Transcripts For CNBC Worldwide Exchange 20240713

And choice words for amazon after a new investigation into the companys brand badging system goes into effect as Worldwide Exchange begins right now. Just another manic monday, wish it were sunday good morning and welcome to Worldwide Exchange im dom anyone chu in today for brian saul van here is how stock futures setting up their day on this monday in a holidayshortened trading week the dow jones would open by another 35 points if these gains hold into the opening bell the s p up by 2 points and the nasdaq up by 11. Now the dow and s p coming off record high levels on friday the dow seeing its 19th record close of the year and the s p 500, get this, its 32nd record u. S. Composite volume on friday, the highest since december 21st since 2018 treasuries, a tick lower in yields as you can see here, the tenyear note yield hovering around 1. 9 . The 2 year note yield 1. 36 worldwide, asia markets stalling near an 18month high as we takes a look at whats going on there. The hang sang and hong kong up. 1 of 1 and nikkei and japan flat on the day and shanghai composite down 1. 5 . In the european trade, we are seeing perhaps a little bit of a mixed trade there as well. You see there the german dax off by about. 2 of 1 . The ftse 100. 1 gains. New this morning, china says lit lower tariffs on products ranging from pork and avocados to semiconductors as soon as next year. Now the countrys finance Ministry Says the rate for frozen pork will be cut to 8 from 12 as it looks to close the huge supply gap over there this as President Trump over the weekend said the u. S. And china would sign the phase one trade deal, quote, very shortly. Speaking at an event down in florida. We also took the toughest ever action against china. And as a result, we just achieved a breakthrough on the trade deal and well be signing it very shortly. Theyre already buying billions and billions of dollars of products, agricultural products. Big deal there. On the activist hedge fund of things, mar ka doe capital is shutting down. That fund is blacked by a Blackstone Group and billionaire bill akman sources tell cnbc its assets have shrivelled over two years of poor returns. The firms founder and Portfolio Manager Richard Mcguire told investors of that decision to return outside capital late last week he also expected to sends the money back quickly because the portfolio is now largely in cash mcguire had been selling positions over the last months to meet redemption requests. A spokesman for marcato declined to comment. Recession worries, trade growth, this has been a year filled with uncertainties left, right and center but wouldnt you know it, if you look at the markets performance with the s p 500, we were up nearly 30 so far just on a year to date basis. You can see there a steady move higher throughout the course of the entire of 2019 and this after of course a very big sell down in the Fourth Quarter of 2018. Now, lets bring in gina sanchez, ceo and c contributor gina, this is an interesting part about the whole process here is the s p 500 had a rough and tumble Fourth Quarter last year, a pretty banner year in 2019 can we expect to see that momentum carry into 2020 you know, its really hard to imagine. Weve had really lackluster earnings up until now. Analysts are still predicting that well see a big boost in q4 when q4 finally comes out in q1. But year to date, we actually havent seen much earnings momentum this is literally all been multiple expansion in a year where uncertainty is supposed to be weighing down the markets we just dont see that what do you expect to expand to . Next year Earnings Growth is set to be pretty tep pid something around 5 . I dont see how you get massive multiple expansion off of that and the economy is going to be slowing to boot. So i think that we really are priced in for the absolute best. And theres room for quite frankly downside at this point all right so whats been driving the multiple expansion it sounds like you dont feel its justified, but theres got to be a reason why people are going to pay up more for every dollar of earnings that companies generate there has to be a sense of positivity there whats driving it . And of course is it justified . Well, im not sure whats driving it what drove the trough in earnings was just the fact that much of the earnings that should have been experienced this year were actually experienced last year because of the tax Incentive Plan and so it created kind of a gap in earnings for this year. So i think the markets were really trying to look past that and say, well, the average of the two years is still pretty good and therefore we should have pretty good earnings. Were still on track to be in a pretty good place. I think they were discounting the idea that earnings were so far have been a struggle theres still like i said a lot of expectation pinned to q4 with less expectation in 2020 but the problem is that we think that multiples are just too far gone at this point, 21. 5 times just getting back to some normalcy, 18, 17. 5 times thats going to be a hit to the market when you only have 5 of Earnings Growth, it doesnt take much to have a flat year. Doesnt sound like youre high on the u. S. Markets from a valuation perspective. The u. S. Market is not the only one hits hies, other places hitting highs as well around the world. Lets talk about where the value is on a relative basis if not in the United States. Well, dom, you hit the nail on the head. Value is where investors are looking. Even in the u. S. Investors are looking at value but if you go abroad, youre right. Its really hard there are a lot of places that have also, quote unquote, uncertainty hitting new highs. Europe has been hitting new highs. The uk, japan. However, one of the places that has been has had a pretty good year actually but not a stellar year and still has some room in its own valuation to continue to go is actually emerging markets and we think that 2020 could be a year for emerging markets. Considering that while donald trump is touting a deal with china, that deal actually does still favor china in many ways and so emerging markets could be the trade for 2020 all right, emerging markets ready to find relative value gina sanchez, always great to get your thoughts and happy holidays to you. Happy holidays. Thanks. When we come back on the shoerks why washington is sounding the alarm over some discount retailers near you. Plus, new details on Dennis Muilenburgs trip to capitol hill as the future of boeings best selling jet hangs in the balance. Then later on, cleared for landing. A semisuccess for boeings new starliner spacecraft all of that when Worldwide Exchange returns right after isth yes im stuck in the middle with you, no one likes to feel stuck, boxed in, or held back. Especially by Something Like your cloud. Its a problem. But the ibm cloud is different. Its open and flexible enough to manage all your apps and data securely, anywhere, across all your clouds. So it can help take on anything from rebooking flights on the fly, to restocking shelves on demand, without getting in your way. Here, it all starts withello hi . How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone wifi up there . Uhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. Thats a live shot of chicago, illinois. Bears fans there probably not feeling as good about what happened to their bears last night. Well talk about that later on but its just about 4 11 central time out there well, u. S. Senator Chuck Schumer of new york is on the warpath facing off against a bargain retailer whether its selling merchandise thats been recalled rahel solomon joins us now with that story could that be . Could a retailer actually be selling recalled merchandise he certainly thinks so. Senator schumer is claiming that t. J. Max sold dangerous products to unsuspecting customers for year he is calling for a her to row investigation of the company which owns t. J. Maxx, marshalls and home goods over the past years tjx sold 19 recalled items electronic hoverboards he says tjx recalled recall notices and continued to profit from the devices he sent to a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and calling on the company to alert consumers to any dangers an issue refunds for its part in a statement, tjx said the products were mistakenly left on the shelfvs and work to ensure this does not happen again the company says that product safety is very important to us and they can visit the recall pages on the tjx, max, marshalls and home goods websites. Shares of tjx, theyre down fractionally this morning, really not at all. It looks like coming from a very powerful person in washington, some really serious allegations. See what they say. Its not just that, this company and just the off price theme has been a real trend, bullish one for many investors out there as folks look to see whether or not you can capitalize on this focus towards budget conscious consumers, but for you, do you worry about the products you have out there sometimes . I do shop at tj maxx and a lot of places for bargains i think from what i understand, the feeling amongst retailers has always been buyer be ware, you know i think especially when youre shopping at shops like that. You know, i fortunately i dont have children yet so im not buying baby seats. Or car seats. Exactly its definitely buyer be ware. Big story, especially when the Senate Minority leader gets involved. Exactly. Still on deck for the show, barrons taking a page from Worldwide Exchange, out with the decades best performing stocks and asking the question, do they have room to run remember that one. We reveal the names they say to watch. Thats coming up announcer todays big number 5,175 , thats how much Patrick Industries is up over the past decade making it the Top Performing stocinhe p500 rik t s 1dung that period. Er electronic signature. You have to print, walk, sign, scan, recycle, walk, email yourself. Really . More walking, try again, waiting, recycle, walk, email yourself, then get back to your day. Or not. This isnt working. Introducing samsung paperless workflow solutions. With the galaxy tab s6, you can sign Digital Documents onscreen, with a finger or your s pen. Samsung business solutions. Welcome back to the show new details on boeing ceo Dennis Muilenburgs trip to washington, d. C. Last week according to the New York Times faa chief steven dixon told muilenburg, to, quote, not ask for any favors and that boeing should focus on providing all the documents needed to fully describe the 737 max Software Changes this was the first face to face encounter between the two men, and as our phil lebeau points out, the relationship will be a dynamic to watch for boeing in the coming year. Next year boeing 737 max will have three critical moments. First, expect recertification early in 2020. The head of the faa, steve dixon, has said he wont approve the max until he flies it himself. And there are still a number of hurdles to clear before the max takes off. But most believe it will be recertified in the first couple of months of next year once that happens, expect airlines to make a big push to convince fliers the max is safe. Southwest, american and united have parked their max planes for almost a year. They know passengers may hesitate or flat out refuse to board a max, so executives of those airlines will be on max flights to reassure their customers the planes are good to go once the max is back, look for boeing to slowly ramp up production yes, the Assembly Line will be down at the start of the year, but boeing will likely go to building 42 a month by midyear what about the Max Airplanes that have been built but not yet delivered in they will eventually take off and go to the airlines that have ordered them, but it will take all of 2020 and beyond for boeing to clear out the inventory of more than 400 Max Airplanes a critical year for boeing in 2020. Thanks to phil lebeau. Straight ahead for the show, could the force be waning . Big numbers for disneys latest star wars installment, but not death star huge. Plus, why the global rate shock could be abating and what that means for wall street all of that when worldwide isr ange returns right afte th biflex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. Osteo biflex now in triple strength plus magnesium. My bladder leak underwear. Orried someone might see so, i switched. To always discreet boutique. Its shapehugging threads smooth out the back. So it fits better than depend. And no one notices. Always discreet. Demand has never been higher for what we do. Creating compelling, engaging, and informative content and experiences. With this merger, viacomcbs will be one of the largest and most influential content creators in the world. I know we can deliver on the full potential of this amazing new company. Welcome back to the show thats a live shot of your nations capitol, washington, d. C. Its 5 21 a. M. Eastern time. In a new development with regard to the impeachment inkbierry a batch of fresh new emails shedding light on julys phone call with ukraine. Scott macfarlane joins us with the latest on that good morning, scott. Good morning. The fog is appropriate things are not clear here, a Senate Impeachment trial wont happen until next year, but nonetheless this morning both sides are already making their case reporter this holiday week, both democrats and republicans have a wish list the gop wants a fast impeachment trial. I think the president wants to prove his innocence. Reporter democrats say Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her party want a trial with witnesses, including key current and former white house officials. I think shes simply trying to make sure that theres an objective trial in the senate as theres supposed to be. Reporter and the stakes are rising because of reflations about one of the witnesses democrats want to call newly released documents sho former white house budget official Michael Duffy told the pentagon to with hold military funds to ukraine about an hour and a half as Congress Returns home for the holiday, both sides are still digging in. The charges are pretty thin gruel. I dont see anything impeachable in that. If there was ever an argument that we need mr. Duffy to come testify, this is that information. This email is explosive. Reporter President Trump has no public schedule but was actively tweeting through the weekend including writing the dems just wish it would all end. With congress on recess, any negotiations will happen by phone or behind the scenes so two days before christmas, neither side is guaranteed to get its holiday wish list. Live in washington, im scott macfarlane, back to you. Thank you very much for that update and happy holidays to you. A check on this mornings other top headlines. Phillip mena is in the new york news room with the latest. Good morning to you, filly. Dom, good morning. Theres new evidence that north korea could be getting ready to test more nuclear weapons. Satellite photos show increased activity at a missile factory there. And that has u. S. Officials on edge this comes on the heels of the Christmas Gift threat promised by north korea recent talks with the North Korean Kim jongun regime have faltered. This extreme Winter Weather is not making it easy for Holiday Travellers the Holiday Travel rush was brought to a scary halt on roads in virginia after a nearly 70 cars piled up and shut down intertate 64 in both directions near williamsburg. At least 51 people were injured. Two Carnival Cruise ships were back . Port after they collided with each other in mexico carnival glory was maneuvering into dock when it smashed out windows and bending railings at least six people were injured. An investigation is now under way into how it happened the cruise line told its passengers that it may have been caused by wind gusts and strong currents dom, back to you. Phillip mena, thank you for that and happy holidays to you as well. To, you too. Wall street preparing for saint nicks return as futures are pointing to more gains at the open we are right back after this most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. But to businesses, were a reliable partner. We Keep Companies ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. woman and build ai customer experiences. second woman we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. Almost all of the fortune 500 partner with us. woman when it comes to digital transformation. Verizon keeps business ready. Yes im stuck in the middle with you, no one likes to feel stuck, boxed in, or held back. Especially by Something Like your cloud. Its a problem. But the ibm cloud is different. Its open and flexible enough to manage all your apps and data securely, anywhere, across all your clouds. So it can help take on anything from rebooking flights on the fly, to restocking shelves on demand, without getting in your way. Ready to run wall street preparing for whats known as the santa claus rally ahead of a holidayshortened trading week Game Changing retail the names our next guest says should be on your musthave holiday wish list. And then cleared for landing. A bittersweet success for Boeings Starliner after a missed weekend rendezvous. Worldwide exchange rolls on. The waitresses with that Christmas Music im dominic chu in from Brian Sullivan welcome to Worldwide Exchange. The rally in perspective here, you have the dow jones coming off record highs last week but up another 48 points if these gains hold in the opening bell the s p up by 4 points and the nasdaq up by about 13. So we could see another slate of record highs in trading today. Now, the s p 500 coming off those record highs on friday, the dow seeing its 19th record close of the year. Check this out again, 1th record close for the dou. 32nd record close for the s p 500. Friday the highest volume date so far year to date basis since december 21st of, 2018 as for that socalled santa claus rally, according to the Stock Traders almanac, the final five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of the new year, thats the definition, the s p 500 posted a 1. 3 gain, a big move higher on a percentage basis for that short amount of time thats on average since 1950 so check back with us on january 3rd. Well take stock of whether that average number of is. 3 really does hold this time around. Lets check the asian markets. Japan, hong kong and shanghai, we saw a bit of mixed trade there. Real movement downside with regard to what happened with shanghai composite, down 1. 5 . The hang seng flat nikkei in japan flat on the day. More mixed trade in the european markets. Germ p dax down by. 1 of 1 . The ftse 100 in the uk up by one third of 1 and cac in france hovering around flat, Little Movement in the big french benchmark there. A look at some of the other top stories we are following today. Boeing starliner spacecraft returned to earth yesterday. Yes, it did return to earth, landing in new mexico. Thats the good news the bad news, it never reached the International Space station as it was supposed to for that Big Rendezvous the issue resulted in the clock the spacecraft failing to fire its rockets at the right time. At least some video of it returning safely to earth. Uber founder is on pace to sell his entire stake in the Ride Sharing Company hes already shed more than 2. 5 billion worth of shares since a lock up period expired last month. He now has less than 10 of his holings left in uber. The force has been with disney at the box office all this year. In its latest star wars movie, the rise of sky walker, topped the weekend Movie Box Office with 176 million in north american ticket sales, but thats down 20 from the last star wars film, the last jedi. So maybe a little bit of shine coming off, still, though, before the end of the year well see if those star wars fans go and put box office smile in the stocking there for disney. Back to whats happening with trade President Trump out thing a breakthrough on the u. S. china trade deal at an in the event florida over the weekend we also took the toughest ever action against china. And as a result we just achieved a breakthrough on the trade deal and well be signing it very shortly. Theyre already buying billions and billions of dollars of products, agricultural products. All right those comments come as china looks to lower import tariffs on tee items like avocados and frozen pork products and semiconductors as well joining me on trade and the markets, chad, Portfolio Manager at Washington Crossing advisers. Chad, trade has been the dominant market theme maybe along with the fed in 2019 is trade still going to be the dominant market theme in 2020 . Dom, absolutely youre going to continue to see on going stress and ups and downs when it comes to messaging from beijing as well as washington they have kicked the can of uncertainty down the road by two to three months, but overall, they have not solved the trade issue. Hence the reason why we think its going to continue to be a drag and concern on investors in 2020. So lets talk about the idea that it will be a drag we had a pretty banner year, 19 record closes for the dow, 32 record closes for the s p 500. No doubt the force has been with the markets in 2019. The driving force behind that has been some of these tail wind from the fed, everywhere else. Now, as we talk about the economy, is it still going to be good enough to sustain that move that weve seen . That move has been a real historic move up close to 30 pr prgs30 on a total return basis we dont believe youll get that type of a return in 2020, but overall we do think that youre going to get a positive return between 5 and 7 and thats based off of our assumptions of 2 to 2. 5 gdp growth here in the United States and roughly Global Growth around 3 again, not rambunctious growth not rambunctious Earnings Growth overall but positive. So how do we position youre a Portfolio Manager your job is to allocate money. As you go into 2020 knowing what you know for 2019, how do you then snoposition is it mostly in stocks do you look at bonds is there an argument that both are overvalued. Theres a low return for bonds and stocks we do agree with that comment, dom. But one has to realize that a 6 or 7 return in equities beats the rate of inflation and thats why one is invested in equities over the long run. We would be balanced in ones portfolio,over weight u. S. Equities to start the year and potentially fade that trade into more international equities. You just want to be in quality equities that rising Dividend Companies dont have a lot of debt on their Balance Sheet. What types of companies are those . Just out of curiosity and the names and industries they operate in industrials, we like United Technologies and as well as General Dynamics we those two companies over three to fiveyear period can do very well. When it comes to consumer staples, Boring Companies like hormel and pepsi we think you do very well there. And then consumer Companies Like disney and walmart, if you have a 3 to 5year time horizon, then those companies can provide good returns with less volatility than the overall market. Chad, an end of the year selloff in global bonds is helping to kind of sclipg the negative pile of yielding debt we have seen over the world. The tally standing at 11 trillion, its a lot but down from 17 trillion dollars it hit over this past summer, the lowest levels we have seen since june just look at the japan tenyear yield, right, finally, finally, hovering above zero for the First Time Since march the negative yielding debt side of thing we heard earlier last week, they raised their sbreintt rates. Theyre back to zero how big of a story is going to permeate into 2020 so that tells us a certain signal from a Portfolio Management and assumptions on Economic Growth that things are going to continue. Growth is going to be lackluster that change in debt modest by 20 basis points we dont share that as were out of the woods yet. Overall, we think that you have to focus your attention on the ecb. They have been setting the tone with regard to global Interest Rates because of yield differentials as well as the federal reserve, which we believe will be on hold in 2020. Keep in mind, there was a tremendous reversal in Monetary Policy in 2019 from the fed raising Interest Rates and reducing their Balance Sheet to doing a complete 180 we believe that gave the spark for a lot of this excess market fervor. All right so, lets leave it at bonds there. Retail always going to be a big story this time of year and certainly a big one this week. Shoppers are making a list and checking it twice. You have hanukkah already here and christmas just days away, experts estimate americans spends around 34 billion this saturday and sunday alone, 2. 5 billion more than black friday shopping so i just want to show you, here is retail reporter courtney rag within a look at the big things in this sector in the new year reporter 2019 was a difficult year for retail with clear winners and losers, expect the divergence to continue in 2020 first, the tariff divide while the countrys tariff schedule continues to evolve, brands and retailers arent waiting to adapt and some will do so easier than others big retailers like target, walmart and best buy use scale and influence to keep prices low for shoppers by insisting the brands they buy from take on whatever higher cost result. It will hurt smaller, less powerful players second, old is new again as the retail resell market grows watch for new ways to sell more sustainable shopping, watch for retailers to deploy new consignment options giving old merchandise second life. And third, new ceos, new strategies many retailers have or will have new ceos settle in in the new year including bed bath beyond, nike, underarmo underarmour, tappestry and gap see if new leaders will shift the strategies in new directions and then decide if theyre willing to give them a chance to make change. All right, our thanks to Courtney Reagan for that play book on retail for more on retail trends coming up this holiday srngs lets bring in stacy, president at sw retail advisers and chad from Washington Crossing advisers here as well. So stacy, you heard courtney speaking just about what we can expect here. Is this going to be one of those situations where the American Consumer can continue to power the u. S. Economy and retail will be a key theme in 2020 absolutely. So, obviously the consumer is the most important driver of growth here going forward. And i think as courtney said, its very much still about the winners and the losers we saw the big guys best buy walmart target continue to gain share and strength and power, not only in the wallet of the consumers but also in the supply chain. So i think those will continue to be winners. And, of course, i think another big theme for 2020 is that you know youre starting to hear about, for example, nike say, hey, amazon, no. Were pushing back and i think more brands will start to control their distribution and continue to try to clean up that promotional environment out there. Not everybody will be successful in that, but i think nike will be a stand out here with not only top line growth but margin growth as a result. We have often talked about this idea that theres been a barbell in retail with regard to the cup pis that do well its the very high end and its the very Bargain Basement kind of discount shopping side of things how exactly do you fair and how do you position as an investor knowing those are the two markets that are really doing well with this great middle thats middling about . Sure. And i think, of course, youve had the higher end brands like lululemon doing incredibly well and will continue to into 2020 not everybody the middle is struggling, i would also point out. So you look at walmart and target, some of the best performers outs there. So not everybody the middle is struggling who is really struggling the middle is Department Store spaces and the likes of kohls who havent innovated in terms of the experience in the stores. Thats the real problem here so, i think there are winners in each segment and the winners that we have seen are the ones that are controlling their destiny and speaking to the consumer in the right way. So chad, i want to bring you back into this discussion. You mentioned walmart as one of your Key Companies to watch for the consumer side of things. Are there other brands out there that really have you excited or are you playing a wait and see mode with regard to the types of companies and stocks that you would want to go into from a Consumer Discretionary perspective . So, what we would do and we recommend is to actually invest and lean into consumption pattern from the perspective of the health of the consumer is quite robust they have already delevered their Balance Sheet, credit growth on the household side has grown between 3 and 4 so we are quite optimistic going into 2020 and 2021 so, the walmarts of the world, costcos, for example, that overall thematic of consumption we continue we think will continue to power through. As well, look at companies and other tangential industries that will benefit from this consumption pattern as well as wage growth being quite robust. All right stacy, wage growth is obviously a huge concern for a lot of folks out there. Wages are growing, albeit modestly lets talk about whether or not the u. S. Consumer can whether the tariffs put in place that are now gradually rolled back. Is this now the time when the American Consumer can afford to pay higher prices to help further some of the trade goals of the Trump Administration . Well, i think the good news is that, you know, were not really seeing those price increases and even when the tariff conversation was at its height and biggest fear, we still didnt see huge price increases go through so i think now that some of that conversation is abating and were having a different conversation into 2020, some of the stocks that have been really pressured, like a dollar tree, you know, maybe come back a little bit because as courtney talked about the supply chain here, the big retailers are pushing back those costs to the supply chain and they are having to take it on. So again, the bigger you are in retail, the better because you have that power to push back so thats how i would play it. Stacy, how about the ways that we talk about themes in recommerce, this idea courtney brought up this idea that Many Companies may look towards secondhand markets, consignment, used goods duke that will be a big thing to watch in 2020 or just a passing fad . I think its going to be huge i think this will be the story of 2020 and beyond if you think about the resell and the rental market and how many players are getting into it here, i think it could represent as much as 20 of the business or take away 20 from the sale Retail Business here and thats huge but the good news is, some of the most unproductive inventory that doesnt sell well, those are sometimes the best renters out there. So this is a way for brands to actually use their inventory that hasnt been successful in the direct sale market so, it works for everybody its profitable for the brands and it helps them get more information about their consumer because its an on going relationship rather than just a onetime sale. All right chad, just a few moments left. The last word to you here. Whats the biggest thing you are watching for the consumer and whether or not they face head winds in 2020. So, easy to monitor every thursday the initial jobless claims number come out if you start to see that number rise from 2010, 300,000, then investors retail focus should be more concerned that means that people are losing their jobs. Also, i would be looking at salary increases, wage increases, anything over 3 for us indicates at least that the consumer is on firm footing. Chad morganlander and stacy, thank you both of you for those thoughts on the market and retail and consumer. Coming up on the show, choice words for amazon after a new investigation by the wall street journal, thats trending and also coming up when Worldwide Exchange returns right after this welcome back to the show lets find out what else you will be talking about this today. The top trending stories we turn to rahel solomon amazon a key focus for those trending stories today. Yes, it quite a mixed bag. Lets start with amazon. Shoppers are familiar with the amazon choice badge. Apparently product distinction may not mean that much wall street journal is reporting many perceive the badge to be endorsement to amazon its been attached to a number of products that violate amazons policies and make false claims and found on some products regulators raised safety concerns about. Amazon has not said how it determines which products get the badge and algorithms are used to make most decisions. A spokesperson adding that factors like product popularity, availability, pricing are considered as well, but certainly not good news for amazon if this is true. You wonder whether its a pay for situation, right which its been accused of doing before. Exactly if youre one of vendors who says i want prime placement at the top for amazon if i pay them x dollars will they put it at the top of the list, kind of what google does with ad search items and stuff like that. But if its something thats been flagged for safety concerns, then thats a big problem. All this on top of the tj maxx inquiry. A lot of retail news this morning. Turning to movies cats has been out for less than a week but theaters are gearing up to release a revamped version i know you dont hear this a lot. What does that mean universal said they would receive an updated version of the film with approved visual effects. This is an unprecedented move and came at the request of tom hooper who wanted to make lastminute fixes to the cgi heavy film cats received less than stellar review by critic and it is raking in less than 3 million on its opening day there have been criticisms and concerns that some of the effects are less than up to par. We should also say its being released by Universal Pictures part of the Parent Company Nbc Universal and everything else. Always good to disclose that. Exactly. From movies to music and tois, rapper and business mobile 50 cent celebrated his sons 7th birthday on saturday guess what his son got toys r us. He rented out an entire toy store in new jersey for the birthday boy he told his son, you can have whatever you want, all of it, its yours everything the video posted to the rappers twitter page, filling his cart with all sorts of toys and goodies and even meeting jeffrey, the toys r us mascot. Talk about a kids dream come true. Are you old enough to remember the game show, supermarket sweeps im not. The concept was you go through a supermarket aisles and fill your cart. Yes, i am i am. I kind of get visions of a kid pushing a cart down the aisle and just taking his arm and shoving toys into his cart. What a good birthday. You remember the old slogan i dont want to grow up, i want to be a toys r us kid jeffrey is there to make a cameo, makes it that much better. Must be nice. Thank you for those trending stories and Merry Christmas and happy new year. Like wise. In sports on sunday night, football ended in a its a big blowout. The Kansas City Chiefs went to chicago to battle the bears. The chiefs looking to increase their playoff possibilities by ending with a win. The bears already out of contention for the playoffs. Kansas city pretty much controlled the match right from the start. Patrick mahomes leading the team to a 170 lead and this is by halftime the bears unable to get any kind of real momentum going they failed to get a single touchdown on the board the entire game. In the end, the chiefs cruise to an easy 263 win over the bears in a big matchup there on sunday night. Well, still on deck for the show, new information this morning on how boeing ceo made a big pitch to washington, d. C. As his company tries to make a comeback from its 737 max crisis that story when Worldwide Exchange comes back right after this welcome back to the show time for the executive recap the headlines you need in 60 seconds. Lets start with tjx senator Chuck Schumer of new york claims they sold dangerous products to unsuspecting customers for years. Hes calling for a thorough investigation. In a statement tjx says the products were mistakenly left on is shels its working to ensure this does not happen again. Two stories on tesla today they agreed a new 1. 4 billion fiveyear term loan for tesla shanghai car plant reuters says part of the money will be used to roll over an existing loan. Meantime, bloomburg reports tesla is closer to building its first car factory in germany the company is said to have reached a deal to buy a more than 741 acre plot of land filed for environmental Government Application to get it approved. Dennis muilenburgs trip to washington, d. C. Last week faa chief Stephen Dixon told muilenburg to, quote, not ask for any favors and boeing should focus on providing all the documents needed to fully describe the 737 max Software Changes. Boeing shares since the max grounding as you can see there down about 12 during that time span. As if you did not get enough last week, barrons taking a page out of the Worldwide Exchange play book, publishing itself own best performing decades stocks with room to run in the decade ahead. Rounding out the top ten, you have netflix, also market access, broad com united rentals, alta beauty, old dominion, conspicuously listing are amazon, microsoft and apple. For his take on these names and a few others that you may want to load up on, joining me now is chris rest ler, Portfolio Manager at needham boy, that list is pretty expansive. But sit now going to be the technology and communication growth story that drives the markets in 2020 . We think theres still a lot of investment going into the infrastructure of the communications thats building out. Data continues to grow it needs to be moved around. Processed, stored. My kids are all on this tiktok and more videos. So when you look at one of the names there beauty, the makeup, i mean, these pixels are picking up more and more of what your face looks like so the kids want to cover it up as theyre posting it. Youre blaming hd cameras. It had an impact. My daughter who is 14 is playing with her friends its an activity theyre not sitting in front of the Traditional Television but theyre in their rooms and online so its active. So you mentioned this whole idea of infrastructure for Communications Data storage, everything like that, one of the big themes thats going to happen in 2020 and beyond, is 5g wireless how much does the next gen factor in and can companies be invested in knowing thats the big theme in the coming years . We just met with companies the last couple weeks talking specifically about 5g. What theyre helping me understand as a Portfolio Manager is you have to break it into two sections. One, theres the infrastructure of 5g and the other is the hand sets, the devices that have to connect to that system and we think that that part is moving faster than the infrastructure piece globally, 5g in china, south korea, japan, thats been built out. The u. S. Is coming we think it may be a little more delayed than people think, probably second half this year we begin to see it accelerate, but into 2021. But you need to have those devices. We think that the mobile side is already being constructed and why we have confirmation is theres a supply chain, kind of like building houses you have to go out, buy the land sketch it out with architects, do the planning, build the site. Thats whats happening semiconductors that we see and we spend a lot of time so all of thats beginning to happen now and we think that that production begins to really kick in this spring and summer. Youre a Small Cap Fund manager. You encouraged going to 2020 by the recent action in small cap stocks playing catchup with large caps we still like small caps in 2020 we think the economy can reaccelerate off of some pretty low numbers this year where we had a lot of head winds. A lot of noise and volatility to economic decisions so if youre a cfo, ceo, i think youre looking into clearly an Election Year where people want to be reelected and the economy should begin to pick up. Chris, thank you vr much for your market thoughts appreciate it. That does it for Worldwide Exchange this morning squawk box begins right now. Good morning, President Trump promises a phase one trade deal will be signed very soon. A disturbance in the force rise of sky walker tops the box office, but it was the smallest debut hall of the new trilogy. Listen up procrastinators. A list of five lastminute gifts you can still pick up before christmas. Its monday, december 23rd, 2019 and squawk box begins right now. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to squawk box here on cnbc we are live from the Nasdaq Market site in times square. Im becky quick along with Andrew Ross Sorkin joe is out today but sitting in for him we have tom farley, the ceo of farpoint ventures and cnbc contributor our guest host for the hoe is joanni lipman. Shes also a cnbc contributor. Good morning, guys. They all got the memo on the festive clothing today. Great minds think a like, right . Some clashing shades of maroon and red but were all festive. You team up, we team up, too. We planned this out well totally. The markets are not color coordinated. Look at the u. S. Equity futures, green arrows across the board. Its the Christmas Season just not re