it is 5:00 a.m. at cnbc global headquarters. here's your top five at five stocks under pressure this morning as investors get into the thick of the busiest week of earnings season and the continued fallout from those very wild swings in heavily shorted stocks janet yellen, officially clearing the final hurdle in her historic path to becoming the next treasury secretary of the united states. apollo global's leon black announcing his exit from the ceo job amid renewed questions over

his ties to former financier jeffrey epstein. president biden setting a new goal for covid vaccinations in this country as his administration looks to overcome early headaches in its mass inoculation push. and a revamp of new york city's famed restaurant week as eateries look to keep their doors open, roll out a new strategy and stay in business. it is tuesday, january 26th, 2021, and you are watching "worldwide exchange" right here on cnbc. good morning, i am dominic chu in for brian sullivan, and here is how your money and the global markets are setting their day up stock futures looking to pull back from some record levels the dow is implied lower by 12 points here, the s&p off by just about 7 and the nasdaq down by

39 we'll call it relatively stable here in the premarket trade ahead of the opening bell for regular cash equities trading. this is all after a volatile day to kick off the trading week the s&p 500 climbing a third of a percent to a record high after doing down 1% earlier in the session. the nasdaq meanwhile climbing nearly 3/4 of a percent to close at a new record high the dow pretty much ended flat on the day as you can see there. yesterday's session was marked by very wild swings in heavily shorted stocks including game stop, amc entertainment, blackberry, bed, bath and beyond, among others as retail investors and day traders started betting against funds. the battle was huge. the premarket trades you can see still very wild today as well. we also want to look at the bond market we are seeing a slight move in yields, benchmark ten-year treasury yields. you can see 1.05%.

a slight tick higher, and the 30-yearlong bond 1.81%, the last trade there. let's go worldwide, despite the record set on wall street, the stocks finishing the day with steep losses in asia the nikkei falling 1%. the shanghai down 1 1/2.and kospi and korea, down 2% let's swing that globe around and look at the early trade in europe green arrows across the board, led by the german dax, up 1 1/3%, the ftse 1/2 a%, and predominantly green in terms of trade for the european session so far now to this morning's top stories. janet yellen has officially been confirmed as the next treasury secretary. yellen getting that approval in an 84-15 vote, making her the first woman to lead that department she will now focus on pushing

through president biden's economic agenda, including his $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus package. leon black has snannounced he plans to step down as ceo of apollo global management the move by black set for the end of july comes after an independent review of his ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. black was not involved in any of epstein's criminal activity bus that he had paid epstein $158 million for financial advice after his conviction for paying an underaged girl for sexual services back in 2008 black will remain as apollo's chairman. apple has tapped his hardware chief to lead a new mystery project. the tech giant said dan ricco will transfer to a role on a new projects he was previously tasked with approving the physical aspects and electrical engineering of

products including the yoen iphone the company has been working on electric cars, virtual reality, and augmented headsets, all questions abound about his next project. president biden prepares for another day of executive orders, this as he looks to ramp up covid vaccinations in this country while continuing to try to strike a deal with republicans on a new stimulus package. tracie potts joins us from washington, d.c. with the latest there. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: dom, good morning, good morning, everyone, so the numbers in washington just continue to pile up. how much president biden wants to spend to deal with the economy and the impact of covid. the number of deaths he's now predicting 600,000 people could die before this gets better, but also promising to speed up vaccinations >> without the ability to reach consensus. >> upping the ante, president

biden is now promising more than 1 100 million covid vaccinations in his first 100 days. >> we may be able to get that to 1.5 million a day. >> with shots available to everyone by spring right now, states are running out of vaccine >> a 65-year-old cannot get an appointment. >> reporter: just over 3 million americans have received both doses. finding money to help struggling americans to help businesses bounce back, that could take weeks. the white house and senate are negotiating. republicans argue biden's nearly $2 trillion plan is too much >> the new administration's first draft of their sprawling proposal misses the mark. >> i'm open to negotiate those things. >> reporter: as the president issues orders today to advance equity in communities of color, the senate is moving toward an impeachment trial the week of february 8th. >> the trial will be done in a way that is fair but with

relatively quickly. >> reporter: senator patrick leahy will reside, instead of the chief justice of the supreme court. >> he basically is operating as a judge and a juror, and he's got a conflict of interest >> reporter: the article or charge against former president trump has been delivered senators will be sworn in as jurors this afternoon. but the trial won't start for two weeks. this week, the senate is focusing on more confirmation hearings, holding three more today for secretaries of state, commerce, and homeland security, dom. >> a very busy agenda there in the senate for sure. tracie potts, live in washington, d.c. there, thank you very much for that. back to the markets now. futures under pressure slightly as investors await a busy day of earnings reports ahead we will get the reports from the likes of microsoft, general electric, verizon and johnson & johnson as we work through the heart of earnings season as you can see there, it is the

busiest week of the season for those corporate reports. for more on the trading day ahead, i'm joined by bill stone, chief investment officer at the glen view trust company. bill, great to have you here >> good morning. >> what is it right now that struck you about what's happening with earnings season and the overall markets. are earnings reports even that important anymore given what's happening in washington, d.c., the vaccine rollouts and everything else? >> well, i guess they remain important in the sense that they're coming in extremely good now, a lot of that's already discounted in how much stocks have come up starting last year, and obviously continued this year so i think some of the future 2021 numbers are more important, so i think you're seeing companies trade more off of what the expectations of the rebound in earnings are for 2021, but then you've got this overlay of quite a bit of speculation you talked about that whole issue in terms of some pressure on the short sellers

we've got a lot of spacs coming. all of those things that to me signal a little bit of a frothy market that's probably a reason to be a little more cautious at the moment. >> i keep hearing the arguments and justifications for valuations for stocks at these levels the biggest case people say is if interest rates are as low as the way they are, you can afford to have stock valuations like this because the alternative is not very much in terms of a risk free rate in investments in the treasury market. does that hold water >> i think it does i mean, you know, just listen to warren buffet, you know, if you don't believe me, the fact is interest rates matter for stock valuations that doesn't mean they can't correct, they can't get hit, and then also doesn't mean, you know, interest rates are likely to go up over time as the economy continues to go on the mend, so there's going to be pressure from that side. i also think you have to think about future returns, so, you know, future returns are probably lower from stocks over time but you're right, relative to bonds, they certainly look

attractive, and i think that's part of the story or a lot of story as to why money is gravitating to that side. >> you can gravitate towards equities in more traditional manners or you can do so in the way we've seen for stocks like blackberry yesterday or gamestop, or even bitcoin to a certain extent here. what exactly is driving some of the bubble type mentality that's developing in certain parts of the market right now, and is it indicative or a warning sign of the broader market overall or isolated incidents >> i mean, i think that's driving it clearly is low interest rates in that, you know, the ability or maybe the feeling that you could take that risk and it might get bailed out in the end i probably, like i said, i would be more cautious in those areas. i don't have a dog in that fight. i don't think it necessarily has to spill over to the rest of the market certainly you get a risk off environment. a lot of those names will get

hit pretty darn hard i suspect because in a lot of cases, not super high quality businesses. we're already having trouble, so i would tread lightly there, and let you really, you know, know what you're doing in terms of that kind of speculation i focus or we focus here on high quality investments. t it's not the kind of thing, like i said, i have a dog in the fi fight. >> bill stone, glen view trust. >> former democratic senator heidi heitkamp lays out the top economic priorities for president biden, and where he may find successful compromise with his republican counter parts and whatnot in congress. plus, google looks to hit lawmakers who tried to overturn the presidential election where matters most, in the wallet. we talk to one top analyst about what to expect from johnson & johnson's quarterly results and what we could learn about its vaccine development mpgn

a busy hour ahead when "worldwide exchange" returns after this break

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but to put it in context, at the high point yesterday, at the highs here, on an interday basis, we got over $159 per share. that is how wild it's gotten a lot of technical dynamics with regard to short covering, with regard to the battle brewing between these types of stocks is brewing out there. game stop, emblematic with what's happening with some of these retail oriented stocks also, though, take a look at other stock caught up in the action that's amc entertainment this is the theater chain operator, it has been hit hard during the virus pandemic. a rocky ride for investors, up 16% in the premarket trade the reason why it was important is there was actually some news out there for this stock they secured a line of financing that will help it stave off bankruptcy in the near to medium term that was what drove those shares a final stock to watch here, a former tech darling, i remember having one of these back in the

day. remember blackberry, they're not into devices so much these days. more a software company. up 18%, a heavily shorted stock. not much of anything happening over the course of the last year a massive break up to the up side blackberry coming up with results and numbers and commentary from the company that sent the shares soaring. to cover their positions at a loss blackberry, amc entertainment, and of course game stock, three of the big stocks to watch, especially when it comes to internet chat forum. still on deck for the show, we talk to one restaurateur about the shift in strategies he has been forced to make amid the ongoing cod stctns orwi exchange" is back in a moment

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welcome back to the show, right now, that's a live shot of chicago, illinois. 4:19 central time. they are in the midst of a snowstorm out there that could forecast to bring some snowfall that could make things unsafe. we are forecast to get stuff out here in the new york area as well we'll keep an eye on that here so chicago stay safe out there in that snow and cold weather. let's get a check on this morning's other top headlines. nbc's phillip mena is in the new york newsroom are the latest >> good morning, yeah, the weather one of the biggest stories of the day because one of the biggest winter storms so far this year is moving across the country.

from arizona to the northeast. alerts have been issued in at least 23 states, and 100 million people are under winter weather warnings parts of northern arizona are expected to see more than a foot of snow by this morning. and breaking overnight in alabama, the national weather service confirmed that a tornado struck fultondale. officials are estimating around 20 people may be hurt, but search and rescue teams are still working to reach everyone, and there is a possibility of more tornadoes and finally, history on the hardwood in orlando as natalie sago and jenna shriver became the first pair of female officials to ref the same nba guy. they were joined by sean wright for the hornets, magic game. back to you. >> awesome story phillip mena, thank you very much for that. new york city restaurant week, it's a very big deal every year, it's kicked off with a focus on to go orders. more than 570 restaurants have

now signed up to be a part of this annual event. hundreds more than previous record now, this event which has been key for eateries in normal times is now even more critical amid continued covid restrictions for more on how restaurants have had to adapt to the changes brought on by the virus pandemic, i'm joined by brian owens, founder and managing partner of crave fish bar in manhattan. to say, brian, that restaurant week is key for so many small eateries and larger ones in new york city is an understatement how does it feel this year, girc given the fact that we have the covid pandemic, and people aren't eating in restaurants as much as they have in the past. >> absolutely. and restaurant week is normally an exciting week for restaurants. a lot of people in new york and the tristate area get to visits restaurants they might not normally visit

menus are diskocounted it's a wy to market ourselves to a regular demographic, people that are going to check us out, at a time celebrating a birthday or a family occasion, so it's a big week for us, and we're really happy that new york city restaurant and co, who produces and markets this, decided to, you know, really innovate and turn around the format and do it for take out and to go. >> we know how it's changed, more takeout, more to go, that type of thing, how exactly does that impact you as a restaurateur what changes have you had to make or is this just a continuation of what we have seen over the better part of the last year? >> i think even before the pandemic, you know, there's a lot more delivery, so you know, at one point, at kra fish bar, we're a full service restaurant, a neighborhood fine dining restaurant, so, you know, it was really only 3% of our sales, and this year, you know, we had to turn around and say, well, you know, delivery needs to be 50 or

60% of our sales for us to survive. it's really something that, you know, we weren't really -- we're a brick and mortar restaurant. we have 50 full-time employees, very labor intensive it's fresh seafood it's prepped and prepared every day, we have a big team, so we really are down to, you know, a smaller menu, a skeleton crew, and we had to really innovate in terms of finding ways to, you know, develop a robust native online ordering platform instead of people going to the big companies, and those big companies take anywhere from 25 to 30% of our sale we developed, you know, the platform in-house to, you know, own the relationship with the guests, drive the traffic to our web site, and at least have that relationship with them and offer them exclusive benefits, cheaper delivery so we have done a lot inside the restaurants that i think that once things come back to normal, this will be increased sales that we have never had before. >> once things come back to

normal those are big words. we're all very optimistic right now. how exactly do you think customer patterns have changed and how have restaurant patterns changed in the pandemic, and how many of those types of patterns will continue into the future. >> i think there's a lot of things to say. i think we all thought 2021 was just going to be this magical moment where everything is going to change. i think that was just a lot of hope in the summer, and as we got into the fall, we realized that this is here for a lot longer you know, new york city is still locked down, so we only have outdoor dining i think that, you know, the restaurants, all manhattan really had to figure out a way to, you know, set up the street structures that are heeded correctly. the last couple of nights have been brutally cold if you don't have the proper heating, customers are not going to come in i think that's been a big challenge, and that has a lot to do with your actual physical realize, it has to do with your electrical capacity on your

panels, and it has to be, you know, finding the heaters, which is basically like, you know, a gray market item trying to find infrared heaters at this moment. so i think that deliverers here say we have been fortunate that new york state lets us deliver liquor at this moment where they never did before that's been something that's really nice that err wwe're abl, you know, for restaurant week offer this entree and appetizer and we can offer you the ability to buy a cocktail or a bottle of wine, so we do a wine pairing that goes exactly with that dish that we're offering. there's ways to be creative with that, and i think that, you know, for, we expect for a little while, and i would say at least until the end of the year, we're not going to get back to, you know, people sitting elbow to elbow, three deep at bar, and that's kind of the beauty of a lot of restaurants in these big cities is, you know, the energy

that comes from people being shoulder to shoulder, you know, creates something that has that vibe. >> sure. of course. brian owens at the cray fish bar, we hope you and all the restaurants do well in this restaurant week, and good luck for the rest of the season please let us know how business is going later down the line >> thank you so much for having me on. former democratic senator heidi heitkamp is standing by with the key areas she feels the biden administration should focus on to find success in orwi eha andits economicgea. "wlddexcnge" is back in a moment isticated but simple. cutting edge made user friendly. in other words, we want a hybrid. and so do retailers. which is why they're going hybrid, with ibm. a hybrid cloud approach with watson ai helps manage supply chains while predicting demands with ease. from retail to healthcare, businesses are going with a smarter hybrid cloud, using the tools, platform and expertise of ibm.

good morning, take a look at that ticker beneath you. it shows that markets are in a holding pattern as investors prepare for a flood of corporate earnings results. janet yellen is confirmed by the senate the first woman to lead the treasury department. we will talk about the biden administration's economic plans with former senator heidi heitkamp, and the fight against covid as new strains are confirmed in the united states the country races to find more vaccine supply it's tuesday, january 26th, 2021, and you are watching "worldwide exchange" right here on cnbc. welcome back to the show, i

am dominic chu in for brian sullivan this morning. and here's how your money and investments are shaping up halfway through the 5:00 a.m. eastern time hour. stock futures as i said pointing to modest losses at the opening bell the dow implied lower by 3 points we'll call it flat the s&p 500 down by 5 points and the nasdaq lower just by 34, 35 points, this is all coming after a volatile day of trading to kick off the week. the s&p 500 climbing 1/3 of 1% to a record high after being down at one point in the session more than a percent. the nasdaq, meanwhile, climbing nearly 3/4 of a percent to also close at a record high the dow, as you can see there, marginally to the downside, we'll call it flat also want to take a look at the price of bitcoin it's been a huge trade these days, 32,348, down about 1/2 of 1%, as the cryptocurrency exchange luno and brokerage osl

claimed that bitcoin's price could surpass $50,000 over the long-term as the digital asset vies with gold for investment flows, so one take there obviously they have an ax to grind. they're an exchange platform for bitcoin. facebook is rolling out its news product in the u.k. today it launched in the u.s. last june now, this product aims to curate and personalize news from hundreds of publications the social media giant will pay some u.k. publishers for that content. facebook shares off 1/2 of 1% in the premarket trade. >> google confirming its political action committee, its pac, will not fund congressional members who voted against the presidential election results. now, that pac had paused funding after the capitol riots while the company conducted a review alphabet shares, the parent company of google, down 1/2 of a percent in the premarket in covid related news, president biden thinks the u.s. could top

1 1/2 million vaccinations per day, up from the target of 1 million jabs per day or 100 million vaccinations in the first hundred days of his administration meantime in other headlines out of the white house, president biden announcing plans to replace the government's fleet of cars and trucks with electric vehicles but of course assembled in the united states. he made the comments yesterday, when signing a new buy american executive order, but did not give a time frame for that switch to those evs for more on president biden's policies, let's bring in our next guest, cnbc contributor, and former democratic senator, heidi heitkamp, thank you so much for joining us this morning. let's take us through our initial impressions. what do you think about the first week or so of president biden's new administration, and what exactly should they be focusing on for the coming weeks? >> they're focusing on exactly what they need to focus on, which is covid, covid, covid, and i think the new strains have

people out here pretty stressed. i think everybody is concerned that the plans that we have right now to tackle the old virus may not work on the new virus, and you see it in consumer confidence, which you're going to find out what those numbers look like today, but i think that as you look at this new administration, they are hyper focused on getting the economy back working they can't do that unless they get the virus under control, and the vaccinations are such a huge part of that i think responding to a lot of concern from the public health community, which is a new development in the white house, you see now an increase in the goal of how many vaccinations we can do a day i think that's a positive move, responding to the experts and the professionals who say a million wasn't enough. i think we now have a new administration in the white house that is hyper focused on

this challenge. >> it seems as though this would be front and center for anybody, not just the president of the united states, but any policy maker in the u.s. as well. it seems like it would be a bipartisan issue how difficult will it be to come to some kind of a term on a deal for this relief package given the fact that president biden now is facing some friction and contention with the senators right now on the republican side of the aisle >> well, i think the group to watch is the group that has a long conference call with the white house on sunday during the pac packers game so it tells you how much of an emergency this is. when you look at that group there, they are very very serious about doing a deal i think the president is very serious about listening to all points of view, but mainly what we should be watching, i think, those of us who watch the tea leaves, watch this group along

with the promise, or along with the common sense group over in the house of representatives, i think they're willing ento do a deal i think it's an interesting sidestep from leadership on both sides, and i think it bodes well for actually getting a covid deal will it be as robust as what the biden administration first planned? it's hard to know. i think it will be realigned, and the priorities will be realigned. the question becomes how much push back will you get from the right, from the ted cruz, mike lee group, and how much push back will you get from the left who want a very robust aggressive plan that sends out a lot of money to a lot of people in this country. >> how important is that money how important is it to get direct relief to folks out there in america like the stimulus packages that we saw during the trump administration, those checks so to speak is that the biggest part of this whole problem that we have, we need to get cash into americans'

hands. >> you know, dom, it's interesting. obviously you know that i'm a moderate, and i think the point of view that were expressed by the moderate group, which is this needs to be targeted, let's get the help where the help is really needed. let's not continue to just kind of throw money in the air and hope it lands in the right place, and so i expect that the package that's going to pass is going to be very focused on the bottom quartile who have been exceptionally hard hit by covid, and i think it's going to be focused on small business. so you just had a great interview with how the restaurants in new york are adapting 70% of the american economy is consumption. we'll find out how people are feeling in terms of consumer strength and a lot of the reaction will be how do you bolster that confidence get people spending money again, get money moving around in the economy, and get consumers comfortable with their future, which means getting the covid

problem under control. >> heidi heitkamp, former senator from north dakota, democratic side of the aisle, thank you, always good to get your thoughts. we appreciate it. >> thanks, dom. bertha coombs will break down the hurdle health care companies are facing in the push to ramp up covid vaccinations in this country as we head out to break, some of your other top stories, leon black announcing plans to step down as apollo global management later this year the move by black comes after an independent review of ties to the late convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein, which found black was not involved in any of epstein's criminal activities. amazon continuing its u.s. expansion as it plans to hir 3,000 corporate employees in the boston area. the move follows the tech giant's hiring sprees and regional expansions in other major u.s. cities and hubs. and pizza hut, get this, announcing the latest move in its turn around plans.

it's all about detroit style pizza. being launched at locations nationwide for a limited time with that style pie being the fastest growing pizza trend in the united states. apparently the sauce goes on top of the cheese and toppings "worldwide exchange" is back after this ♪ write your next adventure. handwriting recognition and the audi q3. lease or purchase a new audi suv and have your first month's payment covered.

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the case of home health care companies, it's presenting a challenge on two fronts. getting workers inoculated in states where supplies are tight and trying to find a way to get the vaccine to seniors who are home bound bertha coombs joins us now with more on that story good morning, bertha. >> good morning, dom it's a huge challenge. nursing home and assisted living workers were the first to get vaccinated home health care employees have had to get in line behind other front line workers as a result, only a quarter of home health and hospice workers have been inoculated nationally at this point. requiring its clinicians to get the vaccine but so far just over one in three have gotten their first dose because vaccine access varies so widely even within states. >> we're having to contact individual counties where our workers reside to understand how those counties are distributing

the vaccine, so it's really dependent onhow states have decided to roll out the vaccine, the amount of authority they give to the counties. >> and while pharmacies are in the process of vaccinating nursing home residents, they were contracted by the government, there's no plan yet for getting to the nation's 2 million home bound seniors living on their own. in new jersey, the visiting nurse association has been testing home vaccinations with a handful of patients who have suffered strokes and who live really close to an area community health center so they can get the moderna vaccines before it spoils >> while we're doing a couple of these on a pilot basis, i think to make this happen at a large scale nationally, for all the home bound seniors, america's home health agencies would benefit from some additional guidance from medicare

>> right now, he says there is not even a billing code for this type of vaccination, and what they'd like is for medicare to do a pilot to get the shots to homes without the vaccine. spoiling, which is a big complicating factor and also give them access to supply, dom. >> i mean, the supply access is going to be key there, and in all of these discussions, i wonder now here, could the johnson & johnson vaccine alleviate perhaps some of the hurdles for home inoculation i mean, we've only talked about moderna and pfizer right now could a larger new industry, so to speak, really sort of solve the problems there >> that is part of the hope. you know, obviously the moderna and the pfizer vaccines, messenger rna, they have to be kept at very cold temperatures they have to be used in a very short time of them being taken out of the vile. the johnson & johnson, if it works, and is efficacious is less complicated tan that.

of course we have to wait to see what happens with those trial results. we're still a ways away, but that might help some of the log jam, and complicated situations like this. even in nursing homes, the pharmacies have said, you know, this takes a while you have to sit with someone 15 minutes afterwards when you're going room to room, individual to individual, it takes a lot longer to do. >> all right bertha couples with the latest there. thank you very much for that update. let's stick with that johnson & johnson theme, it's set to release 4th quarter results before the opening bell today. the company is slated to announce updates, yes, on its phase 3 covid-19 trial by the end of this month. joining us now with what to expect from the company, analyst at cantor fitzgerald, perhaps you can tell our viewers, and myself, first of all, refresh our memories, what is the key difference between johnson & johnson's vaccine candidate versus that of moderna and pfizer >> good morning, thank you

so the main difference between the johnson & johnson vaccine and pfizer and moderna is it's a different platform, the adenovirus platform, and the pfizer and moderna is mrna vaccine, and one of the main difference, it's a one dose, versus one dose plus a booster it will be easier to administer, and it doesn't require any cold storage that the pfizer vaccine wires. logistically it will be easier. >> how close are we and how important is this to john son & johnson's financial? >> i think for public perception, it's very important, as it pertains to johnson & johnson longer term. it's less important for a lot of big players. the vaccine sales, uncertain how long they're going to last, and whether it's something that's going to have to happen year over year. that being said, in terms of timing, johnson & johnson has said by the end of january, it

hopes to have data some of the headlines we have seen show it might push into early february we'll know this morning, company results at 6:45 a.m., hoping for at least some sort of update, if not the actual phrase 3 data. >> let's talk about what your expectations are what exactly should we expect? johnson & johnson is a company that sits near record highs. a slow and steady grower for the better part of decades at this point now. what exactly will be the next catalyst for johnson & johnson what does it need to say to get investors involved in the next leg possibly higher for the stock. >> this morning in the report, what we're looking for first and foremost, vaccine update secondly, the 2021 outlook they have given some broad strokes. above market growth in pharma, double digit growth in med devices and competitive growth in consumer health care, and investors are expecting some bumpiness in the fourth quarter with the medical device, but how

bumpy, and when are we going to see a recovery our thesis is that the pharma business is under appreciated and we think as the pipeline gets realized the shares will move higher from where we are today. >> what exactly does get people excited about this what part of the business will need to get things catalyzed for johnson and john being one of the huge innovators in the space, and are there acquisitions the company needs to make. we have seen other biotech companies do this. what do they need to make their portfolio more complete? >> i think johnson & johnson has a great pipeline in commercial products currently they're doing quite well it's a realization by the street that the assets are there. it's quite a diversified mi business they're building something there. in the next 12 months they'll have new approvals things that are really innovative first in class, best in class in

the market they have built an immunology and inflammation business, and they have a great pipeline of rare diseases, and people will realize there's something innovative here for j&j. >> what does alex need to do to helm the company toward the next chapter, what's the most important thing in 2021 for johnson & johnson's management team to focus on >> first and foremost is obviously the vaccine, for the world, for humanity, that's quite important. i think also, really showing and demonstrating to the street that it's got something first in class and best in class here j&j is a huge company and diversified by pipeline and globally, and sometimes it's hard for investors in the street to appreciate the potential growth of each segment. >> louise chen at cantor, thank you very much for those thoughts a big report from johnson & johnson coming up later this morning. we appreciate it. a flood of corporate earnings results, plus the start of a fed meeting today what investors need to know about the trading day ahead and

week and if you haven't, by the way, already done so, subscribe to our new podcast, "worldwide exchange" every day in audio form if you miss us here on air. check us out on apple or spotify or whatever dct poasapp you choose "worldwide exchange" podcast, we'll be right back. this game's boring. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. the holidays weren't exactly smooth sledding this year, eh santa? no, but we came through smelling of mistletoe. the now platform lets us identify problems before they became problems. if only it could identify where my ball went. this you? hmm... no, mine had green lights. whatever your business is facing. let's workflow it. maybe i should workflow my swing... servicenow.

. today's big number $6 billion that's how much short sellers have lost betting against game stop so far in 2021. according to data from s3 partners the stock has rallied over 300% this year. $6 billion that could make you either laugh or cry depending on which side of the trade you're on for game stop welcome back to the show the markets coming off a mostly higher session with the nasdaq extending its winning streak to

now five days. today, the action begins with the fed kicking off its first policy meeting of the year, and earnings season, as you can see there, kicking very much into high gear. we get results from no less than five dow components, 3m, american express, johnson & johnson, microsoft and verizon and this week, 111 or so s&p companies in the mix let's bring in portfolio manager, steve, maybe we'll just start because i would like to hear your thoughts on this the big number, $6 billion worth of losses for short sellers in game stop. is there anything about those types of companies, blackberry, amc, that's got you worried about the current market environment? >> well, i mean, look, i think you are seeing a retail investor that is flexing its muscle and engaging in the markets in a way it hasn't before, and you see

this both on, you know, in the robinhood phenomenon, and you're seeing it with kind of what's going on in the crushing of the shores am i worried about it? look, you know, there are some signs of fraught but that can take a while to play out it's just something we have to contend with as a professional investor there's going to be more stock by stock volatility when you have different players in the market it's our job, as stock pickers and the funds that do so, in order to try and pick the winners, avoid the losers. this makes a little more volatility but that's the name of the game. >> as a portfolio manager, steve, would you be more or less likely to get involved in these types of stocks given the trading action that you have seen or is this one that you would stay away from >> well, again, you know, in my fund, we primarily are investing from a macro perspective we're taking our bets at the asset class level, the industry, the sector level, the country level. we don't really get into, i mean, we do pick individual

stocks, but we do that with a quantitative model it's not an issue specifically for us in terms of our invesiting teateams, the ones that do focus, if there's a name that's been beaten down artificially, and they want to jump in, fine i think that represents an out sized opportunity. like wise, if there are names that are over done with a little bit of froth and they want to take the other side of that trade. i think that makes sense either way, you can't complain about it, you just have to deal with it. >> all right maybe technical factors behind some of the trading factors. i know you're focused on those as well. fundamentally speaking, does the stock market deserve to be at the levels it's at right now >> absolutely. you've got an economy that is leaving a recession, not only in recovery, but i think we'll find out this week when we get the q4 gdp number, in half a year, we

will have made up about 80% of what we lost during the pandemic, in terms of economic activity that's as v shaped as recoverie come when you look at where the ten-year yield is and corporate spreads, and you compare equities versus bonds, they are inexpensive on that measure. now, that matters because you got to put your money somewhere, and so, you know, by our account, if you look at the historical relationship between stock pes and where the bond market is. you know, we're trading about five turns less than where you normally would, meaning that the stock market has an ability, believe it or not, to get meaningfully more expensive from year we think it will do that, slowly over the course of the next year or so. >> what's the key or keys investors need to focus on for this earnings season, including this week, the busiest week of earnings season? >> look, i think the big story is that the last three earnings

season, q2, q3, and q4, have collectively yielded the three most significant beats we have recorded on the s&p 500, beats of 20 plus percent, and that's important because it's getting us back to earnings growth i think in this quarter, the consensus came in looking for earnings to be down 9% year over year, that has improved to down 5% year over year. i would not be surprised at all if it turns out we show year over year earnings growth in the 4th quarter. that path back to growth is the story. and it's paving the way for what it is expected to be, you know, 20% plus earnings growth in 2021 i think we're very much on track for that. >> 15 seconds left here what's your favorite part of the market now >> value cyclicals and international equities because they are value. >> value cyclicals, and international equities, the call from steve at fed rated earnings thank you very much, great to get your thoughts. thank you. >> thank you, dom. that does it for us here on

"worldwide exchange," stock futures pulling back from record highs. "squawk box" picks up the market coverage and it's coming up next with the dow implied lower by 14 points, the nasdaq implied lower at roughly 39. we'll see you here tomorrow. it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one.

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good morning, the senate confirming janet yellen as the country's first female treasury secretary. we're going to take you looive o washington. and the squeeze is on. we're going to dig into some big swings in some of the most shorted stocks on the wall street and what's driving all of this volatility plus, it is the busiest week of earnings season today we're going to be hearing from 3 m, ge, johnson & johnson, american express, verizon, and so many more it is tuesday, january 26th,

2021 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ it's you and me baby head gains and i can't take it anymore ♪ ♪ head gains ♪ >> all right i get it i get it good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin and mike santoli. head games, i guess we're playing because of game stock, get it, a little bit of a stretch but i get it let's take a look at what's happening with the u.s. equity futures at this hour you're going to see right now after a mixed day yesterday, there are some slight give backs this morning dow futures down by 1% s&p futures off by about 5, and the nasdaq off by about 34 yesterday, the dow was down, but both the s&p 500 and the nasdaq rose to new highs. part of that because of what