richer multiple than facebook. does that mean them returning to -- what is fundamentals in that case? >> yeah, i -- you know, i think that investors really need to look for the companies that have lagged in the latest rally and apple hasn't been one of them so i think there is opportunity to be found. >> okay. >> you just need to find it -- >> you have got to leave it there. it is team for "closing bell." >> john, thank you welcome to "closing bell," i'm sara eisen with wilfred frost, as always. stocks charging back from yesterday's selloff. the dow is up as much as 600 s&p, 2% higher what's driving the act first, the wild trading activity in the heavily shorted games like game stop the stock is lower today as is amc and blackberry we have got this spire dynamic covered four all hour long plus the push and pull on

earnings, another driver the numbers coming in mostly stronger apple, facebook, tesla, all lower, we will get another batch after the bell. what's working value outpacing growth internet names rebounding. financials, health care, airlines, all higher some frenzied activity in the markets. the dow is up 480 points right now. >> an action passed show senator elizabeth warren says wealthy investors treated the market like a personal casino for years. she wants to see more regulation she will join us with her call for the sec and other regulators to wake up and do their jobs plus we will speak with thomas peterffy about names like game top and amc. and dan niles, all of that to come in the next half an our

hour or so we begin with the drama surrounding the short squeezed stock. mike santoli has a look at what's been happening today. another realer coaster ride night has been broad market found some stabilization. we talked yesterday about some the radical moves in some of the short stocks were causing people to sell what they could in terms of liquid possible names if you look here, we have barely regained the steady upfriend line regained more than half of yesterday's floss the s&p 500. so far the market has bounced okay and not necessary low said this is a new more volatile period but i don't think it was possible to say oh, that was over, all clear because you can never say that there are still a lot of odd vibrations in the market look at some of the areas, excitement in areas in stocks like game stop are man fasting

the micro etf is supposed to be the smaller half of the russell 2 2000 game stop, by far its biggest holding because it is up so much the second holding is fuel cell. my point is you think you are goating a broad ex30ezure to tinier companies no, you are getting almost a concentrated bet on something that's moving the fastest. game stop also became the largest holding in the overall russell 2,000 today because the market cap surged so radically recently we talk about margin debt. inning a dwrat it is not at alarming levels relative to the overall market cap right now sentiment trader converts margin debt into a gain year over year. it has not necessarily meant investors are taking on too much deb to fund their positions. but in the crazier years in the

late '90s. if it accelerates from here, then you are to talk about higher risk levels in the retail trading space. guys >> good setup, mike. thank you. mike santoli meanwhile, investment platform, robinhood, td ameritrade, charles schwab and other broke remembers curbing trade activity in names like game top and amc joining us now, interactive broker's chairman and founder thomas peterffy, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for inviting me. >> we would like to clarify what is going on. explain to us, to our audience why you have decided like robinhood, to restrict trading in shares of these companies like game stop and amc. >> simply put, we are worried about the integrity of the

marketplace and the clearing system this is a new scenario, fundamentals values do not matter stock that are single digit dollars go to several hundred dollars, for example, game today jumped hundreds of dollars at time we are concerned about the ability of the market and the clearing system to we have been through the onslaught of orders in order to continue to provide liquidity and are concerned about the financial viability of intermediaries and the clearing houses now, i hope that your audience can follow this. for every option trade, there is a buyer and a seller there are as many long options as they are short options. so when the stock moves either way, some options make money on one side, and the other side they lose money. the broker stands between these customers and the clearing

house. so when some option hoeders make money, the clearing house has to give us the money to give it to our customers while other option sellers or buyers on the wrong side lose money, we have to collect money from them and give to it the clearing house if we are -- if our customers are unable to pay for their losses, we have to put up our own money. now, luckily enough, we have $5 billion of equity, so we don't have a problem and we also have very well automated risk management system, so we haven't really gotten hurt. however, i cannot say the same thing with full confidence about other brokers. i really don't know where they stand. so i am extremely concerned. as game moved from $17 to $500, there are rough ly 3 million contracts outstanding in the

options market f. one of those options is -- every option i estimate worth about $10,000 so that is a loss of sufficiently 10 to $15 billion on the one side, and 10 to $15 billion of gain on the other i am afraid that there may be brokers who may not be able to meet these margin calls. so that is the -- >> just to be clear. you are worried about the middle men. are you doing this move to protect yourself to protect our customers? >> partly to protect ourselves but mostly to protect -- of course to protect our customers. and most of u.s. all, to protect the marketplace, to protect the clearing house so if there are $15 billion to $15 billion losses in there, someone has to pay them. will they be able to pay is the question.

>> thomas, do you understand people's anger, your customers' anger, given that, seasoningly, you changed the rules of the game right in the middle of the match, at the most important moment of the match, even if your terms and conditions allow you to do that do you understand your anger that you changed the terms of trade for them just as thing were getting heated up >> i do, but when you say right in the middle of the game, then you are satisfying as the squ -- saying as the squeeze is going on stronger and stronger but that's illegal that's manipulative. so it cannot be done -- is somewhat responsible for what our customers are doing. >> do you think all people that have been long game stop of late are part of market manipulation? i presume you don't. and therefore, what's your message to people who are involved in this -- >> the stock is worth maybe $17 buy it for $200, $300, $400,

$500, i see no other reason for them hoping for a short squeeze that we will go even higher. >> i assume you acknowledge, thomas a huge portion the people taking part are not involved in market manipulation. what is your message to those customers where you imposed the same restriction universally on all traders today? >> only on traders on this stock. and traders are free to liquidate their positions. we are just unwilling to give them an opportunity to buy more. >> so when are you going to open it again when are people going to be able to trade again how are you going to determine that >> when the markets in these ti items become normal again. >> what does that mean. >> i have a follow-up, thomas, if i play. >> yes, please.

>> can you consider just altering the margin requirement, but still allowing people to go long if they so desired? >> yes, we did that on stocks. but it is that order the do on options. >> a follow-up as well any of the market makers did any of them put pressure on you to fact this way? >> no, they did not. i just -- i just think that the regulators do not order liquidation only, then this thing can go on and on and an awful lot of people are going to lose an awful lot of money this is not a real game. i mean, this -- this stock is worth, as i said, $17, and it's trading right now $250 a share it's -- come on. >> so what do you actually think happened here, thomas? do you think -- >> people -- >> -- so many has a role to play how do you even go about

investigating this >> well, you can't really -- there are very many people involved you can't really investigate it. the question is, are there some large institutional holders on the squeezing side i do not know if there are maybe they are all just individuals. although i doubt that, because, you know, this requires a lot of money. >> thomas, my final question was going to be, do you think this whole episode, the last couple of weeks, which has clearly driven a huge amount of volume, perhaps many more account openings to you, has it been good for business or bad for business in the long term? >> i mean, so far, it has been good for business. on the long term, i'm not so sure, because as i said there will be a shakeout a lot of people will lose a lot of money on the long run, that's never good for business f. the customers lose money that's not good for business. i think they should pay

attention to what they are buying and why they are buying it they should buy stocks because they think that the companies are doing well and they are doing better and the stocks will go up for that reason, not because of a short squeeze. >> thomas, thank you for joining us we appreciate it on a di like this thomas peterffy of interactive brokers. >> thank you very much. we are getting more reaction from washington on this short squeeze that's been taking place on wall street ylan moi has that for us. >> wilf, the incoming chairman of the senate banking committee shared brown now says he wants to hold a hearing on the current state of the stock market. he does not mention game stop by name but clearly the timing of the statement comes amid all the volatile activity we have seen just this past week and the implement from the stapt is clear. he said people on wall street only care about the rules when they are the ones getting hurt american workers have known for years wall street has been

broken and they have been paying the price. it is time for the sec to make the stock market equitable for everyone the ranking republican also calling for a hear we reached out to the chair wop of the committee, maxine waters. we will let you know if and when woe hear back from her. still to come, apple, tesla, facebook on the move today as outlook for tech gets clearer on the back of earnings we will discuss with investor dan niles. we will hear about his picks outside of tech and what he thinks about the short squeeze elizabeth warren coming up on the show, too. you are watching "closing bell." your daily dashboard from fidelity -- a visual snapshot of your investments, key portfolio events, all in one place.

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game stop and amc are rallying joaning us now, dan niles from alpha one capital partners thank you for joining us thank

you for joining us. >> my pleasure. want to get into individual names in just a moment, first big picture, when you see the type of action we have been seeing in the likes of game stop and amc does that influence your overall portfolio construction for the stocks that you are typically a long term holder of that aren't themselves the likes of game stop and amc >> it definitely does because you are trying to manage the risk in your portfolio in a time like this. let me be clear. i think what we are seeing in gape stop is absolutely terrific for the markets in the sense that it's getting individuals that might not have invested in the stock market actually interested [ no audio ] -- i'm actually in game stop that was interesting i got texted a couple of days ago by one of my godsons saying, hey, what's going on with game stop my feeling is if you can get everybody involved in the stock market, which is the greatest wealth creator over a long

period of time, at that would be terrific f. this is what gets people looking at investing, you know, that's wonderful but, yes, as a professional investor trying to manage over a long period of time, you know, i look at this and i say, okay, how can i take advantage this to derisk my portfolio because the wild swings you are seeing in game top by the way you are seeing in other companies not as violent but i am seeing stocks moving up and down 5%, 10% a day, and there is no muse other than what you are seeing in some pockets of the market. that's what i am trying to deal with from my -- >> tell us how you have managed that risk. you decided to short a few of these names? >> yeah, i mean, so, two days ago, you know, i was looking at some of these names -- by the way -- the leadup to this is important. you were seeing a lot of companies preannouncing positive results and they were actually going down the day of earnings even if you look at it today, the last time i checked apple was down after huge numbers,

facebook down after huge numbers. microsoft was barely up quled. but amd got absolutely killed yesterday, as well as a few other names. for me i was worry being what i was seeing so two days ago i started shorting a basket of over 50 names. game stop is one of the names that was in there so that i felt more comfortable owning some of these other very volatile names and felt like okay, i can own them through this because they may go down 10, 20%, but game stop started the year at 20. it got to 350. i shorted more of that basket this morning when it was up above $400 because it helps me derisk the rest of my portfolio, which is what i am trying to do. so that's kind of how i think about it in a big picture. but don't get me wrong i think investors investing in game stop should absolutely be able to do it. they should be warned of the risks and shouldn't be putting their life savings into it or food they need to eat.

but i think it is terrific. >> what do you make of the backlash against short ellers -- i am not saying you are a short seller but you do short stock. and hedge funds that rage against the short sellers that -- and now the regulators like elizabeth warren are eyeing people like you. >> no. i mean, i look at it this way. 90% of the people in the market are invested long. so anybody who is thinking a stock will go down, you know, peep don't like. but i remember the same thing in front of lehman brothers as you probably remember there were a lot of people coming out saying we think the banks might have a problem there was outcry against it. then we figured out in hindsight that those people were 100% correct and regulators were 100% wrong. the problem is -- being short is very, very difficult because you can suffer inif i it in losses if you were short game stock at

20 and the stock hit 450 you not only lost all of your investment but 25 times what you put in stocks can go up inif i it inially, it is easier to be long and over the long term that's exactly where you want to be the short sellers have a vital role because they are going to catch a lot of thing that the regulators and the average person is not necessarily going to catch because you take on infinite more amount of risk being short a stock than being long it. if you are long it, you can only lose 100% of your company, if you are short, you can lose intin it we saw that in volkswagen because of a violent short squeeze that ferrari helped set off. i get a lot of hate mail but it is really to parkt the

long part of the firework. that's part of the job. >> you said if it gets people interested in individual stocks that's healthy eye not sure this is the healthiest way to democratize the market and get individuals invested in it it is going to end in tears and there is going finger-pointing and blaming. i wonder how you think it is going to change retail trading, options trading and everything else. >> sure. i will give you a personal story. when i was in college, a broke college student. myself and my girlfriend, between us we got $100 together to open an account at merrill lynch. one of the stocks we invested was stock called worlds of wonder over the holidays they made teddy reduction opinion a talking teddy bear, and laser tag. the stock went to zero over christmas. it was great because it taught me a good lesson in terms of -- i read the 10-qs and ks

but i continued investing because it got me interested more in what was going on. but you are right. back to my wife's relative, he sold some of his game stop this morning but kept the rest because it was entertainment if you are using this instead of going to a bar arc movie, going on vacation, that's fine hopefully it builds a life long love of the market if you are putting your life savings into this, that's where there is problem people have to be responsibility that's what's gotten lost with the government getting involved in more and more things. >> for the broader markets, of course there are many more stocks out there than just game stop does this type of action and other taggers from the last couple of months make you think the broader markets are due for a pullback does ittan crease in your mind how much of a pullback we could be due >> absolutely. 100% my view is this is what's going to set this off n. april, we are

going to anniversary things like they gotive $35 a barrel in oil. inflation is going to look very, very strong. things like soy beans, orange, corning, et cetera, these are up 20 to 50%. when people have trouble eating and going to the grocery store and things get more expensive you are going to have a real problem. the federal reserve's policies combined with all the stimulus checks we are getting that's stoking underlying inflation which by the way hasn't been a problem for a decade but i think it is finally caught up with you and i think that's what's going to have an issue because if rates -- if ten-year treasuries start to move up and people really start getting worried about rates, the day the federal mentioned tapering i think the market is down 10% in a few days that's going to be a problem but it is going to have to, in my opinion -- happen starting in

april. when we have 5, 6% gdp growth i think you are going to have a situation where all of the stimulus comes back to bite you. >> maybe jay powell is not going there, not even close no yet >> no. >> dan niles, thoibs, always good to get your take. >> my pleasure. still ahead, it is the busiest week of earning season more results are due after the bell we will bring you the numbers from visa and manned leez. we will talk with mondelez's ceo before his earning call. plus, when we come back, elizabeth warren weighing in on the short squeeze frenzy an interview you won't want to miss on the other side of this break.

welcome back dow is up 460 or so points time maw for a cnbc news update with sue herera. >> hello everybody, here's what's happening at this hour. south carolina passed abill outlawing most abortions the governor said he will sign it into law. democrats had blocked the bill for years but lost the seats they needed to to so in the 2020 election. president biden has rescinded a regulation barring u.s. foreign aid from being used to perform or promote abortions. the so-called global gag rule has been supported by republicans and denounced by

democrats in the white house since the policy was enacted in 1985. american airlines regional carrier psa says it has temporarily grounded most of itsins planes for inspections. the move has affected dozens of flights. psa operates under the american eagle brand. a botticelli mass per piece captured a record at auction it is the second highest price paid for an all master after la virginiay's salve do mundy you are up to date back to you. >> see you next hour. now the recent frenzy of retail trading activity and subsequent restrictions placed on trading by places like rockinhood and interactive brokers has caught the attention of reg will iters. elizabeth warren weighed in yesterday saying the same hedge funds and wealthy investors

dismay by the game stop trades treated the stock market like their own personal casino while everyone else pays the price it is time now for the fcc and other financial regulators to wake sprint cup do their jobs. joining us now for a first on cnbc interview is senator elizabeth warren democrats senator from massachusetts good afternoon. >> good to see you thank you for having me. >> talk us through what you meant by the content of that tweet. what do you think has been wrong in the actions the last week or two? what do regulators need to do to stop it? >> so, look, the first part of this is we all see what is happening with game stop there are rich people on both sides of this, people who are trying, it appears, to manipulate this market and that's what we don't know the details of for a long time now, the sec has pulled back and not made sure that we have an honest market. the whole point of having a stock market is so that people across the country, around the

world, can invest in businesses, help create that capital accumulation so businesses have the money they need to grow and to prosper instead, what has happened is it has turned into a casino so that market minanipulators come up a drive the parkt up or down and make a profit off of it. it is called the gamefication of the market all of a sudden the billionaires hedge funds operators are yelling because they are not the only ones who make money when it works. on the other hand, a lot of people are going to lose money around this. a lot of money they can't afford to lose. this is why we need an scc that has clear rules about manipulation and has the backbone to go in and evers those rules this is your bigger issue that these types of trades

wering go on the last couple of weeks and pushing game stop up or that people were restricted from doing so more today when they were banned from trading? because the two are almost opposite i wonder which is the bigger issue that you are focused on? >> look, the biggestable for mow is sec's inability and unwillingness to deal with market manipulation. it is not what just happened in the last few week. the example around stock buybacks buybacks are about companying buying back their own stock so they can inflate the price of that stock that's the economics of what happens. and it was market manipulation up through the 1980s when the reagan era sec said, well, really not much. so what happens now is companies routinely manipulate their own stock. we are watching the same kinds of things happen everywhere.

outfits like robinhood that say we are going to give you prizes to come join with us, and then say, but you have to sign something that says there will be an arbitration clause so if it turns out that we really did cheat you, it will never be made public there will be very little that you can do about it. that doesn't create a healthy market what we need is a healthy stock market and to have a healthy stock market you have got to have a cop on the beat that should be the sec they need to step up and do their job. >> just for purposes around game stop and everyone trying to figure out what's going on here, senator warren, what do you think is manipulating this stock? >> well, that's the problem. how do you know who is manipulating the stock at this point? i mean, people are liking to tell a david versus goliath story. but are you entirelyture that's right? are you entirely sure there aren't wealthy people on both

sides that hedge funds haven't moved in on the side of the people who have bid up the price of game stop and that's what happens when you don't have an honest market, when you don't have an honest market, a lot of folks get cheated and a lot more folks just say i am mott going into a market like that i am not going to participate. i am not going to put my money out there. this is happening at a time when millions of people are out of work, when millions of people are struggling and they are looking for another way to try to make money and going into a market that is not honest, that is not transparent, signing away their rights with arbitration agreements, and then getting cut off from being able to trade -- that is not a way for them to be able to build any security at all. and it's bad for wall street but ultimately it is bad for our

country. >> as it relates to manipulation here on this stock, i just want to be really clear, senator warren, as to what you mean. there is an element here, that is social media, a lot of this has come from rallying cries on chat boards of reddit. so is that something that you are defining as manipulation, if hedge funds are behind that, or if big money is behind that and potentially colluding to put out -- put outthe word, knowin what's going to happen next? >> of course that's the whole point is that we don't know. we don't know who is putting this information out here's the key market manipulation should be illegal. manipulating the market should be wrong right? but the sec has never even completed its rules defining what mark manipulation is. so that means, in effect, what you've got is a casino and you don't even know if anything in that casino is

honest you can't tell who the players are. and you there are very if you restrictions on what the players can do we need an sec that's going to step up, that's going put some clear rules in place and then that will be willing to enforce those rules. that's when we can see a lot more traders -- i want to see more traders in the market i want to see day traders in the market i want to see them have an opportunity to be able to evaluate companies and say this is one i like, this is one i don't like but i don't want to see them be able to get in the market so they can get fleeced by insiders who are pulling the strings in the back corners and they end up getting cheated. there is going to be an investigation here we know there are going to be people who are going to turn out to be hurt from this all because the sec has not stepped up, has not put clear rules in place, and has not had the courage to enforce those

rules. >> senator warren, you tweeted yesterday, quote, with stocks soaring while millions are out of work and struggling to pay bills it is not news that the stock market doesn't reflect our actual economy stimulus checks have been going out, and likely bigger ones are soon to go out still there has been plenty of evidence that suggests some people are using that to invest in the stock market. is that what their main intention is you happy for people to do that if that's what they wish to use their stimulus checks for? or does it action sent wait the sort of two-speed economy that you referred to in your tweet? >> look, right now we are suffering through a k-shaped recovery the people at the top are getting richer and richer and richer and people who make less than $40,000 a year are now suffering through 20% unemployment they are getting poorer and poorer and poorer. we have been talking about

wealth inequality in this country for several years now. this pandemic could accelerate it at a rate that we had never even imagined in our worst nightmares right now, what the stimulus checks are about are getting money into the hands of people who need it and getting that money into our economy to support it you know, the economy is struggling right now the economic indicators from october to november, they were worse in november than in october. they were worse in december than in november. and we are not through january yet, but it looks like they are going to be worse in january than they were in december this economy is in trouble but the stock market, which has become the giant casino and playground for the billionaires, just keeps spinning upward

that means that our real economy has become completely -- not completely, but has really become detached from where the stock market is and the real economy right now is suffering stimulus checks are a wah that. >> but senator warren, surely, the market is not the economy. and the market also reflects the great optimism that is out there around the vaccines, around the robust growth in a we are looking at in the second half of the year, the tremendous amount of stimulus from the federal reserve and from you and the federal government, including potentially another $1.9 trillion i mean, surely, that's reflected in the market. it's not necessarily all the casino, is it? >> well, look, we have to understand what's happening in this economy did you hear me? a 20% unemployment rate for people making less than $40,000

a year women that have been blocked out of their jobs who are suffering from unemployment more than anyone else because they have had to pick up two jobs at once, one at home and still trying to be in the workplace at the same time child care centers that are closed so that people can't go back to work right now, republicans who are saying they don't want to see us put up the money that we need that's in president biden's plan, money for vaccines, money for families that need to put food on the table, and money to get our schools open now, look, i think we have got a lot of tools, and a lot of things we can do and i want to see us do those things but we need to have our feet firmly on the ground and firmly on the ground means acknowledging that ten was millions of people across this country are out of work, tens of

millions are are on the threshold of losing either their homes or their apartments, tens of millions more have depleted their savings and don't have enough money to put food on table that is a core part of the american economy and that's where congress needs to respond, and we need to respond quickly and forcefully. >> what is the answer, senator, to solve the issue of ine inequality on the campaign trail last year president biden seemed to allude more often to a corporate tax hike as opposed to any other kind of tax hike what is your view of the optimum way to try to rebalance the scale. i am leaning toward an investment in opportunity. that's how we will build the future ift way to do that is to put a

wealth tax in place. a two cent tax on the top. one-tenth of 1% of the families in this country will permit us to fund universal child care for all of our babies and so all of their mommas and daddies could be able to finish their education and go to work it would let us invest in k-12 for our kids it would let us inves in universal free college it let us get rid of our student loan debt. it would let us make an investment not just in the wealthiest tippi top of this economy but it would let us make a brofd involvement across this country. here's the thing it would not only be good for all of our kids and all of their parents, it would be good for all of america because better educated work force, a work force that we have invested in and helped grow, is the one that will help us build an economy for the future. it's the right thing to do

>> might as well chase wealthy people out this country as we have seen happened with other wealth taxes you just said how much we need the economy to be revitalized receipt now, for companies to start adding jobs and not subtracting them anymore. >> i'm sorry, there is no evidence that anyone is going to leave this country because of a two cent wealth tax. can we just keep in mind right now in america who is paying taxes? the bottom 9 9% last year paid about 7.5% of their total wealth in taxes that what's it pays the top one tenths of 1%, do you know how much they made they paid about 3.2% if they added a two cent wealth tax, they would still be paying less than most of the people in this entire nation look, someone has to pay to keep this nation going. and right now, what the top one tenths of 1%, the wealthiest people in this country have said is let's let everyone else pay

for it because what they want to do is not only keep their wealth they want to keep building their wealth faster than anyone else all i am saying is can we have just -- just a little fairness here two cent wealth tax, so that we can have universal child care. >> i am just presenting the -- >> every baby. >> i am just presenting their argument. >> how about the counter-argument, though >> you know you will hear that. >> how about a counter-argument based on fact? the weltiest in this country are paying less in taxes than everyone else. asking them to step up and pay a little more, and you are telling me that they would forfeit their american citizenship if they had to do that i am calling your bluff on that. i am saying that's not doing to happen. >> maybe >> maybe. >> i don't think sara is going that far with the point. i think part of the example could be why did elon musk and others, larry ellison move from

a high tax state to a low tax state in texas you might be right it might be the right way to redistribute wealth but can you say there is no risk whatsoever it could damage the american economy. >> they want to use american highways, american police forces, they want to use american infrastructure. but they don't want to help pay to support it. that's the trick a. wealth tax needs to be national because you can still get advantages if you move from state to state but the idea behind a wealth tax is you have to pay it if you are an american citizen. he doesn't matter whether you live in texas or california or even whether you move to europe or south america if you want to keep your american citizenship, you pay the wealth tax and it doesn't matter where you put your assets. you can try to hide them in the cayman islands you can try to put them in switzerland. but it doesn't matter. you still pay the two cent

wealth tax here's the nice thing about that a lot of the wet is quite visible and easy to see. it is right there in the stock market a two cent wealth tax changes this country fundamentally because it moans we say as a nation we are going to invest in the next generation. we are going to invest in creating opportunities not just for a handful at the top we are going to create opportunity for all of our kids. that's how we build a strong future in this country >> senator elizabeth warren, thank you so much for joining us into thank you for having me. >> much more to come on this crazy market action day. we are up about 1.25% on the s&p 500, just slipping off the session highs. we will also speak with a former sec commissioner on how regulators can do their job, which senator warren said they have not been doing as of yet. a quick check on bonds as we go to break

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still the compton show, mark ben offon the record, the salesforce chief joins us with his thoughts on stake holder capitalism, the economic recovery, and much more. we will be right back on "closing bell. dow is up 114 points is the salmon wild-caught? she only eats wild caught. [cash register beeps] uh, i need a price check on honey. don't get mad. get e*trade and get more than just trading. investing. banking. guidance.

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seven minutes left in the trading day. we are now in the "closing bell" "market zone," commercial free coverage of all a action going into the close mike santoli here to break town these crucial moments of the trading day. today, high tower's stephanie link with us as well stocks rallying after yesterday's big sell of. but they are off the session highs as that chart highlights for us up 1.3% on the dow now mike, despite being off the highs are we seeing today that deri derisking, degrossing, whatever you want to call it in light of the short squeeze going on elsewhere in the market is sort of a one-day affair? >> i don't know if you can dintively say it was just one day. the pressure lessened today on that the short squeeze are backing out hard people aret going out of positions to ease the burden on their portfolios

i don't know if it is over i do know the s&p is still kind in a show me position because it pounded back up toward those highs. now we are here hovering around 3,800. it is unclear if this somewhat agitated condition the market is in is through. >> steph, does it make you change anything that you are doing? >> no. i am just relieved actually to see the market up and to see the buy the dip kind of mentality and that some earnings are actual lead going rewarded which is encouraging i think the scariest part of yesterday -- certainly, we are all watching the reddit stocks but the scariest thing is that the ten-year broke 1%. that got me nerve u.s. made me think are we going to see more contagion. so we did. but it is good to see a snapback today. i am trying to focus on fundamentals because that's the only thing itch control over. earnings -- as i mentioned some are getting rewarded but they

are good 80% of the s&p 500 are beating expectations when they go down when they are beating those are your opportunities. yesterday i bought zoetis, united health care, vf corp. they have beaten and the stocks was down 8%. i am trying to find opportunities and i think the underpinnings of the economy are continuing to get better and will continue to do well i want to know stocks. >> the story of the day, online brockers pumping the brakes on high flying stocks like game stop and amc i am hearing that robinhood is closing out some client positions. kate rooney has the details. >> a couple updates here on robinhood. first they are the latest firm to stop clients from buying game stop and some of those other heavily shorted names. the start-up brokerage firm said they are restricting some transactions to close only meaning you can sell the game

stop stock but not buy them. td ameritrade and schwab raised requirements for those stocks as well these moves are getting blouback on social media, despite that it is generating a lot of new interested in some of these trading apps want to bring you an update from robinhood. we got an update from the company on their blog post they told users they are going to close at risk positions this has to do with option asks margin calls. they will let people determine if an option contract is at misk of being into money and the customer does not maintain the necessary collateral to support assignment,/, exercise they may take measures to help reduce risk which could include closing at-risk positions. that's new out from robinhood. back to you. >> which is ole going to increase the i had trader's

frust frustration. steph, do these companies like robinhood and others need to be more regulated do they have to put up more capital if they can't stand days like today which is in part of their own making >> well, it is the question to ask, sara. you are right to ask it. but we have never seen stock price reactions like we are seeing i am in the business 28 years. i have never seen it ever i mean, game stop up over 1,000% year to date bet bath and beyond up almost 80% year the date. blackberry, black baerk up 170% year to day. these are huge, huge numbers, huge volatility. while i understand the frustration from the people getting closed out and seeing the curbs i also agree strongly -- these are -- interactive brokers is a public company and they have an obligation to their share holders and they have to take what they are given and go with the flow and see what's happening. that's are really extreme

measures i understand why they are doing e. i understand why it is happening. >> shares of american airlines soaring on a smaller than expected quarterly loss andet going caught up in the short squeeze frenzy phil lebeau has the details on that. >> the volume, five times greater than the average daily volume for american airlines look at the spike at the beginning of the trading session. at one point it was up about 70% before it quickly came back. right now you see it is up must under 10% n. terms of the fourth quarter, the company lost $2.2 million. revenue came in better than expected but outlook isn't that extra. q 1 cash burn will be similar to q 4. revenue is down 60 to 65% ask. the ceo doug america told us look, i can't give you guidance in terms of when we will have positive cash flow in part because it is a little too hard to know when people will really start to come back in terms of flying >> people aren't booking their travel that far in advance haven't for quite some time.

the bookings we do see, while they may be up, we have got to be really careful about making sure everybody understands how small they are at this point in time. >> two other airline stocks today companies reporting earnings, jet blue as well as southwest. bottom line, q 1 is rough, q 2 may not be a whole lot better. just over one minute left. mike, what are you focus on in the internals. >> messy picture looks like an even day not really it is much more positive than negative there is half a million shares of amc, which of course is down. it is really turning over the share based measures of breadth. lock at the stock split, advancers versus decliners, most stocks are actually up today on the new york stock exchange. it is a rebound day. the volatility index had a huge surge at the close yesterday we had this spike in the making on the chart not really an allclear but want to see that draining lower, bell

below 30, if possible, sara, for the bulls. >> heading into the bell we are seeing the dow surge 300 points. off the highs. the gains have been duty in half at one point we are up over 600. disney the best performer. apple the worst despite what were better numbers last night the s&p closing without a gain of 1% as well. the nasdaq up half a percent and small caps are lagging, falling by a little more than a tenth of 1%. >>well to the "closing bell," everyone, i'm wilfred frost along with sara eisen can mike santoli, cbs's senior markets commentator. gains cut by more than half at the close. under 1% of gains for the s&p, and the dow just shy of 1% the high today for the dow was 650 points it closed higher by 300 points though all sectors still in the green at the close investors now set for a big pair of earnings from visa and mondelez we will bring you those results

as soon as they across plus mondelez's ceo doug vant put will join us and discuss the numbers and discuss whether sales can continue after the pandemic and later, salesforce kraechlt marc benioff will join us to discuss whether social media companies are accountable you have this for the content on their platforms. we will hear from them in just a few moments. stephanie link is still with us. and peter oppenheimer joins the conversation as well markets closing higher by 1 horizon. mike santoli, i will come to you first. this sort of trade-offn the final 30 minutes of the session, last hour or so, i guess taking the gloss off of what is otherwise a big rebound from yesterday. >> it is still jumpy and uncertain. we talked about a you will the margin calls happening at the retail level that's when it happens, in the final hour and a half or two hours of the day i don't think today told you anything necessarily definitive about where next

even aside from a lot of the wild moves that are happening in some of the sort of fad stocks the short squeezes that are chopping people up you did have a market that was losing a little bit of internal momentum, some things were starting to roll a little bit. simply as a matter of routine. up 18% from october 30th to a couple days ago. you had sentiment and positioning get pretty excited on the upside. i don't think it is really a surprise if in fact we are in a little bit more of a choppy zone in the market. >> peter you have been write being the risk of a correction in this market how do you see what's going on in the retail world? do you think that is the spark that causes it >> well, i think it is symptomatic of a period where you have extremely loose financial conditions and you had unexpected recovery in the economy in this very, very deep recession. and often when you get a sort of combination of very lose policy

and expect recovery you are going to get some signs excess indeed, some of the indicators that we look at, now our risk appetite indicator, which really focuses in on positioning, sentiment, the way that markets are behaving in terms of riskier versus less risky, pairs across different asset classes, these are given us a signal that the market was vuler in ible to a correction, vulnerable to disappointing news. difficult to know what the trigger was. i think concerns about near-term increases in the virus infection rates and more lockdown is probably a part of it. but i also want to emphasize that for us, this is a correction in what is really still the early stages of the new full market cycle. so we would be quite confident that this is a correction, not the start of a sustained pullback in risk assets. >> what qualifies as a

correction, peter. we pulledback yesterday, i guess can some people already bought that dip today. >> yeah. >> is that it, are we still talking 5%, 10% lower? >> i think in the region of 5 for 10%. we have high volatility in the market at the moment that's lass sign of some fragility. in the sense, it is not unusual given the recovery that we have already seen in equity markets from the lows of last march where we have seen an extraordinary rise in equity since then but actually, it has been almost exactly the same pace of increase in equities as we saw from the trough in 2009 after the financial crisis over a similar period of time and what we often find is that initial rise from a bear market usually starts during a recession, when profits are still falling, valuations go up a lot, just as we've seen ask. this is really the phase where

investors start to price in a future recovery. before we actually get that expected recovery in growth, you often get quite high volatility, and sometimes a correction i think that's what we are in the middle of. i think there is probably more volatility to come in the short-term but i think it will be a big opportunity for longer term investors. >> peter, the question is how investors can protect themselves if we do go through a bumpy short period here, as you say. i am wonner didding about spacs in particular which attracted so much money and so much interest. that a place to be wary right now, especially if some of these hedge funds get squeezed out of short positions and have to liquidate a lot of their long positions they helped fund like spacs. >> as you say, that has been another extraordinary phenomenon of this cycles is is the environment of having some very undervalued assets and very cheap money and why there is lots of good motivations and

understanding hipds it when you are in a very volatile period, as we are now, having already priced quite a lot into the recovery, i think there are excesses which could easily unwind in the nearer tem but, again, i think it's important to emphasize that doesn't really derail the underlying fundamentals. it's just as one of your earlier commentators was describing and i agree with it, the fundamentals are in the early stages of improvement. we are looking at ourselves gdp growth of 6.5% this year, followed by 4.5% next year these are the sort of growth rates across world economy we really haven't seen at least over the last decade and bear in mind that is also at the same time supported by very, very loose monetary policy, central banks continuing to guide that they have no intention of rising rates for a long time even in the u.s.

and very loose monetary policy that is conducive to -- equities. >> peter i want to interrupt you. we are getting breaking news on one of the vaccine candidates. novavax with trial data. meg tirrell has the results. >> sara, november vaks ransom large trials in the uk and in south africa and we are getting the first results from those studies. guys this is really the first look we are seeing on the ground of the vaccine efficacy against these new variants circulating in those countries the overall effectiveness in the uk phase three trial of 15,000 people was 89% that included about half the cases in the trial that were the new variant, b 117,t against the different variants, the vaccine was 95.6% effective against it that is up there comparable to what we saw from pfizer and moderna. when they isolated the b 117

variant, the efficacy was in the 80% range. 90% of the people in south africa were of the variant it appears the virus evades the effectiveness of the vaccines. 60% efficacy mostly driven by this new variant when they included people who were hiv negative. when they included people who were hiv positive, the efficacy was only 40% effective however, they do note that in the trial they saw some patients who had already been infected with the original strain of the coronavirus and just looking at the data they note that prior infection with covid may not

provide protection against subsequent infection by the south africa escape variant, however vaccination with their vaccine provided significant protection, 49 to 60%. s that press release it hasn't been peer reviewed the company saying they are working on new vaccines targeting emerging strains they are going to selected those in the coming days and plan to start clinical test of of them in the south carolecond quarter year they are running a trial in u.s. as well. they are expecting those results in march this is the first time we have seen efficacy against these strains. we should see more from the j&j trial within a few days. >> meg thanks for being that november vaks down 7.5%. johnson & johnson trial results on the agenda. looking forward to those. breaking news on citadel securities bob pisani has that for us what can you tell us

>> of course there has been some discussion and controversy about citadel and some vague accusations that somehow citadel may have been involved in robinhood's resticks to stop or restrict trading in game stop and other shorts we have a statement from citadel. this is it eye quoting, citadel securities has not instructed or otherwise caused any brokerage firm to stop, suspend, or limit trading or otherwise refuse to do business citadel securities remains focused on continuously providing liquidity to our clients across all market conditions citadel is not involved in or responsible for any retail brokerage decision to stop trading in any way and that's the end of the statement. of course, as you know, wilf, sid del is one of the biggest market makers in the united states what they seem to be saying here is we don't dictate business practices to any of your clients, whether it is robinhood

or everybody else. of course there is a payment for order flow situation here, but they don't address that at all citadel is very clear, they are not instructing or otherwise causing any brokerage firm to stop, suspend or limit trading or otherwise refuse to do business see if we can get you will more information on that, wilf, but there seems to be a lot of misunderstand being what these relationships are. this is a normal course of business citadel is essentially coming out and stating what a normal course of business is for them bottom line, it is an extraordinary time rather situation. back to you. >> mike santoli, we posed that question directly to thomas peterffy earlier he had the same response clear, therefore, officially from both of those that the outright decision didn't come. but one wonders whether the cash for order flow broader setup that we have seen become more

non-commonplace over the last couple of years will be allowed to continue the way it is over the medium to long term. >> oh, it has been many, many cycles and a long time that this arrangement has taken place. people like nominally free trading. it is free everywhere. one of the ways it can occur is the market makers which have a ton of capital behind the business of trying to intermediate the business. they can entrench and reduce market flow and that's all available to them. there was a huge one-way bet being made in this market therefore a potential loss being set up in terms of people big stocks up 1,000% and more on margin and all the exposure that he is go i a long with it as we had this weekly expiration of options and all brokers can look at that aggregate position and

say somebody could be on the hook for a big hole blown in thing a straight position of clients so we have to try the restain it somehow. >> don't the brockers already have to start putting up margin? don't the broker dealers have to put up more capital and more margin. >> yeah. >> that could be already straining the likes of a robinhood that might be having trouble clearing these trades. >> one of the issues is there is a couple of days before you settle the trade for a community. there is a clearing firm involved if the firm is not self clearing it has to facilitate that and that requires collateral to be put up there is mank length risk that has to be accounted for in that period yeah, i think that's one of the bigger issues all the firms are contending with right right now, why the clearing pirms have had the ability to turn it off on off. >> steph, i want to pivot back to what this means you are doing with your portfolio and whether

you do get concerned if certain hedge funds or brokerage firms are suffering that could cause a draw out from the market and a bigger pullback than you would have expected otherwise if the events hadn't played out. >> absolutely. that's why i thought yesterday was scary. not just because the rod it stocks were so val tight, but consumers confidence, confidence in the market and confidence in the ten-year i wouldn't be surprised to see volatility the next couple of weeks. i will say, as i said i am trying to focus on fundamentals. it is earnings, that's one thing. hospitalization rates look like they peaked early january. we are getting good vaccine news and we are going to get more and j&j. we have more stimulus coming look, i understand there are issues and there are concerns but the data is showing me that things are still on the right

track. so you want to be buying on the weakness, especially given all this liquidity that's in the system, and interest rates are going to stay low, even if they inch up higher they are still going to be low by historical averages and that's very good for equities. >> i have more earnings to tell you about, steph, you will be happy. bother than expected earnings, mondelez the snack maker out with a beat on the bottom and top lines. 67 cents adjusted. 66 was the estimate. revenues also higher, $7.3 billion, versus 7.16 they saw growth around the world, but particularly in north america. that's where the biggest sales growth was up almost 14% almost triple for instance what it saw in europe looks like organic sales growth up 3.2%. that's always a key metric for the consumer pack anned goods companies. that was pretty much in line with what the expectations were. and they saw it on the back of higher volumes and higher prices people are still stocking up on

snacks snacking was always a growth category, even before the pandemic, but people have been snacking more as they have been home mondelez makes oreo's nabisco and many other products. we are giving guideness not necessarily comparable to estimates. we will talk with the ceo of mondelez in just a moment from now on "closing bell." stick with us. mondelez out with a beat we will talk more about the retail trading frenzy as well. >> meantime, more earnings crossing visa kate rooney has got them. >> visa with a beat on the top and bottom line. the stock is up a bit here after-hours. adjusted eps coming in at $1.42. that was 14 cents better than expected bottom line revenues we had $5.7 billion, better than the street was looking for. it was still down 6% year over year as the pandemic weighs on visa'sco businesses.

announcing a $8 billion buyback. let's get to payment volume, a key metric it was up about 5% year over i don't remember the pandemic still of course weighing on things like cross-border spending. those volumes were down 21% year over year but visa does say that a lot of these key categories did improve from the prior quarter. still no guidance from vita based on this uncertainty. again, stock up a little bit here after-hours after a beat pie visa back to you guys >> for that, just want to round off the market discussion. peter, you are saying there is a high risk of correction but long term constructive equities does that apply to global equities which of the international markets stand out as the most attractive to you right now? >> that's a good question. i mean, since late october of last year, we believed that a further rise in equities would really be led by a rotation towards more cyclical and value parts of markets, which are more operationally levered to an

improvement growth that also suggests a bit of a tilt in relative market performance. of course over the last decade theous has hugely outperformed, just as growth and technology outperformed which is heavily exposed. you would expect to see a catchup in emerging markets and europe, which we started to see. i think more of that is to come as well. as this cycle continues to evolve perhaps after this correction and it has a more reflationary flavor to it with the policy support we are seeing and strong synchronized growth we would expect cyclicals to lead that. >> peter oppenheimer, thank you very much. stephanie link always good to have you as well thanks. up next, we will be joined exclusively by the ceo of mondelez to discuss global earnings, the health of the

global consumer and some of the biggest short squeeze trades staging a huge selloff today after the brokerages restricted trading in those stocks. coming up, laura unger on whether or not regulators should crack down on the short squeeze mania. we are back in 90 seconds. and in an emergency, they need a network that puts them first. that connects them to technology, to each other, and to other agencies. that's why at&t built firstnet with and for first responders the emergency response network authorized by congress. firstnet. because putting them first is our job. this is decision tech. find a stock based on your interests

or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. we are getting more reaction from washington to be short squeeze frenzy ylan moi has the details for us. >> wilfred, the house financial services committee now saying it, too, will hold a hearing on

the market volatility that we see in and around game stop. democratic chair maxine waters mentioning game stop by name and saying it must be stopped. vulture strategies that hurt workers must be stopped. she weaponan to say that addressing predator and manipulative conduct is the responsibility of law makers and security relg regulators who are charged with protecteding investors and ensuring that capital markets are fair, orderly, and fish and as a first step in reigning in these abusive practices she does plan to convene a hearing on the activities surrounding game stop and other related stocks this. comes on the heels the senate banking committee also announcing it will hold a hearing as well. clearly, congress is ramping up its scrutiny of the action we saw this week. >> i feel like they don't know who to scrutinize, the short sellers, the brokerages.

>> all of the above, sara. >> i'm sure. yeah thanks. snack maker mondelez just out with earnings beating on the top and bottom lines as globally people continue to consume snacks at home during the pandemic the company says it sees organic revenue growth in the double digits for the first time in years. joining us mondelez's ceo. take us behind the numbers as far as the trends you are seeing from people buying snacks. >> thank you for having me, sara well, what we see is, in fact, what we have been seeing all the time since the covid crisis started, which is we see more at-home consumption from snacks. we see people snacking more because they feel stressed the snacking that we see is split between indull gent snacking because of that uncomfortable feeling but also

very healthy snacking. we have seen a lot more on line buying a lot less of course on the go consumption 678 as you go around the world certainly the u.s. we have a very marked trend of that increased snacking in europe, it is sort of the normal situation and in the emerging markets, certainly in the second quarter, we are down quite a bit. they came back in this third and even stronger in the fourth quarter. so we see the trend in north america continuing although not to the same level as it used to be in the beginning of the covid crisis, but still at signature conditionally increased levels versus what it used to be before the criesis. europe is where it normally would be and emerging markets are coming back that led to a very good fourth quarter for us. >> u.s. really a bright spot more than double what we saw in europe

why is that? what -- is it a case of just the economy holding up better here in the u.s.? more stimulus money? or something else. >> it has to see with the fact that our business in the u.s. is mostly biscuits. we are largely a business cut and chocolate company with some gum and candy. the u.s. business is largely biscuits and consumers tend to consume more at home of those biscuits our chocolate we don't have as much in the u.s. we have more of a chocolate business in europe in europe, we also have a big away from home consumption of our products so it has to see with the product mix and it has to do with the channel mix, really, in our categories >> if you think about some of the trends we have adopted now, what, ten months into the pandemic at least, clearly, big brands have worked people are cooking and especially baking more at home. >> yep. >> they are buying and making more coffee at home.

if you think about where we are on the other side, assuming we all get vaccinated or enough of us do, what sticks what are the food trends looking like on other side >> i think snacking was always on the rise and more and more people are opting for smaller meals -- or smaller snacks throughout the day, and not three big meals. that was accelerated through the pandemic and i think that is going to stick where consumers buy has also changed in a major way e-co e-commerce, as you can imagine, i think that is going to stick and accelerate what we see is that consumers are very pleased with their online buying. they like it better than in-store buying. i think that's going to accelerate i think what will go down a little bit is that increased at-home consumption because the consumer will go back to work. kids will go back to school. they will eat at work or have breakfast on the go. so i think that will diminish

the at-home consumption. but for the rest i think -- the other thing that we see, we have a gum business, that's a business that's heavily affected because it is an on the go type of category that category will come back. so some of it will stick and others thing will revert to what they used to be before the crisis. >> how does lady gaga factor into your guidance new oreos, they are very cool. they are hot pink, green almost what i would pick myself. is that really a sales driver, partnering with someone like that. >> how do the economics of that work >> yes, it is a sales driver it gives oreo fans another reason to buy oreo it also gives the lady gaga fans an opportunity but more important than that, it is about -- the purpose of oreo is to bring more joy and fun in the world. lady gaga's new album is about a

kinder world her charity is about -- born this way, is also about a kinder world. so bringing the two brands together, we are trying to be more purposeful for when we are doing for oreo and she is trying to do the same thing and of course the package reflects the new album i think it is a cool thing to buy and to have, and i think it also will generate awareness for the causes she stands for. >> just the latest in driving awareness for oreos brand. dirk, thank you for joining us we appreciate it, right off those numbers. >> thank you >> dirk vant put ceo of mondelez breaking news from robinhood kate rooney with the details now what, kate >> robinhood will now allow limited buying of some securities starting tomorrow they say they will continue to monitor the situation. they may make some adjustments

as need. in a statement they said to be clear this was a risk management decision it was not made on the decision of market makers. that was a nod to some of the payments for order flow discussion around citadel. they say we are beginning to end up trading for some of these securities in a responsible manner they had banned eight securities, including game stop, american airlines, amc some of the highly shorted names this comes after a ton of blowback from social media and lawmakers. >> thanks for that, kate. up next we will discuss moves i can that with former sec chair laura unger and the steps regulators should take from here to try to fix the craziness of the last couple of days. we are back in a couple of minutes.

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she's a beauty, huh? oh, golly! (laughter) i can help you find the color you want. that sounds nice. let me talk to my manager. (vo) buy your next car 100% online. with carvana. senator elizabeth warren with us earlier calling on the sec to create and enforce rules around market hiplation amid the short squeeze frenzy. >> there are going to be a lot of people who are going lose money around this, a lot of money that they can't afford to lose this is why we need an sec that has clear rules about market manipulation and thens that backbone to go in and enforce those rules. >> joining us now, former sec commissioner laura unger very good to see you, laura. thank you for joining us i mean. >> thank you. >> senator warren went further and basically said the sec has been asleep on this issue. do you agree or do you think that the status quo is kind of fine, it's just certainly events

have gotten a little bit heated in the last couple of days. >> that seems to be the theme this country these days, right a little too much excitement in the chat rooms and social media. i do think that the sec is kind of in a difficult period, they are in transition. there is an acting head works republicans and two democrats. i believe they are having conversation i don't know this for a fact but i would expect they are having conversations behind closed doors. and the question is, what can they do, what should they do, right, given the circumstances certainly, everything is happening in a pretty transparent way. this isn't a back alley suit case and envelope transaction, but it is a chat room that's very public or at least th reporting of it is very public so the sec does have the authority to suspend trading if it thinks that the market is being manipulated.

the unfortunate thing about that is then it almost guarantees that people holding the game stop stock would lose money because it will -- it will impact the market price. but that's something that the sec could certainly do, and they could sort of suspend trade, sort things out and find out who is saying what, whether there is correlation to trading, whether there is a concerted effort to manipulate the market or whether this is just a stock that people are really excited about >> do you think there has been market manipulation here >> i would say on its base, certainly if it was that obvious the sec would have acted of the it brings up a really interesting question about who has the responsibility to monitor and regulate these platforms? is it the sponsor of the platform, which, you know, certainly there has been some concerted effort by some of the

trading entities to stop buy orders but whether the sec has the responsibility to go in and just monitor and regulate these conversations and in what way is not very clear under these circumstances. but it seems to me on the reporting that i have read that there are certainly very valid questions about market manipulation and it's probably a mix of -- >> the other question -- >> -- participants, right. didn't moop to cut you off yeah, i was going to say, doesn't it make it harder that it is all happening on so many and how do you define market manipulation when you are talking about the internet and social media and blogs >> well, people are actually saying let's all buy 1,000 shares now to drive up the price, i would say that sounds like market manipulation to me whether they are really doing it, who is the person that's saying it? what's their interest in raising

that stock price and what's the actual impact too problem is if the regulators doing in and that happens it puts a lot of question about the integrity of the market, right in and it really kinds of -- everybody is kind of scratching their heads over this, what should happen, what is the right thing to do to control this or stop this. not unlike what we saw on january 6th at the capitol, right? if you don't have the police in there at the right time, thing go a little crazy. and that's kind of what feels like what is happening with this much different, different degree it is financial harm, not personal bodily harm but, certainly, that's the same kind of platform-created frenzy that people are operating under. and these are very trying times. so i think people aren't really in their right minds. >> also very transitional. >> yes >> yes we don't have a full sec. >> no. exactly. and this is something that requires a full policy solution.

right? the same way that some of the social media platforms took down the former president's twitter account and facebook is having an external advisory board review the content you know, it could be something that requires a broader solution and approach and a real policy mandate. and with no chairman -- you know, real chairman confirmed by the senate and appointed by the current president, it's kind of hard for the existing commissioners to make that leap under these circumstances. and no enforcement director, right? just interacting >> yeah. laura, thank you you are raising some important issues we appreciate your time. laura unger. >> thanks so much. >> slamming social media thank you. coming up, salesforce's ceo marc benioff on how companies like facebook and twitter sulbehod held accountable for not preventing misinformation on their platforms.

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40 minutes past the close. time for a cnbc news update. sue herera, take it a way. >> here's what's happening at this hour, everyone.

wisconsin's republican-controlled assembly canceled a vote to repeal the governor's mask mandate. republicans say they do not want to jeopardize millions in federal aid but they may reschedule that vote. president biden has sign an executive order on health care including one that reopens the federal marketplaces for health insurance that form the heart of obamacare. the nhl has reportedly borrowed $1 billion to help teams weather the pam according to the sports business journal the nhl's commissioner said the league is expected to suffer billions of dollars in losses this year. and in georgia, the death toll remains at six from the liquid nitrogen leak at the foundation food group poultry plant. 11 people have been treated at the hospital including three that are still in critical condition. 130 workers had to be evacuated from the plant earlier today you are up to date that's news update, sara, i'll

send it back to you. >> sue, thank you. up next, salesforce ceo mark n why have on how corporate america is combatting coronavirus. "closing bell" will be right back

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the world economic forum looks a lot different in light the pandemic it is not in davos but business leaders are still using this year's virtual

conference to discuss the issue, mainly of stake holder capitalism, that businesses should prirtize their employees, their communities, not just their shareholders salesforce ceo marc benioff has been a champion of this cause. i caught up with him and asked him what stake holder confidence loose like >> it has been a teb months unlike anything i have experienced. in regards to stake holder management this is when we do. we are trying to manage for our community, not just our customers, not just our employees, but now more than ever for our communities when we look at the things we have had to do in the last ten months, ppe, contact tracing, vaccine management, even supporting small businesses, we have been grifg out grants to our small business customers and to our ecosystem, this is not the year we expected to have. >> how much of a pivot has it been for your business getting

into things like vaccine management, vaccine clouds, and vaccination passports, work.com, which you are doing for your customers to help them over safely how big of a portion is it of your everyall business >> we have completely ripped up our business plan from last year and we wrote an entirely new business plan. it was really biological on three ideas. one is that we are all living and work trg home. we have to be able to sell from home, supervisor home, market from home, conduct commerce from home we need to be able to collaborate from home. we bought slk for $27 billion would you say we have to rebuild our company to be an at home, at work remote organization every company does and other companies have to communicate with their employees and customers in entirely different ways the third thing is we can't be

managing just for share holders, we have to manage for our stake holder as well it is critical that we are doing work for cities, for states, nation states, whether it is ppe or contact tracing or vaccine management this is the most important thing that ear doing we are doing work that's really holistic for our whole company er with not going to be successful if our commune isn't successful that's why we have to bring all of this together. >> on that point, what do you think has gone wrong at some of these local governments and the federal government you are working with california now, for instance, on the vaccine management platform that was announced i think this week. pfizer came out november 9th with the data that showed that its vaccine is going to be more than 90% effective three months later, they are among the slowest in vaccinations versus what has been shipped to them what do you think has been the problem? >> well, i just saw the edelman trust survey came out this week. corporations appear to be morest

trusted than governments, even more trusted than non-governmental organizations and this has been year that has really i i think put a spotlight on ceos corporations the heroes are truly the frontline workers. ceos and companies have also stepped way up this year that is a material fact. and, yes, the vaccine companies have delivered other companies have come along to be able to deliver the infrastructure but we need a more functional government not just in the u.s. but around the world, who can deploy and manage through a pandemic. this year, that has been the greatest struggle. >> thinking of taking care of your communities and your state, san francisco strong, what do you make of some of these other big tech companies, oracle, hewlett-packard, enterprises leaving california and going to texas where they pay less in taxes. >> i think this is more about

every company including ours is leaving their traditional headquarters and they are moving into some incredible new place that's called the cloud. the reality is we are all moving into the cloud we are all moving into a digital environment. it is not that they are moving into any country physical state. you are not moving i am not moving. we are in the cloud. we have been talking about that for 21 years that we are all moving into the cloud and companies and individuals who moved into the cloud those are the most successful today. it is the ones who have not moved into the cloud who are struggling and having difficulty look, we have to move faster we need a digital transformation we all need to move into the cloud. we all need to move. when these companies are saying that they are moving, it is strategic, yes, they are moving, they are moving into the cloud if that isn't your focus i think you have an issue. every company does need to move. i think we are going to be moving into physical states. i think we are in a new digital world. we are not going back. and we have to reconceptualize

who we are and how we operate in this new world >> you don't think any of it has been pulled forward, in other words all of this spending that we have seen as companies as companies have moved digitally as you say into the cloud for services what is going to happen this time next year isn't there going to be a drop-off because of all of this accelerating spending receipt now? >> we are not seeing a pull forward of spending. we are seeing a rebalancing of spending, a repositioning of spending i am spending less on real estate this year, i am spending more on digital services i am spending less on physical events, i am spending more on digital events i am spending less on things that i was doing in person, and i am spending more on things that are digital and in the cloud. so i think that when it comes to next year it is not not that i am going to go and lease a lot more space as an example i am going to be doing more digitally. and i think this is what every company is doing and i think this is what every ceo is doing >> in the spirit of continuing

the davos conversations, you famously criticized social media companies like facebook, comparing them to cigarettes, not good for you so i was really curious to hear your thoughts about what we saw in the past few weeks in the capitol insurrection and what facebook and others have done ln accounts, banning and suspending president trump. >> we've had a lot of heroes this year, the front line workers. coos have stemmed up, business leaders have stepped up. social media executives are the ones who have done the weakest job. they were not there when we really needed them to prevent the misinformation especially in regards to political process, but also in regards to the pandemic i think what they did to the health and well-being of our society is just unconscionable

and that we're continuing to allow that to happen is amazing. you're right several years ago i said that facebook is the new cigarettes it's not good for you. it needs to be regulated if that's not clear today, i don't know what is and you can just see the impact that they've had on the world over the last 12 months. it has not been a positive reflection, and up think that these companies need to reboot and those executives also need to reconsider their role in what's happening today >> should they revoke section 230? would that help? >> well, there's no question that we have to look at laws like section 230 and others and figure out how they're doing that now, you know that i also own time magazine and we're liable for what is said in our magazine and you're liable for what is said on cnbc as well i think there needs to be more

accountability of these media sessions that needs to start happening. maybe that will allow them to transform and change that's been a major topic this week in davos. i was especially surprised by the comments of vladimir putin around social media. you know, putting the same spotlight that we saw put on it several years ago. so it's become a global issue. it is not just an individual issue. it's an issue that everyone is paying attention to. >> mark, coo of salesforce the executives talking about what they did was unconscionable when it comes to society not pulling any punches. j going into the cloud. >> amazing how that story's just continued as well, this week, of course, folks in investing

politics last year i know we're tight on time but outstanding interview. aianhopedafi joined us last hour. we'll pick up on some of his key comments

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up next, broke broker backlash he denefds his decision. explains why he's doing it next. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. he defends his decision. explains why he's doing it next. . fidelity.

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it's a lot of money and that's never good for business, the customer lose money, that's not good for business. but i should pay attention to what they are buying and why they are buying it and they think the company is doing well and will do better and the stock will go up for that reason, not because of a short squeeze >> interactive broker's chairman thomas petterfy. guys, don't think that was too satisfying to all those retail traders that weren't allowed to buy, amc and game stop there's a bloomberg report that robin hood is drawing down >> there are huge financial exposures that theis brokers have they are exposed to based on the

customers' holdings in parts and they're trying to essentially build a firewall around that by not allowing those exposures to go we have a lot. there's a lot of trades that would kick in that could leave somebody on the hook >> game stop by the way, which closed down is now up 30 or 40% in after hours fast "fast money" starts now. >> tonight on fast, back in the saddle markets roaring back after yesterday's selloff. the posting, the biggest since november old school traders taking back control and where do stocks go from here. plus trader triple play. can they keep up gains what the traders say about these stocks and we're diving deep into the reddit