disgraced official bruce ohr will testify before the house oversight and judiciary committees. that will do it for tonight. i'm gregg jarrett in for lou dobbs. thanks for joining us. hope you have a great weekend. ♪ >> from the fox studios in new york city, this is maria bartiromo's wall street. maria: happy weekend. welcome to the program that analyzes the week that was and helps position you for the week ahead. i'm maria bartiromo. coming up in just a moment, former macy's chairman and ceo carey lundgren will weigh in on the current retail back drop. but first, christina has the big headlines impacting everything from wall street to main street. >> reporter: thanks, maria. a bull run for the ages on wall street. this week marked the longest bull market run in u.s. history. since the current run starts on march 9, 2009, the s&p has rallied over 300%.

the dow followed the same path starting under 7,000, ask it's now hovering close to 26,000. but the big winner has been the nasdaq. the tech-driven composite has grown over 600%, and all three indices continued their winning ways this week as the dow, nasdaq and s&p all finished in the green for the week. at their annual retreat in jackson hole, wyoming, fed chair jerome powell confirmed the central bank will raise rates again this year. powell says he expects a slow but steady number of rate increases as the fed tries to control potential excess while at the same time promoting economic growth. and turning to trade news, the trade war between the united states and china shows no end in sight as talks between the two superpowers stalled this week. this comes as tariffs on $16 billion worth of chinese goods kicked in this week with china responding in kind. this means over $100 billion of goods between the two countries are now subject to tariffs.

maria, back to you. maria: thank you so much. and as you just mentioned, we are in the midst of the longest bull run in market history. since march 2009 both the dow and the s&p 500 have quadrupled in value, and while there's mounting evidence that the run can continue for several years, some people are worried that inflation and trade concerns could derail this historic run. joining me now to talk more about markets and investing today, the chief equity strategist for that screen asset managements, bob doll. what a run. >> it's amazing. maria: what do you think? [laughter] >> good ruppel. maria: since the bottom in march of 2009, would you put your money to work today in this market? >> yes. yeah, look, if i was way overexposed in equities, maybe not. but the bull market is not over. earnings drive equities, and earnings are pretty good. this noise that they're going to

move from +25 to -25, we should shake in our books, no. earn, are decelerating from amazing levels that corporate america could be racking up 25% earnings growth this far in the cycle is absolutely amazing. maria: it really is. and that's the back drop for investing today. 25% earnings growth in the first quarter, 20% earnings growth in the second quarter. what's driving this? what's driving earnings? >> about a third come from the tax bill, about a third from unbelievable revenue growth. that's the real story. maria: so that's a demand, market demand -- >> correct. and a third from profit margin improvement and some financial engineering. so very healthy. maria: tell me where the sectors that you find most appealing are right now. where is the growth in this economy specifically? >> technology, technology, technology, without question. health care has come on, not only the stocks, but improvement there, some more drug approvals.

the consumer. oh, my goodness, the consumer. more jobs, a little more wage growth. consumers have a big savings rate. the consumers are in really good shape, and they're spending money, enjoying this cycle, and that's part of what's driving the economy and, therefore, the market. maria: that tax plan, one thing it did was certainly give more money in their pockets, but the rollback in regulations is probably even more impactful given the fact that it unleashed animal spirits in the business world. we've been waiting for capital expenditures to pick up. we got it. >> big time, double digit thanks to that tax bill. look, the tax bill is creating increased confidence. corporate ceo confidence, all-time high. they feel like, corporate ceos, they know the world in which they're operating. i agree with you. these rollback in regulations and the absence of new ones is, has not gotten enough credit. the tax bill's the focus of everybody, and that's a positive, don't get me wrong, but it's that regulatory framework that's really

positive. more more longer term i don't like short-term trades. i like to have a strategy and hold on to it for a couple of years. how do you do that? >> boy, that's long term, a couple years these days. maria: it's true. [laughter] >> how do you do that? buy good companies at reasonable prices with improving fundamentals. pay attention to the cash flow. don't overpay on a valuation basis. invest in an area of the economy that's growing, and if you can find a company that's gaining market share within that growing segment, you can put that to bed and probably rest easy. maria: do you believe that these policy or really it's politics when you look at all the investigations going on and the headlines around president trump, do investors care about this? >> they do care. you know, okay, let's go to the word, impeachment. we've had in our lifetime nixon and clinton. in the nixon case, the market went down. in the clinton case, the market went up. why? because in the first case the economy and earnings were

stinko, and in the second case they were good. so this will pass. investors care because how much can we govern, what does it mean for the midterm elections. so it's an issue at the margin, but it's not the long-term driver. maria: then there's the valuation question. where are we in terms of valuationsesome you just technology is the growth story, you've got to own tech. but aren't we talking about some of these stocks trading at like a hundred times cash flow? >> i don't think you have to go for the high, high growth tech. they've worked well and i wouldn't be zero in them, but i would focus on more value tech, cisco, hewlett-packard, those kinds of names that are giving us acceptable revenue growth where expectations are not high at all. maria: always great insights, bob. good to talk to you. >> good to see you. maria: don't go anywhere, we've got the former macy's ceo terry lundgren on deck next up. stay with us. >> with the unemployment rate going down and consumer spending going up, is retail due for a renaissance? >> i think we're in a really good place.

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♪ ♪ maria: welcome back. it's been a big month for some brick and mortar retailers. walmart had their best u.s. sales performance in a decade. macy's posted better than expected earnings a week and a half ago, hiking its annual forecast as well. but some have struggled to keep up with amazon, and while tax reform and employment growth has helped, how retailers adjust to the digital economy could determine their survival overall. joining me to talk retail and the economy is terry lundgren. he is the former executive chairman and ceo of macy's, and it is the great to see you. >> maria, great to see you as always. maria: we want to get your take on really what's going on, terry. congratulations on an incredible run at macy's. >> thanks. maria: i want to talk about that as well. how would you characterize where

we are in terms of retail? >> there's been a lot of activity that's taken place particularly over the last few years as retailers had to pivot once more to the changing consumer environment. but right now, maria, consumption is strong, consumers are feeling good, they've got money in their pocket. tax reform's been positive, and all these changes that have taken place are starting to get some traction. so you're seeing really strong results not just from macy's, target, walmart, kohl's, nordstrom. lots of -- a broad spectrum of retailers doing well. i think that's a really good sign for fall. maria: it's a good sign for the consumer. we've got the consumer back. you've reimagined macy's a number of time the. you changed the look of it, you made a lot of acquisitions. you were from 2003 to 2017 the chairman and ceo of macy's. what a run, terry. you've seen a lot. >> i know. and then i was executive chairman til february 1st, so i was still in the saddle for a long time, you're right.

maria: you're amazing. it's been an incredible tenure, so congrats to you. tell us how your leadership has changed macy's over these years and what did get you to the fact that you say, yes, people have been reimagining and changing and adapting to a new economy? >> you know, being in the business as long as i have, i've seen, maria, these changes that take place constantly. every four or five years there's a major, you know, shake-up to the consumer and then retailers must adjust and react. it's not a small pivot very often. it's often a very large one. and so we're used to this. and you can never get comfortable, you know? we had from '10, '11, 13, 2014, unbelievable, we averaged growth of a billion dollars a year at macy's and bloomingdale's, and then earnings ratios just kept going up and up and up. the it's like, this is easy. the minute you think this is easy, forget it, the consumer changes, and of to pivot once again -- and you have to pivot once again.

all retailers face these changes that occur largely by the consumer, and you've got to get in front of it. you can never rest. you have to always think what's next. how is the consumer going to act next. so i think many, many of these companies that are doing well now didn't start changing their strategy last quarter, they've been doing this for months, for years, for even a decade in many cases. so you have to address the consumer in the store, the consumer online and recognize that that she doesn't shop in one or the other, it's all connected to this omni channel experience today. maria: which is what you did when you look at some of the discounts, right? >> yes. maria: you had the discounted macy's products in a warehouse, i don't know, was it -- >> off price. and a lot of people don't recognize that particularly in 2016 and '17, a lot of the share shift was -- people said is it moving to amazon? sure, they did a great job. it's really not just that and certainly not the online component. macy's is the fourth largest internet company in america.

but the off-price channel was starting to attract this millennial consumer who replaced the baby boomer who's no longer spending in -- because they don't need apparel for work and the like. so the millennial consumer likes to treasure hunt and liked this off price and wasn't as focused on brand -- maria: they want a bargain. >> and so macy's said, well, hey, why don't we create our own off-price business, we did that, and they were fine. maria: your stock has done so well, up more than 50% year to date, but last week you had a big selloff, 16% in a day. what do you think happened? by the way, the stock is still, what, 7 is the pe? >> 7, yeah. maria: you don't see that with the rest of the market trading at 18. what do you think happened last week with that 16% selloff? >> you know, i think that individuals were saying, hey, this has been a great run, let's take some chips off the table here and cash it out, and so -- and they can always buy back in on the dip, which i'm sure

they've done. maria: it's come back, yeah. >> they've already gained more than half a what they lost just in a few days just based on the fundamentals. earnings were very positive. people didn't quite get shift, and i talked jeff through that. no matter how often you say it, it's going to be hard to understand when you shift a big event -- they had a friends and family event a year ago -- this year it was in quarter one, last year it was in quarter two. so, obviously, it's a big shift. and it comes back to should we report, you know, in a semiannual way or a quarterly way. i think if macy's reported in a semiannual basis, you would never have had this, you know, up and down because it would have been more gradual. maria: so you like the idea of getting away from the -- >> i i never liked the short term, and i never liked managing to a quarter and you let chips fall as they will, but it does, frankly, influence short-term investors, you know, watching the stock on a daily basis or certainly a quarterly basis. maria: terry, i want to get your

take on real estate out there because you've talked a lot about brick and mortar needs to get smaller. plus want to get your take on the federal reserve as well, this week with, of course, the jackson hole meeting. stay with us, terry lundgren is with us. we'll be right back. >> it's back to school time for parents and kids, is so what does that mean for retailers? >> back to school is very positive, and that's generally a good indication for holiday sales. >> more with maria's interview fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that.

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maria: still too much capacity. >> there's too much capacity. and with with real estate comes inventory. so there's too much not just physical space, there's too much inventory in the system, and that creates a pricing issue over time. the only way to get rid of it is to mark it down, so that becomes an off-price issue. macy's took the position a couple years ago while i was there to reduce 20% of our store play. it was a hard decision because those stores are all cash flow positive. we got rid of all the bad stores a long time ago over time, but this was a big decision. but we knew that just watching the curve that the stores were losing traction on sales, on foot traffic. and over time you're not going to be proud of those stores. and if you're not proud of those stores, you're not going to be able to keep the selling team that's so vital and important to the consumer in those stores. you know, we just had to get in front of it and rationalize the real estate. we did that, made that decision. it was the right move. maria: so let's talk demand because you've got the supply side of the story there.

demand has been good. back to school, how to you characterize it? >> very good. so far from reports that i've seen, back to school is very positive, and that's generally a good indication for holiday sales. it's not a guarantee, and it's less of a factor today than it was ten years ago when it was much more of a direct correlation. but having said that, you definitely want to feel like you've got momentum going into back to school as you're buying for your holiday season. maria: does the back to school give you an indication what we might see over the real important, even more important, holidays? christmas? >> it does. as i say, it's just not as, you know, as clear of a line as it once was. it's definitely a positive. what you don't want is to show negative signs in back to school because that just gives, gets our buyers skittish about buying for the holiday season. and so i think what you're seeing here, you're going to see some optimism in the buying pattern for retailers for the fourth quarter. maria: you got a 4.1 is % gdp

for the last quarter, two straight quarters of 4% growth possible. is this sustainable? >> i think so. maria: i mean, the way the consumer feels to you today, do you think that's sustainable? >> yeah. consumers, maria, is the right word, right question because 70% of gdp growth is driven by consumption. so what we -- so we just need to make sure that this consumer is still feeling good three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. pocketbook is good, unemployment remains very, very low and, you know, all of these indications of confidence that are thered today the need to remain -- maria: how sensitive do you think the consumer will be to higher interest rates? jay powell on friday, they had the jackson hole meeting. they know the fed's probably going to raise rates in september. do you think that a steady, sort of slow but steady move in rates

impacts changes for the consumer? >> you know, first of all, you have to begin with the base. i mean, we are at 2% interest rate. it's not like we're at 8% going to 9, okay? we're at 2% interest rate. we're at record lows. and so i think from the base where we begin, this is much less of an issue than it would be if we were at a higher base. i think the economy can handle the increases that the fed has in store, whatever they might be. i think they've signaled two before 2018, who knows if that's going to be what they'll do, but that's what they've signaled. and i think if they're as modest as they've been, we went from 1.75 to 2.0 this last run, if they're as modest as that, i think the economy is can clearly handle it. maria: one of the things that happened on your watch, you should your tenure is the entrance of amazon. >> yes. maria: and that changed the industry is, didn't it? >> it did, indeed. maria: tell me how you dealt with this new, smaller entrant in the business, what you did to

change to get macy's as strong as you could. >> now, so the good news was for macy's is that macy's began their macy's.com web site in the late '90s. actually, the mid '90s. so we already had a platform to turn into an online business. so, and by 1999 and and 2000 when all of the dot.gone era -- maria: i like it. >> all of these companies that many people have forgotten about that were riding high at 50 multiples and 80 multiples -- maria: pets.com. >> there was really no multiples because they weren't making money at all. maria: counting click toss the web site. [laughter] >> they got wiped out in '99, 2000, which was unfortunate for many, but it was the right thing because you began to have to have a business model, you know, that could actually produce earnings for shareholders over time. so when that happened and everything sorted itself out on the online world, macy's was

already in position to stay with it. amazon, you know, obviously did some very, very good things. i think the brilliance of amazon is their non-retail business. i mean, their cloud services -- maria: yep. >> -- their distribution, their logistics -- maria: they're taking market share in the cloud. >> they're doing unbelievable which, frankly, pays for the retail business that is far less profitable for them than these other -- maria: fascinating. >> yeah. so i think they're actually quite brilliant in this regard. maria: terry, it's great to have you on. >> thanks, maria. maria: terry lundgren, what a career. career. don't go anywhere, m so you just walk around telling people geico could help them save money on car insurance? yea,that and homeowners, renters, motorcycle and boat insurance. huh.that's nice. what happens when you catch a fish? gecko: whoa. geico. more than just car insurance.

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maria: welcome back. now we're looking at some of the big market events coming up in the week ahead. of course this the final week of summer going into labor day. on monday data from the dallas federal reserve, manufacturing survey. we will also get earnings on monday from aerospace company -- [inaudible] tuesday we will hear the case

shiller home price index is out, consumer confidence is typically a market mover, also the latest earnings from best buy, hewlett-packard and h&r block. wednesday we will get real gdp numbers. the atlanta federal reserve expecting the next quarter to be 4.3%. that that gdp number is important. focus on it because it could be a market mover. we've got earnings from sales force as well on wednesday. then on thursday the weekly initial jobless claims are out, personal income as well as earnings from dollar general, campbells and abercrombie & fitch all with quarterly numbers. friday ending the week with the chicago purchasing managers index along with consumer sentiment. coming up next week, i hope you'll join me, former reagan adviser david stockman, my special guest. plus this weekend join me on sunday morning for sunday morning futures on the fox news channel. we've got house majority leader kevin mccarthy, my special guest. we're talking about the midterm elections with mr. mccarthy who is running to be the next speaker of the house.

plus start smart. tune in weekdays right here on the fox business network for mornings with maria, weekdays 6-9 a.m. eastern as we set the tone for the day. i hope you'll join me. have a great weekend, everybody. thanks so much for joining me this weekend. >> i'm bob massi. for 35 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas, ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. but it wasn't just vegas that was hit hard. lives were destroyed from coast to coast as the economy tanked. now it's a different story. the american dream is back, and nowhere is that more clear than the grand canyon state of arizona. so we headed from the strip to the desert to show you how to explore the new landscape and live the american dream. i'm gonna help real people who are facing some major problems, explain the bold plans that are changing how americans live, and take you behind the gates of properties you have to see to believe.