vaccinated mean? three, two j&j? and major league team owners voting for a lockout after the kleb collective bargaining agreement expired. we'll tell you what's happening next major league basketeball, i get talk sports. great day. it's thursday, december 2, 2021, and "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" right here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we're going to start with the markets this morning after yesterday's big selloff. it was something to watch. because the dow had been up by about 500 points, but towards the end of the session it dropped rapidly, dropped by 461

points to the close. the s&p was down by 1. %, and the nasdaq fell by 1.8%. but it was that huge momentum a swing of almost 1,000 points throughout the course of the day that caught traders offguard if you're keeping track, the do you is down 5% since thanksgiving and the s&p and nasdaq are each down around 4%, those are big drops rapidly but they were coming from all-time highs. u.s. equity futures this morning. you'll see it looks like the dow is up by about 300 points, indicated up by about 300 points the s&p indicated up by 20 points and the nasdaq indicated up by 55 the treasury market following this too the ten year note yielding 1.439% andrew >> thanks, becky as becky just said, all of this happening as a function of the united states now identifying for the first time a case of the

omicron variant. the patient who tested positive returned to san francisco, the bay area from a trip to south africa on november 22nd, developed mild symptoms three days later and then tested positive on the 29th california's governor saying the patient is between 18 and 49 years old and is vaccinated but had not received a booster shot because they were not six months out from their original vaccination course the person has not been hospitalized and no close contacts had tested positive as of yesterday but clearly this spooking the market in the beginning of what i imagine is we're going to hear more cases like this. >> i think if there's one they found, there's probably at least 50 cases here at this point. >> i would say that's low. two, three days ago, fauci said it's here and i think dr. scott gottlieb said no doubt it's here yesterday when we were indicated up sharply we kept mentioning we're going to hear -- >> it's going to happen --

>> when i said, it's going to appear somewhere i didn't say it was going to appear in the united states. but it's going to start rearing its ugly head all over the world. and i was sort of intu mating it was going to be here and it came here and the market sold off 1000 points. >> the dow down 460. yeah. >> that seems big. it's not like a crash or anything on a percentage bases it's not that big i have a question now, i was thinking of this on the way in as an optimist, say we get really positive news on omicron -- omicron, however you want to sayit. that it's very mild and it may be transmissible, say it is mild, does the market start ripping or has the fed already cast the die that it's not rip time anymore is it based on oommicron now >> that's a good question. i have thought all along that

the markets' kind of jerky reaction to this, it's the unknown. but even if omicron is something worse, i think we have the tools to deal with it. we're talking about a matter of months before you can kind of get your arms around it again. and the fed saying this is it. we're not going to be here to support you anymore may be a bigger issue for the markets at this point this is following omicron, it's scary, the unknown but i think you're probably right to bring up the fed being the bigger, long term issue. >> it isn't amazing, we're talking about the scariest thing in the world, pandemics, deaths, hospitalizations and ventilators but what dictates what the stock market does is what the federal reserve does unbelievable how powerful they are. >> i feel better than i did in the last 20 months, vaccines are out there. my kids have gotten vaccinated at this point. >> feelbetter about everything

but the fed. they're going to taper you don't think it's a coincidence -- >> we wanted them to tapeter whole time. >> you don't think it's a coincidence he's been reappointed and now he's talking tough? >> >> i'm not. >> that may have something to do with it. i think he has been aware of the situation with inflation i feel like every time i've listened to him, instead of -- when you actually listen to what he's talking about, i felt he had a good handle on it. but nothing something he's been able to a advertise -- >> liesman doesn't. >> i think he's doing the right thing. >> when he comes on saying he definitely lost control. >> i feel like you can only do things that you have the mandate to do because you have the job >> he definitely had a lot of external pressures over the last two years that resulted in how easy the fed has been.

no doubt i'm not just talking about the pandemic i'm talking about global rates. >> you're talking a 100-year pandemic. >> you can't have rates that are 300 bases points above the rest of the world. >> i don't think he did any of that not believing i think he believed in all of that it may have taken longer to say we're going to tighten more quickly because of the pressures externally i don't blame him for it. >> you don't know whether what's out of the bag is really out of the bag. they may have retired transitory but people in the back of their minds don't think we're going back to the '70s, hyperflinflato do we really i was somewhere yesterday and the guy that helps me at the supermarket, great guy he's like, why are prices going up i realize it's hard to explain this they go up every day i mentioned looking at some 90% lean ground beef, it's up like

$1.50 from where it was and the good steaks are way up it's up every day, what happens? >> well, we're printing more money. i brought up turkey. not my thanksgiving turkey i go, you print too much each one is worth less. he's like, okay. but i realize that it is a -- it is a much bigger part of an income scale i don't think we notice it as much i really don't because what is it if it's $7 versus $8 for a pound of ground beef, i don't know but there are people that do it's a terrible tax for people that -- it's something that i think we need to definitely take more seriously >> the question is how much is because of covid and how much of it is -- covid that will be eventually resolved, how much is because of printing -- >> the supply chain questions, the wages.

>> right once wages go up, those are the things that become stickier. >> those are permanent. >> right questions with all of it we're not going to resolve it at 6:07 >> we came close. >> got some good ideas. we should tell you about a bill to prevent a government shutdown facing fresh opposition from a group of senate republicans ahead of tomorrow's midnight deadline to get a deal in place they're threatening to delay action on the plan unless it bans enforcement of the vaccine and testing mandate for large employers. but mitch mcconnell telling reporters i think we're going to be okay when it comes to reaching a deal. we'll talk to two members on op site sides of the aisle about this topic later this is why it gets sticky we are facing a tight deadline. the other story, in baseball, major league baseball team owners voted to lockout players after failing to reach a

new collective bargaining agreement with the players association. the previous agreement expired at midnight last night player transactions are halted clubs are now restricted until the lockout is lifting meetings scheduled to begin on monday are going to be cancelled. players association wants young stars to be paid sooner, seeks more money, and not be restricted to teams for the first six years of the career. the commissioner said the lockdown was necessary it comes as average player salaries have declined for a third straight year down to $3.7 million this year and that's where you -- down from 4.1 million in 2017 and that was the -- >> you lost it. >> that was the clincher because that's where the average

person probably doesn't have a -- it's got a lot more to do than just that average salary, what we were talking about all the things we talked about but when you get to that, you kind of say, don't complain too much things are looking pretty good did you see max scherzer is come coming to the mets did you see what he's making $43 million for one year. >> what was it over the life of the contract >> three years, 130. >> $130 million. but then that makes me think, that's the average is $3.1 million what's the median because you do worry about g.o.a.uys at the end lower end of the scale. >> i was thinking of sports broadcas broadcasters, tony romo who we know, becky, we have dinner with him at pebble -- i think i'm allowed to say we know him.

$18 million a year for 10 years. so we have chris collinsworth, who's the best i think, what does he ask nbc for? and then there's troy aikman so both of those guys are like, wait a second. i'm doing more games romo is doing a couple of games a week -- >> and al michaels, too. >> yeah. but 18 million a year for talking on tv. i feel bad about myself suddenly i talk a lot if it's per word i'm screwed. >> i think it's not per word none of us are tony romo or chris collinsworth. >> what started all this, was the average salary falling to 3.7 million for the average baseball players >> you should talk less then you'll make more per word. >> right. >> that's how you fix it. >> and a lot of people would be

happier, too when we come back, some news out in the last hour, the biden administration is going to be tightening travel requirements to combat covid this winter. a live report from washington next later we'll ask dr. scott gottlieb for his take on these new measures too 'l wchg quk x.bo wel be right back. what the world needs now... is people. people who see things... just a little bit differently. who go out of their way to find a new perspective and a new way forward. because seeing a smarter, healthier, cleaner world

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new this morning, the white house unveiling its covid winter plans. kayla tausche joins us right now with the details good morning. >> good morning, becky the white house is unveiling a 9 point plan to try to keep covid in check as these virus variants emerge in the u.s. and the winter virus season gets under way. they're focussing on tightening travel requirements, expanding booster and testing programs and crafting a game plan to help keep schools open. on travel, beginning early next week, internal travelers will be required to test negative one day from departure a change from three days no testing or quarantine on arrival will be mandated the mask mandate will be extended until march 18th. and they're using authority

under the c.a.r.e.s. act to make insurers reimburse americans purchasing at home tests the administration is also focussing on getting more shots in arms of five to 11-year-olds, dispatching fema to host clinics beginning in hot spots, and scheduling shots as family c clusters it's unclear if any of these methods will move the needle with the omicron variant seen as inevitable the coming weeks. if any additional measures are recommended and can be implemented well, a senior official said they will not hesitate to add them to the mix. >> will any of these programs see legal challenges before they can get off the ground like we've seen with the vaccine mandates >> there are a few different policies in the mix. and i think it's definitely

possible that some of them could meet legal challenges. we've seen this administration's approach to urge them to give a full-throated endorsement and then to mandate and some of the policies include that language for instance, there is a portion of this that will see the president urge private employers to get their employees boosted that could be seen, if that evolves into something that is more set in stone or a hard erlegal requirement for these companies that could meet legal challenges and you can see challenges for keeping schools open the cdc is putting together a game plan that it hopes school districts can follow but we've seen school dris districts take their own approach finally on the idea that the private insurers will be paying for at-home rapid tests it's

unclear whether the government will be offsetting some of those costs. under the c.a.r.e.s. act we saw government funding appropriated or set aside to pay for some of the testing programs the white house says that we will see some unused government funding being reallocated to that but depending on whether private insurers are on the hook for those costs themselves and how expensive that could be with so many americans buying these rapid tests in bulk we'll see the direction that heads in as well. >> i wanted to ask you about the last piece because historically has the government been able to force private insurers to pick up the costs of certain drugs and other things part of the issue with the testing is abbott and others are gouging americans -- i will say it and say it loudly at $24, $25, $27 for a back of two where other places it's so much

cheaper. the question is, you know, why would a private insurer say, okay we're doing that. >> andrew, perhaps this is a type of carrot and stick mechanism or rather mostly a stick if the government feels by asking them to foot the bill perhaps they would lower the costs themselves but that wasn't explicitly said but it's a possibility there's also a question how much money the government has leftover to offset the costs the white house hasn't answered questions on exactly how the payment structure will work here, only that it believes that it has the authority under first -- the family's first act which was some of the language was changed under the c.a.r.e.s. act and the c.a.r.e.s. act which was a multi-trillion dollar piece of legislation, that covered most of the costs for the insurers so it's unclear how the mechanism will work. the white house was asked by reporters, there's a shortage of

a lot of tests and if americans are now understanding they could be reimbursed for them and they buy more, will there be enough tests available in they're ramping up production. so we'll see if those issues get at the price questions. >> similarly on the testing front. i'm curious about it because i think that's one of the only tools we really have to potentially solve this in a meaningful way do you know why they're not going to test -- this international travel, they want to test people before they get here, i understand why you do that, but in most countries they're testing once you get there as well. is this a cost issue >> i think it's question -- yeah, i've been talking to a few senior administration officials who were involved in the deliberation over the last several days i think the question gets to implementation, while it might be a good idea to test travelers upon arrival, really the risk is within three to five days after landing. and how do you actually get

those people to come back to the airport or take their own tests and mail it in, and monitor those results. there's really a question about whether the administration and the cdc could implement a program like that. we saw over the weekend when there was this three-day window between when the biden administration had announced the ban on travel from the southern african countries and the ban going into effect. those passengers at at latlanta and newark were sent home with pcr tests and suggested they complete them within three to five days. but it's hard to follow up with them, make sure they do that, the results were logged. yes, it may be good policy or data collection but how do you do it in practice? >> this is where you get like the pallentiers of the world involved and others. good to see you. appreciate it. when we come back, jack

dorsey has one company to run now, and he's just given it a new name we'll talk about square's rebrand. the block next plus southeast asia ride share, grab going public today the company's founder and ceo anthony tan is going to join us at the bottom of the hour.

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welcome back to "squawk box. jack dorsey stepping down as twitter's ceo this week but making big changes at his other company, square. planning to rename itself block. that's going to be effective december 10th. it's a nod to, of course, the block chain as the company prepares to expand beyond the original credit card reader, it'll still trade under the ticker sq. this name change makes dorsey, yes, the block head. >> got a little bit of a laugh

from becky joe's not laughing. >> that's a classic dad joke >> it was in the teleprompter. good one, andrew it's because i was thinking that you take square, and they're going to do so much more, supposedly, kind of like facebook -- >> presquare, adding ties to the block chain. >> it's beautiful to me. elegant. >> everybody changing their names, my goodness. >> that's the best one. >> this is, i'll give you this, it's way better than meta. >> what was the great one, foot locker we sell shoes. >> venntor it was wool worth. it was wool worth. >> but block -- the problem with block it's like a public domain sort of -- there's nothing unique -- >> but there's block chain. >> that's why they did it. >> i like the name

it's hard to -- >> it's 3d ai virtual reality, square and it's a block. >> you're a square. >> the next time you google block, what's going to come up that's going to be the big test. >> the other thing is all these companies have great well known brands and they're all ditching them >> that's true meta, i don't know >> i assume, by the way, i'm an idiot because if you googled square, i'm not sure that was -- >> one thing i do know, i don't know like sports guys that change their names, but the guy at the celtics that changed his name to freedom and he's from -- i love that. mr. freedom, i commend you. the case for tesla, what cathie wood told cnbc about that company, that stock. as we head to break, here's a look at yesterday's s&p 500s

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good morning, and welcome back to "squawk box. live from the nasdaq market site in times square. the futures are solid. up 300 similar to some extent to what we saw yesterday, what we've seen in some previous sessions since the day after thanksgiving if you recall, when we first got wind of this variant of the omicron variant. terrible day on friday a little bit of a rebound on monday, bad day on tuesday and then what looked to be a promising start yesterday and a 1000 point reversal basically by the end of the session now we're getting back a little. but when it's all said and done, 5%, becky? >> a little over 5%. >> for the pull back. >> that's coming from the highs. it's 5% quickly though.

>> seems like a couple of thousand olympians i -- thousand points i didn't do the math, starting on friday -- >> the loss what was it 600 and then got back 2-something and then 400 it's less than 2,000 points. >> a little bit less check out the shares of tesla. if you so desire, we may suggest that you might want to check it out. i'm not ordering you too the stock off more than 10% from the high that's not stopping cathie wood from buying further into the elon musk ethos. >> they have created barriers to entry that are higher than even we understood. as we're laearning more about their battery technology, their artificial intelligence chip, how they're using data and understanding corner cases like

no other company can, as they -- as it moves towards it autonomous strategy. >> you can see the full cathie wood interview on a wide range of stocks on cnbc.com/pro. >> when we return we'll take you live to washington where a battle is brewing over president biden's vaccine mandate that's next. and later our interview with tom cotton on why he opposes jay powell's renomination. we'll be right back.

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conservative republicans are throwing up a last minute roadblock to the funding of the government a demand the democrats defund the vaccine mandate. ylan mui joining us with more. it's always something. >> reporter: that's right. it's always a surprise 11th hour turn, becky and congress has less than 48 hours tofind a wa to keep the government open. the risk of a technical shutdown is rising because any one senator could drag out the process. the two key holdouts are mike lee and john marshall who want to ensure they're banned from allocating money to enforce the

mandates they have the hoback of the hou freedom congress but many gop lawmakers are not on board with this plan. senator john cornyn said nobody wins in a shutdown senator mike ron said it's silly we're at this point. instead he's trying to build support for a vote next week to overturn the vaccine mandates through a process known as the congressional review act it only needs a simple majority to pass although the president is almost certain to veto it they may not need to knock down the man dates, several federal courts have already blocked it it's unclear when congress will vote to keep the government open republicans and democrats still have not agreed on how long any stop gap measure should last back to you. >> both sides are so entrenched on some of these issues.

it's really -- it's interesting. we're going to -- stay tuned we're going to look into that. we'll try to define both sides to see exactly what we're talking about on all of this for more on the battle on capitol hill let's turn to congressman mike ga garcia, republican from california weird enough. no there are places out there. >> how are you >> good. and congressman ro khanna democrat from california i know your dad went to university of michigan your support for this violent game where there's a winner and loser doesn't seem like you. why can't we tie and get a participation award in football? you seemed really happy about that ohio state loss, which is not like you >> well, it was after eight times i think. it was a great game.

did you watch the game >> reporter: of course i did i loved it i just, knowing you as i do, i just am surprised that you like all this -- i don't know it's just one side loses, the other wins. >> i just want to make sure when they play football, everyone has a helmet and a jersey. i want to make sure -- >> you guys need those i was going to wait until the end to talk to you about that, but i couldn't help it let's just define where we are right now. i think congressman garcia you're just absolutely against i'm sure a universal government mandate for vaccines but that has been posited lately congressman canna, are you for -- not just for businesses but are you for the united states government mandating -- they're talking about it in europe, possibly doing that, mandating vaccines for everyone and i don't know helping the military actually orchestrate that >> i'm not for going beyond the

president's order. the president's order is pretty clear. that businesses can either have vaccines for everyone or -- and this is the key part -- or you can have testing i respect representative garcia had a bill said you should use vaccines that aren't being used. so he has agreed there's a value to the vaccines, which i ap applaud. and every american should agree that people should get vaccinated that's the key message. >> the other thing i was going to say, congressman we'll get to congressman garcia, i think you got elected by silicone valley because you were such a good lawyer for their interest. now i don't understand the anti-billionaire sentiment coming from you. you're biting the hand that fed you. am i wrong on that >> i'm still getting elected we'll see after the show but the reality is, i'm all for the creation of wealth >> just tax the hell out of it with a wealth tax?

>> look, we're a low tax country comparatively. and 93% of billionaire wealth is in the united states, still the best place to invest, i don't think people are going to leave this country i'm all for people -- >> they might leave your state and they are >> joe, you know what the market cap in my area is, $11 trillion of wealth. we have the most wealth anywhere in human history, apple, google, intel. i'm fine with silicone valley. we have to give opportunity to other parts of the country. >> congressman garcia, that's not as far as i expected ro to go obviously companies can say you either get vaccinated or get tested or pick your poison, you got to do something to make sure we do as much as we can here, right? >> we've got to do what we can to mitigate the risk but we've seen that mandates don't work there's two fundamental things

we know, they're don't work and they're unconstitutional that's obvious with the court of appeals stopping the vaccine mandate. what the government needs to do is enable small businesses, large businesses, taxpayers to get back to work and continue to grow so they get confidence and reinvest in their companies. if they can't figure out how to do that by doing things like shifting left, lowering taxes, then they need to get out of the way and let the system continue to flourish and hopefully get back on its feet through open natural capitalism the irony of my colleague's statement is people are leaving california in droves because of policies like this i'm glad his district is thriving on the back of silicone valley business, but the rest of california, especially the blue collar workers, are suffering. we're seeing $5.50 gas right now. the federal government needs to

do its job, get out of the way of the market, secure the southern border, hold china accou accountable, tackle our debt, pass a budget and announce fiscal conservative policies here that will get the country back on line we were hitting on eight cylinders before the pandemic hit us we were cruising, doing 40 knots through the water, right, and then all of a sudden the ship came to a screeching halt because of the pandemic. as we're accelerating again there are folks calling for vaccine mandates, mask mandates. >> what i don't understand about this, if we want to get the economy back up and running and we've seen the stock market to the extent you believe it's a bah rom terof anything has come off in part because of the new variant. if we can get everybody vaccinated, i don't want to say it's a panacea, but it would be a lot better and there's nothing in the

constitution that says that you have the right to give me covid or anything else so i don't understand this argument about freedoms, and on the other side of it, we're going to pay for it anyway more than 40% of americans are insured by the government, taxpayers are paying, medicare, medicaid, paying for all of this there's a health care cost and then an economic cost. i don't understand why you wouldn't want to advocate for more people -- >> the constitution does still exist despite the headwinds in the last two years it still does exist. so we have rights. it's the first amendment, 10th amendment. the 14th amendment. >> rights you can't kill my mother the right is that you do not have the right -- >> i'm not killing your mother and if she has the vaccine those risks are mitigated. we're seeing that in most likely cases your mother will not die if she's vaccinated. that's the point of the vaccine. if you mandate something there's

10 to 20% of our population that will not get the vaccine because of the mandate i'm vaccinated i believe the vaccine works. but the reality is there's a chunk of our population that as soon as the federal government tells them to do something they will not do it if we turn a blind eye that those consequences don't exist this will continue to get access. >> as long as 20% of americans are deciding they're not going to get vaccinated. we'll continue to have new variants that will emerge and living with this in ways that i don't think people understand or understand the cost. both the health cost and the economic ones. >> the reality is we can have 100% vaccination and we'll still be in the scenarios. this is why we have to hold china accountable. we've got to hold them accountable. figure out the source of this and not allow this to happen

again. but we can't continue to allow it to cripple our nation, economy. we have to mitigate the risk get as many people vaccinated as we can. and stop weaponizing this virus as a weapon and tool to erode and encroach on our constitutional rights. this is still the united states of america i'm wondering if the president biden is applying the shame rational to 130,000 illegal immigrants coming across the southern border on a monthly basis. >> i'm going back to congressman khanna, do you think the government has the right to mandate the jab for someone that is opposed to it for whatever reason >> yes, if given an al tternati w , which is testing. >> we're talking mandatory jab for everyone. >> i'm not coming out for that, that's the president's policy. >> i call you a member of the

squad -- not that there's anything wrong with that. >> i respect them. >> they all are, joe. >> i have to defend california california has had more economic growth than any state, more job creation our economic growth is only behind china in terms of the jobs created. >> we deserve twice as much as we've experienced. we could be so much better if we allowed the free market to work and incentivize small businesses and taxpayers to stay in california it would be a glorious state. >> that's why president biden got elected. >> we got to go. >> and accepted the nomination saying wear masks. simple things. common sense. >> congressman, thank you. i hope they get in the playoff, they work to do still for your dad. hoping for you, big blue thank you. andrew coming back up right after the break. southeast asian giant abgr going

public today the ceo is going to join us before the first trade next.

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welcome back to "squawk box" this morning southeast asia's grab going public, it will begin to trade under the ticker grab. it is one of the largest spac deals to date. one of the offerings by a south asian company. ceo anthony tan. it's great to see you. congratulations on the milestone. have you fought off a lot of competitors to get to this moment and the market share that you have and also lots of challenges along the way, but we are also living with new challenges, this variant i want to understand both what this moment means for you but how you are thinking about this moment given some of the new headwinds we are starting to look at. >> thanks so much again, andrew, for having me. i am talking about this moment very, very excited this is a historic am moment

the nasdaq first ever opening bell ceremony held here in southeast asia why are we doing it here this is our commitment because it's super important to celebrate this moment close to home among the community and much partners with me that got us here. around we've served the region for more than nine years we want to serve it for 90 more. >> and anthony, explain to the audience we often talk about a grab as a cyber app. in the united states and other parts of the world, the super app is not something everybody is accustomed to >> the super app, basically, if you think about it if you want to go and get your breakfast, whether it's accepting you work or grabbing your groceries when you bo to the mall and you pay using grab pay, it's one app that covers all those needs for

you and your family. i think what is really even more different is that a super app also works in a mer chant side and a driver's side. the drivers thes are delivering your food the same driver is also delivering ecommerce to you. the same driver is sending you home so the beauty is very little down time, very efficient. it drives the cap lower for consumers. it drives the cost of stuff down and the flywheel goes better and better >> give us a little bit of clarity, though, how you see the future and it's a little hard, i know, given this variant and what that may do to the economy. i try and understand what the path to profitability is i know revenue was down this year by 9% year over year and the net loss has expanded now to $988 million up from $621 million. so how should investors think about that >> it's a exhibit po

look, we don't view growth and profitability as mutually exclusive. so we just look at food penetration is 12% southeast ace jia versus 12% in china. the growth is 3% in this region versus 12% in china. we have been able to deliver a great massive step to mobility 12% is 2021. this is industry leading it has been relatively stable several quarters we're already break-even in a majority of the mark the cost optimization to deliver these as we have gone leader an ability. we're offering highly comparable services that have every day

need on the app. we are scaling and growing, making sure we are exercising hawk discipline. socy am confident we have this clear profitability because of the super app model. >> what's that timing look like to you >> well, we're just going to keep executing upon this long-term strategy and we are seeing as i said mobility margins are strong we're seeing it in our delivery business, break even just after three years, in the majority of our markets. >> anthony, we want to congratulate you it is a heck of a milestone. you have done something quite remarkable we look forward to following your progress. come on back as we look to better understand what's going on in southeast asia right now especially as this variant emerges, how that will affect the economy in the business. good luck. >> thank you so much appreciate it. coming up, futures in the green after questioned's weakness into the close we'll show you some of the individual movers

later, senator tom cotton will tell us why he opposes fed chair jay powell romioeninatn. you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc

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states, a broader plan to fight covid. we got the details straight ahead. ev play polestar, hoping to win and we'll talk about the growing competition in the electric market with polestar ceo. the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now [ music playing good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc. i'm andrew ross sorkin along with becky quick and joe kernon. green arrows the dow up, looking to open 307 points higher. nasdaq higher, 340 points higher s&p up 25 points after we had gone the opposite direction towards the end of the day when we learned there was this

variant now in the united states joe. >> not joe >> it's me it's me. you know i just love hearing your voice >> i know. >> who knew? the united states identified the first case of the variant and we should tell you that patient tested positive returning from south african. felt mild symptoms and the patient is between 18 and 49-years-old, is vaccinated but had not received a booster shot because they were not six months out from their original vaccination course we don't know where they were in that six-month period. the person has not been hospitalized no close contacts have tested positive as of yesterday we will speak to dr. scott gottlieb and so much more. >> it was two shots of moderna that that fern had received. that's what we know. the white house is unveiling a

nine-point plan to keep covid in check as variants emerge and the winter virus season gets under way and expanded testing and booster programs beginning early next week, international travelers will be required to test negative within one day of departure, a capping from three days a. senior administration official says no quarantine upon arrival will be mandated at this point the travel is extended until march 18th the white house is also requiring private insurers to reimburse customers for at-home rapid tests using authority under the c.a.r.e.s. act they will rewrite new guidance by february 15th >> is it that time of week, time of the year, dom chu, the most wonderful time of the day with the pre-market movers. hey, dom >> i love the delta tones from you, andrew and becky. okay so, what becky had just spoken about with regard to travel

restrictions the uncertainty around travel policies, that has been probably one of the biggest factors behind the epicenter of many of these covid-related trade, specifically in places like travel and leisure some of the outside losers in yesterday's sessions were in those stocks you can expected the bouncebacks to be big. a large dow component boeing is up 5% of the pre-market after getting hard on some of those concerns around air travel and demand for travel overall. delta airlines up 3% norwegian cruise lines is up 3-and-a-half percent mgm is up 2.75%. booking holdings, a bounceback for the trade. oil and gas one of those battlefields, players are playing out what's happening you see wti crude up a percent 66.35.

69.66 for ice brent crude, up 1% devon energy so far up 2%. 2.5% gains for marathon oil and chevron up 2% as well. one other place that's been interesting, over the course of the last few days, certainly since black friday, we've talked a little about this so-called perception of a safety trade for megacap technology, apple, in particular apple shares are down 2% of the pre-market trade after showing strength over the last few days here this is due in part to a bloomberg report saying it has seen waning demand no the iphone 13 models making apple shares a little under pressure right now. that itself the reason why i will note, though, joe in this leg higher since mid-november, we're up roughly 12% so apple shares have been one of those places people have gone to when

there has been a little uncertainty in the market. over to you. >> dom, what do you say? let's say optimistically we get a handle on this thing and it's not as bad as the worst case scenario, it's mild or whatever, things start working better. does the market rip higher or has the fed already indicated it's removing one of those important legs or starting to anyway >> before you said that, i was going to tell you, it's probably more the fed the many traders and investors i speak to are less concerned and it's not because they're not concerned about omicron, they are concerned about omicron. they feel as though you can't make a call on it right now for a charge scale economic impact what they are more concerned about is there is more certainty, is the fed and future fed policy there has to be a time you raise interest rates down the line it depends on what the mark feels it will be the overall impact from that withdrawal of stimulus let's be frank, we haven't

really seen a massive campaign of a reduction in stimulus really since the great financial crisis or before that in 2008 or 2009. >> we forget that. >> i would say this, joe, here's what i would say one of the indicative trade we have been pointing out on this show and elsewhere on air over course of the last four or five months, you can see some economic slowdowns playing out f. you look at the cart between the nasdaq 100 etf and russell 2,000 etf over the last four-to-five months, what you see is sa pretty big divergence. that shows you traders may have been handicapping this slowdown partly because of variant fears and interest or quality will head higher in the coming months >> we'll see you again in an hour >> thanks. when we come back, we will talk about what's keeping some of the biggest business leaders up at night. management expert suzy welch

will tojoin us. and to the ceo later of polestar joins us talking about the evs. let's get a check on the markets. the do you was up 500 point only to close down by 461 points. quite a swing through the course of the session that first case of omicron in the united states. this morning, you are seeing a bounceback, dow futures up 221 the nasdaq up by 15. "squawk box" will be right back.

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coming up, we are going to talk leadership, jack dorsey's block as the financial platform mentioned crypto and the block chain. is it the right fit? as we head to break, a look at the dow and s&p winners this morning ahead of the market opening. we're back right after this. we're back right after this.

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. some big news from the world of sports and business this morning. the women's tennis association announcing it is suspending all tournaments in china the wta points to beijing's sexual allegations feng shuai against an official. tennis great billy jean king saying, i applaud steve simon a on taking a stance around the world. the wta has chosen to be on the right side of history. after this is yet another reason women's tennis is the leader in sporpts. this is not a decision taken likely this is probably going to cost

$100 million both to tennis and its players. because the tennis association was planning on doing at least a dozenagely different programs. the prize money alone was going to be $35 million. you have to take into account sponsorships and other things. this is not something they are walking away from lightly. >> ha draconian move from strict parents trying to do the best things from kids, like stuff we do in the united states, like the we the wuiger internment. >> you are raising questions with ray dalio >> no, no, no. >> going viral online. >> strict parents. >> i wonder what this does to the olympics not an expert. he summarized 500 years of h

history and lectured is on everything about that. you ask him a top question about genocide i'm not an expert on that, right, andrew? smr so the question that i have that this decision by tennis creates, what other teams don't go to the olympics if you are a sponsor, do you pull out and say we're not doing this are wall street companies, you talked about bridgewater, goldman sachs j.p. morgan. we didn't get to jamie dimon >> that's a major statement, tupg in cheek. what we no longer can say that we hope for the eventual decline of tyranny and communism >> we are so low you can't say i hope my bank lasts longer than

the communist party. >> this is bigger than business. this is the relationship >> oh my god, there is dollars involved i better apologize >> this is going to be a situation where just from the olympics alone, if the united states were to pull out, what would that mean for the relationship between the two countries, which has already deteriorated too much. >> let's not get worse if something happens there >> but, joe, we're dealing with the question do you pull out? what does that do to relations or do you hold your tongue because china wants to you do? so the audience many viewers would say raise your hands and protest this this is ridiculous and crazy, right? the flipside, what itself the ramification maybe you do it on principles. then you have to decide you will deal with this >> the backlash of that.

>> andrew, we all understand what's involved. >> what he said, it's not all about money. it's about principle and values and things like that, which we did not see demonstrated from anyone in the nba, except for him. >> that's true, too. but then i wonder what does that do to the long-term relationship i don't know >> i don't know. that was the run relevant point dalio made, look, if i'm going to start, if i'm going to microanalyze every single relationship i had with countries around the world based on what they're doing, you could never do anything. you'd be stuck and isolated in your own country so i understand the whole.it's very difficult, andrew, but we shouldn't sugar coat what's going on joe kernon freedom >> too late. >> three names, andrew, i got

room i got room for a third date. i might do that. i'm wasting nights freedom might be a little long >> we do have top executives at the leadership exchanged here's what they had to say as we head into 2022. >> the pandemic is far from over omicron is i believe a real threat we've got 30 mutations on the spike protein and that may make this very more transmissible and persistent to vaccines and treatments >> cities are back globally. and the challenge that comes with that is similar to some of our other ceos is the availability of labor. >> it's not one problem of volatility it's enormous in the supply

chain, from input, it has to be transportation, labor. it's coded adaptation. it's adaptation. this accordion economy of stop-go. adapttations required and beyond that it's the demand for our people with incidence of grit and agility to sort of cope with that volatility on a daily basis. >> joining us is special correspondent suzy welch, who moderated yesterday's discussion so it's great to see you right now. i was thinking, it's only been a week, we are getting to the end or better times within it comes to covid andthe supply chain what are the key thoughts coming from these people how we get through the rest of this >> there are two, hello, becky,

there were two strong themes in the conversation which was wide ranging, and the main theme that came out was that there is no going back to any kind of old normal the new normal is persistent and is volatility. there is not ever going to be a time you need to know where you had visibility you could plan two quarters in advance. there was no sort of rest period there was a wistfulness of old days, a strong sense it's over now the reality that all executives are dealing with is non-stop persistent volatility interestingly, nobody was kind of shocked about omicron, there being another wave of covid, there was sort of this resignation to the fact it might never go there was never going to be the cold center. we were doing things the way we did and covid was a bad memory remember that terrible time.

but there is now this new sense of it's a bumpy, bumpy ride and there is also shortages, supply chain, there is fatigue of people who work for you around doing everything in a new way. interestingly, somewhere halfway through the conversation, we started talking about ways companies have adapted to non-stop volatility. there was this weird excitement and almost euphoria around the group, where they started talking about inno rate issive ways they've adapt and learned how to manage people and processes better and that there were, they never want to go back to certain things since covid forced them to manage the people in a way that gave their work more meaning and purpose and that they found incredibly efficient ways, one of the executives saying we reduced our budget by 75%.

we will never go back again. we don't need to so two sides >> there is a lot of things, reducing travel and entertainment 75%. i feel we ran through this before after 9/11, nobody wanted to travel. we thought we were not going to do that, do you think that's the case or do you think people kind of miss being in person with people maybe they do it more selectively in the future? >> it's generational my vints annual missed the things you had to be we were doing it for decades we were doing it where the oldest employee is 31 years old, besides me they don't have any desire

given the labor shortages, there is no decree there are big upsides to it. you will have to adjust i do think there is this analog to 9/11, where iron my is dead. with omicron coming in, there was the first 2022 for anything that was familiar to us. >> one of the things you mentioned the scent of innovation it is exhilarating and accessity is the mother of all ininvestigations so you saw this happen one of the ceos did kind of get to that grid and determination how much it's maeptd for employees tasked with carrying

this stuff out do the ceos recognize that how do they go about dealing with that? you talk to people in the ranks, the runs doing things. that sense of burnout is >> pretty real they know it, feel it. they have an efficacy i haven't experienced with ceos who are strategic. they sort of sense they have to aand the to the emotional needs of your employees is so heightened we had this in the previous leadership exchange as well one word that came up was i want massie as a leader, you need increased i want macy's with your people, because they are exhausted. there is in some cases kind of lost because of the visibility there is no rhythm to the work there is nothing to fall back on the way it used to be. actually, their sense of

leadership changes, they need to be closer to the people that work for them. >> president city is one thing what about a break >> well, i mean, this was one of the ceos was talking how they are now instituting one day a week with no zoom meeting. you are literally in people's faces all day long we have dates all day long we don't bother going off it it is exhausting, it's just always on, so i think the more exhaustion and fatigue, those people kept coming up again and again. >> the supply chain, in particular, we started thinking it was better, maybe it is, maybe we're better equipped and find work around for some of this stuff the biggest part has to be the labor part of the equation what do they say from labor

issues and other supply chain issues in 2022 >> let's take it all the time. i asked for predictions of 2022. everybody had prediction of labor shortages not letting up, the supply chain not including or going back to what we wanted. to us, adjusting to the supply chain. there were ceos, companies doved the supply chain so they were saying, it's going to get marginally better, we're not going back to the days as you expected and we have taken for granted. there was no sense there was going to be easing in the labor shortages and they respond creating workplaces that were more attractive to people who were seeking purpose in their life and a kind of work life balance situation that made it go to work this is a reality that nobody

had a counterargument for. >> it's so great to see you and have you here as we are dealing with these changing times. we'll talk to you the again soon thank you. >> thank you, great to see you still to come, sweden-based ev maker polestar expected to go public in the coming months. we will talk to the company ceo on competition, take a new look at its newest model. plus a deeper dive into the markets after yesterday's sell-off futures were up, the nasdadoq wn about 43, 44 points. stay tuned "squawk box" is coming right ba back back >> ...giving us confidence in our future...

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>>. jack dorsey is out of twitter, move over, meta square is changing its name to block, so which is the better bet from here twitter or square? john ford is here. he will tweet about it i will retweet his tweets. so, i don't know >> let's do it, joe. this was easy, you go where jack goes, square or i guess block.

the reason is block has a chance to become a leader where it kweets while twitter is stag nantz. i'll break down the chips off the new block. there is the square cashout consumer unit, small business and consumer, which together lifted net revenue 27% in the latest quarter for future growth, you got the innovative bitcoin work, the pending pay acquisition and the title billions for empowering musicians of digital transaction tools. the square blocked market cap is about $90 billion. nearly three times twitter's, for good reason. dorsey has been able to sustain innovation and attract talent. twitter has had healthy momentum twitter meanwhile not only trailing facebook, it's half the size of snap at the moment it's smaller than match group, the dating site twitter is changing bs in the low 40s same as seven-and-a-half years ago. time to block this account joe. >> if jack dorsey couldn't leave

twitter in better shape why do we think he will be better at square it's like a 3d square. >> it is >> on the other hand, twitter is the underdog here. under new ceo it could easily surprise a lot of people twitter hit a 52-week low. it's a stock that is trading at valuation. under jack dorsey, it's been slow to change the they can figure out how to consistently grow better premium services, the stock could go higher from here especially excited about new brett taylor, co-ceo of salesforce, he was an early employee at google that launched google maples. they started up a friend feed. the ceo helped scale it that

made it a bigger platform. and block, look, square block is highly leveraged to a lot of risk bitcoin, buy now, pay later. cheap capital that aren't going to hold up twitter has the benefit of the right talent and low expectations, joe. >> i'm wondering, when we'll know when time is going quickly it seems to be contracted when it used to take years to figure out, two years, five years >> probably a year i think we will see conditions in the market change we see what's happening with interest rates with the taper, what not that's having an effect on capital. we'll see how block holds up, twitter turn around-type things, new leadership, it takes a while to get established probably not that long

>> twitter is the definition of a love-hate relationship for me. it really s. it really s. it's equally balanced there are things i get from it, comments that are fun my, something that gives me some material or information and then something will come in why am i in this social relationship? is it my fault social media therapy >> you are right you are right. >> next time we do this, i will be laying down on the couch. >> thanks. >> i don't want to internalize it, thanks, jon fort coming up, powerling up with polestar, the business maker and a new delivery forecast. that is next and then senator tom cotton pending an op-ed in the "wall

street journal" yesterday in opposition to j. powell as fed chair. he will join us in just a bit. "squawk" returns in just a moment (♪ ♪) whether it's a technology first, (♪ ♪) a fashion first,

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. welcome back to "squawk box" this morning

take a look at the futures we are in the green after what turned out to be quite a red day on the dow now likely to open 181 points higher s&p 500 as well by 8-and-a-half/9 points there. the nasdaq opening down 32 points apple among the biggest nasdaq laggards amid worries of a slowdown in terms of sales, you are looking at across the board down, but apple, in particular, down now 3%. polestar expected to go public in the first half of next year, through a business combination of gores guggenheim, it has a goal to build a climate neutral car by 2030. leading us, the ceo joins us from the classic car club in manhattan with a look at his latest model, an update on its delivery

it's great to see you. you are standing in front. it's a beautiful car behind me that's a prototype, i think. that's not the car on the road right now, yet >> not on the road yet well, it's built as a show car the precept trying to bring out what polestar is about and the design we will have on the road in a couple of years having said that, when it was so well received, so many people loved it felt positive we decided to put it into production so 2024 the precept will be on the road. >> thomas, how do you think about the position of polestar, what it's supposed to represent versus the tesla these days, versus lucid or rivian or some of the others? >> well, today polestar has a

company in delivers on the road and 29,000 cars we are on target to deliver this year i mean the main difference to a lot of new ev companies really that we are up and running and in business. and the brand will be very luxurious and premium was up from that range. you can see the cars now here. and really for us, it's two things that we feel it's the core of our company. that is a total dedication to uncompromised design of course, the sustainability track that is totally committed to a path to its zero emissions and really following that target year of area and going to zero emissions transportation let's say, of course, 2030 is our goal, getting up is a zero

emission car that means not in the use case, when it comes to producing a car, what you do in the factory, what materials you get in there and really following that up strictly. >> himself to what do you make i call them outsize, i don't know if we're in a bubble or not. the outsize valuations for evs at this moment i think of rivian at one point as you know, the valuation stored at above $100 billion without delivering a car at all? how are you thinking of valuation across the board in this space >> well, you see, we concentrate really on delivering on our targets, making sure we follow our plans, having not only the cars out in the market but really as well for the customer, the service, all of what you need for having a car company

that you can trust we want to build that trust with the customer and i think that will really rectify as well the trust that the capital market will have trust. so it's all about making real what what producer problems are. >> do you marvel i marvel these companies >> i think it's the judgment of the modern ev company like polestar it's a bright look into the future you see how electrification since late last year everybody understand that is the future. i think that's what the market is investing into. >> you can give us an update how many cars you delivered so far

this year? >> yeah, well, in the last couple weeks here in december. as i said the target that we have set 29,000 cars this year, we have went on our way delivering this until the end of december so things are looking good in that respect >> but can you give us a car number or revenue forecast for the end of the year? >> yeah, the revenue forecast is $1.6 million u.s. and that, of course, is connected to this volume and we are very confident we are going to deliver on that. just yesterday the ceo made a comment that was fascinating, saying there is so much pressure to make evs and accelerate this transition, that it's driving up costs. have you seen that and whether that's sustainable

>> well, i think the big effort issue for us in the car industry at the moment is really that maybe for the first time in history, the volume that we are producing is not connected to demand but the volume is connected to what we can produce with all the difficulties, the supply chain, the semi conductors, that is determining a lot our daily business >> thomas, i want to thank you for joining us we look forward to having you on, having you back and continue to following progress. i can't wait to see that car in person and on the road >> great thanks a lot >> thanks. when we come back, how long will the wall street roller coaster last we will talk inflation, end of year strategy and much more with goldman's katie koch right after this break in the next hour, senator tom cotton on why j. powell is not the right pick to adle the

fed right now. at least in his opinion. "squawk box" will be right back. [uplifting music playing]

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we've seen market volatility since, yeah, since last friday a major sell-off the vix has more than doubled, climbing past 30 yesterday the dow down 35% since then. the russell 2,000 off more than 7% joining us now with the market outlook, where to find opportunities, katie koch head of the fundamental equity business at goldman sachs asset

management what do you think, should we give percentages to what's the market is keying off of right now, katie obviously, there is the scarriant, the variant, j. powell's recent tone which seems to have shifted a little bit then i guess there is the underlying, if you like fundamentals, underlying businesses pretty glad for a lot of companies >> that's right. first of all, thank you for having us on we appreciate it dislocations like this obviously can create opportunities so i would point everyone to a moment to software yesterday on the back of the news you just mentioned as well as the numbers out of salesforce we saw the worst day of software hitting five years actually ended the 30th day worst period in ten years. so there is opportunities to peck up there. we like long cap space as well,

one of the big growth products is their esg compliance product which is in high demand given all the esg focus and i end by saying the small cap space in general is a place that's been overlooked you had small cap outperform large cap 10%. smart cap growth is under performing value by 20%. so an opportunity to get exposure to companies with great u.s. domestic exposure their valuation are more attractive than they have been in a long time in small cap. are you paying a 10% premium and then finally lots of opportunities for asset management because you can work through those disruptors versus the disrupted. >> so what j. powell and company decide to do from here on out is a positive, a negative or you just can't control it. so you say, i'm agnostic about that i will stick to my ps and

qs and use fundamentals. >> well, it obviously depends on you cc if rates go up, they're going up because growth is good and there is some inflation. they need policy tools to tackle inflation. that can be a good environment with that for equities, if you are able to pick the companies that can increase the cost of capital and the companies that can protect you from an inflation perceptive so actually, it can be a great backdrop for equities. i think bigger picture going forward, you've highlighted this we've come into this with rates very low what we are most concerned is the tough job they have ahead of them for building their retirement security over the next ten years given how low rates are, which you have already mentioned, but also equity mark valuation. so we're trying to help educate our clients with the portfolios broken they need to be invested in growth oriented themes that aren't represented in the market

cap portfolio and get on the right side of disruption >> wow i know that this wasn't you at goldman, goldman said we're not changing anything based on omicron. but in terms of your view on supply chain issues affected by covid, obviously, and inflation and i think that you are not expecting it just to go book to, it's going to be a new normal going through 2022 with higher inflation probably and supply chain deficiencys, does that mean valuations multiple contract even though earnings continued to be okay >> that, obviously, is the fear. but we need earnings in there. i want to pick up something on supply chain you reported on this some improvement in the supply chain, for example, great capacity and the pricing around that. but the really big challenge for supply canes going forward is that we need to build for resilience that's a theme we are very overweight and our portfolio is

u.s. supply chain resilient. specifically, i wanted to pick if i could on semis for a second 12% of u.s. gdp is fueled by semis. the vast majority come from taiwan if you are talking about the leading edge of logic, which facilitates the interesting tech disruption, ai, 35g, et cetera a lot of that capacity in taiwan the u.s. tech companies don't want to be dependent on getting shipped from another corner of the world with high iq and political tension some we will expect to see them build for capacity in the semi space we think it can be a preface against that backdrop in investing in semi manufacturers like kla, that has equipment that can produce the leading edge >> what happened, what's today is today thursday? >> all day >> you had an announcement, at least goldman sachs, on proxy

voting >> yes >> was that yesterday? >> we announced it this morning, it's an advancement in our proxy policy to focus on diversity in the foreground we know diverse boards, excuse me outperform. we feel very empowered to do this half of the assets that we run here at goldman sachs fundamental equities are run by women. we see the benefits of diversity and% so what we've done if terms of the policy is we said that companies globally need to have two women on their board and the s&p 500 and footsie 100 need to have a trekker from another under represented group. so our purpose here again is to focus on making, bringing in the parolity of perspectives we appreciate open our team and we want to see in management and if board rooms, too so we've evolved our policy to focus on that. diversity as a way to unlock performance. >> great all right. katie.

can i ask you one bore question? i am worried about asking you this in a little bit eighth little bit personal but can you believe brian kelly? i mean, is it all about money? is it all about money? is that okay i mean, the season is not even over yet are you mad? are you angry? do you question? where are you on that whole thing? especially think university of notre dame was the greatest gift, one of the greatest gifts i've gotten in my life, an education focused on doing the right thing. i think the right thing to do here is to get behind this team and to report that they win out the rest of this season and we get the free leadership going forward around there are a lot of great talent out there. people would be so proud and i think fortunate. >> i understand. i'm from cincinnati. i think it was moeller, no, that was jerry -- he was at university of cincinnati remember then notre dame.

but $100 million for ten years it's not even for ten is it? >> they do the length of the contract >> it's a little weird to do it while you can still win a national championship this year, theoretically, right it's a little weefd weird? >> maybe they will fingers crossed. >> thank you for allowing me to do that. not much you can do about it thank you, we'll see you next time. >> thank you, joe. >> that was a shocker. we have not got on the talk about it she is right get behind this team right? that's all you can do. when we come back, senator tom cotton talks about j. powell's renomination. plus the united states reporting the first case of the omicron variant. we will talk to dr. scott gottlieb from here stay tuned you are watching "squawk box" and this is cnbc

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good morning, dow futures points to a higher opening but we've deteriorated over the last hour. the nasdaq looking to open down.

this after major averages took a dive yesterday new this morning, the biden administration tightening covid testing the requirements for international travelers wanting private insurance companies to pay for at-home tests. we will talk about that and the first u.s. case of this new variant with former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. the fed failed with stable prices, that itself message from arkansas senator tom cotton. he says his colleagues should vote no for a second term of chair powell we speak to cotton about why the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc live from the nasdaq market time's square.

i'm joe kernon with becky quick and andrew ross sorkin u.s. equities are up 300 and change then they were up just 1 humidity and change. now back to 200. the nasdaq which initially was doing okay has turned negative i guess everyone remembers what happened yesterday you have to ask yourself what are we looking forward to today in terms of omicron and everything else. they've tumbled yesterday after being up 500 down almost 3500 a. continued string of volatility and the major averages last friday when they labeled omicron a covid variant of concern a variant of concern treasury yields have been dropping on long end, ten year and 30 year 1 and three-quartert ten 84 down 1.42%.

>> volatility is probably the key word the vix spiked yesterday to above 30 the highest level since the the beginning of the year. we have kind of gotten used to low volatility we have a little under 90 minutes to go until the opening bell on wall street. dom chu is here. he has a look at the top pre-market movers. good morning >> good morning, becky so one of the drivers behind maybe some of the outperformance so far in the dow jones industrials average is dow component boeing those shares are up nearly 5% accounting for roughly 60-to-70 points implied gain to the dow in the opening bell the reason why, one of the catalysts is this notion that chinese aviation authorities have taken some steps that could help clarify a path forward for the resumption of service of the embattled boeing 737 max jet in china, those particular headlines helping to drive those shares higher. you see about 5% keep an eye on boeing. it can be a positive catalyst.

it had a big down side yesterday. they were trying to get back some losses. now, if you take a look at another story, one of the pre-market decline sores far in the early trade for the s&p is dollar general down about two and three-quarters percent right now this comes ahead headlines you can read this on cnbc.com. dollar general will start a new chain of stores called pop shelf. it will be geared towards more upscaled wealthier suburban shoppers, diversifying beyond its roots, going more upscale target-like customers. read about that on cnbc.com. those shares down 2 and three-quarters a check of the most popular tickers on cnbc.com. those searched in yesterday's full session, maybe no surprise apple near the top down 3% right now and some of the supply chain and demand worry concerns permeating today.

salesforce.com on the kind of recovery from this earnings disaster kind of i guess is the best way to put it in terms of the down trade there snowflake 14% on the heels of its earnings the rest of the too much ten, joe, is on my twitter feed on the domino back to. >> you i hear you say snowflake, i laughf i don't know why federal chair j. powell wrapping up two days of testimony. acknowledging the fed can't be sure price increases will slow powell will face a recon firmation hearing. the next guest is opposed. joining us senator tom cotton, out with a new op-ed in the wall street journal also, titled no on fed chairman jerome powell. thank you for joining us i know you think he was the lesser of two evils, compared to the other name bandied about

i guess your bake presently is is that you know with the dual mandate, you want dollar stability. you think we have been too accommodative. my first question out of the last three or four fed chair persons, which one did deserve to be renominated? bernanke yellen, powell i don't think you would have renominated any of them? who do you want, zrscrooge? >> yeah, joe, a swing and a miss on each one. i don't see how you are argue the fact of the matter the fed's core issue is to maintain price stability to prevent inflation we are now at 6% inflation, the worse in the 30 years. the fed has failed in protecting price stability under chairman powell's leadership i don't think that he should have a second term for that reason. >> well, you can imagine that you know, no fed chairman

decides on what the, what kind of hand they're going to be department so we went through the financial crisis and the pandemic we like dollar stability it is a dual mandate there were a lot of things that made it tough to satisfy the full employment and most recently with the pandemic, you might argue that the government has done a lot of things to screw up the prospect of getting the full employment that the fed can't fix. but in the back of your mind, if you were fed chairman, the case can be made you try to do all you can to have as many people as possible, get back to the 13 million jobs it was at the height of the pandemic >> well, are you right, the fed has that dual mandate. with reapproaching full employment we're at 4.6 unemployment, we're at 6% inflation. some of this goes back to before

the pandemic last spring, but chairman powell continued the radical so-called emergency policies that have been continued for a decade after the financial crisis emergency ended. that means it didn't have tools left in the arsenal beyond more extreme government intervention when the pandemic hit last swing i spring even at the height of the until crisis, the fed's balance sheet was only $2 trillion now it's at $9 trillion. we're adding $100 billion a month. then you add to that, the extreme low interest rate policy, really negative effect of interest rates and that has contributed to this record inflation we are seeing. it's forcing families in arkansas to make choice between heating up their home or buying an extra present for their kids, with that, i don't think mr. powell deserves another term as fed. >> do you think inflation genie is out of the boughttle

do you think it will be as big a drag on everything as the lasted time we recall or some of us recall when we had 21% prime rate and you know a misery index of known what it was, 23/24% do you think we are headed back there? or is there something that can be done in the supply chain, whenen that ameliorates, maybe it will get better >> well, i hope not. inflation at those levels can be destructive. they can be destructive of certain societies and destroy family budgets when families make end meet what we do know is we're at 6% inflation right now. bill parcels used to say about nfl teams, you are what your record says you are, the record is 6% inflation, the high nest 30 years, that does not warrant another term for mr. powell. >> we have been talking just to shift gears and i know you have been ready for anything. but you have been a china hawk

so we had a sound byte from the great billy jean king commending the wta for really being an outlier across the board in the way we treat china and kind of enable that country to do whatever it wants to do or that ccp to do whatever it wants to do based on the, you know, trade money, sneakers, lattes, whatever you want to call it, basketball we look the other way. what would you do? in a world where china is so important with all those consumers, what would you do >> well, first off, i want to commend the women's tennis association for shutting down all events in china next year, if only organizations like the nba or disney had the strength and the courage as to stand up to the chinese communist patient as opposed to sympathizing them and their spring service in hong kong because the delicate sensibilities are threatening

their mark access. one thing we should do now that i've called for is to boycott the olympics coming up in beijing. partly pause china is committing oppressive genocide against religious and ethnic minorities, they're systematic raping ethnic women as a form or ethnic cleansing of the economy we can't guarantee the safety of our athletes the chinese communist party will disappear a tennis player? what kind of electronic surveillance are they subject to it's time to boycott the winter olympics we should not be participating in these genocide games. >> senator cotton, we're just getting word that the house iproepgs said there is an agreement to fund the u.s. government through the middle of february at this point the news we have been talking about earlier, though, is that a group of senators, republican senators had been saying they

would not sign off on this unless they could see there was defunding of the vaccination mandate from president biden this is a process where i believe one senator can hold things up at this point, at least past the point of where the government funding would run out on friday. where do you stand on this >> >> becky, i'm a posed to these federal mandates the government has no authority to impose the mandates occupations like osha have to not work on vaccines we need ovote by the senate. democrats and the senate want to support these unconstitutional and overbroad mandates, they can vote for it. that's all we are ask for is blrpt to have a vote >> but would you hold up government funding as a result >> like negotiating with the democrats on morning television. all we want is a vote.

they go on in the senate every day about the timing of votes and the nature of the amendments i think it's time for everyone in the senate to put their cards on the table whether they support joe biden's unconstitutional vaccine mand mandates >> what steps should we be taking you think and we've talking about it all week, in fact, senator it's weird how entrenched the two side are in terms of vaccines, mandates, lockdowns, we do see in europe they seem to think that may be a way to go to try to crush us once and for all is it -- what are republicans thinking when they don't want to force people or at least induce people to get the vaccine. sit about personal freedom, choice the vaccines are safe. if we want to get rid of it for business once and for all,

obviously, we should try to get as many vaccinated as we possibly can why not have stronger measures >> i don't think fauci and leaders should keep freaking out about the virus. viruses do, they mutate over time it's called covid-19, it's not called covid-1922. we cannot keep threatening lockdowns and limitations and telling people they're going to have to shelter in their homes or kids have to wear masks for the rest of their lives. we can exercise prudence we can take normal precautions that you do against any kind of virus. but we have do recognize this virus is probably going to be endemic, like the common cold is, like the flu tony fauci and the white house don't have white house press conferences to announce every time someone gets a flu with mild symptoms. that's exactly what they did yesterday. we do not need to continue to worry the american investor, the american worker, the american

consumer wlerks go back to the draconian lockdowns every time there is a few report from the variant, especially when we don't have a full picture of its impact >> whice see a lot of issues conflated on both sides of the aisle. i keep seeing it, republicans complain how with we say anything about containing covid when the southern border is so more outs. people are coming in, sent all over the country is that -- are those two things related? should they be in the same conversation, for? >> well, it's a fair points, why 23 are requiring people from business, leisure or lat were america to get tested within a day and maybe having to self quarantine for seven days regardless of the vaccine or testing status yet, migrants can show up on our border, say the magic word and

released ollie oxon free into the country. >> senator, i think that's actually an important point. we need to deal with immigration and covid at the border in a way we're not. the question relates a little more to the mandate. on the other side of it, which is the healthcare costs. which is to say we the american taxpayers are bearing a huge brunt of that cost the question is, should we be burying that cost for those who are unvaccinated >> andrew, if you think we are bearing a big cost now wait and see what happens if joe biden's healthcare goes into effect i heard from so many assistants and emts would sooner find another line of work or go to an agency or organization that is not subject to one of these mandates thankfully, a federal judge has stopped that mandate from going forward.

that's why it's best for everyone to make a decision based on their own reaction to vaccines in consultation with their own doctor not to have joe biden dictating from washington what every single american is going to do. >> right senator, we know a lot of people are not making strictly a medical decision i don't disagree with you. i agree there are people that have medical conditions that can't take the vaccine they shouldn't be for those that could given your views about healthcare and the costs of healthcare, i'm sticking just with healthcare, not just in economic costs to the country. i'm curious if you want to insure people unvaccinated, given the enormous cost on the system and whether you say sure we will universally pay for them >> i mean it sounds like you are letting unvaccinated people die in the streets, i think anyone

with health insurance or an emergency condition should have access to healthcare i wouldn't want to generalize why people are not getting vaccinated lots of young pim are not getting the vaccine. now that may not be the right decision maybe the physician say they should maybe they weigh the risc and benefits and don't want to take a rick on a generalized virus. i don't want to say they shouldn't having a says to healthcare because they don't tow joe biden's line >> senator, we got to run. when you go to bed at night, do you think about taiwan is this something that looks right in front of our face that you worry about on a daily basis? or that is not going to happen >> taiwan is the most dangerous flash point in the world it's time to make it clear we will support taiwan's economy. >> i don't know what that position was i saw one position and one five minutes later. if you ask your press secretary. i don't know what condition. anyway, thank you, senator

cotton good to have you on. andrew >> okay, coming up, when we return, enron went bankrupt 20 years ago today. many think of the company as the ultimate symbol of corporate fraud. but it turns out, this was a lot more than that we will have a look back on that, you don't want to miss it. stay tuned you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc i remember like it just yesterday. this is ashley. she's a posh virtual receptionist. she'll make sure you never miss a call or an opportunity to grow your business. you can't be in two places at once, let posanswer.

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we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. welcome back to "squawk box," everybody. breaking news in this hour the house appropriation committee chair woman says an agreement has been reached on a continuing resolution to fund the united states government ylan mui joins us from washington with the latest i thought we were in a position that any senator can slow this down is this something that will be passed by the senate as well what's the deal? >> yeah, this process is a little bit complicated it starts with an agreement on a time line and democrats are announcing that they have that agreement with republicans to fund the government ahead of tomorrow's deadline at midnight. that chair woman is saying that the deal would last through february 18th. it doesn't include any special funding measures, the so-called anomalies beyond a $7 billion

allocation for afghanistan refugees she says that the house will vote on this measure today and then it would head over to the senate unclear how long it would take the senate to process this vote. because of that threat from conservatives to delay any vote because of their opposition to the president's vaccine mandate. there is little doubt this will eventually pass in the senate. but if some conservatives draw out this process, that could mean the senate would miss the 5:00 a.m. at midnight deadline, send the government into a technical shutdown and eventually pass this bill sometime over the weekend. now important thing is now they have an agreement on a date, february 18th. now the question mark is how long will it take them to actually finally pass this vote? >> no more levers for the treasury department or the secretary of the treasury or anybody else to pull to say even fit doesn't get passed by

midnight, what's the technical shutdown look like at this point? >> yes, a technical shutdown would be one that lasts for a few hours. you know, when we think about government shutdowns in the past, that means people don't get paid they can't show up to work critical mission perhaps don't, aren't under way in this case, when the government's only shutdown for a few hours, you know, there is real, there is very little real world impact so that actually creates an opening for conserviatives to sa hey we want to take time to evaluate a vaccine mandate in order to draw attention to these issues when there is very little real world pain to be had if they do so >> so in other words, people can breathe easier investors can, if they're worried about government shutdown actually happen it's not going to happen >> it may happen for a very short time but the impact would be extremely minimal.

>> ylan, thank you we will talk about enron, it's 20 years to the day since they filed for bankruptcy. scott cohn is live in houston. this is a familiar site. it brings back old times, right? >> reporter: it does, becky. december kd, 2001 was a sunday that's when they filed for bankruptcy the next day monday thousands of people streamed out of that building right behind me out of their jobs and many out of their retirement savings but there is a lot more to enron than just that we'll take a look at ouromex cpl legacy when "squawk box" returns. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so... ...glad we did this. [kid plays drums] life is for living. let's partner for all of it.

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>> welcome back to "squawk box." today marks 20 years since enron changed the course of business as we know it. scott cohn covered this story for the network. he joins us now from the epicenter of it all in houston great to see you, scott, i remember those days. >> yeah, it does seem like yesterday, doesn't it, andrew? that's the enron building behind me the glass tower still stands the crooked elogo streetside is long gone. chevron actually has offices here now enron did leave behind a lot more than just an office building and a financial disaster in fact, many of the things we take for granted today can trace

their roots right there to 1,400 smith street >> mr. jenkins it must be evening here. thank you. >> reporter: 20 years before zooming was a thing this enron promotional video was touting video conferencing on the internet and streaming video years before netflix. >> enron communications is changing how the world communicates. >> we're changing the industry. >> reporter: scott yeager was head of strategy for the division that became enron broadband. we speak on zoom. >> we were the only ones focused on broadband experiences and broadband did include stream media and interin factive dynamics. >> reporter: before that enron created the modern day markets for natural gas and electricity, setting the course how energy is priced this day. energy markets expert ed hurst who worked with prosecutors against company executives concede enron was a pioneer.

>> enron revolutionized trading for natural gas and electricity without question it brought liquidity and benefits to consumers and producers. >> which is why when enron went bankrupt throwing thousands of out work in a matter of hours, many mourned more than just a job. but leslie caldwell, the first head of the just fits department's enron task force says none of that means enron was not a fraud. >> the people that worked at enron, there were tens of thousands of them, many of them, probably almost all of them were honest, hard working people trying to do the right thing the problem was they had a culture at the top that was not that way. >> reporter: there was a lot, though, that also came out of that culture that still exists today. how should we look at that, the things that they did that were literally pioneering >> i'm not saying they didn't have good ideas or do anything but they tried to monetize things before they were really ready. >> reporter: >> leslie called well says when

that happened, that's when enron executives crossed the line, trying to make it look like the company was making money where they didn't. a lot of those executives dispute that, nonetheless, some two dozen people pleaded guilty or were convicted of all manner of financial crimes. caldwell covered her teeth going after the mob. she brought those tactics to the enron task force and she says that is another innovation that came out of enron, aggressive prosecution of financial crime that she says caused corporate america to be more accountable andrew >> scott, when you think back 20 years ago. i remember that sunday vividly i ended up writing the front page story in the "new york times" about the bankrupt, watching you that next monday. and do you realize in that moment at that time just how momentous this bankruptcy was and how it was going to change

business >> reporter: well, remember, enron's kind of death spiral began in october and it was dizzying and a lot of people were concerned because they were such a huge player in energy trading that there would be a huge ripple effect financially among traders and counterparties and things like that that didn't happen so much but the can dal that followed. because this became more than just a business story, it really became something that was in the national psyche over the next months a and in the trial into 2006 that was something to behold really what gets lost in it are a lot of things they were doing right, a lot of those innovations we take for granted today. if they weren't really making money and if they put growth over stability, well, that's where the problem came in. >> that was a busy 12 months, scott, if you remember 9/11 and then all of enron and everything that came after it. scott, great to see you,

appreciate it. meantime, i want to get straight over to rick santelli, he is standing by at the cme in chicago. he has breaking economic data. rick, the numbers. >> yes, and boy, it's going in two different directions, andrew we see initial jobless claims moving from a post-covid low of 194,000. that was reviseed from 199, zooming up 28,000 and 222,000. on the other hand, if you look at continuing claims weak in the rear view mirror, they've moved to a post-covid-19 low with some force. last week, we advised to 2 million 63,000 now we jump under the handle of 1 million. 1 million 956,000. a huge move. granted the big notion we read about constantly is what, these are seasonally adjusted. that was the reason why last week we were under 200,000 is because of the seasonal adjustments when you compare

non-seasonally sad justed. i will say this, all the years we have been doing the numbers, there has always been seasonal questions. now, of course, it rises to a higher level because of all the uncertainty regarding the economy, the fed, all that figures, with various variants and greek letters in the alphabet as far as interest rates, andrew, there is something huge going on, the yield curves are flattening today, just dramatically i'll give you an idea how wild this is. if you look at the highmark post-covid for two-year note, it was right around thanksgiving. they closed at .64 right now it's at point 60 so a difference of four basis points now, let's look at what's going on, for example, in ten-year note yield, the high watermark was 147. it's at 142 that's a difference of 28 basis points away from it repeat high yields two-year notes are two basis points away. 30-year bonds are 42 basis

points away from the recent highs. so the long dated sovereigns across the globe are snoozeing a bit as they always do when the market senses an aggressive tightening cycle coming up it's something that everyone needs to pay attention to. back to you. >> ick, thank you for that i want to go over to steve leishman who joins us with more. what's your take >> you know, there was a really interesting story in the journal this morning just a moment, are you there, joe? because it was about one of our favorite topics, which was not the grateful dead or the appropriate version of me and bobby mcgee. one of our favorite topics, joe, the terminal rate. i think that's what rick's talked about i don't know if rick is still around after bobby mcgee, you and i talked about getting there quick. but what is the number that's what's interesting is the article this morning argues that ten-year number at 148/150 suggests that the bond market

thinks that terminal rate and let me explain what the energial rate is, why it's important. the terminal rate is where the market thinks the fed is going to end up in the tightening cycle. and that's important, because essentially, the market tries to price that in as soon as possible as soon as the fed shifts, the market tries to get to the terminal rate as quickly as it can. this idea that the terminal rate is at 150 suggests the market thinks the terminal rate will be very low the two-year seems priced. you know, not badly relative to what we will think next year, maybe it's a little low. maybe 150 is the right number. which means the market thinks the terminal rate for the fed is lower than it was before the pandemic >> because of all i can figure is technology. i don't know we were going somewhere amazing. what else could it be? >> maybe one of the ideas in the article is maybe the economy has been

scarred in a way that potential growth doesn't come back to where it was also in that idea has to be what you just said other ideas which is that all the things that kept inflation down before, those things reassert themselves. >> they're very power. and hard to measure. i don't know which, i don't know where we see that measure, really, in a lot of things, steve. anyway, they're playing this out. coming up, a former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb plays out the new covid-19 winter plan. stay tuned you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc >> (soft music)

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. new this morning, the biden administration out with a winter covid plan too try i to help stem the disease it includes extending masks for public transportation and requiring all inbound international travelers to test negative within a day of leaving for the united states. regardless of vaccination status the white house also wants to know private insurers to be covering the costs of at-home covid tests. all this comes as the united states sees its first case of the omicron variant in northern california joining us right now is dr. scott gottlieb, the former contributor who also serves on the boards of pfizer and illumina we have all been trying to get our arms around this new disease, how well the vaccines will stands up to them and i

have to say, the markets here, that's why we see all these swings you have been a calming voice on this to this point you kind of pulled down, let's see what happened. what can you learned that you can fill us in on this >> if you look at the data from the last week, it's hard to look at the data before november 23rd they changed the way they were reporting positive results, some uncertainty. if you look at the data, there is a good news/bad news story here what is happening, some of the estimates on its transmissibility the initial assumptions have come down. they're priced substantially if you look at the modeling we have done initially. the bad news is it's also being firld up as you get more data points, the estimates are being firmed up. they represent a new variant that has greater transmissibility and the prevailing mix of coronavirus is in south africa are. that's probably why you are seeing it spread we now have data points this

week where you see a significant increase testing has gone up substantially there the positivity rates going up, which suggest that this is spreading with increased velocity. now the mechanism doesn't appear to be its innate quality it doesn't appear to be a new virus innately more transmissibility it appears to be less in and of itself than zel that it's spreading at a population where it's able to beg immunity. that begs the question, whether or not the immunity in the u.s. is substantially different enough from the mix of immunity in south africa that it wouldn't represent the same threat here there is a case that, in fact, that is true if we look in south africa, it seems to spread in young people who probably were not infected and are infected with delta. it's piercing the prior delta. that's speculative that's based on where it's spreading and what we know about

prior vaccination and spread in south african. >> i know, i will tell you the case that had me a little concerned riding about this i realize it's just one case there is a lot we have to learn. there was a 50-year-old cardiologist from israel who traveled from the uk for a medical conference he was triple vaccinated had three shops. came back to israel. went to work on patients doing cardiac procedures and ended up giving it to a 70-year-old card olthsz who was also triple vaccinated i guess that probably is making people stop and think. what does that mean if you could have fully vaccinated plus a booster and give it to somebody else fully vaccinated plus a booster. >> it's hard to draw conclusions from that first of all, we know there are breakthrough infections with people doubly or triple infection you would expect it to be able to piece the immunity more the vaccines based on what we know right now seem to be protective against more severe

disease. we are seeing some symptomatic cases reported anecdotally what the cdc reported is 50% of the cases they've seen outside south africa have been asymptomatic 50% presented with mild symptoms the south africans at the end of the week will put out cohort studies. there is another anecdote where there was a concert if south africa with a thousand young people, all who had to be vaccinated before they attended, remember, vaccination in south african is two doses or the johnson&johnson vaccine. another thousand people they screened before they entered, about 30 had coronavirus they were positive so they presumably had asymptomatic infixs. that was in the province where this is now epidemic we just don't know right now how protective the vaccines will be. the presumption is that the vaccines will be quite protective against severe disease, symptomatic disease, particularly three doses of the vaccine.

because what we know is that that third dose doesn't just produce more anti-bodies, it produces a bigger breath of antibodies, polyclonal response. it will provide protection you are getting antibody against more targets on the virus. the booster ma i be important. the key to the neutralization data is the difference between the ability of the vaccine, two doses to neutralize the 51st versus three doses if you see a delta, that suggests the boosts could be quite important. >> we talked about the biden administration and the new rules they are putting in place and making things more difficult for international travelers. you have to have a test within 24 hours, not within three days. are these things useful? is this a good way to slow the ved in some way or not if it's already here from one person, we know there are presumably a lot of people here in the united states who already have those >> we're trying to buy ourselves

some time at this point. and slow the introduction of this virus and you can do that, if you act early enough. it does appear they are acting early in terms of when this first emerged. i think requiring people to be vaccinated or come into the u.s., requiring them to have a negative covid test is far more prudent than putting in place travel restrictions we know will be punitive to countries that are placed under those restrictions so i think this is a more appropriate response and i would urge them with south africa and lift the complete travel ban which i think has been cumulative and hurt their ability to respond to this remember, this is not something that will become epidemic here right away we are going to get through this delta wave, which is still our problem. prevalence is going to decline i think there is aic, the risk is after we see prevalence collapse in january. you see a pickup of cases in late freb e february/march from this variant it ruins that narrative that

once we got past the delta wave, prevalence would remain low. that's not a foregone concushion that's the risk. so we can buy ours more weeks and push this into the center. we have a backstop, more time to try to deliver booster shots, which i think will be further protective and hopefully move along on a new vaccine, if it is necessary, it can be used in older individuals. we get more time to develop that we get more time to develop the oral drug and get distribution of those revved up >> one of the things the biden administration is pushing for is a requirement effectively for insurance companies, private insurance companies to pay for the equivalent of the buy next tests and do you think that will stands up? and do you think private insurers will go along with that >> well, they're doing it, i think they have the authority. i think private insurers probably would be reluctant to

push back at this point especially for a low-cost item i'm not sure it will foster distribution or test, quite frankly. it's cumbersome for people that have to file for coverage in certain instances. the more putin thing is do what germany is doing or the uk, which is hand them out we don't have the resources and the production capacity to do that that's why we're not doing it. if we have a steady stable, we can hand them out when they come into the pharmacy and let people stockpile them at home i think that would be far more effective. >> dr. gottlieb, thank you >> thank you coming up, jim cramer's first take on the trading day straight ahead you arwahi "e tcngsquawk box" on cnbc

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keep dreaming. [coins clinking in jar] ♪ you can get it if you really want it, by jimmy cliff ♪ ♪ [suitcase closing] [gusts of wind] [gusts of wind] [ding] jim cramer joins us now. a bit of a yo-yo here, jim every morning it looks good, it

looks bad, then it looks good. what is happening? is this the new variant? is this the federal reserve? >> well, i think the new variant, remember that president trump in february said that former president trump when he appointed pence to be ahead of the tack force that we would, had -- had contained covid, and then a month later the dow was up 18,000, so i think people who are fearful from containment, anything from the government says good things is probably false. are people buying stocks recognizing we could have 20 people tomorrow? that's what i think is dicey about. remember back in february of 2020 how bad things were >> you think that's the calm you think that's what we should be thinking about? >> that's worst case i don't know i met with a doctor last night,

they have no deaths from anyone who's been vaccinated. so i think your very good discussion this morning about vaccination and the idea that the tenth amendment -- fifth and tenth amendment, we have people who needed to be more constitutionally scholared your arguments were very good. i think what we're seeing if you're vaccinated, you'll have an okay time on omicron, but if you're not -- or if you're just immunized by having already gotten covid, you're going to get it that's the big worry >> apple seems to be pulling the nasdaq down. what do you think is really happening here and should it? >> well, i think the idea that suppliers talk to anybody, including bloomberg is blasphemy. 78 if you're a supplier, and you

speak to someone -- and 'em going with we hadbush who says that things are going strong the real buyers are verizon, t-mobile and at&t, so i question the sourcing of that story many times we talk to suppliers, and we're almost always wrong. i'm congratulating you for having the courage to say there's no right to die in the constitution >> thank you it's not the constitution. >> the hate you were getting online a day ago or whatever, is coming my way. >> remember, i'm top ten hated, but if i'm not number one or two, that's the only way i play. first or second, or else you go

home. >> >> first or second, that's the jack welch rule. >> no playoffs, playoffs forget it. >> check out your cnbc investment club, it's awesome. point your phone at the screen or go online to cnbc.com/investingclub. meantime we're going to talk more about apple omicron fears are hitting the broader markets, apple leading the nasdaq lower we were talking about it with jim there. zarat is here. do you buy the reports this if you do, what do you do about it? >> i agree with jim. you do not buy this report i mean, apple has broadcasted that demand has been pretty strong the buyers are -- you know, the

verizons of the world. if you look at it, what they have also said is we've been having trouble with our own inventory. if you do see softness consumers have said i won't get my item in time for christmas, maybe i'll just wait for the next quarter i don't really see that. the stock is at allian time high, too. if it pulls back, it's heart of owning a stock like apple, especially when the market is down like 4% >> is 4% right or wrong? we have gone on this yo-yo roller coaster ride. clearly there's going to be more news about variants, about this variants that headline risk is there. you would think that should be priced in, or is it? >> so, if you look at when delta hit us a few months ago, the market dropped about 4%, so we're right there. we're also at an all-time high so you've got a perfect

scenario, you know, of potentially rising interest rates, tapering, you have a new virus, year end is coming. you know, i know we're doing tax lot selling, so there's a lot ofcountervailing here. you have to respect what the virus might do, but there are plenty of companies on the surface trading in multiples qualcomm is not just dependent on apple it has android their mobility in the cars, now gaming, 14 times earnings with a very solid balance sheet >> joe's been asking a question that i have loved all morning, which is -- let's say we find out that actually this new variant is milder, or at least not as bad as we think it could be does the market rip?

or is it capped effectively as a function of mr. powell >> so, what we think will happen there is you're going to get a back up on interest rates. you'll see that move to 1.7, maybe higher you'll have the reopening trade going very strong. value cyclicals will do well, and you'll probably have some air out of the tech stocks not the googles, microsofts, appear 8s, but ones that have earnings 5, 10 years down. you'll see a rebalancing within the market whether the market goes even higher from here, who knows, but you can definitely seeing different sectors doing much better i think those companies with strong earnings, and the ones that are cheap, your reopening plays, your transports, there's a lot of damage done below the surface, because people have reacted that could this be the worst-case scenario? you have companies down 10%, 15%

in the last week >> thank you, as always, for your perspective and for jumping on the news this morning. >> thank you. we'll take a quick final check on the futures this morning. things have moved quite a bit, literally, since we began the broadcast. the nasdaq moving lower, about 40 points lower, the s&p looking to open about ten points higher. treasuries real quick, as we flip that board around you are looking right now at about 1.427, but serat thinking it will go higher. we'll see. that's it for us we will be back tomorrow tomorrow is the big jobs number, guys. >> thank god it's thursday. >> "squawk on the street" is coming up after this quick break.

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good thursday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and tadavid faber. following yesterday's 1,000-point swing, the market is hungry the road map beginning with omicron volatility the dow is trying to claw back some of the losses after the biggest session reversal in over a year. >> china is clearing the