conservative clients, fwhaeranyway and now lawmakers are washington are demanding some answers leslie pickerhey, that's right, kelly. in our investigation we profiled a family who say they lost a combined $2 million from proprietary puerto rico bond funds created by ubs we spoke with the family first in august, and then in november, six weeks after the hurricane. when we went back to puerto rico, we found jervacio and maria garcia and miguel castro arroyo in worse financial shape. this is the building that maria and miguel inherited from their father they had collected rent for years but that source of income stopped after the hurricane. the restaurant re-opened the day we arrived. >> a very sad country right now because you don't see an end in sight. >> reporter: are you worried how long this can go on? >> oh, yes, very, very worried we say what is going to happen how long is this going to be >> reporter: can you afford to live in puerto rico when it's like this? >> this is where we live we have to adjust with what we receive. so for me to say that i can't live puerto rico, it won't happ ha

. >> for the rest of the news, leslie picker live from cnbc world headquarter this is morning. good morning, leslie. >> hey, good morning laura and scott. wall street is set for a positive open after stocks closed higher, following friday's strong jobs report. the dow match add record close gaining 118 points to close at 24,329. nasdaq rising 27 points closzing at 6840. today, investors will eye data on october jobs openings from the u.s. labor department. bitcoin futures made their trading debut sunday evening. the popular one month contract opened at $15,460 before leaping to a high of 18,700, 21% gain. launching bitcoin futures gives the cryptocurrency legitimate si in the eye of investors. others warn it could be a class z ic example of a bubble. >>> aping is stepping up its game in music services. tech crunch reporting they are close to acquiring shazam. according to it, they plan to buy them for $400 million, a discount from the latest round of funding, valuing the company at $1 billion. the deal could be announced as early as this week and give apple music a leg up on com

i'm leslie picker at cnbc headquarters. apple is stepping up its game. company is close to acquiring shazam. according to apple, it plaps to buy them for $400 million. valuing the company at $1 billion. the deal could be announce as early as this week. it could give apple muse being a leg up on competitors like spotify. with your business report, i'm leslie picker. >>> the i-team has been investigating the district's skyrocketing water fees. >> news 4 investigative reporter jodie fleischer has more on w it's not fair. >> reporter: we found neighborhoods with private roads and sidewalks have to pay and others do not. >> i think it's unfair. >> harris lives in this town house complex in northeast. he knew his homeowners association had to pay for plowing and potholes on their private roads but this year d.c. water billed the hoa $40,000 in clean rivers fees. even though it has no water service. >> i was flabbergasted. >> the money is going towards a massive government tunnel project. the i-team found the government get a break on what it has to pay. public

. >>> the proposed cuts could have an impact on hedge funds leslie picker joins me with those details>> that's right. already having an impact on hedge funds. they had been on the mend producing some of the best returns year to date since 2013. as the prospect for tax reform looked likely in recent weeks, the market took aim at some of the more popular hedge fund positions. in the last week of november, popular hedge fund trades within technology and faker ba efactord trades saw a pull back, less popular hedge fund trades gained the performance of tax expose equities indicates an 80% likelihood that tax reform is passed that's according to a note from goldman sachs earlier this week. hedge funds have been crystalizing some of their gains ahead of the tax reform bill some have been selling stakes now, while those held by less than three years can be treated still as capital gains, a hedge fund must hold a position for a year to get the lower tax rate some hedge fund managers are considering paying out bonuses early this year in advance of a potential elimination of the state and local

. >>> good morning, i'm leslie picker live at cnbc global headquarters.are today's top stories. wall street set for more gains at the opening bell. stocks rose with the dow closing at a record high. investors await a final vote in congress. the dow has risen five points in 2017. watch for building permits. the dow rose yesterday and nasdaq closed up. toys "r" us is reportedly considering closing at least 100 stores in the face of low holiday sales. the chain filed for bankruptcy in september. it could deal another blow to toys "r" us, hasbro and mattel. nbc will start streaming sunday night football on mobile devices through the tv everywhere app. the move comes a week after verizon gave uprights to live stream nfl games. national and local ads. sunday night football was available to cable subscribers who linked the account. this means a much larger audience can watch games on their phones. marcus and laura? >> they will love that. >> take it with you. >> thank you so much, leslie. >>> the new year means people arrived on bart. for teenagers, half off tic

. >> we will have to see leslie picker, thank you for that. >>> stocks to watch today, ggp has rejected a $14.8 billion buyout offer from its biggest shareholder, brookfield property partners brookfield made a $23-per-share offer for the 66% of ggp is doesn't already own. brookfield is said to be considering a new offer for the mall operator. as you can see, not too much move in the share prices this morning. >>> we're watching shares of hga this morning st. joseph and providence street are reportedly in merger talks a tie-up of the two companies would dethrone hca as the largest hospital chain it's not reacting so far in the premarket. >>> another big weekend for disney at the box office it's animated comedy "coco" taking the top spot for a third straight week, bringing in another $18 million. the newest "star wars" movie opens this coming weekend. walt disney slightly higher in the premarket. >> do you have tickets >> no, not that bothered >> i do. >> are you a big "star wars" fan? >> pretty big fan. we're going sunday it's going to be a family affair. >> it's something i've gotten in

leslie picker is breaking down what that means for shoppers in the cnbc business report.d morning. >> reporter: good morning, katy. american express will no longer require customers to sign for their credit card purchases. the company says the change will take effect in april. amex says fraud-fighting technology has advanced so much that signatures are now obsolete. the move finance similar announcements in recent months by mastercard and discover. >>> netflix is giving customers and investors insight into what shows and movies are popular on the streaming service. it says worldwide people are watching 140 million hours a day, and about one billion hours per week. netflix considers shows that people watch for more than two hours a day as "devoured." the most popular "american vandal." the most savored show, two hours a day, is "the crown." >>> wall street looks set to add to yesterday's gains. the dow closing at a record high on the back of a rally in tech and telecom stocks. investors will likely be watching the fed which kicks off a two-day meeting today. it's widely ex

i'm leslie picker live at cnbc global headquarters. here are today's top business headlines. wall street is set for a positive open after stocks closed higher following friday's strong jobs report. the dow had a record close gaining 118 points to close at 24,329. nasdaq closing at 6840. investors will eye data on october jobs openings from the u.s. labor department. >>> bitcoin made a their trading debut sunday evening. the contract opened at $15,460 before reaching a high of $18,700, a 21% gain. launching bitcoin futures gives the cryptocurrency legitimacy. others warn it could be a classic example of a bubble. in 2017 alone, bitcoin has exploded more than 1,000%. >>> apple is stepping up its game in music. the company is close to acquiring app shazam. they plan to buy it for $400 million, a deep discount from the latest round of funding r, z valuing the company at $1 billion. the deal could be announced this week and give apple music a leg up on competitors like spotify. back to you, laura and scott. >> thank you. >>> the christmas season is upon us. a lot of parents are go

leslie picker has that in the cnbc business report. good morning, leslie. >> reporter: good morning. there may be less than six days until christmas, but there are still plenty of holiday bargains out there. retailers will be seeking to bring shoppers in this week with more than simple markdowns on items that have yet to sell this season. saturday is forecast to be the busiest or second-busiest shopping day of the year. but even if you hold out, many stores are planning for big post-holiday activity on december 26th. >>> wall street looks set for more gains at the opening bell this morning. stocks rose yesterday with the dow closing at a record high for the 70th time this year as investors awaits a -- await a final vote in congress on the tax bill this week. the dow has risen more than 5,000 points in 2017. back to you. >> thank you. >>> high speed and a deadly derailment. breaking this morning, we know howbarrelled off the tracks. >>> the vote set to happen in washington today and why republicans are planning for a win. michael: i'm th

leslie picker. >>> giving a gift card this year? well, here's something you probably didn't know.hese cards are sometimes at the center of fraudulent schemes, with estimated losses in the billions. and stores across the country are being targeted. contes. >> reporter: inside some of the country's biggest retailers, there's a shadowy world of commerce, crime, and drugs. and at the center, gift cards. are gift cards currency you can use to pay for drugs? >> yes. most >> reporter: by all appearances, these four women could be tidying up what looks like a college dorm room. but this is no university. it. >> that worthlessness, i mean, that guilt and shame that i feel every day that i chose drugs over my son. every day. no way. >> reporter: and these women aren't students. they are patients. struggling with crippling addiction. >> i definitely have stolen. i have took advantage of people. >> reporter: they sat down with us at a drug treatment facility in jacksonville, florida. 23-year-old chn boot's drug of choice? oxycodone and heroin. she's been arrested twice for gift card fraud. >>

i'm leslie picker live at cnbc global headquarters. here are today's top business headlines. wall street looks set to open higher this morning follow a mixed session yesterday. the dow slipped but a rise in tech stocks led by facebook helped to lift the nasdaq higher. look for economic data today on unemployment. the dow falling 39 points yesterday to 24,140, the nasdaq closing up 14 to 6,776. bitcoin blasts past $14,000. the surge comes about 24 hours after the value of the digital currency topped $12,000 for the first time. bitcoin is known for wild price swings, it dropped 20% just last week alone. gains for the crypto currency have picked up in recent weeks as public interest grows and several exchanges are getting set to launch futures contracts that will track bitcoin's value. >> lyft is offering self driving car trips in boston. the ride hailing service is conducting a pilot program in the sea port district which is a growing tech hub. cars will have humans behind the wheels for now who can take control if necessary. lyft is also working to deploy self-driving taxis in

leslie picker has more. >> reporter: two han in the balance as one senator is demanding answer, senator tammy baldwin wrote letters to robert jackson and hester pierce with questions about executive compensation without those the senator said she will not agree to a unanimous consent to hold a vote on their confirmation and wrote in the letters that the s.e.c. has presided over this financialization of our economy which has facilitated the looting of the american corporation by short-term shareholders and adds wall street's aggressive pursuit of short-term profits at the expense of long-term growth and jobs demands a response. these letters come on the heels of a bill that she reintroduced called the brokaw act that seeks to rein in the powers of those investors. we went to brokaw, wisconsin, the name of sake and found a shuttered paper mill and they pinned the blame on hedge funds. an ktiactivist -- it was closed eliminating 450 jobs in senator baldwin's jobs she said the s.e.c. could make some of the changes that brokaw act is looking to accomplish without congressional approval guys.

i'm leslie picker at cnbc med quarters.rican express will no longer require customers to sign for their credit card purchases. the company says the change will take effect in april. frost fighting technology has advanced so much that signatures are obsolete. it follows similar announcement in recent months by master card and discover. with your morning business >> leslie, thank you. >>> jimmy kimmel returned to late night last night. this time holding his baby boy billy. kimmel has been off the past week because his son underwent his second heart surgery. >> kimmel took time during his opening monologue to plead with congress to restore and approve children's health care. take a look at what he said. >> about two million sick kids have serious chronic conditions. i don't know about you. i don't know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cuts going to rich children ahead of the lives of children. >> his mission is to advocate for the children's health insurance program. billy is doing great. he is a fighter and of

more nominees that can help diversify the board and make it a force for good >> that was cnbc's leslie picker reporting t. big agenda items wall street needs to watch in the year we are break out your political playbook when we come back what's critical thinking like? a basketball costs $14. what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley >> welcome back. in political news, the irs says homeowners may be able deduction their state and local property taxes if and only if they were assessed and pre paid before the end of this year, the irs cautions pre payment of anticipated property taxes will not be deductible. it comes a week after president trump signed a sweeping tax bill into law speaking about the topic of politics, trump cheering a record market rally visiting firefighters in florida. >> we have a record and we are proud of that that's one of the reasons the stockmarket's jumped at a record level it's a record level. we've broken 84

that >>> in corporate news, comcast is walking away from its interest in 21st century fox assets leslie pickeras all the details on that. >>> comcast is no longer pursuing a deal for most of the assets ofst century fox. they said last night when a set of assets like 21st century fox becomes available, it's our responsibility to evaluatetegict could benefit our company and shareholders that's what we tried to do we're no longer engaged in those assets we never got to the level of engagement to make a definitive offer. comcast's decision to drop itsed by leaves disney as the main suitor for some of the assets, which includes its movie studio, cable channels and india's star network and a stake in sky disney is getting closer and closer to inking a deal. cnbc reported that one could be announced as soon as this week it's been reported that the murdoch family prefers a deal with disney because it expects easier antitrust clearance this deal would come on the heels of the justice department lawsuit to block at&t's deal to buy time warner. >> thank you very much for that. the other consideration is

leslie picker looked at what's in store for the industry next year >> reporter: new sources of activism, retail investors, and environmental social governance are three key reasons why the outlook for hedge fund activism in 2018 may build upon some ke trends from this year. first, new sources of activism sources in the activism world expect more non-activist investors to use those strategies to push for changes at companies where they have large stakes that comes on the heels of newburgher berman's push at whole foods and d.e. shaw's campaign in eqt earlier this year second, retail investors from arconic, to adp, investors are not afraid of companies with a large retail component they found ways to reach individual investors elliott mailed flashy mini retail devices, an trian placed ads in a local cincinnati newspaper pershing square held video webcasts with live q&a during its fight with adp not all these activists won every seat they sought their strategies are likely to catch on with other activists in the new year lastly, esg or environmental social and governance investors are dema

. >>> we have an earnings alert to get to with leslie picker. how'd they do. >> it's by many measures an ugly quarter for ascena i want to draw your pennsylvania attention to the stock price down 15% look at the eps that was in line with what analysts were estimating about 11 cents on n d adjusted basis on the revenue side, same thing, in line with what analysts estimating, $1.59 billion. what the market is looking at here are same-store sales guidance for q2. the company is estimating that will be down 6% to negative %, that's versus the estimates of down only 3% i also want to read for you a quote from the press release from the ceo of ascena retail group categorizing the quarter says "we were unable to capitalize on the improving macro traffic environment due to fashion missteps that we cannot afford in today's environment. so, and relatively ugly quarter for an industry that's obviously been very challenged kelly? >> yeah, that's for sure thank you, less lie. anything you'd add on ascena >> no, obviously the market thought they'd be able to c

. >>> we have a market flash on the banks here leslie picker has more leslie >> hey kelly, i wanted to draw your attention to some announcements in the wake of fed's decision to raise interest rates bay quarter of a percent they have each increased their prime lending rates to 4.5% from 4.25%, it is effective immediately while citi is effective tomorrow back over to you guys. >> thank you very much for that, leslie it's going to be interesting to watch these going forward for the bank so far, there hasn't been much passing on of the rate hikes which has been encouraging for the banks. it gets harder for them -- >> encouraging because they don't want to. for their shared prices. >> no, no, no, but it will be always harder as you get later in the rate cycle not to pass on the depositors it increases next year as it has this year. anyway, switching back to the fed decision and press conference we've just been listening to, outgoing federal reserve wrap ugh her final news conference moments ago following the fed's decision to raise rates to 1.5% from 1.25% that's the range >> joining us wi

a cnbc investigation revealed a cultural crisis over the sale of these funds and leslie picker joins "broken bonds. >> here are two brokers that blame ubs, saying they were blind sided by the risks associated with the funds. >> jorge and teresa bravo are a brother and sister team who say ubs recruited them in 2011 in the beginning all things started well, as they sold to 200 clients, even teresa invested her own money today the bravos say their reputation is ruined how many complaints did you have before ubs >> one >> only one. >> how many do you have now? >> maybe 14. all because of the product the product exploded, basically. >> they say that product, the funds filled with puerto rican bonds, destroyed brokers like the bravos and their clients the bravos eventually had enough, writing in their resignation letter in 2015 that they felt oppressed and harassed by ubs new york'smanagement directives related to unreasonable demands upon brokers. the company, they say, routinely pushed brokers to sell the funds. but ubs didn't tell you what was inside >> no, of course not >> they didn't

what does 2018 hold in store leslie picker has the hedge fund playbook. >> reporter: new sources of activism, retail investors, and environmental social governance are three key reasons why the outlook for hedge fund activism in 2018 may built upon some key trends from this year. first, new sources of activism sources in the activism world expect more nonactivist investors to use those strategies to push for changes at companies where they have large stakes that comes on the heels of newburgher berman's push at whole foods and d.e. shaw's campaign in eqt earlier this year second, retail investors arconic, to adp, investors are not afraid of companies with a large retail component they found ways to reach investors. trian placed ads in a local cincinnati newspaper pershing square held video webcasts with live q&a during its fight with adp not all these activists won bae every seat they sought their strategies are likely to catch on with other activists in the new year finally, environmental social and governance investors are deplanding activists bring more director nominees that can help div

leslie picker. >>> call it a big day for chemours, company delivering its first investor day today atisited the exchange it was 2 1/2 years ago. ceo mark vergnano joins me exculusively to talk growth and the road ahead thank you. >> sure, kelly, happy to be here. >> i know it's been a long day for you guys can i ask you about the impact, the senate is about to vote, what looks like pass the tax reform bill. what's that going to mean to chemours >> we were talking to our investors today as you said and talking about the growth we see for the next several years that's not predicated on anything about the new tax bill, you know, but -- >> what is your effective tax rate right now >> we're in the mid 20s. >> okay. >> so the new tax bill gives us some ben fit from that standpoint i bigger benefit is being able to use our cash anywhere in the world, bring it back because we probably have about a billion dollars of cash overseas and to be able to use it for investments here in the u.s. or just the flexibility of how you use that cash is probably a bigger impact. >> cash was a theme of your d

the carried interest loophole is still around bad news, another loophole is expiring leslie picker ishat's right, kelly. hedge funds are giving something up the window is quickly closing, december 31st is the deadline after congress instituted a change to the law a decade ago as part of the emergency economic stabilization act of 2008 at the time, official government estimates said the windfall would amount to about $25 billion. but most people in the industry say that figure is likely much, much larger. a vast majority of hedge funds have offshore vehicles and are impacted by next week's deadline most hedge funds have been preparing for the tax bill for months and in some cases, years. some hedge funds have moved from high tax states like new york and connecticut to low tax states like florida. some hedge funds are also in the position to accelerate ordinary tax losses which would offset the ordinary income to be taxed. some have upped their charitable giving to deduct more this year. when those options have been completely exhausted, some hedge fund managers have had to redeem from

cnbc investigation found that within ubs some brokers raised red flags early on leslie picker joins usnds. >> hey, becky. that's right we've reviewed thousands of confidential documents, including internal emails showing that employees at ubs were worried about the risks from selling bond funds to clients in puerto rico instead of fixing the problems, brokers were pushed to continue selling the funds. >> years before the funds imploded, a branch manager in puerto rico compiled a list of 22 concerns in an e-mail that his brokers had. among them, excessive lefrmg, instability of prices, it excess supply, and geographic concentration. several years later ubs puerto rico chairman miguel ferrara wrote to his bosses in april 2013 that financial advisors were requesting a risk analysis of the total puerto rico bonds held on margin to understand the worst and probable scenarios over the next 12 to 18 months. that prompted a sharp response from the second in command at ubs americas we will not print and give them our stress analysis. we don't want it going public. he was even more direct the ne

this following a cnbc investigation report by leslie picker that found that the wall street firm washe risks associated with this proprietary bond fund sold to residents on the island >> papa john's founder is stepping down as ceo that change is effective january 1st. john schnatter made controversial comments saying that the protests by nfl players were hurting his company's sales. papa john's is a major advertiser during nfl games, and schnatter is the public face in those ads. white supremacists were praising him online he will stay on as the company's chairman >> at the end of his commercials, he always says better ingredients, better pizza. that was after ten takes that was the best one they got with him he always looked -- not that everybody is great in front of -- >> as opposed to us who are so suave. >> some people are better spokespeople some people are better ceos. he has these weird expressions john, one more time here okay take 12. then finally the 28th take, that's the best one they got any way. sad news we talked about it earlier legendary hall of fame broadcaster dick