this morning good to see you. >> my pleasure thank you. >> take a quick look at the markets this morning, the futures had been higher through much of this morning, you're seeing some of the gains kind of giving back at this point. almost at the flat line, both for the s&p 500 and the dow right now, the nasdaq still up by 31 points remember, all three of these averages were at record closes yesterday. that does it for us today. we will see you right back here tomorrow guys have a good day. and folks, we will see you again tomorrow right now it's time for "squawk on the street" good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber futures basically flat on this first full day of the biden white house, as the one-year anniversary happens today of the first documented covid case in the u.s. lots of earnings and macro data including jobless claims 900 k. the road map begins with the

biden agenda and wall street sentiment, and trying to extend the rally at the open. >> covid-19 deaths hitting a new record one year as carl said since the first confirmed case in the u.s. a look at how the new administration hopes to contain this pandemic. and the repeat performance, if you're watching yesterday, you know, general motors is up 36% so far, and the month of january is not even over we will break down what is behind the rally, carl even better than tesla >> yes and adam jonas on squawk with some interesting comments about the turn-around there. jim, a big day for policy, as it pertains to covid. we're expecting more executive orders, and actions, regarding vaccinations, testing, hospitals, new public dashboards, and fauci will join the press briefing at 4:00 as he becomes the u.s.'s representative, as we rejoin world health organization and covax.

>> i think anyone who reads the president's 21-page white paper on how to handle the vaccine comes back and says you know what, it's going to be a federal effort and that is very different from what we have now the federal will also pay for a lot of it. that's very different. so people aren't overburdened. there is tremendous accountability there is obviously an emphasis on masks there's not a contempt for public health officials who want to change the way we lead our lives. and i think there was a co couldn't, a context before, and was it oblique, some of it right in your face dr. fauci, what will dr. fauci be like is he permetheus unbound? perhaps. when you read the paper, there is something you realize that is in krenl there's a policy. >> jim, does that mean the market is bracing for more restrictions, lockdowns, you know, it borders limitations on

economic activity, or is it about solving a larger problem, and hopefully coming out brighter on the other side >> i think it's the latter, carl i would point out that the great question mark in this country is do you take the vaccine and if you want to, can you get it. so two question marks. this white paper, and president biden's view, are about solving those two questions. and if you solve those two question, then you're going to have more economic activity rather than less, and again, i want to talk about the idea, warp speed worked, but what didn't work was the, this incredible morass about getting the vaccines to you and then of course the idea do we have johnson & johnson, do he would not, and there is absolutely a before, under president trump, there was something that almost no one understood, david, i like the idea that there is even public/private partnership but it's the attitude, david it's the of a attitude that maybe we need to bow down to the disease a little more, in order to beat it

how about that >> was there a plan, was there really a plan for distribution >> under president trump >> correct >> well, there were multiple plans. and that meant that there were no plans there was no plan. i mean it was supposed to be cvs, walgreen's, public health officials, public/private, state, military, federal express, it was all a fiasco, but everyone was afraid to say anything because they maybe feared president trump, and maybe dr. fauci, the incredible desire to not be fingered on twitter, to not be ridiculed by the president of the united states, to not come out and tell what i regard as being the unvarnished truth, because david, the retribution was so great that almost any of the 330 million americans could handle, no one could handle that man's, but say his revenge. and it became kind of like i

don't want to be tagged. i don't want to be you're it and i think there are a lot of people who will now come out and admit that the vials were lost, that the vials went bad, that the vials are here, but before that, david, why would you ever take your reputation at hand how do you know that you wouldn't be tweeted at and destroyed? why take the chance, david >> i guess, listen, there are probably who wouldn't or didn't and there were others who obviously weathered the storm well. >> who's that? >> i think jeff bezos did well even though he was tweeted at many times. >> bezos did >> one of the more powerful men in the country. >> he kept going. >> and some people like that some people like a strong president who can destroy people at - >> well strength is defined in different ways, isn't it it's not clear to me that that is strong in the way i think about strong or do you. >> the president didn't like the

fact that my show was up against his briefings. >> but carl, we are obviously in a biden administration now, and they still have that goal of 100 million people vaccinated, in 100 days and we're starting the countdown. today is day one, or day two did they start it yesterday? maybe yesterday. and so they got to ramp up fast. there's no doubt about that. and they're facing shortages in places like our own city of new york where they're going to stop, 22,000 people who were scheduled to be vaccinated are not going to be because they don't have the vaccine. >> that's true. >> and we heard from pfizer. >> sorry. >> pfizer hasn't moderna hasn't pfizer has them. moderna has them they all got them. it is a strange bottleneck to the federal to the state and right now, if you're in new jersey, it's the yoon county public health department that's in charge. and i challenge anyone to get them on the phone and tell us exactly where we can get the vaccine. how did that happen?

i mean i would go to them as an inn owner and say do i meet the public health requirements of letting me in? in new york, i would ask the public health department whether my restaurants are clean enough. but they have been asked to do miracles it's not fair. >> there's a growing sense, i think this morning, jim, that the prior administration really focused on the fact that a vaccine had been developed period, and that they left open the question of how they were going to actually get it into arms by the way, i want to talk about amazon, because they play into this, to some degree as we now know, but fauci early this morning, did talk about the united states rejoining the multi-lateral effort, multicountry effort, to accelerate the distribution of vaccine. here's what he said. >> the united states plans to work multi-laterally, to respond to, from the covid-19 pandemic president biden will issue a

directive later today which will include the intent of the united states to join covax, and support the act accelerator to advance multilateral efforts for covid-19 vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostic distribution, equitable access, and research and development. >> which the way, his appearance today, with jen psaki at the press briefing is the first since november 22nd. so i guess we read this as a market positive. >> november 22nd is pretty much when it ended, when you knew there was a vaccine, but the president kind of, that's when they shunted it off. it's not clear whether the president was really involved day to day, once he lost once the country thought he lost but dr. fauci's being dr. fauci.

this is the dr. fauci i know who conquered aids and had a game plan and it's very interesting just to hear him it's kind of, i find it refreshing, david. the top health official talking, right? >> right >> i find that refreshing. >> david >> yes, agreed agreed i am seeing here on twitter that we're averaging close to a million vaccines a day for the last five days so i want to keep a close eye on that. we brought up your covid index, jim. would love to get back to stocks here, all that we're talking about here, does that continue to run or as we get to a million a day, as we potentially get to 100 million in 100 days, do you have to change either the composition or do you start to see all right, take some money out >> i'm sorry to talk over, but the stay at home part of the index will drop off, witness, you know, what happened with

proctor yesterday, then there's just this kind of secular dane is zoom going to drop off? zoom accelerates docu-sign drop off accelerates? they have found much better ways to do business and the same way when you list tonight ceos, look, we make a lot more money if people don't go anywhere because they're afraid if one company will make a sales trip while they do a zoom trip. but i think that zoom keeps innovating, and some of the companies in that index just keep, teledoc keeps vofging. netflix. did you watch or listen to that call, david? >> yes. >> did you start watching lupin? >> we haven't started watching yet but i think he will. >> don't you think his conference calls tell you what to do. >> carl, this is very true when i listen to it -- >> we're talking netflix now by the way, not zoom. netflix was up 15, 16% by the end the day.

>> that's okay >> carl, i find when i listen to reed, i realize listen, you did the gambit and you did that one, you know, the one that my wife binged on this weekend so i could watch football carl knows which one >> bridget. >> my wife and daughter went nuts with that one >> and me too. >> i was watching the bills game the chiefs game. but thank you, reed, for dropping that so the guys can watch football >> the feeling is mutual >> screaming from the other room. >> and a lot is what you should watch and i always find, i have discovered the wonder of subtitles, carl. i used to think that subtitles, it was like the umbrellas, get that hell out, and now that's with reference to, probably, david, you were not even in the womb, but you get, you know, carl, that is a conference call that says go bring it on here's what we're bringing and i find that i, i go quarter to quarter, i listen, and i

watch all the things he tells me in the quarter and then when he does the dex report, i get those, the new movies. the new series. >> speaking of the flip side, jim, you talk about people going places, united is a story today. wider than expected loss revenue miss "squawk box" earlier this morning, saying it is hard to give a forecast or a break-even because the cancellation rates are so elevated and demand is essentially flat lined here's what he said. >> the good news is, that regardless of what happens in the near term, we have real confidence in the long term. and that there is a recovery that there's a lot of pent-up demand for air travel. but until we can put, as a society, coronavirus in the rearview mirror, it's going to continue to be a tough environment for aviation for everyone, that is involved in travel, tourism and leisure >> cash burn at 33 million a day, jim, way above delta's. >> yes, and i listened to, that and i just said, bring it on let's get a pcr test there

there's a company where you can get them instantly let's get -- he's hostage, to he's got a lot of international business, he's hostage to the vaccine, and david, when i list to kirby, i just think, you know, i look at the root, i look where you have to, i look at routes and where you have to go and being next to one who might have covid and the airplanes are much safer >> we've learned that airplanes are. >> and most people haven't learned and they think the people next to them -- >> it involves being in the airport and it involves the possibility someone will not wear a mask and the heightened tension of the entire trip itself, where if somebody is unmarched, or takes it off, i mean there's a lot of different things that go along with it that don't necessarily mean you will get covid but can be unpleasant at this point. >> i'm traveling and i don't mind. >> you don't mind? >> not at all. >> traveling again soon? >> yeah, well, i don't know. >> will you take me with you >> i'm going to florida. >> really? >> see my wife. >> can i come?

>> yeah. my wife likes you. >> all right >> you really need to get away. >> come with me. >> it will be like "squawk" in the old days when they would take us to palm beach. >> road trip. >> carl, you got me thinking how about boca remember boca? i'll go there. i'll go anywhere. >> you're vacation starved, my friend yes. i had to cancel the last one how about poconos. >> maybe not there >> okay. >> guy, we'll take a break here as we make our travel plans during the commercial. we have a lot to get to, including as we said adam jonas from morgan stanley on gm, monster year so far, and amazon, of course, b of a names, and pitt goes to 4000, a look at futures, we'll be back in a minute

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top performing s&p name of the year so far, gm, up 34%, 35%, given this morning's gains on the new electric vehicle and autonomous strategy. morgan stanley, adam jonas talked about it this morning on "squawk." i'm just going to go out and say it what mary barra and the team are doing at gm, and look, there's still room to go, but what they're doing may be, may end up being one of the most profound strategic turn-arounds, not just

in the auto industry, but in business >> jim, ford's up 23 but obviously, you nowhere close to gm so far for 2021. >> look, i think both of these are very different and very good they're coming out hot gm is a really, a story of mary baara spending more money and time than people realize on electric vehicles. we have spacs worth almost as much as gm that have just a battery, i mean it's kind of crazy. unlocking a lot of value don't forget also china. ford, for different reasons. jim farley is getting out of the business of making cars in places he, that they didn't make any money. brazil, they're still selling trucks, they're just not making them anymore big cash charge, the previous administrations at ford have refused it take, he is swallowing the medicine everywhere they have an electrified f-150 coming out not far from now. they have what i regard as being the hottest truck in the world right know, which is the bronco, that they can't make enough, and

i think that farley is uniquely challenged by the semiconductor shortage given the fact that they have so much demand. these, david, ford and gm are not tesla, but they're not as bad as people think. >> no, and then to your point, there are a lot of industrial products right now, as well, that have very low inventories, which people believe will keep prices fairly high overall and i'm not just talking about vehicle sales and cars, more broadly. >> and houses. >> there's just very little, it's almost, as if carl, what happened is, a lot of companies thought that this was, that the shutdown was going to last longer, a lot of companies felt that the country was going to be, this is the k recovery versus the u recovery, or we would have a u recovery or v, or k, and people who are doing well, and people who don't are buying used cars and you have to have a used car in order to be able to go to your job so both are doing well

car max, it was number three best performer this year and occidental, a major turn-around that is shocking to some of us, it is also doing well but gm is a star and mary barra is a star and just getting the, getting the applause that she really does deserve >> it has been an amazing run of news between the new vehicles, the microsoft investment in cruise, and a lot more we'll get to so upgrades this morning as well, that we've got fastly, pay pal, under armour is in there as well and cramer's mad dash. in a minute. competition beat us, again. how? they have a better finance system than we do. i feel like they might have a better finance system than we do.

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welcome back let's get to a mad dash, counting down to the opening bell, as you see, about, what seven minutes or so from now amazon is the future. >> bank of america is what i regard as a back handed compliment, with faint praise, saying tougher comps ahead, but still the one to own slower growth in the second quarter. but still the one to own spent a huge amount of money on covid. still the one to own when i look at this, i feel like i should sell amazon but you know what? amazon is still the king and don't forget the consumer person that said listen, i'll get involved with that you know, public/private partnership. distributing the vaccine that will be great a lot of people saying vaccine distribution is going really well i think that it's not done very evenly >> no, although people are pointing out on twitter we are hitting an average of about 900,000 a day, so not far off a million, or maybe even close to a million. >> so if we do the 100 million, when do we get that?

>> that policy >> yes. >> but as for amazon, and interesting of course what they did with parler, and taking aws -- >> advertising is the secret here >> advertising is incredibly high margins even if you don't have a huge dollar number, the profitability of it, as with aws, is enormous, and of course, those businesses are far more profitable than the may business, which is still selling stuff and bringing it to people's homes. >> pricing pressure in cloud and amazon web services has absorbed something like a price cuts and is still very successful what is bank of america trying to do here i think it is a low ball best of show and it's not unlike, let's say you put out netflix, okay, and you said it's going to be good and it comes out great, i think this piece allows you to have a bar that amazon can crush. and they spend so much money >> they spend so much money. >> covid expenses. >> many billions and we've also

talked about the incredible hiring that they did in 2020 i mean those numbers were, we've never seen anything like that before for a corporation. >> nothing >> and you have my covid index up amazon is a company that will do better now, because they spent a fortune when they had to >> right >> all right, we have opening bell, a few minutes away stay with us a lot more "squawk on the street. to defend against dark forces attacking your organization, you need to see in the dark. to have the wisdom to understand multiple cyber threats. the precision focus to end attacks instantly. on computers, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. join the world's leading companies in our mission to defend. cybereason. end cyber attacks.

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keep your eye on apple today along with amazon, morgan stanley, the 12 is tracking ahead, looking for a record quarter in december, 5% above consensus on earnings, and bull case 200, their target is 152. >> that was such a good report always the inside track, i find. and one of the things i liked about it, she's talking about, you're getting kind of a low ball, she is saying solid, but not great december results that's what i want to see. i want to see everything tempered and that allows them to do well. they got a 5 to 7% ahead of the

consensus. obviously talking about just a huge number of homes being sold. i mean people are talking about the glasses, too i think that's sauce but when katy hueberty raises the price target, thee takes the price target seriously, and most of theme piece it is like throwing, and most of these people at home, it is like throw darts at price targets but she taking it so seriously >> and i want to point out >> super nice. >> super niced >> i didn't just nice him. >> look, it will be where he will be on squawk and he is very nice. >> smart and rigorous. >> i've known tony forever very good. and he does quality work but it oftentimes may reach a different conclusion the finest work but a different conclusion and i respect it i just want his work i don't want his price target. i want his work. carl, that's what's important

for tony is saganani, his work. >> and his view this morning is a little more tempered katy's note though, there is a note, consumers upgraded through the year last year and not doing it again and her survey indicates intentions on electronics and pcs and accessories at large are still at nine month high at the end of the year so that will be interesting. >> we're still working at home and i think it's going to be a hybrid strategy. everybody's going to continue on the hybrid strategy. the huawei weakness is important. a shout-out, david, to peter navarro, who worked in the previous administration, he was instrumental am crippling huawei, david. peter navarro. >> you got to say it twice >> well, i got him on speed dial. >> i think you can delete that. >> really? >> take that out of the speed dial. >> that would be my advice you should have done it a while ago. >> boom. i don't know i don't have you on speed dial i got him.

>> that's a little surprising to me as well you've managed to find me -- >> i've actually never spoken to peter navarro. >> i don't believe that either >> since i was - >> by the way, you talk about kodak, navarro spac, always, that one was puppy. >> -- that one was funny >> i've known navarro for 40 years. >> anyway, spacs have continued at a record space, never seen anything like it, giving hedge funds all sorts of trading opportunities and many perhaps who are the event-driven area, now focusing on spacs because of the opportunity they provide, if you want to buy the warns, warrants, so many different trading opportunities and so far in 2021, we've had 59 spac offerings. 59 in what are we day 21 of the month? there's the cnbc spac 50

i got to talk to you about what that measures. take it down but 59 so far, and 2019, we have 59 total that just gives you a sense as to where we are. less than a month into the year. 59 spacs by the way thanks to our friends at spac analytics just yesterday, 250 million, crescent grove, 200 million, gores 7, up to 7 they started in 2015 there it is. 59 so far. g squared, ascend. kensington, 2. you notice a lot of them fusion, two. altimar, two a lot of them on two, three, four this morning, he's on jaws three. and you know, andrew and the gang were talking to barry about spacs a guy who is sponsoring them obviously but he did have some words that at least should bring caution to those who are

looking at the sector, take a listen >> i was just watching and astonished, the companies that i passed on for 5 billion, trading on 20 billion market caps with 1% gross margins and completely untenable businesses with new competitors taking their lunch >> that doesn't sound great, does it, jim >> no, but look, it's a free for all, we've never seen anything like particular the projections, the government isn't going to reign them in, a new way to come public, no scrutiny whatsoever. >> and scrutiny from the existing shareholders. the spac is the one that files to go public a blank check company. and when they buy the other company, that's their agreement, so the disclosure rirmt requirements are not as strong in terms of projections that you are bound to. >> we have very little wall street research on these you can say wall street research is just a canard, people don't do anything, but utz, a potato chip company, they are dos

remarkably, a couple of acquisitions, a followed stock, there are ways to analyze it, i like that. i find it very hard to analyze -- what's the matter >> nothing, continue. >> i find it very hard to analyze a lot of these companies because what they tell you is they're going to do fabulously and i almost like the way that the s.e.c. wants you to do is put out some numbers but not tell you they're going to do fabulously i mean i don't know, but if you bought a lot of these at 10, you're making some money. >> yes even before a lot of them announced their deals, carl. many of them go up, which is somewhat, somewhat questionable, as we pointed out, the likes of ccib for example on rumors of deals. but we got more coming in fact, we will have more next week i know every day is new pricing and companies announcing their deals. mr. sternlight amongst them, despite the fact that he seems somewhat skeptical some of the other deals he's seen out there. >> the lightning round on "mad money" i'm working, i didn't go

to sleep monday night, it's okay, i have a lot of times where i don't go to sleep and i did nothing but spacs so i'm ready in the lightning round it is hard you know, when you're doing spacs between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. and kensington and church hill and you think hold it, what's the point here but the viewers love these and they're all, they just love spacs. so what are you going to do? say, hey, listen, i don't know that one, you got to learn it blank check you can't just say blank check that doesn't mean anything i left a blank check for my painter. that was good. i've known the guy for a long time >> just let me know what i owe you. yeah, jim. a whole 'nother library of tickers to learn travelers is adding a lot to the dow, jim by the way we have a record high on the dow and a record high on the nasdaq but travelers, close it out, 591, well above 318, and -- 491, well above 318, 18% jump in renoul premiums. lower catastrophe claim, it's

not often that you see trv leave the dow. >> yeah, i mean it's almost like they do better in a covid environment, they don't have to pay as much to different people. travelers is back. i like what the company's doing right now. and i do think that people are bored by insurers. they want something that they can have as more accessible and they don't want to learn what a combined ratio is, but i know travelers as being the company that has always been an amazing underwriter and when you're an amazing underwriter you don't make a lot of mistakes and that's what travelers does, they do not make a lot of mistake, they don't write where they will lose money. >> they will move out of the business or price it to the extent that they don't get the business that they don't want. have you ever used them? >> i have. >> i remember using them for car insurance at one point and suddenly it became unaffordable. and it is because they didn't want to write it anymore. >> because they actually take, and they knew the actual zip

code and building, one of my worker's, comp, and they're an amazing company and even if they don't get rewarded for it and even if they're as boring, as, what is something, bridgerton, i'm trying to think of the name-ology to travelers. >> bridger ton, would be very exciting judging from the laughing and screaming going on in the other room. >> a spac? >> not a spac yet. but she could probably do a spac the lady >> shonda rimes? >> yes. >> it is definitely some validation of the big money deals that netflix was handing out. >> oh, yes. >> and travelers leads the s&p, right underneath is under armor, as deutsch goes to buy, 22 target, basically saying they've done a complete research on costs and they've seen margins maybe up 40% from 2019 >> when i read that ungrade, i

said to myself, here's what's going on, under armor, not as bad as they used to be, the reset's fine, they have steph curry, and this group is starting to come alive pbh is one of the best performers in the last quarter, and they like, they like people call it capri, and people call it both ways but it is really capri. and i got to tell you, carl, they are seeing, there is a major resurgence in these apparel companies. and i know when you take a look at kohl's, kohl's is really coming on very strong and using these power companies and they also have sephora, they have some positive numbers today and i'm looking at these also-ran retailers that are less and less also-ran look at that kohl's chart. that's really good when they had sephora, remember jcpenney had sephora, that was a big deal >> you were down on kohl's for

quite some time. >> because they missed quarter after quarter. >> and then they did well. >> not sure what's working now. >> okay, so i'm going to stay negative when they start doing that >> i'm just pointing out, i missed when you got positive >> well, when it reopened. >> when it reopened? >> that's not fair the last quarter was very good. >> it was good i know >> you know, i'm not going to take back -- >> you saw the limited's performance last year. >> elle brands >> excuse me >> elle brands amazing l brands, bath and body works because people want to be clean in a pandemic. >> yes >> they say wash your hands, that's l brands, wash your hands, they did better, from public health than anybody that was the central part of president trump's strategy >> wash your hands >> yes >> well, the transmissible strain out there, continue to wash your hands. >> do you know how get that? you get it from other people. >> i know. >> you get it in the air >> aerosol >> aerosol

>> aerosol >> apparently, the new more transmissible strain, i don't know, you can get it more easily. >> that's why bridgestone last night, they have a possible vaccine for the new transmissible and i think it is very real, you need, it they are like the moderna - >> before talking about all of these mutations, can we talk a little bit about cortava we talked a little bit about it offcamera. >> nominated, eight, we had corteva on, they joined us on air at the time, putting a letter out taking aim at the ceo in particular and a quick excerpt. while we enjoyed our growing personal relationship with the board members willing to engage with us, and willing to engage with us, we remain unsure as to why the board retains conviction in currents leadership, and we're t-is symptomatic of a

broader status for comfort and the status quo in particular, we had significant difficulty reconciling jim collins with his track record and leadership position they're after mr. collins but a fairly extensive slate as you might imagine. and some names you may remember. james, he was at dupont. >> he was a driver. >> ceo of liondel chemical. >> and they brought him in >> he is part of that. >> and mentioned smith had joined us back in october when they publicly unveiled the position and it has been a very good poxer but he continues to believe -- very good performer but he continues to believe it can do even better >> in short we think it is a great business it is recession resistant. highly stable. and we actually think there is wind at the back of the company as it relates to revenue for the next several years there's an opportunity for margin improvement as they're the lowest in the space at about

14, 14%. and we would say that they should be able to get to at least 23%, in terms of operating margins. >> so we got that, that's really getting ready to get started in earnest. >> and as much as i like jeff smith and he does high quality work, i'm prefacing this by saying i have never come against them and always feeling they're doing the right thing. and even rick hill coming on - >> very good in chips. but listen, bristol myers i thought was ridiculous when he tried to stop that deal. it made no sense. >> but jim, what has he done the stock's almost doubled i regard that as positive. they have done well, a little tracking, but they've done well, and weathered two of the worst ag years on record and when i went over fmc, which is the comp, and they preannounced a really bad number. fmc is the comp. that's the comp. and i regard that as being what we should be, what they should be shooting for. and fmc is a 7% organic, and collins has a 1% below, that but

i don't know, i think that there's a lot of other guys to pit, david, other than jim look, collins is good. he's good to great >> jim collins of the author that you're referring to but yes. >> i wish jeff would pick on someone else. >> and we'll see shareholders have a voice here to decide that >> i like his numbers. >> they have gone through a lot of direction >> the numbers put together is very good. >> when starboard moves as we remember from the darden, when it was unusual, of course, when they took over the entire board. >> and it worked out fairly well. >> we should go back to kohl's. >> good. >> actually we're going to check in with bob as we get record highs on the dow and the nasdaq. good morning, bob. >> record highs but getting tougher to move the market forward. we had quite a start to the year, globally, as well, and you'll see here, it's flattish today. essentially. and the breadth was not good yesterday. nasdaq breadth was not good. given the big moves up that we

saw. so getting narrow. and that's an indication that the market is having some trouble moving forward let's take a look at the sectors today. semiconductors have been the market leader today and throughout 2021. new highs every day on the big names, and discretionary, consumer discretionary doing well the banks have flattened out since earning season came out but not surprised given the run-ups and industrials have also flattened out in the last month or so, and consumer staples are going nowhere in 2021 they're down about 4%. on the month utilities and other defensive group, not going anywhere. here's the good news and bad news on everything the good news is the markets are really roaring price-wise, up 15% since the election, the great triumvirate of stimulus, vaccine rollout and the reopening, renation trade as we call it, those three factors pushing the market to new highs. and here's the bad news. we're really stretched, folks. on every metric. valuation, 22 times.

that's really stretched. sentiment, everybody's bullish ridiculously bullish technicals are stretched as well let's not bore you with all of the details. suffice it to say, does this matter yes. it matters because it means the market is really stretched there's very little room for error. if anything goes wrong, on that great triumvirate, the stimulus, the vaccine rollout, the reopening, not going well, it's going to be a problem, because we don't have any room for it to sort of be forgiven. so the good news here, fourth quarter earnings, off to a very good start we got about 55 companies that have reported so far the good news here, and finally this includes companies with a november ending quarter, 87% beating is really high, the purge that is beating is really what matters 19% and they were beating by 20% last quarter, we need to see that again and the whole thesis, it doesn't matter if we're overstretched because the analysts are wrong and they're underestimates and the numbers

will come up because they will beat the analyst estimates they're too conservative so far the bulls are right on this and this is one of the reasons that the market is holding up so well we're continuing to get good beat, strong beats and we need to have a lot of positive commentary and the first quarter and the second quarter if that doesn't happen, it's going to pull back here's the bad news. once we get the earnings report, the market is not doing much the stock is not doing as much look at the faang stocks today some of the big names in the bank area haven't moved at all today and we've gotten some nice companies, good decent reports, fifth third, m & t, haven't done too much and the other thing to point out, there is a global rally going on and the s&p, the u.s., is actually lagging in terms of where the global markets are china's been roaring for the last several weeks and really couple of months. and south korea, japan, even europe is generally outperforming the united states. this is the last few weeks also want to point out, david, emerging markets have been doing fabulous so far, this year, and really the last couple of months, as the dollar has been weaker, and you can see, again,

even outperforming the united states, and a lot of people have been arguing, internationally, the place to be, david, in 2021, and remember, this is all out of dollar weakness, the dollar stopped going down in the last few week, and these haven't been performing as well, but that's really the key metrics to keep an eye on, the strength of the dollar david, back to you. >> we'll do that bob, thank you bob pisani. still to come here, yoon pacific is out with the quarterly results this morning and as usual, the company's ceo will join us we'll find out what he would like to see from the new biden administration but before we head to break, let's go to treasuries and see how they're fairing this morning. yields as you can see relatively steady jobless claims coming in at 900,000 last week. december housing starts were much stronger than expected. over in europe, by the way, the ecb leading interest rate, and its key bond buying program unchanged. the euro zone economy likely contracted in the fourth quarter. adding the ecb quote stands ready to adjust its tools if the

economic situation does not improve. and we will finish a look at low the euro is reacting to the ecb news of course, we heard bob say the dollar has stopped its recent plunge really, and in some ways looking back, as we look at the euro, over the last couple of hours. we'll be right back.

from the ft, comparing investors to frogs in boiling water, jim he says, with so much stimulus being deployed, trying to figure out if the economy is in recession is like trying to assess if you had a fever after you took a large dose of aspirin. >> the scorpion and the frog you get halfway there. these comments i have an interest in, but if you look back at what hedge fund managers say, it's different from what individual investors should be doing. and i'd say the vast majority of

hedge fund managers have kept people out of one of the most amazing rallies i have seen. it behooves them to say investors aren't as stupid as you think. is it 1999 i don't know i will say this. i am tired of denigrating the individual investor. i am in contact with for mar than him and i am mazied how well they have done. i am out of the game of trashing the little guy they do so much work they are trying so hard. and i really think that, you know, the markets going to hell a has made it to people are in their chains marks and angles. >> there is an awful lot of them so they are having a great impact on the overall market, in particular names, and i think they do a good deal of research in some areas, and others speculative in nature. >> let's stop denigrating the individual investor. i really resent it, carl

>> we got highs at the open. dow has gone negative. the s&p down about a point don't go away. sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... doug? sorry about that. umm... what...its...um... you alright? [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures contract prices around. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today.

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time for jim and "stop trading." >> there is a travesty going on, a reaction to union pacific's stock. you will be speaking to lance fritz. tremendous efficiency gains. we are in an incred covid-19-induced slowdown. who knows how well they can do when things get started? my prediction is stocks will be down and after lance speaks people will buy it and it goes up higher. congratulations. he is quite a gent i really like his work. >> volume up in the green, first time since covid began we will talk to lance later this morning. how about tonight? >> be sure to ask about esg. tonight i have got weed map. people have been asking for spacs and david follows me closely on spacs, and they also

follow me on weed. that's right people think i'm too negative on cannabis give me a break. i have favored canopy g.o.a.t. rick smith, people may remember him from taser he gets paid how well the stock does i like that incentive. i like this show we covered a lot of ground and but the most important thing is read the president's white paper on the vaccine and you'll sense that there is something called a policy and it's a joy to have policy >> that's going to be a big theme for us in the coming days how this comes together. see you tonight. "mad money" with jim cramer 6:00 p.m. eastern time. good morning welcome to another hour on "squawk on the street. i'm carl quintanilla a david faber and morgan brennan opening highs on the dow and nasdaq, settling back a touch as we watch the first day of the biden white house and earnings from ual, morgan, and tonight intel, ibm and csx. >> earning season is underway.

we have a few events in d.c. we are following this morning looking at the policies and strategies to expect from president biden's first 100 days in office. the details behind the covid-19 response plan, including ten executive orders and the latest status for the senate impeachment trial of now former president trump kayla. >> well, a biden administration is trying to turn the battleship of government, new personnel, installing interim heads, awaiting confirmation for others freezing regulations beforethe get the people installed inta sta install new policies. trying to chart a new course on the covid-19 pandemic. that is the white house's type priority to that end, the biden administration today unveiling ten executive orders on that front. much of it echoing plans laid out on the campaign trail. building surge capacity in

testing, directing fema to erect vax sites, requesting clear guidance on reopening for schools and workplaces and ramp pg up manufacturing and plugging supply gaps using the defense production act they will immediately be taking full inventory of supplies and processes and directing agencies to accelerate manufacturing any way it can when asked about specifically the supply of vaccines and the goal of vaccinating 100 million americans by mid-april, the administration said that that is still an achievable goal while echoing a view shared earlier that the trump administration's effort was worse than they had imagined the administration's covid-19 coordinator telling reporters, we believe there will be appropriate supply reserves for the second dose. we will immediately evaluate the supply to ensure we can release the maximum amounts while also ensuring that everyone can get the second dose on the fda recommended schedule while there are certainly a lot

of policy goals that are being set for the first 100 days, that vaccination goal of 100 million americans, that is the key and most critical goal that the administration has they talk about it often that is going to be the benchmark that they are measured by we expect to hear from president biden today at 2:00 p.m. with more on this plan. back to you. >> yeah, we will be keeping an eye out for that first 100 days, forget that. first 24 hours dozens between yesterday and today of these executive orders. i am wondering, and i realize meg will touch on the covid-19-specific ones we are looking for today, but more broadly how the use of that -- use of that type of, i guess, policy enactment compares with past presidents and especially given the fact that there are so many so quickly. >> certainly president obama came under fire during the course of his administration for taking the volume of executive action that he did, but there is really no precedent for the volume that has been set by this

administration in days one and two here it is a multiple of even a combination of predecessors. that's a statistic that the white house isn't shying away from they noted the 15 executive orders biden signed yesterday compared to just two executive orders signed on day one from the past four administrations. but then again, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone because most of these policies are policies that president biden ran on and he said on the campaign trail he would do these things day one and has actually wielded his pen and done that. on the covid response, i think it should be noted that he is trying to chart a completely different course from the trump administration, which really took to heart the fema motto of locally executed state-funded and federally-supported, which was really a government hands-off type effort. they are taking the reins at the federal level and that will have two sides of that coin meg is going to talk about this,

which if there are clear successes they will be able to own that but if there are failures, they will have to own those, too. >> thank you let's get to meg now, more on president biden's covid-19 response plan. meg. >> hey, david, well, kayla was laying out a lot of the work that the biden administration plans to do. really they have done this in a series of those actions over the last few days. yesterday we saw three related specifically to covid including two executive orders today there are ten, including eight executive orders in there. and the administration has laid out a plan that really includes search goals in terms of what it wants to do with covid number one is reearning the public's trust number two is focusing on vaccines number three, unmitigating the spread of covid by expanding masking, testing, treatments, using data before. number four, expanding emergency relief, using the defense

production act and focusing on safely reopening schools, businesses and travel, ensuring equity and finally, of course, with the news that dr. fauci spoke to the world health organization today restoring u.s. leadership globally this is going to be a difficult road ahead the cdc director, dr. rochelle walensky, joined the "today" show this morning and was asked will we have vaccines in pharmacies as soon as next month? here is what she told savannah guthrie. >> i don't think late february we are going to have vaccines in every pharmacy in this country we said 100 million doses in 100 -- in the first 100 days, and we are going to stick to that plan. i also want to be very cognizant of the fact that after 100 days there are a lot of americans who need vaccine so we have our pedal to metal t get as much vaccine out there. >> guys, that's an important message i have been hearing from a lot of experts especially since we are doing this look back one year since the first

covid case in the u.s. if we get 100 million americans with one shot in the first 100 days, that's less than half the population that will be protected as of may. there will be a long way to go after that guys. >> meg, there has been, you know, some reports of really a lack of a true plan from the previous administration. now, that may be the biden administration also sort of trying to reset penn state expectations what do we know in terms of what existed and whether it's just being completely replaced because perhaps there wasn't a lot there? >> what we know is that the health department, health secretary, alex azar talked about working with states, but the communications we have been hearing from the biden team have been a lot more hands-on as part of this program they have outlined today, each state will have a liaison following a plan that they saw worked during hurricane sandy. actually knowing who to talk with, who to help troubleshoot

issues while the trump administration's operation warp speed was credited with this incredibly fast development of vaccines, it's been criticized for not better plan the last-mile efforts that are necessary for actually getting shots in arms this is what we are hearing from the biden team that they are focused on, in addition to making sure that the supply is there to ensure more vaccines to come but they are saying they are going to get in there and figure out what the situation is, where the vaccines are, how many there are, and hopefully tell us about it i can't wait to hear what they say. >> yeah. more discussion this morning, meg, about whether or not pfizer, for example, can sell directly to states we hope to learn more this afternoon. meg tirrell. meantime, joining us with a look at the senate and the latest on a potential impeachment trial with a new majority leader schumer, elon moy. good morning. >> good morning. that process will start in the house and house speaker nancy pelosi is scheduled to hold a press conference in about 45 minutes or so. we are hoping to get some clarity on when the house might send that article of impeachment

over to the senate and officially trigger the start of a trial. now, the timing here is going to be tricky because the senate may not be able to conduct other business while the trial is going on at the very least, democrats do not want to distract from president biden's agenda even as they try to hold former president trump accountable. yesterday at the first white house press briefing of the new administering spokeswoman jen psaki said she is confident they can carry out legislative and constitutional duties. >> that means getting this covid relief package through, having democrats and republicans take a serious look at that and have conversations with each other about how to move it forward and he will leave the mechanics, timing and specifics of how congress moves forward on impeachment to them. >> now, the republicans are begging to differ. they are arguing it would take unanimous consent, 100 senators for the senate to do anything else while the trial is going

on john cornyn tweeted, potus called for unity taking him at his word asked whether the senate could multitask during a trial he tweeted "nope. the senate finance committee is scheduled to hold a vote on janet yellen's nomination for treasury secretary tomorrow. democrats are hoping to bring her confirmation to the vote that would suggest that the trial would not have started yet. back to you. >> we have so mconfirmations to get through and a full plate of policy proposals already from the biden administration i am curious where mcconnell stands on this there has been so much back and forth in terms of the reporting. >> well, in terms of the scheduling, there is no agreement yet in terms of what the power sharing will be like between republicans and democrats and how that might affect an impeachment trial. as for where he stands on the potential of convicting president trump, what we know is he said that the president had

provoked the mob is provoked not quite as strong as incited insurrection? that remains to be seen. a lot of republicans are withholding judgment and want to see what the trial brings out, see if there will be witnesses called, see what kind of case the democrats lay out and wait to make a decision no clear answer on how this will turn out at the end of the day. >> thank you for the latest. we still have a big show still ahead, including a closer look at united's q4 results. that stock down 50% the last 12 months it's leading the dow transports lower today as well. n'ilbek on the street" wl rit ck dot go anywhere.

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the best week they have seen since early november as investors continue to wait for a new stimulus package and, of course, watch president biden's first days in office elizabeth burton joins us with andy blocker, the head of u.s. government affairs at invesco. andy, what are your expectations from these initial days of the biden administration, and what are you telling portfolio managers at invoesco they should be looking for >> i think as indicated by biden's first day after inauguration, he is focused on unity, he is focusing on the tone at the top, taking the temperature down he really wants to create an environment where he is not putting his opponents in a corner and he is always leaving room for his opponents to make a

deal, which means you have a better chance of getting covid-19 relief through and you also have a better chance of working with the different governors, whether republicans or democrats, to get this vaccine out to people, which is really the issue for the markets. how fast we get that vaccine out and teal with covid-19, the situation. >> yeah. and elizabeth, to you, i mean, you make broader sort of judgments, and they are reflected in your asset allocation too early for you to make any real changes in what you are doing over there in hawaii >> probably. i think it's a little early. i kind of want to see where yellen calls out on how much she is willing to sacrifice on the dollar we are watching that closely in terms of the new administration, i think i would echo comments from other people, we are likely to see a lot of pressure on the u.s. to move more towards climate change and probably expecting regulation there. obviously, places like health care and infrastructure are also likely interesting

but i to think that there is some things we are watch in emerging markets and maybe europe and get a little more excited about. >> andy, last night senator romney got quoted by the pool reporter as saying that the $1.9 trillion proposal was not well timed he says, we just passed 900 billion plus let's give that time to be able to influence the economy how seriously do we think that kind of resistance will be taken by the market? >> well, that's a real resistance that we thought coming in. my thought all along is any covid-19 relief bill between 750000000001.5 trillion if it were bipartisan on tlower end of that reconciliation i think you can get close to the $2 trillion between democrats only i think biden will give it a chance to work with romney and others to address their concerns, make sure it's targeted we will see where that ends up

the same issues are there. state and local government relief versus liability relief for businesses. >> elizabeth, on a day freight rates are in focus because we are getting transportation earnings out of the gate, also on a day where we get this number for -- from the philly fed on manufacturing that shows a big jump in prices paid, i wonder how you see inflation do you see this as a risk down the road in the coming months? >> sure. i mean, i am a broken record on inflation. i have been worried about it for over a year now. i think the signs are ripe for it i think all the signs are there. unfortunately, one of the biggest predictors is people actually expecting inflation we are seeing tick up in cpi we are seeing numbers in manufacturing. we have minimum wage increases coming from biden. we have a lot of stimulus coming into the market and we are seeing potential for supply chain disruption coming out of china. there is a new strain of the virus, this time it's outside

beijing, not restricted to wuhan. so we have to be careful there, especially since china is on the -- a driver of global growth so i remain concerned about an uptick in inflation. i do think this year we are likely to see a rise in growth and a rise in yields, but to echo people much smarter than myself on the subject, it's not a big deal unless the reason behind it, such as a quick uptick in inflation, is what is driving it, and not growth. >> i wonder how that is shaping, if it is, changes to your portfolio positioning this year? >> sure. so, fourth quarter last year we were a little bit overweight equities that worked out pretty well for us now we are thinking about taking some of these gangs oins off th table. nothing crazy, but paring back a little bit we discussed last week putting a little bit more into tips. not a lot in the fixed income we are overconducive on i am a little concerned about

what fixed income in investors' portfolios means anymore we are doing things at the margins. we moved some money into convertible. but if can he do see interest rates and inflation become an issue, some sectors of the asset market look interesting, financials look interesting. the reason i brought up europe earlier, which may have seemed a strange comment, is a lot of the beta trades there based on the indices are more timted towards quality of value versus tech like here in the u.s. >> andy, finally, back to the biden administration's agenda, your sense as to how likely you think they are to get a significant bill passed for covid relief, maybe not $1.9 trillion, and move on to successfully getting something passed on infrastructure. >> david, i think it's very likely, if it's under

$1 trillion, you can get that. if it's over $1 trillion, that's where it's tough it's about what kind of ball game the republicans are going to be willing to play and how much pressure biden is going to be getting to hold on to some of the elements of the package that aren't necessarily related to covid-19, like minimum wage and other provisions like that. >> andy, elizabeth, thank you both appreciate it. >> thank you >> still to come this morning, it is the largest cannabis spac ever former e.u. ceo carol bartz joins us next to talk about her involvement with the parent company, big tech under biden and more we are back in a couple of minutes.

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united airlines posting 2 billion in quarterly losses. stocks down right now. phil lebeau has the numbers and spoke with the ceo earlier today. >> the united conference call with analysts starts in five minutes. interesting to see what kind of questions they hear from wall street regarding the fourth quarter. let's be clear even if you look at shares right now, down more than 35%, the focus is on united's analyst or

united's outlook for 2021. to comes down to a few things. first of all, they are seeing an improvement in advanced bookings beyond this summer they do see demand improving later this year, but they are not yet ready to give a break-even target date they are not willing to say if it's spring or summer or when exactly, in part because scott kirby says demand depends on what happens with covid-19 virus levels >> i think we will be the first airline to return to cash break-even if you look at it on an apples to apples basis. we are not ready to project a big -- the inflection point in the turn in demand because we really need to get a critical mass of people in the country vaccinated we also need a scientific medical conclusion that it's not only protects you from the virus when you get vaccinated, but also protects you from transmitting the virus >> united's earnings or financial results and the loss of $1.9 billion is the drag on the airline stocks today

they are all under pressure. guys, the bottom line is this. we know the first quarter will be bad you are going to see capacity levels down between 50 and 60% it's a question of when do they believe they will be at cash flow break even. scott kirby is saying we can't predict that with any clarity. for now we're going to hold off on doing that. >> phil, right before you came on this morning, the american hotel and lodging association put out a survey asking respondents, when do you think you will go back to your first business conference? 29% said first half of the year. 36% said second half of the year but one thing we know is that business travel is going to be key for these majors to come back >> and that's going to take some time they are not expecting it to come back right away they know it will take some time, in part because people are doing more intel conferences, zoom, whatever you want to use a lot of companies have decided to go that way

there are not going to be a lot of conferences i mean, it's going to take a while for these, that entire industry to get up to speed knowing people who are in that industry almost all of them say the same thing we are not planning anything not anytime soon so, yeah, scott kirby's belief that it depends on the vaccinations, that's correct in terms of what you are going to see both in terms of business travel as well as leisure travel >> it's interesting, phil. i don't know if you listen to barry stern lick this morning. he was talking about the hotel, of course which he is a pa participant. 8% capacity, keeping them open complaining about the fact that the airline industry has gotten support, but the hotel industry hasn't, even though it employs a lot more people. >> they have a very powerful lobby, david we talked about this this goes back to the beginning of the pandemic when they received the relief for payroll support. and that money, that $50 billion for both the airlines as well as for the cargo operators, 25 of

that coming in terms of payroll support, and then they got the extension all the way through the first quarter. now the flip side of that is they can say, look, we guarantee the payroll of these people and that's what washington is asking us to do and we've asked washington to help us and washington has agreed to it. but, again, it comes down to that lobby, and they are much more effective, clearly, than a lot of other industries. >> yeah, an interesting dynamic to note. phil lebeau, thank you for that. reminds me of sir richard branson's comments about his airline, virgin atlantic, and how much hinges on that vaccine rollout. later this hour, don't miss union pacific's ceo lance fritz first on cnbc. wnis is another mover to the to side within the dow transports this morning. stay with us

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good morning, everybody. i'm sue herera here is your cnbc covid update the u.s. reported almost 4,400 covid deaths yesterday the second highest daily toll of the pandemic new cases, however, do appear to be coming down from the highs we saw earlier in the month it is the fourth straight day they have come in under 200,000. the biden administration is moving quickly to show that dr. anthony fauci will have more influence on covid policy than he did under president trump dr. fauci will be featured in this afternoon's white house press briefing. eli lilly says results from a new study show it's antibody drug reduced the risk of covid infection in nursing homes indicating it could be used along with vaccinations to prevent new cases. and former california governor and terminator actor arnold schwarzenegger situated in line for his shot at the dodgers stadium drive-through covid vaccine station. he tweeted a video urging anyone eligible to get vaccinated with

a line from his movies. >> come with me if you want to live. >> you're up to date, carl that's the news update this hour back to you. >> he has been so good on social the last couple of weeks. >> he has. >> thanks very much. sue herera. watch canopy growth today. tilray, constellation, chronos two-week highs this year selling off a bit this morning tpco holding corp. or the parent company the largest pod spac history backed by the likes of jay z, rihanna, d.j. khalid. now a board member of the parent company, and she joins us this morning, carol bartz what a pleasure to have you back. >> good morning. come with me i'll make you happy. >> remind us how long you have been playing in the cannabis space. >> playing i haven't been playing i have been working. it's a couple years.

i started -- >> and what grabbed your attention about this particular asset? >> what's my what? sorry. >> what grabbed your attention about this particular, about tcpo, about the parent company >> well, first what grabbed my ascension was what plant-based healing can do for you we are already getting so many calls from people who are stressed we know why. and so what got me in the cannabis business, it was just so much like high-tech in the early days people scrambling for position, for funding, combinations going on, driven in this case by vcs instead of spacs but it's the same concept. and what we have here is so important. i want to jump ahead here and ask you something.

do you suppose that marijuana deaths surpass fentanyl and all of the pharmaceuticals what do you think? >> deaths? >> deaths. how many americans, how many overdose from marijuana? >> i mean, the lay view on my part would be no, i would not approach that offensively. am i wrong >> it's zero there has never been a case, and get your fact-checkers out there, but there has never been a case of a marijuana overdose and so when the companies in canada started looking at getting into california, which is the biggest market, it's really just everybody waiting for the federal government to wake up. but what we have now is the largest group in california,

which is the largest cannabis consumer in the world. so we feel pretty good about -- in fact, we feel very good about what our chances are the parent company now, we've got investors. we have jay z, that connection we have a set of partnerships that cover all the processes from manufacturing out to distribution and delivery. so we have got the whole gamut covered, but not the whole state covered. so we have a lot of opportunity. of course, you can always do new products >> carol, it's morgan. i am curious you just touched on it, but i wonder what your outlook is now that we have a new administration, the biden administration officially, i guess, in office now what that's going to mean in

terms of the federal decriminalization process and even legalization process, and in the meantime the fact that we have more states that are legalizing how you see that regulatory framework taking shape this year >> well, i'm certainly glad we have more states, but until the federal government actually steps in so we can be banking, we can't do banking, we can't risk on our exchanges. there is very few things, if they aren't controlling, with makeup in many cases, an 80% tax. this is something we are trying to get out of the hands of illicit people who north checking quality and these sorts of things. the government has to be led here i am talking about the mostly the senate has to be led here to understand this is not a big boogeyman. this is a helpful, important drug, and also, by the way, a

way to relax and, in my case, i had a hip replacement three weeks ago, and i am telling you, i wouldn't have made it without my cannabis products i wouldn't have made it. i mean, i didn't want to take artificial drugs and guess what it worked. so just have to get this message out. of course, we need people to push their legislators to just get something done i don't expect -- but they have got to do it. >> yeah. you hear a lot of these stories, certainly from my family members, whether it's anxiety, whether it's injuries, at the help they get from some of these products you mentioned jay z. what's getting a lot of attention today is this $10 million fund for startups that i think came out of this larger deal, this larger merger deal that we are talking about here today just i think it's probably key to break down the numbers about

why he is starting this fund and what that's going to mean for the parent company in terms of those opportunities around, i guess, helping propel a new generation of investors. entrepreneurs, excuse me >> i think there is an increasingly obviously need that we need to bring the entire society in on this opportunity, and i think what jay z is doing with the fund and -- and the leadership taking in helping other people set up funds is really important social equity is really important. on the other hand, the other parts of the parent company are getting the product out. and everything from we cultivate all the way to the end, delivery, or our stores. so it's a great synergistic model where we can give back to

the community and also help rectify people who have been unjustly penalized, and also run the biggest cannabis company in california >> carol, it's david you know, i know you guys are big in direct to consumer. what am i seeing when i'm interacting with you for the direct to consumer am i getting a lot of choices? am i getting a lot of information? i assume what you were taking, smoking for your hip, is different than from what somebody else might want at a certain time, whether it's to get sleep or feel, who knows i am curious, what's that relationship like when it's online >> well, first of all, i didn't take smoking for my hip because, unfortunately, i never learned how to smoke. >> so you did edibles, right >> gummies. >> yeah. >> tincture. tinctures are really important because it goes right into the system

so it's just people have to do their own trials, but we have consultants at our stores and online and on the phone that will help you make some decisions. a friend of mine is in stage 4 cancer, unfortunately, and she goes to their help line to figure out what would be the best cocktail for her. she doesn't, also doesn't smoke, but she needs so much to have a natural healing opportunity. and that's why she is coming to cannabis and coming to the parent company >> finally, carol, i remember a few months ago when the georgia senate runoffs were still in play some cannabis analysts were saying if the senate were to turn blue and we had majority

leader schumer, that that would be a game changer in the narrative of federal legislation. do you think we are going to see that in the next two years, let's say? >> maybe two years they have got a lot to do in this next year two years would be, to me, the inside play. i just hope that we put enough public pressure on all of them and chose figures, i mean, all this business about marijuana is an onboarding drug. frankly, for the most part, it's an off-boarding drugs. people come from heavy drugs to marijuana. so we don't have the deaths. we don't have the people in the streets. you know, we need to help people, but we can't help people if the government doesn't get off its collective you know

what the way that was asked. >> i thought you were just going to go ahead and say it, carol, given the interview so far you always bring it. we love seeing you we look forward to talking again soon as cannabis continues to evolve carol bartz. >> thank you >> david, are you a gummy guy? i'm curious now. >> careful with the dosage, you know no i mean, you could tell from my question about just smoking, i'm a -- you know. it's so long ago really. >> it seems a little -- >> nobody smokes anymore, right. they have those pens they are nice. >> there are a lot of options. >> yeah. and carol clearly has been availing herself of some of them. >> another good day for the home builders with itb etf on pace for the fifth straight day of gains. d.r. horton, lennar all up 1% or

re we will be back in a moment.

it's president biden's first day in office with taxes and regulation focused more "squawk on the street" coming up.

welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm dominic chu. markets are slightly higher. right now with the major averages notching record highs at some point during the session, the top performing sectors so far at this hour as you can see is the consumer discretionary one. among the leaders you have the home builders. but another big outperformer so far this morning is ford motor, trading at its highest level since back to 2018 and on a week to date basis, both ford and general motors up more than 10% amid a flurry of upgrades and electrical vehicle

announcements, investments, ththat sort of thing. so keep an eye on ford and gm in discretionary. david, back to you. >> thank you, dom. from grocery stores to airlines, companies are trying to decide how best to roll out the covid vaccine to their employees. >> yes, while supply of the vaccine is pretty tight, companies are already laying out their plans for their employees. so some are simply encouraging vaccination and others are going further and are offering to pay workers to get the shot. american airlines plans to make the vaccine available to employees at clinics and airport hubs target plans to offer the covid-19 vaccine at 1,700 cvs locations. the company telling us in part that we're building plans to roll this out safely working with our benefits team to make the vaccine available and free of charge for our team members and amazon is also planning to offer its front line workers access to the shot at its warehouses it would use a third-party company similar to how it administers flu shots.

trader joe's are both offering two hours of pay for workers who get vaccinated dollar general and instacart strongly encourage workers to get the vaccine. none of these companies are actually requiring employees to get vaccinated although legal experts suggest that employers can make such a vaccine a condition of employment, that is not something we have seen just yet because, again, supply is limited, and in addition to the supply challenges, guys, another hurdle could be convincing workers to take the vaccine as public skepticism about the vaccine remains. carl, back to you. >> yeah. rahel, hard to require it when it's hard to get that's a fascinating development in management. we will take a break here. watch unp. we will talk to lance fritz about the quarter. stocks down 3%, but only about a one-week low we're back in a moment

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>> thank you it's good to be on with you this morning. >> so i want to talk about not only the quarter we just saw, but the outlook for 2021 it does seem like we have this rail recovery beginning to take root here, you're forecasting 2021 volume increasing where are you seeing the signs of renewed strength and just as importantly what does it mean more broadly for pricing >> yeah, before i mention what we expect in 2021 i want to look backward we had a terrific fourth quarter all a testament to the men and women of union that civic who did tremendous work running the railroad in the face of a really difficult environment. as we look into 2021 you're exactly right, we guided the 4% to 6% growth we think that's on the backs of continued e-commerce, strength, the housing market continues to be in pretty good shape. we think automotive recovers specifically from its horrendous second quarter of 2020, and

we're looking for the industrial economy to continue to grow. it's growing sequentially. it has yet to turn the corner and be a positive for us year over year, but we expect that to happen some time in 2021 from a pricing perspective we're in an environment where trucks are tight and there's a lot of demand that's a good environment to enter the year in. >> in terms of what that means for a railroad such as yours to take market share from the trucking market, i guess what does that look like longer term in terms of those intermodal volumes and in terms of the west coast ports right now where we've been getting reports of some gridlock, some backlog in the midst of record imports from china. i guess how much congestion are you seeing and would you expect that to ease this year >> let me start on growth and taking trucks off the highway.

the way we do that is with consisten, reliable service, which we have, and being very competitive on our cost basis, which we are so we're seeing results and wins when we're trying to help customers remove trucks off the highway and satisfy part of their supply chain needs in terms of the l.a. basin, what's going on there, that's really a story about a lot of demand again through e-commerce, landing imports on the port docks, and then a fair portion of that going inland in l.a. to a distribution warehouse where it's transloaded into a domestic box and sent further into the country. that process of getting it from the dock to the distribution site for transload has been congested. once it gets on the railroad, whether it's direct from dock in an international box or from a distribution center in a domestic box, our service has been very sound and we showed that in our kpis through all of last year.

>> lance, you said the magic letters, esg i know cramer wanted me to talk to you about it this morning how are you positioning it as a selling point as it pertains to the company, and how is it evolving as we obviously are talking more and more about it and will for years to come >> carl, it's really interesting how esg has become a top of mind topic for many of our investors. it's always been important for a number of our stakeholders, and now it's important, it appears, across the spectrum. so esg to us is not just doing the right thing. it's an imperative inside of our business strategy. we talked this morning about being more fuel efficient in the fourth quarter, getting a 2% c-rate and 4% c-rate improvement. we've talked with our investors about the 17 goals that the united nations has set up for

achievement by 2030. we're looking at seven of those specifically and how we can support them and it's things like we've committed to doubling the amount of female participation in our workforce a 39% increase in the minority participation in our workforce by 2030. we're relentless about fuel rate and helping our customers reduce their carbon footprint while we reduce our own so it's kind of across the spectrum, and it's quite real and it's wired in. it's a core part of our strategy >> the biden administration in place, and i realize freight railroads such as yours are private and have been privately funding their own infrastructure for quite some time now. but more broadly speaking, is this the year when we finally get some sort of bigger infrastructure deal for the u.s. >> you know, we support a broad infrastructure deal in the united states. we think inclusive of rural

broad band, which is very important for the economy. we think improving our roads, our bridges, improving power distribution, there's just a host of areas where targeted, good, sound infrastructure spend would help the u.s. economy grow and a growing, thriving u.s. economy is a great thing for union pacific. >> yeah. i would imagine. more goods to move around on the rails as well. lance fritz, thanks for joining us today >> thank you for having me a bit of a tight range in the markets this morning we're watching bitcoin, of course the correction continues here as we've had some calls from bitcoin bulls that it might head lower in the short term down 10%. as for the markets themselves, the s&p did join the party, so we at least have record highs in the early session for the dow, the nasdaq and the s&p 500 we're back in a minute

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washington it's 11:00 a.m. on wall street "squawk alley" is live ♪ 100 days 100 nights ♪ ♪ to know a man's heart ♪ ♪ 100 days 100 nights ♪ ♪ to know a man's heart and a little more before he knows his own ♪ happy thursday welcome to "squawk alley." i'm jon fortt. a biden administration with new challenges and possibly openings in antitrust regulation, immigration policy, china trade, and more, deirdre. that's not all that's going on this morning >> no. we're also looking at that letter from amazon yesterday offering to help the biden administration with