. >>> and the head of the national association of home builders says the senate's tax plan is much betterthe house plan. he'll join us at 7:40 a.m. eastern time you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc let's get started. show of hands. who wants customizable options chains? ones that make it fast and easy to analyze and take action? how about some of the lowest options fees? are you raising your hand? good then it's time for power e*trade the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. alright one quick game of rock, paper, scissors. 1, 2, 3, go. e*trade. the original place to invest online. >>> welcome back pricwaterhousecoopers says it has accepted a payment in bitcoin for the first time the company's hong kong division accepted the payment because it's increasingly working with startups in the city involved in digital currencies and blockchain it appears to be the first of the big four accounting firms to embrace bitcoin. >>> the hot buzzword on campus this semester is blockchain. students at the top business schools in the united states are writing case studies and launc

earlier this week the national association of home builders released a report showing a jump in home builder confidence in december most economists expected the rate to remain unchanged so it was a welcome surprise but what does it mean for actual home ownership to discuss that further we're joined now by dr clifford rossi professor of finance at the smith school of business at the university of maryland dr ossie what's your biggest takeaway from this report how significant is it well i think it's actually significant given given that this is some of the best numbers we seen coming from the any peace index for some time and the idea that their optimism is picking up steam is consistent with that was the view that we need to get more construction activity going on into the home building market here in order for it to see some proven in terms of the state for borrowers basically well the current homeownership rate in the u.s. it's at sixty three point nine percent which is obviously below the two thousand and five peak of sixty nine point two percent so is this report reason to believe

earlier this week the national association of home builders released a report showing a jump in home builder confidence in december most economists expected the rate to remain unchanged so it was a welcome surprise but what does it mean for actual home ownership to discuss that further we're joined now by dr clifford rossi professor of finance at the smith school of business at the university of maryland dr ossie what's your biggest takeaway from this report how significant is it.

stuart: come on in, jerry howard, national association of home builders' ceo. this tax bill because you said it would pressure the value of home prices, especially in high-tax states. now i understand you like the tax deal. what changed? >> well, we, we have to hook at the thing holistically, stuart, as i said the last time i was on. we analyzed it for what it does for the american people, putting money in their pocketbooks. we love the way it taxes small businesses more competitively with the, their big business competitors. and we also watched carefully how the house and the senate reconciled their views on housing. and quite frankly, we think that the final package is much better than the original house bill which we opposed. so we came over, we're there. we're concerned, i have to tell you, this is the first time in theç our history that there's e not a middle class home ownership incentive. we're going to watch it carefully. but for now, we're all in, and we're looking forward to the president, the speaker and chairman brady said a jump in our economy whic

this morning we'll talk to the national association of home builders ceo about what this might mean forousing market those changes in state and local taxes could have big impacts >>> and we'll talk about what you can expect to see in terms of auto sales. the national automobile dealers association chairman will be with us on set to tell us what they're seeing in terms of sales. and talking geopolitics. you heard the concern, all the talk about a potential rexit from rex tillerson we'll sit down with william cohen, the former defense secretary, to talk about what this could mean, just broader impacts because of what's happening around the globe, specifically with north korea and where we stand with some of those issues by the way, courtney, were you a girl scouted >> i wasn't. i was -- it was called an indian princess. >> i remember that i remember indian princesses >> i was a girl scout, and i sold cookies my mom was the cookie chairman this morning we'll be joined by the girl scout who has sold the most cookies in all of america she's 9 years old. she will join us this morning. mira wi

home. it's no surprise that the business roundtable, the chamber of commerce, the national federation of independent businesses, the organization that represents small businesses across this country, the national retail federation, the national association of home builders, and the american farm bureau federation all support this bill. in fact, you can see this small portion of a pile, a stack of letters i received from hundreds and hundreds of farmers across the state of colorado writing to my office, saying i would like to join colorado farm bureau to support tax reform that works for colorado's farmers and ranchers. hundreds of people saying please help reform our tax code, cut our taxes. these letters came from real coloradans. people across all four corners of the state who know how important real reform is to them. these groups know that this reform, -- these individuals know that this reform translates into more growth for the american economy, higher wages for american workers. the tax foundation has estimateed that this reform will bring 339,000 new full-time equivalent jobs, increase g.d.p., and raise workers' wages. i have heard a lot of doubt about that part. i have heard a lot of people say there is no wage growth going to occur, there is n

visa under some pressure and we're we're taking a look at the home builders you'll see them all with up arrows the national association ofe builders showed confidence in fact it went to the highest levels in 18.5 years and the fundamentals are low unemployment, they have a tight housing supply and actually now they're going to boost construction for 2018 particularly on single family homes so neil another day of records on wall street. you have apple, google, microsoft, goldman sachs, american express, mcdonald's all at all times highs, just to name a few. i've already say they're not going to look like these gold ones. they won't be gold like all of these. it's down 20,000 you'll remember that not so long ago. neil: they have pencils the way we slice through these milestones, all right nicole thank you very very much. all right we're told back in washington that they are moving fast, the rules committee to take up that tax bill later today to prep it for a household tomorrow and then after that in the senate and after that to the president and much of what they brag about besides the fact you're going to see a better pa

of home buyers. reaction from national association of home builders' ceo jerry howard, jason meister and mary o'gradye. jerry, have you seen a boom in millennials buying houses? >> yeah, we actually have seen millennials coming into the market since the end of the recession. millennial home ownership has risen by about 4% which is a very significant jump. it's been encouraging. david: but i, you know, my fist -- it's always a mistake to compare yourself, i know. but when i bought my first property, it was a $48,000 apartment in new york. that tells you how long it was, it was 1989, i couldn't get a bank loan. i had to get a $10,000 loan from family members. with that i was barely able to buy into it. i'm glad i did, i still have it. but the point is, is that how are millennials getting loans? nowadays they're talking about a $400,000 house, right? >> well, you're talking about an issue that's facing the country in a big way not only because of the demand by the millennials, but the impact of the dodd-frank legislation in the last congress -- david: right. >> -- is really making it much more difficult

olick with breaking news from the nation's home builders sentiment jumped five points to 74 in december that's the highest reading in 18 years on the national association ofders monthly sentiment index. november was revised down by one point, but this is far above the street's expectations, which was unchanged at 70. last december, the index stood at 69. anything above 50 is considered positive sentiment this soaring reading appears to be all about the tax plan, and what it could do for small businesses, which most home builders are nahp chairman said in the release, housing market conditions are improving, partially because of new policies aimed at providing regulatory relief to the business community buyer traffic rose the most, eight points to 58 current sales conditions rose to 81 sales expectations over the next six months increased three points to 79 builders are also clearly benefitting from the historic low supply of existing homes for sale home builder sentiment rose the most in the midwest but was highest in the west where inventory is the lowest. more at cnbc.com >> thank you, diana. >> good morning, welcome back to "squawk on the street. i'm d

plan builders had actually fought against the tax plan, citing a loss of property and mortgage tax deductions, but now they say they're supporting it. the chairman of the national association of homeers specifically pointed to lower tax rates for small businesses, which most builders are, and keeping private activity bonds which support development of affordable housing now, economic growth will be key to housing next year, so will affordability, though, and without more steam in home construction, tight supply will keep home prices moving higher back to you guys >> wait a minute, so they like the bill because it will help the builders, themselves, but if they don't have customers, you know, what are they going to build? i mean, the customers will be affected -- >> they do have customers because the customers need to find a home. the shortage of homes for sale on the existing side is historic we've never seen it that low they have people coming in. >> i was going to say, do you expect a push in this industry before some of this kicks in with -- especially with the fed raising rates next year, as rates start to rise, you're going to see a little bit of a push here in the industry?

deposits of $250 billion or less and it's backed behind an array of people the national association for federal credit unions, home builders chamber of commerce and mortgage banker's association and this move allows the loans to flow into small businesses and of course to main street. remember a similar effort like this failed earlier this year but this one i think makes it across the finish line this week also late in the session, 40 republican members of the house sent a letter to leadership asking for the removal of the so-called first in first out rule so the individual investors are in full force to sell their oldest positions so they could save on taxes and the accommodation has already been extended to the mutual fund industry so it would be a shame if it's on individual investors and tomorrow, brace for the adp employment report the street looking for 185 private sector jobs and a lot of anxiety out there be calm and cool i think we're on the cusp of another move up meanwhile the department of homeland security announcing its end of the year immigration enforcement numbers today and is looking like a huge triumph f

this week the national association of homebuilders released a report showing a jump in home builder confidence in december most economists expected the rate to remain unchanged so it was a welcome surprise but what does it mean for actual home ownership to discuss that further we're joined now by dr clifford ross a professor of finance at the smith school of business at the university of maryland dr asa what's your biggest takeaway from this report how significant is that. well i think it's actually significant given given that this is some of the best numbers we've seen coming from the n.a.s. peace index for some time and the idea that home builder optimism is picking up steam is consistent with the with the view that we need to get more construction activity going on into the home building market here in order for it to see some some.

home builder shares climbed higher. the number of people buying a home in november kicked up slightly as more shopping for homes as the economy the national associationales are up. a shortage of listings has pushed up prices. >>> it was a profitable year for apple and its ceo tim cook who got a 74% bonus increase the year. cook's incentive totaled cook made over $3 million in salary. add that to award and his total payout for million. and t founder promising he'll start manufacturing the electronic expwo years as soon as they model. the tesla pickup will be slightly larger than the f make way for a special feature he calls a gameo details. >> very interesting. any guesses? i think it's going to be a the back. i place that only on hope. >> you know what? the new car sleep in the back so i wonder with the pickup. >> thanks much fertility talks go high end. we'll see how the number of parties where women learn about their family planninires are like... "oh, i'm late for work. i have to go." nuts coffee. pick some up where you buy groceries. when my smile is bright, i feel ready to sh it has hydrogen le. to colgate un-stop right there! i'm about to pop a

home builder shares climbed higher. the number of people buying a home in november kicked up slightly as more americans are shopping for homes as the economy improves. the national associationes are up. a shortage of listings has pushed up prices. >>> it was a profitable year for apple and its ceo tim cook who got a 74% bonus increase for the year. cook's incentive pay totaled $93.6 million. cook made over $3 million in salary. add that to $89 million stock award and his total payout for the year is about and tesla founder elon musk is promising he'll start manufacturing the electronic pickup truck. it's expected in about two years as soon as they release its model. the tesla pickup will be slightly larger than the ford 150 to make way for a special feature he calls a game-changer. brook, so far no details. >> very interesting. any guesses? i think it's going to be a place to sleep in the back. i place that only on hope. >> you know what? the new car has a place to sleep in the back, so i wonder wait will be with the pickup. >> thanks much, hena. >>> still to come, fertility talks go high end. we'll see how the champagne is growing at a growing number of parties where women