good morning fed chair jay powell making the case for tighter economic policy, but he's not that hawkish after all. and the biden administration announcing plans to provide more covid testing for schools. details straight ahead. and facebook looking to tap some outside experience bringing in a new board member from food delivery giant doordash. "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ good morning welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin.

look at what's happening with u.s. equity futures. we saw market gains yesterday with the nasdaq being the biggest gainer it was up by 1.4%. this morning you see the green arrows continuing with the dow futures indicated up another 55 points the s&p indicated up by 8. the nasdaq up by 45. make it's worth taking stock where we stand right now just in terms of the major averages, you're talking about the dow less than 2% 1.9% from an all-time high the s&p 2% from an all-time high the nasdaq down more than 8%, now down about 6.5% from an all-time high. we've also continued to watch to see what's been happening with treasury yields. right now the ten-year is yielding 1.746%. to put that into perspective, just this year, it's only january 13th, just this year yields for the ten-year up by 15%. that's been a significant move >> all that coming on the back

of fed chair jay powell making the case for tightening economic pol policy >> the economy no locnger needs or wants the highly accommodative policies we've had in place to deal with the pandemic and the aftermath that is what that is really about. we're really just going to be moving over the course of this year to a policy that is closer to normal. but it's a long road to normal from where we are. >> chair powell told the committee it would take a long period of expansion, economic expansion to achieve a strong labor market with high participation. it's interesting to see how the markets are taking his comments. >> there seems to be a little bit of a shift, i think. senator toomey always thought

price stability was important. who knows -- the dynamics in the employment market are so hard to figure out right now, what's influencing things the one thing you can do, especially with all the inflation data coming this week, maybe there's this slight shift to the other aspect of the dual mandate. the markets seemed to take it okay because it wasn't that horrific some of his comments. this is interesting, with -- go ahead, becky >> the one thing i was thinking with that, yesterday he was trying very hard to explain to the senators that inflation is a bigger problem for poorer people and that if you keep inflation in check, that in itself will help you a great deal in terms of the jobs market picture as well you have to remember, he's also there waiting for them to vote on confirming him for a second go-around. it may not have sounded as quite -- he wasn't going to go

in there and be as aggressive as he might have wanted to be in terms of what they might be saying at the fomc meeting the market took comfort in this. i don't know that he would have spoken quite as clearly as he might think that inflation is a problem and they may have to move a lot of times this year. >> that was the other aspect of the discussion with ylan yesterday and talking about don't forget that not everybody is wall street as you raise rates to try to help wall street -- i didn't understand that. if you stay easy for too long, not only do assets get marked up for wall street, and those people get rich, but also inflation at 6% or 7% is not hurting the high end as much as it's hurting the lower end both of those factors seem to go against everything that the senator was -- the point he was trying to make i don't know i don't know how you pitch staying easy >> mortgage rates, picking up so rapidly in the last week and a

half that's been one picture. credit card costs will go up higher rates is good for the ranks. you will see reactions to that saying wait a second, you'll be fleecing the poor on this, they'll get hurt on these things >> but at this point -- >> the broader picture -- >> do you think he'll get confirmed if he says that? >> i think he might want to speak carefully. i think he'll get confirmed no matter what. but you want to tread lightly. if you saw him before congress yesterday, if you saw fauci before congress yesterday, it with be pretty taxing to sit there and take the attacks and the questions. >> certainly can that was something to behold new this orning, not speaking of dr. fauci specifically, but back to covid, the biden administration is taking some new action to increase access to covid-19 testing in schools around the country with the goal of increasing the number of tests available to schools by 10 million per month as part of the

effort the white house plans to distribute 5 million free rapid tests to k through 12 schools each month it will set aside lab capacities to support an additional 5 million pcr tests per month. the department of education and the cdc will work with states to help between schools and local testing providers. >> thanks. could have used this earlier >> a little too late, right? i'm glad they're doing it. in the case that this either persists or we have additional variants, it's great to get this in place but it's not going to help the current wave >> exactly exactly. in the meantime, the canadian -- >> let's hope the variants keep getting weaker >> mild. >> weaker and weaker >> exactly the canadian province of

quebec plans to impose a tax on citizens who refuse to get vaccinated against covid-19. the premiere said the tax is necessary because the unvaccinated are taking up roughly half of the acute care beds in hospitals and have become a drain on the health care system. the tax is still being written but will include an exemption for those with medical reasons not to get vaccinated. quebec is putting in rules to make life more difficult for the unvaccinated starting next tuesday, proof of vaccination will be required to get into government run stores that sell alcohol and cannabis you can't buy pot or alcohol if you're not vaccinated. >> i kind of like that i kind of like that as an incentive system let's talk about china goldman sachs now cutting its 2022 forecasts for economic growth in china to 4.3%. that's down from an earlier 4.8%

estimate goldman citing beijing's ongoing efforts to contain the outbreaks and their impact on business activity within the country. the bank says consumption will likely be affected by some of the new restrictions being put in place you know, you can graph restrictions on to economic growth these days, though we were all quite wrong about economic growth during this period because we thought it would slow down. who knows. >> right we will talk to stephanie and others coming up about this. maybe we'll touch on some of those jamie dimon comments where things look good to people. coming up, the "squawk" planner. we'll get you ready for the key inflation data later, former s.e.c. chair jake clayton will weigh in on the controversy on stock trades by members of congress you're wchg atin"squawk box" on cnbc

on today's "squawk" planner, inflation in focus we'll get december read on consumer prices at 8:30 a.m. eastern. the fed's beige book report on economic conditions, that's due at 2:00 p.m. today then on the earnings front, kb homes due to report after the closing bell the nasdaq staging another rally in yesterday's session

here to talk about what's next for tech stocks, stephanie link chief investment strategist and portfolio manager at highhower and cerat sethy a portfolio manager and cnbc contributor >> good morning. >> good morning. steph, you said you're watching the inflation numbers obviously, but you, i guess, your eyes went over to some of jamie dimon's comments in addition to the inflation backdrop those were, i guess, made you feel better about things >> yeah. we've been talking, joe, about the economy and how it is resilient, right and that's why the fed should actually start to move in terms of normalization and i just was very comforted by the fact that jamie dimon was talking about a lot of positive things about the economy namely the consumer, which you know is two-thirds of the economy. so we're all watching the

consumer i have said that they are in good shape in terms of savings, in terms of jobs, wages, that sort of thing. but he basically just listed a whole host of things that were positive like balance sheets are in good shape, debt services, the ratio is at the best levels in 50 years that consumer spending, 25% more than pre-covid levels, that they have 2 trillion in the checking accounts, so there's pent-up demand the he also did say that businesses are doing quite well. we know that free cash flow generation has been the theme for the last year and a half at corporations and they're doing good things with that free cash flow, not only buybacks and dividends but they're also putting it into capex. all of these things are good it's not perfect omicron is certainly an issue. we have to get through it. but i think once we get through it, we'll see a snap back in the economy. and that's a good thing. then the fed can do their thing

in terms of normalizing policy, which i thought by the way he did a good job yesterday walking that tight line there. >> omicron, it's like -- we have to get through it collectively a lot of people need to get through it individually. it's everywhere. it's everywhere and every day i see it it's weird the way you said that, we 234need to get throught yeah as a society we need to get through it hopefully everyone does. it is a much more serious thing for the -- for anyone with comorbidities or the like. hopefully for most people it's something that it's a week or so, you're done and move on. >> so, just reading your notes, you're always sort of a sober guy. just talking about it in terms of investment advice i didn't think that you sounded that optimistic in some of your notes. you're like, yeah, buy the dips,

make sure it's quality in terms of tech and value is probably going to do better than growth because everybody has got -- rising interest rate environments, you have to sort of justify your valuations so you're not like jumping up and down right now, are you, about buying >> no. what i'm saying, joe, you're right, if you read the underline there, this chasing of mega caps for the past ten years will start stopping what i mean by that, i think stephanie hit the nail on the head there the consumer is strong money will be spent on services. money will be spent on other areas once we get through this that's where the opportunity will be. it will be companies that really have not had, you know, their day in the sun so you talk about companies like financials c american express will benefit from that. rising prices. you want to make sure you're in areas where margins are going to

increase and you don't want to be buying companies at their peak i'm sanguine on the market you have to look at other areas. the market will do well through this we know with comments from jamie dimon that the economy is strong, we can have rates go through it, but you have to be prepared that multiples can come down when you haven't seen that, the recency buys of the last couple of years, just because something is trading at 40 times sales or 20 times earnings, it will stay that way that won't be the case for the next three to five years you will get back to the reversion of the meme. that's the common phrase going forward. financials are strong, 14 times e of earnings. there are areas of the market that will be doing well but you have to be careful not to chase the past because there's going to be other opportunities and capital will flow there. capital will go where the opportunity will be. >> steph, we had conversations

in the past about whether you keep riding some of the reopening trades is there anything left are we already reopened in is it still -- is there still some value there because of omicron is there a reopening trade left for you? would you take it? >> i think there's still opportunity. they have fits and starts, joe they kind of get excited, like in the fourth quarter when we got through delta in the third quarter you had a nice surge in reopening, then we had omicron and the stocks have paused i do think that's one area of opportunity. i hown a host of them between vale resorts,expedia, even boeing a ge, which is the derivative of that because they build the engines for boeing and airbus. there's opportunities out there. i'm leaning more towards cyclical and more towards reopen

versus tech, versus growth i'm ten percentage points underweight tech, which is still a huge percentage point in terms of what i own because if you add up tech and com services, it's 30% of the s&p 500 i'm 28% exposed, but i am more focused on what was said, financials they had a nice run to start the year, but i think there's more to go. he mentioned 14 times earnings i'm looking at book values wells fargo, 1.2 times book. citigroup at 0.7%. the only one expensive is jpmorgan for obvious reasons because he's a hero. but at 1.9 times that's not the area where i'm in in financials, but i think there's plenty of upside let's get through inflation this week let's get to earnings on friday. i think there's lots to be learned, but i still think you want to tilt more towards cyclical and valueto start the year >> you are ready for the days when you purely look at companies just what the

prospects are in a normal economy -- whatever normal means, but where not everything is trying to figure out, you know, you need to have an m.d. and ph.d. and everything to figure it out. are you looking forward to those days >> absolutely. i can't wait until i look at a balance sheet and look at future cash flows to say will i get hit with something will air travel stop is the consumer not going to go to restaurants what will happen after that? what will happen to interest rates? we get this roller coaster of interest rates, then the fourth quarter delta is over, it goes up that changes all the asset allocations. i want to own companies. i want to own industries because of future cash flows not what will happen in the next four to six weeks or three months. we hope that comes much sooner rather than later. >> well, keep that thought we're not quite there yet.

we're all hoping for that. sarat sethi and stephanie link good to have you as well sarat has almost a third of the alphabet introducing him on the other side of this break, we will take a closer look at the first major ipo of 2022, that's next. and new details on when elizabeth holmes could be sentenced for her fraud and conspiracy convictions "squawk" returns wh l italof that and more in a moment. ya!? it's so good to see you. good to see all of you, yeah! why is jerry so... popular? it's been like this ever since we started using workday. what do you mean? it makes it easier to develop great relationships with our suppliers. now everyone, everywhere loves jerry. they sure do. they do.

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it is time for the executive edge we're digging into the first major ipo of 2022. leslie picker joins us this morning with that. good morning >> good morning. tpg expected to go public tomorrow marking the first major ipo of 2022. it will be the first big debut for an alternative asset manager since harry's went public eight years ago. tpg saw some opportunity in 2021 blackstone doubling last year. carlisle returning more than 70%. apollo the laggard here, but still just about doubling the s&p. so tpg set terms last week seeking a 9$9.5 billion valuation. soon after that the equity markets declined thanks in part to a pop in yields so, too, went those lucrative alternative asset managers,

though they have recovered in the last few days a little bit the macro concerns surrounding the business model has to do with this idea that they have not yet been tested in the public markets in anything but a low-interest rate environment so they could see headwinds from the shift in monetary policy a higher risk-free rate puts pressure on managers of buyout funds to find bigger exits and deliver premium to investors and it could make debt financing and refinancing more expensive i'm told that tpg has been emphasizing their growth platform and impacting investment portfolio that may be insulated from rising rates. guys >> what do we think? we'll know tonight how it went in terms of pricing? >> that's right. we should know tonight it's a tricky market out there they're the first test we've seen 61% of 2021's ipo class trade under water, below the price they issued. it's really hard in general

right now to coax investors to put money to work in ipos. then you have the backdrop of their comps which i showed you of the other private equity peers that have not been doing well that said, it is a new asset out there. it's something that investors can sink their teeth into. there's some scarcity to that. it will be interesting to see how it prices this evening >> do you think, by the way, they get a premium to the other private equity firms out there do they get the same comp? do they get a lower comp what's the chatter >> yeah. i was looking at the multiples this morning it appears they're actually debuting at a discount at least in terms of price to earnings. private equity firms are tricky because their peers are not pure buyout funds carlisle is the closest to that. but with apollo, it's so much more about credit and insurance. with kkr, same thing they have a big credit arm blackstone much more about real estate the comps are a little tricky.

if you look on a pure price to earnings basis, little data because i'm looking at the full-year 2020 numbers, they are coming at a significant discount but at the high end of that range. >> leslie picker, you'll be following that story and we'll be following that story throughout today and tomorrow morning. thanks an update for you on the theranos situation the former theranos ceo, elizabeth holmes, is likely going to face sentencing after labor day. a proposed filing would allow holmes to be released on a $500,000 bond and sentenced on september 12th she was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. her sentencing will take place after the trial of her former top executive and boyfriend at the time his trial has been delayed until march because of the covid surge. tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern time, don't miss the 200th episode of "american

greed. it will cover the trial of elizabeth holmes with insights from former employees, whistle-blowers and experts. here's a sneak peek. >> i think her great strength was selling the vision getting investors excited in the vision she has great charisma, great charm, and she's a great saleswoman >> and thanks to her parents connections, she has an advantage many lack, access to billionaires, including larry ell ellison. >> i think once she had ellison involved, things became easier, then from ellison she got george shultz and she was off to the races. >> that episode premieres at 10:00 p.m. eastern time tonight. when we come back, three major chinese cities facing lockdowns. we'll take you live to beijing next remember, the olympics are due to begin in beijing on february

4th. and as we head to break, a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this. your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, like asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. yeah i should've just led with that. with at&t business. you can pick the best plan for each employee and get the best deals on every smart phone.

good morning welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc checking the futures, we're green across the board and not far for most of the averages from all-time highs. the nasdaq not quite as close as the s&p and the dow, but, you know, as january goes, so goes the year kind of the mixed picture so far. we have time we have time what's the date? >> isn't it the first week -- is it the first week is how january goes, if that is the case, the first week was crappy.

>> depends on who wins the super bowl >> you have to go back to the old leagues to remember that stuff, too >> all these things definitely work >> especially on leap years where leap year falls on a tuesday. at least three cities in china are now facing lockdowns to try to combat covid outbreaks which is complicating an already strained supply chain. eunice yoon joins us now with more this is a pretty big deal if you start thinking about the millions of people who are now in lockdown at this point. >> that's right. it's more like tens of millions that are in lockdown or in partial lockdown the -- a lot of people now have several restrictions imposed on them including here in beijing the covid center that's behind me said they're seeing a 25% surge in demand for tests because employers as well as officials are demanding these tests for their daily work now, omicron has been confirmed

now in a third chinese city. the port city of dalian. they are two confirmed cases traced back to tianjin tianjin confirmed another 93 cases and ordered businesses to close for a half day so that the city could conduct another mass round of testing of the 14 million people there anyang, a city in an electronics manufacturing area also reported 65 new cases industrial zones near tianjin port said on their social media account their operations as well as the operations of the port are operating normally though the extent of the potential impact there as well as in other parts of the global supply chain are a big question mark toyota said its production in

tianjian has been halted as for dalian, this port is important to american companies. it specializes in imported food such as u.s. soybeans, intel, coca-cola, good year all have factories in dalian. in case there was a question mark as to how seriously the chinese government takes their zero-covid approach, dalian court today sentenced three port workers to up to five years in jail for breaching covid protocols such as wearing a mask or protective gear guys >> eunice, you have the olympics coming up in three weeks, the start of the olympics there. the zero-tolerance policy is something that the chinese have kept since the beginning, going back to 2019/2020 when this was first starting

is that -- is it something that at this point they're going to continue with that policy because they want to make sure the olympics can still go off? is this something that is expected to continue indefinitely and even beyond the olympics in terms of how they try and protect and stop covid from spreading when the rest of the world seems to have moved on to reopening and kind of trying to deal the best they can? >> yeah. that's the big question. but i think as you're illustrating, the main point is that this zero-tolerance approach will be in place for quite some time. not only are they looking ahead at the olympics but even before that, the lunar new year holiday is coming up already authorities not only here in beijing but all across the country have been urging residents just to stay put as you well know, the lunar new year is a major holiday is china. it's like the biggest human migration on the planet. people go home for the holidays. it's like christmas and

thanksgiving and new year's all wrapped into one so it's an important holiday, but people are not probably going to be able to go home for a second year running because of all these concerns about the spread, especially with omicron so highly contagious >> so highly contagious, it's hard to believe the incredibly low numbers. if you have a handful of cases, it's hard to assume you can nip it in the bud even if you're taking extreme measures and testing frequently >> yeah. that's right also there's still no confirmation on the exact source and also how much it's really spread in the community. i think that's what is worrying the government here, just because you are hearing about all of these different cases as you said, it's -- it is quite highly contagious. even though 85% of the population has been vaccinated, we still don't know exactly how

effective china's vaccines which are the only ones that you can get here are against micron. >> you said there was demand from workers, not just from the companies themselves, but from workers wanting access to tests. is testing difficult to come by there as it has been here? >> no, actually, it is quite easy to get tests here and they're actually -- they're not expensive. i think in the u.s. there's been a debate about how expensive they've been the covid tests can be as little as $1.10 here. sometimes they could be expensive, expensive is considered maybe $43 the government -- one of the great things, i would say, and the strong points of the chinese government is when they put in place a logistical system where they really want to roll things out quickly, they can. so when it coming to the covid testing protocols, they're very, very solid >> all the video that we've been watching shows people getting

swabbed in their throats instead of nanasally is that how it has been throughout or is it because omicron tends to live in the throat more than the nasal passages >> i've seen the throat as well as the nasal passages. you probably heard there were cases with anal swabs as well, which were supposed to be quite sensitive. that hasn't been done in the greater population for the most part, it's been the throat probably easier to do when you're just walking into a center like the one behind me. >> especially if you're standing outside. eunice, thank you very much. we'll continue to keep hearing about this we know you'll stay on top of it for us >> that was new for me, becky. i had not -- >> same. >> i don't know if i'm reading other -- the wrong newspapers. i -- that was news to me

the news was just made on this air, at least to me this morning. >> makes the throat look more palatable. >> yeah. >> where is that -- where is that -- i'm thinking of the newlywed game. not where you would do it. i understand where that area is. where would you do it in -- like you said, i guess you would have to go -- >> hopefully not in line >> i don't know. yeah exactly. did you -- eunice is so cute she goes, it's a very sensitive test no kidding whoo sensitive how? that's -- oh, my god >> i think it was news to all of us >> single-use, too >> yeah. i won't say it i'm going to leave it alone. >> please do >> good idea >> i was going to say -- something about -- >> we're children. your kids -- we're kids. >> something about the tush. in my house, it's the tush we're going to talk about --

>> we are kids we'll transition somehow -- we'll go from over here to here. we have some headlines to bring you in a more serious -- that was a serious story, just got a little out of hand it is bonus season on wall street morgan stanley reportedly now set to raise its annual bonus for top performing staff by 20%. reuters say bankers in underwriting and m&a likely to get some of the increases as those divisions turned in strong performance. morgan stanley expected to tell the staff about the payouts today and hand out the cash early next month last week bloomberg reported that bank of america planned to increase its bonus pool by more than 40% how many people do you think will walk in, get their bonus, which will be so much higher, and be unhappy about it? that's the truth, right?

>> i didn't hear anything you were saying. i was still thinking about the last story >> i know. >> that's how it always is >> right yeah yeah becky and i are still kind of reeling from that. i'm thinking of other things yeah we're in shock andrew, you rightfully are trying to shift. it doesn't compare in terms of catching -- garnering your attention, i don't think you're right it's never enough. never enough i'm talking about bonuses. bonuses now. >> that's the thing, right >> thank goodness. >> it's more than it was last year, but i can't tell you how many people will walk out of that office and grumble under their breath that it's not as much as they wanted or they'll hear that somebody else got more than the other this is -- >> you'll never find true happiness that way never find true happiness. >> right >> i'm just saying -- >> right trying to chase your tail.

never catch it. coming up, shares of biogen under pressure after a key decision on its alzheimer's drug and don't miss our exclusive interview with mario gabelli a reminder you can watch or listen to uses live any time on the cnbc app 'lbeig bk.

. welcome back shares of biogen plunging after hours on news about its controversial alzheimer's treatment. late yesterday, u.s. officials said medicare will provide insurance coverage for the drug, but only for recipients who are willing to enroll in qualifying clinical trials. that will sharply limit the number of patients who could use the expensive drug it's the first treatment in the united states to slow cognitive decline in people living with alzheimer's. some doctors have refused to prescribe it because of mixed data to the fda. the fda approved the drug last june under an accelerated pathway but asked the company to confirm its benefits or risk from having the approval withdrawn. that approval ran counter to the advice of an independent panel of experts at least three members of that panel resigned in protest. the treatment is expected to cost medicare billions of dollars a year and was responsible for a substantial cost in premiums for medicare

beneficiaries. andrew >> thanks. kicking off earnings season just 48 hours from now, we should take a quick check of the s&p bank etf it'soutpacing broader markets so far we'll get some top picks in the sector from betsy grasek next. e the way we see things. ♪♪ it inspires us to go further. ♪♪ it has our back. and goes out of its way to help. ♪♪ when you start with care, you get a different kind of bank. truist. born to care.

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welcome back to "squawk box. bank stocks, they are off to a solid start to the year only a week and a half in but on friday, we get quarterly results from jp morning while

fargo, citi and diversified finance research at morgan stanley. good morning to you. what are we going to hear you think later this week in terms of forward-looking stuff i think it's going to be unclear. i think there will be so much noise in the backwards stuff this time around, no >> it's a great question thank you for having me on today. look, we're overweight the finance stocks, mike wilson is great in his stretch of the sleeve what we think we will be hearing is a couple of things to importantly on long growth accelerating and the outlook for interest rates that will feed into bear expectations for the banks >> we have jp, bank of america, citigroup, wells, morgan stanley on the screen there. which one you like the best?

>> i don't cover morning stanley since i worked there >> we'll take that off >> good, when i think which one will do best when we're talking about on the day, on the cringe, look, i have to lean towards the more asset-sensitive banks in that group, the most asset sensitive as it relates to the benefits of rising rates is wells fargo. >> wells, fargo. do you think of that as a value play at this point or how do you consider that? is that just off the print we're talking about a stock you think is going to perform, let's say, over the next 12 months is that the same bank? >> so i guess a couple of things first, wells fargo is one of our overweights on a 12-month forward view look, the mane rin reason here because of its sensitivity you get a 50 point curve in the

expects are. the ets goes up about 18%. so it is highly geared to rising rates to raise everyone up higher than expectations or in the cringe i'm sorry, in consensus. when i'm thinking ability the other major leg for wells fargo, it's expenses. look, their expense ratio right now is pretty high it's a little fast there is a lot of reasons why. we don't need to get into that now. we can do that on another show that is something that sets it apart from other banks as i think about the next two, three years of earnings growth coming out of wells, part of the leverage to earnings growth is a reduction in expenses and an improvement in expense ratio and the reason i say it sets it apart from other banks is that, you know, many other institutions are more optimized on their expense ratio and it is the single biggest question that any investors are asking when we

think about the risks to the sector how much - >> that assumes, by the way, i don't disagree with you, but it assumes they actually get their act together and know how to operate the bang this has been a bank unfairly/fairly that's obviously had it we can say politely had its challenges over the last five years when it comes to operations >> and what we have been seeing is an improvement in core operating ability. they have been optimizing branch structure, tech back end, et cetera there is more work to do there is work to do and it's moving in the right direction. i do think we will hear from wells fargo management on friday outlook for what they're going to do, with expenses over the next year, how they will tackle that importantly, we need to discuss what the asset management sale and the corporate trust sale

mean to the core eps we get that out of the way people have a good base to think about what this management team can do to core expenses over 2022 i think the message will be positive >> when you get to own a straight bank etf right now? >> i am overweight, my friend, so the answer is yes >> are you overweight, the group. when do you -- >> yeah. >> when do you get overweight, the group? >> when did i do that in. >> i say that only because most analysts, it's hard to be overweight if are you under weight, nobody wants to listen to you. >> no, i found my way in group in the past and people have listened so when i think about to answer your question, i don't know if it was the exact day but it was in november of 2020 >> probably is right time to do

it betsy, we do listen to you we love listening to you we look forward to those numbers lapt their week. we hope to have you back soon. >> thank you so much appreciate it. >> thank you beckles. thanks, andrew when we come back, covid cases may have begun to peak in new jersey hospitalizations and deaths are rising later, ledge endsary investor mario gabelli and the earnings season. lots to get your head around this morning, we'll help you through it are you watching "squawk box" and this is cnbc

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. investors are digesting j. powell's comments on capitol hill and awaiting the latest read on inflation. we'll get you up to speed on markets. covid hospitalizations hit a record high. we'll look at the already stressed hospital systems and find out if things will improve as the number of cases starts as to trim down in hard-hit areas of the country. new momentum on capitol hill for rules to prevent lawmakers from owning individual stocks in

office we will speak to claire j. clayton about the controversy as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now >> good morning, well come back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc, i'm andrew ross sorkin along with becky quick and andrew kernon. the nasdaq is opening about 17 points higher. the s&p 500 is up about 3 point. a couple things making headlines this hour, we are a little less than inflation data the december consumer price index will be coming out, headline cpi rose the number to beat excluding food and energy, the forecast calming for a rise of half a

percent. meta platforms naming doordash ceo tony xu, the first addition to the board in nearly two years. it helped blunt criticism that they lack unless delta airlines is in a legal dispute with flight attendants about the sick leave policy. sarah nelson told workers to come in after five days if their symptoms had lessened, even if they were still testing positive the airline disputes that sent that union a cease and desist letter delta not union eased. there are ways to turn only of these airlines that become eunize becky. >> thanks, andrew. let's get a look at the pre

market with dom chu. what are you seeing? >> we are watching that play close out closely. the two-day rally from the nasdaq composite we've rallied 4-to-5% over the interday lows the last couple of days, given that sell-off pressure now we're 6-to-7% below the record high levels, still predominantly to the downside near term. still if you watch am up fractionally a quarter of 1% same thing for microsoft ap a amazon one-tenth of 1%. tesla up a quarter of a percent as well. this is that stability given the fact they will be a big focus given the fact the nasdaq been given some for now we mentioned that 39,750 bitcoin trade, that takes you back down

to the august lows right now, bitcoin is up fractionally 49,579. etherium 32.77 some of the smaller coins catch ac bit microstrategy up 1 performance as well. on the crypto currency side, sew far it's biogen after u.s. government regulators and overseers basically have said they're going to limit the potential use of biogen's all himes drugs in some of the studies, geared more towards those patients who are becky and joe and andrew looking towards the study side of things as opposed to a broader use case. some concerns for biogen, shareholders down 10%. i'll sends thing back over to you. >> becky, you might have seen this, too, as a golf guy, you

knew tim rosaforte i knew him >> i did >> he was like a golf insider. becky, i don't know if you met him at pebble. >> i don't think i have. >> he got alzheimer's like recently. >> yes >> he was 66-years-old and died yesterday so we don't think of it we don't think of it like that, that it's a 66 necessarily but we should. which makes it clear how urgent the need is to, you know, to find something that doesn't just you know help the symptoms they're trike as hard as we can. but i was in shock when i saw that, dom, yesterday, because he was a really good guy. he was very cerebral and got the no players he'd give you inside infought. i came across it a million times in the last ten, 15 years. and i saw that yesterday i was like, what did he die of at 66? it was alzheimer's >> pre-covid, i had the chance

to your point, i had the chance do to cover industry conference, that sort of things. i would run into rosy, the golf community knows him as, he was always ever vesey september, kind of probing. the questions he would ask me about my thoughts on the business side of the game, the economy's side of the game, to your point, joe, he was so cerebral, he always wanted to know and dig deeper into the game and what other people thought about it but to your point and when i heard news of it yesterday, i had immediately went out and tweeted my tribute to him. and just calling attention to the fact that the alzheimer's association should be something that a lot of people pay more attention tom i know i pay a lot of attention to that particular side of things, because i've had people in my family who have gone through you know mental issues, dementia, alzheimer's, and that as well, so certainly

something to watch by my condolences, i am sure all of us here, tim rosaforte and his family and everybody out there. >> exactly, dom. thanks, dom. appreciate it. >> sure. >> we send our condolences as well, 66 mortgage applications crossing the wires, diana olick has the numbers. good morning. >> good morning, joe mortgage rates have shot up at the start this year. that may be pushing the housing market into an early spring. the average rate for conforming loans jumped from 3.3% to 3.52% last week. that's the highest level since march of 2020 when the pandemic started, instead of backing off, mortgage demand from home buyers rose 2% from last week to the week before. we were talking to a lot of real estate agents, they tell me they are seeing a lot more demand, clients telling them, they are

worried the rates will move hire the biggest jump in demand was for faa and va loans those are generally used by lower income buyers, that is those with less wiggle room in their walletles. purchase demand is less than a year ago it usually rises this time as houses sit on the market longer. again that's just not the case now refinance buying, of course, is getting hit hard. it didn't move week-to-week. it's down 50% from the same week a year ago joe. >> thanks, deanna. we -- owe diana, that's the negati, we think about raising rates then other comps go up in other areas. so i don't know why anyone would want to be fed chair if i were j. powell i think i'd go you know what, you can take this job and keep it i ain't working here no more but it's tough, isn't it, diana?

>> look, you have rates going up it takes away purchasing power from buyers when the market is incredibly pricey. if you want to do glass is half full on this, you can say it might help pull the prices book a little bit that's what started them in the first place. we had more than a dozen record low rates on the 30-year fixed in 2021. that really pulled prices higher, people could afford more maybe now prices cool off a built. will it be enough to make up for the rising mortgage rates? that's what we will see this spring for sure. >> okay. all right. good point diana olick. thanks >> just a quick update on what we have been -- i just want to mention to everybody, we have been trying to give our viewers a heads up for when tests are available when we find them in places they're available on walmart.com right now a. people in the control room trying to find tests. they are available right now at

walmart.com. they sell out pretty quickly so check it out. >> okay. make your way to walmart.com if you, by the way, if you can wait three days if you have a couple in the house for whatever reason, then you can actually get paid back by them from your insurance company. so that's another way. they do appear, by the way, to be about 20 bucks which i know is lower than other prices, it is still higher than where they were i wish all these companies would go back to the pricing that they had earlier. coming up, when we return, covid hospitalizations have reached a new high surpassing last january's peak, the omicron variant putting pressure on an already strained medical facilities we will discuss the spike after the break. before we he ed to a break, let's get a check on the marks right now. "squawk" is coming right back. s is here to help you hit the ground running. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device,

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new this morning, the biden administration is taking action to try and increase access to covid-19 testing in schools around the country with the goal of increasing the number of tests available to schools by so million a month. as a part of the effort, the white house also plans to distribute 5 million free rapid tests to k through 12 schools each month and it will set aside

lab capacity to support an additional pcr test as well. the cdc will work with states to help the schools and local testing providers work together. covid hospitalizations in the united states has surpassed last winter's peak. hospitals around the country are continuing to face pressure as it puts more stress on the healthcare system. hospital covid patients, our next guest says his main concern is staffing. joining us for more is the ceo of university hospital in newark, new jersey, where over 300 employees are out of work right now because of covid doctor, thank you very much for being here why don't we talk very specifically about staffing and big concerns you are facing at the hospital right now where do things stand? >> thank you so much for having me so we have about half of our beds now filled with patient who's have a diagnosis of covid-19 over 60% of them actually came in with covid-19 but not for covid-19 based on whether it's

the primary diagnosis or not so i think that's important to understand because ultimately in the context of the staffing crisis we're facing right now, i am more worried about a healthcare problem rather than a covid-19 problem right now, we're seeing our work force demoralized. there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel that i can pay now as i did in the spring of 2020 and we're seeing a flight from healthcare for very talented commission between the ages of 45 and 60 often the most energetic folks in the hospital. i think that will be a problem that may outlast the omicron wave, which seems to have already plateaued at least in cases in the new york metro area so, i'm hoping that there is going to be some national policy solution to this balls we have a lot of public health problems to contend with this our community after this omicron wave >> what public policy could be put in place that would make people feel better after living through almost two years of this

constant strain and extreme pressure that the front lean hospital workers have been under? >> we had a lot more focus i think on healthcare work force development, making the incentives even better for folks to enter the work force. mid-career in the beginning of their careers. as i said, the folks between the ages of 45 and 60 are fleeing healthcare right now, which is impacting us so anything in the incentives for loan reimbursement, loan repayment p. also investment in the public health problems we will be facing next, right now, we're hoping to build the a women and children's-focused hospital on this campus. we will be announcing a master plan to do that. without the essential work force that's needed to complete that task for the community, we're going to be facing a lot of problems so i think it's important also for a clear definition from the government on what the end game is here. what is the light at the end of the up the el that i can paint for my staff to say we're moving to the endemic phase

i think the cdc is doing their best to of course adapt to rapid evidence some desks some targets on a realistic level of cases, knowing that omicron is spreading uncontrollably right now. that even vaccinated folks are gemting t. all that needs to be taken into context for us to again paint that picture for the next phase when we evolve from this stage. >> you mentioned the cdc is moving us towards that endemic phase of all of this you say there have been problems with it. obviously, it's create at lot of confusion, what would you like to hear more of from the cdc >> well, i think, first of all, having been a public health official myself, it's never easy to adapt to rapidly-evolving evidence, especially in the context of a global poke i'm say that up front. again, some degree of targets, benchmarks for when we move to the next phase here, when we can stop viewing this as something that can be shutting down

businesses, debilitating normal life per se. just as an example, a flu every year does send multiple team to the hospital unfortunately, many of them do pass away but we don't have nearly the level of disruption to operations that we see with omicron and omicron i do think is a little more severe at least than the flu at this point based on the data that we're seek. but at some point, we need some guidance on the next step. what case level will define the endemic phase. what does that mean for rules on the healthcare system and what we can do and wasn't we should avoid? how much capacity should we be creating what is the guidance for healthcare institutions that will be dealing with this pandemic but also the aftermath with minutal and behavioral held hth issues exploding in the community. the aftermath of deferred care, the safety and quality of care right now, for our hospitals, for our beds i think some picture painted for what to expect

when we expect it to happen will be really important. >> in terms of where you stand right now. we mentioned that have you 300 employees out. what does that mean? how big is your employee buys a base and what does that mean you can do whether it's covid or something else >> we have just over 3,000 employees, so we're approaching 10%, out through covid-19. that's disproportionately on the bedside every single day treating our patients. so because of that we are now looking at possibly going to crisis staffing which really involves going to ratios that are extremely uncomfortable with staff, that may portend for safety and quality issues in the context of a poic that seems to be peaking in terms of cases in this community and i hope the work force issues start to resolve after this particular wave of omicron but i'm not very optimistic about that because many of the work force shortages actually

started before the omicron wave. again, we need to really focus and have national solutions, local solutions, policy funding, support, the healthcare work force, i think it is a major systemic risk to public health right now. my colleagues across the country are saying the same thing. we need help with this >> are you getting any response? because i seen you on other shows and know you have been pretty outspoken about some of these issues has anybody in washington responded? >> i think folks in washington are responding, especially on the latest moves by the cdc to allow for healthcare workers to come back to work after five days a lot of us were calming for that seeing the disturbing trends with folks out of work. the cdc responded quickly to that and in accordance with the latest evidence on when spread happens. the administration has been very opened to feedback again i think it would be exceptionally helpful to at least define targets to when we are moving to an endemic phase

all the factors we haven't seen yet at my hospital i know our community can benefit. and, of course, increasing access to testing. there is a lot more work to do but again the administration has been receptive when we've come to urgent problems >> were doctor, this kind of explains the rub, though, the need that you see as the administrator there to make sure the hospital is staffed and able to handle the cases from a lot of people that need critical care, not just from covid but from anything that's happening but the american medical association and nurse's unions have pushed back to the guidance saying they shouldn't be forced to come back to work if they have symptoms, if they're still testing positive they see things differently. what have you heard from the doctors and nurses at your hospital >> well, of course, there is a universal agreementand support for staff. but what i also hear from many staff is they can't abide by the fact they may be the only nurse on a unit, the only ifition that has to take care of double the

amount of patients on the list that also adds to work force stress that causes folks to call out sick or call out otherwise because they don't want to be the only clinician on the floor and so the effect on patients is something that we have to think about first and foremost and if are you in a bed without staff or without the level of supervision and attention that you deserve, as a patient that portends for alot of problems. we are struggling, policy makers at the state level are as well we are seeing it right here on the ground we think and i this city benefits of bringing folks back to work if they are asymptomatic or have a fever on that fifth day, they're not coming back to work if they are asymptomatic, they are able to. frankly, i have received calls on both sides of the issues, some saying, hey, i want to come back i feel well. we had to tell folks, no, are you still within that five-day range. especially the healthcare heroes

we have here are willing to come and step up. >> i think that explains exactly the problem the nation is facing right now. thank you very much for your time today we appreciate it >> thank you coming up, a new momentum on capitol hill for rules that prevents lawmakers from owning or trading individual stocks in office the former sec chair jay clayton, we'll speak to him about that doordash rising, evercore upgrading [ inaudible [ music playing "squawk box" we'll be right baback

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still to come right here on "squawk box," former sec chair jay clayton will talk about a new push on capitol hill plus nasdaq making this year's just 100 lisss we will talk to ceo againa friedman about it and that achievement. stay tuned you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc

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♪ there is new momentum on capitol hill for rules to prevent lawmakers from owning or trading individual stocks while in office. ylan mui joins us now with more. good morning >> yeah, joe, congress likes to talk tough about reigning in wall street.

lawmakers are divide and the calls to the stock trades and ownership altogether are coming from some surprising corners of capitol hill house minority leader kevin mccarthy is in favor of this idea until he considers new rules for taking the house in november on the other side of the capital and the other side of the aisle is democratic senator jon o ossoff he plans to put the deal this week to require dependents to put their assets in a blievendz trust or face penalties. the trust in congress act, moderate democratic relationship abigail spamberger is leading that push. >> reporter: this goal of this bill is to say you have no control over where your stocks do or don't go have you no control of whether or not you know you are buying or selling stocks to benefit yourself with information you know because you are a legislator or any of the votes you may take on the house floor are not meant to enrich your

stock portfolio. >> now one of the biggest opponents of this idea is house speaker nancy pelosi, who has defend congressional trading as a part of a free market economy. back over to you. >> wow i know, i saw that i thought about the seinfeld episode in a bizarreo world. trying to make sense of it so speaker pelosi in this case is citing free market principles there are so many other cases. >> yes, she is >> i am wondering where is the free market, i know, sort of zeitgeist for what she is talking about in almost every other situation. these are very strange bed fellows. and i don't want to be you know. >> yeah. >> i know she's done okay. i love her husband, i know her husband. they're very nice. they have done well. we all do well we can't hear, but i want everyone to participate in the free market the benefits of the

free market as well. so i understand, but it just seems weird. >> yeah. part of the problem here, joe, is that the existing rules that govern financial disclosures and trading among lawmakers is about ten-years-old, business insider did an investigation and found something like 52 lawmakers violated the disclosure rules. the penalty if you don't follow them is very small something like $200 on your very first violation the rules are complicated. there is weakly enforced the penalties aren't that strong and that is why there is a call for more stringent regulations >> the colt e total quagmire jay clayton, former chair of the sec and a cnbc contributor jay, i have so many conflicting

dots on this i know at the sec you have some restrictive rules and i know you, on the one hand, would echo speaker pelosi you don't want all politicians to be totally devoid of private sector experience if they built a business or individual companies, things like that. it's hard to say you can't have any of that. you need to divest everything. but then again, jay, they think of -- they do so many different things in congress that could affect individual issues and the overall economy that i don't know how normal insider trading rules can be applied to someone, to people that have such a wide influence of things. i initially thought, i'd prevent all short sales. most of what they want to do is going to be bad for the economy. i'm kidding. but they shouldn't be able to short things, because they certainly can screw things up. >> well,joe, it's into is to

see you. look, i think that you had chair gensler on, on monday. people saw chair powell's testimony yesterday. and there is i think a growing consensus is short term trading, whether you are going short, going long for the short term, et cetera, by people who have influence over policy is something that needs more than just insider trading rules look, we're not painting on a plank van vas here, joe. if you look at insiders at corporations, we have very restrictive rules. in fact, rules that we're looking to enhance right now on when they can and cannot trade short swing profit and the like. people in regulated financial institutions have very restrictive rules on when they can trade and reporting and the

like so there is -- there are reference points here, whereas congress goes in this. i thought the way j. powell outlined what the fed is going to come out with in the near term here, it was very sensible. a 45-day period from the time that you choose to make an investment decision until that investment decision is executed. that'swhat i heard that eliminates the idea of a short-term trading particular window so you have to hold those eliminating short-term trading, sounding like they were going to restrict single-stock positions. there are templates that congress with follow here. two things the you mentioned one, we need people in congress in our government institutions who have private sector experience one thing we have to be very careful is the divestiture requirements you need room for people to hold

the small businesses, et set ramp another thorny issue s to be addressed are spouses you have to have rules that give people comfort but do not require spouses to give up their livelihoods. you will restrict too many people from entering the public sector if you do that. >> some time of overall blanket approach probably makes sense. c cnbc, we report on things. i guess we have some marginal influence from time to time. i wouldn't do it based on -- i shouldn't say that but we have very restrictive palmettosles. you think about the type of information that people in congress, the senate or the house have not just about pending legislation but about national security, about all kind of things that are not

widely dissome nated then you think of the fed. the fed, itself, thinks the entire economy is dependent on what they do if they believe that, they shouldn't be able to turn individual issues, i don't know how you figure it out, or do it other than almost a plank et ban, ja i. >> let me make a point on the blanket ban pushing everybody into index funds let's not think that that is necessarily a panacea here because index funds, you report on this all the time, 20% of an index fund is ten names. are you not going to eliminate that and, look, we do not want, we do not want people to be forced completely out of the market okay if youare going to be in government for six, eight, nip, ten years and are you not able to invest in the market on a

broad-based way, i think that's also a loss. you want your elected officials to be riding along with the american people and the american economy. so we have to find a way forward, recognizing that there is no panacea. but what chair powell laid out yesterday was very sensible. ride along but don't short-term trade. have a broad based have a managed account, et cetera >> jay, here's the thing i don't understand clearly, congress is unwilling to regulate itself that has been the lesson for as long as i can remember the only agency and i wrote about this last year, so you know about it, the only agency that i believe actually has the authority to regulate this without congress, if you will, though maybe it would go to court, would actually be for the sec to try to put some policies in place on the assumption that

you could argue that your job, meaning whoever is in that job, gary genzler today, is there to oversee the credibility of the markets, anything that undermines the credibility of the market, including politician buying and selling stock before public information is available undermines the value and credibility of the market. obviously, whoever is in that seat doesn't want to do it because their budget is approved every year by congress so how do you ever get to a place where you can quote/unquote self regulate people who don't want to be regulated. >> i think, andrew, there is all sorts of separation of powers issues and the likes there as to whe whether the sec can enforce laws, if there is insider trading, the sec brought case, during a sitting member of congress that does happen what have we seen here

we've seen pressure from the hill on other agencies to adopt more rigorous rules. i would like to see the hill do a little of self reflection here they're pushing for those rules. it's a part of their oversight they should modernize the rules. >> do you think in retrospect either when you were in this position, just a year-and-a-half ago or now that gary gensler is in this position that somebody at the sec should be making active proposals to maybe not regulate what is being bought and sold but potentially you can create a whole disclosure scheme on the agency under the umbrella of the sec that would not be possible now it might get -- it could get objected to. but it would at least change the conversation in a real way >> i'd love to see it on a collaborative basis, andrew. the sec provides to members of corporation house and senate

side what we call technical analysis or assistance the sec could be a part of the mix here as to design the kind of program that we just talked about. one that draws on experience with executives, brokerage houses, the sec's own rigorous ethics rules and deals with some of these issues in a proactive way. i would encourage members of congress who are pushing bills forward to consult with the sec staff on these things. what has worked. >> jay, let's be honest, how disappointed would we have gary gensler on this show earlier this week. didn't want to talk about it didn't want to deal with it. of course. >> i have no doubt that if a member of the house and a member of the senate reaches out and says i want technical assistance, turn it around quick lip. tell me what's worked, what hasn't worked, the sec staff will provide. >> sure, the question, though, should he be using his bully pulpit if you will

you now you are not in the seat, it appears you are willing to say, yes, there should be stronger policies in place it's fascinating to me that gary gensler is unwilling to even say that >> well, i'm in a much freer position now, andrew i am a citizen it's my view again, the relationship between congress and the sec but, i think that there is a general consensus that the rules on the hill need to be modernized it's hard to find somebody to take the other side. >> all right jay. it's good to see you where are you? are you at home? you need a couple on the wall. >> i'm isolated. this is isolation. >> but you don't have to be like, i don't know, i'd feel uncomfortable sitting there under those bright lights with nothing on the -- are you all right? are you good no one is forcing you to say these things, right? okay all right.

jay. thanks, jay. all right. we'll see you later. bye. >> we hope he's feeling well when we come back, with the just 100s, saw the biggest shift year over year, notably nasdaq making its just 100 debut. we speak to the ceo adena friedman and of course the markets, too and later, the market awaiting new inflation data, we will bring you the latest cpi data and market reaction. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ wow, we're crunching tons of polygons here! what's going on? where's regina? hi, i'm ladonna. i invest in invesco qqq, a fund that gives me access to the nasdaq-100 innovations, like real time cgi. okay... yeah... oh. don't worry i got it! become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq

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this week, we are covering companies in the just 100. those are the rankings, they're exam and based on metrics and paying a fair wage and disclosures based on polling of the american people. for the first time, nasdaq making that list of america's most just companies ranking number 91. joining us to discuss this is nasdaq ceo adena friedman, for so many of the companies, the list on the nasdaq, when you go through the just 100 something you might be proud of is so many are nasdaq-listed companies. >> yes, i noticed that, myself

we are very, very proud of the companies that have made it there. we are obviously very excited and honored to be a part of that lith, itself >> so speak to this. have you made a priority to address a number of the issues that rank very high in terms of the priority list for the just 100. they have as jones said performed on the whole he believes as a result of this, there were some skeptics yesterday when the list came out. i wanted to ask you about this some people look at this list and they say look some of the most successful companies are making a fortune that i have great profits, because they have great profits, they can afford to do some of these things and that, frankly, companies that aren't as successful aren't in a position to do them we're sort of reverseing the situation. i was hoping you might be able to weigh in on that. >> well, i do think it's important to the recognize that

every company goes through a different stage in their life cycle so younger companies that are growing and are really just trying to become a success i think that they have to have, they have certain priorities but they can still focus on how they achieve their goals in addition to just what goals they achieve. i think really when you think about what is just capital about, it's really how you are going about delivering those shareholder returns and making sure are you thinking about your communities around you while you do it. some of those things can be significant investments. but there are a lot of things you can do that are not significant investments in terms of considering your employees being involved in your communities, thinking about the governance of your company and manage carbon output responsibly. so i don't think it's just because they're successful, they have an opportunity to invest in the types of things that matters to the just capital group but more as you are growing up in

the company, are you thinking about all the stakeholders in the process of growing and expanding your business. >> one of the other issues is simply disclosure. transparency clearly, you rank higher on a list like this, if there is more transparency, so there is always this is chicken or egg question for a lot of companies, when do you disclose some of these disclosures are increasingly being required. i want to actually talk to you about some of them ive disclosures you are hoping more and more companies will have in the future they can become a forcing mech necn unto themselves if the disclosure doesn't make you know, isn't pretty, if you will, is it still work making the disclosure >> yeah. i this i, first of all, we are a disclosure economy if you really think about the public markets and what the sec requires, it requires disclosure to allow investors to make an informed choice. are you right. there are certain disclosures companies may say, let me get better first before i disclose

i think, in fact, one of the things nasdaq did recently we are disclosing the diversity of our company, in some respects, you can say, gosh, i wish it were better, maybe i want to try to make it a better picture before i disclose it but we made the decision even though we know that we have work to do, to disclose that to investors and allow them to track our progress i think investors really appreciate the ability to track progress as we move esg from this notion of let me get started in my esg journey and a lot of companies have gotten started in really understanding how they can improve the communities around them and improve how they mapping their employees and their clients. it's now a matter of tracking progress we're kind of move nook i would say the second phase of esg, which is how quickly can companies move along and make a difference and have an impact. the only way we can measure that is if it's disclosed

so i do think just capital is right in focusing in on disclosures. >> when i meet with investors or potentially with companies with a listing on nasdaq, how frequently are they asking you direct questions about those type of issues and questions you are addressing in some of these disclosures now. >> sure. we have a high demand for that so our companies are asking a lot of questions on that we, in fact, have a very comprehensive advisory service we offer our listing companies, this is any that would like this receive the service, it helps them how to navigate this whole new disclosure environment around esg and gives them a reporting tool one report that allows them to enter all the information they want to disclose into one place. we will then send it out to all metrics companies and the frameworks, to put it in one, we'll send it to many. we help them understand what are the priorities some we walk

through and say what are your priorities as a company? how do you want to demonstrate these priorities are making a difference in and how do you then want to disclose it we give them the tools that allows it successfully we've made that a part of our ipo package today. >> real quick. we have to run against a hard break. the marks have been volatile, nasdaq stocks have been hit as you know in large part because so many of them have been growth stocks and we're in a period where it appears that j powell may end the punch bowl at least a little bit here. what's your expectation for the rest of the year >> i think that, first of all, i think the under pinning of the economy is strong. we're seeing hoy rates for consumers and strong demand and companies doing well and growing. the digital transformation is continuing to drive demand for software and other services. so the under pinning is strong i think there are two factors

that could slow growth a bit one is just the tight labor market and inability to find those employees that can help you grow second are the supply chain challenges that are making it harder to complete goods or complete projects. so i think those two things are going to have to factor together the fed is going to have to navigate through that while they try to normalize rates i think we have to recognize right before the pandemic, we were just over 1% or so in rates. trying to get back to where we were before the poke was going to be the fed's drop this year >> fair enough and important context. thank you. adena, congratulation, great achievement. we should tell the audience they can check out the full list of just 100 companies you can scan the code or go to cnbc.com/just100. when we come back, we will talk the latest out of washington and how president biden may be able to move his agenda through a divided

congress plus don't miss our teieinrvw with mario gabelli, he will give us his take on the markets and the fed and much more. the fed and much more. >> move your money to sofi. you could earn up to $2,230 when you download the app, and feel what it's like to get your money right.>

good morning, futures pointing higher snapped a

five-day losing streak in yesterday's session. this hour we will talk markets in the year ahead with veteran investor mario gabelli what are the odds the democrats are resurrect president biden's build back better plan before the mid-terms? and what it would mean if it can't deliver? we will speak with the chair of the progressive party about that the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now [ music [ music playing >> good morning, welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm joe conkernon and u.s. equiy

futures have a spotlightly upward bias. there is green on the screen as far as implied opening the s&p not far from an all-time high the dow jones is hanging in there. in the past two sessions it's kind of shaken off the angst and doldrums about higher rates. it's turned in some pretty good gains. yesterday, each of the major averages did end higher. it's the first time that happened since the first trading day of the year on january 3rd treasury yields have finally started moving higher, reflecting maybe the reality of what we we will see from the federal reserve. people pointed out to me the crude has been moving higher lumber has doubled again from some recent lows you can see wti now back to $81. we will get becky some cpi data later on this morning. >> yeah, those numbers are

expected to be hot the question is how lot? i guess we'll see in a lit bit in the meantime, let's get you caught up with stories investors will be talking about today. the white house announcing increased support for covid testing in schools starting this month. they plan to make 5 million rammed tests and cr tests available to schools this is meant to cover shortfalls as the omicron variant spreads. slayers of biogen falling hard, too. medicare agreed to cover the partial alzheimer's drug it will pay only if patients are enrolled in early trials and have early stage symptoms, pipe were sands ler dropping biogen from neutral toll overweight from 362 to $3 scene the stock is trading just above that this morning. it declined at about 8.8% to $220.15. dish and directv are if merger

talks, that's according to sources who spoke to the new york post. the satellite tv companies have had on again/off again talks over the last 20 years, the latest round pushed by the minority owner tpg capital there have always been anti-trust concerns. and we keep asking, are we irrelevant enough yet? maybe some day the daanswer is yes. >> it mozambique in just under 90 minutes until the opening bell, i want to bring in the marks commentator, mike santoli, the turn around we saw on wall street yesterday mike. >> andrew, it started from a pretty familiar spot at the mid-day lows on monday, the s&p had gone down 4.9% we've had 5% pullbacks around that level since the beginning of last year so it held right there and also internally it seemed there was enough for now was the conclusion, enough treasury yield rise for the moment. enough of the violent rotations

into cyclical value away from growth so it seems like a pause but it does get the index up to levels we reached in early november so it's unclear if this is chopping around a trading range or it's going to be a little more of a durable comeback we are down 2% from the highs. but that rally in the last day-and-a-half makes you feel a lot better 12 days into the year take a look at some of those rotations the most value stocks and the cheapest stocks in the s&p 500 against growthiest we had this in the early part of last year, the first quarter of 2021 was all about the reopening trade. it was react sell racing of the economy. it was about yields going higher it was about value stocks working, growth did nothing. here you see we're trading back and forth. now you have a little liftoff, a lot is energy financials, all the names you would think of we'll see if this gets escaped velocity or we will shuffle back

and forth. we have the fed in transition. we have a decelerate economy now. some of the conditions are changing, the big question is, does the i don't have all market have to ultimately pay any price leading up to that stuff the bounce was most pronounced in the areas most beaten down. take a look at those sectors this is chinese internet stock also the ipo etf, recent ipos as well as sports betting. look at how they have similar waterfall pasts, all peaked in february the arc funds would look very similar to this what you see here is really dramatic bounces off very depressed he was, you have a lot of room left for basically reflex bounces as opposed to something that's more sustainable before you can even decide if there is really going to be a return to this area and if they're going to kind of heal themselves in a more enduring way. >> mike, i don't know if you saw it he was on our air as well, but goldman sachs dave costin yesterday put out a report,

maybe sunday over the weekend, where he effectively said tech, be ig tech in particular is what recalled the single greatest missed u.s. stockings, the question whether you this i that sentiment is being appreciated in the marketplace and whether you see a true turn around >> well, yeah. i think it's recognized very broadly that the megacap growth area of the u.s. market is the thing that makes the u.s. market much more expensive than the rest of the world. is the thing that has actually been responsible for a lot of the s&p 500 resilience and ability to have better returns and it does stand out relative to the average stock in terms of its valuation. i think everyone gets that the question is, is it a reserved premium i think what's more interesting, he was also saying at high growth but sort of high predictability of earnings is one basket high growth, where you have low predictability and all of a sudden you don't even know if you will earn that much.

that's been this type of stuff right here i think that has been largely washed out the question, is if you only have apple 4% off its record high is that enough hoff a haircut if we're in a valuation/compression mode that's the debate i think he is framing out there. >> mike santoli, always good to see you getting a perspective on all of it. thanks still to come, we have breaking economic data we will have december's read on the consumer price index on the way. we will be speaking with veteran investor mario gabelli about markets he is watching in the year to come up next, congresswoman pramila jayapal, we will ask her pramila jayapal, we will ask her if new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed.

build back better bill can get put through ahead. put through ahead. >> -capsule! -capsule! capsule saves me money on prescriptions. capsule took care of my insurance. capsule delivered my meds to my doorstep. capsule is super safe and secure. get your prescriptions hand delivered for free at capsule.com

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nasdaq up 1.4% indicated up another 25 points this morning crypto currency, we have been paying attention, bitcoin trading at 43,340. other crypto is up as well joe. >> thanks, becks. 2022 beginning without a lot of momentum tore president biden's education spending package, because after a bipartisan group of law makers passed the infrastructure plan, west virginia senator joe manchin said he couldn't support the other piece of legislation known as build back better that's something progressiveles had warned about and it could spell trouble later for them in the mid-terms perhaps this year. joining us to talk about the fate of build back better, whether it could be brought back congressman pramila jayapal of washington state, she is the

chair of the professional caucus congress woman, it's really good to see you this morning. how are you? good to have you on? >> it is good to see you as well, joe. thanks for having me back on. >> you are very welcome. congresswoman, how do we -- in your view, what's the next step? we heard from senator manchin. you have urged president biden to maybe go it alone with executive action for some of the initiatives in build back better can it be resurrected legislatively with senator manchin in your view diplomatic? >> joe, i believe it can, he called me after that interview on fox news. we talked about the fact that the bill that he had the framework, that he had agreed to just a month before he had given his commitment to the president on that framework was a little different than the house bill we passed the house bill had a few more things in it that senator manchin had not agreed to.

typically in the legislative process, that's a discussion you can take those things back out, if you can't get 50 votes i think in the end our view is that we can do build back better, or very close to the frame that senator manchin committed to the president on. so right now, we are in the midst of a big push on voting rights as you know and as soon as that is done, probably next week, our attention will turn back to build back better. it has passed the house with all but one democrat voting for it, unfortunately, no republicans, just like the american rescue plan, which was incredibly successful, popular and helped our markets and our economy to continue to grow we might have to do this alone, unfortunately, but it will provide universal child care, universal pre-k, investments in housing. it will drive economic recovery, continue to drive economic recovery just as the worst is

ame the american rescue plan did, hopefully within the next month. >> the state of the state or the state of the union or whatever you want to calm in congress right now, i'm just wondering whether and we have people from both sides of the aisle on here. we're always friendly, we're always talking we like to try to come to some consensus, that itself what the american people want but it just seems poisoned right now in washington, d.c the president said americans opposed to the voteing rights are domestic enemies, in the past, he has said he would never question motive of his opponents, just their views. but i think we've gone away from where we just questioned the other side's opinions or policies and we're actually questioning motive do you think we're there and is there any hope we can come back from that, in your view >> well, i think it is a really

tough time i think a lot of it stems from the january 6th and the refusal of some of our colleagues to even sigh that that was an insurrection, that there were, you know, that that was the most violent attack on the united states capital since the war of 1812 i think that is where some of this stems from. the, you nope, the refusal to even admit that the president is the duly elected president of the united states. but that said, joe, can i just tell you, that there are a number of things that we continue to work with our colleagues on across the aisle and sometimes, voting radio its is one, build back better, the american rescue plan we laughed and said no republican voted for that but everybody went back and dragged about how much money it brought into their district that will be the case with build back better as well so i think we can't necessarily say that everything is hunky dorie on the hill. but i do think that there are

still many things happening. some of which can continue to be bipartisan like our anti-trust bills are very bipartisan. there are other places where we have pa lot of commonality with our colleagues on the other side but unfortunately, many of the big things right now are partisan only because of the filibuster and the requirement that you need ten additional votes in the senate. if you didn't have that additional requirement, you could have bipartisan bills passing with two, three, four, five republican votes and everybody would sigh how great this is a bipartisan bill. so i think that's sort of where we are but i am a perpetual optimist in how we get work done for the country that helps lower costs for americans and c yates opportunities for their lives. >> your viewpoint on how to improve american's lives, you

have your viewpoint and i know there are people on the other side of the aisle that probably have a different viewpoint that's sort of where i'm going admittedly, joe manchin made 51. but there were also 50 other senators that were elect ltd., duly elected from different places i ne all politics are local. are you in washington state. but aznar row as the victory was in both the house, you lost some seats, democrats did and you needed a runoff election in georgia no get to 50-50 in the senate and it was a close presidential race as well. these are vast changes that are important to you as a progres progressive, but people on the other side and their constituents thinks it's a way too far, a bridge too far in terms of the government intervention, taxation, in terms of government involvement in the private sector you can understand, you know, how there is disagreement at this point, right, congressman do you think have you the

mandate to force these things through? >> well, joe, i think that's a really important point you are making, which is, let's look at what the american people want and i guarantee that you across the aisle from republican to democrat, independent, people want to have affordable child care people want to have universal pre-k. people want to see the wealthiest pay their fair share, not more than their fair share, but they want to see the wealthiest individuals and corporations pay their fair share. these are remarkably ploorp across ideology -- popular across ideology. what happens in congress sometimes is the people who are in congress are not actually reflecting the viewpoints of the american people. i'll give you one example on raising the minimum wage now, raising the minimum wage used to be seen as a very far left idea. it is no longer that, joe. in states that elected donald trump that went for donald trump, you see the minimum wage passed to increase the minimum

wage yet, we have not been able to raise the federal minimum wage for so long. so, i think we have to distinguish when we say do people in every part of the political spectrum, do people agree with these ideas this is not some crazy left-wing agenda this is the agenda that democrats ran and won on it is actually an agenda that the vast majority of it is supported by the american people point by point but also eastern if you look at the overall legislation. talking about build back better or the american rescue plan. people want to see better jobs, higher wages and fair taxation and that is really what build back better does, lowers costs and pays for it entirely by finally making the wealthiest corporation individuals just pay their fair share no more than that pay their fair share. >> congresswoman, we have the head of the chamber of congress on yesterday she said there are certainly

bipartisan things that she thinks she would see broad support for, things like child care the chamber is advocating for better child care policies so workers can get back out to the workplace. if there are broad stretches if there are areas where there are broad swaths of bipartisan support, why not tip these things off one by one instead of putting it altogether in one big bill and saying it's all or nothing? >> because of the -- it's a great question because of the 60 vote threshold to even block something from being considered on the senate floor, we have passed these bills in the house with the simple majority. in the senate, unfortunately, there is this filibuster rule. that means we all twist ourselves into parliamentarian pretzels to try to make something a budget bill so that we can bypass the phf filibusten

go through reconciliation. why do we need one standard for taxes passed by a simple majority and a completely different standard for universal child care or pre k. that is the problem, unfortunately. i do think reforming the rules of the senate so that we can just pass things with a simple majority would be the answer >> i wasn't talking about bipartisanship within your party. i meant within both sides, which means you bite be able to get more than 60 votes for some of these things. >> i don't know why you apt 60 vote threshold if you want bipartisanship in fact on taxes as you know. >> i'm saying there are probably some things where you would get more than 60 votes things like child care, that you would be able to pull both sides of the aisle together. >> i don't know. i really don't know. it's become very difficult where unfortunately i believe the other side has decided to block everything that we do. so i think that is a real challenge and here's the problem.

we don't have time to spend another two years figuring out how we get women into the workplace. if you look at the statistics for jobs, you see that women have been pushed out of the workplace at remarkable, remarkable speed and i was just talking to one of our hospital ceos yesterday in my district. and he was telling me the healthcare industry, very reliant on both labor of women in that industry has been really suffering because of all of the covid, all of the stress, and the fact that a lot of the women don't have child care. now, this hospital provided child care, but they couldn't do it for jeff. we really need the government to invest in the things, get people back to work around get women back into the pork force, so we - work force so we're not taking a decade step back when we look at participation of women in the economy. >> your party might not always in be charge, congresswoman. i don't know what might happen without a filibuster, we could

be sitting here a year from now. you might have a look on your face, oh my god, what are these people going to do with a simple majority you thought about that are you sure you want to go there? >> i thought about that, here's the thing, they already do it for taxes, it's already a simple majority so why can't we do it with the investments we need so that people can have better opportunity? >> all right congresswoman, it's good having you, as we said on "squawk box" this morning. >> thanks for having me on thank you. okay coming up after the break, new inflation data, plus an interview no investor should miss, mario begalli will join us live about markets in the year ahead. we are back after this his girlfriend just caught the bouquet, so he's checking in on that ring fund. that photographer? he's looking for something a little more zen, so he's thinking,

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still to come this morning, we do have breaking inflation data the dow futures have picked up steam up 94 points right now s&p futures up by 10 the nasdaq up by 42. the december cpi is due in minutes. the expectation is for a hot number 10.4% for the headline we'll have the number and instant analysis in a couple of minutes. markets are higher ahead of that, the dow indicated up by 90 points "squawk box" will be right back. "squawk box" will be right back. >>

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welcome back to "squawk box. rick santelli here with the first big inflation-breaking news of 2022, our december read on the consumer price index cpi. headline number expected up .4,

a little hotter up .5 him that's cooler than the high water mark which has been up .9 that was the highest in 30th years in october x food and energy up .6. currently .6 isn't the high water mark we have come down a bit. the high water mark was .9 in april and june those were 40-year highs so we have come down a bit now here's the big numbers, year over year, headline is up 7% 7% that is the highest since 19io, june to be specific when it was up 7.1 if we look at year over year core, of course, that's not with including food and energy, it's up 5.5%. to find a higher number, we go all the way back to valentine's day of 1991. it was up 5.6% we'll call that 30 years so

these are definitely hotter than expected numbers and, of course, we probably should have expected this, when you consider what inflation has done and you think, wow, we're at 7%. 5.5% on core there is the ten-area note zealand around 1 and three-quarters very interesting as you look at real average weekly earnings year over year, they down 2.3% if you look at real hourly earnings year over year, they're down 2.4%. so, of course, we always talk about various issues such as wages, how inflation is helping some by boosting up labor costs to companies that's the inflation we're experiencing it certainly isn't being applied equally, meaning, inflation is moving much faster than wages and when it moves back down, wages will be awfully sticky that's probably what we should be concentratinging on the most. andrew

back to you. >> rick, very, very smart analysis this morning on this. we want to get some more on the data and the fed's ability to fight inflation. we want to bring in mila richardson, chief economist at adp. good morning to you. you look at these numbers, if you are j. powell, what do you do i think he was referencing maybe some expectation this was going to be the case even yesterday. >> i think you lean into your pivot. i think you lean into the fact that inflation is going to be with us longer than expected it's not transitory. it is present and they have to proceed with the plan that's been articulated, which is to roll down some of that fed purchasing, remove the accommodation and start raising interest rates to control inflation. right now, i think the fed is a little hesitant to rip off the band aid as they approach this

pretty gently. inflation is notgent him it's a sledgehammer. we are seeing that play out in the number. >> we don't need to relitigate history, but we will for a moment have they already made a policy mistake? >> they've made unprecedented changes. history is written whether changes or mistakes. let's go back a couple years now to average inflation targeting allowing inflation to rise above that 2% target and being comfortable even as inflation started tipping up being a bit gentle again with the transitory nature of the inflation, not trying to calm the market in terms of accepting higher inflation rates now having to do a lot of things at once, rom off the -- roll down the fed purchases every month and start raising interest rates. so, policy mistakes at an

unprecedented time take a little bit more room and distance to judge. but they are in the thick of it. that's for sure. and the way forward is for them to take decisive action on inflation now. >> if you look at the markets this morning, they're moving higher and continue to move higher what do you think the explanation is for that? is it already baked into the cake is it better than people expected i don't think so >> well, that's the thing about inflation expectations it could be already baked. i think the economy is doing pretty well and we've seen that play out in a number of ways and part of that wellness has been an unprecedented amount of federal stimulus with monetary and on the fiscal side i think you will see in this next earnings quarter, earnings will reflect that real growth in the economy. so this is not saying that the fed didn't have a great impact on moving it further from that fake downturn we saw in 2020

the key is what happens next to support that growth and, yes, markets are reflecting the numbers are baked in and the fed has this under control and the fed has signaled that it's under control so any change in that expectation that the feds can handle 7% inflation, you will see that play out in the volatility of the markets. >> mila, since adp is often sometimes sort of in the employment business if you will of sorts, right, the wages ultimately are sticky. do you see a moment over the next 12 months where you are either not going to see wage gains or you actually see a revers reversal is that even possible? >> well, it's possible, especially if you are talking about real wages, which are negative if you look at the cpi numbers. what i'm concerned about is, yes, we've seen wage increases,

but we've seen wage increases driven by labor shortages. but the economy, this is an important point, hasn't added one single job from the 2019 high watermark not one. all the jobs that we have seen gained are recovered jobs that were lost. we are not yet predicting new jobs in fact. , we're nearly 4 million jobs short so these wage gains are coming on top of a shrinking work force and it's not being fueled by productivity enhancements what is driving inflation rate now is the input shortages and the labor shortages and output activity so i think that wages are going to be a false metric it's not driving inflation and wages are trying to keep up with an economy that is now feeling the effects of all kind of different shortages from different openingments >> -- angles. >> what do you think the real rate is in america

>> i don't have a number for you. i think it's the fact that more people are sitting on the side lines is problematic, that the labor force participation hasn't returned despite, this is again another note, despite record numbers of job option. so we're not in a situation where there isn't demand for labor. we know that there is. there isn't a supply for some reason and it's interesting to look forward into the company's wage-setting practices our companies are willing to pay higher wages and make due with fewer workers. that's what i'm watching out for, companies will adjust to these features and automate the functions they are automate and people will be left behind in a more digitized economy so the story on this hasn't been written yet, but these inflation numbers play into wage setting practices as well. >> mila, we're all trying to figure out why it's so difficult to lure more workers back a.

part of it, obviously, is child care part of it is trying to keep schools opened so parents don't have to stay home and take care of their kids. another big part is retirees if you look at the official numberstial there were 3.3 million retirees in october of 2021 than in january of 2020 that's an increase of 7% a lot of people retiring earlier or deciding to forget it, i'm not doing this any more, i don't know how you lure those workers back into the workplace. do you think it can be done? >> yes i this i is retiring phenomenon was under way before the pandemic we knew they were going to retire we didn't have to worry about a shrinking labor force. that's done in higher asset prices we seen house prices take off. the stockmarket reach you know multiple new highs over the last two years. and that's put younger-age people in a better footing to retire sooner, but we know that retirement can last a long time,

beck yip, 20, 30 years volatility and we know that the economy is much easier to digitize your subset so i do think some of these ret retirees, they come back on their own terms, llcs, small businesses, the contract workers, 1099 workers, and we start seeing an increase in non-traditional forms of workers supply >> thank you, we appreciate your perspective on all this, this morning. >> thank you, great to be with you. >> talk to you soon. okay when we come back, jim cramer will join us with his first take on the marks and that new inflation data, a conversation with legendary investor mario gabelli don't go anywhere, "squawk box" will be back after a quick break.

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coming up, morning movers, plus investor mario gabelli will join us after a break. if the futures are picking up after the cpi data we're coming right back. >>

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. welcome back to "squawk box. we're just about an hour away until the opening bell on wall street dom chu will take a look at some of the morning's top pre-market moves. at the domino, what you got? >> here's what we got, first of all, ally financial getting a boost in the pre-market trade after it announced it will raise its dividend by 20% to 30 cents per share per quarter. those shares are up there. they're adding by way of a $2

billion share buyback. you see 2% gains for ally until also in the green. also what's happening with crocs, the plastic rubber i-type shoes, it's up and piper sands ler called it the pop picks for 2022 they think it's one of the most compelling consumer growth stories in the next several years. they up 2.5% we check on the most popular ticker searches on cnbc.com in yesterday's full session electric vehicles very much in the mix. tesla and rivian among the most searched tickers put illumina in the picks and nvidia and bausch health and like andrew pointed out, check us out on the twitter feed i'll sends things back over to you. >> i just mentioned jim cramer

joins us now some more data out of england we saw south african a reason to be optimistic, maybe, for how this plays out here it happened earlier, omicron over there. >> yeah. >> does that mean the reopening trade? you have your reopening trade intact >> yeah, i just feel like when you seal these numbers, dr. pope posts them all the time on twitter. it's so hopeful. in both there is a peak in omicron and no real increase in a lot of the parts of the country in the hospital setting. so i mean, i know it's going to go to other areas where there aren't that many people that are vaccinated but i have to tell you, joe, people are acting as if this is as bad as delta, it's not. i mean my, when i got covid, it was worse than, it was obviously bad a. little worse than a cold.

i thought the illness was, you try to take them, sure, i think that a lot of people may be saying that. i this i that other than schools, which are problematic for people to stay home. we get through this thing pretty quickly. obviously, nobody wants to get sick this thing comes, everybody seems to get it that you know and yet they're back at work, they're testing negative a week later. and in the nhl they're testing negative five days later i don't know, i think it's actually hopeful >> good. and then, this begs the question, are we ready for a post-pandemic stockmarket and is there anything to the notion that, okay, that's when we get the pullback this would be, you know, as ironic as things are whenever you are done this for a while, is that when the shackles come off the fed, the pandemic fed, they're free to do whatever they need to do >> well, look, i think that you

guys had morgan stanley in the morning, geeze, bring on the rate hikes a. lot of companies do well with rate hikes a. lot of companies are already trashed because we think we need rate hikes. and then there is technology where people wanthikes, and then there's technology. i think there's still enough to come together, so i'm not giving up on this market. i do think the higher multiple sales, no earnings are still back >> all right jim, thanks. not long before you -- 11 minutes, we'll see he tut toe up of hour. >> thank you. right now we are joined by a legendary voice in the investing community. mario gabelli, you are joining us about 20 minutes after the inflation rates.

cpi came out 7% year over year the highest back to june 1981. we fortunate in you to have some experience, who has seen markets like this before what do you think happens next >> this reminds me of the surge in demand following the second world war. i was around, but i wasn't spending in the 1970s we had the surge in inflation and voelker put a stop to that in august of 1982, but today, today, becky -- and thanks for having me on -- it's the fed from the committee minutes end of december said, we're going to have the most important element. it's not interest rates, it's not tapers, but the runoff of the $9 trillion that they put in the system us gdp will be at least 25

trillion, and so basically the u.s. is an important engine. so the question is the trade-off between the runoff and perception of the runoff and earnings q4, that's the fourth quarter of 2021, which will start getting reported at the banks this week, and then accelerate, is going to benefit from not only unit volume, mixed constant, but also price. first quarter of this year, 2022, the same thing the gross margin, companies are maybe squeezing a little but the dollars are up tax rates, depending on the company, and then the question is the same -- what multiple do i pay given the likelihood that rates will rise. that's it.

>> if you're looking at multiples, that's a game a lot of people are trying to figure out, especially because of this concern that the fed will star raising rates rapidly. microsoft is still one of your top -- >> we have a large team, a great growth team. they own microsoft, i own a little bit from historical levels because of bill gates and the team and the cascade what i like is the following -- automobiles. we have to step up production. in 2022, we're going to produce about 6 million more on a global basis and sales are only up 4 million, because we have to rebuild inventories. normally this time of year, becky, it's 3 million. we have a long runway for cars the mix of cars is skyed to the higher dollar amount you have to bring cars back down to the affordable level.

that has that change the used car market has to change so what companies do i like that cater to that market, large and small? and the cyclical background will be terrific. in addition for that europe has a problem, the first half of 2023 will be terrific. china the same way, so what truck companies all of a sudden there's three truck companies that are public that were not there at the beginning of '20. the stock is 23 euros. daimler benz spun off their truck business daimler truck is selling at 33 euros, i think you have a pretty big increase in that there's 30 thousands class a trucks proud, that's way below average, so those are the things we like. secondly aerospace, if jim

cramer is right about the covid getting some -- less of a challenge, boeing's 737 max, the airbus neo, the 320 neo, those already rise at an accelerating right. china may even give the green light for deliver from from boeing who are the vendors? number one -- not number one, i'm picking crane, they're going to earn 6.25 for the year just en en ended then 8.50 a year from now. textron makes bell helicopters, makes private components, and i think scott runs a great show

there, 225 million then kman, he's doing a better job, and i think you have a 50. >> announcer:, and then ago adult rule systems, you know, beans, corn, wheat, prices are up, the farmers' cash flow will be up sharply, and so on i like obviously deere, and the eco system in addition to that, you have companies in the infrastructure play there's a lot of things goingo that we like >> mario, let me ask you about autos in particular. you want it's going to be stronger the first half most of the world is kind of moving on, trying to get back to work as quickly as possible. china still has this zero toll ran policy for covid, shutting things down left and right with three cities what happens is that the outlier in the.

>> china's about -- when you look -- most commentaries tell you about real gdp i look at revenues revenues are a function of real gdp if you look at a global basis and inflation, inflation is high, wage inflation is my concern relative to what happened in the 70s. from china's point of view, i don't know first half of 2023 versus of first half of 2022 will look pretty solid the sang thing with europe there are other today it's 10 degrees this morning in the new york area. imagine you live in boston and you're paying the price for nat gas. we have to deal with that notion of underspending in certain airs.

more importantly, the u.s. consumer needs to buy more cars, and they need more of them there at a low price. >> mario, let me ask you about news of this morning "new york post" is reporting mergers in the media they also seem to get stopped by antitrust concerns do you think the landscape that is changed significantly enough to allow something like this to go through >> a great question, as usual. that's very per september tiff from my point of view, we have regulatory agencies, the federal communications commission, the

federal trade commission, obviously, and jerome powell, we need to understand where they're going, when jerome powell is elected to the next term, that's fine, but the federal communications commission has sitting on a deal betfor nine months z zaslov is doing a great deal, so you'll see more strategic. now they'd go to the table and try to make love and combine domestically or -- i heard that dish will be able to buy directv. the owner of directv is wounded and they'll say, okay, the whole world has changed, so i think that goes there. years ago i turned it down

>> mario, we never have enough time to chat, but thank you for being with us. thanks for joining us. >> listen, and best to andrew, joe and everybody else on your team take care. >> you take care, too. a quick check on the markets. the dow looks like it's up more than, and, guys, we'll all be back here tomorrow see you then right now, time for "squawk on the street." good wednesday morning welcome to "squawk on the street." premark is taking december cpi in stride. it's another month of sequential month-on-month declines. our road map