good friday afternoon, everybody. welcome to "power lunch" as we wrap it up for the week. alongside kelly evans, i'm tyler mathisen coming up, deals, deals, deals of the billions of dollars changing hands in corporate america this week s.deal-making back we'll take a look at that and the whys and where fors. conflict brewing in corporate america following the scotus decision on affirmative action at university. businesses may now be facing similar challenges conservative groups suing over diversity hiring

we'll discuss that story in just a moment kelly? >> but, first, let's get a check on the markets and the etf has been focused as the smh has its worst week of the year the smh hit a new 52-woke high barely a month ago, and it's down 5% this week. marvel, micron and and mv the laggards some talk on the street around archer aviation, down 3% after soaring as much as 23% after settling a lawsuit with boeing over autonomous flying dispute it's actually down 6% now, a volatile response. the quantum computing hardware foam up about 12%, reporting a larger than expected loss but raising its guidance. >> we begin with a slew of big deals, tapestry acquiring capri for nearly $9 billion, espn

striking a $2 billion deal with penn gaming and campbell's buying sovos for a little over $2 billion that's a lot of sauce. deal-making seemingly hot again and the same could be said for the ipo market according to "the wall street journal" the nasdaq and nyse are battling it out for prime listings dan, let me begin with you our deals back, or are these sorts of moments of opportunity as seen by the acquirers and sellers? >> i think it's more moments of opportunity. you happen to have a bunch of them this week which is really typical since that we've in the dog days of summer deal-making in the u.s. was down 30% from last year and last year was rough to start with. >> the owner sovos is based in the town that i live. >> it is. >> i didn't even know this i had no idea.

anyway, mike, let me ask you this as you look at there are we looking at a situation where deals are actually back or not what do you see? >> i think the atmospheric conditions are getting friendlier for deals if you go down the check list meaning markets are stabilized in the last ten months. valuations are up to a level, you know, where maybe a seller would be interested or a buyer might have decent currency to use. credit markets seem like they are willing to -- >> they were making deals. >> interest rates were a lot higher. >> they were. >> years ago you could do a deal for 0%. >> right. >> now you can't. >> exactly. >> so you have to pick and choose i would also add that a private equity deal for smith-simon & sr ceo confidence is not really back it's up off the lows, but it's well below if you look at the conference board surveys where you typically see it where

things are really humming on the m & a side. >> was there a big breakthrough for you on the tap try/capri deal >> i think, again, i do think these are one-off. in that particular off you saw a deconglomeratization and now we're sliding back the other direction. the direction for tapestry, there's a huge loan on this which michael suggests that the credit markets are back which is good and, on the other hand, there is a lot of debt on this deal, the largest bridge loan ever so you could see them do accusations on orphan brands going forward. >> we did get the espn news, more on the sports betting direction and disney, of course, the subject of much scrutiny do you think the next three to five years sounds like could bring a lot of activity across the media space. >> across the media space, yeah, and even in the sports betting space. i think, you know, espn took a

very long time to get here when sports betting became legalized everyone assumed espn from a brand perspective would be one of the first into the pool espn it took them so long because disney didn't want to be associated with gambling now it's going in. it's going in the penn with a less than 5% market share. pretty good in terms of where stocks are going revenues and even profitability. you'll probably seek consolidation the next couple of years there because in addition to the mgms and espn, fanatics are moving into that. >> as you look at that particular deal, you know who the big dog is here, it's espn, not penn gaming. had they merged -- this is not a merger, i should be clear. had they done a deal with some other provider whether it's draftkings or fan duel or whatever might have changed the scale a little bit here's my question which i asked. i think it's barton crockett the other day. does this fact that espn is now going into a partnership with penn gaming make it more likely that -- that espn is spun off

from disney? >> i think -- i think it's consistent with the possibility that it can be a separate entity i don't know that it is decisively going in that direction or not but the idea that espn is looking for other sources of revenue i mean, clearly everything -- >> everything goes down and the -- the cable fees go down, you've got to find a place for the revenue. gaming is an obvious example. >> exactly. >> people clearly are willing to pay for -- >> i think it's more in the matter of -- everything disney is talking about doing, partners with the sleeping to bring some cash in, reduce the capital burden on disney which, of course, is going to she will have to shell out for sports rights and maybe have that business model get a little bit right-sized for what it could be in the future. penn stock, by the way, punished, you know, on the news so it tells you which way the economics of it ran and that's another factor and are ceos going to want to do a deal look at how the stock reacted?

>> yeah, they made us a good offer. >> they are paying over $1.5 billion. ipos, sounds like we might be getting some in september. birkenstock. listen, the fact there was an article this career that says nicea and the nasdaq were battling for listings, that has to be a good sign. >> for birkenstocks? >> it's a sign and a sign that bankers are talking this up. i've been writing and i keep believing that the ipo market will come back after labor day you see the huge success of kava, you've got birkenstock and arm and a couple of them will go now we're the 10th, 11th of august, i'm surprised we haven't seen more s-1s because it does take six weeks to get this together because if you want to go the middle of september when everybody is back from vacation we should seat s-1s coming out. >> i love it birkenstocks and jimmy choo the same week.

it's like barbie >> barbenheimer. >> thank you both very much. we should point out there's a cnbc special tonight called "taking stock. "santoli will be there, josh brown will be there, and they will wrap up the week starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern that is this evening. >> and deal-making is definitely a key issue in the markets this week as was earnings a bunch of retail names are now on deck as we turn our attention to next week and economic data we're talking inflation after the ppi today. here to discuss is jim tierny, alliance bernstein chief investment officer jim, welcome inflation was going away and today it's back. >> i think we'll have bumps along the way. it's not all one direction certainly labor continues to be stick, and that's the biggest issue that we have to pay attention to over the next few months. >> or oil prize. i don't know how you feel about investing in the energy space right now but that also appears to be -- >> maybe a little bit higher from here. >> certainly you look at oil which was in the

$70 range and now it's above 80 and we're certainly seeing that at the pump. the bigger question relative to consumers earnings is does that pinch pocketbooks going forward into fall, particularly with the student loan repayments coming in early october. >> do you think that's a big factor, the student loan repayment? >> it will take some of the liquidity that might otherwise go into the consumer economy and redirect it into debt repayment, but how big is it? >> i see numbers all over the place. i've seen anywhere from 25 million to 40 million people with student loans and monthly payments on average anywhere from $200 to $400. so i think it's on the margin of hurt. >> one of the big themes for you this earnings season has been separating the -- i got this wrong the other day, the strong from the weak, shall we. this hasn't been a story about tech industries.

one doing well, another one not. talk about the paired trades. >> during covid many companies saw the same impact on their industry or on their business, so a lot of companies went up and went down all together now that things are normalizing, particularly supply chains, we're starting to see companies in the exact same industry one do really well and one not do quite as well, and that's being reflected in the market which as an active stock picker that's really exciting. >> why is active one that you're excited about? we're all talking about the upcoming strike, it could affect gm and ford and how is it affecting active why is it bullish on your name >> when we look at aptiv, that's a huge upsell or tradeup i don't know whether it's going to win whether it's tesla or audi or someone else, but i do know there will be a heck of a lot more vehicles on the road five and ten years from now, and that's a huge benefit to aptiv

we think this is a very good story here. >> let's talk about one of the other choices, one is mastercard and another is schwab. talk us through those two. >> sure, when i look at a lot of data points it looks like u.s. travel is starting to slow down. we certainly saw that in disney's earnings where their hotel occupancy went from 90% last year to 84% this year on the domestic parts, but guess what was booming international. where does mastercard make a whole lot of money, they make a lot of money on cross-border travel so as that continues to pick up, particularly in asia, i think there's further potential for mastercard to grow their earnings at the rates that the street expects in terms of skwhauchwab, it's ae that i've talked about before, the big bogey was cash-sorting and getting behind the company they got that and they were able to pay down the flab borrowings

meaning you go from a negative interest spread to a positive one, and that will really help earnings getting into the second half of next year and particularly 2024, and i don't think that's appreciate the at $65 a share. >> jim tierny, thanks very much, alliance bernstein cio, thank you. coming up, the devastating fires in hawaii raising concerns about the growing impact of climate change so what solutions could technology offer in our fight against natural disaster we'll discuss that one next. plus, the final dave our back-to-school series. today we look at the state of ow lchwi brit job market "perun" lle gh back ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ( ♪♪ ) constant contact's advanced automation lets you send the right message at the right time,

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welcome back dozen of lives lost. hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars of damage in the ongoing fires in maui. as we consider the disaster, some questions emerge, so what impact could we see on hawaii? natural disasters, will they continue to worsen and are there solutions? perhaps ones involving artificial technology or technology contessa brewer joins us what's the latest? >> the death toll is continuing to rise at 55. the continuing problem is the west side of maui is still inaccessible home depot says its maui store

is helping to source supplies so they need coolers, ice, water, tents. the tents could be crucial as shelter because hotels are at capacity or closed for instance, marriott told us three of its hotels in the area affect on west maui have closed because of power outages and guests have left, a westin, a sheraton and a rites carlton, and -- and that western area of maui meanwhile the who's who of maui are working to respond personally nick fleetwood owns a destination restaurant in lahaina, he says his very first concern was his team. >> they are still searching for people it became very apparent to me in running this restaurant which, of course, is destroyed, like every other business in that town, so i became aware, we became aware that over 80 people who work with us for about two days, we didn't actually have

everyone accounted for. >> nick told me late last night his team has been accounted for. oprah winfrey on maui, went to a costco and walmart to buy supplies for a shelter there lauren sanchez says she hand fiance jeff bezos are donating money. the need here is going to be enormous guy carpenter estimates that 2,700 structures are in that lahaina fire zone alone, and accuweather puts the total economic impact and damage estimate at between $8 billion and $10 billion. it may be a couple weeks here, kelly, tyler, before we get some insured loss estimates, but state farm is the biggest property insurer on the island they say they are working on it right now. they are trying to get in there and process claims. >> already had high catastrophe losses, a lot of the insurers. >> joining us now is patrick brown, co-director of the climate and energy team at the breakthrough institute patrick, you guys work on a lot of technological solutions to these climate challenges, but i don't know if there was an answer here in hawaii.

>> yeah. one of the things that we look at is using ai to try to better predict wildfire danger, and so we think this that's something that could help, you know, if you can know ahead of time where the danger is going to be, that that could potentially shut out the power lines and do these types of mitigation efforts and reduce ignitions at least in this case so that's something that we're looking nat california, but maybe something that's taken on board more in hawaii as well. >> sure. california, areas that are prone to them, you can absolutely imagine how -- to use ai or any kind of technology to get ahead of the problem would be helpful. these wildfires seems to come out of nowhere. >> well, you know, the more that we build in areas that are increasingly prone to wildfires which is more of the land surface over the globe because i think as it gets warmer most of the land surface tends to get dryer, and so that means that you're going to have more people

in harm's way of wildfires when they do occur, and in this case in hawaii, there's also this issue of non-native grasses and shrubs that are in that region that have very quickly dried out when we had this heat wave and lack of precipitation in that area over the recent weeks and months so that made it so -- it was a situation that once the fire started, probably human caused, of course, that it was very difficult to contain and it was a bad situation with very large tradewinds associated with hurricane dore, and everything came together to produce, you know, an incredibly devastating situation. >> do we know what the origin of this fire or these fires was >> i don't believe we do at this point. >> but most fires are caused by human error of one sort or another, correct >> that's right, that's right, and so that can be good news,

right, because that means that we have control over that, and so efforts to reduce human ignitions, either just through, you know, awareness of reducing accidental ignitions, things as simple as putting out camp fires, that type of thing, that can actually have a real impact on total wildfires. >> so if you -- if i were to ask you where -- where does climate change fit in the causation of this fire or the severity of these fires, where would you place it in other words, was it a contributing factor? what is it responsible for it? talk me through that. >> yeah, so i guess i would zoom out a little bit and not focus specifically on this fire because various factors can counteract climate change in specific regions, but the u.s. west in general, we've seen this large increase in an area burned over the past several decades and climate is definitely a contributing fact tor that

we call the shorthand fire weather, we say it's hot, dry and wind, and -- and climate change, increasing greenhouse gas concentration increase the temperatures so that's the hot part, and they actually tend -- hot and dry kind of go together in the u.s. west as it gets hotter, the land surface gets drier and it dries out vegetation and makes fuels burn more easily so we don't feel windy component change really from climate change that's a pretty weak signal, if it exists at all, but as it gets warmer it gets drier so that's the -- that's the pathway by which increased greenhouse gases increase fire proclivity, but other major factor is the ill-advised policies that we've had since the early 20th century to immediately put out all fires, and so what that has done is it's cause there had to be a large increase in vegetation,

unnatural amount of vegetation in a lot of our forests in the u.s. west and grass and shrublands so that with me have a lot more drier situation with a lot more fuels and when a fire does occur it's much more severe and difficult to fight than it would otherwise. >> that's fascinating and counterintuitive i never would have thought about that on a different sort of weather and climate topic, we're hearing predictions of hurricane season. how god are these predictions, and are the same inputs you described heat and so forth telling us to expect an uptick in activity over time or not >> yeah. it's pretty rough. it's hard to predict most weather and climate phenomenon as a season time scale months in advance. the national hurricane center says 60% chance it will be above average so you can tell by the wording there that that's not a super precise forecast, so that's above average in terms of the number of major hurricanes,

so basically it is a lot warmer this year because we have -- we have an el nino situation, and there's some counterveiling factors with el ninos that can sometimes suppress hurricane activity in the atlantic, but overall as it gets warmer you tend to see a small signal and the uptick in the most intense hurricanes. >> true. >> it could easily go the other way. >> well, thinking about it in light of, you know, safety, human aspect and also spiking oil prices with inventory where they are, all serious about this appreciate it. >> patrick brown with the breakthrough institute. >> coming up, retail theft continues to be a key problem for some of the big consumer brands in the country with earnings on deck next week will we continue to see shrinkage impact results we'll discuss that one next. i'm so glad we did this.

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of the theft that we hear about affecting retailers from target to nordstrom to whomever >> well, that's the thing. we don't actually know retailers have a really hard time tracking threat it's not like what somebody walks out of a store it's like hey, i'm stealing this jug of milk this is all based on estimates, and there's been survey data that shows it's on the rise, but there's no definitive data that actually shows that this is rising we tell ourselves very quick to blame organized crime, that's half the issue but it's hard to tell the real story. >> one individual said, yes, we're seeing a lot more theft and it is organized because -- and it's -- it may not be organized crime, but it is organized theft in the sense that gangs will come in, and they will clear out the cosmetic counter or they will clear out the watch counter and they will go out and there are cars waiting for them and away they go and they scatter. >> right. >> in that sense it's organized. >> yeah. in that sense it's organized, too. two more people working together

to resell the goods, they might steal the items and then go to a fencer to resell that's organized is it a large organized crime family that you think of, mafia style and sometimes when our research has shown is employees are a big part of theft as well. that's long been the largest component to shrink. you'll even see organized crime in the warehouses. some of my sources -- >> the stuff that falls off the truck. >> the stuff that falls off the order and don't know who is -- knowing who is receiving the order and put little extra in the back. >> a couple years ago it was more anecdotal but now it's showing up in earnings hurting their bottom line. they are turning now to the politician for help with that. what can that offer? it seems clear if you're stealing from a store you're breaking the law what's the political solution here >> retail verse had a lot of

succession at both the local and federal level over the last year nine states have passed laws cracking down on organized retail crime congress is also considering federal action we already had one fact was passed that will make it more difficult to resell goods online and now they are changing the way that felony thefts are charged so currently, you know, if -- you need to be able to steal about $200 in florida to be charged with a felony at one time florida changed it to be on an aggregate basis. if you steel $750 worth of goods over 30 days that's how you get a felony and what federal legislation is doing. >> then have you to be arrested multiple times. >> those are each individual misdemeanors and when you are charged with a misdemeanor penalties are less you'll get deferred prosecution. you might get some programs or something like that. felonies are obviously much different, but what i've learned is this may not be enough to deter organized retail crime because it has a placement

effect just like we saw with the drug market when drug dealers are picked up there's somebody there to replace them and the same thing with boosters. they will target boosters and repeat offenders, but will it actually reduce crime? unclear. >> as you look at this and have done this -- all this reporting, how legit do you think the claims are of individual companies that shrinkage is really affecting their results to a -- to a degree that's measurable >> target said that they are on track to lose $1 billion this year they are the only retailer to put a number on it. >> put a number on it. >> that i trust. how many is shrinkage and how much is it damaged and inventory getting lost >> bad inventory management. >> the thing i think of when i look at wall green's and the many self-destructive things they have had to do to deal with high theft, in new york city everything is behind a case. their answer to this process is something that hurts their own sales.

i can't imagine they would do that unless they thought hey, we've got crack down and protect ourselves. >> some of the advisers that i smoke to for the story if they see in a store things are locked up they are dealing with an organized crime. we don't know how much that is impacting their numbers but they won't tell us. it's not something they are required to disclose. >> you know what, we're heading into retail earnings season so everyone out there put some numbers to it and help make your case and help galvanize policy if this is as bad as everyone says. >> thanks very much. >> let's get to contessa brewer for the cnbc news update contessa >> hawaii governor josh green says residents of lahaina will be able to go back to their homes. he's warning that residents should brace themselves before they try to get back the wildfires decimated the historic town. we know at least 55 people are dead so that makes this one of the state's deadliest disasers in history. six suspects have been arrested in connection with

yesterday's assassination of the ecuadorian presidential canned day. authorities say the suspects are colombian nationals and gang members. they were charged with trafficking illicit substances. california regulators have voted to allow more self-driving cars on the streets of san francisco. dr. ruz owned by general motors and waymo will be able to depolice more vehicles in the city and start charging for rides day or night allowing them to compete with uber or lyft more options for the people of san francisco. >> a huge deal conteta for now, thanks. still ahead, corporations are facing a potential new legal threat conservative groups targeting their diversity hiring policies. we've got details when "power lunch" returns

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welcome back to "power lunch. following the recent supreme court decision striking down affirmative action in college admission we're seeing a fight brewing over diversity hiring in america. conservative groups are challenging companies from

amazon to starbucks and our parent comcome cast are violating rules and stephen miller filing a complaint against kellogg woke programs as well what's the future of dei programs in the workplace? joining us is a corporate dei consultant who works with companies including netflix, mcdonald's and more and author of "we've got this, unlocking the beauty of belonging" and with us is danny cevallos msnbc news legal analyst great to have you with us. are companies nervous? >> they are nervous and they have every reason to be because this is a great moment of uncertainty as it relates to what will be happening with dei programming down the road given the attack that we're seeing on this type of programming. >> danny, let me just lay out a hypothesis here and it is this wherecompanies are most vulnerable, it would seem to me in trying to advance dei

programs, is where where they might explicitly or implicitly put quotas on hiring certain categories of individuals, either by gender or race or ethnicity or whatever. am i nibbling around the right piece of cheese there or not >> you have the exact right piece of cheese because quotas have long been suspect, at least in the college context now recently affirmative action was struck down at the university level, and keep in mind that the only reason that universities were allowed to is because they had a special pedagogical interest, first amendment interest i should say, in forming their own curriculum. corporate environments, companies, don't have the same interest and won't be able to show that same justification whether or not there's a truly compelling special interest, it's not for me to say, something that the supreme court said long ago. now that's gone, so you're exactly right, that quotas long

being suspect going back decades to the supreme court they will probably be suspect and the first on the chopping block, so to speak i may be mixing my metaphors but quotas will be a problem for corporate dei programs. >> so how then do you then thread the needle of achieving what i think many in the culture would view as a worthy goal, and that is to forward the -- the employment opportunities of formerly disadvantaged groups while statement not running afoul of what danny talked about and that was the idea of quotas or some explicit program that favors one class or race over another which would seem to be based on the decision in the case of a month or so ago a difficult one? >> oh, i think that this moment

of uncertainty reinforces why this moment is so challenging. i think that for dei leaders with an organization it's a moment to be courageous and trying to push forward with the broad span of dei programming that is necessary to create equity for people from across cultural communities within workplaces, but in particular what i would say is while we trudge forward with certain buckets of dei programming, the place where the courage is really actually needed is this targeted programming directed towards gender equity, racial equity, equity connected back to lbgtq professionals and more and so the problem in this moment is that because of the uncertainty a lot of organizations will want to hold back, but this will be a moment of courage it will need to be a moment where people walk the talk around some of the commitments that they have made over the last several years, the last few years in particular. yes, we will wait to see how it

all pans out in the courts, but along the way it doesn't mean that we necessarily should be taking our foot off the gas pedal, and the reason i say this is because these very programs that are in place targeting women and people of color and people from the lgbtq plus community and more, veterans and more are needed to rectify the inequities given that the playing field isn't level given historical oppression. >> would it be enough for companies in the crosshairs to simply remove any quotas is there any problem, maybe more a question for danny, but do you think companies can kind of keep these programs in place but without explicit quotas? >> i think that that's probably what we're going to see a lot of organizations doing, removing the quota targets and related programming and other dei programming. my hope is that doesn't happen i would like to be in a place where we challenge these laws

and let ultimately the courts decide what will happen but recognizing that all of this is in furtherance of equity and workplace cultures. >> so danny, how do you further equity, particularly for those, as i said earlier, categories of individuals who may have been disadvantaged by prior discrimination how do you further those interests but not run afoul of sort of the -- of the non-discrimination requirements that are in the law or the -- or the equity interests of other people who may feel that, hey, someone else is coming along and taking a slot that i am fully qualified for. how do you thread that needle? >> it may not be a threadable needle and here's why. whether it's title 7, the equal protection clause with the case of government employment or section 1981, all of these laws prohibit discrimination, and that is i respective of the race being discriminated against or the gender or whatever the case may be, so a white male is

equally potentially a victim of discrimination as any other minority that's not -- that's not me. that's been the supreme court for decades now, so the chal being, especially in a post-affirmative action era is what kind of program would pass cornstutional muster quotas are just the lowest hanging fruit that challengers will go amount that's the easiest case to make, but arguably any favorable treatment of any particular race or gender or any -- any protected class which can include white and can include male, according to the supreme court precedent on all of those title 7, section 1981 and equal protection clause, could potentially make those challengeable in court. >> could an aspirational -- i'll lay this out here for both of you quickly. could an aspirational goal stated by a company to is a v say, 50% of the hires be

represented from formerly discriminated against or -- or the victims of inequity, could something like that actually become legally problematic danny, why don't you go first, an aspirational goal to say we want 50% of our hires to come from ferme earl disadvantaged categories >> sure. you're talking about a statement with no action behind it that would probably be on the safer side of the continuum, but if you add any action to it, like a corporation saying, you know, we like equity, that's great. equity may be a good thing in principal. it's what they are doing to achieve it, and if they are favoring one group or another, simplyput that's going to make it susceptible to attack, especially in a post-affirmative action era we talk about quotas those are the most obvious cases, but anything where you're providing favorable treatment. there's good noble programs like

visiting particular colleges to parting particular groups. that's a great idea, i don't know whether that be would be constitutional or not. >> two things, first of all, the fundamental problem here and i say this as a former lawyer myself and probably one of the reasons why i gave up the practice of law. entrenched in our legal systems and practices is a misunderstanding, a flawed understanding of what discrimination is and what equity is about. equity is about rectifying the historical legacies of oppression and discrimination and the current reality. these are just historical experiences. we know that women and people of color and people from across a number of communities that experience oppression continue to experience inequities in the workplace, and this is why we need this targeted programming and the existing legal structure doesn't recognize that discrimination isn't -- that having women sponsorship programs or mentorship programs

or programs in place targeting people of color, this isn't about discrimination, this is about equity, and so we have a fundamental problem here because the legal system doesn't recognize the 2023 understanding of what equity is really actually about. >> fascinating conversation. i hope we can pick it up again sometime soon. it's one that's really deep and profound and really important. thank you both for your time today. >> thank you. >> appreciate it >> coming up, we are closing out ouba-tscr cko-hool series. we'll be right back. at's what '! (josh allen) is this your plan to watch the game today? (hero fan) uh, yea. i have to watch my neighbors' nfl sunday ticket. (josh allen) it's not your best plan. but you know what is? myplan from verizon. switch now and they'll give you nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv, on them. (hero fan) this plan is amazing! (josh allen) another amazing plan, backing away from here very slowly. (fan #1) that was josh allen. (fan #2) mmhm. (vo) for a limited time get nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv on us. a $449 value. plus, get a free samsung galaxy z flip5. only on verizon.

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lunch. wrapping ip our back to school series with a check on the job market for graduating seniors. job growth cooling for recent grads this year. what's in store for the year ahead? here to discuss, founder of a

national staffing firm what are you seeing? >> things definitely are slowing down a little for recent college grads. more on the liberal arts side than specific s.t.e.m. positions. seeing high demand in technology, high demand engineering and mathematics. good, not great, but heading into an election year next year. so for seniors to be, not that bad, but it was better two years ago. >> are there enough s.t.e.m. grads to fill the s.t.e.m. jobs? >> no. talked about that before, tyler. that's where the immigration problems, educating so many people in s.t.e.m. with s.t.e.m. degrees and then sending them back to their home countries where we need them here. just don't have enough students here to fill the gap everything moving into the cloud, cybersecurity, we're dealing with ai. just too much going on, too

fast, to think we have the population whose brains -- not just saying i want to do that. you have to have the ability cognitively to do it and not everybody does. >> conclusion of our "back to school" series what would you tell somebody going back to school trying to figure out a major, balance majors with extracurriculars and internships the rest of it what's the hottest place to get the highest wage, the best opportunities? >> i think what you said there, kelly, people run into mistakes. going for the highest wage out of college really doesn't solve a problem. rime not a big believer in the whole social media, find happiness, phenomenon that's taken over over the world. i'm a anywnaysayer good a job you like rather than chasing the almighty dollar at 24 years olds. we interviews tens of thousands of kids out of school, my firm,

happy to say taking highest salary when 23 and not looking where the long-term path is for what interests them is the mistake. >> i get the opposite around town a little. grads, hey, got hired with this major league team. only pays $23,000 but, man, i love sports. thinking, maybe go to the boring workplace that's going to pay you better long run and more opportunities for advancement? i don't know. >> we know why it's so bard. not always smartest. kids with most longevity i think in all seriousness, we've got to look at things. the kids who go for the biggest paycheck, they're doing that for, it's really a sense of values and what they think is important and where they are today. so many people are doing jobs. you see the surveys much as i do 68% of the workforce disengaged. not because they're doing something they love. right? if you're really good at

something, whether you're an accountant or selling phone services or whatever you're doing, that if you're good at it you'll end up making money, kelly. >> listen, i totally, totally believe that tom, thanks for now. appreciate it. >> absolutely. have a great weekend. >> you, too. coming up, self-driving taxis getting a green light to expand in san francisco. don't be a taxi driver, i guess. a look at what's next and are the cars ready for primetime stay with us. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity.

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welcome back to "power lunch. robotaxis getting a green light in of all places, california state regulators allows pal bette's waymo and google's cruise brand to all of san francisco. our investigators reporter following the story. at the vote yesterday which lasted more than seven hours i -- i -- other than the fact these are their own companies, the fact san francisco would be the leading the deregulatory charge boggles my mind. >> interestingly, for one of the places with the most autonomous vehicles operating in the u.s., san francisco wasn't exactly laying out the welcome mat for this which you mentioned cleared the way for two of the largest self-driving car companies in america to expand their robotaxi services through the san

francisco 24/7, no cap how many vehicles are put out on the road important to note, both companies, waymo and cruise, already have self-driving driverless cars, hundreds of them, operating throughout san francisco, 24/7. what's the difference here they weren't able to charge money for those rides around the clock. for example, up to yesterday waymo couldn't charge passengers anything giving away rides for free cruise, on the other hand, a little further along in the regulatory process and able to charge fares but only in certain parts of san francisco during overnight hours. yesterday's vote essentially lended ability to a top business model gooing uber and live lyft operating. >> your interview the other night was fantastic. went on a ride if i recall correctly. the car had, let's say, a hissy fit and pulled over and stopped,

and you were stuck right? would you tell us the story? >> interestingly, personifies one of the largest dilemmas for these self-driving car companies in that there are defaults when confused telly and tyler, they are programmed to stop find a place to pull over and stop in our particular instance in the car about a minute when we got to a construction zone. what exactly was that construction zone? three lanes, right lane closed something that, you know, average driver would be able to deal with no problem our car got confused what it thought the best option to do was to parkdiagonally on busy thoroughfare, people honking at us. solution for our driverless car problem, cruise send a human driver to take us to out of destination. >> and new york city, gotten more than a nasty look, you know riding with a driving

instructser and graded the car a what >> she said it was worse than her worst driving student. >> all right a great piece. thank you very much. and thank you everybody for watching "power lunch. have a great weekend. "closing bell" starts right now. happy friday, everybody. welcome to "closing "closing b" i'm brian sullivan in for scott wapner a pick-up in inflation raising questions where the federal reserve goes from here overall, 90% of companies reported earnings. so far nearly 80% beating expectations brings us to our "talk of the tape" top of the hour. why can't the bulls take more control? for that, welcom