right now. good morning, everybody, welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc, i'm becky quick, along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. yesterday was a bit of a back and forth session, some up, some down, we ended the session higher dow up by about 60 points. s&p up by 1 1/2 points but that was enough to push the average above 3,800 where it had fallen below the day before, and the nasdaq was up as well. this morning, nasdaq is indicated up by about 10 points but the dow is down by less than a point and the s&p is giving back that 1 1/2 points that it gained yesterday we'll see where things go. obviously a lot of people waiting to see how the rest of the political landscape unfolds. keeping a close eye on the treasury market. you know that the tenure has been a steady upward progression. it gaive back a little bit

yesterday afternoon when the treasury auction came out. you can see this morning the yield is still sitting at about 1.124% let's take a look at the price of bitcoin, i should say this has been the one to watch because you never know what you're going to get when the chart comes up okay, right now, we're up by 2.4% a gain of $800 to 34,000, 869. andrew. >> that is a chart you're right, you never know what you're going to get when you look at that chart. meantime, you tube is the latest media platform to block president trump. in a tweet, you tube insider account said it removed new content uploaded to president trump's channel for violating their policies this in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence the trump account now has its first strike, and is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a minimum of seven days you tube is disabling the ability of users to comment on the videos in president trump's

channel. so another platform effectively, in this case, de-platforming the president temporarily. becky. >> and rrew, thanks, overnight, the house calling on vice president mike pence to strip the president of his power the vice president informed the house that he would not invoke the 25th amendment let's get to eamon javers, when he has the latest from washington. >> good morning, you mentioned the political landscape, and it is shifting quickly, starting with that announcement by liz cheney last night, that she will vote to impeach. she is a member of the house republican leadership. she's widely respected and of course the daughter of the former vice president dick cheney, here's the statement she put out last night which changed the debate in the house of representatives. she said there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the united states of his office and his oath to the constitution i will vote to impeach the president. that came within a short time of a "new york times" report that changed the debate in the

senate they're reporting senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader is pleased that democrats are moving to impeach president trump, believing that it will make it easier to purge trump from the party so that is a game changer in the senate after liz cheney's game changer in the house meanwhile, as you mentioned, mike pence, the vice president rejecting that call from the house last night the house passed a resolution requesting pence to move forward with the 25th amendment and remove trump from office today pence says he's not going to do that here's his letter in the speaker of the house under our constitution, the 25th amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation, invoking the 25th amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent that sets the stage for today. we expect they will begin about 9:00 a.m. in the house to vote on impeachment one article, the article on incitement of insurrection by late afternoon today we expect that will pass and the

president today will become the first person in u.s. history to be impeached twice, becky. back over to you. >> the real serious question is what happens in the senate to this point, mitch mcconnell has said that he couldn't call the senate back early that he would have to wait until the 19th, which is the day before the inauguration next week the senate has to hold the trial, where the president would be allowed to defend himself this gets a little complicated are they changing the idea of that now i thought it was all 100 senators would have to sign off to come back early. >> yeah, well, that is the case. and mcconnell did say that, and so there's the prospect of an impeachment after biden is sworn in, and the goal of that kind of an impeachment of trump would be to simply prevent him from being able to run for office again they can do that if they vote to convict and remove and vote to block him from future federal office that's one scenario. another scenario floated by

democratic leader chuck schumer is that he and mcconnell could get together using a rare emergency powers in the senate, could move together an impeachment to the floor of the senate before the inauguration that mcconnell is there yet, would sign up to such a thing, it's not clear the depth of support inside the republican conference and senate, for conviction and removal of the president of the united states before the end of his term in just a couple of days now. we're going to have to watch this this is a moving target. the politics are very fluid, and i think with mcconnell coming out last night, and signaling that he's for impeachment, that changes the game in the senate i talked to a former senior administration official last night who said he believes there are enough votes now in the senate to convict and remove the president of the united states we'll see, the republican senators have not said that publicly this is an analysis of their private views. we'll see if that bears out. but it's a very fluid situation

right now. >> as you point out, the situation kind of shifting on a moment by moment basis, but joe manchin has been public, the democrat from west virginia. he said he didn't think it was a good idea. you need 67 votes for this to pass the senate. if you don't have all 50 of the democrats, that does get pretty complicated. >> yeah, it does and then the question is how many republicans do you have you know, only one republican voted to convict president trump last time, that was mitt romney, when he was impeached a year ago. the question is, you know, has this, just the raw fear of the moment last week changed minds in the senate in terms of what should happen to the president and then the other question is what did the president do yesterday. remember, he talked to cameras, issuing a defiant statement, saying everything he said was perfectly fine, he didn't do anything wrong he said impeachment is dangerous for the country, and a lot of people read that as an

imprimp implied threat by the president of the united states, and the members of congress are dealing with the security threat that the capitol is under ahead of the inauguration they are getting details of plots from trump supporters to surround the capitol, to potentially murder members of congress, to surround the white house with armed insurgents. you know, there are some terrifying things that they're hearing about in terms of what this trump, pro trump group is planning all of that, i think weighs on their minds as they consider what to do here. i think that's why the politics are shifting so quickly, the republican party and mitch mcconnell is looking to oppose trump in the future. >> you saw mcconnell's speech, and you heard his comments about this is the most important vote i'll ever make, but then so "the new york times" reports that he is pleased, and then i'm sure that there were lots of calls to try and get an official comment to mcconnell's office, and i'm

sure they weren't returned i'm wondering whether pleased that it's happening standing to one side like he deserves it, i wonder if that translates to yeah, i'm going to rush to bring this up and try to whip 17 republicans into it. i don't know if one leads to that necessarily. >> that's what we don't know mcconnell is a very savvy guy and he is clearly sending a signal about where he is >> to history too. i'm still not sure that means he thinks that you take it to that step i was listening to manchin, he seems to, you know, i'm sure that there are other republicans that probably are -- the thinking would be similar to manchin's that the country, you know, there are people that are saying biden needs these cabinet appointments immediately to be confirmed. he needs to move on covid immediately to do this he needs to do this. he needs to do that, and just

doing, you know, looking backwards to do this might not be in the best interest for what he wants to do >> in washington, you always have to look at the cynical self-serving angle and there is a cynical self-serving angle for republicans in the senate considering running in 2024, they can take president trump as a chess piece off the playing board for 2024 if they decide to remove him from office. >> but even if it's only hatch, i think hillary said half of his supporters are deplorables, i think now the idea is that they're all deplorables, but that's the other political calculus for these guys, they probably don't want to totally alienate, a quarter or whatever you think the remaining trump supporters, they don't want to alienate that either and there's threats to be primaried, which i don't know if those are real or hollow at this point. i don't know

>> you see the president's poll numbers, you know, they seem to be in free fall now post election >> 33. >> and post riot so, you know, there is a hard core group of trump supporters inside the republican base who even after the violence still support the president, and yeah, anybody running for president in the republican party is going to have to contend trying to win their support. >> yeah, right >> so it's a difficult calculation for all of those people, and i think that's why you see the strategic silence from mcconnell as he signals where he is, but doesn't fully commit to any course of action until he gets a sense of the lay of the land. i think liz cheney's announcement yesterday might move some people because, you know, she's positioning herself for a post trump republican party, and other senators might try to do that too. >> you know, they don't need her to do it in the house, and. >> which is why it's telling that she decided to do that

anyway i think we're up to about five now republican votes in the house for impeachment. we got zero last time. i think it will be more than five by the time the vote happens this afternoon, and we'll see where we land, but this is a very strange time. we have never seen anything like this in american politics. i would hesitate to predict. >> it is life keeps going on in the corporate news, and we've got some in corporate news, visa has ended its takeover efforts of silicon start up plaid called the plumbing behind fintech companies allowing start ups to safely connect to user bank accounts and the merger faced a doj and trust lawsuit on grounds that it would limit competition in the payments industry, and that complaint, the doj cited a description of the merger by visa ceo alfred kelly. he called it an insurance policy to neutralize a threat to visa's

important u.s. debit business. sorkin, i have never got you on board with the movie references, but if you say bitcoin, it's a chart, and you never know what you're going to get, you don't immediately think about life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. i have too much up here i think. i have too much up here. >> when you do it in that voice, i think of tom hanks, but not when i -- >> but you just said it with the bitcoin thing, becky's right, that chart, you never know what you're going to get. i mean, it was a forrest gump imitation, and you still didn't realize. >> popcorn shrimp, shrimp gumbo. >> the three of us go together like peas and carrots. yeah, yeah, turkey chili, kale

chili, quinoa chili. >> we have talk space going public through a spac, backed by doug bronstein, doug is going to join us next on a first on cnbc interview right after this

welcome back to "squawk box," online therapy provider

talkspace going public today through a spac, merging with hudson executive investment corporation. that spac is led by former jp morgan vice chair and cfo, doug braunstein the transaction is valuing talkspace at an international enterprise value of $1.4 billion, and providing the company with $250 million in capital. joining us is talkspace's ceo, warren frank, and capital founder and managing partner, doug braunstein. good morning to both of you. talk to us a little bit about the spac process and what you're hoping to do with these new funds. i know you had been thinking about an ipo at one point and clearly have decided to go this route. >> good morning, andrew. yeah, you know, first and foremost, we're called talkspace, and talk spac makes a lot of sense putting the jokes aside, we were

looking to dramatically expand our reach and help many more people because this is, you know, nowadays as the second pandemic and i would say that over half of americans are complaining about, i would say, depression and/or anxiety, but the real reason we went with that is who they are as people, as, i would say, an organization that is very much aligned with what we wanted to achieve, also known as chemistry it was essentially a decision about the people at the end of the very long process. >> doug, so you are clearly on the search for a company like this how did you land on talkspace, and tell us about what you think this company can look like in the coming years >> yes, so good morning, andrew, and we're incredibly excited to be partnering with oren, and

roney, and the entire talkspace management we set up our spac looking for businesses that have sustainable competitive advantage, and can get there through technology, and what's unique about the business that oren and roney have built, is that it's a purpose built technology company really designed to meet the unmet medical needs in behavioral health. and it does so by improving access it actually reduces cost to the consumer it improves outcomes and it's a really powerful platform for clinicians and payers so we think this is, in this environment, really where the future of behavioral health and clinical health will be. and obviously the pandemic has not only accelerated the issues around behavioral health, but it

has made clear that a telehealth, behavioral health platform that's digital in nature is really the perfect future to treat patients and consumers. >> oren, should we think about you as a health company, should we think about you as an enterprise software company? >> yes i think, you know, that is a really good question because we are a technology company most of our employees are actually software engineers so we solve clinical business issues through the writing of code, but we're definitely a health care company at the same time, and i think that is the right metaphor in order to address problems differently technology is not the end. it's the means, you know, in order to help many more people with their health needs, and we think that only a new metaphor or a legacy free platform can

actually achieve that, and we crafted. we are purpose built to do exactly that that's the kind of technology that we develop and the only kind >> but the reason i ask is, and i ask this of all companies going public these days in this regard, investors are going to be looking for comps, other companies that they can compare this to. by the way, too many ceos come on the show, and say there's no other company like ours, nothing to compare this to i don't believe that in this case, what do you think is a comparable way or fair way, i'll ask the question of doug, a long time man in the banking business, and has made comp presentations to board for most of his life. doug >> so andrew, we of course think this business is unique, and it is in terms of its focus on behavioral, but there are a number of public market comparables that we looked at as

investors, and our pipe investors looked at when valuing the company, and those include names like teledoc and amwell, digital disrupters in the health care space, larger disrupters that are changed the paradigm for care, and bdc internet companies. all of those businesses have characteristics that are comparable to what talkspace has done, which is really change the modality of delivery and actually worked to improve outcomes in behavioral health. >> all right explain this, and what do you believe is the defensive mote here, which is to say, what will prevent another company from coming in that might have a relationship with doctors already, other insurance

companies, for example, other health care companies that might want to develop things on top of this i know you have enterprise relationships on one end obviously there's the doctor relationship and health care p provider relationship on the other. >> i would say two main areas. i know that most companies that get interviewed, talk about technology, machine learning, ai, et cetera, et cetera, so we're actually one of those few companies that actually do that. and we have aggregated the very large data set over the years of operation that allows us, i think, to learn in realtime from the behavior of both the providers and the patients on our platform, and improve, i would say, the clinical outcome through a set of technologies that are applied in favor or in help, the providers of the clinicians and this kind of mechanism, this fly wheel, i would say, improves over time as we gather more experience, more history of very

good treatment and more le learnings. we got to go, but what do you mean by that, i'm hoping your machine learning and ai is not listening if, for example, i was in a session with a doctor over your service >> no, it does not listen at all, but i leave you with one thought, which is medical data has very good externalities, as compared to some of the other data you have been talking about in your programs >> okay. fair enough. oren, we wish you well, doug, congratulations, thanks, guys sg >> andrew, thanks for having us. ogsseep us updated on your prre. >> joe. a firm set to begin trading today a price well above the range that was already arranged once this week details are next because it hasn't removed the endless mundane work we all hate. ♪ ♪ ♪

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welcome back, everybody. a firm holdings pricing its ipo

at $49 a share, above the target range of 41 to $44 a share, and that was raised from 33 to $38 a share just on monday at this price it would raise more than a billion dollars, and brings its market cap to nearly $12 billion. the company provides installment loans to online shoppers the ceo, max levlevchin will ben "squawk alley. when we return we're going to talk about more what's happening with the pandemic. dr. scott gottlieb will talk about changes to vaccine eligibility and distribution. later we're going to hear how the states are handling the changes from new jersey governor phil murphy. right now as we head to a break, let's take a look at the s&p 500's winners and losers i made a business out of my passion.

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folks, we've got some news just out from target it's releasing its holiday sales numbers. these are the sales for november and december for the big box retailer, and they are pretty unbelievable numbers their comp sales are up 17.2% for those two months that does include same store sales and digital sales.

same store sales up 4.2%, unbelievable when you realize not as many people were going to stores but comps were up 102% traffic was up 4.3, and the average ticket up 12.3%. i think what's important to note here is the company is saying that they continued to take market share gains in all five of the core merchandise categories but especially in home where the comps were up in the low 20% range and in hard lines which was also up in the low 20% range but the electronics portion of that was up in the mid 20% range. what's been so unique about target and so special about target and what they have done to this point has been the same day services they have that's the order pickup, where you order in advance and pick it up to the store or they have shs shipd, the personalized shoppers and drive up and pick up was occupy 45%, and the personalized

shoppers, up by 300% the company says in december alone, they shipped 150 million items just over the same day services, over four times the number of items that they saw a year ago the other thing to note, they don't give guidance in terms of what this will mean in terms of earnings because they have so much fulfilled by the target stores, 95% of the target sales fulfilled by the stores, you get better margins it also meant customers didn't have to wait around to lose or to get later deliveries because remember there were so many things being shipped by ups and fedex to the point they couldn't take anymore, and a lot of packages arrived late because if you didn't order it by the 15th or earlier there was no guarantee it was going to get there in time for christmas. as i mentioned, no earnings guidance in this you can see the stock up by $0.10. the company said it's going to remain closed on thanksgiving in 2021, that was a strategy they rolled out this year they went ahead and had an entire month of black friday sales, kind of big discounts

that they were offering through the entire month they said that worked. that strategy paid off this isn't in the release. i have spoken with the company about this the strategy paid off and they did see customers coming in over the entire course of the month the associates liked the fact that they got off on thanksgiving this year, so they're going to do it next year an entire month of big black friday sales closed for thanksgiving day, and open for black friday. i'm kind of all in favor of that myself these are just the comp sales that we're looking at for november and december. the company doesn't report, i think, for another five or six weeks. this is almost in contrast to what we saw yesterday from walmart. there was the national retail federation was there, and walmart's chief customer was speaking there half of the customers it surveyed were worried about the economy, and 40% didn't expect a speedy recovery. also pointed out that the core walmart customer absolutely is not immune to economic slow down, and in fact, may be

dispropo disproportionately affected. we'll see how this kind of plays out. target and walmart almost considered the same customer when you see an economic downturn, it mike that the walmart core customer is disproportionately affected as the company has said itself. this is how the stocks are shaping up this morning and joining us to talk about this news and other things happening in the market is stephanie link, chief investment strategist and portfolio manager at high tower, also a kavrcnbc contributor what you hear from target on these numbers, same store sales up 4.2%, the digital comps up by more than 100%, it gets it better than 17%. what do you think? >> good morning, and happy new year these are incredible numbers, and you have to give brian cornell all the credit in the world because he was able to shift, we know, their business

we know that they had a lot of hard lines they had a lot of apparel, too they didn't have as in consumables as say like a walmart or some of the other stores like dollar general or dollar tree and that kind of thing or family dollar, but they were able to really shift around the mix, and absolutely encourage by the traffic numbers. last quarter traffic was up 4.5% november, december, what they ju just released at 4.3%, encouraging in a world where no one is going out imagine where we reopen, and people actually go back to the stores, and so i think these numbers are fantastic. the company is best in class you mentioned same day, really very impressive numbers on same day. digital, they have transitioned on the digital side, and i really like this ulta transaction, which no one is talking about. 70% of ulta customers go to

target, and 24% of target shoppers go to ulta. there's a lot to be excited about. the only thing is the stock was up 40% last years ago and it's already up, i don't know, 13% this year. expectations are quite high but i like the story very very much. i actually am an owner. >> as you mentioned, look, the stock has been up sharply, expectations are high, and that might be why you see the stock up 10 cents tonight news the question that everybody asks and has been asking for months at this point is what happens after the pandemic when they no longer have the many advantages that they have relative to other retailers right now, and i think that's a big part of the question, what do you think happens? once consumers have changed and used some of these services, do they go back would they rather be in store, and shop other avenues at that point? >> it's a very good question, and it's hard to answer, but that's why i kind of highlight the other things that the

company is doing in focusing on digital and the ulta partnership, and focusing on their mix of business, and having a better balance between consumables and apparels and that sort of thing they have done a great job in merchandising, by the way, on the apparel side so i think that the numbers obviously are very very strong because of the pandemic, but i do think this is going to continue maybe not to the extent, but they're a winner, they're a market share taker and i think that that does not change, and oh, by the way, remember last quarter, gross margins, they were up 80 basis points, and i think they're also doing a great job in terms of inventory, shrink control, cost cutting, so they're doing all the right things maybe the numbers aren't going to be as dynamic going forward, which is one of the reasons why you and i have talked about tjx where the expectations are so so so low, but i think at this point target is a winner and you want to own it

>> stephanie, let me ask you about the comments from walmart. that's a big issue it's reflective not only of walmart, but walmart is kind of america, 10% of total retail sales, if they say their core customer is feeling the pinch and is already doing things to stretch the budget, things like switching from private label, or national brand names to the private label things so that they can save money or buying smaller packs of things, that's got to raise concerns not only about what it means for walmart, but also what it means for big national brands, what do you think, overall, this is indicating we know there are two economies out there. how big of a factor is this going to be? >> there are definitely two economies out there, and this is one of the reasons why we got a $900 billion fiscal package, right, to help that bridge between now and when we actually get vaccinated, so that was very very important in my mind, and oh, by the way, there's speculation we're going to get even more fiscal, right, coming down the pipe to help where it's

needed i'm not surprised. it's a very challenging time for some parts of this economy and some consumers as well i am encouraged that we have a 14% savings rate the historical average is 5% if you go from 14% in savings to the 5% average, that's a trillion dollars in pent up spending demand, potentially let's get through this, let's get vaccinated we have to have a little bit of patience here. but i am, at least, pleased that we got a fiscal to help some of the people that are really suffering. >> stephanie, thank you so much for rolling with the news. it's great to see you this morning. >> great to see you. thanks >> take care andrew okay thanks, becky. when we come back, the latest on the country's vaccine rollout, and an updated eligibility some good news there dr. scott gottlieb is going to join us to talk about all of it.

the biggest gainers led by regeneron after news yesterday that the u.s. government would ses an additional 1.25 million doof the company's antibody cocktail we're back with that after this.

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. good morning, u.s. equity futures as you can see basically flat, down about 5 points now. on the dow, 5 on the nasdaq. 4 on the s&p

check out, though, the shares of urban outfitters, plunging after the retailer reported disappointing holiday sales and announced the departure of its ceo. that stock, meanwhile, closed 6% higher in yesterday's session. but now as you can see, giving back about 10. andrew okay meantime, thanks, joe, shares of kb homes rising, after 4th quarter results beat estimates a decline in home deliveries was partially offset by a 5% increase in the average selling price its homes. take a look at shares of lenovo, they rose sharply in hong kong overnight. the chinese pc maker plans to list in a star market, the science and technology market, with a goal of more listings under relaxed rules. that's going to be an interesting one to watch as well joe. andrew, thanks coming up, new vaccination guidelines for the coronavirus i wonder what it means for the

states do they say, okay, we're going to do it, or do they say, no, we're going to keep plodding along the way we are we'll bring you those and discuss with our professor in residence, dr. scott gottlieb. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc don't forget to subscribe to our podcast. you'll get interviews, original content, and behind the scenes access look for us on apple podcasts or on your favorite podcast app, and subscribe to squawk pod today. this is cnbc program is sponsored by baird visit bairddifference.com. t... ) 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

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. the trump administration yesterday issuing some new guidelines, opening eligibility to everyone 65 and older as well as younger people who are immunocompromised. in accepting the new guidance, new york governor cuomo tweeted urging patients because there are now far more eligible, has only two l's actually, new yorkers than available doses meantime, hhs secretary alex azar said the government is changing the way it allocates vaccine doses, prioritizing states that administer their supply quickly and states with a larger elderly population. meantime, the u.s. government will require all international airline passengers to show proof of a negative covid test before boarding flights to the country. the cdc order takes effect january 26th it applies to international visitors as well as u.s. citizens returning from abroad joining us now, former fda commissioner, dr. scott gottlieb, currently served on

the boards of alumina, pfizer, he's also a cnbc contributor i love state's rights, scott, our forefathers were smart, but now i'm wondering, were we wrong? i have no idea how to in states. in fact, looking at the way the different states have approached the distribution up to this point, i have no idea. which one is doing well. and what the bottle mechanics are in the other ones. are we going to make any progress based on that recommendation yesterday, scott? >> well, i think this gives states more flexibility to get out the supply i think states were tying themselves into knots trying to adhere to a narrow criteria a strict criteria that made it difficult to distribute it in an efficient way. look, i agree leaving it up to how they determine distribution. and different states have

different resources. some states will turn to big box pharmacies some states will turn to their local counties who have good infrastructure i think where we should have a uniform approach is eligibility. you'll hear from a relative in one state that has access to a vaccine and a comparable person won't in another state that's exactly what will happen. i think there's no reason why we shouldn't have a uniform approach to how we determine eligibility as we move across states i think that broadening is going to create a more uniformed structure. the excess demand is among senior stcitizens i think opening up up to 65 and above is prudent there are 45 million senior citizens in this country that want to get vaccinated badly maybe less than what i think we should focus is

initially given the access to the disease. >> are we just going to have -- just going to have a different group of people eligible get it that can't get it? >> well, i think there's still going to be heterogeneity, once you move above the population, it's easy to say 65 and above is eligible that can be uniform across the whole country. i don't know why you don't want to move towards that but once you gettle below that, there's going to be pockets as well. there will be some heterogennetty across state. >> i just meant, scott, for new jersey, it was 1a, you could look at who's eligible and then you look at the states they ask you to pick to get the vaccination, and the various states say call back, login later. none of these are available. now, you're going to go from people that were front line workers that can't get the

vaccine because none of the dates are open to anyone 65 --i don't know if murphy's going to do this. we're going to have him on today. he says he's changing to that. but you're switching from one group of people that can't get the vaccines on the dates offered to another group of people that can't get the vaccines on the dates offered. >> look, new jersey seems to be having a challenge on the distribution sites like new york was in that camp about a week ago and states still having trouble distributing through the points they made vaccine available. i would put new jersey in that bucket big state, large distribution. but they are having challenges distributing the vaccine so they need to open up more distribution points which gets to the other side of the coin of probably trying to push it out through big retailers going to walmart and big box pharmacies and local pharmacies to open up that channel of distribution that also allows to you create

scheduling systems where you can see the demand it and the federal government can make more supply available based on booked appointments, on demonstrated demand on appointments >> bec >> scott, i'm sorry, can you about more specific about the challenges that new jersey is facing, simply because we have the governor on. we can ask him about it? >> well, i think one of the challenges they stuck to the criteria narrowly. so you had to be a health care worker or first responder. they pursued 1a for a long period of time but they're not not pushing it out you go on to the website of new jersey and i have, there are a few clinics, shoprite. and as they expand eligibility to 65 and above which they probably will they're going to need to push this out to more community points

they can't just open up big vaccination centers in giant stadiums and expect 70 year olds to line up outside of a stadium. they have to offer this in places that people are accustomed to getting their health care, like a pharmacy >> so, okay. we'll ask him that we've had some discussions about -- i just made the general point that, you know, we want to get to herd immunity or we want to get a lot of people vaccinated because that's when we'llstart to see a dent in the rate of transmission. yet, i immediately hear when you get the vaccine it doesn't mean you can't give it to somebody else if that were totally true, and if we couldn't assume that eventually you're going to cut done on covid transmission from the vaccine, we have to get to 100% even getting the vaccine, you could give it to somebody who didn't get the vaccine we know that's true. when you get to 50%, 60%, there's already enough breaks in the transmission to where it

slows the infection rate down, right? >> right that's right -- >> are there other diseases where you've been kninoculated, measles, whatever you're talking about that you could still give it to somebody who hasn't had the vaccine? >> yeah, flu but there's a presumption -- look, we need to demonstrate this we don't have an answer to the question which is why people hedge when asked does this prevent infection, does it prevent transmission the assumption is for a vaccine that's 95% effective is probably prevent something people from getting infected it's a pretty good proxy most people assume this vaccine is preventing infection and transmission the reason why all of us including myself are reluctant to say that because we don't know the magnitude of it we don't know it for sure. these things need to be demonstrated i'm optimistic when we have the evidence it's going to demonstrate there's some reduction there. and the reality to get to your

point you don't need 100% vaccinated to get to herd immunity we're already achieving some level -- the population-based community is slowing transposition because it's affecting 20% of the american people this will add to that. >> it's not a stretch to say, for a person that gets the shot, take 100 people in their 40s that get it you probably have prevented someone from dying by 100 people in their 40s -- if they didn't get it or they did get it, you can probably find a transmission to where it ends up in someone who gets it who dies. so the faster we get this out across the board, no matter who you are, the more important it is to saving lives >> i think that's right. >> okay. good thanks, scott. i don't pay attention to what they say, as you can see -- i know they don't -- you must get some great -- you know, maybe i don't need twitter they don't need me maybe i just don't need them

it may come to that. it may come to that, scott you know what i mean i life -- three quarters of my life i didn't have this horrible thing. back to you. thanks, scott. we'll see you again soon >> thanks. >> fine, we don't need twitter when we come back, new york real estate expert bill rudin on getting back to the office he's got interesting things he's working on we'll be right back.

♪ the stage is set for the second impeachment of the president as he faces further crackdown from the tech set. we are live from washington with the very latest. the increasing political tensions in washington ushering in a wave of caution among corporations we're going to talk about the role of business in politics and we're set to get our first major ipo of 2021 as the strong momentum of public offerings keeps growing in the new year what investors need to know is straight ahead as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now.

good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc i'm andrew ross sorkin along with becky quick and joe kernen. take a look at u.s. equity futures about 2 1/2 hours before the market opens this morning. things look marginally down. dow open down 2.5 points, nasdaq, 8 points, we're looking at s&p 500 opening up about 4. let's go straight to washington where the house is prepared to vote on a historic impeachment proceeding that's where eamon javers is with the latest. eamon. >> reporter: morning, andrew they do have the votes it looks like to impeach the president of the united states for the second time in the house of representatives later on today we expect that vote as soon as late this afternoon, after democrats move an article of impeachment, charging the president with incitement of insurrection the politics on this are moving pretty quickly, andrew we saw liz cheney, one of the republican leadership members,

issuing a statement yesterday. take a look at what she said this sort of changing the dynamic the republican conferences. cheney saying there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the united states of his office and oath, to the constitution she says she will vote to impeach the president of the united states. meanwhile in the senate, mitch mcconnell may be changing strategies here. hearings the reporting from "the new york times." that landed like a bombshell in washington last night as reporters scrambled to figure out what's going on over there "the new york times" reporting that senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader is pleased that democrats are moving to impeach president trump. believing that it will make it easier to purge trump from the party. last night, house democrats moved a motion pushing for mike pence, the vice president, to push forward with the 25th amendment. and remove the president from office immediately pence rejected that idea saying that's that's not what the 25th amendment is for.

now, we head to an impeachment vote in the house of representatives. and a really uncertain picture in the senate. with mcconnell signaling that he is prepared to accept impeachment of this president. not at all clear now what the time line will be. whether they can hold a trial and convict and remove the president. if there's time and votes for that on the senate floor all of that unclear agens of rit now, andrew. back to you. >> okay. i have, by the way, a question that may seem insubstantial, but i've seen a lot of traffic on it, online which is if the president were to be impeached, there's some speculation that he would lose things like his pension, potentially the security detail around him the other -- the other accoutrements if you will of being a former president is that right? >> reporter: yeah, that is right. they could vote to remove his

pension and office space and other benefits that a former president gets it's not likely they would remove secret service protection in fact -- i think there's a change in the law -- i have to check this, that would suggest that a president would not lose secret service protection no matter on what terms he left office given the sort of violence we've seen in the country that might be seen as unwise in the senate. but there might be an effort to remove his office space, you know, post-presidential funding, all of that, from the president as well. and, of course, there's the big question which is could he run again in 2024? the president seems to be signaling he wants to do that, but the senate if convicts to remove him could also vote to block him from ever holding federal office again and that would take him out of the way of some of those republican senators who seem they want to run in 2024 as well there's a lot of politics in this as well, andrew >> eamon, always good to see

you, engage your -- get the latest on all of this, as it seems to be so fast moving thanks >> reporter: thanks, andrew. >> joe the buy now pay later startup making the debut, walmart above the isolated range. leslie picker joins us more with more hey, leslie. >> good morning, joe once again an ipo is posting above a boosted range. seems like we've heard this before of it's affirm, a fintech company, raising up $12 million that has quadrupled from less than two years ago affirm offers loans to consumers with as low as zero percent apr to buy items in installment for technology to fuel that the uptick in e-commerce has been a boon to the model, so has the greater

purchasing power of the millennial consumer that has taken to this. affirm with merchants that they partner with, half of the volume conducted through their platform is conducted with zero percent apr. but it's actually interest-bearing adding to the company's top line and that top line nearly doubled since june and 28% of that revenue stems from one customer, peloton customer concentration is a key risk that they highlight in the prospectus i'm sure that will be a question among many others in a first-time cnbc interview with founder matt l

evchin heil i'll be tuning in later >> i have the illini a couple times this year. big ten, michigan undefeated >> yep, yep. >> i mean that huge blowout of a pretty good team lose money -- i don't know -- anyway, we digress what other deals are imminent, leslie picker? >> so, what's amazing is that it's only, what, the second week of january usually we see a little pause in ipo activity as people ramp up kind of get their house in order before going public. well, that's not the case in 2021 there are a ton of deals over the course of the next three day including today actually you've got a firm, uber $1 billion delic canning off 2021 with a massive ipo. you've got playtika, parent

company of pork mark, the drivenbrands with companies like meineke. there's about $12 billion worth of operating ipos just this week alone. oh, that doesn't even include a dozen or so amount of spacs also coming this week really hitting the ground out of the gate this year >> okay, leslie picker, thank you. see ya >> thank you you mentioned big ten basketball and not mentioned rutgers, because you only mention that in connection with condi rice >> i know, i know. i got yelled at that, too. that she didn't -- that they didn't cancel her. she decided not to go herself. >> decided not to. >> after weeks of protest by the students and faculty so, okay, is that not being -- specifically, then, she was not cancelled. >> back to basketball? >> can we please

>> yeah. let me get you caught up on other headlines as well, visa and fintech company plaid have called off their $5.3 billion takeover deal. the justice department assumed to stop the deal check that out, visa shares up by 74 cents. and then target says that holiday season comparable sales jumped 17.2% it was prison by online sales that more than doubled the retailer said the average customer ticket was up 12.3% from a year earlier. the other good news they had in this, it took the stock a while to react to this first reporting it it was only up by ten cents now up to $2.52. meantime, the government will buy 1.25 million of the

cocktail zdose the cocktail is used to treat high-risk covid patients who haven't yet been hospitalized. i saw the ceo on "mad money" speaking with meg tirrell, how important this is. and saying this is a big deal and hope to get to the patient, once you're in the hospital, your odds are six times higher that you'll die of covid they hope to get this to the user, to the patient, not just the vaccines but these therapies, andrew, that are so important. >> absolutely. thanks, bec. new york expanding eligibility on some, new york is expanding eligibility of the covid-19 vaccine to those 65 years ago old and older. we're going to speak to longtime new york real estate expert bill rudin what it means for the

economy. and much, much more after the break. call your doctor before you head to the break, dow up about 12 points nasdaq up marginally, s&p 500 up 3.5 points back after this. t at the finishe today we're going to fine tune the dynamic braking system whoo, what a ride! i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovators of the nasdaq 100 like you you don't have to be a deep learning engineer to help make the world a smarter place does this come in blue? become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

new numbers on the mortgage

market just out. let's get to zyana olick on that diana, what can you telling? >> well, becky after setting a dozen raecord lows, mortgage rates and mortgage applications to refinance a home loan spiked 20% last week, compared with the previous week, that according to the mortgage basicers association seasonally adjusted index. that was the highest since last march. volume was 93% annually. the fix rose from 2.88% to 2.86 with loans 20% down. that rate was 99 basis points higher the same week a year ago. mortgage rates to buy a home less sensitive to moves they rose 8% for the week and 10% for the same week a year ago interestingly, though, the average loan balance on applications was lower that was partially due to a big increase

on fha applications. those are favored by lower income borrowers and first-time buyers mortgage rates continued their upward trajectory this week. we may be in the week's first rising market for the mortgage rate market in three years back to you, guys. >> yep looks likely, they said on the ten-year, anyway thank you. moving on, same subject, new york eligibility has been expanded to the covid-19 vaccine to those 65 and older as well as those immunocompromised. governor andrew cuomo made that decision after criticism of the state that it's been too slow to roll out the vaccine as it faces an economic crisis in the city and state. joining us now, bill rudin, co-chair and ceo of rudin management company bill, we saw you not too long ago. i would say the last time you were on, when we were trying to

gauge the commercial real estate market, it was bouncing. i don't know if bounced is too strong a word, but bouncing off the bottom but there are glimmers there has that continued and improved or just about the same >> there's no question good morning, joe, everybody good to see you. when we did speak, we didn't have the visibility in terms of the vaccines coming out so i think that, literally, those shots in the arms are going to get -- pardon my expression -- butts in the seats, meaning people back into the office. and the fact that the governor yesterday rolled out his mortgage expanded initiative, we've got to get those shots in the arms it's critical to our future of our economy. and you're starting to see, you know -- i saw dr. gottlieb on just before. whether it's stadiums, citi field or pharmacies, i think

you'll see very soon rolling out significant yuopportunities for people to get these shots. yes, were there problems initially? no question. there will be problems going forward? i think this is a real ign but the governor also is working with the government to get more testing out there. we've been testing our employees on a two-week basis. now we're going to survey our tenants and have clarity, hopefully, visibility, of when they can come back into the office and we're going to create testing facilities within our facility for our offices another initiative that the real estate board is working on with the governor is to find vacant retail space which i think the city has a few of those, to get testing centers up and running to allow people to go into testing centers, get a rapid test go into a restaurant as the city and state starts expanding and

opening, soon, hopefully, indoor dining and the person can show that the restauranteur i just got tested 15 minutes ago and i'm good to go this is important for venues the governor announced the incredible arts program led by jane rosenthal from the tribeca film festival to start getting -- done ofone of the key elements of our great city is the arts industry and entertainment industry and restaurant industry. so we've got to start looking forward. but in terms of the market, yes, we are seeing positive activity. millions of feet of space was lesioned last year to a multitude of tenants nbcuniversal facebook, nyu langone. we're seeing activity literally behind you, joe, we're about to commence renovation of the office building.

we're going to renovate the lobby. new signage, new amenities we have another project in lower manton, pine street. we just opened up the lobby, we worked through pandemic and we've got activity there people have been working during the pandemic we obviously had pause got back up andkeep going. we're investing -- we, other owners, are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into the city because we believe once we get through this very difficult period of time, people want to get back to work they want to get to their offices. >> yeah. those are the kinds of questions i was wondering. i think commercial real estate and residential real estate. you can work in new york, a lot of people, i'm sure, looked at houses in the bedroom communities because that made sense and yet you can still work in new york and yet work remotely, too. there's some of these trends that may not reverse completely even after the vaccine is widely distributed. how long do you think it will be, in terms of years before you

hit normal from two years ago in new york city? both commercial and resident it seems like it could be five years at least, no? >> well, i home it's not but we're starting to see, you know, on the residential side, in the condo -- we're not in the condo business now -- but the reports we got earlier this week was a 53% increase in contracts sales from the week before and this week's contracts signings were higher than a year ago. people, in spite of the perception that people are moving to florida, they're moving to new york city. they're buying they're taking advantage of good pricing. they're buying, they're renting. our apartment buildings are seeing an uptick in rental activity and so, to answer your question, i think it's really how quickly the vaccine gets rolled out and people start coming back in, you know, have the testing and i think you're going to see a quicker return, hopefully, than anticipated

there's a pent-up demand for people to want to come back to work and be with their colleagues, have that collaboration. so, i'm hoping, i'm hoping sooner rather than later it helps -- we need the federal stimulus now majority leader schumer in a week and president-elect biden committed to get more stimulus into the economy you know, eliminate the elimination of salt which has been a kill for our city and state. and get infrastructure money pumped back in not just to new york, but all over the country. everyone is hurting. it's just not about our city, obviously, our city is leaps away -- >> hey, bill -- >> yes, andrew, good morning >> good morning, it's great to see you. help us with this, i know a number of ceos in new york city right now contemplating when enough vaccine becomes available, effectively mandating

it for employees who want to or are going to be required to return to the office is that something you would advocate as somebody who i know desperately wants new york city to return to as soon as possible to a sense of normalcy >> well, i'm obviously not a health expert. and i'm not sure of the technical laws that apply, i'm not sure that you can mandate it i would -- i think we've been talking internally about encouraging, just like we have with testing, we set up the program for our employees to get tested not every employee got tested for whatever reason they have. but a majority, enough of our employees, took us up on it. and i think the same thing with the vaccine. and i think there's going to be more, hopefully, there will be more response to getting the vaccine, you know, you've got j. & j. ultimately getting approved

soon that's a one-shot deal that will create more supply honestly, i can't tell you whether we mandate or not mandate it >> bill, can i just say the thing that i don't understand about mandate or not mandate, firstch of all, it appears at te moment to be something that is legal. as you know, lots of businesses, schools and the like, mandate vaccines they've been doing this literally for the past century and there seems to be a reticence among the business community to even have the conversation of course, this isn't something that has to be decided today because it's impossible. there's not enough vaccine available to mandate it. but for somebody who has been advocating for stimulus, advocating for trying to get the city back on its feet, i'm not sure why this isn't part of the conversation that ceos like yours want toneengage in that conversation given that's

probably the thing that will get this city back on its feet the quickest >> andrew, we are consulting, we have consultants that we talk to on a daily basis we've taken, obviously, this pandemic very seriously. we've brought in several doctors and advisers from day one to give us direction and advice and we're continuing those conversations. i think you will see more people wanting to get vaccines, and that's encouraging and when we get to the point where we have to make decisions, whether we mandate, and if they don't, they still work from home, we'll get to that. we've been working on so many, you know, other things these are legitimate questions that have to be answered but heretofore, we have to get the opportunity to get the vaccines the vaccines are coming. we have to get those out to 65 and older and encourage the employees who are that age, myself included, to go get the vaccine. so we can start this healing and

recovery and so, i think, you know, the city is -- and the state are working very hard to make this more ubiquitous, and we're starting to see that work its way through. >> all right, bill >> i just want to make one point, you know, as we head to martin luther king day which is monday, dr. king wrote a book and talked about the ultimate measure of a man or woman is not where he stands in a moment of convenience, but where he or she stands in the moment of challenge. so, we're at that challenge now. and so, this type of issue, andrew, you're talking about, all of the things that are going on in our country, solving with the pandemic, getting our economy open, people working together to, you know, get the

resources that our city and state and our country need are so critical. those are the things that i've been working on. and our team is working on, and our industry is working on so, we're optimistic going back to your question, joe, i'm hopeful that people start to move back to the city in the spring. start filling up restaurants another point, we've been working with our restauranteurs and retrailers people have been talking about them going out of business we've been working where it makes sense. we've been helping restaurants we actually just opened a restaurant on 26th street and madison. a famous restauranteur, mark stroman. he literally opened. two weeks later in november he had to shut his indoor dining. we went to him and said, mark, keep -- not pay your rent, we'll get through this together. and we'll figure out what the rent is. we want these restaurants and

retailers to remain open and viable because it's critical >> okay, bill. >> cuomo seems to be -- we heard from the governor that, you know, maybe businesses, you know, are important as well. edon' i don't don't, recently. >> do me a favor, say hello to my good friend phil murphy he's doing a good job. >> i hope you're right. coming up when we return, the role of corporate america is playing to the response of what happened last week ceo mark weinberger is our guest. it's time for today's aflac trivia question, which wall street firm was founded in 1869? we'll have the answer when "squawk box" returns after this. s just covering for sophie. same way he got me money to help cover her hospital bill

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welcome back we've got a couple of stocks to watch in the auto sector this morning. first up, mio pricing its offering at $1.1 million in notes. the chinese automaker plans to

use the proceeds for general purposes and strength its stock sheet. and then a % increase in china car sales compared to a year earlier the first increase in china since 2017 that stock is up by five cents stick around, "squawk box" will be right back.

welcome back to "squawk box" this morning corporate america taking a stand in response to the assault on capitol hill last week major companies like microsoft, target and others halting contributions. and disney and others are suspending it. and the implications in the political arena and whether this is a lasting change. mark weinberger is here, former cny and served as assistant

secretary to the george bush administration great to see you, mark curious how you're thinking about the moves companies have been making over the last several days condemning the attacks. but more importantly, withholding their political money from some of these candidates, or i should say, some of these politicians who saw to overturn that vote. >> andrew, great to talk to you again as well. so, it's obviously a very difficult time for business leaders because nobody gave money a candidate or a cause thinking that they would ultimately end up voting against the certification of the next president. they make their contributions based on how an individual may affect their industry, their company over periods of time, locally, nationally. and now they're faced, obviously, with a backlash so, you kind of have to separate the moment from the overall system of how financing is done to elections these days. i think people are stopping

because they want to show the media accountability for the actions taken by those individuals and they don't know what to do yet so they're pausing until they figure out how to move forward. >> mark, the question is six months from now, do you believe that some of these companies are going to continue to effectively fund -- look, there's an argument to be made that some of these companies were funding sedition that's what we're talking about here and whether you think they're going to return to do that i made an argument in yesterday's "the new york times" that actually this could be a remarkable moment, an opportunity for companies to actually just get out of the business of giving entirely. i personally believe it's fine for companies to lobby all they want but the idea that you can work the ref and pay the ref at the same time seems like a terrible idea >> yeah. i read your article. very good article, as usual, andrew you know, i think that you're raising a question fundamental

to the entire system nobody gave money to fund sedition and this is the risk when you give money to a candidate, they may or may not agree with you. they may oppose you on taxes they may oppose you on regulatory issues. they may have a view that affects the country very different, and that's the risk i think it's hard for businesses alone to decide they're no longer going to participate in the system i mean, you have other environmental groups you have labor groups, you have others all contributing to pacs. so, it's a reasonable question to look at the entire system and question whether public funding or private funding of elections is right or not. to say individual companies just stop on the road it's like a unilateral disarmament >> how do you think about the way companies are going to deal with, at minimum, the politicians that were involved in this really sad and tragic moment in our country going

forward? are you convinced -- >> right >> -- that money really will not go towards them? >> yes i don't think anyone's going to want to -- as i said, look, people contributing to elections aren't contributing to politics. they're contributing to someone who they feel will help them on a local or federal level but someone who undermines the democracy is not good for any business i do think they'll be held accountable and there will not be money for those taking that position >> mark, i wonder if there's a broader movement to say forget about this, forget about political giving and this is a momentwhere thes companies can say this and it makes a whole lot of sense some of the biggest donors happen to be heavily regulated industries companies within those industries what they're seeing as soon as the companies say they're going to stop giving, and that

industry tends to do it. whether it be the financials, the telecom companies and even along those lines, there is strength in numbers and the reason to sale, okay, this is the time to stop and we're not going to do it anymore especially when you consider, look, none of my competitors are going to be giving so i don't have to worry when someone who oversees my industry calls me and asks for something it's hard to say no. in that they'scenario, and i'ved politicians saying that. saying we're going to ban together as an industry and say we're not giving anymore because of these factors or do you think there's somebody that says, i'm going to get out there and get an edge by trying to influence more? >> becky, that's an excellent question i don't know if there's a movement afoot yet i can tell you, i don't think the business leaders are thrilled with always being called up and asked for money for particular causes and

individuals either so, i think it would be a great desire to have a completely different system let's say, how you finance elections. but even if in the industry companies decide unilaterally we don't want to give anymore, let's say you're an energy company but you have envi environmental pacs and labor pacs, all of those contributing to it and it's hard to say we're going to stop and they're going to continue and my interests will be well interested. so i think it's broader than a company saying do we really want to re-elect people in this country should we go to the private sector for financing >> mark, but the question i would ask is, you know, could all the members of the business roundtable come together and say we're out effectively? and by the way, i agree, everything i said about corporations trying to work the refs and paying the refs should

similarly be applied to pacs for unions should be applied in so many other realms but couldn't the business community here take a leadership position -- couldn't j. & j., you're on the board of j. & j., couldn't you say we're out of this -- by the way, it isn't good for the credibility of the company, it isn't good for the credibility of the politician. in both cases it looks like both sides are trying to bribe each other. and you would think the costs or potential costs which we saw in real terms this week are real. and they're not being added into the calculus here. and the other piece of this is there are going to be politicians -- you're going to support one thing and they're going to do something potentially that may be at odds with you on another world. in a world, call it the hypocrisy conundrum, there's no way out in this world where companies like yours and leaders

like yourself are trying to stand up and say, we care about stakeholders across the board. because you're not going to be -- it's almost a lose/lose, buy not just say, we're out. >> yeah, it's a fair question. but again, i go back to your point. nobody gave money expecting or supporting sedition. or supporting a candidate who would oppose even the new president of the united states being duly certified into office so it does go to potential brand and reputation of company. and i think companies are going to start to look much more carefully why you're seeing this pause. they're saying, let me step back and see how i'm allocating my money and what this could do to my brand remember, what they're doing, andrew, they're pulling together all of their employees' money and investing in the candidates. that's what the pac is it's not the corporate money for them to say we're going to stop doing that on issues that are very important on us like regulation, like how our

industry could survive, because we're afraid of somebody doing something wrong in the future is a difficult decision to make and the battle right now as this issue is on the table. so you're seeing this cause. i think you're going to see everyone reconsider how and what decisions they make about who they give to how employees are represented. what they're reaction is going to be to the situation and i think over time i think you'll see some adjustments. but i really go back to, it's hard to union alaterally say we going to stop giving >> but, mark, you can do it individually, mark, you as a board member of j & j, you can say we want to be a leader ibm they don't do it, zero giving by the way, apple doesn't have a pac. it's doable, right >> oh, it's doable virtually every business asks employees if they want to contribute to a pac. and they give that to individuals who will presumably have a positive impact on the

industry it is the way elections have been run you know, this individual moment in time is so unique, andrew i'm not saying your questions aren't good ones, but i don't think you'll have an immediate reaction to this and saying this is what we're going to do forever going forward. i think this is where we pause and see what we should do and maybe work with groups outside the business community as well >> okay, mark weinberger, it's always good to see you get your thoughts on all of it it is a historic period that we're all living through i know everybody is trying to grapple with what the right answers are. thanks >> thank you, andrew >> joe coming up, rising interest rates, clarity from washington and additional stimulus focus for investors. we soap up the santoli playbook after the break. tell everyone in the house, coming up right when we come back plus, what to expect when big banks start reporting

earnings loss. "squawk box" coming right back

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♪ welcome back to "squawk box. i want to get mike santoli what has more on the markets. >> yeah, markets ratcheting

higher the s&p 500 it's kind of paused a bit. taken a bit of a breather. but this is very significant after this choppy sideways period where we hashed a lot of things out before and after the election, you got a little bit of a push-up here. threa 3800, 3820, intra-day high and the market has a little bumping of its head against the ceiling, or if it is, as i said, a little pause stocks and bonds tlt, long-term treasury. this is two years. going up largely in sync then you have the massive outperformance of bonds versus stocks during the covid crash. and now real breakout in terms of trends you see the departure as they go their separate ways now, there is a chance, we did see this in june, where you saw a real surge in stocks versus bonds. bonds looking like they were breaking down. didn't happen quickly.

this is more decisive, bonds may be getting oversold in the short term yields came off their highs yesterday. sectorwise, it's been very cyclical and financial if you look at what's winning over the last months it's in sync small caps never been morale tiff to the long trend banks also up more than 50% over this period. it's all come since beginning of november and semiconductor. the message in this is very encouraging. telling us we're going to get an accelerations, fiscal stimulus all of this stuff we're telling you about. the big risk is the last bit of this is more of a spatampede. it's more about chasing the tail of the group in front of you you wonder short term, we've overdone the theme and have a little bit of spillback there. >> mike, thank you very much in the meantime, here come the big bank earnings, jpmorgan

and wells fargo and citi going to kick things off this sector has been on a tear later. it's been on since interest rates decline. joining us is global head of banks and diversified finance research at morgan standing. betsy, when we start looking at these actual earnings numbers that's when the rubber really hits the road. expectations have been fairly low. where do you think the banks will come in, once they start showing us how they performed last quarter >> so, for earnings -- thank you, becky, for having me on the show regarding bank earnings, we're optimistic on bank earnings, we think for the most part, banks will be concensus optimists. we have rates and expenses for

2021 for expenses to be under control. >> i guess the other big part of this, the other big part of the reason for the stocks being on a roll the idea that there will be additional stimulus that comes out and what that means for the overall economy. how do you game this out in terms whereof the stocks have run so far and what you think it's worth >> well, it's a great question when you think about the stimulus, first of all what it has already delivered is much, much, much lower credit costs than anyone would have expected, given the level of unemployment, even what we have today at 6.7%. so, when we think about another level of stimulus coming in here, effectively coming in right now, what it says to me is, my peak net charge-off estimates that are currently in my model for, you know, the end of this year, could be too high. i might have to bring those down and when you bring down those

losses, you also are able to release reserves faster and drive more buybacks. so, as we go through this earnings season, kicking off friday, like you mentioned, that's going to be a key question for managements how much does this extra stimulus give you in terms of less expectation for credit losses it really reduces the risk in the book >> a walmart executive spoke yesterday at the national retail federation and said some things that are kind of concerning. she talked about how when they surveyed their customers, more than 40% of them don't see any turn in the economy, at least from their perspective for quite some time. she mentioned a lot of walmart shoppers are doing things like trading down you know from a national labor to a private label brand and maybe buying a smaller box than before and walmart customers might being disproportionately at risk versus the broader consumer.

but it does raise questions who's tied into that, what businesses, what banks and you see that comment, what banks you like best i guess. >> so, in terms of the consumer outlook, i think the number one part of expectation, as the vaccines were distributed into this country that we, you know, bring back to life some of those sectors that are, you know, under ice right now. hopefully, that consumer sentiment will improve over time i'd say the second thing is you get that incremental stimulus check in your pocket that's going to help out for at least another several months you put those two things together you think the outlook is positive. when i i think about the sector, we do have three top picks, s

syncrony, a private credit card finance lender why do we have such a positive view on them they have already reserved for significantly higher unemployment levels than we have today. and the group overall has a reserve level of 7% to 9% unemployment year-end '21. we're below that today so, these companies are sitting on excess capital, excess reserves, excess liquidity and i think my stocks can afford any, you know, coming stress that's likely to happen as we entit exit this pandemic or amx, it's really a call on expanding travel on the back half of this year. and state street is a way to play rising rates and lower expenses >> betsy, thank you for your time great to see you this morning. and we'll watch all of this in earnings season. >> thanks so much, becky

appreciate >> you, too. >> andrew. thanks, becky, when we return, another big hour of "squawk box" ahead governor phil murphy is going to join us with his state's rollout. we'll do that next and later with ken langone on the markets plus, moncef slaoui announced his resignation. we'll talk about that all ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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good morning, the house moving quickly toward a second impeachment of president trump that vote expected today one week after a mob of the president's supporters stormed the u.s. capitol we're going to talk about all of that, plus, the nation's coronavirus vaccine campaign with our special request ken langone. speaking of vaccine, we've got lots of questions about the rollout from new jersey governor phil murphy. and dr. moncef slaoui who is resigns from operation warp speed after leading it for months he's joining us live, all that as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now.

good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin we've seen some of the worst leveling we've seen. the dow not down significantly, the dow red by 65 points nasdaq indicated to give back about 38. and the s&p indicated, you can see, down 12 points or so. a little worse than we saw earlier and kind of reversing some of the modest gains that we ended up with yesterday. >> that's right. let's get to our top stories this morning among them the house of representatives expected to vote today to impeach president trump for the second time. trump faces one charge, incitement of insurrection, after a group of supporters he'd been rallying stormed the capitol building one week ago today. at least five gop house members

plan to support impeachment. it's unclear where it will start. but "the new york times" reports that the majority leader mitch mcconnell privately supports impeaching the president last night, the house resolution calling on vice president mike pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment to remove trump from office. though prior to that vote, pence rejected the effort, wrote a letter to them explaining why. in the meantime, youtube is suspending president trump for at least seven days. the alphabet site said new content uploaded to trump's post were upload. and the ipo of $49 a shares. affirm provides loans to online shoppers we're going with max levchin at 11:00 a.m. this morning.

joe. looking to accelerate the covid-19 vaccine, allowing anyone 65 or older to get a shot for a closer look at the rollout at state level, let's go to governor phil murphy i know governor cuomo said he's on above with the 65 and over rollout. have you commented yet are you, new jersey, going to implement that anytime soon? >> good morning, joe we haven't said it yet but you can assume we'll be saying that shortly, effective immediately within the next day or two we were actually getting there on our own we had hospitals saying, listen, we want to open it beyond our health care workers. we're already working toward that objective and with the cdc's blessing incoming biden administration support for this, all of those converge, and we're going to take that step shortly >> governor, i can't imagine you that either wake up or go to bed

without the first thing on your mind making this quicker, easier to roll out, the vaccine in new jersey we had dr. scott gottlieb on saying we've got to get people comfortable at a cvs or walgreens. or more distribution centers and i made the point, even 1a, 1a people, none of the appointment dates are available for them if we say, now, 65 or above, i betcha those appointment dates go down, instead of a month and a half it will go down six months >> yeah. >> how do we -- the demand is going to be there. how do we get the supply to people who need it >> those are all fair points, joe. i hope it's not six months i don't think it's that long there's conviction that wasn't there even a short while ago that the supplies will be there. there's an enormous supply/demand imbalance right now. and to your point it's a right one and a fair one

the feds both the current administration, the incoming administration, and our assessment that's going to begin -- i say begin, it's going to take a while, it will begin to balance out i think you get through the next six to eight weeks we're in a dramatically different place. and that will be good news >> well, so, let's say you're 65 -- okay you try and do it today. you try and sign up today. when would you expect to be able to go in and get the jab for that person? >> i can't give you a specific date but i would say you're getting vaccinated within the next six to eight weeks the best educated guess. let's say by the end of february >> you have people that are in touch with retail outlets, governor, that try to expand i know there's empty sears facilities, things like that >> yep >> are you in contact with cvs,

with walgreens >> oh, my lord -- >> i'm sorry >> every day cvs, walgreens, for instance, are handling the long term care facilities and that's a federal program i will just say we deeply appreciate what each of them are doing. cvs has made more progress as i sit here than walgreens. we need walgreens to get to the same level of penetration that cvs has. but we've got, i think, joe, probably 260 distribution sites in jersey. sex six mega sites that's including a former sears store in morris county we've got six of those around the state. we don't want to get caught flat-footed. the feds have underdelivered in terms of supply. all indications are, that's going to change. i don't think it will change overnight, but it will change even more so with the biden administration but one thing we didn't want to

do is be caught flat-footed with the distribution points when that supply comes in we're in a if you build it they will come mode it feels like at least the supply is going to loosen up and we'll get more doses >> governor, we hear sometimes it's a supply issue, and sometimes, it's a distribution issue. do you have doses that the federal government has delivered to you that haven't been released yet or have you basically given out every shot you've been given >> our objective, becky, is to give out every shot you've got you've got some anomalies depending on which day you look at this. the suppliesrrive saturday, sunday, monday it looks like you haven't distributed everything but as the week goes on, that gap shrinks. you've also got cvs and walgreens who have put aside explicit schedules for the entire month of january and february for long-term care.

they've set aside doses for planned visits to those locations. so that's also -- looks like there's a gap which in fact doesn't exist. >> wait, wait -- >> for the dose. >> we're saving doses -- we're saving doses on the shelf that we're not planning to give out until february that seems crazy >> no, allocations no, no, these are allocations for visits -- for engagements, appointments that they've made already for long-term care facilities >> so that's not -- that's not stuff you're holding on to on the shelf? >> cvs and walgreens, a federal program are responsible for long-term care facilities. there are doses that are assigned to appointments that they've got later this week or next week. whether they're here or not, they've got a schedule they've so far met that schedule cvs in particular.

and that's part of the math here and that's, by the way -- this is a point that's relevant in new jersey, it's relevant in the entire country, long-term care facilities have been clobbered they continue to get clobbered so that program is mission critical for us. >> governor, one of the questions we've been talking to a number of business leaders about is the prospect that once vaccines become widely available, that certain businesses may decide, ultimately, to mandate the use of the vaccine to come back to the office, so to speak, to come back to work, especially in places where people are still working from home. how are you thinking about that idea to the degree that you are at all, for state employees? >> we haven't mandated it yet, andrew there's -- you know, when we started this six weeks ago, we started the vaccine discussions actually in february and march so, i'll put that aside.

but when this became real, we knew there were a couple of factors here one was the complexity of the distribution another was supply another was anti-vax notion among our population, not just in new jersey, but that's a national reality at least, as i sit here, the response to willingness to get a vaccine has been overwhelming. so, we have well over 1 million people right now who have signed up to preregister to get a vaccination. we think we need to vaccinate 4.7 million new jerseyans in order to have that sort of community reality that we are pursuing that's a heck of a start >> governor, new jersey is seeing the new contagious strain or should we assume it's in new jersey i get a call every night from the essex county guy i dread the call, because it's

never good what he's telling me on the recording where are we right now in new jersey >> we don't have the smoking gun, but we've been assuming for several weeks that it's in the state. it's hard to believe that it isn't. and we're behaving as though it is and based on the science that we know so far, more contagious, not more lethal. so that tells us to double-down -- the vaccines are great. they work. they're here but double-down on the stuff we know works as well, social distancing, face masks wash hands with soap and water use your common sense. >> are you worried, governor, between now and inauguration day, about violence in trenton >> yeah, we are. unfortunately, sadly, i've already had several meetings on this we've got several more to come and we're going to be as prepared as we can before it but this whole notion of inciting folks to behave violently is the last thing we

need right now in our country. the capitol policeman who died was a jersey guy, brian sicknick, so it's cut close to home but the answer is, yes, we're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. >> who have you heard from, governor federal agencies any actual -- whatever chief executive of a state would hear about from a security agency are there real verified threats that you know to worry about, or just the overall environment we find ourselves in? >> yeah, i won't get into the specifics, joe, but we're working intensely with our federal partners and obviously all of our state agencies. there's a widely publicized request or ask for folks to do a second amendment march this sunday, january 17th in state capitols around the country, including our own. and that's what we're most focused on right now and we're working with all of

the agencies and federal partners that we've got. but as i say, it's the last thing we need right now in the country. this ought to be -- what we do need is steady, calm leadership. let's get through this transition peacefully and on to better days. >> all right governor thank you. appreciate it. and like i said, i know that's all that's on your mind, morning, noon and night. let's get it going let's get it going i know -- i have a friend -- i have a friend who's 65 i'm not going to mention any names. but i have a friend that would get it immediately if -- you know what i'm talking about, governor >> believe me -- >> it's impossible to believe. i know this guy who is ready to go right now, if he can get an appointment. >> we'll get him on, we'll do him on the show. >> all right send it down i'm ready. thank you, governor. >> good to see you

>> godspeed, be safe, you know covid is bad enough, now you got to worry about your own personal safety thank you, appreciate it >> thank you, good to be with you. >> okay. coming up when we return, a wide ranging interview with ken langone. plus outgoing warp speed adviser dr. moncef slaoui. an interview you don't want to miss and tiktok with the app that will make conversations of 13 to 16 year olds private and guidance surrounding younger users. we'll talk about this later. i know a lot of kids and parents talking about this right now you're watching "squawk" on cnbc ing client confidence in you. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully.

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no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. get a $25 prepaid card when you switch. nationwide 5g is now included. switch and save hundreds. xfinity mobile. welcome back to "squawk box. visa and fintech company plaid have now called off their $5 billion merger agreement that because the justice department sued in november to stop the deal on antitrust grounds. and the allegation would have taken substantial time to fully resolve. of course, the question is what happens to plaid a lot of speculation whether the company gets bought out as part of a spac. and a reference on twitter to -- he didn't say that prospect but but that was what was implied. he, of course, has a number of spacs that are public and still

in the works that could pursue a company of this size bill ackman's name has been raised as a prospective spac his was potentially $50 billion each more range. companies that he talked to, airbnb, now worth $96 billion. but back at that time, probably closer to 50 even mayor bloomberg's company, the bloomberg company had been considered a target. but we will see, the movement on plaid whether somebody else comes in the form of a spac. or potentially in the form of a takeover by another big company. but big questions about if there would be antitrust issues. just ahead a lot more on "squawk box. we've got a business interview with leader ken langone. we'll get his perspective on the

rollout and the riots at the nation's capitol and so much more on "squawk box. than we do. workday. how do they make better decisions faster? workday. got to do something. workday! i think i got something. work... hey, rob, you're on mute. hello. [all] hey... there he is. workday, the finance, hr, and planning system for a changing world. ♪ch-ch-changes♪

just a few minutes ago, we got state level perspective on how the coronavirus vaccine is going from new jersey governor phil murphy. right now, we want to bring in another knowledgeable voice on this topic

invemed chairman ken langone he's the founder of home depot and the chairman of ken langone. ken, thanks for being here seeing what's happening in new york and florida where you are right now, what can you tell us about how the rollout is going? what you're seeing >> well, we had 600 doses last week, and we did them all in two days down here the governor down here i think has been very far sighted in putting one condition in, 65 and get it out in my opinion, there shouldn't be one dose of this vaccine on any shelf in america as soon as they get there, it should be in somebody's body as soon as we get to that point, using it as fast as it's produced we'll get to herd immunity it's not going to happen until

we get millions vaccinated last week on your show, the chairman of pfizer said he's gearing up to do the -- if you do the math, 1.3 billion that can go some place else in the world. right now, we want to be as expeditious as we can be to vaccinate as many people whether rich or poor, i don't care who they are. get them in there. the people who say they don't want it, we have to accept that. i'm very pleased this past month, we opened up the throttle in new york we're doing in new york like florida. right now in florida, we're waiting for an allocation, we're out of it. that's very good for us. for the system but this vaccine is the answer, there's no doubt about it. so, that, becky, is a thumbnail sketch of where we are with the vaccine. >> ken, there have been so many questions raised about who gets access to this and how and when.

and it's good to see that the government, federal government is now saying that we should be doing what florida did opening it up to anybody over age 65 >> right >> but there have been questions raised about if you have to be connected or have money to get the vaccine in certain places. what's the answer? there are questions that in new york there are doses in hospitals not able to be given out hopefully we're addressing that but there are question who should get this, how you have access to it and how you simplify that process? >> by the way, i made the calls myself on the people -- my point was where can i get it done the fastest and contact as many people as quickly as i can it's that simple that's what i did. i sat here i had a book, i knew most of the people in the book were old. i called them up many of them i didn't even know. we ought to have one goal in mind -- everybody is saying the same thing we ought to have one goal in

mind what is that goal? get as many people vaccinated as fast as we can if the cutoff point is 65, let's say 65 we did 600 in two days, mind you, allowing for 15 minutes after the injection to see if there's any allergic reaction. we did so, what i'm saying, becky, is give me a book i don't care if they're rich or poor i don't care about anything. as long as they qualify. 65, that's the qualification, get them in there and get them vaccinated and a lot of people are talking from that point of view. >> what -- >> go ahead. >> no, go ahead, finish your thought. >> well, many people are now coming to that point of view, bob boseman and i talk all the time, we're saying, let's get them in here the rules say it, if they're 65, dammit, they get it. we don't care who they are we're going to sit here --

>> in terms of -- >> go ahead. >> in terms of new york and what's happening at langone, i mean there are big questionshos can give out vaccines because they're focused on taking care of patients,trying to do that, too. do you think it should be done at the hospitals? or other ways, whether drugstores or big places where everybody can walk into a stadium, what do you think the right answer is? >> the right answer is wherever you can get the people that need it that want it. i know, the government down here made a deal with supermarkets. what's wrong with that as long as you do it properly. as long as you make sure, for example, you're tracking the possibility of an allergic reaction because that can be serious but what i'm saying is, right now, at nyu, our case load is way up from where it was in june, july and august, way up. not like we were in april. we're doing all of our regular

work, cardiology, orthopedics, we're doing it all we're treating patients, we're giving people the vaccines and we're punching it. this is not like last spring last spring we shut the place down just to accommodate people with covid becky, number one, we know how to deal with the disease better than eight months ago. we know, for example, there's certain ways to position the patient physically, that will enhance their recovery lie them on their belly. as opposed to the way you lie people in a hospital better. we've got the regeneron and the lily's drug, we have the vaccine itself we're not without an arsenal we've got one and we're using it by the way, i would argue that the health care industry in general, starting with the developers of the vaccines have redeemed themselves this last time i am so impressed with the

effort is making in the health care field i've got an ax to grind because i'm an investor in the health care i promise you, that's an objective view on my part about what efforts are made to keep things going to deal with the crisis i think we're doing pretty good. now, i want to be honest with you, the arbitrary nature of the way politics or i should say elected officials dealt with it the first couple of weeks left a lot to be desired. okay you put people in a period where they were worried about it -- if i give this guy this shot do i get in trouble that shouldn't even be part of the equation give them the shot get them moving. give her a shot. move it. keep moving. okay i understand the age limit and i think it makes sense, but there's enough people in those cohorts that you can keep busy all day long do it. >> hey, ken, it's andrew here. >> hi, how are you, pal?

>> it's good to see you. i wanted to pivot the conversation to the other major issue that we've been talking about and grappling with as a country which is the riots and arguably the seditious efforts that took place last week. you've been outspoken on so many issues including your support for president trump. >> right >> you've given lots of money in the years -- including this -- >> no, i did not give him lots of money over the years -- i gave him money -- >> no, no, but also to the national republican congressional committee. >> oh, absolutely. >> have supported a number, though, of the congressional leaders who sought to overturn that vote or have the electoral college vote reconsidered. my question to you is, what is your feeling about this today? and as i've asked others

including mick mulvaney as somebody who supported this, do you feel like you enabled it to some degree? >> i feel betrayed, okay going through the court system to try and get some results, he exhausted everything it was over. biden is the president biden should be in the white house. and i argue a very simple thing, andrew i think the biggest mistake anybody can make is to offer mitigating reasons why it -- what happened last wednesday last wednesday was a disgrace that shouldn't have happened in this country and if it doesn't break every american's heart, something is wrong it breaks my heart for sure, i didn't sign up for that more importantly, more importantly, all of us have -- for me, i'm speaking for myself, i'm going to do everything i can from day one to make sure i do my part to make joe biden the most successful president in the

history of the country and there's some use for that. we've got very serious major issues in america to deal with we've got the pandemic we've got the debt we've got infrastructure we have a horrendous condition of public schools in america we have generational theft what the hell is a guy like me doing getting money from the government every month i listened to joe manchin the other night. he was beautiful he said, look, let's make sure we give people the money they need, let's make sure they need it to give $2,000 to every american is nuts. don't depend on people to say i don't need it. i'll send it back. what i'm saying, andrew is, how do i feel? i feel those people who sought to stop the process was ill-advised. i think we have a strong responsibility as citizens of this great country to do everything we can for the

government that's in power at the time to help them be the most successful that we need it. we need it bad i don't know if i've answered your question or not, but that's the best answer i can give you >> do you think the president should be impeached? >> i don't care. i don't care all i care about is one thing, january 20th, joe biden is going to be sworn in as president and i'm going to work my ass off any way i can -- if he's a great successful president, we all win. should he be impeached should he resign i don't -- i'll tell you something else, there are a lot of people right now that have worked like hell and are working like hell right now to do what they can to keep things going until january 20th until the new team takes over. those people don't deserve to be ridiculed or anything else, andrew i think they're patriots notwithstanding, i'm sure many of them feel the same way, those

people who left the administration, they spoke their mind i respect them for that. there are a lot of people in there right now trying to keep things going until january 20. and no glory for them at all how do i feel? i don't care i was betrayed and i feel i have a strong obligation to use whatever energy whatever talent whatever ability i have, whatever i have, to help joe biden be the best president we ever had whatever that takes. >> ken, when you get involved -- >> when you get involved with things you get your hands dirty. what are you anticipating that you would do to help joe biden and the incoming administration? >> i'm going to be practical let me tell you the things i must do. i must pay my taxes. i must obey all the laws of the country, okay? on a personal basis, i pull myself into my causes whether it's working with stan and jeff

in the children's home or the medical center. i sat here all last week with a book and just called one name an another after another. i said we've got the vaccine, would you like it? here's where you go? we had to register them in you tell me what i can do, becky, and i'll do it. i'll do it frankly, becky, if there's a time in history when all americans need to be a patriot, this is that time. and i think the biggest mistake anybody is going to make is to try and rationalize what the president did and what that crowd did. there somebody no mitigation, it was horrible, it was wrong i'm shocked and more importantly, as i said, i was betrayed >> how do you feel about the senators and republicans that voted to not accept, not certify the electoral college results? >> i don't know what the hell they had in their mind, frankly. it was done. joe biden is going to be

president -- listen, i would argue everybody should do whatever they can to show at the end of the day, we all are americans and we all want a great country. that's what they should be doing. both sides, by the way again, i don't want to go back and they did this, they did this -- that's almost an excuse. there's no excuse for what happened last week none whatsoever. there's going to be plenty of time and energy spent to do what they have to do, whether to trump, the senators, whatever it is at the end of the day, thank god, we're a democracy, and the voters will have the last word >> hey, ken, good to see you, it's joe we had bill rudin on earlier we were just talking about, you know, two, three, four years from now, the country, new york, you're in florida. are you going to be back out here on the island you fully expect new york to be

what it was? what about people going to work, people working at home how's it all going to play out >> there's going to be a lot of changes. our organization which is essentially a family office now, we're getting everything done. we've got people in new jersey, people in long island, people in westchester. thank god for technology, we're getting it done. let me say this to you, the thing i'm also trying to do in this period of time is to stay busy this past monday, i had the good fortune to walk from target stores with brian, you saw the numbers this morning i walked into the stores i had a great sense of home, him with his fabulous group of people he's got. they're passionate the stores are in spectacular shape. obviously, products that are in short supply, paper products there's some holes so what, home depot's got the same problem i saw people doing what they do every single day

i got to kel yu tell you sometha cornell has done with target, it's passionate, they're turned on and people are shopping we've got a chance to get over this hiccup. but there's a bigger problem, joe, when rates start going up and they will, i think a lot sooner than people think when rates start going up, you better figure out how to pay the interest bill with the federal government with $28 trillion in debt and if it only goes up 200 bases points that $560 billion more in infrastructure for the year. >> hey, ken, while we have you, i haven't seen you in a while, i also want to ask you about -- >> i thought you didn't love me anymore. >> oh, no. >> i knew andrew was happy not to see me. >> you know i love you >> i know that and i love you you know that. >> how about twitter, facebook, parler, what do you think needs to happen? what do you think is happening

there? are you okay with everything that's happening >> well, let me say it two ways. free speech say critical part of this great country of urs. it is the critical part. the ability of people to speak their mind the ability to have different points of view i'm torn when twitter was used to motivate people to do bad things i got a problem with saying they shouldn't shut it down okay i got a problem with it. because i sure don't want people preaching hate and so forth, although they do so, joe, this is above my pay grade. >> that's saying something >> oh, no. i don't get paid anymore i live on dividends now. i keep looking at those dividend moves. >> i'll trade my paychecks for your dividends

>> in this issue of speech, this is an issue that has really to be thoughtfully addressed over a period of time on the one hand -- well, i'll give you a for instance. i so admire the aclu, when they went to court so that the nazis could parade in skokie, illinois, years ago. i thought that showed real objectivity on their part, on the admission. and while that was horrible, the message and the way it was delivered then, we have to make sure, joe, we don't throw the baby out with the bath water we want to be very careful of that what we have in america which is precious is i can go out in front of my house right now and do stupid things and say stupid things and the chances for my being punished for it are virtually zero i have such a strong and abiding belief in the american people. we're great people we really -- you know, when i saw what these kids were doing

at nyu last spring, the nurses and the kids and the firemen and the cops, boy, i said to myself, you know, god, i wish you can't give us a pandemic to show us just how kind-hearted we are to have these people respond. we live in the greatest country -- my biggest heartbreak right now is what's going on in america, both ways please, please, joe manchin said it the other night give us a few more joe manchins. let's figure a way out, how we can work together. let's find common ground that we can do things to help america. the american people are going to need big help. people are living longer how are we going to pay for them by the way, thank god, lily, a nice dividend the other day, for alzheimer's, the thing i worry about most little at 85 is when i'm going to lose my marbles we all got to go, i just don't

want to sit here wondering who i am or who i'm talking to a lot of these problems, joe, the real problem i have, we need to put the greater good of the country ahead of philosophical you want to tax me more money -- you know, they talk about this big tax break that trump passed. my taxes are higher because of that why? none of my deductions for taxes in new york state any longer are deductible and that's all i have. i mean, i don't have -- you know, what i'm saying is, let's pay more taxes everybody i know that's of means feels the same way but let's make sure we spend it wisely and let's make sure we get -- when are we going to start as a nation to realize that we're going to be eaten alive by our foreign competitors for one basic reason -- public education in america is a disaster and i've said it for years, joe. when are we going to fix it?

it gets worse every year it doesn't get any better. is there anybody on this show right now that can push back and say i'm wrong it's getting better it's what we want, we should be proud of -- is there one person? no why? because it's horrible. you talk about new york city new york is not going to recovery as fast as it did in at 9/11 9/11 was a shock to the system, it was a heart attack. this is a disease that's going to be around, the effects are going to be around for a long time people are learning to live different ways look at brian cornell's numbers this morning the sales were up. and his counts over-the-counterwas over 100%. people can say i can still shop at target but i can stay home. so that's never-never land, i don't know how it's going to be. look, i do know that new york has serious -- this is a good

example. if there was a time to bring everybody together by the governor and the mayor, guys, we got a serious problem, how do we address it you can't have a healthy america without a healthy new york state, without a healthy illinois, without a healthy california there are three states that are in serious, serious trouble. and what are we doing as a nation we're one nation under god we're a republic we have 50 states, but we are a democracy that counts every state. we don't have the luxury -- by the way, i'm still a resident of new york state i can move here to my lovely home in florida and qualify. my position is very simple new york was good to me from the time i was born. i did very well in that city i did very well-being there. >> i've got the question >> go ahead. you have a question, becky >> yeah, i do. just in terms of what you're saying about supporting all states and being one nation,

every time this is brought up in the congress inclaudine ie ing including in the most recent stimulus bill no aid gets passed for the states and local municipalities because that is a huge divide between republicans and democrats. republicans have pointed to the blue states saying they've mismanaged their states and have to clean it up what would you say to that >> i would say it's a combination of both. look if i have a bank loan and i can't pay it the bank says you got to do this, this, this i'm not saying give a blank check. i'm saying we're willing to help but you got to do your part. and look at the egregious behavior, about two months ago, there was a story about these guys retiring -- they're being criminally charged, by the way, retiring from the mta making pensions of $300,000 a year.

the most they ever made in one year, except the last year when they got all the overtime. look, i'm not saying -- don't misunderstand i'm saying we're one nation, i'm saying you're in trouble, you got to take the bitter pill but we have to offer the incentive to do it but you can't just sit and say -- okay, why should a state like florida which is tracking its fiscal affairs pretty good why should it not be rewarded for how well it runs itself as compared to new york state where i live and we all see the waste look, i love new york. let me tell you something, when i have to fly back from wherever i was, it was late at night. i would tell the pilots, wake me up nothing brought me more energy than seeing this magnificent skyline all lit up there will never be another new york that's it's best thing we've got

going for you. go ahead >> ken, let me ask you about new york and new york city specifically i know you've been supportive of ray mcgwire as the next mayor of new york city. >> yes >> of course, the former vice chair of citigroup he's running as a democrat tell us about that support >> well, i've met ray, i've had a chance to visit with him i like what he's talking about doing. i'm especially excited about how he feels about public education. look let me tell you right now, the only reason i'm on your show this morning, the only reason i have all the benefits of this great country, i went to a wonderful public school system and got a great public education. we owe our children no less than that how do i feel about ray mcgwire? when he and i sit and talk, 90% of what we talk about is public education. you look at the deplorable conditions of public education you know, let me digress the cardinal -- elena and i made

a contribution to the catholic schools. and i got a bunch of letters from these kids in the catholic schools. i was never -- and by the way, many of the kids that go to catholic schools aren't catholic and that's okay. that's okay. who cares. i can tell you when i sat and read these letters, i felt so good i thought to myself, you know what, we're going to be okay it's going to be tough, we're going to be okay when are we going to -- forget about blame. we blame the god in children what are we going to start to say what are we doing about public education forget about whether it's the teachers, family formation, lack of -- whatever it is forget it all. forget it. i remember a teacher i was talking to was telling me therefore you have to understand that 75% of the kids i have come from a single parent home. i say, yes, that's why you have to do more that's the whole point don't use it as an excuse. it's the reason for you to do your share and more than your

share. when are we going to address these things when are we going to take -- what the hell am i doing getting a check every month from the federal government what's wrong take it away from me politicians have -- and it's politically correct now because beating up on religion is a good thing. here's a good way to beat up on, not only are we beating up on it bought we're going to take it away good, take it away that's the third rule of politics you can't touch it nonsense, everything should be on the table >> maybe one day it will be, ken. >> if there was ever a time for all of us, like biden said, i'm not president of blue states, i'm not a president for red states, i'm a president for america. if there's ever been a time for us to dig down deep to our well

of patriotism i hope we all have and say it's time for me to do my part. i know one thing, i'll do all i can. and if i'm called and asked to do something that i think is appropriate and that i can believe in, i'll do it no matter what it is i don't care what it is. like last week, sitting here with the phonebook and literally calling people up i didn't know, hey, we've got the vaccine, are you 65 yes, i'm 65. would you like the vaccine yes. fine we had to call, we had to create one, we did it we did 600 people in two days. the greatest noise i heard was, hey, we're out of them, we got no more! that's the way it should be all over the country there should be none on the shelves, none- >> ken, i want to thank you for your time today. it has been great talking to you. >> i miss all of you very much you know that i miss you all very much. >> we miss you, too. >> i especially miss my banter

with andrew. joe, i want you to know i'm not losing my fervor, i'm not losing my passion i'm just trying to be what i should be right now and all americans should be, broad-minded and open-minded and say there's only one driving force, what's good for this gref ours nothing else matters >> one of your best times with us that i just witnessed, it was, drunkenmiller thinks so, too. >> well drunkenmiller is a pain in the ass but i love him. >> my oldest son. >> tell me about it. >> what i love about him, he's my youngest brother, okay? he's my youngest brother he's special by the way, one plug, you want to see what he has done, you want to see what you can do to help poor kids, go up to harlem, and see it >> we were having, we were hearing it a lot, until all of this other crap pre-empted everything i want to get back to that. >> one more, okay?

never in my life have i been more blessed to call my wife elaine than this last year, because you know, i'm a caged lion, i'm a lion - >> i've said that, too and she married you before home depot. i've asked everybody, what happened i have to ask, i can understand, after home depot, but you must be, that's quite a catch for you. we got to go we got to go >> okay. what a conversation. jim cramer in the meantime, quick thoughts, briefly, jim, nice to see you, on how you're looking at this crazy market this morning we saw the target news we are going to get earnings at the end of this week as well. >> look, i think that we've got the banks, ken, that was fabulous, just fabulous, but i think that the tone of the market is to be skeptical for a couple of days, and it's because

of what joe just said, we're not really following what companies are doing, we have to follow what is going on in washington and there is nothing really good about it but when we do focus on companies like kb homes, we really like them so i think you got to keep your eye on the prize is how well corporations are doing, and this is cnbc and other networks, you know, with the inauguration, i have no choice but to be concerned about this >> we will keep our eye on the prize, which is you and we will see you in just a couple of minutes on "squawk on the street." >> it just makes no sense. >> the real leaders should be leaders. we will talk about that another time. news on one of leaders of the u.s. covid vaccine effort, we have a special guest now. >> thanks so much. operation warp speed chief adviser dr. slaoui has submitted

his resignation at the request of the incoming biden administration thank you for being here this morning. tell us about the situation. what you've been asked to do, and what the transition is going to look like. >> good morning. yes, i have submitted my resignation letter yesterday to the current administration thanking them for giving me the opportunity to help our country and our people as well as the people of the world, and we're very satisfied that significant progress has been made in discovering the vaccines, developing them, as there are already two vaccines approved and two more coming, and as i have said, actually, early in december, prior to any approval of vaccine, once two vaccines would be approved, and two vaccines would be approved under the auspices of the operation, it would probably be time for me to move on and go back to my private life and private business

i have decided to actually prolong my tenure in order to support the new team as they come in. as you know, i'm very supportive of this upcoming administration, and really of course, of the operation, and its mission, and i will be doing everything i can to help them succeed as part of the process, which i understand they have asked me to resign from my role as the operation scientific adviser, chief scientific adviser, i will support the leadership that they will put in place, and how it appear, exactly how it is, in everything possible way and we have a contract arrangement that allows me to step down from the role as of january 21st yet remain under the right confidentiality agreement, et cetera, by serving a notice

under my agreement of 30 days. that will be by february 12th. so i look forward to really helping the new team and continuing of course to work very hard and support the operation and the thousands who have participated through this effort and continue to succeed >> you mentioned you're not sure if there's somebody who will take your role we're a week away from the time when you won't be chief adviser to operation warp speed anymore. from your interactions with the incoming team, you are confident it will be a smooth transition are the interactions happening to transfer that knowledge and allow the new team to really hit the ground running or are we going to be seeing a bit of a bumpy transition here? >> having spend 30 years in a very large organization, i'm acutely aware that leadership is important. that nobody is indispensable

and therefore, what's more important, frankly, is that there is a team that has done an absolutely remarkable job up to now, and i have every confidence they will continue doing this job. i am hopeful and confident that the new nation will, the new administration will put in place the right people and the right leadership to take over and i can guarantee that i will give every single ounce of energy i have to doing what i have done over the last eight months, which is help this progress and succeed, and by february 12th, my contract will be finished but my commitment to helping any appropriate way will continue to be there >> you mentioned last week, you thought your value add was declining as we do have two vaccines on the market, johnson & johnson phase three data expected imminently, and one

would think that there is more to do, for somebody like you who has had 30 years of experience in the industry, knowing how to scale up manufacturing for example, there is a "new york times" story this morning saying that j & j's manufacturing is a little bitbehind, what can you tell us about that and the steadiness of what we're going to see as vaccine manufacturing is going forward >> there is still more to be done and there is a right team in the right direction, progressing. i have every confidence they will continue. think my advice for the administration, that it is not for the sake of changing and i have confidence they will not do that and i think it would be inappropriate in the setting as to the comments, i really, you know, sometimes i have to take a step back, and say normally, it takes ten years to make a vaccine it takes four years to set up

the manufacturing process. >> dr. slaoui, i am so sorry i asked a question that required a long answer and we're at the end of the show and i apologize, thank you, dr. soulai. >> thank you, meg. we got to go make sure and join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" is next

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