shareholders that in its opinion thernd vote against the plan to acquire iaa. ritchie comes out and says, hey, we strongly disagree with that we think this transaction will unlock substantial additional value. we'll be following it in the weeks ahead. let's get over to carl and sara on the floor. good monday morning. i'm sara eisen with carl quintanilla. live from the floor of the new york stock exchange. setting at again da today, u.s. commerce secretary gina raimondo on the heels of the landmark c.h.i.p.s. act and possible foreign investment in china. jill carrie hall is with us as anxious investors pause ahead of powell tomorrow why four macro events over the next two weeks could decide this market. plus, saks ceo marc metrick. markets moving higher as yields move lower.

nasdaq up about 1% s&p at a two-week high volume is nothing to write home about but there is some positive commentary from the macro desk we don't have a week of earnings potential land mines to get through. >> we do have powell, which is a biggy, could sound more hawkish. we'll talk about the chances of of a rally you mention the research notes wells fargo saying the bounce has room to run. stiefel says a run to 4300 on the s&p 500 is coming. evercore more bullish saying excess pandemic savings and healthy household balance sheets opens up the potential for the 2023 upside case of 4600 even morgan stanley, a long-time bear lays out the case for the s&p 500 to rally to 4150 if the dollar and rates continue to fall adam parker from triberia not as positive, saying they have yet to sigh a convincing bull case

markets in waiting mode. the jobs number on friday, cpi, ppi and the ecb meeting next week of course, we've got a fed decision coming march 22nd it's going to be an epic few weeks. to help break down what's next for the markets amid all of these event catalysts, cnbc market commentator mike santoli joins us on the floor. the question is -- we know powell will be more hawkish than the last press conference. we've gotten stronger data and all his light ents have been out there saying, higher for longer. can the equity market hold up. it's been doing a good job. >> it has been even if we have to raise our sights for how much the fed has to do, it's coming in relatively smaller increments than last year he'll sound hawkish relative to the fed outlook, which is stale. it came from december. there's room in there you can play it both ways in terms of interpreting it. i think the positive tone, net

positive tone among the strategists, they're looking at last week's activity and recognizing a change in this market from last year. we absorbed a big upside the market got overbought in february and we worked it off with a routine pullback, found support where you had to routinely speaking, it's done its job. as opposed to last year, new highs in yields meant we broke down further i think you can at least say it solidifies this case there was a textbook low october, mid-term election, rally off that, momentum thrust in january, routine february pullback because seasonals are weak i'm not saying that's it, we're off to the races but it's fitting the script enough that the bears are saying, fine, tactically we have to give the market credit for hanging in there. >> right as for the jobs number, i guess the question is, how much can we take to the bank from powell given that there's so much optionality in the jobs number does it ratify 500k from january

and on we don't know. >> we won't know i feel like if you don't get january revised down and it's another super hot number on friday, what powell says tomorrow and wednesday may be don't hold up as being the defining factors here. on the other hand, he's resisted the temptation among some to say, we really need to get unemployment much higher to get the job done jason furman last week was saying, it doesn't work. the math doesn't really cooperate if you just don't get wages lower. so, i think that there's going to be a a lot of play and they'll be asked to make both cases from different sides of the debate >> who has it right? is a rally still possible or too much bullish sentiment around a bullish landing? b of a's head of small and midcap equity strategy, jill carey hall i wonder given the catalyst we have coming up this week alone, what you're looking to in the next few weeks >> thanks for having me. look, i think we're on target

for s&p is 4,000 not too far off from where we are now. we expect you could see a volatile period, especially in the first half of this year. you know, we've seen the fed and inflation kind of dominating what's going on in the markets we do think given inflation being sticky, the fed has more work to do and we're looking for three more 25-basis-point hikes. the market hasn't been pricing in the sticky levels of inflation that we've seen. given how bearish sentiment had been last year going into the first half but a lot of other indicators, bull market posts haven't been triggered yet we think this isn't necessarily a year where you want to buy the s&p 500. we think there could be a period of volatility, there could be risk that the market hasn't met its lows yet and there's better

bang for your buck within pockets of the market we see as better positioned within sectors, within areas like small caps rather than just owning the s&p 500. >> michael, it's been known for saying nibble at 3600, bite at 3800, and gorge at s&p 3,000 are calls seen being stale given the discussion we've seen today? >> our bear case scenario for the s&p 500 is around 3300 on the index. that's the -- what our fair models for the s&p 500 are suggesting at this point if we are going to see a mild economic recession, which is what our economists are expecting to occur starting in the second half of this year, usually the equity premium for the market rises we haven't seen the risk premium rise too much yet. i think conversely from a bull case perspective, we've highlighted sentiment has gotten more bearish so the bull case

for equities, you know how bearish sentiment has gotten, looking at our sentiment models alone could suggest a bull case to more in that 4600 range but our base case is that 4,000 for year end >> right as for earnings, a good piece in the journal today on u.s. firms, in their words, finally finding their legs when it comes to say getting their arms around wage inflation. i do wonder how you're looking at market price action versus the trend for earnings expectations and whether or not we're in a period where stocks are going to look through any residual pain we have left >> well, i think we're in a back drop where the earnings expectations still need to come down further we have seen some margin compression. so far there is potential that continues. consensus is still looking for flattish to slightly positive earnings growth this year? we're expecting negative

earnings growth this year given the mild recession so i think numbers across the board do need to come down margin expectations have been a bit optimistic and many sources of inflation have been stickier. so, we would be cautious on labor intensive pockets of the market, areas with high ratio of employees relative to sales, consumer discretionary is one sector that's a good example of that where we still think it's a bit early that is usually a better early cycle sector, the sector that has the most labor intensity where there is further margin and earnings downside risk >> jill, on small caps, which have outperformed so far this year, this is your bailiwick, you have been saying for, i don't know, years now that the relative valuations are so attractive, they're so cheap where does that stand right now versus large caps? >> even after the rally you saw in january, you're still at the point where small caps are the

only size that's historically cheap right now. the russell 2000 is trading 10% below average on a forward pe basis. mid-cap look expensive and the relative valuation, as you point out, it's come up a little bit but it's still near the lowest levels we've ever seen outside of, you know, briefly during '99 to '01, which ended up being a great time to own small caps valuation has been cheap for a while. i think definitely for long-term investors this is an historic opportunity to overweight small caps valuation tends to be more predictive over the long term. even amidst our view for mild recession to start later this year, small caps have priced that in, they're more exposed to areas we see holding up, services rather than the goods side of the economy and capex, usually small caps benefit from corporate spending on capex and capex spending has been

resilient and we think it will continue to be resilient given spending on reshoring. >> that's a great point. hopefully we'll know more at the end of the week than we do now obviously so much stacked ahead of us in the coming days jill, thanks great to see you as always jill carey hall. after the break, u.s. commerce secretary gina raimondo and the c.h.i.p.s. act. a brand-new survey out this morning finding consumers plan to continue spending on luxury in the next few months what could put a dent in that? we'll talk to the ceo of saks on their new data a big hour of "squawk on the street" still ahead. you have technology, communication services and e rk hheryeangetiona ldi thmaetigr.

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we couldn't stream a movie when the power went out. you're only a year older than me. you have no idea how good you've got it. huh? what a time to be alive. introducing the next generation 10g network. only from xfinity. the future starts now. welcome back the biden administration has been working for nearly a year to prepare rules to curb u.s. investment in certain sectors in china. kayla tausche has more on those details and how much it could cost. >> reporter: treasury and congress are asking for more funding in confidential reports, they don't name china specifically but the end goal, we know, is to rein in china's military advancement in the two brief and nearly identical reports that i obtained, the agencies say, quote, work is ongoing to ensure clear definitions and scoping as necessary to facilitate swift

implementation and achieve the objective of preventing u.s. capital and expertise from being exploited in ways that threaten u.s. national security while not placing an undue burden on u.s. investors and businesses sources say there is still disagreement internally over how broad this screening should be limiting it to say chips would be easier to police while expanding it to include artificial intelligence, which touches a wide swath of industries is, of course, much harder treasury is requesting $10 million in new funding on top of $20 million it received late last year. commerce says it may need more resources to supplement treasury's work. sara, back to you. >> kayla, thank you very much. with us for a closer look and cnbc exclusive is the commerce secretary of the united states, gina raimondo. madam secretary, welcome good to see you. >> good morning. >> can you tell us anything about these further restrictions you're looking to place on capital from the u.s. into china, key sectors like ai,

technology, to prevent it from going to their military? >> i don't have any other news than what you've just reported we're working on it. it's a complicated issue we want to make sure that whatever we do is very precisely targeted we don't want to do anything that's overly broad. so, the administration is working on it. and i expect we'll have more to say once we made decisions >> all right keep us posted on that we will obviously want to talk to you pretty in depth about the c.h.i.p.s. act and the new -- the new rules that you're putting on the money that's going out to subsidies and, of course, the ambitions you have here the biggest reaction has been, madam secretary, to the strings attached, limiting stock buybacks, making them use union jobs and figuring out child care plans for the workers. some of the criticism has revolved around this idea that you're putting social policy

into an industrial policy here and it's a mismatch of priorities how do you respond that? >> that's flatly not correct everything we will encourage or require companies to do will be related to the mission, which is national security mission, and to make sure that they are successful look, this isn't a blank check fundamentally i have to be a good steward for taxpayer money. in is the people's money this isn't a blank check but also we're never going to require a company to do anything that's not in their best interest this is a partnership. you know, we're going to ask them, what are your workforce plans? every ceo i talk to, including in the chip industry, tells me they're worried about getting talent they can't get enough talent we want to know, how are you working with high schools and community colleges and training partners to chain people how are you going to provide child care so that women can,

you know, build these facilities and also work in these facilities as to stock buybacks, in the law, the law says that these companies are not allowed to use the teaxpayer money to do a buyback or dividend. beyond that, we're giving a preference to companies who voluntarily say they won't do buybacks for five years. why? because this is about enhancing research and development in america. the money should be used to expand in america, to out-innovate in the rest of the world, invest in r&d and your workforce, not in buybacks >> but isn't the whole -- i get all those points but isn't the whole goal here, and you mentioned this, national security, to bring manufacturing of semiconductors back into this country, and to do that, it has to be more cost efficient and more accessible. it still costs so much more to

build a plant in the u.s. because of labor in this country. shouldn't everything, when it comes to this law, be with the goal of making it more cost affordable and getting rid of the regulatory burdens and not increasing that? >> yes, absolutely but there's a lot of evidence that using a project labor agreement on such huge facilities, like these will be, actually results in lower costs and faster completion. again, we're not requiring union, we're not requiring a project labor agreement. we are preferencing it because we know from history and from fact that when you have a project labor agreement, chances are, it will be done on time, on budget by the best skilled workforce in america you know, same thing with child care right now the unemployment rate in the building trades is essentially zero it's very, very low. yet every one of these fabs

requires 6,000, 7,000, 8,000 construction workers to build them if you don't figure out a way to attract women to be plumbers, pipefitters, electrical engineers and such, you won't be successful so none of this is social policy this is all about pushing companies to think broadly so that we can together be successful and meet our national security goals fundamentally, this is a national security program, and we can't afford to lose, which is why we are putting strings attached >> totally agree about the accessible child care and the fact that companies -- we talk to companies and ceos. they need to increase their female labor participation and they need to increase access to affordable child care. but, if they need that, they should do that why are you requiring them to do that 37 they'll figure that out

if they need to get workers, right? >> we hope they will do that we're not requiring it we say if you want to apply for the money, part of the application is to show us your workforce plan part of that is we want to see your child care plan every company will do it differently based upon their needs, geography, et cetera. this isn't one size fits all it's not a requirement but what i know, you know, you just said yourself, they're all struggling now, which means they're not doing enough, which means they have to do more and we're going to push them to do more and think more broadly so they're successful >> i think it's an uncovered part of the economy, lack of child care and what's happened during the pandemic to the child care workforce why not do it for real why not jam it into the c.h.i.p.s. act, why not do affordable child care? >> the president has tried time and time again he's going to try again this year he talked about it in his state of the union it seems to be that congress is

unwilling to make those investments, which i think as a business matter is wrong-headed. the reality is, this isn't a social program this is work-enabling. if you want woman to work, and frankly we need women to work, you talked about bringing down the cost of making chips in america. that means innovation. if you want to out-innovate the rest of the world, you better have our best minds, including women, working on these problems it won't happen without investments in child care. during covid, a third of child care providers went out of business they haven't come back there's a huge supply shortage so, i don't see it as a social program at all i see it as, it's worker worker-enabling, which is good for our economy. >> look, i agree with you. i think it goes to the broader question about what your ambitions are for the c.h.i.p.s. act as a whole there was a research note over the weekend from bank of america saying, gone through all the provisions, gone through everything it's not going to create a

competitor to taiwan semi. and ultimately taiwan semi is still going to be incentivized to keep majority production in taiwan is the goal here to be self-sufficient or friend shoring? what does the industry look like in this country in the coming years? >> great question. the goal is not to be self-sufficient. that is not the goal we will not achieve that we will forever be buying chips from taiwan, from korea, from europe as you say, our allies and friends. but the goal is to -- right now we make zero leading edge semiconductors in the united states we need to build at least two or -- at least two, hopefully three, deep clusters of leading edge manufacturing in the united states and packaging we want to be the only country in the world where we lead in research and development,

software, design, and do leading edge manufacturing and packaging on our shores. and we will achieve that goal. i have no doubt about it >> and as part of this, you put export controls on china, on companies getting advanced manufacturing, advanced semiconductors over in china how is the progress on that? because there are reports that it's been slow certainly we need japan and the netherlands on board because of their positions in their companies. >> i think it's going very well. you know, we have a lot of evidence that the rule we put out last october is very significantly hampering china's ability to innovate in these areas. and our work you're exactly right the netherlands and japan need to be on board and we're working very well with them. so, this is not nlgt negotiable.

they want that capacity for their military so we're going to do everything we can with our allies to deny them that capacity for the military. this isn't the chips we sell to them for automobiles or dishwashers or, you know, microphones. this is the real leading edge they want for their hypersonic missiles and military equipment. we're ahead and we need to stay ahead. >> secretary raimondo, thank you for joining us to talk through some of these latest proposals and the latest plan for c.h.i.p.s. safe travels to india. i know you're heading out tomorrow. >> heading tonight. >> tonight there you go secretary of commerce, gina raimondo. still to come, tesla is out of the top spot from morgan stanley on favorite automakers list who's taken over the list? ferrari. watch snap today, surging this morning best day since november. back above the 200-day for the

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morgan stanley's stanley top pick in the u.s. auto space is no longer tesla, it's now ferrari. adam jonas has liked it for a while. gross margin is a very big part of that story with ferrari nearly doubling those of tesla and that gap widens today as tesla again cuts prices on some of the models to boost demand. let's bring in robert frank on the conversation he talks about it having a bunch of levers to pull, robert, in all sorts of macro scenarios what strikes you about the note, though i guess looking at it through a luxury lens. >> yeah. that's exactly it, carl, the luxury lens was a key part of the adam jonas thesis here when you talk about tesla, the debate is, is it a tech company or car company with ferrari the debate, is it a cap company or luxury company?

jonas raised it on a comparison with hermes and he says ferrari should be more like hermes with a multiple the company is looking more like a luxury company they raised prices 8% to 10%, contrast that with tesla which cut prices china reopening will turbo boost sales. they just launched their suv priced at $415,000 it sold out immediately. the waiting list for that product is now more than two years. if you try to buy that suv today, you're not going to get it until 2025 or 2026. so, even if the economy softens, they've got two years of built-in production already sold >> i don't know. they didn't have such a great day at the races yesterday in bahrain for f1 not looking too hot. you knew i was going to go there. >> yes. >> that can often be a tell of the technology.

>> all stories lead to f1 with you. >> that's true with everyone. robert frank, thank you. still ahead, kroger told us its consumers are already acting like they're in recession. is the same true for the luxury consumer we'll ask ceo of saks, marc mettrick next. apple with bull rating services can be a driver there the stock is leading and technology is leading the overall market it's alpha, phetalab, amazon, all in the driver's seat more "squawk on the street."

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consumer, despite higher inflation, saks is finding shoppers have an appetite for luxury and travel. the latest survey out this morning, 62% of respondents plan to spend on luxury items in the next three months. 72% of them have booked or plan to book a trip joining us first on cnbc, saks ceo marc metrick your consumer, marc s totally insulated from what's happening with inflation and some of the weakness in the economy? >> well, i don't think anyone is totally insulated from it, but i think the luxury consumer is more resilient to it what we have to be careful about is, i look at the luxury consumer as existing on an entire, you know, continuum. and on the right of that continuum is pure luxury consumer your ferrari driver, for example. they live one way.

as you move all the way through, through the luxury continuum to the left, you get consumers who are in and out, who dip their toe in they buy luxury to treat themselves or reward themselves or just to escape. doesn't matter consumers are going to behave differentrly differently. what we're seeing across the entire continuum, still a lot of sustained. >> what sort of indications are you watching that might change that, that might break the luxury consumer from the strong trend? >> no, i think obviously we have to watch all the different -- everything you talk about. rates and what's happening in markets. we do keep an eye on inflation you know, you can't just pretend like this isn't going to ever be an issue so, we just watch all of that. really we talk to our consumer we do this quarterly and we take their temperature. again, with 62% indicating they were going to buy the same if not more over the next three months, we have a baseline, 68%

said that they would do the same things when we asked in september. so, while we still see heavy level of engagement, it isn't as much as we saw when we asked last time. we do watch that as well >> it's interesting, marc. a lot of economists are trying to draw this playbook where the year is split in two halves and the second half there's a wile e. coyote moment given the cycle in which you have to buy goods, i wonder how you're planning for that, whether it's back to school or holiday later this year? >> yeah, you know, carl, right now, i'm in paris with the team and we're actually buying goods and placing orders for what we'll deliver in the fall and winter of this year. we're taking -- look, this is going to be about -- it's not just about the consumer. it's also about market share

so, i wouldn't say wile e. coyote but we're expecting this to be a tale of two halves, but interestingly, i think you're going to see the second half, the consumer, i think, will come back around a little bit and get more engaged >> what's happening, marc, on the inflationary side of your business luxury apparel and accessories, is that still going up is there a ceiling >> yeah, in the past we've always said there's been inflation in luxury over the years. it's really driven by, you know, less pure just what's the -- are there supply chain issues or is there just what's going on in the economy? this is about scarcity of product. and you can see folks are going to push for prices as they can, and the answer in luxuries to deliver an amazing experience and beautiful products that is, you know, not everywhere so, that's what drives the prices and really as long as

these designers and brands continue to deliver a very special and unique product, the consumer's going to respond. >> yeah, and the trips, too. i imagine help a lot 72% saying they're planning a trip marc, thank you very much. appreciate the color today from paris >> thank you for having me >> i'm jealous >> next year we take the show there live. coming up next on today's "techcheck," a cloudy forecast for aws. why twitter and others are asking andy jassy to lowerhis prices. throughout the month of march we're celebrating women's heritage, sharing the stories of women leaders in business and those of our teammates and sk contributors here's farm girl flower founder. >> it's no secret that it's really hard to raise money as a female entrepreneur. and some times you think that's the only course you can go i grew farm girl flowers from boot strapping it from my dining

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i'm deirdre bosa and it's time for tech"techcheck." today the study comes from elon musk's cost-cutting campaign over twitter have a listen. >> i think i need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place, and that the product road map is clearly laid out. >> but how much can you really slash while keeping the business running? musk has been able to keep the lights on, sure, but it has come at a huge cost to fundamentals a 40% annual decline in revenue and earnings, according to the journal. in terms of those cuts, first it was head count, then office space. salesforce bill by 75% now reportedly its cloud bill with amazon web services and aws could be a new kind of test here because amazon is also an advertiser on twitter and the information reports that amazon have threatened to withhold payment for advertising that runs on twitter because twitter is refusing to play its cloud

bill more broadly, though, this showdown is highlighting the vulnerabilities at both of these companies. the slowdown at cloud giants, that is already one if not the most important story in software this year. these models are consumption-based. so, you only pay for what you use and as it turns out, it's pretty easy for companies to cut their usage and their bills. look at amazon's cloud growth. it has been hit very hard by that trend the street is skeptical it won't come down by even more twitter and musk are only feeding that skepticism, suggesting customers could ask for cost breaks, something that amazon's cfo he pitched on the last earnings call have a listen. >> our customers are looking for ways to save money we spend a lot of our time trying to help them do so. this customer focus is in our dna and informs how we think about our customer relationships and how we will partner with them through the long term. >> that focus on the customer is

a good thing, but in the softer economic times, that loyalty could get tested and comes at the expense of growth as we have seen with amazon and the other hyperscalers, by the way >> yep although we've been around long enough where we've been through a couple of these cycles, and when price cuts come to cloud and come to software, then you really start getting intocy veer market share battles, which can get bloody. >> that's one of the key differences of this environment we're currently in a few years ago when you saw price wars between google, amazon and microsoft, it was about taking market share. now it's a very different reason you've got customers coming to them and asking for deals or cuts on their contracts or their consumption use. so, this time they may not actually be gaining market share. we're talking about some of the other smaller players like an oracle they're just seeing their growth slow amazon could be particularly vulnerable here because while it is the biggest of those three cloud giants i mentioned, it is now also growing the slowest. >> as for their -- these reports

about them slowing construction on their hq2 in virginia, some local officials tried to downplay it and say, we don't think they're really stopping anything it's just more of a pause given the environment. what was your take on that >> i think that that's what they have to say. you also heard a similar line from the property develop other that project you saw that huge share price jbg properties last friday when this was announced they're kind of walking about, amazon is as well, saying they're pausing and reconsidering. as time goes on, and we know amazon has been underperforming by a huge amount not just the s&p and the nasdaq, but some other big tech names, is it going to have to do more it's fine for amazon to say this now. they're looking at everything. this isn't the first thing they're looking at in terms of hq2, they're looking at property spaces in other areas of the country. how fa are does it go? this is also connectsed to the cloud story. this is a profit engine of the company. if it slows more than expected, they'll have to look to cut costs in other places.

>> deirdre, thank you. deirdre bosa with our "techcheck" update. after the break, anti-woke or a joke? strive asset management charging marc benioff as using salesforce as a platform for social change as strive takes a small stake in crm. we debate the legitimacy of this activism with the co-founder as salesforce blows past earnings estimates. watch nat gas. bespoke points out ung on pace for its worst day since inception back in 2007 just continued decline here, which we've already been seeing all year worst day since january. dragging down the major nat gas stocks with it energy is one of the sectors that is underperforming today. along with materials and health care we'll be right bk.ac lily! welcome to our third bark-ery. oh, i can tell business is going through the “woof”.

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salesforce is one of the top performing stocks so far this year, despite or maybe helped out by activist pressure from the likes of elliott management, thirdpoint, valueact and starboard. joining the brigade last week, strive known for anti-woke investing, with a small stake in crm, joining us is strive management co-founder. it's good have you on the show i hate to call you an activist investor because it's such a

small stake and it feels very political, what you're doing, is it not >> that's a great question we're actually not doing something that's political we've already been able to have major changes in corporate america with stakes smaller than salesforce at companies like exxon and companies at disney. we wrote a letter to salesforce on behalf of our shareholders. we're looking to unlock value, beyond what the traditional activists have already done. we believe one of the overlooked pieces is the political nature that salesforce has done and how that's a detractor to shareholder benefits marc been offis one of the biggest holders where hisfy dishary responsibility is to shareholders, under delaware law. on behalf of our investors we wrote a letter to salesforce asking them to do away from the political culture and move to one that's more perfo performance-based. >> it is political, though your founder is running for president. he's on every news network every single day hammering this exact

message. how could you say it's not political? >> well, what's interesting is my co-founder has actually stepped away from strive he stepped away from his board seat and no longer has an active role in the to excellence. creating excellent products and services for their customers that creates customer loyalty, creates customers coming back time and time again to buy their products that's what people can, whether you're black, white, gay, straight, democrat, republican, we don't care. you can come to the private sector and rally behind that message whereas in the political sector, you actually have accountable politicians that through the electoral process can effectuate change on other important policy issues. that's why my co-founder stepped away and frankly we think people like jamie diamond or for that matter, larry fink of blackrock, if they want to effect

corporations, they should step away as well >> people don't leave their values behind when money starts getting involved maybe the issues you are raising about salesforce are performance-based because bennie was making the note that the capital flows in their direction. >> you can look at some of the things that let's call the other act they're taking a look at they're take a look at why salesforce has underperformed. they have had problems with overhiring they have had issues with a sub par growth -- >> that's a totally different discussion if, in fact, that's what you are kcriticizing. >> that's not what we're criticizing. we're taking advantage -- we're taking a look at the other pieces that have not been identified by those people, which when you have salesforce being used by 1$100 million a year, they have a task force to effectuate change like police initiatives and these are things we're saying is this in the best

interest of shareholders or not? because salesforce's mission is to be the leading software company that connects companies with their customers are these things in line to connect customers with their companies or are they advancing a political agenda >> i think so if their employees believe in it and they want to hire the best employees. i think also the theory that you are saying that this is a company that doesn't prioritize profitability, that's not true it's 20% and have doubled. i'm not sure what you are accusing them of. >> we hope they get there. it's great we're happy with the earnings they have last quarter, but one quarter is not going to get them from here to the 2025, and to get to 2025, it's not just taking care of the bloated cost structures, undoing missed time and poorly acquisitions that they had they'll have to drive cultural changes at salesforce. if you go to glassdoor or

others, they talk about a suffocating culture at salesforce employees don't like a performance-based culture where they're asking people to hit sales quotas and goals, and we're glad they've updated that guidance to get to higher profitability, higher margins, to higher growth, but to get there, they have to actually change the culture of the organization and be more focused on carrying out that mission of connecting companies with their customers and we're just calling into question some of the side bar political activism is that going to get them there or not >> climate -- is advocating climate change political activism i don't see how companies can afford to not be part of the solution if that's that's what i can affect our communities and their business going forward. >> this is really contested. it's interesting if you look at vanguard last week, tim buckley, he said, we've taken a look at esg, and it underperforms in relative to not esg investing strategies

we're not sure it's in the best interest of shareholders for companies to be taking politicized positions whether it's on climate change or voting rights legislation, or defund the police initiatives focus on your mission. focus on your customer we believe that's what's going to drive shareholder value and that's something that employees, shareholders and customers can rally behind, not necessarily a one-sided political agenda that mark pushes not only on his customers, but also on his employees. >> i'm not sure about the defund the police it's a good debate and we're happy to have you on to talk about it with us thank you very much. >> thank you so much for having me >> big difference between climate change and then weighing in on voting laws and defunding police which agreed, can be politically dicey. i'm not sure that salesforce does any of that. >> interesting discussion. meantime, accusations of fraud, stock price manipulation, and investigation by india's supreme court have plagued this

company's control. despite that, one investor is betting $2 billion he's right. that cnbc scoop is coming up after the break. plus, more clues on the consumer this week we'll get dick's, adidas, gap, all three stocks doing nicely. "squawk on the street" is back in a minute. when covid hit, we had some challenges. i heard about the payroll tax refund that allowed us to keep the people that have been here taking care of us. learn more at getrefunds.com. we planned well for retirement, but i wish we had more cash. you think those two have any idea? that they can sell their life insurance policy for cash? so they're basically sitting on a goldmine? i don't think they have a clue. that's crazy! well, not everyone knows coventry's helped thousands of people sell their policies for cash. even term policies. i can't believe they're just sitting up there! sitting on all this cash. if you own a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more, you can sell all or part of it to coventry.

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92 billion assets under management, his newest bet overlooking the fraudster gautam adani. we're joined with details. hi, sima >> hey, carl controversy the part of how you get better returns that is a direct quote from the $92 billion investor betting on gautam adani telling cnbc he does not agree with the allegations that accuse adani of fraud and stock price manip manipulation he says he did his own due diligence and says the regulatory risk is low >> the airport, the monopoly transition supercompany, the largest port in india. these are, in my opinion, irreplaceable assets >> jain's investment providing a

vote of confidence, and you'll see the shares rebounding over the past month, though still down about 45% year to date. an upcoming road show for bond investors will provide a crucial test as to whether other investors will join jain in his bet. a lot happening there, carl. >> is this coloring the tone of emerging markets right now >> well, it's no doubt had an impact on short-term sentiment if you look at india versus china, the markets so far this year you'll see that india has vastly underperformed after being sort of a bright spot for emerging markets i think the outcome of these two investigations from the supreme court as well as the security exchange board in india, that will reset the precedent not just for investors, but give us a reality check as to how india is handling stories like this, and whether it becomes a reality check for other leaders as well. >> fascinating

great scoop. meantime, not far from session highs, i guess we're going to wbuckle up and wait for tomorrow >> it's amazing on rates that will be in john's report on friday. >> get ready for a packed week let's get over to post nine. scott wapner in the half thank you very much. welcome to the halftime report i'm scott wapner front and center this hour, the most critical stretch of the year for stocks. 13 trading drays that would hol the key. that's all that's at stake joining me for the hour, i got jason snipe, shannon, joe, sarat. we have a big day shaping up for that company right there the stock of apple, highs of the day, better than 3%. that as goldman sachs initiates the stock at a buy why is that so significant in only because the stock hasn't had a buy on apple since