be sure to follow me on twitter, facebook and instagram, and i'll be back next week with more in-depth interviews right here on "the wall street journal at large." thanks very much for joining us. ♪ ♪ ♪ jack welcome to "barron's roundtable" where we get behind the headlines and prepare you for the week ahead. i'm jack otter. the merger with amazon is helping whole foods cut costs. whole foods' ceo john mackey will join us. but what we think are the three most important things investors ought to be thinking about right now. the markets dipped on news of president trump testing positive for covid-19 but leveled off and ended the week with gains. why wasn't it a bigger deal? oil stock tumbled, what that

means for the energy sector and your portfolio. and sony and microsoft are set to reelite next generation video game console ahead of the holidays, is and most repreorders have already -- preorders have already sold out. on the round table, my colleagues, ben levisohn, carlton english and jack howe. ben, i thought the debate might be the big story of the week until we all woke up friday morning to find out that's president and first lady have covid-19, but the market largely shrugged it off. what's going on? >> they say that the market hates uncertainty, but investors have been planning for a lot of it. if you look at the vix, the market's fear gauge, they're expecting a heightened level of volatility all the way through january. so something like this comes along, and it shocks the market, but it doesn't shock it, i think, as much as people would have normally -- if it had just come out of nowhere. and there's also stimulus talk going on, and actually i wouldn't say in the background. that was taking up a lot of

attention this week, the negotiations between mnuchin and nancy pelosi. and that also got the market excited because it would love to see a stimulus bill get passed and have a new cash infusion into the economy. jack: yeah, they both sounded fairly positive, they were making nice noises about compromise. one other thing that might possibly push us toward stimulus was some kind of bad news about a layoffs. >> yeah. there were a lot of headlines this week about big layoffs first from disney which was laying off almost 30,000 the people, the airlines announced they're going to be furloughing a lot more now that a stimulus bill hasn't been passed. royal dutch shell announced 9,000 layoffs, and these headlines really don't look good. i think they add to this sense of unease out there about the economy. there's a lot of talk that the market may not need stimulus, more stimulus to e keep it going. a lot's already been passed. it surely wants it, and i think it would provide a lot of

comfort for investors who are watching nervously. jack: one of the great things about ben levisohn is he looks under the hood of the market. explain why you see more evidence the market is looking for a stimulus. >> it had to do with the outperformance of the dow which gained almost 2% versus the nasdaq which finished the week up almost about 1.5%. when you see the dow outperform, it usually means economically-sensitive stocks, stocks that do well when the economy's doing well are outperforming and not the growth stocks, the tech stocks that have been fueling so much of the market's rise. that's what happened this week. and the one thing that could really get those cyclical stocks going would be a stimulus plan that gets money out into the economy, gets people working and gets people spending money. that's just what these companies need. so the fact that they outperformed this week means that there's actually might be a decent chance we get something down the road. jack: carlton, always the contrarian publication, barron's takes a look at the energy patch this week which has really been

ma'amerred. hammered. >> it certainly has. you look at energy stocks so far this year, and they started -- i'm sorry, in the third quarter, and they fell 20% while the s&p 500 gained 8.5%. that's probably one of the widest spreads we've seen. but there are those income-hungry investors that look for opportunities in that sector. jack: speak of hungry, the sharks are looking around for some merger and acquisition activity when things get ugly. we've seen some of that too. >> yeah, there was a deal between devon energy and wpx that was announced earlier this week, and analysts are expecting we're going to see more consolidation in the industry possibly into next year. jack so one way to play energy is mlps, master limited partnerships. they were very popular for a while, fell out of favor, but they pay nice dividends. and so andrew barry has an interesting story about how to do that. >> yeah. i encourage everyone to read andrew's story. he he gets into a lot of detail.

but they primarily focus on these pipeline companies could be a good bit. now, they don't have those same tax consequences. up by, these funds are trading at very steep discounts, the yields are ranging from 7-17%, and andrew identified several of these funds that could be good investments. two of them, and again, i urge everyone to read the story, but two of them are keen anderson energy infrastructure and tortoise energy infrastructure. jack: thanks a lot, carlton. and one more reason to stay at home, a big story on video games. jack, what do you have on your head? >> jack, i know what you're thinking, and i agree. i do look cool now. the problem is as soon as next month we're getting new hardware from microsoft and sony that will make my family's video game gear hopelessly out of date. i'm talking about the new consoles, the xbox series x, the

playstation 5. $500 apiece. microsoft has a new pricing plan where you can pay $25 a month or $35 a month for the hardware, it includes some software and services. so why should investors care? acti havevision blizzard, electc arts, those are the video game publishers, they have a history of outperforming the markets for many months after the new consoles drop as the youngsters like to say. this is a really big business right now, jack. video games are four times the size of the u.s. movie box office. this year the top tier games go from $50 up to $70. jack: wow. well, thanks a lot, jack. i'm looking forward to reading bare ron's on that thing you've got -- barron's on that thing on your head. >> all i've got is donkey kong, but i'm looking for it. jack: coming up, when the pandemicking hit, americans were

suddenly unable to buy everyday items. whole foods' ceo john macke

into this bill. neil: all right. chad. if you can just wait a second here, we're going to pause for a moment to let our fox stations join us right now. this is fox news coverage of president trump's physician and physicians, i should say, giving us an update on his condition.

i am a neil cavuto in new york and now an update on how president trump is doing. >> good morning, everyone. thank you for coming. dr. sean conley, physician to the president. this morning i'd like to start by first sharing that the president and first family, first lady, extremely grateful for the enormous outpouring of support and prayers that the whole world and the country have been providing and sharing. i'd like to thank colonel andrew barr and all the medical and support staff here at walter reed for the tireless efforts providing everything and anything. the medical team the president and i could need. this morning the president is doing very well. behind me are some of the members of the president's medical team whom i'd like to introduce. dr. sean dooley, pulmonary critical care. dr. robert browning pulmonary critical care, dr. jason blalock, infectious disease.

dr. wes campbell infectious disease. dr. john hodgkin's anesthesia. curt cline army nurse, lieutenant guiliana navy nurse, lieutenant john shea clinical pharmacist, not with us, are navy nurses and the doctor and executive director of the medicine program. in consultation with this group, i recommend we bring the president up to walter reed as a precautionary measure to provide state of the art monitoring and any care that he may need. just 72 hours into the diagnosis now, the first week of covid in a particular day seven to day 10 are most critical in determining the likely course of this illness. at this time the deem and i are

extremely happy with the progress the president has made. thursday he had a mild cough with nasal congestion and fatigue all of which are now resolving and improving. at this time i'd like to bring up dr. dooley to discuss some of the specifics of the president's care. >> thank you, and good afternoon, dr. sean dooley as dr. conley mentioned. >> i'll start off by mentioning what an incredible -- how incredibly proud i am of our medical team assembled behind me and the honor it's been to care for the president over these last 24 hours here at walter reed. he's receiving outstanding multidisciplinary care. the state of the science for coronavirus infection. we are monitoring him very closely for any evidence of complications from either the coronavirus illness or the therapies that we are prescribing to make him better. we have monitored his cardiac

function, his kidney function, his liver function, all of those are normal and the president this morning is not on oxygen, not having difficulty breathing or walking around the white house medical unit upstairs. he's in exceptionally good spirits. in fact, as we were completing our multidisciplinary round this morning, the quote he left us with is i feel like i could walk out of here today and that was a very encouraging comment from the president. i'll go ahead and introduce dr. garibaldi talking about the therapeutics and the plan of care for today. thank you. >> thank you, dr. dooley and i'd like to echo the sentiment from the entire team, what an honor and privilege it is to be part of the multidisciplinary unit to care for the president. the president received a special antibody therapy

directed to the virus. and we're monitoring him. yesterday evening he received his first dose of remdesvir and our plan is to continue a five-day treatment plan for remdesvir. and the treatment plan today he's in good spirits and doing well, to encourage him too eat, drink, hydrated and stay up out of bed and doing things he need to do to get well. i'll defer to dr. conley for any questions. >> thanks, it's important to note that the president has been fever-free for over 24 hours. we remain cautiously optimistic, but he's doing great. with that-- oh, one other note. it should be clear he's got plenty of work to get done from the chief of staff. and he's doing it. with that if there's a couple of questions about the president's health in the last couple of days. >> sir, could you tell us the president's oxygen saturation level, please? >> the last saturation that we had up walking around he was

about 96%. >> he's not received any supplemental oxygen? >> he's not on oxygen right now, that's right. >> he's not received any at all. >> he's not needed any this morning today at all. that's right now he's-- >> do you have an estimated date when he might be discharged? >> well, i don't want to put a hard date on that. he's doing so well, but with the known course of the illness, days seven to 10 we get concerned about the inflammatory phase, phase two. given that we provided some of these advanced therapies so early in the course, a little bit earlier that most of the patients that we know and follow, it's hard to tell where he is on that course and so every day we're evaluating does he need to be here, what does he need, and where is he going. >> what do you say is the probability he will need supplemental oxygen going forward? >> i don't want to put a percentage on that, but right

now all indicators are that he'll remain off of oxygen going forward. >> and in terms of like blood clots, pneumonia, bacteriaal infection, what do you see as the risk? >> we know all are risks associated with the condition. he is receiving all of the standard of care and beyond for routine, you know, international covid protocol. so we're monitoring for all of that, but at the moment there's no cause for concern. >> you said he was fever-free now. what was his fever when he had one? >> i'd rather not give specific numbers, but he did have a fever thursday into friday and since friday morning he's had none. >> okay. what was the date-- >> other antibodies? >> i'm sorry? >> why remdesvir on top of the other antibodies? >> remdesvir works differently

than the antibodies. we're attacking the virus, multi-pronged approach. it's the president, i didn't want to hold anything back, if there's any possibility it would add to his care and expedite his return, i wanted to take it and the team agreed and we proceeded. >> doctor, what was the date of the president's last negative test. >> i'm not getting into the testing going back, but he and all of his staff routinely are tested and so-- >> doctor, what is the ppe protocol for the president receiving visitors and doctors? >> it's the same for any hospital staff. we have an area that's clean that you put your equipment on and then beyond that, everybody is fully gowned up, mask, gloves. we're protecting ourselves and him. >> have you done a screen or any sign of any lung damage whatsoever? >> we're following all of that.

we do daily ultrasounds and lab work. >> has there been any sign of damage, sir. >> i'm not going into the specificsments has he ever been on supplemental oxygen? >> right now he's-- . >> you keep saying right now. should we read into the fact that-- >> yesterday and today he was not on oxygen. >> so he's not been on it during his covid treatment? >> he's not on oxygen right now. >> considered a viable treatment option for the president-- >> we discussed it, asked about it, and not on now. >> what symptoms has he experienced difficulty breathing? >> no, he did not. he had a little cough, a fever, more than anything he's felt rundown. who is handling contact tracing, the white house or c.d.c.? >> the white house unit in conjunction in collaboration with c.d.c. and local health and state departments are conducting all contact tracing per c.d.c. guidelines.

>> when was the positive made, 72 hours, put at wednesday? >> so thursday afternoon following, following the news of a close contact is when we repeated testing and given kind of clinical indication, a little bit more concern and that's when -- late that night we got the pcr confirmation that he was. >> is there anything when he became infected? >> we're tracking the course, back here-- >> did the president have to stay at walter reed to get the five day remdesvir? >> if he needs all five days that will likely be the case. again, every day we're reviewing with the team his needs for being here and as soon as he gets to the point where it's not a requirement,

he may still need some care, but if he can provide that we can transmission to that point if the team agrees. >> in addition to his weight does he have any other risk factors that makes him at risk for sort of a severe case. >> no, not in particular, he's 74, he's male and he is slightly overweight. other than that, he's very healthy. cholesterol is great, his blood pressure is great. not on medication for that. he's up and active and you saw his activities the days leading up to and long hours, he's able to hand it will. >> can you provide vitals heart rate, blood pressure and temperature? >> so his heart rate is in the 70's to 80's. his blood pressure has remained where it's been during our physicals. you know, 110 to 120, great. never budged. had no concerns there. >> why was the decision made to

transfer him here? >> because he's the president of the united states. >> and the doctors have found that the prone position is helpful for covid. >> he asked about that thursday into friday, he's been briefed by the task force and the scientists for months and he brought that up, you know, we were discussing his cough and at the time his oxygen levels were okay, we didn't feel he needed to do it. we came up here and discuss it had with the team as well. we consider all options, but he's not needed any of that. >> why wasn't the first lady admitted as well. >> the first lady is doing great, thanks for asking. she has no indication for hospitalization and therapy. she's convalescing at home, thank you. >> and try that one more time, i know you said no oxygen-- >>'s not on objection generals today. >> receive any on thursday. >> what's today, saturday. >> that's why we were-- >> thursday, no oxygen, none at

this moment and yesterday with the team while we were all here, he was not on oxygen. >> so has the president actually been admitted as a patient to the hospital. >> the president is a patient at walter reed medical center. >> is he on any steroids-- >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. neil: all right. well, that's very good news we hear from the president, the take away line from the president himself quoted as saying and telling doctors, i feel like i could walk out of here today. but it was a very upbeat report. we heard from the white house official essentially saying the president is doing well, he's doing very, very well, extremely happy with the progress that the president has made, that they got into a few more details about the regimen the president is on. we told you about regeneron, of course, that antibody cocktail, if you will. that's an infusion therapy so

that's not something that's administered every day. but recommemdesvir by gilead, u to treat hepatitis to ebola is used here because it's proven very effective at speeding up recovery times in trials for just covid-19 use. one of the other issues that has come up here, it can prevent the virus potentially from replicating, so you can kind of stop it in its tracks, hence the issue they're going to keep using it for the next five days. i don't know if that means every day. i want to explore that with a doctor here. the bottom line, you're hearing that the president is doing, very, very well. there was a back and forth whether he was utilizing oxygen or anything of that sort. he's not on it now. and then the reporter questioned was he ever on it thursday or friday. the general view seemed to be what i got is no, he's not had to require oxygen.

that's something you worry about particularly in older patients because it's the first thing that becomes an issue with an older patient. the respiratory issues involved, but none of that an issue right now for the president. the indications are that at least with the next few days, he will remain in bethesda. so, that's where we stand right now. this is fox news coverage of the president's ongoing treatment right now at bethesda. we'll continue on fox news stations as well as the fox news channel. stick with us for continuing coverage for that. i'm neil cavuto in new york. while? >> well, see, i think what's really attractive about leverage loans is even if rates don't go anywhere, you can still earn a 4, 4.5% kind of return. and if the market's wrong, which it often is, about rates, you know, you have the ability to participate in the upside there. and i think that's really attractive. leveraged loans are the only asset class in fixed income that

kind of goes up in value when rates are on the, increasing, if you will. and i'm a believer if you have a 3-5 year view, rates are going to be higher than they are today 3-5 years out. jack that is all the time we have. i will point out you have a mere 1% of your fund in investment grade bonds like treasuries and investment grade corporates which suggests you're not optimistic about those asset classes. david, thanks so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. jack: up next. round table members give their investment ideas for the coming week. stay right there. ♪ all otc pain relievers including voltaren have one thing in common none are proven stronger or more effective against pain than salonpas patch large there's surprising power in this patch

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♪ ♪ jack: jack, one thing you and i and all of us market geeks have been talking about for years literally is when will value stocks ever come back to

challenge growth which is, of course, been on a tear for is so long. this week you said bank of america is saying we may be close? >> i mean, i've stopped predicting the shift because it feels like rooting for the team that the harlem globetrotters play against. there's a lot of getting dunked on, sometimes your shorts get pulled down, the crowd laughs. but in september value had a pretty good month. bank of america thinks this will continue. they say the discount for value stocks is at record level. value has outperformed coming out of the past 14 consecutive recessions. if you want to make that shift yourself, they say look for a cheap stock that has high returns on equity, that's to avoid value traps. a couple of their separate just with recommendations, at&t, comcast, goldman sachs and alaska air. jack: being a value investor, i guess, is kind of like being a jets fan. now we have two actionable ideas, carlton has a deep value

stock. >> right. i'm looking at bed and beyond. more than a year ago the company had a attracted activist investors, and they made the management changes, they started the cost cuts, they really started to gather their momentum, and then covid threw a wrench in those plans. but the company recently reported its results, seems to be back on track. they have an investor day later this month, and it seems like a they're in place for that turn-around to finally happen. jack: ben, what do you have for us? >> domino's pizza, the stock is up 50 president, but it could -- 50%. this past week we saw papa john's report same-store sales above 20%, and that should mean that domino's own same-store sales will probably beat estimates. it could be interesting. jack: that's a stay at home stock with post-pan deming appeal. listen, guys, on the one-year anniversary of our show, i want to thank you for sharing your insights every week and, of

course, thanks to our loyal audience. as always, to read more, check out this week's edition at barrons.com and don't forget to follow us on twitter. wear that mask, be healthy. see you (announcer) the following is a sponsored program for prostagenix, furnished by prostatereport.com. (upbeat music) ♪ hi, this is larry king. over 30 million men in america have prostrate problems. i know, i was one of them. and all these natural prostate supplements like the ones i have here in front of me are everywhere. drugstores, health food stores, on the internet, and all over tv,