american >> carson, we're going to have you back again, it's a longer conversation, we do appreciate you being with us, we're going to keep our eyes on xl fleet and we will be looking at gamestop and so many others as well joe? >> they like, the markets like those numbers that we saw on inflation, some interesting comments out of japan. we'll talk about that tomorrow when we get a chance i don't know if it's settled make sure you join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" is next good wednesday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla, with david faber and leslie, cramer has the morning off, we're coming off the best day for the nasdaq since november, all time highs for the dow as we get a final vote on stimulus today, ten-year auction, one in ten americans are now fully vaccinated and texas reopens today. of course epi runs cool.

our road map begins with covid stimulus in focus, and stocks set to rally after tuesday's tech bounce. >> and ge will sell its leasing unit, its aircraft leasing unit to aercap, a $30 billion and hear what larry culp told me whether this is a portfolio they will stick with at ge. >> looking forward to that $30 billion must be the magic number there is a $30 billion gaming company, what you need to know, as roblox looks to make its nyse debut this morning, carl. >> luckily, we have you here, leslie, to help us get through that overall, the commentary will center, david, around the upside reversal of the trend yesterday and certainly this core cpi number, up one-tenth, looking for 0.2, will have a soothing effect on those worried about rates. >> no doubt. as you point out, the core rate rise, below the estimates, that is going to come, fears of

inflation, that certainly have been ever-present, as we watched very closely the movements of the 10-year yield, over these last few week, and our broader equity markets have seen a move on it as well. leslie unclear at this point what it all means but we've obviously seen a huge move in many of the growth name, many of the names that were beaten up yesterday, they all, many of them came back, tesla, we talked about, ended up enormously, the ark funds of course led by cathie wood that had been down given all of the high growth names she included in there had an incredibly strong day yesterday. but unclear whether of course that will be maintained. you can see where we're opening right now, given again what carl just said in terms of at least muted expectations so far. >> yes, but as you mentioned, came back with a vengeance yesterday. almost surprising how binary this market feel, on days where you see some of the more value-oriented name, doing well, those growth names struggle, and

vice-versa, and obviously, you've seen a little bit of this for a while now, and interestingly, bloomberg notes that i think this was before yesterday's, yesterday's gains, they say that value investing wipes out pandemic losses with $100 billion gain since the start of november. so guys, we hear value investors, they've been lamenting that it is just a difficult environment for value investors, i think i've been hearing this for about 10 years now, and any time someone says that, we can point to these statistics at least in the near term and say things have been pretty good over the last four months right, carl? >> yes, definitely trying to make our way through some of these transactions b of a's got a good note this morning, guys that basically says dust off what they're now calling the mid cycle play book. in which you would fade the home builder, buy the industrials and what ends that process in their words, david, with good inflation turns into bad inflation, but they do warn that

that phase could go a lot longer than what is typically about a nine-month period. so definitely some play book adjustment which we'll get to in more detail later in the hour. we do though, david, have to get to the ge news which is big for aviation, potentially big for regulation, and i can't wait to hear what culp told you. >> i had an opportunity to interview larry culp, earlier this morning prior to what is a big day for them, not just this announcement but they have an investor day as well they actually thought they might have announced the transaction i think a day or two earlier, but they're all on the same day, let's get to the deal itself though and again, the journal had told us so details potentially in reporting on it over the weekend. but the main headline is $30 billion. 24 billion in cash they will also own 46% of the combined company and then there's another billion that will be paid in aecap notes or cash on closing as well and

most if not all will be used by ge to pay down debt. they have been on this effort over years now to reduce what was a back-breaking debt load at the company that larry culp of course took over, what, two-plus years ago, and to reduce the risk at ge capital a multi-year reveference to redc it at ge capital and now is the time to do the deal with aercap to get the proceeds and reduce that and make ge capital now just another line item as opposed to its own unit in terms of the way they report things. that's an important moment for this company take a listen to mr. culp discussing the transaction that they've announced this morning. >> this really marks the trans formation of the company into a more focused, simpler, and stronger ge. we're going to be able to focus on our core for industrial businesses aimed at the energy transition, precision health care, in the future of flight, and there's no question we're going to be a stronger company

going forward financially, and operationally. >> they are still talking about taking leverage overall, that is leverage to net debt over ebitda, to as low as, less than 2.5 times, that's for consolidated industrial businesses, which is what the company is going to be at this point. by 2023. so they're not there yet he continues to talk about being on this path to being a well capitalized company. and i did ask him about that as well but as i said, this is also their investor day so they're going to be speaking more broadly about their 2021 outlook, including what is estimates for free cash flow at the company that are pretty wide take a listen. >> we're early in the recovery there's still a great deal of uncertainty as to the path, particularly around our aviation business, so some might say that's a conservative guide, we think it's appropriate, given what we know and don't, at this point in time, and we'll reiterate today, again, our view that we can be a high single

digit cash generator, cash margins, on the business, as we go forward over the next few years. >> and they are talking about free cash flow of 2.5 to $4.5 billion, leslie, for 2021, that's an outlook they did share when they reported earnings in late january, although we haven't obviously had an opportunity to talk to mr. culp since then we did talk to him around that trying to get margins up the renewable business in particular where they have negative margins right now. >> and it sounds like they're looking to really benefit from the upside here. since cash and stock deal ge is expected to own 46% of the combined company so an interesting structure for this deal, and as you mentioned, as you really were able to pull out of culp, this is going to be a much more streamlined ge, the point is really to help pay down that debt, but still capitalize on the upside of this growing area of the industrials market >> yes, and carl, the story

they're pitching to investors today, is we are now focused on tier one businesses, in power, renewables, aviation and health care and that's what we are, and you don't have to be concerned about some sort of tail risk at ge capital any longer, we have dealt with it, reduced debt significantly and continue to, and it is all about continuing to have those businesses perform well and/or at least perform a lot better they've kind of gotten power back on some sort of track renewables and obviously aviation is dependent on how things go in that industry and health care has done quite well so the stock not up in part because it did already react, as i said, to the potential of this deal, after it was reported over the weekend, and ge shares had been up in recent trading. they're also doing a one for eight reverse split. so suddenly, ge is going to be closer to 100 bucks a share, it won't affect anything, really, but obviously, they do, it does

affect the share count so ge a feature today. we'll have more from mr. culp as well as we go along this morning. >> getting the share cou typicah comparable market cap. i did see a couple of headline, david, about the international air transport association, having concerns about regulatory issues i imagine that is somehow related to the way the deal upon closing, and which it would have impacts on jet prices. >> yes, you know, it's funny, i did not really get into a conversation with him. we'll monitor things and bring them to you if we hear anything specific on anticipate trust and their concerns about it -- on anti-trust and their concerns about, it remember they're at 46% and they will sell this over time, not right away, icu culp essentially saying listen, we will not sell anything until things turn in aviation, but the plan here is to over time monetize the stake, in aercap, they do have two board seats as well but this is not going to be

a ge-managed company. >> meanwhile, you mentioned the tail wind that aviation is giving to the company in general. i did see, david, american airlines is upsizing that bond offer which we talked about last couple of days if you haven't made your vacation plans yet, i don't know if you just saw this crossing, norwegian says that the oceana cruise line saw the record for the most individual bookings in a single day, so these load factors are going to change, as we said, vaccination rates get higher, stimulus rolls in, yellen on the tape, yesterday, leslie, talking about getting those checks out, as quickly as possible, that's going to have big implications for travel. >> yes, and it's remarkable, because so far in the ipo market we've really seen companies that have been resilient in the pandemic, companies that have the story around the fact that, you know, the economy was closed down, but we served a role, and we helped people get goods, or find a way to occupy their time, and yet we're starting to see more companies come out, that play into this reopening trade, and you nentialed mentioned

airlines, frontier airline, sun country airlines going public, i don't know if that is a signal for the fact that people believe that the market sees these companies as poised to benefit but it's remarkable, because you look at these companies coming out, they've got half the revenue last year that they did the year before, obviously due to the pandemic, but the story for them now is here we're coming, people are going to start traveling again, this is the company to buy right now, and i just think it is a t says a lot about the potential for investor sentiment to really welcome these types of companies, if that's what happened it's unclear, but it's just, you know, an interesting data point, showing that at least these companies believe that the timing is now to go public >> yeah, the capital markets have been quite generous as you know listen, the airlines have benefitted from government assistance, but, and american has raised copious amounts of

debt, and equity, all along the way. but carl, if i told you one year ago, that the stock would be up 27%, knowing what we knew, even a year ago, at this point, it's hard to imagine that would have been the performance of american airlines but there it is, up 27% over the last 12 months. now a lot of that has been made up recently, 20% gain over the last three months. >> unbelievable. and you know, i keep thinking that cramer and gamestop, and situations in which a company is benefitting from a higher price, and not necessarily using it to their advantage, in the way of raising capital, but the airlines, david, have not made that mistake >> no. >> if we're going to call it a mistake. >> they have not. >> pretty unbelievable capital raises on travel. >> a lot to get to this morning, guys we want to cover some of what disney said yet about 100 million subs for the first time and really closing the gap with netflix, and some price target increases on draftkings. major calls on apple today and

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latest. >> the house did just reconvene and lawmakers were about to begin debate on the covid relief package. one thing that we're expecting is for the final vote to start around noon but republicans could try to delay that. no gop lawmakers are supporting this bill. instead, they have been looking at democrat, with projections, with some of the relief money won't be spent for years, and kevin mccarthy says the white house and democrats have abandoned any pretense of unity opting to jam through a $2 trillion liberal wish list that showers money on blue states and foreign countries but spends 9% to combat the virus. of course, democrats are calling their bill historic, and transformative, and in addition to the stimulus checks and a boost in jobless benefits it includes $350 billion in aid to state and local government, and $125 billion for k-12 public school, and 48 billion for covid testing and response, and $7.5 billion directly to the cdc for

vaccine distribution, and 7.25 billion to expand the ppp, and yesterday, the house speaker nancy pelosi was asked if this would be congress's last covid relief package here's what she said >> you are just going to have to ask the virus, if it stops mutating, if it stops spreading and therefore mutating then firstly we will have legislation to address it for as long as it's there. >> so guy, this would be the sixth piece of legislation to address the pandemic, and i think i speak for everyone when we say that nobody wants a seventh. back to you. >> what does this mean for the potential for infrastructure i know a lot of people have been looking at, you know, getting the stimulus package, kind of behind us, assuming a vote goes through today and does that mean we can turn our attention now to infrastructure, and how does a $1.9 trillion number impact the likelihood of getting a significant infrastructure plan going? >> yes, so i think those

conversations are just now starting to happen, leslie the white house has said that it is talking about lawmaker, trying to figure out what exactly would go into the bill infrastructure is a sort of broadly-defined term you've heard the president talking about, for example, electric vehicle charging stations being a part of that, in addition to the traditional roads and bridge, highway, et cetera, you're hearing other democrats talking about having recurring stimulus payments as a part of the next infrastructure package or extending the unemployment benefits, so you know, there's a lot of cats and dogs that could be included in the next big package but i do think that there's going to be some maybe discomfort on the part of moderate democrats to accept a multi-trillion package on the heels of a nearly $2 trillion package that again a lot of folks are saying some of the money is not being very well targeted >> ylan, we'll wait to see how the vote time line happens later on today. it brings to mind a note

that b of a writes this morning, biden is quote likely to use the health of the people and the economy, rather than the u.s. stock market, as a barometer of success. his administration has so far focused on correcting inequities in income, race and gender and goes on to say historically at least that has benefitted discount over luxury and keeps in mind a u.s. stock lens and ylan's point, it will race some criticism that for example all of the state and local money will go to help cities that certain jurisdictions will argue have been mismanaged over time, and made poor decisions. >> yes, that was an argument, we heard it many times, with the republicans certainly calling out what they call the blue states, and saying that, unclear if that's the case, but $350 billion is a lot of money. i think tax revenues have come in at a higher level than many had anticipated they would certainly in states even in california and surprisingly new

york but carl, weave we'll have to see. and overall and you track this these gdp estimates that we're starting to get for 2021 are pretty significant i mean numbers that we haven't seen since what, 1984? >> yes, 83 would be, the journal did a survey of the economists for the full year, looking at 5.9 which would be the fastesthg about the u.s. being this incredible engine of growth for the whole world. >> that's right. >> all because of a stimulus package that was narrowly passed, because of a couple of senate seats and it came down to a special election here or there. >> that's remarkable and they do note, however, that the rise in u.s. treasury yields could spark capital flight from emerging markets we've been talking about that on our air quite a bit over the last couple of day, the overall ripple effect of what we're seeing here these days, but

certainly remarkable, that 6.5% potential expansion in 2021, and the fact that it's driving the entire global expansion, or expected to drive the global expansion, over the course of the year just a remarkable change from what we were talking about, about a year ago, carl. >> there's a look at the 10-year, just south of 1.55. we'll take a break here. judging from futures, the dow looks like it might get above the closing record high back on february 24. not quite an all-time high but we'll watch it they definitely are green. we're back after a break

gamestop has not seen 270 since the first day of february. but that's about where it looks to open this morning as some of the reddit names that we covered in such detail weeks ago see gains across the board, koss up 44% pre-market more "ua othstetansqwkn e re" d the opening bell in about six minutes.

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however, i'm going to step out on a limb here - >> hold on, everyone i'm waiting for this. >> i think we're in -- >> i wish we played the whole thing. 12 years ago today on "squawk on the street," our late colleague mark haines calling what we've now called the bottom, and since then, the s&p is up a cool 470%, and david, the full sound bite talks about his thinking behind that call, he said this was for real, this would have legs, but it basically centered around the 200-day moving average of the s&p which at that point the s&p was 67%, i think, of that, and his view, this was time to buy, and man, he was almost perfectly

right. >> yes, it is hard to get a call that would be that good. i mean if you listen to it, and you just said okay, good, i'm done for the next 12 years, not paying attention, you would be in pretty good shape it was, you know, carl, of course, 12 years, it's hard to imagine. but you got to remember where we were 12 years ago, coming, i mean hitting bottom, 666 on the s&p, and we were just talking about ge, remember ge shares were trading then at around three bucks, we were worried about polish mortgages, i think the company made out of ge capital, and on and on and on and the financial system was a key concern then and so different over this last year where we never really did question the underpinnings of the financial system, because the fed and the treasury moved so fast, almost a year ago now, but yeah, that was quite

something, the hayines bottom. >> yes, you're right, it sort of leaves you speechless, and of course, i try to re-tweet every year, and the viewers definitely respond, and mismark, as we all do it sort of makes me wonder, david, what he would be saying about so many developments since his passing, namely the surge in spacs, the way in which some of these, we have a field day with some of these reddit trades, it does remind me by the way, more spacs on the list today, leslie, branson, looking to raise about half a billion, under a new virgin group acquisition corp that would center on health and wellness and travel and leisure, so that trend continues. >> it continues, despite the recent sell-off that we've seen both in spacs that have priced and have yet to find a deal, as well as spacs that have found a deal, investors are really shunning just anything that has to do with spacs in the last few weeks. so it is quite surprising that we are seeing this continued

churn, perhaps there is a sense among people who want to do a spac, that if we're going to do it, you better do it now and it may not be open forever and that's kind of the sense i'm getting talking with people, that people, that the market is open to these types of things, although they're starting to get more skeptical, so how long can this party continue, that is a dialogue that i know we've been having a lot, it's going on behind the scenes as well, and you know, as we do start to see investors losing money, in some of these recent deals, that's when you get more hesitation, to put additional money in to spacs, and to the sector as a whole. carl >> yeah, by the way, as of yesterday, blank check deal volumes, or spac mergers, record $170 billion, that already strips last year's total, of $157 billion, that's from data yesterday, there's the opening bell at the big board, it is video game platform roblox celebrating its direct listing

at the nasdaq, it is pwp forward acquisition corp, a blank check company led by and focused on women. leslie, i'm curious to know about your thoughts behind the direct listing it hasn't been an army of companies that have chosen that, but palantir and slack, two big examples and certainly this is another. >> yes, and roblox initially didn't choose a direct listing, they had every intention of going public through a traditional ipo in dicier and what is remarkable about that, they looked at the ipos of other silicon valley venture backed companies and how they were performing in the after-market and usually you get a little skittish around the traditional ipo process when other ipos are performing poorly and in this case, wat the airbnb and the doordash ipo that really spooked the company according to sources that we've spoke within around this and we don't want to see our stock soar like this because we're worried with what it moo woo mean for employees who had the option of selling some of their shares at the ipo price

and looking at the opportunity cost of what might happen if that stock soared. so instead, they decided to punt the listing, they did a private placement back in january that valued this company at $30 billion, instead of opting for a direct listing which kind of does away with a lot of this, you know, back and forth with the road show, trying to find an ipo price, allocating shows to, you know, 0 concentrated, hopefully if it's a good deal, concentrated long awaited mutual funds, that's usually the goal with the underwriters and set up for a direct listing and obviously gamestop has been the darling of the re tail investor and here is another gaming-oriented company. obviously totally different business model but in that whole gaming mentality that has really attracted a lot of people to gamestop

>> yes. >> what comes to mind actually, leslie is palantir which was the last major direct listing. and also has become sort of a favorite in some ways, we know, that stock, you can take a look, it's been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride as we take a look at gamestop share, 278, yet again makes those moves but take a look at palantir because i do mention it, leslie, a direct listing, you mentioned it as well, got to find the selling shareholders as well that you need but that is interesting to watch in terms of the performance, which as you see, it hit as high as almost $40 a share, after being priced, i forget, where did that hit, do you remember, leslie >> i don't remember their reference price. >> i don't know what preference price. it was far lower and carl you were asking about spacs and perella wineberg, a sponsor of that spac as well, that was ringing the bell there, we've got a number of these now, a form to combine with a growth

business that is led by or founded by women, in a business that enriches women's lives, is what they're talking about, and by the way, perella wineberg which is a sponsor of that spac is actually going public through betsy cohen's spac, so it soon will be a fully-public company, when it despacs, carl, but there's a look at our spac 50, there are a number of these that have announced deals that are trading closer to 10, and that does at least create potential upside, because you know you're going to get 10 if you redeem. >> right. >> and so, well, why not give it a shot if you believe in the business model for some of the names. not overall. it is still up a good deal but leslie, there is that opportunity on some of these names. >> absolutely. and we've seen some interesting trading involving spacs, so i think part of the way you can look at what's been going on over the last two weeks is just trying to really shake out some of the froth that's been in these names setting it back toward their net asset value and i know you and i have talked

about how some of these spacs are trading at less than $10, which also doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, given that you can redeem at $10, there is the aspect of time value of money here, so you know, if you believe that the spac won't find a merger, any time soon, perhaps you feel like it's two years away, the maximum amount of time away, you might sell it down, but a lot of interesting trading has been going on, but it seems to be finding kind of closer to that $10 nav level, carl >> s&p 500, 3900, pretty broad-based gain, guys, and just about every sector is green except for utilities keep your eye on apple a few differento cross-currents, wedbush saying channel checks in asia and hard to believe but saying based on the check, the potential for 240 million to 250 million units in fiscal 22 is

possible which even he admits would be an eye-popping figure and that is offset by headlines today, that argue at least on the iphone 12 mini, they're bringing some production levels down, in the first half, which we seem to get those kinds of headlines on anikkei often but i that is correct, that would be an upside of production of what apple is putting together and what ives continues to call a super cycle. >> and the stock of course performed quite well yesterday along with the broader market and down today, despite the fact that the nasdaq up another 1% and i'm taking a look at tesla, because it is a tell often times, coming back to basically even on the year, is tesla, back to a $674 billion market value of course, shareholders in ge would love to get anywhere near a number like that the stock is down 4% but it is a focus this morning, after announcing this large transaction to combine its

aircraft leasing business, which is called g-cast, with irish company aercap, the proceeds that we're talking about, roughly 30 billion 24 billion in cash and 46% ownership stake in the combined company. obviously it is going to be a while until it closes. but in speaking to chairman and ceo larry culp earlier this morning, he kept talking about a path to a well-capitalized company. and i did ask him, well, how far along are you now, after this transition, on that path >> the beauty of the transaction is those cash proceeds will allow us to pay down debt, and when we get to closing, we will in fact have reduced our debt over the last several years, here at ge, by over $70 billion. job one has been deleveraging, we're going to be well on our way toward that well capitalized position that we aim to. with respect to the equity, we would never sell this company at

this point in the aviation cycle, but by owning nearly half of the company, we get to ride the business going forward, but there will be a time where we exit the position. >> this is a company whose history prior to your taking over was certainly not the best, when it came to both buying assets and divesting them, at least at the proper prices so when we go back to this trans, and look at what you're getting -- transaction and look at what you're getting in terms of the consideration and valuing the overall business why, should your shareholders feel like they're getting a good deal? >> i think a ge shareholder should be delighted with this transaction. with a $30 billion headline, what we're able to do here is bring cash in, again, 24 billion of additional consideration, which will allow us to put that toward additional debt reduction. and at the same time, we get an

equity stake in nearly half of the combined company so we're not selling today what we're really doing is merging these companies, investing if you will, in a stronger aviation leasing platform over time, we will monetize that equity stake but we wouldn't have done that today, but this gives us an opportunity to invest in a stronger platform, and over time, realize those proceeds but again, i think the real story for the ge shareholder is less about the transaction today and what it triggers, for us, to be that simpler, stronger, ge going forward. >> there are those who would still say, i look at aviation, and i look at health care, and they don't necessarily seem to be me to be great synergies between the two. but there may still be more that mr. culp can do to pare down this portfolio are you done, larry? >> david, you know, as you know, i'm a lifelong student of the japanese concept of continuous improvement and when you have that mind set you're never done,

but i think today is really putting our g-craft business in a position to benefit all shareholders and we get to pivot to that transformation with a more focused and simpler ge in mind and over time we will be focused on continuing to improve the performance of our underlying business, and as we do that, we will of course generate more strategic optionality, but i think today is really a focus on the business, and i'm excited to have a chance for everyone to see the ceos up close, see what they're doing, what their business is, and where they're headed. >> a lot of those ceos will be presenting right now actually as they continue to have their investor day, whether it's gas power, the power portfolio, or renewable energy, aviation, aviation services, health care, and on from there, but ge capital not going to be as much of a concern at least in the hopes and the actions given, that have been taken by mr. cul. >> i wonder if you start to see additional companies trying to

pair back their debt load in the face of potential rising rates this is really the first big example that we've seen of deal making happening around that theme of reducing debt obviously ge has been on that path, as he mentioned for a while now, just looking back in 2017, and he's like $130 billion worth of debt. now, down to 75, presumably closer to 50 after this deal is done and i wonder if you do start to see those conversations start happening, as debt becomes less cheap, do we try and commence some type of transaction that could help us reduce that debt load, you know, while we still can or is it that corporate america believes that this is just a temporary blip in yields moving higher, and it's not really doing a worth transaction right now. i don't know what that answer is but this deal kind of made me think of, you know, how that's changing. >> it's an interesting - >> the mind set. >> floating versus fixed becomes important for those considering balance sheet and what they have out there and again, we haven't had that big of a move, and

historically we're still at extraordinarily cheap money, carl, but for ge, they had some unique pressures, as you well know, on them, given both realized and perhaps liabilities that had not yet been fully realized, until the last few years. >> yes, the long-term care stuff, very, very large, difficult ship to turn, david, but what an enlightening set of interviews from culp today and immelt a couple of weeks ago, it gives you a sense of how dramatic the transformation has been >> yes. >> ten-year. 1.54 busy morning setting um. let's get to rick santelli hey, rick. >> good morning, carl. well, we had some data this morning, yes, we did, we had february cpi, and the fact of the matter is, that it was basically as expected, you could argue that it was 0.1 instead of 0.2, but a very large market reaction if you look at intra-day 10s, we had the spike yield high prices 1.53 on that data but that is

not necessarily what i'm talking about. it is really what joe kernen canned me this morning, nasdaq, equities, spiked rather aggressively and that made sense because they're looking at the antagonist to both growth and value stock,higher interest rates, you could argue one more than the other, but the point is as you look at two weeks of 10, it looks to me like we're starting to roll over a little bit. look at that two-week chart. you might be saying, scratching your head, what is he looking at that makes him think we're going to roll over a little bit. i'll tell you. >> the chicago board of trade used to love to look at and that is the knob spread and we'll get to that in a minute, and once you see how important this 1.53 level may be here is a mid type of chart that spike right in the middle of chart was a 1.53 close, that was the 25th of february, right before the fed meet, and if you look at every major sovereign across the world you'll find that most of them just couldn't take out that high to the upside, we did, we're coming back below that. losing a bit of momentum there

we can see that relative to other sovereigns 10s were really leading the way. let's go back to that knob the year to date notes over bond. 30-year bond minus 10-year note vealeds. from 85 to 71, basically in nine sessions this is a huge move. and many look to this particular yield curve spread to give us an idea how much horsepower there is still left on the long dated treasury rates and at least according to this, for now, it doesn't mean it's the end of our upside move, because i doubt that, but we might be consolidating to visit some lower levels finally, the dollar index. it's in the foregone conclusion that it went up because rates went up. i would agree with that, but that in the grand scheme of things, we are going to see rates and the dollar both being more in the sell camp. this 20-year chart argues against that it certainly looks like this 90 level is going to hold in the future at least based on long-term technicals carl, back to you. >> rick, thank you, rick santelli. when we come back, sonos on a bit of a tear, shares of the

speaker maker up 270% from a year ago we will talk to the ceo patrick spence about the growth strategy and in the meantime, the dow is about 20 points from a fresh all-time high. don't go away.

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shares were of sonos rallying over 60% this year alone just yesterday the company announced the launch of a first portable more the company. for an inside look at the strategy this year, we have joined in a first on cnbc interview with the ceo of sonos patrick spence, welcome back always good to have you. >> thank you, carl, good morning. >> i want to get to the wrong speaker and what it says about innovation and the way in which people will start leaving the house. but the revenue target for fiscal '24 is pretty aggressive when you talk about that

>> yesterday was a good day. we want to change our long-term view lots changed over the last year. investors sat up and took a notice i believe we are just getting started with this opportunity. so yesterday was about laying out this opportunity we think there is a ton of opportunity ahead. we helped investors think about that category. so we feel very good about the targets that we set for three years out and all increased from where we were before in terms of long-term guidance, so we feel very good about the future. >> you know, for a lot of companies, for example, campbell soup today, amazing results last year, this morning, they're acknowledging the comps will be tough. that's been the narrative for companies that have sold goods that go into the home like staples and to some degree electronics. is this an attempt to follow americans as mobility improves post-pandemic with the roam? >> absolutely, carl, eighth product that is perfect as the world reopens and people want to

bring that great experience that they've had from sonos as they gather we hope this opposite up a whole opportunity. we talked about today we have 25 million people around the world using sonos products and services really what we want to do is get over 100 million doing that. we think that's possible and we are roadmapped no get us there that's why we so confident yes, we have been born in the home we have been there 19 years. we've weathered a number of economic disruption over time. because of the strength of our model and the strength of our great products, we have been able to grow through that entire time so we feel good if the world is in a situation where we go back outside and change a bit. we still we have a lot of strength and opportunity for the future >> you mentioned in the ohio i got it as well, i noticed sonos radio recently have been experimenting with what kind of user are you looking for? what's the strategy there? i'm not paying for it as far as

i'm aware. i don't know if it becomes or is already a paying service at some tier, but patrick, give us a sense as to what you are seeing. >> yes, thanks, david. so there is both the ad supported, which everybody gets when they get their sonos. it is our third-most used service today. so it's shot up the charts there. people are loving it but we've recently introduced a pay for tier as well, which allows you even higher definition on it, bringing in some exclusive station, during the holiday station, new york launched one and we think it compliments all the great services already on the sonos platform so we have 100 music services and podcasts, audio book services on the platform and those are getting great use. and so, we are seeing commerce view something like spotify or apple music or amazon music in addition to sonos radio hd so we're excited about that we my i think it fits a really nice

niche of customers we service as well >> for those that have speakers installed under s-1 under your old system how many engineers do have you i am constantly getting updates, at the same time you wonder if you will continue to support older versions as well, for those that have speakers stuck in the wall as often sometimes is the case? >> that's a great point so two-thirds of our engineering team is on the software side, yesterday at the investor event i talked about sons so a software eating audio. we go back to mark andriesen and that's our story and how we've disrupted this space a big clunk of our people is on this side. it's our magic we act sell rated and are making the service better over time we created longer lasting products there are products from 2005 that people are still using on s-1. if they want to join the new features, that's what s-2 is for so we will have those

transitions from time to time. but again, you know, we did that last year after 15 years of shipping products. so this is something that is almost unheard of in consumer electronics, how long we make our products last. >> so patrick, just quickly, i know we are running out of time here, i am wonder where you see the potential in autos, on tuesday, you mentioned the partnership you have with audi and its suv. how do you see the potential there for installing additional sound systems and partnerships and so forth >> yes, thanks, leslie what we showed yesterday is the fact that we're only right now about 7% penetrated in the $18 billion premium home audio segment. but there is even more opportunity ahead as we do things like roam and auto, which exceeds the $90 billion of the whole audio market that's where we want to play we want to be the sound experience leader. we want to be in all aspects of your life. so we are super excited to start that journey in aude with audi and do it with the keyboard, but

we're just going to start there. >> patrick, we always like to talk supply chain. we will save it for next seem. thank you. thank you. >> coming up, more on my ceo interview with ge ceo larry culp keep it here no one likes to choose between safe or sporty. modern or reliable. we want both - we want a hybrid. so do banks. that's why they're going hybrid with ibm. a hybrid cloud approach helps them personalize experiences with watson ai while helping keep data secure.

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good wednesday morning, welcome to the next hour of "squawk on the street". the dow high for the second day in a row actually four straight gains for the dow, the most in four months some pretty blends buying here the nasdaq up 1% still waiting for the house on a vote on stimulus that would send that bill to the white house that's where our roadmap will begin, the dow up four straight sessions, notch ac new interday high >> they have a $30 billion deal,

we will have my first interview with ge ceo larry culp we now said wolfgang puck is making his bet on outdoor dining what is next for the restaurant industry carl. we begin with that market action in tech continuing to decline back from its recent steep losses the question is, is the turn around here to stay? our senior markets commentator mark santoli is with us to kick off the hour there were comments over the weekend that both value and growth could co-exist. i know you sort of referenced that a little yesterday. is today further proof that could happen >> it could. maybe for a week i have been saying we don't have to always be in this market where it's either bet red or bet black. i think monday was a caricature with the divergence between the dow and the nasdaq so far, i do think the market is making the case it might be a little less binary yesterday's recovery or bounce

in the nasdaq was the most forceful rally from a deep condition you might v. it doesn't mean it's all over it doesn't mean it's going to be persuasive, it's back to leadership because you really are regaining a few days worth of losses you can argue you have a more blends remarket because some of the areas have been humble you lock at cloud stocks, semis were down from high to low a lot of confidence stocks definitely took their punishment you don't have that reset expectations and sentiment to a degree i guess we have to be aware that this all happens kind of at the will of the bond market, at least for the short term people are very twitchy and the reaction to today's pretty benign inflation numbers show you people were clenched up in advance of something like that and what it could mean for the growth stocks. >> i was going to ask you, as we look at the ecodata, leslie and i were talking this morning about some of the gdp forecasts for the year, 5, 4, 4, 5, the

engine for global goechlt one-tenth from a goose egg that's the setup if you were bold that you would take, right? >> without a doubt the top line of the economy will grow as we have seen in decades. yes, statistically, everybody realizes what's happening in the next couple of months, couple of quarters, where you are going to have lift to reported inflation numbers. the question is, do you panic about that do we take to heart the idea from chair powell and everybody else that this should be really a fleeting phase when we have this inflationary burst. it seems that's the the way market is set up i think it's fair to say there is not a lot of give the credit markets remain really in good shape. so, nobody is really saying there is a macro-stress issue to worry about here it's much more about what is the market priced in the market seems way ahead of the analysts in terms of earnings forecast is looking

out, how that place out at the rest of the year. >> it's not a either or not scenario, if you look at the chart of the past three months of tesla versus exxonmobile, it's an incredible reversal and the two are moving in opposite direction, but exxon is the one outperforming as of late i do wonder if it does call into question that sort of more i guess traditional definition about momentum and whether the rotation is changing that. >> well, yes i mean, i think what you are seeing is value is has morphed into momentum, scyclical's have morphed into momentum. you lost the digital stocks being the ones that are running the show at the leading edge of momentum that is going to shift, turn around i think a lot has to do with how negate and under owned things like energies, the paper stock, we never talked about a massive uptrend. yesterday's action with tesla, i

almost don't know if you want to be bullish to see tesla go up $100 million in market cap in a day. it seems a little too erratic in the overall market as we want. by the way the average range in the s&p as we hover near the highs has been almost 2% in high-to-low for several days right now. so it seems like we are kind of very temperatury in general but yet not a lot of net down in some pockets. >> speaking erratically, of course, you follow closely the arc funds, mike. it was only a week ago, i think i was coming over to your desk we were talking about, what does it look like when there are resell shuns because everything is moving down in the portfolio, does that lead to more selling obviously, that's reversed in a handful of trading days. to your point, i don't know, i am curious to your thoughts whether that's a healthy sign or not. >> reporter: yes, it's absolutely true, there are dip piers in these funds in those types of stocks. in fact, the last reported day

of floats was almost half a billion dollars, that was two days ago it wasn't in response to yesterday's gain it was in response to the dump into that gain i do think the retail presence and the times of stocks that retail tends to flock to, these 2020 winners, they're not going to go quietly. i think that's the answer. yes, there can be kind of an unwind-type loop if people decide it's over but we're not there yet. >> no arc, though, up that's 3-plus percent mike, thank you, mike santoli. i want to move on to ge. last hour, we talked of course of the announcement of the company combining its aircraft leasing business with ireland's air cap $24 billion in proceeds coming to ge another billion in cash or notes at closing, aercap, and 46% of the combined company they will use the money to pay down debt and expect to close the transaction within nine-to-12 months. it's also an important day for

ge they have an investor day going on now, in fact. they are using this transaction as a way to sort of strike the theme that they are hitting on time and again that they are transforming ge to a more focused, simpler and what they say will be stronger industrial company. but that theme of focus and simpler is the key i asked the ceo larry culp about that this morning. >> i think what we're going to talk about today when we take people through the businesses is that capital will continue to be a bit of a drag knits current configuration, but going forward, it will be a corporate function that we will to manage well we really won't have any profit-making operations in capital as we move forward g cast is that engine today. it will be a corporate function as we move forward again, when we put the businesses together, we go to that simpler format, we think we

will have a much stronger, much simpler ge >> obviously, there are still going to be parts of ge capital that help to finance purchases for your industrial businesses, power being one of the key ones. but engines as well, you know, aircraft engines is there -- are there relationships that are going to be impacted at all by the transfer of ownership of this business to another entity in terms of your ability to finance some of your customers >> well, i think that the beauty of the transaction, david, is that we know aviation can stand and stand tall off its own bottom as you'll see in the press release, we will continue to have a strong working relationship with the new aercap, gus and i have talked about that at length so i think going forward, we're going to have a strong partner aercap and especially aviation franchise. no question about it >> black to renewable energy aviation and healthcare. i'm looking at your 2020 margin

on renewable energy. negative.4%. obviously, it's a growing business, a newer business what is that going to look like a couple of years from now >> well, i think what we'll layout for investors today, david, is we are making a lot of progress, both in terms of the margins and the cash generation performance in our renewab segae segment. witness what happened in texas a few weeks ago, it will be an important part of our leadership and the energy transition going forward. >> you mentioned texas a lot of people took aim certainly some of those politicians. at the wind turbine saying, hey, they froze up. hey, you know, green is not necessarily good when it comes to actually reliability on the grid how do you respond to those critics? >> well, i'm not sure we got the time to get into all the details of what happened in texas. but, whether you look at our wind turbins, our gas turbines as well, they operate all around

the world in harsh, cold, frigid conditions when we make appropriate plans to do so, so there is no question that when we're in those situations, those products perform as designed. >> yeah, making that point that they don't freeze in other areas where it's a lot colder, morgan, again, programs a conversation for another day. but, you know, the idea here is one that they're going to keep pounding on, it's a simpler ge now. a pure industrial company with a finance arm that really barely exists at this point and does not pose risks to shareholders the way, of course, it has for so many years. >> yeah, invokess for again a simpler stream-lined earnings reporting process as well. i think back to some of those earnings reports that i had to go through in the last couple of years and how dense they were, speaking to your poimpbnt

aercap was already, david, the largest aircraft leasing company in the world this makes it an even bigger company, obviously a lot of focus on narrow-body aircraft as well there was an interesting note from vertical research partners on this, this morning about the implications for airbus and boeing, kind of contrarian it says those analysts there think airbus and boeing would much prefer to have a customer base that is well financed and stable versus a plethora of small airlines and leasing programs that can survive in a leasing program, in 2020, meaning they might get behind this merger. that being said, it's one to watch, folks like lena kahn coming into the ftc as well. overall, though, david, it does feel like this is again one of those recovery stories and really kind of speaks to the inflexion point where we are at in something like commercial aviation right? >> of course, that is one of the largest reasons there is a gap for the free cash outflow for

2021 how quickly does aviation return anywhere from 4.5 gen rated in 2021 for free cash flow. your point on anti-trust is well taken. the eu will have a important voice. they have a long history, whether it's the honeywell deal that got stopped or the deal in which they agreed to so many different conditions with the french government. the eu has not necessarily been kind to ge in the past >> yeah. it could be one to watch good stuff, david. thank you. we're going to keep an eye on, what else, gamestop. it's rallying again today. it's up another 17%. it's up 110% for the week so far. we have to look at a big show straight ahead on "squawk" in straight ahead on "squawk" in the streets, don't go anywhere and help make a hospital come to you,

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keep your eye on some cannabis names flying high in this volatile market with the alternative ticker mj up over 60% this year. also watch msos, which is more of a u.s. play meantime, kera leaf announces results yesterday, the revenue up 26 quarter on quarter we are joined by the executive chairman boris jordan on a first on cnbc interview, always good to check in, in the space. welcome back, good to see you. >> good to be here, carl, thanks for having me. >> so in the past few weeks, we've talked about what's

happening in europe. the reform trend in the u.s. now i see new zealand is on the tape which pod should we keep our eye on >> listen, we're very happy with the acquisition we made yesterday. you know, we're entering the largest cannabis market in the world in potential revenue, which is europe with 740 million people we are dealing with less than 3.7% of our mark cap we think our timing is absolutely right you know, it was a natural extension of our u.s. business we're the largest operator in the u.s. we are thinking, the, four years out, america will continue to grow europe is moving across the continent. we think it's a great opportunity for us so we decided to make this >> does it feel to you, right now at least, it does seem like each incremental headline resolves around medical access although, the sexy headlines

here in the u.s. tend to revolve around growth and adult use, growth and recreational use. which is more important, truly >> we have found the trend to be the same so we saw it first in canada, they started with medical and they moved to adult use. we saw in the united states most of the states moved to medical adult use. we see in europe, most of the countries have some form of medical program. they are expanding those we see switzerland and harlem looking at use angela merkel steps down in november her own party says they will support adult use. germany goes sometime in 2022. it's likely to be a domino effect through europe. so that's why the timing was to get it now, fill the infrastructure, get the required licenses, build the distribution so we can bring the curaleaf brands over to europe. we are excited you are right, it is still very much a medical business.

in europe, it's actually a pharmaceutical business. in the united states, the pharmaceutical companies have fought gotten involved in the cannabis sector. in europe, the pharmaceutical companies are working closely with a lot of the cannabis companies to try to develop drugs for their patients >> boris, why do you think that is why do you think u.s. pharmaceutical companies haven't gotten more involved it almost seems like if they did, that might increase the push or the urgency potentially to legal otherwise on a federal level? >> well, pharmaceutical companies in europe take a very different few of cannabis. it's a natural product they don't mind working with the biological aspect. u.s. market and the fda, in particular, is very much focused on creating synthetic drugs. it really is a culture issue asia is very much like europe in that respect europe is moving to a wholistic medical. one where biological products

can be used in medicine. in the united states, we're still very synthetic focused until cannabis can be proud synthetically and stabilize, i don't think the pharmaceutical companies in the u.s. given where the fda is will get involved at this point in time it is spreading quickly in europe >> boris, i'm curious, there are a lot of entrepreneurs along the way. are we seeing consolidation play are you seeing opportunities to pick some of these things up to get out of the market, because they're not large enough what is the multiple revenues that makes sense in terms of buying these things? >> we expand early on. we're at the late stage of our expansion in the united states, so in many states, we reached the capacity that the state allows us to be at and so that's one of the other reasons we looked at where is the growth going to come from, next we went to europe we were buying stores that went

to adult use, 3 to $5 million was restored back three years ago. there are companies bouncing $30 million for the same type of store to get into that market today. so we try to be very early on what we do we try to make sure we don't overspend. people are pending incredible multiples. the story is doing in the recreation situation doing 1 to 1.5 million a month in business. people are paying $30 million to $35 million for those stores again it's all about timing. i think you have to allocate capital and it's getting a little pricey. so we've built the infrastructure in 23 states, we have the largest foot print in the u.s., even though the u.s. is an absolute priority, it's the center of the cannabis sector and most of our focus will be there. we had to look at where is our growth going to come from in three, four, five years and europe is, you know, 740 million people total including eastern

europe most of the countries are moving legislation out. we couldn't ignore that market we had to go there and we did it with the right team and company. >> finally, boris, for an industry where valuations went very high early on and then retraced in a big way, do you feel like you are taking full advantage of the window in which to raise capital now >> we did. as you probably know in january, we were the first right after the georgia election, literally the next day, we went to the market we did an overnight fulfilled and we raised $300 million both $250 million inequity and 50 million in debt. we're well capitalized the company is going to end the year very cash flow positive so we feel we are well financed on the europe pen business we will probably finance in europe the difference between the u.s. businesses and europe is legal

we will finance our curaleaf international arm in europe and in the united states, obviously, we work through the canadian exchanges. we're really hoping that the u.s. legislation and the government will move on safe banking to allow us companies to have access to the u.s. exchanges to uplift. so we're really, really focused on that in the u.s i think we will get it this year we have to get through this covid legislation to get congress focused on the other things that's what we are hoping here >> yeah, well, after a vote today, there might be more band width for legislation like that. really helpful as always, boris, it's great to see you, thanks for the time. >> thank you >> we are awaiting the first trade for popular game maker roblox it's a direct listing, not an ipo for the reference price of $45 per share which values the company at 30 billion is now indicating a range of between 60 and 65, as you can see right there on your screen we will talk more about that after the break. still to come later in the show,

we talk the state of the restaurant industry with the famed chef wolfgang puck all the major indices in the green. stay with us ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it all starts with an invitation... ...to experience lexus. the invitation to lexus sales event. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for 36 month's, and we'll make you're first month's payment. experience amazing.

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. we are back, digital clan els chan inels have been gaining >> recent experts say the pandemic accelerated trends that would have played out over four, five years into just several months online sales surged 41% in 2020, over 2019 according to adobe and the surge in online sales isn't expected to retreat entirely when things normalize. covid-19 may end up to be the unexpected tipping point that shifts the majority of retail sales online from in store well, more purchases shift online with every passing year for most traditional brick and

mortar first retailers in store total sales have been far larger until the pandemic for non-essential retailers, online shopping was shoppers-only option while stores were closed black spring stores reopened online sales remained elevated and store traffic remains sharply depressed. the pandemic may be that permanently tips the scale in favor of digital 55% of nordstrom sales were digital sales in the fourth quarter. up from the year prior the retail half of its sales will be online up from 33% from 1919 pre-pandemic, of course american eagle outfitters found 45% in 2020 up 29% macy's now calling itself a digitally-led retailer wal-mart ceo said it saw three times the digital growth it

expected pre-covid seven times more deliveries and he said, quote, we believe that represents lasting permanent change but huge online sales doesn't always mean massive store closures, because retailers see online sales fall in areas where stores closed. because many are using the platforms together, for pickups, returns and generally for show plus multi--platform customer cans spend more than those that shop in one channel or the other. carl, back over to you >> yeah. commercial real estate is praying that trend continues thanks, fascinating. courtney reagan watching ecommerce today. when we come back, we check in with stacy cunningham. the market debut, reference price 45, indicated 60-to-65 we are back in a couple of minutes. four, five, turn, kick. we got chased by these wild coyotes! they were following her because she had beef jerky in her pocket.

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we are back, here is your cnbc covid update. as we meet at the excuse, president biden is expected to announce his administration will be buying another 100 million doses of the j&j covid vaccine that merck will help produce today, alaska becomes the first state to reduce eligibility restrictions to get a vaccine shot also happening today, the mask mandate in texas is officially lifted. that as the governor says residents should still continue to wear a mask in public and many businesses will also continue to require them and, david, just yesterday the city of austin says they will keep their mask mandate so you should still wear it. in austin you have as to wear it but the mask mandate lifted officially state wide.

>> i can't, that's a tussle between the mayor there and the governor it sound like rahel, thank you with the opening trade on road blocks on the nyc, let's bring in stacy cunningham. good to see you. tell me about direct listings and your expectations if you have any for road blocks we seen palantir and a number of significant names choose that as a way to become public this is another once, i would think an important one for the nyc. >> yeah. thank you very having me on. it's an exciting day, they are waiting to see how roblox opposite the market is becoming more popular as we see additional companies look to explore alternatives so they decided to become a public company using a direct listing. so they're not raising capital today in this moment they didn't have an underwritten offering last night. they're having their first price established by the market-maker on the new york stock exchange trading floor right now, for the

buyers and sellers to determine where roblox will go as a company. >> i noticed, if i recall, of course, i haven't been down there many years as well, can it take a little longer in the direct listing. >> or is it the same as an ipo >> it does, you think of the elements of the a direct listing different from an ipo, there are fewer artificial constraints so buyers and sellers are not limited in the allocation size or lockup himself. so there are a lot more orders coming n. a number of orders we have been receiving so far in roblox are significantly higher thanwe seen from prior direct listings or ipo. that price discovery process can take longer as we look for a stable, opening price so i do expect it will be a little while yet. >> stacy, i'm curious, this is the first sort of big direct listing that we've seen since the rules were changed or i guess altered by the sec to allow direct listings with

capital raises as well, roblox was originally expected to do a more traditional ipo than scrap those plans after the big bounce we saw names like josh dach and airbnb what do those conversations look like especially if they are courting more companies to this direct listing route with these new rules. >> reporter: a great question. we got approval from the ze ec at the end of december to do a primary offering and let the market price that offering what is really unique about that is it would mean that unlike in a traditional ipo, all investors would have access to that opportunity. that democratization is a unique component to direct listings we are actually seeing the participation in markets more broadly is investors want those opportunities. so we receive that approval from the ftc, we don't yet have a company, they're working there are a number of companies working with the ftc on what

that could look like for them. there are some components that they need to establish and hammer out with respect to the disclosures in their f-1 and a price range and the offering, a component that the sec is still working on so we're hopeful the sec will work with these companies and get them to a place to leverage that roblox isn't offering money as a part of that offering. >> we seen this like massive just head-spinning proliferation of spacs the direct listings, i think, has been slower to catch on. it seems like that being said, coin base is going to be going public over at the nasdaq. is this going to become a more competitive space? are we going to see these types of listings? >> we are seeing companies looking for alternatives they can do a spac, a direct listing, do an ipo and each one of those ways to the public markets has a unique set of benefits that's how companies are choosing, what itself right one for them it's not a one size fits all

market we soon pretend it is. if raising capital isn't their primary goal of going public and they want to make sure there is more democratization in that process or a spac in which they can negotiate a deal and that may have a little bit more control there. its faster they still go through the filing process and become a public company with all the same documentation as a public company that it requires but it gives them some control and gives them the ability to share forward-looking projections. which direct listings do, too. which i think that's important in an official ipo, you can't share those forward-looking projections. >> yeah. stacy, feel free to take a pass on this, i don't know if you've seen it or not but the sec did just put out a tweet saying that the rapid increase in the volume of spacs represents a significant change and we are taking a hard look at the disclosures and structural issues around them they add it's never a good idea to invest in a spac just because

someone famous sponsors or invests in it or says it's a good investment. how do you think that moves the conversation along >> i think any tame we have innovations in the market, we will see the market catch up to that other questions we should be asking, are there additional disclosures or transparencys that need to be delivered so investors can make informed decisions. so our goal constantly in everything that we do is to balance investor choice with investor protections and having that investor choice, though, is what we are seeing as new paths to the public markets. we got to make sure protection is there, too. >> yeah. these spacs do, can offer projections that you can't in a typical ipoa. lot of it is spaced on 2006 numbers, right? stacy, it makes it a fairly speculative situation in oftentimes >> yeah. i think that's why disclosure and transparency is part of this so i spect the sec will look at

whether or not there are the right level of details around promote fees and disclosures and public companies give guidance, too, but they're careful and cautious about how they do that that's what i expect to see evolve within the stpacs space >> if new york state did this proposal for a stock levy. i see the tax commissioner rejected it. is that off the table now? >> certainly in new york, i think they'll recognize businesses are portable. we can move, others can missouri we are already seeing companies and especially financial services firms move out of state. i don't want to leave new york i want to keep the new york stock exchange in new york so that's definitely the goal. but we certainly are going to make the decisions based on what our customers are asking us to do i think it's important to recognize, though, the federal transaction packs would have a negative on the investor the investor pays the tax. we continue lose sight of that

this isn't about pricing out high frequency trading as you often see. that's not what it will do it's a tax worn by investors they haven't worked in really any location and so we hope that the legislators will recognize that. >> stacy, i believe the last time you were on the noivg was back in late december. since when we seen the rise of the memes stockt given the rise in the democratization and the attention on a huge volatility and a handful of smaller names, also on market plumbing, market structure, some of the business models now coming to light in a more broad-based way >> i think there are things like all complex market structure issues there are a number of different component that are involved. first off, i would say and i don't think we should lose sight of the fact that democratizatio of these opportunities is really important. so the fact that there are more retail participants getting involved in the markets is a good thing

we need to make sure we can keep it a good thing by keeping them informed, delivering the transparency we need to deliver. about the way the markets work and there are some components of markets that aren't widely understood by investors. what investors don't understand the full details of the story, it can erode investor confidence, so it's our job in the financial services industry, to make sure we are telling that story and not leaving blanks in the story. you know, i love to use the expression, no -- if you leave blanks, people will write crazy stories. we need to make shower one the facts are out there and true second, whether or not those facts, there is area for improvement. that's what i expect to see. gary genzler comes into the ftc and is confirmed, he will have a list of topics to look at right out of the gate. i expect to see the sec will explore, one, is there enough transparency and, two, are there areas to continue to improve the markets to make sure we are protecting investor confidence in there stacy, always appreciate it,

thank you. >> thanks for having me. have a great day >> the opening sure was great. we faded a little bit as the dow is up 241 nasdaq has gone red. wolfgang puck will join us in a bit. talk about the opening of the future of restaurants. don't go anywhere. ♪ if your money is working toward the same goals, why keep it in different places? sofi is a one-stop shop for your finances- designed to work better together. spend with sofi and get cash back rewards that automatically go toward your goals. like investing in stocks, etfs, and crypto.

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cracks starting to emerge, finduthito o wch scks they are on trading nation on cnbc.com. more "squawk on the street" straight ahead

welcome back to "squawk on the street". famed chef and restaurateur wolfgang puck opening a large open air eating area in front of his beverley hills spa that opened to the public last night, that new addition. he joins us now. welcome to the show. >> thank you so much to be here. you know, i must say the city of

beverley hills to let us take over the street and build our outside pavilion because for us, just to operate at 25% or so is very difficult so now the customers feel really welcome. they feel really safe, but also it makes real good sense when you go out, you want to be in a nice place. so we built a beautiful pavilion out there. even in new york city downtown, we built an outside area, in the washington, d.c., we put the wolfdog. we really invested a lot of money in it. as far as beverley hills alone, we spent $350,000 on our outside pavilion we shouldn't call it a tent. it is temporary, but we put in a beautiful wood floor with beautiful plants it's really a beautiful place and people are very excited because people want to go out. they want to have a good time.

they want to go to a restaurant. they're tired of sitting at home and having takeout. >> given the size of the investment, is this, will this be permanent does this i guess represent a larger, more fundamental shift in the way you will offer dining at your restaurants, whether it is in beverley hills or other locations? >> well, you know, i really believe something good has come out of this. this great restaurant is on. it has become an outdoor dining destination. people can walk on the sidewalk and go from restaurant-to-restaurant and go and visit shops and everything i think it has become a more pedestrian venue, which is actually much better instead of having cars racing up and down the street so i am really happy that the city and maybe other cities around the country, let us build outside platforms and give the people the option to sit outside. you know, i know indoor dining

is going to come back. but in a place like california, where the weather is amazing, you know, sitting outside, it's so nice and people really enjoy. >> chef, i am curious, have you so many restaurants in so many different parts of this country and really across the world, as we are seeing reopenings happen to varying degrees in those different markets, are consumers coming are people coming? >> you know, people are actually come, people want to be safe i always said i want my employees safe and our customers safe when they shut us down before thanksgiving in l.a. county, for example, people stayed home. that's when we got more covid-19 than coming to the restaurant. because nobody tests them at home we do a test for the employees it's for a year now every week so we test them and the customers know that and i think now some of their older

customers got vaccinated twice they come in with a big smile and says i got both of my vaccinations they feel so happy to go out and feel safe. >> business is really doing well. >> i have a question for you. >> yeah. >> chef, about food prices with go v we got some inflation numbers this morning food is one of the things going up rather than down, how do you avoid giving consumers sticker shock when they open the menu? >> i really believe right now people are really excited about being able to go to the restaurants. so naturally, we always supported the local farmers. we go to the local farmer's market incident pick up the vegetables and fruits. we don't worry about the quantity, the prices, which look abou we look at the quality

the same thing in the fish market in the upscale industry, if you are charged more, it doesn't make such of a big difference. if you are in the fast food industry, obviously, that makes a big difference so for me, it's not only that we can open the restaurants, that we can emplo i the people that they have a job, that they aring the mified to work instead of sitting at home. it's also to support our local farmers to support the people trying to make a living. so it's a top down effect. >> i am curious. looking over the past year, i can't believe it's been a year >> i know. >> you have been oneof a handful of very vocal well-known, celebrated restaurateurs that have lobbied the government around more aide for the restaurant industry. looking back on that time frame, do you feel they have done enough for the industry and the

workers employed by it >> looking back, hindsight is 2020 i think the government acted too slow when trump was a president. they could not agree on a stimulus package and helping out restaurants and small businesses and also having things responsibly opened as i said before, we were opened in october open in october in t summertime in california, and all of a sudden they shut us down what happened is the pandemic spiked the virus spiked a lot over the holidays because everybody stayed home. and i think that was most scientific evidence that outdoor dining is really a factor in spreading the virus. so i think for us to shut things down, opening up, what's very costly but also very difficult for our employees. they all have kids at home, want to feed the kids, the holidays why coming up. no money coming in, no stimulus and no ppe money either.

>> all right thank you for joining us today we look forward to having you back on to update us as we meet more reopening efforts around the world, chef wolfgang puck. >> we see the light at the end of the tunnel, so thank you for having me. >> good to hear. thank you. we're getting a new economic outlook survey for business roundtable for that eamon javers is with us >> reporter: yeah, carl, you heard wolfgang puck talk about the light at the end of the tunnel and a similar optimism from ceos in this business roundtable, ceo economic survey just out right now take a look at some of these numbers and you get a sense of what i'm talking about start with plans for hiring. that's up 30 points from the fourth quarter of 2020 plans for capital investment also up 16 points from the fourth quarter of 2020 sales expectations up 17 points from the fourth quarter of 2020. gdp growth, the estimate here is 3.7% now among the ceos surveyed by the business roundtable

that's also up from where they were in terms of their prediction at the end of last year 72% of the ceos surveyed here say conditions have already recovered for their company by the end of 2021. so that is they're saying they are out of the woods or close to it 71% of the ceos responding to that with that affirmation really of where the economy is going here so all of that coming, david, as we get this massive injection of new relief into the economy from washington so some calls for optimism among the ceos >> their prognostication skills not the best thank you. >> reporter: like the rest of us >> speak for yourself. we'll give you a quick programming note right here, don't miss cnbc's "on the edge" with sharp opinions, the hottest takes and fierce debates about the big players and the news in the business world we'll be right bk.ac

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the so-called meme stocks rallying again in today's trade. our dom chu, who is so close and yet so far away. >> yes, a little behind the

scenes i love it, morgan, when we show these shots of you and i in the studio >> a meme in the making. >> i have to walk a lot of paces just to get over there those meme stocks are moving again. to give you an idea gamestop shares up 15%. moving towards there right now amc entertainment up 9.5% as well cost is the big one. dave portnoy, founder of bar stool, up about 15% today. bed bath and beyond, they don't always go up down about 3%. take a look at gamestop, just in particular, to put perspective around everything we've been talking about. we're talking about a stock worth roughly $20 billion in total market cap at the highs on a closing basis, this was a roughly $24 billion

stock. it was a $1.5 billion stock before the internet phenomenon in the last few days, carl, the vaneck vector social that tracks mentions, it launched, about a $300 mutual fund or etf, now up half a percent keep an eye on all those social sentiment stocks >> all right, dom, thank you very much. speaking of some high valuations, tesla is in a bit of a fade this morning. did get to 717 at the open we'll talk about the attempt to extend the games which were among the high nest a year when "squawk alley" starts in a moment to meet the world's needs while creating a cleaner future for all. at chevron, we're lowering the carbon emissions intensity of our operations, investing in lower-carbon technologies,

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