get the vaccine out. and we know that even if millions of americans are vaccinated today, that that is still not going to necessarily make an immediate dent in the thousands of deaths and millions of cases so it just reinforces how the next four to six weeks will be critical in terms of vigilance as well as vaccine distribution and rollout. >> dr. gottlieb noted that both the pfizer and moderna vaccine, the antigen, the message coded for was the entire spike protein. so even mutations in the spike protein should still be effective against this variant or other variants. >> right, that's correct >> you also though feel that it

is possible we may need an able -- we don't know that yet but that is something that we should consider might be in the future >> yeah, i think that lot of people have been asking this lingering question, you know, is this a one time double dose vaccine or a one time shot or do we need to get the successively over the years like a flu shot and i think that it is too soon to tell. i think most people are reassured as you pointed out that the vaccine does encode for a number of the receptors of the spike protein so that we can find a way to deal with all the variants designers of the vaccines kept in mind that mutations happen all the time with viruses. so that is critical. however, do these mutations over time change the nature of that receptor bind beiing protein. the way the spike protein kind of attaches to the important cells in our body. and that is exactly why i think

global scientists will be studying and why i think our world is forever going to be dealing with covid in some fashion. not necessarily the impact today, but we'll have to be monitoring to make sure that we might not need to update vaccines the good news, this vaccine technology is nimble we've seen it rolling out incredibly quickly and safely so doing these types of modifications, it is interest, it is now like updating software technology and these modifications can be made quickly. >> i was thinking, you think about how they can be flying blind. taking the whole virus and trying to attenuate it and put it in and we have no idea what is going on. but think about what just talked about, how much we know about the molecular details. we're in such a better place but the one thing that you said that just concerned me is that the spike protein might be part of what causes the pathology of

the virus too from the body's response to it and that scares me that it could also have a mutation that would become maybe more virulent in the spike protein, maybe not the rest of the virus. is that possible >> yeah, and that is why the uk variant under investigation is being analyzed in labs very closely. right now we do not think that that change in the spike protein in the uk is making the virus to your point more virulent meaning we do not think that that spike protein is causing more severe disease, but it could absolutely one thing that we have to remember, that viruses, their job is to mutate to survive. i think that is why it is such a struggle we have to make sure that we stay one step ahead of it. and just from your previous investigation, we saw that we were not kind of keeping our awareness up when we had foreign

travel and testing we have to continue to have that same vigilance and i do think that that is why the united states is going to become a major player in continuing testing and checking these strains all around the world. >> dr. patel, thanks hopefully we can continue to use your expertise you're an nbc contributor, so i think that you have to we just call and you have to say okay, i'll be there. >> that's right. >> don't think of it that way. it's good for bths of oth of us. thank you. >> i don't think that is exactly what it means or how it works, but we're lucky to have her. when we can back, we've been talking about workers and companies leaving high tax states jane wells has been following them and where has the journey taken you? south, beky here is the weather up there

here we're in the low 60s. brr. there is a huge migration to the south florida, and while commercial real estate looks bleak, they are building a lot of it here up next, the miami advice after the break. and in an emergency, they need a network that puts them first. that connects them to technology, to each other, and to other agencies. that's why at&t built firstnet with and for first responders the emergency response network authorized by congress. firstnet. because putting them first is our job.

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big investors are moving to miami. remote work to prove that they don't need to be on wall street or silicon valley. so they are heading south. that is where we find jane wells. jane, i have snow outside my window and you have your feet in the pool >> ah-ah well, yeah, it beats working so forget texas which also has no state income tax, the same as florida. but if years, miami has tried to convince companies that it is not just a playground, it is a startup. and then came the pandemic >> right here we're starting construction on 90,000 square feet of retail >> reporter: the managing partner at a $4 billion development called the mild world center, he used to work at goldman sachs and is trying to

pitch his friends to relocate and it is starting to work >> the pandemic has been the single largest accelerator that we have seen the salt deduction was one major one. but this has been a whole new level. >> reporter: he says 60 companies have moved here, star ward capital building its new headquarters here. and at a time when real estate is not looking hot, there is plenty of craze here and now big silicon valley guys are tweeting about leaving california for miami not just because of the taxes but because of the culture of innovation. >> i got my florida driver's license, florida plates on the vehicles >> reporter: yeah, scott just moved to miami with ocean front office space at a 25% discount >> i came to california in the mid-90s and one of the things that i observed was just this

bubbling of activity and i don't see that much anymore. i think that there is something happening here i think there are seeds of really interesting innovation. >> reporter: and in that last video you saw, one of his development partners is alex rodriguez and they will be joining us on "squawk on the street." >> and the innovation, i'm sure that is real but it really comes done to tuot taxes, right >> reporter: it is not just taxes but that is a huge part. there is also not capital gains taxes on personal a income here as well. the biggest hurdle is there the talent there and now they have had a huge investment in arts and culture and education and transportation and when you have a blackstone or a starwood or carl icahn or, you know, i could go on and on, these guys from

silicon valley saying we're going to miami, other people start saying why do i want to have snow outside my window. >> exactly jane, you wear it well thank you. we'll check in soon. >> we all know that we can do it remotely now just saying. >> how do you even know i'm in new jersey >> a lot of dirty snow out there right now, walking around. i look at jane and i mean, stick that screen behind you from, i don't know, coconut grove or something. what do you think? you can pay for your entire lodging down there with what you save in new jersey's exorbitant taxes, right are you changing your screen >> trying. it is not -- there it is see, i moved already >> wow, that is pretty good. you are better than i him at the that thing coming up, stay at home versus reopening stocks names you might want to add to your watch list as the vaccine

ro rollout steams ahead

as the pfizer and moderna vaccines get distributed throughout the country, as congress passes a stimulus package, investors are wondering where to invest right now, the trusted stay-at-home stocks or some anticipating reopening stocks joining us to discuss what is working, j.j., chief market strategist good to see you good morning this toggle between reopening type plays, travel, hotel,

restaurants and stay-at-home, whether it be technology or some other beneficiaries. it seems like the market changes its mind day by day, you know, often. so it's not necessarily these trends that are emerging what do you see your clients doing, whether it is just as trading vehicles or for longer term positioning >> well, what i would say is the stay at home has had probably more of the votes, if you will, in terms of people's activities than the reopening trade it's very interesting, even as we started to see more positive news on the airlines and hotel industry with the vaccine rolling out, over all, our clients have been neutral or net sellers, like united and delta, they have actually been sellers overall. pretty neutral on stocks like marriott, and american airlines. it's sort of the opposite a little bit of what we saw when this first started back in march and april when our clients came in to buy these travel stocks. it seems like they're not quite as convinced or they think it's

a little bit more of a show me on the other hand, if you look at the stay-at-homes, you do have things like, well, docusign has been bigger buy overall. we have seen netflix be a buy also, and roku has certainly been one of the top buys over the last couple of weeks, as people, you know, have faith, have decided that that stay-at-home seems to make more sense to them. so looking at our client's activity, i would have thought that as soon as the vaccine started rolling out, you would have saw the reopening trade take place in their accounts we're not seeing it to the level many of us would have anticipated. >> it's interesting. so many of the stocks that we place in that basket of stay-at-home or beneficiaries of shut down type economy, they also have these kind of nice, shiny long-term growth stories it seems like there's a sense out there among investors in general, they want the next new

thing, whether it is in the ipo area spacs, whatever, i would love your read on the general tenor of your investor activity right now with all the surge in options trading. it just seems like there's a new energy among smaller investor, maybe pushing more fringe type stocks as well. >> well, yeah, overall, as you report on a lot, mike, the retail investor, of course, has been a major influence i think in 2020, and probably one of the top stories in terms of how the businesses change. for years, we wanted to get the retail investor back, they are back with a vengeance. we have had derivative tradings, because we spend so much time and education. it has continued to expand as more people have started to understand and again, i think one of the things that you've covered before, and i know bob has is the fact that for many

retail traders, if they know what they're doing, makes sense because they have a limited capital base, they can still be involved by using options in their limited capital base that said, you know, the fringe stocks, yeah, occasionally they get momentum, but i also think people have been pretty smart with some of the investments they have made one of the ones our clients have beenon all year, i don't know if you call it a stay-at-home or reopening or one with great growth potential, draftkings, that's been an interesting stock in terms of ones our clients have been buying all years, and the other is the stay-at-home and expanding quick is docusign. >> we might be coming to the moment where people are going to have to see if they are, and during growth stories or not j.j., thanks a lot appreciate the time. >> always a pleasure merry christmas. merry christmas, coming up, more on the report of an i car

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after a volatile day on wall street that saw the dow erase a

400 point deficit, the futures are mixed this morning we've got the latest on what's moving the markets that's straight ahead. plus, we will debate president-elect joe biden's economic strategy amid the pandemic his plan to keep the economic recovery going and look out tesla, apple has reportedly been working on its own electric car production could be right around the corner we've got the etails straight ahead. second hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪ you can't see it's electric you got to feel it's electric ♪ ♪ it's electric ♪ good morning, mike is just motionless i am too good morning, and welcome back. >> i won't move. you start moving, you remember that kevin klein movie, started moving his middle finger, and

next thing you know. you know, i got mics where i could get up if i wanted i'm not tethered here. >> that's okay. >> i'm not going to. >> we saw elon musk, and as i said, that's how i feel when i dance. welcome back to cnbc >> a lesson to all of us. >> along with becky quick and mike santoli you don't dance, do you, mike? >> not if i can avoid it. >> how many drinks >> there was a time, but not lately. >> i go from dancing to unconscious. >> the great benefit of this pandemic, no dancing occasions. >> i have to say, i'm missing those holiday parties and i know what my challenge is next year, to get you two to dance. >> oh, it's bad. elaine looks like a good dancer, compared to santoli and me. >> i didn't say i was a bad dancer i just said i don't. >> we got to go.

we closed up 30 points after being down 700 think about that in percentage terms, as we pointed out, it's, you know, just a little over 2%. but the points moving around like that get your attention nasdaq's up nicely this morning, up 44, and the s&p is up here's what's making headlines at this hour congress has approved a $900 billion coronavirus aid package, including $600 payments to many americans. additional unemployment benefits as well. president trump is expected to sign it into law the bill includes a $15 billion in support for u.s. airlines as those carriers are preparing to recall some furloughed workers. as a result, united warned that the recall would be temporary since it does not expect an improvement in command over the next couple of months. shares of peloton are higher in premarket trading. the company is buying rival fitness equipment maker for $420 million the deal gives peloton additional market share as well as a boost in manufacturing

capacity, and a little bit of a diversification it might need in the future, instead of just, you know, bikes, treadmills and the like thanks, joe. europe is on high alert this morning. multiple countries slapping a travel ban on the u.k. as they fight the outbreak of a new strain of covid. here in the united states, some are calling for mandatory testing before passengers can arrive from britain. what can you tell us about how that is playing out. >> the big news over the weekend was the strange of the coronavirus, on the back of that we saw the u.k. government announce further restrictions. that also prompted up to 40 countries by the close of business yesterday instituting this travel ban, not allowing u.k. passengers into their countries also affecting freight

supply as well you may have seen images of some of the trucks lined up near the port of dover yesterday. there were hundreds of trucks waiting to get a pass to see whether or not they could actually get through to france and that led to some backlog, some concern that there would be supply bottlenecks coming into this very busy christmas season. the prime minister boris johnson yesterday gave a press conference where he sought to allay some of those concerns let's take a listen. >> it's vital first to stress that these delays which are only occurring at dover, only affect human handled freight, and that is only 20% of the total arriving from or departing to the european continent, which means the vast majority of food, medicines and other supplies are coming and going as normal

>> so that's the u.k. prime minister telling shoppers not to panic, not to worry. there will not be a food shortage despite images we have seen in the port worth mentioning that today there are talks going on between the two sides. we're looking for a resolution, and hopefully there will be some way that the transportation between the two countries can be facilitated, again on the back of that we're seeing european markets trade pod up about 3/4 of a percentage point, and some of the stocks that got hit yesterday like travel and airline stocks are rebounding a bit more optimism in the air today from europe. >> thank you very much it's good to see you, and we'll check in with you again soon in the meantime, markets clawed their way back after a rough start in yesterday's session in part to a strong performance from the bank stocks mike santoli has more on the markets. and what was happening with the bank stock, we know about jp morgan. >> jp morgan, goldman sachs some of the strongest in the market

after the fed said they could buy back stocks again. the s&p hold this december breakout yesterday's selloff just brought the s&p down to 63, 36.40, excuse me, or so, which is right about where it started there's a late november level, and it didn't go beyond that essentially saying, okay, this upper range, maybe it's okay for now. take a look at the bank's index. you'll see it did make a new post-covid crash high, marginally so. it has flattened out here, as bond yields have steadied, and we have had some concerns about the pace of the 4th quarter economic output. you see the big spike june 8th that's when everybody thought we were kind of full speed ahead on the reopening, and so we are now kind of making incremental progress, this morning, give back potentially then take a look at a handful of the hottest segments of the market we have the news, maybe apple is working on a car the drv, electric and autonomous

vehicles it's up huge this quarter, as you can see. 10 is the solar stock etf as well, and that has been a massive leader you see the whole alternative energy push. there's a big long-term story behind it as well as perhaps a change of administration story you would think it's tesla 5% of the atf, apple is of top holding and microsoft qualcomm, and the gut of an electronic and an autonomous vehicle. i put the cloud stocks and qqq, big cap tech has been strong in general. these have been unusually strong, and kind of catnip for the new breed of fast moving, younger traders, many pushing the same momentum stocks, guys >> hey, mike, in terms of just the, what you're watching with the s&p and then the dow, are there technical levels that are key to the dow as well >> the dow a little bit less i mean, in terms of how people trade it, it's not necessarily as crucial in terms of the levels that get traded, just

because the dow futures and the etfs are not as heavily traded in general, the question is are we going to have a dow centric type move or is it going to revert back to the large cap growth stocks, more of a nasdaq, s&p type move. we have had that trade off a little bit from time to time the dow is a little more of the value cyclical, and it has had this great run a catch up move above 30,000 that's the sort of trade back and forth we get sometimes in terms of the character of any rally and selloff. >> now might be a good time. >> i think joe had a question for you. >> no, i think now might be a good time, becky somehow we got him standing up we got you standing up. >> i have been dancing this whole time, drawing on here. >> no, no, no let's go you're standing. you're standing. >> i'm not going to succumb to peer pressure like this, i'm sorry. of all things that we do,

dancing should be the thing that comes from an impulse to do it t as opposed to pressure >> okay. give this song a little listen and see. >> get him a different song. >> yeah, this is not the way -- it's just the memory of bad weddings, really. >> i would agree, this is a bad wedding song. >> we need something else. we'll come back. we've got another two hours to go. >> as opposed to bad marriage song, it's a bad wedding song. >> elaine, coming up -- i did more dancing coming up, the ceo of the mayo clinic on the battle against covid, the distribution of the vaccine, and much more apple higher in premarket trading after reports it planned to enter the electric car market in 2024. we'll have more on this story in just a bit we're coming right back. neighbor 1: allez! (sound from wind chimes) neighbor 2: (laughing)

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. welcome back, everybody. the united states surpassing 18 million coronavirus cases, and our next guest is on the front line of the battle against this pandemic right now, we welcome our friend dr. gian farrugia, the president and ceo of the mayo clinic, this is something you have been battling for a long time where do we stand now that the vaccine is rolling out how do you deal with that and get it to the front line workers

at the mayo clinic. >> good morning, becky thanks for having me back on having the vaccine is an immense victory for health care. we see our health care workers are eager for the vaccine. it's rolling out relatively well, considering how difficult the logistics are. we have been giving it across all the states that we work in and so far it has been going relatively well. we have allocation issues in minnesota that we have been dealing with at the moment, overall going well i think that's the same across the united states. >> what are the allocation issues you have been dealing with >> we are ready to give vaccines to all of our front line workers. we have to get access to the vaccine, how those get distributed is something that changes from day-to-day, and we're working with the governor to sort that out >> yeah, it's obviously still early days, but what percentage of your workers have gotten vaccinated and when you talk to your workers, what percentage of

them want to get a vaccination. >> so starting with the latter, vaccine hesitancy has gotten a lot of play, as it should. what we're finding is that the more the vaccine becomes available, the more eager health care workers are to get it we have an online poll that we keep live all the time initially it started out with 85% of health care workers at the mayo clinic saying they want to get it. the percent needs to get even better so there's certainly more demand for the vaccine at the moment than there is vaccine. so vaccine hesitancy is not an issue at the moment. of course we need to continue to remain very transparent about the vaccine, what it does, what to expect, and that transparency, i think, will help us make sure that vaccine hesitancy continues to go away it is essential that people get educated and then they get vaccinated it's the only way we're going to get out of this pandemic >> doctor farrugia, i would

anticipate that health care workers would probably have a higher percentage who will be willing and ready to sign up for this vaccination what do you hear from the communities that you operate in? what kind of patient demand do you think there will be? >> you're right. health care workers tend to read a lot. they're very informed. they come up with very good questions, but yes, they tend to also be more willing to take it. we have been working very closely with our communities we did that for covid testing. we're doing it again with native americans in arizona and minnesota, the black and hispanic communities but also with fate, which is a program, about 150 black churches in minnesota making sure that we're not feeding information but rather we're there to answer questions, provide the right answers, making sure people know what's fact and what's myth, and i must say, some of the myths that have come up, for example, that the vaccine can alter fertility are astounding, but

they're there, and we have to deal with them, and our job as mayor clinic as a trusted voice in health care is to be direct, to be transparent and to always say exactly what's going on. >> what's the response that you get in those communities when you take that approach >> it is remarkably positive i do think that, yes, vaccine hesitancy will remain, but i do feel that we are going in the right direction. and we will continue to go in the right direction as long as we can continue to message, two things that are really important to know, how effective this vaccine is we used to have a gold standard and still do, which has measles vaccine, 98% effective, to have a vaccine that is 95% effective, as the two vaccines we currently have are is a medical marvel, and it truly shows what innovation can do in the health care space when partners come together to solve an issue,

especially when they take advantage of the technologies that nih and other institutions have been funding for years that allowed this innovation. >> yeah, these are incredible tools. we're so fortunate to have them at our disposal, but it does seem like it's going to be a few months before it really changes the course of covid at this point. what do you see in your hospitals? what do you see in the states and the communities that you operate in just in terms of how much room you have in your hospitals at this point? can you handle more? you think we've peaked or where do things stand? >> oh, i've been on record several times saying there are waves, and we keep going through waves. a certain number of weeks. it's not the same across the united states. the midwest, we were hit harder earlier. we're now emerging from that wave in arizona, and west and east coast, we are probably at the

peak or close to the peak, and other states are somewhere in between. it's important that we do realize that, yes, health care workers are mentally and physically exhausted, that health care resources are stressed, but there isn't a hard number of an icu number that doesn't change there's so much flexibility, so much ability to flex, to meet the needs of patients. we've seen, which is why, for example, in el paso, texas, they are at 130% capacity and that 130% capacity is only possible because of the sacrifices that health care workers are doing. we have to remember, irrespective of the variants, irrespective of the vaccines, it behooves us, physical distancing, wearing masks, that works equally well against the variant that's in london, all the variants we have here. if we do that, we will reduce

our numbers and we can get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is available and my message is simple it's don't wait for a particular vaccine. get the first vaccine that is offered because their benefits far outweigh any potential risk. >> doctor, it strikes me that the mayo clinic is probably in one of the places that's in a better position in terms of finding staffing but what have you dealt with what have you seen in terms of being able to keep up with just having staff there to take care of the surge that's come in? are you in a position? have you hired a lot more people have you been able to cover it how are you doing that. >> you're right. it's affected every health care system, some more than others. we did see a significant effect a couple of months ago, especially in minnesota where what we saw was that our health care workers were clearly not getting infected in hospitals. they're getting infected in the communities but as they get

infected in the communities and either have to be quarantined or isolated, then it did impact our ability to run at full capacity. we're now seeing that the messaging that started has taken root and our health care workers are being careful to limit their exposures and the number we have had out, which is about 2% of our work force has now decreased and is no longer the limiting factor in arizona, we did hire more people able to deal with that, with the needs across the country, we're seeing similar issues, and also similar resolutions. there is some hope health care workers are compassionate. they understand that they are not only putting their lives and the family lives at risk but they have a job to do and we are seeing that message get across which is wonderful. >> it seems like we have had a shortage of health care workers for years. we talk about how the vaccine at

some point in the next several month will have a glut of vaccines do you think that will ever be the case with health care workers, or do you think we're always going to be dealing with needing more than we have? >> so this pandemic has taught us a lot it has taught us that health care can transform it doesn't need to evolve, and as we transform, we'll have a very different health care system going forward, a better health care system that will still require health care workers yes, when we look ahead, there will still be shortages in nurses, in physicians, in other parts of the health care system, those shortages aren't massive but they're there, and will have to continue to make sure we build the right infrastructure to allow people who want to work in health care to be able to work in health care. that is something that is not going to go away it will continue in the next five years >> dr. farrugia, thank you very much it's great to see you. wish you happy holidays. best of luck with all of this, and we hope to see you back here

soon. >> thank you happy holidays to all of you too. >> thank you >> mike. >> and coming cup, walmart is making it easier to return gifts. details on that after the break. plus, apple plans to enter the electric vehicle market. that report sending the stock higher, we will discuss that in just a bit as well. as we head to a break, it's time for today's aflac trivia question, how many retailers have filed for bankruptcy so far this year. we'll have the answer when we come back. alright, who can break this down for me? coach saban... i crutched out to the mailbox and there it was - a medical bill for twelve-hundred dollars. i had no idea i'd have to pay that. that's right. it's hard to know exactly what your health insurance is going to cover, so you gotta protect your blind side. aflac! aflac pays you money directly to help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. really? aflac. get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. get to know us at aflac.com.

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welcome back to "squawk box. the answer of today's aflac trivia question, how many retailers have filed for bankruptcy so far this year, well, according to retail dive, the number is 29 some notable names on that list. pier 1, jay crew, jcpenney, lord & taylor, and brooks brothers. becky. so mike, what kind of music do you like? >> pretty eclectic. >> is that what you wanted me to do yeah, i'm feeling good about my

decision >> come on >> this is my fault. this is my fault some of those moves -- >> these are out takes. >> you know what that one was. >> that's you saying do not use that. >> if you play that one song from dirty dancing, well, i'm not going to do it, but that gets me going, that one. ♪ i'll have the time of my life ♪ >> mike, what do you like? >> we can talk about that, at another time. >> and i jump off. that's what i was doing on that one shot patrick swayze >> right, slide on your knees across the floor i actually remember you doing this there you go. >> and by the way, that is you saying do not use that do not use that. >> i guess i have danced oh, no. >> i even do this, but it's a stroke of genius >> wow not going to dance not going to move. >> there must have been a lot of material to work from.

>> no, it's just replaying, replaying. anyway. >> see, and you did nothing. they have all that on tape. >> i won't leave you hanging >> thanks. >> all right in the meantime, walmart wants to take some of the dread out of making holiday returns it's teamed up with fedex to let customers schedule a pickup of items that were either bought in the store online at walmart.com or from a third party vendor if you want to do this, schedule a pickup by fedex through walmart's web site or app. that's a big deal, orders online, gets these things, doesn't want to take it back to the store. this could be an important partnership. still to come on "squawk box" this morning, it has been a rough ride for apple on its self-driving technology, that could change the stock moving higher after news that it is pushing toward with the self-driving car, and plans to have it ready by 2024

we'll have more on this story coming up next. >> and later, after receiving the covid-19 vaccine president-elect biden says he will push for more covid relief. we've got more on his economic stte at sllo come "squawk box" will be right back. (it's a skirt... and shorts) the world loves a hybrid. so do businesses. so, today they're going hybrid with ibm. a hybrid cloud approach lets them use watson ai to modernize without rebuilding, and bring all their partners and customers together in one place. that's why businesses from retail to banking are going with a smarter hybrid cloud using the tools, platform and expertise of ibm.

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an ugly year for the utility sector, but not all the stocks in the group are losers. dominic chu found some of the winners and joins us with more good morning dom. >> it hasn't been nearly as bad for the utility sector as energy and some fltof the other beatenp sectors. it's one of four sectors in the negative territory down 5%, versus the overall s&p up 15% take a look at the movements within the industry overall in the sector because there have been winners and losers. if you take a look at some of the real losers this year, driving some of the under performance. ppl, down 20%. con edison down 22%, and

centerpoint energy down 22%, driving down the sector. probably the most important stock in the overall sector is helping things the most, and that is take a look at this one here, next air energy, 22% it is by far the biggest stock in the utility sector, a market cap of $145 billion. the total market cap is 850. it represents roughly 17% of overall index. you have american water of 21%, aes up 13, and xcel energy up 3. it has been rough for the overall sector, but some of the biggest and most important stocks are keeping things afloat, and by the way, the next era energy by virtue of the huge upset performance of 22% yields only, and i say that tongue and cheek, only 1.9%, versus the s&p is 1.5%. back over to you >> well bloelow the sector average. thank you very much. and get ready for the i car, according to reuters, apple is

moving ahead with the self-driving car technology and targeting 2024 as the year it produces a passenger vehicle the report sent the stock higher in extended hours trading. the stock indicated up 3%. joining us is west coast correspondent for the sunday times to talk about this reported effort. danny, give me a read on this. i mean, the logic big picture for apple having some role in a vehicle, whether it be an operating system, the software, the driving time people have is one where they're not always reachable by an apple device, but what do you see them doing right now. are they actually going to produce a passenger vehicle and what would be the strategy there? >> well, so i think the first thing to think about, you'd have to go and look at the history here if you go back to the 1960s when hyundai first came on the scene, since then, there's only been one other company that has become a mass market car maker and that is tesla. the reason is this is really

hard there are dozens and dozens of companies that have been left on the scrap heap of history because, you know, it's just really hard to create a car company from scratch and it took tesla 17 years to get good at doing this that being said, if there's any company in the world who can finance a car company on the side, it is apple. now, what that car company looks like and still, you know, they're still under wraps, but, i think from the reports it looks like they're talking about a consumer, you know, a consumer car like a tesla, and so that is a very very heavy lift >> yeah, there's no doubt about that, but i guess the only reason it would be more logical or more likely right now, would be if tesla is in fact, correct, and the people who are fans in the sense that it really is more of a technology product, and service. i mean, it's tesla's software,

you know, the data that they're gathering, given all the cars on the road, and their ability to essentially have these upgrades, it seems like the distinguishing factor for a winner in the new environment. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, if you look at a tesla, it in many ways feels like an iphone on wheels you can see the logic there. but it is going to -- they're going to have to overcome several hurdles, not least of which is cost. because one of the hurdles for electric cars generally is they're a lot more expensive up front. that being said, the technology, whether it's the battery technology, which is the biggest single cost for an electric vehicle costs about a third of the overall sticker price, that has come down dramatically, something like 75% in the last 15 years so it is getting to a point, if you talk to people in the industry, 2021 is the year it's the inflection point where

you're going to have a dozen, two dozen cars in the next 12 to 24 months that come on to the scene. electric cars at reasonable price points, many of them so there is a moment here. there is a bit of a gold rush in the electric car industry, and apple is obviously looking at that and thinking, well, hey, i think we can do this and make our mark here. >> you're certainly right that, you know, apple can afford to be aggressive in this area, incredibly low cost of financing and huge cash flows that apple has, however, the story has been they're orienting or trying to orient a little bit more away from hardware, and the ecosystem. do you think that means there wouldn't be a manufacturer or are we just, you know, how can we speculate as to what the approach might be here >> it looks like they are, they will want to partner with a third party to do some of the manufacturing for the reasons previously stated. and this would fit in the

broader theme of what apple has been doing if you look at their services revenue over the past four years, it's doubled from something like 25 billion to $50 billion a year, and that's really about turning that iphone in your hand into a cash machine. cramming in all of these services that you will subscribe to because there's only so many people on planet earth, and they are reaching the limits of that. there's something like the 950 million iphones out there in the wild they're squeezing all of the juice out of that lemon, and so the car where you have all of these technologies kind of coming together and making this possible is in many ways the next frontier for them so software is obviously going to be a huge part of that. >> and presumably, the move toward autonomous has to be, i would think integral to whatever they might do? >> absolutely. and of course with all of these things, there's a lot of breathless coverage about when we might have truly driverless

cars, autonomous cars. this again, is a very slow burn, if you look at waymo, they have been doing this since 2009 they have logged millions of hours with their driverless cars, and it's still very much an experiment, and same for tesla. they have the auto pilot but again, this is not fully autonomous so that is a huge part of it it's going to take a while. >> it will take a while for anybody. be interesting to see what they come out with. danny, thank you very much >> appreciate it when we come back, president-elect biden's economic strategy and the battle against the pandemic also, check out shares of sportsman's warehouse. the retailer agreed to be bought by cabela's parent which will be $1,800 a share it's trading up at 17.34 right a inw. ga of 37%.

"squawk box" will be right back. so, what should we do today? ♪ wow. can we get some sun? ♪ uh, mom? can we go to the beach? (beep beep beep) should we just go see a movie? yes!

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♪ all his reindeer pulling on the reins ♪ take a look at the futures, a little bit in the last half hour, s&p 500 was down 1/2% yesterday, indicated to be higher by a 1/4% the nasdaq is the strongest of the three indexes, up 64 points at this hour apple a big part of that, indicated higher by about 3% later this morning, third quarter gdp will be out. we'll bring you those numbers and market reaction as they happen "sawbo wl rhtacquk x"ilbeig bk.

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as congress hashes out details of their latest relief deal president-elect biden has acknowledged additional stimulus efforts will be necessary according to him, on his watch, to address the long-term impact of the pandemic. joining us now with an outlook on what we can expect from the biden economy, andrew ohlman, served under directors cohn and kudlow, a meyer brown. wendy, currently the director of the hamilton project and senior fellow of economic studies at the brookings institution, and good to see you both just looking at a cursory glance, you both think this

latest deal is a pretty good package, andrew, you think it's pretty good? wendy, you think it's pretty good too that's rare. >> yeah, i think it's a pretty good christmas present if the u.s. economy certainly it would have been nice if christmas had come a few months earlier and we had seen this bill passed in the fall but this is a good step in the right direction, not perfect but an important step to help the economy recovery >> wendy. >> i completely agree. it's long overdue. it would have been much better for these negotiations to have been done in july, without the needless confusion and chaos there is a lot to like i ran the numbers and by my calculation, this bill should shore up about half of the short fall that i estimated we were going to see in economic output for next year. if there had been no fiscal support. and that's a good thing, and the reason that that happens is because the bill targets the

unemployed and other households in dire financial straits and government agencies who are likely to spend the money quickly. with that said, it's not enough. so the unemployment insurance benefit programs expire far too quickly. state and local governments will probably need additional fiscal support in the coming quarters and policy makers, i hope when this bill is behind us, turn their attention to those negotiations quickly so that we can avoid the kind of anxiety that we have just seen. >> i wonder about the first year, first two years, andrew, and infrastructure for real, andrew in your view? >> yeah, i think there's a real chance for infrastructure. it seems to me that that's a prudent place for the biden administration to focus. there's a lot of bipartisan support for infrastructure spending and there's also a need to pass a bill the highway trust fund expires in september, so in a way, that bill is kind of teed up. congress has to do something it would be a smart move to

start with infrastructure and kind of bring the country together around a package that both sides really want to have done, and have wanted to have done for some time. >> wendy, i saw you nodding. i imagine you agree with the infrastructure this confrontation is going nowhere. so i'm going to say that andrew says -- would also say the biden administration is going to commit to no raising taxes in 2021 and allow the economy to build momentum now do you agree, will you do that, too, wendy >> so, look, the biden administration is obviously inheriting a recession and enormous economic challenges his first priority sis going to be controlling the pandemic, distributing the vaccine quickly, and making sure he does everything in his power to make the economic recovery as robust as it can be in the near term. i agree that we can turn to infrastructure when we're on slightly stronger footing, and

we're turning back to infrastructure for one point one very good thing about that is it provides sustained fiscal support. we will need a new source of jobs for some of the 4 million people who say that their previous jobs are permanently gone, and a big infrastructure package can be one of the things that helps those folks >> how can -- how can he talk to his base in the democratic party if there's talk of no tax increases on the wealthy, wendy? that's a campaign promise, isn't it can he kick that can down the road a little bit because of the economy in your view >> there's short-term issues here, and there are long-term issues here. in the long-term, in the very long-term, once the economy is on very stable footing, we should start talking about how we can get the debt trajectory down to a more sustainable path. but for now, we should not be talking about tax increases.

we can afford this fiscal support with our current state of taxes and spending. and in fact, we can afford more fiscal support first of all, we can't afford not to and this is exactly the kind of thing that federal borrowing should be used for but second, given the incredibly low rate of interest rating right now, financing this debt is quite affordable. we see no signs of stress in financial markets, and given the immense economy we have and its structural soundness, raising taxes way down the road in order to pay back this debt is something that's well within our power, but what we need to do is avoid a return to premature austerity, just like we saw after the 2009 recession >> andrew is nodding to that, too. so you've got no, nothing on the horizon, andrew, in terms of

debt or debt service that's going to come home to roost anytime soon >> well, certainly have to deal with the pandemic, and i think it's -- that's why moving this bill through is important. i do also think it's important that congress does move forward in additional support in stages because we are running up the tab, the federal deficit is at record levels and the debt-to-gdp ratio is back to where it was in world war ii we're at unprecedented levels and we should be cautious of that that's why i think congress is wise to let the bill go through, see how the economy react, see the condition of where we are with the pandemic, and then reassess whether or not additional measures are needed you know, clearly one of the successes of this bill, i think, will be a lot of targeted support. i totally agree with wendy's statement, there's a lot of support, that's important so that taxpayers dollars are used efficiently and effectively.

we don't needlessly run up the debt during this time when we have to take extraordinary measures. >> this is a big picture, sociological issue that i'm hearing posited more and more. the last pandemic, 1918, ushered in a decade of just conspicuous consumption and vice, and spending and the roaring 20s it's weird, we're in the 20s now. we're not allowed to socialize everybody is saving their money. is it going to be followed eventually 2023, whenever, with conspicuous spending and people getting out and socializing, and then i don't know if you remember 1929, is that on the horizon, too? i mean, it all kind of fits, doesn't it, wendy? you worried? >> so, you know, you are putting meat on the whole idea of one

every hundred year kind of event. i mean, one thing that's different now is that because of the news cycle and because of the media that we can now consume, we have such up close, personal interactions with what social distancing has meant. we've seen and felt and internalized this pain of this pandemic and i wonder how long it will take for us to shake that off. you know, i for one don't find -- i can't imagine sitting in a movie theater and partying with thousands of people. >> times square, yeah. >> for a good long time. >> andrew is ready, you're ready for flappers. >> f. scott fitzgerald, i guess the american economy and the american people are incredibly resilient. that is the thing that american

history shows. a lot can be thrown at the economy and americans really do know how to react. if you look at even over the last year, which has been one of the toughest years in recent memory it's remarkable, even where the economy is right now that's a real testament to the know how and resilient bounce back of the american people. once we get this pandemic behind us, the public health side of this handled, certainly americans are ready to go back to work. the support structure that the administration has put in place really does put the united states in a good place here to combat this pandemic from an economic perspective and then when the public health situation subsides, be ready for good growth going forward >> what about the roaring 20s, you didn't answer me are we going to go wild, and we don't have time, anyway. >> it's going to feel like going wild, to just go to a restaurant and have a drink with one

person that will be like going wild. >> pot is going to be legal, gambling is going to be legal. wait for the 2020s, i'm going to tell you am i right or am i right >> i think the u.s. economy can perform very well. i think it depends on the administration's future policies there's no doubt about it. definitely the u.s. economy can grow vigorously. >> all right thanks >> it's going to be some real -- becky, you're with me. thank you. don't you feel it coming >> it's not going to be the charleston, and it's not going to be flappers it's going to be twerking and i'm not doing that for you. >> okay. would you like me to do that for you? >> please, you might hurt yourself >> you know who owes us who hasn't done.

>> make him dance. >> it's about the dance partners it's about us. >> it's about not creating tape of the sort we just saw played from joe >> man, oh man. >> i'm telling you. >> you should have seen us in the commercial break joe was actually up on the chair. >> you should have they probably did. they probably taped us. >> take us out. >> congress finally agreeing to the coronavirus relief package we were just discussing. we're going to talk to two members of the bipartisan problem solvers congress who helped craft the legislation that's next. >> and later, we're expecting the final read on third quarter gdp, we'll have the data as soon as it acrosses, futures ahead of those numbers have stabilized. dow futures up by 12 1/2 points, s&p up by 8, the nasdaq up by 5 "squawk box" will be right back

♪ just remember y'roue the one thing i can't get enough of ♪

good morning, d.c. has a deal a $900 billion coronavirus relief deal. what's in it, and what's not

we'll talk to a bipartisan pair of lawmakers from the house problem solvers caucus. plus, we'll dig into what the airlines got in the agreement. furloughed workers are coming back, at least temporarily, and siri, start your engine. reports of an apple car sparking excitement in the electric vehicle world. final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, and welcome to "squawk box," welcome back to "squawk box," here on cnbc i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and mike santoli andrew is off today. u.s. equity futures are positive after a big rebound in what started out as a pretty tough session yesterday for the bulls. ended up about 30 points, up another 12 the dow is now positive. that had been diverging a little bit this morning, off

fractionally the nasdaq and s&p have been in the green for most of the pre-market session, beck thanks, joe. let's get you caught up on some of today's top corporate stories. breaking deal news from honey well, that company is buying privately held sparta systems from new mountain capital for $1.3 billion in cash sparta is a provider of quality management software for the life sciences industry. honey well shares right now unchanged. in the meantime, check out shares of peloton, that company is buying rival fitness equipment maker, for $420 and a deal that will give peloton more market share the deal prompted key bank capital markets to raise its price target on peloton from $160 to a street high of $185 a share. stock at 158 but key bank said they think it's good news they said it was synergistic and would help the long-term growth for peloton.

alphabet's google unit and facebook agreeing to cooperate and assist one another on any investigation into online ad cooperation. that is according to an unredacted version of a lawsuit filed against google last week, seen by the "wall street journal. the suit contends that google and facebook knew their cooperation could lead to antitrust investigations this is alleged in a lawsuit neither of those stocks off by much alphabet down by $0.59 facebook down by 19 cents. the genius ron barron agrees with me. did you see this it's coming, i hope we can control what happens in ten years. that's why we need to think about it. >> he agrees with you in terms of -- >> roaring 20s what that entailed great party. you know what happens after the party, right you've seen the movie, the hangover mike tyson could be in your bathroom with a tiger. >> poor tiger. >> anyway, the stalemate, right,

and you're missing a tooth and everything else. the stalemate is over. congress giving its stamp of approval to a nearly $900 billion coronavirus relief package, paired with a $1.4 trillion government funding measure. the relief legislation includes $600 $600 in checks for most americans. a supplement through mid march, a large pot of money for small business loans, and billions for testing covid and vaccine distribution joining us to talk about how the bill finally came together, and what might be next, new jersey congressman josh gottheimer, pennsylvania congressman brian fitzpatrick. they're both members of the bipartisan problem solvers caucus, which helped dracraft t bill gentlemen, good morning. >> good morning, joe >> we just had two people from different sides of the aisle, more or less, agree that there are things to like for both

parties. do you agree with that, josh, and you know, you're on a lot because you're definitely more moderate than many in your party. do you see things to like here >> i'm not as moderate at you, joe, but in a very divided washington, this is as close to a christmas miracle that it's going to get we really, i think, brought both sides together, democrats and republicans, obviously and the problem solvers, across the congress and in the senate where we worked with republicans and democrats there to get this done and as you pointed out, really, it's everything from unemployment support, which is so critical right now, as covid cases are spiking and people are hurting, and 30% of small businesses have gone out in jersey where i live. we've got another round of ppp for our small businesses to help them, which is going to be critical we also got food assistance and vaccine distribution so important, people are on food lines for the very first time, and are unable to pay their

rents. we have rental assistance, and it's really something to help everybody get through the height of the pandemic here, and get us to the next administration, and into the next congress >> congressman fitzpatrick. >> yes, sir. you know, to echo what josh said, i mean, it is, we had a press conference yesterday about this it is utterly ridiculous how difficult it is to get things done in this town. it does not function like any normal aspect of our lives work, our personal relationships, our families, our businesses, and that's it's about, breaking the gridlock, about bringing some reason and common sense, and pragmatism and consensus in congress i'm so proud to be partnering with josh in the caucus, and all of our members we're at 50 members now, 25 democrats, 25 republicans. we're trying to expand and grow that as always, and i can say unequivocally that this deal would not have come together without our caucus there's no question about it it should have been done months

ago. it was not done months ago for all the wrong reasons, for politics, which is unfortunately. that's what we're trying to break is the gridlock and the partisan divide and trying to be that bridge, and this is not a perfect bill by any stretch, believe me if josh and i had written this bill and put our own bill on the floor, it would not have looked like this, but we follow the motto, we would rather get 80% of something than 100% of nothing. and josh is hearing the same thing back home that i'm hearing, people are in very very tough circumstances, not only from a health standpoint but from an economic standpoint. the continuance of ppp for employers and employees, it makes ppf funding tax deductible which is a huge benefit at the end of the year when people need it the most. >> do you think it will be easier to be, josh, part of something called problem solvers a year from now? will you be working with brian on infrastructure? will you -- do you think we should raise taxes or not right

away, josh would you be okay if republicans said let's hold off until we're out of this mess and the economy is in better shape would that be okay with you? >> i'm not somebody who believes in raising taxes i think infrastructure is something we've got to get right to and brian who's a phenomenal leader along with 24 other republicans we work with every week in the problem solvers caucus i think this is the motto for the next year and for the biden administration and the president-elect has made that clear that we've got to work together not just in the house but with the senate and enough of the partisan gridlock and screaming and yelling, it's time to get things done. the only way to get it done, is to sit down, talk to each other, build trust with one another we've got to end this model that's going on where nothing gets done and it's just a bunch of partisan divide, you know, and i really believe this particular piece of legislation, which is so critical and so necessary as an emergency

short-term relief package is a model for how we're going to govern in the next administration in the new year. >> brian, are you ready for big spending if they want to do a lot more, president biden and the democrats? you think republicans are going to sign on to that for either stimulus or infrastructure or both overlap. >> yeah, well, it really depends on what it is, and what's involved in it i think everything we have done up to this point has not been stimulus, it's been relief, trying to get liquidity and access to capital for those who need it most we need a stimulus bill, there's no question about it i think most people in congress and in the country would agree that infrastructure is a great opportunity to do that, because not only -- the thing with infrastructure, it's an economic issue because it's a job creator, a national security issue when it comes to i.t. infrastructure and the electrical grid. it's a public safety issue when it comes to structural integrity of roads and schools and businesses, and dams and levees, and it injects cash into the system and creates jobs at a

time when we actually need that boost, you know, coming out of this pandemic. so infrastructure is a very barn issue. it's a job creator i hope you can find a way to get it done. sit on the committee for the next congress. i expect it to be an active committee and i think with all of this talk about creating jobs and injecting some type of stimulus, not relief, but stimulus infrastructure and transportation legislation is the way to go. the question is how are we going to finance it, and that's going to be the debate. >> i want to add i think brian was spot on, and i add to that, we're going to have to invest more in the beginning of the year in state and local governments in real trouble. many have been hit so hard, towns, communities, defecting, law enforcement, firefighters, teachers, so you're going to, this is the stimulus part of what we still need to address, as brian is talking about in the new year i think it's going to be key >> either one of you guys get jabbed yet >> did we get what

>> jabbed? do i need to call it a shot. have either one of you gotten the vaccine, it's a jab, josh, you gotten it yet? >> yes, i did get the vaccine. >> both of you did >> jumping the line. no, you're essential, we need you guys you know, finally, i don't know, the last couple of years you guys didn't look too essential congrats, and we're all looking forward to getting it. i was going to ask you about reopening, and restaurants, and all of these horrible things going on, terrible arguments about how to do things, and the vaccine takes care of all of it, hopefully that's going to happen, and you just can't get rolled out soon enough no issues, no rash, no soreness, no, you know, did you feel like you had the flu or a hangover or something, no problem at all, josh, right? >> no, it was fine and i encourage everyone to get the vaccine as soon as they can get it it's really important.

stay safe. >> we got to in the meantime we came this far that's what scares me, the fatigue. jab, it's called a jab did you think -- in congress if someone jabs someone, it's totally different. >> i'm from jersey, jab can mean a couple of different things you got to be careful. >> okay. all right. thank you, congressmen, both, we'll see you again soon keep it up talk to each other >> thanks. happy holidays. coming up, we're going to dig deep into what airlines are getting out of the latest coronavirus relief bill, plus an apple car and a forgettable first day for tesla in the s&p 500. rel those stories and more a on the way when "squawk box" returns.

welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc. airlines walked away with $15 billion in payroll support from the latest coronavirus aid bill fill phil lebeau joins us now with inside details >> what's interesting is what this means for the airlines and furloughed workers, furloughed starting october 1st here's what the airlines will be receiving. $15 billion, that's the total amount going to airlines for

payroll support, again, payroll support, straight out to the employees. another billion for airline contractor, and 2 billion for airports and airport based businesses for the airlines, this means that they will be rehiring more than 32,000 workers who were furloughed starting in october when the previous aid package expired and the q1 passenger levels, this is where the rub is the q1 passenger levels are still expected to be down 50 to 60%. which is one reason why yesterday, united airlines ceo scott kirby sent out a memo to employees celebrating the fact that they will be able to rehire some workers, but also writing in there, united has been realistic about our outlook throughout the crisis, and we have tried to give you an honest assessment every step of the way. the truth is we just don't see anything in the data that shows a huge difference in bookings over the next few months that is why we expect the recall will be temporary. again, temporary reemployment for those 13,000 workers who were furloughed.

as you take a look at shares of united, remember, those 13,000 workers, they will be guaranteed through the end of march, and we're going to likely see this with the other airlines to encounter this same situation, guys they will have to make a decision, given the fact that they're going to be facing heavy losses in the first quarter. what happens at the end of march. if you don't see the traffic levels where it supports more people working, what do you do do you furlough them again or go back to congress and say, if you want us to be ready for when it up tick in traffic comes, you're going to have to be willing to extend more payroll support? >> incredibly tricky, phil we did want to talk about cars this morning we're hearing seasonal deals might not be quite as good this year. >> and we see this every december you see the december to remember sales promotions whefor family d friends events we are still seeing that the thing is you're not seeing deals that are quite as rich as you usually see at dealerships it's understandable. you have a tight inventory, and

you've got strong demand if you're an auto maker or a dealer, you simply do not have to roll out deals that are quite as rich as they usually are. >> i do think that there are deals out there, but there isn't necessarily as big a push as what we have seen in the years past we know that inventory levels are not as high. we know that 2020 model year vehicles have largely sold down, so there isn't just that dire need to get these vehicles out the door >> so what does this mean for the auto makers? when you take a look at the big 3, pickups and suvs remain red hot. they've got tight inventories to begin with they're going to see strong sales ending the year going into the first quarter. as for the auto dealers, look at these stocks if you look at the stocks this year, they're all close to, if not at a 52-week high. that's in part not only because of the demand on the new side but the used market and when you talk about the used market, becky, you have to look at

carvana, remember when it went public, people said, that's an interesting idea, people selling directly or buying directly, and that stock has exploded. it is at an all time high right now. becky, back to you. >> makes sense in the pandemic, where people don't want to be going out to a car sales place, to be able to do it this way, and you have to think customers are going to stick around, and do it this way in the future. >> i know a few who bought through carvana, they were happy with the process that's what you want if you're carvana, you want people to think it's become a normal part of life. >> phil, thank you we'll see you soon. >> you bet. we're going to stick with autos, and tesla, a member of the s&p 500 and then reports that we could be seeing an apple car just coming in the next few years. joining us for that is mark fields, of course he's the former president and ceo of ford and mark, just for a starter, what phil is talking about that you're not getting deals at the end of this year, what does that mean for 2021 for the auto industry what kind of year do you see setting up

>> well, i think for 2021, you're going to see an industry that's going to be up in the neighborhood of 10 to 12%. i think there are a couple of things driving that. first, becky, as you know, retail sales have snapped back pretty well, but what has kind of dragged down the industry this year, particularly since covid, is fleet sales. day basically turned off but we are seeing in the last month or two is fleet sales starting to come back and in any given month, fleet sales, particularly for the big three, the detroit three, represent around 25 to 30% of the sales, so as fleets come back, that will help 2021 when you look at the factors that are positives for next year, first year seeing low interest rates which help people finance cars, you're seeing strong housing starts, which is very car related with the strength of the pickup market. obviously with the vaccine coming online, you're going to see less impact from covid to

the economy. the government stimulus moneys that have been put in place, and you're going to see in my view, lingering changed buying behaviors brought on by covid, and the fact that people aren't going to want to, particularly families, aren't going to want to share cars or share ride sharing as much as they have in the past they're going to want to buy a car to keep their family safe, and that's good for suv sales. i think it's setting up for a good 2021. the negatives for next year are basically inventory. the biggest challenge for manufacturers is getting production out and that's mainly due to high levels of absenteeism in the plants both at the auto makers and the suppliers due to covid that's what's keeping the inventory pretty short, and i think you'll see that for at least the first half of next year >> hey, mark, very quickly you mentioned that fleet sales are such a huge part of the big 3, 25 to 30% of sales. i didn't realize that.

i could imagine some fleet sales coming back for companies and places, the big part has to be municipalities, governments, police departments that are traditionally out there buying in fleets, and that seems like it could be a bit of a stretch to see some of those local districts or states putting a lot of money towards things like this, particularly when that didn't get passed in the stimulus bill, they're going to have to look at ways to cut cost. >> when you look at fleet sales, there's three elements, the fleet sales that you mentioned, there's commercial fleet sales for private businesses, which is coming back, and then there's rent a cars. the hertz and the avis of the world. they have defleeted or reduced their inventories tremendously over this year, and as you see as phil was just speaking, as travel starts to come back next year, you're going to see those rent a car companies start to buy again. yes, government will continue to be challenged, and i do believe

both private fleets and rental companies are going to come back. >> let's talk about tesla and apple. we saw tesla go into the s&p 500 yesterday, what do you think that means, and the idea that apple might get involved with producing an electric vehicle. that sent some shock waves through the industry too how do you read it >> tesla, now that it's part of the s&p, it's valued as a technology company, not valued as an auto company you're trading at 180 plus times earnings, versus oems or auto makers that trade between 4 and # tim 8 times, that tells you something. they're focused on the product pipeline, their expertise in software, their expertise in batteries, but bottom line is e tesla's profitability is not based on vehicles. fuel credits to other manufacturers.

they have got to fix that problem, and also as you think about tesla, they are very much married to lithium ion batteries, and as you see new technologies potentially leapfrog the capability of lithium ion batteries, that's going to be a challenge for tesla. when you look at apple, listen, at the end of the day, you could say, listen, it's a stretch, but digging a little deeper, if you look at their expertise, their core competencies, that's really around software, and around battery expertise. along with having a very strong brand and if you look at tesla's success, that has really driven them to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market. tesla's issue is they have completely, for the most part, vertically integrated and they manufactured the vehicle so you know, if the timing is indicative of 2024, which was reported, you know, they would certainly, apple would certainly need to take the route of having a partner in manufacturing

but listen, designing, engineering, building, and marketing and servicing an automobile is much more complex than a cell phone, but if they're intelligent, which they are, in picking good partners, you know, could be successful. >> mark, it's great to see you hate to do this, we've got to run. we have data cominupg mark, thank you very much th, mk fields "squawk box" will be right back. many experts predict the next gold rush is just beginning. so call us money reserve the only precious metals organization led by a former director of the united states mint as one of the largest us gold coin distributors in the country. us money reserve has proudly served hundreds of thousands of clients worldwide. there may have never been a better time to start diversifying your assets with physical gold and silver. and right now it's easy to get started. pick up the phone right now, call to receive the complete guide to protecting your hard earned assets.

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welcome back to "squawk box. rick santelli here live in chicago. cm hq awaiting breaking news, and of course the breaking news is our third look at third

quarter gdp. we're expecting a number in the neighborhood of the last number, 33.1 do keep in mind as we look at this last time at third quarter, fourth quarter is officially almost over, and that will of course be new year's eve but land of gdp now still looking for a number slightly over 11% for 4th quarter that's powerful. you can see that the number hasn't quite come out yet, which is why i'm kind of discussing it before it shows up but one thing i dome want to hit on quickly before we see this number, with what's going on in the u.k., it's not a covid story but a timing story they're going to need all the help they think get as brexit occurs the last day of the year, and what's happening with the strange isn't helping get in and out the country. joe, becky, and gang, i don't see fourth quarter 33.4 arguably 3/10 better than anyone

anticipated. the rest of the numbers haven't trickled out yet, but just to put a face on this, if we ended up with a number for 4th quarter that's around 11% with 33.4, we're not going to get back to an unchanged year. don't see the consumption or the price index, pce, q over q yet, i'm going to kick it back to you folks, we have the gist of this, 33.4 any of the sub components come out, i'll make sure to get your attention. becky, back to you. >> perfect, rick jump in when and if you see some of those other numbers joining us to talk more about the third quarter gdp data, neyla richardson, also andrew swimmon, at morgan stanley investment management. neyla, this number is better than anticipated, what do you attribute that to? >> despite the drama and the timing of the release, it's what

we expected, a little bit higher, but, you know, this recession caused by the pandemic is the deepest we have ever seen, but all have agreed that it might be the shortest in duration, and one of the reasons why is consumer spending even in the lock down, consumers found a way to spend even with social restrictions, we saw retail sales recover faster than other parts of the economy because of pretty strong consumer balance sheets going into the pandemic. so the key question about the 4th quarter is that as we're seeing cases surge, as we reach this peak height of the pandemic, will consumer spending also continue to flow? >> yeah, and andrew, that's a question that the market may be sniffed out earlier. the reason the market's been hanging in there arebecause of signs of strength like this. that is not to argue that the economy isn't suffering greatly, that there aren't certain pockets of the economy and certain employees who have really gotten hit hard, but the

market maybe saw through some of that, and this is a little bit of proof of that. >> yeah, you know what i find fascinating is the market is up off a low, about equal to how it was off the low in 2009, about 65%, which is a lot off the low, but the economy is much further along at the end of 2020 than it was in 2009, the unemployment rate is down 6 and change, versus 10 in 2009, so the economy is actually recovered faster than 09 but the stock market is up about equally, and i think that portends good things, at least for the first part of next year. >> nela, that's not to say there aren't a lot of issues we're going to be struggling with. we have this new bill of $900 trillion, sorry, $900 billion, that congress passed getting close to a trillion dollars, and that does an awful lot to shore things up and maybe tide some of the companies and some of the

employees over to when demand actually picks up again. but, you know, we're not through everything at this point what concerns you, what areas would you be watching, what do you think needs to happen? >> yeah, becky, i want to circle back to something you said earlier about the unevenness of this recovery and the scarring that will continue that's where we see the concern, if you look at the headline numbers, you're going to miss the fact that this covid pandemic has affected different industries and consumers differently. while we are seeing household balance sheets rise with home price appreciation and asset price appreciation, we're also seeing those making less money lose their jobs at a much faster clip small businesses, reducing head ko count at a much faster clip. even as the economy improves, the scarring continues, and we don't know right now how deep those scars will be in these impacted industries. that's what keeps me up at night. the stimulus will help offset

that in the near term for small businesses but there's still pain ahead in these winter months as we continue social distancing, and it remains to be seen how businesses look, especially small businesses on the other side of this pandemic. >> andrew, just to revisit the idea of the inner play between the markets and the economy, and comparing it back to post 2009, it's absolutely true s&p 500 has tracked that recovery in 2009 very very closely. but i wonder if it's all that relevant, considering even after that gain in 2009, the market was still 25% below its high, the downturn took a year and a half, and cut the market by 50%. here we had a five-week 35%, you know, correction, bear market, whatever you want to call it, and we have valuations a good deal higher. i wonder if you think the market now has appreciated more of the economic resilience than it had back then? >> yes absolutely, mike, you're absolutely right

i think that, you know, we are a lot further along. i don't think we're at the end, but, i mean, look, you had chris on yesterday he had a great climb which is simplicity sometimes intellectually not fulfilling but many times the best way to think about things the fed has been incredibly accommodative this year. it's paid to stay long with the fed, but ultimately, i think to your point, the bond market is going to force the fed to reconsider sooner than in 2009 or 2010 and that's going to shorten this rally at some point next year. i don't think it's coming in the first quarter, so. >> nela, back to your point about the inequality, and some industries will continue to see deep scarring and some employees. think about what we have heard from the airline industry. united saying they're going to bring the employees back because of the funding being passed by

congress but they can't promise anybody anything beyond the end of march, and if they don't see demand, like they haven't to this point, they'll be furloughed again what does that mean, and what do you do if you're one of those workers? >> the economy is not strong enough for any company to make promises to their workers. that's where we are. that's the reality we're still in the midst of covid, and part of the reason the economy bounced back to 2/3 of the pre-pandemic levels is because of bipartisan stimulus that stimulus was missing in 2008 and 2009. we had austerity that stimulus is critical but it's one piece of a larger puzzle that will make the hand off a little better. it won't mean businesses can call back laid off workers and what you might see is still some resounding weakness in the december jobs report, and you might see a slower call back of these workers. we hope they stay temporary layoffs, they may transition to permanent, and this is where

policy might be still needed in 2021 we're closer than we've ever been, but the markets have far outpaced the economy in terms o. recove -- of the recovery and thatn continues. >> nela, thank you >> bitcoin taking a breather to start the week it's still up more than 15% this month. is this a pause on the road to 30,000 and beyond. stay tuned, that conversation is back above 23,000. "squawk box" will be right back.

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2020 has been bitcoin's year, with the price of the cryptocurrency tripling, it seems like we have been here before, in late 2017 before bitcoin prices collapsedment here to tell us why he thinks that won't happen this time is dan morehead, pantera capital ceo. what are the distinctions between the way bitcoin is being traded, used, thought about, compared to three years ago. >> we have a bitcoin shortage right now. every four years, the number of bitcoin is cut in half, and that happened this summer, and we have buyers now like pay pal who just themselves are consuming more than 100% of all the bitcoin that are issued.

when you have big institutional buyers, big investors purchasing more than 100% of the bitcoins that are issued, it's going to cause the price to squeeze up. >> when you say a shortage, up a shortage of newly created bitcoin relative to the demand, they're not shrinking the absolute amount, right, so i mean, the demand is not some, you know, naturally occurring organic thing. it seems as if there's a lot of trend following, a lot of people are facilitating the popularity of it, and why does the price action have any connection to something beyond people seem to really like it >> that's really it. if 100 million people think it's useful that's why it has value, and there's different use to people who store wealth some people in emerging markets banks that might be failing or have issues with their currency, send money across borders, there's lots of different use cases and six years ago, there

were only a million people on earth that used it and it was worth $100 of bitcoin, and now there's a hundred million people that use it worth $120 of bitcoin. >> we did see the pull back in the price of bitcoin, the treasury department might be looking at restrictions or not, but these things pop up from time to time also a reported hack of one of the bigger wallet providers, we do hear this, and you know, s.e.c. pmaking a move i guess, a lot of things are undetermined in terms of the regulatory treatment ultimately of this asset class. is that not a risk >> it is this is obviously very very early days for brand new asset classes. there's going to be volatility on both sides, but, you know, those create the news items, using bitcoin to send money back home to their mom in the philippines that, doesn't make the news but that's really what's driving the price. >> what's the ratio of people

trading it, or using it in an asset class. hundred dollar bills are moved to use money, and western union moves money around the world, but doesn't trade at a premium, and go up three times a year in value. >> it took western union 140 years to get to where they are today. and bitcoin is 7 years old, and all remittance to mexico is going over cryptocurrency, it's progressing at a faster rate than legacy systems. >> one of the story lines as you mentioned, bigger institutions are certainly allocating more in this area. they've decided that it's something worth owning perhaps instead of something like gold are they anymore reliable, are they stronger hands than the individuals that seem to be driving things a few years ago >> i think so. in 2017, there was obviously a media frenzy around it there were all kinds of newly

issued tokens that didn't have any basis to exist that were coming out it really was a speculative frenzy this is being driven by the most famous global macro investors, by public companies like square and pay pal, and micro strategy, big endowments are buying. these are the types of people buying for the 5, 10, 20-year horizon, rather than a quick flip. >> dan, the scary thing if you look at it, are the lows for the last, go back any year and look at the low, and then look at the high, and to become truly just a, you know, something used in normal commerce, it's tough when you see a low that's 20% of the high or whatever, i mean, last year i think it was -- what was the low this year, it was like 4,000 or 4,000 and change. so now 23,000. is that in your view, you're not going to see that in 2021 anymore because to really become just not just a store of value,

but to become like a currency that you use without worrying about risk holding it overnight, those fluctuations need to become i would say quite a bit less. >> that's true, and over time as this thing matures, they certainly will but the lows is a very interesting statistic. this market has had five 80 to 90% bear markets which would destroy any other asset class, and in one calendar year since bitcoin began trading has the low been below prior lows. even though it's gone 80 to 90% several times, and it could easily do that again, the lows are higher than the prior low. that's the story for bitcoin it's so useful, in every three years, ten times more people began using it that the prices go up so much that even when you have a big bear market, they end up higher than when eyou starte. anyone who has owned bitcoin for 3 1/4 years has made money.

>> 3 1/4 years is the look back on a break even. all right. what about the idea that crow sti -- you still do have a concentrated ownership of people who owned these at low levels, and there are whales in the market that can certainly move things quite ramatically. >> they can, but they normally don't. that's an important point, a large percentage of bitcoin was lost in the earlier days of the project. it had little value and people would lose it on a hard drive, and there are quite a number of people who own huge blocks, often for political, fill so much -- philosophical reasons. it takes higher prices to get people to pair off a small percentage of their hold. >> we'll see dan, thanks a lot for running through it all with us. >> thank you >> appreciate it. and coming up, a double dose of jim, that would be kremcramed paulson. we'll talk markets and get you

set up for the trading day when "squawk box" returns

welcome back, everybody. let's get to cnbc headquarters, jim cramer joins us right now. hey, jim, wedding music aside,

let's talk about a debate that we heard earlier this morning on "squawk box," and we hear it just about every day, the question is, have we come too far too fast what do you think with the markets? we have come back 6 5% from the lows, just like we did in 2008, 2009, this time the economy is in much better shape, there are more supports than last time around and hopefully, hopefully we get through and get the vaccines out quickly. where do you come down on this have we run too far too fast >> no, i don't think so. i think that the technology stocks are uniquely set up for a pandemic the comeback stocks milwaukee a l make a lot of sense, we're not that far from -- you used the term vaccine glut, that's a possibility if j&j plays out i thought the package -- the $900 billion package is well thought out. the unemployment benefits are good some of the money they're giving toward vaccine, contact tracers, this is all very good.

i don't think the $600 is completely idle when combined with the unemployment. you're going to tie people over to the vaccine no, i'm -- i just don't buy the negativity here. >> i thought that's what you were going to say. it is interesting, we always try and find how things rhyme with last time around but this time it is different. >> it is i had robinhood on last night. you may say, listen, they should put it in the bank or put food on the table if they don't have a job. the $900 billion bridge and what i always hear dr. gottlieb talk about in the morning really makes me feel like even yesterday with the so-called electric strain they're talking about that we may be in better shape. it is a footrace, becky. footrace to vaccine. but had ywhen you see all these

people come on with the vaccine, maybe this thing will get to us sooner than we think i know that seems completely wrong when from the negatives that i hear, but if -- a lot depends on j&j if j&j is ready, they're going to have a billion vaccines i think and that's just very, very let's say aggressive but possible >> a billion vaccines that take one shot, so it works a lot more quickly too. let's just cross our fingers for that g that. >> i think j&j -- i had emerging bio on, what they're talking about is really pretty much of a, you know what, in tandem, let's make it, and if it works, we're ready. that's highly unusual and that's what i understand to be the case not denied and what an amazing thing if you are making something already and if it gets aproved, wow, everybody gets some. that would be so great so i'm not -- i'm a pessimist, only in the sense that there were so many things that went wrong before we got the bill

and i'm an optimist going forward. >> great from your lips, jim. thank you, we'll see you in a couple of minutes. >> thank you >> for more on the markets, let's bring in jim paulsen, chief investment strategist. i'm interested in so much, we got to go quick. i don't -- initially asked you why it was marked down yesterday. i have no interest in that i have an interest in your outlook for 2021, one of the things you see is 6% gdp growth, 2% faster than consensus, that would be the fastest in 35 years. why do you think that? >> well, i think, joe if you -- what is -- i think the biggest thing ignored is the policy historically has long lag relationship to the economy. typically monetary and fiscal policy is the real impact positive for the economy, it takes a year or more so most of -- most of what we have done this last year is

really going to start to take hold in 2021 if you couple that with the fact that we still have a higher savings rate than almost 99% of the time in post war history on a economy with no inventories, if that spending comes out, it is going to lead to a lot of increase in operations, and then the vaccines at some point we're going to have a big boost to confidence in this country, and unleash people again free, go free, go where you want, spend what you want, i think that combines to a banner year, joe, not only here, but globally. >> since 1900 bond yields have been below 3%, only a quarter of the time they don't become a negative for stocks until they're going back up -- on their way back to three. that might be where -- you're thinking the market -- you can embrace the move between now and until it gets at 3% and it will

be a good thing when they arise. give me a quick answer >> i think so, joe i think that what happens when bond yields get as low as they are, is historically is they lose their significance as an economic indicator, they become a fear gauge basically and so when they go back up, it means confidence is lifting. and so what you find out is if you look at it historically, when bond yields rise from below 3%, stocks do 16.8% per annum historically, where as when they're above 3%, rising yields hurt the stock market. >> only looking over that, you're saying s&p finishes the year, next year, 4100ish, but in the meantime, there will be quite a big pullback which you think is your classic buy on the canons, sell on the trumpets people get vaccinated, things start reopening, life returns to normal, that's when you think we

might, until then we keep going, when that happens, that might be the time there is a pause that takes 10% or 15% off the market. >> i think so, joe we sometimes think right now we're too giddy, too optimistic, sentiment is too strong. when we get vaccinated next year, compared to what we have been through this year, i think the giddiness is going to be even more explosive. that might be when you want to be a little more cautious and will probably get a sizable pullback market might be higher than that don't forget the broader market, small cap, cyclicals, international stocks, value stocks, i think they do better than the s&p 500 they haven't done much for the last three years and now they're heating up. >> it is a lot to digest could go above 4100 in the meantime, and end around 4100, but don't ignore some of the sector of the market that may have not done as well as the s&p. you mentioned most of them

>> right i would also put in there, you know, i think i would certainly have some em, but i do em excluding china, i think china will be a big loser post pandemic i buy small caps, but i would also add some microcaps which i think are going to lead the way. and i think financials are just a unique asset right now, joe. what the financials amount to are the only equity asset that is truly taking a short position on the bond market, which i think the bond market will really take a hit next year. if you're in bonds, it could be a bloody year, i think bond yields on ten years could get closer to 2% than 1% in the next year. >> that's next yore. real quickly, i've been tongue and cheek talking about the roaring '20s and ended badly last time. we built up a lot of debt. can we handle it this year or looking five, ten years down the road, it is a pretty bad hangover ten-second answer. >> joe, i'm looking forward to the debauchery in 2021

i really am. i heard you talk about it, but i do think it is a problem down the road i think we could overheat this cycle eventually that might be how it ends. >> all right in the meantime, whoo, like i said, anyway, thanks, jim. we'll see you again soon great to have you on make sure -- thank you, santoli. ballroom, llom, people say, that's what you like see you, becky join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" is next good tuesday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber futures are steady coming off monday's big upside reversal congress passes that long awaited covid relief package, sends it to the white house. we are watchinguk sentiment as the eu recommends all member nations discourage nonessential travel to and from the uk. road map begins with apple this

morning.