it is 5:00 a.m. at cnbc and here are your top 5 at 5:00. stocks snapping the recent win streak coming off record highs but that could change today. futures are in positive territory. breaking overnight, uk regulator s giving the green light to astrazeneca we're live in london and mitch mcconnell pulling the plug on $2,000 stimulus checks making new demands to get that money out to millions of americans. and the holiday shopping season providing a boom to the bottom line of warehouse companies, we'll talk to the ceo of one industry leader florida and as the rise of the

groove machine, i think it is creepy, but we're calling it a groove machine, the dancing robots that are going viral. it is wednesday, december 30, 2020, and you are watching "worldwide exchange" right here on cnbc. ♪ everybody dance now everybody dance now ♪ great music to start the morning and good morning to all of you i'm frank holland in for brian sullivan here is how your money and at global markets are setting up their day. futures are looking a lot higher after all the averages closed down even after hitting in-twra day highs during the day as we said, stocks slipped yesterday coming off the intra day highs. the dow and s&p shed about a quarter of a percent at the close while the nasdaq fell about one third of a percent now, despite the pullback, stocks are poised to wrap the year with strong gains the s&p is up over 15%, nasdaq climbed 43%.

the dow up only about 6% but perhaps one of the biggest market stories of the year, bitcoin and it rapid rise climbing back above 28,000 overnight. investors keeping a close watch on whether the crypto can break through 30,000 before the year wraps up we're also following breaking news yoefrp seoverseas with the astrazeneca vaccine getting approval joumanna bercetche has the latest ghchl. >> thanks, frank it is such a big day over here ground breaking for the industry and the world. the uk medical approval agency has formally given approval to the use of the astrazeneca vaccine. and we just had a tweet from boris johnson calling this a try unt triumph of for british science and how this is different from the messenger rna ones used by pfizer and moderna, this is crucial because this particular vaccine can be stored at a much

higher temperature, so normal refrigeration temperature. and it can also be mass produced that is hugely significant because astrazeneca today said that they are in touch with some of the global suppliers and partners to help produce up to 3 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021 that is a huge number for the world. and will have particular relevance for some of the loader income countries in terms of the uk, the uk itself has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, 4 million are expected to be delivered within days. and we heard from the ceo of astrazeneca and he said that the first doses of the vaccine will start to be delivered between today and tomorrow just a short note as well on the administration of the particular vaccine, they said that they are going to front load a lot of the first dose to get as mas a vaccd as possible and then the second dose a 12 week time horizon to ensure that good chunk of the

vaccine have the baseline immunity first before they deliver the second so a different type of approach than what we've seen with the other vaccination rollouts >> all right, thank you very much now the latest in the fight over the $2,000 stimulus checks and a new plan by the senate majority leader. seema mody has that and the other top headlines. >> good morning, frank senator mitch mcconnell is tying those payments to two of president trump's demands unrelated to virus aid mcconnell says that he will introduce a bill boosting the side of checks from $600 to $2,000, but would also repeal legal liability protections for tech companies and create a ghigs to study election issues now, this after he blocked the standalone pavement payments bl yesterday. chuck schumer says the new bill would have no chance of passing the house. and those initial $600 stimulus pavements have begun to roll out. treasury secretary steven mnuchin revealing on twitter

last night that some direct deposits should start to show up he added that the government would begin the process of mailing out paper checks today to qualified recipients. and china reportedly looking to shrink jack ma's business empi empire under a restructuring plan presented by officials, ant group would return to its origins as online payment provider similar to paypal the "journal" he'adds its loan businesses would be scaleded back and likely turned into a separate financial holding company that would be subject to the kind of capital requirements applied to banks alibaba shares up about 3% in hong kong. >> all right, thank you very much let's turn back to the markets. as we mentioned, stocks are set to wrap up 2020 with strong gains despite numerous headwinds this year. our next guest says the new year may bring turbulence for

investors. the founder and head financial adviser at new street advisers is joining us. you and i have talked many time also over the summer, we had the fortune to do summer school together so i'll give you a chance to monologue. i know you put a lot of your investors into tech, things like zoom and you are saying they should continue to be in that, but we have vaccines, stimulus checks, a lot of uncertainty just go off. what should people be putting their money in >> really good to be on the show yeah, i think q1, you know, what we're look at is as you talked about, we had a strong year despite what we had going on i think investors had a lot of help with monetary fiscal policy and i think a lot of that good news is baked in so i would be cautious as we go into q1 and q2 there may be some sort of correction, but i think investors shouldn't worry, i think that we'll still have a

str strong year despite that, around 10% is what i'm looking at but investors need to look at the situation where they have cash on the sideline, they can be prepared for any sort of correction and be in those themes that we liked in 2020, i think they still play in 2021. >> all sounds lochblg c nhblg s >> all sounds lochblg c ounds l. tech obviously will continue to be strong or we thinkful we saw financials and energy have a good q4 after a pretty tough year do you see those trends continuing and should investors like the people you represent, should they pooe put their mout there? >> for my clients, we still stayed heavier on the side of growth and tech, but you have to hedge with the reopening plays so i have hedged with the reopening plays looking at certain retailers or maybe certain financial institutions i like the digital wallet plays when it comes to that. but i think the reopening plays

will rebound so the airlines, travel, they will rebound for investors, it is your time frame. some may not be able to stick out the growing pains especially for the reopening plays. but if you have a longer horizon, investors can take the opportunity to invest in the opportunities that will rebound with the vaccine and more good news >> and we saw notes on fintech companies, seeing paypal and square, that is anarea of tech that we don't talk about as much what is your thought on those as we see people kind of going back potentially to stores where they may be less likely to use fintech, but when you look at the valuations of companies like square and paypal, square alone trading at over 200 times forward earnings >> yeah, they are stretch valuations and what you are seeing is the valuations hopefully will catch up to the possible potential network effect when talking

about these fintech payment solutions. so i still like then especially longer term. there is still a lot more growth opportunity especially when you are talking about square and paypal, tieing in crypto currency, cash app and square, they are doing that. so more growth and more adoption availability and so thinking long term, there are opportunities to actually buy opportunities that may be lower now and in the future we'll see where they land down the line >> t >> all right, deplan know, thank you very much and good luck in 2020 when we come back, covid-19 one year later we'll go back to seeing where china initially stands after being the epicenter. plus daniel loeb turning his eye toward venture capitalism. and providing a critical life line to live music venue,

what billions from the federal government will do for closed theaters all across the country. sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... doug? sorry about that. umm... what...its...um... you alright? [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures contract prices around. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today.

welcome back today marks one year since the first cases of coronavirus were reported in china. what was initially a virus contained just to that country soon began to spread all around the world and continues to rage on globally today.

yo eunice yoon is joining us from beijing. where does the outbreak stand today? >> reporter: well, you know, things here look normal. for example, at this restaurant, they are preparing for their new year's eve celebrations after months of struggling i was speaking with the restaurant owner who said that in january, you could practically throw a baseball through this restaurant because it was so empty. he said today they are expecting 50% seating capacity so relatively much, much better. it was also exactly a year ago today that an ophthalmologist in wuhan had warned his fellow doctors of a new virus that had emerged at his hospital. that doctor ways sis silenced b police and he eventually caught the virus and died and what was that virus? it became worldwide known as covid-19 economically speaking, businesses have been coming

back in fact the economy here is on track for growth of 8% in 2021 but life is definitely not fully back to normal and i can give you an example. my new year's eve party plans have been canceled and that is because here in beijing, we are starting to see mini outbreaks we have 20 cases here and 1.2 million people have already been tested so that along with a lot of questions still that linger about wuhan have been weighing on people's minds. for example, with wuhan, people are still wondering what exactly happened, especially after yesterday, the china cdc put out a new study which showed that the antibody prevalence rate is 4.3% and experts are starting to suggest that that means wuhan in the early days there could have been as many as half a million people who were infected so a lot of questions about

that and this week another story that has concerned people, a local journalist was sentenced to four years in prison because of her reporting in wuhan and obviously, frank, that indicates that beijing is not happy with any type of reporting which conflicts with the narrative they have with the epicenter. >> yes, definitely concerning there, not only that journalist but the story about the doctor but we are seeing some signs of hope today in the uk, the astrazeneca ox ford vaccine taking a step forward. what is the latest on china's efforts to get a vaccine out >> reporter: well, the latest is about one vaccine by a company called sinopharm they are one of the companies that have come up with a candidate and they say its interim results for a late stage clinical trial has shown that its vaccine is 80% effective so that positive news especially

when it is coupled with sinovak which came out with a vaccine 91% effective in its turkish trial and 50% in another trial that it had. so overall, it is looking like it is moving in the right direction. also china plans to vaccinate tens of millions of people as it heads into the winter holiday. but frank, just to be sure, we still don't know a lot about the methodology about the way that the information is -- the information about these chinese vaccines >> interesting to see how the lunar new year will be celebrated but it looks like china still enjoys their nba basketball. eunice, thank you very much. >> reporter: glad you're paying attention to the most important point of this report >> i'm a guy, i see sports behind you, i'm looking. but i was listening to you thanks a lot. still on deck, 2020 proven

to be a blockbuster year for the video game industry, we layout whether it can keep the momentum going in the new year. today's big number $366 million that is how much money was raised over the last two months on the georgia senate election according to federal election records. the january 5th ruff inos the most expensie election on record

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2020 was a banner year for the video game industry as consumers spent more time at home but impacts are more substantial. according to idc, global video game revenue set to surge 20% by the endof the year to $180 billion. and that would make it bigger than the nba, the nfl, major league baseball, hockey and movies all combined. for more on what the pandemic did for gaming, let's bring in lewis ward from idc. lewis, thanks for joining us i've done some gaming research myself in my living room i think that it is a different tier than what you're doing. when we're talking about gaming revenues, are we just talking about the quote/unquote games or are we talking about the whole eco system because for people who don't know, gaming has gone below a cartridge and a joy stick. >> right thanks for having me yeah, so my forecast includes

all the spending on software and services so subscriptions as well as downloaded games, free to play games, and it also include console hardware like the switch and it includes in-game advertising revenue going to developers and publishers. so a significant portion of revenue is based on ad revenue these days >> and we'll get to that ad revenue in a second. but i really want to talk to you about the entire ecosystem when we look at apparel, headsets, things like that, is that what will continue to grow as we go into 2021 or will people simply just buy more games? >> my forecast doesn't include aftermarket accessories or peripherals. clothing certainly is not in there. there are headsets bundled with game consoles, but by and large that revenue is not included

but certainly gaming culture is kind of become a much larger part of mainstream life for americans. and so -- all over the world quite frankly. esports has ten oaken off, so a variety of way that what people thought was a nerdy thing, it has permeated culture in many ways >> and we have the stimulus coming up, vaccines on the other hand and as you mentioned, gaming is not just necessarily playing, it is also watching or sharing about it on social media. and things like that how do you see vaccines impacting the entire gaming industry going forward because before the pandemic, we actually had people gathering in stadiums to watch people play video games. so would that continue after a vaccine, would that become even bigger because people have that pent up desire to get out and interact >> right, well, i certainly think that once the vaccines get out there and they get --

presumably they have the efficacy that we've seen and relatively affordable, over the next year i'm projecting that there will be an elevated spending on video games through 2021 because i think that it will be a relatively slow rollout and therefore people getting together like they used to, going out 20 restaurato res movies, including esports types events, those things will cokcoe back, but expect most of the next year there will be a lot of lockdown situations. and so the bump in spending that i'm looking at is partly driven by the fact that maenl people are at home and this is one of the main ways to entertain themselves they have lost many other forms of dits ways that they use to go out and have fun and do things so i think that it will come back i think that there will be growth in esports specifically but in the meantime, right now esports has really taken it on the chip because yes, physical

events have gone away just like they have everywhere else, so a lot of the publishers involved in that have scrambled to move those sorts of events online and they are making more money from ad revenue and things like that rather than the physical event which used to be kind of more like traditional pro sports or something so it is very much a fluid dynamic, but i do think that, you know, by 2021 or so, more people will be going out and so there will be a return of live esports events among other activities >> all right we always talk about bernie sanders of breed when it comes to stock i'm a big madden person, so for me it would be ea. what is your pick on the best video game stock >> since focus on the technology rather than earnings per se, i've been wrong about this before when i've prognosticated. i'm a fan of acti actity vision but the whole expectation versus

reality thing, you know, there tends to be a began ther e a ga. they are doing well as far as revenue goes since the onset of the pandemic obviously nintendo has done pretty well and apple, a few other companies that have benefitted from this >> lewis, we appreciates insight. if you get a request from me to play madden, make sure accept. >> thanks a lot. still on deck, the latest on the breaking news of the astrazeneca covid vaccine getting the green light from uk regulators and you can also watch or listen to us live on the cnbc app save hundreds on your wireless bill

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ik regulators approve the astrazeneca oxford vaccine as the world marks the one year anniversary of the outbreak. futures are climbing following that development as the markets look recapture record highs before the end of the year and they are back, and this time they brought their dancing shoes, the new moves from boston dynamics robots. it is wednesday, december 30, 2020 and are you watching "worldwide exchange."

welcome back i'm frank holholland here is how your veinvestments look futures trying to regain the record intra day highs that we saw yesterday, this after stocks slipped into the close dow and s&p shedding about a quarter of a percent while the nasdaq about a third of the percent. but stocks are poised to wrap the year with strong gains s&p up over 15%, while nasdaq is up 43 br%. the dow at 6%. now to the overnight developments on the covid-19 vaccine front. seema mody is back with that and your morning's other top headlines. >> good morning. the uk government has approved the astrazeneca oxford covid-19 vaccine. first doses are being released today so that vaccinations will begin early in the new year. it added that it aims to supply

millions of doses in the first quarter as part of its deal with the uk government it supply up to 100 million doses in total. shares are up on the development. in other vaccine news, moderna says that it will offer its new covid-19 treatment to its own employees, contractors and board members according to the "wall street journal" oig, t, the com says it is aimed at providing an additional layer of protection to workers delivering the vaccine and that the program would be separate from the doses committed to the u.s. government and chinese vaccine developer sinopharm said interim results showed a 79% efficacy rate the result clears the minimum requirements for chinese regulators and the group has applied for market approval. and hedge fund manager reportedly eyeing a move into venture capital, according to the financial "times," loeb's third point is raising its first dedicated venture capital fund with a target of as much as $300 million. ft says that third point is

aiming to complete its first round of fundraising as soon as february marking the latest example of a hedge fund manager seeking new sources of returns in private markets back to you. >> thank you very much now turning to d.c. and the latest on the fight in washington over those $2,000 stimulus checks for millions of americans. mitch mcconnell blocking the bill on that matter from coming to a vote in the senate. we now have team coverage. and i man jobberjab and i machi jabbers has the latest on capitol hill >> as you say, it was the democrats who were trying to bring the bill to the floor, they like the idea of increasing the $600 checks to $2,000. they believe that once the president got on their side, they actually had a chance to do this on the senate floor it passed the house with two-thirds majority and now it moved to the senate. but mitch mcconnell stepping up

and saying that he objected to that, he had the power to do it and he did it. mcconnell saying he got a new plan and what his new plan is to create a new process that would ultimately end up with a new bill that would combine not only the increase from $600 to $2,000, but also a repeal of section 230 of the communications desense is act. and also the idea of creating an election commission as mcconnell said to protect americans' ballots, that after the controversy among republicans in the wake of this election where they believe there was some kind of voter fraud, although none of that has been proven so far. so mcconnell linking all three of those things saying it was the president who pit them together and he will now move them forward into another kind of a package none of it will move until after the vote he says to override the president's veto on the defense bill now, that is something that lot of republicans want to go ahead and do, so we'll see whether

that happens in that order or not. but as of now, the democrats are calling this simply a partisan employ to kill tploy to kill th. >> so how likely are we do see those $2,000 checks especially with the runoff elections in georgia that seem to be hinging on this passing or not passing possibly and a key issue down there? >> you put your finger on it, those two elections in georgia are what the whole ball game is about preliminarily right now. the senate control hangs in the balance with those two elections to be decided on january the 5th. what mitch mcconnell doesn't want to do is do anything to rock the vote for the two incumbent senators there they had both come out for the $2,000 checks, they say they stand with the president mcconnell didn't want to force them to take a tough vote. so what he's doing here is simply stalling which is something this washington politicians are very good at i think as of right now, it means this is a dead letter, nothing will happen until after

the new senate comes in next year and we'll wait and see whether joe biden decides to push for that after he is sworn in on january 20th but you just didn't see a path now to $2,000 checks with what mcconnell is doing on the senate floor. >> certainly something we'll have to watch closely. a lot going on let's now you go to ylan mui. the covid relief plan has billions desperately needed by live entertainment venues. how important is this money to that industry? >> well, just to give you a sense of how bad it has gotten during the pandemic, i had to take all these old records off the shelf and listen to them by myself but it is not because today's music ain't got the same soul, it is because today's music has been shut down along with museums and plays and independent movie theaters but now help is finally on the way. $15 billion was carved out for the new coronavirus relief package to help thousands of these businesses recoup lost

revenues and offset ongoing costs. >> mortgage, rent, utilities, those recurring experien expense didn't stop because of the pandemic our revenue spigot was cut off, but all those monthly expenses have continued to accrue >> blaine tucker is an owner and investor in several music clubs including an old school honky tonk that is a lone star state destination. >> not just a place to drink beer and have fun. while it is that too, they are a huge economic driver in any society and city around the country. >> and this legislation specifically proceed behinds the relief money from getting to large or publicly traded companies, but still some of the biggest names in entertainment

have gotten behind this effort alice cooper, katie perry, sarah still strer m silverman. setting up the relief program could take a couple months and some businesses may not make it until then back to you. >> so two questions. first, i like the little song be lyric you put in there so do you think today's music has the same soul. but on a serious note, how will the program actually work? >> absolutely today's music has the same soul and i can't wait to start listening to it again but the way the program will work, the hardest hit businesses will be able to get the first tranche of money so conservatively blaine tucker is saying that the program can be set up by march the first businesses to be able to access that money would be those that have lost 90% of their revenue and then sort of going along there. but, you know, 9dyou know, 90% enormous amount and waiting all the way to march, that is a really long time frame

>> i'm really hoping that you will sing that lyric the next time thanks a lot all right. the trucking and warehouse industry continues to fire on all cylinders as companies deal with the shipping backlog from the holiday shopping season. mastercard recently put out data that online spending increased nearly 50% from october 11 and december 24. and that coupled with higher shipping demand has led to a boom in demand for warehouse and distribution spaces. joining me now is jim connor from duke realty good morning >> good morning, good to be with you. >> and so i'll jump right in first off, thanks for being with us during what is really probably your busiest time because the learns are comie reg in and your warehouses are full. how does demand look in q1, what are you hearing from your customers as far as stock, inventory and how much returns they see coming in

>> the outlook for demand is really fabulous throughout 2020 and 2022 and there are a number of factors. clearly ecommerce, the trends in gloetd and ecomme growth and ecommerce is fabulous a study procejects that ecommere will go from 14% last year to 30% by 2024. so effectively more than doubling so that creates the need for more warehouse space, more -- new state-of-the-art facilities for our customers to use and it puts more and more demand on last mile facility and delivery options and you know, it is being driven by further penetration, more frequency of ecommerce spending and spending in categories and augull three are driving tremendous amounts of need for space. but it is not just ecommerce there is a new phenomenon that has really taken on just since

the pandemic which we call safety stock or inventory expansion. most of us experience going into retail stores or shopping online and not being able to get certain products and many of our major retailers and consumer products companies are used to operating with about 15 days of inventory on hand what they found is that just doesn't work anymore so they are now expanding their inventory capacity to 30 to 45 days of inventory for key critical components. >> i think that is the point we're trying to hit on here, the growth in eflecommerce is chang the demand for his warehouse you can also talk about returns? my understanding is it takes a lot more room in a warehouse to do returns and process those than it does to fulfill the original order you can talk about what you are seeing, your outlook for companies as you mentioned stepping up their safety stock and processing more demands as ecommerce sales increase

>> sure. returns are a very big challenge in the entire retail industry. in ecommerce, they call it reverse logistics. and what most where doing, they are setting up separate operations to deal with returns more efficiently, so that again creates another demand driver for more space out there and most of us are guilty of shopping online and finding two or three things and buying them all with the intention of returning two. so that is a very significant trend in ecommerce shopping. and reverse logistics is a big demand driver for space for us >> i would imagine so we know about a third of your space is taken up by ecommerce customers. who is using the other two-thirds and what is your outlook for 2021 as far as what percentage of your space mr. wib used by ecommerce? >> we have many of the recognized brand names in our top ten. u.p.s. is a very large client of

ours home depot, way fare.com, target.com, wall mar.com, so any of the major users of distribution space are big customers of ours. and it is not just about ecommerce and safety stock many success it will ful retail are reengineering to meet the needs of u.s. consumers today. amazon has effectively set the bar that you can get virtually anything in 48 hours and if you are a retailer or consumer product company, you need to be able to meet that same demand. and consequently, people are investing significant amounts in logistics and supply chains. >> all right, jim, thank you very much. forecasting a big year for you coming up, dunkin is looking to add just a little extra fuel to your morning with what it is calling extra charge coffee, it is trending and it is next but first as we head to break,

some of your other top stories president-elect biden apparently in the likely to reverse president trump's challenge to china's technology industry. experts telling cnbc biden will instead take a more targeted approach and will work with allies to go after beijing security start upfirm winning a major victory against apple, the tech xwooif filed a lawsuit arguing that its product infringed on a copyright and china looking to shrink jack ma's business empire according to the "wall street journal," under a rstructurder plan, ant group will return to its origins and its investment businesses would be scaled back.

new boost for dunkin and seafood sales booming and a new meaning for robots are you much of a dancer >> i'm definitely a dancer i ccan school you on the court y any day. dunkin has new items to help you spring into the new year they are offering a new brew that has 20% more caffeine, it will be available through the end of january

also being added to the menu are stuffed bagel bites, bacon and brownies and the most food items bought, topping the list was oat milk, it saw a 208% increase in sales. that was followed by alternative meat products up 110%. and also ethiopyeast up 98% and seafood also was up which could be a sign of people stepping out of their comfort zones. and take a look at this. ♪ those are the boston dynamics robots doing the mashed potato and the twist. it can wash dishes and now they can break dance.

boston dynamics showing off the dancing robot a couple years ago, but the technology has improved i think that it is a sign of innovation how the robots have certainly developed. might get creepy as it gets more human-like, but the fact that they can dance, pretty impress is i have. >> totally normal to you like the next thing you know, they will recreate the scene from dirty dancing are you okay with this i'm not. >> i mean, if they get to dirty dancing level, maybe then i'll be a little more skeptical but for now, let them do their thing. >> also back to that seaed food sa i'd like to be invited to some people's houses. all right. seema mody, thank you very much. on deck, stocks looking to recapture record highs opportunity in the final days of 2020 and if you haven't already

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stress comfort. a gummy supplement with lemon balm plus saffron, to naturally boost your mood. stress comfort from nature's bounty. welcome back it has been an amazing quarter for the markets fueled by the u.s. election and optimism over vaccines and stimulus. sectors that didn't really take part in much of this year's rally such as small caps, they are on a tear this quarter the russell is up 30%. your next guest says it is unlikely that we'll see more double digit gains in the first quarter, but it doesn't mean the market will go down. joining me is kerry firestone. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me, frank >> let's jump right into it. i'm looking at q12021. what sectors would you advise

people to put their money into to possibly see those double digit gains that you say aren't for sure going to happen >> well, we have to look at the market as a whole and say are there growth stocks and are there reopening stocks that still have considerable room to move we've had such a big year. remember, we were up over 65% from the bottom in march and we've had this big, big rush of cyclicals and the reopening names since november 2 so there are growth stocks even started to pick up recently, we think they still have room to grow in the first quarter into next year. and if you look at reopening names, we own booking holdings, that is a company that definitely is going to prosper when people start flying and booking hotel reservations they had a very difficult year this year. and you can see revenues grow at

least 45% next year. earnings can go up eight times in 2021. on the other side, american tower, that is a name that didn't even have their business disrupted much in 2020 because everyone was using their cellphones but the stock is down a little bit. and we can see that in the coming year, you see an axle race of 5g, leasing picks up, the weaker dollar will help, and a lot of free cash flow for american tower boston scientific is a quasi reopening name, a medical device company. they had to stop all elective surgery even if it was a heart surgery in 2020 because of the pandemic rules and they had a little bit of a setback because their aortic valve lotus product got pulled from the market because of a development problem, but they

had to stop almost all surgeries across the world >> and medical devices certainly a growing business globally including here in the u.s. let's talk more about the names tieded to r eto reopening what is your take on alcohol stocks and also airline stocks >> airlines is a tough sector. i followed that group years ago and you know, they are very cyclical, they have enormous fixed costs. they are probably going to be hardships over the next six months because people start to gingerly go back to flying the question is, do you have an airline, southwest for example, is an airline that consistently has made money over the last, you know, 30 years quarterly earnings growth, and this was a tough year. so that, jet blue perhaps, but in general, those airlines are very cyclical and the cost of those planes and fuel make the

business hard to adjust as a strong consistent grower in terms of alcohol, you know, a name -- you know, budweiser and constellation brands came down, really built up. i think that the restaurant business if you are going to play it that way, who is eating in restaurants, some of those stocks that have had a big hit this year could begin to show improvements when in-dining comes back, hotel stocks reopening, some have moved a lot lalready. so you have to be careful to make sure what you are buying hasn't moved too far in anticipation of a strong 2021. >> constellation brands reports next week. search certainly a stock that we'll be watching to see the state of the consumer and you said that there is a record number of companies

trading at ten times forward earnings or more in the s&p now. but when you look at that, and you look at an amazon trading at 84 times and then a square at 200 times, how do you discern which ones deserve that valuation and ones that are overvalued >> so the statistic is ten times revenue, not earnings. most of those companies on that list, there are 117 companies on that list, that were selling at more than ten times revenues that are over $10 billion in market cap and i think that is where the bubble in the market has been if you look at crowdstrike, airbnb as an example. octa, novavax, even moderna and some great companies but the public has flocked to those names over the past few months and they are on a spike that was pa

parabolic and hard to see that they wouldn't have to pause before they come back. 117 is the number that we had at the end of 2018. and so that hit me as an cextrem level of investor enthusiasm that perhaps needed to be tempered >> and fns ainance and energy w both up. what is your outlook for q1? >> well, those stocks were dramatic underperformers energy is still down over 30%. this year. think about it, technology is up 44%, energy down 30 plus percent. and so they can still have room. but remember, that energy accounts for a much smaller percent of the s&p than it used to be. it is below 4% and so you have a lot of funds that are divesting energy stocks because of fossil fuel so stick with the names that have decent cash flow, ones that pay dividends.

i think you can be safe there to show some gains next year. financials need interest rates to come back a little bit. record low interest rates does that help them at all. but i think the names that have been moving can continue to go up into next year because they are still at very low multiples, jpmorgan as an example >> all right, thank you for that insight. and that does it for us. squawk brx "squawk box" is comit save hundreds on your wireless bill without even leaving your house. just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile.

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stocks looking to reclaim that high ground, record high ground from monday after a slight dip yesterday stimulus payments are beginning to arrive in americans' accounts we'll take you live to washington and breaking vaccine news now from the uk, approving the

astrazeneca jab for emergency use. we'll go live to london for a look at how this vaccine is different from the pfizer and moderna shots. and it has been one year since a doctor first warned of a mystery virus emerging in wuhan. we'll go live to beijing for a look at how life has changed since then it has changed here as well. today is wednesday, december 30, 2020, and "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box." i'm becky quick along with yoe kernen andrew is out today. we've been watching the equity futures and take a look, we were down a littl