factory workers. it's tuesday, december 10th, 2024. "squawk box" starts right now. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. it's tuesday. we're ready to go. futures are not doing much of anything at this hour. dow down four points. nasdaq up 16. if you are watching the treasury market, we are waiting the cpi and ppi this week. ahead of that, it's ten-year is back to where it was last week at 4.21. the two-year at 4.13. let's talk about the story of the morning. new york prosecutors charging luigi mangione with the murder of unitedhealthcare ceo brian

thompson. he was arrested yesterday at the mcdonald's in altoona, pennsylvania after the worker told police he was acting suspiciously. he is charged with second degree murder and possession of the firearm and possession of a silencer and forged strument. he graduated from the university of pennsylvania. he was carrying a handwritten manifesto that referenced the healthcare industry and apparently had, i don't know if this is connected. apparently had a lot of back pain. back issues and other sorts of things. i don't know. >> why sect degree? >> what? >> why second degree? >> i don't know. there's the question about the ghost guns. this was produced -- >> maybe. >> apparently on a 3d printer. silencer on the 3d printer. >> he had a bachelor of science

and masters degree. >> went to gilman. >> comes from a very althy. >> family owns a country club. >> very privileged. very strange. >> very privileged. if you read, i haven't been following him on twitter. there is a turn where you can see more activist-like view about being anti-capitalistic, but thinking violence is the answer. >> i don't understand -- >> which is -- >> there must be some -- >> shocking. >> some fantastical defect in his thinking because his life was so -- would have been so great and it's going to be so bad now. now the guy is 50 with two kids. he ruined -- he's dead. his kids have to deal with that. now this guy is going to spend

the rest of his life, likely -- >> likely. i don't want to say hopefully, but hopefully. >> it's confounding to me. i don't know how your mind, especially if you are an engineer and you've had all this. he knows how to think. i don't know how you get to that point knowing what all the ramifications are. it reminds me of some people and it's sad and mental illness causes suicide. i don't know if people think how permanent that is. >> it is hard to think there is not mental illness. people said it is like another ivy league graduate like the unabomber. >> i think a lot of the for-profit motive. there are certain things shouldn't be more profit. police and fire. healthcare, it is a discussion worth having. it's your health.

loved ones health. you get older. your kids. all these things. the knee-jerk reaction is subsidize everything needed. when you do that, the unintended consequences, the outcome, becomes worse. you could basically argue against the profit incentive for just about anything. it would be nice if we could pay everyone $1,000 an hour and charge whatever it costs to make something to give it to people so it wouldn't cost -- everything would be better if there was no profit incentive except it wouldn't. i don't know. you could basically take this -- this like or disdain for the profit and it is not just healthcare. go across the board of people harmed or looks like they're harmed by the profit incentive. in reality, it is the best system we have. >> i don't think there is any question the healthcare industry is broken at this point. i think any -- no matter what

political persuasion you come from, there are things we should and could do to fix things. i think that conversation will take place in washington. >> from there are middle men involved. if you are not watching your ps and qs, it is ripe for abuse. if you want to cover everything and everything is subidizesubsi you end up paying one way or the other. >> we are spending more and more on health care and not getting better outcomes. >> that's where the profit incentive is supposed to help. you are supposed to get better outcomes if someone is minding the store. >> we talked about this yesterday. donald trump and his conversation signalled out the middle men and that is a call you hear from the right and the left. i think you will probably look back at this point and say this could be the beginning of major changes in the healthcare industry with the issues that happened and push and populist

movement from the right and left to try to come after something. there's a desire to fix things and make it better. >> there are people who think it should be like the police department or the fire department where you are not going to make money. >> a lot of nations where that is the case. >> countries of 7 million people. people point to sweden or one of those. >> where do you land on what has been a revolution in the last five years or seven years or ten years of private equity buying up doctors offices across the country so they can collect the medicare and medicaid payments. they do this with nursing homes the same way. effectively preying oddly enough not on the individuals themselves, but the government to pay for this and they try to extract as much as they can humanly can. that is, to me, the profit incentive, but the profit incentive is great for the doctor who sells the practice

the first time. he or she thinks they worked a long time and built the practice and sell to somebody else. the person who buys it, their motives are different and unaligned with the patients because it is a financial business. that's the business. the business of making money. the distinction between what people actually do and then what -- it's very hard. i don't know what the right answer is. >> look, there were a lot of doctors offices had to get bought up after obamacare dealing with the paper work and bureauacyou could not do it as doctors office. there's a lot of issues that have gotten worse over time. i think we are very lucky to live here and have access to the system. there are serious problems with it. >> get back to the whole -- how much is a doctor who goes to school for, you know, eight years minimum and specializes and how much is he worth? is he worth over $1 million or $2 million a year?

you think yes, but with cost pressures and everything else, lately, a lot of doctors are no longer practicing. they go into bio-tech or some of them become financial advisors. >> plastic surgery. >> or concierge medicine. >> thank god for the plastic surgeons. shares of oracle are falling. earnings $1.47 missed estimates by a penny. company's current forecast. it signed an agreement with meta to help with the infrastructure with projects related to the llama. family of large language models. before the decline, oracle shares were up more than 80% year to date. shares of toll brothers are

falling this morning after the home builder beat expectations for orders in the recent quarter. earnings and revenue beat expectations. the forecast for homes built in 2025 was roughly in line with estimates. expectations for gross margins in the quarter fell and that stock is down 3.5%. meantime, openai releasing the video generation tool. it is called sora and works as the image generation tool. you can type out not just what you want to see, but a scene and sora will tu a video clip and generate clips inspired by still images and extend existing videos or fill in missing frames. it is for existing chatgpt customers and plus and pro. i will say so far unlike some of the other services, if you were to say, you know, make a movie of becky quick and joe kernen

and andrew ross sorkin talking about whatever, they will not do that. >> hmm. >> hmm. >> you look at this and because they left enough i am perfections, it looks real. it looks more real than what i've seen in some others. >> what you are seeing, the prompt matters a lot. if you were to write hand held camera -- you are seeing here, by the way, is super sophisticated in the prompt is what camera to hold and often like what the f-stop. very specific things you say on a dolly and it will track her and you go in and then you go out. this is what it's got a feel. this feels homey. >> my point -- >> you can make it feel like whatever you want it to feel. >> i guess my point is you can't believe anything you see anymore. >> yeah. >> based on how good this is, i

don't believe anything you hear or don't believe anything you see. >> unfortunately, that's where this is all headed to some degree. in the meantime, reuters reporting that boeing restarted production of the 737 max jet in recent days. the best selling product is seen as a critical component in the financial recovery. this comes after the strike by 33,000 workers. when we come back, key inflation data is due this week. we will get you ready for the cpi report. the consumer inflation report and the potential impact on the fed's next move. we'll have that next. the nasdaq indicated up 22 points. s&p futures up 5. dow futures down 3. later this morning, we have an exit interview with one of the top officials in the

anti-trust division. jonathan kanter will join us at 8:48 a.m. eastern time and "squawk box" will be right back. >> announcer: this cnbc program is sponsored by baird. visit bairddifference.com. y'all see this, patrick mahomes is saying goodbye! patrick! patrick! people was tripping. where are you going!? he was actually saying goodbye to his old phone. i'm switching to the amazing new iphone 16 pro at t-mobile! it's the first iphone built for apple intelligence. that's like peanut butter on jelly...on gold. get four iphone 16 pro on us,

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november. it is due out tomorrow morning and it is expected to show inflation ticked up for november. 0.3%. last month, it was 0.2%. year over year, 2.7% compared to 2.6%. for more, we bring in eric freedman. i think it's just almost $500 billion in assets under management. eric, welcome. thank you for coming in today. >> great to be here. absolutely. >> you do have a lot of money that you are managing. >> we're happy to round up to 500. it depends on the day. it's a great client base. ultra high end worth and mass retail. we see a lot of slices of life. it is certainly fun to work with that many different client types. >> what is the biggest concern from clients? >> i think number one is inflation. as we look at the tail end of

this year and the saturday of next start of next year, we will sustain the numbers with the five five-year treasury. the asset classes works and inflation that pushes above, you know, the 2.5% to 3% sustained level that keeps the interest rate bond vigilantes stale s s play. >> if your clients are worried about inflation, they have to be worried about out pacing that inflation in investments. what will you tell them? >> becky, it is stubborn to tell people to get out of cash. you have cash above 4.5%, that say level people have anchored on, if you will. we have been ing a lot of things from dividend stocks to international equities and

private assets. things that are not expensive that roll off the tongue like structured credit which provides a solid yield. those are things we entice people to move out of cash. >> that is interesting. all of this cash on the sidelines is people are waiting for a pull back they haven't gotten. >> the waiting for godot and go godot never happens. we are waiting for more concrete policies from the administration. there may be opportunities and pockets to pick up. things haven't worked include international with the european side. for those working for more of a valuation play is interesting, but brave to step in before tariffs releases emerge. >> that is what people say. we have run so far over last

couple years. s are up substantially. we are getting a lot of what you anticipate coming from the administration from election day on. you are seeing a front-end loading of the gains. maybe we want to be cautious and see what's next. if you have all of the cash building up on the sidelines, i wonder if any slight pull back that begins two or three or four or five percent gets washed out because that brings new money, too. >> the thesis with the way we have been playing is ex-ante with the next wave of animal spirits and next policies come through. we have been overweight especially u.s. there is another leg to that trade, we think. nothing solves high prices like high prices. that entices people to get in on the inflow of assets into

equities. we still think there is an opportunity to be aggressive, but another leg has to be proven policy. that is good to focus on. >> we started the conversation saying inflation is the biggest thing outside of geopolitical concerns we can't do anything about. if inflation were to rise again and stronger than anticipated and the fed had to stop cutting rates or hiking rates as a result, maybe that is the game changer. >> agreed. that is the push, if you will. we haven't had interest rates above 5% in 17 years. we had one day last year for a millie millisecond. that move below 5% precedes the great financial crisis. that is correlated with the higher prices. the that is the test the markets don't want to see. >> we used to do fine at 7% and 8% for years. companies deployed cash and took

risks and things were allocated. it is a bygone era. i was just thinking about inflation debilitating it really is. oh, my god. i can't afford any of this stuff. the next year it goes up another 3% on top of 20%. next year, 3% on top of the 3% on top of that 23%. nothing's solved. the rate of increase, you know, had moderated. you are still buying the things that you couldn't afford when it was up 20 and it's up 26. >> what it would take for deinflation? >> i don't want deinflation. it's things, you are still scanning those things and you get done and holy crap. things are different. >> it is unevenly distributed. think of the balance sheet on the low end consumer.

shelter and transportation. that is 60%. >> the take home or whatever and go to the supermarket. you spend $250 even when you are scrimping for a family of four. wow. what do you have left? >> it is persistent. absolutely. absolutely. >> eric, thank you for coming in. >> great to be here. thanks for having me. we have more coming up. the points guy is going to join news a moment. take a look at the busy holiday season and what trends he is expecting heading into the new year. stay tuned. do not go anywhere. "squawk box" is coming right back. this is cnbc.

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welcome back to "squawk

box." for a look at the state of the holiday travel season and what is ahead in 2025, i welcome a guy i follow religiously on social media. brian kelly is here. unveiling a 2024 tpg lighting the best companies in phase of travel and hotels and more. nice to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> what's at the top of the list? who's the best? >> this year, we did data surveys and we had our editorial staff. we didn't want to do popularity contests because we wanted to highlight the best brands in travel. the best airline loyalty program went to american airlines because they're miles are still really, really valuable. 60,000 miles on american you can fly business class to japan. go to asia or maldives on qatar airways. people equate the airline -- i

don't like american to fly on. it is not about flying on the airline airline. >> you are not talking about the product? >> is it hard to get the miles? >> they are harder to get. >> because of what? >> you can't transfer in from the loyalty programs. >> what credit card can you use at all to attach to this? >> the best premium credit card is the capital one venture x. a lot of the -- amex platinum is more. they give you $300 a year to travel. you can get into lounges with the guests. the airlines have really cut back. you have to spend $75,000 on delta cards to get in. capital one lounges, they have three right now, there are more coming out. they are beautiful. >> where are they? >> the card is $95. >> where are they? >> dallas and denver and dulles and opening up soon in jfk.

they are beautiful. they are peloton bikes. >> who else is n the list? >> best all around credit card for the intro is chase sapphire. no annual fee is the belt card. you can earn rent at no fee. >> built has come on strong. >> i saw that interview. from the business side, from the consumer side, it's a slam dunk. no fees. i tell people keep taking advantage of that. >> talking about that card. >> yeah. that's a no-brainer. and, you know, best business class international qatar qsuites. >> for the product? >> the product itself for business class. >> what is the best domestic airline in your mind taking the points piece off the game? >> for the economy, jetblue even

though jetblue has operational problems. the message with the awards this year is over 3 million passengers and travel is up next year. there are production delays with boeing. a lot of pressure even with spirit in bankruptcy, there is pressure. if spirit is going to come out smaller, airfares will go up. consumers need to be savvy with loyalty cards. there are cards out there for consumers. i think the message is don't give up on the points. ask your friends in europe. they don't have these options. >> is there ever an advantage? normally, i know all of the tips you have been telling me. you take all of the points on the credit card, transfer it to the airline and don't ever let american express try to book through amex or chase sapphire card. >> transferring points with all of the value. >> every time i do that,

sometimes you check to see if there's availability. and you have to go transfer. i'm always scared for this five-minute window because you don't know -- sometimes they say it could take 24 hours and you are sitting there saying oh, my god. this is not going to work. >> it's a free tool to show you availability. point.me. it is $100 a year. whether you have chase or amex or citi. it shows you live availability. you may and what happens is amex people transfer to delta, it may be 4 00,000 miles for a flight. if you transfer to rgin, it is lower. check for the sums because there may be a better transfer partner. >> is there ever going to be april market for the points?

>> we love to see a google flights for awards. airlines want you go into the ecosystem. point me is the closest thing to that. it is supported by the airlines. there are other apps that are cat-and-mouse that the s sue them. they are now making more money via loyalty. >> do you have any idea how the stowaway made it to paris? i read it. >> this happens quite a bit. >> really? >> yeah. people slip through. it's human error. >> they did have to go through security. that made me feel better. actual security. people don't dodge the security part. >> how do you get through security without a ticket? >> because they like snuck in -- the gate area is crazy. >> they did make it through the gate. >> when you go through security, you have to have a ticket. >> this is why i'm a believer.

we need more bio-metrics at airports. the government already has our information. no reason you shouldn't have more technology verifying facial. >> where are you on c.l.e.a.r.? >> it is not a slam dunk. i know a lot of people are not happy about the secondary checks. >> i have it, but i use it almost like an insurance policy glchlt policy. >> it's good to have if you lose your id. i think it can save time. >> brian, thank you for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> i appreciate it. when we come back, cnbc is heading west for the third installment of cities of success. we'll bring you the sneak peek straight ahead. as we go to break, let's look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers.

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good morning. welcome back to "squawk box" live from the nasdaq market site in times area. things didn't end well yesterday, but so far this this morning, quiet. you can see the futures with the nasdaq out performing the dow and s&p. tonight, cnbc travels to salt lake city, utah for the cities of success. an hour long primetime special. while women own less than 15% of businesses there, a bold wave of female even tremendous ntrepren shattering. sharon epperson has more. >> reporter: when she started her studio, the clients sparked an idea.

>> people come up during and after class and say where did you get your brows done. hey, my knee hurts. we started thinking about what would happen if we put mind and business together and created the ecosystem. >> reporter: the vision is a community of businesses supporting each other and growing together. four years later, she partnered with a woman at pilates. they worked together to make that dream a reality. >> i was into it from the beginning. >> reporter: over time, they invested in ten buildings. six clustered around a single city block in a business district called maven. >> a lot of women are an tacted attracted to the ecosystem. >> reporter: there is a co-working space and outique hotel and tenants. 85% of the businesses are owned by women. >> for that story and much more,

make sure to catch "cities of success salt lake city ." tonight at 0:00 p.m. here on cnbc. coming up, more on the arrest of the suecd sptekiller of the unitedhealthcare ceo. more "squawk box" coming up. we'll be right back. ♪ (agent) we've always said never sell a house in the winter. well, that's not exactly true. with opendoor, you can skip the showings and get a real cash offer. and if you close before the holidays,

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>> new york prosecutors have charged luigi mangione with the murder of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. the 26-year-old was arrested yesterday at a mcdonald's in altoona, pennsylvania. the situation has led companies to rethink their security protocols. joining us is brian stevens, senior managing director, helping fortune 500 companies

manage crises. brian, like so many, this refocuses everyone. i guess i'd ask you had security gotten lax and now it will swing the other way? is it necessary? it's going to happen either way. i'm wondering whether this is something to start worrying about or whether it's a one-off. if you've got an individual, looking at ted kazinski, the unabomer, i can't imagine it could happen again and again and again? >> joe, you are right. this is an extreme example. thankfully this is very rare and does not occur on a regular basis. to your point, it is a wake-up call. sometimes it takes these horrific tragedies and

unfortunate the loss of life to relook at how we pproach the issues to take a look at how we protect the high profile leaders out in the public on a daily basis with a lot of exposure and who represent large companies and large investors and often times the face of the brand and the face of the issue. it is, unfortunately, a wake-up call. >> it's so many different things swirling around when i think about things like this. basically urks if you have someone willing to spend the rest of their life in prison, it is almost like you can't, i don't think you can necessarily prevent this from happening. >> well, it is certainly challenging when you have someone to make the ultimate sacrifice to carry out this attack and carry out this type of violence. it becomes very, very difficult. so, i think that really places

the importance on these programs to be intelligence driven and prevention focused really assessing every risk and threat that comes in to a corporation and taking it seriously and assess the threats and the likelihood of them being able to be carried out and subsequently the protection around the high profiles and s. >> will you try to figure out which industries or which sub groups of the american economy that would be, i don't know, more vulnerable or bigger target? i guess this was an easy one, health insurance. there are probably ten other ones i could come up with. >> you are right, joe. certainly healthcare is one that is highly emotional and highly personal and can create a wide

variety orange range of action. that can happen in any industry. as you know, ceos are asked to take positions on political issues which are polarizing. when they take a stance, it often times the alienation of half the population with that stance. >> you have the politicians. we saw two attempts on president-elect trump's life. then, who was john lennon? anyone who is a celebrity is at risk of omeone making a name for themselves by, you know, if you are whacky and crazy enough, it is hard to anticipate where you need to put your resources. are there enough resources to protect everyone that needs protecting? >> yeah, yeah. joe, the challenge is greater than ever when you think about

the accessibility of ceos and online social media presence. the ability for a threat actor to gain significant information about those individuals to understand where they are and what they look like and what their habits are and patterns are and the ability for bad actors to gather that information is greater than it has ever been. i think on the positive side, the security industry has made significant strides to detect these threats and issues. we made significant strides in collecting and analyzing threats with the technology with a.i. and harnessing big data to help us focus on the actionable threats and credible threats to be better at taking action of the threats pro-actively. as i mentioned on the flip side, the bad actors have better access to more tools and more sophisticated attacks. the challenge for security row fegs professionals is to stay ahead of that. >> and at the same time social

media sometimes to gin things up, you can use it to anticipate someone with issues that needs to be monitored closely. so maybe they cancel each other out. brian, not something we thought we would necessarily be talking about, but we are and we need to do it. good to have you on this morning. thanks. >> absolutely. thanks for having me. >> you're welcome. coming up in just a moment, amazon bringing intuit software into the seller hub. more on the partnership after the break. it's an interesting one. coming up, we have an exit interview with the top official in the doj anti-trust division. that is jonathan kanter. he will join us at the exclusive at 8:40 a.m. you don't want to miss what he has done in the past four years and what is going to come in the

next four years. "squawk box" returns after this. do that, jen. ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ why not? did you forget something? ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ my protein shake. the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. you're so dramatic amelia. bye jen. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com.

welcome back to "squawk box." amazon partnering with intuit to bring the accounting tools to the sellers. starting in mid 2025, the company is adding quick books as a tool on the central hub now third party sellers can manage their businesses. some sellers will have access to loans through the quick books capital which is a way for them to get access to capital. third party sellers make up 60% of products sold on amazon. the software integration gives the seller a real-time view of the financial health of the business including profitability, cash flow and taxes estimates.

i think it's a welcome thing for a lot of folks inside or use the amazon platform. it is another way to tie the sellers into the amazon system. when we come back, we will talk to the founder of between, the social media app for families to navigate online safety for kids. that comes following the australia ban for children under the age of 16. as we head to break, check out the norwegian cruise line. it is citing a strong outlook for demand in 2025. we'll be right back. experience the art of high pressure brewed coffee and espresso with the l'or barista system. enjoy richer, bolder flavors complete with velvet smooth crema. for a satisfying moment unlike any other.

welcome back, everybody. australia has passed legislation to ban social media and facebook and x for children under the age of 16 starting next year. some are praising the blanket ban, but others are arguing the online safety for kids is nuance and needs to be be dealt with as such. joining us is the funds founde. welcome. it is great to have you here today. why don't you explain what this is for those not familiar? >> absolutely. parents are navigating a mine field of dangers and risks and the good things with screen time that kids have. it is providing resources for toddlers for screen time or teens for social media and all of the challenging moments that happen in between to be the partner in digital parenting.

>> it is something i could use help with because i think all of my kids, including the 8-year-old, are better with technology than i am. i figure something out. if i'm setting guardrails for them, they will probably figure out how to turn them off. >> yes, absolutely. >> what do you tell parents? i understand the idea that maybe we shouldn't have this blanket situation, but the same thing if you don't have laws that require kids to wear a bike helmet, nobody does because it's not cool. how do we find a moderate middle ground in terms of making sure our kids are protected online? to me, it feels like on social media you could have anybody out there pretending to be anyone. there are predators and lots of situations in this area where we haven't figured out to police that. >> it is tricky and to your point, akin if you walked into the liquor store and they said

are you 21 and you said yup. they said here's your vodka. >> right. >> in the rest of the world, you have to prove of age to get access to things. with these bans, it under 16, we're putting it on par with alcohol, tobacco and you can't vote until you are of a certain age. versus if you think about a car, to your point, bike helmets, we say you can't drive until you've gotten a license and learned. there are a lot of rules that doesn't stop you from engaging with the car. seatbelt rules or in the backseat or front seat to keep you safe over time. i think of social media and screen time in that same way. right now, the onus is on parents to learn how to do that which is why we do the work we do. in doing that, it's learning things like being mindful of the screen time. for us as adults, you go to the

pre-fridge rater and open the door and think if you are hungry. why am i picking up this phone or device? what is my mindfulness? how do i engage with my kids around screen time? just like you read a book and engage in stories with them and engage with questions, how do you apply to screen time to foster critical thinking? how do you help your kids support in learning that? writing online reviews to the together? creating the dance challenge to teach privacy and safety. i love looking at spam. i do this with my daughter. we look at the spam messages we get and talk about how do we know this is real or not. something we need to do with our aging parents, too. >> all very smart advice and things we need to be doing. let's get back to the idea of regulating and whether a blanket ban should work or maybe if it

is not a blanket ban, some responsibility on the social media companies for regulating what's taking place in their marketplace. going back to the real world examples. if this was a chuck e. cheese and there were, let's say, 1,000 people in the chuck e. cheese was a e. cheese, and there were a thousand people in the chuck e. cheese, if there were three sexual predators, that chuck e. cheese would probably be shut down in the real world. there's zero tolerance in the real world for allowing sexual predators to be preying on people in your business place. what's the tolerance level that we have online for these companies? >> yeah, we're allowing far more dangerous situations to occur than we would in real world. even to your point, when you go to chuck e. cheese, you and your child need to have matching bracelets or blacklight stamps that allow you to leave with that child. so there's a lot of things that we have not put into place, which is good friction to help

keep our kids safe. and part of the challenge with these bans is that they don't have teeth to actually enforce them. and instead, we should be thinking about, is it that we need to prove that you are of age and use systems that we use elsewhere of providing your license or some sort of form of i.d., that you are old enough to access certain kinds of features and content. is it that we -- do we need to think about these different platforms. and if you have dms, they be you need to have x, y, and z features and safety requirements in place. because right now, these bans are applying to say, it's, you know, instagram and it's tiktok, but it's not youtube and it's not linkedin andtha a very inconsistent, challenging place to be. >> meta has come out with these new tools for parents. are they useful? do they work? >> they put the responsibility on the parents. there are definitely tools there that are helpful. the problem is without age verification, a child can still

go in and now say they're 18 instead of 13 to get access to the full features. so that is really where the biggest challenge lies is how do you confirm the age of the person who is using it and navigating that. right now it's on the parents to know that the kid is accessing these things, to have the relationship with their child and have set up the conversations that they put these tools in place and then to the point you were saying, making sure that the kids are not side stepping these safety features and turning them off and hiding their behavior or going to even scarier platforms that have even less sort of good interest at heart. >> karla from between, thank you. >> thank you. it is now 7:02, officiallyn the east coast. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc. i'm andrew ross sorkin and along with joe kernan and becky quick. shares of nvidia are moving lower again today.

take a look. because just yesterday, they dropped about the 2.5%. this after china opening a probe into whether the ai chipmaker has violated the country's anti-monopoly law. nvidia gets about 15% of its revenue from china. meantime, a nevada commissioner has now rejected rupert murdoch's attempt to change his family's trust of his media and business operations. this is according to a sealed document that was obtained by "the new york times." trust had divided control between the murdoch's four oldest children, but murdoch was seeking to give control to his eldest son, lachlan, when he dice. and the "financial times" have revealed that google has asked more or information about a scrapped agreement with meta. it would have involved targeting 13 to 17-year-old who is use afl beth's youtube to promote meta's instagram, if that's not a little confusing and strange

bedfellows. >> let's do some bottoms up with dom, but first a look at the futures. not a whole lot happening there. but what about specific names, dom, what's moving? >> we'll start at the bottom of the funnel and work our way up. starting with shares of oracle, we're down and down markedly, down by about 8% or so in the pre-market trade so far, after it posted mixed second quarter results and current quarter guidance that missed some estimates. ceo safr katz did oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue that's up, and she said that total cloud revenue should top $25 billion for this fiscal year. today's loss is curbing some of those big gains that we've seen already in 2024. we're still up around 66% on a year-to-date basis. a massive move higher for a megacap tech giant. meanwhile, on the chip side of things, taiwan semi is down about 1%, after reporting november sales of $8.5 billion, up 34% year over year. that's pretty decent. it's around 12% lower than it

was from its october sales figure. now, the u.s. has recently limited taiwan semi from selling chips to china, citing security concerns. that stock is around 90%. and apple and dell in focus as well. apple up and dell technologies down, just about 0.5%. both were named top picks at citigroup. citi is bullish on apple's tech ai services. they're also seeing opportunities in dell's customer base and demand for special pcs continuing, as companies replace some of their older tech devices. keep an eye on some of both of those names. more on that and other top stories of the day, head over to cnbc.com/pro. subscribers can get more access to the detail and analysis behind those big calls of the day, joe. there's your funnel from the top or the bottom up. >> let's go the other way next time we see you. we'll see you in an hour or so.

>> top down. you got it. >> good, thanks. new york prosecutors have charged luigi mangione with the murder of brian thompson. he was arrested yesterday at a mcdonald's in altoona, pennsylvania, after a worker there told police he was acting suspiciously. mangione has been charged with criminal murder, possession of a firearm, possession of a silencer, and possession of a forged instrument. mangione is 26 years old. he graduated from the university of pennsylvania in 2020. he was carrying a handwritten manifesto that referenced the health care industry and we are learning more and more details on this as we go. when we come back, turning office space into residential space. the ceo of dunne real estate partners is here to talk about their $1 billion venture to convert buildings nationwide. and later, how the rebels captured damascus and what is

next for syria. "squawk box" will be right back.

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some other guests recently, that maybe the leadership is going to change, or at least that the big tech, mag-7 are extended, and maybe that's -- we should expect that to be the market mover next year? >> yeah, joe, this has been our call for much of this year, obviously. we were a little bit earlier in the first half in making this call. however, if you think about just the compression that we anticipate in earnings for the mag 7, that is going to create some vulnerability for those valuations. it's not that they don't have strong balance sheets, it's not that they're going to continue to grow, and it's not that the spending they're doing won't necessarily equate to growth in the future, however, if you look at the rest of the large-cap universe and dip down to small and mid-caps here in the u.s. as well, those earnings are expected to accelerate. double-digits for small caps next year. and we just think that there's

going to continue to be this rotation from a broadening out perspective. we also think that there's going to continue to be a thrust of cyclicality in the market. and those sort of lend to looking outside of large-cap technology for exposure to that particular theme. >> you like some of the policies, usually regulation and business-friendly policies. there are some positive things alike. but we are talking about overall p/e is at historically the high end of what we usually see. maybe rates come down. i don't know, maybe the fed continues. but a multiple expansion doesn't seem like it's likely. >> yeah, and you have really seen, obviously, we've seen on the large cap side, joe, you've seen the s&p 500 driven by both earnings growth and multiple expansion over the last 12 months or so. i do expect that, you know, from our research that we're doing at newburgher berman, we are looking at the possibility of,

you know, lower rates, lower costs, kind of this disinflationary trend, certainly creating some lift on the bottom line, but really it's on the top line. we anticipate that 2025 will be a year of above-trend growth for the u.s. economy. and so if you think about the best driver, it's sort of nominal sales growth. and we saw that during the inflationary period, and we think that we're setting ourselves up for some continued earnings growth and improved earnings growth, as a result of that nominal growth at the top line. that's where we see potentially some of these stocks growing into their valuations versus anticipating this seismic shift of multiple expansion that's going drive the markets higher. >> but you think non-u.s. markets are even more attractive at this point? why is that, if we continue to outperform as an economy? >> well, actually, how we think about it is really in terms of two halves in 2025. we do they just obviously from a valuation perspective,

valuations outside of the u.s. are much more attractive than u.s. stocks. however, they don't have the clear catalyst that we have, in terms of concerted industrial policy, a stronger foundation upon which to jump off of. so what we see is actually we see a little bit of bifurcation. if you look in the second half of the year, for instance, for europe, you could see lower energy prices based on, in part, some of what the trump administration is focused on. you could also see, potentially, resolution in ukraine. and then lower rates. the european economy, for instance, much more interest rate sensitive in this last cycle than what we saw in the u.s. so there are some catalysts potentially to justify investing in these more attractive valuations. we do see them in the second half of the year. the last thing i would add, joe. look at china. think about some of comments coming out of the politburo this weekend. if we see what they're calling vigorous support of consumption,

that could be a catalyst for china in the second half of the year. >> the industrial policy, you mentioned that a couple of times, i guess it depends on what you're talking about. a lot of things can qualify as industrial policy. in the trump administration, which aspects are you talking about? i understand industrial policy, you know, when there's -- for the last four years, but what about for the next four years? where? >> well, technically, joe, i mean, unless you anticipate, which we don't, a full repeal of the highway bill, the infrastructure -- the inflation reduction act, and the chips act, we don't actually expect full repeal. and haven't for ira, we don't expect -- we expect there to be large parts of that legislation that remain in tact. much of that money is unspent. and it's really targeted towards areas and constituencies that can meaningfully benefit. the other part of industrial policy is if you think about this continued emphasis on the protection either from a national security perspective or just from a business perspective

of u.s. industry, this idea that we're going to see continued re-shoring that's going to be supported or perhaps cat alyzed by the trump administration trade policy, that also lends itself into our view that, you know, the first part, the pandemic stimulus was really focused on the consumer. we think some of the legislation that has been put into place over the last couple of years that has longer tails is more focused on industrial revolution of kind of policy spend. and so our view is that that that's going to help support the manufacturing economy in the u.s., but also some of this more cyclical move on the equity side. >> great. okay, shannon, thank you. see you later. i like that tree. is that real? the tree, is it real? >> this one is not real, but i have a real one in the back room. >> okay, one of each. the key thing there is -- >> hold on, that one's not real.

that looks great! >> this one is not real. >> it does look great. >> how about the plants on the right? >> those are definitely real! they take up a lot of time! >> is the background real or not? >> yeah, that's right! >> yeah, yeah. >> reach back. no, we're talking about -- she's totally lying about everything. >> because we were talking about ai during the commercial break. and sometimes these backgrounds now, that people have are amazing. >> well, that one's real. >> thank you. >> up next, empty office buildings are getting a second act. we'll take a look at apartment conversions across the country. "squawk box" will be right back. and build etfs designed to outperform the index. that's the power of curiosity. ♪♪ better questions can lead to better solutions.

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welcome back to "squawk box." empty office space getting a makeover in an emerging housing trend. two real estate partners and a developer tf cornerstone announcing a $1 billion venture to convert offices into residential properties in cities across the country. joining us right now is dunne real estate partner ceo. good morning to you. >> hi. >> this is been something people have been talking about doing for a long time, but there's been a question about how easy or hard it is to actually

execute. >> right. you know, first of all, i don't think people understand how much has already happened. you know, i think cbre did an article where they said 50,000 units have been converted since 2000 or something like that. so, you know, i think that when i talk to people, the that i think i'm most surprised at is how little they understand what's happening right now. just in new york city alone, and i think, you know, new york is probably the poster child for this opportunity, at a great place to have it done. and you know, there's been a lot of that done over the years, but right now, in new york city alone, there is 18 million square feet of offices that are in some stage of conversion. so i think that the question of, is this an opportunity that is going to happen, we're kind of passed that. >> the question is -- but has the opportunity already gone past us? and the separate question is, the sort of bnc buildings, bnc

office buildings that people are thinking about converting. there's been a question as to whether they really can be converted insofar as, given where the elevator locations are, given where the water is, given how much light or lack of light there is in the internals of the building, and sort of how it was structured. how easy or hard it is to actually make this even happen. there are a lot of people who say, all the buildings that can be done are being done. and all the others, you can't really do it. >> we just don't see that. both in new york and throughout the country, we see almost kind of like a fire hose of opportunities. and so, you know, in new york -- part of this, obviously is when do the banks decide that they want to exit a loan? because understand, this whole opportunity is really about the banks. because the equity is gone, if there's a mez loan, that's gone. and so you're really, your counterparty in all of hese deals are the banks.

>> so all of these are ress deals for you? >> to say that every bnc office is distressed is a little bit of an overstatement, but there's a lot -- in our world, or as we look at the opportunity, there's somewhat of an unlimited opportunity of distress bnc office. people, whether it's work from home or it's companies having to create a or a-plus space in order to attract employees to come back to the office, the bnc model just doesn't -- or at least from our standpoint, we would not -- we would not invest in a "b" or "c" office building today with a bet that there would be an office recovery. so you're really kind of dealing with kind of a massive market. >> but you mentioned that it takes the banks deciding that they still want knob to be in t. it probably also takes, i know in new york, they've had a lot of talks about the government

willing to step in and offer incentives to make this more palatable. what is the cost of doing this and what does take into account from a public/private partnership? >> first, understand that 46n was passed by the new york state legislature, so any version -- not -- so conversions basically of a certain age get 30-year or 35-year tax abatement. so that's already happened. and the government in albany passed that, which shows the way governments are thinking about these opportunities. and it's not just -- it's not just tax abatement, although tax abatement makes a big difference, but it's also how they think about entitlements. there are cities that have historically been very different on development, yet they're dying to have you convert their office buildings. >> because there's a huge need for additional housing and this is a way to get at that. what are the economics of it from your perspective? >> basically, we think we're at

a significant discount to new construction. and you know, and different people have different arithmetic. understand, this is all about the basis that you buy the building. >> not just the idea of getting you in, this is a faster way to get into housing than tear down -- >> it's probably a year -- don't forget, what you're getting is your infrastructure and your foundations. and sometimes, infrastructure and foundation can be problematic and can add time to your development process. so one, you've saved that part of the construction process. also, you've probably saved significantly on the entitlement process. so time, which is a huge cost in development, of any kind of development, is a tremendous advantage for a conversion. >> so what are the economics for you. >> so i think basically, we think we're getting effectively new residential at about an 80%

of replacement cost. which -- >> that's a pretty great deal. >> pretty compelling. but also, don't forget, you're getting, in many cases, if you think about new -- and we've done a number of these, even before this -- before this strategy. and you have to understand that because you're getting this space so cheaply, you can actually create better spaces that maybe you would have created at new construction. so, for instance, you're getting -- a normal office building has a 12 or 13-foot slab-to-slab ceiling. residential is kind of 8 1/2. certainly multiple-family. so you're getting -- you're getting higher ceilings, better windows, you may be getting buildings that have, you know, tremendous character to them. >> what percent of these buildings -- going back to maybe the beginning -- >> basis. >> no, what percent can't be done? what are the ones? how often do you walk into a building and say, you know what, this is just too much. >> life's too short.

>> life's too short. the expense is too high to move all of this stuff around. it's just not going to work? >> i think the simple answer to your question is, at a certain basis -- >> everything's possible. >> if you want to do the work. because a lot of this is sort of the difficulty of execution. the amount of resources you're going to have to spend. the amount of risk you're going to take. when i talk about the 18 million square feet that we're looking at right now, none of those require you to, let's say, cut a hole in the building, which is probably, you know, at the extreme of -- >> that's the most expensive thing. to cut a hole. >> that's the most expensive. and again, they're being done, because if you get the basis cheap enough, understand, there is no other choice for these buildings. >> otherwise, they're going to get knocked down. >> other than -- and they're not going to get knocked down for lots of different reasons, not the least of which is there's a huge difference in the degree of difficulty -- you know, knocking

down a building and building new and going through the entitlement -- nothing's easy. everything's relative and the conversion process is the most effective way of coming in this morning. >> than, thanks for coming in this morning. it's fascinating. >> thanks for having us. coming up, new data on the state of the consumer. plus the balance of power in the middle east shifting after the toppling of the assad regime in syria. "squawk box" coming right back. it's time. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time

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>> we will continue this conversation during the commercial break. i don't know. when we come back -- >> are you going to buy deodorant that smells like a blueberry scone? >> i am not. coming up, a read on the consumer as we head into the final weeks of the holiday shopping season. and later, we don't want to miss this. doj assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, jonathan jonathan kanter will join us for an exclusive exit interview. we're coming right back. solving today's challenges while creating future opportunities. it takes balance. cla - cpas, consultants, and wealth advisors. we'll get you there. with dexcom g7, managing your diabetes just got easier. so, what's your glucose number right now? good thing you don't need to fingerstick. how's all that food affect your glucose? oh, the answers on your phone.

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all right. some new data on the state of the consumer during the holiday shopping season. steve liesman joins us right now. he's got the latest cnbc nrf retail monitor. hey, steve! >> good morning, becky. i need you to work with me on this, because the cnbc nrf monitor shows weak gains month-to-month in november, that could still mean solid consumer spending because of the quirk in the calendar. we use real credit card data from affinity solutions. the monitor shows 0.2% month on month exauto and gas, down from a 0.7 rise or a strong one in

october. the october numbers suggest that an early and strong start to the holiday shopping season. but, a year over year gains were healthier 2.4% in november, compared to 4.1 in october. we see the same pattern when we look at core retail. it removes restaurants down zero, but up 1.4% year over year. why does that suggest strength? well, because, thanksgiving this year fell on the latest possible day of the year, the 28th, pushing half of the black friday weekend into december. last year, all four days from black friday through cyber monday were in november. so november this year, hey, pretty good, even when missing two major holiday shopping days. take a look here at some of the details. non-store retail or digital sales up 21.5% year over year, restaurant and bars up 7.3. clothing and accessories, up 4%. general merchandise, not doing too badly up 2. where the weakness was year over year was electronic and appliances and sporting goods, hobby, and bookstores both down

north of 7%. overall, 7 of our 12 categories were up year over year. this holiday season comes lower gas prices, down 6% in our data for gas station sales, and deflation and goods prices overall. consumers had more discretionary dollars in their pockets and paid somewhat less compared to a year ago, which, by the way, could depress the results because of inflation or deflation, in this case. you can see the early shopping season here. look at the 4.1% gain in october. that big pop right there suggesting that they brought forward that shopping season into october. and there's november, holding its own with a 2.4% gain yeefrl. so now, we'll have to wait for december data, as we do every year, to know just how strong the season was. but the early lead is that it was an early start and november held its own with a black friday.

and how far back do we go talking about this idea of pulling forward into october? it's always been the wish of retailers. it looks like this year, they at least achieved it. >> i thought you were going to ask, how long you and i have been discussing this. we used to talk about back this in the 1990s when i was covering retail and you were covering the economy. i will posit this. i think you're right that the consumer is feeling strong and black friday showed that, but i will also say from the retailer's bottom lines, i bet they never make up for the lost five days. when you have five extra days in the calendar, you are going to get consumer s who spend more because there's just more opportunity to spend. and those last-minute gifts, they're just going to buy fewer gifts than we would. we all go in with our list that we think we're buying, the longer that you have, the more gifts you end up adding on to that. i think the retailers know that. that's part of the reason why they didn't hire as much, part of the reason why they didn't

come in with as much inventory. but five days of lost sales, you're not going to make up for that in the holiday season. >> especially the contrast with last year. the 3rd is the second earliest possible day. maybe joe understands the algorithm on this. i don't get it. thursday t pushed -- >> that's what i was trying to figure out. >> the fourth thursday. it's always the fourth thursday. so if the -- you know, the latest you can go is the 28th, because that's full four weeks, to go all the way around the calendar on this. and i think the thing that we always try to take out of this is how strong is the economy. because that's what we really want to know, how strong is the consumer, how strong is the economy. i think you're going to have less in total sales, but i don't think it's roadway flexion of a weaker consumer. i think it's just a shorter calendar. and you're going to have to live with that this time around. i think we'll be able to take less out of this holiday season than we would. >> i think you're absolutely

right about all of that. it's shorter, but it can be longer. was ate year or two ago that we saw a lot of the sales in january that people really waited. >> that's true. >> and all of a sudden there was this big surge in january sales. so it's like this october-to-january, we used to know if we would look at november and december, oh, we got the holiday season. i don't know if that's true anymore. they're trying to pull forward through october, and the gift cards come through in january. it's a more confusing season. if economists had their way, they would put the thanksgiving holiday on the same day every year, so that we wouldn't have to mess around with all of these seasonal adjustments. but they don't get a vote. it's the senate that apparently passed a law putting it on the fourth thursday of november. >> a little pox on the senate for giving us less days. >> it's got to be on a thursday. >> because you need the friday? >> because thanksgiving is on a thursday. detroit plays, you know -- >> it's baa the lions are

playing. that's why. >> you've got to have it on a thursday. can you imagine thanksgiving on a monday or something? >> that would be hard. thursday means automatic four-day holiday. >> don't mess with this! if you're going to change some other things, don't mess with that, i don't think. >> steve, thank you. >> no, but it's got to be the same calendar day. >> mm! >> yeah, the 23rd -- what it was a wednesday. >> christmas, i guess, we get by, i guess. it's on a different. up next, what alt lake city brings to the table when it comes to the nation's economy. we'll have a preview of tonight's "cities of success." we're coming right back. ptimizer

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welcome back to "squawk

box." tonight, cnbc airs its third sblaumt of cities of success. it's a prime-time special that focuses on salt lake city's extraordinary economic growth in sports, in tech, finance, and real estate. nearly 25 years ago, goldman sachs opened its first salt lake city office and what began as a small operation has now grown into the firm's third largest location in the united states. but what is driving this all street titan to invest? tonight, carl will unveil the answer. here's a sneak peek with john waltron. >> would you argue it's been a surprise? >> i would argue it's gotten much bigger, much more successful than anyone would have envisioned in the year 2000. >> challenges? >> i would say challenges are, we got there early, did very well, other people have followed. it's competitive. we're now, we're seeing more companies that are building bigger presence in the state of utah, largely in salt lake, the

talent market is more competitive. wages are going up, that's a good thing for the state of utah, the residents of utah. for employers, that's a more challenge marketplace. >> you raise an interesting point in that if you find a sweet spot in the country in which to do some of your business, do you keep it to yourself? >> unfortunately, nothing goldman sachs does gets kept to itself. i don't want to, you know, overstate it, but our success has clearly given other companies confidence that this is a marketplace that they ought to be spending more time in. and i think you're seeing more companies broadly, which is good for the state of utah. and ultimately, it's good for the ecosystem. >> be sure to catch cities of success: salt lake city" tonight 10:00 p.m. eastern time on cnbc. and no mention, unfortunately, of those beautiful mountains behind you, which is so why so many folks go out there. because skiing on the weekend -- >> half hour from the airport. >> to drive to park city or deer valley or alta, the greatest mountain in the country.

>> it's like a half hour. instead of going over loveland pass, where you're life passes before your eyes if the tunnel is closed. coming up, how the rebels captured damascus and what's next for syria. here are the futures this morning. you can see th ty'atheve improved a little bit. here are the futures. there they are. at least on the nasdaq. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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following the collapse of the assad regime in syria, the power balance in the middle east has shifted. joining us right now with what president-elect trump's strategy will be navigating these now endowments is carnegie endowment kareem kaj kapoor. kareem, this is completely uncharted territory and there are a lot of things that are happening and spinning. you know this area so well. tell us what you think is happening and where we're going to be headed over the next six months to a year. >> well, becky, this is a hugely significant moment, after 50-some years of being in power, assad regime in advisory melted away before our eyes.

and it does, potentially, enormously change the balance of power in the middle east, for many years, iran has been the region's most powerful actor and that it dominates five failing states, syria, lebanon, iraq, yemen, and gaza in the palestinian territories. now iran has been dealt some pretty significant blows. they've lost syria. lebanese, hezbollah, the crowned jewel of the iranian revolution has been decimated by israel. and now turkey is emerging as a real regional power. so this is potentially very significant moment in the modern history of the middle east. >> and what are the potential, you know, leadership things that come into this vacuum at this point? what are the potential outcomes? are they good? >> so the emerging leader of syria, one of the important emerging leaders, is this

gentlemen, mr. jolani. and he doesn't have a background that inspires much confidence, in that he has a background associated with al qaeda, with isis. but up until now, he's been pretty pragmatic. he doesn't talk about radicalism, he talks about reconciliation, he talks about reconstruction. and so, i asked, you know, my reporter friends who are on the ground in syria, if they get a chance to interview him, to ask him a simple question, which is, what country does he most hope to emulate? what is his ideal vision for syria? because just in terms of ideology, his background is similar to someone who has a background like the taliban. but when he talks about his vision, it's something more akin to the united arab emirates and dubai. the reality is if his goal is really to rebuild syria, a country that's been decimated, the only way he's going to get foreign investment from europe

and the very wealthy gulf arab countries is if he charts a path, which is focused on tolerance and pragmatism, not islamist ideology. >> jolani is someone who has a u.s. bounty on his head. i've heard him as being very sophisticated, though. how would you advise the incoming trump administration to deal with him? >> he's not the only player in syria and as we've seen over the last couple of days, millions of displaced syrians in neighboring countries are now pouring back into the country. i think for the united states, whether it's the biden administration or the trump administration, there's no longer a will in america to try to transform the middle east into liberal democracy. but there are some important u.s. national security interests. one is keeping isis at bay. and there are 900 u.s. troops

still in syria to help isis at bay. and we obviously want to contain any chemical weapons that the assad regime has. and you want to prevent syria from devolving into another failed state, which explodes into more global refugees. so i would say, best-case outcome in syria could be something along the lines of turkey. but the worst-case could be very bad. whether it's a taliban-style government or even a failed state and the resurgence of isis. >> having investment and sort of coming into the 21st century, maybe we don't get the kind of democracy that's a western-style democracy. but just bringing in investment and doing things for the syrian people to raise the quality of life. is there an individual that would be, that would step forward and really want that to happen, or do we get another person that wants palaces and

ferraris and maseratis and that doesn't -- absolute power corrupts absolutely, it seems like. but every once in a while, historically, someone steps up and looks around and says, i love my people. and i want what's best for them? is there any possibility that happens? >> that's a great question. i'm always reminded of an observation that henry kissinger made. he said before he went into government, when he was a professor at harvard. he thought that the individual really didn't matter that much in history, because nation states follow their own natural interests, regardless of who's in power. and he said that after he served in government, he reached the exact opposite conclusion, which is that actually individuals shape history and individuals have the most profound impact on history. and so sometimes we see people emerge who are able to, you know, become great leaders, putting the national interests and countries' economic interests before any kinds of ideology. so far, it's very early days in

syria. we haven't seen that, but god knows this is a country that's experienced one of the most brutal dictatorships and one of the most brutal civil wars of the last half century. and the syrian people are yearning for someone who wants to rebuild the country and be tolerant, not another brutal dictator or another islamicist commander. >> reem, when you're talking about investments to come into this, you're talking about investments from other countries. not businesses. things are too unstable on the ground to have any businesses that are going to come in and invest at this point. >> absolutely. i'm talking about countries like saudi arabia, qatar, united arab emirates who have obviously enormous resources when it comes to their petro dollars. and syria has historically been one of the most important arab countries. and so, at the moment, i think that they're watching with great caution at what's happening.

but they don't want to see syria devolve into another terrible dictatorship or failed state. and frankly, u.s. leadership is going to be important here. because president trump, i remember in his first term, he said, there's nothing but death and sand in syria. and he publicly tweeted that we should stay out of it. but as i said earlier, we don't really have the luxury of staying out of it or pulling u.s. troops out of syria. there's a real danger, even though there's only 900 troops, there's a danger, you pull those troops out of syria, you could see in syria what we saw in afghanistan after the withdrawal of u.s. troops, quickly facilitated a taliban return. so the reason i say this is -- >> please. >> we're heading to the same point here, but what we have seen from this president, this incoming president is that he does not want to be tangled up in foreign affairs, with u.s. troops or with u.s. dollars. elon musk tweeted something yesterday, talking about how the united states spends far more than the next 10 or 12 countries

on investments in foreign aid. if you were talking about an incoming presidency and administration here that is looking to pare back, what does that mean for the outcome there in syria, if there's not u.s. leadership doing these things, will the region, the countries in the region step in and take over? >> that's where i was going with this, becky. which is that i think, obviously, the united states doesn't want to expand any blood or more treasure in syria. but those gulf arab countries that have the resources to try to rebuild syria, i think they're going to be taking their cues from the united states in some ways. and whether the united states encourages them or reassures them. other countries, which is very key here, is turkey. one of syria's important neighbors. it's a nato ally, but a country which the united states has had real tension with. and i think that turkey is going to be an important partner for

the united states and any efforts in syria. and i think that, frankly, our expectations are very low. as i said, there's no illusions anymore about america transforming any middle eastern arab country into a secular democracy. >> kareem east coast. you're watching "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. among the top stories this morning, boeing has restarted production of the top selling 737 max jet according to the reuters report. it comes about a month after the end of the strike by tens of thousands of boeing factory workers. boeing has more than 4,000 orders for the 737 max that it is working to fulfill. the department of commerce finalizing the subsidy from micron to support the construction of computer chip plants. it is one of the biggest awards under the chips and siep science

act. the administration is working to get that order out the door before donald trump takes office. and shares of oracle fall in the pre-market after fiscal second quarter results that fell below estimates and the company issued a weaker forecast. for the current quarter, oracle is expecting $14.3 billion in revenue. analysts were forecasting sales of $14.65 billion. oracle's adjusted earnings fell below expectations. that stock is down 5.6%. meantime, the man accused of shooting and killing the unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson has been charged with murder. the 26-year-old luigi mangione was arrested at a mcdonald's in altoona, pennsylvania yesterday after the employee called the police reporting a suspicious person. police discovered he had a gun with him similar to the one used in the thompson shooting and silencer and fake id that matched the name the suspected gunman used at the new york city

hostel. new york police did not talk about a motive, but the nypd spokesperson said he appeared to hold ill will to corporate america. he graduated from the university of pennsylvania in 2020 specializing in engineering. looking at his social media, there seems to be anti-corporate view and violent view about how to create a protest of sorts at some point. you can see that sort of happening in the past couple of months in terms of the shift. we'll watch this play out. >> it's tragic on so many different levels. obviously, the first person you think about is the executive and his family, but this guy and you see a lot on twitter. high iq. gifted with that. provided with the best

education. family with money. got all that and this is what -- that's why it makes me think there's something not quite right, you know what i mean? i'm telling you, the cell walls will get really old over the next 60 or 70 years. shares of alaska air taking flights. the airline raising fourth quarter profit forecast thanks to robust travel demand and improved pricing. alaska now expecting earnings of 40 cents to 50 cents a share versus 20 cents previously. it is guiding 2025 full-year profit above estimates. in a statement, alaska's cfo said the company's combination with hawaiian airlines will give it the scale to be stronger than either company could have been on its own. alaska is hosting an investor day. this morning, it announced nonstop service to tokyo and seoul.

south korea using hawaiian airlines wide body aircraft. futures this morning not a huge amount of activity. dow futures off 50 points now. nasdaq up by a similar amount. the s&p futures up 7.5. then if you take a look at treasuries. slightly higher yields. the ten-year is back above 4.20. the two-year at 4.14. let's get to dom chu with the pre-market movers. dom, you promised top down? >> i did. in the news magazine show of the 8:00 hour, the stories that are complementary to the top stories you gave and corporate stories and the unitedhealthcare shooting suspect and charging there. the complementary stories here are not necessarily top down. we will take a look from the top down industry standpoint at auto sector. shares of tesla and gm moving down the funnel and morgan

stanley named tesla a top pick for 2025. they upgraded gm to equal weight from under weight. tesla goes up to 400 from 310. gm from 54 to 46. they see tesla and gm as strong bets despite ev market volatility moving into 2025. keep an eye on tesla and gm. up fractionally in the pre-market trade. toll brothers downgraded from the prior out perform following the home builder's fourth quarter earnings. after toll brothers posted better earnings and mortgage rates weigh on the sector. that is the top down approach. toll brothers down 3.5%. goldman sachs upgrading norwegian with the target price

up from 29. expected into the new year. norwegian cruise lines up 2.5%. for more and other top calls of the day, head to cnbc.com/pro. you get full access to the bill calls and stories. kind of top down, becky. >> dom, thank you very much. shares of hershy'sjumped after mondelez with a takeover approach. it made a bid for hershey's in 2013. it is a unique company. it has been independently controlled since the founding in 1894. it has a dual class structure that gives the trust control over the company's future. mondelez and the trust did not respond to the request for comment. from the reports, we hear the

offer started at a higher level. closer to $50 billion. the hershey trust set up to allow the company to operate independently to make sure it was keeping the town in a very prosperous place. hershey, pennsylvania. amusement park and resort. >> kisses are made. >> it smells like chocolate. the trust can do what it wants. >> willy won ka. >> it's a nightmare for me. it's all candy. >> how do you stop eating it? >> vacation. is there a doughnut land? you can put -- when we come back, top analyst will join us to talk about the integration of chatgpt into iphone users daily experiences.

later this hour, department of justice anti-trust chief jonathan kantor joins us for an exit interview. stay tuned. you are watching "squawk box" and this is cnbc. [cheerful music] [phone ringing] not all multimillionaires build their wealth the same way, you have... the fearless investor. the type a cpa. the boot strapper. the boot maker. hee-ha. but many do have something in common. we all trust schwab with our wealth. thanks to our award-winning service, low costs and transparent advice, every day, over a million multi-millionaires, trust schwab with more than three trillion dollars of their wealth. ♪♪ i can't believe you corporate types are still at it. just stop calling each other rock stars. and using workday to put finance and h.r. on one platform.

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apple stock hitting new highs. the company released another beta version of chatgpt on the iphone. the wide release is coming by the end of the year. joining us is tony sakanagi, senior research analyst. $3.7 trillion. i think it's the most valuable company in the world now, again, tony. >> good morning, joe.

apple is a phenomenal company. i think it's evolved from being a hardware player to a company that has an install base of 1 billion unique users. 2.3 billion devices. it's leveraging that install base. the next step in its evolution is bringing artificial intelligence to the masses through apple intelligence and integration with large language models like chatgpt. it's a formidable company and impressably, it evolved into a hardware products. >> this is the most recent move higher to what you are just talking about. chatgpt and rolling out another version. >> i think it's difficult to know exactly why the stock has done so well over the last month. you know, we do have at least a

candidate for i0s. still not the final version. we should get it next week. it's not game changing yet, but i think investors see a path where we will get better over time. apple intelligence will get better over time. that will be how people use a.i. in their every day lives is through the axis point of iphone or mac or ipad. i think a lot of factors that work near term and there are some mixed sentiment about the market. there are concerns about, you know, some questions about broader a.i. and sustainability of broken infrastructure. i think there are questions around tariffs. there are questions around google and anti-trust and many investors believe apple is a safe haven and look out over the next year or two and see a

pathway for apple. it may be more the latter than simply this version of 18.2. >> apple, again, or at least now topping the list of the best managed companies according to the wall street journal of 2024. where i'm going with this is it's been reported that quietly, but very successfully tim cook developed a close relationship with president-elect donald trump. you mentioned two things. you mentioned tariffs and anti-trust as being in the future for a lot of tech companies. you would have to think that having a relationship with the president-elect on both those areas probably is a positive for apple. that's good management there. >> yes. you know, again, kudos to tim cook.

i think he's managed to maintain a generally friendly relationship with china and obviously china's super important to apple. 90% of its production is there. 20% of its sales are to the chinese consumer. then i think likewise, apple has successfully navigated political challenges. eight years ago when there were talks of tariffs, tariffed 10%. apple was able to effectively work with the administration to not have that tariff put in place. so, i think that's a testament to tim cook's diplomacy capabilities and i do think that potentially serves apple well. there are lots of questions about tariffs. clearly apple's exposed. i think, you know, apple is an

iconic american company and the current does want to promote american businesses. so, i think apple does have some legs to stand on that if you tariff us as an american company, you may create advantages for samsung, a korean company. so, i do think that apple has and likely will continue to underscore the importance of the company and the fact that it is an american company with a lot of jobs in the united states. >> the -- the new phones they have a.i. we were told don't expect much. the stock is still continuing to hit new highs even though, you know, it is kind of a bridge to where it really becomes an important feature for the phones. are we almost there now? >> i don't know if we're almost

there. i think -- but i think investors see a path. so, i think the bull case for the next year going forward is, you know, apple is expected to do $7.50 this year fiscal 2025 which they're now in. fiscal '26 starts in the fall of next year. i think apple could have a very strong iphone cycle. you will have better a.i. capabilities. you will have a thinner iphone that will be available and typically vector changes help iphone sales. you have an older install base. you could have a very strong cycle in fiscal '26. >> how much? $9? >> yeah, i think $9 is not an unrealistic number. apple is out 32 times earnings. it is a little bit more than that. it is a $290 stock. do you run out and buy today at

247? i'm not so sure. maybe you have a pull back. this cycle won't be great. you have an issue with the rollout or other issues we talked about. if you look forward over the next year, one can make that case and the numbers could support a materially higher stock price. >> well, we're going to have a $4 trillion company and $5 trillion company and i wager we will have a $1 trillion individual in a decade, probably. maybe less. don't you think? it's not going to be me. probably not going to be you, toni. we might, we might know them. >> we might. we might be certainly observe them. hopefully we'll be rabd to aroue it. >> thank you. when we come back, we'll take a look at what is likely to be a sting impact on the entertainment industry from

taylor swift's globe-hopping eras tour. >> unbelievable. stay tuned with the biden administration's assistant attorney general department of justice jonathan kantor. "squawk box" will be right back. i need indeed. indeed you do. our advanced matching helps find talented candidates, so you can connect with them fast. visit indeed.com/hire

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welcome back, everybody. taylor swift may have wrapped up her record-breaking eras tour, but the impact on the concert and entertainment industry is just beginning according to our julia boorstin who joins us right now with the first installment of fast forward. good morning, julia. >> reporter: good morning, becky. the legacy of the $2 billion eras tour is happing the industry. taylor as taylor's approach shows in fewer cities made more fans travel which insiders say trans formed

the fan community. it normalized concert travel which created a robust fan experience. fostering dressing up in sequence and friendship bracelet bar barter system. sabrina carpenter and billie eilish fans are camping out a week ahead of her concert in l.a. this is fandom with a massive marketing payoff. livenation will have more concerts next year with the total ticket sales for next year out pacing double digits as of early november. nathan hubbard says her three and a half hour concert raises expectations of a show pushing artists to perform longer and he lab rat sets.

he says they will flock to experiences like the sphere in vegas. theater chains are looking to the concert film released by amc and grossed $261 million worldwide. sources tell me that studio marketing chiefs are striving for the blockbuster performance that comes when fans dress up for barbie and wicked. the payoff for a watercooler moment is one reason that disney is focusing on making fewer, but having bigger releases. also, becky, the eras tour shows the undeniable value of female consumers. >> yes. that is the take away. i gotten into this. i didn't consider the idea how this changed concerts for every artist out there rethinking how you do things. with the industry, the media industry fragmented right now, does it make it harder to have a

global superstar like taylor swift? >> reporter: it does and doesn't. on the one hand, there is a fragmented media dry, but artists pop up ver the world. one thing i was hearing from sources as i talked to yesterday, is taylor swift is a bigger global phenomenon than madonna. she is touring in more countries than madonna and has a bigger global appeal. of course, you have the phenomenon of the travel. she was definitely the biggest global star that we've seen. i think it will deaf finitely b hard for anyone to recreate her success. we will see the artists take a page from her book and figure out how to learn from what was so impactful and successful for her. >> sees a unicorn in about 50 different ways. literally. >> absolutely. >> her songwriting ability. you have seen her concerts. they are three hours.

you have been to one? >> i went to one in los angeles. it is amazing. >> can you imagine doing 40 of those? >> it was a huge physical, you know, experience so hard to perform for that. what she did with the mini residencies, she gave herself a couple days to rest which allowed her to perform for three or four nights in a row. that allowed them to build the giant sets. if she was doing a concert for one night or two nights and many more different cities, it would not enable her to have elaborate sets for rest after the performance. >> they are lip syncing on the macy's day parade and on new year's eve. mariah carey cannot get through one song. 140 of those. how many outfit changes in 140

performances? thousands. >> i don't have the tally, but a lot. >> thousands. that's almost like super human. i don't know why someone -- you get to the first billion. i need another. let's go for the second billion. it's crazy. you really have to like what you're doing. >> she loves what she does. juli tnka,ha you. breaking activity from the labor department. we'll bring it to you. "squawk box" is returning right after this. with mild-to-moderate covid-19 and a high-risk factor for it becoming severe. it does not prevent covid-19. my symptoms are mild now, but i'm not risking it. if it's covid, paxlovid. paxlovid must be taken within the first five days of symptoms, and helps stop the virus from multiplying in your body. taking paxlovid with certain medicines can lead to serious or life-threatening side effects or affect how it or other medicines work, including hormonal birth control. it's critical to tell your doctor about all the medicines you take because certain tests

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rick santelli is standing by with breaking news. rick. >> these are productivity numbers, joe, that secret sauce of the economy. non-farm payroll activity levels for the third quarterfinal read. we take 2.2%, the last look, and it remains the final permanent read. 2.2% on productivity. it's the best quarter going back to the last quarter of 2023 when it was 3.1. i know there's been a lot of talk about the improvement of productivity. there is some truth to that, but to put a face on it, if you look at the year before covid, here is the four quarters of

productivity. 3.4, 2.4. those are the 2019 numbers. it is not as these are lofty, but they are making a comeback from bouncing around post and during covid. now unit labor costs are coming in at 8 cents. this is really interesting because on our last look, it's almost half. it's actually more than half of the 1.9 that we had on our last look. we're looking for it to rise a bit. 1.9 was the highest level going back to last quarter of last year. now, we revise to .8%. that is lightest going back to last quarter of 2022. that is pretty good news and you are seeing a little bit of buying pushing yields down on that. we also had that small business optimism index. that was the best in three and a half years. currently, we're at 4.13 in the

two-year. that's unchanged on the session. if you look at the ten-year, it was 4.23 on the number. now 4.22. it is up and at 1:00 eastern, we start the first of three legs from the supply of the u.s. treasury coupon supply. today is a three-year to the tune of $58 billion. total package includes tens and 30s on wednesday and thursday respectively. we'll add up to 119 billion. these are reopenings for 10 and 30. joe, back to you. >> wow. okay. who could explain all this? rick could. we could get to steve liesman. hey, steve. >> rick did a wonderful job of explanation it, joe, i would say. this is a huge debate out there right now which is how hot can we run this economy? when you have stronger productivity and lower unit

labor costs, it suggests you can run an economy that is somewhat hotter. i say this in context of the debate of all the emails i've got inn from ten from the marke participants who say the fed is crazy to cut rates because unemployment is low. there are two things here. look at the unit labor costs. big downward revision that rick pointed out. what does that tell you? it scores the comments from the governors that the job market is not a potential source of inflation because unit labor costs are low. then you look at the idea that, hey, the fed may cut in a week. this is something that helps the federal reserve cut if the inflation numbers come in or if they behave in the data tomorrow. the story is going to be this that if the inflation numbers behave, then you can have a relatively hotter economy

because the productivity numbers, plus the job growth give you the potential growth. i will say this, joe, every single fed official has talked about productivity in the last several weeks. last several months. they do not rely upon it because in general, these things tend to revert back to the mean. where are we right now? 2.2 is the average of the last several quarters. that is up from 1.7% if you end up back to 2009 for example, which was the quarterly average. doesn't sound like much, joe, but if you put a half on the growth, you have an economy that could run hotter than before and suggests the fed can come down a bit without creates inflation. that's the theory. we will see if it works in practice. >> we will. january 20th is coming. we may be running hot, you think. it's already been hot, has it not? >> joe, that's a fascinating

question here. rick pointed out the nfib survey and optimism there. if the optimism translates into investment, you could have a hotter economy with pretty good results over the past several years and it could get better, i think, if you balance out the positives and negatives from the trump administration, you could have an investment boom with lower tax rate and perhaps the pulling forward of depreciation which is a big thing for a lot of companies right now. >> okay. all right. thanks, steve. see you later. andrew. okay. coming up, the department of justice anti-trust chief jonathan kantor will join us with an exclusive interview with just weeks left in the biden administration. we will talk about the accomplishments and regrets and what could be ahead once president-elect trump tas ke office. all that and more once "squawk box" rolls on after this.

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welcome back to "squawk box." futures right now, the dow is worse and the nasdaq is probably a little bit better levels earlier, but still maintaining 33 points of upward momentum pre-market. treasuries. about 4.20. 4.22 now. we were below 4.20 earlier this week. if you look at bitcoin, it has pulled back from 100,000. it is below $98,000. our next guest leads the department of justice anti-trust division under president biden and overseen the landmark cases against big tech. the future of anti-trust law at this point in the u.s. is uncertain as the next trump administration takes place. joining us now is jonathan kantor for the anti-trust division for the department of justice. good morning, sir.

lots to discuss. love to talk about your tenure, but i love to start with how you see what you have done the last four years and how it will shift the next four years with the change in administration and real really, i think, the broader shift in mind set of anti-trust policy is supposed to look like in this country. >> great to be with you. first of all, when i started my position, i said that my goal was to make sure we had the maximum impact while we had the opportunity. so, i think the way to build a lasting legacy and lasting impact is demonstrate we can be effective and meet the needs of the public while we have the opportunity to do so. i'm really proud of that. we brought the biggest cases and won the biggest cases and have the most effective and widespread anti-trust enforcement since fdr. that will be lasting legacy.

that comes on the back drop of the different conversation of the policy of anti-trust enforcement in our country. if you think where we are will today relative to 30 years ago t is night and day. it say deep desire among the public to see an economy to provide more for people. whether it is the farmer looking to operate the small business in rural america or the start-up trying to compete against the large tech company or someone looking to disrupt the healthcare system that needs disruption. creating those kinds of opportunities are what we are focused on doing and have been successful. >> jonathan, all that may be true, but at the same time, there is a question mark if you think the election was a rebuke of the more aggressive approach to anti-trust and regulation that the last administration took, no? >> no, i don't believe that's to be the case. i'll leave politics to others.

i think if you ask americans whether they think enforcing the anti-trust laws or reducing the power of large companies is helpful to our democratic society, i think the answer to that is unequivocally yes. i'm pleased anti-trust is one of the few areas that nscends politics. i think that is very important to the public's acceptance of our agenda and work. >> jonathan, you brought a whole number of cases that obviously are going to be ongoing meaning they are not completed and not finished and many will be appealed under the next administration to the extent they have been adjudicated. once others with investigations taking place. how many of those are you concerned are going to end in the next administration? >> yeah, listen, those decisions

will be made by others, but i think we have been very selective in kur ating our cases. we have strong cases deeply rooted in the facts and law. they are deeply popular because they resonate with the public. and i'm a firm believer that strong cases that have support will likely continue because they are important. ultimately, those decisions will be made by someone else. i will point out these questions came when i arrived. some of the biggest victories were matters investigated or brought in the prior administration. i think there is a strong, rich tradition of anti-trust cases carrying on from one administration to the other. >> jonathan, let me ask you one one of the cases which is the case against google. i want to show you video from the interview i did with sundar pichai, the ceo of alphabet. you talked about the case you referenced and originally

brought by the trump administration. let's show it to you. >> provide the services and we open source and publish this innovation. the anti-a.i. transform architecture, et cetera. lots of our products are open source. you know, look, will leaders find an ongoing litigation. i have faith in the judicial system. >> is that a case, sir, you see continuing and i ask because apparently president-elect trump has made comments not only that he cares about competition, he alluded to that, but at the same time, he is talking quite openly about wanting to have strong technology companies like google in this country and has talked about even the national security issues or just the strength of projecting strength against a china for example. >> yeah, the beauty of law

enforcement is that and i agree with mr. pichai on this. these are active matters and we have deep faith in our judicial system. we adjudicate them. we received a favorable decision from the court. that will remain ongoing. in terms of competitiveness abroad, let me start by saying we don't need to -- our competitiveness abroad doesn't allow companies domestically harm smaller u.s. companies domestically. we are best with the open economy. not a planned economy. this is a tradition this goes back to the reagan administration. at&t facing a break up made an argument the government shouldn't break up at&t. the government shouldn't break up at&t, because national telecommunications champion was necessary to compete against the soviet union.

the reagan administration rejected that argument. and i think in today's world, a competitive, open u.s. economy that allows companies of all sizes and shapes, u.s. companies, to thrive and be successful is how we maximize our competitiveness abroad. >> you know, when you look back on the last four years, i'm sure that there's lots of things that you point to that you're proud of. any regrets? anything you wish you could do over? >> i think i've stuck with the old kenny rogers adage, which there will be time enough for counting when the dealing's done. still more dealing to do. always there are regrets and things you learn along the way, but i'm proud of the fact that we've made decisions with a compass in mind, meaning a true north of doing the right thing for the right reasons at every turn. >> you put out some very, i would say, aggressive or just, more aggressive guidelines at the beginning of your tenure,

maybe a year, year and a half into it. how do you think you're going to feel ithey come out with guidelines and it looks like they're reversed? >> part of the jobs job is making the best decisions you can in the time you have, and having your own impact. and the next crew will have every right to make the decisions of what they believe is right and i respect that. and it will be rooting them on, because their success is the success of the economy and the country. >> do you have any sense -- we sometimes talk about j.d. vance, who has talked about admiring lina khan in some ways. do you have any sense whether this next administration -- i mean, i think the knee-jerk conventional view, conventional perspective is that trump is going to try to unleash, you know, and get rid of a lot of the regulation and not be nearly as aggressive as you were.

but at the same time, there's sort of an interesting cross-current. do you have any sense of -- i know you don't want to talk about politics, but you're about to go back and be a civilian with the rest of us. maybe you can sort of bring us into that world, because i think you've alked to a lot of these players. >> yeah, listen, i think all of this really starts with the public sentiment. and again, i was mentioning a little bit ago, if you look at where anti-trust is today versus 30 years ago, it's night and day. we've seen a shift in our policy, and that's because we've seen a shift in how the country views corporate concentration. i don't think that's going to change. how it's implemented and will shift, and it will evolve, just as it has from the last administration to the current administration. but i think we've seen a great deal of continuity, including from the trump administration to the biden administration, and i expect we'll see an evolution to continue and i think that's

healthy. healthy. >> what do you make of so many of the folks that are a part of this trump cabinet or will be appointed to other positions in this administration, that come from business. i would imagine -- and i'm not contending that they're going to do anything untoward, but their perspective, right? their life experience is going to be coming from oftentimes the top of business institutions. do you think they'll think about differently? >> i think the goal of public service is to make sure that you're putting the public first. my hope is that whoever takes over throughout the government will do just as we have, which is put the public first. but you know, i think people's life experiences help inform their outlook. i came from private practice. i spent many, many years working on all sides of issues and i think that's helped me become a better, more successful enforcer. >> one big question i have for you is about ai and technology.

and how that may change all of this. you know, a lot of the cases that have been brought in the past to some degree, i now look at it and think of google in this example. that whole world may get blown up in the next five or ten years, because there are going to be competitors that didn't exist even, you know, 18 months ago. and so i wonder whether we're going through such a technological revolution. and how you think that that should be considered in the context of anti-trust. by the way, you know, for a very long time, in the media world, there hasn't been, you know, big mergers, because there was a view that there was too much concentration. at the same time, you're seeing sort of just a complete revolution in terms of how we all consume and get media, which may portend a good reason for there to be more consolidation, for example. >> this is really important. anti-trust is often most important at times of great inflection points. when you think about the history

of anti-trust cases, whether it goes to telecommunications and the development of the microchip and pcs and ultimately the microsoft case, for example, was brought around the time that we were seeing the broadband revolution and the rise of the internet. preserving the ability for those to have maximum success in disruption, so we can see a new range of companies compete is what we should be after. and i think ai present alts of really kpooit exciting opportunities. it creates new vectors of competition. and we want to make sure those new competitors have the opportunity to succeed in a durable way. one thingly point out is i think our goal should be to have more public companies. i think we want not just the same incumbents to recycle and compete in the next wave of technology. i think we want to you usher in new generation of great companies that have not maximized terminal value, not just by selling to a larger

business, but by becoming strong public companies that can have a durable impact. >> do you know gayle slater, who will effectively be taking your role in this? >> i do. i've known gayle for a very long time. >> have you talked to her about this new gig? >> i have not. i'm excited that the president-elect has announced permanent leader. gayle is someone who's well known in the anti-trust community for being smart and experienced. our goal right now is to make sure that we hand off the anti-trust division in strong working order to the next group. >> real quick, how do you think about international anti-trust enforcement efforts? i'm thinking, by the way, even in the past two days, we've been following this nvidia story in china, and how often you think anti-trust is being used because there actually are competitive issues in these other countries, and how often do you think it's being used as a negotiating cudgel, and i say that because also, there are going to be questions about how this next administration uses all sorts of things, whether it be tariffs or decisions around the future of

tiktok on national security ground or other things, but could also turn into a negotiating tool for these countries. >> i don't believe antitrust enforcement should be used as a negotiating tool. it's a matter of law enforcement that should be used to help open markets and make them competitive. and so, you know, ultimately, we enforce the anti-trust laws in the united states in order to make sure that our economy is working for people in the united states. and that has always been our north star. i think we have to do that against the backdrop of a global economy. it's important to be mindful that a lot of the issues that we confront are the same kinds of issues that people abroad are confronting. but it's important to make sure we enforce our laws for our people, our people. >> you worked at paul weiss. what do you think happens after this? is it easy for you to go back into private practice? because you were so aggressive. i wonder whether the business community says, great, i love him, or, if you've done your job

properly, are you not beloved in that way? >> so my job was not to make friends. it was to represent the people and be effective. my only plans right now, after doj, are threefold. first to spend time with my family, second to pursue my life-long ambition to be a professional intermediate skier, and three, to count the days until spring training when i can see juan soto step up to the plate wearing a new york mets jersey. >> skiing on the blues are are good, jonathan. >> that's right. i'm 51, can i do the blacks, but i know my limits and i don't want to be too ambitious here in my post-doj career. >> jonathan, i want to thank you for joining us. it's been a pleasure to talk to you over the past four years and hope we have an opportunity to do it again. >> i hope so. when we come back on the other side of this, top stocks to watch as we make our way towards the opening bell on wall street. you're watching "squawk x"nd iss bc.bo a

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lara trump wants to be the next u.s. senator from florida, according to a "wall street

journal" report. we've heard this already, i think, though. it says that president-elect trump recently spoke to governor ron desantis about his daughter-in-law. desantis will fill the seat being vacated by senator marco rubio, who's expected to be confirmed as a secretary of state next year. lara trump is the 42-year-old wife of donald trump's son, eric. on sunday, she announced she was stepping down as the co-chair of the republican national committee and told the associated press that the senate seat is something that she would seriously consider. a little more than half an hour until the opening bell on wall street. dom chu is back. he joins with us a look at some of the morning's top pre-market movers. dom, what's your radar? >> we'll start off with shares of eli lilly, which are moving about a percent higher, as they reinstate a buy rating and a target price of 997 bucks. eli lilly's leader can position

itself for outsized growth. shares of ebay down over 3% after analysts downgraded that stock to an underperform from a hold, and cut their target price to 52 bucks from 60. they're citing a slowdown in advertising revenue and trouble in key markets like china, pushing more marketing spending, as well. that stock is also amusing on headlines out of the uk, as officials say they plan to make online marketplaces like ebay and amazon pay the fees to recycle certain electrical waste. and ending on a look at pinterest and google, alphabet, moving in opposite directions as piper sandler downgrades pinterest from a neutral to overweight and renames google as a top pick. citing two straight quarters of mixed results on top of weaker revenue growth for pinterest, but see google as an ai winner when it comes to advertising and cloud, especially with the lighter regulatory environment moving into the trump administration, hypothetically. also, potentially helping alphabet this morning is google's announcement yesterday of its latest quantum computing chip named willow. keep an eye on those. by the way, check out cnbc pro

for all the analyst calls and the top ones of the day, guys. i will send things back over to you, joe. >> very good, dom. thanks, we'll take a quick final check, i mean, for today, hopefully, on the markets, down about 80 points, as you can see now on the dow. nasdaq down about 26. we've got gains in the s&p, so mixed markets this morning. tough yesterday in he dow. we'll see by the end of the day. make sure you join us tomorrow. "squawk on the street" is next. good tuesday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer. futures are a bit mixed. as we await cpi tomorrow. tons of corporate news from oracle to disney to boeing, a positive mention of google, has that stock up 4% re-market. our road map begins with oracle, sliding on its earnings and revenue miss