a group of gop senators planning now a counteroffer for infrastructure that starts with a "t." yeah we'll talk about a potential compromise deal. also starting with "t," tesla announcing a major change to its self-driving car program. details straight ahead and cryptocurrency prices surging despite a further crackdown on miners in china it's wednesday, may 26th, 2021 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. and this morning, the futures are picking up some of the ground that they lost yesterday. yesterday was a down day not by a lot but the dow was down by 80

points this morning up by 86 point. s&p right now indicated up 12 points nasdaq where the technology stocks, big tech stocks were flat yesterday this morning, indicated up by 34 let's also take a look at treasury yields because that's been really interesting to see when and if treasury yields are actually going to budge. at this point, the ten-year sitting at 1.65% yesterday, below 1.6% and in that tight range joe's been talking about for several months and cryptocurrency coming back after bitcoin headlines that might be headwinds against bitcoin and other areas. bitcoin back by $40,000. ether back by $2800, up by close to 12% i won't get any reasons why this might be happening because, joe, your guess is as good as mine. >> well, not because of --

andrew wrote -- i think it's a pseudonym. it says ban cryptocurrency to fight ransomware by -- no, that's not you -- b. reiner is not -- did you read this >> i saw the piece but it was not my piece. >> okay. all right. >> and i don't necessarily have -- i have some more thoughts, but i think there are some question marks that should be asked about all of this, as you know >> this guy said he gets called a statist. and all of those things, i see those words being thrown out it seems like a huge blockchain infrastructure that they ripple on there's a lot of things going on in crypto that seems kind of -- i don't know, kind of a brute force sort of. there must be -- can't you use like a really accurate rifle instead of a nuclear bomb to maybe clean things up a little i don't know kind of interesting to read it, though, this guy is -- who is

he -- he's an executive -- he's at the duke law school anyway, it was interesting to read it. >> are you calling him a -- too? >> that would be -- >> if anybody is a leadite, i'm pretty close, too. when i move from myspace to facebook, then i would have earned that -- i love the features i've never been on either. checking a couple other things, did you guys see these meme things yesterday? >> yes >> yes >> i don't know what to call that, gme, amc, look at that yesterday. huge, that's for the week. gamestop back above -- well above 200. amc had a big garnering a lot o attention. the tech move yesterday was okay but it wasn't -- not a lot happened but ark continues to

rebound a little and we were talk about whether ark was going to be part of the stabilization in that cathie woods etf. it doesn't show up back to 110. others, like santoli talking about whether we get stabilization there. before we start to see stabilization where else maybe we're beginning to see it. andrew, you're going to do -- biden is at 1.7. the senate, these guys are now at 1 it's narrowing is it possible that they meet? >> a trillion. >> yeah, a trillion. >> with a "t." >> i don't even want to open my mouth if it's not -- >> let me tell you where everything stands and we can maybe have a little debate a group of senate republicans planning to send president biden a counteroffer on infrastructure as soon as tomorrow. the proposal could cost nearly $1 trillion. they're aiming to offset the spending without increasing

taxes. at least that's their ambition the biden administration says it wants to see what talks can be made before memorial day it was reduced to $1.2 trillion as joe was mentioning using special budget rules we'll see how close they get i think it's going to be hard to see them actually compromise >> look -- >> it's tough for compromise, i don't think they necessarily have the votes on the democrats. you can't use budget rec kocon rec consillation, if you can't get it done, they may get it down the road but a lot of maneuvering to get to that point. >> in the piece, if you read manchin's comments, manchin is an important centrist politician

now. and he's voicing some of those republican talking points, almost about infrastructure. let's do infrastructure. and not some of the other things and they -- i don't know, in the coronavirus bill, there's still billions -- hundreds of billions left, earmarked for states and the states -- >> right >> i don't know. >>take some of that back, exactly. >> saying use some of that, maybe we'll see. biden promised to come in and try to work with we'll see whether he does at some point that would be a big deal a lot of guys that know him, the guys that know him for 30 years on the republican side of the aisle say he used to be a guy that would do stuff like that. i don't know if he can now >> i don't know if they're going to reach something, a trillion dollars is still a long way. the administration trimmed half a trillion off of their ask last

week it's the breadth of this bill. if you can break it up, split it up in many ways in the house they're having trouble we talk to congressman gottheimer all the time, with the pins, no s.a.l.t., no dice that's you have to pay for it. they all have things they want >> would republicans go for 25 or is that a nonstart -- on corporate taxes, or is that a nonstarter, too? are they going to stick to no increase whatsoever? a trillion used to be a good number for infrastructure. you know, when we've been here a long time, all of us we used to talk -- you know, it would be nice to do $800 million to $1 trillion for bridges, roads, airports. that used to be a pretty good number i don't know -- we do have

inflation, maybe it's not as good a number as it used to be it still seems to be a pretty good number, doesn't it? i'm arguing for that side of thing. maybe more is. we'll move on. >> vice chair richard clarida joining a growing force within the bank that says the time is nearing for a shift in the fed's guidance, uh-oh, around its easing money policies. clarida says there will come a time in upcoming meetings, we'll be at the point where we can discuss scaling back asset purchases. the fed's next policy meeting is scheduled for june 15th to the 16th the moves in ten-year are kind of hard to explain especially if you're talking about, you know, the beginning of some tapering maybe -- you know, we had mahaney yesterday say everything is held down by the new economy that we have

so, maybe it's still benefitting from the internet and price discovery and everything that we see being cheaper. maybe we're never going to have horrible carteresque inflation again. we're going to talk about that actually later in this hour. have an inflation discussion >> looking forward to it in the meantime, ceos from some of america's biggest banks are heading to capitol hill today. jp morning's jamie dimon, citi's james frazier, morgan stanley's james gorman, bank of america's brian moynahan, and charles scharf and david solomon, also the house ways and means tomorrow a twofer on this they're going to discuss consumers and businesses over the last year and efforts to try to stem stemmsystemic racism.

guys, they're going to be getting it from both sides of the aisle. >> as they should. >> it's going to be interesting to see what the bankers saying what the questions are meantime, cooper's ceo is not happy with rider wait times and prices neither are customers. jpmorgan saying the demand for rise is out of supply. saying it's higher, as we have not seen drive supply keep up with the demand growth in the united states. he's saying the numbers are improving as more people get vaccinated uber and lyft saying the supply and demand would press on. and we'd see a recovery in the third quarter. but i didn't appreciate, guys, how many drivers actually effectively turned their cars back, effectively with undone leases and the like. stopped renting the cars or whatever they were doing and therefore, getting them back on the road -- it's not just getting them to drive.

it's actually in some cases getting some of those same drivers to be driving. plus what you think the actual resurgence could be at numbers to turn soon at higher than they were prepandemic you have this remarkable mismatch and how quickly that gets resolved. i don't know if you guys are using uber these days, but the surge pricing is real. rides that used to cost 18 or 20 bucks are oftentimes three times that >> yeah, it's a question -- >> you need toprepare, too, fo when you're going to go. i don't use it, but my sons use it they were panicked because we thought you could get there by this time. >> right >> but when you looked at two different cars and what their estimated time is, it's whoa, wait a minute, maybe i have to drive. i'm evs are we going to need in california, becky. you were talking about that yesterday. >> 90% of the drivable miles by

2030 which sounds like a long way, but that's nine years 90% of your drivable miles within nine years. >> it's already hard nau not any evs with cars and drivers. >> the question for uber is not only how long it takes to get the drivers back but also how much it costs them they have been putting out money to try to incentivize the drivers to come back how long will they have to continue to pay that especially when you hear about the overall jobs market. and how difficult it is to find workers in some of those places. you've got unemployment levels but you wonder how much of a worker's market this is right now, especially when it comes to some of those jobs that have come back in full force. >> well, i'll tell you one of the things that's fascinating in new york city, taxis are popular again, because they're cheaper >> yeah. >> let's do this other story, which is that tesla is

announcing plans to ditch radar in some cars for its driver assisted features which includes autopilot. the company says model 3 and y vehicles will instead have a camera based system with cruise control and automatic lane keeping. ceo elon musk tweeted back in march that the company would move to a clear vision approach. radar centers are expensive. and the company warned that all autopilot and full self-driving systems would not be as strong the position differs from competitors. they're using a combination of ra radar,and lidar, a system that rotates like a siren on top of the car that effectively is

making a map of everything it sees there is a huge debate about which is better, with a lot of people thinking lidar as a much safelier alternative and he's getting much criticism that he can do the same simply with cameras we'll see. >> i think the craziest part on that is just what -- if you back up what you said in terms of during the transition period, it might not be working as well it's like hold on a second do not let this be driving you down the highway if that's the case oops, reboot got to reset things. >> like those lane thing we'll like them. have you been in like a rent-a-car where -- i turned it off. you are minding your own business and it happens you're like what, what, the whole car is shaking. >> well, it does that because you're driving out of your lane. >> i hate those things

>> you hate those things that remind you you're not driving very well. >> i am a leadite. >> get off my car! >> get off my ass. i'm not going to do anything wrong. leave me alone if you get close to anything, beep, beep, beep, beamep -- that goes off cars have too much now i got this >> it can be a little startling. when we come back this morning, the stock futures pointing to a higher open. we're going to talk strategy after this break and viewers on the west coast of the united states may want to do a little star gazing right now. the second super moon of the year coincides with the lunar eclipse which can give the moon a dusty appearance, you know it sometimes as a blood moon. this time, it's being called the assumer flower blood moon. flower because it occurs in the

spring northern hemisphere it occurs at 7:11 a.m. eastern time we'll be right back. yes. formulated to help you body really truly absorb the natural goodness. new chapter. wellness, well done. this is how you become the best! [wrestling bell rings] [music: “you're the best” by joe esposito] ♪ try to be best 'cause you're only a man ♪ ♪ and a man's gotta learn to take it ♪ ♪ try to believe though the going gets rough ♪ ♪ that you gotta hang tough to make it ♪ ♪ you're the best! around! ♪ ♪ nothing's gonna ever keep you down ♪ [triumphantly yells] ♪ you're the best! around! ♪ [ding] don't get mad. get e*trade and take charge of your finances today. ♪♪ i'm dad's greatest sandcastle - ofand greatest memory!. but even i'm not as memorable as eating

turkey hill chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream with real cocoa. well, that's the way the sandcastle crumbles. you can't beat turkey hill memories. there's interest you accrue, and interests you pursue. plans for the long term, and plans for a long weekend. assets you allocate, and ones you hold tight. at thrivent, we believe money is a tool, not a goal. and with the right guidance, you can get the financial clarity you need, and live a life rich in meaning, and gratitude. to learn more, text thrive to 444555, or visit thrivent.com. in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7.

every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. which shows will you be getting into tonight? how 'bout all of them. netflix. 'cause xfinity gets you really into your shows. when one burns for someone who does not feel the same. daphne, let's switch. from live tv to sports on the go. felix at the finish! you can even watch your dvr from anywhere. okay, that's just showing off.

you get all of this on x1. so go on, get really into your shows. you need a breath mint. xfinity. it's a way better way to watch. ♪ welcome back the market seems to be struggling for direction after wiping out gains and finishing in the red in tuesday's session. however, we are still sitting

near all-time highs. you got to look through some of this too, kristin bitterly is head of investments for bank of america at citi's private bank you say there's a lot more happening beneath the surface. what do you see when you kind of look at the world beneath the majors that we track so closely? >> it's interesting because the indices do not tell the full stories of what's actually going on.the market is actually breaking down winners and losers a third of u.s. equities are actually in a bear market. half of correction are down 10% for more and almost 52% of stocks down from the 52-week high. there's a lot going on year to date i also tend to think while the recovery is priced in, in certain parts of the u.s.

markets when you look at some of those indices, it's focused on departments happening within the u.s. there are areas to be able to play that recovery where we haven't seen that price action come through >> so, the reflation trade that happens as economies open up is picking up in different places we've seen in europe, though, a lot of those markets are sitting at or near had you highs, too. if you look at germany, france, and other markets. where do you like things internationally? >> internationally, the market that we like a lot is the uk equities the uk, they're doing a great job with vaccines. the uk story, too, is not just about lagging in the past 12 months, but actually lagging for the past five years. uk is undervalued when you get it on a relative pe basis. it's also underowned it's not really present in a lot of our clients' portfolios and you look at the digital

element. this is important, another thing our clients are looking for, where do you find yield. average yield in uk is anywhere 3 to 4%. it makes a lot of sense from a valuation standpoint, as well as finding a price for yield in this market. >> part of the problem with the uk market has been brexit. >> absolutely. >> do you think they'll come out of the other side of that and everything is okay >> i think when you break down the sectors in the uk market the more cyclical bias, the uk benefits from that, right? if you're to break down the market as to what benefited last year, right, and you had that technology, the kind of covid rivers, where the uk had played those markets and the uk has that tilt, financials, insurance, health care that's an area where we feel essentially the global presence of those companies they also have really strong

balance sheets and free cash flow generating abilities to continue to grow their dividends. so we're looking more to the global picture of those companies, the large companies within the uk. as opposed to the idiosyncratic nature of brexit >> you know, back here in the united states, people are wondering what's going to happen with technology. that's been a big question that's been leading the way especially during the pandemic as software companies and other tech companies kind of really stepped in the forefront and were leading markets, too. there are sectors within technology you that doink think are going to be places to invest even with the new highs we've set, right >> yeah, so, technology has been interesting. it's been tech versus value. have we seen a complete rotation here and going back to, yes, value is playing that catch-up. that reversion what's going to dominant is not just that shock that was covid and having that 110 benefit, but

which of these companies really have staying power so there's a lot of focus on earnings going forward, but when you start to look at some of the subsectors and this is where you're playing a long game an area that we really like is very underowned is cyber security instead of going after the big names that you do have, whether inflation worries, rising ratings, regulatory concerns, cyber security is an area that has more parts of the world. only 50% of the world has access to the internet today. that's expected to grow. when you look at the spend, as to what companies spend on cyber security, it's $1825 billion to $135 billion the damages are estimated at $6 trillion, looking at those type of conversions and looking at how this industry is going to grow over time is an area where we're comfortable putting capital to work right now. >> thanks a lot. appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you >> andrew.

thanks, becky. coming up, actor john cena apologizing to china over a comment he made in an interview. we're going to explain next here's a look at the stocks leaving the s&p higher in the premarket trade. we're going to be right back after this

cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪♪

keeping your oysters business growing visit letsmakeaplan.org to findhas you swamped.ssional. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo

actor john cena has apologized to china after he called taiwan a country. during an interview promoting the newest movie in the "fast & furious" franchise in the interview with a taiwanese

broadcaster, cena said taiwan is the first country that can watch worldwide. taiwan fighting for separate sides since the war. cena offered an apology, and he was speaking in mandarin he said he did a lot of interviews, made a mistake, he apologized said it was very -- three veries -- four vers -- very, very, very importantthat he loves and respects the chinese people he's been studying mandarin. he often posts videos to his 600,000 followers in which he does speak mandarin. the new "fast & furious" movie which was produced and owned by parent company comcast, brought

in over $1 million over the weekend. and then the nba, i can understand, can you separate the chinese people from the chinese communist government that's the question. so, i can sort of see what he's saying, he's got his fans who are chinese. i guess they would agree with what the prc dictates in terms of taiwan. so, it's a fine line to watch. i mean, twitter it's a fine line -- >> twitter exploded on that. >> there's no free speech. that's the fine line the fine line is you can't say what you think if you actually say what you think, you're going to get banned in china. it's bad for business. >> would you actually get banned or you wouldn't have that same amount of -- i think it would hurt the box office receipts, right? >> either hurt the box office. or you wouldn't see as many -- look, we've seen -- you know, we've seen what's happened with china with so many different businesses you think that this was simply done because he was worried about the quote/unquote box

office the box office because people weren't going to come out and see the films? or you think because the government would crack down on the films, future films and ability to go on rebo. >> he's a wrestlers, right i didn't think many that wrestlers took mandarin. i think it's difficult >> i'm just impressed that he speaks mandarin. that's my takeaway, too. >> maybe the reason he speaks mandarin is because it's such a large market over there. >> it's a big market for them. >> and it was a conscious decision to appeal to his fans in china now, he doesn't want ostracized. regardless whether he gets in trouble with the government. twitter went nuts. you're kind of with the wackos on this one, andrew. the ones that are mad at him for doing it you're an enigma i never know where you are on these things

>> no, i'm not mad at him for doing it but why they're doing it this is the same thing, even when lebron james -- even when lebron james was asked about china. he all of a sudden was standing up for certain things that were against the things that he would normally believe >> right >> there were a lot of people who happened to bend their views because of their interest of wanting to do business in china. call a spade a spade that's what it is. that's what it is. >> right >> and that's what businesses have been doing for decades doing business there >> right remember the number of nba fans in china when they actually said it you got a billion people or so, you can have a lot of fans i guess i understand it. from a big green perspective coming up, why the gop is keying on inflation as part of a new political strategy, we get a live report from washington. and as we head to break, a look at s&p's winners and losers

hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need.

new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

republican lawmakers are taking aim at president biden's economic agenda. and inflation data is at the center of that strategy, ylan mui has more ylan, good morning >> well, good morning, joe you're right, republicans are hoping to turn inflation into a political vulnerability for democrats. it was the first thing that senate minority leader mitch mcconnell brought up yesterday during his weekly press conference with reporters. other members of the gop leadership followed suit and he pointed to rising prices as evidence that president biden's covid relief package was too big and that the economy just can't handle trillions more in spending. >> we've got to get reasonable and real about spending. or inflation will be a problem, government stability will be a problem. the dollar will be a problem and we don't want any of those things to happen >> the drumbeat will continue

this afternoon senator rick scott is leading about half a dozen more republicans to call on biden to present a plan to deal with inflation. scott is labeling this a crisis and a tax on working families. meanwhile members of the house republican study committee have been learning about the cpi and bodying up on price increases on sugar and a reminder that explicitly urges lawmakers to tie it to the economic agenda. guys, they say it's something that can unify republicans but also democrats back to you. for more on fears. biden administration agenda, let's back in the american institute fellow and cnbc contributor, thanks for joining us i looked at some of your notes, i don't think you're really feeling like an inflation hawk i'm not sure, right, sighi feel

at this point. we have the c.a.r.e.s. act and the coronavirus, it takes time for all of that, printing and all of that, it takes time for that to come home to roost, and maybe some of this stuff is reopening. maybe there is an inflation. but if you were convinced that we're going to debase the currency, we're talking lots of trillions. trillions here, trillions there, trillions everywhere wouldn't you be concerned that that's a political cudgel to go at the biden administration with >> right i think the easy thing to say, there's obviously some truth to this that republicans are scrambling for argument. obviously, president trump during the election said if you elect joe biden it's going to be a terrible recession and now we're looking at maybe the best two years of economic growth since 1980. i think republicans want something to counter that. and they're focusing on inflation. now, that happens to be kind of

a good argument here if you're looking for the potential downside here, higher sustained inflation at a time, as you mentioned you have a supply constrained economy and a lot of money into the economy. and look, is this a crisis right now? no but how would a crisis begin, how would a period of much higher inflation begin it would probably begin with quirky, one-off jumps up in inflation that have eventually changed expectations we don't know it's a problem but it's not crazy to say it might be a problem >> and january 20th is the inauguration and then, i know there hasn't been a recession yet, but, i'm not saying that there will be one, but some of these policies in the past have led to at least a sort of say morass in terms of gdp growth in my view, and ur with the aei, i would think

you'd agree to some extent it's a reopening after covid yeah, we're going to have a strong economy i don't know which will of biden's policies that you point to that you think are responsible for this strong two years that you're talking about here which ones are you pointing to that have paid off so handsomely >> well, listen, you're going to have the economy reopening and you're throwing a bunch of money at it. i think it's a shock that we might have a spurt in growth the issue is, one, is this a sustained growth having the economy going back starting in 2023 beyond that, you have to think what is the potential downside here democrats have talked very little about the potential downside and the obvious risk out there is that we will get inflation shock that forces the fed to act. and making a mistake raising rates too far, too fast. and it's go to be a nice long expansion. we get this kind of two-year

blip then we get a downturn or slow down that's the lift. and they can blame republicans for making the same comments in 2009 but people who are a little older know that we have had inflation in the past, 1970s and it can happen again. >> basic premise that it's going to be tough to go up in 2022 and 2024, given that the economy is strong and republicans are like searching for a faux strategy to counter the biden administration somebody wrote in earlier. i said, wow, that's kind of perspective. biden won a big chunk of voters who crossed over for character not policy go too far left and those people are going to get disillusioned and there's a base that overlooks character. but they look at one policy at a time and there are things that both independents and certainly the right are looking at right now,

they don't need to make up a faux strategy to try to counter what they're seeing, jimmy >> well, look, i think it's a strategy, but a strategy can also have a sound economic basis. and i think this strategy or messaging, whatever you want to call it, has a sound economic basis. i think a lot of people look at this and say, wow, that's a lot of trillion dollars i'm hearing about, $900 billion. $1.9 trillion now many more trillion it's not crazy to think that you're doing something that we haven't done before after this kind of once in a century pandemic and this, you know, whatever you want to call it boom, boon, or blip, that's sustainable, but we're going to have a rush of growth on the other side and it's worth considering what it's going to look like >> just trying to figure out exactly what you said do you think republicans are on the right track or wrong tract in terms of countering, trying to win back the white house in four years? >> if i were to come up like a

message, i'm not like a messaging guru i would say this is something you would point to and messages are always a lot stronger if they're actually, i think, based on something real i don't think this is a crisis i don't think we're about to go into hyperinflation. but pointing out potential inflation risk is and broader risks, i think policies are pretty reasonable. >> thank you, jimmy. you've read all of those books -- i have a -- >> yeah. >> i tried to find one that i had, actually i read the inside. there's a couple there's a couple i coushouldn't cop to that, rea. too big to fail. i've scoured over is that again and again and again. >> powerful book >> thanks, jim >> you read things, joe,

twitter. anyway, when we come back, an update on cnbc's first ever nft. the auction ends in a couple hours. and later, the ripple making the cnbc list. we're going to talk about what may be coming and much more. we'll be right back. ♪ 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, a world of possibility opens. ♪ u.s. bank. we'll get there together. ♪ ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) we'll get there together. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪♪ we've got an update for you on cnbc's first ever nft the auction for the token which commemorates mark haines calling the market bottom back in march 2009 is up to 16 ether, that's roughly $48,000. there's still time to bid but you better hurry because the auction closes at 10:30 eastern time if you want to bid go to mintable.app/cnbc. the proceeds go to autism speaks

and the council for economic education. by the way, there are a number of tokens up for sale. there are only 17 left head to mint able.app/cnbc. this is, of course, a carbon neutral event. andrew >> thanks, becky check out the retail stocks, nordstrom falling from a loss worst than expects, urban outfitters jumping and focusing on labor costs. urban outfitters says it will offset that with more sales. we're back in just a moment. ready to shine from the inside out? try nature's bounty hair, skin and nails gummies. the number one brand to support beautiful hair, glowing skin, and healthy nails. and introducing jelly beans with two times more biotin.

it's not some magical number. and it's not something we just achieve at the end. it's a feeling... of freedom to live our lives the way we intended. though the ups... ...the downs ...all of it. this is financial security. and lincoln financial solutions will help you get there as you plan, protect and retire. this is lincoln financial. this is hannah, she's a posh virtual receptionist protect and retire. at the ready 24-7 to answer your calls and assist your clients. you can't be in two places at once. let posh answer. posh virtual receptionists. i'm evie's best camper badge. but even i'm not as memorable as eating turkey hill chocolate chip cookie dough creamy premium ice cream and chasing fireflies. don't worry about me. i'm fine. you can't beat turkey hill memories.

welcome back to "squawk box. in the aftermath of george floyd's death, corporate america committed billions of dollars and pledging to close the pay gap. we're joined by yousuf george.

we're seeing the progress of what all of this looks like. give us the high level take away you have run through the numbers from those companies that have disclosed this information it's a small slice of corporate america still. >> yeah. so, you know, one year later companies made these really, really bold commitments. what we have done is put out our corporation to track it. how they're doing on pay equity and we measured whether companies were conducting regular pay equity analysis with a focus on pay disparities between white employees and employees of color >> what was the conclusion >> only 31 companies disclose that out of the russ ell 1,000

have disclosed the wage gap has disclosed it's crucial that companies are doing this if they're committed to pay equity. >> are you surprised so few companies are disclosing this information? >> you know, our research shows us that companies really haven't been walking the talk quite yet. but we know that it is imp important, right 85% know they should be conducting this across different demographic groups you talk about this often. companies are trying to attract and retain talent. workers care about issues. what's at the core, people are seeking dignity and respect at

work honestly i'm not surprised that companies have not done this work yet because it is difficult work but it is critical that they con tukt and report on these differences, these wage gaps. >> how much are you hearing from investors who say they actually care about this versus just lip service? i ask because we're in this moment where esg is a catch phrase i think it's becoming a much more sort of real feature in the market it's unclear to me when an investor is demonstrably making an investment decision really how much this comes into play. >> listen, we know the s part of esg has been a large focus on investors. if you look at what's been happening in this season, it's dye mate change and equity and inclusion. they've been calling for board inclusion and work force

demographics it's why it's so crucial investors are calling for this information. we are calling for them to do an audit and find out where the disparities lie and not just commit to making change but actually take the action to do that change. >> among the companies that did come back with this information for you, which was the top performer? which was the worst performer of those that disclosed even though i recognize there were a couple that did. >> 69% of the companies that we analyzed didn't put it out two companies that were leading were microsoft and starbucks and the reason is it not just because they hit pay parity but because they provided detailed analysis on how they got there that is what is critical for companies to be doing in this moment is showcasing transparency on what the wage

gap is and how they can get there. >> yusuf, i have a philosophical question for you it has to do with parity which is to say, you made a comment earlier about that workers today want same wage for same work. >> yes. >> and i -- one of the questions i do wonder is there are going to be certain talents, i think, when i say talents, people who have particular talents in the same jobs that other people do and some people may do it better than other people. again, putting aside gender, putting aside race or anything else and the question is whether those people, who may be doing the job, the same job, should be getting the same pay >> look. we are coming off the back of a pandemic we know that it is important

that companies invest in their work force what is critical is for people to have economic security. the crux is should people be paid equally for the efforts they put into their work the answer is, yes, they should. >> and let me just follow up on that though. there is a difference i would argue between a rain maker and there are two people who put in the same effort and one could have more success than the other. you see it in salespeople all the time i wonder how we should be looking at this in this day and age. >> the reality is there are most people -- when we do this type of analysis we look at adjusted and unadjusted wage gaps both by wh what is happening across the firm and what is happening in the same position for the same

title, location, et cetera we still find there are discrepancies and i think what you're trying to get at is someone should be paid more forex tra efforts that they put in well, you know, i'd argue that it is important that people are paid equitably irregardless of if they are, you know, hitting extraneous goals or not, right it comes down to the family economic security that companies need to provide to work zblers yusuf, always great to see you kw we appreciate the work you're doing. take care. >> thanks. futures reporting a higher open exxon facing a proxy fight from an activist. we'll have an update right after the break.

labradoodles, cronuts, skorts. (it's a skirt... and shorts) the world is going hybrid. so, why not your cloud? a hybrid cloud with ibm helps bring all your clouds together. that means you can access all your data, modernize without rebuilding, and help keep things both open and secure. that's why businesses from retail to banking are going hybrid with the technology and expertise of ibm. this is hannah, she's a posh virtual receptionist at the ready 24-7 to answer your calls and assist your clients. you can't be in two places at once. let posh answer. posh virtual receptionists.

cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪♪ >> struggled

nyse it sparked a winner rally. how to have a conversation with your boss. >> looking up across the board >> s&p 500 >> the discussions about when

mon monetary policy is in a good place. they said that in the past in a tongue in cheek way but it's actually a direct quote. fed vice chair richard clara makings similar remarks saying such discussions could take place at future meetings funny, isn't it? getting out and walking, very careful notto scare anyone tesla is eliminating a radar sensor in the auto pilot driving system and will rely instead on cameras. that follows growing scrutiny by regulators about safety following a number of accidents. ceo elon musk said a camera-based system will accelerate progress towards a full autonomous driving system

psa is expected to release new security directives designed to prevent disruptions like the colonial pipeline shutdown they will be required to notify the tsa if they're targets of or victims of cyber attacks the directors would require operators to designate a specific point person for cyber security matters >> meantime, thanks, joe, a group of republicans planning to send president biden a counter offer tomorrow it could cost $1 trillion. the biden administration saying it wants to see whether progress can be made in talks before memorial day democrats' current proposal is reduced from 2.3 town to 1.7 trillion they can pass using special budget rules we will see if there's a

compromise in sight. becky? >> thanks, andrew. the proxy fight between exxon mobil and engine number one is coming down to the wire. the shareholder meeting is this morning. leslie picker joins us with a look at what to expect and what's at stake. >> good morning, becky 3 1/2 hours from now exxon's annual meeting will begin. the battle over exxon's board involves a small up start hedge fund with a .02% stake known as engine number one. the firm put up four directors in an effort to steer what was once the world's largest company away from oil and gas roots towards one with a smaller carbon footprint exxon shares plummeted about 40% last year and had nearly revealed those losses since engine revealed its stake. dow jones industrial dropped exxon in august.

they have embarked in billions of dollars of cost cutting and added new members to the board with the promise for new members. engine is said to have garnered support from blackrock and some other pension funds. that may not be enough half of the company's shares are held by retail investors worldwide calls for carbon neutrality, this proxy fight will be settled based on where investors perceive the value to be and at least in the short term even engines run on oil. guys >> leslie, you mentioned the stock has rebounded since it was revealed that they had this stake, this very small stake back in december, but really the stock has rebounded as wti prices have rebounded. we saw oil prices just over a year ago go negative which none of us have ever seen before. the idea that you'd have to pay somebody to take oil off your hands, that was a pretty

specific issue related to the pandemic and the global shutdown at that point. oil oil prices have come back and i guess you have to wonder what happens with the investor base, which way they kind of see that as this plays out today. >> it's a great point. i think that's the sticking point of the entire argument that engine number one is making they're saying that the investment taking place over the last four years has been in areas so reliant on the price of that commodity they're saying basically they need to steer this ship away from reliance on the commodity price on oil and more towards areas that perhaps are exposed to cleaner energy sources that aren't as necessarily as reliant on swings and oil prices, per se the question is does the investor base buy that argument or do they see, as you mentioned, the rebound, obvious demand in oil prices, hopefully getting on a more sustainable

footing as something that would make them vote in favor of management i think that's the key question and why it's so close. >> not very often that we see a proxy vote that comes down to the wire we will be watching closely. thanks, leslie. >> thank you. coming up when we return, while some like working from home, others want to be in the office we'll talk to mark weinberger, negotiating with your employer on how to balance the new normal with the old you'll want to hear this conversation. before we head to a break, let's have a check on the markets. dow up by 90 points right now. back after this. plans. alright, let's see what we can adjust. ♪♪ we'd be closer to the twins.

change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. lemme guess, change in plans? at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪♪

another day, another chance. it could be the day you to break the sales record,nal. or the day there's appointments nonstop. with comcast business, you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses, and you can get the advanced cybersecurity solutions you need with comcast business securityedge. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. get started with a great offer, and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. call today.

welcome back, everybody. many parents wonder how they'll pay for college. a 529 plan is a way to stash that money away. cnbc's senior personal finance cheryl epperson has the story. >> senior year i can't believe it. >> reporter: for patricia roberts, her son ben's gla

graduation from clark will be happening. >> we're going to celebrate two achievements. >> reporter: roberts offers route 529 was able to pay for those costs with ben's merit scholarships and the money they have put away. tax advantage savings accounts specifically for education >> how does it feel to know that you are graduating debt free from college >> it feels amazing! >> reporter: in 2021 an individual can give up to $15,000 per beneficiary to a 529 plan without paying gift taxes every dollar helps saving $100 a month over 18 years can result in a balance of over $31,000 >> so how did you crack the code and figure out the best way to save in a 529 plan. >> as a family we looked at our expenses and we realized how much we could save had an awful lot to do with what we were spending we adjusted our lifestyle. >> reporter: other families may be doing the same.

nationally total 529 plans have increased over 11% in the last year. >> during the pandemic we couldn't travel, couldn't eat out a lot. that's a lot of savings that can be redeployed to goals and education often comes to the forefront. >> reporter: after building up savings, make a plan for spending it. >> a lot of people are not aware that 529 plans could not only be used for college expenses but also private school. >> reporter: as well as apprenticeships, technical schools and graduate studies but for most families, using 529 plans to pay for college is the ultimate goal. >> this is one of the proudest moments in my life, that our child will graduate debt free. >> reporter: now many families may need to borrow money to cover college costs. if you do, keep in mind you can also use 529 plan money to pay off up to $10,000 in qualified student loans. there are conditions though so you need to be sure to double check your plan.

you can find much more about 529 plans at cnbc.com/invest in you. becky. >> i love this story how do you figure out the mix of what you pay out of pocket and what you borrow to cover for those college costs? >> reporter: well, you know, many families will have to use a mix of income, savings, grants and scholarships we hope as well as perhaps loans to pay for the entire cost of college if you want a head start to figure out what the mix will look like, start with the budget and what the total college bill will likely be for four years, then all of the resources you have to cover the costs. there are plenty of online calculators to figure it out so you noah headof final what you shortfall may be and how much you may need to save to bridge that gap. >> what are the best ways to try and maximize the 529 b plan money if you have to take out loans, too is there maybe best practices at this or ways you can make the most of what you have? >> reporter: well, you know,

when you're borrowing, your goal should always be to try to minimize the interest. federal student loans have better interest rates than private loans. if you take out unsubsidized loans, you may want to wait as long as you can to borrow that money since those loans start to accrue interest as soon as they're disbursed. you may want to spend down your 529 money before you borrow. >> sharon, thank you it's a goal for a lot of parents. >> reporter: sure. >> everybody is thinking that as we get towards graduation time. >> absolutely. >> i know. it's that time of year. when we come back, former ey chairman and ceo mark weinberger about negotiating with your employer about how to balance the new normal with the old when it comes to your job and then far peak chairman and ceo tom farley will join us. we're going to be talking taxes, the markets, the state of the economy and much more.

"squawk box" will be right back. now for today's aflac trivia question in 1984, this university of texas student started building rmooislling computers from h do rm. who is he? the answer when cnbc "squawk box" continues (wincing) oooh, right in the wallet! ouch! aflac! aflac would have paid jill cash directly to help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. hold on, i think she's trying to give us a side-eye... because she can't turn her head! (laugh) get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. get to know us at aflac.com

t-mobile is the leader in 5g. we also believe in putting people first by treating them right. so we're upping the benefits without upping the price. introducing magenta max. now with unlimited premium data that can't slow down based on how much smartphone data you use. plus get netflix on us, and taxes and fees included! you won't find this with the other guys. in fact, you'll pay more and get less. right now, pay zero costs to switch! and bring your phone -- we'll pay it off! only at t-mobile.

i think you're going to like it here. umm, why is everyone... throwing things at me? look, as cfo it's my job to be ready for whatever's next. that's why i have my finance team, randomly hurl things at me. it's also why we use workday. it gives us insights, so we quickly pivot our strategy, people, planning, you name it. sorry, sir. i will aim straight at your next step. see that you do. would you like some coffee? workday. the finance, hr, and planning system for a changing world. ♪

in 1984, this university of texas student started building and selling computers from his dorm room. who is he? the answer, michael dell most employers are getting ready to welcome workers back to the office, but not everyone wants to return. and it might be tough to convince your boss to let you work from home forever something to think about joining us with some advice, former ey chairman and ceo mark weinberger mark, right from the start, you have the belief that personal interactions face to face are key to a lot of success in the business world so i think we'll start with that

assumption that you think eventually we need to strive to get back to the way it was in terms of personal interactions have i got that right? >> as usual, joe, you've got that right i really believe -- when you think about a business culture, its purpose, it's driven by human interactions and human interactions lead to employee belonging, engagement, ultimate productivity when we were at ey i saw this. we looked at our most engaged employees, people who had interactions, felt like they had a best friend at work, felt like they could come in and collaborate and learn and they outperformed other employees as a result those engaged employee business units had higher quality, higher returns on investment and higher margins. everyone point of margin led to 350 points of bottom line. businesses have to understand employee needs and how they changed but at the end of the day success is up to the employee they have to figure out how to be engaged in the office for at

least part of their work life. >> all right we've been through a lot collectively and it's not going to just -- all of the -- i don't even know how you characterize it's not -- i would never use the word ptsd losoosely, but wev been through a lot you can understand why people are hesitant and not feeling comfortable in certain situations so how does a company walk that fine line between saying you're coming back immediately or you're fired versus i don't even want to say coddling but every single person that says they have a reason for wanting to stay home, how do you try to overcome that? how do you twhauk line how much time do you give people >> it's a really good question, joe. i don't think -- first of all, it's very different depending what industry you're in, where you're located, the demographics, how digitally savvy they are and all of these

things this is a major business change like technology. when we put in robots to do some tasks employees did, they didn't do everything the same way and put technology in the middle of it you change your processes. here companies have to be very deliberate changing how you manage, communicate, changing how you encourage engagement changing how and where your employees meet up, maybe not at the home office, maybe a hub and spoke office but there is, as you say, a long view for increased interactions for employees. even though they want to stay home, more often they do recognize they need to be giving that apprenticeship, mentorship. companies have to be a lot more deliberate on setting those up as opposed to making them happen that takes time to figure out how to do. >> how do you walk the line? once again, a lot of ceos do a lot of line walking in terms of vaccines what do you do

do you check to make sure when people are coming back do they have for lack of a better term some type of vaccine pas passport, visa, however you want to call it do you try to make it very difficult to come back without one? or if it's a person's choice to not do it if they had covid? how do you balance all of those concerns, mark >> joe, it's on everyone's mind and it's a really good question. it's one that we talked about back early days where i said i thought it was unlikely that most employers would mandate as a condition of employment vaccine. i think it's really hard to do that when the government hasn't gone that far, but i think employers have a responsibility to their work force, employees and the customers i should say that they do everything they can to encourage employees for vaccines whether that means subsidizing

them, giving them time off, having them take the vaccine shot on premises in some industries like health care, hand-to-hand industries you may have to require it i think it's going to be encouraged maybe some people who have the vaccine will have better access to firm wide perks and those that don't won't >> mark, do you think a lot of this is going to be a moot point and we'll look back and say, wow, do you remember when people were actually talking about staying at home and not coming back to work do you think we've permanently changed the way we approach doing business in this country >> joe, this is exactly like i think digitization and technology which was accelerated by the pandemic. the movement to work more, it's not work at home, it's work from anywhere is a new concept i would think about. we're going to see more individuals working in different

places, not always having to be committed to a big, head office. that said, when everybody is working at home, it's easier to work at home now we'll see a situation where some are working at home, some coming in and working with clients and others in between. that will be more difficult to transgress when people do both i think we will settle around this hybrid. it was there before we had the pandemic it was accelerated when we had the pandemic more and more people will work remotely if we can get technology and the security around technology to the individuals. i do think everyone will want to come back and you have to in certain industries for sure. you have to come and get mentored and get collaboration and spontaneity in the office. >> we're seeing little signs of this, but do you think it's going to be kind of understood that advancement and moving ahead in a company is going to

be easier for people that, you know, sort of get in line with the company's thinking for coming back and people that don't are going to be disadvantaged? is that okay would there be a lawsuit brewing there if you didn't get advanced because you felt like you had to stay at home >> yeah. i would say that for the good of the employer they're going to want to make it as easy as possible to get them tools to do the job well and be productive that said, anybody who tells you it's going to be exactly the same for someone who never stepped foot in a home office is going to have the same opportunities to those who take advantage of that probably has never led a large organization i do understand that productivity has gone up when people worked at home, but it's really not that different from the old adage, joe, when you really wanted to excel and move up through the business. if you worked in the home office

in the place where most of the leadership sat and had exposure to them and learned and saw how they operated and had those interactions with them, you had a greater chance to be promoted up i think employers are going to do what they can to provide the diversified experience there's no substitute in my mind for personal apprenticeship, interactions. >> part of the narrative of this hybrid life was that some companies were going to be able to reduce their real estate footprint. there was going to be a saving thor these companies i'm coming around to a view that that actually is going to be one of the great myths of this pandemic, which is to say it's very hard to think if people are coming in three, four days a week that somehow you're going to be able to either stagger people so that you're not going to have people coming in mondays and tuesdays and the other people thursdays -- i don't see it so the question i was going to ask you is just how do you think people will think about the real

estate footprint >> really good point, andrew it is exactly what companies are going through right now. everyone seems to want to come in on the tuesday through thursday and monday through friday actually stay on the long weekend kind of schedule employers are seeing that's not feasible i think there's going to be moorman dated maybe by groups within a company, maybe by business units where people will come in certain points in time i know going back again to the ey days, we had over i think 9,000 people keyed in to our times square location and only 3,000 desks, and so forth. we expected people to be out of the office and have less space i think companies will do that but with the requirements of having more space, that will continue having less desks assigned to people, that it's not going to go down as much as people think but i do think what you will see is more hub and spoke type offices where there will be regional spaces where people can convene and not everyone has to

travel all the way into the big city which is the main office location lower costs and different types of geography. >> thank you, mark where are you right now? that's your home, isn't it >> yeah. right outside of washington, d.c., joe. nation's capitol. >> big talker. everybody got to get back there in your curby home office. >> i'm retired this is my office now. >> that's right. that's right that's right i'm sorry. you're entitled. you're entitled. >> thanks, pal see ya. >> z ya. still to come on "squawk" this morning, we have stocks on the move later so-called meme stocks battling back. making remarkable gains. what is behind these moves. plus, big banks making big returns in the last year long-time financial investor chris flowers will join us for the names and so much more

"squawk" returns after this. while taking your mother and daughter on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure — your life is just as unique. your raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your dreams, and the way you care for those you love. so you can live your life. that's life well planned. ♪ it feels so good to be cared for. ♪ ♪ back up now, ♪ ♪ just a little more. ♪ ♪ the feeling someone's always there, ♪ ♪ just to show how much they care. ♪ ♪ the feeling you're not alone, ♪ ♪ now she's a part of your home. ♪ ♪ with so much to protect each day, ♪ ♪ caring goes a long, long way. ♪ ♪ nationwide is on your side. ♪♪

good morning, i'm dominic

chu with your market minute. the major indexes are positioned to be within striking distance for some of their record highs for the dow industrials we are currently, oh, just about maybe 2% away from the record highs. the s&p is about 1% away from its record highs the nasdaq is still 4% below its record levels. something to watch here is the markets if they do rally move towards those record high levels also watching what's happening with a key stock on earnings this pre-market session, it's ca capri holdings some strong gains there for revenues and earnings, they've also reinstituted the stock buy back program up 3% on relatively thin volume. 3,000 shares have traded in the pre-market year to date it's up 30% playing out there.

and you ghiesuys have heard abot it, yesterday massive surges in meme stocks. gamestop and amc in the pre-market trade after massive moves higher gamestop by the way highest level since the ends of march and amc entertainment now the highest level since early february gamestop up 4%, amc up 6%. we'll keep an eye on the internet meme stocks >> thank you we will see you in a little bit. far peak founder and former nyc group tom farleigh will join us meantime, here are the futures at this hour we are in the green across the board. the dow up 85 points nasdaq up 65 points. s&p 50lointo0 okg open 15 points higher. back after this.

ing to sell the. who's in favor?... perfect. but if cloning isn't an option for you, just get posh. virtual receptionists who can answer and transfer your calls, because you can't be in two places at once.

who goes right back to sleep after getting an alert of an unusual charge on their credit card? you do. round the clock fraud protection. one of the many things you can expect when you're with amex.

welcome back to squawk a little bit of an update on cnbc's nft the first ever one they've done. the auction for the token commemorating mark haynes calling of the market bottom is up to just over 16 ether roughly 48,000 bucks

and if you want, there's still time to bid. the auction closing at 10:30 a.m. eastern time this morning you can check it out on mintable app/cnbc mark cuban and john legare are part of the bidders. if you don't want to participate in the auction, there are a number of limited tokens also up for sale all for a good cause. there are 17 left right now. head to minutable.app/cnbc this is a carbon neutral event becky? >> thanks, andrew. let's gets back to the markets this morning futures in the green dow up 68 points above value s&p up by 12 nasdaq up by 63. we saw some green arrows yesterday. the markets closed slightly lower at the closing bell. joining us right now is tom farley

he's far peak chairman and ceo he's the former president of the new york stock exchange. good to see you. thanks for being with us today. >> hi, becky how are you? i can't wait to be back on the set with you in person soon. >> i'm good. it could be happening as soon as next week, tom. >> fingers crossed. >> i think we're all ready i think we're all ready to get back let's talk a little bit about what we've seen in the markets inflation has been a big key it's something we're talking about, because it matters whether the fed is going t start tapering sooner rather than later we have been watching commodity prices skyrocket yesterday there was a little bit of a turn. corn prices came back down they were down by 6% yesterday which is a still drop. big gains over a year ago. do you think this is a turning point at this point? not just for that. we saw wheat down, soy beans down yesterday >> i don't know if this is a turning point. i do think there will be a turning point. i'm in the temporary blip camp nothing is really changed in

most developed economies there's aging populations, lots and lots of debt and incredibly efficient new technologies all of those are deflationary. so, i don't know, perhaps i'm optimistic or i'm missing something obvious but i think these worries are a little bit overblown. >> what makes you think it's over blown just from the perspective that things are getting hot, people are pointing to this saying this could be some serious issues that could come why do you think the temporary camp, because of what's happened because we've come back? >> exactly it's just a bit of stating the obvious. the world kind of stopped in march of last year and it really hasn't come back online but for the countries that have done a really great job with vaccine distribution, u.s., u.k., israel your viewers are familiar with these stories. western europe is still stopped.

emerging market countries. 5% of adults have received 1% of the vaccine. you're going to see a wall of money over the next kind of rolling 12 months that's unleashed in the economy that will have inflationary pressures. these big mac crow deflationary pressure still exists so i think it's something to keep an eye on you don't want to be wrong it's one of those where if all of a sudden we have run away inflation, we were wrong taking a complacent view, that's not a black swan issue you see it coming but it's a megarisk i'm not poly annish. we see these big inflationary numbers that started a month and a half ago, started to subside. >> one of the places we've seen a big pickup, runup in prices is in wti crude oil back in a big way back above $60 a barrel back above that at some points,

too. that's been a big deal for the big oil companies as well. we've seen their stock prices come back. exxon mobil is dealing with a big deal today with the proxy battle, tom. this is going to be interesting. this comes down to the wire. not too often that you see such a close proxy battle, particularly with an activist investor who has such a small portion of the vote. they were able to get the attention of some big shareholders i guess we'll wait and see what happens. last time you were with us you talked about what you saw at exxon. we had darren woods on it was a couple of times ago when you were on and talked with him about the prospects he is facing and the change in consumer mentality at this point. >> yeah. before i was at the new york stock exchange i managed energy futures markets. oil goes up, oil goes down all of a sudden that's become the conversation around exxon. look at the oil prices maybe exxon should stick to fossil fuels that to me is not the argument this isn't even a debate about

climate change this isn't a debate about exxon's impact this is a debate about maximizing shareholder value the markets are speaking i showed up to a meeting last year they said we're no longer going to invest in a company that has anything to do with fossil fuels. that was it. they stopped investing you'll see increasing regulation and more and more laws that are hurting fossil fuels companies and that is what it is no matter the role of fossil fuels in the economy over the next two decades, in order to maximize shareholder value you have to diversify away if i was sitting and having a beer with him, i'd say you need a marshall plan here you have to jump into new renewable sources. i understand that you're a petroleum company, molecules company, things like solar, wind, water, battery storage, you're going to get a higher multiple it's that simple if you invest in the businesses now, generate cash flow later. you will get a higher multiple

on renewables than fossil fuels. it's not a moshl debate. i don't know what's going to happen today i suspect exxon will win the vote because they've such a diffuse share holding and it's hard to win a proxy fight if you're an activist if you have to cajole a lot of retail. they might win this battle and lose the war if they don't use this whole tailwind as impetus to kind of move. >> i think they're already doing that >> a little bit. >> they're already doing that with some of their plays for carbon capture. >> a little bit. they're dipping their toe into it you're not going to turn this company into a non-oil company this is going to be an oil company that's there they could have other streams of revenue that come online the college that you talked about, the university you sit on the board is not going to be investing in this company because they're not going to get 100% away from what they are. >> actually, i'm not sure i totally agree with you, becky.

i think universities pensions and endowments will look over time between companies that are principally almost solely engaged in fossil fuels and large fossil fuel companies but taking a goodly portion of their cash flow, a real substantive portion of their cash flow not like dipping the toe in the water and they're investing in these sources of renewables. exxon can make a difference in the move to renewables.

tom will be with us the rest of the morning we have spacs to talk about. we have more on where spacs stand today. this is something you know pretty well too. >> i joined the spac community before it was cool and then i lived through it being cool and then it's kind of now back to that original spac community

i have a pretty interesting perspective of the whole whirlwind. >> fortunately you are with us for the rest of the show thanks for being with us today, tom. good to see you. coming up, what's got the so-called meme stocks back in vogue. shares of gamestop surging again. we'll discuss the names making the move as we go to break, look at dick's sporting goods. they raised the full year forecast "squawk box" will be back in just a minute. sandcastle crumbles.ay the you can't beat turkey hill memories. cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional.

♪♪ 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. it's what we build that keeps things moving forward. so with every turn, we'll keep building a world that works.

which shows will you be getting into tonight? how 'bout all of them. netflix. 'cause xfinity gets you really into your shows. when one burns for someone who does not feel the same. daphne, let's switch. from live tv to sports on the go. felix at the finish! you can even watch your dvr from anywhere. okay, that's just showing off. you get all of this on x1. so go on, get really into your shows. you need a breath mint. xfinity. it's a way better way to watch.

the low markdown rate helped offset some higher shipping costs at that company. meantime, let's talk about the weather. names like gamestop, amc and sofi all up 15% in that time. is wall street bets muscling its way back into the area both are cnbc contributors i don't know where to start except to say you look at what's happened with gamestop and amc, maybe we can separate them i think there are two different types of companies, guys what is happening here does it make sense to you at all? i'll start with you, stephanie. >> reporter: good morning.

great to be here good to see you. i think you've had a rotation in the marketplace. it's as simple as that the russell 1,000 growth is up 6% year to date. the value is up 16%. there's a little bit of a catchup going on here. if you step back, it's a little bit more of a macro call the macro call are we at peak growth is the inflation transitory and is the fed behind the curve? that's what everybody is talking about, all of these items. yields continue to move lower, which is kind of a conundrum, but i do believe that the economy is -- maybe we are at peak growth, however, it's going to stay strong we have a lot of stimulus in the system it's up 30% year to date and you also have another infrastructure package coming there's a lot of stimulus going on that will propel the economy to be strong. maybe not at the levels we've seen it's going to stay strong.

look at the richmond fed now we have a cap excycle. >> stef, you're speaking very rationally about rational things i'm not even talking about rationality at this. i'm trying to understand about the meme stocks and whether there's any rationality to meme stocks does it have anything to do with anything >> well, no. i think these are trading stocks and they're not trading on fundamentals it doesn't make any sense. my point is the bigger picture, people are nervous growth is going to slow. if growth is going to slow, growth outperforms value these are growth stocks whether they're speculative or not you have seen a shift in the marketplace. i think you've seen more risk on on growth versus value that's where the nuance is

it's much bigger picture, andrew, than it is fundamentals. >> sarat, gamestop, amc, stephanie hit it on the head there. these are speculative growth stocks right now a reopening trade. does amc do well because of movie theaters this is short term will the fundamentals catch up not easy to tell right now i think there are plenty of other areas in the market that we can invest in and especially if you do see value coming back and growth topping, you can play it other places in the market. it doesn't necessarily have to be here. if you are here, make sure you know it's speculative growth and it's not an over arching area. you can play in charter communications with 90% broadband and secular cash growth there are plenty of other ideas in sectors to play with. you have some quick money coming in here and popping up these

stocks. >> can we -- i see tom farleigh and can you bring him in if you were running the new york stock exchange now, what are the conversations you'd be having about this i can't imagine you'd be happy >> similar to you, andrew. i listen and very thoughtful analysis that applies to sofi ipoe. having a much harder time applying it to gamestop and amc. is is there almost a divorce between growth stocks and a return to growth certainly over the last two weeks with respect to these kind of meme stocks, are they much more like cryptocurrencies like dogecoin like get in on the joke if it's a ponzi, get in early. there's a sense if enough people believe that the stock price should be higher, the stock price should be high.

>> value should outperform growth you have more speculation in the market it's worrisome but it's not a big piece. the meme stocks are not a big piece of the overall market. to the extent they want to trade up, trade down, whatever they do, it shouldn't have a big implication. back to sarat's point, there are so many awesome companies that have great fundamentals within growth, value, tech that you can own, they're trading on fundamentals and we can get our hands around it. that's what sarat and i do all the time. >> to answer andrew's question to me, if i were running the new

york stock exchange, i would do nothing. i would require they follow the securities laws and disclose their risk factors and if people want to bid up the stock and bid down, we let it happen. >> tom, if you're in an exchange right now are you saying this is making a mockery of all of this and i hate it or are you saying this is fabulous because there's a whole sort of younger generation could hhort getting involved in this you would imagine they would get burned i'm very curious about that inner play and how you think both regulators and folks like you in your former position might be thinking about it. >> personally over a beer, andrew, i would say i wish this weren't happening. i wasn't a moralist. i had great power running the exchange i didn't think of oh, i must stop this. our job was to keep it running and keep it open sometimes the pendulum swung way too far. >> fair enough

tom, we'll see you sarat, great to see you, stef, thank you. i'll send it over to joe appreciate it. >> great thank you. coming up, the senate banking committee holding its annual hearing with ceos of the biggest banks on wall street we'll talk to senator pat toomey on what to expect. that's coming up next. later blockchain technology company ripple making this year's cnbc disruptor list we'll talk about crypto's wild swings, regulation, efi. much more. "squawk box" will be right back. ♪ ♪ i had the nightmare again maxine.

the world was out of wonka bars... relax. you just need digital workflows. they help keep everyone supplied and happy, proactively. let's workflow it. then you can stop having those nightmares. no, i would miss them too much. whatever you business is facing... let's workflow it. servicenow. (man) so when in doubt, just say, "let me talk to my manager." next, carvana's 100% online shopping experience. oh, man. carvana lets people buy a car-- get this-- from their couch. oh, how disruptive. no salesman there to help me pick out the car i need. how does anyone find a car on this site without someone like us checking in? she's a beauty, huh? oh, golly! (laughter) i can help you find the color you want.

that sounds nice. let me talk to my manager. (vo) buy your next car 100% online. with carvana. ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

boss baby is back. we're going to have to face creepy babies. don't look at me. jail yard babies. i like glue. and ninja babies! oh my gosh. oh my gosh!

all that as the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. good morning and welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin treasury yields continue to be below 1.6% on the 10-year. 1.564 and crypto, the crypto world, take a quick look bitcoin was above 40,000 for a while. it's now just below that

39.8 we do have a ripple on there we'll talk to the ceo of ripple. i did quite a bit of research. my first conclusion was it's not wine it's not a wine at all anymore becky, they stopped making that wine in 1984 i mean, who knew >> i was thinking of up on ripple creek i know, it's not that. >> no, it's not that >>. ♪ >> american beauty, there's a great song grateful dead, "ripple." from maybe their greatest album. we need to ask liesman about that or greco but he's gone. probably completely gone since his show ended two minutes ago he's probably somewhere else. breaking news from ford. phil lebeau joins us breaking news on ford. you got my attention

it is a big investment increase. ford announcing ahead of the capital markets day which begins in an hour and a half. they are going to be increasing their investment in evs and avs. currently at 22 billion through 2025 that will now be 30 billion dollars through 2025 they also have an update on the lightning f-150 lightning that they unveiled last week. remember just a day or two afterwards they had 44,000 reservations they now say that the reservations top 70,000 for the lightning. the company creating a new division ford pro which will be handling commercial vehicles. this is similar to what you've seen with general motors a separate division that's going to be handling commercial vehicles especially as they push more electric vehicles into that market it's 40% of the volume that is the target, 40% of the total global sales volume by 2030 will be electric vehicles that's the first time we've seen

a target put out there by ford this might be the reason why you see shares ticking a little bit higher the company committing to an 8% ebitda margin by 2023. for a point of reference, the margin last year, last year is not a good comparison, it was 2.2% go back to 2019, the last apples to apples comparison, it was 4.1% they have long targeted, guys, getting to an 8% ebitda margmarn they will dramatically increase their investment in electric and autonomous vehicles from 20 billion up to 30 billion by 2025 >> so, phil, last time you were on, i thought the ford f-150 looked pretty cool, electric and everything some of the tesla bulls were writing in the number of preorders, number of planned purchases of the tesla truck versus the -- >> oh, yeah. >> versus the ford

it is going to be tough to compete against the tesla truck? no was that someone -- >> none of this is a fair apples to apples comparison, joe, with any automaker, not just tesla. what is a reservation? generally speaking, most automakers are now saying, look, if you want to reserve a vehicle give us $100 deposit and when the production begins you'll be in line to buy that vehicle. now you've had other automakers who have come out and said, we have 50,000 commitments from people who are raising their hands. other automakers are saying we have letters of interest from buyers i wouldn't compare that 70,000 to another automaker what i would say is 70,000 reservations, people who have said here's $100, i am interested in buying the f-150 lightning, that's a pretty good start a week after the vehicle has unveiled that's heavy interest out there. that's what ford is looking for.

this is the bread and butter of the company. this is the profit driver. if they have 70,000 people already putting down $100, odds are you're going to convert most of those into sales. will all of them be sales? no probably some people for whatever the reason when it finally rolls out will say, yeah, it's not for me, my circumstances have changed 70,000 reservations is an interesting number and one that i think will get a lot of attention. >> okay, phil. thanks good pointing all of is that out. becky? >> thanks, joe in just two hours of senate banking committee is scheduled to hear from the ceos of america's biggest banks including the heads of jp morgan, bank of america, citigroup, morgan stanley, wells fargo and goldman sachs. joining us right now for what he wants to hear from the executives is banking committee ranking member pennsylvania senator pat toomey senator, always good to see you. what questions do you have for

the bankers today? >> well, several, i think. first of all, we know our democratic colleagues will use this as an occasion to attack capitalism itself. i think we'll hear a great deal of criticism about banks for having bought back stock buying back stock is, in my view, a completely acceptable and in fact at times completely appropriate mechanism for simply returning money to the people who own the company. one of the things i'm hoping for and i will urge these guys to do is stand up and defend capitalism embracing this idea of stakeholder capitalism actually undermines real capitalism and they know that i hope they will defend the system that has created more opportunities at this and prosperity than any other system and it is under threat let's be honest, right a very substantial share of elected democrats either openly consider themselves socialist or

they espouse socialistpolicies if you had a vote today on the senate floor to ban stock buybacks, that might pass. that's how bad the situation is. so one thing i'm going to urge these guys to do is stand up and tell the story that needs to be told they're in a unique position to do so and avoid the sort of appeasement of this whole movement that i see in some cases where i think political agendas are starting to creep into banking policy. so i think on our side of the aisle you're going to hear a lot of questions about whether or not social and cultural and political issues are driving the allocation of credit because it's -- there's a concern that that allocation isn't necessarily going exclusively based on market conditions but rather it's influenced by this other agenda. and, you know, that's a concern. so those will be several of the issues i think we'll touch on. >> senator, i think every one of

the bankers would agree with you when it comes to buying back shares that that would be a policy they'd be happy to defend but i think you touched on it at the end that your side of the aisle is going to be looking for much more than that, much more than just defending capitalism and their way of doing business. there's going to be the counter movement to what some of the left has been bringing this idea that woke corporations are going to get called out if they try to appease what that side is going for. so i wonder if this is anything more than these guys are going to get called in front of you today and they're going to be whipping boys and women when it comes to these bankers who are standing there because each side wants them to agree with them and say that they are correct on this so there's no way that they're going to be able to thread the needle and walk through this today. >> it's going to be tough. yeah it's going to be coming at them from both sides. let's be honest, that is kind of what you invite if you wade into what are really political issues

and in some cases i think they've done that. i mean, you know, corporate executives coming out and publicly disparaging the georgia election law while being silent about the fact that new york, connecticut, delaware, they have less liberal voting regimes. democracy. it's that kind of inconsistency. it wrangles folks, frankly i do think these guys will be hearing from both sides. >> part of what you mentioned in your first answer was just the idea that they are lending to

people because they are less advantaged, whether that be based on areas that have been discriminated on in the past if they are giving lending for any reason other than the very numbers that you think should be there in front of them, that's not okay with you. that's kind of in their business too. >> that's not -- >> shouldn't they be allowed to loan to who they want to loan to >> yeah. we have to have a frank conversation the energy space is an interesting case if the banks want to provide financing to relatively inefficient producers of energy but they are green producers and so, therefore, they want to provide subsidies for it, that's between the executives and the shareholders if that's going to generate lower returns than they might get on some other kind of project. if they cross a line into saying, oh, and by the way, we will not make credit available to oil and gas development, for instance, and i'm not accusing them of having done this although some do that, they do

prohibit financing of coal projects, for instance, so it's not farfetched, then you're making a judgment not based on economics. you're going to impose costs on consumers because the relative scarcity will then drive up the price in order to achieve a climate objective that the bank has established. i think that kind of tradeoff is something that ought to be made in a more transparent process that are accountable to voters so that's -- you know, that's the kind of pushback you get from what i refer to as politically motivated allocation of credit. >> senator, tom farley here. your voice is getting a little bit lonely i'm not hearing too many of your colleagues on the republican side of the aisle. i think about senator rubio's comments about a more constructive capitalism, more inclusive capitalism and they

have the white house and senate for the last four years. it feels like that message was diluted. do you feel lonely with that message? do you think we're losing hearts and minds that the capitalism is really the greatest good for the greatest number of people? >> i think we have lost a little bit of ground and we need to regain that. i remind my colleagues and in our hearings i regularly remind everyone, when we took big steps in the direction of greater economic freedom through tax reform, through rolling back excessive regulation we saw an amazing spur of economic growth and prosperity and it lifted all boats. we had wages rising across the board but rising fastest for the lowest income people we were narrowing the income gap and we had the best economy of my lifetime just before the pandemic hit that's a good thing. it's okay to get back to the best economy of my lifetime. so, yeah, sometimes it feels a

little bit lonely but we haven't lost this argument, that's for sure. >> sen torks andrew here. >> hey, andrew i want to go back to the idea of the politically motivated capitalism you think banks lending or not lending or dealing with energy, guns, all sorts of other things in ways that you may disagree with my question to you is isn't that what comes with -- to the equivalent we believe we're living in a free market, isn't that part of capitalism? if in fact banks decide they are living to the equivalent i ask that as somebody who you know would love more than anything to take money out of politics but given the fact that the republican party has long supported businesses actually being able to do all sorts of things in politics, it seems very strange to me to turn around only when they disagree with the position you may have to say, well, actually, they shouldn't be allowed to do this.

>> i didn't say that, andrew i didn't say we should have a law that bans it necessarily i'm not suggesting that. i think it's reasonable to put a spotlight on this and to ask the question, you know, really from where does your authority come from to raise the energy prices because you think that's a reasonable tradeoff. maybe some people don't think that's a reasonable tradeoff i think we should put a spotlight on that and ask that question i think we've got tough decisions to make about climate change we should be honest about the fact that getting away from fossil fuels increasingly has a cost and people are going to carry that cost and how much of that cost should people carry? who should carry that cost what's the benefit that comes with that? all of those questions are really important questions they ought to be argued and lit at this gated in some transparent public way where there's accountability i'm not enthusiastic about the idea that a handful of banks make that decision i'm not suggesting that i'm

going to introduce legislation to ban it, but i think we ought to be having a really tough conversation about it. >> senator, very quickly before you go your thoughts on whether or not there can be any sort of bipartisan agreement when it comes to the infrastructure spending it looks like the republicans have come up to $1 trillion that they'd be willing to spend democrats have come down to 1.7 trillion we are right up against that deadline that the president has set of memorial day. just your best guess not as to why or what needs to happen will you or will you not you think get a bipartisan deal by next week? >> you know, i was very encouraged after our meeting at the white house with the president. he seemed to acknowledge the realities that we were dealing with, that we were going to focus exclusively on real infrastructure, we weren't going to undo the 2017 tax reform, we would offset the spending by repurposing money that was already approved and not spent

yet. i thought there was acceptance of that. then we went backwards very significantly when the staff came in with a much, much higher number than what i thought the president agreed to. the president implied 1 trillion to 1.2 trillion was going to work for him i think the answer to your question is it depends on wh whether the president goes back to where he was when he met with us or those who want a partisan bill prevail there is a deal to be done if the president wants to >> all right that's an optimistic sounding note on that senator, thank you we'll be watching the banking hearings today thanks for your time >> thanks for having me. >> okay. coming up, a disruptor in the world of crypto. we're going to be joined by the ceo of ripple. it's all part of cnbc's disruptor 50 rollout stay tuned, you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc

cal: our confident forever plan is possible with a cfp® professional. a cfp® professional can help you build a complete financial plan. visit letsmakeaplan.org to find your cfp® professional. ♪♪

which shows will you be getting into tonight? how 'bout all of them.g to find younetflix.rofessional. 'cause xfinity gets you really into your shows. when one burns for someone who does not feel the same. daphne, let's switch. from live tv to sports on the go. felix at the finish! you can even watch your dvr from anywhere. okay, that's just showing off.

you get all of this on x1. so go on, get really into your shows. you need a breath mint. xfinity. it's a way better way to watch. we're now a little more than an hour before the opening bell. dom chu joins us >> andrew, we've got retail earnings a lot of them this morning in the pre-market here. we're going to start off with

shares first of all of dick's sporting goods that stock is up 7, almost 8% on a quarter million shares of vo volume this is the owner's namesake stores and golf galaxy sales at established store locations more than doubled. those shares up big in the premarket. next up you have shares of abercrombie & fitch. it's up roughly 5% roughly 35,000 shares of pre-market volume after it, too, posted better than expected profits, better than expected revenues thanks to a big jump in retail sales it reported higher profit margins. we'll end on shares of capri holdings the shares are up 2% roughly 32,000 shares of volume. the company formerly known as michael koors. it beat on profits and revenue as well. full year financial results.

andrew, three green ones all in retail maybe the consumer is doing pretty okay. at least for now back over to you. >> okay. dom, appreciate it abercrombie & fitch. back in action meantime coming up when we return, a pair of biggests on crypto, fin tech and the future of payments, ripple ceo will be joining us a little later, private equity veteran chris flowers. the banker of all bankers. today at 1:30 p.m. eastern time, evolve we'll talk with eamon javers the current threats facing corporations and the country you can register right now at cnbc events.com/evolve cyber

you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. (vo) this is more than just a building. it's an ai-powered investment firm with billion-dollar views. a cutting-edge data-security enterprise. yes, with a slide. a perfect location for the world's first one-hour delivery. an inspiration for the next workout cult. and enough space for a pecan-based nutrition bar empire. it could happen.

this is where dreams become brick and mortar. find yours, on loopnet.

update on cnbc's first ever nft. a token commemorating mark haines call. a haines people. it's now up to 16.6 ether or more than $47,000. you can bid now at minutable.app/cnbc

proceeds go to the autism speak one charity, the other the council of economic education. it ends today at 10:30 a.m. eastern time if you don't want to participate in that, there's a limited number of tokens at a set price. it's a carbon neutral event. cnbc is also rolling out the 2021 edition of the disruptor 50 private companies on the cutting edge of technological change right now we've got an interview with the head of the company that's coming in at number 38 on this year's list ripple the company uses blockchain to zi send money it uses the token rpl. great to see you and have you on let's start generally about the crypto arena and what we've seen there's an article today, brad,

about i guess it's harkening back to the colonial situation, pipeline, ransom wear, et cetera and the thrust is we need to ban crypto and it sets forth here's all the reasons. i think about everything you've set up with blockchain, defi and how this can effectively replace a lot of systems like swift and whatever it works well. do you think that -- what do you make of someone that makes that case given all the blockchain, infrastructure, everything else, not just around bitcoin but do you think this toothpaste ever goes back in the tube like that because you can use it for ransom wear? >> i'm not sure i've heard the toothpaste analogy i'm going to steal that for myself thank you for having me. the question you're asking is an important one. it gets to the core of sometimes just a misunderstanding about how these technologies can be applied in a way that's good for

businesses, for citizens, for the community at large when we talk about should we ban something, let's make sure we're understanding what we're talking about. the way ripple uses these technologies as you've introduced, we can make cross border payments which are slow and expensive. we can make them real time, very efficient, very low cost and that's good for the global economy. we can unlock trillions of dollars trapped capital. blockchain technologies can be applied in ways that's reducing friction, whether that be transaction costs, speed for ripplethat's around payments but i think to say, hey, let's ban all of this yes, the toothpaste might already be out and i don't know how you get it back in >> the other recent i guess data point was china with bitcoin and just overall let's talk regulation because you -- ripple is unique in certain ways in that you kind

of control the amount of xrp that's out there and decide when it can be issued and actually the sec took issue with that, so to speak, in that it -- you might be more like a security than a currency. that's still pending so they -- just talk in general about all regulation and how it might affect you and ripple differently than it would affect bitcoin. >> i think what you're getting at at the core, in the united states there has been a lack of regulatory clarity this is something i've been talking about even on cnbc for two plus years in other countries in the u.k., japan, switzerland, singapore, these are g-20 markets where they have invested the time and energy, legislation, rule making to provide that clarity and uncertainty. that allows investors to participate and entrepreneurs to build. that allows people to make the cnbc disruptor list. we haven't had that clarity. i think just to correct something you said

ripple actually doesn't control xrp. these are examples of it being more efficient all of the xrp ever created is already created. the core of what you're talking about is what we're experiencing here in the u.s. with the sec. you can vote on the board of directors of that company. all of those things that cnbc covers in depth. that isn't true of xrp if you buy xrp, you don't have ownership of ripple.

ironically you have xrp owners who are trying to sue the sec for bringing the case. >> what's the total number it's billions obviously. you do have a lot that hasn't been run and can be controlled in someone's mind, is that correct? that's how ether has migrated it through the state. they use something called consensus algorithm. all of it is 100 billion units that's on our treasury >> tom farley is a big defi guy.

you're not centralized how do you view xrp and ripple, tom? >> so many thoughts on this. i think brad and ripple are a bit of a punching bagby the sec. the lack of regulatory clarity extends throughout crypto. the most interesting case to me, joe and brad, is in defi where they're creating governance tokens which is a fancy word for shares and distributing them to wide bases of shareholders and listing them for trading on u.s. based and international exchanges. as a former head of the u.s. stock exchange, sounds like an ipo. they're trading 15 to $20 billion. the sec has really been nowhere. my question for you, brad, both for your own lawsuit or defining securities versus currencies, defining what's an ipo, is gary

gensler going to bring clarity here >> look, i don't know. i think the good news for the industry is gary gensler is incredibly knowledge basketball this he's taught classes at m.i.t. about crypto and blockchain. one thing that was said and i want to make sure i correct, ripple doesn't control the xrp we control six of 150 validators it's decentralized tom, to your point, i think we need that regulatory clarity i happen to agree with you about two years ago i spoke very publicly, three years ago i spoke very publicly about the fact that icos, initial coin offerings sound like an ipo. i view that as bad for the industry that's a very different fact pattern from what we saw in how xrp was created, how ripple, separate company was created i think the sec as mary joe white saying the sec's wrong on the facts on this.

>> hey, brad it's andrew here separately can you speak to the large ger cryptocurrency craze that it feels like we're seeing? maybe it's a craze, maybe it's not in terms of dogecoin, just how far it's gone, what we're seeing with bitcoin in terms of how volatile that's been and sort of the larger market, where you think ethereum is? >> yeah. >> if you were not invested in ripple, where would you be invested if you were going snob. >> well, andrew, first off, i do think dogecoin is an example of some of that speculative, i'll even say the word bubble this is still a pretty nascent marketplace, right yes, it's grown very quickly now it's around $1.5 trillion, maybe a little more than that as the market has recovered a bit focusing on utility and focusing on solving real problems, bitcoin has carved itself out as

a store of value you're starting to see the ugly head of inflation rear its head. m2 money supply has grown. do i want to hold a noninflationary asset or less inflationary asset like bitcoin? that is not true for dogecoin where, you know, look, i think many people understand it was created as kind of a joke it gained some momentum because of people like elon musk bringing attention to it long term for the industry it's about solving real problems at scale and that's certainly what ripple is focused on how we've used the xrp token. >> the other question i want to ask you is about energy consumption. elon musk raising if as an issue a little late. seeing in china, for example, inner mongolia they seem to be

trying to stop mining, for example. i know that ripple has a much more efficient profile do you look at bitcoin and say it is terrible -- it's an inefficient system and therefore not green and therefore if you're a big institution who's focused on esg you shouldn't be involved in it or are you in the jack dorsey camp that says that something like bitcoin over time can actually be made green >> first of all, andrew, i'm really glad you're asking this it is shocking to me i've been saying this -- at the world economic forum, i've been saying i don't think people understand the energy dynamics here it's equivalent to 14 million homes in the united states to offset that from a carbon production point of view, to offset that you'd have to plant 95 million acres of forest that's basically the size of california so this is a very real issue i'm glad there's more attention around it because i think by

coming together we can address it bill gates rather famously described a bitcoin transaction the least efficient. we can make it more efficient but it isn't by arguing is energy being consumed? it is. a massive amount what you're seeing is more and more awareness of that i think elon musk appropriately reacted to the fact, look, wait a minute as someone who has probably done as much to focus and bring attention around climate change, energy consumption and carbon footprint as anyone on the planet, to have him support bitcoin was not surprising he shifted course i think jack dorsey as time goes by will have to take a look at some of the fact pattern, trend line and re-evaluate himself >> so you weren't -- all right you took offense you were kind of behind some of the -- pointing that outs with

bitcoin. sounds like you might not be behind it but you piled on. >> look, i'm looking at the facts. there's an accusation made out of the crypto twitterverse ripple is behind all of this belle gates speaking out about this janet yellen speaking out. you have elon musk speaking out. if ripple could control those people we wouldn't have a lawsuit from the sec i think it's a real issue. the way we solve real issues is by internalizing them, understanding them and addressing them. by saying ripple is behind all of this, that's not the real world i live in. >> all right, brad thank you. i believe you. >> thanks. >> thanks for coming on. a little later another disruptor, caryn seidman-becker of clear 11 a.m. eastern time becky, there's news, i guess

>> there is. the story is one that you knew the details may be different than we've been reporting earlier. amazon is buying mgm studios the price tag $8.45 billion versus the $9 billion. people had been circling knowing this deal is likely going to happen this week as you see this media consolidation continue in the industry comes very quickly on the heels of the discovery/time warner deal. that was just a week ago or a week and a day ago now you're looking at what's going to be happening with this situation. check out amazon shares right now, up by half a percent on this news. this is coming as amazon continues the push to figure out hollywood, try to figure out how to make this work with streaming. they've been all over the map doing things like paying $10 billion for the rights to nfl games. lots of money for "lord of the rings. billions of dollars they're dropping into that too this is the next leg

the company does say this requires regulatory approval this is subject to regulatory approval you can argue that mgm is not very big you wonder what's going to happen is this something that the regulators will let go what happens next. andrew, what do you think the regulatory potential approval could be >> i don't know. this one is going to be a little bit more interesting than it normally would be. you know, it's always hard to make a true gamble on what the future of this space is. it's a very competitive space. very competitive landscape very hard to look and say that amazon would somehow be a monopoly today this is a little bit like how would you judge when facebook bought instagram it was small at the time but could turn out to be quite big having said that, it really is just one piece of a larger

puzzle in the media landscape and a piece of the amazon puzzle it's game changing but it's really much more of a bolt on for amazon i'd love to understand a little bit more about the brockwith family that controls the rights around bond and how that may change or not and what their role will be with amazon in the future that's the next leg of this that i think a lot of folks in hollywood will be focused on we'll see. i imagine the deal will get passed. when we come back, a rare interview with fintech investor chris flowers. how his sector has performed and what to make of the recent roller coaster ride of bitcoin stay tuned, "squawk" returns after this

lately, it's been hard to think about the future. but thinking about the future, is human nature. at edward jones, our 19,000 financial advisors create personalized investment strategies to help you get back to your future. edward jones. this is hannah - she's a posh virtual receptionist. when you're busy, she answers the phone. thank you for calling the anderson group hannah speaking. when you're in a meeting, ashley can take a message. she's not available, but i'd be happy to take a message. and if you're stuck in court, lisa will let your clients know. thank you, mr. decker will call you back as soon as he's available. when you switch to posh, you could save up to 40% off your current service provider's rates. you can't be in two places at once, let posh answer. posh virtual receptionists. [typing sounds] [music fades in] [voice of female] my husband ben and i opened ben's chili bowl the very same year that we were married. that's 1958. [voice of male] the chili bowl really has never closed in our history. when the pandemic hit, we had to pivot.

and it's been really helpful to keep people updated on google. we wouldn't be here without our wonderful customers. we're really thankful for all of them. [female voices soulfully singing “come on in”]

up next we're live with private equity investor chris flowers. we'll talk about crypto, inflation fears,ots lof stuff much more. all ahead when "squawk box" returns. you need a financial plan that can help grow and protect your money. an annuity can help cover essential expenses in retirement. have the right financial professional show you how... this is what an annuity can do. in the romo household

we take things to the max oh yeah! honey, you still in bed? yep! bye! that's why we love skechers max cushioning footwear. they've maxed out the cushion for extreme comfort. it's like walking on clouds! big, comfy ones! oh yeah!

welcome back to "squawk" this morning some of the biggest bank stocks hitting 52-week highs. they're all up sharply over the past year.

then again so are shares of paypal and square. joining us right now to talk about where fintech and bank stocks are headed, chris flowers, ceo of j.c. flowers and company. one of the great experts of all things wall street chris, it's great to see you this orning. trying to understand the valuations and how you're thinking of things we just talked about sort of these two distinctions you have the classic banks on one side you have fintechs on the other side if you could own one or the other, which one do you own? >> i'd own the banks i'd own the banks. we have some great companies on the fintech side and banks but price, that's not the same >> because of the concern about which part -- you think that the valuations of fintech are too high, is that your issue >> yeah. the valuations of fintech have gotten to extraordinary levels

that are hard to justify regular financial services, bank stocks have been weak for a long time now with rising interest rates of inflation -- with inflation expectations they've got a tailwind >> as a deal maker, do you see a time where either some of the big banks are able to or can buy some of the fintechs, and i don't know if they'd ever do that given the valuations you're raising, or frankly the op opposite whether you think the fintechs will get into regulation and try to own traditional banks >> it's interested

>> i think they will decide. >> we've been spending a lot of time >> are you of the view that crypto is going to change forever? >> i understand why amazon it's sort of a darwinian struggle the biggest is a reducing it and it's cheaper, better in terms of transaction costs one is a store of value. >> hey, tom. tom farley is here

rising interest rates. >> two things bank interest rates and profitability. not so much they're not great companies but their prices have sort of become disassociated with rally so they're just too expensive. not an issue with regular banks. >> do you think inflation is here to stay or a temporary blip connected to the reopening and the wall of money that has been unleashed. >> i'm sure you have many experts that know more about that than i do but my point of view is yes, we will see, actually a goldilocks level of fines institutions, moderate inflation that will help interest rates and profitability and help us, with a tail wind, we've done a lot of business in japan, where that didn't happen,

and inflation never came despite government spending. but it seems like it's different here in the united states this time. >> chris, i'm curious when it comes to some of the big banks, one of the things we keep hearing and we heard from jamie dimon is that for example they feel their hands are tied relative to the fintechs and my question is long term do you think some of the big banks can ever replicate what. so fintechs are doing in a meaningful way to the point where they can effectively crowd them out >> i really don't. there have been some successes in payments in there and i think fintechs have done some great things and created a lot of value, but you know, in terms of literally somehow you end up with fintech banks instead of regular banks, i just don't see that i don't see, you know, so many fintechs could bring better user interfaces and things like that and for a while that's a competitive advantage but i don't see what long-term

competitive advantages they have in lending i just zoo see it. >> so i mean it's interesting because you have firms like, affirm, for example, which seems to be having some success, do you think banks effectively just try to replicate that business >> well, let me put it this way. i think there are some area, let's take lending, let's take lending, i think there are some areas of lending where fintech approaches can be successful, and they tend to be areas of lending which have been underserved because there's not enough data, for example, lending which is based on looking at credit card receipts of a small business, and lending based on that, this is something fintech has brought to lending which wasn't there before, but in terms of somehow being more efficient, and a broad sense across large swaths of lending, i don't see fintech changing the landscape frankly. i just don't see it. >> chris, going back to cryptocurrency, i've spoken to a couple of big bank executives in the last week who believe that

the corner of cryptocurrency really has some incredible use cases of cutting out the middleman and enables lending, borrowing, exchanging financial assets and something they are paying close attention to, have you written off those things going on, or do you think that's something to keep an eye on? >> well, i think it's something to keep an eye on but if you dwi cryptocurrencies, ie, a currency, from de-fi and what is the purpose of the cryptocurrency, the kepto currency won't have a -- the cryptocurrency won't have a purpose unless you can convert it in and out of dollars so if you use it as a transaction currency you have to go to crypto to dollars back to dollars and i don't see how that is more efficient than going from dollars to dollars in the long run. >> chris, before we go, wanted to ask you about the spac market because tom is in the middle of the spac market, it has become a

feature or it was a hot feature of the deal market over the past couple of months and seems to be less a hot feature of the deal market do you think it's here to stay what do you think is going to happen >> i think it's here to stay in that we have spacs for a long time and continue to have spacs for a long time and they serve a current niche for which an ipo is difficult, but we're a public ownership makes sense. but the tidal wave is going to recede and run out of numbers and facts and deals and spac deals et cetera so i think we've had a bit of a bubble there but there will still be spacs in the future >> i agree knucklehead spac days are behind us guys like bill foley, tpg, carl, chris flowers, frankly, the types of real pros that you will see in spacs going forward. >> chris, thank you. and a big thanks to tom farley as well for spending the morning with us. appreciate you both.

becky, over to you. >> thank you. thanks, andrew let's get to cnbc headquarters and check in with jim cramer and the news of the morning that we heard a few minutes ago, the deal with amazon mgm going on for $8.45 billion. what do you think it means for amazon and the media world and where do you think washington weighs in on any of this stuff >> i always thought that amazon needs help with entertainment and needs help with sports and maybe this can be the break through for entertainment, next thing will be sports, they will be focusing on it, and having a more aggressive view, and allow alexa to do more for you with these types of things. brilliant move everything they do will be scrutinized by washington. this is a small one. but the dc decision, wow, to go against amazon, it's always twisted, because amazon always offers the lowest price but suddenly we are finding out people would get lower prices if somehow amazon were less of a

monopoly amazon is certainly not a monopoly on entertainment. this is a weak point for amazon. and i don't think they're happy with it. >> you are totally right. >> watch what they do for sports that's next. >> you're totally right with that decision coming down. that makes zero sense to me, the idea that you can't offer it elsewhere lower, well, yeah, the same thing happens with walmart or anybody who is saying we want to make sure we have the lowest price for our customers. >> the american people know that amazon's the lowest price. now, there will be things that they're not lowest price there are things you can match against walmart, david knows obviously amazon better than anyone, but i found, it's true, but i found that, i always find these lawsuits just kind of, i would not say stupid, that's the old days ill-advised. you just can't beat amazon so to suddenly read that amazon is a tax on the consumer, makes no sense for me. amazon is trying to drive down

the price of everything, everything, and if you talk to andy jassy, look, the price of amazon, web services, it is something like a times i find these lawsuits as being a gigantic waste of time on the part of the government don't they have better things to do >> you would think >> yes >> issues we need resolved around here. jim, thank you we will see you in a couple of minutes. in fact, that's it for us today. make sure you join us tomorrow "squawk on the street" is coming up after a quick break

folks the world's first fully autonomous vehicle is almost at the finish line today we're going to fine tune the dynamic braking system whoo, what a ride! i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovators of the nasdaq 100 like you you don't have to be a deep learning engineer to help make the world a smarter place does this come in blue? become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

good wednesday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber. futures are steady and amazon buying mgm for $8.5 billion, and the biggest since whole foods and bolstering the entertainment and streaming features >> and climate decision. shareholders are voting on the company's first major activist investor challenge for the first in modern history and following that closely. >> and banks and bitcoin the ceos of the nation's six largest financial firms will be testifying in front of the senate later this morning. carl >> jim, i remember we were on the air that amazon announced they were buying whole foods and the legacy of that deal is

de