week of his presidency so far. well that's it for us, for the latest please follow me on twitter, facebook an instagram. i will be back here next year with more in-depth interviews ght here on the wall street journal at large. thank you so much for joining us. >> barron's roundtable sponsored by cute cute cute, this week meet economist mohamed a. el-erian weighs in on the wild ride impeachment politics and more. what that tesla stock rally tells us about the future of the electric car company in the industry. and why sustainable investment can and prove your investor. barron's roundtable starts now. being nine welcome to barron's roundtable with the sharpest minds need to get behind the headlines and prepare you for the week ahead. i am jack otter and will begin

with what we think of the three most important things investors should be thinking about right now. stocks climbing back toward a record despite corona virus. in pencil week for shareholders ebay pressured to make changes and tesla pulling back a little bit after buying frenzy pre-what's behind these moves? my colleagues tran eight, bev goodwin, and carlton english. crazy politics and yet the market was up on the week even though friday was low dodgy. >> friday was a little tough, but out for the week, up for the month, up for the year. the market is doing what it does best is shake off a lot of bad news. jack: why is it doing that? the jobs number beat expectations 20 -- 225,000 jobs created. that should be good news. within the market was down. >> that is goodness but the market went down that there is

a little bit of hope that price into the market might cut rates. that probably has gone away now. so that put the little glass half-empty on the good news. jack: so flat on rates for 2020. in its usually unusual in election year to do anything different. then, your favorite metrics for determining how the economy is going is to look at something related to jobless claims. but actually the jobless claims number as opposed to the employment number. >> p.m. payroll tells us how many jobs are going to be added. jobless claims are weekly and they really show us how many people are getting laid off. and as long as it doesn't go up too much, from especially a year ago, we are okay. but if we start seeing that the average number of people getting laid off is rising compared to a year ago, that's only going to start worrying about the economy. right now it looks okay. jack: you can't look at one weeks membership to look over

time. >> 's very volatile and could jump for a number of reasons. we had some problems at the end of december because there were strikes, there is going, there were all these issues going on. she had to take the moon bead beam average what they called on wall street and compared to where it was a year ago. as long as i hold setting you're probably okay. jack: the too busy week for activists investors. >> it was revealed that they have a stock in softbank and they put a discount where the company is worth less than some of its holding allie baba. they're pushing to do some buybacks and it's a narrow spread. jack: it's a clash of styles with elliott versus the softbank which is a much loosey-goosey kind of had a we feel about this company first? >> exactly in one cornea of the head of softbank who loves visionary investors, loves adam newman it was all about i love division -- singer is

much more shrewd he took down argentina at some much more about driving efficiencies and companies. it's less about the vision more about the action results. >> what i want to know is what's going on between star board and ebay? that was really weird. >> elliott is in that one too. what we had earlier this week was star board, which is also pushing for change at ebay saying it's taking too long. i want you guys to sell your classified business. a few hours after that letter goes out, it's revealed that the intercontinental exchange owner of this dark stocking stone made a bid for ebay. now markets hated this idea, absently hated it. so basically it's all ice shared tank even though management try to talk of the merits of the deal. i know you're interested in this. >> exchanges, i know that's just not good businesses any more more stock trading getting down off of the exchange, the cost, the amounts are able to trade for

trading is just going down. why not ebay? they have great data products, they have great data products with ice. maybe turned around that site. sumac and ice would say were all a marketplace so why not. shareholders are saying your 50 billion-dollar company taking over 30 billion-dollar company. >> you could buy an old print or shares of tesla. what was going out that stock? >> so it's the end of a buying frenzy of the stock was left for dead in august of last year. it was about $200 in everybody's wondering who is going to go down. instead the stock started rallying and this week was kind of the culmination of that. it's gone to close to three 100% since that august low in the last three months it's nearly tripled. it is just insane. and this week we had a 20% groove where everybody jumped into it. it was really a speck in the to buying frenzy. jack: if you need another example of speculative, if you type should i into google the very first thing that came up

to answer your query was should i buy stock in tesla. >> and when you see that it's time to sell. jack: socially responsible investing but many sg funds are us with the market that's a cover story coming up. but first economist mohamed a. beyond the routine checkups.

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♪ ♪. jack: the markets rallied this week and impeachment prices falling and more. earlier i spoke to economist tran seven to get his take on all that. jack: mohamed the market can't seem to decide if it should worry about coronavirus or not. why the schizophrenia and shall be be worried? >> first a defense which market. if you are talking but the

equity market, it doesn't care. it is striking how quickly we have come back and reached new highs while the coronavirus uncertainty is still considerable. but if you look at the bond market or the commodities market, they care. they have it come back to levels that we have sought before the outbreak. so it's all about liquidity ultimately. liquidity continues to disconnect the equity markets, not just the other market but also the fundamentals. jack: so another words there's just so much money chasing stocks that investors just aren't concerned about a small thing like a pandemic? >> yes, as absurd as that sounds, and there is a couple of reasons for that. one, most of the shock we have had recently, has proven contain up, temporary, and reversible. so think about the attack that took out half of saudi

arabia's oil production in september. think about the attack on killing an iranian general. there is a lot of concern, but the markets treated them as temporary and reversible. and that was right. secondly, markets have been conditioned to trust central banks. when you trust central banks, you buy on every dip. you get this fear of missing out. so when you see a selloff, it is a buying opportunity. i think these things are so deeply conditioned in the markets, that we have disconnected quite a bit from fundamentals. jack: so an important question is how long the central banks can keep on supporting this bull market. speaking of which last fall you told us on market watches market brief that you are concerned about a recession in europe. can they prevent that from happening or is us on your radar? >> so first of all, the numbers have not gotten better. this week, we got a horrible

industrial outputs number out of germany at 2.1% contraction, the biggest, the biggest in the last decade. and in addition the forward-looking indicators, orders, are also pretty bad. so, germany will be in recession, germany is the locomotive of europe. it is not the caboose of europe. so i do worry. i think we are going to hit stall speed in germany which is somewhat in europe. when you hit stall speed economically the risk of recession is high. can the ecb do anything about it? can sure try but it won't. they are starting with negative interest rates, their monetary policies not only push on this terrain, but there is concern that it is becoming counter productio productive. that negative interest rate is causing increasingly worried

puppets of the east cb's can try to do but they will not fundamentally change it. getting a much comprehensive policy response. jack: but the trade war between u.s. and china signed just a bit which of you there? >> so it's a good thing we've had the truce, but i would not bet it will be followed by phase ii. i think more likely we are going to seek tensions escalated again. jack: weatherhead lane to ask you about is a big week in u.s. politics and the market just doesn't seem that interested. what you think? - yes, it isn't, it is a good reason. the good reason is the argument is that it's too early. so you don't want to position for something that can still play out and is uncertain. the second reason, which is not so good is that the market is so obsessed with liquidity that it doesn't care about anything else be at policy's or economics. i think the coronavirus is a really good example of that. because it's economic effects

resemble what is called a sudden stop. that you bring to a halt economic activity. it starts with the areas that are most impacted and then start spreading. and look at what we have heard from one company after another. they are saying's sales are down 75%. that is quite a sudden stop. even fayette saying it may close one of its factories in europe because the supply chain disruptions. the airlines have canceled trips, visitors have come to a halt. so be careful of these sudden stop dynamics. it is not easy to restart an economy. jack: 's that's a slightly scary picture you paint is there anywhere in the global economy where assets are to heidi see some opportunity right? >> first let me tell you economically there is one bright spot and that is the u.s. the employment report this week again confirms that we are in a good place.

not only did we create 225,000 jobs, not only are wages going up faster, but we are attracting back into the labor force both labor force participation and employment. that is good news. so the u.s. economy is doing well. u.s. assets, to the rest of the world are still more attractive. but i have made a relative statements, the absolute level of asset crisis or risk asset prices whether restocks or corporate bonds, remains elevated. jack: mohamed a. el-erian thank you so much for your insights we hope to speak with you soon. jack: coming up our ideas on what you can do right now to improve your portfolio. the first esg funds are booming we will t t t t t [ fast-paced drumming ]

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jack: companies are embracing esg, that's environmental social and corporate governance and more than half of the stocks of the barron's list are the most sustainable companies outperform the s&p 500. calvert ceo john streur joins us now. but beverly i want to start with you because you and leslie teamed up to put together this list. first of all can explain to us what you mean by sustainable? >> really all businesses should be sustainable. if you want to keep being in business you have to have sustainable practices. but we looked at specifically are companies that were really focused on not just the short term and not just their shareholders. but also their clients, their employees, their communities

they operate in, and the environment. jack: and you found that investors don't actually sacrifice returned by focusing on these things they could even do better? >> not at all, this is the third year we have partnered with calvert on this list. all three years those top ones have beaten the market. this year we did again by a few percentage points and we did it without the help of the bank. so no facebook, no apple no google no netflix. jack: that's an amazing trick because those companies were so important to the outperformance of the s&p last year. >> but this time 55 companies beat the market on their own portfolio as a whole. jack: so jon you said that 2019 was a tipping point for esg. what you mean by that? >> rethinks the companies were analyzing over 86% of those companies in the s&p 500 are measuring and managing sustainability issues. so a lot happening because they're very operational to

corporations. second, investor action. more and more money has been coming into esg funds in 2019 was a watershed year with a significant increase. and third, as beverly said, performance. it is very important that this it can be done in a way that provides competitive long-term returns in 2019 was a great year across the board for investment performance of sustainable funds. those three things together, really bring the herd along across that tipping point. jack: one of the companies that focused on sustainability is delta. i caught up with their ceo and asked why sustainability is important. >> you take your employees the better you work for them the better they work for their customers the better they do for their owners and their communities in jobs and investment opportunity. >> airlines are the big polluters? >> i think that's the reason

energy efficiency matters so much to airlines. ceo of delta was focusing on how they treat their people. super important. energy efficiency, also very, very important to airline profitability. delta is focused on fuel efficiency, cut fuel use by 3% through efficiency measures, and they have gone carbon neutral by buying off site. to the group of travelers that once a travel green and not be shamed by the airline travel, likes delta because they are carbon neutral. >> and what was the criteria you used to measure company for the barron's story? c met the criteria was related to a specific business were looking for the companies that can best manage their specific environmental exposures, social or societal, which employees often and governance stretched sure in ways that matter to those specific companies. so issues like climate change, diversity, inclusion, employee

well-being, ceo paid, and compensation alignment with shareholder interests. those of the big ones. jack: chana want to drop out a little bit for example with the employees, what are the specific criteria that suggest a company is treating its employees while i was that important? >> employee engagement is critical. is the capable of interacting with the company to the surveys, real-time interaction that tells the company how the employees are doing, how they're feeling. and does the company have a strategy for creating well-being based on that information for a diverse and inclusive workforce? that's the big one. in some industries, worker safety is still critical. some manufacturing plants in many facilities, worker safety is a big marker of how companies are treating their people. jack: gotcha, and when companies do that they are performed in the long-term. quickly i want to go to beverly, gives three examples of this stock solderless. >> number one was technology

that makes its tools and software for diagnostic means paid all the companies on our list have a myriad reasons that got them there. one donated a lot of their equipment to china for investigating and researching the coronavirus. cisco, the networking equipment maker, is a remarkable corporate citizen, taking on everything from the homeless problem in san jose where they are based, to educating a new high-tech workforce and getting them jobs at cisco and elsewhere. autodesk is another example, they are software company that works with architects and construction and engineers, and 30% or 33% actually of all costs just basically get flushed because of mistakes. and their software brings people together in a much more efficient integrated way. that is the planet benefit and the bottom-line benefit. jack: john streur thank you

very much we'll be right back with actionable ideas from the roundtable. tums vs. mozzarella stick! (crowd noise) (bell rings) when heartburn hits. fight back fast.. with tums chewy bites. beat heartburn fast. tums chewy bites.

jack: and barron's tradition we want you to go into the coming week ready to make your next move so beverly, carlton and then we went one actionable idea from each of you. beverly you're sticking to esg? >> i am that is on the top of our most sustainable list i think it's a really interesting tech. it was only 28% leicester so there is definitely room, that is largely due to china. 20% of its revenues from china, but that is actually huge opportunity for them. china has a stated goal of expanding its biotech and life sciences business but they also don't plan on building any tools.

jack: "when you're picking a very unloved stock. it's a hated stock. >> hated, few want to come back story you have to look at the stock that's been pressured at scone down from its business last year. the avenue ceo, you have a lot of assets that can be sold some great assets i'm not so great. it's about streamlining it's about paying down debt and it's about keeping those dividends healthy. jack: this is one of buffett's biggest mistakes i hope you are right. then, you are also could terry and gm. >> this company reported earnings this week and did well. but it's also the sweet spot here. it's not as overpriced as tesla comment traded just six times the earnings so it's cheap. also has a lot of money going into electric vehicles and autonomous driving. it has its crude division which is $19 billion in the private market. you look at it it's just really well position. he can go up a lot from here. jack: it six times earnings compared to tesla's 85 in the

markets three times. to read more check out this week's edition of barron's.com indefinite follows on twitter at barron's online. that's all for us, see you next week on barron's roundtable.than 5-foot nine sin. very special show coming from new hampshire and i'm a very special guest. >> from the fox studios in your city this is maria bartiromo's wall street. maria: hello happy weekend and betty will come to the program that analyze the week that was in position for the week ahead. i am maria anil coming up at my exclusive interviews with two titans in the world of business and politics. my one-on-one with treasury secretary steven minutia and as he gives is 2020 outlook on the economy. and then later my sitdown with nfl commissioner as we discuss the major decisions he has this year the business of the nfl, coming up a bit for stray me right now to discuss 2020 and investing today, and investing in the