plus, president biden will reportedly name an infrastructure czar to oversee the trillion dollars of spending approved by the bipartisan bill. it's friday, november 12th, 2021 and "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc

i'm becky quick, joe and andrew are off today. welcome. good to see both of you. it's been a lopg time. mike i see just about every morning, scott i don't see you >> good to see you. >> it's a friday and so far it looks like there's a little bit of a celebratory mood in the equities market. green arrows with the dow futures indicated up about 66 points, nasdaq up 36, and the s&p 6.5. yesterday was a down day for the markets and all of the major averages are on track to break a five-week winning streak it's been a rough few sessions we'll see what happens we'll put it in context for you. at this point you're talking about the s&p only 1.5% off all time highs, dow only about 1.75%, and nasdaq down just about 2% off their all time highs. yesterday the bond market was closed this morning you are seeing

higher yields. the 10 year right now yielding 1.58%. mike, what do you think finally happened here with all the news? so many people wondering and trying to figure out what in the world is happening with the lower yields on the long end. >> first of all what happened today we reopened the bond market so they can respond a little bit more, they were closed yesterday for veterans day. the market is, on one hand, willing to see if the fed can get lucky and in fact inflation does back off from here. on the other hand, as globally markets have priced in a higher probability that the central bank may have to raise rates in the relatively near term, they think if it happens it's going to suppress inflation longer term that's why we're not seeing yields really take flight. i think there's a fortunate piece of this, this last little burst of alarm happened after yields had been compressed and pulled back a lot.

we're still in the range we've been in for a while. we're making a lot of moves. we spent six, eight months between 120 and 170 the ten year doesn't seem like much of anything real yields if you adjust for inflation, they're deeply negative and seems to support equity valuations on some level. >> we should look at the squawk stack this morning we'd look back at the week we figured. the dollar having the best week it's had since august, gold at the highest level since june, year to date, still down 2.4%. natural gas is having its worst week since january, off 6.5% be, but still up 95% year to date. i threw the dow transports in there because right now they're a little weaker, they're 8.4% off the all-time highs so it doesn't match up with the other

averages and then avis. a weird statistic. avis up about 700% this year makes up a third of the 2021 gains we've seen for the dow transport. so that made me wonder where would the dow transports be without the big gainers like avis. >> 20 stocks price weighted and that's a little bit of a distorted effect in past years, fed ex, has sometimes been the thing that mattered and airlines. >> rental car stocks are one of the big stories of the year. >> who would have thought. >> between hertz emerging from the dust, which is now a publicly traded company again, and bigger picture i was listening to you guys talking about rates. the biggest story of the week to me is if you would have said at the beginning of the week we'll have the hottest read on inflation in 30 years. >> 31. >> and the dow is only going to be down 1% at the end of that week everybody would say, okay, i'll take that. it speaks to where momentum has been and where the narrative

still lies and that's with the bulls. look this morning. okay, we're going to break a five-week winning streak maybe we had to cool off at some point, were we going to go up every single week? >> also this inflation is comin in areas where to some degree it was expected, used cars and pandemic affected areas. so you have nominal growth but inflation of 10% companies can ride that and you have some pricing in there also hottest number, it was 6.2% on the cpi it was projected to be 5.8 it came in at 6. i think there's some context we could add to it that the markets are looking on the bright side of where we could play from here. >> you go back and say the last time we saw inflation this high, 31 years ago, you were looking at the ten year yielding 8%. the average mortgage was about

10%. so you look at numbers like that, i realize we're coming off incredible lows for things like gas prices and things like oil and but that does tend to make you sit up and take a look >> the spread is pretty wide right now. that's one of the reasons. there's a steady bid for anything with a yield on it. and you know what we also learned is 31 years ago, yields were too high. you made a fortune in bonds if you bought them and held them till now >> we've seen some commodities that saw the steepest gains start to rollover as well. so it's not an every single thing is going up out of control, even though it feels like that when you get a cpi read and yes, there's inflation almost everywhere. but you still have seems maybe rolled over the top of the mountain. >> the grocery store, you go to the grocery store lately >> yeah. >> bread, milk, it's eye popping the numbers.

i paid $6.50 for a loaf of bread yesterday. >> wow. >> it was good bread sour dough but still. >> axios is nsaying that president biden will name an infrastructure point person. no word yet on who the president will pick. he is set to sign the bill on monday before heading on the road to promote it we'll talk about the bill at 6:35 a.m. eastern with former white house chief of staff bill daily. and at 8:30 pete buttigieg, will join us live from washington. the chinese ecommerce giants set new sales records on singles day, the largest shopping event in the world alibaba said it sold more than $84 billion worth of inside, jd said the transaction merchandise topped $54 billion

it used to be a 24 hour sale now it lasts more than a week. the jd said it saw a surge in purchases of luxury products and pet related good. several electric vehicle companies are on the move this morning. blink charging did beat revenue estimates. it contracted or sold more than 3,000 charging stations. you see the stock up about 3% right now. shares of xpeng are higher as well the company teased a new sport utility vehicle overnight with the launch scheduled next week ev go shared jumped yesterday, that stock is up 85% this week after inking deals lordstown motors those shares are plunging after the company reported another quarter with no rev revenue. they plan to produce the endurs truck in the third quarter of 2022 but the stock is up 8% this

week and battery maker quantum scape is up 25% this week, a third party test of its batteries matched results of the internal results. this is the halo effect of the rivian and the fact people want to diversify away from tesla. >> or look for the next tesla. >> there you go. >> this is what kicked it all off. shares of rivian jumped again yesterday. they're now up 57% in the first two days as a public company and that brings rivian's market cap to $105 billion, two days public, $105 billion, indicated up another 2.5% this morning it also values the holdings of its founder and ceo at about $2.2 billion based on yesterday's close. guys, we knew that there was going to be a lot of interest around this, it priced at the high end of the range came out of the gate higher than that,

but this has been something to watch. that frenzy that you've seen around any play when it comes to ev. >> the timing of rivian's i.p.o. literally couldn't have been any better you have tesla was basically hanging around an all-time high. you have the backside of the infrastructure bill and then all of the ev battery stocks going up and then rivian comes to market hello, could you ask for better timing are you -- should we really be surprised that the valuation got to where it is today based on that alone >> the funniest thing has been listening to the analysts who think there's nothing to look at when it comes to tesla, it's going to continue going there. and they look at rivian and say this is overpriced it's priced at about twice the growth expectations as tesla when you look at the numbers. >> right >> you said something

interesting if money comes out of tesla and goes into rivian, that's an interesting dynamic to consider but also somebody was tweeting yesterday money coming out of tesla takes money out of the s&p. >> to a degree >> which is a potential negative for the overall market if you have that dynamic playout. not suggesting that it will. but it's an interesting way to look at it now that tesla is a member of the s&p. >> how long before rivian becomes a member >> give it a few weeks. >> it's obviously an influence went into the s&p after a run tesla did. it's still been a massive net contributor to the s&p up to this point i think it's given a valuation umbrella to the whole group. if tesla is a trillion dollars, all of a sudden 100 billion for rivian, 10%, maybe it has a chance to be a challenger, it distorts the relative math in people's heads coming up. we'll look at stocks that should

be on your radar in times of rising inflation, including some discount retailers that's next. later, sky bridge capital's anthony scaramucci will join us to talk inflation and the markets. you're watching "squawk box" live from the nasdaq market site in times square. so, you want evs, you have come to the right place. is that tom brady? yeah. he comes in to recharge, get software updates. you know. let's go! (kids playing) pnc bank believes that if your phone can help you track your pizza come on, cody. where are you, buddy? then your bank should help you track your spending. virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. its low cash mode feature gives you at least 24 hours of extra time to help you avoid an overdraft fee. okay, he's gotta be close. he's six blocks in the other direction.

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strong though some sentiment trackers are showing a pullback in confidence as inflation rises. courtney reagan joins us with a look at how discount retailers may become more attractive to investors. >> discount retailers tend to attract more shoppers in economic downturns we know that. but many shoppers are hitting discounters as inflation heats up hourly earning were upcompared to last year 5% but when you take inflation into account real wages actually declined. consumer sentiment did rebound but the last two months average out to the weakest meeting in a decade in store traffic data shows an uptick in retailers that sell at lower prices traffic in october is up 21% for home goods, 16.5% for target more than 13% for ross stores.

11.5% for burlington and nearly 5.5% for walmart the big box players like walmart and target we know are using their size and scale to navigate the supply chain congestion, like chartering their own ships for cargo. the off price players are taking advantage of the inventory dislocations from the past 18 months to buy up merchandise to then offer instore treasure hunters something to sal evasal evaluate over. look at shares of dollar tree up 15% since that september read on inflation came out in mid october. of course, we've had a second reading since then 5 below shares up 16%. target shares higher by 12%. mike, back over to you >> to me is the dollar store piece of this. you mentioned the recent gains in the names but they had been weak beforehand because the

wisdom was they didn't have pricing power, had a cap, and then they're dealing with the same supply and cost issues on the back end >> yeah, absolutely. that has been a little bit of a surprise if you remember back during the financial crisis we saw shoppers sort of trade down in some cases to those dollar stores, particular for those fill-in trips so maybe they're not doing all the grocery stopping or not refilling all supplies, but when they need something they're going to the dollar store instead of the bigger box stores so the traffic and sales are going to be something to watch, especially when we get more color from the earnings reports as they trickle out. >> the other piece of it is the tj maxx's of the world, is there enough overstock out there for them to stock the shelves? >> you know what, there does seem to be when i've checked them out in person, my own check shopping, it seems they have fuller shelves than other retailers

have had they're taking advantage of the inventory dislocations for the retailers buying inventory thinking stores weregoing to b open through 2022 and then they weren't. so some of that inventory had been sitting in store shelves and then got flowed through to the channels and they do buy new merchandise but from other smaller companies. >> that's good news for the shopping season. the thank you very much. big news the dow jones is reporting johnson & johnson plans to split into two public companies. looks like they'll spin off the consumer division sometime in the next 18 to 24 months according to executives. they haven't decided how the flit split is going to work the consumer companies it's a $15 billion a year business, sells things like band-aids, tylenol and baby powered

i guess alex was asked by the journal if that was part of the reasoning. he said the reason they're making this change is because the customers and the markets have diverged so much in the recent years including the pandemic, the lawsuits with the baby powder aren't part of that. johnson & johnson $168, up by 3% this comes after we heard the news this week about ge splitting into three separately traded companies as well conglomerates not in favor of this meg tirrell is standing by it does follow other news of competitors splitting off their business as well. >> absolutely. pfizer and merck amid companies that have shed that. there has been questions about j&j does it make sense to keep the brands it has until now these are the iconic brands baby

powder, shampoo, band-aids j&j up almost 4% on the news investors in the health care space like the pure play pharmaceuticals business the medical devices business has been going through a recovery from the pandemic having been hit hard as people were not able to go to the hospital to get nose procedures, that has been an issue of course alex, the ceo of j&j stepping down, i believe at the beginning of next year, so they'll have new leadership of the pharmaceuticals and medical devices business,the whole company, until they split it all off, the leadership of the consumer business not yet announced. all the details sound like they're getting figured out. b big news for j&j. >> he'll still be the executive chairman when he steps aside from the ceo role. >> i have to check the details on that, but i'm sure you're

right. >> i thought that was the case scott what were you saying >> i was going to ask, it underscores you covered this area a long time just how much the health care business itself has changed and continues to change and where these companies think they can find the best growth, right, meg >> yeah. you know, it's been sort of a long process in the pharmaceutical industry of reallyin really pairing down we saw it a while ago with abbott splitting out the drug business. that is such a huge business and one that investors like to be able to bet on on its own. it has been the en vogue thing to do to split it off from the rest of a big company. but j&j has always bucked that trend. so it's fascinating to see them say this is the time to do it. >> and j&j ended up with a big piece of pfizer's business several years ago. i would suggest, you talk about

why now, the valuation is a big discount to the stock market right now it's not getting credit for the balance and diversification the way it used to i think that's what's behind what ge is up to as well they feel the market would rather have the pure play. j&j is a triple a rated company, one of only a couple left, see if that remains a case with either of the resulting company. >> what about the idea it's a dow component as well? >> you have to decide which one sticks most likely and which one goes >> right guys, again, looking at this it looks like the stock is up 4.6%. we saw wall street cheering the news earlier this week about ge splitting into three that tells you about the flavor on wall street these days just in terms of splitting up companies, spinning them off, versus putting them together we'll continue to watch this and meg we'll have you back later. we're going through the news that "the wall street journal" is reporting right now

thanks, meg. when we come back, kelloggs strikes back the company filing a lawsuit against the striking workers we have details next as we head to a break, check out shares of disney, that stock plunging 7% yesterday after reporting a slow down in subscriber growth for the streaming service. disney shares indicated up by about half a percent it was the big pressure on the dow yesterday. we'll see how things fare with j&j up so significantly this morning. right now looking at the futures, you'll see at least at this point the dow futures were already indicated higher before we heard any of this news. now you see dow futures indicated up by 100%s, s&p by 8.5 and nasdaq indicated up by 35 "squawk box" will be right back. i'll shoot you an estimate as soon as i get back to the office. hey, i can help you do that right now. high thryv! thryv?

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right now it's time for the executive edge kellogg has filed a lawsuit against striking workers at its omaha plant. the company is accusing employees of blocking entrances to the facility and intimidating replacementment workers. it comes as kellogg and the union representing workers remain at an impasse on contract talks. i believe the contract that was proposed was never brought to the union members to vote on it. kellogg has been asking the union members for a vote on that, but it sounds like things have gotten complicated. kellogg has been bringing in white collar workers and other

workers and stock piling cereal for a while. you see the stock is up about half a percent. >> we'll have more on the j&j news this morning. the company planning to split into two public companies. plus former white house chief of staff bill daley will join us to talk about the staled build back better plan as we head to break, a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers hey businesses! you all deserve something epic! so we're giving every business, our best deals on every iphone - including the iphone 13 pro with 5g. that's the one with the amazing camera? yep! every business deserves it... like one's that re-opened! hi, we have an appointment. and every new business that just opened!

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good morning, everybody. welcome back to "squawk box. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. you're going to see right now the futures are cade higher this morning. dow futures indicated up by about 88 points, s&p by 7.5 and nasdaq by 34 all averages at this point have been on track for a losing week

after five weeks of gains. but you are going to see the green arrows this morning, part of what's driving the dow this morning a story we just reported a few minutes ago about. johnson & johnson is planning to celebrate into two publically traded companies that news is official they're going to be spinning off or doing something to move their $15 billion a year division for consumer goods off to be separately traded company that would leave two public traded companies one would be prescription drugs and medical dev devices business, a faster business, the other would be the slower growth consumer growth for things like tylenol, band-aids, baby powder and baby shampoo. this is expected to happen in the next 18 to 24 months we know the ceo of johnson & johnson announced he'd step aside from the ceo role giving that role over in january. he will be sticking around as

the executive chairman but it looks like the new incoming ceo at the beginning of the year would be sticking with the prescription drugs and medical devices company still running that doesn't look like they know who would be leading the separate company, when it would be happening or how, but they are getting the message out to wall street and they are being rewarded to the tune of about a 4% gain. we should tell you we are going to be joined exclusively by johnson & johnson's ceo alex gorsky at 8:00 a.m. eastern time he'll be joining us here on "squawk box. scott? >> look forward to that. in the meantime let's bring in stephanie link hightower chief investment strategist, shareholder of jan&j thanks for calling in. how are you? >> i'm good how you? >> i'm great how are you feeling about the news >> i'm thrilled. it's the year of the split, the

way i view it. a lot of names doing great things trying to create shareholder value. to put it in perspective, the pharmaceutical business, organic growth grew almost 14%, the medical device grew total revenues about 7% and, of course, the consumer, the slower growing business 4%. you can see why they want to really figure out how to create value for these other faster growing businesses within health care the pipeline in pharmaceutical is enormous. they've done a great job at building that and not getting credit for it, quite frankly i think this is terrific news. the stock has really lagged. other health care names, it's also lagged the market year-to-date and by the way, it's fairly attractive in terms of valuation at 17 times and you get a 2.6 dividend yield as well >> they use the words and they are in the press release this morning, unlocking value by doing this you truly feel like this will unlock the value for a

shareholder like you and so many others >> absolutely. i don't think they were getting the credit for growing double digit pharmaceutical organic growth, right. and they've worked so hard at that pipeline. spent so much in terms of r&d at creating really a world-class pharmaceutical division and i think this will highlight this and hopefully they'll get a higher valuation on the device side, you know, they've had troubles because of covid and utilization rates you not only have a great pharmaceutical business but you have a reopen play on the device side and that should increase in terms of total revenues going forward and that is a great free cash flow generator. >> so you'd want to own both pieces here if they separate into two publically traded companies which looks like it's going to happen. you want to own both >> i would i feel the health care you get a

higher multiple and the consumer piece is the cash generator, it's consistent, steady more like a staples kind of story if you will i like to have diversification you know that in my portfolio. it's a great way to barbell it, if you will. >> the strategic logic, the industrial rational for this is pretty clear, spinoffs in general. you get the correct kind of constituency for your stock. although i do wonder about the assumption that the pharma and health care business would get the higher multiple. if i'm looking at merck, brissal myers and pfizer trade for, the market doesn't pay up for that at the moment. we know the market is going to hash it out, see how it goes, meanwhile staples retain a premium. it's interesting how it might play. >> you're right. but i think that j&j is growing their pharmaceutical business faster than pfizer and merck at

a 14% organic growth and just didn't get the credit for that so i feel like it should trade at a premium and if it doesn't, that's your opportunity, quite frankly both pieces, i mentioned consumer, really the free cash flow generator, so is the pharma business, the device business. so you're going to continue to see dividend increases, buybacks, this is a shareholder friendly company, gorski is a money maker. i'm glad he's going to stay around for this and see it through, too. >> you do assume a little more risk, though, don't you steph, say as a shareholder you choose to invest in the pharmaceutical and device side of the business. it is a riskier business, if you separate it out from having everything together. you have to assume some of that risk >> well, i guess so. but i think if you look at the pipeline in the pharmaceutical business, they've built it so

substantially. so i think you have a lot more visibility than you ever have in terms of the pharmaceutical side in terms of the device side certainly that is the piece that's the unknown because you had covid and utilization rates that have been much less than what they're used to but they said on their call they do expect that to recover, in terms of volumes going forward and so, i strongly believe that because you're also hearing that, by the way, from the hmos in terms of the utilization rates as well. that they're going to actually increase and that's what's been scaring the hmo group because people think their calls are going higher so net-net i feel the pharmaceutical business has been the horse and it's not appreciated and i'm so glad that they're actually trying to figure out how people can value this a little bit better, quite frankly. >> so good to get your insights. thanks, have a great day. >> thanks scott have a good weekend. >> you as well that's stephanie link.

when we come back, bill daley weighs in on infrastructure and the stalled build back better plan and later don't miss our interview with transportation secretary, pete buttigieg. he'll be right back.

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house speaker nancy pelosi says that a vote on president biden's build back better plan could happen as early as next week but with inflation already at its highest level in 30 years,

senator joe manchin continues to remain uncertain of supporting the major spending bill. joining us right now is wells fargo vice chairman bill daley, he served as chief of staff to president obama and is a former commerce secretary secretary daley thanks for joining us today it's good to see you >> thank you, becky. >> i'd like to go back to when you were first in washington, i think 1993, you were a special adviser to president clinton at that point on nafta and kind of looking through because that's around the same time we were se seeing inflation at levels like this you have to go back to 1990 when you look at inflation, the economy and all you've seen over this time period, what do you think the odds of the build back better bill get past are, what would it mean for the economy? >> let me say i think the infrastructure bill that was passed and now going to be signed by the president will help, obviously, the comeback. there's been debate now for over ayear on the build back better

part of this in the sense of the social piece i think inflation is real. it's a great concern by everyone so i think it's going to be a very tough road to think that anything the size of what's been proposed will pass both the house and the senate in the end. i think the house is waiting to see what the cbo scores that bill that's been presented to them that's supposed to come out next week that will have a major impact on its ability to pass the house and the likelihood of anything passing the senate they've got to do the debt ceiling, which is also a major issue that has to be resolved by the end of the year. so they have a lot on their plate and i think it's going to be highly unlikely that you see the size of the bill that's been talked about actually get passed and signed by the president. but i think it's important that they do take action because there's real concern out there in america that relief has to

continue to be given by the government >> senator manchin there's new reporting out this morning that suggests he's looking at this and saying he would agree to a lot of the social spending programs but only if there are some pretty strict caps put it on of income levels, making sure that people who make above a certain amount are not getting the same as people below that amount it sounds like you're kind of in his camp of thinking that something has to to be done but only for people who really, really need the help. >> i've been a big believer that means testing is really important and i've always been surprised that democrats haven't embraced that to be frank with you. those of us who don't fight well over the economy over the last 25, 30 years, should not get the sort of relief and help that other americans need and they should get so i think he's tapped into what i think most people, and even those who are very successful believe that as you look to try to solve the real problems, you

have to focus on the people who have the real pain and need and not necessarily those of us who have done pretty well over the last number of years by vir which you of whether it's investments, the increase in opportunities that have been out there. i think he's tapped into something that the american people i think feel very strongly about >> what can you tell us about the economy, just from the perspective of wells fargo, what are you seeing in terms of savings, credit card spending, how people are doing, and is there a big dichotomy between the haves and have notes >> there is and it's been there for a long time. we are seeing people beginning to come back into the economy, whether it's the job market, spending, holidays are interesting to see, obviously it's not going to roar back to the 2019 levels. but we're seeing progress, you'll have gdp growth we estimate 5.5 this year, next year probably 4. but there are a lot of headwinds as you mentioned, not only

inflation, look at the d disruption in the supply chain, the tremendous increase in labor market costs over the last number of months and the overriding concern around covid as we get to the winter months, whether there will be a resurgence or a new variant, and so those all kind of give pause to people, and concern as we go forward but overall, we have a very strong economy and a very diverse economy and i know we talk negatively quite a bit and inflation is rising and that's a concern. it's not back to some of the levels that those of us who are a little older have seen and we seem to have gotten used to very low interest rates, higher interest rates doesn't mean the economy is going to crater or the concern that some people have. the fed's got to move forward. the leadership of the fed is another issue and another concern of the market, i think

what -- is there going to be a change, how will they lay out the tapering program, and higher interest rates and then you've got, again, not only the leadership you have a number of vacancies on the federal reserve board of governors. governor quarrel just resigned so the president has to put forward and then they have to go through the senate process which we know is difficult to get anything through. >> i'll ask quickly not with your wells fargo hat but with your long-term government experience hat on on this. jay powell is he the right person to stay as fed chairman >> i think he's done a great job i think i through the a difficult time i think he's obviously extremely competent. both sides thought that when they made him chairman brainard you lead in the press is the second candidate, she's extremely confident. both of them are real

professionals. but i think chairman powell has done a really good job as we go through the program and the fed needs to begin to change the policies of the past, it will be interesting, and quite important as to who's leading that and what confidence they give to all of us as we go forward they they've got a program and can immatplement itd it will be positive for the country. >> thank you very much again bill for your time great to see you thank you. coming up, electric vehicle stocks on the move this week the big gains in rivian and quantum scape. we'll look at that sector next

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ev maker rivian has delivered less than 200 cars so far this year, yet, investors

rewarding it handsomely. the market cap now topping $100 become shares of the big ev names also in the green, this morning you can take a look topped by tesla. there it is on the list of gains as well, joining us is wheelhouse capital cio anne barry. it's good to see you >> it's good to be here, scott. >> what's your reaction when you see rivian get a billion dollar evaluation >> i feel a bit conflicted rivian was at the beginning of the year, it's an astronomical runoff between the private market and now getting into the hands of retail investors. whenever there is that kind of disconnect, scott, i get a little nervous because i wonder what u.s. nation has broken once the business is justified. right now, i don't see it. when you look at rivian, topping

some of the billingest auto manufacturers, it's like it has effectively zero sales right now, i get a little nervous at these evaluation levels. >> we literally could roll back time and say we could have this same conversation way back when about tesla and look where it is now. so you can see a similar road for lack of a better part of the pun, i guess it's intend, ahead for a company like rivian? >> i think that's a key piece of this goal s. what is the justification is after the evaluation is down the line where it is today. i think the fact that rivian has got the backing of someone like amazon that 12% of the business is owned by ford, indicates the future is promising. so far, they've seen a lack of execution. if you look at some of the other players in the states, lucid, for example, hasn't been getting products out there quickly as has been expected and perhaps

over promising on what the future could look like, i think the level of forgiveness for businesses out there on the hope of growth than executing against is a track record him i'm not sure it will be there as quite in the same way as it has been in the past. >> what do you think this is about, is it simply bull market productivity, you throw in esg is totally in vogue and thus you, obviously, with the hype of tesla going over 2 trillion market cap, this is what the broukt of that is? >> i think some of it is bull market sentiment, scott. some is that they're real tangible ways of momentum now has built the entire ev infrastructure one of the things that plagued this business, but it looks like it will be addressed is government backing we seen in the infrastructure bill. it's a buildout of ev charging port and charging stations for the public that's something that hasn't had the same focus in the past sol i think when you've got a

wholistic movement, whether it's government spending. whether it's the fact have you battery manufacturers starting to scale up, getting out of their start-up stage into that velocity arena, when you see all of the pieces come together as they are now, it's now moving the stock prices in the ev market as it is frankly a little bull market, a slightly little over evaluation is >> what do you think a reasonable evaluation would be >> i do think a bit of a correction, a 15 to 20% down on rivian wouldn't be out of the ordinary him when i look at how tesla is trading, 15 times, 202003 ref you i compare that, that would point on a mathematical basis to a bigger break in liveian's value, i think on the back of what they have, while that are not at that, the gap the a bigger trite adjust. >> i have a feeling we'll have

this conversation again soon, thanks, anne berry >>. coming up, major developments in the medical sector, dr. scott gottlieb will be talking about germany and what the winter might look like here and alex gorsky will join us on a first cnbc news that the company plans to break into two public companies you are watching "squawk" on cnbc let's go!

so, you want evs, you have come to the right place. is that tom brady? yeah. he comes in to recharge, get software updates. you know. let's go!

stock futures quslightly higher after a historic inflakes report does vaccines for kids change the holiday landscape? we'll get the latest as we get ready for colder weather and more activities indoors. and the rise of the worker, labor strikes sweeping the nation, adding stress to the tight labor market we'll get an update on two labor union strikes that could upset every american as the second hour of "squawk box." begins right now. good morning, everybody, welcome back to "squawk box. i'm becky quick along with scott woopner and rick santoli right now, the dow futures

indicated up by 125 points the s&p futures up by 11 the nasdaq up by 44. it's been a little rougher week. after three down days for the do you, you are talking about these green arose and major averages not far off their lies, less than 2% from the dow and s&p and just over 2% from the nasdaq checking things out for the dow indicated up more than 12005 points very quickly, let's take a look at what's been happening in the treasury market. the treasury market closed yesterday for veterans day this morning you see the ten-year picking up steel although, 30 year 1.913 down ever so slightly again, watching what's happening with the market adjusting the news and yields picking up for the most part. that breaking news in the last hour, johnson&johnson plans to

split into two different companies. the consumer division like band aid and tylenol will be separated. that stock up by about 4.4%. let's go over to meg tirrell for more on that story good morning again. >> reporter: good morning, becky. the plan is to separate out this consumer health business into a spatially traded company within the next 18-to-4 months. that would leave j&j with the pharmaceutical and medical device businesses, a $7 million business consumer health is $15 billion it has iconic brand, nutrogena, tylenol, band aid. this is a major business i'm talking with the equity strategist about the rational for this deal. he pointed out they are splitting out businesses like consumer and animal house and in particular being able to value that separately.

he pointed out j&j doesn't get credit for that business j&j is detailing the rational saying it will increase its ability to focus and devote resources to those specific businesses as welt as allocate capital appropriately to the different businesses it will allow for more targeting investment opportunities for the investor community and will align the corporate and organizational structures appropriately for the two businesses, really saying it makes sense to keep pharma and medical devices together because the patients and the healthcare is the customer there, for consumer, these over the counter brands sold in pharmacies and stores like that j&j up 4.4% a. positive reception to this news guys, back over to you. >> meg, thanks very much by the way, we will be speaking to johnson&johnson ce alex gorsky let's go to dom chu this morning

with the pre-market movers >> scott, the pre-market move in johnson&johnson you saw there was big and it's half of the implied open the dow is implied roughly 100 points half is johnson&johnson's move we are watching that one it is a friday let's check out over the week sector wise. the best performing sector in the s&p 500 in that span by a decent margin is the material text sector they're up by 2 performance him meanwhile, megacap technology and media types are waning tesla had a lot to do with that story and communication services the second worst, so that's the way that the market has kind of built out over the course of the past week. now, if you take a look at some of the individual names on the move, this week, themematically, it's been about electric vehicles, alternative energy, batteries, that sort of thing. rivian, by the way, a 29% pop on

the ipo day a. 22% pop yesterday. it's up to 22% now we'll keep et on the market cap as you point out over $100 become tesla is trying to rebound from the early 80 week lows we saw. the electric vehicle maker nio up 2% and fisker up 2% as well we'll focus on the parts of the ecosystem there. some of the popular ticker searches from yesterday's full session, i would point out rivian and tesla were the two most stock symbols in that mix as well. beyond meat, nvidia and affirm holdings and lordstown, there could be a lot more investor interest in those names given some of the catalysts we have been seeing news wiles for some of these stocks. >> we'll see what we do at the winning streak, if we break that five-year winning streak we'll talk to you soon, that's

dom chu. coming up, the final news day at cop26 diana olick will wrap up some of the agreements made and what it could mean for your investment john deere has options offered by agricultural machinery. we'll geant update on where things stand kw "squawk box" will be right back. . let's go! (rhythmic electro rock music) (crowd cheering) - bito, bito, bito, bito! - [announcer] bito, the first u.s. bitcoin-linked etf.

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the cop26 summit wrapping up diana olick has been there neary two weeks as world leaders race to strike a climate deal the how would you sum it all up? >> well, look, we don't have the final agreements yet they're still hashing out the precise language we did get another draft this morning. it leans into the 1.25 summit goal and antonia gutierrez says the original 1.5 goal the on life support. language on fossil fuel reduction. that is the first ever mentioned in the cop agreement it calls on nations to accelerate insufficient subs dies, that will give a boost to companies that provide clean

elect electricity. outside of that formal document, we've seen several agreements. 105 countries including the u.s. agreed to cut methane emissions by 30% this decade and 24 countries and some leading car manufacturers agreed to move entirely to electric vehicles by 2040 or earlier. ford, mercedes and volvo among them that should include tesla and newly ipoed ingredients. there is still a way to go there. back to you guys. >> it certainly seems like a ways to go i think relative to what expectations were going in, in terms of the shape of the agreement and targets and the participants, was there much disagreement at the end of this? >> look, we don't know yet we haven't seen that final agreement. we have seen a lot of methane and electric vehicles and we saw a lot of money at this conference that is corporate ceos, hedge

fund managers. all of them talking about ways that they can participate in this that they can fund the financing to clean energy, to adaptation and resilience so i do think they will come out of here with big pluses. we still don't have the carbon pricing pecknism set up and we don't know what they will say in that final agreement about the 1.5 degrees, which is very important. some have said the trajectory we are on in 2.4 degrees celsius. that they call catastrophic. >> obviously, details matter a whole lot. that's a big difference. thank you very much, appreciate it for more on the energy transition and prices this winter, let's bring in jonathan bailey head of energy investment at berman. fit in what we have been talking about the last two weeks from this conference, what you were doing over there, what you think investors ought to be doing it

in channeling their channels in the right directions especially at a time we're seeing higher fossil fuel prices, in large part, because of that industry being deprived of capital based on the esg priorities? >> thanks for asking the question i just come back from glasgow. i think the point your associate was making about this transition is actually clear. that's different than if you go back to the paris agreement, the negotiations happening in 2015 but i think we've also got to make sure we focus on the fact that this transition is going to be bumpy the latest estimates from the iea talk about $4 trillion a year in spending this needs to be deployed. these are big amounts of capital that need to be put to work. we're not seeing yet from the big publicly listed energy companies, the pace of capitalism is required quite rightly, you are seeing

some inadvisors say, look, why should we be backing large energy companies that aren't reallocating fast enough we are seeing it from fames like shell who announced a big new farms focused on green hydrogen just last week an example of the type of reallocation that will arrive if that net zero. for all the noise around engine number one, engagement with excon rebel, we're not seeing the same type of relationship happening. so investors have to determine which of the investments they want to make, that will be a part of this transition, recognizing in the short term there will be some bumps happening as a result of the current economic rebound >> yeah. we have been talk sock much about the electric sector, the valuations, it suggest there is is a scarcity it would seem of

publicly traded options for people to express this view of which way this industry is going to be going. what does that mean, if that's the case what would that mean for returns? do you feel as if there is a good enough group of opportunities in terms of investable companies that can kind of both deliver returns and also those goals >> look, i think you are absolutely right there is a risk, a small number of thin tech private solutions in public markets. they attract a lot of capital as you rightly pointed out with rivian in the last few days. the challenges that we do need to see earlier stage capital going into the commercialization of technologies and the scaling up of some of these solutions. so there is an important role posted at the pre-ipo market, the growth capital and private market to play here. also, frankly, there is a role for government to play if you look at what was a part of the biden administration infrastructure plan recently, you got 3 billion in there for

advanced nuclear reactor program research that's something the private sector is frankly not going to be able to fund in the return profile on those times of technologies, unless we move towards a modular nuclear reactor of the type rolls-royce and others are developing. clearly, government has to play a role for these higher risk investments. outside of that, absolutely, our clients turn to us and say, where are the climate solution opportunities? so what happens to be judicious in private markets and so actively in public markets so we don't see a complete of the clean tech bubble we saw a decade or more ago >> are we at a point, jonathan, where esg, environmental and social good afternoon nance directed investing is being kind of overtaken by the climate prioritiy and it becomes mostly about clean energy and things of that sort? does it matter if that's the ka

is >> i think you are right it's an important point. the focus on climate is so clear. that's partly because of the tidal. in 2030 we will see a 40% level of emissions current commitments have been made up in glasgow might be getting us towards 16, 17, 19% reductions so the pace of change over the next nine years is huge and that means that we're kind of rebuilding the global economy at a rapid pace so rightly, you know, esg is very focused on the easpects of that, because people can see the impact it lot have on companies in quite short and medium term we can't forget being strong on "e" the transition from a net zero perspective is just fought enough at the end of the day, figure you work at tesla, rivian, your social employee matters.

issues included, there is a lot more companies can do to show leadership on those topics and there are plenty of companies that can fix their governance the focus and pressure is undoubtedly primarily on that transition on the environment am side of things >> you mentioned as part of the infrastructure bill, the nuclear energies priority, nuclear energy spending that's in there and perhaps that's best led by the government are there other things in this bill you think could be catalysts for different parts of the energy economy on the grid or elsewhere in battery technology that you feel might be sped up because of it >> i think the hydrogen house, if it ends up $900 billion, allocated to that it will be really important if you look at things like how do we get to green imodium, move to hydrogen powered steel manufacturing? what do we think about transportation for aircraft?

interestingly, the u.s. has indicated at glasgow an interesting signing global agreement to decarbonize aviation by 2015 that will need probably a hydrogen supply role in that i think the support to try to scale up and bring the costs up for hydrogen that's something that is probably quite investable because of the ways that you can participate in that. either through some of the commodities, the catalysts or through the engineering companies and ultimately the energy players that will build the infrastructure so that's an area that we are watching very carefully on behalf of our clients as a space that is likely to be critical over the next decade and one that may actually be investable. >> jonathan, thank you very much for your time this morning >> thank you all right. coming up, dr. scott gottlieb on the spike in cases in germany. the latest on the vaccine front here in the united states. "squawk box" will be right back.

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now the answer to today's aflac trivia question. after skyrocketing 60% in its ipo debut earlier this year, this online dating stock is down 20% year-to-date the answer mumbo. iceland is making a big push for tourism at the expense of mark zuckerberg. in a video published yesterday as a part of a marking campaign. the actor announced facebook's name change to meta. check it out >> what do we call this not so

new chapter in are you man connectivity the iceland's worse it has actual reality without silly looking accents. in our open world experience, everything is real and has been for millions of ye years. >> all right becky, you're allowed to mock a little bit, right, have a little fun? >> it works. it works, right? that makes me want to go to iceland. >> i know they have active, you know, volcanos, it probably looks like something you have to conjure up in a metaverse. it looks like a moon scape. >> a good reminder when all of us are sick of the zoom stuff.

of the remote stuff, these things most of us are ready to get out in the real world at this point, not the metaverse. >> pretty close, ever been >> i wanted to, i haven't made it there yet, one of these days. >> all right still to come, johnson&johnson ceo alex gorsky, on news they will split into two public companies. plus rollout for vaccines for children and whether or not a winter surge in cases could be ahead. plus, luxury retail seeing higher demand than ever. supply can't keep up we'll talk to an expert how he seen business disrupt. stay tuned yeah. he comes in to recharge, get software updates. you know. let's go!

workers express frustration over wages and more. bertha coombs talks about what's hitting california in the healthcare area. we begin with seema modi covering the largest maker of scenery. >> while talks have continued no deal has been reached between

john deere and the 1000 union workers that hold out for a better pay package the executive saying the greatest offer, including a 10% wage hike and a bonus is its best and final offer in the event the strike continues, john is making contingency plans, leaning on salaried workers at international factories to produce extra parts needed by farmers here in the u.s. as agriculture demand remains very high analysts at j.p. morgan say john deere has to raise price by around 1.5% to account for a higher labor costs now it feels like we are starting to talk about union workers revolting, you would be right, stories are up 40% year over year according to bank of america, the second highest in data history dating back to 2011 deer s not the only industrial that is dependent on union workers. other companies with exposure

include oshkosh, cater caterpil and a couple companies to watch on as we watch more workers revolt across america. let's go to bertha coombs who has the latest on a healthcare strike at kaiser permanente. >> reporter: it seems kaiser is facing its biggest strike ever monday morning with more than 30,000 healthcare workers set to walk off the job now northern california union engineers have already been on strike for nearly two months overworking conditions and wages. next week, nurses plan a one-day strike, pharmacists a five-day strike and sympathy with those workers. kaiser operates in eight states and more than 20,000 nurses and more than 10,000 pharmacists and support workers in southern california, oregon and washington state have voted to

strike on monday if no new contracts are reached this weekend, with workers in hawaii set to walk out later in the week the key issue in contention wages. the unions want 4% a year. keizoer is offering 2 percent with a bonus and proposing lower starting pay for new hires in order to cut costs, they say, for patients workers' response. >> they want us to stay affordable i understand that. i don't want our patients to have premiums they can't afford. but in this conversation, in particular,er that method of staying affordable is only by cutting wages for healthcare workers. it's not cutting wages for gers it's not cutting wages for ceos. the onus of responsibility for staying affordable is on a healthcare worker's backs. >> reporter: kaiser says it has contingencies in place in the event of a strike. stakes are high with covid weighing on operations, talks are continuing and expected to

go only 24/7 >> this is particularly harrowing because of healthcare workers have been on the front lines, who have been stretched so thin. you could say the same for the industrial workers you saw the same story coming from film and television workers, with their union threatening to strike this year. we heard wit kel logs. these are front-line workers, especially in the case of front line workers who have laid it on the line, it's a pretty tricky dam saying they're not going to pay them. >> reporter: it's an interesting dynamic in a very tight job market a. lot of things these workers are talking about certainly in healthcare is the fact that staffing has been minimal. they need more help. they make the argument that without it, patients' lives are endangered and patient care suffers. so at a time when a lot of industries are starting to tape up, it's interesting to see these guys really trying to hold

down costs >> this raises other question, mike has gone through all this, just what this means in terms of margins? we talked about this a little bit earlier when we were discussing the kellogg strike that's happening there is there a point where margins really start to get compressed a lot more what do you think, mike? >> well, there is a point. actually i think you've already seen the market kind of go toward those companies that have a little bit less kind of reliance on rock bottom wages so if you see those companies that basically have the flexibility in their margins to pay more or are already paying more, that has been the place that has out performed for a while. i think when we talk about most companies saying their biggest problem is finding people. it's almost if you could lock folk into a contract you actually know what your costs are for several years down the road the market probably can deal with that a little while. >> i'm wondering if this thing

is a moment in time issue or a more permanent shift clearly workers think they have more power than they've ever had arguably before coming out of the pandemic is it a moment in time issue, becky? is it a longer-lasting shift where the relationship between the worker and the company is fundamentally changed forever? those are legit questions i think we need to think about. >> i wouldn't say forever. i also wouldn't say that is transitory the way the fed is talking about inflation being transitory there is so much demand in so many arenas. not enough bodies to go around if terms of the workers. there are more than a million job option out there more than there are people looking for jobs so even if every one of those people got a job, you'd still have job option out there. as long as that is the case, it will be the employees mark not the employer's market. there is plenty of room for people to say take this job and shove it that seems to be the uptake.

they will tell you there are not more things happening, there are more bodies involved, more workers involved in what's happening. again, if you look at the potential strikes, it's not the same to have 10,000 here, 1,000 there of big well-known companies and unions, that does make a difference >> it fits much more with a broader theme, with i have very apparent, which is labor market, power towards workers, the pendulum has been swinging the other way for 30 years, maybe it will last a while. coming up, dr. scott gottlieb, the latest on the vaccine front, what the cold winter months may mean for covid spread. here are the futures they have been weighing all morning. s&p 500 up about 8 that's a little less than 1% we'll be right back. we'll be right back. >>

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. breaking news this morning johnson&johnson plans to split into two public companies. the consumer division home to brands like band aid and tylenol will be separated from the pharmaceutical and medical

device business. the stock has been up 3% since this news broke. we will continue to follow the movement there we should let you know ceo alex gorsky says the change will come in 18-to-4 months. he'll be able to expand on that when he joins us at the top of the next hour. very much looking forward to that important interview this morning in the wake of that breaking news, becky. >> me, too, thank you, scott in the meantime, the vaccine rollout continuing in the united states as more than 28 million children are now eligible to get the shot as winter approaches, numbers of covid cases in the northeast are picking up once again, raising the question where we stand in the delta wave joining us now is dr. scott gottlieb, a cnbc contributor who serves on the boards of pfizer and illumina scott, we had an interesting tweet last night pointing out that numbers have started to creep back up at least in new york city and in the northeast and that raises a lot of questions about what happens as the weather gets colder.

>> yeah. look if you look at this coronavirus as it's spread across the united states and the successive waves, there have been ten different regions affected by different points in time the south clearly have had their delta wave the pacific northwest, you see casings coming down, in the thick of the wave right now, california cases are picking up. it's been its own region the mid-atlantic regions have not picked up. cases are picking up a lot right now is in the north where people are heading indoors. it's getting cold, states like minnesota, michigan, wisconsin, parts of new england, there is a question of what will happen in the tri-state region we talked about that on this show delta is not done. the south clearly prevalence is very low right now you see cases coming down in other parts of the country like we hit earlier in the pacific northwest. there are parts of the country that have not had their delta wave yet, certainly the great lakes and nupgsd, oew england,

high rates of prior infection we have make us somewhat impervious i don't think we're impervious i don't think we will see in this region like we seen in the south, though. >> then have you children ages five-to-11 are eligible for the shot what i've seen this week it looks like almost a million children have signed up and gotten that shot what does that tell you in sort of that uptick rate? >> i don't, probably more than that i thaukd to executives at cvs, their utilization for five to 11s is running 54% ahead of where they were a comparable period when they rolled out the 12 to 16 vaccine it looks like the uptake is brisk. some is except-up demand you are seeing a lot of appointments get filled. they're now booked up. a lot of the pharmacies and pediatricians are booked up out a few weeks. there was a presumption that uptick would be less in the five-to-11 age group as in the

12-to-16 age group i this i that uptick in five-to-11 will be comparable and may be up some i think parents are reassured by the lower dose i think the fact that it's been distributed aggressively through pediatricians offices, it will be easier to get it to kids ages five-to-11. >> just looking at some shots being given to children there. the one kid got it and gave a high five. scott, you said about a week ago today that we could be looking at the end of this we could be looking at getting to a point where this is endemic, life can go back to normal because of all these new treatments, including the new pills from perk and pfizer how long until that is the reality, before that's on the market and it's plenty and it's available and people don't have to worry are we talking a few more months before we get there? >> probably the first quarter of 2022 before these drugs are widely available, more

accessible i think we are looking at the end of the pandemic. that doesn't mean it will end tomorrow we have to get through this delta wave i thought it would be the last surge of infection it impacted many parts of the country, not every part of the countryp people will escape delta. it will probably get into most parts of the country as we get into january, it will have run its course, a prevalent course to the south. the reason why this may get extended a little bit is because we are entering the holiday season we know that will cause cases to creep up and as things get better, things will get worse. what is going to happen is things will get better, people will go out more and socialize, that will cause infections to bounce up like we seen in the uk the uk improved. it's opened, life back to normal largely in the uk. then they had a big surge of infection. that surge is abating. they had one last surge because people started to interact more. you will see something similar here that will bump up against the

holidays and the cold weather when people move indoors i will say, if you look at where we were last year at the same time, we are in better shape right now, that's with a more contagious variant remember last year, we were deal, with the old woo huhan variant. i don't think things are in terrible shape right now, but there are parts of the country that have delta unfortunately spread very brickley through those regions. it's particularly the northern states >> i know you were listening in as we were just talking about worker kind of angst and worker yuch risings, saying, forget it, we want more than you are offering from us, kaiser permanente, it's hard to think of nurse and doctors and nurses and healthcare workers who have been on the front lines told, okay, you can have a 2% raise, into the 4% raise after what they have been through the last 20 months or so. >> look, it's been a typical year for every healthcare

provider i think the healthcare companies, in particular, because of what they are seeing is medical costs are going up. people put off medical care for more than a year now they're seeking out medical ayre and finding they have crude morbidity. you are seeing medical shares start to creep up and that could be also happening at kaiser and impacting their margins as well. i don't know, i don't follow it well luff see that impact healthcare providers. they will get squeezed as people sheltering in place and seek healthcare and find they have put off some things that perhaps they should have done previously. >> you know, you think about that, though, at a time where you say, okay, we're not financial to award the employees who have done this, our costs are going up, it has to be born somewhere, the nurse that 23 had fro keyser permanente, i don't know how overwhelming of a situation this is. she said, it's trying to be taken out on the backs of the workers, the healthcare workers only not on the backs of the ceos or administrators or anybody else

involved with this that seems like a pretty difficult issue to push at this time especially if you lose those workers, because we've talked about how hard it is to find these workers to begin with. then you have mandatory vaccines that loses you some other workers along the way and you have more patients coming in how do you possibly put all those together >> look, it's an awful position. it's an awful position for the workers a and the patients if they can't seek out the medical care they're going to need i think you will see more people interacting with the healthcare system than last year. the workers costs are going up as well so people are getting squeezed right now i think this might reflect, though, a broader issue across the healthcare system, we are going to see other health insurers get pinched as well, as much as covid costs the healthcare system a lot of money because of people that had bad outcomes from covid, there is a lot of healthcare sought, if you look at the loss across the industry, they actually improved

in the setting of covid for many companies. this is going to start to reverse now that will squeeze a lot of healthcare providers. unfortunately, some of that will be born by the healthcare workers who had a brutal year in the worst of sessions. >> dr. scott gottlieb, good to see you this morning >> thanks a lot. the life of luxuries changing in the pandemic we will talk to architect peter marino after this break about the ever evolving luxury retail space. in the next hour, anthony scaramucci on inflation, bitcoin and the markets. transportation secretary pete buttigieg will talk about his take on implementing the infrastructure bill. "squawk box" will be right back.

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many retail businesses were negatively affected this year by lockdowns caused by the spread of covid-19. however, luxury retail spaces continue to thrive now due to the reopening demand is higher than ever. in a highly popular luxury retail location like new york soho district is falling as represent prices decline joining us is a expert in the retail world, peter pary na, he designed many someplace i spaces for many people. completely the opposite of what

i would expect, how is that possible >> that's because the high rise companies are very well financed faye don't they don't have problems when they see closings like coronavirus, they increase store fixups, so we actually doubled our volume of store renovations compared to normal times when business is opened >> i guess the idea was to do whatever you can while you had the opportunity to do it to prepare for the other side of the pandemic and i'm looking at whether it's lou vuitton and all of these are stores that you were involved with and are involved with, louis vuitton dubai, japan,

chac chanel and do what you can for the flux of people on the other side >> 100%. the well financed high luxury brands are in positions to move quickly when store closings happen and they are very large and professional store planning departments. they're well capitalized so the idea of going to sleep during the coronavirus is the opposite of what they do they want to be wide awake now as the stores are opening. they also have an enormous transfer of merchandise you know they're very quick we were talking about supply chain issues they're very quick if all the stores are closed for six months where does the merchandise go? it goes to china when china was opened the chinese stopped traveling to europe and everyone thought oh my goodness, all of these companies are going to have a 30% drop in sales. well, they did in europe but in china, they had a 40% increase in sales.

so where do you think they made their money? >> i am also thinking about as you say the supply chain, the stores you design are beautiful. they cost a lot of money, obviously, they done look like many of your typical retail stores i can only imagine what it costs to build and design one of the stores for channel or luxury brands that you do is it a challenge which come from far away places, which costs a lot more money perhaps than your run of the mill product? >> construction has been a nightmare during the coronavirus epidemic a real nightmare you can't get electrical fixers or plugs not to mention marshall imported from italy since carrera was closed six months. the supply chain has been very, very difficult you have to switch to local resources much more than normal. we have all of the cabinetry shipped all over world shipping as you know, if it's a

joke in our industry, why is the store opening eight weeks late?l you can't catch up ship secretary eight weeks behind and it's forced ut us to switch to local resourcing much more than we do. >> you must have a real read on the inflation is, given the materials for what you need for what youdo >> construction materials are going through the roof it is very difficult to get labor. it's not just in construction. it's in the production of the product. remember, if france was closed in a lockdown for six onths, there was nobody hand making pocketbooks. that's a real problem to stock the stores wind chill i have been opening stores with much less merchandise than normal this has created a sort of what i call hysterical demand for the product.

we opened washington, d.c. chanel commerce flew from dallas, from atlanta, from chicago saying, i want the new product. i want the new product it's ver hard to keep our stores stocked. that conversely has proud a great deal of profit for them. they have zero extra inventory, which has never happened >> i bet you can also have a pretty good perspective on this whole idea of experiential shopping i mean, it seems to me, it's kind of what you do at the end of the day, you must design a store to get somebody enthusiastic about the experience that they're going to have even before the moment they walk through the door. will that change at all in this new world post-pandemic? or will it always be the way that you've done it in the past when it comes to that experiential feeling of shopping in a high end boutique

>> no, it's not going to change. it increases you know three-to-five years ago, everybody was saying to me, oh, gosh, with theed a vents of online buying. will people stop going to stores what are you going to do to counterbalance that? i'll give a statistic. in all luxury stores, out of every four customers who walked in only one actually makes a purchase the important thing my job is to make sure that the other three are so entlald thatrilateraled /* /* enthraleled that they com back the experiential factor is super super high we have customer marketing research, each time people leave the store, they go, i can't wait to come back i don't know too many people that say, i can't wait to press my computer button again

>> exactly speaking of coming back, lastly, before i let you go, the return of international travellers to the united states has to be so welcomed can you speak to what your expectations are now that we've opened up the borders? >> well, i'll tell you something, basically, the luxury retail industry almost 30% stores world wide count on tourism for their profit potential. the very strange thing that we've discovered in the last 18 months is is that when that tourism drops off, the local market blossoms. why? the local wealthy people in chicago can't really go to par rigsia early to buy collections. they buy much more in their local stores so the actual net business in the stores is tending to remain the same which is not what anybody predicted at all >> interesting peter, it's great to catch up with you take care. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> that is peter marino.

coming up, take a look at the biggest drags, consumer discretionary down almost 4% we'll have much more on what's moving markets with eric cantor next plus, don't miss our interview with transportation secretary pete bute gichlth we'll talk about the infrastructure bill, the supply cane so much me.or stay tuned "squawk box" will be right back. is that tom brady? yeah. he comes in to recharge, get software updates. you know. let's go!

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breaking news, this morning its healthcare giant johnson&john sorm, we have the first interview with j&j interview alex gorsky. futures green across the board as we head towards opening bell after pressure earlier in the week, the major averages on case to break five-week winning strikes. president biden is expected to sign the bipartisan infrastructure next week where will it be put first the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now

>> good morning, welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc, live from the nasdaq market site in time's square. joe and andrew are off today take a look at u.s. equity futures on this friday morning digesting big news of the week of course on inflation trying to avoid breaking that weekly winning streak right now, we're positive across the board, the dow would open by nearly 100 points. the s&p by 7 and a quarter there is a lot of focus on treasury yields as well. take a look at the ten-area note which is clearly much of the focus at 156 1.566% as we speak >> thanks, scott we are under 90 minutes to go on wall street. mike has been digging into the pre-market themes. what is on your radar? >> it's been a calm, orderly pullback it seemed the mark was going to cool off or risk overheating

we are have cooled off it's been minimal. we he it the interday all time high on the s&p. we never got 12% below that. what definitely has happened is we sort of bumped up against that upper independent, cooling lower. most of the gains from early october are intact some of the leaders have come in for a little pullback like a tesla whereas other stuff is holding up thigh have a lot of coat tails to that deal you see this ramp, this is 8% tesla 4% nvidia,

after that microsoft and other broader tech names so obviously getting all autos. taurlly, tesla a huge chunk. all car companies are doing well there is a pretty good excitement around that low splitting into two companies, obviously, the objective here among others is to get now what surprises j&j. here's how j&j breaks up and how it's performed relative to its component sectors, which will be pharmaceuticals and consumer staples. you see both have been major laggards basically, people want recovery plays. they're not considered to be beneficiaries, under performed the s&p significantly right

there. you see pharma, s&p. we don't have staples but it has also under performed both of these right now. so down the road, maybe you got better evaluations it starts at a level they're not digging this >> johnson & johnson announcing it will be splitting into two public traded companies. alex gorsky is here. the company goes back to 1886. so this is a huge piece of news. why now? >> happy friday. i know it's the day after. i want to acknowledge veterans day and the people in the military, the first responders, firefighters and the families that we can actually do these kind of things look, this is a historic day for

johnson & johnson. we believe by separating our consumer business into a separate publicly traded company, it's in the best interest of our long-term stake holders. we realize this is a very unique time if you think of the changing dynamics and innovation in technology and marks and can else and our goal is really to korea it two global leaders, a pharmaceutical and medical device business that has great potential today strong pipelines for the future of course, the consumer business that's got iconic brands and we think we will be well positioned to have better focus on the strategy, around the execution, rather their ability to touch more consumers around the world. so we're excited and again we think this represents a great

shareholder. >> i know you were with west point and you were a captain in the army before you moved into your corporate career. how did it come back when you start thinking about this >> we think there is a big, a bold move, a topic of discussion for sometime it's important for iconic companies like johnson & johnson despite we have been around for more than 135 years to constantly challenge our strategy we have been having those on a routine basis over the past decade clearly this acceleration in our pharmaceutical segment, medical device segment, where our pharma and medical device sends e tornadoes to be more of

a business relationship in the way we work through other intermed areas compared to the consumer business and most importantly where we see things going into the future, we feel now is the right time to make this move. ultimately, it will allows to reach more patients, more consumers, and execute in a much morpe focused way. >> how will the change work? you were transitioning to executive chairman i take it you will be staying with the pharmaceutical medical device xa en >> something like this will take some time. we appreciate it will take 18 to 4 months i will be staying with the ceo through the end of this year i'm proud to be handing off as of january 3rd i'll be remaining as executive chairman there is still a lot of details that need to be worked out on the exact timing the good news is that we got too debench leaders here at

johnson&johnson. jock imwill continue to be the ceo for the johnson & johnson, our pharmaceutical business, our medical device business. we know we will have it right in our consumer business as well. >> this is incredibly well known which of the two companies is going to keep johnson&johnson or do you brand both of them with johnson&johnson and run confusion with hp and hpc? >> look, our pharmaceutical and medical business, sorry, will be johnson&johnson. the name of the new company will be known are you right, the consumer business, think about it for the moment, it has more than four brands over a billion dollars in sales. we have more than 20 brands, tail noshlgs nutrogena,

listerine, benedryl. we have a strong pipeline. we feel it will be a better capital allocation a way to better figure the corporate versus the corporate structures to reach nor consumers. >> is the spa plan no spin it off or is the board looking at th that >> i take it the liabilities is cases would go with the consumer business >> this is about the future. we have been clear regarding the legal issues you mentioned this is about creating growth for the future when.

you say this is going back more than a year. can you give us insight when they started to pick up? >> as you would expect, we have fundamental discussions, we take a look at where are the markets going in which we compete, how are our products doing what does our pipeline look for the future we consistently address this issue about the future of johnson & johnson in our portfolio. clearly over the last several years, as we've seen these dynamics evolve at a faster rate that became a catalyst the pandemic and covid-19, particularly as we've seen on the pharmaceutical side the development and regulatory processes you nknow ship quite significantly and that that can create and also the very nature

of you know consumer demand, how they shop, how they're thinking about the products that they actually want. then also we really played into thisover all decision. >> people whether say it is a riskier business it goes through fluctuations of ups and downs, how do you milwaukee sure it stays? >> it's something we've demonstrated is to take a long-term approach to the way you among it what i am proud of in our group is that if you look over the last deck wade, whether we had launches of major competitors. we have been able to maintain an above growth rate for that period it's because of your long-term focus, willingness to invest in innovation and bringing newly innovated products to the market just the way we are executing every day.

despite multi-shift, we have been able to maintain consistent above market growth rates. if we look at our pipeline going forward, we have more than ten fi filings. each over a billion dollars 50 line extensions. we remain very confident in our ability to do that as well. >> as mike pointed out, how pharmaceuticals and consumer staples under performed, has that been a staple to you? >> i think it can tell out in the long run i look at the pharmaceutical industry and i look at the promise, be it cell base therapies, gene-based therapies. i don't think i've ever seen a more promising time and seen a greater acceleration

this will be risc of pricings, i think those are things that can be managed with in more of an evolutionary way we're very optimistic about a consumer business is very well positioned >> and is it safe to assume that if this is going to take 18-to-4 months that you will stick around to oversee that process >> look as mentioned in our announcement, i plan on being here as the executive share. we want to make sure there is a smooth transition. i have been incredibly proud with jock im we have a strong management team the other thing that's important is we are doing this from a position of strength all three of our%s are growing at or above their market rates our market shares are showing strong positionings.

so we think this is the right time we recognize again this is a historic move. but when we think about the long term for patients and consumers and for johnson&johnson, we are positive this will be positive for our stake holders. >> we were talking with dr. scott gottlieb, about kaiser permanente and what he sees in terms of patients coming back. patients that sit out a year-and-a-half, for surgeries they could have done or couldn't do it, hospitals weren't doing them he was talking about how that business is really coming back as people, have employees they need to get an address i take it you have seen the same with the medical device business >> absolutely, becky look, another unfortunate downside of covid-19 not only patients impacted by the virus, itself, but those delayed visits to the physician all those delays in being diagnosed, for example, with cancer we all know that the later that

we're able to treat these things, it increases the potential for an even worse outcome. so we do think that there is significant except-up demand and again i want to give a shout out to all the doctors, the nurses, the physicians, the hospital systems, the way they have been managing it. but we do anticipate that demand will be working its way back through the system we are seeing signs of that as we speak particularly here in the united states, but also in europe and other places around the world and again we think that represents a significant opportunity not only as we head into 2022, but in years beyond as well. >> finally, everybody is talking about inflation right now. i'm sure that impacts every one of your divisions in the business maybe consumer products is the one people will be watching most closely, organic growth there last year of 4%. what will inflation mean in terms of inflation >> look. we're watching it closely. i am really proud of the job that our consumer team, our

supply chain has been able to do over the last 12-to-18 months in managing, above and beyond inflation, just consider the volatility that we saw through 2021, itself and you know , sophisticate swings across the different product lines. nonetheless, we were able to meet that demand we are absolutely committed to making sure we maintain an appropriate pricing structure. we are working hard with our channel partners to do that 23 are starting to see some stress and strengths in the systems with some underlying supply products but we're managing that closely and again we're hopeful we will be able to see mid-single growth and see improvement in the profitability of our consumer segment as well. we expect that to continue going forward. >> alex, i want to thank you for being with us on this busy morning. a huge announcement. we appreciate your time, it's good to see you.

>> becky employees of johnson&johnson, especially in our consumer group, without their hard work, commitment, their support, this would never be possible. so a huge thanks to all of them thank you for spending this time this morning >> 136,000 employees how many will go to the pharmaceutical and medical devices. how many will be in the consumer business afterwards? >> slightly over 20,000. >> consumers >> exactly of our consumer group on a global basis >> thank you for being with us we will continue to look into this we hope to look into this soon alex gorsky is the ceo of johnson&johnson. >> thank you, becky. >> mike. >> all right thank you, becky coming up, ahead of an expected signing bill next week u.s. secretary pete buttigieg will join us live. we will ask him what is likely

to end up in the china plan. the former house majority leader evict cantor, stay tuned you are watching "squawk box."

washington is awaiting a diplomatic event next week with big implications according to multiple reports, president biden will hold an online summit with chinese president xi jinping that would come after they approved a resolution bolstering xi's power, making it more likely he will continue to lead his country for years to come. joining us is the former u.s. house majority leader eric cantor and director at mullus and company. thanks for being here. >> scott, it's a pleasure. >> what are your expectations between the conversation between the president and xi xin jing i ping and where would you say our relationship currently is with china? >> i mean first of all, the expectations are very low in terms of this now virtual summit between the two heads of state you know, we have a situation in this country where we're really

at a stalemate with china right now. i think politically, president biden and his administration don't have much room to maneuver stars trying to improve the relationships. that comes strictly from a political backdrop in which they operate. there's very few issues in washington that are bipartisan one of them happens to be the toxic it around the u.s.-china relationship and the insistence that the administration maintain a tough line and ironically, one that is, that echos that which the prior administration under president trump was pursuing >> is it a permanently fractured relationship you know, xi jinping says the country is willing to work with the u.s. on the condition of quote mutual respect that cooperation is the only right choice what do you make of that sort of commentary and whatever state

our relationship is in can be fixed in any meaningful way? >> first of all i think you have to step back and see what has caused the break i think it is this realization that occurred over the last several years that our country along with many in the west really made a choice about 20 some years ago with the invitation to bring china into the wto. the expectation is we would see them step up, join the international community, abide by international norms and rule of law and i think we believe as did our allies that did not happen that china would fail that was just a wrong assessment of what would happen because what we have seen now is president xi has begun to implement his vision of the way he wants to see his country evolve and it's certainly not the free market rules-based international norms method that

we had all expected. i think you have to sort of look at that number one and, number two, you know, there is still a lot of business to be transacted between our two countries. there is this economic interdiplomacy that colors the strategic or the competition we have with china that wasn't in place the last time we squared off with a rising superpower, if you will, under the soviet union. so there are all these sort of elements that feed into this, that i think we'll have to see a way for american business and to continue to transact, whether it's import the goods that are made in china or to access those markets. the problem being, beijing has a different way of operating and if you're in sensitive industries that affect national security, you have to be prepared for intellectual property being vulnerable for going in there, frankly, the

level playing field our companies are used to is fawn existent in their marketplace. >> president biden's got issues to deal with at home, too, obviously, and you know we could take tensions, inflation is up his approval rating is down. he's trying to get the social spending passed. what do you think the road looks ahead for that >> that's a great context is the highest priority this administration is trying to get some points on the board with his social spending bill the problem that we're seeing un2308d now is that as each day goes by, there is increasing amount of hurdles that they have to get over. now big one as you suggest is inflation right now. we saw these numbers come out this week. the highest inflation in 31 years. it's real. people across the country are feeling it in their pocketbook at the gas station, grocery stores and there is no getting around that. and if you look at what they're talking about, the sheer size,

3.5 trillion dollars, that's not going to be. anything they pass will ultimately be a lot smaller. i think the key things to watch going forward certainly is the announcement over the next week as to whether the stills the white house put out are consistent with the estimates. it's a high likelihood they're not consistent secondly if you look at the amount of spending they're calling for. just in the salt proposal that was announced a couple weeks ago, the 80,000 capital salt and child tax credit i know the democratic party wants to make sure they continue to extend. just those to measures is $120 billion flushed out into the economy in the next ten monthles i think it will begin to color it as each day goes by, i think less, less likelihood than

anything passing >> i will ask you to put your old hat on would you have voted for the infrastructure bill? i ask in the context of you know the republicans who did vote for it are facing backlash in some corners of the gop, senator lisa murcowski just this morning announces she is running for re-election in 2022 in alaska. obviously, president trump has a new battle and governor christi and the state where the republican party is. would you have voted for that? >> see, here's the thing i don't want to second guess sort of where my you know successors are and my former colleagues on this flash measure. the problem with that bill is there was an awful lot in that bill that the members in the house had zero to do with.

zero frankly, as we saw, the white house didn't come up with that bill they have 14 or however million it was in the senate because the white house had consistently said that they wanted to do it their way and if you recall the beginning of the negotiations showing more capital and others, they just fell apart so i think the house has been sort of left out, especially the house republicans have been left out in those discussions and that, if you play like that, that puts you, when i say you, the administration in the spot that they're in, they are being held hostage now by the far left wing of the democratic party frankly, that itself image the country is beginning to have about the democratic party and you see that having played out in my state of virginia last week i mean, the election was largely i think because we had a great candidate, the issue set was ours with inflation and the rest, because this administration now is seeing to

not be doing anything to address that and they are wedged to this cultural extreme on test will. so again, one way, my way or the highway does not work when have you these tight majorities in congress and i don't think it is going to play out well for them over the next year, especially as we get to congressional mid-terms. >> yeah, i mean, some were saying it looks like 2009 all over again for the democrats we will have to see how it all plays it thanks for being here. next time we will talk about the deal mark, which we need to discuss. we're auto of time i appreciate your understanding on that front as well. >> okay. scott, thanks. >> that's eric cantor joining us >> out of time, the deem market is so active today and this entire week. european e anyway, when we come back, taking stock of the economy and the u.s. consumer, sky bridge capital anthony scaramucci will join us. later this hour, we're live with transportation secretary pete bute gig. stay tuned "squawk box" will be right back.

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so, you want evs, you have come to the right place. is that tom brady? yeah. he comes in to recharge, get software updates. you know. let's go!

coming up, is the tran itory closed after the consumer price numbers? we will ask sky bridge capital founder thanony scar much. that scaramucci that is next

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stocks are trying to keep this weekly winning streak going. let's check the futures. we opened positive the highs of the morning it looks like to me the dow better by 130. nasdaq and the s&p in the green as well. let's check gold as well, it's

been moving higher this week it's down slightly this morning. you take a look at gold down a third of a percent bit copy has been on the move. it is in the red this morning. it's up on the week. which is the better hedge for inflation, gold or crypto? joining us now is anthony scaramucci, the skybridge founder, former white house director and cnbc contributor. it's good to see you this morning. >> good morning, scott >> let's start there i'd like to hit with you a bunch of different topics. but we have had gold come back in vogue as you will if the debate on inflation continues to heat up. does that form some competition again for crypto >> listen, i'm never going to sell short gold. it's got a 5,500 year history of offering a store of value. but like everything in our society, when you get a technical property where there is a massive improvement, that has a tendency to eclipse things so we had dvds, scott, we moved

to netflix's screaming the white paper basically put us into a new era the technical properties associated with bitcoin are infinitely better than gold. you can move it, cautiously. you can store it, virtually cautiously and it has this ledger that is completely misalocked. you can't hack it and so, with 21 million coins and its scarcity, remember we only had 65% of the gold mine right now the shortage of supply, the technical properties i think it's probably going to be ten times better than gold over a long period of time, but for right now, bitcoin is pacing what people like michael sailor and kathy woodard are predicting it will do it will eventually eclipse coal. it's about a 1.2 trillion market cap today. gold is roughly 11 but i think bitcoin gets there, scott, the same way we are using our smartphone today not using a

rotary phone >> can they go up together i mean i guess i'm asking in the same context of looking at let's say a tesla and a rivian, whether money has to come out of one to go into the other >> well, i think gold will be okay but it's sort of a flat line situation. can it go up modestly, yes but i think bitcoin and you know properties like etherium and algoran will go up exponentially because of the security issues around them. yes, can gold go up? certainly. you will have 6% inflation will gold go up, sure? but i will put my money, i'm encouraging client to put their money on bitcoin you know i have been talking about that the last year i think we are getting started in bitcoin, so for me, it can go up, but i'm not going to be surprised if bitcoin goes up at an exponential rate and gold is going up at a linear one >> how big of a problem, since

we are speaking about inflation, how big of a problem inside the white house and for the biden administration is that issue in and of itself? >> well, you know, listen, unfortunately, it is a problem as i've said repeatedly, it would have been a problem no matter who was president this is a situational problem borne from the pandemic and the monetary policy inducted by the fed. , so, yes, it's a problem. like ken langone said, it's on poor and lower income people it creates more economic anxiety in the society it creates a greater separation between the haves and have nots, so certainly it is a problem but i do believe with the infrastructure bill coming and a gradual improvement in the economy and more people returning back to work, i think that the inflation problem is going to be offset by another big leg up in growth i think people are going to be sitting here a year from now or 18 months from now with a

pandemic hopefully behind us feeling pretty good and dealing with the effects of the inflation. in a way that's okay because they've experienced the growth associated with all the things that we are doing to boost the economy. >> what do you make of the way the market reacted this week to the hottest cpi read in 30 years? in other words, if i said to you, on monday, look, we're going to have a red hot cpi print and we're still, you know, possibly looking today to be up again for the week, what would your reaction have been? >> well, you know, my reaction 30 years ago would have been very different and the market obviously would have crashed because of the way the monetary policy was set up 30 years ago but today i think the market recognizes that the spigot is still on for the fed the federally is painted into a corner if you look at a then diagram of their decision-making, there is not much they can do they can taper on the margin here they certainly don't want to wilt the economy

they're looking at a labor participation rates and seeing how low they are you lock at that market, the consensus in the market, thatical you can lus is the fed's got the spigot on. the inflation is something we will be able to deal with. i can't put the money in the bond market because there is little-to-no return there. and so money is flowing into equities and higher growth names. and so none of that is surprising to me that's another reason why i'm telling people to own bitcoin, because that's offering you an adapt technology that's evolving and then the second thing that it's offering you is a potential inflation hedge. >> i hear you. let me ask you lastly about bitcoin, since we'll brit full circle you had advise people to buy it here, though, 63, 7. >> no question about that. >> no question about that. the weird thing is when i so, you want evs, you have come to the right place.

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where we see things going into the future, we feel now is the right time for make this kind of move again, ultimately it will allow us to reach more patients, more consumers, more innovation and execute in a much more focused way. that was johnson & johnson's

ceo speaking with us earlier on the news that the company will be splitting into two, taking the consumer business as a separately publicly traded company. let's get down to the new york stock exchange and check in with jim cramer what do you think of this potential deal, maybe 18 to 20 months off, but it sounds like a similar story from what we've heard from other big companies recently. >> i thought the interview was terrific, with tough questions, whether does he stay where does the name go it is true you have an unbelievable pharma business it's 9% organic, 10% organic growth a lot of these companies are doing this what i come back and say is i want high-growth pharma. j&j will give us that. you can have the other business, which is fine, but cpg

businesses, they don't grow very much anymore whereas j&j's pharma is unbelievable i think it's been obscured by tylenol, but these brands that nobody -- you know, the football the cvs walgreens, they don't see anything special. >> the company that is spent time trying to beef of the the pipeline that can be a pretty tricky business. >> they have an unbelievable cancer franchise again, kind of lost in the whole shuffle. they've been given grants to doctors, because they've been probably the most open-minded of pharma companies they have a tremendous franchise, remember they've got the franchise which they share there is -- he talked about the $3 billion blockbusters, but the

others that are not. i think some of those will be block blockbusters i think -- we make a joke about laser focused, but when you get the pharma business, i think you'll see the fastest-growing in the world they are really great at what they do. when i spoke to the chief scientist involved with their vaccine, it was very clear from the beginning they wanted one shot and made it sure you lived. i really love this this reminds me when abbott spun off abbvie so i is a lewd alex gorski he's going to be missed. >> i'm eager to hear this, how it matches up to ge, but we'll

be watching in a few minutes. >> wow, what a week. thank you. we want to remind you about the new investing club you can sign up to find out more at cnbc.com/investingclub, or just point your phone for the code right there on the screen, it will take you directly there. our next guest will be overseeing billions of new spending joining us right now is transportation secretary pete buttigieg. mr. secretary, thank you for being here there's there are lots of questions. how quickly does the money go out? >> some of it moves out quite quickly. these dollars scale up things that already exist, like the formula programs that help the states build out their highway and road infrastructure. other things, we'll have to set up whole new programs, when you talk about the ev chargers out there, or the program to

reconnect communities. that will take longer, because we have to make sure the dollars are spent well, so we get the most bang for that taxpayer buck our department is already gearing up we're going to have to hire new people to make sure we are ready, and we're so excited. we've been preparing to make they transformative investments in airports, rails, transit, and now we get the opportunity, and of course the responsibility, to actually do it and do it well. >> the supply chan has been stretched so thin and part of it is the old infrastructure, things that haven't been updated. but there's also a huge amount of demand. the question becomes how quickly can that money fix things, and that impact of money being spent, does it stretch the

supply chain even thinner? >> i think we have to be smart about the distinction between long term and short term the president announced in that port action plan, sweeper ships going up and picking up the empty containers if the containers are piling up at the port, get them inland and sort them out there, so you can clear the backlog and clear out the berthing areas look, some things will take a while to deliver, but what most economists think, we're creating jobs, demand with these inves investments. >> i've heard complaints from different sectors as we covered the supply chain issues, and there are independent truckers who say, wait a second, how come

we have to use the dispatch at the ports that are there that cost us 15% out of us, and there are new rules in place for how long we can drive. if you ease some of those things we might be more interested in going back as prices of gasoline -- they point to those, too. >> among all of the pinch points, i think the truckers are making the most compelling points sometimes their times are waste, waiting sometimes hours for a chance to pick up a container. we need to make the absolute best of the truckers we do have. also creating working conditions so we no longer see the turnover rates we are seeing. as we work in my department, for example, to help more cdls, more

licenses issued, that the people who gets them actually want to stay in that profession. you think we should continue our agency responsible for trucking within my department has been doing a lot of engagement on this never compromising safety, of course, but still a lot we can do. >> mr. secretary, we just saw inflation hit a 30-year high this new bill is going to put a lot of additional money and fiscal spending into the economy. are you worried about doing that at a time when the inflation picture is already swollen >> i think there's a reason why you see so many economists talking about how these bills lieutenants ease inflation, especially when you look at the build back better bill part 2 of what i like to call the big deal because that helps you get more people into the workforce. it's not hard to look at the

difference with countries who do a better job, for example, of helping people get child care. we know the availability and affordability of child care is one of the things keeping people out of labor markets, and we have to act on that in the long term in the nearer term, in terms of the infrastructure bill, this program is very different from 2009 you had demand in free fall, unemployment was the biggest concern by far and there was talk about shovel-ready projects we're interested now in shovel-worthy projects this is spread out in a way that some of these grant programs you'll see a difference mealy, but this is making sure all of the 2020s play out in a way to maker america succeed for the rest of the country. >> there's been a huge craze in electric vehicles and people are pointing back to saying, yeah, tesla has been valued we, but tesla we aren't public in 2010

it had sales of 93 million, and came out with a market valuation. this week with arrive jan, just sales to their employees, they're looking at sales of maybe a million in their third quarter. they came out with more than $100 million market cap. people say that's bag the government is doing so much to support ev sales and is picking winners at this point. what do you say? >> it's certainly the case u.s. policy is to encourage ev adoption when you look at where the global automobilemarkets are going ev is clearly the future one, does it happen fast enough? is it matters to us how quickly that adoption happens. it has huge implication for carbon and climate change. number two, how much is american led? that's why we're doing everything with he can to support products made in the u.s. creating those jobs

remember, this is one of those places where we get to square the circle or break the old climate versus jobs false choice electric vehicles are a great example of it. then the third, of course, is affordable some of the people who will benefit the most from electric vehicles, the people who stand to gain the most from the fuel savings are people living in rural areas, a lot of lower income americans, butthey're the very people who have seen the price point as an obstacle well a national policy interesting in evs not being a luxury item anymore. of course, you see in the private sector a response to that a good handshake between public and private is we make the right invests that allow the business sector to do what it does best. >> secretary buttigieg, thank you for your time today.

hope to you you soon. >> see you soon. thank you. mike, right now we're looking at markets up, dow up by about 126 points a bit of a down week, but not bad, right, guys >> not bad at all. j&j a big boost to the dow number about. scott, mike, thank you both for being here this week folks, we'll see you next week right now it's time for "squawk on the street. good friday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm here with jim cramer and david faber. futures are up, but the s&p may snap a five-day win streak oil is down today, gasoline futures are at a six-week low. j&j, though, splitting as the company announces plans to spin off the consumer health business >> plus it has b