Impact and a price impact as you were talking about because here along the gulf coast and here in Southeast Texas in particular, there is some serious Refining Capacity down here. Were talking about some major refinery thats are off line now because of flooding, because of power failures and so on so were looking at the port arthur refinery. 603,000 barrels a day, largest refiner in the country, thats down this all told, the ones that you see on the screen, about a fifth of u. S. Refining capacity is off line and that is having the expected impact take a look at the scene right now in port arthur, texas. Rescues are still going on there is still flooding. Not far from that location is that motiva refinery which is shut down, they say, for a couple weeks but some analysts are speculating it could be long brer they finally get back in there and get it back up and running at full capacity and were just talking about refinery thats are off line there is also reduced capacity all over the place now i want to bring up to date on the situation where i am in crosby, texas. In addition to refine petroleum products, there are a lot of chemicals. The Chemical Plant which flooded, what they make there organ organic peroxide compounds need to be refrigerated theyre in refrigerated containers before the storm hit. But thats not good enough because at last report, eight of the nine refrigerated containers fail bhchlt they fail, the chemicals heat up. They expand. It leads to fire and explosions potentially. There have been some containers were told that ruptured and so this is something that theyre watching very carefully. Were being kept a mile and a half away and so are all the residents. It wouldnt matter that whole area back there is still underwater melissa . Scott, thank you very much. Of course, we have seen the reaction the refiners in the days following Hurricane Harvey after it made land fall last week a Goldman Sachs coming out this morning saying it could take actually several months to completely restore Refining Capacity dr. J. , youve been playing in the refineries theoretically they dont have any exposure because the plants are located outside of the storm damaged area. Yeah. And theyve already started to give some back today, melissa. They are abating to day. For people looking for prices to normalize a little bit. Thats a good sign ive already seen the arbob contract come back from a big squeeze this morning, though, it went all the way up to 2. 12 for the september contract that is not the heavy one. That is the squeeze. It went up to 2. 12. It is now trading 184 a big drop in that already after the squeeze. And the october contract which is around 1. 74 is now 1. 64 theyre coming down fast they were trading based on which refineries were staying open and which were closing. How do they know that just by roiters . Are they doing on the Ground Research zblont Ground Research they were on tug boats and they were trading and one of the issues was that they were cautioned about was well what if the cell phones go down because power goes out, cell towers go down then they said were going to have to go to marine band radio, jim. Your neck of the woods so, in other words this he could go from theyre on tug boats. Theyre in the gulf of mexico. Theyre on marine marine band radios to make sure they can get the trade in they were making a nice chunk of money. Many of them were using those same tug boats in the afternoon to help rescue people and to give out money because they felt very generous after this wind fall for them. I think thats awesome. Wow i think a little butt of a thats a big story they could do it easier than tug boats. There is one obvious winner in the refining sector and its frontier they dont have the plants on the gulf coast so theyre seeing this incredible wind fall in the crack spreads. And thats down 2 today after huge runup in the past few days. Theyve had a huge run. Im not a big believer that the refining sector is poise ford some long term gains here. I mean if you look at the prior storms like katrina, wilma, ivan, rita, the storms after about the first month youve got 70, 80 of the Refining Capacity back online. You have to remember that youre facing a situation in the u. S. Where demand for gasoline and refine products has at best been flad flat. The growth youre getting is from exports overseas. It is not a great place to be. They were trading at multiples way above what they usually trade at why . Because they were dropping down as stoets mlps and that was giving them a boost. To me that, is financial engineering. But the point im making here and i sold Marathon Petroleum at exactly the price its at right now. Its about a month ago why did i do it . This sector was too expensive. Its going to be hard to make money long term here trades over in your view i mean, you want to compete with people with tug boats youre welcome tug boats, cell phones, marine band radio. Like these are people that are trading that are trading this commodity professionally be . Its like outrageous so think that somebody like playing along at home is like no. You know what . I think i know a little bit more than the guy on a tug boat with marine band radio. Trade over i dont know but whatever the next zig or zag is, its very doubtful that people beyond that small sphere of trader is going to. Im going to bring in joe ter a november hav anova. A big part of the story is the spread story wti and brents if we start seeing those supplies move and the country a little bit more. That spread would theoretically compress im just wondering how you see the moving parts feeding into the story at this point . Melissa, how are you . Im enjoying that commentary i agree with what jim and josh said clearly, over the last couple days i have talked about it. For the viewer watching the show, you cannot get overly excited about whats going on right now and rush into the refiners just look as example whats going on today were talking about first of all, the spot price of gasoline expires this afternoon it is traded 3,688 contracts the next month has traded 104,000 contracts. So, while were showing up 15 , the second month is only 7. 5 . Over the next five days, spot contract up 30 . Second up 11 . If you go out six months its only up 1. 5 this is a front month die name mick i heard holly frontier mentioned. Yes, that is certainly a refiner that based on not being in the heart of the tragedy, benefits as does delic. You could also make the argument for a name like cvi but each of those names. Delic down 3 , holly frontier down 2 . So if you go to play in these numb names, understand, as josh said, youre now becoming a professional wti brent spread trader becauser this now rallied, all of these refiners are giving it back once again. Its tresherrous trade its concerning to me when i see people rush into it. As jim identified, its not a part of the market place that has strong momentum to begin with. Last quay for you if you believe that the spread has narrowed do you believe wti is a sustainable one, one that will actually last . I believe that the computers that drive the price of oil on a daily basis, which is the reason im no longer there, have decided to push it higher today, and in terms of what the direct examination will be tomorrow, 3 months out thats incredibly uncertain. The relevanceny of oil in a portfolio has less senned dramatically versus where Oil Commodity or Energy Equities themselves. It has lessen the. You dont need to have a ph. D. Anymore as a Portfolio Manager on where the price of oil might be going the raeleal opportunity is possl natural gas. Keep in mind we have another hurricane thats now developed in atlantic. We have no clue where thats going to go. That could impact natural gas. Thats why its above 3. Natural gas equity play well, natural gas equity plays are difficult to really get your hands around. There are certain names like a range resources. You are buying names that have ug struggled all year. Probably one of the better names would be Something Like eog resources. Obviously thats a large type of cap energy name. Thats a name that i think would work well. Cabot oil and gas is another. We got to go. Thanks a lot we want to get straight to josh. Apple stock is spiking on the basis of an email that just dropped thats right, melissa, apple is now formally sending invitations that next big event. Apple says its going to happen on september 12 at 10 00 a. M. Pacific. The events reads lets meet at our place. Please join us for the first ever event at the steve jobs theater in cooper teen know. At this event we are expecting apple ees ceo tim cook to take the stage. The expectation hes going to unveil new iphones and another Premium Model people have been referring to is the iphone 8 thats rumored to include that edge to edge display, facial recognition sensor, perhaps augmented for a stronger Reality Experience among other features. But, again, apple just now melissa putting out its invitation that next big event will happen amount september 12. We will be there of the. Thank you, josh in San Francisco for us. Apple stock higher by about. 6 . Doctor there had been concerns before that the phone would be delayed. We had the report from the wall street journal and dow jones that this invitation would go out. We have confirmation now. Yeah. I guess some of the excitement is that youll be atle apple complex itself remember than the Moscone Center this was known that they were going to be coming out. The only thing we didnt know was the date we knew on monday wall street journal said the 12th on mon. Im going to send an email tim cook is tying his shoes and the stock will go up this is not news the invitations went out you dont think the invitations went out the stocks 1 higher, worth 8. Million more the reason this is important is that the narrative over the last three weeks when we had the fangs getting hit, some of them 9 , 10 from the highs is that its the can nary. No it never is, by the way as soon as someone tweets it its not the point is the market did not budge. The qs are at an almost alltime high think about the three stocks, thats 1. 8 trillion in market cap out of a total u. S. Stock market thats worth 25 trillion making new all time record highs today. The fang narrative was nonsense. I was going to say with apple we have wae seen the breakout in the stock and shares are going higher its as we talked about yesterday of course its a stock that has a low ep relative to the market you dont have to wroer. You can buy this, be comfortable and its a way to play the economy growing which we seem to think its growing more than ever. Always bring it out two days before the end of the quarter. Two days this thing will go on sale two days before the end of the quarter. I guarantee it whoa. Whoa whats the guarantee . That the phone will be available. I dont think were allowed to do that in this business. It will be available. Every other time theyve done it, its been two or three days. Guarantee. Lets get back to the underground trade. Another key to the Crucial Energy puzzle is the pipelines of course Morgan Brennan is working on that part of the story. Hey, its look a look at the picture in the wake of Hurricane Harvey start with the clone dwryale pipeline have been impacted by harvey thats thanks to out ages at supply points and a lack of supply remember about a quarter u. S. Refining capacity off line in the gulf right now the privately held pipeline moves up to about 3 Million Barrels of refine the product per day, its supplies as you can see key eastern markets. Everything from nashville, atlanta, charlotte all the way up into new york thats the lenden nurse outpoew. The company said the lines are down from houston to herbert you can see the red dots but operating east of lake charles in louisiana colonial warns however that devote deliveries will be intermittent ant dependent on terminal and refinery stlie but does hope to be able to return to service to houston starting on sunday. Colonial isnt the only one. The explorer pipeline carrying about 660,000 barrels of refine the products daily north ward. That is shut from houston to tulsa. Ripple effects reaching up to chicago because theres really, again, not very much to move right now. But the good news here that did restart delivers into dallas explorer is owned by phillips 66 marathon shell and son noke cowhich is part of Energy Transfer partner all of this is raising concerns about how the impacted areas are going to get slupplies. Away from other markets. As i mentioned before, not just gasoline keep an eye on diesel, heating oil and also jet fuel as well. All right thank you. For more and the huge move in gas prices, lets bring in tom the hes tom, great to have you with us. If you can piece it together in terms of some. Interruptions, we have also got word there would be release of the spr released to phillips 66 and the refinery in louisiana in order to refine that product what should we expect . Whats the worst Case Scenario for the consame sner. I think the worse days scenario is probably about to develop. Thats a price spike on the order of 40 to 60 cents from where we were last monday. That puts us in h the 260 to 275 range which is sub stanley what we paid on labor day week zwrends from 2011 to 2014. The problem is people dont thing listen to the kip ling obama. Poem. Tennessee and in places sort of along the carolinas think of Colonial Pipeline like a garden hose. It needs to have so much in there to pump in to numb p normally clearly. They havent been getting the ejections from texas so thats going to be problematic heading through next week. We still dont know, and i hear 25 of you as for Refining Capacity dont think about it that way. Think about 40 of east of the rockies capacity this is an unprecedented event and its got some unknown outcomes prices are going to move higher. And theres going to be panicked behavior, but it should largely be a non event for crude oil in there is 3 to 4 Million Barrels day Less Crude Oil demand now for a temporary basis in the dwrooUnited States. Perhaps its short, but it makes no sense in h terms of the actual landscape for the next month or so. So no imgt pact on crude oil but sharp increases in the price of gasoline basically east of the rockies . You will see sharp increases on the price of gasoline and theyll be noticeable but not the apock a lip tick prices you paid in 2008 or earlier this decade i do want to mention jet fuel. Its not uncommon for airports to operate on just three or four days supply of yet fuel be careful we have to watch that. The places like atlanta, baltimore. Florida, we have to be careful about. By the way, the difference between katrina and that storm is that back then, we were not the supplier of record for most of central apt h. And south america. Now we are many of those country, mexico on down will be competing for the gasoline diesel we make once we get nose refiners back on board. Were going to leave it there. Thanks. What do you think . Well, i wanted to get a little bit more from tom he gave it there at the end because what he seemed to be implying is that there would be shortages as in airports might not have enough to fuel airplanes. When i think about ive spent a lot of time in the space, youve got to remember that there is it a surge export that goes mainly to europe of Refined Products from the u. S. I dont think were talking really about a shortage here, because that those exports can be redirected back into the United States. Were definitely going to see a price hike and were already seeing it. The question is really how long does it last if ive got to think if you go back eight or ten years ago, the number of storms hit texas, these guys know how to get these plants back up on line they know how to defend them in the first place. I think a month from now this will all blown over. We on phillips 66 which was just mentioned we think its the type of name in this environment that should go up because of some positives that are happening but honestly this whole sector has been such an underperformer that its a way to play value too. Just quickly josh when i hear gas prices spiking, do you think people spent a little bit less no. I mean unless like were talking dollars, were talking cents, i dont no impact. I think probably probably dont change their plans because of higher gas price but maybe spend less somewhere else. I just dont foresee this as something changing gdp. All right switch gears senior economics reporter scoring an exclusive interview with Steven Mnuchin. Great interview. Thanks so much. The when i do an interview all i care about what downtown josh brown wants to know, and i think when it comes to tax reform, the only two things, when is it going to happen and how much its going to happen i think i got an answer to the first one. Heresry secretary Steve Mnuchin on the timing of tax reform. Originally hour goal had been august unfortunately, things got delayed a bit. But were on a track to get this done by the end of the year. Youre going to see the details come out later this month. Its going to go through a committee process. And we expect the house and the senate will get this to the president to sign this year and we couldnt be more excited about the progress weve made. Okay. So, we didnt get the number i did ask him is it going to be 15 or 20, 25 little bit the president wants 15 the wasnt ready to give up the negotiating position but sort of suggests its going to end up at a different numb i can give you a timing thing but not a number one other thing i want to talk about is the issue of the differences between fed chair and the treasury over Regulatory Reform because i know everybody cares about banks and investing. He suggested that maybe theres not as much difference as would appear from janets speech last week at jackson hall. I had breakfast this morning, we meet on a weekly basis as have previous treasures. We have a very constructive dialogue on a lot of issues including regulation in one of the areas we are focused on working with the fed is fixing the rule thi inc. As youve seen, the treasury put out a report on what we believe our regular la toer charges i would describe about 70 or 80 we can work with the regulators. The and the balance were going to need congressional support for. So theyre working on it. There you go on the timing of tax reform and the possibility of Regulatory Reform you can all put that in your pipe and trade it. Yup certainly they all appreciate the fact you think of them all i think about theyre in my head. You dont care about what i think but well get to that some other day. Of course oh melissa, i cant say that im this thinking about you all the time because then my wife okay. Thanks, steve. With his exclusive with the treasury secretary the best news is that they are adamant about the debt ceiling is not going to be an issue which probably means it definitely will. Just the factor this saying that shows a level of maturity that we havent seen in other identify l. Arenas from the white house. I get thats a got takeaway. The second thing, and its been reported, but if theyre really talking about this not being in committee and the white house being involved, it will be interesting to see which demographic they look to play toward, because Corporate Tax reform is not on the minds of the base and what the base really thinks, according to every poll is that people making over 200,000 should pay more. Corporations should pay more top 1 should pay more im not saying one is right and the other wrong, just saying two factions that both claim to be trumps base well see which base matters most if in fact the white house is really doing this and its not happening in the senate or house. I dont know if any of these time lines are adhered to but isnt this just enough to think its not dead . Its not dead its also not in the market. Nobody expects the tax reform is actually going to hit. I think what josh said hit it on the nail, which is not just so much josh the Republican Base being split, but this is catnip for a fight with the democrats they dont want to cut taxes on the one . Theyre going to fight tooth and nail over this i appreciate i want tax reform to go through it will be good for the country. But this is not a slam dunk. Im old enough to remember when deficits were the most important issue. Now you dont hear so much about that anymore i guess thats not it was worth shutting the government down five years ago. We got to go. Maybe thats quit market check nasdaq setting at biotech, the etf sitting at a fresh 52 week high up by more than 2 were going to hit all the big names in there we also got the details on a new bill that could make life very hard for investors reporting back in two mings. Check it out selfappendectomy oh, thats really attached. Thats why i rent from national. Where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. Which makes me one smooth operator. Ah still a little tender. vo go national. Go like a pro. Welcome back to the Halftime Report johnson and johnson trading higher analysts spent a day with j and jceo who owns j and j h anybody here why . We looked at j and j. We looked at it very seriously about a year ago and decided we had exposure in health care and other places but here its broad based so its got pharmaceutical and added with the there genn in the biopharma piece of the business not the market leaders the and still in the conumer products business. Baby wash, shampoo which is being amazoned to death. Parts of it. So we thought if we believed the market would go down its a good place to be. We didnt think it was going down so we stuck with other names. We think its still a Great Company but it wasnt when we chose. Within the health care sector, were seeing a huge day for health care in todays session. Best performing sector, now the second biggest sector on the s p 500 after technology especially the stock thats pounding the table for on monday. Is which was gillian. Thats the intention its not going to close for a while and be approved. But theyre moving to that car t. In other words, that cell therapy side of the business thats very expensive, but theyre kind of used to fights that kind of fight with some of the other drugs theyve had. But this was huge, and people, again, were questioning whether or not they paid way too much. Ill point out that the stock is up 10 from last friday. Which means that theyve basically made 13 billion in market cap in the case of gill yad for an acquisition that cost 12 the id say thats a good parade. Im going bristolmeyers which broke out nine days ago. It is as legitimate of a breakout you can get next stop probably low 70s about to get into the gap from a disappointment exactly one year ago i think to the week or month. You had a huge gap down on some disappointing drug results, not so great earnings right after that. Consolidating for 12 months now gets into the gap not a ton of resistance, wouldnt be surprised to see it get filled this is a perennial takeover target some good science. I think its going to work also getting paid a nice dividend and not paying an insane multiple. The other name im in is am generajen. Probably one of the best five in the world. So im in those two names. Not j and j. Which i think is a really expensive stock primarily because of its steady dividend which has become the rage in these smart baeta funds. Obviously talking about biotech and pharmaceuticals. Theyre in a distinct uptrend. And not talking about some of the other sectors like Health Insurance. Why . Because that has run so far this year, in particular realizing obamacare is not going to be repealed and in anything the Health Care Exchanges are going to be supported. Certainly, the val wailiuationsn pharmaceuticals are very attracti attractive biotechnology upswings tend to last youre just in the middle. This a year ago you couldnt buy this sector with somebody elses money. It was untouchable. Are you in it if. In h biotech. Election onis one of them. Pharmaceuticals, pfizer is my main pick. Talk about pfizer for a secreta second. Youre basically own it for the 3. 6 dividend yield. Its in a distinct uptrend here. Not too different from brice toll miers its nice to get that sort of easy money from the dividend and appreciation in the share price. Lets move on Facebook Rising nearly 50 so far this year. Kerry is taking profits. Why . Well, as you said, its up about 50 this year. He been a fantastic performer weve cut it back because there are other names in technology which is up 28 year to date that we prefer over the near term the we think facebook has to monetize its enormous Customer Base its got all of these billions well 2 billionniway that are using it rel largularly but in r to grow the revenue and profit thats a different challenge not that they cant solve it but still a big owner of facebook but didnt want to own it as much. Where are you putting that money . Exactly looking at some other sectors. Put a little more into biotech i mentioned the stock yesterday. And Industrial Company just having an 5 versus 28 versus 23 in h technology, taking some off the table was the sensible thing to do. Lits hit trader blitz. Josh this has been a troubled business for quite a while it turns out millennials arent big on very salty things in metal can the. So this has to reinvent itself its slow going. Not easy to do hopefully they figure out a way to do something fresher. Theyve tried a lot of things not necessarily getting traction or big enough to kind of help out the side of the business thats getting worse i would completely avoid Dollar General falling. Jim . The company has done a very good job and its in h a sub sector of retail that still has seen some demand but the problem is its in brick and mortar i think its just a very, very tresher ous sector it cant get out of the way despite its having good earnings maybe in the long run people still looking for these ultra bargains, not the time to get in sienna is i did 23. 50 weekly puts 23, 50 strike. Bout them for 60 cents into the number of course those puts are right around 2 today as the stock craters and the bulls headed on the upside now the bears have it to the down side. Theyve been playing this thing like a fiddle. Workday up on an earnings beat on a positive 63 here to date. This is a software company, cloudbased. Software for Human Resources we own the crm in some of the businesses we like the price valuation even though its expensive. Workday is losing money. Doing everything right its a Great Company, but i thing be its a volt till stock and not without risk right here. All right john seeing some unusual activity in a big name of rebuilding play. See which way the rkmaet thinks that stock is going next were drowning in information. Where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters . The stakes are so high, your finances, your future. How do you solve this . You dont. You partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. Morgan stanley. I thyou never got the brakes looked at . L. Oh yeah. No. At cognizant, were helping todays leading manufacturers make things that think and do automatically. Imagine that, a world of new Digital Products and services all working together for you. Can i borrow the car when its back . Get ready, because were helping leading companies see it and see it throughwith digital. Lets get to sue with the latest head lines. Thanks so much. Heres whats happening at this hour a houston area Chemical Plant that lost power from the harvey floods was hit by fires and two explosions early this morning. The plant president talked to reporters about the health effects. What we have going on, its not a chemdal release thats happening. And i want to be clear about that of this isnt a chemical release. What we have is a fire and when you have a fire that where hydrocarbons, these chemicals are burning sometimes you have incomplete combustion and smoke. And any smoke is going to be an irritant Motiva Enterprises may be shut as long as two weeks as they assess the condition of that plant and repair any damage the 603,000 barrel per day was shut down on wednesday at the rescue efforts continuing in port arthur, which is still inundated with flooding Jefferson County report that 5500 homes were destroyed and 16,000 others sustained major damage officials have warned that flooding could continue for days that is the news update. Back to you. Thank you wrel the closure motiva is sending gasoline soaring bring in Courtney Reagan for more. Hi. Weve got rallying nearly 15 on the into uz that the largest u. S. Refinery is temporarily closing. We also have crude prices starting a little bit of a reversal what do you make of the move at wti today . As you said, its up almost 1. 25 today. Were afraid crude oil is going to be trapped in that part of the world and not be able to make it to other refineries. I think its interesting this is happening despite the fact the government has released 500 barrels of crude oil from the spr. First time doing that since 2012 the if the Federal Reserve is looking for inflation, theyre about ready to find it. What do you make the price of crude oil . Continue to see that march higher because of what scott is talking about or back down again . Prior to the hurricane, crude oil was trading heavy. I think that will resume at the end of the day, the story is that opec cant really job own prices higher. They tried twice i think were going to resume to that story i know today were noticing a couple different problem with the the hurricane that involved viewed but theyre minor compared to the ones that involved gasoline. I still expect those crack spreads to widen out a little bit. The chart on gas looks strong. I think that goes higher but i dont think crude can over 50. We have to remember one thing. Were looking at the september contracting gasoline its over 2 its up a ton today. Todays the last trading day i dont think theres a lot of fundamental information youre going to get from a commodity contract on its last trading day. Up 15 . Thank you both so much well have more today on the live show. Continuing the Energy Discussion plus jim talks stocks. Thats right at the top of the hour future is now cnbc. Com back over to you thank you seeing some unusual activity related to the storm john mel, im seeing unusual activity in hds, supply, take a look at the stock. Up 40 cents. Basically the monies this morning they were 32, 50s out in september. Heres the stock up 1. 3 . Aggressive buying at that level tells us that somebody wants to own the stock, not too high above where it is. In other words, this isnt going to be a moon shot but using this perhaps as you said earlier in the week, as a stock substitute. Forward to perhaps push towards 45, but maybe a realist looks for more like a move to 35, 36 these calls would triple at that level. I bout them. Probably be in h them for about two weeks. Thank you very much we want to alert you to the s p 500. Pretty much session highing right now. But almost unchanged for the month of august. If you think about whats gone on in the month of august, i mean this is remarkable. Fire and furry, then another Missile Launch that actually went over airspace in japan, and here we are unchanged, and the nasdaq is up 2. 6 . Its almost as if investors have more faith in Corporate America and actual cees than they do in washington. I may have the exact number wrong but i think the s and p has been roughly in a 3 range particularly north korea or this storm, frankly, to be in that tight of a range, is of the market is just not paying attention to risks and maybe it shouldnt or exactly what josh just said profits are good. I think it suggests that people on the side lines just have decided to spend the money. Just keep watching gt market go up just dont know what else to do. Interest rates are too low and just putting it into equities. Next up exclusive details on new legislation. This could rlleay change the industry that storys next. This is where i trade andrs. Manage my portfolio. Since i added futures, i have access to the oil markets and gold markets. Okay. Im plugged into equities trade confirmed and i have Global Access 24 7. Meaning i can do what i need to do, then i can focus on what i want to do. Visit learnfuturestoday. Com to see what adding futures can do for you. Are you ok . What happened . Dad kinda walked into my swing. Huh . Dont you mean dad kind of ruined our hawaii fund . I thud go to the thothpital. There goes the airfair. I dont think Health Insurance will cover all. Of that. Buth my fathe without that cash from aflac we might have to choose between hawaii or your face. Hawaii what . Haha. Hawaii you might have less coverage than you think. Visit aflac. Com and keep your lifestyle healthy. Aflac welcome back activists investing under threat from a town of 250 people. Live in wisconsin. Reporter thats right the two hours from now, senator Tammy Baldwin of wisconsin will be reintroducing whats known as the roca act its 2345i78d after this town and this paper mill behind me which was shuttered a few years ago des mating the local economy. Local politicians blame hedge funds. Years ago, but six months before the factory closed now the brokaw act aims to restrict activists investors by requiring them to reveal stakes greater than 5 in four days instead of ten to say whether they have a short position, to disclose whether they hold a steak threw derivatives. Initially the bill didnt go anywhere it was initially put forward last year but senator baldwin has found a new partner in the republican senator david perdue of georgia, making this bill now bipartisan it also has Corporate Support from places like home depot. Critics say its unfair. The Paper Industry had been declining for years before they came in and factories had been closing before the activists even arrived in a case study by Duke University found that Hedge Fund Activists played essentially no role in the closure of the mill. Has been ticking down ever since. Thats largely because companies have been fighting back. Now the question is whether those companies will take that fight to congress. Thank you very much in brokaw wisconsin. Your take . I dont know. I think you have to be in the gray area on this topic. You cant believe that unchecked activism in anyone can do anything is good, but you have to be an adult and have to say activists have done a lot of good at companies where management was very insulated from any kind of threat from shareholders look at someone like nelson pelts and made people, management and shareholders much better off than they would have been without him then you can look at examples where people can take a derivative stake and act like they have that much in the game and only 10 this is there might be room to look at rules on both sides but this is not a black and white issue. Its not just activists Hedge Fund Buyers but private equity firms. Im curious they did include those among the biggest employers in the company, some of them are among the biggest employers in the United States to the extent those Companies May and have many times bought a question, leveraged it, taken a large dividend forthemself and closed factories or done things that are destructive, i would think that legislators if they are going to do anything, should look at that as well. Were getting closer to the conference in new york city. It happens tuesday september 12th and Steve Mnuchin and Steve Schwartzman and jamie dimon and also joining us, starwood value, well cover all of the baselines here on cnbc jeff smith, by the way so thats going to be a great conference were a few hours from the closing bell your final trades are coming up. First a look at the s p 500 sector, telecm financials and Consumer Staples the drag. When it goes, its going to go up big. You know who likes to be in control . This guy. Check it out selfappendectomy oh, thats really attached. Thats why i rent from national. Where i get the control to choose any car in the aisle i want, not some car they choose for me. Which makes me one smooth operator. Ah still a little tender. vo go national. Go like a pro. Your bbut as you get older,ing. It naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. This is not a cloud. This is a tomato tracked from farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. 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We continue to like it right here. Dr. Jay. Im going with vz, Verizon Wireless why . Mainly because with the apple news today, somebody scrambled in and bought 6,000 or 7,000 calls quickly. Could be a stop substitution that they are doing or straightout bet on the september 12th meeting but i like that, ill be in these calls which i bought today as well for maybe two or three weeks. You think this is a direct result of the apple news that came out this hour. I think it could be part of that they could be focused on visa, sprint, tmobile and at t. Out of pure al truism, i want to mention something thats big we didnt get to today european stocks the dax this week the first time in one year slipped below its 200 day moving average. Theres a lot of his taer i cant hysteria on the blogs the reason this is happening the strong euro. The fundamentals in europe are getting way better than anyone expected the currency is wiping out a good chunk of profits. Thats where the weakness in those is coming from what that means, you should not be panicking and heading to the exit i would buy the dax, european equities and they would continue to do well in my view. Long term holding has been General Motors it has a good year this is not a stock you really trade in you think whats going on in houston and i hate the fact were talking about harvey as a source of profit here. Please forgive me here but the fact of the matter is Something Like a half million cars are projected to be scrapped when the flood waters recede. Thats a half million cars of demand, 3 of one year for the entire industry and a heck of a lot of rebuilding and trucks and gm in the sweet spot. Power lunch quts starts right now. Heres whats on the menu taking on taxes. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin shares his plans for tax reform. Protect and prepare. Two tropical storms brewing behind harvey. What steps you can take to protect your home from water ncht the road to recovery for houston. We ride along with one of the titans of business as he and brian fly over the cit