microsoft in advanced talks to buy nuance for $16 billion. jay powell backing the central bank ledge to keep loose monetary policies in place. and hideki matsuyama becomes the first japanese man to win a green jeacket. it is monday, april 12th, 2021 "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm andrew ross sorkin along with kernen. becky is off today ahead of the market open, we would open down right now. 77 points. nasdaq open off 20 points for

now. s&p is off 7 points. we will show you the treasury yields as well right now at the 10-year note hovering at 1.65 joe, what do we got? >> what is the state of speech recognition? siri maybe it's me? maybe i mumble she does not recognize what i say. >> no, no, no. you are about to talk about this huge deal. talk about it. we can dig into it and enunciate and articulate our words. >> i think it is me. if it is not me, siri has serious problems she comes up with stuff that no one would say. no one would ever say these things the most obvious thing -- it seems obvious to me. i think i mumble people on twitter are right. i mumble

i'm a mum big lobler microsoft in advanced talks to buy nuance communications. it could be announced today. microsoft is said to be willing to pay $56 a share for nuance. up 23% of the premium of friday's price it would be the second biggest purchase ever behind the $27 billion acquisition of linkedin back in 2016 how was that, andrew >> i understood every word you said i don't know if siri would have picked it up i can tell you that nuance would have because they were the originators of the space they helped effectively create what you think of as siri today. nuance was related to that back in the day dragon service is off the charts if you care about true dictation, especially in

industries like medical dictation with the words are complicated, it picks it up. it is unbelievable many years ago, joe, i had carpal tunnel in my hands and i was forced six weeks to use the dragon software that nuance made this was 10 or 15 years ago. it is not about the dictation, you can tell it where to put the mouse and where to click on the screen everything this is a huge thing >> what were you using do you have a bad typing technique or using a blackberry? you shouldn't get carpal tunnel if you are resting your hands properly. >> i was not resting my hands properly back in the day, two things. something called an atex system. for you who want to age yourself

a keyboard you had to jam on the keys the other thing, i had a laptop. at home, i would lie down on the couch. i keep my hands up like this and type like this it really can do a number on your wrists. >> you don't go back to the ibm selectric typewriter at fnn, that's what we used. you had six carbon sheets. type out the script. rip it off bring one to bill and ron. get the other in the booth the other one here every time you made a mistake, you can back space it and selectric would do it. i would have stuff that looked like no words. all -- i can predate you did you see the moon landing live did you?

>> only on tape. >> not a big deal. we landed on the moon. seeing that was not a big deal for you. let's move on. carpal tunnel's gone fixed. >> for the most part, yes. i don't use a mouse any more >> you don't use a mouse >> no mouse. >> that causes something >> for me, it does i use just the track pad it is better for me. i can't do the click i have all of my track pads set. i touch it otherwise, i start to feel it in my index and middle fingers of the right hand. >> i think it is up here, sorkin i'm not sure i think -- anyway. in other news. alibaba's ceo doesn't expect an

impact after the chinese regulators bringing on the anti-trust fine. the company will introduce new measures to lower the entry barriers and costs for businesses on that platform. are you doing the "squawk stack" andrew? >> what do you want? >> jay powell. becky won't care. >> we have nuance. we have alibaba on there >> okay. >> standard. >> ten year. >> i'm okay with that. i'm trying to think. is there a way to capture the interest, joe, in golf during the olympics this summer in japan? >> here is what i heard

yesterday. the prediction who will light the torch who will light the thing guaranteed hideki matsuyama he will be worth $1 billion in japan. yesterday watching the masters, you probably didn't see a lot of it >> i did i did. >> they kept switching to the coverage in japan. i think tommy nakajima was the color commentator. hideki is powerful on 15, he hit it too low you see it go flying that is the hardest shot that was his second shot the third shot for me -- hardest shot in golf the green is this wide and deep. you are downhill you see how he just totally was calm didn't try to get it up on the green. got close.

still got a bogey. everything was fine. poor xander. he had four straight birdies and got to 16 and afterwards he said he flushed his tee shot on 16 and it still found the water that gave hideki some breathing room to still make a bogey and win. this is big. he is a man for the moment, andrew not for nothing. great moment for this to happen. he was the man to do it. he deserved it. >> figure out how to put him on the "squawk stack" this morning. >> he used to have a pause at the top that i used to watch i'm so fast and he has worked on that he is still pretty slow at the top. >> you could put toyota on there. he has the big lexus logo. that is a sponsor. that is the one i noticed. who else is on his ressponsor lt

>> i don't know. you could have made serious money if you picked hideki matsuyama on thursday before the tournament i had spieth i had spieth he was third he's a grinder, isn't he >> you know, let's tell you about the other thing that happened over the weekend. jay powell saying it is quote highly unlikely the fed will raise rates. powell appeared on "60 minutes" last night this is what he had to say sdpsay. >> i would say we see strong growth the outlook has brightened substantially. >> it seems like you are not expecting a recovery you are expecting a boom >> i would say this growth we are expecting in the second half of the year is very strong

>> joe, i referenced powell's comments on trcryptocurrency here is what he said about a digital dollar. >> you see many other countries like ours looking at it seriously. in some of the countries, use of cash declined precipitously. that is not the case here. americans still like to use cash it is based on the situation here in the united states. >> joe, i didn't understand that answer i understood the answer. >> you use a lot of cash >> i use next to no cash. >> me, too >> that is neither here nor there. the excuse for not embracing digital dollar or digital money or cryptocurrency or whatever. i could have come up with 100 reasons why if you didn't want to get involved in cryptocurrency or bitcoin. that would not have been on my list >> the comments that he and

secretary yellen made in the last couple weeks. i didn't understand those, either an andrew, we think these people know everything because they must because they're in these positions. how much do they really know about bitcoin? i don't know i give them the benefit of the doubt. from their comments, they don't seem like they may be that up to speed on things. i'm worried the rest of the world could get ahead of us on that when peter thiel said china could use it as a weapon to debase the dollar. i'm worried about them getting ahead of us and what becomes the system that people use more than just undermining we're undermining the dollar pretty well. the guy we just showed. >> that would have been a very good answer or unique or interesting answer had powell

given it we have other news to tell viewers about because so much happened over the weekend. a group of ceos and other executives met on a zoom over the weekend to brain storm what they wanted to next about voting laws in georgia and others under way in texas and now other states ken chenault urged business leaders to call for greater access and jeffery sonnenfeld will join us at 7:15 eastern time this morning to tell us what took place and talk about what happens next lots of ceos taking saturday off to work on this very important issue that a lot of folks are talking about and debating controversial. we will discuss that with jeff in the 7:00 hour >> i don't know what $13 million

a year equates to as far as an hourly wage. i can join that zoom meeting for a couple of hours for $8,000 an hour more than that probably. coming up -- >> i'm not sure they are being paid for that. >> in general. they didn't clock in that is what a ceo makes anything they ask me to do, i'm willing to do it for $13 million a year >> they're the boss. they don't have to do this. >> they don't have to do it. if you are a ceo, you might. i do whatever is involved. sign me up i'm good for it. i'll come in on sundays. white house holding a summit today to talk about the global semiconductor shortage we do to washington and ask what investors can expect. as we head to break, check out the big pre-market movers. you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc

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your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. shares of lg chem rising in south korea after a dispute settled for battery technology threatened a $2 billion plant

that sk is building in georgia that will supply ford and volkswagen with ev batteries president biden called it a win for the american workers and american auto industry aaron include. a summit taking place at the white house today. scheduled to meet with business leaders to discuss the semiconductor shortage kayla tausche has the latest on that kayla. >> reporter: good morning, andrew midday today, some two dozen companies, intel, alphabet and gm will make comments that the u.s. can capture a growing share of the chip making market as the dn m demand continues to explode. the higher demand is the incentive of building facilities outside of the u.s. to half the cost of building them here china, south korea and taiwan

have subsidies and five-year ta holiday and in addition to loans and equipment leases boston consulting estimates that could be reversed by drawing investment in the u.s. with the factories creating 70,000 new jobs and creating 25% capacity over the next ten years. 18 states have some chip capacity in portland, oregon, dallas and austin texas and phoenix, arizona where intel is building. samsung is searching for a location no plans for where that will be have been announced. chip supply chain reports are due by june 4th. andrew >> kayla, you said a 50 billion

dolla investment how does this work what are the companies asking for today? >> reporter: $50 billion is the round figure bcg is a scale of what no money from the government would do and $20 billion. they say $20 billion from the government would result in 10% manufacturing capacity increase. $50 billion, which is split a few ways it is notable that the $50 billion number is floating out there. that is in the american jobs plan $50 billion specifically for semiconductor manufacturing and research that is a figure that is not necessarily dead on arrival on capitol hill because especially as consumer demand has been growing and lawmakers wanted to bring the manufacturing capacity

onshore and recognize that the u.s. needs to produce more of these goods here to meet the demand we will see how this conversation takes shape today certainly it is one where public opinion is moving in the government's favor and in the company's favor as they argued for years during the trump administration as well they need tens of billions of dollars to incentivize them to build faculties here instead of other places >> kayla tausche in washington this morning i appreciate it. great to see you joe. a number of semiconductor stocks are up sharply. in a major way out performing on the s&p. we have joanne with us now to discuss it we are reopening that will be a positive. things have moved forward during the pandemic where you see chips which have been part of our life

for 20 years now they are everywhere. you have the two tailwinds and then the shortage. how do investors look at this in terms of trying to make the right investment moves >> good morning, joe it is a really important opportunity for the semiconductor industry alsovestinvestors. it has been at the state level for example. states trying to subsidize by offering tax breaks to get a semi fab in their location what that means for investors is a really strong sign that we're likely to see more production in the u.s. with subsidies which drops down to the bottom line for the manufacturers. they incentivize another plant by taiwan semi or intel or any of the others in the country we are likely to see that drop

to the bottom line and boost their profit margins the reason the government involvement is important here because the chip fabs, they want to run capacity as high as they can. they don't want unused equipment on the floor that is just depressciation cost to get them to build extra capacity is costly for them. you need the government involved to subsidize the capacity. from the investor, it means a lot more production and more signal that there is good demand for multiple years you can look at taiwan semi as an option here look at the designers using the manufacturing plants qualcomm or broadcom these are companies that are seeing demand that is likely to last for years that is what this shortage is telling us the government support could mean we will have lower cost manufacturing available to the

companies. >> over the years, you saw high beta and stocks. it was so easy to go from boom to bust. does that change now these manufacturers would be hesitant to build too much capacity in the old days, you turn around and there would be a glut that you are stuck. >> that is why they are reluctant to build extra capacity when the drindustry is as consolidated, they can sell out fab. why build extra? that is why the subsidy is extra important for getting capacity up and running what is changing in the last 10 to 15 years, the use has got than more diverse. it used to be during the boom/bust cycle, it was the pc cycle. intel has a new chip and building and chips around them r ramp up and a period of time where sales were up and margins were up and things were great.

what is happening in the last 10 to 15 years, chips are going in more places. auto industry and industrial look at the home your garage door opener. smart locks and securities entertainment systems. now with 5g powering more applications of smart everything and communication needs. diff diversity of demand flattened it out a bit. you don't have the boom/bust cycles that makes it safer to go into the space. we should see the voluatility of the stocks go down with the volatility of sales and earnings. >> if i wanted an etf, i put broadcomm, taiwan semi, texas

instruments, qualcomm? that is your etf >> there are others you could add. lumenten is one. some texas instruments is another one. joe, we invest in individual stocks for clients we're able to go and find ones that are value >> baskin might be good. >> we'll make one. we have a third of the info tech because we are convinced we are going to have many years of growth and because these are at a value. look at what happened to qualcomm the last several months a real opportunity it has a nice dividend. >> all right, joanne thank you. little baskets do not have chips. the last place you don't see them maybe they do. i didn't see one. >> i'm sure you could find one. >> maybe

smart baskets. thank you. we will see you later. andrew okay coming up, a warning for taxpayers. irs may have extended the deadline for the year, but it is not uetr in all states what you need to know when we come back after this >> announcer: what's working is sponsored by comcast business. bounce forward at comcastbusiness.com. rld can't s, so neither can we. because the things we make, help make the world go round. they make it cleaner, healthier, and more connected. it's what we build that keeps things moving forward. so with every turn, we'll keep building a world that works. [ humming ] alexa? play "ooh la la." [ "ooh la la" by cherie playing ]

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learn more at grammarly.com/business. welcome back to "squawk box. irs extends the deadline for the federal taxes. we have sharon epperson with

more to break it down. >> reporter: the deadline was postponed to monday, may 17th. this applies to federal returns and payments for the 2020 tax returns. states may have are other due dates and it is important to meet the deadlinedeadlines. >> if you don't file your state on time and you owe the state, from that date, you will start accruing interest and penalties. if you don't file the state tax return on time and you are entitled to a refurnind, they w not assess penalties because they owe you the money >> reporter: more than 30 states and d.c. have followed the irs and moved the filing deadlines for tax returns and payments to may 17th according to the american institutes of public accountants. from california to new york here

on the map is highlighted in yellow april 20th is the traditional filing for taxpayers in hawaii that date will not change. iowa postponed the deadline to june 1st in maryland, it is now july 15th to offer relief for winter storms in louisiana, oklahoma and texas, the irs extended the d deadline to june 15th. that is the deadline for louisiana and oklahoma storm victims to submit the state tax returns. texas is one of nine states that has no individual income tax and if you live there, you don't have to file a state tax return. andrew >> importantly, we have a lot of folks in finance who watch us in the morning, sharon. i want to ask you a very important question about those who ask for extensions because of some of the filings and

things that come out later those who payees es estimates you have to pay those this week? >> reporter: if you have estimated taxes, it must be paid by april 15th. that is very important for people to understand for those who owe estimated taxes? you likely got a bill saying you need to pay that by april 15th make sure you do it. >> okay. sharon epperson, thank you for helping us pay our taxes. when we come back from the break, dr. scott gottleib will be back with us. stay with us

welcome back to "squawk box. making headlines regeneron is asking the fda to see if they can get the okay to use their drug for the preventative treatment for covid. the ceo will join us with meg tirrell at 8:50 a.m. eastern

this morning. a study out of israel says the south african variant of the coronavirus will evade protection of the pfizer vaccine. it has yet to be peer reviewed data suggests the variant is able to break through the protection of the vaccine. more than the original strain of covid. joining us now is dr. scott gottlieb he serves on the board of pfizer he has the latest op-ed in the "wall street journal" talking about the prospect of a vaccine passport >> that's right.

the challenge with the question around the so-called vaccine passport is people don't own the information verifying they have been vaccinated. they don't have a digital signed application or document or qr code to demonstrate they have been vaccinated. we have the cards people received and that is not good enough those are available on e-bay you can get those cards. people won't accept the cards as proof of vaccination the federal government was scrambling for a way of who was getting vaccinated they required the states to report the information to the 64 jurisdictions that exist in the country to track the vaccination. in states vaccinating a child, that has to be reported to the 64 jurisdictions this system was set up so

pediatricians can inquiry to see if a child has received the vaccination schedule or information about the covid is put in the same system the problem with the system is it was never designed to be accessible to consumers. consumers have no way to get the information to prove they have been vaccinated. there will be circumstances that exist in the future to requirevd right now, nursing homes ban visitors and hospitals ban visitors you can see where they may allow people to visit if they have been vaccinated. it is hard to demonstrate the proof. it may be as something as apple health vault to pull down the information from the 64 jurisdictions. that is necessary in limited circumstances next year. i think people need to think about this differently as consumers, we don't own this information and we should. >> right we have the technology it would not be that difficult,

right, doctor? >> that's right. some states need to pass separate legislation to allow the information to be accessible states have to make a decision to do that we see some states potentially passing legislation to prevent this from being accessible the discussion of the passport has been swept up in concerns if it is used to limiting access to things they would otherwise do the use case is enabling access to things that will be otherwise restricted like the nursing home example. we need to think differently about this i think consumers should be empowered with the information how they choose to use it is up to them. >> you are probably not totally shocked the variants -- i think we had an idea the vaccine wasn't as effective. should we assume the moderna vaccine -- you think the south african variant can get around

that one as well >> well, i think we should assume mrna vaccines react in the same pasfashion. i'm on the pfizer board. the study did not suggest what some people are interpreting they looked at people vaccinated and who had become infected. it was a small data set. 13 patients with the various ya variant. they found match controls and higher proportion of people vaccinated who subsequently got infected with the variant. it did not look like they got severely sick. if someone is getting infected, it is likely with the variant. that is the best you can c con conclude the other thing left out is everyone who got the variant, got it before they were fully

vaccinated the infection occurred before 14 days after the second injection. nobody got infected with it after 14 days. >> going into the last break, we will have the latest covid headlines. will there be a day when i will not say the latest covid headlines? it is sad. will there be a day? >> i'm hopeful by may this is not the dominant news story. i think things will get better quickly around the country >> we will find something. maybe the masters winner or something we like to talk about. thanks, doctor dr. scott. andrew coming up on the other side of the break shares of nuance after the news that microsoft is in talks to buy the speech recognition company for $56 a share. and later, john bryant and

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welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc it is time for "executive edge." let's talk time off. companies adding incentives for workers to use vacation. pwc offering $250 for every full week of vacation they book up to $1,000 a year. it could cost millions pwc says it exhausted other attempts to get people to disconnect from the office joe, i hope our minders are watching this. i would like to be paid to take time off the issue, though, and i hate to be cynical about it. a lot of companies are attempting to push people to take time off. it is not just they want their employees to disconnect because they feel better and do better work and be more efficient later. there are legal issues around whether vacation time actually should be considered comp and if companies have to comp people who don't take the vacation time

for that time. 2$250 a week may prove to be a cheaper way, that's why i said cynical, to get people to take vacation than to pay them for the time they are working. >> we're in some unique times in terms of vacations right now both of us -- i canceled i don't know how many vacations in the last year. >> yes >> many vacations. >> lots of vacation time, joe. >> we're so essential. for us to get a week off is so -- you would think -- sometimes we try and i guess i feel good about it it really is hard to get time off. you throw in the kids and varying times that they have off and other stuff that they're doing. it has to be a perfect storm to get a week where you can get it off and all of the kids can go and you can get the accommodations and there's no

quarantining a lot of concerns. it is a benefit. if you did put it in dollar terms, it would scare companies. that's why they want people to take those it is a big liability, i think >> that's the issue. that's the issue. >> all right >> hopefully we will take a lot of time off this summer. what do you think, joe >> i have some plans i have some plans. you know what they say about the best laid plans. you never know i knew otur minders were watching i was trying to be tactful they are fantastic at their jobs coming up, among other things, a lot of jobs. coinbase expected to debut the valuation of more than $100 billion. we will talk about it next

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♪ we've got a news alert for you right now on uber. the company just filing an 8 k. among the headlines, the company has reached its highest monthly level of uber in nearly the 12-year history. uber says it's on track for quarterly budgets and profitability for 2021 that stock up over 4.5% in the free market. we still have to mention to you that the ceo of uber is hanking

out on "tech check" the new show at 11:00 this morning. and microsoft eyeing speech recognition company nuance for $13 billion. joining us, sarah fisher from ax axios, and media fell at princeton and joanne, can i just say it's a deal in the offing for quite some time. not necessarily microsoft there was a view, you may very well know that apple was going to buy this company, of course, they built siri the question is does microsoft need this product? >> yeah, thanks, andrew. this is such a good question about why microsoft and what are the implications for apple and, by the way, i have to say i totally agree with what joe was talking about earlier, siri does not understand me. it's so frustrating, but it does

point -- what joe is talking about i think points to a really important issue that we need to understand here which is about -- there's still a lot, a lot of problems with artificial intelligence in terms of speech recognition and transcription. and one of the issues is, actually, bias, it's a huge issue. we still have the concerns, and there's been a study, there was one just last week that came out that showed that these voice recognition systems do not understand black voices as well as they understand white voices. it's a thing where it's a thing where the systems are going to improve, because if they can, what's interesting is nuance has been used for medical stripgs. >> right >> so, if we can get to a system where it's really reliable for

that kind of sensitive information that would be a game-changer >> but here's my real question, so, right now, iowa argue to you that nuance as far and away the best audio transcription quality out there. i don't think there's actually anybody doing it better. i'd put google at number two, maybe an apple, frankly, at a distant third. the question is, if microsoft were to own it, i believe, joanne, you're an apple person, sara, i think you're an apple person, too, living in an apple world, would you change to live in a microsoft world >> well, it depends, i think a lot of these changes are going to happen where i don't have control. a lot of these transcription tools are going to be used in microsoft's system it's not necessarily a sara fischer decision, it's my employer's decision. i think we look at the cheapest

decision optional for the entire company. new wans can help drive down the costs of some of the current tringss they're doing, i newtly think it could be a game-changer, and it could get people to move from google team suites to teams. absolutely but we don't know how much microsoft is -- going to leverage it to bring the costs down or integrate it into bring it into the products just yet. >> separately, curious what you think, sar remarks and joanne, you're a former general person big story in "the new york times" about about an intramural squabble about whether or how that should happen what's your reaction to that sara >> yeah, great story by ed lee over the weekend it's a massive problem for "the wall street journal. you take a look at the "the new

york times," they've got 7.5 million subscribers. by comparison, "the wall street journal" with 2.6 is just not doing enough to get to where it needs to be one of the things that was addressed, the company is not doing enough to expand to young people and people of color. i would argue it's not just that, that they need to focus on, "the wall street journal" needs to diverse tie its subscription products. one-third of every "the new york times" subscriber is subscribing to the cooking or crosswords app. and then putting the consumer site wire cutter behind the pay wall they've got to figure out how to diversefy to become more of a company. >> sara, i want to thank you, joanne, i want to thank you. we're up against the break but

actually a longer conversation than we're having. when we come back after the break, business leaders across the country gathering on zoom over the weekend to discuss voting legislation bill. he's going to tell us what happened after this. the lexus es, now available with all-wheel drive. this rain is bananas. lease the 2021 es 250 all-wheel drive for $339 a month for 39 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. everyone wakes up every morning to a world that must keep turning. the world can't stop, so neither can we. because the things we make, help make the world go round. they make it cleaner, healthier, and more connected.

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good morning, talk of a very big deal microsoft in discussions to buy speech recognition company nuance for about $16 billion and china slapping alibaba with a ultibillion dollar anti-monopoly fine but investors are still passing go this morning. and fed chairman jay powell weighing in on the archegos stock scandal. "squawk box" begins right now. welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc. i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin. becky's off today. becky's doing her civic duty, take something time off which we now know is actually being promoted some place.

it would be nice to get paid for it i don't think we're going to get paid here for that, andrew, from what i could tell from the initial response but that's okay. just getting the time off would be good, right u.s. equity futures at this hour are indicated down 61, 62 points or so on the dow. nasdaq, on top of that, a little weak on the day. it's monday -- ah, monday. >> and we should say we do get paid -- we get paid vacation >> yeah. >> which is very different than a lot who are contract workers who don't get paid at all. when they take vacation it's on them and it costs them >> but they can take it whenever they want, though, too >> that, there, too. >> right no, i'm not complaining. it's been tough with covid it's been tough. >> yeah. >> it's been tough to arrange vacations, fly, you know >> that is true, but there are a lot of folks out there who would

be dying, frankly, to have a job right now. meantime, let's tell people what's going on in the headlines there's so much in the past 24 hours. sources telling cnbc that microsoft is advanced talks to buyle nuance the speech recognition corporation. and the price tag would make nuance microsoft's second largest purchase ever behind the 2009 acquisition of linked in. take a look at shares of alibaba, they're rising oddly enough as the ceo says he doesn't expect a material impact from a record $2.8 billion antitrust fund by chinese regulators we're going live to bay eijing just a little bit. >> and ceo pay jumps up 15% in the year this is according to "the wall street journal" doing analysis

saying the median pay of chief executives of 300 of the biggest companies reached $13.7 million up from $12.8 million the year before joe. >> thanks, andrew. fed chairman jay powell speaking out about the archegos stock sale for the first time. talking with cbs' "60 minutes" which unfortunately is up against "america's funniest videos." i don't know who saw powell. powell saying archegos does not raise questions about the financial instability or institutions in the way that led to the 2008 financial crisis and powell added his team, rest assured, is looking into the situation. >> it was a risk management breakdown and one that we're looking very carefully at to try to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> powell also says that it's highly unlikely the central bank

will raise rates this year 2021, supposed to do it until 2023, right? despite a sfratronger economy, we'll see. let's turn to the inflation debate which is heating up compared to the hotter than expected tpi report from the 1970s. steve liesman joins us steve, they're like, no, we can't release this we don't want -- what are we going to do? let's hold off a second. have you ever seen that before do you know what finally happened >> with what, joe? >> so, you remember we waited and waited and waited, steve do you remember we were waiting for that report, and rick said in 42 years he had never seen it take that long we finally got it from other sources. >> oh, you mean the ppi report i'm sorry that was like a distant memory, yes. >> and then interviewed you with

the hot ppi report and had -- i'm sorry, joe i'm sorry, joe, there's a lot of -- i have never seen anything like that. in a long time and i still haven't gotten to the bottom made a couple call to the bls on that, joe, and haven't heard yet. let me talk about what were you talk about before which inflation of the '70s. president ronald reagan made famous the misery index which added together the inflation and unemployment rates in 1980, after a decade of legislation in the '70s, topped out at a towering 22% and that number has echoed through the decades. the inflation of the 1970s left a did deep and lasting scar those who lived through it remember the gas lines and unemployment lines meat prices rose 26% in one year alone. milk and dairy skyrocketed by more than 22%. could it happen again? a general view is a combination

of generous government spending in the '60s and social programs combined with a monetary policy that was too easy in the '70s all led to inflationary outbreak should, what we do we today? generous government spending check. easy monetary value. check. the fed is pumping millions into the banking system because of the shutdowns, manufacturers are reporting supply disruptions it's making it difficult to meet demand and pushing up costs and some consumer prices and demand is coming every indication is that consumers are about to open up their wallets as the company reopens. should we brace for the return of the great inflation not so fast. inflation has been relatively under control. in the last ten years, it's averaged 1.7%. it's been kept down by three factors. first, technology, that slashed the cost of everything from

televisions to computers next, globalization. that's created competition from every corner of the world and driven down manufacturing costs. finally, the absence of a monetary mind-set on the part of consumers. economists think it will rise. but consumers worry if something costs more next year, they'll buy more now there's more demand and supply higher prices reinforced the belief in higher prices and you have an inflationary spiral. in response, the federal reserve has to hike interest rates has paul volker did in the 1980s and bring supply and demand back into balance.fed's interest rate policies over the past several decades have helped keep consumers from developing expectation. almost everyone who lived through the 1970s inflation. remembers how painful, 20%

unemployment rates, the double-digit mortgage rates. no one wants to go back to that great inflation of 1970s fed chair powell said again last week that he sees inflation as temporary. and that it seems unlikely that will change the underlying psychology is that has turned deep root. we're going to get a test tomorrow on how much the fed has been able to convince markets of the temporary nature of the coming surge in prices joe. i hope we don't have to sit here and wait again, but i've got a trick next time if we have a problem like that. >> that was unbelievable really was and coincidence that it was such a hot number i guess that's why i was kidding about it, they saw it and they're like, what should we do with this stall, stall let me think, let me think actually something is happening with my voice now. i'm getting all choked up. andrew, you better help me

>> okay. >> put taps on the bottoms of your shoes, joe. >> we've got a lot more coming up in just a little bit. we're going to talk about a high-level zoom call that took place over the weekend more than 100 ceos and business leaders joining a virtual conference call to discuss how to push back against some controversial voting rules we're going to talk about one of the organizers of that event, jeff sinefield next take a look at market where is they stand ahead of the big open 53 points down the dow would open s&p 500 down six points. dow, down 53 points we're back after this

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welcome back to "squawk. this morning, dozens the prominent business leaders and ceos gathered this weekend to respond to the voting legislation passed in georgia. set up a firestorm of debate joining us in a minute, one of the people that organized the call, jeff townico jeff, it's great to see you, i'm hoping you can talk to the viewers this morning, especially those ceos who were not, for example, on your call, and get

at this issue of -- i know you believe it's a nonpartisan issue. but part of this discussion, frankly, is about the 43 states that are pursuing laws, virtually all -- i should say all, by republicans. and i think for a lot of viewers especially who are republican, they have concerns about these being a partisan issue >> well, it's not a partisan issue. it's an issue of democracy is not a left or a right. or democrat or republican issue. democracy versus denial of voice. that's what the ceos are telling us the morning consult data which we had originally commissioned for this which is overnight callings from around the country, interviews, showed overwhelming majorities of republicans concerned about denial of voter accession to this legislation as well as

democrats. andrew, i'm sorry to say the brownen center, pointed out that 47 states, 331 initiatives, and overwhelmingly, our ceos as well as the public view these voter restrictions as voter suppression. >> and what you do you believe the role is? as we know, for many years, businesses tried to stay out of these issues you have mitch mcconnell effectively saying, stay out of this >> yeah, and this is a strong barkback from the business community. you talk about taxation with representation they don't want their voice. these people are saying quite strongly, this is a defiance of statement, a collective defiance they don't all agree with each other, by the way, as you know, the group is 65%, 70% republican, these business leaders that were there.

they don't like being told give us your money and shut up. they have voice and it matters, and the american public wants to hear it. as you know, you take out the military which is not allowed to speak. tragically, it's not your line of work or my line of work, with the media at elected or state or federal levels, or the allergies that are the most trusted pillars of american society. right now, it's business leaders, it wasn't that in 2007, but it is now. and they're stepping up to the plate. speaking of being up to the plate, we're talking about the major league teams, arthur blank there with us as co-chair of the home depot, talking about how they're watching what baseball is doing and what they're feeling comfortable hassal allowed ripple effects some are saying the federal legislation to have red states and blue states, the same playing field, the same ground

rules. and we talked about where they put their money has to do with it >> jeff, how skeptical, though, should viewers and the public be about the role of business in this i asked for the following reason, it's one thing to put your name next to a statement, right? there's a lot of people who are willing to sign lots of statements it's another thing to actually do something with your operation and with your money. and there were a number of companies after the insurrection that took place on january 6th who said they were not going to continue funding through pacs or otherwise, some of the politicians who were involved in supporting what is now been called the big lie and yet, some of those same companies have since gone back on that promise and have continued to support with their money some of those same politicians. you're already seeing it, you know, we have after the murder of khashoggi, we have a group of ceos saying we're not going to

saudi arabia two years later, we're going to saudi arabia so, how much does it really matter >> you initiated that blowback against davos and the desert you serve a lot of credit for that and that was that matter in this matter, i've looked pretty closely into it, the ceos involved in the early crisis calls, the major ceos, they were saying universally, in fact, unanimously that they were going to curtail their spending, campaign spending. but they were a sub-selected group. you take a look at surveys of the larger group it was half and that's still the right number half of them still holding up. but in terms of actually people looking at the actual data, it's time line data i think a fair number of that will hold. you look at the survey -- it's only fallen by maybe a quarter that are still holding their ground to challenge the payments

and we've seen large companies who have put on hold planned equipment personnel and that things in question where their employees don't feel comfortable. we've seen people like brad park, the managing partner of brad weis, bonding together with the top law firms. but they're ready right now to dispatch s.w.a.t. teams to go to these 47 states with election law experts. ceos aren't doing this for grandiosity, you're right, they hate playing politics. they don't want to get involved. their silence means agreement and they don't want that what they want to do is a harmonious society they don't like politicians using these wedges for self-gain. they don't want angry communities. they don't want hostile shareholders >> right >> this is a win-win >> but, jeff, the complicated

part is some of those objecting are the same politicians who are also going to fight, i match, on behalf of corporations when it comes to lower taxes, for example? >> these ceos you're hearing them say they'll pay a couple dollars more on taxes. we're seeing the business community is asserting themselves with a certain sort of dangling adolescence. they're not going to be defined by any business, or any political party. a couple of dollars on taxes these femur not xenophobes they're not anti-immigration they've had to fight the republican party on hbn 1 issues and then had to fight with toronto last summer if they don't open up and have the free flow into the country. they felt the same way on gun control.

and several companies passed with the nra, on whether or not these ridiculous bathroom bills, hallmark companies, at&t, walmart, u.p.s., it wasn't just the quote/unquote progressive companies, whether nike or patagonia which are fine companies, starbucks or apple, it was all of these other companies, too it's gotten to the point, it's sort of -- you wouldn't remember this, 1973 when johnny carson said it's time for nixon to step down, the country moved. these are not radical fringe people these are very centrist business players saying it's time to stop the nonsense we don't want divided nations, divided communities, angry workhorses let's get back to business and they're cutting their own pay, i'm sure if they don't like something that the democrats do are not going to be defined by republicans. a couple more dollars, they're not protectionists, but they're not xenophobes

>> jeffrey, we appreciate it very, very much. great to see you we hope to have you back to continue this conversation because it's an issue that isn't going away talk to you soon >> thanks. joe. oc a eina and alibaba, with the stksreven higher this morning. we'll get into that this morning with a live report from beijing, next nalized investment strategies to help you get back to your future. edward jones. did you know that petco, is now a health and wellness company? their groomers work wonders for my confidence. i trust their vets, and i'm known to have trust issues. they deliver high quality food the same day. i was outside digging, what'd i miss? just everything regarding our physical, social, and mental health. exciting. i'm gonna take a spin around the room. great idea. ♪ ♪ petco. the health and wellness company.

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china hitting alibaba with a $2.8 billion fine for what it calls mos monopolyistic behavior eunice yoon joins us, hi, eunice >> vin eqinvestors are breathinh of relief now that it's ended and also that the punishment wasn't worse jack moss, the billionaire founder has been in the cross hairs of beijing if you remember, last october, ma made an infamous speech in shanghai, where he was very critical of financial regulators and soon after that, the authorities pulled the massiive

ipo. and launched an anti-trust investigation specifically into alibaba. demanded an overhaul for ant and then with this fine. the executivevice chair says that the executive issues are now behind the company and he says that the penalty which was for a practice that alibaba has been doing, conducting, where they force vendors to choose to only work with alibaba and none of the competitors, that that penalty was going to be very well covered by the company's liquidity. in fact, he said that penalty accounts for less than 20% of alibaba's cash flow in the past 12 months. alibaba is going to be spending billions in order to retain vendors, in order to stay competitive and cut fees and offer new services but i think the new message here has been

sent that's not only to jack ma, alibaba and big tech, but also private entrepreneurs. and that is don't get too big to control, and don't forget who the boss is. and the boss is beijing. >> yeah. it looks like players, at least traders seem to think it's behind the company at this point. and i don't know why they're -- do we know for sure that this behavior that was the problem, it will never happen again or do we just know that beijing got its pound of flesh and it's moving on? >> well, i think what was interesting was what all of the tech executives have been talking to me about over the weekend, and that is the fact that the punishment is for a practice that is so narrow is an indication that beijing wanted to send the memo to jack ma. and one executive said to neutralize jack ma

but didn't actually want to for the company at the end of the day, because alibaba and ant are important for the society here of course, it not only creates jobs but all of these merchants use the payment system in order to, you know, get money, and have payments made so, one other thing, though, that's interesting and an indicator. just a couple moments ago, chinese regulators called in ant group executives -- central bank said that ant group is going to apply as a financial holding company. and that -- ant just has to follow certain regulations in order to ensure to beijing that it is rectifying its position. in other words, the government wants the ant group to survive >> interesting we're all fascinated by the -- i mean, it's you know, we can learn a lot about capitalism

from the chinese, but when push comes to shove, we realize it's really not exactly the same thing when the government has such an outside say in all of these things it's like a weird, kind of a hybrid, eunice but obviously works pretty well. anyway, thank you, eunice yoon, we'll see you again. it's been a while. hope to see you soon, more often, not just with big find. when we come back, the big stocks on the move, 9 world's largest cryptocurrency coinbase about to go public with a $1 billion valuation and what to expect ahead of that direct listing and what it's going to do to cryptocurrency prices. and don't miss the cnbc interview with the regeneron ceo. "squawk" returns after this. you don't have to choose.

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welcome back to "squawk box. i'm dominic chu here with your "market minute." a few of the big things to watch this week. you've got a big week coming up with earnings, specifically with regard to the banks. the banks have been a massive

outperformer in the market over the course of last six months. look at the financial sticker spdr has gained. up 17%, very respectable, but still, more than doubling in terms of performing for the financials big banks a huge focus there with the earnings reports slated take a look at the big names on the move first of all, uber shares up 2.25%, the company just reported the month of march saw the best booking, for the ride-hailing side of things since last year uber shares up on that and tesla gets upgraded to a rating, 1,071 is the price target there they think the multileak with progressions and the story, with multiple shares on the move

right now, and bitcoin prices they did goal above 61,000 at one point in the last hours. the high was 61,192. so it was 61,192 depending on which metric you're looking at we're looking at coin metrics. watch the bitcoin prices, uber, tesla, and, of course, joe, all of the big banks this week i'll send things over to you >> dom, what would have happened if we had seen 16 a different outcome there with zander? what do you think would have happened -- do you think -- would it have been a playoff it could have been a totally different ball game? they could have been tied, and i thought that might happen. >> i thought it was going to happen should, i had a random pool, i had xander schauffele as the guy supposed to win. i had xander schauffele. first of all, the front nine, i thought he was going to

collapse and if he gets going again, the back nine was amazing for xander schauffele and then came that 16th hole and all of a sudden -- you know, i lost whatever money i was going to lose. >> yeah, it's not about the money. it was great >> listen, it was such a far cry with what we saw with dustin johnson last fall. i mean, the guy decimated the golf course. this was crazy competitive it was a great week to watch golf >> i think the greenskeepers have something to say about how the greens are going to roll, don't you think? >> yeah, i think they looked greener on sunday than friday or saturday >> always fun to watch history in the making. i keep saying that over again. how great is tirico, i was watching six hours of tirico with no golf >> mike tirico, you and i both know him personally, but that voice he has, it's just so

smooth, i can listen to him call any game >> i told him that i said your salary's going to go up like bitcoin. you're so good at this speaking of bitcoin, coinbase about to make a big splash on the market with the valuation that could be has high as $100 billion how will this debut change the fintech world with crypto? that's next. as a reminder, you can always watch us live on the cnbc app. we're coming right back. wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it.

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in your car with carvana. coinbase set to make its trading dayebut this week estimated a valuation of $100 billion. could rank with the biggest offings. joining us, amy duke, chief financial officer at the know, and iron spark amy, i'm not sure you want to comment on that, but just the business model that coinbase represents, along with what we've just seen in crypto, in

the last year, and it has almost become mainstream -- well it is mainstream so, so positive future for the -- that whole arena. and for coinbase, i think you would agree. >> i would agree and, first of all, thank you for having me. it's great to join you this morning. i am happy to talk about valuation, but i think even more interesting is that this is real innovation in financial services i used to joke that we haven't seen true innovation in financial services, meaning people act differently they do things differently it's not just efficiency, probably since the money market account in the early '70s. and i think coinbase has added to that innovation in a few ways you know, first, the settlement process. the fact that they're using blockchain means we don't have to worry about t-plus x settlement which has been such an issue in our market

second, it's really new use cases, personally, i'm not sure if crypto is an asset or a currency but i am sure that people are using it differently so, for example, nfts, for example, people trading it separately and then, third, i think institutions, even in the last three or four months, have really come in and corporates have come in and said, hey, i need to have crypto as a part of my treasury planning so, the use cases, plus blockchain means that people are adding this to kind of their general look, within their portfolio, and their activities. when i think about valuation, what i have been told is that people are thinking about coinbase as a through-the-cycle earner so they're thinking about valuing it more like an online brokerage firm they're thinking about it in that 15, 20-plus multiple.

when we look at the earnings that came out, at one point, you annualize the earnings, adjusted ebitda, over $4 billion, i think what people are saying is, if you look at a 15 to 20 multiple. plus, you have, you know that type of earnings through the cycle, that's kind of where they're coming out with the valuation. >> what would it take, amy, for to you say, yes, it's an asset and a currency we've been between 50 and 60,000, for it seems like a long time obviously, it's not. >> no. >> it hasn't been a long time. but it's held up at these -- what appeared to be really high levels it's held there. i don't know what that means i don't know if we've seen the same type of action we've seen in previous years which would destroy the idea that it's a currency but is it starting to get the type of stability that would be necessary to where you could feel more comfortable around the

world, holding it? because that's the case that's made that there are country where is the actually currencies that you use there are so unstable that bitcoin would actually be preferable people aren't able to have access to savings accounts or banks. that's the bullish case. there's a trillion people that -- not a trillion -- but a lot of people eventually that use bitcoin to actually have a savings account. like, you'd need it to be more stable, i would think. is that coming? >> i think it's coming look, i think there was a big shift about two-plus months ago. and personally, that's when i started putting it into my portfolio, think about it more as an asset class. as you say, i don't want to buy a $12,000 piece of sushi but i do think there's a big shift about two-plus months ago where corporate started going to the investment banks, saying how do i add bitcoin into my treasury function. and i think for me, that was an

acceptance that this is going to be used, both as a currency, and then kind of thinking about an asset in their treasury function i think the valuation is, once again, it's through the cycle. because as people trade it as an asset, you're going to have volatility and as the price of bitcoin moves, you're going to have volatility in how much earnings coinbase is able to use. but if they are really able to expand the use case and turn it into more of a stable coin, and i think that's where people are focused right now, in terms of being able to use this as a currency, then you're right, then the growth rates are going to be exponential. and then a 60, $80 billion valuation was way who high when it came out. >> spacs every day, every day, we have segments two, three, four years i can't imagine there still aren't going

to be spacs frequently it's not a craze they serve a very important purpose. >> i agree it's been -- i do think that we're on the verge of what i call spac 2.0 which is a different way of doing spacs you're going to have more operators running it, more founder company commendly economics. and i think you'll have different players in the marketplace, but they are here to stay. if you go back to these early 2000s, venture round, d ed, e af were very low percentage proceeds raised for a company. if you go back to 2015, 2016, that was an inflexion point and that went closer to 30%. and that's come down for half in 2020 i think that spacs are just starting to intermediate late

stage bc yeah, it's a portion of the traditional ipo, but they're starting to intermediate late stage bc, because iit's expensive. >> hey, amy, i'm in absolute agreement that spacs have a future the question i would ask, given the disclosure requirements that we believe are going to come, given what we saw from the s.e.c. last week about forward projections, given what sigh imagine will be remarkable compression over time, and as you said, more founder friendly or more company friendly, the kinds of people who are participating in these spacs flight as sponsors, big-name folks who are doing it in large part because they're collecting 21% of the spac on day one therefore the economics for them are huge, it's not going to be nearly as lucrative for them in the future and the question is, whether

it's going to be worth their time >> well, i think it will be worth their time because there are a lot of people who have value to add you look at former operators who want to find a way to help a company or be part of a new company. you have growth economies who still do need to find -- find new forms of capital late stage b.c. is really expensive. to me, that's probably the biggest use case for spacs but, you know, andrew, we've seen this in hedge funds we've seen this in other parts of the industry, that as it gets more competitive, the economics become more competitive. and the people themselves have to become better or need to exit or you're going to have fails. i think we're going to have fails, not just spacs that can't get a deal, but who is the real thing to focus on in the next 12 to 24 months are companies that de-spac and are they really

ready to go. i would encourage people to look at the management teams on those the spac boards and also on the de-spac, are they really ready to be there? i think that is going to be the stamp of approval. and i expect regulators to focus on that and there might be some changes focused on that. but i think that's the next stage, and as i call that spac 2.0. >> we'll talk more about you and maybe iron spark, but good to have you on today. that will be a discussion in the future, amy, thank you former nyse cfo at iron spac -- iron spark i said iron spac that's a freud yian slip spark. spark. coming up operation hope and surveymonkey coming together with a new survey for minority businesses we've got results from john hope

bryant and zander lurie. and a new show "techni check" a new show at 11:00. you do not want to miss it eye kicking off with airbnb and more all happening at 11:00 a.m. this morning. "squawk" continues after this.

welcome back to "squawk box" this morning our next guest met for the very first time here on "squawk," that meeting led to a new survey

of minority owned businesses, knee denovo findings, welcoming back john hope bryant, and survey monkey's zander lurie. good morning to you. john, tell us what you looked at >> well, relationship is everything and this just proves that one day we have to get back together and we met backstage at "squawk box. and decided we had a shared interest and shared vision i called it social justice through an economic lens and we determined that there's never been a go standard a national ongoing survey on the sentiment of black-owned business and minority-owned business and that tied into what we

announced on the show with harvey finkelstein which is the one man black initiative for black businesses in a decade and this proves that it wasn't sentimental. this proves that social justice through an economic lens lifts all votes. there's one track gdp doing the right thing and leaning in and this data is eye-popping so, i'm so honored to do this with zander. >> let's go through it, zander you're the survey man, you're the survey monkey in this case tell us some of these results, and what surpriseed you the most >> well, good morning, john is in fact a very inspiring leader, and when he has ideas, he's compelling so, for us, the big opportunity here was first to recognize that nobody had ever done a quarterly

longitudinal survey. a large cohort here, 1100 entrepreneurs and small business owners what we found is surprising. 75% of them felt there were structural inequities in the system, compared to white business owners. on the flip side, 98% are hopeful about their business so that's a strong indicator there's likely to be success here 58% felt they had lack of access to capital, and this is particularly concerning with an environment where we awash in literally trillions of governmental dollars of infrastructure spent and it was up over 100% with b.c. and in the last segment, nearly $100 billion of spac raised in q1 if you believe it's talent and opportunity is not, there are talented black small business entrepreneurs waiting for access to capital and people like john are rallying leaders we saw what netflix did last year moving 2% of their treasury

to black-owned banks so, we're excited to participate here and we feel that our vision is to raise the bar by amplifying individuals' voices we have a particularly unique roll in amplifying the sentiment. the sentiment and opinions of entree spreneurs and small busis owners here, we feel like we can make an impact >> hey, john, how do we make the data real? for viewers that are watching, what you can do about it and what should be done about it >> yeah, so -- thank you for that, andrew the question is everything the question is why? why is this important? we now have absolutely proven through the comparison between black and -- by the way, black and white small business owners have already been surveyed through the survey you guys do at survey monkey we index higher on hope, on engagement, on the desire to win. we index higher.

s that the one man black business entrepreneurs, that's coaching, basically. that's the power of coaching leading in if you're born with a memo on your lapel pin, your daddy told you about the wall street journal stocks, your mom and dad were telling you about, you've had that experience. black folks didn't have that experience but we're brilliant so what would happen if people watching this volunteered two hours as a cpa or as a banker or an insurance rep, or the i.t. professional by the way, a huge number of black entrepreneurs wanted tech as part of their future. you cannot grow until you have tech as part of your future. this is huge having these folks lean in and give two hours of their investment, to help folks, almost like a special enforcement team to come up and tied to the citigroup report,

andrew that you guys showed last year that $2 trillion of gdp to black alone -- most of that lost to black business. this is gdp. discrimination say levy and a tax on all of us it's also scientifically stupid. >> right >> but the opposite is we all grow >> zander, real quick, now that you've done this survey, what's the question you'd add -- i know you're trying to make it the same survey every quarter, but is there anything else because of the survey you want to change and ask next time? >> i think i would marry this survey to the recent news events that you're covering which is how american businesses are getting more engaged you're going to see issues that affect all stakeholders on the front of ceo minds and that's what we're trying to survey about. what matters for your business what enables you to deliver for your stakeholders. the second thing we do is raise

impact, part early in with john hope bryant is an awesome opportunity for us to bring folks to the issue and clearly the matter >> okay. john hope bryant, thank you for bringing this to us. zander, thank you. you got a new shot, by the way you look great both of you look great i can tell zander's got a new camera or something going on e.ere. jo >> thanks, andrew. another big hour of "squawk box" still to come we're coming back in just a minute [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision. with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity.

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good morning futures pointing to a lower open this monday, as investors hit the pause button with the dow and s&p at record highs. and uber posting record post bookings and update on wall street and regeneron asking for preventive treatment the ceo is going to join us live as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm joe kernen along with andrew

ross sorkin. becky is off today u.s. equity futures are a little changed. a little weakness after a series of new highs we saw last week in the s&p. today down about seven points on the s&p, the dow jones down 57 or so. and the nasdaq indicated down about 30 bitcoin up above 60,000 again, and the ten-year trading at 1.666. andrew >> okay. >> making headlines this morning, a few stories on big china tech this morning to tell you about. alibaba rising overnight after the company's ceo said he doesn't expect any material impact from a record $2.8 billion antitrust fine by chinese regulators meantime, jack ma's ant group will apply to become a holding company overseen with the bank ant group said it put together a restructure plan under the guidance of federal regulators,

this, of course, after the ipo was pulled and a lot of pressure was put on that company and jack ma himself back here in the united states, microsoft is in talks to buy speech recognition company nuance it's $66 per share or roughly $16 billion. it's the largest transaction microsoft has done since that linkedin deal 27 years ago that could be announced add soon as today >> now to the market's mike santoli is joining us with the big theme he's seeing. trying to come up with them, mike, i don't know, we're not in between big themes if i had to pick one, it would be that on friday but muted response in the ten-year what would the market key off of at this point? you tell us. >> well, first of all, the prevailing theme is the persistent strength to an unusual degree this market has been relentless

in pressing the upside take a look at the s&p 500 over the last year, basically an indicator of where we are within the upfriend as you can see right here, it's nosed above that point right there. low volatility actually makes those bands a little tighter so it shows you that the market -- by the way, this is not a fluke. it doesn't just happen it shows you underlying strength the market is feasting on good sent tall news and positive outlook. and this is what we mean when we say the as a matter of fact over booked the other theme is the very tight embrace of the bull market right now, flows over the last six months have been a record. $600 billion since the election. look at the shares of blackrock, just one proxy of that public enthusiasm for the market, you see right here, over the last year, well outperforming just look at that almost vertical move we've had recently as we've had a lot of money piling into those funds. and i mentioned the volt till earlier. the volatility index is

responding to the extreme calm all of this is actually compressing the s&p volatility we're popping a little at 17 this downtrend it's definitely positive, although you keep making new lows, people have decided to stop hedging, that's also evident in the options data joe, the real theme is market's a little overbought. looking better in the short term maybe that changes the risk reward, the public loves it. but really it's been tough to fight the trend because of all of the good that's going on. and also the market action is encouraged >> and the minute it starts feeling a little tired, mike, it enters another 400-point move in the dow or something >> exactly no, it's been almost scripted this kind of passing off of leadership from one group to another. also, in the last three months, we absorbed one of these out of blue shops, whether archegos or gamestop the market regulated but it's great while it lasts we'll see

if it can keep going on. >> and just that constant dynamic between, wow, things are nuts and we're staying at zero forever. >> and why wouldn't they be nuts >> right because we're staying at zero forever. >> yeah. >> so, i don't know how it's finally resolved itself. but it makes me nervous. i don't know andrew, we've worked together a long time. i'm nervous. that's my default. i think -- let's see, mike -- that's my default, that's my default position now, nervousness. i think it's from you, partner anxious. i'm anxious. >> that is true. that is true joining us is mohamed el-erian adviser at allianz and gramercy, we'll ask mohamed, how nervous are you? we had a chiron on the screen to show that the market is stretched. is the market stretched? >> is the market stretched

valuationwise, it is, but for good reason. the way it was stretched last week, andrew, was the buildup of goldilocks and the question is can it last? you have strong fundamental news the company is picking up significantly. that's great news. you have continued inflows and while you have a bad ppi number and inflation number, the market treated it as intransitory when you have that fundamental and market is looking -- willing to look through the inflation numbers, you get to record levels the big question for me and probably the first two, and then the third one, will inflation be truly transitory and will interest rates remain well behaved that's the question facing this market >> mohammed, can i flip this around, i'm sure you watched "60 minutes" and saw what jay powell had to say everyone is talking inflation. inflation, inflation, inflation.

when he considered it this in regard to be about jobs, how quickly do you think we actually hit that jobs number and then does he put the brakes on >> i don't think we'll hit that jobs number quickly. because he's talking to 8 to 9 million. we said even more, the 8 to 9 million people who haven't regained their jobs yet. and there's a real question mark as to how they're going to re-enter the labor force and how they're absorbed companies are having record openings, but complaining that they can't find enough people. and yet, we have 8 to 9 million people who are still unemployed. so, there's a fundamental question as to how quickly we're going to be able to achieve his target of employment, and whether or not that happens before inflation gets too hard for him. >> that would get me to my next question which is how hot does the economy effectively have to run, and potentially

inflation -- i don't want to say runaway, but run on us, to get at the same time as he's trying to get the jobs numbers to his targets? >> you heard him clearly yesterday, he said in the past, we've run it hard and we haven't gotten the inflation we've gone from a forecast-based to outcome-based approach. so we're willing to run it hot this economy is willing to run hot. and saying we haven't had inflation so we're not going to have nflation. that's the big bet, the transitory bet that it's making. with clarity, the vice chair said it makes sense to go to an outcome-base >> and do you think that is a fair way to think about it i'm now thinking back to the letter that jamie dimon put out last week, his annual letter

where he talked about the goals. but also said joe is nervous, sounds like jamie was nervous about the prospect of inflation and even talked about the possibility of a paul volker moment i don't think he was putting that survey to high probability but the idea that he was even talking about it >> so, i do not believe that the fed would have changed its monetary framework and ended up where it is now, had it known back then what we know today of course, no one knew we had a complete change of management, with trillions coming out monitored at the same time no one knew that i don't think they had changed a monitor framework had they had known. now, am i anxious about the way the fed is run yes, i would much rather them see -- i would much rather see them do two things one is press harder on precautionary policies, on macro prudential remember, we had near accidents already.

so, keep a much closer eye on what's happening in both the banks and nonbanks and secondly, start very control moderating these incredibly loose financial conditions signaling that the economy is really picking up. fiscal policy has kicked in. and it's time for monetary policy to what moderate. that's what i'll do. but i don't think that's what they're going to do. they'll stay loose as long as they can >> we have on the screen, bitcoin back above60,000 i know you're on the west coast, i appreciate you may not wake up at the beginning of our show every day at 3:00 a.m., your time, 6:00 a.m. our time but joe and i were talking about the other comment made by jay powell, in terms of his justification or rationale for not moving faster on a digital dollar or getting into crypto. he was make an argument that americans love cash. and joe asked, i thought it was

a very smart question, how much more do you think that jay powell has done on this topic? you know, we have coinbase's ipo this week, there's a lot more interest than ever in bitcoin, in crypto. you either have to -- you either have to have a view that the world is changing. or that this is a collective dl delusion and by the way it could be both. >> i think the world is changing i think we're getting a lot more adoption of crypto and bitcoin in particular for both positive reasons. people who have seen this as the future and for less positive reasons which is people see this was the best macro hedge we have to think about that, how has it come to a point where we think of a volatile bitcoin as the best macro head. but that's reality i do think, andrew, there's a lot of work being done in the central banking community on crypto on central bank cryptocurrency

the b.i.s. in particular there's a lot of work going on don't be fooled. central bank is looking at this very carefully >> and finally, i don't know if you saw the other piece of news to me demonstrates optimism where things are is the uber news in terms of the record bookings that have taken place and we should say that dara khosrowshahi is on "tech check" this morning if we're seeing those numbers, if they're having record bookings now, think about what the world looks like three months from now. no >> yeah, andrew, this economy is said to boom every indicator i look at, every indicator, suggests that we are going to grow 7% and above suggests that the fed is going to have to revise. and lots of people have to

revise the only thing that will change this if the infections get out of control other than that we have private demand, we have public demand coming together to power this economy through a strong year. >> mohamed el-erian, always great to get your perspective on a monday morning we look forward to seeing you soon thank you. >> thank you, andrew coming up, we're going to talk again about the global chip shortage and the impact on the automobile industry worldwide. before we head to break, take a look at the shares of tesla. the stock upgraded to 5 now. it's got a price tag of $1,071 a share. not 1070, or 1072, it's $11.07

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production has slowed and sales could be impacted through the end of the year, phil lebeau joins us good morning, phil >> hey, joe, most people think sales would be impacted through the end of the year. certainly, production will be at least into late summer and early fall look at these numbers from lmc automotive these are fresh numbers in terms of impact of lost production in the first quarter you saw a little over 250. and they've increased to 275,000. yeah, some of that is expected to be made up in the second half of the year. but for the ear, the industry is expected to lose almost 200,000 in production. over the weekend, general motors joining other automakers in cutting production when it comes to full-size pickup trucks eliminating overtime production in two of its plants in the united states. we've seen it from ford, from fiat chrysler, and what it means, the inventory that you see at the dealerships it's

already thin and going to remain thin the day's supply according to right now, most in the industry, 39 days. let me put this into perspective, a normal new vehicle for a healthy industry is 65 to 70 days it's not hard to drive around and see dealerships where there's sparse pickings on the lot right now. auto dealers are seeing record high combination of a tight supply and strong demand out there right now. that's why when you look at auto nation, group one, penske auto group, look at all of the dealership stocks, they've had a nice week. they're closer to their 52-week high and remains hs red hot. we expect sales to top likely where they were last year, joe, and last year, 31 million used vehicles told. and just like on the new side,

used are record highs. >> preowned. preowned >> okay. >> where are we on e.v. percent? still small, right >> oh, low, low. pure evs are about 1.5 2% of total sales. and electrified are a little higher >> and major players i keep getting on my twitter about, you know, the new porsche, you know, put it in your garage every morning. >> right >> you've got a full tank. >> sure. >> so, everybody is chasing that dollar, but it's still a little small. i don't know how that shakes out. >> right where we are right now, joe, commitments are being made by all of the automakers to dramatically ramp-up ev production but it's not there. we're in what i call a valley of

commitment and excitement by investors of electric vehicles, we're not seeing those vehicles yet. you see the ford mustang rolling out and being met by a good reception people saying, yeah, we like this, we want to see more of this you're just not seeing more of these vehicles coming out as fast as many people would like to see, certainly on the investment side. but that will happen over the next few years >> they've got the charging stations in the infrastructure bill you didn't see waffle house anywhere on that, did you? do you think the biden administration heard my idea it takes about 35 minutes to charge the car what are you going to do for that 35 minutes, ihop, do you see what i'm saying? do you not see the synergies there? >> a nice waffle would be helpful. i agree. >> what do you do for 35 minutes. you don't want to walk around the 7-eleven looking at crumby

hot dogs >> chipotle, we talked about that >> chipotle takes about 35 minutes these days they're so popular and i'm a believer in chipotle that's a good idea i don't know, that's the kind of infrastructure i can get behind. >> or taco bell, a little faster >> oh, oh, be still my heart. >> i know what will you like we're talking tech talk this morning, there's so much tech news in the headlines. uber posting record bookings in march as ride sharing demand ramps up dara khosrowshahi is going to join us on "tech check" that starts at 11:00 toad and deirdre bosa joins us live i'm going to be locked and loaded at 11:00. de deidre.

>> yeah, we're gearing up. do you have a question -- >> no, go ahead, you've got dara you've got an amazing lineup this morning >> we do the whole team worked really, really hard. we got dara coming up. and the biggest stories that you guys are talking about this morning, we've got dara khosrowshahi on uber, what was interesting this morning, the driver experience, not just ride sharing side but food delivery, how did they confront that we know uber is spending $250 million on incentives. is that enough that's something we're asking dara we've got pat gelsinger, new intel ceo, on a day we're talking to the white house on chip summit. and you guys look forward to much more. i've got to compete with you, though, i know you got so many of the ceos and founders in my states and tech. we're going to keep coming for you. we've got reed hoffman this week as well.

stewart butterfield. go ahead >> we're on the same team. let me ask you this, on the microsoft nuance deal, fascinating transaction. we expect that they actually have it -- we're getting it as early as this morning. you guys may be talking about it at 11:00, i don't know i'd ask you, for many years we thought apple was going to buy that company people do believe that knuance has the best voice technology maybe matched by google. maybe. how does it change the dynamic for microsoft? they spent an enormous amount of money on this technology already? was it a waste for them to do that already and is this a game-changer in terms what happened to themselves in terms of what happened with microsoft 365? because i imagine they'll integrate it >> certainly, this is being viewed in the silicon valley about a very good deal we sock about satya nadella and

he saw the cloud coming. and artificial intelligence and next generation technologies are going to be so important nuance is seen as one of the key, critical companies in this space. and microsoft has money to spend. and andrew, you know, we talk a ton about antitrust scrutiny, new regulations. microsoft has sort of emerged. they've had their antitrust issues a few decades ago but they've sort of been able to slide under the radar awe little bit under the latest round of scrutiny they're perhaps able to do these deals when some of the other big tech giants are not. you think about other m & a in the tech space, salesforce acquiring flat, that deal has to be closed. but you have to wonder can another company be able to do. we have to explore it as well. if i can, guys, i'm going to give you a little preview, is that okay? >> yeah.

>> watch -- okay, we've got the new background for you let me see if i can do this. there you go, new colors, new show you can see the background on tech check in just a few hours >> okay. we will see you. we're looking forward to it. good luck, and good luck to the whole team thrilled for you guys and it's going to be quite something. joe. >> thanks, andrew. coming up, a s.a.l.t. deduction cap work around, but just for hedge funds and other partnerships details coming up.

♪ coming up, when we return, our higher taxes coming? that is the question and the debate over the infrastructure bill we'll have a lot more thwi austan goolsbee and art clapper right after this [ humming ]

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breaking news, it is now official, just crossing the tape, microsoft is buying nuance the price tag $56 a share, represented by a 23% premium over friday's close. of course, that speech technology company, with the hopes that microsoft will use it to transform their microsoft 365 business microsoft ceo satya nadella and nuance ceo mark benjamin will join us on "street signs" to talk about it 9:30 eastern time. a pretty big price tag for the company. microsoft already has its own

speech technology, but this gives them, frankly, better speech technology. the question is how much better. and i'm sure the gang on "squawk" will talk to both of the ceos about that. joe. >> thanks, andrew. a provision in new york state's new budget provides a work around to the s.a.l.t. deduction cap, but it's just for hedge funds and other partnerships robert, that will be popular robert frank joins us with a look at what he's found. hey, robert. >> good morning, joe governor cuomo including that work around of the s.a.l.t. cap just as you mentioned for partnerships and escorts this would allow hedge groups and other partnerships to deduct most of their federal income tax against that other tax with the s.a.l.t. limit under the new rule, the pass-through pays a voluntary tax. the passthrough can deduct from

the firm taxes, that's because they're not subjected to the s.a.l.t. tax basically what's happening here, guys, the partners can shift the tax of the passthrough and get the full deduction connecticut and new jersey already allow this strategy. and it is the only state work around so far that the irs has allowed. guys, it only works for pastners of passthroughs, not regular employees. governor cuomo is saying that he expects that the government will repeal the tax but they need this at least for hedge funds. guys >> speechless, speechless, robert let's get on with the guest. joining us now a man who is never speechless, austan goolsbee, professor at the university of chicago, booth c school of business

and arthur laffer, chairman of laffer economics and austan, out of the box, "a," are you in favor of spending all that and "b," if so, should we try to do that? and what is the best way of doing that without in your view doll you think we ought to do? >> joe, what is this totally reasonable tone. i love it. first, objecting that the hedge funds are getting a tax cut. and now asking it in that way. i do think we've augneglected ao of these big public investments for a long time under party parties of the administration. and i do think we should pay for it and the way i think you got to pay for it is through modest increases back to historical

rates on corporations and high-income people they had dramatic cuts in their taxes in 2017, through the trump administration i think it went too far. and i think undoing some of that would be the way to pay for it >> art, i can say this often, but -- i'll say it to you, i can give you some facts about what that 2017 plan did in terms of, you know, household income going up $4900 the bottom 50% of household has three times as fast for wealth increasing as the 1% and the 100 billion higher in business investment. $1.4 trillion in cash that was repatriated. where did we get the narrative that was such a failure and boon for rich people? do people like austan keep saying it enough so people nod and accept it? >> i don't know how that

narrative gets placed. not only are all of the facts that you just said true, but also the growth and tax revenues in the two years following the tax bill of 2017 were grew faster than the two years preceding it, if you count all taxes combined on a federal level. and that's exactly what we hoped would happen this tax cut literally paid for itself on the taxes there. my worry is to austan, he's completely correct, when he says, back to historically not very high rates of corporate taxation but we're in a different world today, other companies have cut their tax break dramatically, following our lead from '86 on and '86 is where austan is an expert, following that and now if we went to the joe biden 28%, that would put us at the highest tax rate of the oacd back up there, that would be really noncompetitive.

and, frankly, he wants to double the minimum tax from 21.5% to 21% i think that would be an economy damager. >> austan, i unioruined all of good stuff you said about me, right? >> yeah, pretty much i got my vaccine, joe, you better get your wallet ready >> i did, too. i did, too this will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship, austan >> the payday, look, the thing is the tax cut of 2017 remains the most unpopular tax cut in the history of american polling is that the numbers you cited are cherry picked and wrong. and art's argument that this tax cut paid for itself, the cbo has documented that we lost hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue compared with what was expected to be there after the tax cut.

and the concentration was exactly until revenues from high-income people and large corporations the two groups that got the huge tax cut. so, the fact that the american people know that it didn't work is why modest increases -- it doesn't put our texas to the highest in the oecd. if you look at the large economies of the world, they have on average, higher corporate taxes. before the trump tax cut if you remember, we in the obama administration, there was a group of us that wanted to reduce the u.s. rate the business community was on board with that. they wanted the rate to go down, to -- wait for it -- 28% nobody thought they would cut it to 21% and it just went overboard we lost tons of money. the reason why i think they should pay for it is not just randomly let's ask for more money, to the use the money to pay for important public

investment >> hey, hey -- >> this allowed deterioration of our physical, our telecom infrastructure, our energy infrastructure, our health infrastructure has been deeply damaging to business in the united states. >> austan -- i even proposed one of your favorite public/private partnerships with waffle house for the charging station >> but chipotle. there's got to be a lot of chipotle >> arthur, arthur, arthur, did you hear that bait and switch? >> i did, i can't believe it >> no, no, they always say, you know, after that, we lost a lot hundreds of billions of dollars on corporations. that was the point but the total tax bill went up and they always do that. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. why did they do that austan knows the numbers very

well we got the repatriation tax. the total taxes grew faster than after the tax cut they did before poor people, the lowest half of the income group, for the first time, their median incomes grew dramatically disinfranchised and young showed sharp increases in their incomes. i don't know why austan doesn't say those things they're all true and austan knows these, just the numbers. >> joe, the wage growth rate in the two years before the tax cut was higher than the wage growth rate in the two years after the tax cut. you guys are conflating the business cycle which continued to improve with the impact of the tax cut which was negative >> the median wage of the lowest groups rose way more than it did

in the first full years of obama. there was a huge increase there. and it was 6500 bucks i think it was per family, out of 63,000. in the obama, it was only $1,000 for the first eight years. trump's economics are unassailable in this regard. it does a good job, a fine job, and now that all of the other tax rates are coming down, they want to raise it up to the highest level. if you look at federal, state, local, corporate tax rate it would put us at the highest level of the oecd. i'd be glad to check the number with you au austan, you love saying i owe you but you won't let me pay off the debt, so -- >> are you aware of the ongoing epidemic in this country, joe? >> we're both vaccinated we're both vaccinated. >> me, too

>> we're all vaccinated, we're all going out together, if you want to do chipotle, i don't care >> what's the most expensive restaurant in new york >> you got it. you got it you get your hedge fund tax cut and you bring it to the restaurant >> okay. you know, i'm not going to -- my big tax cut that i got in 2017 that increased my taxes like 40% of the s.a.l.t yeah, all of the rich people got all of the money, austan, thanks taco bell. taco bell, that's all i can afford >> thanks, art ask andrew, am i right, andrew >> if you're going to a pricey restaurant, i want to come where should we go can i join this party and are you really going to pay, joe >> i'm really going to pay, you and austan, i'd be crawling out of there wimping if you guys teamed up on me.

i've got to bring laffer with me jim cramer is going to join us about the trading deal. we'll talk about the nuance and microsoft deal regeneron, shares are much higher, and there's a new test for the covid antibody drug. and the ceo is here on "squawk" in a couple minutes. you do not want to miss that conversation ♪ i wish that i knew what i know now ♪ ♪ when i was younger ♪ you need a financial plan that fits the way you want to live in retirement. a plan that can help grow and protect your money. now or in the future. with an annuity in your plan to help cover essential expenses, you can live the retirement you want.

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y. welcome back to "squawk. we've got news from micro strategy this morning. the economy will now pay nonemployee directors all fees for their service in -- ready for this -- bitcoin instead of cash payment amounts will remain the same and it will be nominally u.s. dollars when payment is made it will be converted from bitcoin into the payment processor into positives into the digital wallet of the director fascinating new development. let's get to cnbc headquarters jim cramer joins us now. i want to talk microsoft/nuance. what do you make of that and what did it say of crypto? >> well it just says you got to buy coinbase, even though when that deal comes, $100 billion deal, it's common knowledge that there are many companies that are going to switch. micro strategy has been a leader, andrew others are going to follow. do i want to be paid in bitcoin?

i think you can pretty quickly transfer that into u.s. dollars if you want. it's a much more fluid market than a year ago. so, i get it >> would you take compensation in bitcoin >> yes, absolutely >> you would >> yes, i would. i think that it's -- this is a $2 trillion market, maybe going to $3 trillion it's become, when you start hearing the common knowledge, i think it's a kick. i want know how -- i want to know -- this will be something, do you think you could switch from ordinary income to capital gains? that's what i want to know, because holy, cow, if it is -- i'm sorry? >> jim, here's my question, i'm not just doing a switch from cash into u.s. dollars to bitcoin, if we set your salary at bitcoin, jeff shell could be watching, are you willing to ride out whatever happens to it jt. >> absolutely. as a matter of fact, i may

demand it. >> you may demand it. >> just kidding. >> on this microsoft/nuance deal, what do you think? >> brilliant because they lock up everybody they locked up emic, and sooner, and it's a great idea. congratulations to "techcheck" which is going to be unbelievable strong. >> we're looking forward to your conversation with satya and the ceo of nuance in just a little bit. in the meantime, we got the regeneron ceo coming up withhe t new data on the drug we'll talk to the ceo right here back after this. ♪ but entrepreneurs never stopped. ♪ and found solutions that kept them going. ♪ at u.s. bank, we can help you adapt and evolve your business, no matter what you're facing. because when you close the gap,

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schliefer. back to "squawk box," we are joined by the ceo of regneron. >> len schliefer joins us with the antibody drug for covid can actually prevent the disease and help with people who have covid-19 len, thanks for joining us this morning. we understand you are taking the data to the fda to try to expand the indications for this drug under eua. tell us how a prevention drug like this might help at this

stage in the pandemic. >> right, so, thanks, meg, for having us on we should take a step back before we dive too deeply into the data and just remember that we've got a war going on literally, we're trying to win this war through vaccination, and that's probably our strongest weapon but unfortunately, this war is fought far from over this 70,000 americans every day who are still getting sick with the virus and we need to have other weapons, besides the vaccine, to be able to deal with this pandemic. and our cocktail has really showed some striking data. a while back, we've shown that you can actually, if you have the disease, if you have covid, and you are an outpatient, and you're at risk, we can decrease the number of people who get hospitalized or die by 70%, by treating these appropriate patients early today's data, we've now taken that step, even one step further, and we can treat people before they're infected, and we can show, you can block 80% of

infections in people who are at risk to be infected with the virus. >> you know, one way a lot of folks have talked about these drugs potentially being used is almost like a ring vaccination, because the antibodies provide immediate protection where as if you're surging vaccines to a place like michigan, for example, it takes maybe a week or two weeks for that protection to kick in or even longer with a two-dose vaccine do you anticipate that these drugs could be used in that way? you could surge supply of them to places seeing outbreaks and trying to protect people preventively. >> it is an absolutely great question and i think it is actually one of the future uses. as you mentioned the advantage of this cocktail is it immediately, within the first few day, you will start to get protection from becoming infection, so you could, in a ring, if you will, take all of the contacts of somebody who is infected and very importantly, this cocktail is active against

all of the worrisome variants that are circulating now so if you want to put a stop to these variant, you could use this cocktail in a ring vaccination kind of approach i think the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together. there's been some, there's vaccine hesitancy, and also been some drug hesitancy, but now if you think about it, we've got the nih strongly endorsed last week the cocktail, the fda has authorized it for appropriate outpatients, there's ample supply, the drug is free to patients, and most importantly, there's overwhelming data, so this puzzle which was a little bit hard to see is pretty clear to us right now, and i think it should be clear to most people, that there is an appropriate, in addition, not instead of, but in addition to vaccinations, where we can treat people who are at risk to get the disease, that has to be authorized by the fda, but actually right now, we can treat people who are getting the disease every day, and keep them

out of the hospital. >> so one of the things that's been a bit challenging about the drug so far is they're authorized to be given via i.v. in function. but i understand for the prevention trial, you did, via sub cutaneous shot, but it sounded like people had to get four shots how will that work in terms of administering this drug? >> it turns out, you're right, this was just a simple shot under the skin in four place, one in each arm, maybe in one each leg or one each side of your belly, the patients tolerated it very well and that is just once and you get that and so sub cutaneous is a possibility in this prevention setting or even in the early treatment setting. we actually have three different studies now which we've completed for sub cutaneous use. one is outpatients just looking at the virology, and we saw the sub cutaneous administration in terms of just killing the virus,

was as good as intravenous and we also have these two studies reported today, very early treatment, and prevention, where subcutaneous worked very well, and we're doing a study as we speak now looking at people who are infected further along with subcutaneous administration, to see how that stacks up. but i think that these details can be worked out. there are concrete steps that we now know work. the biden administration's been great with some of the pop-up clinics where people in vulnerable areas can get access to treatment we have to overcome this drug hesitancy, just like we overcame vaccine hesitancy, or overcoming it, and we have to get this drug to people, to appropriate people, and treat them, and keep them out of the hospital or dying. it's really, it's a medical, it's a moral imperative, we have to do it and we all have to work together the time for equivocation i think is passed. the pieces of the puzzle are all in place

we all have to work, the system, the government, the private industry, the health care systems, patients, their doctors, we have to make this work. >> are you, i understand you're looking at the drug in kids under the wage of 12 that's a population for whom we may not have vaccines at least maybe until early 2022, depending on how the studies go for the vaccine makers do you anticipate that this could be a treatment option for kids potentially >> you always have to study children but we have, myoclonal antibodies as a class are very safe drugs and some of your other my clonal antibodies, dupixent, we studied very young children and they seemed to behave very similarly to adults. but there, as i said, they have to be studied in children, but monoclonal antibody does appear quite safe >> how quickly could you shift

your monoclonal to a variant like the south african variant pretty quickly i'm sure? and get it in pill form, tore me, will you, for me, will you, like tamiflu. >> we've been trying to do that for 30 years, joe. that's a tough one in terms of the variants, we already know that our cocktail works against the south african variant, against the brazil variant, against the british variant, against the ones circulating in new york and circulating in california. the team anticipated all of these variants they actually published reports when the variants came out and could predict what was going to come and they designed their cocktail now they've designed version two and three and four, already in the labs, for the next set of variants if we act quickly, we can stem the tide and maybe we won't have to deal with any beyond these variants but the dug drug works. it is a great question and i'm glad you brought it up. >> thank you thanks, meg. not a whole lot of time.

25 seconds thanks, len schliefer ceo of regneron, and instead of waiting for your body to make the antibody, take the antibodies. >> that's great. >> and better science, every day, it seems. >> markets are down but not out. >> we'll be back here again tomorrow together. with our bromance, andrew. "squawk on the street" is next >> you bet ♪ this is how we do it ♪ >> good monday morning welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber features with some mild give-back, a jam-packed week, q1 earnings and white house infrastructure and the chip shortage and powell speaks and the coin based shortage and much more microsoft, speech recognition company, nuance, 19.7 billion, the ceos will join us exclusively th