>> 2025. >> and squawk box begins. >> right now. >> good morning and. >> welcome back to squawk box right. >> here on cnbc. >> we are live at the nasdaq market site. >> in times square. >> and it is just past 6. >> a.m. here on the east coast. >> i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernan. >> mr. kernan. >> nice to see you sir. becky's off. we got a whole bunch of things going on today. we're going to talk congestion pricing in just a moment. for those of us locals, it's. >> $5,000. >> big debate, big debate going on. >> which makes. >> we don't need. >> any stimulus. >> we don't need any stimulus. >> dow right. >> now could use a minor league of stimulus. it's going to open off about. >> 77 yesterday. >> you know, it's funny. >> the last. >> couple of days we've had we've. >> come in lower in the morning

closed higher. >> at the end of the day. >> new highs. >> again nasdaq off about. >> 45 points. you look at the s&p. >> 500 off about 11.5 points. and we should show you treasury yields because of. >> course i don't know how much we're keying off. >> of all this. >> at this point. the ten. >> year note at 4.5, the two year at 4.2. we should also talk to you about this because shares. >> of china's. >> alibaba. >> they're moving a. >> lot higher this morning after reporting third quarter results. >> revenue and. >> earnings beating estimates boosted by a strong year end shopping sales. alibaba said it expects revenue growth that at its ai driven cloud intelligence group. >> to continue to accelerate. >> the stock up about 5.5% on the back of that news. and part of that. >> i think. >> we'll see, is this potential partnership with apple. >> okay. >> and president. >> trump said he's considering we're talking about this just briefly. earlier. a portion of the savings from elon musk cost cutting initiative to provide direct payments to americans. here's what he said. >> in a. >> speech at the future

investment initiative. it's a conference that is occurring in miami. >> that curbing inflation and saving taxpayers billions and billions of dollars every single day. and there's even under consideration a new concept where we give 20% of the doge savings to american citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible. elon. >> the idea appears. >> to have originated. >> from a post on x by. james fischbach, a co-founder of investment firm azoria, who suggested it to elon musk. musk responded. >> saying, we'll. >> check with the president. we'll talk about this in a second. >> among other. >> topics trump addressed during his speech, his tax priorities for lawmakers. >> i'll be working with the republican congress to pass the largest tax cuts in american history. and that includes, obviously, you know, that includes we have to extend the

trump tax cuts, which were until now, the largest. we're going to dramatically cut taxes for families and for workers and for companies, including no tax on tips and hopefully no tax on social security and no tax on overtime. >> no. we know what happened with the first stimulus. >> checks. >> which. >> you know. >> some of them were good. some of the later ones maybe weren't good because maybe it was, you know, over stimulating an economy that was. growing pretty well. the rationale, i guess i could explain it that if we were all over taxed for. wasteful programs or fraud, maybe we deserve. >> that back. >> maybe. but i don't know how you do it in terms of means testing. i don't know if it's across the board. that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. the inflation that did follow, some of the spending that probably. wasn't too wise, some of the

stimulus spending. inflation doesn't just come from printing too many dollars. it comes from overstimulating. maybe an economy that is doing pretty well so that there's more demand than you're actually juicing demand, and there's a limited supply, so prices might go up. so i'm not sure it worked for that. and if we're really keep saying 37 trillion, 37 trillion 37,000,000,000,037, we keep saying that, then don't do 20% 20 or whatever do 100% should be should go towards maybe future relief so that taxes can stay lower. but i don't know about this. seems like just hey, i'm a nice guy. i hope you love me, but. he's not running again, so why try to try to. >> endear yourself? i would. >> think you'd. >> want to keep every dollar you possibly could to pay down the debt. isn't that the. >> whole thing? >> that's what you. >> would think. but i do see the. >> rationale that if we were overtaxed and it was total waste and we shouldn't have been taxed in the first place, then me. so

i see sort of what he's what he's thinking. and, you know, if you mean tested it in the right way, there's a lot of people that could definitely use. >> whatever he's. >> talking about. $5,000. >> you don't need. >> it probably. >> no. >> but i don't need it. >> but i remember remember ace greenberg. >> but all. >> of those. >> folks also. >> who didn't need the ppe who went off. >> and got it. so, i don't know, i. think you're. >> i don't know. >> so you kind of agree. >> with me again, i very much agree with you. you're 48 now. >> this may. >> start. >> happening a lot. >> the first day. >> i agree with you. >> can you believe that? it's not that i can't. >> i mean, of course we the. >> whole thing is that we have. >> too much debt. >> that's been the argument. that was what he campaigned on. >> so the idea that somehow he's going to send checks to every. >> american. >> i just don't even understand it. plus, we're in this. >> inflationary. >> spiral we can't get ourselves out. >> of. >> well, what. >> if you if you. >> you know, if you took all of the savings from doge and just found. something else to spend it. >> on.

>> then i could see i'd just give it back to people. >> but if you're actually. >> using it. >> you are a bond holder in america. wouldn't you say? >> pay us back. >> the whole point, the whole argument that. >> we've. >> heard from scott bessent. >> the whole argument we. >> heard from. >> from elon musk. >> even, was that they, through fiscal policy. >> were going to reduce. >> interest rates in america. how are you going to reduce interest rates in america through fiscal policy, if you're going to write everybody a check for five grand, right. >> it seems like another it seems like it may have. >> happened just like what we just heard. >> you know, some guy tweeted something. >> and musk. >> sees it and says, let. >> me see. >> and then mentions. >> it to president trump. and then. >> it gets actually. >> put forth. i don't know how. >> serious it is. and like i. >> said. >> logistically, i don't know how you do it. and you'd have to means test. >> it. >> wouldn't you? >> like billionaires aren't going to get $5,000 millionaires. >> the top. >> 1% doesn't. >> need probably. >> but then you'd hear. >> an outcry. >> if you if. >> you didn't, if it wasn't. >> across the board, wouldn't

you? and we can talk about congestion pricing. do you like it. because you can. >> you can leave even later. >> let me. >> you can leave even later to get here in the morning. >> it doesn't it doesn't. >> impact me in the morning. but let me explain the. >> story to the to the folks. >> who may not be totally. >> briefed just yet. >> the trump administration is now officially moving. >> to block new york city's congestion pricing program. it would reverse a federal approved grant last year that allowed this to happen. i shouldn't say grant as in like a grant, but they granted approval. >> it will now. >> set up. a legal showdown. the decision likely will halt the program, which began operating just last month. the white house account posted an image on x with a fake time magazine cover depicting depicting trump with a golden. >> crown. >> with the comment congestion pricing is dead. manhattan and all of new york is saved. long live the kings! new york governor kathy hochul took. >> issue with the move. >> and the post. >> at.

>> a news conference yesterday. >> i don't care. >> if you. >> love congestion. pricing or hate it. >> this is an. >> attack on our. sovereign identity, our independence. >> from washington. think about. this next time you're. >> stuck in traffic. >> new york. >> hasn't labored under. >> a king in over 250 years. >> we are not. we sure as hell are not going to start now. >> president trump later spoke about the issue with reporters on air force one. last night. >> supposing you worked in a shoe shop or you worked in a restaurant as a waiter and you have to come into manhattan and they're taking, you know, many, many dollars out of your pocket. can afford to. >> do it. >> and pricing, you know, if you take a look, traffic will go down because people aren't going to come. if people don't come, that means the whole place is it's going to be a disaster. so it could be, and it's probably going to show. that traffic will

come down, but that means they're not going to spend their money in new york, go someplace. >> else. >> president said it's up to new york to find an alternative way to raise $15 billion to help fund the mta. i have a lot of thoughts. >> you do. >> i do. >> that scares me. >> well, this is different than a toll right. it's not a usage fee. but i don't like using. >> like, a tax. >> to try to force behavior, which is what we're doing. >> and they're trying. >> to force anyone who's driving. in to get on the subway where, you know, you might get an ice. >> pick in your eye or. >> know that not everyone does that, that that. >> happens too. but not everyone gets an ice pick. >> i don't yeah, i. >> don't i would like a. >> way where you. >> don't make it so hard for. >> everybody to get back. >> here following the pandemic. everybody. i wish everybody was back in new york city. for all the people that depend on that for a livelihood. >> so there's a couple of things going on. first of all. >> i think there's the. >> idea of states rights versus okay. >> that's the order.

>> okay. so i think. >> let's just. >> start there. which is to say he loves states rights. states rights i. >> thought were supposed. >> to be sacrosanct. right. so. you know, if in texas they want to dig a certain. >> way or they want. >> to put up a. toll in. >> a certain. >> way or. >> or, or abortion. they can do it, right? right. so you don't like that, but. >> well, but but no, no, but that's that's. >> the deal. >> federal. so if we're. >> gonna, we're gonna if we're going to. >> go. >> approach it that way, let's. >> approach it that way. new york has chosen. >> to fund. >> their programs this way. by the way. they've already made enormous investments. if you go. on 60th. >> street. >> you know, all over the city, they've they've actually spent enormous amounts to put the infrastructure up to do this because it was granted already. so all of a sudden, this, this money, by the way, that new york taxpayers paid to do this is effectively. >> being undone by the. federal government. right. that seems to. >> be a problem. >> just. >> unto itself, i would imagine. and then on the sort of broader thing, there's a very interesting political dynamic, which is to say that, you.

>> know. >> lots of areas of. >> long island. >> upstate new york, parts of new jersey are considered red. manhattan is considered. blue from a political standpoint. >> for him. >> it may. >> make more sense for him. >> to approach it this way. >> than. no, it seems to. it's a populist. >> i mean. >> a lot of people were like cheering. >> from, you know, it's like, okay, this crazy democrat. >> you know, new york. >> establishment, democrat, state and. >> city that they do all this crazy stuff. >> donald trump is going to come in and, you know. >> save the people of new york from these crazy ideas. >> from the local polls. >> who overspend. they already spent the. 15 billion, right? so they got to get that was when we were first talking about this. and kathy hochul. kept saying, hey, we got to do it because the money's already gone. >> it's already gone. it's already gone. >> that's not great. >> so what are you gonna do?

you're going to leave the city in. >> the lurch. i have. >> you know. it's like. >> when and i and i go back to one. >> i. >> have a driver. >> i don't know what. >> i think, and. >> the driver. >> so is. >> am i getting hit every day? is my driver gets 100%. >> he is 100%. driver is getting hit. >> so he's that. >> and therefore you are and therefore the company is. >> company is and. >> and the. >> company is. >> getting charged more. >> by the. >> black car service. >> yes. they are absorbing the cost as uber. you know if you take an uber it's a buck 50 extra. if you take a taxicab it's $0.75 extra because. those cars are going back and forth and. >> that goes into helping. >> pay for the subway. >> this city, for better or worse, works because of public transport. that's what it does. and i would also just say, you know, i know there's a lot of people. >> who. >> love new york. >> city, and i know there's a lot of people in the country that, for whatever reason, hate new york city. but the truth is that this is one of the great engines, economic engines of this country. >> if you were not andrew ross

sorkin and you were someone in new jersey that didn't make a lot of money and was faced with having to find. >> i would be totally annoyed, you. >> would. >> be forced on. i'd be totally annoyed. >> bus from weehawken. >> yes, but the truth is. >> that the cost. >> of entering the city currently is so expensive already. the george washington bridge. >> the lincoln tunnel. >> the i know parking in new york city, meaning this is the way the city was built, was for public transport. it was for actually the common person. we have built infrastructure for the. >> common man. >> i don't think. >> that this is let them eat cake. >> do you know this is. >> not affecting you one iota? and aren't you sort. >> of able. >> to say, i'm sorry, but you, you know. >> you people need. to do it. >> this way. i'm going. >> to still be first of all, first of all, i take the subway regularly. >> no. >> i know you say you. >> and i. >> know you think i'm crazy. i wear. masks in the subway all the time. so you think i'm a

crazy person? >> you're the only person on. >> the plane. >> with a. >> mask coming back, right? but but. >> i but i'm a subway guy, and. but the city works because of the public transport system. it was built for public transport. we. if everybody had a car in the city, it wouldn't work. >> but it's for everybody else. it's. >> forget about me. forget about me. the city doesn't work. otherwise. you need to have public. >> transport on a. >> bus in weehawken. >> andrew. >> i'm sorry. >> you don't have to get on a bus. and be. >> late all the time. >> you probably like that, but. >> i'm not. i'm not doing that. are there. >> busses that early? >> do you. know from weehawken? >> there are busses early. there are. >> busses late. >> look, i'm not. >> saying it makes it. >> can i jump. >> the turnstile? i don't think anyone. >> pays either. but here's the. >> here's the piece. the i. because of the cost of getting into the city already. >> it's not to add to it. >> i'm just suggesting to you that it's this idea that somehow you're hurting. >> no, you didn't. >> like it either. no, no, i've always. >> liked it. you have. >> always from the beginning. >> this city needs. this city needs a way to raise money. >> more government. >> and more. >> taxing and more. it's right up your alley. >> because we're looking at a

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>> welcome back to squawk, the latest measure of ceo. >> confidence. >> showing a sharp. increase in optimism for the first time. in three years. the survey by the conference board and the business council finding that business leaders have gone from cautiously optimism or optimistic to confident optimism, and the majority of ceos plan to grow their workforce and raise wages in the year ahead. want to bring in roger ferguson, who joins us in his capacity as vice chairman at the business council, trustee at the conference board. he's also a former vice chairman of the federal reserve and a cnbc contributor. good morning to you. i'm struck by the confidence, not because i wasn't expected, insofar as there does seem to be this confidence. but when you go and you look, roger, at the at what businesses are doing today in terms of investment. >> in their. >> own businesses, in terms of mergers and acquisitions activity, which is always a sort of a signal of confidence. it actually isn't as strong as you

might think. why is that? >> well, look, i. >> think you're right to point out that the survey shows a sharp move up, but some of the actions do not. and look, you know, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence around uncertainty. you know, when we asked the ceos what are some of the risks they're worried about? you know, one of them that they write into us is around tariffs. obviously some concern about making sure the budget is balanced. and so it's a mixed picture. and i therefore think while they're generally confident they're also being i use the word a little slower, maybe more cautious in making major capital investment decisions until some of this uncertainty clears. >> well. >> so that's the. >> but that. >> is where i was sort of going with this. there's sort of both this sort of confidence. >> on one end. >> and there's this remarkable uncertainty on the, on the other. you talk to, you know, the ceo of ford and he is very concerned about what the tariff picture looks like for his company. he's, you know, effectively hoarding supplies, trying to bring them from mexico into the us right now. how how

do you how do you sort of square up the confidence. issue at the. >> same time. >> that this uncertainty. is clearly a clear and present, not just the tariffs themselves, but obviously tax policy in america, which really is not going to get resolved, i imagine, until this fall. >> look, i think it's the priorities that ceos have. the first priority that that most ceos have is we ask them about. it is, you know, reduced regulation. and i think, you know, the trump administration, during a period when we did the survey, was certainly standing for reduced regulation, less government interference. and so part of what's driving this is the notion that they'll deliver on that. having said that, you know, some of the things that they have delivered on are less relevant to many ceos. you've just talked about the double edged sword of tariffs. and so there are lots of businesses that put tariffs down as a risk factor. and some of them they are less interested in. you know, ironically, we also find that the issue of corporate

taxes is not one of the most important things on people's minds. they much prefer to see a balanced budget or move into, you know, significant fiscal retrenchment to reduce the debt. and so i think there are there's a slight disconnect between some of the things that ceos care about and some of the things that the trump administration has, has been driving. and the other thing, obviously, is immigration, which again, you know, is a double edged sword, depending on on, you know, the how how you run your company. so that is i think what's going on here, andrew, is someone used to say to me where you stand depends on where you sit and you know where what industry you're in, i think drives how you see and feel the outcomes of the trump administration. >> let's let's go to the immigration piece. and i look. >> i'm one of the. >> first people to say we have to get our our house in order on the immigration front. >> at the same time. >> it's inflationary to the extent. >> that there are. >> businesses that are

employing. illegal immigrants and that if they. >> become illegal immigrants, they're going to. >> end up paying more. >> no. >> i think that's absolutely right. all of us believe that we should protect our borders. you know, we should control who comes into the country. we should be very harsh vis a vis illegal immigrants, for sure, particularly those that have committed crimes. having said that, you know, some of the labor force growth that we've experienced, that has kept inflation coming down has been because of increase in the size of the labor force. and when we talk to individual ceos around this immigration question, you know, there's some think about silicon valley that are really worried about a crackdown on certain kinds of visas. others are arguing that there should be. and so it's illegal immigrants and even legal immigration. that i think is what in one's mind and it goes directly to the ability to find workers, both high skilled workers for silicon valley and lower skilled workers for the kinds of other tasks that have to go on in society.

>> what was the biggest surprise for you from this survey? >> i was surprised at how much the confidence moved up, but i was also surprised when we asked people about risks that they saw. an increase in geopolitical risk as one of their concerns. and the point i made earlier. people were writing in to us and otherwise signaling, you know, a concern about terrorists. and the final thing is, we asked them, thinking about the variety of things that are important, reducing corporate taxes did not play up as much as reducing regulation. and importantly, you know, fixing the budget situation in the country, right. >> roger, i want. >> to thank you. >> it's fascinating to see. we will see what confidence looks like next month. i'd be very, very interested to see where we really are, but appreciate it. thanks. >> great. >> thank you. all right. >> coming up. shares of palantir plunged in yesterday's session and falling again in extended

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main street stronger. our leaders in washington need to protect our competitive edge. >> get invested. join the club. >> jim cramer is an excellent teacher. i don't have the time to do this full time for the value that we get. the investing club is very much worth it. >> join the club new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com now. terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to squawk box. shares of palantir plunged yesterday closing lower by about 10%. and they're falling in extended trading right now. you can look at them this morning off about 2.5% again. regulatory filing. regulatory filing on tuesday night revealed that the ceo, alex karp, has adopted a new stock trading plan that would allow him to sell nearly 10 million shares of the company's stock over the next six months. now, separately, the washington post reported yesterday that defense secretary pete hegseth has now ordered senior pentagon leaders to develop a plan to slash the defense budget over the next half decade. that, of course, had been an expected and

anticipated. in truth, i would have thought, given the role of elon musk in doge and everything else, that folks like palantir and, you know, companies like andrew, which is still private, would actually be great beneficiaries of those cuts. >> leaner. >> meaner would get leaner and meaner. and you'd have to actually move towards more software based defense systems and the like. and so i don't know if it was that so much as. >> i don't. >> think. >> people looking at the stock. >> and the other defense contractors. >> are down. >> and we'll see. we always want to cut the defense budget until, you know, until we see what's happening. >> in the rest. >> of the world. and it's like, thank god we didn't cut the defense budget. and, you know, china looms large. you know, now. >> that we're friends with russia again. >> go figure. coming up, espn are planning an unorthodox approach to its direct to consumer platform. alex sherman has the details. next, as we head to break, here's a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers.

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now. >> good morning. welcome back to squawk right here on cnbc. we're live at the nasdaq market site in times square. the futures in the red though higher yesterday. we're off about 100 points right now on the dow. the nasdaq off about 53 points. the s&p 500 off about 14 points. joe. >> and espn is rapidly gearing up for the launch of its flagship direct to consumer platform later this year. but capturing some younger viewers is proving tougher than ever. and now, espn appears to be planning an unorthodox move to try and reel them in. cnbc media and sports reporter alex sherman joins us now with more. i don't know about this, any of this. all the streaming. you know, i thought we had it all settled. there was going to be this. what was it going to be called, that sports venture. >> yeah. >> venue. never mind. >> never. never launched. >> how many of these things are going to be. never mind.

>> i think the one that. >> we're talking about here, this espn flagship app. is not only will it happen, it's the future. >> like it's a bet the company move. >> it has to work for espn. >> and will it. >> be digital for analog dollars? >> i mean, in the beginning, it may be a little bit of that on the advertising standpoint, but they're going to price it much higher than any streaming. >> service that. >> has launched at launch to date. it will be either 25. >> or. >> $30 a month, i'm told. and young. >> viewers are going to. >> well, so that's. >> my story, which is that espn is trying to figure out how can we court young viewers, particularly gen alpha. they're already thinking about them, even though the gen alpha people aren't going to be the ones paying the 25 or $30. >> gen alpha is. >> born between. >> 2010. >> and. >> 2025. >> so we're. >> talking about. >> 0 to 15. >> year olds. >> and the problem is these. >> kids don't watch live sports. and the entire. >> espn business. >> is predicated on live sports. so one of two things. >> is. >> going to happen. they're either going to. >> age into. >> watching live. >> sports.

>> and that's more or less the status quo. and i think the leagues and. espn hope that gambling. entices these kids to watch live sports as they turn 18 and older. >> an entire generation. >> that's right. that are going to be hooked up on gambling. look, this is the world we're headed to, joe. the second one, i think. is espn is trying to. >> figure. >> out maybe we need to be a little bit more. >> creative about how. we bring. >> in younger people. and the leagues are. >> on board with this. >> and what. >> i'm. reporting today is that. it may not happen exactly. >> at launch, but. >> espn is already thinking. >> about user generated. >> content to build into. >> this new. >> streaming app. so that's a new frontier. >> for espn. it's largely lived. >> on youtube. >> but all of these traditional streamers. >> now disney. >> writ large is thinking. >> about how do we incorporate. >> user generated. >> content because. >> we see it so. popular with this generation. >> of kids on youtube. is there a way of bringing. >> influencers in? >> maybe we can create software around our program. >> that allows parents to build something, and. >> they can. >> share something. >> with their. >> kids from a ukg standpoint.

>> so i think the details. >> are. >> still a little hazy here. >> but they're certainly. >> thinking about the concepts, and i. >> think things. >> are in the works. >> to. >> bring this as a part of this new streaming app. >> thank god. do you do any of this. >> and do all of it? >> you look at. >> user generated content for sport. what am i going to be watching people doing? >> alex. >> constantly. >> i mean, you're first. >> of all, there was a phenomenal. statistic that. of course youtube. >> promoted it. >> i don't. >> remember the exact. >> percentage, but it was like more. >> than half of. >> like gen z. >> so that's one generation above gen alpha. of the people surveyed would rather watch their favorite creator slash influencer talk about a live event than watch. the live event itself. >> so that. expands ■beyond sports. >> into things like the oscars and so forth. >> but again, this is the world we're. >> living in here. people would rather watch youtube. >> it doesn't. >> even need to be a time dependent thing you could watch days later. it doesn't need to. >> be on the event. >> so that's a world that we're. >> and yet they want to watch

their favorite people. >> talk about that. so happy with 1000 cable channels in a remote control. >> i think a. >> lot of. >> people are happy with that because it's easier. >> it's easier. >> you turn on the tv, you just flip and. >> it's all there. do i. sometimes go over. >> to the other side of netflix and hulu and stuff and peacock? >> but that's we need to get to the. >> point where all of the streaming. >> services are aggregated in a way. where it's a rough facsimile of the ease of cable tv. we are not there yet. >> we're not. and we. >> need to get there. and i think the industry is on. like i think they're unified and thinking, you're right, we do need to get there. how we get there is still an open question. >> the content. >> creators got to stop throwing. >> poo poo. >> up against the wall, and i've tried to watch some things recently. you take your pick of which content creator. it's horrible. >> this is horrible. >> this is the rub though, i think, joe, because i see it too. i see what my kids watch and i say, how do you watch this? how this is awful quality. but they like it. like it, they. >> like watching it. >> everything's been degraded. the quality of everything.

>> is. >> being degraded. >> what happens, though, when a generation of kids like things that we can all agree on are not of quality, then. >> you're. >> in a. >> you're. >> in a pickle because as a parent, maybe you can say, don't watch this. but if they're watching it, then they're going to get more of it. that's how the algorithm works. and the content providers are certainly going to provide it if it's popular. so that's the world youtube lives in. and youtube is wildly popular, more popular than any other streaming service. and so now the other streaming services are starting to take notice. and being like, do we really care if the quality is all that good, we need to at least incorporate some lower quality things here. if that's what the audience wants. >> and you. >> use youtube, do you not? >> i mean. >> i go down the youtube rabbit hole constantly and sometimes you hit stuff that's good and sometimes you hit stuff that's bad. and i think part of it is the changing nature of how people watch, which is to say you watch for 5 or 10 minutes, you find this part good, you find that part bad, you fast forward through whatever, and then you go to the next one. and so as a result, all of a sudden

you have to have a massive supply of content simply to fulfill this sort of strange demand curve that's developed. >> five minutes is generous. my eight year old only watches. >> youtube shorts. >> he's watching. >> five seconds. and then scrolling, but on a tv screen, not. >> on his phone. >> so this is tv now, right? >> and that's the issue. so this beautiful show that costs five, $10 million for an hour worth of content is sort of a heavy lift for folks. exactly. if people are not going to actually sit and watch the whole thing with. >> nothing coming in, how are they going to spend money? you know, doing the hour of quality? >> it's a lovely business. >> model for youtube, which has to. spend no dollars on content creation, minimally, relatively. and yet they get all the eyeballs and the advertising revenue. >> well, you. >> so this is you keep telling me this is a world we're living in? yes. >> for younger. >> people, right? >> i need help with this. i because this is not the world i'm living. >> you know, you can ignore. i don't. >> even know what you're talking about. >> just keep watching. sandy. >> one big piece of this, though. squawk box reruns. >> i just over and over again.

>> sports though. yeah. >> we keep saying sports is the answer. >> yes. >> is it the answer? >> i don't know. >> because i imagine. >> at least for myself, even if sports are on the big screen. they're still either the. phone or the laptop. and there's like a second screen thing and i'm doing other things. >> this is. >> the question, andrew. >> you've hit it. >> it is the answer. >> for the time being. >> it is the answer. >> for the next ten years, all. >> the major sports. >> rights are locked up. >> for. >> about ten years. after that. >> we may see. some degradation. >> that is the biggest question. not only sports, all of media, which is what happens if the. >> the money. >> train, the gravy pit of live sports starts to degrade and. >> the. >> eyeballs start to come down because of that, money. is not there anymore, then the whole ecosystem. >> gets do we see. generationally the younger. generation upgrading to higher quality. >> content later? >> meaning i just watched the first episode of. >> third season of white. >> lotus, by. >> the way. >> i was going to watch. >> great. it was good. i enjoyed it very much, and that was one of the first sort of 50 minute periods. i didn't. >> have my.

>> phone out at the. same time as i was watching. >> something. >> but what i don't know is whether 20 year olds and 30 year olds are also watching white lotus. >> yeah. >> so there. >> yes. >> they do age into more prestige quality content. but i think the counter to that is we are potentially training a generation of kids to watch tv differently. and this is the youtube argument that the new television is not the old television. >> where are they? >> thailand. >> yeah, phuket. >> if you want to go on vacation to thailand, go right now. because i think in a year or two, just like sicily, you're going to have problems getting a hotel room. >> totally. >> okay. >> yeah. >> the tourism. >> industry in white lotus connected to these countries. >> well. >> i've tried some other, and some of them are so bad that, i mean, i felt like clockwork orange. now i'm. >> no. yeah, the. >> white lotus. >> casey bloys. >> if you're watching. >> yeah. keep keep giving us white lotus. >> all right. >> alex thanks. make sure to sign up for cnbc sport newsletter. you can go to cnbc.com sport newsletter or follow that qr code you see

right there on your screen. up next gold trading near record high. we're going to talk to the ceo of alamos gold after the break. squawk box will be right back. >> after. >> currency check is sponsored by interactive brokers. the best informed investors choose interactive brokers, interactive brokers pays. >> up to. >> 3.83% on instantly. available cash in. >> your brokerage account. >> how much. >> interest can. >> your bank or broker pay? >> interactive brokers conservative. >> and prudent. >> risk management. uniquely positions us to pay up to 3.83% on uninvested instantly available cash in your brokerage available cash in your brokerage account. the best informed. as your host, i have some rules. first, no showers longer than 5 minutes. this isn't a spa. (laughs) that's a rule. meanwhile, at a vrbo— when other vacation rentals make you share your turf with a host, try one that's all yours.

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everybody i joined to achieve financial freedom in retirement. >> jim cramer. >> is the benefit you get that. >> you can't get anywhere else. >> it's a great value. >> jim cramer gives you much more than you would ever get from any advisor. >> he teaches how to invest versus just what trades to make. return on investment for the club pays for itself. >> join the club new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com. join jim now terms and restrictions apply. >> alamos gold beating earnings expectations and reporting record gold production with an increase of 7% of the production year over year. joining us now to talk mining operations, the price of gold and much more john mccluskey, president and ceo of alamos gold. it's good to see you, john. are you more interested in explaining why gold has been hitting new highs? or you want to be a macro economist? and i don't know, a

fed watcher, a monetarist, i don't know how what we can use we can do that. or do you want to talk about the best way to run a gold company. and how that's done? do you want to talk about first? >> well, those are two of my favorite subjects, but i'll tell you, i, i'm with everybody else. i'm i'm certainly observing. >> what's going. >> on, but. i'm trying to. >> guess what's. >> going to happen. >> next is that's that's a. serious challenge. yeah. well. >> i know. >> that. >> you know, it can. be over, over. historically, you can have a ratio to barrels of oil or to a decent suit on on what an ounce of gold goes for. but certainly 37 trillion in total debt and things like qe and rate cuts and all the things that we see. gold is scarce. and even though you were able to raise production by a 7%, it's really hard to produce gold, isn't it?

>> that's a very true statement. i mean, we are probably one of the few companies that's been bucking the trend, and it's probably one of the advantages. >> of being a smaller company. >> as opposed. >> to one. >> of the big giants. >> where. you know, they're producing 4 to. >> 5,000,000oz of gold. >> a year. and that's a very difficult job to replace that just to sustain. >> where. >> you are. in our case, you know, we've been rapidly growing our our reserves for years now. put it in perspective. >> ten years. >> ago we. >> had a single. >> mine and less than 2,000,000oz of reserves. today we're operating from four gold mines and we have 14,000,000oz. >> of reserves. >> just reported yesterday. i mean, that's an extraordinary sort of con. >> sort of contrarian. >> sort of position to be in. relative to. >> the. >> rest of. the rest of the sector. and it's because. >> you. >> know. from a very early day, you know, we took a. contrarian view in terms of starting this

company and, and the way we run it. so, you know, i would say that on that subject of what's the best way to run. >> a gold. >> mining company, you've got to act like a contrarian. investors don't typically like it. >> in theory. >> they do. but in practice they don't. >> but we would never. >> have been able to build the company to where it is today. over, over the last 22 years. if, if we weren't taking this contrarian approach. so do. you have. >> people out scouring for properties or do you just do m&a? do you just look around and try to figure out what makes most sense, what's what's the, i don't know, a competitor that's at a price we can afford. and then you got to look at balance sheet concerns obviously, and everything else. but that that's what i figure you need to focus on. if you're going to grow. it's got to be through acquisitions doesn't it? >> well, that's how we started. i mean, think back to 2001 when the gold price was under $300 an ounce. of course, today it's

nearly 3000. but in. >> 2001. >> when nobody thought gold was ever going to see the light of day. >> again. >> we stepped. >> in and bought. >> an asset off of one. >> of. >> the major mining companies. it was a it was an. >> option agreement. >> essentially, and that it required a half. >> $1 million. >> down payment, $10 million to acquire a project that where the major delineated about 2,000,000oz of gold, but couldn't see a way for any. >> of that production. >> to be profitable. so they sold it to us for about $10 million. after pouring roughly $50 million. >> into refining it. >> and we took it on with. >> and indeed. >> we signed that deal in november 2001. there wasn't a single ounce on that property that you could produce profitably. but over time, we've generated over 700. >> million in. >> free cash flow from that

project and produced over 3,000,000oz of gold. and it's still going it's been it's been operating for the last 20 years. so it's been tremendous. >> that's amazing. >> i before we go. >> i just want to get your comments on fort knox and i, i mean, i think it goes all the way back to james bond and goldfinger. and it has not people haven't looked to see what's there since, since i graduated from high school. so in 1974 we do you think we know what's there? do you think that number that we're given for how many tons are there, do you think? do you have any feel for that? i mean, i've seen lots of movies where people go in and they've already got the gold. i thieves have already taken it. there might be nothing there. according to some fictional movies. >> well, i'll tell you, be a lot more confident. in what they're. >> saying if. they audited it. >> you know, i'm on the world gold council board and we audit the world gold. >> council gold holdings.

>> every quarter. you know. >> we. >> never stop the audit process there. >> what a concept. yeah. >> so, you know, why haven't they audited their gold reserves for such a long time? i don't. >> know why they wouldn't do that. >> but you know, i think i think if, if this administration. presses for an audit, that'll be a good thing for everybody. i think it will bolster confidence. but until they do so, who knows. >> right. >> all right. >> it's good. it's a fascinating subject. and it is it's the most valuable of all the pet rocks i think. i know there's some other ones i guess platinum things like that. but it's always, always good to talk about it. yeah, $3,000 300. i didn't realize in 2001 that. it's in. >> the last year. it's up almost $1,000 an ounce. wow. so i mean, gold has been really on a tear for sure, right? >> all right. john mccloskey, alan news12. thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up, we are going to get you ready for the trading

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amazing and is something that we get to use every day. >> coming up on today's squawk planner data and earnings that could move the markets we're going to have to watch for this. results are coming from walmart just moments away. and we're going to closely watch jobless claims data. that's going to come at 830 eastern time this morning. don't go anywhere. we've got two big hours ahead we've got two big hours ahead right here on squawk. what if you could invest in a future where skin cancer treatment is noninvasive and relatively painless? medicus pharma's groundbreaking solution delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor site, offering a mostly painless alternative to invasive surgeries. with the skin cancer treatment market expected to exceed $20 billion by 2030. medicus is poised to meet the demand for cost effective non-surgical options. now advancing phase two studies. medicus pharma, leading the charge in skin cancer innovation.

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>> welcome back to squawk. walmart just reported quarterly results. and courtney ragan joins us now with the numbers courtney. >> yeah andrew. so walmart reported adjusted earnings of $0.66. it's $0.02 above expectations. revenues of $180.554 billion, also above expectations for just a little over $180 billion. issuing full year guidance for 3 to 4% revenue growth. consensus, though, is for 4% growth and adjusted earnings. walmart is saying between $252.50 and $2.60. analysts though looking for 276. walmart also is raising its dividend 13% here. we do see the stock is reacting down about 8% now, the retailer posting us comparable sales of 4.6%. that's 42 straight quarters of growth by my count. transactions up 2.8%. the release calls out broad based sales momentum across categories, with seasonal sales, consumers using expedited delivery options, and share gains primarily from upper income households. now, walmart's u.s. digital sales

coming in up 20%. that's just a slight deceleration from the previous three quarters. ad sales growing 29% globally, 24% in the us. i spoke with cfo john david rainey briefly, who said, if i had to sum up how i feel about the consumer, in a word, i would say steady. rainey said that according to its surveys, walmart is attracting these higher income consumers because of its delivery convenience, noting we now serve 93% of america same day. there are very few companies that can do that and particularly in the fresh category, he said. right now, there's nothing assumed in the guidance related to tariffs. remember, two thirds of what walmart sells in the united states is made, grown or assembled here because they skew so largely towards grocery. but rainey said, quote, we're not going to be completely immune to this. we will be impacted. we were impacted eight years ago, but we're going to work hard to keep prices low for customers. and while the majority of walmart sales are grocery, as i noted, rainey said that general merchandise sales did grow for the second straight quarter. they began to see that inflection three quarters ago, but really growth the last.

>> coming back already, it was down almost $9. it's now down. >> oh yeah. look, now it's down about 5%. >> and the dow. >> was down 150. it was only down 100. yeah. earlier. can you give me what am what's my takeaway. >> i think the takeaway is that is that walmart does seem to be serving a wider swath of consumers in the united states. we often think of it as a low income consumer, but it just keeps grabbing more of these high income consumers. and i think they're operating really well, frankly. obviously, they're very big. they have a lot of advantages because of their scale to offer low prices, especially at a time when consumers are feeling stressed. no matter where you are in the income scheme, and i think they've made a lot of strides digitally, you. >> know. >> remember, courtney, in recent quarters, walmart has has sort of diverged from target. yeah you're right. and others and popped had great days after the company. i don't remember down $7 days with walmart right. what's different. i don't understand. >> that is true. i mean i think the guidance potentially is a

little bit disappointing 3 to 4 instead of four. >> and then not related to tariffs either. >> they're not they're not counting into tariffs. what i saw when i spoke to spoke to john david rainey. he said look they had that vizio transaction. so they purchased vizio. so there's going to be some noise with that. there's some leap day when you look at the operating numbers that's actually higher. the operating revenue itself is actually going to be sort of higher in an acceleration format than what they've seen the last couple years. so he was really quite positive about this. i think, you know, maybe we'll get a little bit more information on the call with some of the details about sort of the operations of the company, and that's and how that's generating the revenue. >> is there anything that could cause walmart to not be, you know, as great as people were hoping from the consumer? or is it from competition from amazon and others? >> i mean. >> can we glean anything about the overall economy from the stock? >> right. i think it's tricky. i don't think that the stock price is really reflective of the consumer and the economy they have. he has said consistently,

and he's used the word steady and consistent for the consumer. and he's talking across incomes and they survey their customers. so i don't think this is just sort of he's sticking his finger in the wind and saying, this is how i feel about it. this is what his consumers are telling him, whether it's a higher income consumer that's moving more towards walmart because they can get their groceries delivered same day, which is hard to do for a lot of retailers. to his point, right. that's that's not something that everyone can do. but general merchandise is also growing. and because they offer this big marketplace online, millions and millions of products beyond what they offer in a store that can be attractive to a wider swath of consumers, too. >> i was counting on walmart to help the dow today. >> maybe it will. >> you know. >> interesting pre-market. >> it's pre-market, right? what's so. >> interesting to me is that we just had roger ferguson. >> on, i mean, with. >> the conference board with more confidence. >> i mean. >> it's so. fascinating right now is we're. >> getting. >> earnings like this at. >> a time when. >> ceos are saying that they are super confident about what's. happening in the economy. and i'm trying desperately to square the circle, because the truth is, we've had some earnings

reports that. >> have. >> been coming lighter than people had anticipated. there's been all these questions about tariffs and what that uncertainty is going to mean. we still have the tax issue on the table this year. and so there's sort of this strange sort of disconnect and how much of the sort of regulatory unbundling that's going to take place in this country is going to ultimately boost business that will actually see in the numbers? yeah, i mean, obviously it's too early for that, but. >> yeah, exactly. and look, i think the month of january is a little tricky too. i know it's funny to blame weather, but it's freezing outside. nobody wants to go outside. people aren't going out. they're not buying as much. weather i think also does impact things. they talked about a little bit of a blip from the california wildfires. i mean, certainly don't mean to be glib about that, but obviously people are not shopping when there's real danger to their lives. and i just i just want to sort of clarify exactly what john david said to me. he said, look, we're actually seeing an acceleration with a guide of 5 to 7% for the core business. when you're talking about revenue, you know, the guide there is for 4% because of this other noise. so i don't know if that helps

clarify things, and maybe he'll have to go through that a little further on the call. >> i want to thank courtney, i want to we'll keep our eyes on this. i know off about seven right now, close to eight 8%. and yeah. >> the dow components the dow we'll look at the futures. dow is down about oh 130 140 points. let's get to dom chu with a look at this morning's pre-market movers. good morning dom. good morning joe. good morning andrew us listed shares of alibaba. that's what we're going to start there climbing roughly 7% right now after the chinese e-commerce giant reported a beat on earnings and revenues for its quarter. those results were boosted by strong year end shopping sales. they also expect revenue growth at its ai drive cloud intelligence group to accelerate continually. those shares are up about 60% so far this year. but alibaba, one of those stocks that's become a bellwether for the chinese economy and everything else. so keep an eye on those. meanwhile, shares are down roughly 2% this morning despite morgan stanley naming the restaurant management system a top pick. they also

boosted the price target to $50 a share from a previous 40. analysts said the company continues to beat its guidance and deliver rapid growth at scale. those shares, as you can see, up nearly 80% so far over the course of the past 12 months. and then snowflake shares are getting a boost this morning on an upgrade to buy from neutral. over at btig analyst. they're expecting improving demand for cloud optimization after more than two years. slide there for that particular business. so snowflake shares up 1.5% on that for that another top analyst calls of the day just head over to cnbc.com pro. subscribers can get all the access to detail in all of those big calls and stories for the day. joe. so snowflake in the news so far this morning. and by the way, just to add a little bit to the walmart commentary, we talked about it on fast money last night. joe, andrew courtney, this was a stock i believe that was trading near 40 times forward earnings going into this. and so, you know, you can understand maybe if advertising growth and everything else there is maybe priced to perfection. i hate to use that cliche, but

nothing's worth 40 times earnings. well i mean i think some things are. but walmart hasn't been one of those companies, general electric 20 years ago because, you know, because jack welch had a couple of pennies per share in his drawer every quarter that he could. you know, the stability helps if you can repeat results quarter after quarter. you know, analysts like that. investors like it i understand that. but it's still it certainly can explain can explain a little 8% pullback if you're at 40 times doesn't need to be anything wrong 8% dow component that's worth hundreds of billions of dollars up 63% in a year. i don't know, it doesn't seem like 7% such a big. those are good. those are good. that's a good perspective, dom, to keep the keep in mind keep in mind. thanks, dom. you got it guys. >> okay okay. meantime, president trump's ukraine envoy, retired lieutenant general keith kellogg, arriving in ukraine for talks on wednesday. this amid a heated war of words right now that's taking place between president trump, also ukraine's president vladimir zelensky.

trump called zelensky a, quote, dictator is now blamed ukraine and zelensky for the russian invasion. joining us right now to talk about all of this and help us understand what's going on here, is nina khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the new school, coauthor of in putin's footsteps. good morning to you. >> hello. >> how does how does this sort of rhetoric change the dynamic all of a sudden, or does it. >> i don't think it does that. much because we. >> know. >> of trump. if he doesn't like somebody, he's ultimately going to come out. >> in the open. >> and when. >> vladimir zelensky in the fall. suggested that. >> ukraine natural resources can be used by. the united states or by the west in general as. >> a way. >> to explore together, and that will help. to cover. >> the costs. >> of to help ukraine. i think trump. >> took it to heart. >> trump really. decided that he's going to have five, 50% of

his natural resources. and that's what that's exactly what happened. but then. vladimir zelensky didn't. sign this agreement. that said. >> we are going to look into this. >> this is just a little too much, and so on and so forth. and trump, we know. >> if. >> you really cross him, he is going to go all the way. so clearly he was crossed. >> he already said. >> that his envoy, scott besser was was treated. really badly in ukraine. and now. >> it's payback time. so in. >> some ways it's. the problems with zelensky, because we know that trump didn't like him right from the beginning, but he was willing to. >> play the game. >> now when zelensky insulted him back, trump is going to go all the way. and of course, the victor in all of this is vladimir putin. that's that's very clear. >> yeah. we don't. >> we? >> does it allow putin or does it play into putin's hands? nina, is that the is that the

downside that that the deal that finally, if there is a deal there or a peace is not as lasting and as ukraine gets? absolutely. get the raw end of the deal. if we show if trump shows his hands now like this, doesn't that give advantage to putin? >> well. >> putin has been in advantage for quite some time because the war in ukraine did not have not been going for ukraine well enough for the. last two years. and so in every time when there is a conversation about a potential peace. >> deal. >> even during. >> the biden administration, every time when it was not. >> happening. >> not that it was. >> going to, but at. >> least there was some conversation. ukraine was doing worse. so in. some ways there's very little to show. there's very. >> little hand to show putin because. >> he either will continue the war. and he can. >> go on. >> for a long time. >> i know. >> sanctions will ultimately

bring results, but that's. >> a long. >> period of time. and one of the reasons trump is willing to talk to putin more than he's willing to talk to zelensky, because he understands size. i mean, russia is giant. i mean, that book that that i wrote actually was the subtitle of this was searching for the soul of empire across 11 time zones. it's 11 time zones trump likes. >> 11 times. >> so. >> nina. >> how does this end? >> let's just let's just. >> go straight to the straight. straight to the what? i think we're all trying to. >> figure out. >> straight to predictions. i think if there is a peace deal, it's not going to go well for ukraine. but ukraine will stop bleeding, will stop the war and. >> preserve the territory. >> that it now has. and then the question. >> is. >> what happens to other. territories that putin wants the two cities, odessa and. >> kharkiv. >> these are the cities that need to be protected. so russia doesn't push forward. and i think that's where the security guarantees should come in. and trump may be able to fix that.

but the fact that ukraine can regain territories that are already lost, i think it's a pipe dream. it may happen diplomatically in some years, but not at this period of time. >> nina, i want to thank you for your analysis this morning. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up. and for those wondering, nina, is nikita khrushchev's granddaughter. >> yeah. >> which i have a. recollection of him angrily. >> talking and sort of smiling that he was going. to beat the united states at everything refrigerators. and it was in black and white. but but i have i have a recollection. >> of that. >> i've had a lot of advantages, a lot of advantages. >> i know, i know. >> having seen the moon. >> landing, things like that, it really did happen. >> a. >> lot wasted on the. >> despite what. >> whoopi says. >> we're going to talk jobs in the ai economy. the ceo of mercor joining us to discuss the company's latest valuation and growth forecasts. we'll be right

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powering possibilities. comcast business. amazing and is something that we get to use every day. >> the s&p 500 closing at another all time high. let's let's talk markets now. the let me can i start over. the s&p closing at another all time high or closing at an all time high is another. another. it's not necessary is it there jack. it's closing at an all time. why is it helpful? >> well, because i think. >> it's another. it's not. it's an all time high. you don't. >> when you. >> make an all. >> time. >> high every. >> week. >> you know. >> like we did. >> it is an all time high. jack caffrey, equity portfolio manager at j.p. morgan asset management. it seems that it reminds me again of a beach ball. is there an environment being engendered by the new administration that just has some animal spirits flowing? because i haven't seen anything on inflation or the fed, nothing

stimulative to the stock market has really been happening, other than the possibility that maybe doge works, or maybe taxes don't go up. what is it? >> i think in. >> the short term, people are excited about the prospect. >> of. >> less regulation. >> i think that's it. >> and from that, you know, you look at what sectors have. >> been working. >> financials have been working. >> fairly nicely. >> the idea that maybe they'll have. >> less capital tied. >> up, maybe. you'll get rid. >> of some of the committees. >> involved and. >> in how. >> businesses are operated within the. financial sector. >> you have the elimination of the head of the cfpb. >> a week. >> and a. >> half ago. >> right over the weekend. and so i do think that you. are seeing some sense of maybe business will operate more efficiently going forward. >> maybe government has the. >> prospect of operating. >> more efficiently. >> going forward. >> and yet we still have to get. >> to well. >> what does this actually mean? >> because at the same time. >> we'll have a tariff we won't have. >> that's the thing. and so, jack. >> i think we should. separate between what people say. are you

more enthusiastic? are you more optimistic? when i arrived at the studio, you were interviewing roger. ferguson about a ceo confidence survey. but let's see actually. >> how their spending. patterns evolve. >> not what they. >> actually. >> tell you. >> but at this point, the market is acting like it wants to go higher based on fundamentals, which is no small feat. when we hear every day, not necessarily just just from legacy media, but chaos, end of democracy, tariffs, constitutional crisis, we hear all these things in the market. what is seizing on less regulation to where net net it goes up even though tariffs are supposedly so egregious to a free market. >> i would. >> come back to earnings. >> season is. >> winding down. >> and we finally got the earnings. >> season that i think we were. >> anticipating through pretty much all of 2020 for you know earnings. >> up 16%. >> you look. >> within and you actually saw.

>> that broadening out. >> you do see. >> companies reinvesting. >> in their businesses. >> and i think that is what most equity investors. and traders. >> are anchoring. >> off of. >> because there's a lot of noise. >> there's not a lot of signal. i'll come back to earnings or the signal that are suggesting that companies are finding a way to. >> operate in the environment. >> try to find a way to actually bring those sales to. >> the bottom. >> line and ideally share those. >> earnings with their. investors in the form of dividends. >> or buybacks. >> and you heard some of that out of walmart right before. >> i. >> came here with a 13% dividend boost. >> are you counting on rate cuts this year? >> i think that when you. >> listen to the fed, they are watchfully waiting to understand what the policy. >> environment might look like. >> do we need them for the market to keep going higher? if earnings go up, the multiple just needs to stay where it is and you don't need a multiple expansion with lower rates. >> i mean, ultimately given that valuations. >> are high, i think we actually. >> need earnings to really deliver. >> to drive. >> the market higher. i think.

valuations might be supported by. >> rate cuts, but realistically. >> where rate cuts. >> happen matter more. >> and i say that because. >> when you think. >> about larger. >> investments those are anchored off the ten year. >> you know, what happens. >> to a mortgage. at 7%. what happens with. the fixed. investment decision. >> on where. >> you locate. >> your plant. >> which again. let's understand where the. >> policy might be about who. >> i'm trading with, what. >> regions wind. >> up being relatively. >> favored or disfavored over the next several years. versus the consumer, whose spending tends to be anchored. >> off of short term rates. >> so when treasury secretary recently offered some comments, well, we're not worried. >> about pressuring the fed. >> to cut rates. we actually. want to find a way to get the. tenure down. you know, the tenure has been fairly stable since that. >> comment was offered. >> i think if you look within markets, you know, yields have been stable ish. the implied. >> fixed income. >> volatility in the move index is. moving along at sort of 52 week lows. but tips etfs are

looking. >> a little bit overbought. >> we talk about new highs. in gold. so i think you do see investors. >> saying maybe. >> yield isn't the way to protect myself. maybe i actually need some explicit inflation. protection within my portfolios. i actually think equities are perhaps better equipped to be inflation protection. >> than fixed income. >> but you know, when we say. rates going down. which rates and how quickly and how. >> long they can. >> actually stay. >> bottom line is what we're in a bull market and it continues this year. you think? >> i think we're. >> in a bull market. >> i think it continues. i think. >> what we've seen over the. >> last several decades is. >> much longer and more modest. >> durability of economic expansions. and those expansions. >> can turn into earnings growth. >> and. >> earnings growth. >> turn into higher returns. >> all right jack. >> keep it simple. >> keep it simple. >> and you left. >> out the stupid because it would have been probably directed because you're talking to me. >> it depends on how. >> i do on any given day. i may be the stupid version. >> all right. >> thank you. okay. >> still to come. >> you want. >> to. >> add in this? i'm not. >> i'm not getting involved in this situation. the future of global global workforce. i'm

getting involved in that conversation. the ceo of maker, the ai powered platform that finds your next employee, is going to join us to talk about the company's most recent valuation, the shifting jobs landscape. and yes, the fact that ai is actually picking the people for you. now, apple also debuting a new member of the iphone 16 family. but should investors care one way or the other about the new phone? we'll tell you right after this. >> time now for today's aflac trivia question. where is walmart's largest store located? walmart's largest store located? the answer when squawk box prime, it's me. i mean, you. wake up, come on man! you gotta tell employers to take another look at all the benefits they're offering. everybody wants to build the best team and offering aflac can help attract and retain that top talent. you know we like that top talent. and listen, i mean you gotta listen. aflac gives employees cash to help with unexpected medical bills. it's prime time to add aflac.

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>> economy. >> perhaps they need to. call it something else. >> and now the answer to today's aflac trivia question where is walmart's largest store located? the answer? albany, new york. the supercenter is 260,000ft■!s. >> new this morning. >> ai startup mercor announcing that it has raised $100 million in a series b funding the company now valued at $2 billion. this is up from just $250 million four months ago. quite, quite the jump. joining us right now first on cnbc is co founder and ceo brendan foody. good morning to you. congratulations on the new valuation and the new funding round. for those that don't understand sort of how you're using ai in the context of employment, help help the audience understand what's happening here. >> yeah of course. >> and first of all, thanks.

>> so much. >> for having. >> us back on. >> and. >> we're excited to. >> discuss the. >> new. >> funding and. >> update on the business. >> but at a high level, mercor. >> is. >> training models. >> that. >> predict how well son will perform on a job better. >> than a human can. >> so similar to how a human would. review a resume, conduct an interview, and decide who to hire. we automate all of those processes with. >> llms and it's so effective. >> it's used by all of the top ai labs to hire. thousands of people that train the next. >> generation of. large language models. >> and just to be clear, is it better for specific for identifying specific types of jobs, specific kinds of roles, meaning for an engineer or for some kind of other role? can it capture, you know, how well an employee will do in a creative environment, for example, or at a senior management role? would you use this technology? >> yeah. >> phenomenal question. >> it's really. across the board. but what. we excel at is analyzing things that are based in text. so for example,

analyzing an interview transcript. >> is much. >> easier for us. >> than analyzing what is someone's. persuasiveness in a. sales demo or a sales conversation. but that is broadly applicable to. >> software engineers, doctors. >> lawyers. >> accountants. >> financial analysts. >> and really a huge. >> portion of the knowledge work economy, all of which are. >> domains that we're. >> already actively hiring many. hundreds of people in. so how does it work in practice? meaning you just talked about, for example, analyzing a transcript from a job interview, are you also giving me if i was interviewing a prospective employee, are you giving me a script that i'm following? >> so we would ask dynamic questions. of people based. >> on their background. >> where similar. >> to how a human would. have context on your resume? >> we would. >> ask questions about that. >> and they would respond and we would. >> ask follow. ups based on their responses, etc. one thing. >> i. >> will clarify. >> based on the customers.

>> added on screen, is that we. can't confirm customer names. >> but we do. >> work with. >> all of the top. >> ai labs. >> and most of the largest technology companies in the world, and your your models based on open source other models. meaning are you sort of taking a, you know, some piece of llama, for example, or even deep sea cow and, and integrating that into your own model? how is it? is it totally custom from the ground up? how did you do this? yeah. >> phenomenal question. so we post. >> train other models. it doesn't make sense for. >> us to. >> do things. >> custom from the ground up. >> but most. importantly what we look at is the. >> performance data of how people. >> do. >> on projects. >> where we're. >> able to see who's doing. >> well. >> who's not doing. >> well. >> and understand all the reasons behind that, so that the model makes better predictions around who's. >> going to perform well. >> and for. >> what reasons. in terms of. >> which base model we. >> use, it depends on. >> the specific. >> use case. >> but have. >> had a lot of success.

>> customizing the openai api. as well as many others. in terms of this, this. >> new funding. >> round, what are you going to be using this this cash for? what happens next? >> yeah, it's an interesting question. >> because the. >> business has remained quite profitable. so we've been we've. >> grown an average. >> of 51%. >> month over month. >> in revenue. >> for the. >> last six months. and are. >> still. >> profitable with a revenue. run rate over. >> $75 million. but the main motivation of raising the. capital is to invest in two things. the first is the supply side of our marketplace. and. >> you. >> know, getting. >> all of the smartest people in the world on the. >> platform and continuing. to support our customers that way. >> and then. >> the second is our ai vetting technology and making better performance predictions. >> so. >> that we can. >> have higher confidence. >> in every individual. >> that we're matching with. >> our. >> customers on projects. >> brendan, let me ask you a

question that i imagine. the venture capitalists who put money. >> into. >> this thing, or maybe those who don't would ask, which is what is the defensive moat around a business like this? i think to myself, you know, linkedin should be doing this, which of course is owned by microsoft. and given their access to openai and everything, how how do you think about the competition in this space long term? >> yeah. so i think the two moats are tied to the two things that we're investing in. the first, in terms of supply side growth, getting all of the smartest. >> people in the world on the platform. >> is reflective of the supply side marketplace moat. >> so similar to how you would. see a marketplace. >> moat in. >> an uber or an airbnb. >> those are some of the strongest. >> most enduring network. >> effects in the. world that we're continuing to build. out incredibly quickly. but the second moat, and the one that i'm arguably even more excited about, is the data flywheel, where we learn from every customer interaction. about who's doing. >> well. >> for. >> what reasons. about the features that indicate that,

whether it's because someone has a certain. experience on the. >> resume or. >> they, you know, demonstrate extreme passion for that topic. >> area in their interview. >> or even specific knowledge, and we're able to learn from. all of those things to make better predictions for every future person we onboard. >> not just for that. >> customer. >> but for all of. >> our customers more generally. >> i got one final crazy question for you. of course i know this. i know this apparently works for employers. could you ever imagine higher education using this? >> absolutely. i mean, i think that how do. >> you think that kids i mean, all of these. i'm just thinking of all these these admission programs all over the country at colleges and whether this would change the whole whole thing. and then i but i don't know if i want that or not, because what about the kid who doesn't do well on the test but also but does, you know, brilliantly on something else? >> yeah. but i think the key thing is that the baseline is so bad. right. like right now we have so much of this vibes based

assessment. >> we have. >> a lack. >> of data. >> in driving the. >> outcomes that we. >> care about. >> that it just makes sense to, you know, look at the things. that drive the outcomes that we care. >> about. >> whether it be. >> you know. >> people having a. well-rounded education. >> environment or the. outcomes of those. >> students once they enter the workforce or. whatever it is. and i think it's almost certain that in the imminent future, all of this will converge towards a complete, completely automated process, not only because it's dramatically cheaper. >> but more importantly. >> because it's just. >> far, far more. >> effective than any process that a human could do. oh my goodness, it feels like. >> doge is going is coming to the h.r. offices of corporate america. >> if this works, brendan. >> thank you. what do you think about hiring people? i think you could hire a tv. anchor with i. how about. >> using ai. >> to hire a tv anchor? >> yeah. do you think that they would if they had if they if the ai had talked to you 30 plus years ago, do you think that you

would have gotten the job? >> oh, yeah. coming up, maybe. >> not everyone. >> would have. look, i'm not suggesting i. >> you're a. >> hell. >> of a i mean, is there anyone better to print than. you at print? >> at print? >> i think. >> there's a lot of people that better. >> well, yeah. >> yeah, i. >> florida cfo and congressional candidate jimmy petronas is going to join us to talk government efficiency, the president's economy and much more. i bet you he's going to be in the house soon. house of representatives. and this house, i think is here. as we head to break, here's a look at this morning's pre-market winners and losers in the dow. we're coming right back.

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now with code tr20 for 20% off terms apply. >> okay. >> we want to talk about this story because if you take a look at palantir shares, they're down about 4% this morning. this after they plunged yesterday closing lower by about 10%. so off 4% this morning 10%

yesterday. the stock down again as we just mentioned in the premarket. now we told you earlier that a regulatory filing on tuesday night revealed that ceo alex karp had adopted a new trading plan. that seems to have been what tipped the stock that would allow him to sell nearly 10 million shares of the company's stock in the next six months. that is true. but i want to explain what's happening here, because i think it's only part of the story. now, in the same filing, the company said that karp had canceled a program that was put in place in 2023, a plan that would have allowed the sale of nearly 49 million shares. now, last year, it's a little complicated. karp sold 40.7 million palantir shares. he already did that last year. so the new plan appears to add only about 1.8 million additional shares to karp. 2023 share sale plan. so it's more and obviously the dollar value is a lot more. palantir has rocketed up, but to the extent that people were looking, i think at the initial

filings and looking at those headlines saying, oh, goodness. alex karp is selling 10 million shares and not necessarily recognizing that he had had a plan in place where he was selling a lot of shares last year, too. it's just worth trying to understand the dynamic here of what's really happening. >> normally, because it was some pretty decent volume. normally, people in the know that are able to sell that many shares would have known everything. >> and maybe they did, and maybe they did, and maybe they just say, look, this, you know, dilutive. >> yeah. >> right. >> well there's but by the way, i mean palantir does a whole sort of stock option program that there's a separate dilution question that's hung over the stock for a very long time, just in terms of how many shares have been given to given to employees. >> as simple as, as a ceo selling. >> i think it's a little bit of a diamond hand story, if you will. meaning this, i want to say there's a meme stock. it isn't a meme stock at all. >> but he's supposed to hang on to it and he's not. >> i think that there's a lot of folks that that call themselves palantir. i mean, there really

is. there are. oh, yeah. >> palantir. >> palantir, that's a thing. >> because that goes back to the i omega and the tech people. >> it people are believers in this company. and so i think anytime you see the leader of a company selling stock, you say to yourself, okay, should i be selling the stock too? i think that's all this really amounts to. plus, as we said, you layer on top of that, this this pentagon story about trying to also cut the budget. but i think that cuts better for palantir, oddly enough. so anyway, we've got a lot more coming up on squawk. florida, cfo of the state. that is jimmy patronis on president trump's latest executive order, doge, crypto, and so much more. and then later, walmart shares, they are down sharply. take a look at what's happened this morning. i don't know if we're going to show it. they're here. we got it about seven and a half close to 8% off right now. that's on the back of some weak guidance. we'll have a channel check with an analyst and talk about those results in just a moment. squawk returns after this. >> on $100,000 margin loan.

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show. you probably. except for that. maybe that. is he a cfo in texas? you're the most famous cfo in the country. >> because of you. look. >> you haven't watched the. >> show since it came on. >> the. >> air because. of desantis, probably in florida. florida is red. when did it become so? did trump win miami-dade? >> yeah, so. >> that's unheard of. >> if you. >> go to. >> november of. >> 2022. >> florida had no. >> yeah. >> november. no. november 2020 florida had. >> 300,000 more. >> registered democrats and republicans. now we have more than a million more registered republicans and democrats. >> are floridians. did they just get smarter than the rest? no, i'm kidding, i can't. sorry about that. that was just a joke. kind of. you're going to be in tell us what. so gaetz is gone. what happened after that. and you are definitely the front runner now because i think trump hand-picked you. >> it's a republican performing seat. it's the most pro-military

congressional district. and it's got five installations. >> once you. >> got through the once you got the nom, the republican nomination. >> yeah. >> and how'd you get the republican nomination? >> so trump. >> called me the day before my 20th anniversary and said that if you'll run, i'll endorse. and so. >> i'm. >> i'm, i'm still cfo till april. i'm still grinding later today, we're going to ban deep sea off of all state devices. so i'm still i'm i'm going to go out swinging till the last day. >> okay. >> so you have. >> feelings, thoughts, comments about the political environment we're in right now. have you have you seen the not everyone in this country agrees right now that this is the golden age of america. like, like like president trump says, there are others that think this is the end of days, or we're very close to the end of days of democracy, of the constitution. they sing songs, they write songs, they demonstrate. i don't know if it's resonating with anyone

except they look at each other, maybe, but. >> well, again, look, i've always been the mindset in my time. in tallahassee that the people of florida spend their money better than tallahassee does, and i've never been a spender. i've never been a spender. >> making an analogy to what they're doing with doge right now. >> exactly. and so, i mean, look, i think when elon brings to light $19 million going to study gender studies in nepal. >> why are our tax. >> dollars doing that? >> why aren't. >> we focused on what's important? and even when it comes to recovery from hurricane lane. >> but jimmy, do you think that the one offs of some of the crazy stuff you can find, we had, you know, $1,400 hammers that i remember 30 years ago that we talked about, but it doesn't really add up, is it? is it is that as important as maybe some children starving in africa? aren't there some things that that are important? we use the sort of the easy examples of absurd things, whether it's, i don't know, transgender opera and el salvador or whatever the

hell you want to use, but isn't a much bigger number, possibly doing some important things and helping us, you know, helping us look good in the third world and actually do good things in the third world. >> there's always. >> time for that. but i just got off the. campaign trail. >> ten people are in the race. >> not a single person stops as jimmy. when you go to congress. >> make sure you continue to support send. >> money to ukraine for the war. >> i mean. >> people are fed up seeing their dollars. >> they don't even want to send money to ukraine. >> no, not a single person even brought. >> that up. >> here's the question. i would not imagine they would bring it up. the question in my mind is, and this isn't to suggest that everybody's not smart about. >> these things. >> but, you know, we're all we're all me, me, me. right. it's the me, me, me generation, right? >> yeah. >> and i don't. >> know if. >> if people appreciate all of these sort of weird little levers of things that have happened over a lot of time where we actually where the things that we do abroad in

other places ultimately benefit our benefit us. you know, sometimes i look at those some of these usaid stuff and yes, it's like soft power. it's like a massive bribery program. that's what it is. we're like bribing the world, i'll give you that. but i bet if we get underneath some of those things, we'll discover that, you know, we're giving money for some play in some crazy place. but in truth, we got some defense contracts on the other side, right? like there's stuff going on and maybe we need more transparency about around it, by the way, maybe if we had the transparency we wouldn't have those. >> i love. >> transparency. >> but the question is sort of how we should think about that. >> you know what i mean? >> yeah. yeah. >> i don't i don't know the answer. >> well, i. >> just know when those. >> type. >> of dollars. >> flow out. i was in business for my family's restaurant for 30 years. i know how hard it takes to create jobs, take care of a customer and then remit money to tallahassee just to be set on fire. >> here's here's a complicated one. so you saw what trump said yesterday about potentially

taking the doge savings and giving it back to. the $5,000. >> checks. >> if you will, in the context of almost like a stimulus check. yeah, right. or a refund or a dividend is what they're calling it. at the same that we're talking about trying to desperately pay down this enormous debt that we have. >> sure. >> which do you do? >> well, again, i think you're going to see probably one big bill roll out of congress. there's not that appropriations not going to take place without a congress approval on it. personally, if it's a $5,000 check, i. got some heartburn on it. i really would much rather see debt being paid down. i like to see the tax cuts being extended. but look, i've been to the border, the guns, the fentanyl, the human trafficking, that's all real stuff. and it's a real problem. and just by the change in the administration right now, there's been a deterrence in place. but, you know, the $5,000 checks, again, i think that's trump being trump. you know, let's throw it

at the wall. see if it sticks. oh yeah. does it get a fire underneath it. >> i call it a poop. >> yeah yeah yeah. >> i mean. >> not poop. but instead of saying that the normal colloquialism. >> but do you think that your colleagues in, you know. >> that will. >> would approve something like that? i mean, there's going to be very you would think politically for some people it would be very popular to get a $5,000 check. but i would also argue that becomes inflationary. i would love to see the debt get paid down. sure. but i don't know if that, you know, if you could write a check to the american people and if you could write it with your with the president's name on it. >> well, what we did in florida, because, look, we're a sales tax only economy. we leveraged all that funny money we got from the inflationary environment we're in because our bonds and our debt didn't grow, but we paid it down. right. and so look, i love what we're doing in florida. and we were able to leverage the environment we're in right now. but we also have been pushing a lot of money back out to our citizens to help with their insurance rates. >> you've been very consistent on what? that you'd really like to use this to pay down debt. i

don't see the same enthusiasm, enthusiasm for the overall doge initiative itself. right. >> and i mean. >> i just mean you're like this, this 5000 or whatever it is, we really need not to give it back to people, but to use it to pay down that 37 trillion. i would think you'd be much more enthusiastic about the overall doge program. >> i'm very enthusiastic about the program itself. >> if you're going to do it, there's going to be pain. >> and the only know, the only thing that i've talked about back to what he said is transparency. we all want transparency. and i think that the and look, they're now moving more towards a transparent program in terms of what you're able to see online. >> actually be a big supporter of the whole initiative. eventually elon musk doing it unelected elon. >> sure. that's not that's not you know, you know i've been an advocate for what elon for a long time. >> and i'm seeing i don't know i. >> get older you get more conservative. >> it's just you want. >> have you noticed. >> yeah. no. you just want more transparency around this stuff so that you can bring the

american people along with it. you're like florida. you're like florida. no, no. >> if you you're. >> eating donuts. >> yesterday, that does not look like what i would think. andrew would eat. >> you know. right, right. >> you've been watching the show a long time. you know, i've. >> been. >> watching it. >> i've been. you know, i love a donut more than anything. >> but that one you bit into crunched. yesterday that caught me. i'm thinking. >> they're little things on it and inside it that. >> was the thing was great. >> it was a. >> very special kind of. >> i had one to ask where they were from. >> yes. >> it's a place called daily provisions. it's owned by danny meyer. >> you're close by. >> you're going there? >> yeah. >> well, we got some time. >> to kill. >> there's 1. >> in 30 rock. >> i think there's one in the upper west side. there's one downtown. >> you'll come on when you're a big time congressman. >> yes. >> okay. good. >> yes. >> thank you. you know, i purposely they were making fun of me that came out without my jacket on. oh. >> good for you. >> last time you made fun of me for wearing a jacket. >> you did? yeah. >> by the way, we have some more donuts today. >> did you see that? >> no. >> i did not. >> yes. oh, well, let's. different place. donut cents. >> and donuts. >> no way. they want to compete

with daily provisions. maybe we'll. >> try that a little later. if you want one. >> jimmy, hang out. you want to do another segment? >> i will. of course. >> okay. coming up, does wall street need another iphone? that's the question of the morning. john ford here to weigh. in on the topic of what. hand is he going to show us this time? we'll do that next. in the meantime, a quick check on the markets ahead of the opening bell. also, we'll get those jobless claims numbers, which could move all of this around. right now we're up 141 points on the dow. nasdaq off about 46. >> points. the s&p. 500 off about 15 points. >> but yes. we were in the green yesterday. so we'll see where things end later. come back after this. >> welcome to reinvented with accenture. today i'm here with margarita della valle ceo of vodafone. you were employee 25 in vodafone italy. today you're. >> the ceo. >> of vodafone. what is your strategy and vision for the future? >> we are changing our culture to really focus on our

customers. we need to acknowledge that change is hard, but if people understand it's but if people understand it's for the right reason, then ♪ ("born to be wild" by steppenwolf) ♪ ♪ get your motor runnin'! ♪ ♪♪ ♪ head out on the highway! ♪ come on! ♪ looking for adventure! ♪ ♪♪ ♪ and whatever comes our way ♪ ♪♪ ♪ yeah, darlin', go make it happen ♪ [spray paint] [semi truck horn] [tires squeal] ♪♪ ♪ explode into space ♪ hey! hey! hey! b-12 bingo! [buttons snap] [inhaling furiously] [explosion] ♪ i never wanna die ♪ [cheering and laughter] ♪ born to be wild ♪ don't worry, girls! i've got weathertech. ♪ born to be wild ♪

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the ones who get it done. >> welcome back to squawk box. apple this week unveiling a new low end iphone. you don't really talk about apple in the word low end in the same sentence. but here we are. the 16 e with the stock down 2% in 2020. excuse me. the 2025. the question of the morning is should investors

care about a device that cost 600 bucks? john ford is here to weigh in. what? what say you? >> well, andrew. yes, the iphone 16 e is a big deal, mainly because of what it reveals about apple's strategy. so to catch you up tomorrow. apple starts taking orders for the 16 e, which replaces the $429 iphone se in the lineup. it has a chip as powerful as the latest iphone 16, but a more affordable wireless modem for connecting to wireless networks and a simplified camera with this launch. apple is eliminating the iphone se and the iphone 14, leaving just lineup that don't support apple's new ai. apple intelligence so why does that matter? well, apple's biggest competitive advantage is its vertical integration. apple designs the phone. most of the important chips in the phone, the operating system software that runs the phone, and the app store that makes the phone versatile. so by unveiling the iphone 16 e, apple is strongly

hinting that by fall, it's going to have a lineup of iphone 16 and 17 priced from $600 to $1200, all able to run new ai features in ios 19 and available around the world. so they are people saying apple is behind in ai, but by the time october rolls around, they might be singing a different tune. when apple is launching new ai driven software to a loyal customer base, making the strongest case for upgrades that apple has had in a decade. >> okay, but but but but but but but but but but the 16 e is still a $600 phone at the bottom end of the lineup. let's be honest. so is it really going to make a difference? >> well, yeah. andrew, i mean, on the other hand, the 16 e just isn't important. yes, its arrival eliminates the low end phones that couldn't do ai, but the real drivers of apple's fortunes for the next two years will be the software apple shows us at its developer conference this summer, the iphone 17 we see in september. and most important, the ai enabled apps the new phones can run. so it's easy to forget now. but two big

factors that drove the iphone's rise 15 years ago games and the camera games were better on the iphone because apple's vertical integration meant it could offer developers a consistent canvas, a reliable app store, and customers who would pay for quality. and the iphone camera helped startups like instagram and niantic redefine how we use imagery to communicate. right now, ai is plenty interesting, but not a lot of fun. there's been no ai driven hit game yet, no fresh set of ai tools for image and video editing that have revolutionized the process. if apple is going to surge ahead in this next era of computing, it's going to be because the iphone became the better platform for intelligent games and visual effects, and the iphone 16 e is going to make a difference on that score. the stars of the show are ios 19 and the iphone 17. >> okay, before we go, i want to throw a total curveball at you. >> okay. >> do you believe that sam altman. >> and openai. >> are genuinely with. i think jony ive going to build a device

that revolutionizes all this, an actual phone of some sort that is like a completely new ios. i mean, that's the speculation rumor on the street. >> i don't. >> you don't. >> i think building hardware is so difficult and you've got to be profitable at it. and ai, openai brilliant company, not at all profitable. they don't really have the resources to pour into that. it took apple a long time to get to the point where it had the structure and the momentum to do that. so no, i don't think they're going to do that in the foreseeable future. >> john ford. >> all right. >> thank you sir. >> you can't read about openai in the on the other hand, newsletter, but you can read both of these arguments. there's the qr code on the screen or type in cnbc.com. if you want to give your finger some exercise, you get the full text of both of the arguments about the 60. >> give your fingers some exercise. >> good exercise. >> it's 8 a.m, almost a couple of 30s on the east coast. you're

watching squawk box on cnbc. i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin. becky is off today. among the top stories alibaba shares jumping after the chinese e-commerce giant beat profit and revenue expectations for its december quarter. company, citing ongoing strength in its cloud intelligence unit. alibaba shares are up more than 60% this year. president trump says he's considering returning some of the money that the doge initiative is looking to save to us citizens. speaking at a summit in miami, the president floated the idea of returning 20% of savings of the savings to americans and putting 20% towards paying down us debt and the president adding lumber to the list of products he may hit with tariffs. speaking with reporters last night, president said he's considering a 25% tariff on lumber and forest products that would take effect at the beginning of april. that's when new auto tariffs are also expected from the white

house. >> okay. take a look at futures right now. dow off about 137 points nasdaq off 37 points. the s&p 500 off 14 points. we should also show you treasuries right about now. you're looking at the ten year note sitting just about 4.5 the two year at 4.2. and i want to get straight over to dom chu with a look at this morning's pre-market movers dom. >> all right. good morning andrew. good morning joe. so we're going to start off with shares of hasbro on the earnings front up just about maybe 2.5% or so after the toymaker reported better than expected profits and revenues for the quarter. the company is also expecting revenue to go up slightly this year despite headwinds from potential tariffs. hasbro also released a new strategic plan that calls for average revenue growth in the mid single digits each year through the year 2027. so all that, on balance, leads to a 2.5% gain. turning now to shares of shake shack up by about roughly 8%, now 9.5% after posting better than expected results. now, you may recall that the upscale burger chain updated its guidance just a little over a month ago, which led to a bigger pullback. as

you're kind of seeing over there over the last month. shake shack did give current quarter revenue guidance. that was somewhat disappointing, but the full year outlook was relatively in line to slightly better than consensus. total revenues are forecast to be around 1.45 to $1.48 billion for the year, and sales growth at established restaurant locations projected to be 3% higher than the full year in 2024. so shake shack shares up 9.5%, and we'll finish with wayfair. shares are sliding just about maybe 7.5% or so after the furniture and home goods retailer reported a worse than expected loss for the quarter. revenues came in better than expected, but was roughly flat on a year over year basis. the average order value was 290 bucks, which beat the estimates for 282, though shares again down by about 15% over the last 12 months. so keep an eye on wayfair on the earnings front as well. andrew, i'll send things back over to you. >> okay. meantime, thank you for that. meantime, minutes from the january fed meeting showing officials worried about the impact of tariffs on inflation.

they agreed they would need to see inflation come down more before lowering interest rates further. now the committee noting that the current policy is, quote, significantly less restrictive than it had been before its rate cuts, giving members time to evaluate conditions before making any additional moves. i would be. >> talking tariffs constantly as the fed. >> that's the only thing you talk about. >> no, i'd be doing it to shift the blame from from the 50 basis point cut and coming down too quickly and not not not not having put a stake in the heart of inflation and say, hey, we did what we had to do, now it's the tariffs. but i think that's sort of a. >> i said, look, i think we're going to see it in numbers later. i think just the prospect of tariffs are actually i don't i don't. >> know. about that. i don't know about i think maybe we'll see it in the stock market. we haven't we haven't seen any real concerns. shares of walmart are lower right now. the retail giant reported better than expected fourth quarter profits and revenue but issued weak full year guidance. joining us now, rupesh parikh oppenheimer managing director and senior

analyst we did point out, we did welcome. we did point out that, you know, the valuation is not cheap for walmart. it's had a great, great run. so maybe we don't want to read too much into an 8% pullback. other than you know the stock has really been on a tear. but are there things that in the report that were troubling to you, or at least disappointing from from your expectations. >> yeah. so thank. >> you for having me. i think this is really just a case. >> of really high expectations. >> so as you. look at. >> the. >> report, they. >> had a very. strong q4. >> broad based momentum in the us. you know, whether it's health and. >> wellness. >> grocery. >> general merchandise, all. positive international markets, even in china, you know, they grew 20% plus so strong all around quarter as we previewed here. i mean, this. >> is really a case where. >> investors got ahead of themselves. the street was already modeling double digit ebit. >> ebit growth for this year. >> and. >> you know, they got it. >> more to a mid single digit type level. so if you look at walmart. historically they guide

conservatively to start the year. and then. >> what we. saw last year is. >> they guided maybe closer to 5%. operating income growth. and they ended up. doing double. so i think it's very. >> much the same situation. >> they're just rounding expectations here. but there's really no blemish in this report. >> so i think it. >> really is high expectations. and where. >> you're seeing. >> this morning. >> is just some. >> profit taking. >> and what is competitive. what initiatives has walmart i mean it's a lot of groceries now obviously. but but amazon the elephant in the room and is there progress made there any disappointment in any in any of those metrics. >> no. >> so they've all came in really strong. >> e-commerce growth is very healthy. >> advertising continues to grow 20% plus membership. >> growth also. double digit. >> so you know look at all these key alternative revenue streams. >> they remain very robust. >> so no. >> there really wasn't. >> any blemish there. >> and you know. >> you. look at last quarter one third of. >> their operating income growth, you know came from both membership and advertising. so i. >> think. >> you know, we'll hear on the call that that just started what

that level is for q4. >> but everything. >> we can tell. >> here. >> is that all these alternative revenue streams continue to ramp very quickly. and when you look. >> at these. >> higher revenue. >> streams like. >> advertising, it's a 50% plus operating. >> margin versus. >> walmart's core. >> business, more of. >> the mid. >> single digits. >> so these. >> higher profit. >> streams are. >> really the big positive. >> you know, for the story going forward. >> is there anything you can say about it? consumers high end middle, low end from the report. what can you glean from that. >> so in this report they said they. >> gained share from all income cohorts. so for walmart the wealthy consumer is. >> where. >> they've been. >> gaining the majority. >> of shares. >> those consumers making more than $100,000. >> and it seems like that's. >> the same case this quarter. and you. >> know, as you look. >> forward, inflation. >> seems. >> to. be picking up again. so you know, it again plays into walmart's wheelhouse. >> so i think, you know. >> if you're in a high inflation backdrop walmart. >> will again win. >> in that environment. so for those retailers that have been struggling and losing share to. >> walmart. >> it doesn't seem like that dynamic is going to change. >> in the short term.

>> okay. we appreciate it. rupesh very much. rupesh parikh oppenheimer managing director senior analyst coming up, the battle over congestion pricing, we talked about a lot already reaching the federal level partnership for new york ceo kathryn wylde is going to be here to talk about it. and the futures, as we look right now after talking about walmart, part of that 153 points of downward pressure is because of walmart and the eight point walmart and the eight point drop. this is steve. steve takes voquezna. this is steve's stomach, where voquezna can kick some acid, heal erosive esophagitis, also known as erosive gerd, and relieve related heartburn. voquezna is the first and only fda-approved treatment of its kind. 93% of adults were healed by 2 months. of those healed, 79% stayed healed. plus, voquezna can provide heartburn-free days and nights, and is also approved to relieve heartburn related to non-erosive gerd.

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>> bdo. >> people who know, know bdo. >> get invested. >> join the club. >> the value you're going to get from. >> making better. >> investments more than. >> outweighs whatever the. >> cost of. >> the membership is. >> join the club new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com. now. terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to squawk box. president trump's pick to lead the fbi stands to profit if and when the china connected fashion company shien goes public, citing a financial disclosure. the journal now saying the fbi pick, kash patel, was given stock in that company valued between $1 million and $5 million for consulting work he did for the parent company, fleet depot, last year. patel has agreed to divest his stakes in public companies like apple and meta if he's confirmed as fbi director. the journal says he won't sell off his elite depot stake, and the fbi didn't make him and his targeting a public listing on london's stock exchange this year after hopes

for a us ipo, of course, soured. there were some tensions, of course, between the us and china. patel's confirmation vote is expected today. coming up after this. president trump reveling and maybe i don't know if he's reveling in all this. i think he's reveling in a little bit in trying to kill off new york city's congestion pricing scheme. after the break, we're going to speak with a supporter of the program meant to bolster the city's subways and other mass transit networks. stay tuned. you're watching squawk box and this is cnbc. >> here you go. >> is there any way to. >> get a better. >> price on this? >> have you checked single care? whenever my customers ask how to get a better price on their meds, i tell them about single care. it's a free app accepted at pharmacies nationwide. before i pick up my prescription, i

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strength with the largest library of rowing workouts. it never gets boring. >> welcome back to squawk box. the debate of the morning. the word to new york city from president trump yesterday on truth. social congestion pricing, he says, is dead. manhattan and all of new york is

saved. long live the king. now, congestion pricing, you might remember, went into effect shortly before trump took office. it tolls drivers heading south of 60th street in manhattan, with the goal of using the money to beef up the city's mass transit network. new york governor kathy hochul responded to trump yesterday. >> i don't care. >> if you love. congestion pricing or hate. >> it. >> this is an attack on our sovereign. >> identity, our independence. >> from washington. >> think about this next time you're stuck in traffic. >> fight between state's rights and federal rights. joining us right now, catherine wyld. she is the president ceo of the partnership for new york city. also a supporter of congestion pricing. they have been a big backer. many of the big businesses here in the in the city. catherine. it pits federal versus versus the state at this point. and interesting that

you've been as vocal as you have given that, i would argue most ceos have actually not been that outspoken about some of the things that president trump has said in other contexts. how how do you think about fighting this and what is industry in new york going to do? >> well. >> specifically, congestion pricing was passed under the george w bush administration. it was it's the value pricing pilot program. this is a very republican concept. and unfortunately, we have some campaign rhetoric left over from the congressional campaigns in the suburbs that have convinced the president that congestion pricing is somehow unpopular or negative, or a socialist idea. it's none of those. and as the governor said, this is a direct infringement on states rights pursuant to the federal value pricing program. we're confident that the congestion pricing program is going to continue because we will win in the courts as we have won in the federal courts due to the on the

challenges brought by phil murphy from new jersey and others. >> what do you say to those who say, look, this is just unfair. it hurts the little guy. it hurts the ordinary. the ordinary worker who lives in new jersey, who lives in long island, lives in westchester or connecticut or upstate. and they're not going to be able to come into the city to do the work that they need to do to live and maintain their living. >> it's just wrong. >> we have studies that demonstrate that excess traffic congestion costs everybody, especially the business community, extra money and extra time. so this is going to end up being a savings. and as we've seen in the eight weeks since congestion pricing, maybe it's 6 or 7 weeks since congestion pricing has been in place in manhattan, we've seen that of the people who drive in every day now, we flipped popularity. now 66% of the people who are

driving in and paying the tolls, small business commuters and others, 66% supported and overall statewide, according to a morning consult poll. statewide, almost 60% of all new yorkers want the president not to cut back on congestion pricing, because that will mean higher fares in mass transit and higher taxes. that's the we don't have an alternative. we have to keep the transit system running. this is how we're doing it. >> catherine, one of the things, as i mentioned is, is most ceos have been very supportive of this president, at least publicly, perhaps not. not so privately, but publicly. very, very supportive. you are clearly representing industry. but, you know, i think of so many of the business leaders who are part of your institution, which supports the city. but, you know, albert bourla, for example, of pfizer, who's spent a lot of time at mar-a-lago, how many you know,

how much influence do you think that those individuals are going to use or not on this particular issue with the president? >> i think the congestion pricing issue the president calculates as a political issue, and that's not something he listens to business on economic issues. he's not paying much attention to their political views, and they're very glad of that. so i, i think it's a it's that's not the way to approach this. i think a better example is yesterday the manhattan institute came out with a, a, a report and set of proposals that the president should see allowing congestion pricing to continue and supporting congestion pricing as a leverage point, they said, so that it's an opportunity for the president to say, look, new york can continue congestion pricing, but in return, i want you to cut some of the laws that make make the capital construction costs of the mta so expensive. for example, we have a law in the state where the only state in

the country that has that a gift to the trial lawyers, that raises the insurance costs for capital construction by at least 10%, raises the whole cost by at least 10%. the president could say, get rid of that law, and i'll support congestion pricing. i mean, i do think we're going to win in the courts in any event. but there are other ways that the president could attack the larger issue that we're facing. >> well, let me ask you just about that. and actually, since i have you as it relates to the mayor, because i think that's the other sort of elephant in the room, which is to say, the federal government has always had remarkable influence over states. right? they can withhold money. they can do all sorts of things. there's this very unusual circumstance now which the president has a remarkable amount of influence over the current mayor in mayor adams, because of this very unique settlement of this case, a criminal case where if he doesn't do what he wants, meaning what trump wants, potentially he could get put in

jail. what do you, the partnership think of that? >> i think that the situation with the mayor is unfortunate. but in point of fact, under our state constitution, the city is very much a creature of the state, and we have a strong governor who is on top of both these issues, the congestion pricing issue and the challenges the mayor is facing. she's certainly going to make sure that, for example, that our immigrants here are protected and going to push back. so i don't think that the while it's a while, it's a tragedy what's going on in terms of the mayor's situation, our mayor is not a king, and he knows he's not a king. and we have a strong governor who is in in a position to be able to make sure that nothing goes sideways in new york. we've got a question. >> how concerned are you? just look, four of his deputy mayors are resigning. and so then there's just a question of a vacuum of leadership. you know,

we have agencies that need managers, people who are going to manage these institutions, going to keep this city going. >> andrew, i cannot disagree. the professional management of the city is very challenged right now, but we still have good commissioners in place. so the agencies are running. the garbage is being picked up. the police are doing their job with a great commissioner, jessie tisch. we've got so yes, it is. and the governor is on top of it. i'm in communication with her office every day and being reassured, and i'm reassuring the business community that nothing is going off the rails. the city is going to continue to function effectively. again, i can't underestimate. >> do you think the mayor was do you think it was lawfare that he suddenly started going against the democratic brahmins in new york city about immigration? and that's why they decided to bring this case in the first place? if

so, then what's happening is the correct thing. it shouldn't have been brought for political reasons. >> but joe, for the last three years, the mayor's position on the immigration, the migrant, especially the illegal migrant situation has not changed. so nothing in trump's election did not change the mayor's position. and everybody thinking, well, somehow he's now compromising the city to the to the president. but his position has never changed. >> was he targeted unfairly by prosecutors? >> i don't know, we'd have to see a trial to know that. i honestly don't know. i think that if he's it certainly didn't make him popular. i was dealing with the white house to try and get more support for getting migrants processed and closing the borders. et cetera. throughout that period, and it was rough. i mean, they were they were pretty mad at the city. >> all right. >> catherine, always great to talk to you. i want to thank

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>> around on. >> the deck. >> it's cool to the touch. and she loves it. and she goes up. >> and down from the deck to the lawn. >> she can. >> run around without the fear of getting a. >> splinter. >> in her foot. >> timbertech decking looks like real wood. >> but there's no hassle of maintaining it. >> i just take the leaf blower and blow the leaves off of it. it's fantastic. >> we have a sectional out there and we'll sit out there with a glass of wine, look at the ocean and we feel like we're in heaven. >> this is the emirates premium economy seat. >> economy. >> perhaps they need to. >> call it. >> something else. >> brian sullivan joins kelly evans power lunch, weekdays, two eastern. >> cnbc get invested. join the club. >> the cnbc investing club is for everybody. i joined to achieve financial freedom in retirement. >> jim cramer is. >> the benefit you get that you can't get. >> anywhere else. >> it's a great value. >> jim cramer gives you much

more than you would ever get from any advisor. >> he teaches how to invest versus just what trades to make. return on investment for the club pays for itself. >> join the club. new member savings soon. go to cnbc.com. join jim now. terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to squawk box i have a little bit of exciting. what do they say. personal news. is that what they do. >> i think. >> it's. >> not really personal. >> it's really personal for the world. and we were talking about earlier. i wanted you to know, and i wanted the audience to know that i have written a new book, a sequel, really a prequel to too big to fail. that's coming out not now, but coming out in october. so we can talk about it a lot more then. perfect. but it is a book. >> october 1929. >> that's why i said it's the prequel to too big to fail. it's

a book about 1929. and it's called inside the story of the greatest crash in wall street history. and i, you know, i became obsessed. i started working on this about eight years ago. joe, you may think i'm crazy. i went on vacation and started reading all these books about 1929, because i'd written about this last financial crisis, and i wanted to try to write a the human drama version of the story so you could actually see what happened, who the characters were, what they were saying to each other. and it's shocking how similar, frankly, so much of what's going on today was actually happening that. >> behind it all, it's humans. it doesn't matter. it's all technology. >> and when you get inside the room, i mean, sort of at a tiktok granular level, you can sort of see. so it's based on diaries and memos and letters. and i traveled to all sorts of libraries, and i'd sit on weekends and vacations and be typing away. so it took me a long time, but it'll be out. >> and now i'm finding. out at the same time that the world is finding. so you've been doing this for eight years. never said

a word. >> never said. >> a word. never said. >> a word. you know why? because i was i, to be honest, i was scared. >> scared? >> well, i didn't know if i, i didn't know i didn't know whether i'd finish it. i didn't know what would happen. >> how many pages is it? >> oh, goodness. >> no ghost writer? >> no, no ghost writer with the end notes will be. it's not going to be. it's a little bit shorter than too big to fail. because the truth was, people used to say the too big to fail was too big to read. so i was trying to write. yeah. >> and i'm thinking of a could be too big to fail like the no. that no. 1929 and it's his taylor sheridan got gotten wind of this yet i mean is he. >> yes. >> no because he did it 1923. he did in 1923. right. i think the most shocking thing is an eight figure advance, which i. >> an eight figure advance in meme coins. maybe i heard that. >> you know how i heard that? because i said it and then i heard myself say it. but there's nothing to the. >> there's nothing. >> no it's not. >> but by the way, i made the

other thing that's fascinating about that period in this period is just. >> is there. >> any money in books anymore? the speculation, i mean, the speculation we talk about crypto and all of that and meme coins. i mean, that is what was happening in 2019, a very different, different version with stocks. >> it's hard. there's no money in publishing anymore. this is done for the love. >> of the game. >> this actually is done for this is a game. this this is one of those projects where i just wanted to figure out if it was possible. >> we got. >> jobless claims, then we're going. >> to come much more important. >> i have more comment. steve liesman, did you hear that? steve joins us now at the breaking. and then you can weigh in after this. steve. >> i heard something about an eight figure advance jobless claims rising to 219,000 for the week of february 15th, a touch above the consensus and a slight upward revision from 214 the prior week. insured unemployment rate still at 1.2%. continuing claims rising 1.869. really not a big deal. consensus was 1.87

and just up a touch. what i'm going to do, guys, is i'm going to head on over to the office of employment insurance and see if we can get the numbers that are happening in dc, virginia and maryland to see if there's any impact at all of these fires. had a slight bump last week, a couple thousand in the prior week. now i'm just going to make this bigger and go to d for district of columbia. not much really. and looking at virginia, for example, another place you might see this show up. no, a decline there. so whatever's happening at the federal level, not coming off or not not appearing there, i'll get you a philly fed in a second. guys. real quickly the fed minutes a touch hawkish i want to say. and so but some talk about the balance sheet i think is what caused the market to rise. two things happened with the balance sheet yesterday that they said. the first is they might pause it over these debt ceiling negotiations because of what would happen with the balance sheet. the second thing is, they said after they're done doing

fed bond purchases could be restructured to look more like the more like the treasury portfolio. this could mean that they would end up selling some on the long end, buying some on the short end. so that had an impact in terms of bringing rates down, market rallied. that seems overwhelming this morning by what's going on with walmart and other stocks. guys i'll throw it back to you. just want people to where there are some potential changes coming with this run off of the fed's massive balance sheet. >> joe okay, steve, stay with us. coming off the jobless claims number, we're going to pivot now the conversation to talk about the labor market impact of the government's doge cost cutting initiatives. the trump administration has moved to fire tens of thousands of federal workers. many will likely be eligible for federally funded unemployment benefits, as well as other assistance like food stamps and medicaid. joining us now, diana ross, former chief economist of the

department of labor. and, diana, at this point, can we know anything, the numbers. and every time we have an employment report, we hear that the way you arrive at the net, plus or minus, we're talking millions and millions of jobs. is this can this actually play into to labor market figures? what's happening with doge? >> well, it certainly can. when people are laid off and they look for jobs, then those are in the employment data. so yes. >> but it's not. the layoffs. it's thousands, not millions. >> it's thousands at the moment. yes, yes. exactly. >> so it seems like it. so it will play into it. but would we notice it in the actual numbers. is it large enough to where it could skew the numbers one way or the other? >> we're not going to notice it. in the monthly figures published

by the bureau of labor. >> statistics. >> we might notice it, as you were saying, in certain areas, in certain districts like maryland, virginia, district of columbia, but in the aggregate numbers for the whole nation that are released on the first friday, we probably will not notice it. >> i that'si stevenson from the university of michigan is now also joining us. what could the impact be in your view? betsy? >> well, i mean, first of all, we obviously won't. see it in the next employment report because these layoffs. >> happened very smartly. >> right after the reference week. >> that's a. >> very clever way to try to keep these. things out of the out of those monthly reports we see, because as long as people find the job before the next month's reference, week before the week of march, that march 12th, that contains the 12th, they won't show up at all. so a

lot of these people may spend a couple of weeks unemployed. >> but find a. job by then. >> so even if the numbers were big enough to show up, there's a little bit of a runway for people to try to find work before it would actually show up in the data. i do think that these numbers, you know, if you look at the number of people who are laid off every month, it's not really big. enough to show up. but i don't think that's that captures the full impact. you know, a lot of people pointed out. >> just how many. >> people you know have 5 million people lose a job every month. >> this is small. >> compared to that, except for most of those people who lose a job, they're not actually losing it. they're quitting. they're planning to leave. they have a plan for what they're doing next. i think a lot of these federal workers were absolutely blindsided, and that's going to change their behavior. i also think that there is a chill. >> in the. >> air about who might lose their job next, and that can start to. reduce spending. i in fact, i would recommend to my friends, cut your spending now

build your nest egg. we don't know what's going to happen. there's a lot of uncertainty whenever you're in an economy where a lot of people feel they need to build their nest egg, cut back their spending, you start to see the economy slow. >> steve. are you you're still with us, steve liesman. >> yeah. i'm here. joe. >> i don't know if you want to weigh in further on that. i had a question to ask you about something a little bit different, steve, and it has to do with you remember how the second round of stimulus checks we thought of might have added to demand, which might have added to inflation? i'm getting i'm getting some pushback on twitter and elsewhere about whether a $5,000 doge check would be inflationary. some say that if it goes back to people that they they bank it in savings, and anything not spent by the government would not be inflationary. and it's already been created by the fed. so it's not adding to the money supply, but it just seems to me that it

might increase demand in an already strong economy. do you have a feel for whether it's inflationary? >> yeah, i think it's an interesting question, joe. and i think there's a mathematical equation here. and there's a psychological equation. the mathematical one is well, technically if you're taking 5000, that was going to be spent by the government and give it to people to spend. it's kind of a wash in terms of total demand. but you're moving the demand from one place to another, from the demand for government services to, say, demand for consumer products. so there could be a bump there. all of that is kind of like a rounding error on the concern about the psychological impact. joe, this is why it's a great question you ask, because this is why the tariff issue is a different issue now from when it was in 2018. you're just coming off of a bout of high inflation. you still have inflation above trend or above where the target is. so when you start doing things like

that, it could foment another psychological round of concern about inflation getting on. people start to get this idea, hey, prices are rising. so you want to be concerned about about that. it might be something the administration might be a little careful about in terms of dumping $5,000 into the pockets. and obviously everybody's all for it. let me just say one more thing, joe, if i could about the layoffs, you can feel any way you want about whether or not this should be done, but but i think there's a human aspect to this that i think is unnecessary. there are people who move to washington or moved into or quit a job. i would like to think that it could be done. joe. more humanely, that gets around. it doesn't address the issue of the numbers. they're not showing up in the jobless claims. hopefully these folks get a job, get a job very quickly, but i don't think there was any reason for this kind of the process by which these folks have been laid off, who quit their jobs, moved from their cities to come work and do service for the federal

government. i think there's a dignity and human aspect that we shouldn't forget here. and by the way, it's not just in the delmarva area. it's going to be all around the country where these federal workers are. okay. >> can i just ask one question, which is, if you were to take that money that would otherwise be sent, potentially as a dividend refund, check whatever you want to call it to the public and pay down the debt. would it have any impact, do you think, on the ten year note? >> i do, i do, and i have maintained for a long time, andrew, because the government doesn't have necessarily an issue of repaying its debt, it's got an issue of the will to repay the debt. that's the reason why these agencies have downgraded the us government. and it also has an issue, essentially, of the trajectory of the deficit. i think the bond market is hungry for and would react very positively to a sense that this administration is

serious about bringing down the deficit, serious about putting the deficit on a sustainable trajectory. so if they did that, i think that would be positive and would probably have an outsized effect beyond what they were actually paying down. >> all right. >> right. and if i could add to that. yeah. and if i could add to that, the difficult part for doge is not the federal workers, it's the entitlements and all the massive spending that comes from that. and the question. >> is. >> if you're going to deliver medical care benefits, how can you do that at a lower cost? if you're going to deliver defense, how can you do that at a lower cost without cutting the overall level of the quality that you have? and that's the fundamental challenge for the deficit and for the national debt. >> okay. all right, diana, thank you betsy. thank you. and, you know, i guess i didn't tell you what i've been working on. >> yeah. what's that? >> i have a book. and god, i was shocked, i didn't know i, i hate to undercut you. i have a book

coming out called 1928. you do 1920. and it's. >> by the way, i just. >> hope it doesn't make yours totally irrelevant. irrelevant. >> but it's funny about 1928 is the market's real, real move i don't know. the real move was. 28 was actually in 28. people always think that it all happened in 29. 28 plays a huge part. >> can't get. >> a. >> decent workout with seven >> decent workout with seven minute abs. you need you ♪♪ [inner monologue] this is going to sound crazy. but i know these attack vectors. oh, had a little upgrade have we? ♪♪ okay, so that's how you want to play. ♪♪ >> you just. >> take your shot.

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jolie addict. >> breaking news on growth at openai kate rooney joins us now with some new reporting. hey, kate. >> hey there joe. good morning. yes. so we did get some new growth numbers from openai's chief operating officer, the company telling us it saw 400 million weekly active users in february. that was up about 33% from 300 million in early december. these numbers have not been previously reported. brad lightcap, who is the ceo over there, telling me it was a natural progression of the technology as it becomes more useful and familiar to a broader group of people, says people hear about it through word of mouth, they see the utility of it, they see their friends using it. and that, he says, is driving growth. he also tells me that dynamic is spilling into

the enterprise business. openai now has 2 million paying users. that's roughly double what it was back in september. he also told me there is a tailwind from the consumer adoption, where people are already familiar with it. they have familiarity with the product. and he says that growth curve on the enterprise side is slower, but they do have some partners and companies like uber and morgan stanley, moderna, those are some of openai's biggest enterprise customers at this point. the growth did come in the middle of a shakeup from deep seek. remember that, which roiled tech markets last month as investors worried about what that meant for future profitability of a lot of these ai companies, including openai, like cap, told me that has not changed their roadmap or any sort of spending plans. this has also been a tense time for openai, with co-founder elon musk suing the company and then making that $97 billion takeover bid like cap did. tell me the numbers tell the story. we try to be transparent about where we stand on all of this, he says. musk is a competitor. it's an unorthodox way of competing. guys. back to

you. >> hey, kate, have you seen, by the way, this interview that's been going around? it was a podcast that satya nadella did in terms of just what the relationship long term between microsoft and openai is, it's raising all sorts of new questions about just how long term you think this really is. do you have a thought? >> there are a ton of questions. i would say that that comes up constantly out here. andrew, you hear that they were early partners. microsoft has poured billions into this startup. but the consensus out here, i think, is that that that relationship eventually is going to have to split. they're going to have to go in different ways. they've both been extremely diplomatic and would say otherwise and say, you know, it's a fruitful partnership on both sides. but in the end, as openai grows, they're going to have competing interests in a way where they compete more with microsoft versus being able to be a helpful partner. so you're seeing that fray a little bit in some evidence of that interviews. you're starting to kind of see the writing on the wall. i think that's that is the expectation, at least in silicon valley. >> okay. great. okay. thanks, kate. and don't miss an

exclusive interview at 930 eastern time with openai cfo sarah frier, her first interview since elon musk's bid for openai and the company's rejection of that bid squawk box coming right back. >> welcome to reinvented with accenture. today, i'm here with margarita della valle, ceo of vodafone. you were employee 25 in vodafone italy. today. you're the. ceo of vodafone. what is your strategy and vision for the future? >> we are changing our culture to really focus on our customers. we need to acknowledge that change is hard, but if people understand it's but if people understand it's for the right reason, then you (grandpa) i'm the richest guy in the world. (man 1) i have time to give. (man 2) i have people i can count on. (grandma) and a million stories to share. (vo) the key to being rich is knowing what counts.

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>> jim cramer gives you much more than you would ever get from any advisor. >> he teaches. >> how to invest versus just what trades to make. return on investment for the club pays for itself. >> join the club new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com. join jim now terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to squawk box. executives from major drug makers expected to meet with president trump today, with pricing, insurance and tariffs among the likely topics of conversation. joining us right now on the challenges and opportunities facing the pharma industry under this new administration is the healthcare sector strategist at miso. and it's good morning. it's nice to see you. this morning is where i was going to go with this. you tell me, what are these conversations ultimately mean, do you think to the valuations of these these pharma companies? >> it's tough to tell. on valuation. i think the significance of the meeting is. to have. >> some sort of. >> collaborative effort between the industry and the government to. >> see where. >> they can move things over time. >> but what does that mean in an

rfk world, right, where he's made lots of comments about what he thinks should happen to vaccines and other drugs and other things, and the idea that you have a president who i think does want american business to thrive, square that circle. >> well, i think. >> the. >> stocks have already. reflected either a little. bit or a lot. >> of. >> worry on. >> the rfk front, based on the. nomination last year and. various comments made. >> out of. >> either him or other appointees to this government. you know, when you look at the pharmaceutical sector and you look at the biotech sector, i think so much of the underperformance. >> over the. >> past few years. >> has been. >> due to. >> the nebulousness around policy. and then you have. >> this administration. >> which by. many accounts is. >> much more. >> apt to be rogue in terms. of policy. i think it's really kept

a lid on these particular subsectors in healthcare. >> who is the winner and who is the loser in this administration? >> as far as the. >> stocks go. >> as far. >> as the stocks go. i think. >> i think at some point you will see some thawing out of pharma because there will be some more definitive strategy, more definitive plan. i don't know if it's going to happen as. a result of today's meetings or conversations, but at some point, i think you'll have a more definitive outline for how things go. i think that will be. >> helpful if we want to import price controls on pharmaceuticals. i mean, i've heard trump saying, you know, in canada it's, you know, glp or in in europe we know why they cost those things. and we know that they may never develop another new drug in europe because they cap prices and nobody can innovate. right. so be careful what you wish for. do we want the same prices that these pharmaceuticals go for in other

countries? canada. well. >> it'll it'll. >> crush the industry. >> well, that's what i mean. so why are they talking. is that just i think. >> i think a lot of, a. >> lot of understand i. >> think a lot of it is lip service. >> i think some. so many, so many conversations that are had between whether. it's pfizer or other companies that are going to be meeting with trump today are around the business side of what's happening and the fact that they cannot make as much money, they can't innovate, they cannot spend. with respect to r&d, if you're going to see further price controls beyond beyond the ira and other situations that have already happened. so it's a clear negative. >> i mean. >> never explained why drugs are cheaper in europe. in canada, they never explained that it's price controls, right? they pretend like we're just the drug companies are screwing us in the united states and not screwing people in europe. but that's not. >> i don't think that's the case either. i think some of this stuff will be sorted out again. much of what's happening i think this week and going forward is going to be more exploratory and

just trying to figure out how the how this industry works. >> let me ask you a different question. and it actually goes to glp one, which is obviously the sort of next gen of everything. one of the things that elon musk has talked about is if you could actually get glp one at a significant discount, meaning at a very accessible price point, you could change healthcare in america forever in a substantial way. do you think that's that's in the cards in the next four years? >> i mean, i agree on the surface, i think the not only from a weight loss standpoint, but from all these other health benefits that you get from taking the drugs. i mean, it's one reason why him stock has tripled over the past couple of months, right? just on the premise that. >> more americans. >> can access these drugs cheaper now. >> by the way, does that make sense to you? because there's a separate issue around hims. yeah, the issue is that they don't have the patents for these drugs. right. >> and the drugs are no longer they're being they're not longer on the shortage list either. right. so that's a whole nother conversation. but on the surface

of the musk. commentary on glp one agree. i mean, i think especially once they become oral. >> and but do you think that the president is going to somehow jawbone the pharma companies into selling this product at some kind of, you know, cut rate deal and that it will, you know, look, if you could deal with even 10% of americans who are obese, it would change so much. >> what i, what i don't know. and what's a possibility is whether the companies would. trade price for volume, right. if the reimbursement widened and access improved, could you take a price hit? maybe that would be a concession they'd be willing to take. but you know, wegovy is already semaglutide from novo nordisk, is on the 2027 ira drug pricing list anyway. then you're going to see generics come in in the early 2030s. so this is going to be solved for in time anyway. >> okay jared. thank you. appreciate. >> it's good to see you. great to see you. >> when we come back a highlights from walmart's fourth highlights from walmart's fourth quarte (grunting) at morgan stanley, old school hard work

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report. hey, courtney. >> hi. yeah, joe. so the conference call here is actually just wrapping up. the stock is pressured, as you all have been talking about. executives are steadily positive on the call. walmart beat on earnings and

revenue for the quarter. but its full year guidance that's below expectations. that's pressuring shares. cfo john david rainey did explain to me that when you account for leap day and the vizio transaction, the guidance is really more for about three and a half to 5% revenue growth for the year. but still, obviously this is not exactly what wall street wanted to hear. so that's the reason that we're seeing shares pressured and shares remember up more than about 60% over the last year. also interesting on the call that rainey said he acknowledges the outlook has some uncertainty in it, and they're balancing what they know with also what they can control. and the guide is consistent with how they've guided in years past. rainey also told me that there's nothing assumed in the guidance related to tariffs. remember, two thirds of what walmart sells in the us is made, grown or assembled here. so i think that's all important context. back over to you. >> all right. very good courtney, thanks for that. we'll see whether walmart improves through the regular session. still down a little bit. final check on the markets. part of that 166 points is what you're

seeing reflected from from the weakness in walmart. new highs yesterday. again i think across the board it's early goes to four. big news today a couple of new books. andrew's out with 1929 eventually. >> in october october go check it out. >> and in september 1928 is coming out. my new book. make sure you not really. it's a joke. make sure you join us tomorrow. squawk on the street is next. >> good thursday morning. >> welcome to. >> squawk on the street. >> i'm carl quintanilla. >> with jim cramer at. >> post nine. >> of the. >> new. >> york stock exchange. >> david faber. >> is live at the. priority summit. >> down in miami. meantime futures backing off another day of all time highs as walmart first of the. >> major u.s. >> retailers to report earnings guides below for the full year. it's on pace or close to it for the second worst day since covid. our roadmap begins with this tariff uncertainty. walmart