thank you all and thank you to ilan anti-cna is. we have -- the meeting euros is nothing to do and we can't move. when you talk to me of the actors there in equilibrium with a would prefer some other reality but they are not willing to incur the cost it would take to move slightly out of what you are today. for any one of them the status quo is better than some small situation given what the others are doing. and the result that we have not only that renders economic situation we saw but also a secret situation that was terrible. at least three times, you count conservatively, three major routes between israel and hamas and each one creates the same kind of cycle that you could see in the material before you. israel and others, egypt and others try to squeeze a moscow try to get hamas to relent from its ways. hamas tries to resist this pressure growth in the gaza strip. economic situation gets worse and eventually hamas or others fire at israel, by rockers can use other the kinds of attacksd israel. and violence, has happened over a

it's medicare cnas, hhs, be straight with the seniors about all of their health care options with the federal government not favoring one type of medicare over another. even in my state, which like the germans, has a high level of medicare advantage, we are the third-highest, medicare advantage may not be the most attractive option in all corners of the state. so the center for medicare and medicaid services cannot become an advertising arm of private insurance or any other type of medicare because the role is to make sure that seniors get straight talk about all of their options. there's a lot to do in the days ahead. and i'll tell you that when the finance committee convenes in 2019, chairman grassley and i as you know work together on and s of issues, pharmaceutical issues and the like, and he bangs that gavel, i'm going to think about my long time friend, chairman orrin hatch. this is some kind of public service career that we are honoring this morning. ted kennedy used to tell all the time, ted kennedy and chris dodd is to count all the time, well, you know, we are always talking

but certain signs globally cna and ufrp, that the numbers are not as strong as people think. some m people,gan stanley has 4% earnings growth. the market moves on what earnings look like a year fromw if you are talking about 4% instead of 10%, the mket has a problem. that's the problem. we can't figure out what the tariffs will be and what kind of global growth or slowness we get. a better picture on the fed and raising rates. but the two x factors are causing a lot of gyrations. >> i was asking you about the fed does the day like today couple wit the slowing growth? does it change the dynamic for the fed.eo >> there aree out saying yes that's changing the way the fed is thinking. but that'sot bad news. if the fed goes slower. two things we hit a important technical level about noon. the twournd moving av the s&p 500, when you drop below that, that tends to indicate growth. also we have the flatter yield curve where the 10-year is coming down. historically that indicates slower growth. wait a winute get two indicators that indicate slower growth. this tells momentum trader, g

push by the united states and allies to issue statements name this particular attacker as coming from cna trying to put political pressure on the chinese to knock it o. for nightly business report, eamon javers at the white house. >>> it is time to look at upgrades and downgrades. humana was upgraded to overweight from neutral and yp morgan. the analyst cites factors including humana recent mechanic share gains and medeare advantxposure. the price target is $ 33. thehares fells 1.5% to 278.09. e paint mak ppg was upfwraded to sector perform at rbc capital markets. iting favorable raw materia pricin the price target is $121 dlrs. the stock rose a fraction to 97.07. >>> still ahead nike's run away quarter. let. >> the stakes were high for nike and the company did notittes appoint. after the bell the dow component turngd turned into a strong quarter thanks to strong dman in the key north american market nike earned 52 cents a hair. better than estimates. revenue rose by 9 peppers to more than $9 billion and the stock took off in after hours trading ton. sarah eisen has more on results. >> wa

highoreign sales exposure, the dollar weakening helping and also related to trade with cna where it sells a lot of goods. any progress there helps as well it's all ofhe themes put together in one stock. >> steve with fed rated again thanks for joining us. have a good new year. >> you too. >> the unused gift that can be a burden to retailers. coming up. >>> here a lack at what to watch next weak. busy week a who will kay shortened week. markets closed on tuesday. but on thursday we get a look at sales numbers from the big auto t'makers. then all about the labor market. thursday we get the weekly unemployment claims and friday it's the big december jobs t'port. and t what we are watching for next week. could be some more volatility fs a matter ot. >>> the holiday shopping rush has passed. but many consumers are armed with those gift cards that allow them toash in on the perforate christmas deals. with you not everyone uses their cards right away or at all. and as frank hollands tells u that has a bottom line impact on retailers. >> give cards, the plastic and e versions were t most popular

well, a little earlier i spoke to michael kofman, who is a senior research scientist at the cna corporationhe researches and writes about the russian military. i asked him how dangerous it was for a leader to describe their missile system as invincible. yeah, well, the weapon is designed to penetrate us missile defences. but in some ways, right now, it's an answer to a question that's not really being asked, because the united states doesn't have a missile system capable of intercepting really any of russia's ballistic missiles. that said, it's really designed for the future, 20—30 years from now. and in that time, of course, it'll be very capable, but no weapon system is ultimately invincible. it's a constant race between the sword and the shield, in many respects, where offensive weapon systems are then countered by defensive weapons systems, and so on and so forth. there is an arguement, isn't there, that the whole idea of missile defence is a bit of a hoax, and was way back when ronald reagan was talking about the star wars system? in some respects that's true, but that idea may have be

through cnas were voting more and more information out there we have provider reimbursements are nowavailable. the rates that hospitals and doctors are getting is part of the disclosure that's required that is the internet required. we are continue to work on ways to bring more transparency to the pharmaceutical pricing. the challenge becomes on the demand side. do you care if your first dollar coverage if you have set $25 co-pay regardless of where you're buying the service, do you care? the answer is no. that's why we got to think more fundamentally about how we access healthcare and how that can reinforce and send it towards a value driven system as i mentioned in my remarks. >> you talked about building markets. maybe i watch too much hdtv. visit every decoration? is it a renovation is it a real tear down and demolition and site preparation? different places and different amounts but you got a lot in front of you. what actually goes to building that getting people to read about everything being done at once? >> it is a very significant issue. listen, we always like to talk about

from washington we can speak to michael kofman who's a senior research scientist at the cna corporationches and writes about the russian military. i know you research and write about the russian military. you know history is littered with weapons systems, defence systems that are supposed to be invincible. what about this one? i think it is a russian design to get around the potential us missile defence system. the russian dark fantasy is that we are investing in it and that will play down the line in 20 or 30 yea rs. play down the line in 20 or 30 years. this is meant to give them a more credible military deterrent? is it invincible? it is a constant challenge and a constant fight between the sword and the shield. it might bea between the sword and the shield. it might be a good system. but there is nothing really invincible. what is particularly significant about it? to be frank, it is not a hypersonic missile, it is a hypersonic weapon thatis missile, it is a hypersonic weapon that is a re—entry vehicle. it is boosted by a traditional intercontinental ballistic missile. the goes up i

from washington we can speak to michael kofman who's a senior research scientist at the cna corporationresearches and writes about the russian military. what do you make of this word invincible was make it is a dangerous word to use? awaken was designed to penetrate us missile defence is but in some ways it is an a nswer to defence is but in some ways it is an answer to a question not commonly asked. that said, it is designed for the future, 30 years from now and in that time it will be very capable but nothing is invincible. 0ffensive weapons are often countered by defensive systems and so on. the whole idea is a bit of folks as boss when donnell reagan was talking about the star wars system? in some ways it is true but that idea may have been ahead of the times. it is quite unlikely that the us will ever be able to intersect a substantial percentage of russian missiles. but russia has been very afraid of future defence systems. the 1972 defence treaty occurred. a lot of money has been spent on systems to counter missile systems the us does not have and deploys. what is special about t

a competitive problem in the marketplace, but i would want to study that further and see what the cnas and medicaid restrictions are with respect to those type of gag orders. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my time has expired. >> the chair recognizes congressman adler. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman simons, many leading economists agree the concentration labor markets gives corporations the billy -- is good at a trust can address -- including works. we know this because antitrust agencies joint guidelines and human resource policies and subsequent enforcement make this clear. what remains unclear is whether specific transactions with anticompetitive effects on labor markets. we are concerned the agencies may not have adequate data to effectively police anticompetitive conduct in labor markets or block mergers with anticompetitive effects in labor markets. with this in mind how with antitrust agencies ensuring that asking the right questions? >> so we look at every merger carefully. we look to see where their plants plans are located, where they do business and the extent to which th

if it's a cna for extra patients that need coaching, so we are filling budgeted positions. these are beyond our budget, and so -- >> president cohen: how many budget positions do you have? >> we have 285 beds that are budgeted for. >> president cohen: how many are filled out of the 285? >> of the beds? these are beds, these are not positions. >> president cohen: i'm focused on positions. i'm not worried about beds. >> i couldn't give you that information now, but i can get that for you. but we do meet with the health commission every month. we go over our budgeted census and we go over our budgeted f.t.e.s. we do have vacancies, they are all being filled. in our med surge unit, we had 24.6 va ccancies, we filled 24. so we are filling our vacancies when they come up. >> president cohen: we have unmet need, we need more positions, right, this committee, we give them more positions, they go to the board of supervisors, and now what is disconcerting is how slow the process is to fill a position. now, with that said, we had a hearing almost two weeks ago about discrimination and

and then we will turn to dan n, senior fellow at cnas. -- ntury for dan just came up with a paper entitledower play, addressing china's belt and road strategy. dan comes with freshly developed perspectives on what the u.s. response should be. tois very useful for him finish up our panel discussion and then we will turn it over to the audience. let me turn to jeff to get us started. jeff: the bri has a brand problem at the moment. monthtidbits of news this underscore that reality. in the eu, india and the u.s. worked to remove any positive mention of the belt and road initiative from any u.n. resolutions. last year there were three resolutions that in some way offered a degree of praise for the bri. these three groups, the u.s., india and the eu worked last december to have the bri removed from two of those, and this year, the third resolution was scrubbed of any praise of the bri. china has reportedly commissioned internal reports highlighting the backlash to the bri, with the aim of pushing xi, 's outward push at a time when the economy is struggling. signs it seemsr every month, and a re