apple's likely entry into the auto market. interesting, that's part of the commentary there. >> that's a weird one to bring up all of the other ones make sense. we'll see what that does stock is up 1.5% dom, good to see you this morning. thank you. well, that just about does it for us this morning joe and andrew, we have wednesday here, thursday here, and then the markets are closed for good friday. but we'll be here for that, too. >> yes. >> we'll see all of you back here tomorrow. right now, it's time for "squawk on the street. good wednesday morning welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer, david faber has the morning off. final day of q1. a lot of news. pfizer says its vaccine has 100% efficacy for young teens the president rolls out infrastructure this afternoon, and adp, strongest number since september, and our road map

begins with continued vaccine optimism, pfizer as we said, said the covid vaccine 100% effective in kids 12 to 15 biden unveiled the infrastructure plan later today. and finding new voting laws, dozens of executives delivering a call to action. we'll start with the pfizer news it has been a while since we've had some vaccine data. we're talking about no major safety issues, as we said, completely effective, and they're hoping they can request authorization in the coming weeks. >> this is really great. and don't underplay this because while we inoculated many seniors, this is the cohort that spreads and they don't necessarily feel it, but they certainly can give it to older people, and anybody who has younger children like this knows that you really couldn't see it if you're a grand parent, it was just don't dangerous so i thought this was very, very positive i know that if we're going to get to heard immunity, this group has to be vaccinated, and it takes again off the table, the impending doom comment, from

dr. walensky at the cdc. >> yes at this point, jim, you got 29% of the population has one dose, and 50% of seniors, are fully vaccinated in this country, although we continue to see trouble spots around the world, british columbia is going to shut down for three week, india's cases are seeing severe rises, and france is talking about perhaps another lockdown, but you got to say, the u.s. continues to lead the charge on this. >> yes, definitely i know phil lebeau has talked about how travel has come back in the country but what is missing is travel to europe. you really can't go. i do think that there's, that other countries are botching it, and when we see it, it's really painful, because they should have learned from our mistakes, it just seems like they haven't. the united states is vaccinated more than three million people a day. that's incredible. you can keep getting these memos, if you're from new jersey and new york, you keep getting

emails from the states saying this week, it's this, and next week it is this, and next week, this is not glacial, this is revolutionary. and even should get something by the, if you didn't get vaccinated by the end of may, your state is net doing a good, is not doing a good job. >> i saw some photos of ohio, kids 16 and up in ohio getting their shots and the president said a few days ago 90% of the population will be eligible in about three weeks and it kind of leads us to the ongoing reopening story regarding corporate america at least wells fargo yesterday saying after september 6th, start thinking about what they're calling a more normal return to work, and in their word, jim, we believe most of us benefit when we are physically together that's going to get interesting. and at the same time, this piece in the journal, this morning about, jpmorgan, salesforce, and price-waterhouse-coopers, subletting an awful lot of real estate in new york city, up 40% year on year, and it's not a cost issue this time, jim, not

like prior cycles where they were trying to save money, they just don't need it. >> charlie sharp, who runs wells fargo, he's like this invisible man. i mean a piece comes out, which is that you got to be in september. no one says anything about how charlie sharp is a cool task master that this takes share from anybody else, kind of goes out there, and i wonder whether well, charlie sharp is thinking we're going to pick up business from these other guys who run a country club setting those of us who know charlie sharp, a lost fun, con vivable, but he's as tough as nail, and if you want to continue to play at the hampton, we're at the office and i think he's going to get them some business, it certainly gives them some notoriety, he is a terrific guy, and i wish he could come on and talk about this, because he's saying come on, vaccinate, let's get serious and other firms are you got the country home, zoom, you know, talk to you later.

no, charlie, he takes it that's what he wants >> do you think we're approaching a stage, jim, where either being in the office close to your boss is going to be a competitive workplace edge, and along the same lines, is corporate travel, we talked about this for months, at what point would it be your edge if you were willing to actually get on the plane and go see the client, and with the client, would the client actually want it receive you >> look, i think if there's fabulous restaurants and expensive bottles of wine, i think they will want to see them, i wouldn't want be to so simplistic but the idea you will sit there and do zoom, this is not a mexican standoff, okay you will have to say, i got to go charlie sharp is that guy from wells investment bank, i guess i got to go. and you call the, your target, you call the potential customer, and there's going to be customers who would say i would love to go out, sure this is the roaring '20s for heaven's sake.

i want to go out to the best places and they're still in businesses i think nareyen at adobe, he said the travel and entertainment budget would go up and i thought that was really significant because he has to go after some big clients and he's saying listen, i'm going to win them over. and the guy, in awful estimates who is basically saying that budget has to go higher, we got to win business, and as far as these big investment banks, they love these trading programs, and you got to call the wheat in the chaff. you don't know who is any good if you're just doing things by zoom so i think that people are going to follow charlie sharp's lead, i think they might not want to, i think you're going to read that jpmorgan will rescind some of their, some of the sublet, and people are going to be back, because charlie basically is saying, all right, you don't want to come in, i'll trim the vest and take your clients, how do you feel about that goldman sachs? charlie is the most competitive guy i've net

he's kind of a velvet fist if you wonder i just love him. incredibly funny but he's about taking share. >> interesting, jim. you know, it is, as we said at the top, the final day of the quarter, and adp as we mentioned, pretty strong, not quite as strong as estimates but the best number since september, again, leading to some suspicions of strength around jobs friday, in a couple of days and then you got infrastructure, and a lot of details starting to come out, about promises for ev charging stations nationwide, retrofitting homes, universal, affordable broadband, but i think it's 2030, is it inflation nare, going to overheat the economy or as the white house said this morning on "squawk" an historic opportunity to invest in the country where we're number 13 around the world in infrastructure spend. >> former president trump used to be talk all the time about what a second rate infrastructure we had in the country, versus china.

i think that the rap this time is let's wait and see. because we're putting so much money into the economy, and a lot of the stimulus was based on the fact that we would never have this kind of vaccination rate so i think there may be people who want to say wait and see when i look at the package of what people, of what the president wants, it's very little of it seems to actually be towards bridges we don't make bridges in this country for the most part. we stopped making bridge steel a long time ago at bethlehem steel. and it has turned into an rh and it's been a casino and i don't want people to go out and buy these stock, i want to say if you want to be involved, buy nucor and martin marietta and the last two are aggregate companies and if you don't give them infrastructure, you will do really, really well. when you see something like rural broadcast, you're not going to make any money off of it, when you see one of the policy, the policies where they're getting better care for

individuals you're in the going to make any money on it. there is something in there for building up fabs, and very difficult to do now, with intel, they said that they want to build fabs, so i don't know, i find it's too much of a pass tis passtiche, they better figure out a theme here. >> pelosi is talking about passage she hopes by the fourth of july. and this ebitda guy, better than expected, with a tail wind and tom freedman in the "times" this morning, talking about how we're supposed to think about government support and the general view, maybe you agree, maybe you don't, is the government comes in and helps at least lower the price of these new innovation, that allows companies to come in with a profit centric motive and sell the way capitalism is supposed to work. >> well, look, that's the way it works in other countries better than our country for instance, south korea is

deeply committed to clean hydrogen clean hydrogen is uneconomic we can say we're committed to clean hydrogen but not put any money on it so it's not going to scale in this country. it's going to be up to the south koreans. and to the people's republic of china which is very committed because it is the cleanest form of energy. they put money behind it and it is money involved. and south korea is good capitalism we have to do more of that and when i see the government is blocking the area of south jersey, in the coast where we can have windmills, no, we got to write a check to the companies that make windmills saying we got to get the price down, here's seed money, and i think if they do what tom freedman said, and i think he's right, remember nasa lowered the price of so many good, so many materials but i'm hard pressed to find out right now what our government will, lower the price of. >> and we need one to one and a

half trillion to get the infrastructure to where they want it to be but they are opposed to any kind of rise in the corporate income, the corporate tax rate, and if we go back to 28, that's something, is it a liability for stocks or not? >> well, i think it has to be just because there are these strategists who are always anxious to be able to take down their number first, because it can make a splash. i know they're also talking about making it so more money, the tax rates for money is repatriated. what a loser, the companies don't repatriate, that's the whole point and the reason it was lowered is companies leave it overseas and that's a great way to get the money back but i'm sure that you start hearing what do you do with the money, they gave dividends and they gave buybacks, i think that's a false narrative, i think part of the great gdp growth is there is a lot of money put into the country and i'm hoping they don't scrap that because you'll never see a dime from overseas. >> yes, that was sort of the focus of the b of a piece earlier in the week, jim, that coming out of the financial

crisis, it's exactly what happened, they went straight to buybacks and dividends but the picture might be different this time, given how our overall priorities regarding infrastructure might have shirted. and by the way, jim, 174 billion, just for e.v. markets alone. that's a big push. >> well, look, e.v. is the future there's no doubt about it. but if you look at what ford's doing. you look at what gm's doing. they are deeply committed to do it we have enough spac charging stations that they're committed to do it i want to know what they intend to do e.v. that we're not doing already. particularly by the way that the parts for e.v., i mean we had just a total debacle this morning, i'll get into it later with romeo power, the companies, the spac companies that were involved with electrification, well, you can write a blarng ch blank check to any of these so i

think the government should be more focused on what the blank check wouldn't be written to than what they're writing to. >> right and there's been a lot of hammering about this in the past few day, the ways in which the prior attempt at doing all of this under the obama administration kind of led to some embarrassing stumble, right? fisker and although that package ended up creating about a million jobs and the energy department's loan program actually did make money, there was plenty of ammo there if you wanted to create an opposition strategy on the other side. >> look, the examples are so glaring, that they tend to really camouflage, or disguise what was a good jobs program solar has come down in price by the way. where, this is going to sound a little, but where it's sunny, we got solar, which is why they're trying to figure out wind in the northeast but we're, our solar initiatives have worked, and that may be an example of the government really bringing a lot of attention to solar, but really the state government.

california has been so forward, that it's almost, there's a lot of power, more power coming from people's homes, than a lot of the power companies need it is an ongoing issue look, we all look for it but i think that the people who try to make money off of it, if you want to make money off of e.v. charging station, be careful. i know four of them, and i don't think that you're going to, they're all going to go at it, so stick with what you believe in you mentioned cleveland clips. there's a company that is doing really, really well. if you think there is going to be something involving bridges and tunnels and you need steel and unless you're using recycled steel like they use from nucor, i think you do want cleveland clips. stick with the ones that are working. by the way, the industrials -- buying back stocks, they are putting a lot of money in the economy, carl, so we should drop that false narrative, that they're not doing anything they're winning. >> by the way, jim, you

mentioned the chip shortage and how that problem is sort of difficult to untangle any time soon i did notice that chuck robbins talked to yahoo finance yesterday, and said tshortage could last a couple of years because of the strong demand and we have to fight our way through it. >> we got to hear what micron says tomorrow and i understand why chuck could be so bearish because the demand side is so extraordinary and you're sold out. kla tencor can't get anything. lam research is just a juggernaut i think chuck's a little too bearish. maybe that's just his team got knocked out and he didn't get into the ncaa. probably not. >> i'm sure he's watching right now, jim we'll take a break right here. we will want to hear what jim has to say about lulu and chewy. an upgrade at ubs for apple. harley square as well as additional news, cannabis of course, new york tus e xey.g stor furearmid. back in a moment

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dozens of the nation's black business leaders are calling on corporate leader to oppose new laws that would restrict the rights of black voters and use their clout, their money, their lobbyists, to sway the debate with lawmakers. ken frazier leading that effort and this is what they said earlier this morning on "squawk". >> americans must vote, black americans must vote, and when it comes to protecting the rights of all americans to vote, there can be no middle ground. we cannot be in the business of creating unjust and undemocratic laws >> what we do is we raise the specter of voter fraud, and now, we restrict legal voters,

eligible voters' ability to cast ballots, and that's what's wrong with this bill >> jim frazier took pains to point out that this is not a partisan issue, that there are instances in the past where democrats also tried to corral certain types of voting, under various instruments, something that he actually filed lawsuits against, but it's a remarkable step, as david were here, he'd talk about the issues that ceos are taking on in new ways. >> i thought that we solved this in 1964 with the voting rights act. with lyndon johnson. this is embarrassing i think that ken frazier and ken chenault are just great americans and the idea that there are not 500 ceos in the 500 standing with them is really re served. and these battles, bobby kennedy, martin luther king, lbj won them and to have this rear guard action against people who led us through this, it's

disgraceful. i don't mind saying that it's just disgraceful. and ken frazier has been such a beacon what an amazing ceo. these guys, they stand for america. i don't know what the other people stand for if they want to go back and read history, because if they read history, they know they're fighting the tide of history and i just find this to be shameful and disgraceful lbj, who had a lot of flaws, and rfk who had a lot of flaws, they won this battle. and these people who are fighting this, they really need to study their history they should go take a civics lesson >> jim, what do you think is holding other companies back, who are not being vocal about this, some of the, there are the lobbying groups, business round table in the u.s. chamber, the focus is on to take a stand, as well as some high profile companies based in georgia, jim, we know which ones they are and they didn't necessarily come out swinging against this

legislation. >> fear. fear of clients. fear of government fear of their own shadow fear of being great americans because they're afraid it will cause heat for their bottom line i don't know hey, listen, look, these are not democratic/republican issues, they are just not. and i think all of these people will have to look at what ken chenaul said, and ken frazier, realize that they are like, these people who are against it, they led great american companies, this very done a fabulous job, they have fought the fight, and to be losing with the ceos in the south, what are these people doing i mean where are they hiding honestly i mean i remember '64. look, i campaigned for rfk '68. these people, we knew what the score was. we knew who was the enemy. and now, it's okay

geez i mean these battles were won. and if someone cares about earnings per share, i don't even know what they're fighting for, when they're against this. they're fighting for the disenfranchisement of black people, because there's something we ought to do, what is this, the 1870s, reconstruction, the corrupt bargain that tilden lost i'm struggling to deal with this one. free man spirit down there lincoln? >> jim, we're going to watch it obviously. well covered in the "times" today as well as axios talking about the issues specifically that they're trying to take on by the way, cnbc's "race & opportunity in america" special airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, the rise in anti-asian violence in this country and look at the economic and social challenges facing that community and talk to a lot of business leaders including the director dom chu and boxing ceo and former avon ceo, and fashion

designer, and jennifer tehaada, tonight at 8:00 p.m. back in a minute da, tonight at 8:00 p.m. back in a minute

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got some earnings to look at, that's going to get us to cramer's "mad dash". >> okay, you get a lot of negative chatter about lululemon and some analysts saying they have issues involving costs and issues that they have to spent more on mirror, i think these will all disappear look, the sellers will come in, and brokers get order, they send it down, and then in the middle of the day, they send it down 12 after nine, and then bounce it to eight so they look like a better average year to date and this is a good quarter and people have to understand lulu will spend on mirror because they believe mirror could be peloton and who could blame them with peloton's valuation so i think, no real downgrades here, and lulu by the way has a history of being conservative with guidance so don't take the bait it's a good quarter. and they're just being very common sensical about what is going to happen. this is a post-pandemic winner, not a post-pandemic loser,

people will wear lululemon and the only place it may be losers is charlie sharp and well, he probably makes you put a tie on. >> yeah, btig this morning, says jim, the guidance is probably conservative but physical comps, physical comps down 28 and i want to talk about the mall, and i know you spoke to macy's last night but in the meantime, there is the opening bell on this wednesday morning, and interesting day at the big board, it's online education reporter coursera, celebrating an ipo, and we will talk to the ipo later this morning, on "squawk alley" and holback, a grass roots issue to end harassments. and what about the mall, having spoken to ganett last night. >> i'm really torn jeff told a pretty good story at macy's he took pains to distinguish between the a and b malls and the other malls. that is something that david simon has explained to me over and over again, which is that there are mauls that people go

to and there are malls that people don't and macy's, i think, is emblematic of the customer that is middle range, that is going back, and the bloomy's business is fantastic, by the way, and people like them, they put some backstages in macy's, and if they need to close a door, they close and they do two to three times the digital in that area than if they don't and everybody is saying they're leading with digital, and leading with digital, you have to say leading with digital, because you look at target's stock and where they actually led with digital and you're kind of saying i want to be target. a lot of companies want to be brian cornell but there is only one brian cornell who is smart enough to buy shipt, which most of us who use it are kind of blown away by how good it is, but pbh, no longer, manny cherico, look at that target, cornell is a visionary and i think what people, when

people use their dot-com so to speak, their e-com, they're amazed at the ease of it but i think macy's is no longer in the fight for its life. they had a decent quarter. with good cash flow. they're taking the costs down. so that is no longer on the, i don't know, the critical list. nor is kohl's, obviously, nordstrom. but look at these, look at target, walmart by the way, it has been a real dog. and i think one of the reasons it's been a real dog is other people are catching up to their great e-commerce but macy's, i think gannett told a pretty good story, i know there are people who are doubters and people who say you know what, we're going to see the mall slink back to the last customers who aren't interested, i don't think that's true, i think the a and b malls are getting customers. people like to shop. that's something we were very good at shopping and steel was like number 480. trying to get steel back up

there. >> for a lot of people, jim, it's an experience, not just a necessity. and i know you're probably dying to talk some chewy, back to 90, going to be the highest since early march. i see wedbush i think goes from 90 to 100. reiterates the upper part. and largely on strength? >> this is one of the stories where they put on a clinic, and really, it was a clinic on how to move and have incredible growth, make money when people didn't think you were going to make money, have proprietary name brands that i happen to think are better than the actual, not unlike costco, where i like to buy the kirkland brand, so chewy is doing many, many things right, not a back patter, they're running a very, these guys run to win, and i think anyone who listened to what they had to say about the retention of customers, after the reopening america, and then the love of pets, i mean the love of pets is extraordinary. pets really took off, so to speak, during the pandemic, and

now it's continuing, so chewy's got that secular growth tail wind and they also have the tail wind of being, once they're in, once people are in, this new cohort, the 2020 cohort, spending more than the 2019 cohort, so congratulations to the chewy people, and doing such a remarkable job, and those of us who are customers love the, we love the personalization. which is really extraordinary. >> a pretty nice move there. 11% on a surprise profit the evidence, ubs, when ubs took apple to a buy, they go from 115 to 142, sturdier iphone demand and they're talking more about optionality regarding a car which they say could be worth at least $14. what do we make of this? >> well, look, i was listening yesterday, on "squawk" and basically talking against all this, he is really talking about how, listen, there is no momentum, and there's really not

much, as i get my apple, my evidence lab, ubs, suv, or svu, or something, but one of the things that i think tony looks at is the actual numbers, as you go up, in progression, '21 to '22, to '23, really isn't special but i continue to hold that those numbers are way too low because of service revenue, which i think is going to be explosive. this isn't even based on the service revenue. this is actually saying no super cycle. thank hetches. super cycles are the kiss of death. and no optionality, seasonality, i think all of those work, but i do remember, these stocks are out of favor there is just kind of a sense that if you want to own something tech, you have to own something that plays into the chip shortage hand you want to own semiconductor capital equipment. or something that is so exciting that's revolutionary, i think, and those are very hard to find. i mean look, i think nvidia is one of the greatest companies,

and it has a fantastic sweet of products that makes it so video games are much better. and video games are part of the, those are the days where you sat around and now we're going out and so a lot of the chip stocks are related to people who are sitting around, and then the others are in shortage and they're related to the autos so it is very hard to find really good tech stories that people want. people are defaulting to kind of warnings, and i would like to see people, i see people buying ibm endlessly and chuck robbins on yahoo finance, people are buying cisco, people think it is very inexpensive and chuck is sticking by a couple of years that it is going to take but sticking by the tar heels and the falcon, which i mean talk about three, talk about three teams that are going to take a couple of year, the semiconductors, the falcon, and the tar heels. they're all on long supply there's a glut of all three, all three of those, no, no, i love chuck, but chuck does back some

really curious teams including d-rams >> on the flip side, from tech, jim, i don't know if you saw, this out of kimberly clark a few moments ago, raising prices across the board in north america. to offset what they're calling significant commodity cost inflation. that stock is back to 141. a high for the year, jim in fact, that's above the 50-day, or the 200-day for the first time in several months >> i'm sure proctor can say the same thing, i was hoping this happens because the margin squeeze is terrible. historically kimberly has had this issue about pulp. procter doesn't have to make the same statement and these stocks, when we can see a price increase being put through and sticking as we have by the way in the chemicals because ofsuper storm, the numbers go up and up and the analysts all fight to be able to say i got it, i got it, i got it, i wonder whether color c

can, whether clorox can do that, and still down from its high, and only 55,000 shares trading here, up 40 cents, but you're looking at a stock that is down three, and these, i know we're not going to year over year buy as much clorox because we're no longer stockpiling wipes but these companies are acting like they will never come back and if they put through price increases, the numbers have to go higher. that's what the street wants >> that's interesting. kroger also this morning, reiterating guidance for the year, with a range that is sort of straddles the consensus, jim, the other upgrade that i thought was interesting was baird on harley, they go to outperform, the price target is 45, and they are talking about some better strategic execution, but mostly it's about strengthening retail demand and severe inventory shortages, to the topic we were talking about a few minutes ago. >> well, the new ceo, i think, really coming to grips with the age issue. and trying to get that down, and

by the way, polaris, which is not going to have a lot of atvs, benefitting from that, and vista outdoors, and the part that is yut doors, still doing well, and williams sonoma, still doing well, i wonder, krarm, whether people didn't get a taste for being outdoors and recognizing the greatness of it, and how much of this is going to be people who have been slinking back home after they discovered and spent for a brunswick boat, i mean people like, i think there's just a sense that maybe we ought to go to the great outdoors and embrace it, more than just because of the pandemic i know that it sounds silly that we've tasted the outdoors and liked them, but i think we may have >> well, i mean, we've talked about harley over the years, facing sort of long-term demographic challenges, as perhaps millennials don't want to ride as much as they used to, as much as their parents did but maybe a good-sized balance sheet

on the household sort of changes that dynamic we'll have to see. >> boeing jim, back to 255 we talked about the southwest sale and alaska buying maxs. >> here is my theory on what is happening. i think south west just got a great deal on its planes i don't think that, i mean boeing wants to clear that inventory out. i know boeing can make money on the back end, on service, but i think southwest, i think gary kelly basically said i'm going airbus, and they gave him the store. so now, if you're alaska, you say hey, i want some of the store, so i think there's going to be it's not orchestrated, i think they all want that southwest deal, so i continue to believe that boeing goes to 300, and when i say going to 200, people didn't believe me, when it was in the 150s i think this is an excellent opening of america's story i think it works still not done >> no, you were, you had faith, when, man, it was dark days. and it was hard to shake you from your confidence. >> great american company.

>> and eventually recover. well run now i want to congratulate again greg smith on the bond deal that saved america, so to speak, when they were able to raise money, during some dark days, it meant that real america is going to get bailed out here. and not bailed out with a check, necessarily, but the capital markets wrote for them, and that was a lot of jay powell doesn't get a lot of credit for that, but he was instrumental in doing it and by the way, carl, you know what is moving up today, some of these dog software company, and you know, even the data dogs, salesforce is moving up, and snowflake, i wonder who is in there buying these, it is extraordinary to see stocks that have just been down for days, actually getting a little lift i got to do some more work on that, because those have been not the place to go, snowflake being the most hideous of these, down 20% for the year, and i always hail frank, i know he's been on shot but people are saying jim, don't you understand this is owned by millennials and they think it's related to the weather? i think that people have been

waitingand waiting and waiting for these stocks to come down, my friend karen firestone said that stocks are selling at a price to sales, very expensive stock but to see someone finally take the bait when it's down 20%, i find that hopeful, maybe that's hopeful, because people have been waiting for the quarter to end and they want to get into these, but to see snowflake up more than pepsi is a big deal >> i do wonder, jim, we don't talk about london names very much, but deliveroo, over in london, a big ipo today, tickeroo, down 24, it has people in europe wondering if that enthusiasm will get washed out a bit. >> wow u.k. has had some really good numbers with vaccinations. and that's terrible. that's absolutely terrible the ipos have to stop. and look, some of these companies, look, i got to talk about this romeo for a second, that's rmo, and okay, look at, that they made some projections, in october, their spac, rmo,

they predicted they would have 140 million in revenues this year well, hey, that sounds really good remember, you're allowed to project whatever you want, if it's a spac. i think the government is going to have to get to the bottom of this 140. it looks like, well, it's not going to be that good. and they're lucky if it's 40 so you have 140, the forecast, made in october of last year, for a spac, and now they're talking about 18 million to 40 million. so this is the cole porter, anything goes, i know you love pop music, anything goes with a spac. >> cole porter i like cole porter more than rogers and marten. >> it takes two people to write a song, he was proud to do both. and jim, we'll watch romeo i do want to ask, while we have a minute before we get to rick on cannabis, the new york state senate did approve legalization for recreational, dispensaries could open as early as next year, and they're talking tens of thousands of jobs, $4 billion

in sales, it's going to actually be a bigger market jim than washington state, and not quite as big as california, but i guess the question is whether the stocks move on it. >> look, they're on an upswing, you get till ray, already up 182% this year, and i think that a lot of these, anywhere on the ballot win, and buy grow generation, because the pick and shovel name, because they make it so that you can grow, very expensive stock to really grow en masse, but look, these stocks are, they're not to be denied on an individual basis, but i think new york is being a little too optimistic new jersey is not that great maybe new york will be wide open but a lot of things are like local areas that don't want this so i say don't get too excited a lot of this is already in these stocks i like canopy because they got a lot of cash. and because they have that tastes great, no filling drink that none of us has had yet. >> i did say thir there's some

stories this morning about congress and whether or not the table is truly set on federal legalization, we got mcconnell sort of out of the way as a road block, at least that's what some of the dems would argue but a little more skepticism that that could actually get done, for now, it seems to be more of a state by state story >> yes. >> and a big deal for new york. >> and mississippi, the only place. they were grandfathered in oxford >> i think we're going to get chicago pmi in let's get to rick santelli hey, rick. >> yes, you know, very similar to yesterday's consumer confidence, anybody with a heart condition ought to sit down now, a big jump in chicago pmi, expecting a number barely over 60, 66.3 66.3, and that is a good number. as a matter of fact, you have to go pretty much all the way back to july of 2018, where it's 67.1, so that is a biggie, and housing market, how does the

market rehabiliact to that, ticu as we speak, a week to date of 10-year note yields what you will notice is we extended and we held. and you could argue we are kind of flat today. flat over 170. actually that is a very good thing. considering 172 and change is the high close going back to january of 2020. and let's take a long view, shall we here's a 10-year of 10-years why is this important? because look at that chart what jumps out at you? what jumps out at you is the mid 130s, up to 2%, looks like the zone, we're going to spend time in, and i think that is a fairly safe bet remember, the mid to upper 130s represented the lowest yield closes in history in 2012 and 2016, july of both those years, until of course covid hit and pushed that number down a half of one percent 0.50 if we consider the momentum of

late and we realize today is the last day of march and why is that important because whether you're looking at canada, new zealand, japan, or india, this is the end of their fiscal year. and it's important, and a lot of mutual funds, and other large institutional players, also have their fiscal year calendar year ending at the end of march so there's going to be some rejiggering going on we understand that now, finally, let's look at what is going on with 30-year minus 10-year yields, a fascinating chart. chicago pit traders used to love this spread? why? it gives you momentum and the horsepower on the long data. and contracting, the most narrow it has been in eight months. that would be tell me be a little cautious. that the 1 3/4 area that we bumped up in 10-years might end up holding up in consolidation back to you. >> thank you very much.

stocks got a little bump out of that chicago pmi number, as rick said, best in about two and a half years dow is up 62 most sectors in the green. you have the vix once again under 20 we're back in a moment we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ ♪ i wish that i knew what i know now ♪

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got some breaking news out of delta let's get to phil lebeau >> on the heels of ken frazier this morning in the "new york times" and on "squawk box" basically calling for corporate america to fight the repressive voting laws that have been passed in georgia and being considered in other states, the new laws that make it more restrictive in terms of peoples ability to vote. ed bastion out with an employee memo essentially saying delta agrees this law is too restrictive. a couple of quotes from the memo he writes however i need to make it crystal clear that the final

bill is unacceptable and does not match delta's values he goes on to write it's evident the bill includes provisions that will make it harder for many underrepresented voters, particularly black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to elect their representatives. that is wrong. those are the words of ed bastion, delta ceo so we are hearing from corporate executives following this call that corporate america needs to fight back against any voter laws that make it more restrictive for people to cast their ballots and certainly georgia is front and center. guys, back to you. >> just quickly, carol tomay, ceo of united parcel sent me a very interesting book about the history of african-americans who work for u.p.s it's stirring. it's a great story how long before she has to come

out? i mean, big employer, atlanta. i have to believe she'll be out there saying something soon. >> well, we reached out to delta as soon as we heard -- and i watched the interview with ken shenault and ken frazier, we reached out to delta saying they're calling out to executives and corporations and atlanta is in the center of all of this. what does ed bastion have to say? they said he's going to have something in an employee memo. it was within 45 minutes that we received this one. we don't think this was in response to the article in "the time's" or their appearance on "squawk box. this has been bubbling up. i think that for ed bastion, today was the day he had to put these words into a memo. it's clear, delta does not agree with the voter law that was passed in georgia. now whether or not that leads to changes, separate question

but clearly they are on the record as saying it is too restrictive. >> phil, it's an important story. on another day i might ask you about them stopping the blocking of middle seats beginning may 1st. >> yeah. >> we'll save that for another time >> you bet >> this is front and center today. thanks, phil do not miss cnbc's "race & opportunity in america," we'll look at the chalhe challenges fg the asian-american community last night i did a summit with matthew mcconaughey about the roles that corporate ceos are taking on a number of social issues here's what he said. >> our ceos are ready to take responsibility to say i'll pay my tithe, i'll pay back to the city that i moved to because i left a place that i didn't want

to be, i don't want to turn this city into what i left from that one. don't try to turn this place into why you left where you came from ceos are in position of more power right now than they ever have been to lead where people will go as a people and as a country. >> points to what you were saying with phil about the roles of companies like delta and home depot and u.p.s. >> yeah. we mentioned chuck robbins in a funny way involving some schools. let's talk about a serious way he and marc benioff have done more to say, listen, we have to pay more money we're lucky people in america. we're lucky people where we live lucky people we're wealthy it's time to give back they favor higher taxes on themselves i think that's emblematic of how great some of these ceos are i believe business is the greatest force for social change in this country. >> we'll follow that story

in the meantime, s&p 3,975 we're back in a moment

jim, you have an important guest tonight. >> yeah. two things to watch tonight.

secretary raimondo is important in putting together this infrastructure and then watch "race in america" because we're all too ignorant congratulations to all the people involved in that. >> we'll look for comments out of companies about the issues we've been talking about socially jim, we didn't really talk about quarter end and whether or not you think the playbook really changes in q2. >> i am surprised there's a lot of people coming back to the old favorite tech names as if nothing happened or perhaps people said i didn't want to show these i will show the people who are members of my fund or fund investors, the days -- they don't give you the last day in those holdings it looks like they're drawn to them again rather amazing maybe they think the selling is over i wouldn't be so sure.

>> right there's a lot headed our way this afternoon if we get some granularity on infrastructure though markets will be closed on friday that jobs number will be key looking forward to tonight good hour, man >> thank you >> "mad money" with jim cramer at 6:00 p.m. eastern good morning, everybody. i'm carl quintanilla with morgan brennan. we are wrapping up the end of march and q1 good news out of pfizer for the vaccine in the trial for younger kids the president will roll out the infrastructure package later on today. getting pending homes. for that we turn to diana olick. >> huge miss for pending home sales, down 10.6%. street was looking for a 3% drop this index measures signed contracts on existing homes, so people out shopping during the month of february. the realtors are blaming it on record low supply.

there were just 1.03 million homes for sale at the end of february a 29.5% drop from a year ago. regionally pending home sales fell everywhere. slightly higher in the south and west compared to a year ago. sales are varying dramatically by price point because supply so so low much more plentiful on the high end. we are starting to see inventory problems in the $500,000 range to $1 million range as well >> thank you we'll start with some of the big news out of pfizer meg tirrell has that for us. hi, meg. >> so pfizer has been testing its covid-19 vaccine in ages down to 12 the first results out from that cohort of 12-year-olds to 15-year-olds shows strong efficacy and a well tolerated vaccine for kids in this trial of about 2,200 kids ages 12 to 15, they saw

100% efficacy. that was found with 18 cases in the placebo group and zero percent in the vaccine group not huge numbers they were looking to see how well this was tolerated among these kids who have such a strong immune response pfizer's ceo saying they plan to submit the data to the fda as a proposed amendment to their emergency use authorization and to other regulators around the world with the hopes of vaccinating this age group before the start of next school year pfizer has started moving into lower age groups as well with trials, dosing the first patients ages 5 to 11 last week and plan to start ages 2 to 5 next week. ultimately getting down to as low as age six months. guys >> they're moving aggressively here another thing -- just a bit different. i know you've been following this closely we've seen a number of studies come out around vaccinations of pregnant women and nursing mothers as well.

what does the data there show? >> it's still pretty early of course there are controlled clinical trials going on to get the answers definitively so far the early data has been encouraging. the safety looks strong for pregnant women and nursing women and some very early signs that there may be antibodies passed along from pregnant moms to their babies or from nursing mothers to their babies. those are good things. we wait for more data to definitively say >> meg, i don't know how you do it the good news/bad news flow this week has been remarkable the study about pfizer/biontech. we had the impending doom quote from walensky. and to the cdc's best knowledge, those who are vaccinated don't spread how much faith do we put in that now? >> well the data are strong for the vaccines we've been seeing real-world

efficacy coming from israel and now more and more coming from the united states showing these are very effective vaccines against both disease and infection. now, the nih is running a trial in college students to really determine if people who are vaccinated can spread the virus to others. they hope to have that data in five months. it's not come mpletely imminent public health officials are also concerned about the next four to six weeks and the spread in some areas of the country they're warning us be careful for a while longer until we get to june as a time when much of the population will be vaccinated >> right hopefully this is one of the last quarters if not the last quarter where we have to be super careful. we'll have to wait and see a lot of news headed our way still. meg tirrell on the pfizer news, thanks. the best performing stock in

the dow for q1 is walgreens. bertha coombs has that for us. >> it's been a juggernaut. and it's up today as well on earnings just two weeks on the job, the walgreens ceo sounding a confident note saying she intends to move swiftly and decisively on moving the company forward. for the quarter which ended before she became ceo, the earnings are complicated because of the sale of alliance health care unit. taking that out, adjusted earnings of $1.26 per share were well above analysts expectations and sales came in at 32.8 billion. now, overall comp sales were up about 2% driven by 78% increase in digitally initiated sales, one of those things that ros brewer concentrates on front of store retail down due to the soft cold and flew season but pharmacy up 4.5% part of that driven by the

vaccine rollout. the company is boosting its outlook in part expecting a rebound in europe, but also a tailwind from the acceleration of vaccinations in the u.s they expect to do between 26 million to 30 million vaccines over the next few months each of those vaccinations will come in at $40 brewer says she sees the company's performance under covid as a great template for where they can move on a digital and in-person model. >> the work they're doing with village md to diversify who we are as not only a retail company or a pharmacy company but to look at health care overall. this is a complex marketplace. you know, i think we're all clear about that but defining our key differentiator is the work we have ahead of us these early innings we're in now, i'm highly encouraged by. >> brewer says she is undertaking a strategic review

of the company's initiatives and will get out and meet with shareholders overall on the call, she did sound a note of confidence and optimism and investors seemed to be responding. shares near they're all-time high >> definitely one of the leaders we're watching closely in this new role thanks, bertha bertha coombs on walgreens the biggest laggard is apple joining us to talk about is tom fortey good morning >> thank you for having me on. >> i wonder, before we talk about the degree to which it's an opportunity at these prices, what do you think has been the drag is it about component shortages or skepticism about the phone cycle or what? >> what i think about technology stocks in general, which have been under pressure, amazon being another great example, you have seen the shift into more economically sensitive names,

energy, financials additionally you've seen pressure on higher valuation technology stocks, tesla is probably the best example with rising interest rates. now, what i think is most interesting for apple, which is something we talked about during the election, is that you're seeing the risk to apple of a biden presidency what is that risk? well, he indicated he wants to pay his $3 trillion infrastructure bill by raising corporate taxes. when you think about corporate taxes, apple's probably one of the biggest taxpayers in the u.s. those are the things that are weighing on apple shares year to date and why it's underperformed nasdaq >> so how much should investors look past it and consider this an opportunity >> the real opportunity is 5g. if you think about the 5g experience for apple, in 2020 it was about getting a faster

processor mobile device into consumers hands and letting them leverage their home wifi as the vaccines take hold, you have a greater build out of the 5g network, this will result in a different experience for the consumer and a positive one meaning having a smarter processor on a faster wireless network. and the good news for apple is there's still a lot of discretionary spend to go for apple's products when you think about elevated savings rates or the fact that consumers are still spending less money on travel or food away from homers haves 2019 so i think the setup on 5g is still excellent for apple. >> tom, we could talk about 5g and certainly that's a big transformational, i guess, connectivity push. not only now but in the years to come the other piece for apple specifically, the services piece, how big of a deal is it to see these fights, these legal fights right now over the app

store and antitrust scrutiny >> so it is important. an antitrust scrutiny is something we're monitoring closely if you think about apple's advancement in services and you think about the revenue share for apple with app developers or content providers, that could have a material negative impact on apple's revenue growth for the future the good news in 2021 and 2022 and likely 2023 is you have a multi-year cycle with positive unit growth for its most important product, the iphone, from a revenue and profitability standpoint so even if it was to share less revenue with the content and app developers, selling more hardware may more than offset that >> apple car, is it going to happen is it a good thing long term >> i'm a believer it will happen eventually i think it's a good thing. when you think often apple is

not the first to enter a market but they find an opportunity to enter the market and make a premium product that's easier to use, things of that nature i think long term there is room for an apple car >> definitely a longer term story as we try to ferret out any early details. great seeing you >> thank you we'll stay with the tech stocks our next guest is laying out the best news in the sector to invest in through this volatile recovery let's bring in brian nowak >> good morning. thanks for having me >> you put out this report it's a two-part series the recovery and the not just shelter ins. break it down for us starting with recoveries what do you like in terms of playing the recovery from a tech standpoint >> yeah. in the recovery names we think about travel, rideshare and essentially experiences that people are going to have as they reopen we think a lot of these names

are priced in pretty large 2022 recovery scenarios bookings in travel, et cetera. so the way i like to play it is the dark horse play around alphabet, google, because 10% to 15% of search is actually associated with travel so the extent to which the online travel agencies like xpet people on their site is by search now and then uber. about over 55% of uber's rideshare business is associated with going out, restaurants, bars, traveling, going to airports, et cetera. as the world reopens, we think uber's rideshare business will really reopen. from a recovery perspective, i'm selective liking alphabet and uber the most. >> why uber and not lyft i ask that because i realize lyft is more of a north american story, uber is more global

but you're seeing some of these employee or contract worker regulations take shape in other key markets like the uk, for example where uber specifically is concerned >> yeah. the headlines and debate around global regulation of the shared economy are not going to go away i wouldn't say long-term they would be gone from the united states i wouldn't say lyft is immune from those discussions over the next two, three years. the reason i like uber more is because big picture, i like the platforms that have multiple products so rides, eats, grocery delivery, alcohol delivery, pharmacy delivery. to drive more user frequency and engagement i also like uber's focus on building out a subscription business the more uber subscribers you have in the ecosystem the more you are to build a sticky user base that will lead to larger overall bookings across the whole ecosystem, more free cash flow and long-term potentially make it more difficult for lyft

to compete against uber given lyft's single product focus. >> brian, on amazon, i know you talked about the market being focused on comping the comp to use your words i'm curious if you could talk a bit about that and also what would it take to get to your bull case of 5k? >> yeah. good morning, carl so, comping the comp has been the discussion on amazon for the last six months with investors concerned about the slope of the deceleration in u.s. consumer spend around amazon as the world reopens. the way i think about it, when we look at prime subscribers, we think amazon added a record number of prime subscribers last year our analysis shows that prime subscribers age incredibly well from age one, year two, year three. you spend more, shop across more categories i'm not as concerned about a steep deceleration down to single digit growth or a decline in expenditure in amazon

look at your own credit card bills the next few months and see if your spend declines i will take the over and say it grows double digits. if amazon is able to grow u.s. consumer expenditure double digits this year, we see a lot of paths towards $100 billion plus of free cash flow in 2022 amazon historically trades 21 times free cash flow the extent to which you get 1$10 billion, that's $42 a share. if expenditure does not slow down as much as we think or if they have more leverage than we think in the model, that's how you get to the 4,500, 4,800, $5,000 a share 12 months from now. >> and there was that aws news out, the space accelerator news out yesterday as well. you do have amazon in you're not just shelter ins bucket.

what else is in there, especially as we talk about the reversion to the mean potential. >> i like the video game companies a lot. activation, zynga and playtica these video game companies are viewed as shelter ins. in 2020, we think that we pull forward about four years of new video game user adoptions. 50 million new americans came into playing video games last year as opposed to the average of 10 million. some people will churn away as the world reopens. we think the market is overestimating how many of these people are going to leave gaming and never come back. became has been in structural growth and we just pulled forward that growth so the user base is bigger the innovation at some of these companies like activision around titles like call of duty, diablo, harry potter, that

drives more user retention, spend per user and more free cash flow. i would look at some of these video game names where the multiples have compressed by 20%. the market is saying the best is behind us. we disagree with that. >> brian, thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much still to come, the reopening trade. airline stocks rebounding big. we'll look at the pent-up travel demand post-pandemic plus president biden preparing to unveil his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. we have the details ahead of that event today "squawk on the street" will be back after this.

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a lot of news on the airline front today. look at american, jetblue and ual for the year to date as the top ceos are expected to give an update on demand phil lebeau has his hands full and is back for more >> when you look at how many people are flying, it is clear that the upward trend, it's expected to continue at least through the spring, well into the summer look at passenger levels it may be hard to tell from this chart, they have increased in fact, in march the passenger level just over 1.2 million passengers per day that's up 40% compared to the same time in february. what you're noticing is there's a steady increase in the number of people flying airfares are moving higher

because demand is moving higher. up 12% between now and june. that's the expectation according to hopper which tracks airfares and projects this is where they believe airfares are headed. they're still not at pre-pandemic levels, down 15% to 20% depending on where you're flying compared to 2019. the airlines are charging more, they're not back to where they were back in 2019. look at southwest and alaska we're showing you these because these guys in the news over the last week as alaska yesterday finalized the commitment that it made to buy more 737 maxes with boeing they made that commitment in december finalized the order yesterday. earlier this week, we had the news from southwest. as you look at boeing, it has now had 270 737 max orders or commitments since december so clearly they are seeing the change -- the tide is turning from cancellations outweighing orders and order commitments, that is now swinging in the

other way. we saw that last month in the month of february that you had orders outpacing cancellations for the first time finally look at the dow transports we mentioned this earlier today. a record high yesterday. let's see what happens today as the transports under a little bit of pressure, not a lot but it was at a record high yesterday. and up 17% this year, carl so, nice move for the transports and a lot of people were looking at this saying, boy, what's happened since the beginning of the pandemic up more than 100%. it has really been the one place to really put your money >> yeah. to your point, boeing outperforming year-to-date so much news on your front thanks again phil lebeau. as we pay attention to the summer travel booking picture, look at these results from the new cnbc stock survey. we asked people which stock they wouldrather buy over the next 12 months? hilton had 50%

airbnb, 31%. livenation nearly 20%. with more on the state of the travel industry, let's talk to hopper's co-founder and ceo. frederick, great to see you again. >> thanks for having me. >> i wonder if you could zero in on airlines. to phil's point, the booking picture has gotten so much better the capacity picture maybe not as much. i wonder when that resolves and what happens fares in the meantime >> we're definitely seeing a surge. the hopper app tracks all of shopping globally and in the u.s. and since the beginning of the year, we've seen a 58% increase in shopping, which is basically demand for domestic travel the airline prices as you previously pointed out have recovered from their absolute low about a year ago but they're still not back to pre-pandemic levels. the demand is predominantly domestic for obvious reasons because the markets

internationally are just not open right now so, if we look at 2019, we would have had about 60% of the -- 50% of the demand being domestic this year it's closer to 66% all prices are going up. so anybody who is thinking of planning a trip right now should be looking to book as soon as possible and to load as many flexibility options on refunds as possible because there's still a lot of chaos around the airline capacity >> right are you able to decipher what is leisure and what is corporate at this point i don't know, even slicing fare structures i wonder, how are you reading whether or not corporate travel is catching up with the obvious strength in leisure? >> the easiest way to look at that is weekend stays. we don't have specific numbers out on that. but corporate travel is nowhere

near back to leisure rebound companies are still wary to having people travel on their behalf so all of this surge in demand is coming from the leisure side. we actually saw a direct correlation when the biden administration's stimulus checks came out there were record booking numbers on the couple days that followed that. we also have seen demand pick up for the fourth of july holiday specifically around the announcement around the vaccine. so the recovery is almost predominantly driven by leisure now. >> i'm surprised to hear that regarding the correlation with stimulus we just talked about airlines and talked about where you're seeing the demand come back. the cnbc stock survey results cited by carl, are people booking in airbnbs and home share home rentals are they booking in hotels are they taking out rental cars?

i'm looking at the avis stock. it's doubled since the start of the year >> yeah. that's correct if you look at hopper as a marketplace, we're the largest travel app in north america, so we actually have quite a bit of footprint there. car bookings are up 150% since the beginning of the year. so that has been surging obviously shorter trips mostly driving a couple hours away from where you live was really the dominant trip pattern. also because home stays including airbnb are safer or they're perceived as being safer by the customer because there's no common areas, that was actually -- the home stays did better than traditional hotel rooms. however we've seen almost a complete recovery in hotel demand especially for destinations like phoenix, miami so basically anything that is not directly correlated to air travel has almost already

recovered to pre-pandemic levels at a market level and at hopper, because we have an app that is catering to a younger demo, we are seeing demand past -- recover past the pre-pandemic levels right now >> that's interesting to hear. i want to talk about some stuff you have going on at the company specifically you closed a series "f" round, 170 million, led by capital one, the company who you struck a new deal with as well. what will you put that money to work on as you continue to expand out and take on market share within the travel app atmosphere >> there's two things interesting about that with capital one we're partnering up to build a travel portal for all of theircard holders. so the idea there is if you have a capital one card, you will be able to benefit from all of the cool features that we have at hopper, the predictive technology, the forecasting, and

obviously the lowest airfare, integrated with the reward system we're super excited about that the other part, which is interesting, this marks our launch of what we're calling hopper cloud, where we are making our financial service products like refundable tickets available to other b2b companies that sell travels. anybody who sells travel can come in and use our products like price freeze and add them to their existing travel offerings. for us this is completely new. historically we are an app that sells travel to consumers, now we're getting into the abob2b business and we're excited about that. >> thank you for that. good to understand how the picture is evolving. >> thank you i guess i better hurry up and book that future vacation. it's time for our etf spotlight, we're looking atticer ibuy

that's in the green this morning. it's up nearly 20% getting a boost from lyft and expedia. watch chewy as well. those shares are surging on better-than-expected quarterly results. stock is up 11.5%. the online pet product retailer saw net sales top 2 billion for the first time that is up 50% from a year ago the stock is still in negative 'lbeigy r e ar wel rht back. yes! hey ava, how's my bracket looking? this is gary, i invested in invesco qqq. a fund that invests in the innovations of the nasdaq-100. like this artificially intelligent home system. become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq. ♪

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americans must vote, black americans must vote. and when it comes to protecting the results of all americans to vote, there can be no middle ground we cannot be in the business of creating unjust and undemocratic laws >> what we do is we raise the specter of voter fraud and now

we restrict legal voters, eligible voters ability to cast ballots. and that's what's wrong with this bill. >> that is ken frazier and ken chenault they are opposed to restrictive laws, specifically in the state of georgia that's why this statement out of delta today -- there's some of the black executives who joined their cause. the statement out of delta saying the restrictions signed last week are unacceptable and based on a lie delta says that there was widespread fraud in last november's election. just shows how much some of these ceos are stepping up to address issues >> the delta comment was strongly warded, we're sworded, we're seeing statements from blackrock, merck, quite a number

of companies that have large operations or headquarters in georgia. just goes to show, carl, we've been having this conversation for a number of years on our air, the role that ceos, executives, businesses have been taking to step in and sound off in a way that historically we had not seen on issues of social, economic, political topics it all goes back to one word, that's work force. you have workers that want to see their companies stepping in and taking a stand and being more vocal that's translating particularly now i would say in the past year in particular. this is one we'll continue to watch. >> yeah. that was one of -- one of chenault's points was what if companies spoke up in prior eras, like about school segregation, how different the world would look today that was one of his main themes on "squawk" this morning that brings us to the special on

cnbc tonight at 8:00 p.m we'll tackle the anti-american violence in this country and we'll look at the challenges economically and socially that that community faces we'll talk to some business leaders. it's an important show we hope people will watch it at8:00 tonight >> we sure do. it's time for a covid news update for that we go to rahel solomon. >> just about 30 minutes ago, wisconsin's supreme court struck down the mask mandate issued by tony evers the court said state law limits the governor's emergency powers to 60 days. a team of immunization experts at the world health organization says that it remains comfortable with the astrazeneca vaccine, even as germany pauses giving it to people under 60 due to blood clot fears >> the benefit risk assessment for the astrazeneca vaccine,

given the range of evidence on both efficacy, effectiveness, safety and callquality manufacturing, it weighs levelly in the use of the vaccine. it's a safe vaccine. >> take a look this is what an illegal rave looks like through the lens of thermal and infrared cameras used by police in the uk they broke up a party in violation of covid rules under a highway bridge this happened last week near birmingham 22 people were fined you're up to date. more "squawk on the street" continues after this

. this afternoon we expect to hear from the president outlining his infrastructure plan later on today. roger atltman joins us this morning on what we might hear and what might drive the policy from this point on it's great to see you. welcome. >> how are you, carl nice to see you, too

>> i'm good. this is getting interesting now. we're actually talking about components, the heavy stuff like roads and bridges, the lighter stuff like some of the digital infrastructure some of the push back, roger, from the u.s. chamber, from the business roundtable about how they don't want to see corporate tacks go back up what's your overall roadmap of how this will work >> first of all, let's focus on the spending side. almost every american thinks that the nation's physical infrastructure needs to be fixed. i don't run into anybody, whether it's going to get a cup of coffee or getting on the subway or listening who doesn't think that the country's infrastructure is run down we're way overdue, i think i think most americans think that having an initiative which focuses on rebuilding that, which focuses on science, r&d, focuses on american competitiveness, rebuilding our

supply lines, refocusing on domestic production -- and if we ever needed a signal on that last point, it's the current ship shortage and the geopolitical vulnerability of taiwan that's a tremendous risk so i think the idea of this, carl, the idea of a really large infrastructure and competitiveness initiative focusing on certain future things like vehicle electrification, climate mitigation, so forth, this is the right time for this idea on our question, it's not surprising at all that the business roundtable and the chamber don't think that raising taxes on the corporate sector is sound. that's not exactly surprising. there will be quite a debate over the various components of the biden tax plan, which are just now coming out. but, five years ago at the end of the obama administration, the

business community was pretty well agreed on cutting the corporate rate from 35% to 28% i don't mean to say everybody thought that was perfect, but there was widespread agreement as i remember it so coming back and saying, my gosh, 28% is a terrible idea, i think that's a little questionable a big part of this plan obviously involves foreign taxes, foreign tax liabilities, broadening the base on foreign tax liabilities and so forth and there will be a huge debate about that by the way, i think you saw that the administration signaled flexibility on how to pay for this because press secretary jen psaki said something to the effect that there's a lot of ideas out there and we're open to hearing them. >> i wonder, roger -- >> go ahead. >> i was going to say, on the tax issue, i'm reading a report this morning from data trek, one of the boutique firms we follow.

they said we've always been of the belief that markets never believed the trump tax cuts would be permanent as a result it doesn't change what they say is their own bullish outlook. do you think that is true? did we always have this notion that those tax cuts would be -- or that tax level would be more cyclical than structural >> i'm not sure about that, but i would say that markets seem to me at least to be anticipating the corporate rate increase that the president is going to propose in a few hours and i'd be quite surprised if that alone was seen as a big surprise or destabilizing from an equity market point of view whether five years ago or four years ago there was a sense that the trump tax cut all the way down to 21% was interim, i'm not sure but i don't think the biden proposal on the rate is a surprise and will be destabilizing. >> when you take this first part

of the build back better plan around infrastructure, service transportation, et cetera, and if you factor in what is to be a second part of the plan around social infrastructure, real talk here, how much of this will end up in reconciliation >> well, i think the -- there's going to be a considerable effort, because it's infrastructure and because historically there's been some bipartisan approach to infrastructure, there's going to be an effort to see if they can pass this second component of the biden plan beyond the covid relief bill on a bipartisan basis without resorting to reconciliation however, that may be a stretch we'll see. if it is a stretch, i think they have the votes to do most of this on reconciliation and a 51-vote basis. i think most of this plan that the president is unveiling

today -- and there will be changes. there will be negotiations but the core of it i think is going to come into reality whether it's done on a bipartisan basis or perhaps more likely on the basis of reconciliation i think it's going to happen >> finally, roger, we have a couple seconds, but we kicked around the notion of inflation pretty well over the past couple of months. i wonder to what degree are you looking at yields with raised eyebrows and what is your sense about whether powell will be proven correct, that some of these spikes and kimberly clark raising prices today as an example is transittory >> i think the chances are that jerome powell will be correct. you covered this well, his position is we may see some uptick in inflation over the next year or two, but he thinks it will be transitory and monetary policy needs to incorporate that transitory aspect

i think that's likely to be the case of course none of us can know for sure but the ten-year at 1.72 i believe it is now, and the futures suggesting that the inflation risk is relatively moderate, as you well know so, you have to be vigilant about it, but i think powell is more likely to be right than it not about it being transitory and monetary policy needs to be careful in terms of overreacting >> right markets got a rich diet of debate in the quarters ahead, roger. great seeing you thanks again >> all the best, carl. well, look at shopify. that's up about 5%, almost 6% right now. stifel initiating coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a price target of 1,200 saying the e-commerce platform is positioned for sustainable growth supported by international expansion and the development of additional products and services. "squawk on the street" will be right back

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and he explained how nationwide can help mr. paisley retire early and spend more time with his pal, peyton. and their new band. exactly! yeah. don't forget the band. i haven't. welcome back to "squawk on the street." stocks are higher to start the day, mostly with the s&p up about a half percent right now as you can see behind me here, technology is leading the way higher followed by the consumer discretionarysector. pvh behind brands like tommy hilfiger and calvin klein is leading the sector up higher by 6% despite reporting fourth quarter revenues that missed analyst expectations yesterday other discretionary leaders are etsy, tesla, ebay and ralph lauren as well watch those names very much in the green leading the way higher for the stock market right now keep it here "squawk on the street" is back after this commercial break.

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welcome back energy prices volatile as the blockage of the suez canal halted inventory

our next guest says the delay is proving beneficial herb is the founder chairman and ceo of nordic american tankers he joins us now. thanks for being on with us. >> thank you for having me and good morning to you and good afternoon to the norwegians on this side of the atlantic. >> the blockage in the suez canal has been moved there was a backlog of hundreds of ships in the canal and waiting to come through the canal. what are you seeing in terms of traffic flows and how is it impacting your different tankers? >> let me put it very simply there is a very strong drive in the tanker market and that drive took place long before the closure of the suez canal, which essentially was an aberration. let me give you an example we cover all our costs at about $8,000 a day

i foresee over the next couple of weeks, rates to be 40 to $60,000 a day. and when you have cost come of $8,000 a day you make a lot of money. the closure of the suez canal is no big impact in this picture at all. >> okay. so what is leading to that bullish outlook for rates in the coming weeks is it the opec plus meeting tomorrow where the curbs on production are expected to hold steady i realize that stains prices but that doesn't mean more supply to move around. >> the thing is that there is a very strong demand for oil all over the world, in particular in the far east, and, of course, america is focusing itself on america and we europeans are focusing on europe we tend to forget the far east,

which is a very strong area, and we do have ships in china almost every day and in korea but i would note that we have 60,000, 70,000 shareholders in america and let's face it, and be blunt about it, america is driving the world, in particular, after we have got a new man in the white house there's no question on that. america would like us to pay a little bit more for the defense, but except for that america is back on track and they are the closest allies of most of us >> yeah. we've been seeing that in other economic data as well, the fact that u.s. is powering this global recovery. the fact that we're seeing an increase in cases in europe, though, and we're seeing either renewed or extended restrictions in lockdowns and some of those key market there's, how does

that, how do you expect that to impact the couldn't nent and economic growth there, especially since it does import so much crude oil? >> what we see in our business, we are used to strikes, to wars, piracy, et cetera, and that is a part of our business of the energy and tanker business, and we in europe, we have said to the voters, putting a lot of money into the system and saying, if you vote for us, we'll give you a lot of money. and that's not really how it should be in my judgment we have been working very -- amongst ourselves and not looking at the world because it is the whole world which is driving this and it can make one thing very clear for you and that is the world needs oil in order to sustain prosperity.

you cannot have prosperity without having oil >> all right thanks for joining us today. >> thank you for having me and all the best to you. still to come this morning, super bowl champion julian edelman will join us on the nft craze. "squawk alley" starts in a moment as the s&p just hits a record high. the aflac post-pain show! aflac! what a day of upsets. jill's certainly upset with that unexpected bill from her back surgery. aflac! let's see that one more time. (beep sound) oooh, right in the wallet! ouch! aflac! aflac would have paid jill cash directly to help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. hold on, i think she's trying to give us a side-eye... because she can't turn her head! get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. aflac! official partner of march madness.

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good morning it's 8:00 a.m. at headquarters in mountain view, california, and "squawk alley" is live ♪ ♪ i got bills i got paid so i'm going to work work work every day ♪ ♪ i got mouths i got to feed so i'm going to make sure everybody eats ♪ ♪ i got bills popping on my desk ♪ ♪ all these kids running around i can hear stomachs growl ♪ ♪ there's a full moon out ♪ >> happy wednesday, welcome to "squawk alley. i'm jon fo