we know that privately, unilever freaked out. his thing unilever, was profit with the purpose.thought they could serve the bottom line and do right socially. there was skepticism. they said no way are we going to let ricci come in here and destroy everything we will. 3g come in and destroy everything we did. investors are not buying stock because they think these guys are selling cheese and mustard and are great at it. it is about doing deals. when unilever said that, it is a real problem. carol: so go back to the hotdog problem. they cannot buy up company stock, now they have to look at the company and look at the business and figure out how to perform better at selling hotdogs. >> there is still a lot of speculation that they will do a deal this year but we do not know what it will be. the company does insist, we were going to do this hotdog thing regardless of whether the unilever deal happened. it started last summer. it depends on what you think about where they were and their imaginations about unilever at that time. what this company does best is buy otherompanies -- com

oliver: what happened with unilever?hat a result of their style be known on the street and unilever saying they did not want that? >> pretty much yes. they said the price wasn't right publicly. we know that privately, unilever freaked out. the ceo of unilever, his thing was profit with the purpose. they thought they could serve the bottom line and do right socially. there was skepticism. they said no way are we going to let 3g come in here and destroy everything we built. that's what investors expect. they are not buying stock because they think these guys are selling cheese and mustard and ketchup. it is about doing deals. when unilever said that, it is a real problem. carol: so go back to the hotdog problem. they cannot buy up company stock, now they have to look at the company and look at the business and figure out how to perform better at selling hotdogs. >> there is still a lot of speculation that they will do a deal this year but we do not know what it will be. the company does insist, we were going to do this hot

we did hear from paul komen, unilever ceo and he tweeted at thanks that ken frazier for standing up for the moral values that made this country what it is. he quoted the tweet that ken frazier tweeted out. will we hear more from business leaders in the u.s. on charlottesville and is a necessary hear from them? kevin: it is necessary to hear from them. it's republicans and the presidents own party, house people are -- house speaker paul , senatorenouncing it orrin hatch, one of the lead folks taking the helm as well as the senate banking committee chairman and and senator marco rubio all have called on the president to denounce this for what it is, an active extremism that has no place in any type of political ideology in u.s. politics. vonnie: this afternoon, i'm sure you will face questions on the issue, at least a couple of times now. an executiveanning memorandum was transit attention internationally. we saw an op-ed in the wall street journal from the secretary of defense also rex tillerson, secretary of state on north korea and what the u.s. wants from china. does this open a wound

if you own unilever, you own png. they are both multinationals in doing the same thing.hen you look at the international small cap space, it's among the least correlated of these asset classes. when you add to that factor that it's outperformed, with not much volatility, it's pretty strong asset allocation, which is what we describe in the white paper. julia: why does he get skipped over? you talked about analyst coverage, which is quite fascinating. the fact that there is so much fewer coverage in terms of these individual names that you may have never even heard of the opportunity. mr. nadel: that's right. i think it's because a lot of the companies are relatively obscure. in the case of our portfolio, a lot of these companies are global number one in they do, but it's niche markets. areas of people don't think about, below the radar. we call them dull but necessary activities. when asset allocators think about going international, it's human nature to go nestlÉ, unilever. all names they know. you look at an international short -- small-cap portfolio and people have no

they could go after unilever. >> thank you all for joining us. bill for a merit based immigration system we'll discuss where the jobs are ahead of tomorrow's key report and more earnings as soon as we come right back from the break contact the show via facebook, twitter on send us an e-mail closingbell@nbcuni.com you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide i kind of feel like it's a game changer. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. or a little internet machine? so you can get business done. [ phone ringing ] hi mom. it makes you wonder... shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your inter

several reports have recently forested possible suitors estee lauder, including unilever and l'oreal.le is hiring. salesforceting with to generate $10 billion in cloud revenue and become market share leader. that is your latest bloomberg business flash update. coming up, how the destruction and flooding left behind after hurricane harvey is significantly impacting retail, this during the school shopping season. ♪ vonnie: this is bloomberg markets. i am vonnie quinn. --tinuing on the impact specifically the economic impact -- of hurricane harvey. stores with significant exposure in texas will definitely take a hit. arrival during the school shopping season may disrupt third quarter discretionary retail sales. i want to bring in bloomberg intelligence senior analyst for u.s. retail. it is not to downplay the obviously human impact, but this is going to have a pretty devastating economic impact on cities like houston and the state of texas in general. how much does retail play into that? >> it plays a lot into it, actually. the retail stores that are in texas and have a huge presence the

would you go back after unilever >> no, no, no, that was -- that was a misunderstanding, basically.will not make hostile take over ours and we didn't intend it to be hostile and we immediately, when i learned -- it was a misunderstanding >> michael, interesting thing about that, he said there's no point in buying it because you're just left with more brands and it wouldn't necessarily make them a bigger, more powerful -- >> really undermine what's been the presumed strategy or advantage of getting bigger in consumer package he said look it's the quality, not the breath of them more power over supermarkets just because you have more brands for the show. >> it just leaves me wondering what is the strategy then? to go the 3g approach and you have to simply cut costs that way? >> maybe it tells you why kraft heinz hasn't done a deal as everybody's expected them to do. no more unilever in the plans as well which i guess we probably knew >> probably knew it's recovered somewhat. >> down about 3% earlier >> we have new details emerging about a possible fire risk at a chemical spill in texa

and unilever and nestle are looking to sell a number of confectionary brands >>> president trump hasaunched an investigation into china stealing intellectual property violating international trade laws speaking in the white house after signing the memo, president trump said this was just the beginning >> the theft of intellectual property by foreign countries costs our nation millions of jobs and billions of dollars each and every year. for too long this wealth has been drained from our country while washington has done nothing. they have never done anything about it washington will turn a blind eye no longer. today i'm directing the united states trade representative to examine china's policies, practices and actions with regard to the force transfers of american technology and the theft of american intellectual property >> egypt has vowed to maintain its blockade of qatar despite international efforts to end the crisis alounge r lo egypt accuses qatar of supporting terrorism the four arab states leading the boycott moved to reassure u.s. companies doing business in doha in a joint

also shot down another unilever. >> also knocking down the notion that you need to bulk up across thereath -- a wide breath brett of brands. maybe the other food stocks is going to be a rethink. >> with that, it's time to send it over to policmelissa lee and half that's hit for "squawk alley." "halftime" starts now. >> welcome to the "halftime report." i'm melissa lee in today for scott wapner investors a investors are closely watching two major events for the mark markets. a renewed push for the markets and q2 gdp hits 3% with us, kerry firestone, and rob seechen of ubs private wealth management, one of barrons and forbes' top 100 financial advisers also with us, cnbc senior economics reporter, steve

internationally we talk unilever. is it the last good company?t businessweek.com and subscribe to access and analysis and benefits to stay ahead of the competition. this is bloomberg. ♪ francine: this is bloomberg surveillance, francine lacqua in london and tom keene. let's go to san francisco. macron faces his first hurdle as he introduces his plan for labor reform in france. the economic strategy the next five years may hinge on the perception of the proposal but with his popularity falling and opinion promises and unions threatening to protest, can he succeed where his predecessors failed? let's get the latest from our paris correspondent. caroline, this is extremely important because he really put the unemployment legislation at the heart of his election campaign. what are the chances that this succeeds and he can push them through? caurline: in fact, the feeling we have among executives and even among the unions is that this is going to be easier to pass his labor reform than we've seen in the past for two reasons. first, the method used by

where's the -- >> good leadership and capitalism to the way that unilever is the leader. they have to walk a fine line, but this isn't about politics but about humanity. and larry summers made a brilliant point. if the walmart ceo can make a statement like that but doesn't leave the council that makes no sense. if you're the biggest private employer in the country, you should have access to everyone in government that you want. but if you need to be on the council to get that kind of access, are we living in a banana republic? >> are we, gene? >> some days i think we are, and there's one guy responsible for that. mine, it's all trump. it is all him. let's get back to the earlier point. why are we surprised at this, given what we have seen? go back further. given what we have seen over his career really. the voice of birtherism. the man who led what amounted to a sort of -- almost lynch mob media campaign against the central park 5. remember that? five young men, then young -- four african-americans, one latino, they were later exonerated by dna of a rape. and donald trump

also shot down another unilever. >> also knocking down the notion that you need to bulk up across the breath -- a wide breath brett of brands. maybe the other food stocks is going to be a rethink. >> with that, it's time to send it over to policmelissa lee and half that's hit for "squawk alley." "halftime" starts now. >> welcome to the "halftime report." i'm melissa lee in today for scott wapner investors a investors are closely watching two major events for the mark markets. a renewed push for the markets and q2 gdp hits 3% with us, kerry firestone, and rob seechen of ubs private wealth management, one of barrons and forbes' top 100 financial advisers also with us, cnbc senior economics reporter, steve liesman. coming off of gdp number, the s&p 500 basically flat financials sees a little bit of strength nasdaq seeing the most up 0.6% and the dow is virtually unchanged. pete in gerrenajarian, when thar crossed today, what was your first reaction >> we're seeing the numbers continue to be fairly in line, fairly strong. we've been impressed by those, impressed by the earnings season tak

he does go on to say there was a seminal event in q1 which was forfailed kraft bid unilever.d throughout the industry. that hit advertising spending. if we go back to the context of what wpp have said to the market, they warned that spending coming through on consumer goods companies is where the real pressure has been. it cut its full-year forecast amid lower spending by customers in consumer goods and manufacturing. let's get your business flash. sebastian salek is standing by. sebastian: let's get more on that story. shares have fallen by as much as 12%. that is after the world's largest advertising company cut its full-year revenue forecast ashed spending.e the company says revenue and like for like sales growth is to be between 0% and 1%. ured cold water on prospects of a deal with fiat chrysler. the chinese automaker said there are no talks between the companies and it may not pursue a takeover. commenting just a day after expressing interest, great wall said there are big uncertainties. that is your bloomberg business flash. manus. matt: i'm going to pick it up. hobbs,

unilever had to get that take over bid from kraft heinz? is that what you're talking about?hat's influencing their ad budgets because of the pressure? >> yes, if you look at the s&p 500, technology and the hmos if you look at the valuations of the companies, it's in our presentation today if you look at tech, the compound rate of top line growth over the last three quarters has been about 8% and they are valued at 22 times earnings when volumes slide that's where the issues are package good companies may be their response to activists or zero based budgeting or one time cost cuts and they start from a lower base but i think they are going to have to invest more in innovation and branding. >> you mentioned that when you say digital disruption is more opportunity than threat for your business, is that the promise of digital platforms for an advertiser that they can target better and lower the advertising intensity of their business? are you worried about that structurally that it causes them to look for ways to essentially economize. >> no, 41% in the first half of this year,

unilever is off. unsurprising given the moves we have seen. even if he does not talk strategists are suggesting there is some chance mario draghi will make a verbal intervention against the euro's appreciation at the next meeting. talking about that this program. for the bulk of it yesterday, the dollar -- the euro went over 120. it gained more than 14% versus the dollar this year amid speculation that the ecb will actually outline its taper, its policy, to scale back the qe. of euro has gotten ahead that, although it is off a little bit today, 119.61. everyone is obviously going to be keeping a close eye on what goes on at that meeting. guy: absolutely. joining us now, peter chadwell, head of the strategy at mizuho international. that meeting is coming up. we have staff projections coming up, which i think will be interesting in terms of the way they have to recalibrate with the stronger euro. you have got a call on the bund, and your call is .2. the bund yield currently is .36. we have been as high as .6 over the last three weeks. why are pr

. >> there's been a lot of saying that unilever is interested. the chairman says there's no truth to the rumors. the company is not for sale. >> can you stop it you've seen it time and again. it to just say enough. those that are writing those stories, why don't they call bill why don't they call the family why don't they call the company? why aren't they doing the work that i'm doing and the answer is bozos. >> that's the answer opening bell a few minutes away. opening bell a few minutes away. stay with ronoh really?g's going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms... again. and online equity trades are only $4.95... i mean you can't have low cost and be full service. it's impossible. it's like having your cake and eating it too. ask your broker if they offer award-winning full service and low costs. how am i going to explain this? if you ask again at schwab.wer,. schwab, a modern approach to wealth management. >>> opening bell is going to ring less than

you think is strength in numbers in terms of activists attacking this type of company you throw in unilevernt issue there's similar criticisms in terms of what they want the companies to change and let's jump on the band wagon. >> i'm not sure they're doing it because, they're not banding together and plotting to do this i would say though it does highlight some of the weakness in the consumer staples business right now. household products, food and beverages, none of these companies are growing top line a lot of them are vulnerable a lot of them have many costs to cut and that's been going on for the past few years and the question is now what how do these companies get growing again? they have been challenged by e-commerce and the way consumers changed their behavior and shop, eat, consume products every day like tooth paste and as a result they're vulnerable but p&g is an interesting case because it's got this new ceo, it's shrunk, it's slimmed down, spun off a number of brands and this is the biggest company ever to face a proxy fight so it will be an interesting test. >> and on today's

by the hoover institution so which i proudly belong, jim mattis, the secretary of difference, is unilever from bag hoover fellow and he has read the book, i suspect h.r. mcmaster their national security adviser has also done his reading on this. so it's not entirely in the hands of president trump who i'm pretty sure has not read the book. now we'll take question from the floor. a microphone will come to you. you say who you are briefly, don't need the whole life story, and ask a question. no speeches if you start making a speech i'll just cut you off. there's a gentleman right there in the blue shirt. going to have the first question. just tell white house you are, sir and ask your question. >> i'm george, i'm convinced i have to read the book. but i have a metaphor to present and see what you think. the based on the assumption that like a two-hands clapping, but seems to be in the u.s.-chinese case can only be a one hand clapping because the culture is so different and i see the u.s. making all the aggressive moves. it don't see china countering. so itself if it's a one-hand clapping si

replaces tom geriky >>> necessarily, unilever and tyson foods are announced in a volcano venture withtechnology to track food supply chains blockchain first came to prominence as the technology behind bitcoin. >> that's interesting. you'll use the technology behind bitcoin to manage supply chains? the argument has always been the greatest thing about bitcoin was the underlying technology. so this is another story i don't actually quite understand, but sounds very intriguing. >> i don't understand, either, but that never stopped me from moving on. >>> mining giant bhp bill iton after the at thesh called on to shed underperforms assets. >>> facebook losing ground to one of the its own platforms, at least when it comes to teenagers, according to a forecast from e-marketer facebook using among 10 to 17 years olds will decline for the first time this year snapchas would take over by the end of 2017. that's good news to snapchat we do need to remember, of course, that they do own instagram. >> i didn't think about that earlier. i was thinking it was significant, but they own instagram anywa

reporter: certainly, he is seeing this challenge of the big clients like unilever, cutting back. tone is very much, it is difficult for wpp to respond, but what can you do when your biggest clients are cutting back on spending? francine: are they doing better or worse? reporter: across the industry, it ihas been difficult. it's across the board, this difficulty. wpp's response has been going out, buying more companies, investing in more digitals, getting ready for the future. francine: thank you very much. up next, rolling back on the red line. why theresa may is backing down on the european court of justice ahead of brexit negotiations. we will be talking about brexit, the pound, the papers published this week. this is bloomberg. ♪ so we need tablets installed... with the menu app ready to roll. in 12 weeks. yeah. ♪ ♪ the world of fast food is being changed by faster networks. ♪ ♪ data, applications, customer experience. ♪ ♪ which is why comcast business delivers consistent network performance and speed across all your locations. fast connections everywhere. that's how you outma